Inside Outt

said, simultaneously swinging her legs off the bed and heading toward the bathroom. In the semidarkness, Ben caught a glimpse of white panties and a matching camisole. She clicked on the bathroom light and closed the door behind her.
    “Hey, the FBI woman just got a call, too,” Ben said. “Are they in on this now?”
    “A lot of different players have been offering their input, yeah. Makes sense she’d be getting a call about now.”
    “Anyway, so we know who Nico is.”
    “That’s right. And it gets better. We isolated the alias Larison traveled under when he flew to San Jose on April 17, 2007. He’s used it six times since then. So we can put him in San Jose at least eight times.”
    “But probably more than that, because he’d be traveling under other aliases, too.”
    “Exactly. So whatever’s going on between Larison and Nico, it’s long-term, and it’s serious. This is not some casual hookup we’re talking about.”
    “Does this mean no one’s talking about Marcy Wheeler and her son anymore?”
    “It means that, yeah.”
    Well, that was good. “So what’s the problem?”
    “The same problem it always is, again and again and again. Stupidity and arrogance.”
    “I’m not following you.”
    Hort sighed. “I know. I’m not making myself clear. It’s been a long, frustrating night.”
    “You’ve been up all night?”
    “Yeah, arguing with the Neanderthals.”
    Again, Ben was intrigued by Hort’s openness. He didn’t even know who the Neanderthals were. JSOC? NSC? Justice?
    “Well, what’s the plan?”
    There was a pause. “The plan is for you to stand down.”
    “Stand down? But we’re so close.”
    “You know it and I know it. But the powers that be think they know better.”
    “What are they going to do?”
    “They’re flying in a Ground Branch team right now.”
    “Ground Branch? Why?”
    “They want Larison to think they’re going to snatch Nico.”
    “To bring Larison into the open?”
    “That’s the idea. Snatch Larison, get him to spill his guts, recover the tapes, and call it a day.”
    “That’s not going to work.”
    “That’s right it’s not going to work. You tell me why.”
    Ben thought for a moment, imagining Larison, putting himself in the man’s position, assessing the same threats, gaming out the same countermeasures. “Because… Larison would have planned for this. He said he’s got the tapes on some kind of electronic deadman trigger. He’s not going to give that up, even under duress, because he knows that wouldn’t stop the duress.”
    “I agree. They’re going to torture him to prove a negative—that there are no more copies of the tapes. No matter what he gives up, they can’t know he’s given up everything, so they get their doctors to keep him alive, and the torture never ends, ever. Larison knows what he’s in for if he’s caught. So what does he do?”
    “He sets the deadman to a short fuse.”
    “That’s right. He knows the only thing that could deliver him from his agony is having the tapes published. So by snatching him—”
    “They might as well just publish the tapes themselves.”
    “Good. Now, tell me this. How would you handle the situation if you were in charge?”
    Ben had worked with Hort long enough to know when Hort was grooming him for some new skill set. But this was different. These were management questions, not tactical. Again, he was both confused and intrigued.
    “I’d… leave Nico and his family alone. And when Larison called in, I’d tell him everything we’d found out. I’d tell him the bad news is, we know who he is, we know about Nico, we know everything. And if those tapes ever get released, we take it out on Nico and his family.”
    “Good again. And what would be the good news?”
    Ben thought. “I’d give him a bonus, I guess. Not a hundred million, that’s crazy, and maybe Larison would try to use it to resettle the family and eliminate our leverage. But something. A million, five million, something to show goodwill and no hard feelings. You know, enjoy the money, enjoy your life and your good health, and as long as those tapes never get revealed, it’s all live and let live. It’s not foolproof, but I think it’s the best we could do under the circumstances.”
    There was a pause. Hort said, “Remember how I told you in, say, ten years, you could be as good as Larison?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I was wrong. I think you’re going to be better, and it’s not going to take that