Vanish: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

about.”
    “You said you don’t believe this is your standard hostage crisis,” said Gabriel as he settled onto the couch. “I don’t either. And not just because my wife is involved.”
    “What strikes you as different?”
    “Aside from the fact the first hostage taker was female? That she had an armed compatriot who walked in to join her? Aside from the fact she broadcast what seemed to be an activation code?”
    “All the things that got Director Wynne concerned,” said Silver. “Plus, there’s an additional detail that worries us. I have to admit, I didn’t pick up on the significance myself when I first heard the recording.”
    “Which recording?”
    “The call she made to that radio station. We asked a Defense linguist to analyze her speech. Her grammar was perfect—almost too perfect. No contractions, no slang. The woman is clearly not American, but foreign born.”
    “The Boston PD negotiator made the same conclusion.”
    “Now this is the part that worries us. If you listen carefully to what she said—in particular, to that phrase she used, ‘the die is cast’—you can hear the accent. It’s definitely there. Russian maybe, or Ukrainian, or some other Eastern European language. It’s impossible to distinguish her precise origins, but the accent is Slavic.”
    “That’s what’s got the White House worried,” said Conway.
    Gabriel frowned. “They’re thinking terrorism?”
    “Specifically, Chechen,” said Silver. “We don’t know who this woman is, or how she got into the country. We know that Chechens often use female compatriots in their attacks. In the Moscow theater siege, several women were wired with explosives. Then there were those two jetliners that went down in southern Russia a few years ago, after taking off from Moscow. We believe both were brought down by female passengers wearing bombs. The point is, these particular terrorists routinely use women in their attacks. That’s what our director of National Intelligence is most afraid of. That we’re dealing with people who have no real interest in negotiation. They may be fully prepared to die, and spectacularly.”
    “Chechnya’s quarrel is with Moscow. Not us.”
    “The war on terror is global. This is precisely why the DNI’s office was created—to make sure 9/11 never happens again. Our job is to make all our intelligence agencies work together, and not at cross purposes, the way they sometimes did. No more rivalries, no more spy versus spy. We’re all in this together. And we all agree that Boston Harbor’s a tempting target for terrorists. They could go after fuel depots or a tanker. One motorboat loaded with explosives could cause a catastrophe.” He paused. “That female hostage taker was found in the water, wasn’t she?”
    Conway said: “You look dubious, Agent Dean. What’s bothering you?”
    “We’re talking about a woman who was forced into this situation by accident. You’re aware she was brought to the morgue as a drowning victim? Admitted to the hospital after she woke up?”
    “Yes,” said Silver. “It’s a bizarre story.”
    “She was a lone woman—”
    “She’s no longer alone. She now has a partner.”
    “This hardly sounds like a planned terrorist operation.”
    “We’re not saying this hostage taking was planned. The timing was forced on them. Maybe it started as an accident. Maybe she fell overboard while being smuggled into the country. Woke up in the hospital, realized she was going to be questioned by authorities, and she panicked. She could be one arm of the octopus, part of a much larger operation. An operation that’s now been prematurely exposed.”
    “Joseph Roke isn’t Russian, he’s American.”
    “Yes, we know a bit about Mr. Roke from his service record,” said Silver.
    “He’s hardly your typical Chechen sympathizer.”
    “Did you know that Mr. Roke had explosives training in the army?”
    “So have a lot of other soldiers who didn’t wind up as terrorists.”
    “Mr. Roke also has a history of antisocial behavior. Disciplinary problems. Are you aware of that?”
    “I know he was given a dishonorable discharge.”
    “For striking an officer, Agent Dean. For repeatedly disobeying orders. There was even some question about a serious emotional disorder. One army psychiatrist considered a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.”
    “Was he treated for that?”
    “Roke refused any and all medications. After he left the army, he essentially went