He called anyway. She answered the phone immediately and said, “This must be bad. I assume about the Russians?”
“Yes. There’s been a development…”
Lucas told her about the call from the member of the hit team. “We want you to deputize Del Capslock and John Sherwood because we don’t know where we’ll be going. The team is on the run, and they’re probably on the road somewhere.”
Lamb said, “We’ll be leaving here in ten minutes. I can be down in the office in thirty minutes. If you can swing by, we’ll fill out some paper…Who else is going with you?”
“Shelly, and she’s good. So just the four of us.”
“I will see you in half an hour.”
Sherwood was enthusiastic. “I’ll walk over as soon as I’m dressed. I called my guy in Washington, told him the situation. If we can get this guy…”
• • •
Lucas was inhis car when the hit team man called back and asked, “What are we doing?”
“You should have gotten an email.”
“I did. One minute ago,” the man said. “It looks okay. I was beginning to think you were going to turn me down.”
“No. Tell me where you want to meet,” Lucas said.
“At the Musky Hunter’s bar in Hayward, Wisconsin. I’ll be wearing a red ski mask with the bottom pulled up over my chin. Blue parka, blue jeans, Nike shoes.”
“What time?”
“Eleven o’clock.”
Lucas glanced at his watch: they had time, but with the stop at the marshals office, they’d have to move right along. “I’ve talked to our CIA contact about this, and he doesn’t want you to, uh, I don’t know how to put this…He doesn’t want the other members of the team to know you’ve given them up. I don’t have a tight grip on that myself, but you need to be alone at the Musky Hunter.”
“I can do that. Do you know this bar? You sound like…”
“I have a cabin twenty miles east of Hayward,” Lucas said. “So yes, I know the place. You guys, you’re headed for the Canadian border?”
“Yes, but I won’t say where on the Canadian border. This whole thing might still fall through.”
“Don’t let it,” Lucas said. “C’mon. Don’t let it.”
“I’ll see you at the bar,” the man said.
• • •
Capslock was waitingoutside the entrance to the federal building when Lucas arrived. “I had to stick my car in a parking garage. I assume I’ll be reimbursed for the charge?”
“Maybe,” Lucas said. “I’m sure you’ll have the sincere thanks of a grateful nation.”
“I’d rather have the money,” Capslock said, as he followed Lucas inside.
White and Sherwood were sitting at White’s desk when Lucas and Capslock arrived, but Lamb had not yet arrived. Lucas called her and she said, “I’m just getting out of my car, I’m right outside.”
While they waited, Lucas told the others about the second phone call from the hit team member, and about the eleven o’clock appointment at the Musky Hunter.
“The four of us have to talk to my boss in Washington when we get out of here,” Sherwood said. “We don’t need to mention that to Miz Lamb.”
Lamb was in the office two minutes later, wearing wooly tights and a ski jacket. She said, “I’ve got to do some paper on this sooner or later, or maybe I can skip it altogether if you don’t find these people and we can all pretend this didn’t happen…But I need Mr. Sherwood to write his name on a piece of paper so I can fill it in later, and I already know Del, so…Anyway, I need to be able to say that I talked to you individually and you agreed to serve as temporary deputy marshals. Is that correct?”
Sherwood said, “Yes,” and Capslock said, “I never aspired to anything more,” and Lamb said, “I understand that perfectly, Del, but I’m afraid you’re too dumb for a permanent position. Anyway, yabba-dabba-do, you’re deputized.” She started back toward her office. “Hang on here a minute.”
