I went up to the cockpit and said, “How long before you can ping them?”
“I don’t actually have to do anything. It’s continually transmitting, just like this aircraft, but it depends on how far they’ve gone. I’ll have to close the distance, but we’re looking for callsign LVGKX.”
He pointed at a screen showing a moving map with a couple of icons with tags. He said, “That’s us in the center. Those other icons are planes waiting for clearance to land.” He pushed a button, and we began zooming out. He said, “I’m on twenty nautical miles right now, but I’ll pull it all the way back to two hundred. If he’s transmitting, we’ll hit his transponder soon.”
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and looked at the screen. It was Knuckles. I told the captain, “Let me know if he appears.”
I went back to the cabin and answered, saying, “Tell me you’ve already solved the United States problem.”
I heard him laugh, and he said, “Are you shitting me? I just landed. We’re at Reagan National headed to the Uber line and every television in here is talking about a hostage situation in Argentina. I take it you had something to do with that?”
I said, “Yeah. The Ghost managed to take the Israeli PM and our SECSTATE hostage right out from under our noses, then hijack a damn Learjet and take off. We’re chasing them now.”
He said, “That’s why I’m calling. Brett and I have both purchased tickets and there’s a flight leaving here back to Buenos Aires in three hours. I can be back to you in under twenty if you tell me where to land.”
I said, “This’ll be over before then. Focus on the US threat.”
He said, “Pike, they took Amanda. All I have to go on here is that snippet of Signal chatter. The FBI, CIA, and the US Marshals already have it too, and they’re good at this on home turf. It’s not like I’m Michael Jordan about to join a high school basketball team. Let me come back.”
I knew he and Amanda used to be an item, and that he was chomping at the bit to come back for that reason. If there wasn’t a catastrophic threat to the United States I’d have let him, but there was.
I said, “Knuckles, I appreciate how you feel. I really do, but you should have seen the planning and preparation this hit took, to include a VBIED as a diversion. Whatever is going on in DC is going to be big and it’s going to be complex. YouareMichael Jordan, and you’re going to turn that team around.”
From inside the cockpit, the captain shouted, “We’ve got him. He’s about fifty nautical miles ahead of us.”
Knuckles said, “Pike, even Brett thinks—”
I cut him off, “Hey, as Michael Jordan says—just do it. I gotta go.”
I hung up and went to the cockpit, seeing an icon with LVGKX on the screen. I said, “Keep on him, but don’t get so close that he sees us.”
“We’re transmitting just like he is. Their pilot will see us if he’s looking.”
“Turn off your damn transponder. Can’t you do that?”
He sheepishly did so, and I went back to the cabin. I took a seat, thinking about what Knuckles had said. Something he’d mentioned was nibbling at me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I remembered.
Shoshana said, “What’s going through that head of yours?”
I said, “Get me the Signal chats from the computer we recovered. I have an idea.”
Chapter 69
The Ghost looked at the two hostages sitting in the back of the cabin, both appearing stoic, as if they weren’t petrified at what he was planning. He admired their courage, even if it was misplaced.
He raised the detonator in his hand and saw the female flinch. He disabled the arming mechanism, unbuckled his seat belt, and took off the device. He stood, putting it in an overhead bin, then went to each of them and checked their restraints, finding them secure.
The Israeli started to speak and the Ghost slowly shook his head, putting a finger to his lips. The Israeli closed his mouth. The Ghost went to the cockpit, finding Omar sitting in a small jump seat with a pistol in his hand. The copilot glanced back at his arrival and he could see the fear all over his face.
In English, the Ghost said, “How long before we arrive?”
The copilot said, “A little over three hours. Do you want me to radio ahead?”
“No. Maintain radio silence no matter who calls.”
“I can’t just land without talking to them. I have to get into the traffic pattern.”
“We’ll deal with that when we come to it. Maintain silence for now. If you disobey, you’ll be spread out over a hundred square miles when I detonate the vest I was wearing. Do you understand?”
