Silent Waters

Chapter 45

Bruce Dunn respected Sarah’s privacy.

He walked away from the conference table where she’d just received a phone call from Commander McCann’s father. He’d never admit it to her, but Bruce had actually arranged for the phone call as soon as he’d learned through one of their field agents that Mina McCann’s condition had stabilized. The older woman had suffered a minor stroke that morning upon hearing the news about McCann. Bruce thought it would be so much more meaningful to hear the good news from the family than from a stranger like him.

Seth McDermott entered the conference room at that moment. Perfect timing.

“Did you get any answers for me?” Bruce asked.

“Admiral Meisner says he’ll see you in two minutes.”

Not exactly what he wanted to hear, but Dunn knew the Director of Naval Intelligence would be able to cut through the red tape and get answers, if anyone could.

“Where?”

“Outside the large conference room,” McDermott said, grinning. “Things are about to get critical in the Command Center, but he had to go to the head. He said he’d give you some answers on his way back.”

“I guess we should be grateful that admirals are human enough to take bathroom breaks.” Dunn looked at his watch. It had to be two minutes by now. He stepped out and spotted Meisner walking back.

“Seth told me you’ve been trying to get some help, but have run into some brick walls.” Meisner talked as he continued to walk. There were no formalities between the two. No ceremony. They’d known each other for about ten years, and Bruce had investigated at least twenty cases for him. He fell in beside the older man.

“More like some paper walls, but considering the ticking clock, I don’t want to waste time. What can you tell me about them? Where can I find them?”

Meisner stopped a step away from his destination. “Let’s see. Whiting happened to be on USS Pittsburgh, the sub chasing Hartford. They’ve been testing two new systems. Which means the chance of contacting him is zilch.”

“How about Erensen?”

“The miserable son of a bitch had quadruple by-pass surgery on Friday.”

“Sorry about that,” Bruce said.

“I tell you it’s the damn retirement.” Meisner shrugged. “I don’t think he’ll be any good to us, at least not today. He’s still in intensive care.”

That explained why they hadn’t seen those two faces beside the president or on talk shows. “How about Captain Barnhardt?”

“Canada. On one of his back to nature survival jaunts up there. This time it’s bow hunting, or some other crap like that. He left last week. He won’t surface until Wednesday or so.”

Bruce had heard about Barnhardt’s fascination with hunting. He regularly led excursions to an island on Hudson Bay. A group of them would get dropped off on an island or in the woods in the middle of nowhere for so many days at a time.

“Can’t we send some Marines or park rangers after him?”

“The bastard would probably shoot them,” Meisner answered.

Bruce recollected that there was no love lost between Meisner and Barnhardt.

“Work with Erensen if you have to. His wife says he’s started talking. He’s at Johns Hopkins.”

Bruce nodded. “By the way, anything from Hartford?”

Meisner shook his head. “All the communication is shut down. Pittsburgh is getting ready to blast them into a million pieces.”

“That’s a shame.”

Meisner looked at him oddly. “You think so.”

“I sure as hell do. From what I can see, McCann deserved better than to go out like this.”