Midnight Sun (33 page)

Dessert
and
coffee
came.
Hilde
held
a
spoon
of
rich
chocolate
mousse
in
front
of
her
mouth
and
smiled
as
she
imagined
cradling
an
infant
in
her
arms.
She
knew
Lonnie
was
right—this
might
be
her
only
chance.
Menopause
was
not
far
in
the
future,
and
if
she
waited
too
long,
she'd
be
in
her
sixties,
looking
like
a
grandparent,
when
her
child
graduated
high
school.
Mike had a child of his own with his first marriage, but that wife and their toddler son were both killed in a drive-by shooting
two
years earlier. While she never felt that she was a replacement for his former family, Hilde did feel that it would be good therapy for Mike to have another child.
She
leaned
back
against
her
seat
and
absentmindedly
glanced
up
at
one
of
the
massive
plasma
TVs
above
the
bar.
The
local
evening
news
was
playing,
the
sound
barely
audible
above
the
din
of
the
crowd
which
had
grown
significantly
since
they
had
sat
down.

Video
of
a
car
accident
played
across
the
screen.
As
the
announcer
described
the
event,
Lonnie's
pregnant
form
suddenly
came
into
view
on
the
screen.
Hilde
tapped
Mike
on
the
arm and he
looked
up.
Marcus
and
Lonnie
looked
as
well,
but
Lonnie
turned
away
once
she
realized
what
it
was.
She
glanced
toward
Hilde
and
saw
the
FBI
analyst’s
face
morph
into
a
shocked
expression
as
she
stared
at
the
screen.

“
I
know
that man,
”
Hilde
said
in
a
harsh
whisper.

Lonnie
looked
up
just
in
time
to
see
Steven
Farrah
flash
past
the
edge
of
the
screen.

“
Him?
”
she
asked
.

Hilde's
face
colored.

“
How
do
you
know
him?
”
Mike asked.

She
leaned
closer
to
the
table, lowering her voice.
T
he
others
bent toward the center and focused on what she said
.

“
He's
on
the
watch
list,
”
she
whispered.
“
Added
just
a
few
weeks
ago.
Sokol
Albajani.
”

“
You
sure?
”
Mike asked.

“Y
ou
know
I
never
forget
their
faces,
”
she
said,
pursing
her
lips.
“
That
is
Sokol
Albajani.
”

“
Who
is
he?
”
Marcus asked.

“
A
mid-ranking
officer
in
the
Sons
of
the
Sword,
an
a
l-Qaeda-affiliated
terrorist
group.
”

Lonnie
looked
back
at
the
screen
as
the
video
sequence
played
a
second
time.
Farrah's
face crossed
the
screen
as
he
spoke
with
her.
The
words
were
not
audible,
but
she
remembered
it
all.

“
He
spoke
with
a
British
accent,
”
she
said.

“
He
is
British,
”
Hilde replied.
“
I
don't
remember
if
he
was
born
there
or
naturalized
as
an
infant,
but
he
grew
up
there.
He
changed
his
name
to
Steven
Farrah
as
a
teen
in
school
to
stand
out
less.
There
was
a
lot
of
racial
violence
in
Manchester
at
the
time.
Since
he
was
Caucasian,
the
simple
name
change
worked
to relieve him of the torture a lot of immigrants kids are put through
.
”