Shadow Catcher (30 page)

EPILOGUE

“N
erium,” said Dr. Heldner.

“I'm sorry?” said Nick.

The doctor pursed her lips together. “White oleander. One of the CIA's favorite poisons.”

Three days had passed since the mission to China ended. Walker had been steeped in discussions with the State Department and the Congressional Oversight Committee. The colonel wanted to see justice. He wanted State to make a public indictment of the Chinese for Novak's imprisonment and Zheng's thwarted plans to invade Taiwan. State wanted to sweep everything under the rug. Nick didn't know why the colonel even bothered to fight with them. The politicians would do the wrong thing in the end. They always did.

Everyone had returned to the Romeo Seven hangar for a covert retirement ceremony, Novak's retirement. The pilot had started his career with the US Air Force, and the CIA never resigned his commission. Thus, assuming regular promotions, Novak would be a colonel by now. After one of Walker's Pentagon contacts did the math, it turned out that the Department of Defense owed their newest colonel more than two and a half million dollars in retroactive pay and allowances. Colonel Novak elected to retire immediately. The speeches had been mercifully short. Now he leaned on his crutches in front of the Wraith, wearing dress blues and shaking hands with Romeo Seven's small crew.

Nick and Drake stood off to the side with Amanda and Katy. Nick held his son in his arms. He had hardly let him go for three straight days. Heldner had just joined them, carrying the lab results from the weapon that fell from Tarpin's hand. “Nerium is slow acting but very deadly,” she continued. “Novak would have gone to sleep at the hospital and never woken up. The cylinder that Tarpin carried was a CO
₂
-powered injector with a micro-thin needle. Used correctly, the victim hardly feels a thing.” She looked over at Katy. “There were two charges. I think the second one was for you.”

A murmur went up from the group. All eyes turned toward the elevator. A slender woman with short, strawberry blonde hair stepped into the hangar. Nick found her age difficult to determine. She walked with the grace of a woman in her late forties, but her angelic face did not look a day over thirty. A few paces into the hangar, she hesitated, unsure of herself.

“Who is that,” whispered Katy.

“Anja,” said Nick. “She has to be.”

One of the techs took the woman's elbow and guided her toward the Wraith. The small crowd parted. When she saw Novak, she hesitated again. “He told me you were dead.”

Novak smiled at her. There was no blame in his eyes, only love. She broke into tears and ran to him. They held each other for a long moment. Then she took a step back and looked him over. A short laugh escaped her lips. “You look terrible,” she sniffed.

Novak reached up with a trembling hand and gently wiped a tear from her cheek. “You look exactly as I imagined.”