To start this serial suspense novel from the beginning, go here.
The Second Escape
Thirty minutes out of jail and Cardinal was already a prisoner. And once again, it was the government taking him down. Leave it to the law to make sure a guy never breathes free.
Edward Mokley sat at the other end of the table in the interrogation room, staring furiously at him. He wore an FBI cap and a military-style shirt with a patch that read "Special Operations" on the short sleeve. Special Ed, Cardinal had always called him.
"We didn't want to do this by force," he drawled. "But we had no choice. You would not cooperate and national security is at risk."
"Funny way to defend freedom," Cardinal said, "by taking away somebody's rights."
"Have you been sleeping with your defense attorney again?" Special Ed asked. "Sounds like you have learned something from Marcia's pillow talk." He laughed, held his cigar aloft and looked around at the guards for supportive levity. No one peeped. Apparently Special Ops guards don't get paid enough to laugh with their superiors. Or maybe it was the lousy health benefits.
"Yeah," Cardinal answered, "we used to talk about habeas corpus while she tied me up."
"Shut up, smart guy." Special Ed's amusement was gone. "We killed your mother once. We can do it again."
"Don't butter me up."
Special Ed lept up from his chair and pounded his fist on the table. He didn't have to do that. He just liked the cliché. "Dammit, Cardinal, you are going to help us in this mission or you will never, ever, get out of this place!"
Cardinal looked past the patch on Special Ed's shoulder and out the window behind him. In the distance, he saw a heat-seeking missle headed straight for the back of the compound they were in.
"Yeah?"