Free Lone Wolf by David Archer

driving at the moment. Hope Sarah can handle it, but I'm willing to bet she can.”
    “I'm sure,” Decker said, but further conversation was cut short when Noah's phone rang. He looked at the display and saw that it was a call coming in on the special number he had given to President Habib.
    “This is Colson,” he said.
    “Mister Colson,” said the president. “I hope you'll forgive a worried father, but I just needed to know that you are working toward bringing my daughter home. Have you made any progress?”
    “We've identified and located the person who called you to tell you that your daughter had been taken hostage,” Noah said, “and we are zeroing in on him even now. I'm hopeful that he will be able to provide us with more information that will help us find her. I wish I had something more to tell you, but that's where we stand at the moment.”
    President Habib uttered a sigh. “Thank you,” he said simply. “It gives me hope just to know that you are truly doing what you can. I will let you get back your work, and continue my prayers for your success.”
    The call ended, and Decker looked over at Noah. “I've worked a lot of kidnapping cases,” he said. “The one thing that never changes is that the victim's loved ones always need constant reassurance. Being a world leader isn't going to change that for him.”
    “I know,” Noah said. “Simple human nature.”
    Pendergrast's apartment building was in South Hampstead, a half hour's drive from the hotel. Decker had punched it into the GPS on his phone, and followed the directions as he maneuvered through the city. Aberdare Gardens, the broad street on which it was located, was lined with apartment buildings that all seemed to be very much alike. Still, they had no trouble finding the right one.
    Since they had not heard from Neil, it was a safe bet that Pendergrast was still holed up in his apartment, so they drove past the building toward the intersection. They found the little restaurant known as a chip shop with no problem, and parked the car in front of it. Both of them spotted Catherine as soon as they entered the building, and she looked up and smiled as she waved them over to her table.
    “I'm Catherine,” she said as they took seats. “Which of you might be Mister Colson?”
    Noah smiled. “That would be me,” he said. “This is James Mitchell, my associate.”
    Catherine shook hands with both of them as a young waitress approached their table. Despite the fact that they had eaten breakfast only a short time before, both men ordered snack-sized portions of cod and chips, the beer-battered fish and fried strips of potato that reminded them of French fries, with Coca-Cola. Their orders were delivered only a moment later, leaving them in relative privacy.
    “This is a bit of an upscale chippy,” Catherine said. “In most, you have to stand in line to place an order, but here they like to think of themselves as a restaurant, rather than just a chip shop. We can speak freely in here. This place is often used for clandestine meetings by Interpol and other agencies.”
    “I gather from your accent that you're a native here?” Noah asked. When she nodded, he went on. “I was given to understand that you work for the same people we do. Is that correct, or am I missing something?”
    “It's correct. I'm the station chief for E & E in London, the agency's liaison and supply officer. If there's anything you need while you're here, you need only to let me know. So far, all I know is that you wanted me to keep an eye on the subject, and that's been very easy to do. In fact, there are so many different agencies watching him that we've been bumping into each other. Someone from NSA spotted me yesterday and wanted to know what my interest was. As far as they know, I'm with British intelligence, so I simply let them think I was looking into some of his local activities.”
    “British intelligence?” Decker asked. “A story like that won't blow