"Forget it," the balding man snapped to his accomplice. "Mr. Heinze, you've been elusive. Now the game's up. Please come peaceably with us and don't tempt these boys to acts of violence. Oh, and don't forget to bring along your briefcase. Somebody go help him and see he doesn't leave anything behind."

Heinze did as he was told. He re-appeared at the bottom of the stairs a few minutes later.

"Open it."

Heinze opened the case. The bald man flipped carefully through the pages. Frank and Joe watched intently. There was a neat stack of papers. The larger sheets had been folded so that they were the same size as the typewritten pages. The text was in German with some pages covered in mathematics. Some pages had been rubber-stamped. Frank had a sinking feeling. He was thinking that the one thing that would delay Heinze's fate was if the kidnappers couldn't get their hands on the plans.

"Very good. That wasn't so difficult, was it?"

There were no tearful good-byes. Heinze put his arm on Olivia's collar and kissed her briefly on the cheek. He took a last, pained glance back at Charlie. Joe thought that Olivia was fighting the urge to fling her arms around Heinze and hold on to him tightly. He could see the strain in her body and on her face. As the gunmen led Heinze away, the older man looked back and said, "I might say, 'See you again some time', but I highly doubt it." Olivia give him a cold scowl.

Joe was watching Olivia as the black sedan pulled away. "I waited for him for eight years. I'm not going to lose him again." Over the next moments, Olivia's face showed her struggle not to fall apart.

Her voice began shakily but gradually she gained control of her emotions. "You know, he only saw Charlie on Wednesday and already his plans revolve around the boy. He said to me the other night he wanted to live in a place where there was a big blue sky and empty spaces, like Arizona or southern California. He wants to work on his project out in the desert." She chuckled. "What does he know about Arizona anyway? No more than me. He wants to buy a house some place where we can breathe clean air. And Charlie can play baseball, and we can have peace and live like other people."

She smiled wistfully. "I'm proud of him. He's a brave man. You've got to give him credit for that. He's brave for coming back to me and Charlie. He's brave for leaving his missile program, even though these people want to drag him back to Germany as an enemy. Only a brave man would think up these beautiful dreams for Charlie and me."

"Was it hard accepting him back?" Joe asked.

"Sometimes it seems as if he'd never been away. There are people who just belong with each other, you know? It's like we've been together for years. Can you believe that when he told me he wouldn't be writing to me anymore, I cried for days? I cried and cried. But Charlie was scared to see me like that. He couldn't understand what was wrong with his mama. So I had to stop." She laughed and tears welled up in her eyes. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"We're not going to let those thugs get away with this," said Joe.

"I trust you boys. Don't let me down now."

Frank frowned and concentrated. "How did those guys know this address? Mr. Heinze didn't have a chance to tell anyone last night. Who else knew?"

"Besides my sister, only the landlord, but I don't see how they could find him without finding the building first. When Otto told me he wanted to disappear I thought of putting him in a hotel, like the Theresa, but he thought a house would be more private."

"Yeah, not so many creeps sitting in the lobby watching your comings and goings," interjected Joe.

"My sister knew there was an empty apartment in this place. We paid the landlord on Thursday. He spent that night here."

"And…uh, were you with him?"

"Yes," she said, matter-of-factly.

"What about last night?"

"I came here with him after our show."

"Did you notice anything unusual?"

"No, but we weren't paying much attention." Amusement lit up her eyes. Then she paused to think. Frank looked at her. "There was something odd. When Otto was opening the door to the building I looked back and I could have sworn that I saw someone smoking in the doorway of the building across the street."

"You mean the boarded-up building?"

"Yes. I saw the tip of a cigarette. Just for a moment."

Frank concentrated. "That would mean that someone was waiting for you. But then they would need to already know this address."

"Maybe it's nothing," said Olivia.

Joe was looking down at the tin ashtray on the table. "Say, Frank, did you notice that there are four cigarette butts in this ashtray?"

Frank took a look. "Three of them have lipstick on them."

"They're mine," said Olivia.

"But the fourth doesn't," said Joe.

"And Otto doesn't smoke." The three of them almost said this in unison. Frank and Joe laughed.

Frank explained. "Our friend Chet asked him about the smoking room onboard the zeppelin. Mr. Heinze said he knew nothing about it. He couldn't have avoided it during the course of a trans-Atlantic voyage if he was a smoker."

"So who does it belong to?" asked Olivia. "Otto didn't mention anyone coming in here."

"It could be a neighbor," said Frank. "I don't want to guess at the moment."

"Is there anything else I can do to help?"

Joe and Frank looked at each other. "Nothing comes to mind for now," said Frank.

"Then you'll have to excuse me, boys, I'm expected at the club soon. I can't do any good sitting here moping away. I have to get Charlie back home first."

"Yes, of course," said Frank. "Don't let us keep you."

"You do your job and I'll do mine," Olivia said emphatically. It was as if her emotions had gone around on a long journey in a short time and had returned home. "If you need to get in touch with me, you can call the club." She offered them a business card from her purse but the brothers had already picked one up at the club.

Joe looked admiringly at the retreating figures of mother and child.