Read Online A Time for War by Michael Savage - Free Book Online

generation, young people who have already assimilated.”
    Father and daughter fell silent. They obviously hadn’t considered that.
    â€œDid you see any of the others? Did anyone see them?” Jack asked.
    â€œNo,” Maggie said. “I was ducked down and people in the street were looking at the speeding SUV. They couldn’t describe the others.”
    Jack wasn’t sure that recruitment was the answer. A “missionary,” as consulate recruiters called themselves in the intelligence game, would not have tried to grab Maggie. He also wouldn’t have had an SUV parked right in front of their store. He would have come downtown unobtrusively, made his rounds, talked to other merchants, come back some other time to talk to Johnny. Missionaries don’t like to call attention to themselves.
    Jack was out of ideas. “What do you think he wanted?” he asked Maggie. “You’ve obviously given this some thought.”
    â€œUntil you said that about the spies, my belief was that he wanted to buy the store,” Maggie said.
    Jack looked at Johnny. “Is it for sale?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDo you know if he ever talked to other shopkeepers?”
    â€œThe police canvassed the block,” Johnny said. “Apparently they came to see us.”
    â€œHow many merchants own their properties instead of renting?”
    â€œI own and so does the takeout next door and the cell phone shop on the other side,” Johnny said. “I know the owners. The man didn’t talk to them.”
    Jack looked around. His eyes went from the worn, green-tile floor to the embossed, rustic copper panels of the vintage ceiling. “What do you have that someone would want?”
    â€œEverything,” Johnny said.
    â€œYou lost me.”
    â€œWhen Chinese seek something, they never want just that one thing,” he said. “It is like acupuncture. You put a needle in one spot, but it is really a larger wellness you are after.”
    â€œSomeone wouldn’t just want to buy your business?”
    â€œWhy?” Johnny asked. “It is a lot of work for little reward. But if, for example, you wanted to tear down the block and build an office tower, what better way to start?”
    â€œBut why build an office tower here?” Jack asked. “There must be something else.”
    The street was full of shops that were probably no better or worse an investment. A real estate deal didn’t explain why Johnny had been targeted first, and the behavior of the intruder didn’t fit with the typically smooth and stealthy tactics of developers and their lawyers. But no other explanation jumped out. If someone were just looking to launder money, the check-cashing business was better for that. Distributing drugs? There was the pharmacy, or the Asian movie rental store that catered to young people.
    â€œDo you have a blueprint of the place? There was probably something attached to the contract when you bought it.”
    â€œThose are filed with my attorney,” Johnny said. “What would that matter? And how would someone else see it?”
    â€œLibraries, government offices—there’s a lot of material available onsite and online,” Jack said. “As for why it would matter, we won’t know until we have a look. You have the two-bedroom place upstairs and a small basement, as I recall?”
    Johnny nodded.
    â€œI’d like to look at both, if that’s all right.”
    â€œOf course,” Johnny said.
    Maggie went to check out a customer while Johnny took Jack upstairs. They looked out the window. There was nothing in the line of sight that stood out, no obvious targets for potential terrorists like flight paths or a police station. It wasn’t like the old days when someone needed a neighborhood place for a stakeout. That could be done from a car or even a laptop and a small sound amplifier from a park bench. They went downstairs.