“About being included on your team.”
He pulled up to the W Hotel and she climbed out and grabbed her bag from the trunk. She came around to his side of the car and motioned for him to roll down the window.
She leaned in and smiled coyly. “But then again, I always thought you were on my team.” She smacked him lightly on the cheek, turned, and sauntered into the hotel lobby.
Puller watched her every step of the way and then rolled the window back up and drove off.
He stopped by Quantico and met briefly with Don White, his CO. The man was not happy with the situation, particularly since he apparently knew Puller could not tell him everything.
“I know you’ve got a lot of juice behind you on this one, Puller. But my advice to you is to watch all points on the compass. If this turns into a disaster, and it might, fingers will be pointing so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
“Roger that,” Puller had said.
He had driven home thinking about this warning and the similar one that Shireen Kirk had given him. Nothing good could come out of this for him. But as smart as the woman was, she might be wrong about that.
I just might be able to get my brother back.
He called Rinehart’s office and got the okay for Knox’s attendance at the dinner. Then he caught up on some paperwork and checked in with the vet back at Fort Leavenworth to see how AWOL was doing.
“What can I say? The damn cat doesn’t seem to even know you’ve left her,” was the vet’s reply, and Puller could almost see the smile attached to this comment.
“Yeah, well, tell AWOL I love her too.”
He didn’t have a lot of time before he had to head back to D.C. for the dinner, but he put on his sweats and went for a run. Afterward, he walked back to his apartment, his tired muscles feeling good, the endorphins bumping up his spirits. He quickly showered and then sat in a towel on his bed going over the notes he’d collected over the last few days.
Macri dead.
The Ukrainian dead.
Daughtrey dead.
The missing transformers.
The men who had kidnapped him.
The person who had saved him, possibly his brother.
The lying Susan Reynolds.
The attack in the alley.
The dead Niles Robinson.
A letter his father wrote.
His brother out there somewhere.
And Knox. They’d shared a hungry look and had come close to sharing a lot more. And then there was the text. She wasn’t who she appeared to be. The fact was he couldn’t fully trust her. He couldn’t trust anyone on this. This was not the world of soldiering. That was one he understood fully. You counted on the guy next to you and he counted on you, because that was the only way to survive.
But this wasn’t soldiering, though there were uniforms galore in the mix. This was the intelligence field, which apparently came chock-full of lies, dubious allegiances, ulterior motives, changing agendas, and everyone telling you what you wanted to hear while they were sticking the knife deeper into your back and blaming it on someone else. That world, his brother’s world, was totally foreign to him. He felt like a buck recruit, set out in the wild all alone to sink or swim, to live or die.
He put on his dress blues and left Quantico to make his way north on Interstate 95 to D.C. Luckily, he was heading against traffic. Going south on 95 it was, as usual, a parking lot. He pulled in front of the W Hotel and was about to text Knox that he was there waiting outside when she walked out in a navy blue skirt, matching jacket, pale blue blouse, sheer stockings, and high heels. Her hair was done up in a braid and she carried a clutch purse. And now he knew there was a gun in there.
He unlocked the passenger door and she slid in with a swish of skirt and a quick glimpse of her long thighs.
“Productive day?” she asked.
“Pretty good. You?”
“Got some things accomplished. Did you settle things for me to be there tonight?”
“All done.”
“I’m surprised they’d allow it.”
“I’m sure calls were made, emails sent, your record examined inch by inch, inquiries made, and appropriate parties briefed. And there you go. They’ll know more about you now than you know about yourself.”
He pulled off and headed toward the Army-Navy Club, which wasn’t very far away distance-wise, but at this time of night traffic and myriad intervening lights could make it seem like fifty miles.
“So what’s the agenda for tonight?” she asked.
He glanced over to see her staring at him.
“I’m not setting the agenda. They are. Generals and guys with the president’s ear tend to do that. I’m just a lowly CWO.”
“You need to improve your self-esteem, Puller, or you won’t get anywhere fast.”
“Slow and steady wins the day.”
“Unless someone is shooting at you.”
“You feeling better? Gotten over whatever it was?”
She folded her arms over her chest again, something he again noted she did whenever she was feeling defensive or elusive.
“Still working on that.”
“Right. Maybe you should try Sudafed. Or a priest.”
She turned to look at him. “A priest?”
“Your personnel file says you’re Catholic. I figure you might want to try confession. Supposed to be good for the soul.”
“Are you accusing me of lying to you again?”
Puller worked his way through late rush-hour traffic before stopping at a red light. “We’ve got about ten more minutes until we get there.”
“I’m just not following you, Puller.”
“You weren’t sick or coming down with a cold. Your voice was normal, not scratchy or husky. On the drive to D.C. you didn’t cough, sneeze, or even sniffle. At one point I cranked up the AC and you didn’t even shiver. And I’ve got pollen allergies too. And there’s none in the air or else I’d know it.”
“And your point?”
“Your face was flushed and your eyes were red for another reason. Emotion can do that. Crying can do that, more specifically, although you don’t strike me as a weeper. But then again, I really don’t know you all that well. But if something did make you break down, it had to have been something serious. And that might come back to explode in my face. If I’m wrong about any of this, feel free to tell me so.”
The light turned green but Puller didn’t move. A car behind them honked.
“Keep driving,” she said. “Like you said, we have ten minutes.”
Puller drove through the intersection. About a minute later Knox said, “I told you I wasn’t who I appeared to be.”
“And I told you that was no surprise to me.”
“But what if—” She stopped and looked out the window.
“What if what?” said Puller.
She turned to face him. “Pull over.”
“What?”
“Pull over to the curb. We can walk the rest of the way. If we’re a little late, I’m sure the general and Mr. Schindler won’t mind. In fact, walking might be faster than riding in a car in this traffic.”
Miraculously, Puller found a parking spot on the next block, pulling in as another car was pulling out.
They had walked for half a block when she looked up at him and touched the sleeve of his uniform. He had put his cover on as soon as they had exited the car.
“Nice hat. And I meant to tell you that you look really handsome in dress blues. Quite imposing.”
“You look really good too, but I’m waiting to hear what you have to say.”
“My being assigned to this case was no coincidence. I was assigned because you were assigned.”
“And what was your task?”
“To keep tabs on you and report back. Which I have done.”
“Is that all?”
She lightly punched him in the arm. “What, that’s not enough for you?”
“It’s past flirting time, Knox.??
?
She grew serious at once and looked ahead as they walked. “No, it’s not all. The transformers?”
“What about them?” Puller said warily.
“I made them go away. Along with the tech, Jordan.”
Puller stopped walking, something she didn’t realize for a few more steps. She strode slowly back to him, her brow creased with concern.
He said, “You made critical evidence in a criminal investigation go away? That’s obstruction.”
“It wasn’t on my authority, I can assure you. It was on orders.”
“From who?”
“My superiors.”
“I’d like names, ranks, and serial numbers. And I’d like them right now.”
“I’m afraid I can’t go there.”
“You just admitted to a crime, Knox, a felony.”
“I’ll never be tried for it, Puller. Just the way things work in my world.”
“But not in mine.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re in my world, not yours, because that’s where your brother lived.”
“Why did you make the evidence disappear?”
“Because it would have shown traces of an explosive device.”
“So it was sabotaged?”
“They couldn’t let that go to chance, Puller. Just like the generator. It was intentionally gummed up.”
“And the two techs?”
“Clueless about it. Easy enough to do. Macri and her cronies had no problem with that.”
“And you know this how?”
She started to walk again and Puller matched her pace.
“We have a problem, Puller, a big one. We have a traitor in our ranks. Maybe more than one. No, assuredly more than one. Maybe a lot of them. And they are highly placed. They got your brother sent to DB. They have wreaked damage on this nation’s security. They are no doubt planning something else, something big.”
“So why am I here, then, Knox, if you know all this? Why was I invited to the party?”
“That’s the critical question, Puller. Why were you invited to this party? I haven’t found anyone who can answer that to my satisfaction.”
“Generals Rinehart and Daughtrey and James Schindler told me that they thought because of my connection to my brother that I would have insights others wouldn’t. They thought it gave the best chance to find him.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Well, since we’re going to dinner with two of them, why don’t we ask?”
“That’s exactly what you can’t do. When I said this goes high, I meant it might go to Mount Everest.”
“Schindler is on the NSC. He’s the president’s man. And Rinehart is in line for the Joint Chiefs. Are you telling me they’re traitors?”
“I’m not telling you they are and I’m not telling you they aren’t, because I don’t know. What I do know is we have to find out the truth before a very large shoe drops somewhere. It might already have for all I know.”
“Well, you seem to know a lot more than me.”
“In certain discrete parts that may be true. But I don’t know the why or who, just like you said before. And until we know those things we might as well know nothing.”
“But why take the transformers? Why cover that up?”
“We don’t want them to know that we know. If they go deeper underground we may never unearth them.”
“And Macri? The men who kidnapped me?”
“I can’t explain them, Puller. I don’t know if they’re part of the conspiracy or another faction that we‘re not aware of.”
“And the guys in the alley?”
“If I knew I’d tell you.”
“You sure about that.”
“Don’t throw that in my face.”
He stopped walking again. “You don’t think I’ve earned that right?”
She sighed. “The short answer is, you have earned that right.” She suddenly gripped his arm. “But I’m pleading with you not to go there, not now. You can kick me in the ass later, after this is all over.”
He glanced at her backside. “I can promise you that,” said Puller.
CHAPTER
47
THEY WALKED UP the front steps of the Army-Navy Club and into the well-lighted foyer. The main dining room was to the right, but Puller was unsure of exactly where the dinner with Rinehart and Schindler was to take place. As he removed his cover his problem was solved by a man in a suit hurrying over to them.
“Chief Puller? Ms. Knox?”
“I’m Puller.”
“And I’m Knox.”
“Please follow me. You’ll be in a private dining area upstairs.”
They followed the man to the second floor and then down a long hall.
Three men were waiting when they entered the small dining room. The man who had escorted them left, closing the door behind him. The three men rose. One was Rinehart in his dress blues, his chest looking armored with all the medals. Another was James Schindler in a black suit, white shirt, and blood-red tie. Rinehart introduced the third man, who was also dressed in a suit and tie. He was about fifty, fit and trim, with grayish blond hair cut haphazardly. One side of his face had sustained some type of catastrophic damage and had since been repaired, but not well. The eye socket, cheek, and jawline on that side looked more than a bit cadaverous. And it looked like the eye was made of glass.
Rinehart said, “This is Donovan Carter. He’s head of DTRA.”
Puller did his best to keep his features inscrutable at this announcement, though he found it hard. The head of DTRA was also the director of the WMD Center. So this was Susan Reynolds’s ultimate boss?
Puller introduced Knox to the men and they all shook hands.
As soon as they sat down the salads were served and glasses of white wine poured. When the servants had left them to munch their lettuce and grape tomatoes and sip their chardonnay, Rinehart looked at Puller and said, “A lot has obviously happened. We’d appreciate a full report.”
Puller shot Carter a glance and then gazed back at Rinehart.
The general said, “He’s been fully read in, Puller.”
Puller wanted to ask why that was but couldn’t think of a way to do it that wouldn’t seem insubordinate.
Puller began to deliver his briefing, going point by point. When he was done he avoided glancing at Knox for fear that she might have been staring at him for what he had left out. His kidnapping and his guardian angel. The transformers being covered up by Knox. The hit man coming to the DB to kill his brother. His suspicions about Reynolds. And what they had discovered about Niles Robinson.
Rinehart said, “A captain in the Army was part of some conspiracy at DB? Unbelievable.” He turned to Knox. “And you’re the one who had the deadly encounter with her?”
“I’m afraid so, sir. She tried to kill me. I had no choice but to defend myself.”