Дэвид Балдаччи - The Sixth Man

“I’m looking for the Kryton Corporation. They’re supposed to be somewhere around here, but I think my secretary got the damn address wrong.”

The guard frowned. “Kryton? Never heard of them. I know they’re not in this building.”

“They’re on the sixth floor. That I do know.”

The guard was shaking his head. “Only company on the sixth floor here is BIC Corp.”

“BIC. Doesn’t sound anything like Kryton.”

“No, it sure doesn’t,” said the guard firmly.

“Kryton’s in the intelligence field. Government contractor.”

“So is just about every company in this area. All looking for Uncle Sam’s last dollar. That is to say, my last dollar as a taxpayer.”

Sean grinned. “I hear you loud and clear. Well, thanks.” He turned to leave but then said, “BIC. Is that like the pen?”

“No, Bunting International Corp.”

“Bunting? Wasn’t he a baseball player and then a senator?”

“That’s Jim Bunning you’re thinking of. From Kentucky. Retired now.”

Sensing the guard’s patience was coming to an end and his suspicions were heightening, he said, “Well, I better get going or I’m going to miss my meeting.” He pulled out his phone. “But right now I’m going to give my secretary hell.”

“Have a nice day, sir.”

Sean walked out the door and called Michelle. “We finally got a break,” he said triumphantly.

“WHEN?” ASKED PETER BUNTING, his voice shaky.

He sat behind his large desk holding the phone receiver to his ear. He had just been told that Carla Dukes had been murdered in her home.

“Do the police have any leads? Any suspects?”

The person answered.

“All right. But the minute you hear anything I need to know.”

Carla Dukes had been his handpicked person to take over the director’s slot at Cutter’s. They went a long way back. They hadn’t been close friends, but they had been professional colleagues. She was good at what she did. And Bunting had respected her. He’d also unwittingly led the woman to her death.

Instead of taking the long walk to the pizza building he decided to phone.

James Harkes picked up on the second ring.

“What the hell is going on?” Bunting said.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Carla Dukes was murdered last night.”

Harkes said nothing. All Bunting could hear was the man’s breathing. Regular, calm.

“Did you hear what I said?”

“My hearing is excellent, Mr. Bunting.”

“She was my operative. I put her at Cutter’s for a specific reason.”

“Understood.”

“Understood? What does that mean? If it was understood, why did you have her killed?”

“You need to calm down, Mr. Bunting. You’re not making any sense. I would have had no reason to kill Ms. Dukes.”

Bunting had no way to know if Harkes was telling the truth or not, but something told him the man was lying.

“Not only is a good person dead, I have no eyes at Cutter’s now. Roy is up there with no coverage.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that, sir. We have the situation in hand.”

“How?”

“You’ll just have to trust me on that.”

“Are you insane? I don’t trust anyone, Harkes. Particularly people who won’t answer my questions.”

“If you have any other concerns just let me know.” Harkes clicked off.

Bunting slowly put the phone down, rose and went to the window, and stared down at the street. His mind was literally catapulting forward to one devastating scenario after another.

Why would anyone have wanted Dukes dead? She was the director of Cutter’s, but it wasn’t like she had any real power. If Harkes had killed her, why?

He sat down and called Avery, who had just flown in to the D.C. office. Bunting knew he had met with Dukes last night. It had been a last-minute thing, prompted by a frantic text to Avery, who had gone back up to Maine only the day before. Dukes had wanted to meet with Bunting, but since Avery was already on the ground in Maine and Dukes had wanted to meet immediately, Avery had gone instead.

“Avery, Carla Dukes is dead, murdered, not too long after she met with you.”

Avery said, “I know, I just heard it on the news.” His voice was shaky.

“What did she want to meet about? When she texted me that she wanted to meet, she didn’t say why. That’s when I texted her back to contact you directly.”

“Sean King had approached her at her home.”

“King? About what?”

“He said he knew she was working with someone other than the FBI. That the Bureau wouldn’t be happy when they found that out. He really shook her up.”

“How the hell did he know about that?”

“No clue.”

Bunting thought quickly. “It must’ve been guesswork on his part.”

“But she was frightened. He gave her an ultimatum of sorts.”

“What did he want?”

“Us, I guess.”

“How good is our wall?”

“No one at Cutter’s Rock will talk to him.”

“But they suspect someone else is involved.” Bunting had a sudden, terrible thought. “Did King meet with her right before she came to see you?”

“Yes. She was upset. Sent me a coded message and in it she said King had told her the FBI had tapped her phones and e-mails.”

“And you met with her where?”

“The rendezvous point we had designated previously. It’s a little picnic area really off the beaten path, even for Maine.”

“So King put the fear of God into Carla with the result that she got spooked and went running to you. Was Michelle Maxwell with King when he met with Carla?”

“She said he was alone.”

“Shit!”

“What is it?”

“They played us.”

“What? How?”

“While King was busy scaring the crap out of Carla, Maxwell was doing something else, maybe placing a tracking device on Carla’s car. Then King bullshitted her about the FBI tapping her phone and e-mails. The result was that the only way to safely communicate with us was face-to-face.”

“They followed Dukes to the meeting?”

“Of course they did. And then they saw you there.” Bunting felt a dull ache in his head. “And then they followed you . They’re probably standing outside your office as we speak.”

“Oh shit.”

Bunting rubbed his temples. “Did you notice anyone that looked like Sean King on your flights?”

“No, but I really wasn’t paying attention.”

Bunting nervously tapped the top of his desk. “Did you cab it from the airport?”

“No, I had a driver meet me at the airport.”

Bunting ground his teeth together. “So they have your name now, too. Okay, they followed you to the office and have no doubt discovered that you work for BIC. From BIC it’s only a Google search to Peter Bunting.”

“But, sir–”

Bunting hung up on him and paced his large office, nervous energy feeding his system like liquefied rocks of crack.

He calmed himself, sat back down. He had to think. Even if King had connected the dots to BIC, he had no proof of any wrongdoing because there was none. But that wasn’t the point. Revealing to the public what Edgar Roy really was could be catastrophic.

And now Bunting had no one he could really trust.

Except myself, apparently.

Right now that was small comfort.

KELLY PAUL SAT at her desk in her hotel room in New York and looked around the small, comfortable space. How many such rooms had she inhabited over the last twenty years? She wouldn’t sound clichéd and say too many . Actually, the number had been just about right.

She didn’t doodle with the hotel-supplied pen and paper because she might inadvertently leave behind some clue that might one day lead back to her. Her bag was packed, her traveling documents in order. She carried no weapon with her but had ready access to any she might need only five minutes from here.