Дэвид Балдаччи - The Escape

“I could, sir.”

“Where is he?”

“At a motel in Virginia.”

“And you say he’s been helping you?”

“He was the one who pinpointed the Pentagon as the target. But for him–”

Rinehart interjected, “The virus would have been unleashed. Thousands of people would have died. This country’s military leadership would have been decimated.”

“All true,” said Knox, glancing anxiously at both men. “I think he’s more than redeemed himself.”

“It’s not a question of redemption,” barked Rinehart. “It’s a question of the law.” He looked at Puller. “You need to bring him in. Right now.”

“I’ll do so under one condition.”

Rinehart gave him a molten look. “You’re in no position to lay out conditions, Puller.”

“One condition.”

“I know what you’ve done, soldier. You’ve risked your life to save lives. But you are dancing perilously close to the edge.”

“You need to give my brother protection.”

“Protection?”

“He can’t go back to DB. Not yet.”

Knox said, “They’re still out there, sir. Reynolds and Bok and God knows who else. They got into the Pentagon. They have spies, it seems, everywhere. They will know that Robert Puller blew up their plan.”

“Well, so did the two of you. If he needs protection, so do you both.”

Knox looked at Puller. “It might not be a bad idea, at least for a little while,” she said.

“And what about Reynolds and Bok?”

“We’re going to get them, Puller,” replied Rinehart. “We have thousands of agents looking for them. We have every possible way in and out of this country covered. They won’t get away.” He paused. “I’ll match your condition with my own. You two will join your brother in protection. That way you stay safe and we can have time to sort this out. You’ve done enough.”

“I don’t like this,” said Puller. “I owe these people, sir. I owe them a counterattack with everything I have.”

“I understand that, soldier. But the three stars on my shoulders mean I outrank you by a landslide. And you will stand down. Because I order you to. And I’m not in the habit of repeating myself. Do you understand?”

When Puller didn’t acknowledge this, Knox grabbed his arm. “Puller, it’s the only way. You don’t have a choice. You can’t throw everything away now. You’ve fought too hard.”

Puller looked away for a moment and then swung his gaze back to Rinehart.

“I understand, sir.”

GENERAL RINEHART SAT across from Robert Puller at the safe house where they were being kept. It was a three-bedroom house at the end of a cul-de-sac in a Maryland neighborhood that had suffered multiple foreclosures during the economic collapse. That made it isolated, but also more secure. The safe house itself had a perimeter security force and also personnel in the house. A chopper did a pass over the area every two hours.

Rinehart was in uniform; Robert Puller was in jeans and a sweatshirt. Yet the men seemed on roughly equal footing.

Rinehart said to Robert, “I want to believe that you are innocent of all charges, Puller. I don’t want to see you go back to DB. But that’s not up to me.”

“I understand, sir.”

Puller and Knox hovered in the background, listening intently.

Rinehart said, “I’ll be frank with you. Despite what I’ve been told you did to avoid disaster at the Pentagon, there is no solid evidence to overturn your conviction.”

“I understand that too, sir.”

“And yet you turned yourself in?”

“My brother suggested it, and I agreed. It was never my intent to escape and disappear. I had never planned on escaping, but the opportunity presented itself. Once on the outside my goal was to both prove my innocence and then try to undo the damage that the real traitors had wrought.”

“Meaning Reynolds.”

“Well, she’s the only one still left alive. Daughtrey and Robinson are dead. And they were coerced into betraying their country. She did it voluntarily. Then there’s Anton Bok, but he’s a Russian operative who turned Reynolds.”

“It’s still hard to believe.”

“I take it she didn’t show up for work at DTRA?”

Rinehart shook his head. “No, she didn’t. Her house is empty. It seems that she’s made a run for it.”

Puller said, “After we stopped their plot at the Pentagon, that would make sense.”

“But that still doesn’t prove your innocence.”

“No, it doesn’t. Not directly. But I hope that there’s enough doubt there now to allow for at least a new trial.”

“Again, that’s not up to me, but I will exercise whatever influence I have to see that that happens.”

“I appreciate that, sir,” said Puller.

“It’s stunning that we would have a spy so highly placed. And that she managed to kill Daughtrey, Schindler, and Carter.”

Robert nodded. “She’s certainly capable. And she’s not acting alone. Bok is also very capable. He was able to secure a position in the foreign military program at Leavenworth. He was able to get an assassin onto the base. I believe that he was instrumental in the plot involving the Pentagon.”

“So it’s Russia behind this?” said Rinehart.

“It may be that Bok is acting for a third party, but from things that Reynolds told us, I think that he might be working for Mother Russia, yes.”

“That would fit in with what they have been doing lately,” said Rinehart.

“Exerting a thirst for regional dominance. And if Bok is working for the Russians, that means that Reynolds is too. She’s not the grand planner type. But she’s good at executing others’ plans. I found that out when I worked with her at STRATCOM.”

Knox said, “I believe that a military tribunal would acquit you now.”

Robert looked up at her. “My escape won’t earn me any points but once I explain why, I would like to think they would understand.”

Puller added, “I think a more serious concern right now is making sure you stay alive.”

Rinehart looked a little skeptical. “Do you really think they’ll try something? I would have to believe they’re more likely to try to get to Moscow.”

“Having seen Reynolds up close, I would say that the woman hates to lose. And when she does, she will exact retribution. And the simple fact is she hates my brother. You don’t want her for an enemy. Just ask her dead husband.”

“You really think she had a hand in that?” said Rinehart a little skeptically.

“I think she had both hands and both feet in it,” replied Puller firmly.

Rinehart rose. “Well, I will put things in motion. There will be a lot of hoops to jump through, and there are no guarantees.”

“I never expected that there would be,” said Robert.

After Rinehart left, Puller sat down next to his brother. “It’ll work out, Bobby.”

“Don’t sugarcoat, Junior. We both know how bad it is. It’s all well and good to sit here and talk to Rinehart about things. But judges and lawyers want facts. They want irrefutable evidence to overturn a conviction. And I don’t see how we have that.”

“Well, there’s one way to get that irrefutable evidence,” said Puller.

“How?”

“Find Reynolds and make her tell the truth.”

“Well, they have lots of people looking for her,” pointed out Robert.

“I don’t think they’ll track her down,” said Knox.

“We could find her,” said Puller.

They looked at him.

Knox said, “How? We’re stuck in a safe house.”

“There’s one person I haven’t talked to,” said Puller.

“Who?” asked his brother.

“Susan Reynolds’s daughter. She might have a clue as to where her mom is.”