David Baldacci - True Blue

“I understand that your people have to survive. By any means possible.”

“They have nothing. This way they have something. The money cannot stop now. They have grown used to it. If you don’t pay, others will. Your leaders are very shortsighted in that regard. That is why we’ve had to go this route. Cash trumps all.”

“It won’t stop. I guarantee it.”

“That is good, because they do not love your country. But they can be bought. Anyone can be bought, it seems.” He paused and added bluntly, “Even me.”

“Enemies closer.”

“Allow no one to ever convince you otherwise.”

A few minutes later Burns left the cab and climbed into the back-seat of a waiting Town Car and turned to the woman sitting next to him. Mary Bard had discarded the jumpsuit and was dressed in much the same way as she had been when disposing of Karl Reiger and Don Hope.

“I appreciate your professionalism,” Burns said. “In a difficult assignment.”

Bard shrugged. “One assignment is much like another assignment. They vary only in degrees of complexity.”

“Moral as well as logistical?”

“I leave the moral debate to others. The logistical side is quite enough for me.”

“I can provide fresh orders for you if you require them,” Burns said, testing her.

“I have my orders. Your director has told me to assist you and only you in any way you require.”

“I must make a note to ask to have more people like you sent my way.”

“For that you will have to talk to my superiors in Moscow,” she said.

“I will.”

“So what do you wish me to do?”

“I need you to be on the watch for two people.” He showed her pictures of Roy Kingman and Mace Perry. She stared at them for a full minute.

“You can keep the photos,” he said.

“I don’t need them. They are now in my mind.”

“All right. We’re setting up perimeter defensive positions. But together with that I need to locate some bait, just in case.”

“I’m very good at finding bait.”

“I know that you are.”

MACE PARKED her bike behind the building and got off. Her gaze scanned the rear parking area, which had space for ten slots. As she stepped forward she could see the names of two doctors stenciled in yellow on the asphalt in side-by-side parking slots. The big shots always got their own space, she thought. A short stack of steps led up to the back door, which was solid wood. There were two windows in the back, both barred and curtained.

And there were the green trash cans that the Captain had mentioned. Not that that helped very much since there were only a million of them in the area and they all looked the same. She heard the clink of boots against the pavement before she heard the voice.

“Can I help you?”

She turned to see the rental cop walking toward her, his hand resting lightly on the top of his sidearm. He looked to be in his fifties and was probably a retired cop making some extra money. To her, he had the ease but also the awareness of a guy who’d walked a beat and talked the talk for a lot of years.

“Just checking the place out.”

He looked at the rear of Potomac Cryobank. “Just checking it out? Or casing it?”

“I’m not really in the market for sperm right now.”

“Lot of people are. It’s a hot commodity.”

“I bet. You guarding the place?”

“Not out for my health.”

“You former MPD?”

“You a cop?”

“Used to be.”

“I’m retired now. Do security full-time. What was your beat?”

“Mostly Six and Seven Ds.”

“Okay, you earned your stripes.”

“I’m doing some PI work now.”

“Involving this place?”

“I was hired by a lawyer to check out an alibi that has to do with the sperm bank. Don’t think it’s going to fly, but you have to go through the motions.”

“What sort of alibi?”

“Guy says he was around here going through trash cans when something else was happening at another place.”

“And at this other place the something happening was a crime and your guy was arrested for it?”

“You’re a fast learner.”

“Not really. Story’s always the same.”

“I’ve actually been in the sperm bank. I thought it had a security system.”

“It does.”

“So why you too? Is sperm really that hot a commodity?”

“I asked that very same question myself. I’m not some college kid wanting to make some extra bucks or some cop wannabe who doesn’t give a crap. I go into a situation I want to know what’s what. They told me that the security system had been acting screwy here and so they needed feet on the pavement.”

“Acting screwy?”

“Yeah. Energy spikes maybe, or a freak wire or software glitch. But they came in one day and found the alarm not even on. And the nurse said she remembered setting it. She was the last to leave.”

“Did you talk to the nurse?” He nodded. Mace described the woman that she and Roy had spoken with.

“Yeah, that’s the gal.”

“She’s pretty efficient. If she said she set it, I bet she did.”

“Anyway, they had the alarm company come over but they couldn’t figure out what had happened. And there was no record of any break-in or anything, or the alarm going off or any sensors being tripped. It was like the system just went to sleep for no reason. I don’t think anything turned up missing and there was no evidence that anyone actually broke in. But the folks still got worried and they’re in the process of changing the whole system over. Until they get it done, I’m here.”

“Do you remember when all this went down?”

“Why are you interested? Think it has to do with your alibi?”

“Never know. And I’m just naturally curious.”

“Most cops are.” He stroked his chin. “I got the call to come here on Thursday. So I guess Wednesday of last week.”

“I thought you might say that.”

He looked surprised. “Why?”

She fired up her bike. “It’s a real long story. You might read about it in the papers one day.”

MACE HAD LEARNED from her sister that as soon as the Captain had been arrested, the office elevators had been reprogrammed so they would not stop at the fourth floor. The construction workers had not been happy about having to haul their stuff up the stairs, but that was just the way it was. Public safety trumped aching backs.

Mace slowed her Ducati as she drew close to the area. She figured that no one had worked late in the building or come in too early ever since Roy had discovered Diane Tolliver’s body in a refrigerator. But still she scanned the building façade looking for signs of anyone being on-site. Her other concern was the possibility of a cop car posted somewhere close by.

Satisfied that the area was clean of surveillance, she parked her bike a block over from the building and made it the rest of the way on foot. She entered the garage. There were no cars parked there. The garage elevators were dead ahead.

Seconds later she entered the lobby, scooted behind the security console, and reached the entrance to the stairs. She paused for a moment, studying the door to the broom closet. She reached for the knob, her other hand in her pocket, and then ripped it open. The only thing that flopped out was a mop.

She made her way up the stairs and reached the fourth floor. Mace crab-walked across the room so as to keep below the window line and reached the small cubby area where the toilet and refrigerator were located. The length of chain was right where she had dropped it when she and Roy had been chased through the building.

She picked it up and eased over to the refrigerator. It was a big, older Amana model with the refrigerator part up top and a smaller freezer unit with its own little door down below. Using her penlight she could see several small rust stains on the white enamel skin of the appliance. She looped the chain around the fridge and held it tight. The stains were right where the chain touched it. She opened the fridge door. There were some plastic containers of food, a few cans of soda, and a battered gray lunch pail.