Stuart Woods: Shoot Him If He Runs

“I’ll be there around seven,” Thomas said.

“Good luck, Thomas, and thank you.”

“Good-bye, Leslie.” Thomas hung up. He went to his safe, opened it and took out the snub-nosed.38 that he had carried as a backup piece when he was a New York City cop. He strapped the holster to his ankle, checked to be sure the gun was loaded, then shoved it into the holster and secured it.

He called Teddy.

“Yes?”

“Stone and Holly are going to be there shortly. It’s important that you secrete yourself while they’re looking for you and, probably, for a few days after that. Do you have food in that bunker of yours, or do you want me to bring you some?”

“I’m quite self-sufficient, Thomas, and don’t worry, they will not find me. I know you’re worried about my being apprehended, but you may put that out of your mind; it won’t happen.”

“I hope not.”

“I know that my capture would endanger your prospects for forming a government, and I will not put you in that position, I promise you.”

“Thank you, Teddy; I’m glad you understand what’s at stake for the future of St. Marks.”

“I do. Give me as much time as you can; I’m nearly ready now.”

“Good-bye, Teddy,” Thomas said, and he meant it. One way or another, this would be their last conversation.

Thomas left his office and went to pick up Stone and Holly.

Stone and Holly were waiting outside their cottage for Thomas to pick them up when her satphone rang again.

“Yes?”

“It’s Lance. Harold Pitts’s house is less than ten miles from the front gate here; I sent two men to look it over, and Pitts answered the door. He returned home last night after six weeks of touring the country in an RV.”

“So our Harold Pitts is Teddy.”

“No doubt about it,” Lance said. “Holly, you’re not going to be able to bring him back with you, and you can’t allow him to be caught.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if the St. Marks police get their hands on him, they’ll torture him until they know everything; I mean that he’s not going to get onto that airplane with you; he just won’t. He knows exactly what that would mean when he’s back in the States, and he’ll kill you rather than allow that to happen.”

“I’m armed; Dino had brought a weapon with him.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Lance said. “It means that you won’t have to kill him with a knife or your hands.”

“Lance, I’m going to try to take him alive.”

“It can’t be done, Holly. The very best outcome of such an effort would be that he might kill himself, but he very likely would kill you first. He will be armed to the teeth, and he’s not going to have a conversation with you before he starts shooting.”

“We don’t know that.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Holly. Quite apart from my personal loss, the Agency would be left holding a very large bag.”

“That’s not what I’m thinking about,” Holly said.

“It’s what you must think about. You can only prevent a horrible mess for the Agency, and perhaps for the country, by remaining alive, and that means killing Teddy at the first opportunity, do you understand?”

“I suppose so.”

“These are your orders, Holly: Kill him on sight; do not wait for him to threaten you or run. Do you understand?”

Holly heaved a deep sigh. “I understand.”

“I’ll meet you at Manassas airport. Good-bye.” Lance hung up.

Stone was staring at her. “Are you going to do it?”

“Yes,” she said.

Lance had hardly hung up the phone when it rang again.

“Yes?”

“It’s Kate Lee, Lance.”

“Good morning, Director.”

“Lance, the president wants to announce his candidacy for reelection, probably in the next day or two; he’s meeting with his campaign people now. Where are we on the St. Marks operation?”

“I anticipate a resolution within hours,” Lance said.

“Can you promise me that?”

“No, Director, because I’m not on St. Marks, doing it myself. But I believe that before the day is out, I can give you a conclusive answer.”

“All right. I’ll expect to hear from you later in the day.”

“Something else, Director: Hugh English’s secretary told me yesterday that an item had appeared on the Drudge Report website saying that Hugh had resigned because he has Alzheimer’s disease.”

“I’ve heard about it, and I’m shocked.”

Lance thought he detected an ironic overtone to that statement. “I’ve told Carolyn that she can give a quote to Drudge, attributed to an inside source, but not named, that the information is false.”

“Good. If I’m asked about it, I’ll issue a strong denial.”

“Thank you, Director. I’ll call you later today.”

“I’ll sit by the phone, Lance. Good-bye.” She hung up.

Lance leaned back in his chair and began doing deep breathing exercises to calm himself.

Stone and Holly got into Thomas’s car.

“Thomas,” Stone said, “can you drive us straight to the airport when we’re done with this errand? I’ve told Dino to take the rental car and our luggage.”

“Of course,” Thomas said. “Please tell me what you hope to accomplish by this trip up Black Mountain.”

“That remains to be seen,” Holly said.

“I think it’s time the two of you and I had a frank discussion,” Thomas said.

“Go ahead,” Stone said.

“Of course, I’ll deny that this conversation ever took place, and I expect you will, too.”

“All right.”

“I’ve known for some time that Harold Pitts is Teddy Fay.”

Stone’s mouth fell open. “Why on earth didn’t you tell us?”

“Because Teddy had work to do, work that I and some others on the island thought necessary to preserve this little country as something other than the dictatorship of Winston Sutherland.”

“You mean you had Teddy kill Sir Winston?”

“No; he did that entirely on his own hook. Let me explain.”

“Please do.”

“Teddy came here first as Pemberton, an Englishman, some months ago. He and I met in the restaurant, and we talked a lot. Gradually, as I got to know him better, the talk turned to local politics. I told him that the island was being strangled by corruption at the top, that Winston was squeezing practically every business on the island for money, using Croft and duBois for muscle, then shipping it into an offshore account. Pemberton, as I knew him, was intensely interested in this. He intimated that he was motivated, and had the skills, to remove Croft and duBois from the picture. The words were never spoken directly; these were highly nuanced conversations.”

“So you hired Teddy to kill Croft and duBois?”

“Certainly not; didn’t you hear what I just said? He volunteered, and I did not discourage him. Then Pemberton abruptly disappeared and Harold Pitts arrived.”

“Who is in this with you?”

“There is a group of us on the island, mostly members of Parliament, as I am, who thought that with Croft and duBois out of the way, we could go to Winston and bully him into backing off. After all, he had already accumulated enough to keep him in luxury for the rest of his life.”

“From what I know of Sutherland,” Stone said, “I don’t think he could have been bullied.”

“Neither do I, and I was prepared to go further if he resisted us. Then, early this morning, Teddy killed duBois, and I believe that he suddenly found himself with an opportunity to kill Winston, and he did that, too. I don’t think it was planned.”

“How long have you known that Pemberton/Pitts was Teddy?”

“I suspected it from what I had read in the international press about Teddy, but I didn’t press him on it, until you arrived and told me what you were doing. Immediately after that, after he had taken on the Harold identity, I asked him, straight out, if he was Teddy Fay, and he admitted it. Irene has always known, of course.”