David Baldacci - Stone Cold

The description of the old woman left no doubt in Gray’s mind that it was Lesya Solomon. Age had not been kind to her; she was no longer the beautiful, enticing Soviet spy. But it was Lesya, Gray just knew it.

Yet what would John Carr have been doing with the very people who wanted to kill him? Had he lied about his identity? Had he taken them by force? Had they teamed up? That might actually make my job easier .

Gray looked out the window of the chopper as it soared over the Virginia countryside on its way to Langley. With the overpowering force of the president’s authorization burning a hole in his pocket, he would take command of the search. No questions would be asked. Still, the mission required delicacy, stealth and, when the target was sighted and then fixed, an unstoppable show of force. He would one-up the military on what shock and awe really meant.

He studied the topography below. Carr, Lesya and her child were down there somewhere. Only three people marshaled against him, one of them a woman in her seventies. Gray had unlimited people, assets and money. It would only be a matter of time. David P. Jedidiah’s son was now being sought with the combined might of America’s intelligence empire. And there was another way to speed up the process. As soon as the chopper landed at CIA, Gray started implementing his attack.

With Finn driving they crossed into Maryland that evening. Lesya sat in the backseat looking tired and frightened. Stone heard her keep muttering in Russian, “They will kill us all.”

He glanced over at Finn, who was staring ahead, but Stone noted that his eyes kept checking the rearview mirror.

“You have a family?” Stone asked.

Finn hesitated and then said, “Let’s stay focused on the task at hand.”

Lesya leaned over the front seat. “And what is that? What are we focusing on now? You tell me.”

“Staying alive,” Stone answered. “And with Carter Gray after us, that’s not going to be easy.”

“They dug up your grave,” Finn said as they traveled around the Capital Beltway.

“Gray’s doing, to flush me out.”

“He knew you were alive?”

“Yes. We reached an understanding of late. He left me alone and I left him alone.”

Lesya pointed an accusatory finger at Stone. “You see, you see? They are allies, son. They are working together. We are in the hands of the enemy.”

Stone turned around in his seat to stare at the woman. “Lesya, you were one of the greatest spies the Soviet Union ever had. It was said that you turned more foreign agents than anyone ever had.”

“I am Russian. I worked for my country. As you did yours, John Carr. And you’re right, I was the best.”

He was silent as he saw the pride creep into her hollow features. He allowed her to feel it for only a few seconds before he snapped. “Then start acting like it. Stop with the hysterical and stupid comments, because we’re going to need all the help you can give us if we’re going to survive this. Or are you just going to sit there and let your son die?” he finished bluntly.

She stared coldly at him, the sudden anger narrowing her eyes. And then her expression cleared. She looked at Finn and then back at Stone. “You are right,” she said matter-of-factly. “I am being stupid.” She sat back. “We need to formulate a plan, keeping in mind that Carter Gray has enormous resources at his disposal. Only sometimes, enormous resources cannot move with agility, while we can. They may find that we have a trick or two they didn’t anticipate.”

Finn stared at his mother in the mirror. He had never heard this tone of voice, seen this calm confidence before. Her Russian accent was completely gone. It was as though she had taken thirty years off her life. She was even sitting up straighter!

Lesya continued, “They may not know of my son’s involvement, at least not yet, but they will before very long.”

“How?” Finn asked.

“They will check the flights into the airport today. Match descriptions. It is a small place, it won’t take long.”

“I didn’t use my real name. I had a fake ID.”

“Video surveillance at the airport,” Stone said. “They’ll match your face to some database. I assume it’s in at least one.” Finn nodded. “Then your family may be compromised.”

“Call them, now!” Lesya urged.

Stone could see the enormous pressure the younger man was under as he gripped the phone.

In a shaky voice Finn spoke into the phone. “Please, honey, no questions now. Just get the kids and take them to a motel. There’s a cell phone in my desk drawer. Use that to call me. No one can trace it. Get cash out of the ATM. Don’t use your credit card or your real name at the motel. Stay there. No school, no baseball games, soccer or swimming, nothing. And don’t tell anyone. Please. I’ll explain later.”

Stone and Lesya could hear the woman’s frantic responses.

A bead of sweat slid down Finn’s forehead. His voice dropped still lower and finally his wife calmed. “I love you, sweetie. I will make this all right. I swear it.”

He clicked off and slumped back. Lesya slid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

“I’m sorry, Harry. I’m sorry for doing this to you. I… I…” Her voice trailed off. She removed her hand and eyed Stone.

“You say Gray knows you’re alive, Carr? He flushed you out of the grave, as it were. Do you have anyone he can use to get to you ? To flush you out again? Because as I said, undoubtedly someone at the nursing home saw us leave and will already have given a description. He will know you are with us. He will know the easiest way to get to us is to get to you. So tell me, is there?”

“I do have people he can exploit, but I already warned them, before I went to the hospital.”

She shook her head. “A warning is meaningless unless it’s acted on with skill. They are capable people who can take care of themselves, follow orders, these friends?” she asked as she scrutinized him. “Don’t color the truth. We need to know exactly how it stands.”

“One of them is and he’s with another friend of mine. But there’s a third friend…” Caleb, please don’t do anything stupid .

“So that is the flank Gray will exploit. Tell me, how close do you value this friend?”

“Very!”

“Then I am sorry for you and your friend.”

Stone leaned back against the seat and felt the smacks of his heart. He hated what the woman was saying and yet he knew she was absolutely right.

She added, “And if it comes down to it, will you trade us for your friend?” Stone turned around to find her looking at him. He had never seen a more piercing stare than the one Lesya was giving him now. No, he was wrong about that. He had seen a gaze like that once before: on Rayfield Solomon, right before Stone killed him.

“No,” he said. “I won’t.”

“Then let’s work to ensure it doesn’t come down to that, John Carr. And maybe you can redeem yourself for killing my husband.”

She glanced out the window and said, “And I was the best agent the Soviet Union ever had. But Rayfield was even better.”

“Why?” Stone asked.

“Because I fell in love with him. And he turned me .”

“What?” Stone blurted out.

“Didn’t you know? I was working for the Americans when you murdered him.”

JERRY BAGGER HAD BEEN WORKING the phones ever since he’d talked to Paddy Conroy. The casino chief had been thinking a lot in the last few hours and he’d arrived at a decision. Normally, in any confrontation, Bagger’s instinct was to trade blow for blow until he or the other guy fell down. He wasn’t going to do that this time, for a lot of reasons. Chief among them was the fact that he’d seen Annabelle in action. He knew how good, how convincing she could be. And there was a little tickle in the back of his brain that reminded him that a jab-jab-jab was a great setup for a left hook, a haymaker that had put many an opponent down permanently. He didn’t intend to be on the receiving end of one of those.