David Baldacci - Stone Cold

“Hello, Roger, it’s been a long time.”

“Do I know y-?” Simpson’s breath caught in his throat as Stone’s gaze bore into him.

“I guess I haven’t changed as much as I thought,” Stone said. “Actually, I think I did all my aging while working for you and Gray.”

Simpson stammered, “John, please you have to believe me, I had nothing to do with what happened to you or your wife.” He added quickly, “And we took care of Jackie. We loved her very much.”

Stone elbowed the man hard in the ribs. “ My daughter’s name was Elizabeth , not Jackie.”

“Gray gave her to us. He didn’t tell us she was your daughter. He only told me the truth recently.”

“So who did order the hit on me?”

“I have my suspicions,” Simpson said.

“Gray?”

Simpson said slowly, “Could have been. He said you wanted to leave Triple Six. He didn’t like that one bit. That’s the truth.”

“Apparently neither did a lot of people. You ordered the hits on Andropov and Chernenko, didn’t you?”

Simpson almost choked on his own breath. “Who told you that?”

“Did you?”

“That’s in the past. But if I did anything of that magnitude, which I’m not admitting that I did, it would have been duly authorized from the highest possible level.”

“I’m sure you covered your ass. I talked to Max Himmerling before he died.”

A tic started at Simpson’s left temple. “Himmerling?”

“Yeah. I’m assuming Gray had him killed because he knew he’d tell me everything. And Max knew where all the skeletons were buried.”

“What all did he tell you?” Simpson asked nervously.

“Everything I needed to know,” Stone said quietly. “Like it was either you or Gray who ordered the hit on me.”

Simpson could barely speak now. “Are you going to kill me?”

“That depends on you, doesn’t it?” Stone put on his sunglasses and sat back. “ And how much Carter Gray values your friendship ? If he doesn’t take the bait, you’re of no value to me.”

“I could well be the next president of this country!” Simpson snapped.

“Like I said, no value to me at all.”

SIMPSON SPOKE SLOWLY into the phone. His words had been scripted. If the man had any desire to deviate from that script, Stone was holding a gun against his head to dissuade him.

“They want to meet, Carter,” he said in a strained voice.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gray said. “ Who are you talking about?”

“You know who!”

“Well, tell them, whoever they are, that if they’re recording this conversation, I wish them luck in trying to use it against anyone.”

“Carter, dammit, they’ve kidnapped me!”

“I can call 911 if you’d like. Any idea where they might be holding you?”

“They have something you want.”

“Really?”

“They know about David.”

“Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“They have the orders I signed, you know the ones.”

“No, I really don’t.”

Simpson said angrily, “You authorized that order, Carter.”

“Again, without possibly knowing what you’re really talking about I can try to make a trade.”

“Me for the boy.”

“No, for the orders.”

“What about me!”

“What about you, Roger?”

“They’ll kill me.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that. But you’ve lived a fairly long and full life. Where do they want to do the exchange?”

“You son of a bitch!”

Stone took the phone. “We’ll call you back with the place and time. And we’ll throw in Simpson for no extra charge. I have no desire to keep him.”

“John, nice to hear your voice. Do you know how difficult you’ve made things for me?”

“It seems to be the only thing I live for anymore.”

“And of course you won’t be lying in wait to ambush me.”

“You’ll have to take your chances, just like I will.”

“And what if I don’t show up?”

“Then the orders for Andropov and Chernenko’s assassinations get sent to five people in D.C., none of whom you’d call a friend. And then we can let the distinguished senator sell you out to save himself. I think he’d make a great witness.”

“After all these years you think anyone will really care?”

“Fine, if you don’t think it matters, why bother coming? We’ll just messenger them out and let the chips fall. Take care, Carter.”

“Wait!”

A few moments of silence passed.

Stone said, “I don’t hear anything.”

“Where did you get these orders? Lesya?”

“You don’t need to know. Roger has seen them. And judging by the paleness of his skin I’d say he thinks it matters a lot.”

“He was always a bit excitable. Not like you and me. All right, John, but if you really want to do a deal, you’ll have to sweeten the pot. I want the original recording you took at Murder Mountain.”

“That’s not negotiable.”

“Oh, but it is. You cost me my career. I want it back. And don’t try to run and make copies. We have technology now that shows that.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I don’t have to tell you the consequences, do I?”

Stone looked at Finn. “All right. I’ll call you back with the time and place. And you have to be there in person or it’s no deal.”

“Then I’d prefer to pick the location.”

“I know, that’s why I’m doing it. One more thing. Anything happens to David Finn, you won’t walk away alive.”

“You’re not what you once were, John. I have fifty men as good as you ever were.”

“Make that forty-nine. I ran into one of your best about a month ago, an ex-Triple Six turned spy.”

Gray put down the phone and wiped a trickle of sweat from his face.

MANDY AND THE REST of the Finn family were moved to other quarters by Reuben, Caleb and Alex that night, after taking great precautions to make sure they weren’t followed. They also brought Lesya to stay with them. Caleb was left on guard with strict instructions to phone immediately if anything seemed suspicious. Then Reuben and Alex left to help the others with the preparations for the exchange of Simpson and David Finn.

Back at the cellar Stone quickly made it clear that only he and Finn would be directly involved in the exchange.

“Oliver,” Alex said. “You have no idea how many people Gray’s going to be bringing. If you remember Murder Mountain, it was a lot of guys with submachine guns.”

Stone said, “This time we’ll have the advantage.” He looked at Annabelle. “However, we need someone to lead David out. For a number of reasons, you fit the bill. Are you game?”

Alex stepped between them. “Wait a minute. If anyone’s going in there with you, it’s going to be me, not Annabelle.”

“She will only be involved in getting David out of the building. We have a way to do that that doesn’t involve confrontation with Gray and his men.” He looked at Annabelle again. “I know you have a great deal of nerve. But I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I could think of any other way.” He added quietly, “And you have no reason to help me. I certainly abandoned you in your time of need.”

She looked at Stone and then over at Alex. “Well, your handpicked replacement did a pretty good job. So I am game. Where is this all going to go down?”

Finn answered, “The Capitol Visitor Center.”

“It’s not finished yet,” Milton said.

“Which is exactly why we’re using it,” Stone answered.

Finn explained. “The company I work for has been targeting the visitor center for a penetration. We do that under contract to Homeland Security as a way to evaluate the security of a particular facility. We do penetrations on airports, shipping ports, nuclear reactor facilities; highly sensitive and strategic operations like that.”