David Baldacci - Stone Cold

“Let us worry about that, Annabelle,” Stone said.

FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS, Stone and Finn choreographed what would happen later that night. Finn was highly experienced when it came to work like this, but he finally had to admit to himself that when it came to killing other people while putting oneself in the best possible position to survive, Oliver Stone was his clear superior.

And then they were as ready as they were going to be. Stone made the call to Gray and then they both took up their positions and waited. Stone knew that Gray would send in an advance guard to recon the place. Sure enough, two hours later, men came sniffing and poking around, with the security guards out front no doubt either tied up or suitably intimidated by the men’s badges.

Then the man himself appeared. Carter Gray was looking chunkier than usual. From his sniper’s post Stone instantly discerned why: body armor. That didn’t bother Stone in the slightest since, as he’d told Finn, he always aimed for the head. People couldn’t survive without a brain. Although it did seem that more than a few people in Washington managed to do so quite nicely.

Next to Gray was a man pushing a hand truck with a bag on it. He unzipped the bag and helped the boy out. David Finn was blindfolded and had sound mufflers over his ears. Wobbling, he stood next to Gray, who looked around the vast interior of the uncompleted Great Hall.

“Well,” Gray said to the emptiness. “We’re here.”

Harry Finn walked out into the room, a gagged Simpson in hand. “Give me the boy.”

Gray looked mildly annoyed at being talked to in such a manner. “Harry Finn, Lesya and Rayfield’s son. You take after your mother more than your father.”

“Let me have my son!”

“Where are the orders? And where is my recording?”

Finn pulled a set of papers and a cell phone from his jacket pocket. He held them up. “I want David next to me.”

Finn pushed Simpson toward Gray. The senator jogged the last few steps. When he reached Gray the intelligence chief immediately had the gag and hand bindings removed.

The guard pushed David toward his father. Finn hugged his son. “It’s okay, Davey, I’ve got you.” He took off the blindfold and sound mufflers.

“Dad!” David said in a trembling voice as he squeezed his father tightly.

Gray held out his hand. “Give them to me. Now!”

Finn tossed the items to him. Gray looked at the orders. “It’s hard to believe these have survived all these years.”

“Lots of things have survived all these years, including my mother,” Finn said as he edged David behind him. He could sense everyone’s fingers edging toward triggers.

Gray listened to the recording on the cell phone, then handed it to a man next to him, who placed it in a small electronic device and played it again. He read off the result displayed on an LED screen on the side of the device. “It’s the original, copied once.”

Stone had given one copy to Gray previously.

Gray smiled, pocketed the cell phone and looked at Finn. “And how is your mother?”

“A widow, thanks to you.”

Gray looked around. “John, I know you’re out there. Perhaps you have your little ragtag regiment with you. But just so you understand the playing field, I have this place surrounded and sealed shut. And it has been placed off-limits to the police, FBI, Secret Service and anyone else you might be counting on. I’m sure you know there is a mock terrorist attack going on outside right now. That’s probably why you selected this place tonight. You no doubt hoped it would help you to escape. But what it does, instead, is ensure that if there is any shooting in here, no one outside will hear it, or if they do, they won’t bother to investigate.”

As they listened, the sounds of staged sirens, gunfire and bombs exploding, all part of the drill, reached them.

Gray glanced back at Finn. “And you might want to thank this young man, John. He killed Bingham, Cincetti and Cole. You have no way of knowing this, but it was your three former colleagues who were part of the team sent to kill you. They missed, of course, but they did get your wife. Cole claimed he was the one who killed her, but Bingham disputed that. They actually volunteered for the job. I guess you weren’t too popular with them.”

Only silence greeted this verbal right cross from Gray.

Gray waited a moment and then added, “You also might want to see who else I stumbled on while I was on my way here.”

FINN’S HEART SANK as he saw Milton being marched in between two of Gray’s men.

From behind the concrete parapet on the balcony Stone’s finger eased near the trigger of his rifle. He could take both men out before they could harm Milton. The only problem was he didn’t know where the rest of Gray’s strike team was. He needed to flush them out.

Finn said quietly, “I think that concludes the exchange.”

Gray shook his head. “Actually, Harry, it’s just starting.”

He nodded to his men as he backed out with Simpson. When they reached safety, Simpson called out, “By the way, John, I was the one who ordered the hit on you. No one leaves Triple Six voluntarily. My only regret was we didn’t get you then. But good things come to those who wait.”

From the balcony Stone stared down at the spot where Simpson was speaking from. The senator was smart enough to have put a thick wall between them. For an instant Stone’s mind went blank, then everything clicked back on. He had a job to do and nothing Simpson could say would interfere with that. He raced over to a large powered winch they’d set up earlier.

On cue, Finn grabbed his son and flung him down, pulling a gun from his waistband and shielding David with his body. The next instant a large object dropped from the rafters. It was a heavy Jersey wall they’d hoisted up earlier. Stone had just let it go and hustled back to his shooting position.

The barrier hit its mark perfectly, landing a foot in front of Finn and his son. The impact nearly broke it in half but they immediately took cover behind it.

Gray’s two men took aim at Milton, the easiest target. Before their fingers could squeeze the triggers, two rounds from Stone’s weapon fired a second apart killed them.

Next to Stone was a long electrical cord attached to a power strip. He hit a button and the entire room went black.

Stone raced down from the balcony. He had memorized the number of steps and turns, so the darkness didn’t slow him much. He dropped on top of a flat roller that they’d found in a storage room, the kind that mechanics use to glide under cars. He slid across the floor of the Great Hall, heading toward Milton. The original plan had been to get Finn and his son out this way. But Milton was in the most immediate danger.

He called out, “Finn! Cover!”

Finn immediately started laying down fire.

As he rolled along, Stone blinked rapidly, making his eyes adjust to the absence of light. He hit one dead body, his fingers snagging the NV goggles off the dead man’s belt. As he put them on he said, “Milton!”

“Over here,” Milton answered weakly.

Stone powered on the goggles and looked to his right. Milton was lying there, his hands over his head. The other dead man had fallen on top of him.

Stone asked, “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

Stone pulled the body off his friend and, “double-decking” on the roller, they slid across the room toward the stairs to the balcony while Finn emptied two clips from his pistol to cover their escape.

Stone said to Milton, “I’m taking you to Annabelle. She, you and David will get out via a duct that leads to the Capitol. It’ll be a tight fit, but you can make it.”