David Baldacci - Stone Cold

Finn nodded and respectfully withdrew from the room.

Stone was a man who had suffered more heartbreak in life than any human being should have to. He had done so stoically, trying to look ahead rather than focusing on the past. Yet as he gazed down at his friend’s body, every memory of every personal tragedy in his life came charging at him from the darkness.

And for one of the very few times in his life, Oliver Stone sobbed without restraint. He cried so hard his knees buckled and he ended up on the floor, his body curled tight like a child in distress, suffering the anguish of a million nightmares that had collected inside him all these decades, nightmares that had suddenly been released, like the crush of water over a collapsed dam.

Thirty minutes later he had no more tears left to shed. Stone rose and touched his friend’s face with his hand. “Good-bye, Milton.”

AFTER THE EXCHANGE, Gray and Simpson had left the Capitol area quickly.

Simpson said, “How soon will you know when Carr and Lesya’s son are dead?”

“Anytime now. You know, it was quite ballsy of you to confess to Carr that you were the one who ordered his execution.”

“I didn’t want him to die without knowing. It would have left me unfulfilled.”

“Still, I wouldn’t have done it,” Gray said.

Simpson took the old orders from Gray and studied them. “The world is better off because of what we did.”

“I agree. Two dead Soviet leaders. We cleared the way for peace.”

“We never got the credit we deserved, though.”

Gray said, “That’s because it wasn’t authorized. We took matters into our own hands.”

“Patriots have to do what they have to do. So what now?”

“The orders and this cell phone will be destroyed.” He took the papers back from Simpson.

“What’s on the cell phone? I couldn’t hear.”

“Be glad you couldn’t, Roger. Otherwise, I would’ve had to kill you too.”

Simpson stared at him with an incredulous expression. “You’re joking.”

“Of course I am,” Gray lied.

At four o’clock in the morning, Carter Gray received the news. His men had been wiped out. Carr and Finn had escaped. Carr, the killing machine, obviously hadn’t lost his touch. He immediately called Simpson.

“Well?” Simpson asked.

“Just like we planned, Roger. Carr and Finn are dead. There’ll be nothing in the news. We’ll cover it all up.”

“Excellent. Now we can finally put this behind us.”

Gray hung up. Right .

He met with the president later that day after he had taken care of sanitizing the visitor center.

The commander in chief was not particularly happy about these events. “What the hell happened there last night? I was told they found blood in there and evidence of a gun battle.”

“Sir, we were able to track down John Carr and Lesya’s son at the visitor center.”

“My God, in the middle of the Capitol!”

“I have no idea how they got in there, but they did. We received a tip, went down there with a detachment of paramilitary and had a very intense shoot-out.”

“And what the hell happened?”

“The appropriate people were terminated,” Gray said vaguely.

“Did we take any casualties?”

“Yes, unfortunately. Families are being notified.”

“Where are the bodies?”

“We’re having them flown overseas for discreet disposal. We have to keep this hush-hush, sir. The press would have a field day with all this.”

“Look, Carter, I am the president. I want to know what all this is. And I want to know right now.”

Gray sat back. He had of course been expecting this. He pulled the orders from his pocket. He’d destroyed the cell phone, but these orders were too valuable. Valuable principally because they didn’t have his name on them.

The president read through the documents. “Roger Simpson?”

Gray nodded. “Let me tell you the entire story, sir.” It was mostly fabrication, but Gray delivered it with such authority and assurance that when the president sat back, it was clear he accepted all of it as truth.

“And Lesya and Rayfield Solomon’s involvement?” the president asked. “Solomon has been labeled a traitor to this country. Was he? If not, we have to make this right, somehow.”

Gray hesitated. “I cannot say with assurance that he was a traitor, sir.”

“But you said he was terminated. You said he was a traitor.”

“Back then it seemed clear that he was. Now, perhaps less so. I have to investigate further.”

“You do that, Carter. You do that. And if the truth is that this man was innocent, we will make it right, do you understand?”

“I’d have it no other way. Ray Solomon was my friend.”

“My God, two Soviet leaders assassinated by this country. I can’t believe it.”

“Not many of us could, sir.”

“You’re saying you didn’t know?” the president asked sharply.

Gray chose his words carefully. “Things operated differently back then. We had evidence of Soviet plots to kill U.S. presidents from time to time, but we took measures to counter them. The truth couldn’t come out because it might have led to nuclear war. They were never official plots of the Soviet leadership, you have to understand, but the Cold War was played for all it was worth.”

“So who the hell ordered the assassinations of Andropov and Chernenko?”

“The orders didn’t come through me.”

“Are you telling me that Roger Simpson, who if I recall was merely a case agent, did this on his own?”

“No, not at all. He never would have done something like that by himself. He must have received authorization from higher channels.”

“Channels that circumvented you? Why? You were his superior, were you not?”

“Not for all matters, sir. And my feelings on assassinations of foreign leaders was clear. There was an executive order making it illegal, and that was where I drew the line.”

“Well, perhaps I should talk to Roger about this directly.”

“I’m not sure that’s wise, sir. He’s going to make his own run for the White House. He’s a fellow party member of yours. You start making inquiries, then there’re leaks to the press and eventually everything comes out. As you know it’s much harder these days to keep secrets.”

“Damn whistleblowers; yes, I know.”

“And what would Senator Simpson say? His signatures are on these orders. He will claim that higher-ups ordered the killings. He might even say I knew about it. You can hardly blame him for trying to cover his tracks. But the matter is over. Two men were killed. Illegally? Probably. Did the result justify the means? I think humanity would judge that it did. I say we let sleeping dogs lie, Mr. President. Just let sleeping dogs lie.”

“I’ll think about it, Carter. But keep me informed of further developments.”

“One more thing, sir.”

“Yes.”

“I’d like to come back to work. As the intelligence chief. I want to serve my country again.”

“Well, as you know, that slot is presently unfilled. So it’s yours if you really want it. I doubt the Senate will have any problem confirming a Medal of Freedom winner.”

“I really want it, Mr. President.”

He shook Gray’s hand. “I appreciate your frankness today, Carter. You’re a true patriot. Wish we had more like you.”

“I’m only doing my job, sir.” Actually, Gray was thinking that with Carr still out there, he wanted to be surrounded by as many heavily armed men as possible.

“You know, I believe you’d make a good president.”

Gray laughed. “Thank you, sir, but I don’t think I have the right qualifications.” What Gray left unsaid was he believed he was overqualified for the job. Plus, he wanted a position with real power. All a president could really do was start wars, and those came along all too infrequently. Other than that, the office was fairly impotent, Gray felt.