David Baldacci - Stone Cold

He left the White House and climbed into his chopper. As it rose into the air, he knew he should feel good, victorious. Yet he didn’t. In fact, he had rarely felt this depressed in his life.

OLIVER STONE DIDN’T ATTEND Milton’s funeral, though most of the others were present and grief-stricken. Caleb was so distraught at his friend’s death that Alex and Annabelle had to hold him upright. Harry Finn had wanted to come but he was still in hiding with his family.

Alex had checked in with his supervisor and had found that all of his problems had gone away. “I don’t know what the hell it was all about,” the supervisor said, “and I don’t think I want to know.”

They all gathered a week later at Caleb’s condo to honor Milton’s memory. This time Finn came with Lesya.

“I can’t believe Oliver missed Milton’s funeral,” Reuben said, staring down into his beer. “Can’t believe it,” he said again, his eyes red.

Annabelle looked at Alex. “No word from him at all?”

Alex shook his head. “Harry, you were the last one to see him. Did he say anything about where he was going? What he was going to do?”

Finn shook his head. “I know he blames himself for Milton’s death.”

Caleb said angrily, “And I read in the paper where Carter Gray is going to be the head of the intelligence community again. Isn’t that just wonderful? We all know what he’s done. We know, but we have no proof.” He slumped down in a chair and stared at a photo of Milton that he’d placed on a shelf for all to see. Tears slid down his fat cheeks.

Finn said, “My family and I will have to leave the country, somehow. Gray won’t stop until he gets us.”

“I think not. It is time to end this foolishness.”

All eyes swung around to Lesya, who sat in one corner.

From her bag she pulled an item, a very unusual object for an elderly woman to be carrying around. It was a bear.

“My granddaughter’s beloved bear. My beautiful Susie’s bear that I gave her when she was very little.”

Everyone simply stared at her, no doubt wondering if she had at that very instant lost her mind.

“It is with Susie’s permission that I do this.” She took a small penknife from her purse and cut the stitching holding the bear together. She parted the seam, reached in and pulled out a small box.

“I had a craftsman in Russia make it for me.” She took out a key, unlocked the box and took out a thumb-size electronic device with a USB port. “Does anyone here have a computer?”

The scene on the computer screen was a small sparsely furnished room. Four people were seated around a wooden table. A younger Lesya and Rayfield Solomon were on one side. Across from them was Roger Simpson as a young man. And next to Simpson was another man who hadn’t really changed all that much.

“Carter Gray,” Alex said.

Lesya nodded. “It was Rayfield’s idea to secretly film this. The mission was so monumental, you see.”

As they watched the four discussed the assassination. It seemed that Andropov had already been killed, and they were now focusing on Konstantin Chernenko as the only man standing in the way of Gorbachev’s rise to power.

“You did wonderfully the first time, Ray and Lesya,” Gray was saying. “There wasn’t the slightest doubt that Andropov died from natural causes.”

“There are certain poisons that leave no trace,” Lesya commented. “And there are those high up in the Soviet Union who were not sad to see poor Yuri go.”

“Perhaps it will be the same with Chernenko,” Simpson said, “now that he’s been named the general secretary.”

Gray cut in. “But wait a bit. At least a year. It will allow us time to arrange things on our end and cut down on suspicion. All roads now point to Gorbachev taking power after Chernenko dies.”

“If we wait, Konstantin may accommodate us without poison. He is not a well man,” Solomon pointed out.

“So we give it a year,” Gray said again. “Then if he’s still alive, you and Lesya can make sure he isn’t living much longer.”

“And the director and the president are on board with this too?” Solomon asked.

Simpson answered, “Absolutely. They see it as critical to world peace and the destruction of the Soviet Union. As you know, there are many on the Soviet side who want this too.”

Gray was beaming. “You’ll both be heroes,” he said. He turned to Lesya. “Your coming over to our side has made all the difference. If there is peace between the U.S. and what’s left of the Soviet Union, it will be in large measure because of you. And though it can never be made public, you will have earned the eternal gratitude of your adopted nation. You and Ray have risked your lives countless times on behalf of this country and I bring a message directly from the president that he expresses his heartfelt gratitude for all that you’ve done for America.”

The film ran for a few more minutes and then stopped. Lesya said, “I have never seen any human beings who could lie as well as your Carter Gray and Roger Simpson. Next to them, I was but a rank amateur.”

“Why the hell didn’t you show us this before?” Alex demanded.

“When you gave us the written orders?” Finn added.

“Only fools give up all they have on the first go-round. You keep something back always. I had the film saved and put on this device before I placed it inside the bear and gave it to Susie.”

“My God, people died, Milton died,” Caleb said in a hushed tone.

“I could do nothing about that,” she said simply. “If we had given them this too, where would we be? People would still be dead. Your friend would still be dead. And we would have nothing.”

“But what do we do with this?” Alex said.

“I want to meet with Carter Gray.”

“What!” Finn exclaimed.

“Gray and I must sit down face-to-face.”

“What if he won’t?” Alex said.

Lesya smiled. “Let me talk to him on the phone. Then he will see me.”

“IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME, Lesya,” Gray said as the two sat across from each other. They were in a motel room in Fredericksburg, Virginia. “You’ve changed quite a bit,” he added politely.

“Given recent events it is clear that you haven’t changed at all.”

“You said on the phone that you had something I needed to see?”

“I know you have men outside. You always have men outside, Carter.”

“Yes, in my line of work one has to take precautions. The thing you wanted to show me? I don’t have a lot of time.”

Lesya opened the laptop computer she’d brought with her. Gray sat watching it until the screen went dark. He looked over at her.

“Was the film Rayfield’s idea?”

“Yes.”

“If he suspected the truth, why did he carry out the plan?”

“He was loyal. You were not. But he really did it to protect me. He knew how vulnerable I would be. He at least had the cover of the Americans. I had nothing.”

“What happened to you and Rayfield was something that I’ve always deeply regretted, Lesya. In many ways he was the best friend I ever had.”

“He trusted you, Carter. I did not, but he did. It was Simpson he was always wary of.”

“He was a good judge of character.” Gray sat forward, seeming eager to finally tell the truth. “Lesya, I did not order his death. That was Roger’s doing. I never would have done that to Ray. Never. I was furious when I found out, but there was nothing I could do. And I tried with all my might to have Ray’s name removed from the Wall of Shame at CIA. But Roger had fixed that up too neatly. He had built a very convincing story of Ray’s treason. And with Ray dead, and unable to defend himself, there was nothing I could do.”