Дэвид Балдаччи - Hell's Corner

“So that’s why you’re really here? To make sure there are no permanent holes in your cover?”

“Wouldn’t you do the same thing?”

“Yes, I would, actually,” he admitted.

“Well?”

“Process of elimination. You were at the park that night. Adelphia’s story didn’t hold up to scrutiny. Turkekul was there to meet someone.” He pointed a finger at her. “You were the logical choice. It took me longer than it should have, actually. But in my defense, there was a lot of smoke and mirrors thrown at me.”

Friedman looked nervous. Stone easily discerned why. “You’re afraid if I figured it out, so could someone else?”

“That’s the story of my life, Agent Stone. Trying to figure it out before they get to me.”

“How did you figure out Turkekul?”

“A dozen minor things that meant nothing separately but which meant everything once you put them all together. I really couldn’t believe it, though. And neither at first could NIC. But once they started digging it turned out to be true. Fuat’s Afghan connection was the nail in the coffin. We traced that history to ties to the former Soviet Union. His principal handler back then is now only three seats removed from the top spot in the power hierarchy over there.”

“And the connection to the Russian drug cartels?”

“Cartel. There’s only one, really, though it has many manifestations. And the Russian government is firmly in partnership with it. Not only is the cash flow enormous, the damage drug trafficking can do to an entire country is far more deadly than actually hitting it with one’s military. In a war soldiers die along with some civilians. Most people remain completely unaffected by it. In a drug war everyone feels the pain one way or another.”

“I can see that.”

“Then the issue became what to do about Turkekul.”

“And the solution was to give him rope to hang himself?”

“Not just that, no. We need the others. Up the chain of command. Fuat being a Trojan horse was a serious setback for us. But if we can turn that to our advantage then we can make it into a serious disadvantage for the other side.”

“I wish you luck on that.”

She rose and put a hand on his shoulder. “I know you’re working hard to solve this case. And I know that Fuat figures into it.”

“But you don’t want me pushing too hard, so hard that it blows up what you’re trying to do?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. You can go back and tell Weaver your mission was accomplished today.”

“He doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Right.” There was a bite to Stone’s words that surprised him.

“He doesn’t,” she said emphatically.

“So why are you really here? And it’s not just to check your cover. Or see if I was okay.”

She looked at him curiously. “A deduction based on what?”

“Based on the fact that I have you pegged as a multitasker.”

She sighed. “I just wanted to see you again. Make sure you really were okay, despite what I was told. You were blown up, after all.”

“And why is that important to you?”

“It just is.”

“I’m not getting this.”

She drew closer to him. “Well, then let me be uncharacteristically frank. We’re actually a lot alike, John Carr. There aren’t many people who do what we do.” Her features softened and she seemed to be looking past him. “I’ve lived so many years of my life as someone I’m really not.” She refocused on him. “I know you’ve done that for an even longer period of time. I’ve never met anyone like me. That is, until I met you.” She touched his arm. “So that’s why I’m here. I guess just to convince myself that I’m not alone. That there are others like me out there. I know that probably seems illogical to you.”

“No, it actually doesn’t. It makes a lot of sense, in fact.”

She drew closer to him. “It’s a lonely life.”

“It can be, yes.”

“I can tell you’ve been alone a long time.”

“How?”

She slowly lifted her hand and touched it against his cheek. “It’s in the face. The face doesn’t lie, if you know how to look.” She paused. “And we both do know how to look, don’t we?”

She removed her hand and Stone looked away.

“I’m sorry if I’ve embarrassed you,” she said. “I just wish...”

“What?”

“That we had met a long time ago.”

“It wouldn’t have worked a long time ago.”

“Does that mean it could work now?”

Stone looked away again. “Nothing will work with me.”

“You’re choosy?”

“It’s not that. Even if I were choosy, you would be... Well, it doesn’t matter now.”

“It can always matter. Even for two old warriors like us.”

“I’m old. You’re not.”

“In this business we’re all old.” She paused. “If we’re still alive.”

She stood, slid a hand down his cheek and then bussed her lips against his face.

“Take care of yourself,” she said. A moment later she was gone.

Stone and Chapman were discharged from the hospital the next day after being held for observation. Stone had to admit that he needed the extra rest. Being knocked unconscious twice within a short period of time would have done a number on a young man, much less someone his age. But he had motivation to get out of his bed and take up the hunt once more. Things were coming to a head. The big event was close to happening. He could feel it in every nerve he had.

As Chapman drove off in a new ride provided by the FBI, Stone looked across at her. “How many stitches?”

She touched the bandage across her forehead. “Six here and two more on the cheek. Doc said I’d be healed in plenty of time for holiday photos.” She glanced over at him. “How’d you get off without any? I distinctly remember seeing you all bloodied before passing out.”

“They probably figured what’s the use? And the major cut was on my scalp. There’s a Band-Aid up there but you can’t see it.”

“I guess we are very lucky.”

“Luckier than Judy Donohue.”

“So they roped her into this whole thing. How? Money?”

“I would assume so, yes. Money they never really intended on paying.”

“They were going to kill her all along, you mean?”

“Clearly. The cover they built for her was flimsy at best. Only designed to hold us off a day or two. As soon as she talked to us at the church and said all those lies she was a dead woman.”

“So presumably the FBI will find a deposit to an offshore account somewhere in Donohue’s name that has been rescinded. Funny, she didn’t strike me as the type to conspire.”

“What type? The one that doesn’t like money? I’ve run into very few of those.”

“But to participate in an attack against your own country?”

“Don’t be naïve. And besides, no one got hurt in that attack, except for the unfortunate Alfredo Padilla.”

“But when other people started dying? She had to notice that.”

“Of course she did. But by that time it was too late. If she came to us to confess, she’d be admitting to being an accessory to murder, multiple murders. She probably decided the safer course was to follow through with the plan and run with what she thought was lots of money.”

“And George Sykes gets a hole in the head for doing nothing wrong at all.”

“Yes. That’s why I don’t feel too badly about Judy Donohue.”

“Your theory on how they got Sykes to drive off in a panic like that was probably close to the truth.”

“Threaten his family. They might have told him where to meet. A route that would take him right into the kill zone. It was meticulously set up. Which is both informative and daunting.”