David Hagberg - End Game

“But you did. You were the lightning rod. George has an inside source here. You were hiding out in Serifos when Pete and Otto came to talk to you about the murders here on campus. Mr. Page knew about it, and so did I. But Marty Bambridge knew, and I expect there were people on his staff who also knew. And excuse me, Mr. Director, but when’s the last time you had your lighthouse swept for bugs? Or debugged your phones or computer? When Otto talks to you, he uses his backscatter encryption system no one has been able to break. But that in itself is a dead giveaway. He makes an encrypted call to Serifos, and voilà, someone like George could know he’s talking to his old friend Kirk McGarvey.”

“Nice speech,” Pete said.

“I’ll stay here as long as I think it’s safe for me to stay. But give me something to protect myself with when George does show up.”

“You’d just walk out the door?”

“Christ. Haven’t you people heard a thing I just said? Yeah, if the time comes, I’ll just walk out the door.”

“Let’s make sure he’s coming, and then help us to catch him,” McGarvey said.

“He’s on his way, Mr. Director, if he’s not already here,” Alex said.

“We’ll do what you’ve asked, except arm you. Otto can set up the video feeds, starting with personnel records of everyone on campus, along with the surveillance records for the past week. No need to get beyond when Walt Wager was murdered. Pete will take care of nailing down every opening in the physical plant, and I’ll stick it out here with you two.”

“Send Blankenship’s minders away.”

“I didn’t sign up for this shit,” Schermerhorn said.

“Fine,” McGarvey said. “We’ll ship your ass back to Milwaukee and let the cops straighten things out.”

“I want a pistol.”

“The surveillance system is pretty good here.”

“Didn’t help Walt.”

“It wasn’t armed when he was killed. You want to do this, I’m it.”

A look passed between Alex and Schermerhorn. “Set up the video feed for us, and if George is on campus, we’ll spot him,” Alex said.

“Something’s buried in the hills above Kirkuk,” Pete said.

“That’s what George came to tell us. And that’s the whole point, even though it still makes absolutely no sense.”

“Well, what is it, for goodness sake?” Pete asked.

Alex hesitated. “It isn’t so much what it is — or was, because I think it may have been moved after we left — but why it was, and its pedigree, if you will.”

“You’re making no sense,” Pete said.

“I know. But first decrypt Roy’s redo of Kryptos four, and let’s try to take George alive to give us some answers. Because without them, all our lives in this room — even yours, Mr. Director — will be forfeit.”

“Nothing’s that big,” Pete said.

“This is,” Alex and Schermerhorn replied almost simultaneously.

Alex knew George was coming for her. They’d all known it to one degree or another. But she thought she was special, not so much for the sexual relationship she’d had with him, or for the rampages they’d gone on down in the oil fields, but because of her position of influence with the DCI. So she figured she would be the last.

It was very late, and while standing in front of the window in the back bedroom, she began to rethink her options. Perhaps coming back hadn’t been such a good idea, except that after looking at all the photos Otto had sent over — several hundred of them and many more to go — she was convinced George had left the campus.

And she had a pretty fair idea where he’d gone and why. Killing her and Roy wouldn’t be so easy for him now that McGarvey had become involved, and he had to know it. Maybe in the end he was becoming the duck decoy, and they the hunters.

Getting out of here and going to him seemed to her to be the only sensible thing to do now.

As luck would have it, Pete had checked her bag before they brought her back upstairs. She’d taken the radio, of course, and the Glock, but had left her spare underwear and wallet with her Givens’s things. But none of them had thought to search the room for her cell phone, universal car key, or the papers she’d used to rent the car at the airport.

McGarvey showed up at the open door. “Don’t you guys ever sleep?” he asked.

The house had settled down a couple of hours ago after he’d declared it a night. There’d be more videos and photos to see in the morning, but Blankenship had been given her list of the campus’s security defects, and his people were busy attending to them. Or at least starting.

“Only when it’s safe.”

“None of us understand why you don’t just tell us what George showed you up in the hills.”

“I suppose you don’t,” Alex said, turning to face him. Her room was dark, only the light from the hall spilling in. Schermerhorn’s door was closed. “Is Roy asleep?”

“He’s looking at some of the photographs again. Says he might have found a couple of possibilities.”

“Maybe I’ll help him.”

McGarvey looked at her for a long time. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day, and you guys need to be ready for it in case George does show up.”

“He could come tonight.”

“Daylight attacks so far.”

“What about security?”

“One of Blankenship’s guys is outside.”

“What’s his name? Maybe I know him.”

“Maybe you do,” McGarvey said. “Get some sleep.”

“Yeah,” Alex said.

McGarvey went back downstairs. She could hear his footfalls, and then low voices, his and Pete’s. She wondered if they were sleeping together.

She retrieved her universal key and the Alice Walker IDs, credit card, and cash, and stuffed them into her pockets. Slipping on the maintenance man’s coveralls and ball cap, she went across the hall and tapped lightly on Schermerhorn’s door, keeping her eye on the head of the stairs in case McGarvey came back.

Schermerhorn didn’t answer, so she went in.

At first she thought he was gone. The computer was on, a man’s face on the screen. But then she realized he was standing in the deeper shadows in the corner.

“I’m getting out of here, but I need you to buy me a little time,” she told him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded. He was bright enough to keep his voice barely above a whisper.

“They’re bound to check in the next hour or so. And when they find I’m not in my room, they’ll come here. Stuff some pillows under the covers next to you and tell them we’re sleeping together.”

“McGarvey won’t buy it.”

“He might if you’re loud enough.”

“Christ, how the fuck are you going to get out of here? And where are you going?”

“The how has always been my business, and I think you know the where. But just keep looking for George’s picture and keep your mouth shut. They’re not going to shoot you for helping me.”

“You’re crazy, do you know that?”

“Just like all of us were for keeping our mouths shut when we had the chance to blow the whistle.”

“Would have been our death warrants.”

“Still could be.”

“Just don’t kill any of the good guys,” Schermerhorn said.

“Might already be too late for that, Roy. Just watch your back, okay?”

She slipped out of his room and went to the end of the hall, where she crept down the narrow servants’ stairs that led to the kitchen pantry and the room with the dish cabinets and sinks for washing up.

Early in their careers, NOCs were trained to work on the other guy’s expectations. Do what they thought you would do, only in a different fashion. McGarvey and the minders expected her to stay and help them find George. And that was exactly what she was going to do — help them find George. Only in the way they hadn’t thought of.