Patterson, James - Alex Cross 14 - Cross Country

Cross Country

Chapter 156

THE GOOD MOOD was broken by Steven Millard from the CIA. “Detective Cross, can we have a moment? Whenever you're ready,” he said.

I went out with Millard, who I took to be the highest-ranking of the CIA representatives at the house. He was the group chief, right? There were four of their vehicles parked outside. Three agents, two of them women, stood around on the sidewalk. I wondered if they had been picked to make it easier for my family when they were brought home.

“Where were they? Where did you find them?” I asked Millard. “Who took them?”

He walked ramrod straight and I decided he had probably been military before he came to the CIA. He seemed very sure of himself, confident about who he was and his role here. So what was it? Who the hell was Steven Millard? What was his role?

“I told you before, Detective, we're the good guys-we're still the good guys. Most of us are busting our asses to do a good job and help keep this country safe. Ian Flaherty wasn't. He sold us out, maybe a couple of times. The last time, it was to the Chinese. Maybe to a bad apple from their basket.”

“My family,” I said, reminding Millard of my question.

“We had Flaherty under surveillance from the moment he reached Washington. Trust me on that one. He led us to your family. I don't know if they would've been released. A couple of mercenaries were with them-they were working with Flaherty. Flaherty was working for the Chinese. Your family was questioned, but mostly they were just insurance, in case it was needed. Flaherty was afraid you might have found out about him in Lagos.”

I shook my head. “Bribery has become a way of life there. Adanne Tansi knew the Chinese were involved with oil trading in the Delta. Thousands of Nigerians have been murdered down there, as you know.”

“Yes, we know,” said Millard.

“And you knew the civil war was coming, but you did nothing to stop it.”

“There was nothing we could do. We don't need another Iraq, do we?”

I stared into his eyes. “Where's Flaherty now?”

Millard didn't flinch as he answered. “We have him. We're talking to him now. Eventually he'll talk to us. We know that Mr. Sowande, your Tiger, worked for him.”

“That's all you can tell me?”

Millard shook his head. “No. I can tell you this. Go home to your family, Detective Cross. They're special. You've been away from them too much.”

I nodded at Millard. He wasn't going to level with me, so there was nothing else to say. I turned around and began to walk back to my house.

He was right about one thing: My family was special.

They were waiting for me on the porch, and as I got close, another dark sedan pulled up in front. Damon stepped out, and he looked my way. He half waved, half saluted.

But then Damon came running, and so did I.

The Cross family was back together again. Maybe that was all that mattered.

Epilogue

THE LAST OF THE GOOD GUYS

Cross Country

Chapter 157

I COULDN'T LET it end like that-it just wasn't in me. One night a couple of weeks later, I arrived at the house in Great Falls, Virginia, at a little past three in the morning. Interesting to me, and more than a little creepy, I had received a call from the psychopath Kyle Craig earlier in the week. Cool as ever, Kyle said he was glad I had gotten my family back, and then he hung up before I could say a word to him.

I focused and walked to the front door of a redbrick colonial that was obsessively well kept. I rang the bell a couple of times and waited. I looked at my watch. 3:11. After a few minutes, the overhead porch light flicked on. Then the door slowly opened.

The CIA's Steven Millard stood there wearing a dark blue terrycloth robe, his legs and feet bare. He didn't look so impressive without a suit and tie. I heard a woman's voice call from upstairs, “Steve, is everything all right down there?”

“Go back to sleep, Emma. It's just work,” he called back.

Then Millard's eyes came back to mine. “What do you want at my house at three in the morning, Detective Cross? This better be worth it.”

“Why don't you invite me in and I'll tell you all about it. I could use some coffee. So could you.”

Cross Country

Chapter 158

WE WENT INSIDE and sat in the kitchen, which looked as though it had been refurbished recently. Millard didn't offer coffee or anything else to drink, so I started to tell him why I'd come out to Virginia in the middle of the night.

“I spent some time at Ellie Cox's before I went to Africa. Your people did a good job in there. I found her partial manuscript, of course. Even some notes she made while she was in Nigeria. Everything looked just fine, though. Nothing incriminating.”

Millard listened patiently, nodded, waiting for the punch line.

I stared at him for a while, and I was thinking about the idea of “good guys.” Were there any left? I thought so. I sure hoped so.

“So that's why you're here? To let me know that everything is fine?” Millard spoke again.

“Looked fine. Just like it was supposed to. But last week I went back to the Cox house. At that point I had enough time to be a real detective again. I talked to Elbe's editor at Georgetown University Press. He hadn't gotten the last section of Elbe's manuscript, which surprised him. That was the part that detailed her trip to Nigeria.”

“Maybe she never got to write it,” Millard suggested. “That would make sense, wouldn't it, Detective? It could be why she was targeted and murdered.”

“I guess so. But if that was true, why would I be here at three in the morning, when I could be home sleeping?”

Millard's brow furrowed. He was starting to show some irritation and I couldn't blame him. “Maybe because you never properly thanked me for finding and bringing home your family? You're welcome. Now you can go. Go.”

I hit Steven Millard then. It was a strong right hand that lifted him right out of the kitchen chair, and knocked him onto the pinewood floor. His nose was bleeding, but he didn't go out. I could tell he wasn't sure where he was; his hands were feeling around the floor for some purchase.

“That's for taking my family in the first place,” I said to him.

“Ellie had a typist for her manuscripts,” I went on. "A woman in DC named Barbara Groszewski. I found that out through some checks Ellie paid every month.

"The good news, the reason I'm here, is that Barbara Groszewski had the last part of Ellie's manuscript, the section where she traveled to Lagos and met Adanne Tansi among others. Ian Flaherty is mentioned several times in the pages.

So are you, Millard. Adanne was aware of what you and Flaherty were up to.

"In fact, you were the one who set up the oil meetings with the Chinese. You took their bribes. And you were the one who hired Sowande, the Tiger.

“You're under arrest, Millard, and the Central Intelligence Agency isn't going to protect you. They've already given you over to us. So maybe there still are some good guys left.”

Millard actually smiled. “A manuscript? Part of one? A writer's notes? You have nothing to hold me on.”

“I think we do,” I told him. “I'm sure of it.”

I opened the kitchen door and let in several agents from the FBI, including my buddy Ned Mahoney. These were definitely the good guys.

I turned back to Millard. “Oh, I left out the best part, the most important. We found Ian Flaherty. You lied about holding him. In fact, we have Flaherty now. He's talking. That's why I'm arresting you. You're going down, Millard. You made a big mistake in judgment.”

“What was that?” Millard finally asked.