Within five minutes, the phone rang and Abel McNair was on the line with the man he was pretty sure would be the next President of the United States. After Haze told him what he wanted, Abel McNair remembered the conversation he'd had with Kazorowski. He had just heard on CNN that Kaz had been murdered in Israel. He knew 'the flag was up.'
'I think I can help you, sir,' Abel said. 'Kazorowski called me about two months ago trying to find out about a deal that was cut between the Justice Department and Gavriel Bach to keep Mr. Lansky out of Israel. Apparently, the department gave Bach some unspecified material. Wiretaps, I think, proving that Meyer had criminal connections. Kaz was looking for that material. I don't know what it could be, but I could try to find out.'
'That won't be necessary. Thank you.' Haze hung up and reported to A. J. and Mickey what McNair had told him.
'Wiretaps?' Mickey repeated, his heart beginning to sink. 'Kaz was looking for something to tie Meyer to my father. Ryan was looking for a way to prove this election was rigged by our control of UBC. Meyer was in the plan from the beginning. He and my father hatched the plot in the early seventies. God knows how many times he and my dad might have talked about it. If the foils had any of that on tape, it could be explosive.'
'Was there anything else or can I get back to the airport?' Haze said, as if he really wasn't affected by any of this.
'Yeah, there is … I need to force Ryan and Cole Harris underground so if they have anything dangerous, they can't use ill need to discredit them so people won't believe them.'
'Howie we gonna do that?' Haze asked.
'You're the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States. Ryan Bolt used to work for your campaign. He was hired to do a documentary, but he was a little nuts. A. J. had to fire him. Ryan promised that he was going to get even. Tonight, he and this outta work newsman, Cole Harris, called you up here in the governor's m ansion. They threatened your life. A. J. was on the extension and heard it all.'
'You gotta be kidding,' Haze said.
'If they threatened your life on top of being involved in that car bomb explosion in Israel, the Secret Service is gonna go ballistic. . It'll drive them underground.'
'It's a pretty good plan,' A. J. said. 'With a nationwide manhunt on, whatever they got is gonna be a lot harder to unload.'
By the time the Reuters jet touched down in New Jersey, their pictures were already on the ten o'clock news.
Chapter 64
If they had landed at New York's Kennedy airport, it would have been over, but they touched down at Levit Field in New Jersey, where the customs contingent consisted of two old men in a shed waiting out their retirement. Nobody had been into the fax room for hours t o l ook at recent transmittals. The customs officials boarde d t he private jet, steaming coffee mugs in hand, looked a t t he passports, asked a few routine questions, and stampe d e verybody's reentry forms. In ten minutes, the four of the m w ere in a taxicab, heading into Trenton.
They pulled up at a Days Inn, and while Ryan held the cab, Cole went inside to make sure there was a vacancy. The big television in the lobby was on CNN. As Cole moved to the desk and told the clerk he needed two rooms, he heard Wolf Blitzer mention his name.
'. . fired news correspondent Cole Harris.'
Cole turned and saw an old UBC employee photograph of himself filling the screen. In the picture, he needed a shave and looked like an ax murderer.
The clerk was trying not to register shock that the man being called a violent terrorist on TV was standing right in front of him.
Wolf Blitzer continued: 'Allegedly, Mr. Harris and an unemployed television producer named Ryan Bolt and the sister of New Jersey underworld kingpin Michael Alo are involved in a plot to assassinate presidential candidate Haze Richards.'
'Son of a bitch,' Cole said and ran out of the lobby to where Ryan was standing next to the cabbie, talking.
'They're full. Let's go.' He all but pushed Ryan into the cab. Cole told the cabbie to get going and take them into Trenton. They pulled out of the parking lot and down the road. Ryan and Lucinda started to protest, but Cole grabbed Lucinda's arm and shook his head in silent warning. Naomi had been on enough dangerous stories to know enough to shut up and play along. A few miles farther on, they passed two New Jersey state police cars with red lights and sirens, speeding in the opposite direction.
When they finally got to the outskirts of Trenton, it was almost eleven P. M. Cole pointed to a bus stop. 'Pull up here. We can take the bus to Virginia,' he said for the driver's benefit.
They got out, taking their suitcases from the trunk while Ryan paid the fare.
'The bus to Virginia? What's going on?' Ryan asked after the cab pulled away.
'We're on the news. . not Naomi, but the rest of us. They're saying we're trying to kill Haze Richards.' 'We're what?' Ryan said, astounded.
'Yeah. There's an FBI manhunt or something. . It sounds big. The clerk back there had his mouth fall so far open, I was counting fillings. I figured I'd better get outta there.'
'What'll we do?' Lucinda asked.
'That cabbie will have the cops heading to Virginia and there's a hotel back up this street. Naomi can get us a room. . make sure it's got a TV. We gotta find out how bad this is.'
The hotel was a woodsy, four-story fishing lodge on the outskirts of town called The Angler. Naomi checked herself into a suite under an assumed name, then went down the back stairs and let them in a side door.
Ten minutes later, they were watching the whole, awful story on CNN. It was much worse than they expected.
'Ryan had been very irrational for months,' Marty Lanier was saying from the NBC boardroom where he was doing an interview with a glamorous CNN field correspondent. 'He had become sort of. . well, I hate to say it, but anti-Semitic. He attacked me in the screening room and security had to be called to remove him.' Ryan thought he detected a slight smile under Marty's grave demeanor. The CNN correspondent turned to the camera.
`The police in Los Angeles now suspect there may be a connection between Mr. Bolt's increasingly violent behavior and the shooting death of his former secretary. Elizabeth Applegate, just three days ago. Ms. Applegate was found in the bathtub of her apartment where she'd been shot in the head with a twenty-two-caliber dumdum bullet'
Ryan dropped his head into his hands. When he looked up, his expression was a mask of agony. Then he went into the bathroom and closed the door.
As they sat in silence, the TV shot switched back to Wolf Blitzer.
'We now have a report from the U. S. Customs Service that the three fugitives arrived from Israel tonight on a private jet belonging to Reuters News Bureau. The pilots are currently being interviewed. They landed at a small airfield in New Jersey. Also aboard was Naomi Zur, a photographer for Reuters.'
'Welcome to the club,' Cole said grimly as Naomi's picture hit the screen.
Blitzer droned on. 'This is all somehow linked to the explosion in Israel yesterday that claimed the life of ex- FBI agent Solomon Kazorowski and three unknown Israelis. Rental car records are being checked to ascertain the identities of the other parties. The three fugitives and Solomon Kazorowski had contacted the widow of the late Israeli prosecutor Gavriel Bach yesterday, lied to her, and told her that they were doing a story for Time magazine, and needed to gain access to some old records Bach had apparently saved. They went to Mrs. Bach's house outside of Tel Aviv, where they broke in and were later involved in a shootout with the three Israelis. Justice Department sources close to the investigation say that this appears to be part of a very serious plot to kill the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.'
They channel-surfed. There were background stories on all of them, including Naomi and Lucinda.
