workin’ recently, so I knew he needed some extra money. And even though he’s pretty worthless, he’s still my brother, so I gave the man Walter’s number.”
“Walter’s your brother?”
“Unfortunately.”
“And he has a van?”
“Yep. It’s a big one, too. He used it on all his jobs. He was an electrician for twenty years. Not a very good one, mind you.”
Naomi was confused about something. “Why didn’t you tell the police all of this?”
The older woman shrugged. She was a little nervous, trying to figure out if she was in trouble or not. “Well, I didn’t see how it would help them find Nicole, for one thing.”
Naomi had to admit that she had a point there. Up until about twelve hours ago, this had been a routine missing persons investigation, and there had been no reason to suspect one of Milbery’s clients. “And the other reason?”
“He said that it wasn’t what he was looking for. He didn’t want a big, commercial van… too much on gas, he said. He just wanted something to run around to distributors in Richmond. I guess he was some type of salesman, but I’m not really sure.”
She thought about that for a second. “How often do you talk to your brother?”
Lindsay Hargrove shrugged her shoulders once again. “Not all that often. Like I said, he’s kind of no-good. I don’t get nothin’ outta talkin’ to him. In fact, it usually ends up costin ’ me something.”
“Did you ever find out if he sold the van?”
A third shrug. “I called him that day to tell him about it, but he didn’t say ‘Thanks for tryin’ or anything like that, so I’ve been givin’ him the cold shoulder ever since. Why?”
“No reason. What kind of van does your brother have, Mrs. Hargrove? Specifically, I mean.”
“I can’t be sure, hon, but I think it’s a Ford. A white Ford, and really big.”
“What about the outside? Anything unusual about it…?”
“No, not really. It might have a ladder rack. Apart from that, it’s just a plain-old white panel van, maybe a little dinged up. Walter isn’t a very good driver.”
Naomi got to her feet, sweeping a lock of dirty black hair behind her ear and trying hard not to show her excitement. “That’s great, Mrs. Hargrove. You’ve been very helpful. Do you think I could use your phone?”
“Sure, hon. Anything you need.” She hesitated. “Um, Walter’s not in trouble, is he?”
Naomi looked up and said, with complete sincerity, “Trouble? No, not at all. In fact, his information could be vital to national security.”
“National security? Walter?” Lindsay Hargrove thought about that, appraising the disheveled state of her visitor once again. She lifted an eyebrow. “Huh.”
When the call came in to the TTIC, Jonathan Harper had to stop her twice before she slowed down enough to give him a coherent account of the conversation.
When Kharmai was finished, he said, “But you don’t know if the van was actually sold or not?”
“No, but the story he told her doesn’t sound right to me, sir. Maybe he was just trying to keep her out of the loop, you know? One less witness he’d have to worry about.”
Harper heard the excitement in her voice, and had to admit that it sounded promising. He looked at his watch. “Jesus, Naomi, they’re wrapping up the speeches right now.”
She was almost frantic. “Sir, you have to stall them, or at least have them take a different route. He kept coming the whole time, despite every effort on our part to stop him. He knows something, or he would have backed off. He has to know something.”
“You might be right about that.” He was thinking back to Kealey’s warning about the missing laptops at the State and Justice departments, a warning that they had both quickly dismissed at the time. If Vanderveen had managed to get his hands on something like that, he would have certainly known how to put it to good use. And the Secret Service still hadn’t released their report on the matter. “I’m sending this all the way up, Naomi. I hope to God this isn’t a false alarm.”
She had never been more sure of anything in her life, but knew that he wasn’t questioning her judgment. It was just that he had to ask it. “He’s there,” she said emphatically. “He’s pushed it too far to stop now. He’s there and he’s waiting.”
A brief hesitation. “Okay. I gotta run. See if you can pin down Hargrove’s brother, find out for sure what he did with the van. And listen… good work.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“… And so, I am pleased to join President Chirac and Prime Minister Berlusconi in announcing a gradual downsizing of European oil interests in the Republic of Iran over the next three years, beginning with an immediate decrease in production by 200,000 barrels per day in the South Pars gas fields, and culminating with the complete withdrawal of survey and exploration teams in the region by 2008. Production will also be reduced in the Dorood, Salman, and Abuzar oil fields which, combined, account for more than 70 percent of Iran’s offshore output.
“The United States has made no secret of the fact that it has maintained sanctions against Iran since 1979. These measures have been strengthened over the years, most notably with the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996. While it is our wholehearted desire to see these sanctions lifted and the full restoration of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Republic of Iran, there should be no doubt that we are willing to stay the course if the Iranian government persists in its attempts to acquire tools of mass destruction.”
President Brenneman paused, then held up his hand to quell the sudden surge of voices from the crowd of reporters standing before him. “I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank President Chirac and Prime Minister Berlusconi for accepting my invitation, and for working as hard as they have to make this goal a reality. The agreement that has been brokered here today is the direct result of their commitment to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and its intended purpose: to render the threat of nuclear war a thing of the past, and to make the world a safer place for future generations. Now I’d like to step aside and let them tell you more about the specific implementations that are scheduled to occur…”
As she surveyed the scene, Jodie Rivers shook her head and thought, This is insane. Despite the fact that the guest list had been kept to a minimum and carefully screened, the area bordering the waterfront was packed by more than 200 people, each and every one of whom, in her eyes, was a potential threat.
The three heads of state were standing on an elevated podium perhaps 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep. President Brenneman was moving aside to give the French ambassador room as he stepped up to introduce President Chirac. Although there were large numbers of Diplomatic Security and Secret Service agents both on and around the podium, Rivers was well aware that this was a huge security risk. As a result, her eyes never left the stage, even when she flipped open her ringing cell phone and lifted it to her ear. She definitely didn’t appreciate the interruption.
“Agent Rivers? This is Director Landrieu.”
She recognized the urgency in his voice immediately, and felt suddenly cold. “Yes, sir.”
“Let me start by saying this is a four-way line. You’re talking to Deputy Directors McCabe and Susskind as well. Listen carefully. We have some information that puts Vanderveen in the city with an Improvised Explosive Device. I can’t give you better than 90 percent on that, but it was enough to put the wheels in motion, and I don’t need to tell you who the target is.”
Dear God, she thought. Her worst nightmare was coming true, and she had to force herself to pay attention.
“…Rivers? Are you still with me?”
“Yes, sir. Go ahead.”
“You’re looking for a white Ford van, commercial type, probably an Econoline. We don’t have a plate number or a name for you yet, but we’re only a couple of minutes away, so keep your line open.”
“What about the-”
“Jodie.” It was a new voice, and one she recognized immediately. “AIC Storey has already been alerted. We’re gonna keep the question-and-answer session with the press pool going as long as we can without arousing any suspicion, okay? We finally got through to the people in Norfolk… Under the name of Timothy Nichols, Vanderveen took possession of forty crates at a total weight of just over 3,000 pounds less than two weeks ago.”
