cost us the lives of five of your comrades,' Abercombie said solemnly. 'Special Agent Len Ruebottom died in a car- bomb explosion in Georgetown approximately forty-five minutes ago.'
There were general mutterings of approval around the table.
'We thought that this would be the end of it, and that we could get back to the primary mission of Operation Counter Wrench,' Lisa Abercombie went on. 'But, as it turns out, we have one loose end remaining.'
'The room went silent.'
'When Dr. Asai and I took part in the hunt that Dr. Wolfe arranged with the Chareaux brothers,' Abercombie explained, making it clear that she did not consider either herself or Dr. Asai to be guilty of any wrongdoing, 'there was another man involved, one Henry Allen Lightner.
'The man who was accidentally shot during the killing of the first bear,' Asai nodded.
'Yes, that's right,' Abercombie said. 'We were concerned at the time that Mr. Lightner might reveal our identities if he was ever threatened with prosecution. But fortunately,' Abercombie smiled, 'we were able to divert the case against the Chareaux brothers, and we have never heard from Mr. Lightner again… until now.' She reached down to the controls on the podium, dimmed the conference-room lights slightly, and then turned on the VCR and the overhead monitors.
'Our concern was that Mr. Lightner might try to use his knowledge of our involvement with the Chareaux brothers to blackmail one of us.' Abercombie continued to speak as the videotape showed the white-haired scientist who had spoken with Wolfe's secretary.
'So when we learned that Lightner made an attempt to contact Wolfe this afternoon,' Abercombie went on as the white-haired man was suddenly replaced by a second, much younger man with a terrible bruised and swollen face, 'I decided that we-'
'Wait a minute, that's him!' Roy Parker yelled out from his wheelchair, causing Abercombie to jab at the pause button, freezing the blurry face of Henry Lightstone in the center of the stilled monitor.
'Yes, of course, that's-' Abercombie started to say, but Parker ignored her as he turned to Maas.
'No, I mean that's him, the guy Arty and I were shooting at out there on the island.'
Gerd Maas turned slowly to face the injured ICER team member.
'Are you certain?' he asked.
'Yes, goddamn it, of course I'm sure,' Parker said emphatically. 'I had that bastard in the cross hairs at least three different times. He's the one who shot Arty and then opened up on us from that goddamned plane.'
'Lightner was up there in Alaska? That doesn't make sense.' Lisa Abercombie shook her head in confusion. 'Why would they let a-'
Then she blinked in shock. 'Oh, my God, he's not a businessman. He's-'
'— a special agent,' Gerd Maas finished in his cold, hardened voice.
'He's also the one who took out Nakamura hand-to-hand,' Carine Mueller nodded slowly.
'Yeah, I think Carine's right,' Paul Saltmann added. 'I got only a quick look, but-'
Gerd Maas turned to stare at Carine Mueller, then brought his head back around to scrutinize the blurry image of Henry Lightstone.
Then he smiled.
'Ruebottom was not the sixth agent we were looking for,' he said, speaking to Abercombie in his glacial, calm voice but keeping his eyes fixed on the monitor, as if fascinated by what he was seeing. 'This is the one they were hiding.'
'But-'
At that moment, one of Abercombie's aides stuck his head in through the door, gulped nervously, then hurried in and whispered something in Abercombie's ear.
Lisa Abercombie frowned and waited until the aide disappeared back through the door before she turned to Maas.
'It's Reston,' she said, staring down at the blinking button on her phone console.
'Put him on the speakerphone,' Maas directed.
Numbly aware that she had somehow managed to lose control of the meeting, Lisa Abercombie complied.
'Reston? This is Lisa.'
'Thank God!' Dr. Reston Wolfe's excited voice burst out into the still room.
'What's the matter?'
'They know! Listen, you've got to help me. They know all about us!'
'Who knows all about us?' Abercombie demanded.
'They… they do. The ones… they…'
'Reston!' Abercombie snapped. 'Listen to me!'
'But-'
'Reston, where are you?'
'In my office, M-M-Main Interior,' he stuttered. 'Forgot my attache case. Nothing in it, but didn't want to leave it there, so I came in. Found it just like that, all over the walls. I'm telling you, they know, so I've got to get out of here quick, before they-'
'Reston, I want you to listen to me very carefully,' Lisa Abercombie said. 'The only one who knows anything at all about us is Henry Lightner. Nobody else, just him.'
'But he… he's just-'
'Lightner is a federal agent,' Abercombie explained calmly. 'He's the one who came to see you today.'
'An agent?'
'That's right.'
'But… but he can't be. I mean, I checked. Honest to God.. ' The man was almost whimpering now.
'Reston, it's all right,' Lisa Abercombie said soothingly. 'He doesn't know anything at all about what we're doing, so he can't possibly do anything to harm any of us, as long as no one panics. Do you understand?'
'I… yes, okay, I understand,' Wolfe said, taking in a deep, shuddering breath. 'Just send the plane out here immediately. I'll wait at National.'
Lisa Abercombie looked up and saw Maas slowly shaking his head.
'Reston, we can't send anybody out to get you right now,' Abercombie said. 'It's too dangerous.'
'Oh, yeah. Right. Uh, that's okay. I'll just take a commercial flight to Denver, and then-'
Abercombie saw Maas shake his head again.
'Reston, listen to me. You've got to stay where you are until we can get you some help,' Abercombie said, watching as Maas nodded his head slowly in agreement.
'But-'
'Reston, go back to your apartment immediately,' Abercombie ordered in her firm 'don't-give-me-any-shit' voice. 'I'll take a red-eye flight and be there first thing in the morning with our legal team. You and I will go to my apartment and stay there, and Koles will see to it that no one can possibly touch us. All right?'
There was a long pause, and then Wolfe seemed to partially recover his composure.
'Yes, that's good, a good idea,' he rasped shakily. 'How soon will you be here?'
'I'll have one of the helicopter pilots take me over to Denver Stapleton right now,' Abercombie promised. 'What you need to do is to have one of the guards call you a cab and then go home right now,' she emphasized. 'I'll see you tomorrow morning. All right?'
'Yes, okay, tomorrow morning,' Wolfe agreed, and Abercombie hung up before the thoroughly unnerved executive director could say anything more.
For a long moment, Lisa Abercombie and Gerd Maas simply stared at each other.
'You understand that they are trying to make him panic and run to us,' Maas finally said calmly.
Lisa Abercombie nodded.
'Then you realize, also, what we must do.' It was not a question.
Lisa Abercombie nodded again, this time with her lips tightened.
'You call your Committee and advise them of the situation, and then find out who this Henry Allen Lightner really is,' Maas directed, his pale eyes gleaming with amusement. 'I will deal with Wolfe.'
Five minutes after they finished talking with Dr. Reston Wolfe's doorman, the cursing agents were back in the van and heading down Connecticut Avenue in the direction of Eighteenth and 'C' Streets.
