“She’s going to ditch her car, too,” Stone said, “if she’s thinking clearly.”
“She is,” Holly said. “She’s over the panic now-ditching the phones shows us that.”
Dino spoke up. “Let’s hope she’s winging it,” he said, “because if she has a plan, we’re fucked.”
“What kind of plan?” Dave King asked.
“Does she have a country place?” Dino asked. “Does she own another car?”
King got back on his phone and started issuing orders again.
“She’s had time to think about this,” Holly said. “If she’s really smart, and I think she is, she has a plan. She has a bolt-hole, and maybe another car, too, not registered in her name. Dave, you should find out who her friends are. If I’m wrong about the bolt-hole, she might go to someone for help.”
King nodded, still talking on the phone.
It was nearly midnight before Dave King and his partner left the suite. There had beenAv>
no further sign of Shelley Bach.
Shortly after he left, the phone rang, and Stone picked it up.
“Hello?”
“This is the White House operator,” a woman’s voice said. “Will you speak to the president?”
“Of course,” Stone said. He heard a click.
“Stone?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Please put Dino on an extension.”
“Yes, sir. Dino, pick up the bedroom phone. Holly, get the other one. Mr. President, we’re all here.”
“Good.”
“I’m on the phone, too,” Kate Lee said.
“I’ve heard from Kerry Smith what’s going on,” the president said.
“We’ve been brought fully up to date,” Kate interjected.
“We both want to thank you for sticking with this until it was resolved,” the president said. “At least, it will be when Shelley Bach is caught.”
“Dino and I jumped to conclusions the last time we all spoke,” Stone said, “and I want to apologize for that.”
“We’ve known Shelley Bach for some years,” the president said, “and of course we’re shocked. The media have already got wind of this, and the press office here is getting calls. I wanted you to know that. I’d appreciate it if you’d refer any questions to Kerry Smith. They’re stunned over there, but it’s their case now, and they should be seen to be handling it.”
“We will refer questions to the FBI with pleasure, Mr. President, and we’ll be out of here tomorrow morning.”
“Have a good flight back, then, and if you’re in Washington again before we’re done here, come and have dinner with us.”
“We’d like that, Mr. President.”
“Good night to you all,” the president said.
“Good night,” Kate echoed. “And, Holly, come and see me first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Holly said, but they had already hung up.
Dino and Holly came into the living room.
“I don’t know about you two,” Stone said, “but I’m exhausted.”
“Then come to bed,” Holly said, heading for the bedroom.
“I guess I’m sleeping alone tonight,” Dino said.
55
Teddy set down his cessna at Manassas airport well after midnight, then taxied to the FBO, which was dark. Everything, including the tower, was closed.
He went to the luggage compartment, got out a case, took the things he needed, then put the case back and locked the compartment. He removed the passenger door from the rear seat and rehung it on the airframe, then locked the airplane.
He went to the FBO door and inspected it for alarm sensors, then he shone a very bright flashlight around the walls, looking for an alarm box. Finding none, he took a set of lockpicks from his pocket and made quick work of opening the door. Inside, he went to the rental car desk and checked the keys hanginb='2em'>
He unlocked the rear door of the FBO from the inside and stepped into the parking lot, then he unlocked a Toyota Camry, got in, and started it. A moment later he was on his way to an apartment development a fifteen- minute drive from CIA headquarters.
It was easy enough to find, since there was a large sign at the untended gate offering two- and four-bedroom town houses for rent, furnished or unfurnished. He parked two doors down from Todd Bacon’s house, slipped plastic booties on over his shoes, and, using his flashlight sparingly, walked between the two nearest houses to what would be backyards when the landscaping was developed. The ground was dry. He checked the two houses as he moved along, looking for signs of alarm systems, but he saw none. Bacon’s house would be alarmed only if he had installed the system himself, and he was unlikely to have done that for a rental.
Teddy circumnavigated Bacon’s house, figured out where the ground-floor master bedroom was, then decided that the best way in was the front door. He slipped out of his shoes and booties on the lawn next to the front walk and continued in his stocking feet. On the front porch, he stopped and prepared the materials he had brought with him. The moon gave him all the light he needed.
He donned latex gloves and picked the front door lock easily-it was right out of a hardware store-and let himself into the front hall, silently closing the door behind him. He stopped in the entrance hall for a full minute, listening for signs of life in the house. A faint snore came from the direction of the master bedroom, down the hallway. He walked slowly down the hall, the silenced gun held out in front of him, took a quick look through the open bedroom door, then jerked his head back and reviewed what he had seen.
Todd Bacon lay on his back, on the left side of the bed, snoring with each breath. The bedroom was flooded with moonlight. Teddy removed the small plastic hypodermic from his shirt pocket, uncapped it, put the cap into his trousers pocket, then clenched the instrument in his teeth. He walked softly into the bedroom, around the bed, and stopped next to the sleeping man. He took the hypodermic from his mouth, bent over until his lips were near Bacon’s ear, then poked the silencer hard against his temple. “Freeze!” he said. “Not a move, not an eyelash.”
Bacon’s eyes opened, and he did not move. Teddy plunged the short needle of the hypodermic into his carotid artery and pressed the plunger, then pulled it out and set it on the bedside table. This would only take a minute, he knew. When he had been at the CIA, they had tested the drug, first on animals, then on volunteers.
“It’s going to feel nice,” Teddy said. “You’ll feel warm all over, and you’ll be able to see and hear, but you won’t be able to move or speak. Don’t worry, it won’t kill you.” He pressed his fingers against the artery and felt for the pulse. He could feel its rapidity, then it slowed. It was done.
“You just lie quietly there for a minute,” Teddy said. “I’ll be ready for you shortly.” He left the paralyzed man and went into the bathroom. He switched on the light and looked around, checked the medicine cabinet. Then he saw what he wanted, standing in a drinking glass on top of the sink. He walked to the bathtub, closed the drain, and turned on the water, testing the warmth. He wanted it hot. Then he returned to the bedroom.
Bacon’s body was twitching a little as he tried and failed to move. Teddy removed the plastic cap from his pocket, capped the needle, and put the hypodermic into his pocket. Then he pulled back the covers?ied, exposing Bacon’s naked body, then took the man’s head in his hands and dragged him from the bed onto the floor. He took hold of Bacon’s wrists and dragged him into the bathroom, then he muscled the inert form into the bathtub.
“You’re going to have a nice hot bath,” Teddy said, “then you’re going to die.”
Bacon’s eyes swiveled and looked at him, seeming to open wider. “Lauren never knew what hit her when you fired that shot,” Teddy said, “but you’re going to know everything.” He went to the sink and took the straight razor from the glass on the sink. He had planned to use a kitchen knife, but this was much better. He returned to the
