in his house. I monitored Russo’s cell phone-he didn’t have a landline in his house-and the only time he left his house before he met with the reporter was when he stopped at his church.”
“How long was he in the church?”
“Less than ten minutes, closer to five. And when I looked inside he was just kneeling there, praying.”
“Is there a pay phone in the church?”
“No.” Then Levy hesitated. “Or I should say, I don’t think there is. There isn’t one outside the place or on the main floor, but I suppose there could be one in the basement or a landline in an office. But it doesn’t matter; I’m sure Russo wasn’t in the church long enough to tell anyone what he knew.”
Bradford was silent as he thought all this over. “Okay, John, but you have to find out what DeMarco knows and if anyone’s helping him.”
“Yes, sir.”
32
Claire and Alice were already in the briefing room when the three men entered. The men were all in their late twenties, with short hair and flat bellies, and were harder than slabs of granite-and Claire noticed the look Alice gave them as they took seats facing the projection screens at the front of the room. Claire rarely thought about the sex lives of her personnel, but she’d always suspected that Alice was a lesbian. Apparently not.
As soon as the men were seated, Claire tapped a keyboard and two photographs of DeMarco appeared on the screen. One photo was his driver’s license photo. The other was the one on his Congressional ID badge.
“Your job tonight,” Claire said, “will be to protect this man. For this op, his code name is White, as in white knight. White is meeting a man tonight and we believe this man will have a team with him and they may try to kill White or snatch him during the meeting. We don’t know for sure, but that’s a possibility we have to be prepared for.”
A photo of Special Agent David Hopper appeared on the screen. “This is the man White is meeting. His code name is Black.”
Most of Claire’s agents specialized in surveillance and intelligence acquisition. The three agents she was speaking to performed those functions, too, but they had been picked for this mission because they were all ex- military and all had recent combat experience-meaning killing experience. Because Claire suspected that Russo and Hansen had been killed by soldiers from Fort Myer, she had to be prepared for something similar tonight and therefore she needed comparable talent-talent just as lethal as the tomb guards.
“Gentlemen,” Claire said, “this meeting tonight is tied to an operation that is classified so far over your heads that I can’t give you even an inkling as to what’s involved. All you need to know is that this op is so sensitive and so vital to national security that we can’t involve the FBI or any other law enforcement agency. We can’t afford any leaks, so this op is being handled totally in house. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the agents said in unison.
“Alice,” Claire said, “will have tactical control of the op in the field. I’ll be here at Fort Meade providing technical support.” Claire paused then and looked each man in the eyes. “Now listen closely. Even though Alice will be in charge, you’ll be allowed to use your discretion regarding actions necessary to protect White. The problem, obviously, is if the opposition plans to kill White there may not be time for you to get permission from Alice to take them out. What this means is that you are authorized to remove any deadly threat to White without obtaining Alice’s prior approval. Are we clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the agents said, realizing they’d just been told that they had license to kill, just like James- effing-Bond.
“Okay,” Claire said. “Alice, it’s all yours.”
As Alice walked to the front of the briefing room, a map appeared on one screen and a satellite surveillance photo of the rendezvous site appeared on another screen.
“The meeting between Black and White,” Alice said, “will take place at midnight on a baseball field at Tuckahoe Park in Falls Church, Virginia.”
When DeMarco spoke to Hopper, Hopper had tried to delay giving DeMarco a time and a place for their meeting. Hopper’s excuse was that he couldn’t be sure when he’d be available and would call DeMarco later-at the last moment-to identify the meeting place. But DeMarco, following instructions he’d been given by Dillon, refused to go along with that and insisted that Hopper identify the rendezvous spot in advance.
Alice shined a laser point at the map. “Tuckahoe Park is enclosed by the Lee Highway on the south, Sycamore Street on the east, 26th Street on the north, and Tuckahoe Elementary School on the west. The baseball field is here, adjacent to the park, and the location was most likely chosen by Black because a hit team can hide in these woods, on top of these buildings at the elementary school, or across 26th Street at the Bishop Connelly School behind this long hedge. The ball field cannot be seen by vehicles traveling on the Lee Highway because of the woods, and the field is in a slight depression and therefore cannot be easily seen from Sycamore Street. You can, however, see the field from 26th Street, but this street is not heavily traveled at night because its primary purpose is to provide access to the elementary school. Any questions on the geography?”
The agents shook their heads.
“We expect,” Alice said, “that opposition will most likely be using weapons with sound suppressors and night-vision scopes. You will be similarly equipped.”
Pointing at the three agents in turn, Alice said, “You’re Alpha. You’re Bravo. You’re Charlie. Alpha, you’ll be going to the rendezvous site as soon as this briefing is concluded. Your primary job is to protect White from Black and you’ll take up a position near these bleachers. There’s a mound of sod there-they’re resodding the outfield-and the mound will make it more difficult for someone to see you from the woods, which is the most likely position for a sniper.
“Bravo and Charlie, at the start of the operation you’ll be with me. I already have people watching the park. I assigned them as soon as Black identified the rendezvous site. We expect that the opposition will move in some time before the meeting, most likely two or three hours before. My spotters are located here, here, here, and here,” Alice said, using the laser pointer again. “I will be stationed here. My spotters and I will have night-vision binoculars and thermal imaging equipment and we’ll see the opposition when they arrive. As soon as they take up their positions, you will move in behind them, close enough to take them out if necessary. Do you understand?”
Bravo and Charlie nodded.
“Gentlemen,” Claire said, “there’s something you need to understand. The opposition will have men just as capable as you are. Do not underestimate them in any way.”
Claire couldn’t tell the agents that they were going up against the sentinels from the Third Infantry Regiment. That was information that Dillon didn’t want anyone else to know. But it was important for these agents to understand how lethal their opponents were. This was going to be like pitting two boxers against each other that were perfectly matched in every way: size, reach, conditioning, and experience. The advantage Claire had was that the other side didn’t know the NSA was involved.
At least she hoped they didn’t.
“This vest,” Alice said, “will stop anything smaller than a fifty-caliber round.”
DeMarco didn’t know what to say to that. Gee, thanks didn’t seem right. He just tugged on the straps to tighten the vest.
“And you’ll be wired and you’ll have an ear bud,” Alice said.
“A what?”
“You’ll be wired so we’ll be able to hear whatever you and Hopper say to each other, and you’ll have a nearly invisible communication device in your ear so you’ll be able to take orders.”
“Who’ll be giving the orders?” DeMarco said.
“It doesn’t matter. You just need to know that whoever’s talking to you is a person you better obey. If you want to live.”
Alice was a bundle of joy.
She turned to leave the room, but before she did she said, “Wait here. Someone will be here in a minute to hook up the com gear. And then Dillon wants to talk to you.”
