any move, Quinn knew he wasn’t going to do anything stupid. At least, not too stupid.
“Talk,” Quinn said.
Hardwick breathed deeply, his shoulders moving up and down each time air passed over his lips. After several seconds the rhythm slowed, and the color of his skin mellowed.
“Fine. I’ll tell you,” he said. “Then you’ll let me out of this car, and you and your boss will never hear from me again.”
“You forget, I know where you work.”
“That’s what you think,” Hardwick said.
“What does that mean?”
But Hardwick only stared back at Quinn.
“All right, then talk,” Quinn said. “You can start with who this group is that approached you.”
“As far as I know, they don’t have a name, just a plan of action.”
“What kind of plan?”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you with that, either. Until we signed on in full, they weren’t going to tell us everything. And since we didn’t sign on …”
“Convenient.”
“I do have
Quinn looked at him, waiting.
“I passed an itinerary of one of their agents on to the DDNI. His travel schedule is very intense, and his destinations … unusual. Again, what he was doing we were unable to discover. I was hoping the DDNI, or I guess your friend at the Office now, would have been able to figure something out from it already.”
“Couldn’t you have done that with your own resources?”
“Perhaps. But this isn’t our number one priority.”
“Care to tell me what priority number one is for the LP right now?”
“Maybe some other time.”
“You said you had a name,” Quinn said.
“Yes. A freelancer. He’s been around a few years. Our guess is he’s handling security for the group. We suspect he’s only doing this for money.”
“So not the name of one of the principals, then.”
“No,” Hardwick said. “That I don’t have. But this person might be a way in.”
“The name?”
“Tucker.”
Quinn could feel the hair on his forearms begin to rise. “Do you have a first name?”
“Leonard. Goes by Leo.”
Tucker was someone he knew. Someone who had no right to be walking around. By all rights, Quinn should have killed him in Berlin a year and a half earlier. He’d had a hand in the kidnapping of Orlando’s son. But they had made a deal, the boy’s location for his life.
“You know him?” Hardwick asked.
Quinn ignored the question. “Yellowhammer? Leo Tucker? And, what? That’s it? Just hearsay from a member of the LP about some nameless group and an operation you have no details on? That’s all you can give me? Is this what got your men killed in Ireland? And DDNI Jackson. He’s dead because of this, too.”
“Jackson’s death didn’t have anything to do with what we uncovered. I’m sure he had a lot of people who wanted him dead. Somebody got to him and stuffed him into the trunk of their car.”
“Jackson died in the tunnel below one of the apartment buildings on your list in New York.”
“What are you talking about?” If Hardwick was red before, he was all white now. Quinn’s revelation was apparently news to him, bad news.
“I found him myself in an old equipment room off a tunnel that ran below the building. The rats got to him first.”
Hardwick’s right hand began to shake. “Jesus.”
“What’s wrong? Hitting a little too close to home? I think you need to tell me everything. Might be your only chance to stop them from coming after you.”
“I’ve … I’ve told you everything. I swear. If there was more, I would give it to you.”
“Is Yellowhammer where this supposed attack is going to take place? Or just a staging location?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are they planning?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s the target?”
“I…” There was something in Hardwick’s eyes.
“You know what it is.” As Quinn spoke, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. This time he ignored it.
“No … I don’t. I don’t know.”
Quinn raised his gun a few inches. “Tell me.”
“I… I…” Hardwick shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “This is only a guess. No one has told me
“Then tell me your guess.”
“Can I show you?”
Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
Hardwick reached into his front pants pocket and pulled out a folded piece of white paper. He hesitated for a second, then handed it to Quinn.
“The timing and proximity seem … advantageous.”
Quinn unfolded the paper. It was a news article printed from the Internet. And at the top, the headline:
G-8 SUMMIT BEGINS SATURDAY
CALIFORNIA’S HEARST CASTLE READY TO PLAY HOST
CHAPTER 22
The son of a bitch kicked Hardwick out of the car right there in the parking lot, then drove off. Hardwick almost dug out his cell phone and called the cops to tell them he’d spotted a car he suspected was stolen. But that would have been counterproductive. Hardwick needed everything to stay on course. Quinn, Mr. Rose, the Office, Chercover, they all had parts still to play, and he had to make sure they performed as he’d planned.
The reason why was simple. The LP’s main directive counted on it, the reason why they were in existence at all. His manipulation of events would bring the goal of the organization that much closer to reality. It wouldn’t be long now, Hardwick knew that much. And God willing, he would be one of the lucky ones who’d still be around when the LP’s ultimate objective was realized.
It was all because a couple of intelligent patriots — what else could you call them? — foresaw a future where America’s power would begin to slip, where its position at the top of the economic ladder would no longer be secure. They knew they couldn’t let this happen, realizing even then that democracy wasn’t as important as two cars in the garage, a refrigerator full of food, and a yearly vacation at the beach. One only needed to look at China’s resurgence to see how well that was working.
So they recruited like-minded intellectuals and formed what would one day become known as the LP. They spent years drafting their plan, then doing everything they could to make it a reality. And now, a half-century later, the LP’s figurehead was in place, and already making a name for himself. In a few years, when he announced the creation of a serious third-party challenge to the status quo, the country would be ready, and would beg him to take command. The years the LP had spent fueling the polarization between the Democrats and the Republicans would finally pay off. That, combined with the softening of the electorate toward the acceptance of a third party that the
