Stone Cold

Simpson said angrily, “You authorized that order, Carter.”

“Again, without possibly knowing what you’re really talking about I can try to make a trade.”

“Me for the boy.”

“No, for the orders.”

“What about me!”

“What about you, Roger?”

“They’ll kill me.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that. But you’ve lived a fairly long and full life. Where do they want to do the exchange?”

“You son of a bitch!”

Stone took the phone. “We’ll call you back with the place and time. And we’ll throw in Simpson for no extra charge. I have no desire to keep him.”

“John, nice to hear your voice. Do you know how difficult you’ve made things for me?”

“It seems to be the only thing I live for anymore.”

“And of course you won’t be lying in wait to ambush me.”

“You’ll have to take your chances, just like I will.”

“And what if I don’t show up?”

“Then the orders for Andropov and Chernenko’s assassinations get sent to five people in D.C., none of whom you’d call a friend. And then we can let the distinguished senator sell you out to save himself. I think he’d make a great witness.”

“After all these years you think anyone will really care?”

“Fine, if you don’t think it matters, why bother coming? We’ll just messenger them out and let the chips fall. Take care, Carter.”

“Wait!”

A few moments of silence passed.

Stone said, “I don’t hear anything.”

“Where did you get these orders? Lesya?”

“You don’t need to know. Roger has seen them. And judging by the paleness of his skin I’d say he thinks it matters a lot.”

“He was always a bit excitable. Not like you and me. All right, John, but if you really want to do a deal, you’ll have to sweeten the pot. I want the original recording you took at Murder Mountain.”

“That’s not negotiable.”

“Oh, but it is. You cost me my career. I want it back. And don’t try to run and make copies. We have technology now that shows that.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I don’t have to tell you the consequences, do I?”

Stone looked at Finn. “All right. I’ll call you back with the time and place. And you have to be there in person or it’s no deal.”

“Then I’d prefer to pick the location.”

“I know, that’s why I’m doing it. One more thing. Anything happens to David Finn, you won’t walk away alive.”

“You’re not what you once were, John. I have fifty men as good as you ever were.”

“Make that forty-nine. I ran into one of your best about a month ago, an ex-Triple Six turned spy.”

Gray put down the phone and wiped a trickle of sweat from his face.

CHAPTER 88

MANDY AND THE REST of the Finn family were moved to other quarters by Reuben, Caleb and Alex that night, after taking great precautions to make sure they weren’t followed. They also brought Lesya to stay with them. Caleb was left on guard with strict instructions to phone immediately if anything seemed suspicious. Then Reuben and Alex left to help the others with the preparations for the exchange of Simpson and David Finn.

Back at the cellar Stone quickly made it clear that only he and Finn would be directly involved in the exchange.

“Oliver,” Alex said. “You have no idea how many people Gray’s going to be bringing. If you remember Murder Mountain, it was a lot of guys with submachine guns.”

Stone said, “This time we’ll have the advantage.” He looked at Annabelle. “However, we need someone to lead David out. For a number of reasons, you fit the bill. Are you game?”

Alex stepped between them. “Wait a minute. If anyone’s going in there with you, it’s going to be me, not Annabelle.”

“She will only be involved in getting David out of the building. We have a way to do that that doesn’t involve confrontation with Gray and his men.” He looked at Annabelle again. “I know you have a great deal of nerve. But I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I could think of any other way.” He added quietly, “And you have no reason to help me. I certainly abandoned you in your time of need.”

She looked at Stone and then over at Alex. “Well, your handpicked replacement did a pretty good job. So I am game. Where is this all going to go down?”

Finn answered, “The Capitol Visitor Center.”

“It’s not finished yet,” Milton said.

“Which is exactly why we’re using it,” Stone answered.

Finn explained. “The company I work for has been targeting the visitor center for a penetration. We do that under contract to Homeland Security as a way to evaluate the security of a particular facility. We do penetrations on airports, shipping ports, nuclear reactor facilities; highly sensitive and strategic operations like that.”

“But the visitor center isn’t even open, like Milton said,” Reuben added. “Why would Homeland Security want you to test its defenses now?”

“Because that’s exactly what a terrorist might think. Hit it now before it’s fully up and running. But the more important reason is that the visitor center is connected by tunnel to both the Capitol building and to the Library of Congress. Terrorists might use that to attack either of those buildings from below ground. I’ve already done extensive reconnoiters of the visitor center. I have a way to gain access and also a way to get my son out.”

“When is all this going to happen?” Annabelle asked.

“Tomorrow night,” Stone answered.

Alex said, “But that’s the night of the mock terrorist attack on Capitol Hill. We got that notice a while back. The place will be total chaos, Oliver. Ambulances, police, fire trucks, casualties, total bedlam.”

“Chaos always makes it easier to escape,” Stone noted.

“If you escape,” Annabelle said. “The two of you are basically going into an unfinished building with limited exits to meet a heavily armed force of government killers led by a guy who sounds about as brilliant and ruthless as they come.”

“You’ve summed it up nicely,” Stone said.

“How do you know Gray won’t just kill Simpson? He might be pretending to agree to do an exchange and then his men will just kill all of you.” They all turned to stare at Milton as he finished speaking. “When you’ve been around Oliver long enough you do tend to get a bit paranoid.”

Stone smiled before answering. “Milton, you’re absolutely right. In fact, I don’t think Gray would have any trouble killing Simpson and then blaming it on us. But I do have something he really wants. And I knew he’d ask for it.”

“The evidence you used to make him resign,” Alex said.

“That’s really the only reason he’s coming. The orders we have only tie Simpson to the assassinations of Andropov and Chernenko.”

“So Gray comes with a lot of firepower and the exchange is made. Once he has what he wants, how are you