Library of Gold (32 page)

Making a decision, he grabbed his sports jacket and slammed his arms into the sleeves. He went into the communications center. Debi Watson was still there.

She was looking disgustingly alert and young.

“Do you have anything new for me?” he asked.

“No, suh.”

“Phone your NSA person,” he told her. “Give him my mobile number. I want him to call me directly if either of those numbers for the disposable phones turns up. If you get any word about Robin Miller, call me on my mobile.” He wheeled around and left, her voice agreeing behind him.

He stopped at Gloria’s desk. “Hand over my mobile. I’m going out.”

She peered at him from above her rainbow-rimmed reading glasses. “It’s about time. You look like a caged animal.”

“Thanks. That cheers me up considerably.”

“I aim to please.” She handed him the secure mobile.

He had an idea, one he did not like. “Is Hudson still here?”

“You betcha. The man’s working away as if he’s the head of Catapult.”

“Are you supposed to let him know if I leave?”

She blinked. “Yes, he’s worried about you, too.”

“Don’t tell him.”

“Why, Tucker?”

“Just damn well do as I say.”

Her brows rose. “We’re not married—yet. Karen will be jealous.”

He sighed. She was right; he was in a huff. “Sorry. Don’t tell the boss, please.”

“Okay,” she said cheerfully.

But as Tucker turned away, he saw a motion—Canon’s door must have just opened, because it was closing now. Tucker went back to his office and found his Browning and holster in his locked desk drawer. Taking off his jacket, he put on the holster and slid the Browning inside. Hesitating, at last he took out the wad of cash he kept in the drawer, the two billfolds that contained cover identities, and other supplies.

Again he headed out.

“You haven’t left yet?” Gloria said as he passed her desk.

“I forgot my lollipops.”

“Silly me. I should’ve reminded you. If anyone asks, when shall I tell them you’ll be back?”

“Oh, a half hour. Maybe never.” He paused. “I didn’t say that.”

Her brows rose again, but she simply nodded.

He left through the side door into Catapult’s parking lot. The April night was cool, not a breeze stirring as he forced himself to slow to a normal pace. He passed staff cars and went out to the sidewalk. It was a balmy spring evening. He inhaled the scent of the freshly cut grass on the adjoining property.

Turning down the street, he noted who else was on the sidewalk and kept his head turned slightly so he could watch approaching cars with his peripheral vision. People were walking home from the Metro after work and school, tired, carrying groceries and briefcases and pushing children in strollers. The street was filled with traffic, many vehicles slowing to look for parking spots. In this neighborhood of mostly row houses, there were few garages or carports.

The trained mind was like a computer, and Tucker’s was automatically sorting through the array of humanity. At last he settled on a man in a loose gray jacket zipped up halfway, dark jeans, and black tennis shoes, about forty feet behind. In the light of street lamps, he seemed innocuous enough, but there was something about the way he moved, loose, rolling easily off the balls of his feet, alert. He had a destination in mind that had nothing to do with the relaxation of home.

Tucker turned the corner, then another. The man was staying with him, threading among the other pedestrians behind, always keeping several between them. Tucker rounded one more block and headed west onto Massachusetts Avenue. The man was still with him, but closer, probably waiting for the right moment. A weapon could easily be hidden beneath his gray jacket.

Tucker pushed into Capitol Hill market, a favorite in the area, small, crammed, and busy at this hour. Going to the back of the store, he stopped at the cooler to eye the selection of sodas but really to check back around the end cap to where he could sight down the aisle to the front door.

The man walked in, nodding to the kid behind the checkout stand, peering casually around as he continued on toward the butcher. The store was doing some construction. Tucker spotted two-by-four boards leaning at the rear of the back hallway. Cocking his head just enough to make certain the man had spotted him, he strolled into the dim corridor. Before he turned the corner, he glanced back. The man was coming, his expression pleasant.

Grabbing one of the boards, Tucker rushed out through the revolving glass door and into the cool night air. Tall trees cast dark shadows over the small parking lot. Instantly he pressed back against the store’s wall, holding the two-by-four. The door slowed its revolutions. As it picked up speed again, he jammed the two-by-four between the moving panes. And slid out his Browning.

As the pane slammed against the board, he stepped out, aiming as he looked inside.

Trapped, with no way to get to the wood, the man was pushing the door, trying to get back into the store. His shoulders were bunched with effort, but the door would not move—it spun only counterclockwise. The man whirled around, his face furious. He was in his late twenties, Tucker guessed. He had beard stubble, short brown hair, an average face. A forgettable face, except for the dimples in his cheeks. When he saw Tucker’s weapon through the glass, his hand immediately reached to go inside his jacket.

Tucker gave a shake to his head. “Don’t.”

The hand moved an inch more.

“We both know you were planning to wipe me,” Tucker told him. “My solution is to shoot you first. I’ll start with your gut and pinpoint each of your organs.” A gut wound was the most painful, and often fatal when organs were involved.

The man’s eyes narrowed, but he stopped moving.

“Good,” Tucker said. “Take out your gun. Slowly. Put it beside your feet. Don’t drop it. We don’t want the damn thing to go off.”

In slow motion the man removed his weapon and set it down on the floor.

“I’m going to take out the board now. Then you come outside. We’ll have a nice chat.” Keeping his gun trained on him, Tucker crouched and slid out the wood. The revolving door moved, and he grabbed the man’s gun. As soon as the man was outside, Tucker told him, “Over there.”

They walked into the black shadow of a tree.

“Give me your billfold,” Tucker ordered.

“I’m not carrying one.”

He was unsurprised. When a trained janitor went out on a job, he went clean. “Who are you?”

“You don’t care about that really, do you, old man?”

“Let’s see your pocket litter,” Tucker told him. “Carefully.”

The man pulled car keys from his jeans.

“Drop them.”

He let them fall through his fingers, then extracted the linings of his jeans pockets to show there was nothing more inside. He did the same with his outside jacket pockets. Using only two fingers on each hand, he opened his jacket, showing the lining had no pockets. He was wearing a pocketless polo shirt.

“Where’s your money?” Tucker demanded.

“In my car. Parked back where I picked you up.”

In other words, parked near Catapult. Tucker considered. “Who hired you?”

“Look, this was just a job. Nothing personal.”

“It’s personal to me. Who the fuck hired you.”

The dead tone got to the man. His pupils dilated.

“Sonny, I know how to kill without leaving a mark,”Tucker told him grimly. “It’s been a while. Tonight seems like a good time to take up the sport again. Would you like a demonstration?”

The would-be assassin uneasily shifted his weight. “Preston. He said his name was Preston. He wired money into an account I have.”

Tucker nodded. “When did you get the call from him?”

“Today. Late afternoon.”

With a sudden move, Tucker took a step and slammed his Browning against the killer’s temple. He staggered, and Tucker hit him again. The man dropped to his knees on the pavement, then sat back and keeled over, unconscious.

Tucker dumped the ammo out of the man’s weapon and pocketed it—9mm. It might come in handy later. He pulled out plastic handcuffs and bound the man’s hands behind him and his ankles together. He rolled him against the trunk of the tree where the shadows were deepest.

Activating his mobile, Tucker punched in Gloria’s number. As soon as she answered, he said, “Don’t say my name. Put me on hold and go into my office and close the door. Then pick up again.”

There was a surprised pause. “Sure, Ted. I have time for a quick private chat.” Ted was her husband.

When she came back on the line, Tucker told her, “I’m outside the rear of Capitol Hill market. I’m leaving a janitor here who tried to wipe me. He’s handcuffed, and I’ve got his ammo. Come and get him.”

“What! Oh, hell, what have you been up to now?”

“Hudson Cannon is dirty.”

“Is the janitor why Hudson wanted you to leave?”

“Yes.”

She swore. “I knew something was wrong. What do you want me to do with the guy when I get there?”

“He should still be unconscious. He’s tied up. Drag him into your car and then park him in the basement at Catapult. I don’t want Canon to know about any of this, for obvious reasons. Don’t tell Matt Kelley, either. There may be another mole inside Langley, and it could leak back to the Library of Gold people. This is a lockdown on security, got it?”

“Got it.”

“The kid parked his car somewhere near Catapult. I’ll put his keys on the ledge above the back door of the store. Locate the car and toss it. Phone me if you find anything.”

“I take it you’re not coming back.”

“Not until the Library of Gold operation is over. The story is I’m taking a short, well-deserved vacation.”

46

Rome, Italy

The efficiency flat was in a forgotten corner of Rome, tucked away on one of the little streets on Janiculum Hill just south of St. Peter’s Basilica. The husky blast of a boat horn sounded from the Tiber River as Yitzhak Law paced to the flat’s open window. Running both hands over his bald head, he stared out at the unfamiliar terrain.

“You are distressed,
amore mio
.” Roberto Cavaletti’s voice sounded behind him.

Yitzhak turned. Roberto was studying him from the table beside the sink, their only table. The flat was one room, so small that opening the oven door blocked entry to the tiny bathroom. It reminded Yitzhak of his student days at the University of Chicago, and that was the only charm to it. That, and it was safe. Bash Badawi had brought them here yesterday, after a doctor had treated Roberto’s shoulder wound.

“I have a class to teach this evening,” Yitzhak said. “A meeting later tonight. When I don’t show up, they’ll worry.” It was not an issue yesterday, when he had no other classes or meetings. He was a professor in the Dipartimento di Studi Storico-Religiosi at the Università di Roma–Sapienza, and he took his responsibilities seriously.

Roberto massaged his close-cropped brown beard, thinking. “Perhaps it is worse than that. They will phone the house, leave a message, and when no one returns the call, they will go looking for you.”

“I thought of that, too. There’ll be an uproar. But it’s the students who concern me most—no one will be there to teach them.”

“You wish to tell the department? We have the cell phone Bash gave us. He said we must not leave, and no one could know where we are. A cell call is not leaving. And you do not have to say any details.” Roberto held up the cell.

“Yes, of course. You’re right.”

Feeling relieved, Yitzhak marched over and took the device. Calling out, he settled into the chair across from Roberto. He had changed the dressing on Roberto’s wound earlier. Thankfully it was healing nicely, and Roberto had had a good night’s sleep.

Gina, the department secretary, answered. She recognized his voice immediately.
“Come sta, professore?”

Speaking Italian, he explained he had to leave in an hour for emergency business. “I’ll need a substitute for my lecture, Gina. And please alert Professor Ocie Stafford that I can’t attend his meeting, with apologies.”

“I will. But what am I to do with your package?”

“Package? . . . I don’t understand.”

“It looks and feels like a book, but of course I cannot be certain. It is in a padded envelope. This morning a priest from Monsignor Jerry McGahagin at the Vatican Library delivered it. He said it was most important. The monsignor wants your advice.” Monsignor McGahagin was the director of not only one of the oldest libraries in the world, but one that contained a priceless collection of historical texts, many of them never seen by outsiders.

He thought quickly. “Send someone over with it to Trattoria Sor’eva on Piazza della Rovere. As it happens, I’m near there now.” Bash had pointed out the place as a good restaurant serving excellent handmade pasta.

“Yes, I will do that. A half hour, no more.”

Yitzhak ended the connection and relayed the conversation.

Roberto shook his head. “You are bad. We are supposed to stay here.”

“You stay. That puts half of us in compliance.”

Roberto gave an expressive Roman shrug. “What am I to do with you. You are always the dog looking for one more good bone.”

“I’ll be back soon.” Yitzhak patted his hand and left.

Dusk was spreading across the city, the shadows long. Yitzhak had steeled himself not to think about Eva and Judd, but as he walked, passing apartment buildings and shops, he felt strangely vulnerable, which made him worry about them. Not until he heard from Bash that their dangerous situation was settled and they were safe would he feel right.

Twenty minutes later he reached the piazza and stopped across the street from the trattoria. All seemed normal, but then, tumult was normal to Rome—the streets a cyclone of traffic, bustling with shoppers, locals, businesspeople, cars parked two and three abreast. The windows of the trattoria showed customers inside eating and drinking.

Then he saw Leoni Vincenza, one of his advanced students, hurrying toward the restaurant, a padded envelope under his arm. It was bright yellow, a strange color for the Vatican. Perhaps the
monsignore
was using up donated stock.