Monster (48 page)

“It is vital you find a way to get this information to me. The warehouse was a huge setback for us. We have other avenues to pursue if we can continue to monitor your agency’s movements.”

“I…I’ll transfer the recording onto a CD. I’ll make up a label for it which matches one of my music CD holders.”

“Very good,” Mero complimented her. “Did you hear anything you taped?”

“I’ve been afraid to put on my ear piece. That bitch Reskova popped in the other day out of nowhere with three of her people for a meeting with Aginson. I thought she came in to arrest me.”

“Still… I will most definitely need the recording of what went on in the Director’s office during the meeting you speak of, Nancy. We know of this Reskova woman from Dillon. She will be dealt with.”

Chapter 34

Close Call

In the SUV, Donaldson watched McDaniels’ face tighten and a thin smile appear on the Colonel’s mouth. If ever the face of Death smiled, Donaldson thought, this would be how the Grim Reaper would look. Donaldson wondered if the entire operation was now in jeopardy after Mero’s one sentence. McDaniels sensed Donaldson watching him. He looked over at Pete during a lull in the conversation as the party inside ordered their meal.

“What’s up, Pete?”

“You aren’t thinking of doing anything hasty, are you Colonel?”

“Define hasty.”

“Hasty like making Mero a candidate for the next
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
movie as the headless horseman.”

McDaniels faced forward, leaning back in his seat. “You’ve been hanging around with Kay too long already.”

“We kind of need Mero to remain among the living until we can get a little further along in this, Colonel - otherwise, everything Nancy is doing in there will be for nothing.”

A split second later Donaldson was jammed bodily up against the SUV roof, his back brushing the driver’s side window. McDaniels had moved so suddenly Donaldson’s legs were still twisted painfully under the steering wheel where he had taken Rasheed’s place in the driver’s seat. Donaldson thought with some amusement as he struggled to breathe why McDaniels’ nickname fit so well. The rage drained from McDaniels’ face as Donaldson remained unmoving with a crooked smile on his contorted features. McDaniels released him but remained close to the younger man, staring purposefully in Donaldson’s face.

“Don’t think for a moment I give a shit what your new girlfriend goes through or doesn’t go through, Pete.”

“I was referring to how far we could get in finding other terrorists with Mero alive, Colonel. I didn’t mean to imply Nancy was more valuable than AD Reskova.”

McDaniels settled into his seat again. “Sorry.”

“My bad. I thought for a moment Mero might not make it out of the restaurant alive.”

McDaniels remained silent as the two men heard the clatter of silverware and the sounds of something being set down on the table where Mero and Tamara were. Donaldson began to worry in earnest.

“C’mon, Colonel,” Donaldson urged hesitantly, “we can protect Diane. If you take Mero out now we’ll lose you too and so will Diane. They’ll lock you up and throw away the key.”

McDaniels glanced over at Donaldson. “The only reason I was ever taken into custody was because I let them take me. I could disappear without a trace five seconds after I put a bullet right between Mero’s eyes and no one would ever find me.”

“That’s true, Sir. Diane would never see you again either - nor would the Marines you’re going back to Iraq with. You did give them your word, didn’t you, Colonel?”

McDaniels tensed, his fists balling up into white knuckled fury for a moment. He sat stolidly for the next few minutes as Mero began speaking in calming tones to Tamara again. Looking over at Donaldson, McDaniels smiled grimly.

“You’re right, Pete, but don’t ever mention my word or my duty to me again.”

“Yes, Sir.” Donaldson let his breath out slowly.

* * *

Rasheed came out of the restaurant with an easy unhurried stride. He entered the SUV in calm fashion.

“They are almost finished,” Rasheed informed McDaniels and Donaldson. “Nothing will happen in there now. Did you get anything… hey, what is up with you two?”

“Nothing, Kay,” McDaniels replied with a reassuring glance back at his friend. Donaldson drove around the block and stopped. “Pete was just reminding me of my duty.”

“Uh oh,” Rasheed said.

“Never mind about that. Nancy seemed to have Mero in her camp. We have it all recorded. There’s enough to get Mero a one-way ticket to Gitmo for the duration. We’ll have to cook up some stuff real fast for Nancy to feed him. Here they come.”

The man who had originally picked up Tamara on the street outside of her apartment escorted Nancy back to the van they had come in. After the van moved away, Mero came out of the restaurant with his three bodyguards. They walked down the street a little ways to a Lincoln Town Car parked in a no parking zone. Only after the Lincoln was out of sight did Donaldson exchange places with Rasheed. Driving with expertise, Rasheed passed the Escalade well before reaching Tamara’s neighborhood. At the apartment building, Donaldson exited the backseat quickly.

“Thanks, Pete,” McDaniels said over his shoulder.

“You bet, Colonel, see you later.”

Rasheed drove away quickly before the Escalade arrived. He parked so they could watch Tamara arrive safely. As soon as the Escalade arrived, Rasheed pulled away. While driving around the block McDaniels checked in with Barrington. After McDaniels ended the call, Rasheed looked at him expectantly. McDaniels stared out the window without a word.

“Are you going to let me know what we are doing, Cold, or should I continue driving around the block for the rest of the day?”

“Oh, sorry Kay, we can go back to the office. Tom and Jen will hang out here for a while. I think Nancy is out of trouble with Mero. He wants the information conduit into Aginson’s office badly. You should have heard him cajoling Tamara. Mero even promised to escort her out of the country himself.”

“What else, my friend? What was young Pete reminding you of?”

“Mero told Tamara they knew of Diane and he’d settle with her.”

“I see.” Rasheed thought over that bit of information carefully. “Pete convinced you to not take Mero’s head in front of the crowd in the restaurant immediately.”

“Something like that. He reminded me I would never see Diane or the Marines I promised to lead again.”

“It is lucky for young Pete he still retains his head. He was right for his part. Let us go to the Syrian embassy instead. We will kill them all now while young Pete is not around.”

McDaniels turned quickly to look at Rasheed, only to find the Iraqi smiling at him. McDaniels laughed.

“Good one, Kay. Let’s head back so I can report to Diane in person. She needs to know they have her in their sights.”

“Let me see,” Rasheed mused, rubbing his chin with his left hand while steering with his right. “A few of these cheap little thugs will be coming to get Diane. Let me know how that works out for them, Cold.”

“Mero might send a sniper, Kay, or a bomber.”

“I know, my friend. We will do all we can. You will then let me know when you would like to remove the Syrian embassy from this dimension.”

“If Mero knows much about Diane, we’ll have to change every routine she has. I’ll be checking out all vehicles from now on.”

“Yes, but if they merely detonate one near her by remote control as the cowards continue to do in my homeland your checking will do no good.”

“I realize that. Mostly, I will be listening to every word we can tape of Mero’s conversations. If Diane’s name comes up again, things could get ugly. If Nancy does as well in the future as she did with Mero today we may be able to move on him real quick.”

“I pray the Boss will have every line in and out of the Syrian embassy wired. I wonder if this Mero has outside interests such as female companions. Perhaps he spends a night or two away from the embassy.”

“Damn, Kay, you’re pretty good at this stuff. Of course he does. Oh what fun he and I will have.”

“I did not mention this so you could visit him and ruin everything, Cold Mountain,” Rasheed replied with an irritated wave of his hand in McDaniels’ direction. “I only meant Mero might be conducting a lot of his business outside the embassy, in which case we will have an easier time finding out what he is doing.”

“And who else he sees. Okay, this may go smoother than I thought. As long as he doesn’t find out what we’re doing, we may be able to wrap this up in short order. On the other hand, Mero dies before I go overseas.”

“Of course. You are not angry with young Pete any more, are you?”

“No, but the prick sure pushed my buttons.”

“I will have to study his technique while you are away,” Rasheed said immediately, laughing at McDaniels’ irritated reaction next to him.

“Hell, Pete only did it because he’s been around you for a couple days.”

“That is a lie, Mr. Reskova,” Rasheed said with some manufactured outrage. “I would have gone with you to help butcher the Mero pig. On the other hand, if you think young Pete emulates me, I will take it as a compliment.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t mean it as one.”

“That is of no importance.”

* * *

“I was frightened out of my wits,” Tamara said. She sipped the bourbon on ice Donaldson had poured for her.

Tamara arrived at her apartment only moments after Donaldson. They were both sitting in the only room in her apartment Donaldson had cleared for conversation: Tamara’s bathroom. Tamara sat on the toilet seat lid while Donaldson sat on the edge of her bathtub.

“Even the Colonel was impressed with how well you did. He believes Mero bought the whole thing. They’re already working on something for you to give him from Aginson’s office.”

“Mero knows about Reskova. He…”

“We heard,” Donaldson interrupted. “That part didn’t sit well with McDaniels. I thought he was going to pop Mero right in the restaurant.”

“It would have probably been better if he had. Mero’s terrifying. There’s something about him… I don’t know what… but he makes my skin crawl.”

Donaldson reached over and covered Tamara’s hand with his own. “Believe me, if you’d been in the van with me, you would have glimpsed what terrifying really is. I’ve been around the block a few times in my life. I thought I was formidable. Compared to the Colonel, I’m like one of the
Little Sisters of the Poor
. Mero ain’t long for this world.”

“I thought all the stuff I read about him was hype, especially some of the things he’s done. He was the one who came up with burying me, wasn’t he?”

“He would have left you down there to rot too. I doubt there’s a shade of gray in anything McDaniels does. It will be very important for you to stay on the right side of things without wavering. The Colonel will keep his word. He’ll either make things right for you or he’ll bury you.”

Tamara shuddered. “Jesus… would you let him, Pete?”

“Don’t ever confuse how I may feel about you with how I feel about my country.” Donaldson pulled his hand back.

Tamara reached out, clutching Donaldson’s hand again as he pulled away. “I…I didn’t mean it like that, Pete. I meant if there were some misunderstanding you wouldn’t let him just stick me in a hole somewhere.”

Donaldson met her gaze without looking away.

“I care for you, Nancy. The Colonel is on your side until you give him reason not to be. Make sure there aren’t any misunderstandings.”

“Make love to me, Pete.” Tamara put her glass on the sink. “Let’s go in the bedroom.”

Donaldson pulled her up with him as he stood, enfolding Nancy in his arms.

“Unless we want my co-workers taping our bedroom time we better stay in here.”

Tamara blushed. “I…I forgot about the apartment being wired.”

Tamara looked around the small bathroom. “Can we do it in here?”

“That was a rhetorical question, right?”

* * *

McDaniels walked purposefully into Reskova’s new office, the one vacated by Dreyer. Reskova smiled when she saw who had entered without knocking. She held up a hand in a stopping gesture as McDaniels neared her desk.

“I know. Tom already filled me in on Mero’s desire to deal with me,” Reskova said before McDaniels could speak. “Thank you for not doing anything hasty.”

“Pete reminded me of what was at stake.” McDaniels sat down in the chair facing her desk.

“I’ll put him in for a commendation.”

“Very funny, Red. This Mero guy could take you out anytime he wants. There wouldn’t be a damn thing I could do about it.”

“Gee, you don’t have a very high opinion of Dino and yourself.”

“Like Kay says, he could detonate a car while you’re walking past like they do in Iraq still. Mero talks like he knows you. We need…”

“We need to alter my habits. I get that, Cold. I’ll bring Dino along with me to work too. He’ll love it.”

“At least it would handle the explosives part of the equation,” McDaniels agreed. “I only believed about half the stories concerning bomb sniffing dogs until we picked up Dino. Now you have him doing interrogations.”