Smooth Operator (Teddy Fay) (21 page)

T
he gunshot woke her.

Karen Blaine opened her eyes, blinked uncomprehendingly as the big man pitched forward into the room and fell to the floor. There was a man standing in the doorway, but she couldn’t tell who. He looked like a character from a sitcom, some little old man who’s crotchety but kindly and knows more than the kids.

—

TEDDY FAY STEPPED
into the room. He knelt by the goon, thrust a gun in his back. The man was clearly dead, but he was still clutching his gun. Teddy wanted to let him keep it. He’d shot the man in the back. It would be important to preserve the scene, to show he’d been about to shoot the girl.

Teddy examined her. Her breath was shallow, her heartbeat weak and thin. He felt her forehead. She was running a high fever. There seemed little chance she’d wake up again anytime soon.

Teddy searched the body. The dead man’s wallet was in his hip pocket. Teddy extracted it with a handkerchief, flipped it open. His driver’s license identified him as James Grogan. He had a couple of credit cards in that name. The papers in his wallet included a tattered Social Security card, but no other personal documents. The rest were all receipts of some kind.

Teddy replaced the wallet. He searched the other pockets and found nothing of interest.

The backpack in the front room held nothing but a T-shirt, socks, underwear, and a box of bullets.

There was a cell phone on the coffee table, which Teddy slipped into his pocket.

He went out on the porch and called Millie Martindale.

“I just hit the jackpot. Twenty-four Maplewood. Get over here fast. When you get close, call for an ambulance. Don’t call Quentin.”

Teddy hung up and called Holly Barker. “I’ve got the girl. The goon who was guarding her is dead.”

“You found Karen Blaine?”

“Yeah.”

“How is she?”

“She’s hurt and sick, but I think she’ll make it. He was about to kill her.”

“How’d you find her?”

“Just dumb luck. There was a guy peeing in front of a cabin. That fit the profile. We wanted a primitive affair with no plumbing or electricity. I snuck up on the place just in time to see him take a gun and head for the back room. I was nearly too late.”

“You shot him?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he have identification?”

“He’s not our guy. He’s white, scruffy-looking.”

“That’s all wrong.”

“This was never what it seemed.”

“Any indication who hired him?”

“None. The guy’s not going to talk, but I doubt if he knew anything.”

“How are you going to handle it?”

“I’m going to let Millie take the credit. I’ll have her call you after I brief her. Car’s coming. Talk to you later.”

Teddy broke the connection just as Millie Martindale drove up. She hopped out of the car and did a double take. She gawked, peered at his face.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s me,” Teddy said. “Give me your gun.”

Millie handed it over.

“Here, take mine.” He gave Millie his gun. “Fire a shot.”

“Where?”

“Where no one will find the bullet. Into the woods.”

Millie aimed away from the cabin, fired a shot.

“Good. Let me have it.”

Teddy took the gun back, slid out the magazine, replaced the bullet, and picked up the ejected shell casing from the ground. He wiped the gun clean of fingerprints and gave it back to her.

“Here you are. Handle it some and put it away. Did you call for an ambulance?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I gotta get out of here. The girl’s on a mattress in the back room. The kidnapper’s lying next to her. He was about to shoot her when you stopped him. If you hadn’t, she’d be dead.”

“I shot him?”

“Yes, you did, and nice work, too. Give me your map.”

“Why?”

“Because this cabin’s not on it.”

Millie handed her map over. “Quentin’s got a map.”

“Get him to ditch it. Call him now and tell him to make himself scarce.”

“What else can I tell him?”

“Anything but the truth. Then call Holly Barker and get your story straight.”

Teddy hopped in his car. As he drove off, he could hear the siren of the ambulance in the distance.

I
t’s taken care of,” Abdul-Hakim said.

Calvin Hancock exhaled into the phone. “Good. Go ahead with Phase Three.”

Abdul-Hakim glanced over at Sam Snyder, still tied to his chair. The little man had quit struggling against the ropes, but he raised his head to glare back. Abdul-Hakim smirked in contempt. A congressman, for goodness’ sake. What was the point of rising to power and authority and then living like a pauper?

“Just as soon as I get paid,” Abdul-Hakim said.

“You’ll get your money when it’s done.”

Abdul-Hakim was not about to give Sam Snyder the satisfaction of arguing in front of him. He wandered back toward the kitchen as he talked on the phone.

“When it’s done, I am out the door. What if there’s a glitch?
You expect me to leave and trust it will be worked out? Or do you expect me to hang around and get caught?”

“There will be no glitch.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Then pay me now.”

“We had an agreement.”

“We still do. I have my laptop. I can check my bank balance. As soon as it registers a five-million-dollar deposit, I’ll proceed.”

“You’re not dictating terms.”

“No, I’m just making sure I get paid.” Abdul-Hakim poured himself another cup of coffee, now cold in the pot. “I am not a religious zealot. I am a businessman. That’s why you hired me. I can be bought, but only if I am paid. So, the stage is set, the actors are in place, we’re ready for Act Three. As soon as you pay your admission, the curtain will go up.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

“Of course not. You’re in charge. I’m an employee, just waiting to be paid.”

“Now see here—”

“Call me when you’re ready,” Abdul-Hakim said, and hung up.

T
eddy was halfway back to D.C. when the phone rang.

It was Holly Barker. “So far, so good. The cops bought Millie’s story, such as it is. She’s being released into federal custody just as soon as I can get an agent out there.”

“You got one. Quentin.”

“I hate to use him.”

“It’s all right, the cops don’t know he’s involved. They want her in federal custody, he’s FBI. Call him and tell him to get his girlfriend out.”

“He’s going to want to know what happened.”

“And he doesn’t get to. We made that clear from the word go.”

“He’s going to give Millie a hard time.”

“Not that girl,” Teddy said. “She’ll tie him in knots. Did you tell her what to do?”

“Just before the cops came.”

“What about the identity of the kidnap victim?”

“The cops are withholding the name of the girl, largely because they don’t know who she is. Sooner or later someone will get the bright idea to run her fingerprints and her rap sheet will pop out. But it’s not like she’s in the police station. She’s in the hospital in intensive care, and the nurses aren’t going to take kindly if someone comes at her with an ink pad.”

“So, we got time to plan a cover-up.”

“Now there’s a word you like to hear in Washington.”

Teddy had just got off the phone when it rang again. He figured it was Holly calling back with something she forgot, but it was Kevin.

“There’s no one in the office,” Kevin said, “and I got something you should know.”

“What’s that?”

“The cell phone that made the call from the cabin—the one where the girl screamed? That phone made another call.”

“To the Speaker?”

“No, to a number in Bethesda.”

“Did you trace it?”

“Yeah. It’s a private house. You want the address?”

“I sure do.”

A
bdul-Hakim was making a new pot of coffee when the phone rang.

“The money’s in. Do it.”

“I’ll just confirm that.”

Abdul-Hakim’s laptop was open on the kitchen counter. He called up his offshore account and checked the balance. It showed a five-million-dollar deposit. He smiled, picked up his cell phone, which he had set down on the counter. “Yes. The money is in. Consider it done.”

Abdul-Hakim closed the laptop and stuck it in his briefcase. He finished his coffee, rinsed the cup, and put it in the drain board. He grabbed his briefcase and went into the study.

Sam Snyder looked up from his desk. When he saw Abdul-Hakim he struggled against his bonds.

Abdul-Hakim ignored him and set the briefcase on the desk. He popped it open, reached in, and took out a gun.

Sam Snyder struggled furiously, and tried to climb out of his chair. Abdul-Hakim untied the bonds, freeing his right arm. Sam Snyder flailed violently, tried to punch him. Abdul-Hakim slapped him in the face, hard. He pinned the old man’s arm down, pried his fingers open, and forced the gun into his hand. He twisted the congressman’s arm up to his head and pulled the trigger.

Sam Snyder stiffened, shivered, and pitched forward onto the desk. The gun clattered to the floor. Abdul-Hakim hadn’t been able to make him hold it very well. Still, enough gunpowder residue would have gotten on his hand. Abdul-Hakim picked it up from the floor, stuck it in the congressman’s hand, wrapped his fingers around it, and arranged it on the desk near his head.

Abdul-Hakim took a sheet of paper out of his briefcase. He lifted Sam Snyder’s head and slid the paper onto the desk beneath it. He stepped back from the desk to survey the scene.

Teddy Fay stuck a gun in his back.

“Hands up. Don’t turn around.”

Abdul-Hakim raised his hands. There was something ironic in the gesture, as if he were just toying with the man who held the gun.

Teddy patted him down for a weapon. Found none. “That’s the problem with putting a gun in someone’s hand. Then you don’t have one.” He took a step back. “You can turn around now.”

Abdul-Hakim turned, saw Teddy. He laughed, shook his head. “Old man, you are out of your league. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

“Maybe not, but I have the gun. Is that Sam Snyder?”

“You don’t know?”

“The phone’s listed in his name. You sort of messed up his face. What did you put on his desk?”

Abdul-Hakim said nothing.

“Never mind, I’ll see for myself. Keep your hands up.” Teddy slipped the paper out from under Sam Snyder’s head. “Suicide note, am I right? You put a gun in his hand, nothing else makes sense.”

Teddy held up the paper, read, “‘I can’t live with what I have done.’” He nodded approvingly. “Good start. Didn’t bury the lead.”

Abdul-Hakim edged closer.

Teddy waggled the gun. “No, no. Are you planning to make a move? I guess I should call for backup.”

Teddy set the paper on the desk, whipped out his cell phone, speed-dialed Holly Barker, and gave her the address.

“Get over here. Come alone.”

“Why?”

“You just shot a terrorist.”

Teddy hung up the phone.

Abdul-Hakim looked amused. “Is that supposed to scare me?”

“I’d be happy if it made you civil. You’re not going to be able to overpower me, so save us both the trouble.”

Teddy picked up the suicide letter.

I am responsible for the terrorist plot. I hired men to kidnap the Speaker’s daughter and force him to manipulate Congress. I hired men to assassinate the hard-line conservatives who stood in his way.

I’m not sorry about Congressman Drexel and Congressman Foster. They were hateful men, they deserved to die. But I’m sorry about the girl. That should not have happened.

I had to end the logjam in Congress and help my good friend Kate Lee. I thought I could make it look like a terrorist plot. But I can’t go through with it.

I’m sorry.

Sam Snyder

Teddy looked up from the letter. “Not bad.”

Abdul-Hakim stared at him. “Who are you?”

“The real question is, who are
you
? You’re not a terrorist, because this never was a terrorist plot. I couldn’t figure out what all the connections were, but you just made it easy for me with your phony suicide note. You’re the window dressing to make a homegrown conspiracy look like terrorism. I’m willing to bet you’re not even a religious fanatic. You’re probably just in it for the money. I imagine you expect to make quite a bit.”

Abdul-Hakim’s eyes flicked to his briefcase.

Teddy shook his head. “You’re not very good at this, are you?
What have you got in your briefcase? Ah, you brought your laptop. Why’d you bring that? It’s on, let’s find out.”

Teddy opened the laptop, clicked it out of sleep mode. “You didn’t close the program. Careless of you. It’s a bank account. And what do we have here? A five-million-dollar deposit. Within the last half hour. Care to comment on that? I didn’t think so.”

Teddy stuck the laptop back in the briefcase. “You’re being paid to implicate the Democratic Party in a trumped-up terrorist plot. So, I’m looking for a right-wing extremist with unlimited money. Does that sound like anyone you know? Calvin Hancock, for instance?”

Abdul-Hakim lunged for the gun.

Teddy stepped aside, chopped down on the man’s arm with his left hand. His hand holding the gun never wavered.

Abdul-Hakim howled in pain and grabbed his arm.

“Relax,” Teddy said. “It isn’t broken. It would be if I wanted, but it isn’t. You can still raise it over your head. Which I suggest you do right now.”

Abdul-Hakim raised his hands.

“Good. Now move over there. Right in front of the desk.”

Abdul-Hakim edged sideways. His eyes never left Teddy’s.

“Good,” Teddy said. “You can put your hands down now.”

Abdul-Hakim did.

Teddy shot him in the chest.

—

TEDDY SEARCHED THE
BODY.
The man he’d killed had a driver’s license in the name of Abdul-Hakim. Teddy figured it was a toss-up whether or not it was his real name. It didn’t really matter now. He had no credit cards in that name, or any other. He must have paid for everything in cash.

Teddy found the CIA credentials in the name of Martin Stark. He slipped them into his jacket pocket. No one knew about them but Margo Sappington, and she was dead. There was no reason to confuse the issue, and they might make trouble for his friend Saul.

Teddy found a set of car keys. He took them out front and pressed the zapper. Headlights flashed on a car in the middle of the next block. Teddy searched the car and found an attaché case in the trunk. He popped it open. The case housed a sniper’s rifle, which looked like it had recently been fired. One shell was missing from the magazine.

Teddy had just gotten back to the house when Holly came driving up.

“All right, where’s this terrorist I shot?”

“In the study. He’s dead. But you were too late to save the congressman.”

“What congressman?”

“Sam Snyder. You didn’t run the address?”

“You said to hurry.”

“I meant it. Come on.”

Teddy led Holly into the study. Sam Snyder lay sprawled on the desk. Abdul-Hakim lay on the floor in front of it.

Holly took in the scene. She gestured to the congressman. “He’s holding a gun.”

“Yeah. He killed himself in a fit of remorse. It’s all in his suicide note. I’m taking it with me. You can read it before I burn it.”

“Burn it?”

“I’m also taking the ropes used to tie him up. As well as the terrorist’s laptop and cell phone. Kevin will have fun with them.”

“But—”

“Let’s get this done. You be him, I’ll be you.” Teddy took the gun out of Sam Snyder’s hand, gave it to Holly. “Take the gun. Stand in front of the desk. Shoot and miss me.”

“Are you serious?”

“Well, I don’t want you to hit me.”

“Teddy—”

“You need to have fired a gun. That gun needs to have been fired twice.”

Holly raised the gun and fired.

Teddy looked back at the bullet hole in the wall. “It could have been a little closer, but it will do.”

Teddy took the gun back from Holly. “Now, I’m taking this much-traveled gun, and I’m wiping the congressman’s fingerprints, your fingerprints, and my fingerprints off it, and I’m putting it in the dead terrorist’s hand. He won’t leave fingerprints because he’s wearing gloves, but you can’t have everything.

“I am taking my gun, which used to be Millie’s, by the way, wiping it off and giving it to you. This is the gun you used to shoot Abdul-Hakim.”

“That’s his name?”

“According to his driver’s license. Which may be bogus, since his ID photo didn’t show up in any known database. He’s not a terrorist, by the way. He was in it for the money. This was an extremist plot to bring down the President by making it look like she was complicit in a scheme to circumvent Congress and implement her own agenda.”

Holly’s mouth fell open. “How in the world are we going to prove that?”

“We’re not going to try. We’re going to say this was a terrorist plot, plain and simple.” Teddy pointed to Abdul-Hakim. “This is the terrorist. You tracked him here and killed him.”

“How did I do that?” Holly said. “For that matter, how did
you
?”

“I got lucky. He called the thug guarding the girl from Sam Snyder’s phone. He wanted there to be a record of that call, to suggest that Sam Snyder was contacting his flunky and found out the girl was dead, which drove him to suicide.

“Only the thug didn’t answer at first, so he
called back
from the phone Kevin had been tracking. Kevin traced that call and gave me Sam Snyder’s address.”

“That’s what
really
happened. What do I
say
happened?”

“Don’t worry about it. I called Stone Barrington. He’s going to act as your attorney. He’ll make a statement for you.”

“No one will buy it.”

“Sure they will,” Teddy said. “You don’t, because you know better. But no one else does. It will sound fine to them.

“Without the suicide note, the information suggests a terrorist attack on Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike. The terrorists’ goal was to create havoc and disrupt our way of government.”

Holly bit her lip. “I suppose.”

“Relax. You got evidence. The guy’s car is parked down the street with a sniper’s rifle in the trunk.”

“He’s the sniper?”

“I doubt it. The sniper’s most likely the guy in the surveillance video, but that’s not our problem. Let the agencies sort it out.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“That’s the spirit. And remember, it’s all right to be a little bit shaken. You just killed a man who nearly killed
you
. You should probably be checked out by a doctor. By the time you’re done, Stone Barrington will be on the case.”

Teddy smiled. “Just do as he says and you’ll be fine.”