THE 13: STAND BOOK TWO (38 page)

Keene waited outside the door while Boz went in. Boz had invited him to come in with him, but Keene knew that Boz and Eli were close. Eli was like a nephew to Boz. He wanted to give them a minute before he came in. But he wanted to come in, for sure. He’d actually wanted to shake the man’s hand and thank him for what he’d done during the invasion. If it hadn’t been for Eli hijacking the entire Royal Navy and coming to America’s rescue, who knew what would’ve happened? But more personally, Eli had saved Megan’s life. And so Keene wanted Eli to know that he would forever be in Eli’s debt.

He heard Boz call from inside the room for him to come in. He opened the door and stepped inside. Eli was sitting up in bed with his shirt off. He smiled. “So you’re the real Jason Bourne.”

Keene gave a short laugh. “I don’t know about that.” He stuck his hand out. “I’m Jon Keene, Eli. It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

Eli took his hand. “The honor is mine, Jon. And by the way, that was Megan who said that. Not me.”

Keene shook his head. “Um…How’s that?”

“Jason Bourne. That was Megan.” Eli started flipping his hand back and forth and looking up, like he was thinking out a math problem. “See, I told her I was the real 007. Then she told me that you were the real Jason Bourne. One of us said that Boz was the real Jack Ryan—except that Boz never became president, which left her being one of the girls from Charlie’s Angels—I didn’t mention that, by the way. I think she might’ve shot me….”

At this point, both Keene and Boz were laughing.

“Anyway, we left the whole conversation at my wanting to finally meet you. And now here you are,” Eli finished.

Keene reached down and took Eli’s hand in a tight grasp. And then he clasped his left hand over top, holding. “I can’t ever repay you for what you did for our country. You saved our lives.”

Eli nodded. “Just doing my job, mate. Glad I could help.”

Keene continued to hold on. “And what you did in Raleigh, saving Megan like that…I owe you more than—”

Eli cut him off. “Hey, that’s what brothers do. And from what I’m told, you were the one who saved us.”

Keene locked eyes with Eli and knew right then that a friendship had been forged that would never be shaken.

“Are you girls going to blow smoke up each other’s skirts all night?”

They all turned around to see Kevin Jennings standing in the doorway. Keene couldn’t believe his eyes. He was both angry and astonished. “What in the heck are you doing in here? Does your doctor know where you are?”

Jennings looked at him with the same chastising look he had seen a thousand times. “Jon, when are you going to learn? I’m the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I do what I want. I’m fine. I got shot in the shoulder. I’ll be out of here by tomorrow. Besides, I heard Eli was awake.” He shifted his focus to Eli. “How you feeling, son?”

“I’m good. Thanks for having them take care of me.”

“You bet,” Jennings said. Then, “Jon, did you tell him?”

It hit Keene immediately what Jennings was asking. Eli was a former British naval officer. He had coordinated the Royal Navy’s rescue of the United States with Bob Sykes. The two were probably friends. He shook his head no.

“Eli, I have some bad news,” he said. “Bob Sykes was killed tonight.”

Eli hung his head and took a deep breath and let it out again. “How?”

Keene clenched his teeth together. “The same woman who put you and Megan in here.”

“And did you catch her?”

“No.”

Eli shifted in the bed and turned his head away. “Right. Well, Bob was a great man.” There was a catch in his voice. “The world will miss him.”

Keene reached over and put his hand on Eli’s shoulder. “We’ll all miss him.”

They were all silent for a moment.

It was Eli who broke the silence. “I’m sure, then, by now you’re probably aware that Jake Irving is caught up in this.”

“Yes,” Jennings said. “The last few days since you’ve been out have been exciting.”

“Did he have anything to do with Bob’s death?”

“Probably,” Keene said. “He might not have ordered it. But he knew it was coming.”

“Then he shouldn’t be too surprised when I come for him,” Eli said. “Where are we on everything?”

Keene caught Eli up to speed on all that had happened over the last few days. When he finished, Eli shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t understand how anyone could be so selfish and stupid and smart, all at the same time,” he said, referring to Pemberton, Nolan, and Irving.

By this time, Jennings had pulled up a chair alongside Keene and Boz. The impromptu gathering had now turned into an ad hoc strategy meeting.

Jennings looked over at Boz. “Hey, what happened over at CNN?”

Boz’s hand went to his forehead. “Oh my goodness! I completely forgot.”

Now it was Boz’s turn to fill everyone in. He told them how Walker had jousted back and forth with Larson, and how Walker had all but put Larson in his place when Larson had brought the conversation back to the Prophet. He finished with the Prophet’s announcement that he would address the nation in three days. When he finished, Keene, Jennings, and Eli all sat there with their mouths open.

“So what does that mean?” Keene asked. “Did he say anything else?”

“Nothing,” Boz said. “He just said he was going to address the country.”

“We need to talk with Quinn,” Jennings said. “Jon, do you know how to reach him?”

“No. But if he’s going to show up to give some speech, I would imagine he’s going to contact us soon. Boz, did he give any inclination what he was going to say?”

“He just said that he was going to speak God’s decree for the nation. That God has been patient enough.”

“Wow,” Eli said. “This is going to be epic.”

“So what should we do?” Jennings asked.

“Pray,” Boz said. “ ’Cause whatever he’s going to say, it definitely doesn’t sound like it’s going to be good.”

They all started talking back and forth about what they thought the Prophet would say. Everyone was speculating on everything from a stern warning to a full-on pronouncement of judgment.

Keene felt the vibration from the sat-phone in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the display. He had no idea who it was. “Hello?”

“Mr. Keene…”

It was the Prophet. Keene snapped his fingers to get everyone’s attention.

“Hello, Quinn. Good to hear your voice.”

“We need to talk.”

W
hen Alex Smith woke up the next morning, she felt more alive than she had since she woke up from her coma. She could feel her heart pumping, her shoulder and side felt like she had never been shot, and the adrenaline rush from last night at Jennings’s place was still coursing through her veins. She turned the water off from the shower, wrapped a towel around her, and walked back out into the room. She lay down in the bed and looked at Farid, who was still asleep.

Just looking at him this morning was causing her heart to race faster. He had saved her, again. She reached out and touched his hand and felt the electricity course through her veins. She had never felt anything like this for anyone. Farid stirred and opened his eyes.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“Good morning, Alex,” he said as he yawned and arched his back to stretch. When he was done, he looked at her curiously. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking that I’d be dead at least three times by now if it weren’t for you.”

“So maybe you should keep me around, then.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Maybe.”

He laughed and pulled the sheet back and got out of bed. “I’m going to go take a shower. What time is it?”

“Ten thirty. We’re supposed to meet Pemberton in about an hour, so hurry up. I need to stop and pick up a couple things.”

She watched him as he shut the door to the bathroom.
Yeah. I think I’ll keep you around for a while
.

She felt her heart flutter, and her palms began to sweat. She leaned back against the headboard.

Alexandra Sokolov, I think you’re in love
.

She smiled. She liked the way that sounded.

An hour later, she and Farid sat at a small corner table in the back of a coffee shop in Dupont Circle, watching as Pemberton came in. He stepped up to the counter and ordered. When he got to the other end of the counter, the clerk handed him a cup encased in a brown cardboard sleeve. He took the cup and made a face as if he were disgusted. He walked to the back of the room where she and Farid were sitting.

“Who’s this?” he asked, pointing to Farid.

“That’s none of your concern. He’s with me.”

Pemberton sat down and put the paper cup on the table. “I swear, ever since those hippies in Seattle got famous, you can’t find just a regular cup of coffee. Everyone wants to put chocolate, or caramel, or whipped cream in it. Tell them you just want a plain black cup of joe and they look at you like you’re some kind of freak.”

“So what can I do for you, Mr. Pemberton?”

“You see Walker’s interview on CNN last night?”

“I was…preoccupied.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“But I saw the highlights on the news.”

“Good, then you know that this guy calling himself the Prophet is going to be giving some little speech day after tomorrow.”

“I do.”

Pemberton sipped his coffee. “I would like it if he never got the chance to finish that speech.”

“Do you know where he is?”

Pemberton shook his head. “No one knows where he is. That guy stays disappeared better than me.” He laughed at his own joke. “But we both know where he’s going to be.”

Alex thought about it for a minute. The Capitol was a large building. She had already successfully pulled off one hit there. So she knew the lay of the building. But the fact that she had been successful there already made her think that it would be next to impossible to do it again. Security would be tighter than it had ever been. “I’m not sure that it can be arranged on such short notice.”

“I’ll triple your fee.”

That made her really consider it. With that kind of money she could take two, maybe three years off.

“Well?” Pemberton pressed her.

“All right. But you’ll need to wire the money first. Same account. If it’s there by midnight tonight, I’ll take care of it.”

Pemberton stood up and drained the last of his coffee and put the cup back down on the table. He leaned down and looked her in the eyes. “And Walker, too.”

“I thought you said you wanted to wait.”

“I changed my mind.”

Pemberton turned and left. When he was gone, Farid looked at her. “This thing that he wants you to do—can you do it?”

“Can I
do
it?” She laughed playfully. “What kind of question is that? Have you not been paying attention?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Farid said. “I mean, how are you going to get inside?”

She looked at him for a few seconds. “Well, I’m going to need a little help. But like I said before, that’s completely up to you.”

Farid didn’t hesitate. “I’m in.”

K
eene had spent the night sitting in a chair by Megan’s bed. After the impromptu meeting in Eli’s room, he had decided to come back and check on Megan. She was barely awake when he came in the room. He brushed her hair out of her eyes and kissed her forehead as she fell back asleep.

He woke the next morning to the sound of a nurse in the room clanking around Megan’s bed. He opened his eyes and saw the woman changing out the little bags that hung next to the bed, sending fluid through tubes into Megan’s body.

“Hey, what is that stuff anyway?” he asked.

The nurse whispered, “Just some antibiotics.”

Keene thanked her for her service as she left. He spent the next thirty minutes just watching Megan as she slept. Finally she opened her eyes.

“Have you been here all night?”

He sat up and rubbed the cramp out of his neck. “Yeah.” He looked around. “This is as good a place as any.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, Jon. You could’ve gone home and got some sleep.”

“I slept,” he said. “Just not very well.”

Megan laughed and reached for his hand. “I’m glad you’re here. So what’s going on?”

Keene caught her up on everything from last night’s meeting in Eli’s room. She was elated that Eli had come around and was doing well.

“And then, as if right on cue, Quinn called,” Keene finished.

“What did he say?”

“Not much. Just that he was coming to Washington. And that he’d let me know where and when to pick him up. He also said that we should make sure that Pemberton, Irving, and Nolan are in attendance for his little speech. I told him I couldn’t imagine that they wouldn’t be.”

“Agreed.”

“I just wish we had something we could pin on Pemberton and the others,” he said. “If we had proof, we could take them into custody.”

Megan’s eyes lit up. “Hey! When Eli and I were in Raleigh, we followed Hayes to a farmhouse out in the country. He met Pemberton out there. Nolan, Sokolov, and Irving were all there. There was some kind of underground bunker they were all in. Maybe there’s something there.”

Keene thought about it for a moment. Megan was right. Forget about the American public right now. If they had concrete proof that Pemberton and the others were conspiring against the president, they could arrest them and stop this whole ordeal.

“Tell me everything,” he said.

Twenty minutes later, he was on the road. He fished the sat-phone out of his pocket and called Jennings. “I need the G-5 ready to leave in a half hour.”

“Where are you going?”

“Raleigh.” He filled Jennings in on his conversation with Megan.

“I’ll have it waiting for you,” Jennings said.

Next he called Boz. “Hey, get your stuff and meet me at Andrews in thirty. We’re going to Raleigh.”

Keene had been there already for five minutes when Boz showed up. “What’s all this about?”

“I’ll fill you in once we’re in the air. Let’s go.”

Boz grabbed his stuff from the truck and headed up the stairs into the plane. Keene followed behind and let the flight crew know that they were ready to leave.