The Escape (35 page)

R
EYNOLDS SLIPPED THE
bedcovers off and rose, drawing a Glock nine-mil that she had hidden under the pillow.

She was dressed in jeans and her feet were bare. She pointed her weapon at Puller, who had risen off the bed and backed away. Reynolds took a few moments to wipe the red off her arm using the sheet from the bed.

Finished, she looked at Robert Puller.

“Theatrical stuff,” she said. “Much like what you have on. Nice job, by the way. Never would have recognized you except for the exterior surveillance cameras at my house.”

“So why Russia, Susan?” said Robert. “They don’t need any help, do they? The Middle East is where it’s at, right?”

She said, “Moscow will always have more staying power than the desert rats. The terrorists will get subsumed into rising economies because they have no clue how to run a country or create jobs. People over there care less about Allah and more about having clean water, electricity, and ways to feed their families. But Russia is a real country. With a real army. With real nuclear capability.”

“And you want to side with a country run by a former KGB agent?” retorted Robert. 

“As opposed to what? A country run by old white billionaires and their paid lackeys in Washington?”

“The same goes on in Russia. It’s just overtly backed by the government there.”

She slipped on a pair of shoes that were set on the floor next to the bed. “I’m not going to have a geopolitical discussion with you about the validity of my arguments or positions, Robert.”

“You’ve done incalculable damage to this country’s interests, Susan.”

“Well, as they say, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” said Puller quickly.

“Literally what I just said. You think I’ve been working this hard just to kill your brother? He was a piece, a tiny piece of what’s coming.” She smiled. “If you’re still alive, which I doubt, you’ll never forget it.” She glanced at Robert. “On second thought, I might keep you alive just so you can see it.”

Knox pointed her gun down at Puller’s ankle. “Your throwaway. Take it out, muzzle first, and slide it over to Susan.”

Puller lifted his pant leg, drew out the short-barreled pistol, placed it on the floor, and kicked it over to Reynolds, who reached down and scooped it up.

When Puller straightened Knox said, “Anything you want to say to me, Puller?”

He just stared at her.

Robert looked at Reynolds and said, “I’d like to know how you orchestrated all this tonight.”

Reynolds said, “Easy enough. I came up here. Told Veronica. She informed me that she would have you in hand soon and would bring you to me.”

“So you weren’t being followed?” said Robert.

“No,” said Knox. “That’s just what I told you.”

“How long have you two been working together?” asked Robert.

“Not that long, actually,” said Knox. “But it’s been memorable.” She glanced at Reynolds and smiled. “She’s a great persuader.”

Robert said, “But John picked the sides of the house we were going to attack. So how did you know she’d be in the room you were going to be coming in through?”

Knox shoved Robert toward his brother and then put one of the guns in her jacket pocket. She kept the other one pointed at Puller. She reached into her pocket and held up her phone. “I have bars. I called Susan and told her which side I’d be coming in on after Puller made his decision on that. She just crawled on her stomach to that room. And voilà!”

Robert nodded but said nothing. He snatched a glance at his brother, who had still not taken his eyes off Knox.

“Sure there’s nothing you want to say to me, Puller?” asked Knox tauntingly.

Reynolds said, “I don’t think he can come up with the words, Veronica. I can see in his eyes that he never saw this coming.”

Knox said in an annoyed tone, “You know, you could have told me you were going to take out Carter with a bomb. I almost got blown up.”

“Sorry, we had to hurry on that one. And I didn’t know you’d be following him.”

“But why kill Carter?” asked Robert.

“He suspected me,” said Reynolds. “Despite what he might have told your brother, there was going to be an investigation. And that would have been bothersome to me.”

Knox said, “Let’s go.” She shoved Puller ahead of her while Reynolds kept her gun on Robert.

As they walked to the door Puller broke his silence. Speaking in a voice only Knox could hear, he said, “How did you manage that attack in the alley in Charlotte?”

“I thought you might be wondering about that. My gun had blanks. I got you to go running after the others, which gave the ‘dead man’ plenty of time to disappear, after leaving some of his blood behind, of course.”

“Why do it at all?”

“I knew you were still suspicious of me. That was a way to allay that suspicion.”

Puller said, “So was it for the money? Just for kicks? Professional envy? Not getting promoted fast enough? Or maybe missing your fast life?”

“Maybe all of the above.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Puller.

As they walked she looked curiously at him. “What, then?” she said in a casual tone.

“I think your old man had twice the guts you had. You knew you could never live up to that. You probably just invented the bullshit about him. Did you kill him and then come up with the lie about the suicide?”

Knox was unfazed by this barb. “Maybe I did. And after I kill you maybe I can make up some bullshit about how you groveled for your life. Or maybe it won’t be bullshit. Maybe you will. Maybe you’re not nearly as tough as you think you are,
Junior
.”

“And maybe you’re not as smart as you think.”

“Well, I am holding my gun on you.” She paused and then gave him a knowing look “You wanted me, Puller. In your bed. I could see it in your eyes.”

They were outside the house now and heading to the car. Knox’s voice had risen, and Robert, who had heard this part, quickly glanced at his brother.

“I’d rather put a bullet in my head than lay one finger on you,” said Puller.

“I
know
you wanted me. You can’t deny that. And it’s not like I’m unattractive.”

“Sure you are, Knox. On the inside. You could be the poster child for ‘beauty is only skin deep.’ My gut on you was right. I couldn’t trust you, because you have no spine.”

“I was wounded on behalf of my country,” she snapped.

“So was I. But I never let scum like her”—he pointed at Reynolds—“talk me into betraying my oath. You’re weak, Knox. Weak. You’re nothing.”

Now Knox’s superior look faded. She stopped walking, turned to Robert, and shoved the muzzle of her gun against his head. “Get on your knees!”

“What?” said a startled Robert.

“On your knees. Now!”

Robert got down on his knees. Knox placed her gun muzzle against the back of his neck and looked at Puller.

“You want to apologize for that comment? Or he’ll get a bullet in his head.”

Puller looked down at his brother and then back up at Knox. “You really want to do this?” he said quietly.

“I have a better idea. I can shoot him with your throwaway.”

She slipped the revolver out of her pocket, pulled back the hammer, and placed the barrel against Robert’s skull.

“You have three seconds to say you’re sorry to me, Puller, or big brother is no more. One, two—”

“I’m sorry,” said Puller.

Knox fired anyway. But she had angled the muzzle to the left so that the round didn’t hit Robert. He yelled out and dropped to the ground clutching his head.

Puller started to rush to his brother, but Reynolds pointed her gun in his face.

Robert sat up and glowered at Knox. “I think you blew out my eardrum.”

“Better than blowing your brains out. I hear you’ve got a big one. Now get up!”

Robert struggled to his feet, still clutching his ear.

When they reached the Lexus, Knox said, “Let’s secure them.”

Reynolds nodded and used zip ties to bind the Pullers. They all climbed into the Lexus. Knox drove. The Pullers sat in back and Reynolds in the passenger seat with her gun trained on them both.

They headed back into D.C. and, following Reynolds’s directions, Knox pulled into an underground parking garage. It was well after midnight and the parking garage was full of cars because it was a residential building.

Knox used a knife to cut the zip ties. “If we meet anyone along the way and you make any attempt to communicate with them, you’re dead and so are they.”

They rode in an elevator to the main floor, and then took a private elevator up to the twelfth floor, for which Reynolds had a key card. The car emptied into a wood- and granite-lined vestibule. Knox nudged Puller in the back with the muzzle of her pistol. They walked into the first room of the vestibule, which turned out to be a large space with walls of windows that offered sweeping vistas of the downtown D.C. area. The lights in the room were dimmed.

Puller looked around. So did Knox and Robert.

However, Reynolds was not at a loss. She stared into one corner of the room where there was situated a desk.

Someone was sitting behind the desk. Only his silhouette was visible.

Reynolds turned to Knox. “I wasn’t going to bring you here,” she said. “Until you did what you did to those two,” she added, indicating the Pullers. “You scared Robert shitless and humbled his egotistical brother. What could be better?”

Knox eagerly eyed the figure behind the desk. “May I be formally introduced?”

Reynolds switched on a light. It barely illuminated the room. Everything was cast in shadows. But there was one thing they could see clearly.

Knox gasped. Puller took a step closer.

Robert said nothing, but he stared at the man sitting rigidly behind the desk.

From the shadows, James Schindler stared back at them, his eyes wide and penetrating. He seemed to be silently appraising the situation.

Knox pulled her gaze from Schindler and looked at Reynolds. “I have to hand it to you, your access goes right to the top.”

Reynolds smiled. “For what we’re planning we needed it.”

“And now I can help you execute that plan.”

“Which is why we’re here. But first things first.” She pulled her gun, slid a suppressor on the muzzle, pointed it at Robert Puller, and said, “You can’t believe how long I’ve waited for this.”

Before she could fire Knox kicked the gun out of her hand. Then she whirled and clipped Reynolds’s legs out from under her. The woman fell hard to the floor.

A moment later Knox tossed two guns. A stunned Puller caught one and Robert the other. The brothers looked confusedly at each other.

Puller said, “Knox, what the hell is—”

Knox yelled out, “I’ll explain later. Keep your guns on Reynolds. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

Robert aimed his gun at Reynolds, who was still on the floor.

When Puller looked over at the desk, Schindler hadn’t moved a muscle. He still just sat there. Puller’s jaw went slack as the truth hit him.

Knox pointed her pistol at Schindler. “You’re under arrest. Get up! Now!”

“Knox!” Puller called out. “Something’s way off.”

Knox shot him a glance. “What?”

The glass behind Schindler shattered as the high-powered round crashed through it.

The Pullers and Knox dropped to the floor.

“That shot came from the building across the street,” yelled out Puller.

Another shot shattered a second section of glass. Then more high-velocity rounds poured through these openings, slamming into walls and the floor. One hit the light fixture and it exploded, throwing them into near-complete darkness.

“What the hell is going on?” shouted Knox from behind the chair where she had taken cover.

“Just stay down,” Puller called back.

“Wait a minute, where’s Reynolds?” cried out Robert.

They all looked around the darkened room.

“I think I heard the elevator when the shots were going off,” said Robert.

They looked around but no one moved. Puller waited for more shots to be fired, but none were.

A moment later Puller rose cautiously and peered at the shattered windows. When Knox started to get up he said sharply, “Stay down. The shooter might still be out there.”

Robert had crawled over to the desk to examine Schindler, who still had not moved, even when the shots had started. “John!” he said frantically.

Puller shot across the room to kneel next to his brother. “What is it?”

Robert pulled back Schindler’s jacket.

As soon as Puller saw it he grabbed his brother and pushed him toward the elevator. “Go! Go!”

He next shouted at Knox. “Run, Knox!”

The three sprinted for the elevator, but when Knox hit the button it did not light up.

“Reynolds might’ve disabled it,” said Robert.

Puller looked left and then right and spotted the door at the end of the vestibule. It was locked when he tried the handle. He pulled his M11 and shot the lock off.

“What is it?” yelled Knox before Puller pushed her through the opening and then did the same with his brother.

“Move!”

He closed the door behind him and sprinted down the steps toward the first landing. Knox and Robert reached it first, turned, and headed down the stairs to the second landing.

Puller had almost reached the first landing when the detonation occurred. The concussive force blew the door to the stairs off its hinges and the compressed air surged downward like a million-mile-per-hour tidal wave.

When it hit the two-hundred-and-thirty-pound Puller he was lifted off his feet as though he were weightless.

The last thing Puller remembered was tumbling headfirst down the stairs. Then he hit something very hard.

And then there was nothing more.

W
HEN PULLER OPENED
his eyes all he saw was darkness. At first he thought he was dead, but then wondered how he could still see. Or think.

Then the darkness lightened and he was able to make out a silhouette.

Then he heard a voice.

“Sucks being blown up, doesn’t it?”

The silhouette slowly transformed into something more solid. And familiar.

Knox was smiling at him, but the concern was evident in her eyes and wrinkled brow. She dabbed his forehead with a wet cloth.

Next to her he saw his brother, looking just as anxious, with no accompanying smile.

Puller tried to sit up, but it was Knox’s turn to put a hand on him to hold him down. He was lying on a bed in a small, dimly lit room.

“You got knocked cold, Puller.” She held up three fingers. “How many?”

“I’m fine, Knox.”

“How many?”

“Three!”

“Okay, your head must be even harder than I thought.”

He looked around. “Where are we?”

“In Virginia, near Gainesville. Reynolds left her car in the garage and I still had the keys. We drove back to get my car, left her car there, and then we drove around until we found this place,” said Knox. “We’ve been sitting here waiting for you to wake up.”

Puller rubbed his head and winced at the lump on the back of it.

“Couple of times we came close to taking you to the hospital,” said Knox. “That would have required some problematic explanations. But if you started going downhill fast we would have.”

Puller glanced at the window, where he could see the dusk gathering outside. “The whole thing happened last night?”

Knox nodded.

“So what exactly happened?” he demanded.

“You remember the explosion?” asked Knox anxiously.

“I’m not suffering from memory loss, if that’s what you’re asking,” said Puller. “I saw the detonation belt around Schindler. We ran for it. We were in the stairwell. The bomb went off and then I was flying through the air. And hit something very hard.”

“That would be the wall, Junior,” said Robert.

“It felt more like an Abrams tank.” He glanced around at the space. “What is this place?”

“Motel room,” said Knox.

“So how did we get out of the building Reynolds took us to?”

“Fortunately, your brother and I had made the turn going to the second landing. You got far more of the blast than we did, although we got knocked around too. It’s a good thing your brother was there. He carried you out over his shoulder. I never would have had the strength.”

Robert said, “I haven’t had to carry you that much since you were four years old. And you weigh a hell of a lot more now.”

“Cops show up?”

“I’m sure they did. But we managed to get out first.” She rubbed his face again with the cloth. “How are you really feeling?”

“Better than I have a right to, I guess.”

She sat back and sighed. “Best-laid plans. I’ve been working undercover on this case for two months, I finally get to who I think is the bigwig, and find out Reynolds suckered me.”

“She suckered us all,” pointed out Robert. “She obviously trusts no one.”

“But I delivered you right to her. I acted my part really well. I almost deafened you to gain her confidence.” She touched Robert’s arm. “I’m sorry about that. It was an ad-lib. I had to sell that I was really a traitor.”

“I understand. And it seems that most of my hearing is back.”

Puller now sat up a bit, and she didn’t try to stop him. “Why didn’t you bring us in the loop
before
we went after Reynolds?” he said, scowling.

She shook her head. “Trying to get you up to speed on the fly right before the op? No way. You wouldn’t have been prepped well enough. You would have said something or done something or made the wrong look, and Reynolds is too sharp. She would have picked up on it. I had to let you act exactly how you felt: convinced that I had betrayed you.”

“Well, I bought your act,” said Puller grumpily. “But you took a risk by not telling me. I might have shot you.”

“I had to take that risk. I worked too hard on this sucker. But when I saw Schindler, I was stunned. I didn’t figure him for it at all. But there he was.” She glanced at Puller. “But it was all a façade. A trick. How did you know?”

“I could see it in his eyes. Up closer they were glassy. And he hadn’t moved a muscle.”

“He was already disabled,” added Robert. “They probably used a paralytic.”

Puller said, “Reynolds was obviously testing your loyalty. That’s why she moved to shoot Bobby. If you were really on her side, you’d let that happen. You weren’t and you didn’t.”

“So she was able to get me to blow my own cover.”

“I’m glad you did,” said Robert. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I could see the look in her eye. She was going to pull the trigger.”

“But why all the shots fired through the window?” asked Knox, who immediately answered her own question: “So Reynolds could get away.”

Puller nodded. “It was slickly done, I have to admit.”

She sat back and folded the cloth into a square. “This was my only shot to get them, Puller. They’re long gone now.”

“I’m surprised you got as far as you did with them,” he replied.

“It wasn’t easy. When we were tipped off about Robert, that he might be innocent, we went back over his case in detail. One thing stuck out for us: Susan Reynolds.”

“But how did you approach her?” asked Robert.

“I didn’t. I let her approach
me
. We had set up my cover quite convincingly. I was passed over for a promotion. There were certain irregularities in my record, the accusation of a bribe. She could have gained access to this information quite easily. One day she called me out of the blue.” She looked at Robert. “I told your brother that we had received an anonymous tip about you. It said that you were innocent and that a co-worker of yours was not the loyal person they claimed to be.”

“When did you get the tip?” asked Robert.

“About four months before all hell broke loose at DB and the attempt was made on your life.”

“So
that
was the catalyst,” said Robert.

Puller interjected, “I think it might have been Niles Robinson. Guilty conscience.”

“As I told Puller, unfortunately, we were probably the ones who almost got you killed. We obviously had a leak at INSCOM. Word got out we were looking into your case. We believe that prompted the assassination attempt on you.”

“Well, it also gave me the opportunity to escape.”

“So we decided to lay a trap for Reynolds. I was with INSCOM. I was possibly damaged goods. I could be helpful to them. It took two months, because she was very cautious. Then she made contact. A phone call, an email, a text. A face-to-face in an out-of-the-way place. Then things started to heat up quickly. I had no idea about the hit at DB on you, Robert. I wasn’t in the circle on that one. I already told Puller that. But when it happened and you escaped, Reynolds met with me again. She needed me to be part of the investigation.”

“Why not just pull the plug on her right then?” asked Puller.

“Because we might get her but no one else. And we still didn’t know what the endgame was. It couldn’t just be the murder of your brother. We needed to know what they were after. If we pulled the trigger too soon, we’d never find out what that was.”

“So you became part of the investigation,” said Puller.

“And from there I teamed with you, which she loved because she was convinced that your brother would seek you out. And the sooner they nailed him the better.”

“But why was I so important to them?” asked Robert.

“First, she loathes you. I think you represent for her every promotion she didn’t get. Every superior she didn’t impress. Every opportunity that went to someone else. She thinks she’s smarter than you. And she will do anything to prove it. You were the golden child wherever you went. And when your career carried you to her part of the world, you made a very dangerous enemy. When they needed to get you out of the way before you transferred to ISR, she was more than happy to do it. And that was the second point. They had Daughtrey in hand. He needed to get the job, not you. And we now know he was blackmailed.”

“Any idea what they’re up to now?” asked Puller. “Reynolds said we hadn’t seen anything yet. When she said what they were planning would be memorable, I took the woman at her word.”

“That’s the rub. Not a clue. I was hoping to learn more about it last night. But she outmaneuvered me. I underestimated the woman, and I guess I overestimated my own cleverness.”

Robert said, “Do you think they’ll go forward with whatever they’re planning?”

“We can’t assume that they won’t,” said Knox. “In fact this might accelerate their hand.”

“But Reynolds can’t operate in the open anymore, not after last night,” said Puller.

“We haven’t talked to the police,” said Knox. “They’ll eventually ID Schindler’s remains through DNA. But I have no idea whose apartment that was, or who was firing the shots through the window.”

“And I can’t talk to the police, for obvious reasons,” added Robert.

“But
we
can, Knox,” said Puller.

“It would be our word against hers. We don’t have proof. And if they bring Reynolds in she’ll tell them about Robert being with us. Then our choice is either to lie or tell the truth, neither of which is a good option if we don’t want to go to prison. And knowing her she’ll come up with some quite plausible tale that we orchestrated her kidnapping and had a hand in killing a prominent member of the NSC.”

“This is ridiculous,” snapped Puller. But then he drew a long, calming breath. “If that’s the case then we need to focus everything we have on finding out what they’re really planning.”

“Reynolds has to be intimately involved in whatever it is, because they’ve taken such great steps to protect her,” pointed out Robert.

“That’s true,” said Knox. “But is it in her official capacity with DTRA, or in her capacity as a spy?”

Puller and Robert looked at her blankly for a few moments. Obviously none of them had the answer to that question.

Knox said, “They only had two motel rooms available. This one and the one next door. I thought you and your brother could have this one, and I’ll take the other one.”

“I’m going to grab my duffel from the car,” said Robert.

After he left, Knox turned to Puller. “She beat me, Puller.”

“She kicked my butt too. Again. I’m starting to get a real inferiority complex.”

“She took it to one more level. I wasn’t anticipating that.”

“Then we have to take it to a level
she’s
not anticipating.”

“But my cover is blown, Puller. We have no way in.”

“The three of us will get this done.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Without a doubt,” said Robert, who had come back in and overheard this part of the conversation.

He put his duffel down and sat on the edge of the bed. “They gave us some real intelligence without meaning to do so, of course. They thought we’d be dead by now, so my seeing her meeting with Malcolm Aust didn’t trouble Reynolds too much.”

“Do you think you know why they were meeting?” asked Knox.

“Aust is smart, sophisticated, and rich. But I’m sure Reynolds seduced him. I saw them in the restaurant. It was sexual on his part. It was totally business on hers.”

“But what is her business interest in Aust?” asked Knox.

Robert hunched forward. “For want of a better term, Aust is the secret keeper.”

“Secret keeper? I thought he hunted WMDs?” said Puller.

“That’s part of it. But only part. He’s an investigator, an overseer, and an inspector. A confidant. Depending on the situation he will adopt a different role.”

“Why would his role vary depending on the situation?” asked Knox. “Like Puller said, his job is to ferret out illegal WMDs.”

“Oh, it’s actually far more complex than that,” said Robert matter-of-factly. “Take Israel, for instance. Their official stance is they have no WMDs. But they’re our staunch ally and thus we would never call for an inspection into what they have or don’t have. But for strategic purposes we need to know privately what their capabilities are. In steps Aust. Now, Pakistan has nukes. We worry about some of them going rogue because of lax security. The same with Russia. Neither of those countries are true allies of ours, but to call for an inspection of their arsenal is very tricky politically and diplomatically. If an inspection were done with, say, Pakistan, it might turn up locations of WMDs and their security status. If that information were leaked, it could lead terrorists right to the stockpiles, the very thing such an inspection was trying to avoid. Again, Aust is sort of a trusted-by-both-sides intermediary who keeps the system honest, or at least reasonable. And look at Syria. Assad has chemical weapon stockpiles. Under an international agreement he agreed to destroy them. No one with even a grain of intelligence believes that he destroyed all of the stockpiles, for what sane dictator, pardon the seeming oxymoron, would do such a thing? But Aust was sent in to verify what was done. I’m sure he is very good at his job. I’m sure he knows how much Assad destroyed. I’m also sure he knows of other caches.”

“But wouldn’t he report that?” said Puller.

“He would make an official report, absolutely. That one would be dribbled out to the global media according to the timetable of the powers that be. But there would also be an unofficial report, with limited dissemination, that would tell a different story.”

“So the public is kept in the dark,” said Puller. “How does that make sense?”

“It makes perfect sense if you want future leverage with someone like Assad or Kim Jong Un or a host of leaders of that ilk. You always hold something back to play later when you need it. Proof that someone like Assad lied and did not destroy all of his WMDs can be very powerful when used later on. It’s all in the timing. We still hope for a resolution in Syria that does not involve all-out war. Such intel can pave the way for that.”

“But why would Syria allow Aust to know of other caches? They would realize that this would be used later against them.”