I Minus 72 (13 page)

“Thanks.” Wheeler said, then hung up and
frowned. Thurmond injured? Not the first time, but this is the
worst time for him to be laid up. Well, we’ll see what Sam’s made
of. He really thought he should send Garcia for back up, but he’d
give it another twenty-four hours to see if Thurmond was up and
about. No longer than that though.

Wheeler thought for a few minutes more about
what happened and then decided he’d better call the DNI back and
give him the news. As usual, the DNI was mobile and used the secure
speakerphone in his car. When he had finished the call with General
Wheeler, the DNI called Garcia.

“Garcia.”

“Garcia, this is Barry,” the DNI said.
“Look, I’ve heard some bad news about Thurmond you ought to know.”
Barry spent the next few minutes updating Garcia.

Garcia smiled to himself, but said, “Whew.
Too bad about Thurmond. I should have been there watching his back.
I’m glad he thinks he’ll be okay, but he’s going to need lots of
help. I’ll plan to leave immediately. I can be there by tomorrow
morning.”

“No, don’t go just yet. I’m waiting on word
from Thurmond that he wants help.”

Garcia responded immediately, “Sir, you and
I both know Thurmond is never going to say he needs help from me. I
think I just ought to show up. Maybe I can just watch him without
him knowing I’m there. That way, he feels free to do what he wants
and I can provide cover.”

“Hmmm. You know, that sounds like a good
idea. You think you can do it without him seeing you?” Barry
said.

“That’s what I’m trained to do,” Garcia
responded confidently.

“Okay, then. He’s staying at the Hilton in
Warsaw. His assistant says he’s threatening to check himself out of
the hospital today, but she’s trying to talk him into staying
overnight. If she can, that should give you time to get there
before he does. But, you’d better be prepared for him to already be
there. I’ll call your cell when I know more,” Barry said.

“I’m on it. My cell works in Europe, so you
should be able to reach me at any time. Same number.”

“Good. You know if Thurmond does see you,
all hell’s will break loose. You’ll have to come up with something.
And don’t tell anyone you’re going—I don’t want Thurmond hearing
about this from someone else. That means the DDI as well. If
there’s any fallout, I’ll take the heat.”

“Yes, Sir, I’ll take care of it. No one will
know.”

Garcia, smiling broadly, couldn’t believe
his luck. Not only would he be able to keep tabs on Thurmond, but
he’d also be able to quietly photograph every person Thurmond met
with and he could learn what the contact process was, which was
just as important. With a little more luck, he might even get a
shot at the guy who was killing all the contacts. That guy needed
to die before anyone, especially Thurmond, could question him.
Garcia nodded to himself. He had his orders.

After dropping off the DNI at his office,
Riley placed a call. “Looks like you’re going to have more company.
Somebody named Garcia is on his way to Warsaw to quietly track
Thurmond. Also, this guy Thurmond got hit by a car and is in the
hospital, but is expected to be out by tomorrow. Garcia’s supposed
to cover his ass from now on without him knowing about it.”
Ka-ching! Riley was already spending the money.

I minus 39

The President-elect was busy from early in
the morning to late at night with cabinet selections, meeting with
select congressional leaders from both houses, and all those
political appointments. There were hundreds. Most of the high level
positions, like ambassadors and undersecretaries of departments,
were going to major financial supporters of his campaign and there
were even some for his most loyal campaign workers. His campaign
manager, who would become his White House Chief of Staff, was
leading the candidate selection. Mason would make the final
decision on all major appointments, however. The cabinet members
would be selected from industry. He felt strongly about surrounding
himself with people who knew what he didn’t. He hated the idea of
“yes men”, or “yes women” and wanted someone in each department who
could think and act independently with only broad guidance from
him.

With all this activity, he’d had little time
to think about the threat to his life. But just now, with a brief
break from meetings, he sat leaning back with his feet on his desk
and his hands clasped behind his head and wondered how the
investigation was going. He hadn’t had a briefing from the DNI in
several days, so he assumed nothing significant had been
discovered. He hoped Thurmond was up to the task. Although he
wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, he was getting a little nervous.
An attack could come from anywhere and regardless what date was
written on the piece of paper, anytime. No one had a clue who might
have him in their sights. Maybe he’d delay the start of his next
meeting long enough to get in a quick call with Barry. With that,
he put his feet on the floor, leaned forward and picked up the wad
of message slips his secretary had left on his desk.

***

At nearly the same time, Vladamir was
picking up his messages. As he listened to the report about
Thurmond, he was shocked to find he had somehow survived the attack
. . . and when he heard the news about someone new, Garcia, he grew
concerned. He didn’t know that name and was concerned that, since
he didn’t know what this Garcia looked like, he might expose
himself while trying to track Thurmond. This would require him to
re-plan his tactics to find all the names on the list. He’d have to
be a lot more careful. Maybe, though, if he watched Thurmond from a
greater distance, he might be able to spot Garcia, too. If so,
maybe he could set a trap and eliminate him. Things had become very
complicated, though and if he wasn’t careful, this could be really
bad.

***

Back in Washington, the DNI sitting at his
desk reading the latest intelligence estimates on the Middle East,
answered the chirp from his secure phone. “Barry, this is Mason,”
the President-elect said. “Where are we with finding that creep who
wants to kill me? I’ve only got a minute, so keep it really
short.”

The DNI filled the President-elect in on
what happened to Thurmond, deliberately not mentioning that he’d
sent Garcia to shadow him. He had intended to tell him, but just at
the last second he thought maybe it would be a good idea to keep
the secret close for now. He could always mention it in the next
update.

Mason concluded with, “Thanks for the
update. Please keep me in the loop. If anything significant
happens, call me immediately. My assistant will always know where I
am and will be able to patch your call through.”

“You can count on it, sir”

I minus 39

Grant awoke; slowly opening his eyes he saw
Sam sitting in the chair next to him staring at his face. As soon
as she saw his eyes open, she started right in. “Grant, I briefed
General Wheeler on the secure phone at the embassy. He agrees with
me. You have to stay until the test results are in, at least
overnight.”

Grant sighed. He stretched slowly, locating
the sore spots. “Only one way I’ll do that, Sam. If I can stand up
and walk, I’m out of here tonight. If I can’t, then I’ll stay until
tomorrow morning.”

Sam gave a big sigh.
“Okay, tough guy, but I think you’re crazy. By the way, while you
were sleeping I talked with the doctor; he’ll be back in to see you
before he goes home. Maybe
he
can convince you the injuries are severe enough
to keep you here for a while.”

Grant smiled weakly. “Yeah, good luck with
that. Have the police had any luck finding the person who hit
us?”

“Haven’t heard a word from them. I’ll call
that police detective in a little bit—see what he knows. He gave me
his card before he left.”

“Okay.” Grant said, “Now we have to plan out
the rest of this trip. We have two possibilities about the hit and
run driver: Either it was a complete accident and the driver didn’t
want to be implicated in a major personal injury accident, so he
took off. Or, someone is out to stop me. If that’s it, then my
guess is it’s the same guy who’s killing all the others and this is
just the first attempt.”

Sam asked, “Which do you think it is? By the
way, the policeman told me it’s not unusual for a driver involved
in an accident to leave the scene. Happens all the time. Especially
a drunk driver. Seems like they want to avoid the police just as
they did during the Soviet era.”

“All I remember is that when I moved to push
the contact out of the car’s path, it swerved in the same
direction, obviously to get both of us.”

“Really? So you do think it was deliberate?”
She was sitting forward now.

“Sam, think about it. If this guy is trying
to kill all the contacts and I’m in the way, you know he’s going
after me too. And remember, I’m already on his hit list. So,
although I don’t have any hard evidence, my bet is that it was a
deliberate hit. That means this guy knows what I look like and will
keep trying until he gets me . . . or I get him. Looks like it’s
personal now. That means danger for you, too, you know.”

Both were silent for just a moment, then
Grant looked directly into her eyes and said, “I think it’s time
for you to go home and coordinate from there.”

Sam crossed her arms and said firmly, “No
way. I’m not going to leave you here in this shape, knowing some
madman is out to kill you. How stupid do you think I am?”

“I know you’re not stupid, Sam. That’s why
it should make sense to you to get your ass out of the danger
zone,” Grant countered with a slightly irritated voice.

“Forget it, Grant. It’s not going to happen.
I’m here and I’m staying,” she said, with finality in her
voice.

Grant was silent for a moment and Sam could
tell he was steaming. Then, “You know, you can be pretty
hard-headed sometimes,” he said, “but I’m in no position to force
you to go home. We’d better think through how to proceed. If he’s
been tailing me, he’s probably seen you with me, so you have to
assume you’re now a target too. You may not be, but we can’t take
any chances. Damn. I wish we know what this guy looked like. When I
get out of the hospital, we’re going to spend a couple of hours
with me teaching you basic surveillance techniques. It will . .
.”

Sam interrupted, “You really think I need to
know all that?”

“Sam, please, just listen for a minute. It’s
too dangerous now for us to be together all the time, but I need
someone to cover me while I’m trying to meet with the contacts.
I’ll teach you how to recognize when you’re being followed . . .
and for you to tell if I’m being followed. Also, we need a way to
stay in close touch when we’re not together. Maybe the Defense
Attaché at the embassy can provide us with a couple of
walkie-talkies, or something like that. Or, the CIA guys will
probably have something more sophisticated. Somehow, though, we
have to make sure they don’t contact Langley because if Garcia
finds out we’re over here without including him, he’ll be really
pissed. Any ideas of what we can use as a cover?” Grant groaned
quietly as he tried to turn over on his side to face her.

“Why don’t we keep you out of it?” Sam
replied. “I could get General Wheeler to call the Intelligence
Attaché and tell him that he’s got a combat sergeant who’ll be on
special assignment in the area for a week or so and needs
communication devices. If he puts it like that, they’ll never
question me about the mission. They’ll assume it’s for DIA and I’m
sure they won’t mention it to anyone for fear of compromising me.
Think that’ll work?”

Grant brightened a bit. “That’s brilliant.
Do it this afternoon. Also, see if you can check out a handgun—a
.380 would be okay, potent enough at close range and easy to
conceal. In addition to that, we also now have to make sure our
room is secure. I can work on that when I get out of here. We’re
going clandestine. That son-of-a-bitch won’t have such an easy time
getting to us from now on. Here’s the way it’s going to work . . .
.” Grant spent the next hour, interrupted often by Sam asking
questions, and talking about techniques they would use to be less
visible to anyone who might be watching. After finishing, Grant
yawned and said to Sam, “Okay, now get out of here so I can rest.
If I’m able, I still want to leave here after dark this evening. Go
call General Wheeler and pick up those communicators.” He managed a
weak smile.

Heading towards the door, Sam replied, “Yes,
sir, I’m on my way. But, don’t you try to move from that bed until
I get back here. Understand?” Her voice was stern, but Grant could
see a small smile.

“Go, just go.”

As Sam walked out the door of his hospital
room, Grant smiled. She was getting so bossy and, to his surprise,
he liked it. He was getting really close to Sam and felt a very
strong urge to protect her. But, he’d have to be at the top of his
game if he wanted to keep her safe, and, unfortunately, he wasn’t.
Not only was he a little rusty, he was injured. Maybe he was
pushing too hard to get out of the hospital that night. Maybe
tomorrow morning he’d feel stronger. Well, she’d just have to sleep
here tonight. He wasn’t going to have her alone all night way back
at the hotel. In fact, he didn’t even know what part of the city
the hospital was in and how far it was from the hospital. I’ll have
to ask, he thought as he drifted off.

When Grant awoke early that evening, Sam was
back, communicators in hand. As she showed him how they worked he
was amazed at how small they were.

“What’s the range on these? They’re pretty
small.”

“The guy at the attaché’s office said up to
a mile. They’re small so they can be easily hidden in your ear. If
anyone notices it, they’ll just think it’s a hearing aid. It has an
integrated microphone that is voice activated, so you can just talk
and not have to push any buttons. The battery is rechargeable and
goes about three days between charges. And, I was able to check out
a very small 9MM. About the same size as a .380, but with a lot
more stopping power. It’s also untraceable. They gave me a box of
fifty jacketed hollow points to go with it.”