The Escape (39 page)

“Here?” said Rinehart.

“Yes. If they could go to
one
room to do everything they needed to do, they would probably opt for that.”

As Puller walked around the room his gaze drifted upward.

“There,” he called out. He was pointing to the ceiling in a darkened corner about forty feet from the water pipe. “Best place to set the igniter is right here where the canisters and water supply intake are.”

“We’ve got two minutes, Puller,” warned Rinehart.

“Looks to be a large burn pack,” said Puller as Knox joined him. “They probably figured that would be all they needed. It won’t reach the water pipe and disrupt the sprinkler system. But it’ll have a hot flash point, lots of smoke and fire. And the fire will eventually burn this room up enough that it’ll take a long time for them to find those extra tanks. By then nearly everybody and everything in this place could be contaminated.”

“Well, rip it down and let’s get it out of here,” barked Rinehart.

“Sir, when it detonates we’re still going to be in this building no matter how fast we push the golf carts. And the blast will still set off the sprinklers wherever we are. We have to disable it
here
. Now.”

He slid a pocketknife from his pocket and handed it to Knox. “Get on my shoulders.”

“What?”

He spun her around, gripped her hips, bent down, and hoisted her over his head, settling her seated on his shoulders with her legs on either side of his head facing the same way he was.

“Tell me what you see,” said Puller.

“A black box with an LED timer.”

“What’s the timer at?”

“Twenty seconds and counting.”

Pritchard said, “Just pull out the detonator from the pack.”

Puller barked, “They’re not stupid. That’ll just accelerate the detonation.”

“He’s right,” said Rinehart, his voice strained. “Shit, we’re nearly out of time.”

“How many wires?” asked Puller.

“Two. One red, one black.”

“Are they both single-strand?”

“The red is a double.”

“The dummy, probably. You cut that it accelerates the time to zero, and boom.”

“Probably!” snapped Rinehart. “You don’t know for sure? We don’t have time for probably, Puller.”

Puller barked, “Cut the red one, Knox.”

“But you just said that was the dummy.”

“Cut the red one. Now!”

“Are you—“

“Puller,” yelled Rinehart. “We’re out of—”

“Now, Knox,” shouted Puller. “Do it!”

She cut the red one and closed her eyes.

There was a pop, a fizzle, and everyone held their collective breath.

Knox finally opened her eyes and was staring at a burn pack that had failed to burn. She exhaled and gasped, “Thank you, sweet Jesus.”

“Right,” said Puller, after he let out his breath too.

She looked down at him from her high perch. “We did it. Mission accomplished.”

Puller shook his head. “No. Not so long as Susan Reynolds and Anton Bok walk the earth.”

The next moment the fire alarm went off. Thankfully, the sprinklers did not.

P
ULLER SAT IN
a chair and stared over at his brother. Robert had been filled in on what had happened at the Pentagon.

Knox sat between them on the edge of the bed. It was dark outside. Rain was falling. Knox’s hands shook a bit.

“The sound of the damn rain makes me think about what could have happened at the Pentagon today,” she said.

“The biohazard squad managed to detach the canisters from the water pipe,” said Puller. “They’re cleaning everything up, checking it all out.”

“So
did
they change the aerosolized Ebola to a water-based bioweapon?” asked Robert.

“I don’t know, Bobby,” Puller said wearily, rubbing his face. “They’re figuring it all out. The threat has been neutralized, but the problem isn’t solved.”

“Because of Reynolds and Bok,” Robert replied.

Knox added, “Everyone is looking for them. They won’t be able to hide for long.”

“Don’t be too sure of that,” said Puller in a cautioning tone. “They’ve managed to do just about everything they wanted to so far.”

“Except kill everyone in the Pentagon,” she shot back.

“Where do you think they might be?” asked Robert.

“Well, they don’t strike me as the types to just walk away from a fight, especially after we screwed up their plan,” said Puller.

“So they hang around to try to do something else. A Plan B?”

Puller shrugged. “A guess would only be that—a guess.” He quieted and gazed solemnly across at his brother. “It’s time, Bobby.”

“Time for what?” said Knox quickly.

“To turn myself in,” answered Robert quietly.

Knox shot Puller an incredulous glance. “What? Are you crazy?”

Puller said, “There’s no other way, Knox.”

She stood. “Listen to yourself. We still don’t have proof that he’s innocent. They’ll put him right back in DB. And this time he won’t get back out.”

“My brother’s right,” said Robert.

“So you’re just going to waltz in and surrender?”

“Not exactly,” said Puller. “Groundwork needs to be laid.”

“What sort of groundwork?” asked Knox.

“You ask a lot of questions,” said Puller.

“I usually do when I don’t get any answers,” she retorted.

Robert said, “How do you want to do this, Junior?”

Puller rose. “I’ll need a little time to put the pieces together. Stay put.”

Knox stood. “I’m coming with you.”

“You don’t have to,” he said.

“I’m quite aware of that. It’s my choice to come with you.”

“I can plead my brother’s case.”

She smiled demurely. “I never said you couldn’t. But it’s always better to have someone with you who can talk out of both sides of her mouth. And suffice it to say, I can.”

“You mean
lie
,” said Puller.

“I mean present the best case possible using whatever facts or near facts are handy.” She held up her car keys. “Let’s go.”

After what had happened at the Pentagon, Rinehart saw them at once. Puller spoke for twenty minutes. Then Knox did so for another five.

When she fell silent, Rinehart said nothing. He sat there in his chair, his large hands clasped together and resting on his desk.

More than once Knox glanced at Puller, but he simply sat there watching Rinehart.

Finally, the three-star cleared his throat and said, “I can’t say I approve of what you’ve done, because I don’t. You were tasked to bring Robert Puller in, not to work with him. You disobeyed that order.”

“I did, sir.”

“For that you could be court-martialed. By harboring a fugitive you could be sent to DB.”

“I could, sir.”

“Where is he?”

“At a motel in Virginia.”

“And you say he’s been helping you?”

“He was the one who pinpointed the Pentagon as the target. But for him—”

Rinehart interjected, “The virus would have been unleashed. Thousands of people would have died. This country’s military leadership would have been decimated.”

“All true,” said Knox, glancing anxiously at both men. “I think he’s more than redeemed himself.”

“It’s not a question of redemption,” barked Rinehart. “It’s a question of the law.” He looked at Puller. “You need to bring him in. Right now.”

“I’ll do so under one condition.”

Rinehart gave him a molten look. “You’re in no position to lay out conditions, Puller.”

“One condition.”

“I know what you’ve done, soldier. You’ve risked your life to save lives. But you are dancing perilously close to the edge.”

“You need to give my brother protection.”

“Protection?”

“He can’t go back to DB. Not yet.”

Knox said, “They’re still out there, sir. Reynolds and Bok and God knows who else. They got into the Pentagon. They have spies, it seems, everywhere. They will know that Robert Puller blew up their plan.”

“Well, so did the two of you. If he needs protection, so do you both.”

Knox looked at Puller. “It might not be a bad idea, at least for a little while,” she said.

“And what about Reynolds and Bok?”

“We’re going to get them, Puller,” replied Rinehart. “We have thousands of agents looking for them. We have every possible way in and out of this country covered. They won’t get away.” He paused. “I’ll match your condition with my own. You two will join your brother in protection. That way you stay safe and we can have time to sort this out. You’ve done enough.”

“I don’t like this,” said Puller. “I owe these people, sir. I owe them a counterattack with everything I have.”

“I understand that, soldier. But the three stars on my shoulders mean I outrank you by a landslide. And you will stand down. Because I order you to. And I’m not in the habit of repeating myself. Do you understand?”

When Puller didn’t acknowledge this, Knox grabbed his arm. “Puller, it’s the only way. You don’t have a choice. You can’t throw everything away now. You’ve fought too hard.”

Puller looked away for a moment and then swung his gaze back to Rinehart.

“I understand, sir.”

G
ENERAL RINEHART SAT
across from Robert Puller at the safe house where they were being kept. It was a three-bedroom house at the end of a cul-de-sac in a Maryland neighborhood that had suffered multiple foreclosures during the economic collapse. That made it isolated, but also more secure. The safe house itself had a perimeter security force and also personnel in the house. A chopper did a pass over the area every two hours.

Rinehart was in uniform; Robert Puller was in jeans and a sweatshirt. Yet the men seemed on roughly equal footing.

Rinehart said to Robert, “I want to believe that you are innocent of all charges, Puller. I don’t want to see you go back to DB. But that’s not up to me.”

“I understand, sir.”

Puller and Knox hovered in the background, listening intently.

Rinehart said, “I’ll be frank with you. Despite what I’ve been told you did to avoid disaster at the Pentagon, there is no solid evidence to overturn your conviction.”

“I understand that too, sir.”

“And yet you turned yourself in?”

“My brother suggested it, and I agreed. It was never my intent to escape and disappear. I had never planned on escaping, but the opportunity presented itself. Once on the outside my goal was to both prove my innocence and then try to undo the damage that the real traitors had wrought.”

“Meaning Reynolds.”

“Well, she’s the only one still left alive. Daughtrey and Robinson are dead. And they were coerced into betraying their country. She did it voluntarily. Then there’s Anton Bok, but he’s a Russian operative who turned Reynolds.”

“It’s still hard to believe.”

“I take it she didn’t show up for work at DTRA?”

Rinehart shook his head. “No, she didn’t. Her house is empty. It seems that she’s made a run for it.”

Puller said, “After we stopped their plot at the Pentagon, that would make sense.”

“But that still doesn’t prove your innocence.”

“No, it doesn’t. Not directly. But I hope that there’s enough doubt there now to allow for at least a new trial.”

“Again, that’s not up to me, but I will exercise whatever influence I have to see that that happens.”

“I appreciate that, sir,” said Puller.

“It’s stunning that we would have a spy so highly placed. And that she managed to kill Daughtrey, Schindler, and Carter.”

Robert nodded. “She’s certainly capable. And she’s not acting alone. Bok is also very capable. He was able to secure a position in the foreign military program at Leavenworth. He was able to get an assassin onto the base. I believe that he was instrumental in the plot involving the Pentagon.”

“So it’s Russia behind this?” said Rinehart.

“It may be that Bok is acting for a third party, but from things that Reynolds told us, I think that he might be working for Mother Russia, yes.”

“That would fit in with what they have been doing lately,” said Rinehart.

“Exerting a thirst for regional dominance. And if Bok is working for the Russians, that means that Reynolds is too. She’s not the grand planner type. But she’s good at executing others’ plans. I found that out when I worked with her at STRATCOM.”

Knox said, “I believe that a military tribunal would acquit you now.”

Robert looked up at her. “My escape won’t earn me any points, but once I explain why, I would like to think they would understand.”

Puller added, “I think a more serious concern right now is making sure you stay alive.”

Rinehart looked a little skeptical. “Do you really think they’ll try something? I would have to believe they’re more likely to try to get to Moscow.”

“Having seen Reynolds up close, I would say that the woman hates to lose. And when she does, she will exact retribution. And the simple fact is she hates my brother. You don’t want her for an enemy. Just ask her dead husband.”

“You really think she had a hand in that?” said Rinehart a little skeptically.

“I think she had both hands and both feet in it,” replied Puller firmly.

Rinehart rose. “Well, I will put things in motion. There will be a lot of hoops to jump through, and there are no guarantees.”

“I never expected that there would be,” said Robert.

After Rinehart left, Puller sat down next to his brother. “It’ll work out, Bobby.”

“Don’t sugarcoat, Junior. We both know how bad it is. It’s all well and good to sit here and talk to Rinehart about things. But judges and lawyers want facts. They want irrefutable evidence to overturn a conviction. And I don’t see how we have that.”

“Well, there’s one way to get that irrefutable evidence,” said Puller.

“How?”

“Find Reynolds and make her tell the truth.”

“Well, they have lots of people looking for her,” pointed out Robert.

“I don’t think they’ll track her down,” said Knox.

“We could find her,” said Puller.

They looked at him.

Knox said, “How? We’re stuck in a safe house.”

“There’s one person I haven’t talked to,” said Puller.

“Who?” asked his brother.

“Susan Reynolds’s daughter. She might have a clue as to where her mom is.”

“But how can you go and talk to her?” asked Robert.

“By walking out the door and going to talk to her.”

And John Puller rose and did just that.