What Lies Behind (26 page)

Family was always second to country.

Robin shook herself, and the cloud cleared away. “Riley says I’m a suspect in Amanda’s murder. How exactly do you propose I do this job? I can’t have people hunting me. I need my back clear.”

“I will work everything. Consider yourself cleared. I’ve already got the FBI on board.”

“I want to talk to the investigators. I want to hear firsthand what they have to say.”

“I can arrange a meeting for you.”

“No, Gina. I want to do this myself. I want to talk to the woman, the FBI agent, the medical examiner who did Amanda’s autopsy. I want her. And no one else. If I get a hint that there’s someone else involved, I pull out and disappear, and you can go fuck yourself.”

“That’s fine, Robin. I don’t blame you a bit. But you need to be careful. I don’t know who to trust anymore. I’ve been compromised, and so was Amanda. You should operate under the assumption that you have, as well.”

Chapter 46

Georgetown

THERE WAS SILENCE
when the screen went black. Xander had grabbed Sam’s hand a few moments before Amanda finished the recitation of what led to her death. She was glad of the familiar pressure; she felt like she might fall down otherwise. This was as bad as it got. How in the hell were they going to stop an attack they couldn’t see coming? They still had no idea who was behind the plot. Not to mention, if Amanda was right, and the superbug was airborne, spreading it through the populace
was
as easy as importing sick people on planes. Sam shuddered at the thought.

No one moved as Daniels closed the laptop. Mouse was by his side, eyes wide, unconsciously seeking what succor she could find during Souleyret’s recitation. She met Sam’s eyes and shrugged.

“Jesus,” Fletcher said, visibly shaken. “This is bad. This is really bad. She did get the medications in, and we’ve lost them, and Bromley, and probably Cattafi, too.”

Daniels looked pleadingly at Sam. “We have to raise the alarm now, ma’am. If what she says is true, we can’t take the chance. If this is already in our inoculation system, we’re too late. We have to stop all the vaccines being given nationwide immediately.”

Sam didn’t hesitate. “I agree. We can’t take the chance. Call Charlaine, tell her what we’ve learned. This will take a massive coordination—let her get things started. We’ll have to talk to the CDC and Homeland immediately. Get them to pull all the vaccines that have shipped this season. And we need to warn them we could have an attack coming, or even under way. But, Daniels, this has to be done very carefully. We can’t take the chance of starting a panic.”

Daniels raised a brow. “I’m panicked already. I got a flu shot last week.”

“Then you needn’t worry. She specifically said the virus kills within forty-eight hours. If she’s right, and terrorists have gotten hold of this, they haven’t managed to get it into our systems yet, or we’d have bodies stacked like cordwood in the street. It would be hard to do now. The vaccines for this season were produced months ago. We’d already know. But going forward, anything new coming in—yes, we need to get everyone on alert. And we need Regina Girabaldi in real protective custody, right now. Go, Daniels, now!”

Sam turned to Denon. “Sir, we have to find out who in your company might be behind this, and we need to get that name immediately. There’s no more time to waste. Are you willing to allow us access? Xander and Chalk, plus Mouse—if you let them into your servers, they’ll be able to find the link.”

He nodded. “What do you need? Passwords? Everson can get you everything you—”

There was a commotion in the kitchen. The shatter of breaking glass, guttural shouts, a strange gurgling choke. Sam sprinted into the hall just in time to see the front door swing closed, a smear of reddest blood in bas relief against the white paint. She started toward the door as a babble of voices filled the house. She heard Xander shout, “Fletcher, call 9-1-1, we’ve got two down.”

A heartbeat later Xander was in the hallway, blood on his chest, moving fast, the SIG Sauer in his hand. “Watch it, watch it. They need you in the kitchen. Stay inside.” Then he was out the door, Thor a blur of tan-and-black fur beside him. She saw Chalk sprinting down the street. Daniels pushed past her, going after them. The door slammed behind him.

Sam ran toward the kitchen and into utter chaos.

Everson was on the floor, clutching at his throat, gouts of red spouting from a slit in his carotid. Bebbington was already dead, his head nearly severed, tipped to the side as if he were listening to his shoulder tell a story.

Sam caught the spray of Everson’s blood in her face as she knelt beside him. She yanked a tea towel off the cabinet below the sink and held it hard to his throat. “Hang on, damn it. Hang on,” she yelled at him, but she could see it was too late. His eyes were unfocused, staring at a world only the dying could see, and the warm stickiness pulsing over her hands was slowing.

Denon was standing, horrified, in the entrance to the kitchen. Fletcher was on the phone calling for help. And Sam knelt in blood again, holding the useless towel to Everson’s neck as he left this world. He gave one last burbling gasp, and then he was gone.

Damn it.

She forced her focus back to the surroundings and counted. There was someone missing.

She let the soaked fabric drop to the tile floor and grabbed Fletcher, dragged him toward the front door. She caught Denon’s sleeve as she went, towed them both into the shockingly clean hall with its eerie handprint on the door. “Where is Heedles? Where is Maureen Heedles?”

Fletcher shook his head, shoved the phone in his pocket. “I don’t know. We have to search the house. You stay here, cover Denon.”

Sam pointed at the bloody handprint. “She must have run out the front, but wait.” Sam pulled open the closet door and quickly punched in the code to the gun safe. She pulled out two automatics and two handguns. She pressed a Glock .40 into Fletcher’s hand, and two magazines. She tucked the second into her pants at the small of her back, filled her pockets with two more magazines. “Now go,” she said, nodding toward the kitchen. “I’ve got this.”

Fletcher bent down and pulled his throw-down gun from his ankle, then, double-fisted, started moving toward the kitchen, walking soft. The sudden silence bled around them. Sam arranged the M4 strap around her shoulder and handed the other to Denon. “Do you know how to shoot?”

He nodded. “A shotgun. We hunt. Fox hunt. In the country. Not allowed to shoot the buggers now, but I have done in the past.”

He was in shock. She stepped right up to his face, shook his shoulders a little to get his attention.

“Maureen Heedles. I need to know her background. You said she’s your head of R and D. What does she research for you?”

“The best places to put in pipelines, terminals, offshore drilling. She’s a geologist. She’s a fucking geologist. Not a killer.”

“James,” Sam said, softer now. “There are two men dead in the kitchen to refute your claim. She’s on the run. She lit out of here with a knife, and God knows what other weapons she has. Xander and Chalk and Daniels are after her. She’s betrayed you. She’s killed your people. She must be the leak. She must be the one who is funneling the money into the development of this medicine. Think, man. When did she come to you? How did she get hired?”

And thought to herself, Xander, where are you? Please tell me that
was
Mo Heedles we saw tearing out of here, and not Robin Souleyret.

She saw Denon starting to come back to himself, just as Fletcher came back into the hall. “We’re clear. She must have gone out the front door after she killed the two men. I—”

Denon raised the rifle, and suddenly Sam was standing between two well-armed men on alert and pointing guns at each other.

Denon’s voice cracked. “He wasn’t in the room. The lieutenant had stepped away. He could have done this.”

Fletcher didn’t move an inch. “You’re imagining things, Denon. I was behind you the whole time. It was your woman who did this. Now, put the weapon down, slowly, and no one will get hurt.”

Sam faced Denon, her own gun casual in her hands. “James? We’re all friends here. We’re all just trying to help you. Please lower the weapon. Lieutenant Fletcher is on our side. I swear to you.”

Denon took a ragged breath and the nose of the gun began drifting down. Sam gently relieved the man of the weapon. “I think I’ll hold on to this, if you don’t mind.”

Denon nodded, slumping back against the wall, pale and sweating. “Forgive me. I was hasty.”

Fletcher nodded. “Sam, my people are converging on the neighborhood.”

“Warn them that Xander and Chalk and Daniels are out there with Thor.”

“Already did. Why don’t we go into the living room, and we can talk some more.”

Fletcher jerked his head, and Denon started moving. He stuck his head into the guest bath, pulled out a towel and tossed it to Sam. “You’re covered in blood.”

“Seems to be a pattern,” she said, wiping her face. Sam saw Mouse crouched on the floor in the corner of the living room, fingers going wild over her laptop.

“Sorry, Mouse. We’re clear, you can come out.”

“It’s okay. I’ve tapped into the CCTV cameras. They have her cornered near the university entrance.”

Sam hurried over and stared at the screen. It was black-and-white, but she could see clearly enough to make out what was happening. Thor had Heedles backed against the steps. Xander and Chalk had drawn down on her. Daniels had both a handgun and a phone. The only light came from the soda vapors lining the street. It appeared Heedles was taunting them, shouting something, and Sam saw Xander’s hand flex on the gun.

“This is it. They’re going to take her.”

Heedles dropped to the pavement.

Chapter 47

XANDER WAS BREATHING
hard, more from anger than anything else. His night vision was messed up; he’d run in front of an SUV and the driver had flashed the brights at him in annoyance. He was following Thor’s barks—the dog was at least fifty yards ahead of them. He went frantic, and Xander knew he’d cornered the woman.

He called to Chalk. “Thor’s got her. Turn around forty-five degrees, come down from the north. We’ll take her from the street. Daniels, to me.”

Daniels was right behind him.

“Where do you want me?”

“Loose box, coming up the southern perimeter, your back to Key Bridge. Make sure she doesn’t dart down there. We might lose her if she manages to hit the bridge. Clear the civilians as you can, and be quiet about it.”

“Yeah, we might lose her over the edge, when I toss her off,” he muttered, jogging into the darkness.

Xander moved carefully toward Heedles. He wanted to take her alive, that’s why he’d set Thor on her. He regulated his breathing, shut his eyes to help them readjust, then jogged the last half block to her location.

Heedles was stuck at the base of the main entrance steps to Georgetown University. Thor was dancing near her, snapping and growling. She caught Xander’s gaze, watched him come into view. He saw fright on her face, but defiance, and that certain sense of inevitability he’d seen on the face of every terrorist he’d cut down. She knew she was going to die, and she wasn’t afraid. It was a foregone conclusion.

There was a siren behind him, but he didn’t break eye contact.

“Thor,
achtung
!”

Thor stopped barking immediately, but still had his teeth bared, a rumbling growl emanating from his belly. Xander had seen huge men cower in front of a dog, but Heedles decided to stand her ground. She was trapped, and she knew it, but she wasn’t going to be backed down.

“Call him off. Call him off now,” she yelled at Xander.

Daniels appeared to Xander’s left. Chalk was inching in from the right. They had her, and she knew it.

“I’m not kidding. Call him off or I’ll shoot him dead.” From the folds of her jacket, she produced a Glock with a lightning draw. She was practiced with the weapon; she didn’t hesitate or allow it to waver in her hand.

“Don’t even think about it, Heedles.” All three men had their guns trained on her in a flash. She hadn’t stopped staring at Xander. She began moving the weapon toward Thor, and Xander called,
“Fuss.”
Thor whined once, then came to his master’s side and sat heavily, still on alert, his hair bristling along his back. Xander touched the dog once on the back in reassurance.
“Braver hund,”
he whispered, low.
“Bleib.”

Heedles relaxed when the dog stopped growling at her. Considering she had three highly trained men with guns on her, she became almost conversational. Still defiant, she tossed her hair and gave Xander a manic grin. “It’s too late, you know. We’ve already launched. There’s no way to stop things now. We’ve won.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Pyramid was activated last week. We’ve eliminated everyone who could stop us. You’re the only ones left who know about us, and trust me, you won’t see another dawn before your throats are slit and you’re left mewling in the gutters.”

Her bitter words, delivered in a polite, upper-crust British accent, were completely incongruous.

“Who, or what, is the Pyramid, Maureen? Tell me. If I’m going to die, anyway, what’s to stop you?”

“I’m not stupid. I’m not falling for that. I won’t tell you anything more. You can torture me, you can rape me, you can tear me limb from limb. I know that’s what you do, that’s what you enjoy. But I’ve done my job, and done it well, and I will not give up my people.”

Daniels called out to her. “We don’t torture and rape, Ms. Heedles. But we will put you in a four-by-six room for the rest of your natural life if you don’t cooperate.”

She laughed, a high-pitched shriek. Xander was reminded of a woman he’d seen in Afghanistan, keening and wailing over the body of her dead child, killed while playing after he ran over a neglected roadside bomb. An unfortunate mistake with everlasting consequences.

Xander knew there was no reasoning with Heedles. She was mad, and she’d done enough damage.

“What was your job in this plot? At least you can tell us that. We know you’re the one who was stealing the money. Was that all you were asked to do?”

Heedles shook her head, her strangely asymmetrical eyes flashing in the streetlamps. “I killed the girl and the doctor. Juliet. She’s had Denon by the cock from the first. He’d do anything she said, anything she wanted. She was his perfect little toy, and he had no idea she had double-crossed him. She had to be eliminated. She was going to expose us all.”

“So you, what, dropped by Cattafi’s place last night with a knife, like you just did in my kitchen?”

“I was the only one who could get close. I was the one she trusted. She told me a month ago she and Denon were fuck buddies. We were having drinks, and she had too much, and I got her back to my place. I asked her if she was usually into women, and she let it slip that she was into Denon, big-time, but she wanted me, too. So we screwed, and I realized then she must be a decoy. She’d been sent in to destabilize us.”

“Who is
us
, Maureen? Who are you talking about?”

That hysterical laugh again. “Don’t you wish I’d tell you? The Pyramid is sacred. We only know the person above us and below us. We are safe. We are impenetrable. But I will say this. Feeling the knife go into her flesh was one of the best moments of my life.”

“Stand down,” Xander said, nodding at Daniels, and at Chalk, who both looked shocked, but listened. They lowered their weapons, and Heedles reacted like a mirror, and did the same.

In that fraction of a moment, inside the breath they had all just taken, he shot her.

Xander felt the familiar rush he always did when a gun went off in his hands, and watched the woman drop to the ground, screaming in pain.

He’d hit her in the right knee, and the second she began falling, Chalk hurtled forward and knocked the weapon from her hands. Where she’d gotten the gun, Xander didn’t know, but he was cursing himself for letting his guard down. He should have known it was someone with Denon, someone who’d want to stay close. They were damn lucky she hadn’t managed to murder them all. She’d tried to get out of the house silently by cutting the throats of the men she worked with day in and day out. Couldn’t risk the gun, there were too many people in the house who knew how to disarm her and wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

Chalk stood by him, weapon pointed at the crying woman. Daniels converged from the south, and while they covered him, he rolled her and slapped a pair of cuffs on her. It was over.

She was crying and yelling, making no sense. Daniels was on his phone, calling for help.

Xander heard applause. Some students had gathered behind him. They were taking pictures and one was filming with his iPhone. His first thought was one of fear and relief.
Son of a bitch. They’d been right in the line of fire. They were lucky not to have been shot or worse.
His second was more disturbing.
They had it all documented. Great.

Chalk realized the issue, went to talk to them, and a bright light flooded from behind them with a snap. Xander heard footsteps approaching. He turned to see the reporter from CNN who’d called him earlier in the day, with a cameraman in tow, a smile crossing her face, the wail of sirens a distant howl to accompany her.

“Sergeant Whitfield, Rebecca Gorman, CNN. You’ve done it again—you’ve shot your second person today. How does that feel, sir?”

Chalk was back, a few cell phones bulging out of his pockets. Xander gave him a dark look, and moments later, the cameraman was lifted off his feet, arms twisted behind his back, the expensive camera clattering to the ground.

“You can’t do that! You’re interfering with our first amendment right to—”

One of the students, the one who’d been filming with his phone, joined in. “Yeah, you can’t steal our stuff, man.”

“I respect your right to report on this story, and I’d lay down my life to make sure you can, but we’re not going to do this right now,” Xander said.

Gorman was losing control. “I have it all,
we
have it all, on tape. It doesn’t matter. We can approach one of those kids over there. They have it all, too. We can be live in five minutes. Our viewers need to see what’s happening here. I can get an uplink to New York in a few minutes.”

Xander sighed. “Ma’am, when the FBI clears these videos for public consumption, then I’ll be happy to sit down with you and give a comment. Until then, you’re going to have to shut this down. We’re in the middle of a case. There’s a killer on the loose.”

Chalk stepped in, taking up much of the space between the woman and her cameraman. “Seriously, if you put our faces out there now, we lose our tactical advantage. We can’t have you broadcasting this footage, not until we find him. Do you understand?”

She nodded, wide-eyed, let the mike drop to her side. The student’s eyes grew big. “Are we safe, dude?”

Chalk shook his head. “No.”

The reporter turned white. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“I just did. Please get back in your van, and lock the doors. Metro will be here momentarily. Take this one with you.” He pulled the kid’s sleeve, and he happily cozied up to the pretty reporter. “Don’t worry, we’ll be in touch. You guys are witnesses, after all. The police will want to talk to you.”

“I need my equipment,” the cameraman said.

Chalk obliged, but not before removing the cassette that held their footage of the shooting and handing it to Daniels.

“Dude, totally uncool.”

Daniels had Heedles by the arm. She was sitting up, back against the stairs, blood leaking onto the sidewalk. She kept up a steady string of curses at them.

“Ma’am, I’m Agent Daniels, FBI,” he called to the reporter. “He’s not kidding. We will return your footage as soon as we’re cleared, but you want to get off the street right now.” The cameraman backed off, nursing his bruised hand.

“Xander, Chalk,” Daniels said. “I’ll stay here, deal with Metro. You should head back to the house.” The sirens were coming closer; Fletcher’s call had been answered. A patrol car whipped onto the street. Daniels turned his head toward it, then yelled, “Go. Now!”

Xander didn’t hesitate. The last thing he needed was to be detained like he had this morning. He took off at a jog, Thor and Chalk right with him. They had no more time; he knew Gorman was already on the phone to her producer. There was no help for it. Even without the footage they’d just shot, word would be out in moments. Too many people had seen him shoot Heedles. It was how things moved now. They had to act quickly, before they became bigger targets than they already were.

“She’s just the money,” Chalk said as they cut across to N Street. “We still need to find the brain.”

Xander nodded. “This is a seriously fucked-up day, man. Let’s get back to the house, go from there. But keep an eye out for anything Heedles might have discarded on the way.”