Choppy Water
- Автор: Вудс Стюарт
- Серия: Stone Barrington #54
- Год: 2020
- Язык: английский
- Год: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
- ISBN: 978-0-593-18829-3
- Жанр: Триллеры
Электронная книга - «Choppy Water». Краткое содержание книги:
“No name or gender of the person injured?” the anchorperson asked.
“No, just what I read. Everyone is very tight-lipped, as you might expect when a member of the White House staff has been injured.”
The anchorperson turned to other stories, and Sykes switched off the TV.
“‘Injured’?” Eugene asked, clearly surprised.
Sykes cut him off with a sharp glance. “That’s what she said. We’ll hear more later.”
They continued their breakfast in silence. “I have to get to work,” Bess said. “Will you excuse me?”
“Of course,” Sykes replied. “Will we see you at the weekend?”
“If you like.”
“I like.”
She left, gathered up her purse and her coat, got into her car, and departed.
Sykes stood up. “Eugene,” he said. “I want you to go up to the top of the hill, to the spot where you were shooting the other day, and see if you can find a cell phone.”
“What would a cell phone be doing up there?” Eugene asked. “You’ve got all the phones.”
“Look for a burner,” he said, “and be thorough. Work your way outward from where you were firing.”
Bill Wright and Tom Blake sat at a table in the White House mess with George Perkins, the head of the White House Secret Service detail.
“My people have been over the rectory with a fine-tooth comb,” Perkins said. “Nothing was disturbed, no new fingerprints found, no gunshot residue detected. The only thing that might have been out of place was an open window overlooking the garden, and they think a maid might have done that yesterday when it got warm upstairs. The cleaning staff will be questioned as soon as they arrive at work.”
Bill Wright spoke up. “I think we need to get the president-elect out of here today. I’ve already called Barrington on my own authority, and his airplane will arrive around eleven AM, at Manassas.”
“You didn’t run that by your director?” Tom asked.
“No. I’m in charge of her personal detail until she’s sworn in on January 20.”
“What did your director have to say about what happened?”
“I haven’t spoken to him yet, and I won’t until we’re in the air.”
“I didn’t hear that,” George Perkins said.
“Don’t worry, George, I’ll take whatever heat there may be.”
“I don’t see how you could be in any trouble,” Tom said. “After all, we prevented an assassination.” His phone rang, and he checked the incoming number before stepping away from the table. “Yes?”
“It’s me,” Elizabeth said. “What the hell happened at the White House early this morning?”
“There was an attempt on her life, but the shooter hit a dummy we had set up. Everyone here is fine.”
“No one in the hospital?”
“That was a cover story.”
“I was awakened by Sykes’s telephone last night. He’s across the hall from my room.”
“What time did the call come in?”
“A little after three-thirty.”
“His man was reporting in,” Tom said.
“They were outside talking when I came down for breakfast. They were excited and elated.”
“Eugene reported a successful hit, and it was, but on the dummy.”
“I got your e-mail,” she said. “I take it my message wasn’t received.”
“It was very broken, but it got us looking. The shot was fired from the rectory at the Episcopal church across the way from the White House. Wright and I checked it out yesterday, and we had planned to be there at four AM, but they turned up early and were long gone when we got there.”
“I heard the White House report on TV.”
“That was about making them think they had succeeded.”
“Well, it worked. Now what?”
“Did anything happen at Sykes’s compound that would stand up as evidence for an arrest?”
“Just what I told you.”
“When are you going back out there?”
“This weekend.”
“Sykes clearly doesn’t trust you.”
“That’s because I’m not sleeping with him. I told him I’m a lesbian.”
“And he wouldn’t trust a lesbian?”
“Not in a century. But I wasn’t willing to fuck him to gain his trust. I’m a lousy undercover agent, right?”
“I like you better lousy. Keep me posted over the weekend.”
“It’s not easy. There’s no cell service, and Wi-Fi is only turned on a couple of times a day, to receive messages.”
“Do the best you can.” They both hung up.
35
Stone and Holly were having breakfast when Bill Wright came into the residence. “You folks ready?”
“As soon as we’ve finished breakfast,” Holly said.
“The Lincoln is waiting for you. I’ll get your luggage. Don’t forget your disguise. And the walker.”
Holly sighed. “You haven’t convinced me about the disguise. After all, they found me.”
“They found a dummy, ma’am. They don’t know where you are.”
They took off shortly after eleven. Bill came and sat down with them. “I want to bring you up to date.”
“Thank you,” Holly said. “I’d like that.”
“We think we know who did this, but we can’t prove it, I’m sorry to say. We have a mole in their camp, but they don’t trust her enough to tell her these things in advance.”
“It’s a woman?” Stone asked.
“It is. She’s an FBI agent who’s been assigned to the Justice Department for several weeks. There’s no cell service at the colonel’s compound, but she managed to get a garbled message out about the attack.”
“And who are the group?”
“The top man is a retired Army colonel named Wade Sykes.”
“I’ve heard that name before,” Holly said. “He left under some sort of cloud, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He was charged with distributing white-supremacy materials on several Army bases, but he agreed to resign if they didn’t prosecute him. He’s quite well connected in Washington, especially among the right-wingers in Congress.”
“Will he keep trying?” Stone asked.
“I will be surprised if he doesn’t,” Bill replied. “Pretty soon he’ll find out that his attempt failed, and I expect that will humiliate him.”
“I think you’d better stay at my house,” Stone said.
“No,” Holly replied. “I’m not going to run from this bastard.”
“We’re working with the FBI on this,” Bill said, “and they’re going to set up surveillance on Sykes’s compound. If he or anyone else leaves the place, he’ll be followed. I’m working with Tom Blake, the assistant director, and he’s setting up the surveillance. He’ll also have some people on the street for you.”
They began the descent into Teterboro, and Bill went back to his seat.
They met at a restaurant in Georgetown. “When are you going back out there?” Tom asked Elizabeth.
“Tomorrow,” she said.
“Has he asked you to be there at that time?”
“No, he just asked if I’d be back for the weekend, and I said I would, if he wanted me to be. We didn’t mention a time.”
“How many vehicles live at the place?”
“Sykes drives a silver Ford Explorer, pretty new. There’s a van, and Eugene seems to drive that more than anyone else. The cook, Elroy Hubbard, drives a Toyota station wagon, but I don’t think he’s really a part of the group. Sykes won’t talk about anything when he’s in the room.”
“All right,” Bill said, placing a leatherette pouch on the table. “There are two trackers in this package. I want you to place them on Sykes’s Explorer and the van.”
“All right.”