"Oh my God! We've got to get out of here! Do you think someone knew we came looking for him?"
“I don’t know,” he whispers back. “We do need to get out of here, but not suspiciously.”
The bus-driver-looking guy and the other café customers have slowly crept back toward the front of the café, but none have the courage to open the front door. They all stare at the fire and destruction across the street. A couple of sirens wail and a police car has just rolled up in the snow-covered street out front. A couple of cops stand beside their patrol car, but aren’t moving toward the driveway yet.
"We can't go out the front," David quickly concludes. "Let's walk casually to the back and see if we can get out.”
They slowly walk toward the back, past two restroom doors, and see an emergency exit. David pushes the door open and they are in an alleyway. "Don’t run," David says. "Act like we're just passing through."
The senior agent processes the new information from his field agents about Pletcher’s car bombing. The choices become limited.
He responds over the secure wireless communication device, directing his lead field agent.
”Initiate the contingency plan we discussed.”
“Yes sir.”
“Act immediately.”
“Confirmed, sir.”
Chapter 106
Blasted
Honking taxis crawl through the snow in Manhattan. Combine the closure of one lane of traffic with the usual pushy New York drivers and you end up with snowy gridlock and incessant horn blasts. People who presumably would have normally taken a taxi or bus are now clogging up the slushy sidewalks on foot.
David studies his hand-held GPS as his Red Sox hat slowly turns white with the falling snow. “I changed my mind. We can’t take the subway. There are surveillance cameras everywhere. I honestly don’t know what to do. Pletcher just got blasted because of us.”
“I believe you now.” Amanda says.
“We can’t go to our hotel room, someone knows we’re here.”
“So, where are we gonna go?”
“Let’s find a busy hotel so I can study the Amtrak schedule and decide if we can get our stuff at the B & B.”
His GPS shows a couple of hotels in the area. “Where are we anyway?”
They both look at the street signs on the nearest corner.
“East 78th and 2nd,” Amanda says.
They head east down the busy sidewalk after David confirms there is a hotel down 78th Street.
As they walk down the snow-covered street under a partial canopy of trees, Amanda glimpses the unusually serious stare of a guy with a black ski cap maybe 10 feet behind them. As the man walks briskly past her she notices his closed black umbrella. Just then, he lifts the umbrella oddly with his left hand, pointing it forward toward the back of David’s left thigh.
Instinctively, she yells, “David! Watch out!”
Just as David wheels to the left and turns back, Amanda hears a sort of whizzing sound. The man suddenly stops, teeters back and forth, and then falls face forward onto the sidewalk with a snow-muffled thud. His umbrella falls ahead of him, forming an elongated depression in the snow.
“David, he was going to jab you!” Amanda screams as she reaches David and they gaze down at the man sprawled face down on the sidewalk. At the same moment, they both notice the blood oozing onto the snow along the edge of his black coat.
“Oh my God!” Amanda blurts out.
David’s eyes widen and he turns to his left to study the rows of windows in the building across the street, looking for something, anything. Just as they are contemplating running in any direction, a black SUV slides through the snowy street to a stop at the curb right next to them. A lady jumps out of the front passenger door and flashes her badge.
Amanda recognizes her immediately.
“FBI, get in, fast!”
“Oh my God! Sienna? I thought --”
“No way!” David says in shock.
She throws open the rear door and yells “Now!”
They both leap into the back seat and Sienna jumps in right behind them. The driver steps on the accelerator and fishtails away before Sienna even gets the rear door closed.
“Was someone shooting at us?” David asks incredulously.
“Yes. We had to act immediately.” Sienna says.
“That guy was trying to jab David or something. Then we saw blood,” Amanda says, still shaken by what has just occurred.
“He must’ve been an operative for them.” Sienna says.
“Them?” David asks, but he gets no response.
The driver begins speeding down the street, power-turns through the snow at the first left, and watches carefully in his rearview mirror. David decides this would be a good time to hunt for his seatbelt.
“Who was firing at us? Why?” David asks.
Sienna cranes her neck around, watching vigilantly and still not answering.
“You disappeared right after Kent died. I thought you were involved. I never imagined you were with the FBI.” Amanda says.
“I was there to protect you. We barely managed to extract you just now so we’re taking you to a safe house.” she advises them.
Amanda catches a flash of her pistol in the holster along her right side under her unzipped coat.
“Charlie, how long will it take us to get there?” she asks the agent driving.
“Under an hour usually, but we’ve got weather, traffic, and probably a tail this time.”
Sienna takes two black scarves out of her coat pocket and explains that she is going to have to blindfold them.
“It’s for your protection, so you won’t know where the safe house is, and can’t be, uh, forced to divulge anything.” She then secures the blindfolds.
“How long will we be there? I know it sounds stupid right now, but I have to get back to school Monday. And how will you get us back to Virginia?” David asks Sienna, the analyst in him needing answers.
“We’ll get you home safely, but only when we know that hostiles aren’t tailing you. You two could have been killed back there. You were in New York to see Pletcher, right?” Sienna asks.
“How’d you know?” David asks.
“It’s our business, Mr. Owlsley.”
“Yeah, and he got blown up by somebody who didn’t want him meeting with us. But he didn’t want to meet with us either.” David tells her.
“Oh yeah? How do you know that?” Sienna asks him.
“He wouldn’t schedule an appointment or return my calls.”
“Ahh. I see,” she replies, without confirming or denying David’s belief.
After a little less than an hour, but what seems much longer, they finally slow to a crawl. Amanda hears the engine sound change.
“I can take these off now,” Sienna says, untying the blindfolds.
They are slowly advancing down a long snow-covered rural driveway. In the minimal moonlight, Amanda notices a quaint snowman in the middle of the front yard.
“Nice snowman. Did you help roll it?” Amanda asks her.
“No, Charlie and another agent built it today. There’s plenty of down time in this job.”
“So, how were you watching us? I had no idea we were being followed.” David asks her.
“Don’t worry about it.”
As they approach the house an overhead garage door goes up and their SUV slowly pulls in.
“It’s important you stay here for at least the next 24 hours. We can’t let you contact anyone because someone may be listening. We have TVs, a stereo, plenty of food, and some extra clothing,” Sienna assures them.
When they enter the safe house, there’s one agent downstairs who has what looks to David like a Glock on his holster. Years of warfare video games have made David a virtual weapons expert, despite having almost no experience in firing a real gun. He fired one only once, when his uncle took him to an indoor firing range. Sienna and the male agent speak momentarily before Sienna asks them to follow her upstairs. She show
s them around like a caring relative.
“Don’t open the blinds. If you need anything just come downstairs and talk to me or Charlie, the driver. Or ask Jasper who is the other agent downstairs. Do you guys have any questions?”
“Twenty-four hours? And then you’ll…what? Take us back to Reston?” David asks.
“I’m going to send one of the agents to get your belongings tomorrow. Do you have the room number and keys?”
David hands over the keys and writes down the room number.
“Do you know why that guy was trying to jab David?” Amanda asks Sienna.
“No, not yet. But we’ll definitely find out.” Sienna says.
David and Amanda sit together on the bed in Amanda’s temporary room. David grabs the remote control and turns on the television. Within seconds they see a report on the car bombing.
“A car bomb exploded today in the garage of Manhattan attorney Robert Pletcher.” The video shows the garage door jaggedly blown off and what appears to be the shell of a small car chassis still smoldering.
“New York Police Detective Robert Shiano spoke with Channel 3 News,” the anchorman says, as another clip from right in the street near where David and Amanda heard the blast is shown.
“What we can say right now for sure is that there was a bomb that exploded somewhere inside or next to a car owned by Mr. Pletcher. At this time New York Police are not ruling out terrorism, but say that this is definitely an ongoing investigation. They have called on the public to provide information on any unusual activity in or near this residence in the early morning hours before the blast.”
A few minutes later Sienna appears with a small briefcase.
“One of our protocols when we have people in protective custody is to take a blood sample. I need to prick your finger. It just takes a second.”
David and Amanda look at each other.
“Really? That’s weird.” David says.
Sienna flips open the case on top of the bed, pulls out a little kit, and says, “Let’s go with Amanda first.”
Amanda holds out her finger and Sienna pricks it and draws a small amount of blood into a little vial. She then repeats the process with David. She places each of the vials back in the case after marking one for each of them. Below Amanda’s name on her vial is the word “Phoenix.”
Later, the two of them eat dinner downstairs in the kitchen. Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Not gourmet food, but they both are happy to eat.
As they head back upstairs, Sienna calls to them.
“I trust you guys are all set. We’ll be down here if you need anything.”
“God, I hope I can sleep. This whole thing gives me the creeps.” Amanda tells David. “Do you want to watch TV with me?”
“Sure,” he says, following her into her room.
They find an old western starring Clint Eastwood. Neither are sure which one it is. Despite Sienna’s request, Amanda peeks through the wooden slats of the blinds. The snow still falls, amazingly. She sees another snowman in the backyard too. At least the agents have a playful side.
Chapter 107
Urgency
Since Andy had gotten the reassuring voicemail from Amanda, he had become increasingly worried as each hour passed. Nonetheless, he had immediately calmed Barbara down, and persuaded her to leave Charlottesville and come back home. But what if Amanda was really in trouble, and had been forced to leave that voicemail?
Early the next morning that Stein calls Andy’s cell phone, out of the blue. “Michaels, can we meet? I need to talk to you in person.”
“Not today, I’m dealing with an emergency.” Andy responds brusquely.
“I know, that’s why we need to meet.”
“What? How do you know about it?”
“Meet me in 30 minutes at Abbott’s Grill. I’ll explain.”
“Do you know if Amanda is still in Charlottesville? My sister’s still there and is freaking out.”
“We believe she’s in New York City. See you in 30.” Stein hangs up.
Andy calls Barb right away and tells her he may have reliable information soon, choosing not to give her any details, and that she should check out and drive back home.
Stein is already at the long bar in Abbott’s Grill when Andy arrives. It’s late afternoon, but the after-work crowds have not yet gathered. The bartender is right there to wait on them.
“Nothing for me.” Andy tells him. He notices Stein has a drink already.
“I’m listening.” Andy says.
“Your niece and David Owlsley went to New York to try to meet Pletcher. I told you to warn them.”
“I did. They must’ve gone anyway. Are they safe? How do you know they’re in New York?”
“First off, I’m only telling you what you need to know, which is going to be, uh, less than everything. It’s simply the way we conduct business, and it’s for your own good.” He takes a big swig of his drink.
“Are you recording this?” Andy asks him, looking directly at Stein. Stein stares back. “Let me turn that around. Are you recording this?”
“Why would I? I don’t believe anything that comes out of your mouth.”
“Look, we like you and your family. I told you that before, and we hope to have--” Stein says cryptically.
“What the hell? Do you have my niece and David protected or not?”
“Not this second, but I’m confident we will, and when we do, you’ll be the first to know. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“My family has been decimated, Stein. Amanda’s 18 years old, and guess what? She doesn’t do everything she’s told. Do you have kids? I don’t, but they don’t listen sometimes.”
“No kids.” Stein confirms. “Look, I told you last time we were here, it comes down to us versus them. Us versus the Chinese. Us versus the Russians. Do we make mistakes? Yes, we do, but we didn’t cause that crash.”
Andy looks over at Stein. “Whoa. I’ve just represented all of those families on the basis that there was a mechanical failure. Did I just hear what I thought I heard?”
“Yeah, you heard it, but you will never, ever repeat any of this. So what if we funded most of the settlements? Hemispheres knows where that money came from. They didn’t need details and you really don’t either. Your settlements are solid. Nobody’s trying to weasel out of anything, especially not Hemispheres. Your brother was helping us, but he never knew the details--”
“Details? Wait, what was he helping you do?”
“After studying every current BBS research project, we concluded it was his research they were after. We needed to expose their mole, and your brother agreed to help us.” Stein takes a sip of his drink, not looking at Andy.
“Finally, a grain of the truth! Who was after Ron’s research?”
“At least China. Maybe Russia too, we don’t know.”
“My brain may blow up. First, how is Pletcher involved? Is he one of their agents or one of ours?”
“You haven’t heard the news yet?”
“No, about what?”
“Pletcher was killed by a car bomb today in his garage.”
“What the hell? You have to tell me my niece is safe!”
“If I could, I would. As soon as I know we have Amanda and David safe, I’ll tell you. And they’ll be in protective custody for some time.”
“You’re a lawyer. Surely you understand the ethical issues you just dumped on me. What about all of my clients?”
“What are you talking about? Have you not heard anything I told you? We’re talking about national security, which trumps everything else. I had to tell you about your niece, and that we’re all over this. Don’t breathe a word of this to a soul – not your family, not your staff, nobody. My contact at the agency told me to meet you and disclose only the absolute minimum. Can we trust you?”
“I don’t know how to answer that.”
“You better know how. Just in the last 48 hours, we think we isolated the mole. That means that your broth
er’s help mattered, big time. We’re grateful as hell too. Oh, the Owlsleys. Would you be willing to talk to the Owlsleys? Not yet, but when we have their son and your niece under our protection?”
“To say what?”
“To give them a plausible explanation.”
“You mean make up a cover story for his parents? Now I’m a virtual co-conspirator.”
“You make it sound like we’re criminals. We have a major op in place right now and we’re trying to save them both.”
It seems like he should say thanks, but somehow Andy doesn’t feel the least bit grateful, so he doesn’t speak.
“We can wait on that issue until I have concrete news for you.” Stein says. “I’ll have more answers in less than 24 hours. Are we good?” He places cash on the bar near the tab the bartender left for him.
Andy looks over at Stein. He is nowhere near “good.” His mind whirls. He already feels like some kind of turncoat. The families he represented. His own family. He feels dirty, like someone paid him off or something, even though that wasn’t the case.
“What kind of help did you ask Ron for? I don’t get it. Was he doing research for you?”
“No, we don’t meddle in that. We had a counter-intelligence operation involving leaks at BBS, and we believed secrets about his research on telomeres were being sold to a foreign government. Nothing more. He didn’t hesitate to help us. We asked him on very short notice if he would be willing to fly to New York to meet with one of our operatives there. He was part of the bait in our trap.”
“That’s why he wasn’t travelling with Rochelle and Amanda! It was really a complete coincidence they ended up on the same flight. Unbelievable!”
“You’ve got that right,” Stein agrees, “a horrible, tragic coincidence.”
“Wait, let me guess. You wanted him to go meet Pletcher. So Pletcher was working for the CIA?”
“Can’t answer that with a yes or no. He didn’t know why he was going, because we didn’t want him to know anything about the scenarios we built to tease out the mole. And then, all hell broke loose. I would tell you more, but the final chapter hasn’t been written. Not yet.”
Taming the Telomeres, a Thriller Page 33