Stone Cold

by David Baldacci

  “If you escape,” Annabelle said. “The two of you are basically going into an unfinished building with limited exits to meet a heavily armed force of government killers led by a guy who sounds about as brilliant and ruthless as they come.”

  “You’ve summed it up nicely,” Stone said.

  “How do you know Gray won’t just kill Simpson? He might be pretending to agree to do an exchange and then his men will just kill all of you.” They all turned to stare at Milton as he finished speaking. “When you’ve been around Oliver long enough you do tend to get a bit paranoid.”

  Stone smiled before answering. “Milton, you’re absolutely right. In fact, I don’t think Gray would have any trouble killing Simpson and then blaming it on us. But I do have something he really wants. And I knew he’d ask for it.”

  “The evidence you used to make him resign,” Alex said.

  “That’s really the only reason he’s coming. The orders we have only tie Simpson to the assassinations of Andropov and Chernenko.”

  “So Gray comes with a lot of firepower and the exchange is made. Once he has what he wants, how are you going to get David and yourselves out of there safely?” Annabelle wanted to know.

  “There is a way,” Stone said. “And we’re going to need help from all of you to do it.”

  CHAPTER 89

  FINN’S RED CELL TEAM had prepped a tractor-trailer rig for use on its planned penetration of the visitor center. Those plans had been put on the back burner due to the incident involving Sam. Yet the truck was ready to go and when Finn told Stone about the rig’s capabilities, the ex–Triple Six had bluntly replied, “Go get it.”

  And Finn had, with very little trouble actually since he had the keys to the tractor and access to the secure storage facility where it was housed.

  He was now driving the rig through the middle of the capital. As he pulled into the entrance to the visitor center he could see preparations for the mock terrorist attack unfolding all around him.

  He brought his truck to a stop in the loading dock alley and hopped out. He wore the requisite uniform and had the proper ID, and shipping orders all phony but good enough to fool a very bored government gunslinger. He showed the manifest to the guard and then popped the back door of the truck. The guard inspected the cargo, even pulling the tops off some of the boxes and peering in before closing them back up.

  Finn had arrived here at half past six because he knew the construction workers were scheduled to go off duty promptly at six because of the mock terrorist attack. The next shift came on the following morning. The exchange with Gray would be set for midnight as soon as the call was made two hours from now by Stone. This would give them an opportunity to put their exit plan in place and give Gray very little time to make his own preparations.

  Down the street Milton was sitting in a parked car with a cell phone in hand. He was the failsafe. If everything seemed to be going to hell, he was to call the police, the FBI, the fire department and anyone else they could think of. Since they would all be in close proximity, their response time should be very fast, although it still might not be fast enough. Caleb was back at the hiding place keeping watch over Lesya and the rest of the Finn family. Reuben and Alex were nearby, waiting for word from Stone.

  “This is going to take some time,” Finn told the guard. “I not only have to offload the equipment, but I have to unpack it too. And my helper called in sick.”

  “How long is long?” the guard asked.

  “Probably after midnight before it’s all done.”

  “You better get to it, then,” the guard said, walking away without bothering to offer to help.

  Finn used a power-driven hand truck to offload the boxes of HVAC equipment and take it inside the visitor center. Four of the cargo boxes had compartments cleverly concealed in the bottom. Out from one box popped Stone, and from another, Annabelle. From another box they pulled a gagged and bound Simpson. From the fourth box Stone and Finn retrieved their weapons, including sniper rifles that Stone had used when he worked as a Triple Six. Finn looked at them doubtfully.

  “They still work just fine,” Stone assured him. “Despite their, uh, vintage.”

  “No night-vision equipment?”

  “No.”

  “Gray’s men will have them, state of the art,” Finn said slowly.

  “I’m actually counting on that.”

  “And body armor, latest generation.”

  “I always aim for the head.”

  They put the bound Simpson behind a crate of ceiling tiles and Finn showed Stone and Annabelle the interior rooms, most of which were unfinished.

  Stone stopped at one room and looked up. “Balcony?”

  Finn nodded. “This is the Great Hall. It looks down on the main visitors’ area. There’s also the atrium, the congressional auditorium, exhibition gallery, theaters and dining area.”

  “I like this room,” Stone said firmly as he stared at the waist-high concrete wall along the balcony. “High ground is always good ground. Now show me where the closest power supply is.”

  After that was done, Finn led them through a series of doors that ended in a long hall that was closed off. “That’s the underground corridor leading to the Capitol. It’s totally blocked off for now.”

  “So how do I get David out of here?” Annabelle asked.

  Finn nodded and pointed overhead. “The ventilation ducts. That was going to be the focal point of our penetration. That duct there will carry you directly into the Capitol. I’ve drawn up a map.” He handed it to her and went over various points, including how the duct ended in a small storage room.

  “You only have to walk down a short hall and there’s an exit door there. It’s not guarded and you can open it from the inside. I had an associate go through it when we made an initial penetration. It was a tight fit for him, but he was bigger than you and David. You two should have no problem; you’re both very lean.”

  Stone looked at Annabelle. “That’s why you fit the bill. There’s no way Reuben or Alex could have fit in there. Caleb and Milton are small enough, but—”

  “I know,” Annabelle said. “If we run into any problems I can try and talk my way out.”

  “Alex and Reuben will be stationed near the exit you’ll be using. If need be, Alex can use his Secret Service credentials to get you past any security checkpoints.”

  “So where do you want me to be, Oliver?” Annabelle said.

  “Right here next to the entrance to the ductwork. We’ll bring David to you.”

  She looked at the tall and broad-shouldered Finn and Stone. “But I don’t understand. Harry and you obviously can’t fit in the ductwork, so how are you two going to get out?”

  “Let us worry about that, Annabelle,” Stone said.

  CHAPTER 90

  FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS, Stone and Finn choreographed what would happen later that night. Finn was highly experienced when it came to work like this, but he finally had to admit to himself that when it came to killing other people while putting oneself in the best possible position to survive, Oliver Stone was his clear superior.

  And then they were as ready as they were going to be. Stone made the call to Gray and then they both took up their positions and waited. Stone knew that Gray would send in an advance guard to recon the place. Sure enough, two hours later, men came sniffing and poking around, with the security guards out front no doubt either tied up or suitably intimidated by the men’s badges.

  Then the man himself appeared. Carter Gray was looking chunkier than usual. From his sniper’s post Stone instantly discerned why: body armor. That didn’t bother Stone in the slightest since, as he’d told Finn, he always aimed for the head. People couldn’t survive without a brain. Although it did seem that more than a few people in Washington managed to do so quite nicely.

  Next to Gray was a man pushing a hand truck with a bag on it. He unzipped the bag and helped the boy out. David Finn was blindfolded and had sound mufflers over his ears. Wob
bling, he stood next to Gray, who looked around the vast interior of the uncompleted Great Hall.

  “Well,” Gray said to the emptiness. “We’re here.”

  Harry Finn walked out into the room, a gagged Simpson in hand. “Give me the boy.”

  Gray looked mildly annoyed at being talked to in such a manner. “Harry Finn, Lesya and Rayfield’s son. You take after your mother more than your father.”

  “Let me have my son!”

  “Where are the orders? And where is my recording?”

  Finn pulled a set of papers and a cell phone from his jacket pocket. He held them up. “I want David next to me.”

  Finn pushed Simpson toward Gray. The senator jogged the last few steps. When he reached Gray the intelligence chief immediately had the gag and hand bindings removed.

  The guard pushed David toward his father. Finn hugged his son. “It’s okay, Davey, I’ve got you.” He took off the blindfold and sound mufflers.

  “Dad!” David said in a trembling voice as he squeezed his father tightly.

  Gray held out his hand. “Give them to me. Now!”

  Finn tossed the items to him. Gray looked at the orders. “It’s hard to believe these have survived all these years.”

  “Lots of things have survived all these years, including my mother,” Finn said as he edged David behind him. He could sense everyone’s fingers edging toward triggers.

  Gray listened to the recording on the cell phone, then handed it to a man next to him, who placed it in a small electronic device and played it again. He read off the result displayed on an LED screen on the side of the device. “It’s the original, copied once.”

  Stone had given one copy to Gray previously.

  Gray smiled, pocketed the cell phone and looked at Finn. “And how is your mother?”

  “A widow, thanks to you.”

  Gray looked around. “John, I know you’re out there. Perhaps you have your little ragtag regiment with you. But just so you understand the playing field, I have this place surrounded and sealed shut. And it has been placed off-limits to the police, FBI, Secret Service and anyone else you might be counting on. I’m sure you know there is a mock terrorist attack going on outside right now. That’s probably why you selected this place tonight. You no doubt hoped it would help you to escape. But what it does, instead, is ensure that if there is any shooting in here, no one outside will hear it, or if they do, they won’t bother to investigate.”

  As they listened, the sounds of staged sirens, gunfire and bombs exploding, all part of the drill, reached them.

  Gray glanced back at Finn. “And you might want to thank this young man, John. He killed Bingham, Cincetti and Cole. You have no way of knowing this, but it was your three former colleagues who were part of the team sent to kill you. They missed, of course, but they did get your wife. Cole claimed he was the one who killed her, but Bingham disputed that. They actually volunteered for the job. I guess you weren’t too popular with them.”

  Only silence greeted this verbal right cross from Gray.

  Gray waited a moment and then added, “You also might want to see who else I stumbled on while I was on my way here.”

  CHAPTER 91

  FINN’S HEART SANK as he saw Milton being marched in between two of Gray’s men.

  From behind the concrete parapet on the balcony Stone’s finger eased near the trigger of his rifle. He could take both men out before they could harm Milton. The only problem was he didn’t know where the rest of Gray’s strike team was. He needed to flush them out.

  Finn said quietly, “I think that concludes the exchange.”

  Gray shook his head. “Actually, Harry, it’s just starting.”

  He nodded to his men as he backed out with Simpson. When they reached safety, Simpson called out, “By the way, John, I was the one who ordered the hit on you. No one leaves Triple Six voluntarily. My only regret was we didn’t get you then. But good things come to those who wait.”

  From the balcony Stone stared down at the spot where Simpson was speaking from. The senator was smart enough to have put a thick wall between them. For an instant Stone’s mind went blank, then everything clicked back on. He had a job to do and nothing Simpson could say would interfere with that. He raced over to a large powered winch they’d set up earlier.

  On cue, Finn grabbed his son and flung him down, pulling a gun from his waistband and shielding David with his body. The next instant a large object dropped from the rafters. It was a heavy Jersey wall they’d hoisted up earlier. Stone had just let it go and hustled back to his shooting position.

  The barrier hit its mark perfectly, landing a foot in front of Finn and his son. The impact nearly broke it in half but they immediately took cover behind it.

  Gray’s two men took aim at Milton, the easiest target. Before their fingers could squeeze the triggers, two rounds from Stone’s weapon fired a second apart killed them.

  Next to Stone was a long electrical cord attached to a power strip. He hit a button and the entire room went black.

  Stone raced down from the balcony. He had memorized the number of steps and turns, so the darkness didn’t slow him much. He dropped on top of a flat roller that they’d found in a storage room, the kind that mechanics use to glide under cars. He slid across the floor of the Great Hall, heading toward Milton. The original plan had been to get Finn and his son out this way. But Milton was in the most immediate danger.

  He called out, “Finn! Cover!”

  Finn immediately started laying down fire.

  As he rolled along, Stone blinked rapidly, making his eyes adjust to the absence of light. He hit one dead body, his fingers snagging the NV goggles off the dead man’s belt. As he put them on he said, “Milton!”

  “Over here,” Milton answered weakly.

  Stone powered on the goggles and looked to his right. Milton was lying there, his hands over his head. The other dead man had fallen on top of him.

  Stone asked, “Are you hurt?”

  “No.”

  Stone pulled the body off his friend and, “double-decking” on the roller, they slid across the room toward the stairs to the balcony while Finn emptied two clips from his pistol to cover their escape.

  Stone said to Milton, “I’m taking you to Annabelle. She, you and David will get out via a duct that leads to the Capitol. It’ll be a tight fit, but you can make it.”

  “Oliver, I can’t go out that way.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’ve got claustrophobia.”

  Stone sighed. “All right, then you can leave with me.”

  “No tight places,” Milton said nervously.

  “It’s all tight places in here, Milton,” Stone snapped. “Did you see how many men Gray brought with him?”

  “A dozen.”

  “Then he has ten left.”

  Stone knew that the next part of their escape involved running through quite a bit of open space. Gray’s men were certainly watching for any sign of them through their NV goggles. Stone was actually counting on that. The goggles were wonderful tools, but they had one Achilles’ heel.

  Stone pulled off his goggles, tensed and then hit the button on the power strip again. Lights blazed on all over. He heard voices calling out in pain. Gray’s men. When bright lights came on and you were caught wearing your NV goggles, the result was you wouldn’t be seeing anything except hot stars for at least a minute.

  He and Milton ran for it.

  No sooner had they gotten behind cover than Gray’s men recovered and opened up with overwhelming firepower. Stone left Milton and raced off again. Finn and his son were still behind the barrier, pinned down by fire. Stone grabbed the motorized hand truck full of commercial HVAC equipment and made his way to Finn and David. The bullets fired by Gray’s men bounced off the heavy metal.

  With this shield they made their way back to relative safety and collected Milton. They sprinted down the hall and through a series of doors, handing a terrified David off to Annabelle.r />
  Annabelle saw Milton and said, “My God, what are you doing here?”

  “Long story and no time to tell it,” Stone said. “You and David can get out through the ducts. Milton will come with us.”

  Finn hugged his crying son, who kept his arms tightly around his father.