She got off the highway, drove west, and then parked in the middle of the block on a street where she could see the entrance to the fenced-in lot where she believed Roberts parked his car. At 4:45 cars began to exit from the lot, and at 5:25 her patience was rewarded when Roberts, driving a late model Ford Taurus, exited. Jade put down the binoculars she had been using, started up the car, and then drove after the man down the boulevard that led to the expressway. Keeping a distance of at least three car lengths between them, Jade had no difficulty following him.
Twenty-five minutes later Jade saw the Taurus pull into the crushed stone driveway of a three-story Victorian home in Georgetown. Jade accelerated, and as the admiral’s car disappeared into the garage attached to his home she pulled her own car over to the curb, turned off the ignition, and then jumped out and sprinted up the lawn as the automatic garage door began to shut. She dove at the last moment, executing a shoulder roll under the door just before it closed. When she came back up on her feet she was standing very close to the tall man with the angular features, thin lips and narrow face, the point of her SEAL knife pressed against his belly between the third and fourth buttons on the jacket of his uniform. Roberts’ brown eyes went wide with shock as he arched back over the trunk of his car.
“Jesus Christ!”
“Not quite, Admiral,” Jade said in a low voice. “It’s just Gemstone.”
“What the hell do you think-?!” Hubert Roberts stopped shouting in mid-sentence as he raised his startled gaze over Jade’s head to the door to the house that had just opened.
Jade kept her knife, hidden from the view of the person standing in the doorway behind her, pressed to the admiral’s belly, and she kept her eyes on the man’s face as the woman in the doorway spoke.
“Hubert, what’s wrong?”
“Elizabeth, get back in the house!” Roberts snapped. “Close the door!”
“You look white as a ghost, Hubert. Who is this woman?”
“Do as I say, Elizabeth!”
“Do you want me to call the police?”
“Damn it, I want you to do what I tell you! Get back in the house and shut the door! Do not call the police, do not call anyone!” Roberts paused, took a deep breath and slowly let it out, and then ran a slightly trembling hand back through his white hair. His gaze flicked to Jade’s stony, impassive face, then back to his wife. He continued in a softer tone, “It’s all right, Elizabeth. This is just a bit of unfinished business. I’ll be inside in a few minutes, after I finish this conversation. Just do as I ask. Please.”
A few seconds passed, and then Jade heard the door behind her click shut.
Now the admiral’s eyes glittered with rage as he glared at Jade. Spittle had appeared at the corners of his thin mouth. “How dare you come to my home, woman?!”
“I’m here because I want you to see what it feels like to be attacked in your home and have somebody you love and who loves you only a few feet away at the moment you’re in danger of being killed. The difference is that I came in broad daylight, and your wife is in no danger. Sergeant Bolo came to my home in the middle of the night with a grenade launcher, and he meant to burn it down with my children as well as me inside.”
Hubert Roberts’ sharp features registered first surprise, and then alarm. He blinked slowly, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down in his throat. “Henry Bolo attacked you?”
“Your hearing is excellent.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gemstone.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“That isn’t what I said. I just don’t know anything about it.” Roberts paused, glanced at the closed door behind Jade, and then continued, “What the hell’s the matter with you? My information is that your fisherman friend got money to replace his boat. That should have been the end of the matter as far as you’re concerned.”
Jade worked the knife through the folds of the man’s jacket and shirt until she knew the point was pressing against bare flesh. “Somebody forgot to inform Bolo that it was the end of the matter as far as I was concerned.”
“Ease up, Gemstone. You’re starting to draw blood.”
“Starting is exactly the right word, Admiral.”
“Captain Aden, I gave you my assurance that neither the Navy nor I have any involvement in this … whatever is going on. You’re making a huge mistake by coming here.”
“We’ll see. Your only concern is that my huge mistake doesn’t end up one you’ll pay for, and that will depend on how well you hold up your end of this conversation. There are things I need to know. Did you send the money to replace the boat?”
Roberts hesitated briefly, and then answered, “Yes.”
“If the Navy isn’t involved, what prompted you to draw that kind of money from a secret Naval Intelligence fund?”
“It was a judgment call. You went way over the line when you gave that civilian my number and had him call me. You were playing games with the Chief of Naval Intelligence on behalf of a private citizen, using classified information. That abrogated your agreement with the Navy, but I understood your position. Your point that the Navy bore at least some responsibility for what happened in Cairn by not following up sooner on the call from the Coast Guard was well taken. We couldn’t be held liable, but that didn’t matter to you, and you were acting irresponsibly. You may not believe this, but I happen to care a great deal about what happens to you. I know you’re still angry with me over the way things were handled at your hearing-”
“That was no hearing. It was a kangaroo court. I was under your command, and you should have defended me.”
“You were a Naval officer who had shot and maimed an Army enlisted man. Regardless of the provocation, that was something you couldn’t just walk away from. Maybe it was a kangaroo court, but I believe the outcome was fair. You were given your freedom and financial security, and all that was asked in return was that you not discuss that case, for obvious reasons, or reveal anything else about what you did or saw while you were in the Navy. Then, all of a sudden, it looked like you’d gone over the edge and were about to throw everything away by leaking information and raking up something from the past that could still hurt the Navy very much, all because you were outraged over what happened to that fisherman’s boat. You were out of control, and still are. I judged it to be in the Navy’s best interest to try to mollify you by paying the money, and hope that the potential problems you posed would go away. I couldn’t imagine anyone would attack you and your children. That’s the truth.”
“I believe you.”
“Then have a safe trip back home, and we’ll forget that any of this nasty business ever happened.”
Jade eased the pressure on the blade she held, but she kept the point pressed against Roberts’ flesh. “I don’t believe you’re personally involved, and I don’t believe that what’s happened is part of any Navy operation, covert or otherwise. Despite what happened to me at the end of my career, I’m proud to have served in the Navy under your command, and I don’t want the service sullied any more than you do. But there’s a conspiracy here among murderers and traitors. It most certainly involves retired military personnel, and it’s very likely that they’re being helped by men who still wear the uniform.”
Roberts averted his gaze. “That’s crazy.”
“You know it’s not. I believe you know, or at least strongly suspect, the identities of some of these men. You’re Chief of Naval Intelligence, and it’s your job to know these things.”
“I hear you, Captain. Your life and the lives of your children were threatened by a man who shouldn’t have had any idea where to find you. Let me look into it and I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to guarantee such a thing doesn’t happen again.”
“Not good enough, sir. I need you to tell me where to look. Who’s running this little operation, and just what are they up to?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying. At least tell me where I can find Henry
Bolo.”
“If I knew where he was, I’d tell you. He deserves to be shot for coming after you and your children.”
Jade increased the pressure on the knife blade. “Tell me who Bolo’s working for.”
Roberts did not respond, and when Jade looked hard into his eyes she was startled to see the same shadows there that she had seen moving in Richard Marley’s eyes. It was not fear of death, but of something else, and it occurred to her that if she could plumb the depths of those shadows and understand what it was these men feared, she might be further along to understanding the men who wanted her dead.
Suddenly Jade felt nauseous. This man from whom her warrior had already drawn blood and was threatening to kill was the same officer to whom her warrior had reported for most of her military career. She had obeyed his orders without question, and he had organized rescue missions that had saved her life on more than one occasion.
But now her former commanding officer was also a man whose knowledge could save the lives of her children, and she knew she must not weaken in her resolve. She must succeed in this task she had set for herself, for the cost of failure could be too much to bear.
“Admiral, let me show you a little trick I learned from those SEALs you sent me to for advanced training,” Jade said, still puzzled by the strange expression, something like fear tinged with guilt, on the man’s face. “I’ve seen it work wonders in interrogations.”
She abruptly took the knife away from Roberts’ stomach, and then flipped it in her hand so that the tip was facing down, holding it with a slightly relaxed grip as a singer might hold a microphone. She took a step backward, and then swept the blade up and down across Roberts’ torso, slashing at the front of his uniform jacket in a rapid series of figure-eight motions. In a matter of seconds the buttons, epaulets and ribbons on the jacket had been cut away, and then the fabric of the uniform itself began to shred and drop in pieces from his body. The blood had drained from Roberts’ face, but he remained frozen in place, knowing that the slightest movement on his part could cause the blade to rend flesh instead of fabric, until finally he stood before Jade in only his shorts and shoes.
Jade moved closer and placed the tip of her knife into the tiny, bleeding hole she had already opened in the man’s stomach, just below his navel. “Here me good, Admiral,” she said in a voice that had become a hoarse whisper. “I will kill you if I don’t get what I want. You said I was out of control, and you’re right. You trained me, so you know I’m not bluffing. I wouldn’t have come this far if I hadn’t weighed and accepted the possible consequences. Henry Bolo will kill me if I don’t find and kill him first, and my children could die with me. Before Bolo, as I’m sure you’re aware, three other men were sent to kill me, and they’re also somewhere out there on the loose. I’m going to put a stop to them all. I will not have my children threatened. I will not have it! And I will not stay on the defensive. If my life and the lives of my children are going to be disrupted like this by your buddies, then I’m going to up the ante do some disrupting of my own. My children are someplace safe and I know they’ll be taken care of if I’m not around, so I’m going to gut you like a fish if I don’t get what I need from you. Then I’m going to call your wife out here to look at you while I go inside and call the police. My trial is going to be the damndest show, Admiral, with all the Navy’s dirty laundry I can find hanging out to dry, up to and including the reason I killed you. I’m betting there will be a whole host of Congressional hearings as a result of things I have to say, so that should finally take care of these killers and the military personnel who are helping and covering up for them. That is what is going to happen if you don’t give up the names of the men I’m looking for. Now I’m finished talking, and you have until the count of three to start. One …”
“You’re insane.”
“I’m very pissed. Two …”
Hubert Roberts again glanced over Jade’s head at the door behind her, as if to say goodbye to his wife, and then closed his eyes. “Don’t waste your breath counting, Gemstone,” he said in a voice that was low and steady. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it. I won’t tell.”
“What did you say?”
“You can’t make me tell.”
“I can’t make you tell?”
“You heard me.”
And suddenly Jade understood. Suddenly she could put a name to the strange shadows she had seen in both this man’s eyes as well as Richard Marley’s. “Oh, my God,” she said, removing the tip of the blade from Roberts’ stomach as she took a step backward and gazed into the man’s face in utter astonishment. “I know why you won’t help me. You’re afraid of being called a snitch. You’re afraid that if you give me these men’s names so that I can break up their little party, they’ll know you told me and they’ll call you a rat. Goddamn you.”
Roberts’ eyes snapped open and the blood rushed back into his face, coloring it a brick red. What Jade now saw in the man’s eyes was shame and embarrassment. “You don’t understand!”
“But I understand perfectly,” Jade replied, continuing to stare at her former commanding officer with a mixture of disbelief and contempt. “It’s a code of honor thing between the good old boys. I have no doubt that you’d sacrifice your life for my children and me, but what you won’t do is give me information that would allow me to protect myself and my family. You just can’t live with the thought that those other naughty boys who kill people would call you a tattletale.”
Jade slipped her knife back into its scabbard in the back pocket of her jeans, then turned around and pushed a button on the wall that opened the automatic garage door. “The respect I had for you is gone, Admiral,” Jade continued. “I don’t pick on juveniles. I’m sorry I bothered you. Please extend my apologies to your wife.”
“Gemstone, wait! There’s much more to this than you know! The attempt to assassinate you was a terrible mistake, and nobody could have predicted that Henry Bolo would do what he did.”
“You must be joking. Are you ready to tell me where to find him?”
“I don’t know where to find him, because I never knew he was involved.”
“Give me the name of somebody who does know where to find him.”
“Gemstone, I will try to help you, but you have to let me do it in my own way! I have to protect my sources!”
“Your sources are the very people I’m after. You’re free to call the police now. We can let them try to sort this all out.”
“You know I’m not going to call the police.”
“The only thing I know for certain is that I’m going to hold you responsible if any harm comes to my children. Then I will kill you. Tell that to your sources the next time you talk to them.”
ii
It was 10:30 P.M. and Roy was in his kitchen getting a nonalcoholic beer when the side door opened and Jade poked her head in.
“Anybody home?”
“Hey!” Roy said, immediately placing the beer can in front of his crotch to hide the erection that had abruptly sprung to life at the sight of Jade and the sound of her voice. “Welcome home, stranger. Come on in. How was your-?” He abruptly stopped speaking and nodded in understanding when Jade put a finger to her lips.
“I just got in,” Jade said in a low voice, stepping into the kitchen and closing the door behind her. “I saw your lights on when I drove past, and I figured you might still be up.”
“Yeah. We’re both still up. Max Jr.’s in the other room watching The Terminator. I know tomorrow’s a school day, but I thought-”
“It’s all right. I don’t want him going back to school just yet. It would be too easy for someone to grab him there if that’s what they wanted to do to get at me. Can he stay here tonight?”
“He can stay here as long as the two of you like.” Roy paused and studied Jade’s face. She seemed to him calm enough on the surface, with none of the repressed hysteria he had felt in her on the beach the night she was attacked, but now he also sensed an underly
ing tension that he knew she was trying to hide from him. “You okay? You need me to slap you around a little bit to make you feel better?”
Jade smiled. “No, thank you, Doctor. I won’t be needing that kind of emergency treatment this evening. I would like to say goodnight to my son, though.”
“Of course. You want a drink or something to eat?”
“Maybe later,” Jade said, and then followed Roy into his den, where Max Jr. was watching a videotape of The Terminator.
The boy stopped the tape and turned off the set, then sprang to his feet to greet Jade. “Hi, Mom!”
“Hi,” Jade said, kissing Max Jr. on the forehead. “How’s my big basket of barbecued buffalo?”
“Fine, my little pool of … polluted pigeons.”
“Have you been bugging Roy ever since you got out of school?”
The boy’s sensitive brown eyes gleamed. “I had a great time, Mom. Roy let me ride in a patrol car, and then we went to the firing range and Roy showed me how to shoot his gun. He even locked me up in a jail cell for an hour. That was really cool.”
Jade laughed as she glanced at Roy. “Sounds like more fun than Disneyworld. But did you do your homework?”
“Yeah, and I did it all by myself. Roy’s also teaching me to box. Check this out!”
Jade watched as the boy raised both fists close to his face, dropped his elbows close to his sides, and then began to dance around her, feinting punches. “Wooaa,” Jade said, going up on her toes, dodging and weaving with Max Jr. She exchanged a few playful slaps with him, but was careful not to move too fast or hit too hard.
Finally Max Jr., breathing hard, stopped dancing, dropped his fists and grinned. “Pretty good, huh?”
Jade nodded approvingly. “Very good. I’m impressed.”
“It’s neat staying here. Roy’s television is bigger than ours.”
The Keeper Page 16