Soundbyte (-byte series Book 5)

by Cat Connor

  “I would. They might find things you don’t want to do the paper work for.”

  “Related to this?”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “Jonathon, I need to know more about Campbell and the operation. There maybe two directors’ lives at stake.”

  “Shall we schedule that meeting?”

  “Where and when?”

  “Woodrow Wilson Plaza.”

  The usual place wouldn’t work this time.

  I took a breath. “I can’t get back into the city. I’m out in Fairfax.”

  “Fair Oaks mall, by CVS there is a―”

  “I know … there is a sunken seating area between CVS and the escalator.”

  “Be there in forty minutes.”

  I hung up. Now how to get away without Carla freaking out and who was I going to take? Lee. Kurt could handle Carla. Sam could supervise Dad and Misha. Lee with me. That worked.

  I went back into my office.

  “Lee, call the dive team. Campbell isn’t in the river. Let’s get them home.”

  He nodded and made the call.

  Kurt cocked his head somewhat as he surveyed me. “What’s up?”

  His question caused Carla to spin around. The intercom buzzed. Saved by the bell. I reached out and depressed the button. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Ms. Conway, it’s Joey.”

  “Buzzing you in the gate now.”

  I entered the seven-digit code.

  Carla smiled and took off toward the front door.

  Finally.

  “Kurt, can you and Sam stay here with Carla and supervise what’s happening here?” I waggled my finger at Misha and my father. “If they find the cars, let me know Asap.”

  “Sure,” Kurt said. “What are you up to?”

  “Lee and I are going to meet Tierney. He knows what this is all about. He knows where Campbell is. Time we got to the bottom of it.”

  “Be alert and safe,” Kurt cautioned.

  “Of course,” I replied. Lee was on his feet and ready to go.

  Twenty-Nine

  Fingerprint File

  We parked outside Sears and headed for the closest entrance. Together we walked into the mall. I paused between Gold Links and the Cold Stone Creamery. I could see the entrance to CVS in front of us and to the right, I couldn’t see if anyone was sitting in the sunken area in front of it.

  Lee smiled. “Ice-cream on the way out?”

  “I reckon so,” I replied and led the way. “What day is it?” There didn’t seem to be many people out shopping and I was fast losing track of days. They blended to become one big blur.

  “Still Wednesday,” Lee replied.

  A gentleman sat alone on the couches. I saw him as he saw me. His tight lips attempted a smile. Scary. Lee and I descended the steps. I sat on Tierney’s right, Lee on his left.

  “Jonathon Tierney, this is Lee Davenport.” I introduced them. Fast firm handshakes followed.

  “I know of you, Agent Davenport. Tim Cosgrove spoke well of your abilities.”

  Lee nodded and said nothing. A few months ago, Tim Cosgrove rode in with a rendition team and removed a terrorist who wanted me dead. It wasn’t the best of circumstances but Lee and Tim worked well together.

  I leaned into Tierney and hissed, “You’re not here headhunting, Jonathon. I need Campbell. This situation has to be resolved now.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t give you Campbell,” he said, smoothing an imaginary crease from his suit pants.

  “Yes, you can. He’s the one who knows what is going on and who the actual players are.”

  “He’s an asset. I cannot give him to you. He is still working on this situation.”

  “Then I need to talk to him and compare notes.”

  “Are you suggesting a joint operation?”

  “I don’t know because I don’t know if your operation will work within the constraints provided by the rules that govern me.” There was a quiet internal joy at the way I was maintaining my cool by not letting any of Tierney’s stalling tactics annoy me.

  “Let’s say it won’t. Then what?”

  “Then I want to know why the CIA is running another operation within the US. That’d be the second in a week that I’ve come across. Doesn’t look good. I hear select committees get snippy over such things. Also why we were not notified of a direct threat to my Director? I believe you know something about that situation.” I leaned back. “I also want to know how many other operations are in play right now, here inside the US. I’m going to ask questions. I’m going to demand answers and when I don’t get them, I’m going to leak like a fuc’n sieve all over the nearest journalist.”

  A smile meandered across my lips.

  “We miss you in the unit,” Tierney replied. “You’ve improved with age.”

  And he was more bird-like and creepy.

  “Campbell,” I said. “Now.”

  “I can’t jeopardize the operation.”

  Lee coughed once. I looked right and saw a familiar man looking at sunglasses in the front of CVS. He made eye contact with me. I knew him all right. I’d seen his photograph enough times to recognize Campbell.

  “You can’t, but he can,” I replied, indicating with my head to the man. As I watched, the man approached us; he walked down the steps and sat about a foot from me.

  “Did you all enjoy the earthquakes?” he said with a welcoming smile.

  “They were interesting,” I replied. “You’re Campbell.”

  “Asking or telling?”

  “Telling. We need to talk. Or more importantly, You. Need. To. Talk. To. Me. As it stands now Maria Doyle will be arrested for things we know she didn’t do, but the circumstantial evidence is compelling.” I threw a nice juicy lie right in there for effect. She wasn’t in any genuine danger of being arrested but I still didn’t know if she had any real involvement in the case.

  “Not here,” he replied picking up a newspaper from the seat next to him and opening it up. “Here, I want to read the newspaper.”

  “Great. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”

  I saw a warning glance from Tierney directed at Campbell. It was met with a defiant glare. Campbell was not a happy camper and he was going to talk. There wasn’t a damn thing Tierney could do about it.

  “Is there somewhere we can talk without being overheard?”

  Crap.

  Somewhere safe for both of us.

  My house.

  It was the safest location I could think of. No one could get in without being buzzed in; the entire exterior is under constant surveillance. Plus I could use the internal audio recording system to capture everything he said. Even so, the thought of inviting him into my home made me groan. I hoped it wasn’t audible.

  “My home.”

  Lee coughed twice. That was his protest at my decision. For what it was worth, I agreed. Bringing Campbell into my home didn’t seem that clever but with more thought, all of Delta A would be present, plus Misha Praskovya and my father and that ameliorated the idea. I also considered it was the only way to find out how this all tied into the Directors of NCIS and the FBI, the deaths of the Bleich family, the bomb, and the diamonds as well as help us figure out how the Sutherlands worked into it and who else Brown/Maguire was working with.

  “All right. Give me the address.”

  I pulled one of my cards from my pocket. Tierney took a pen from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to me. I’m not suspicious at all. I twisted the end of the pen until the nib slid out. Pens that have twisty ends could conceal all manner of things in the barrel. Like a USB drive. I rolled the pen over in my hand and saw it. A pinprick of a hole above the gold clip. I unscrewed the barrel while Tierney watched, took it apart, and revealed the USB stick; I also saw the tiny switch that turned the pen from video and audio to still photos.

  I screwed the pen back together, wrote the address on the back of my card, and gave it to Campbell.

  Tierney held his hand out for the pen.

&
nbsp; “I don’t think so,” I replied, reaching past him to Lee’s outstretched hand. “Lee, can you download the contents then wipe it?”

  “Sure,” he replied and pulled his laptop from the bag he carried. Within a few minutes the USB contents were on Lee’s laptop and he’d reformatted the USB drive leaving no trace of the information it once recorded. He passed the clean pen back to Tierney.

  “Old trick, Jonathon. Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

  He smiled. “Just for a minute I forgot who I was dealing with.”

  “I haven’t. Turn out your pockets.”

  Campbell leaned toward me. “I like you.”

  It’s not a popularity contest. It’s my life.

  Bang. Bon Jovi was back, this time singing It’s my life. They were right about some things though. I’m not going to live forever and I don’t back down.

  Tierney took his time emptying his pockets. Lee watched for mall security. Mall cops had a habit of being nosy and nosy was something I didn’t want right now. I removed everything Tierney carried. I gave him back his keys, but after I’d taken the plastic case for the beeper apart and checked it for foreign objects. Nothing. I handed Lee two more pens, his phone, and a packet of mints.

  The mints were a recording device.

  Nice.

  With all recordings dealt with, Tierney’s possessions were returned and Bon Jovi faded into the background of my mind.

  Lee spoke, “Security. Mall cop on a Segway heading toward us.”

  Nosy on wheels. That we did not need. Tierney stood up, brushed off his clothes, straightened his tie, and nodded to me.

  “Always a pleasure, Ellie.”

  “Likewise, Jonathon. No hard feelings. I’m just doing my job.”

  “None at all.”

  With that, he turned, climbed the steps toward Sears, and vanished into the department store.

  Campbell folded the newspaper and placed it back on the seat.

  “Where’s your car?” he said. The mall cop buzzed by us on his Segway, rounded the seating area, and buzzed away.

  “Sears car park. Yours?”

  “Outside Champps. I’ll get my car and come to you. What am I looking for?”

  “A black Escalade,” Lee replied.

  Campbell grinned. “Of course.”

  We went our separate ways. Lee and I stopped in at the Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream to go. Coming home with Oreo ice cream would redeem me in Carla’s eyes. What teenager didn’t love ice cream? None that I knew.

  By the time we reached our car there was a nondescript grey sedan parked beside it. Campbell was behind the wheel.

  “Lee, let’s get him into our car. If he’s being tracked. I don’t want him tracked home.”

  “Good thinking. I have my toy. I’ll scan him too.”

  We approached his car like old friends who’d just seen someone they knew. A patrol car cruised past just as Campbell opened the driver’s door. Mall cops were everywhere. His smile was wide, making sure the cop could see we were friends.

  “As soon as he is out of the way, we’re going to run an RF signal detector over you. Nothing personal. I just don’t want the type of people you hang out with near my house.”

  “All right. What do you want me to do?”

  “Turn off your cell phone.”

  The cop drove into the covered car park area. Campbell climbed out of the car.

  “You want to search me for weapons?”

  “Nope,” I replied. “I’d be worried if you weren’t carrying.” Anyway, I still considered that he was one of the good guys. Associating the CIA with good guys made me smile, just a little. Not everyone would make that connection.

  Lee took his toy from his laptop bag and turned it on.

  “No video, audio, or cameras here,” he said a few minutes later.

  “GPS?”

  “There is nothing transmitting from him right now. GPS doesn’t transmit all the time, so I’ll monitor him for the next forty minutes.”

  There goes our ice cream.

  “Okay. We’re swapping cars here. You’re coming with us.”

  Campbell nodded. “I’ll get my stuff from the back. The last thing I need is some opportunistic thief smashing into my car and stealing my bag while the car is unattended.”

  He reached in and took a bag from the back seat. Lee scanned it. Nothing.

  “Let’s go. We’re going to drive around for a bit, while we make sure you’re not carrying any GPS units. Don’t turn your phone back on. Leave it off until Lee gives you the all clear.”

  “All right.”

  I drove. Campbell sat next to me. Lee in the middle of the back seat.

  I headed over to the Fair Lakes. The ice cream needed eating – I parked under a tree near Target and turned to Lee.

  “May as well eat the ice-cream. I can hop into Target and get Carla some Ben and Jerry’s before we go home.”

  “Cherry Garcia?”

  “Uh huh,” I replied.

  “Good call.”

  The three of us shared ice cream. Lee and I shared a spoon. We let Campbell have his own spoon. No telling what diseases he harbored.

  With the ice cream gone, I decided to ask Campbell some of my most burning questions.

  “Why is your marriage to Maria Doyle such a secret?”

  “Her brother is not a fan of mine. We married in Vegas without his knowledge. When he found out, he refused to accept us as a married couple. He made life difficult for Maria. He was happy when we separated and assumed we divorced.”

  “But you didn’t?”

  “No, we didn’t.”

  “Where is my director?”

  “With Doyle.”

  “Okay, where is Doyle?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Is this how it’s going to be?”

  “If I don’t know, I can’t tell you.”

  “Don’t know or you’re waiting for something before you’ll tell me?”

  “I’m not sure the threat is nullified and I honestly don’t know exactly where they are.”

  “I put a bullet in Maguire. He is no longer a threat.”

  “And the others?”

  Oh, good, there are others. “The Sutherland woman?”

  “Her and her posse from hell.”

  I wasn’t surprised. I suspected something hinky with Mrs. Sutherland.

  “Why don’t we go pick her up right now and then you can tell me where my director is and everyone will live happily ever after.”

  Seemed reasonable, straightforward, and not even that difficult. Drive over, pick up Sutherland and take her into DC. Oh, okay, therein lay the problem. How long could I leave Carla? I’ve already pushed the outer limits as far as she’s concerned. Pretty sure she would’ve seen through my letting Joey come over move by now. Of course, it could be more of an actual logistics problem. DC was in chaos because of the earthquake. The thought of the madness that ensued made me want to scream ‘suck it up princesses, it wasn’t a big deal’ from the Capitol building, presuming one could get into the freaking building after the whole evacuation panic. Anyone still in DC, was trapped in DC until the streets were cleared.

  “Three of us, we’re all carrying handguns. What else do you have in the car?” Campbell said.

  “Two rifles,” Lee replied. “Four bulletproof vests, four high visibility vests, a flare gun, and the best damn first-aid kit you’ve ever seen.”

  Before I realized it, I’d crossed myself and mentally thanked Kurt for our first-aid kit.

  “Can you prove the Sutherland woman has culpability in this case?” I looked at Lee in the rearview mirror. “Right now, all I have is phone calls from her to several burn phones – no proof that Maguire owned the phones, and phone calls to and from Sigmund Bleich. We know there was some sort of a relationship.”

  Lee’s eyes met mine in the mirror. I could see his thoughts. He was running the inventory of weapons through his mind again, checking, rechecking.

 
Campbell said, “I have proof that she was blackmailing Sigmund Bleich.”

  “He paid her off with the largest Heathcote Diamond before the robbery/murder ...” I said. “You’d think a diamond that size would make a woman happy.”

  “I can also prove that she arranged for Maguire to kill her husband. He contracted out to an idiot who screwed it up.”

  “We can bring her in on conspiracy to commit murder,” Lee said.

  Proof will cover our asses and make legal happy.

  “I’m going to need your proof on my desk as soon as possible,” I said to Campbell.

  “And you’ll have it.”

  “I need to make a phone call, and then we’re going. I have a feeling she’ll be in the wind if we don’t act today,” I said. The phone call was quick. I spoke to Kurt, he checked on Carla and Joey. They were drinking juice and playing video games in the living room. All was well. He mentioned there was a little attitude regarding my leaving, but that it was minimal. With Joey around she seemed more like her usual self. Good to know. He also said he’d watch to make sure there was no funny business.

  There’d be no underage sex on his watch.

  Despite knowing it shouldn’t amuse me, it did. It was okay having Delta offer support and walk beside me on this terrifying ride that is parenthood. Made me feel a little sorry for Carla: not much balance in her life. Most of the influential people around her were male. Apart from me, Gracey from Grange, and Cait O’Hare, she was surrounded by men.

  I turned the key in the ignition. “Let’s do this thing,” I said.

  “Are we going to need backup?” Lee said to Campbell.

  “I doubt it. She’s playing it cool. As far as she’s concerned, no one has put this together. She probably doesn’t even know Maguire is dead yet. Did the media report my death?”

  I turned out of the parking lot. Not much traffic.

  “Let’s find out,” I replied.

  That was Lee’s cue to make some calls. He started with Sandra. She’d opted to stay in DC, her computers were more powerful than any at my house, and she needed her equipment to continue working. Plus, Sandra worked with all three Delta teams, not just us, as I kept being reminded by the other SSAs. We needed to clone Sandra.

  A few minutes later Lee obtained a full report from USERT and all media releases regarding their deployment to Harper’s Ferry.