She got up and walked out of her room. The others were still sleeping, so she took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and went back to bed. She lay back and tried to put Huff out of her mind.
The real issue she faced was how to get to the other ESO members. Mumford had died only eight hours ago, but Henry Langton would already know about it. All members of the inner circle would be on an even higher level of alert, making her job all the more difficult. Even the lesser lights in the organization would be upping their security arrangements.
Going after individuals was no longer an option. Each would have an army protecting them by now, and she simply didn’t have the resources to take them on. What she needed was an opportunity to get to them all at the same time.
Eva wondered if perhaps that was why she’d been subconsciously thinking about Huff. He had access to the Langtons, although she noted he hadn’t been allowed into any of their meetings at the Calico Club. At least, so far as Smart and Sonny’s surveillance indicated.
What are you doing with them, Carl?
Was it too much of a coincidence that he should turn up to protect the people she was gunning for? It made sense for Langton to pick personnel from the CIA’s clandestine services program.
But why Huff?
Was he the only one available at the time? Perhaps. It wasn’t as if they churned out hundreds of operatives every few weeks, so there weren’t that many to choose from. Still—Carl Huff?
Eva wanted to take a walk and clear her head, but even in their remote location, there was a chance that hunters or hikers might happen upon their vehicle. She remained in bed, staring at the white ceiling and trying to make sense of Huff’s involvement.
She gave up when she heard stirring outside the bedroom. The answer wasn’t going to fall into her lap, so she would have to get it from the only reliable source: the horse’s mouth.
Eva picked up the camera that had been used to take the surveillance photographs of the Langtons at the Calico. She flicked through the Canon’s memory, looking for a shot she’d seen previously. It was of Edward Langton’s limousine after he’d been dropped off at the club. She looked at the subsequent pictures, and an idea formed in her head.
Eva used the mapping app on her phone to zoom onto the street where the Calico Club had sat for a couple of hundred years. She used the app’s street-view function to go to the next corner, then took a left as the driver had done in the photographs. As she passed a metal barrier she rotated the image to the left and saw three limousines parked one in front of the other. The license plates were obscured, but she knew this had to be the place the chauffeurs parked while waiting for their bosses to call them back to the front entrance.
That was where Huff would likely wait the next time he dropped Edward Langton off at the Calico. Given what she’d done to Alexander Mumford, that next meeting would take place soon.
Eva walked through to the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on. Smart and Sonny were awake already, and she shook Colback and Farooq from their slumber.
“I have to go meet Carl Huff,” she said, once everyone had shaken off the last of their sleep.
“Why the hell would you want to do that?” Colback asked.
“Because he’s not here by chance. He can’t be.”
Sonny also looked unsure. “It’s a huge risk. What do you plan to talk about? The good old days? Or are you going to ask him nicely to step aside while you fillet his client?”
“I just want to know why he’s here.”
“To stop you from killing Edward Langton,” Colback told her. “Plain and simple.”
“I’m not buying it.” Eva poured herself a coffee. “Of all the people in the world, why him?”
“To get you thinking like this,” Smart suggested. “Make you second-guess everything, lose focus, you name it.”
“And it seems to be working,” Colback added.
“I agree,” Sonny chimed in. “Either that or it’s purely coincidence. Either way, I wouldn’t read anything into it. If he gets in our way, he goes down.”
Eva looked around the room, but their faces backed up their words: none of them supported her idea.
“Okay, then how about a compromise? I’ll meet up with him in a public place, and if he reaches for a weapon, you can take him out?”
The men regarded each other.
“Anything you try to do in public is extremely risky,” Smart said. “You’re public enemy number one, and Rees and Farooq are right behind you.”
“Also,” Colback added, “if he’s as good as you say and manages to get the drop on you before we take him out, where does that leave us?”
“Sneaking up on him isn’t the issue: I’ve got that covered. As for him getting the better of me, it’s not gonna happen.”
“Ego aside,” Colback persisted, “what if he does? What are we supposed to do then?”
“Scatter,” Eva said. “Sonny and Len can just head back to England. You two, you’ll have to change identities. I’ll give you the names of my contacts. A new passport will get you to South America, where you can get plastic surgery and different papers. There’s money in the account to last you a lifetime. Just don’t draw attention to yourselves.”
“In that case, would you mind paying us up to the end of the week?” Sonny asked. “Not that I don’t have every confidence in you, but . . . you know.”
“I’ll do that before I leave,” Eva promised. “Now, are you all on board?”
Smart spoke for all of them. “When do you want to do this?”
“In the next couple of days. I need to prepare a couple of things first. We’ve still got the lease on the office overlooking the Calico, so I want Len and Sonny to resume surveillance on the club. I’ll be in place each morning, but if they don’t show by 9:30, we’ll wait till the next day.”
“How’re we supposed to cover you?” Colback asked. “I assume you’re thinking about a sniper?”
“Exactly, but it’s an unnecessary risk for you to be out in public. Sonny, are you up to it?”
“Sure. I take it you’re going to source a decent weapon.”
“I will. Any preferences?”
Sonny shrugged. “As long as it’s suppressed, I don’t mind. I’d rather not draw attention to myself if I’m forced to use it.”
“No problem. You and Len will be doing the shopping anyway, so choose whatever you want. I’ll call ahead and let my contact know to expect you.”
“Are you sure?” Farooq said. “The reward for information that leads to your arrest is now at some quarter-million dollars. That’s serious temptation.”
“Not my guy. He’s got too much to lose. If I even suspected he’d turned me in, I’d drop the dirt on him before they got to me. I’ll just explain how mutually beneficial my continuing freedom is and he’ll play ball. Plus, he knows I’m not capable of blowing up a school full of kids. As for the call, I’ll make it just before we move to our next location.”
“Where will that be?” Farooq asked.
“On the Potomac.”
CHAPTER 44
Edward Langton waited for Huff to get out of the driver’s seat and walk around the limo to open the door for him. He took a deep breath before he got out of the car, but the sniper’s round he’d been expecting never arrived. Still, he moved more quickly than usual to the front door of the Calico Club and was safely inside within a couple of seconds of leaving the safety of the armored car.
He’d been skittish since the moment he’d heard about Alexander Mumford’s death. The newspapers were reporting it as a heart attack, but he doubted that was the case. Hopefully, his father would be able to shed some light on the matter.
He entered the room and saw that a couple of the others had beaten him in once more. Joel Harmer was already there, as was Mumford’s replacement. Dale Naughton was a Wall Street giant that few people had ever heard of. He ran his own consultancy firm and advised the boards of every Dow Jones 30 company. He’d been groomed to succ
eed Mumford for the last decade, and now that he was sitting in the dead man’s seat, he looked ready to take on the responsibility.
Naughton was in his mid-fifties, young for an ESO member. He wore a two-thousand-dollar suit and his hair showed not a hint of gray. His physique was impressive for a man of his age. He had billions to spend and many more billions yet to be earned, and he was looking forward to a long and healthy life.
The ESO had expected that Naughton would spend another ten years preparing for this role, but Mumford’s death had forced the elder Langton to accelerate the process. Naughton had handed over the reins of his company to the man who would eventually replace him at this very table, his focus from this day on the needs of the ESO and nothing else.
Edward shook Naughton’s hand. “Good to see you again, Dale. Sorry it had to be under these circumstances.”
“Same here. Alexander was a fine man.”
Edward poured a coffee and took his seat as his father entered the room.
Henry Langton nodded to those present, then made himself comfortable and lit a cigarette before addressing them. “Joel, please fill us in on what you know about Alexander’s death.”
Edward saw Naughton recoil from the cigarette smoke floating toward him.
Better get used to it.
“Driscoll attacked his home at around 2:30 in the morning. She took out his full complement of eight bodyguards, then proceeded to torture him. It isn’t known how long she had with him, but backup arrived within seventeen minutes of the call going out. We have no idea if Mumford talked before she killed him. Death was caused by asphyxiation. She cut his cock and balls off and stuffed them down his throat.”
Edward and Naughton winced as they heard the news for the first time.
“So, it wasn’t a heart attack,” Edward said.
“No,” Langton said. “Driscoll killed him. And what matters now is discovering how she knew that Alexander was one of us.”
“She must have been watching us here,” Edward said.
Langton favored him with a curt nod. “I have people checking out every room for rent in a one-mile radius over the last two weeks. She wouldn’t have been standing across the street from us, so she must have hired a place to watch from.”
“And what if we do find the place? It’s a little late now, don’t you think?”
“Think, man! Think!” Langton looked on the edge of one of his infamous meltdowns. “How do you suppose she paid? Cash? Unlikely in this neighborhood. She must have used a card, and that’s something we can trace.”
“She might be there right now, looking to see who’s replaced Alexander,” Harmer said.
The remark didn’t sit well with Naughton, who looked pale as he fidgeted in his seat.
“Perhaps. Dale, I suggest you invest in a little extra personal security from now on. Just to be on the safe side. Let me call my man at Stormont and get the ball rolling.”
After Edward Langton entered the Calico Club, Huff got back behind the wheel and drove around the corner. The club had its own private parking lot at the back of the building, with a manned entrance to ensure only members gained access.
As Huff approached the lot, he slowed to let an old woman pass. She was on the sidewalk, directly in front of the barrier, making slow progress with her walking stick. Huff blocked traffic while waiting for her to move out the way. A few drivers hit their horns to encourage him to move. The woman’s head snapped up at the sound. She was in mid-stride, and she overreached with her stick. Huff watched as she tried to regain her balance, but she was unable to recover. She hit the sidewalk hard, blocking Huff’s entry completely.
Horns continued to blare as he got out of the limo to help the fallen woman. The nearest driver gestured his displeasure, and Huff responded by opening his jacket just enough to show the butt of the Glock in his shoulder holster. He walked over to the prostrate lady and took a knee beside her.
“You okay?” he asked.
She rolled onto her back, revealing the barrel of a small handgun. “Just peachy, honey.”
Huff immediately recognized the voice.
“How about you help me into your car so we can catch up on old times?”
Facing the business end of her pistol, Huff had no choice but to help Driscoll to her feet. She covered up the weapon so it wasn’t visible to the other drivers waiting impatiently behind the limo, then gingerly got to her feet. She told Huff to pick up her stick and hand it to her, then let him help her into the front passenger seat of the car. He walked around the car and got in beside her.
“Drive around the block a few times,” she said.
Huff got the vehicle moving and took a left at the next corner. “What took you so long?” he asked. “I thought you’d have been in touch days ago.”
“I’ve been a little busy trying to stay alive,” she replied, keeping one eye on Huff and the other on the road ahead. She didn’t put it past him to cause a deliberate crash while she wasn’t concentrating. Just to be sure, she put her seatbelt on.
“You’re looking good, kid.”
“You too,” Driscoll admitted, “but this isn’t a social visit. I want to know why you’re here.”
“For you, of course.”
The smile on his face took her back a decade. He’d been handsome back then, but if anything, he was even more of a looker now. An ancient memory stirred in the pit of her stomach, but she willed it away. This was not the time.
“I guessed that, but do you plan to help me or kill me?”
The smile remained in place as he turned his head to face her. “If I told you, would you believe me?”
“Try me.”
Sonny stood a few feet back from the open window and watched the target get back into the limousine. He’d already alerted Eva to Huff’s presence and had kept the M24 sniper rifle trained on the operative.
As the car pulled away, Sonny let the rifle drop from his shoulder. There was nothing he could do now but wait until the vehicle returned to the same spot and hope Eva got out unscathed.
It made for a tense twenty minutes.
He saw the vehicle pass by a couple of times, which he took to be a good sign. Huff wouldn’t drive around all day if he’d managed to incapacitate Eva. Nevertheless, Sonny wouldn’t be happy until he saw her.
After one more lap, Huff pulled the car over at the point Eva had chosen. Sonny watched the limo pull back into traffic and take the next left, then go through the barrier to the Calico’s rear parking lot.
Eva waited until the black car had disappeared, then crossed the road and got into the Chevy Express van parked opposite the Calico. As soon as Len Smart drove the Chevy away, Sonny dismantled the M24 and put the parts into the briefcase it had come in. It was the perfect accessory to his suit and no one batted an eyelid when he emerged onto the street a minute later and walked to the Metro station.
When he heard the familiar beep! beep! and the light on his dashboard blinked, Huff turned the key in the ignition and drove around to the front of the Calico Club. He was there within one minute of receiving the signal that Edward Langton was ready to leave, and the front door to the building opened as he glided to the curb.
Once Langton was settled in the back seat, Huff asked where he wanted to be taken. The answer was the airport.
“I have to be on Wall Street by lunchtime. I want you to come with me.”
“I think it’d be better if I stayed behind and planned the attack on Driscoll. She just paid me a visit.”
Langton’s head snapped up from his phone. “What? When?”
“She came to see me while you were in the club.”
“What? Where is she now? Did you kill her?”
“No, she’s gone.”
“Stop the car!” Langton shouted.
Huff ignored the order. “There’s no point looking for her. She’ll be out of the city by now. Killing her would have solved nothing anyway. If I’d taken Driscoll down, Colback and the others would have vanished.�
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“But you can’t just let her go! If my father hears about this . . . We have to at least make a show of trying to find her.”
“As I said, that’s pointless.”
Huff looked in his mirror and could see Langton trying to cope with the unexpected news. The heir to the ESO, destined to become the most powerful man in the world, looked panicked, out of his depth. Perhaps it was the knowledge that his nemesis had been in the same car a few minutes ago.
“What did she want?”
“A truce,” Huff said. “She wants you to back off, cancel the witch hunt, and let her walk away.”
“Never going to happen,” Langton said. “She has nothing to trade.”
“I suggested that to her, and she said that Mumford is what she has to offer. If you keep coming for her, she’ll do the same to all of you.”
Langton swallowed hard.
Huff was glad to see he was taking the threat seriously. “She told me what she did to him,” he said, enjoying the sight of his principal squirming. “Not a nice way to go.”
“She tried once and gave up.” Langton tried to hide the fear in his voice and failed miserably. “She knows better than to come after me again.”
“She managed to get the drop on me. If she hadn’t come to make her offer, you’d be in pieces by now. And so would I.”
Huff let the statement sink in, then pulled Langton back from the brink of panic. “However, we have the upper hand. I think I know where she is.”
Langton pushed forward in his seat. “You do? Where?”
“In a cabin on the Potomac, opposite Quantico.”
“She told you?”
“Not in so many words,” Huff said. “When we were discussing our past, she said the place she was staying held lots of memories, all of them good. She and I used to stay there when we were training for clandestine services.” He let Langton consider what he’d said in silence, then elaborated when his charge couldn’t make the connection on his own. “We were romantically involved.”
Langton threw his hands in the air. “You were sleeping with Driscoll? And you didn’t think to share that with me earlier?”
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