“Each of the drivers are cartel members. Two of the ISIS guys were in the Jeep, along with one more escort. I couldn’t tell how many were in the van, but I assumed two of them were the two ISIS shooters.”
“Yes. That’s the way it played out when they arrived. Four in the Jeep and five in the van. The two ISIS shooters got out of the van, and started setting up. The other seven pulled out the grenades and put them over there.” He pointed. “Six for each shooter.”
“How much time do we have?”
“I’d say none. They’re close to ready. I can’t think of a reason they would delay unless they hadn’t set up the specific target locations ahead of time. Or unless they had the timing of the change in security guards wrong.”
“They weren’t that unprepared. Let’s do it, then.”
“Tom, how confident are you at this distance?”
He held out his hand, palm down, and gestured by rotating the hand back and forth.
“Okay,” Cheese said. “I’ve got the two shooters then. You’ve got the two drivers…
“…Which are the two drivers?”
“You see the shooters, right?
“Yes.”
“The other two ISIS guys are the two between them. The drivers are those two over by the van, standing on the left. After I get the shooters and you get the drivers, we’ll both go for the two remaining ISIS guys, and then just try to bring down the other three Mexicans if we can.”
“Who gives the order to quit and run to the car?” Tom asked.
“You do. When I hear you say ‘now,’ we leave everything here and run like hell to your car.”
“Did you remember to put Samms’ calling cards on the dash and under the windshield of yours?”
“Yup. One addressed to the Western Refinery CEO with a suggestion he get a new security chief, and the other to the local senior DHS guy.”
“And the candy?”
“On the passenger seat, like you said.”
“Anything you’re worried about that can go wrong at this point?”
“If they have their own snipers staked out, covering them, it’ll be a challenge. Otherwise, it’s just shoot and run.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Cheese was already aiming at the shooter on the right. He exhaled. Pulled the trigger. Inhaled while reloading. Sighted at the shooter on the left who was suddenly looking to his right. Exhaled. Vaguely he heard Tom’s semi- firing, but he was concentrating too hard to follow the progress. Pulled the trigger.
He reloaded and sighted on the two dirtbags between the two dead shooters. One was standing, the other was writhing on the ground. He sighted on the one standing. Exhaled. Pulled.
All four of the ISIS guys were down. Now immobile.
The two Mexicans by the van were dead. Blood all over the vans. All the windows on this side were out.
Cheese looked for the other three escorts. Saw one dead on the ground, the other two running. One toward the van and one to the right.
“Tom, you take the one running to the van, and spray all the rest again to be sure we don’t have any nappers. I want the one running to the right.”
He stood, sighted, exhaled. Pulled.
The Mexican went down. Shot in the right buttock. Cheese reloaded as the cartel guy crawled on all fours away from the dead. He aimed low at the writhing figure. Hit him in the left leg. Loaded. And shot him in the right leg.
“Presto! A witness.”
“Nice,” Tom said. “Let’s get out of here. Now.”
Cheese softly kissed his rifle. “I’m going to miss you, dear,” he said.
*
Nancy answered her phone. “Moose.”
“Yes, Nancy. You called. What is it?”
“DHS call you yet?”
“About what?”
“About the anonymous tip in El Paso?”
“Stop playing games, Nancy. What’s happened?”
“We and DHS both received calls that there are nine bodies, two RPG’s, and some unspent grenades just northeast of the huge refinery in southeast El Paso. At the Mexican border.”
“Cartel battle?”
“No, Moose. The caller said it was ISIS.”
“Any verification yet?”
“This is less than five minutes old. Police, FBI, and Border Patrol are just on their way in now.”
“Anything else?”
“Sure. I saved the best for last. The caller said there was an abandoned rental car at a specific spot near the site.”
“And?”
“And there’s a note on the dashboard explaining the dead guys.”
“Samms?”
“Who else? The caller was very helpful. Said SLOVC was on the back of Samms’ card.”
“Which might mean?”
“Samms loves Cheese? I have no idea. As impenetrable as all the rest. Except the VC is back. Vigilante Committee maybe. Does Samms think we’re too stupid to know that?”
“Nancy?”
“Yes.”
“Make my day and tell me you’re in El Paso.”
“No such luck, Moose. I’m in my office in downtown D.C.”
Chapter 30
“Just like that?” Linda said.
“Just like that,” Moose said. “The President and I no longer see a need for the Rogues Task Force.”
“And you dragged our asses in here to tell us this?” Nancy asked. “A one line email would have sufficed.”
Moose shrugged.
“Are you going to at least tell us the identity of your secret detective?” Tom asked.
“No, we’re keeping him on.”
“For what?” Tom asked.
“We still believe that one of the three of you is a traitor.”
No more mention of the possibility of more than one?
“So you believe,” Linda said.
“Yes, so we believe. Highly likely, in any case. And, further we think our original idea that the original five of you would figure out who it is isn’t going to pan out after all.”
“Any need to discuss the MM peanuts our guys found in the car in El Paso?” Nancy asked.
“It was silly. Either a mistake by you, or a practical joke by one of the three of you.”
“I’m not Samms and I wasn’t in El Paso,” Nancy said.
“Me either,” Tom said. “And I sure wouldn’t point the finger at Nancy if it was me. It could have just been a random coincidence.”
“And Tom doesn’t have a sense of humor,” Nancy said. “That leaves only Linda as the candy suspect.”
“Or Nancy in a double feint,” Linda said. “Moose, can we move on to something worth discussing?”
“Sure.”
“Are the three of us supposed to keep looking for the Paladins on our own?”
“Frankly, no. Your only success was to narrow the culprit down to you three…”
“Or culprits,” Nancy said.
“Or somebody else,” Tom said.
“Yes, of course there’s always the possibility we had this wrong all along. In any case, that doesn’t any longer concern the three of you. Or at least it doesn’t for those of you who are innocent.”
“Look, Moose,” Linda said, “please tell the President that the Agency will continue searching. This has been a frustrating exercise for all of us. Throwing us in a pot whose genesis is mutual suspicion. Suspicion of each other and from our bosses.”
“There any truth to the rumor that you and the President think it’s Tom and me?” Nancy asked.
“The question is, Nancy, is there any truth to the rumor that it is you and Colonel Edwards?”
“Moose,” Tom said, standing and gathering his papers, “I guarantee you it’s not both of us. What the Paladins are doing is arguably commendable. The U.S. government is failing to effectively stop terrorist activities against the American people.”
“That would be you. You’re failing, Colonel.”
“Yes, Moose. Me, you, the entire U
.S. intelligence community is failing. The Rogues, or Paladins, at least are trying to protect the American people from that government-wide failure. I commend them for that, even though it is my job to try to find them. Or at least was. If Linda or Nancy were with the Paladins, I would find it worthy of my respect. And if it is me, I am sure they would feel the same way. But tell the President from me that it is insulting to think that it is both Nancy and me. Insulting to Nancy’s and my integrity. To our friendship. And insulting to both our sets of responsibilities.”
“The good news, then Colonel, is that it is no longer your job to find the Rogues.”
Chapter 31
“I have a proposal for the two of you,” Linda Simmons said as the three settled into a private conference room at the Four Seasons in Georgetown the next morning.
“Shoot,” Tom said.
Nancy nodded, “Go ahead.”
“The Rogues,” Linda said. “They are contributing a vital service to the U.S. security community. We all agree on that.”
The two nodded.
“Besides the obvious achievement of eliminating terrorists, many of whom might well have succeeded, they have exposed a series of weaknesses in U.S. intelligence. The former is your job, the latter all of ours.”
“Excuse me, Linda,” Nancy said, “but we were rather hoping you had called this meeting to admit you were Samms.”
“And invite you two to join me?”
“Something like that.”
Linda leaned back, considered the best way to play it. She had known Tom and Nancy would play it one of two ways.
“No, I’m not Samms…”
“Are you with the Paladins?” Tom asked.
“My answer is no either way. Whether or not I’m Samms my answer is no. Just as you would each ask me that question, whether or not you are with them.”
“Then why are we here?” Nancy asked.
“The game hasn’t changed since the day the President initially formed the Task Force. We each know that. Well, except for the fact that two were eliminated as suspects on day one.”
“And the President and Moose brought in a private spy,” Tom said.
“Yes. There’s that. Let’s come back to that in a minute, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Either one of the three of us is the traitor, or the President had it all wrong and this has been a wild goose chase.”
“Or both of you are,” Nancy said.
“Yes, if we take the Colonel here at his word during his outburst to Moose yesterday, it could be me along with one of you. That should make at least one of you a touch uncomfortable during this meeting. And, of course we each know that it’s not the three of us.”
“We do indeed,” Tom said.
“I had no idea, Linda,” Nancy said, “that you were so fond of long meetings. Are you going to get to the point?”
Thank you, Linda thought. Finally the opening.
“Whichever of the two of you it is, I would like to offer to join the effort.”
“And the General?” Nancy asked.
Linda smiled. “Yes, George would like to join, too. We’re both frustrated with the incompetence of the intelligence bureaucracy. We would be willing, off the record, of course, to join if possible. Certainly to help.”
So, Samms thought, and here we are. For better or for worse. Not where I would ideally like it, but good enough for now. Baby steps. Baby steps.
The three leaned back.
In the ensuing silence, Linda gestured toward Nancy’s MM’s. Nancy tossed her the bag.
“So what’s with the MM peanuts, Nancy? Never anything else?”
Tom laughed. “She claims it’s part of her low carb diet. An approved snack.”
“They are. The peanut MM’s and Granny Smith apples are approved snacks on the South Beach Diet.“
“And the apples leave a mess and she claims they aren’t lady-like to eat in meetings.”
Nancy made a face at him and caught the bag that Linda tossed back to her.
Tom looked directly at Linda as he said, “You, of course know what a ridiculous position you’ve put us in, right Linda?”
“How so?”
“If it’s only one of us, and the guilty party has confided with their friend, then you’ve put the innocent party in the position of admitting to the felony of withholding national security information. If the innocent party hasn’t shared the information, you’ve put the guilty party in the position of having to explicitly admit to a series of lies to their best friend.”
Linda shrugged. “Either it’s the case that one of you believes enough in what you’ve been doing to strengthen the effort by combining forces or you don’t. The guilty party, as you put it, doesn’t have to respond here. You can duck it here and simply reach out to me later.”
“This is preposterous,” Nancy said. “You are proposing a conspiracy to commit treason at virtually the highest levels of the government. Treating it like a decision about where three friends should go for dinner.”
“Five friends, actually.”
“Five?” Tom said. “Who besides the General?”
“If the guilty one of the two of you were amenable, I was thinking about recruiting the President’s spy.”
*
An hour later, Tom and Nancy were sitting on a bench under some trees off the Four Seasons’ entrance.
“I agree with Linda now,” Nancy said. “This has become tiresome. We need to move on.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“What do you mean?”
“Start with why did Linda meet with us just now?” he said.
“On face value, to try to get the three of us, or at least two of us, working together as a part of the Paladins.”
“Does that make any sense? The two of you are civilians. Maybe one or both of you are delusional enough to think you could conspire in illegal acts, but I’m still an active duty Colonel in the U.S. Army for God’s sake.”
“Not just any plain ol’ vanilla illegal acts, my dear. But illegal anti-terrorist acts. Not exactly something we haven’t each done before.”
He started to say something. Stopped. Sat back.
“Besides, Linda views us each as an individual finger clenched in the same fist,” she said. “And I agree with her on that. And so, clearly, does the President. And if you’re right that you should be excluded, why then didn’t she just meet with me alone?”
“C’mon Nancy. It just would’ve been about twenty seconds of ‘Are you Samms? I’m sure not?’ ‘No. Me either. You?’ Pointless meeting adjourned.”
“Same if she met with you I suppose. So she wanted to meet with the two of us because it was the only way to get what she wanted.”
“Which was?”
“Either to let one of us know that she wanted to enlist, or to try to find out which one of us it is.”
“Unless she’s Samms,” he said. “And this was a recruiting meeting.”
“Possibly.”
“Or intended as a way to stop us from suspecting her.”
“No, that makes no sense. It would just be a pointless waste of her time. Maybe the whole point was merely to let us know she knows the identity of the President’s spy.”
“That doesn’t make any sense either, Nan. She could just call or send an email with that information.”
“But, by doing it this way she uses the fact that she knows but won’t tell until we’re all in the gang together, as leverage to get what she wants.”
“If you’re right does that in any way help us figure out what she wants and whether or not she’s Samms?”
“No,” she replied. “It doesn’t help at all. I now think that either Linda and George are the Rogues and want us to join the gang, or they’re not and she wants you to ask her to join.”
“Ah, your version of the plot is rife with Army officers. Well, she’ll be disappointed on that score. I don’t have any secret gang for them to join.”
“So you say.�
��
*
Dark sat across Pennsylvania Avenue, watching the two of them. He had followed Linda to the meeting and had decided to wait and see who she was meeting with.
Nancy and Tom’s emergence had been a surprise. A bonus for Dark. The President believed Tom that it wasn’t both of them. But then which one?
And Linda was playing them all.
Was it her and George? Or was it Tom or Nancy, and, if so, which one?
He was no closer to the truth than Moose and the President were, except that he now knew that Colonel Edwards had not lied yesterday during his tirade. Lip reading had convinced him that Nancy and Tom did not have a joint secret. It definitely wasn’t both of them.
*
“So, did either of them give any indication that they could be helpful to you?” George asked Linda as they walked home from dinner.
“No,” she said. “They’ll either come back to me or they won’t.”
“What’s your gut say?”
“Either they both will call or neither will. They’ll discuss their options completely before deciding. If they agree to reach out, they’ll each realize that it has to be both of them, rather than one.”
“Any chance they’ll tell their bosses what you said?”
“No. They know I’ll just claim that I was trying to find out if they were the Rogues. They know it’ll look juvenile to their bosses that they even agreed to meet, let alone come to them with what we discussed.”
“Did you learn anything, then?”
“Yes. Neither of them has any idea who the President’s spy is.”
“Did you tell them who you think it is?”
“No. I told them I knew. It was the only bait I had to try to get them to tell me the truth.”
Chapter 32
May and Cheese lay on a rooftop overlooking JFK’s runways three quarters of a mile away.
“You see them?” May asked.
“I do.”
“Samms,” Cheese said into his mouth piece, “Do you authorize me to shoot yet?”
“What do you see?” They both heard Samms in their ear pieces.
“I see three men a hundred yards away with an antiaircraft rocket launcher on the patio of the fourth floor apartment building we’ve been watching,” May said.
The Point Of A Gun: Thriller Page 15