The Innocent

by David Baldacci

  He drove faster, pushing his nice, safe Volvo probably beyond its comfort zone.

  That appealed to Robie.

  He didn’t much like comfort zones, his or anyone else’s.

  His phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen. Blue Man needed to meet with him again. Right now.

  I bet you do, thought Robie.

  CHAPTER

  38

  NO PUBLIC PLACE this time. No Hay-Adams with lots of witnesses.

  Robie didn’t have much of a choice. There were rules one had to play by or one was out of the game.

  The building was sandwiched between two others in a part of D.C. that tourists would never tread. Even though the area was a high-crime one, none of the street punks ever bothered this place. It was not worth a bullet in their head or twenty years of their life in a federal cage.

  Robie had to part with his cell phone before entering the secure room, but he would not give up his gun.

  When the guard asked for it the second time, Robie told him to talk to Blue Man. The resolution was simple. Either he kept the gun or Blue Man could meet with him at the McDonald’s across the street.

  Robie went in with his gun.

  Blue Man sat across from him in the small room. Nice suit, solid-color tie, neatly combed hair. He could be somebody’s grandfather. Robie assumed he probably was somebody’s grandfather.

  “First, Robie, we have not found your handler. Second, there was no man with a rifle found in the alley you identified.”

  “Okay.”

  “Next,” said Blue Man. “The attempt on your life last night?”

  “The shooter was in a vehicle that looked a lot like a U.S. government ride.”

  “I don’t think that is likely.”

  Robie pointedly tapped the tabletop. “You can’t find my handler or a shooter I knocked out in an alley, but you think somebody gunning for me in a set of federal wheels is unlikely?”

  “Who’s the girl?” asked Blue Man.

  Robie didn’t blink, because he’d been trained not to. You blink, you lose. A blink was like a weak throw into triple coverage because you lacked the stones to wait for another receiver to break open as a three-hundred-pound lineman was about to plant you in the grass.

  Robie had known Julie’s presence in all of this might come out. His observation post was obviously not entirely secret, or else he’d been followed.

  He said, “She’s the linchpin. Anything happens to her we are screwed. So if you’re telling me that my handler found her out, you better be prepared to do something about her safety.”

  The older man sat up straighter, adjusted his tie and then his cuffs. “You’ll need to explain that to me, Robie. The linchpin for what?”

  “It won’t take long, because I don’t understand it all.”

  He took only a few minutes to describe the murders of Julie’s parents, her escape attempt on the bus, the man attempting to kill her there, and the bus exploding.

  “And you lost your gun at the scene. The one you had at Wind’s apartment?”

  “I didn’t lose it. The bus exploding knocked me fifteen feet. I tried to find it before the cops showed up, but I was unsuccessful.”

  “But the FBI did find it. And now they believe there’s a connection between the two cases.”

  “Is there a connection?” asked Robie.

  “Actually, we don’t know for sure. We’d like to talk to the girl.”

  “No. You go through me. No direct contact.”

  “That’s not how we do things. And I’m not sure you’re entirely clear on who’s running this show, Robie.”

  Grandpa was showing some balls now. Robie was impressed. But just a little.

  “You have a mole on the inside. Even if my handler is gone, he might not have been acting alone. If I were him I would have left somebody behind. You go pulling the girl in here, the mole gets wind of it, we lose her.”

  “I think we can protect her.”

  “You thought you could protect Jane Wind too, didn’t you?” pointed out Robie.

  Blue Man adjusted his cuffs again. “Okay, for now status quo,” he said stiffly. “But I want a fuller debrief from you soon and follow-up reports.”

  “You’ll get them,” said Robie. “And I’d like the same.”

  “Do you go out of your way to rub people the wrong way?”

  “I go out of my way to keep myself and those entrusted to me safe. Just as I go out of the way and above the call of duty to take out the people I’m assigned to eliminate.”

  “You didn’t kill Jane Wind.”

  “And you really want to call that an error on my part?”

  “Talk to me about Vance.”

  “Good agent.”

  “You spent the night at her place.”

  “I didn’t have many options, did I?”

  “Your place is safe.”

  “Is it?”

  “I can confirm that your handler was not given that information.”

  “You can confirm that?” Robie said. My ass you can, he thought.

  “Robie, we have assets deployed on this mission. Good assets. We’re not leaving you out there by yourself. We have every incentive to see this through to the end. We have to find out what’s going on. The motive behind this has to be worth the risks being taken. It’s nearly impossible to turn one of our people like that. The payoff must be immense. And when the payoff is immense the target has to be of similar importance.”

  “That’s the most sensible thing you’ve said so far,” Robie replied.

  Blue Man said, “I’m under no misapprehension that our relationship, such as it is, isn’t strained. You have good reason to be skeptical, upset, and mistrustful. If I were in your shoes, I’d be reacting the same way.”

  “The second most sensible thing you’ve said so far.”

  Blue Man leaned forward. “Let me see if I can make it three for three.” He collected his thoughts. “There are two possible reasons why Agent Wind and her husband were murdered. It either had to do with her, or it had to do with him.”

  “You know Jane Wind’s work. Could it be related to her?”

  “It’s possible. I can’t say definitively that it’s not. Let’s just say that I’m more interested in what you find out on Rick Wind’s background.”

  “Former military. Retired. Owned a pawnshop in a bad section of D.C. Was hung upside down and his tongue was cut out.”

  “The last part has me concerned.”

  “I’m sure it had him concerned.”

  “You know what I’m talking about.”

  Robie leaned back. “Vance wondered if it was mob-related. Guy was a snitch and they symbolically cut his tongue out.”

  “Is that what you think?”

  “No. I’m thinking what you’re probably thinking.”

  “You cut off the hands of a thief.”

  “And the tongue of a traitor.”

  “If it involves the world of Islamic terrorists.”

  “If,” said Robie. “But the guy was retired. What could he be involved in?”

  “Terrorist cells are rarely obvious, Robie. At least the effective ones.”

  “Did he spend time in the Middle East? Could he have been turned and sent here as a ticking time bomb?”

  “A time bomb that had a change of heart? Maybe, and yes, he did spend time in both Iraq and Afghanistan.”

  Robie thought about some of the missions he’d performed in the Middle East. The most recent one had not technically been there. Khalid bin Talal had been in Morocco when Robie had killed him. But there were many others from the desert that wished the absolute destruction of America. Too many, in fact, to narrow down easily.

  “Then why don’t I hit that angle while you work the other side?”

  “But if anything occurs to you or you find out something while working with Vance that has to do with Agent Wind?”

  “You’ll get it.”

  “Then we understand each other.”

&nbs
p; The two men rose.

  Robie looked at him and said, “Is my place really safe? Because I could use a change of clothes.”

  Blue Man managed a rare smile. “Go and change your clothes, Robie. The ones you have on are looking pretty ragged.”

  “Well I’m feeling pretty ragged,” admitted Robie.

  CHAPTER

  39

  ROBIE DROVE TOWARD his apartment, parked a block away, and made his approach from the rear. He rode a service elevator up, got off, did a protracted observation of the hall, and then moved forward.

  He bumped into Annie Lambert as she was coming out of her apartment with her bike. She had on a black skirt, pink parka, hose, and tennis shoes. A knapsack was over one shoulder.

  “Late to work?” asked Robie as he approached.

  She turned around, initially startled, but then she smiled.

  “Doctor’s appointment. Even White House staffers have to take them.”

  “Nothing serious?”

  “No, just routine stuff.”

  He smiled. “So are you running the country into the ground?”

  “The opposition would answer that with a big yes. But I think we’re doing okay. Times are hard. Lots of challenges. How about you? Doing okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  If she noticed the bandage bulge under his jacket or the rumpled state of his clothes she didn’t mention it.

  “Still up for that drink sometime?” he asked. Robie seemed surprised by his own question.

  I’m learning a lot about myself this week, he thought.

  “Sure. How about tonight? You said you wanted to do it soon.”

  “If the president will let you off?”

  She grinned. “I think he will. How about eight? W Hotel rooftop bar? The views are great.”

  “See you then.”

  She left with her bike and Robie walked to his apartment. He had no idea why he had just done that. But he had committed and he would be there at eight. Ordinarily he disliked distractions while he was working. But somehow he was welcoming this one.

  In his apartment he still checked his intruder traps even though it seemed his agency could easily circumvent them. Everything looked the same. They could have wired the place, but he had no intention of making any calls from here. In a way he was trapped right here at home.

  He changed into fresh clothes and made up a small bag with other items he might need if he didn’t come back here for a while.

  He had the urge to check on Julie and pecked her a quick message, asking if that was okay with her.

  The text came back seconds later: Come on.

  He backtracked his way to her apartment and rode the elevator up. He looked for elements of Blue Man’s security force but didn’t see any. Maybe that was good, he thought.

  Maybe.

  Julie unlocked the door only after peeping him through the hole. He also was gratified to hear her turning off the security system as well.

  He closed and locked the door behind him.

  “So you were talking to the bike chick,” she said.

  “What?”

  She pointed to the telescope. “That thing is powerful. Works great night or day.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s supposed to. But I don’t want you using it to snoop on people.”

  “I’m just observing my perimeter, like you ordered me to last night.”

  “Okay, I guess I deserved that.”

  “So your other place is across the street?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Normally people like to spread out their residences. You know, Paris, London, Hong Kong.”

  “I’m not normal.”

  “Yeah, that one I figured out on my own. So what have you found out? I’ve been watching the TV. Sounds like it was a real war zone down there last night. You’re lucky you weren’t killed. At least I’m assuming that’s where you got shot. You never got around to telling me about your arm.”

  “Luck always plays a part,” he said vaguely.

  “They have any leads?”

  “None they’re sharing with me.”

  “How’s working with the FBI?”

  “It’s working.”

  “She’s pretty.”

  “Who?”

  “Agent Vance. She was on the TV talking to reporters. She didn’t mention you.”

  “That was a good thing.”

  “Where did you sleep last night? I know it wasn’t across the street.” She indicated the scope.

  “I slept,” he said. “That’s all you need to know.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said. “You slept with her, didn’t you?”

  This time Robie almost blinked. Almost. The kid was really getting to him.

  “What makes you say that?”

  She studied him closely. “Oh, I don’t know. A certain glow. A woman can always tell.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. Now I’ve got to get going.”

  “When are we going to get going, Robie?”

  He stared at her.

  “Partners, remember our deal? We find out who killed my parents?”

  “I remember. And I’m working on it.”

  “I know you are. But I want to work on it too. I gave you that list. What have you done with it so far?”

  “Going to run it down.”

  “Good,” she said, pulling on her hoodie. “I’m ready to go.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “And I don’t think it’s a good idea me just sitting here on my ass doing nothing except looking through a telescope. So either I go with you or I go on my own. Either way, I’m going.”

  Robie sighed and opened the door for her. “But you let me handle the