The Innocent

by David Baldacci

  A different jet was parked here. It was smaller than Talal’s 767. To Robie it looked like an Airbus A320. The man owned two planes that were used by commercial airlines to fly hundreds of people at a time.

  Robie was pushed roughly out of the van. The farther away they had gotten from prying eyes, the harsher the treatment had become. He was now completely in their power, so the kick in his back that knocked him to the cement was not wholly unexpected.

  The young man said something in Farsi to the man who’d kicked Robie.

  Robie picked himself back up and said, “Tell him he hits about as hard as my sister. And if wants his ass kicked tell him to try that again, only with me facing him.”

  The young man said, “I will not tell Abdullah that. Otherwise he will kill you.”

  “No he won’t. Because if he robs Talal of his fun, he’ll be dead too.”

  “Is that what you think this is, fun?”

  “For him, maybe. Not so much for me.”

  “You have ruined a great plan.”

  “I stopped a maniac from screwing up the world.”

  “I can debate you point by point.”

  “I don’t care what you think you can do. Where are Special Agent Vance and Julie Getty?”

  “They could be dead.”

  “They could be. But they’re not.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Again, the fun factor. I know Talal really needs to feel it right now.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Robie turned to see Prince Khalid bin Talal walk down the stairs from his jet.

  CHAPTER

  98

  TALAL FACED ROBIE. The interior lights had automatically come on, because it had grown dark outside. Robie could hear the rain pinging off the metal roof of the hangar. The large windows on the upper levels of its side walls revealed moisture-laden clouds.

  Talal came to a stop about ten feet from Robie. He wore not robes but a stylish three-piece suit that somehow managed to make his portly form look sleeker.

  “You look slimmer than your body double, Talal,” said Robie. “Not quite as fat, at least.”

  “You will refer to me as Prince Talal.”

  “Where are Vance and Julie, Prince Talal?”

  Talal nodded and the two women were led out of a far corner of the hangar. Vance’s face was purple and black. She walked stiffly, as though every step was killing her. Julie had two swollen eyes, she carried her right arm at an awkward angle, and her left leg dragged a little. Their condition made Robie’s anger rise, but he willed himself to remain calm. He would need it for what was coming.

  When they drew near to Talal he casually snapped his fingers and the men accompanying the two women pulled them to a stop.

  “I’m sorry for all this,” said Robie, looking first at Vance and then at Julie.

  They stared back at him without speaking.

  Robie turned to Talal. “But at least the only one who died was your person. The president is safe.”

  “The only one to die just yet,” said Talal. He smiled. “But you knew her, didn’t you? You knew her quite intimately if the photos are any indication.”

  Vance said sharply, “What photos?”

  “I know it was a game to you, Talal,” said Robie. “But it’s never been a game to me.”

  Talal wagged a finger at Robie. “I could possibly excuse you for trying to kill me. I could perhaps excuse you for thwarting my plans to assassinate men who would lead the world to disaster. But I cannot excuse you for disrespecting me. My name is Prince Talal.”

  The blow hit Robie from behind, knocking him to the floor. He rose slowly, his ribs aching. He looked at the man who had struck him. Abdullah was the biggest one of them all, and the look on his face was the fiercest.

  “My friend here, Abdullah, also does not like your disrespect.”

  Abdullah bowed slightly in Talal’s direction and then spat at Robie.

  “Yeah,” said Robie. “I can tell.” He looked at Vance and Julie. “But now you have me and you can let them go.”

  “As soon as you came here, as soon as your foot touched dirt in Tangier, you knew that was not possible.”

  “It’s why I came. I expect you to honor our agreement. Me for them.”

  “Then you are an idiot.”

  “You don’t keep your word?” Robie looked at the others. “So how can they trust you, Talal? You tell them one thing and do another. Leader doesn’t keep his word, then what’s he worth? Nothing. He’s worth nothing.”

  Talal was unfazed by this. And his men did not seem to even understand what Robie was saying.

  “You might try explaining that to them in Farsi, Dari, Pashto, and the old reliable Arabic, but I doubt their opinion of me would change. They do what they do because I pay them far more than they would earn elsewhere.”

  Robie said, “I’m going to offer you a chance to surrender. I’m only going to offer it once. After that it will be withdrawn and it won’t be offered again.”

  Talal smiled. “You want all of us to surrender to you?”

  “Not just to me.”

  “Who, then? You were not followed here. We know that for a fact.”

  “You’re right. I wasn’t followed here.”

  Talal blinked and then looked around. “You speak gibberish. I expected better from you. You are obviously paralyzed with fear.”

  “Trust me, it would take a lot more than your fat ass to make me afraid.” Before Talal could respond, Robie added, “I’m just making the offer. It’s up to you to take it or not. Do you refuse?”

  “What I think I will do is watch all three of you die, right now.”

  “I’ll take that as a no,” said Robie.

  “Abdullah, kill him,” said Talal.

  Abdullah drew two guns. It only took a moment, but he flipped one pistol to Robie, who used it to shoot three of the men closest to him, including the young man who had first met him. The bullet wound joined the knife wound on his neck as his life ended.

  Abdullah fired twice, killing two other guards.

  When the other men drew their weapons, Robie emptied his mag at them, grabbed Vance and Julie, and pulled them behind the front landing gear of the jet.

  “Cover your ears,” said Robie to them.

  “What?” said Vance.

  “Just do it. Now.”

  “Abdullah!” he shouted and the big man threw himself to the side and slid behind the van.

  An instant later the right-side window of the hangar blew open, shattered by massive rounds from a thirty-millimeter chain gun. Next, rifle rounds fired through this opening slammed into the remaining guards. The shots were fired so fast and with such spot-on accuracy that the men had no chance even to fire back. One by one they dropped until the only one left standing was Talal. When two more men appeared at the door of the jet, they were immediately shot. Their bodies fell to the floor, making dull thunks on the cement.

  Outside the window the chopper hovered, its thirty-mil chain gun mounted between the front landing gears now silent. It was a stealth aircraft. And the rain had covered any sounds it had made. Until the chain gun had opened up, that is. There were few things on earth that could cover the noise a thirty-mil made.

  Shane Connors slid his self-loading sniper rifle off the metal support and kissed the hot barrel, his longtime ritual. He gave Robie a salute from the chopper and then signaled to the pilot. The chopper slowly moved off.

  Robie came out from behind the landing gear and approached Talal. Abdullah rose from behind the van and joined him.

  Talal gazed at Abdullah in disbelief. “You betrayed me?”

  “How do you think we got on to you in the first place, Talal?” said Robie. “And if you can buy off our people, we can buy off yours.”

  Robie lifted his gun. Talal stared at him. “So you kill me now?”

  “No. It’s out of my hands. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re apologizing for not killing me?” Talal said slow
ly.

  The hangar door opened and a gold SUV pulled in. Inside were five men, all in robes. All armed. They got out of the car, lifted Talal up, and carried him to the vehicle. He screamed and tried to break free, but he was a man of little muscle and he soon gave up.

  “You’re going back to Saudi Arabia, Talal,” said Robie. “The Americans have officially turned you over to your countrymen. I think you would have preferred the bullet.”

  The SUV drove off and Robie beckoned to Vance and Julie.

  “There’s a chopper outside that will take us to our ride home,” he said quietly. “And there’s a medical crew on board.”

  Vance and Julie crept out from behind the landing gear.

  Vance hugged him and said, “I don’t know how you managed all this, Robie. But I’m sure as hell glad you did.”

  Julie looked at the departing truck and said, “What will they do to him?”

  “There’s no reason for you to waste a second of your life thinking about it.”

  “Why did he kill my mom and dad?”

  “I promise you that once we make sure you and Agent Vance are okay, and we put a few miles between us and this place and get some food in both your stomachs, I will answer all your questions, okay?”

  “Okay, Will,” said Julie.

  Robie put one supporting arm around Vance and held his other out to Julie, who took it. They walked over to the waiting helicopter, which had set down in front of the hangar. Within the hour they would be winging their way home.

  After that, Robie didn’t know. He just didn’t care to look that far ahead anymore.

  CHAPTER

  99

  BLUE MAN AND SHANE CONNORS were sitting at the small table in the conference room when Robie walked in.

  Connors and Robie made eye contact, exchanged a brief nod, and then Robie sat next to him.

  Blue Man said, “I’ve just congratulated Agent Connors on a job well done.”

  “Got me out from behind a desk,” said Connors. “That was reward enough.”

  Robie eyed Blue Man. “What did Van Beuren tell us?”

  “Pretty much everything.”

  “Why did he turn on his country?”

  “Basically money and morals.”

  “The money I get. Explain the morals.”

  “Well, the money was not exactly what you would have imagined. It was going to pay for medical bills, with plenty left over for Van Beuren to retire on. Even though they had insurance through the government, it didn’t cover some of the experimental treatments that they used to try and save Elizabeth Van Beuren. Without this money, they were going to have to declare bankruptcy. And without the money she wouldn’t have gotten the treatments. Unfortunately, they didn’t work.”

  “And the morals?”

  “George Van Beuren blamed the U.S. government for his wife’s cancer. He said it was exposure to the toxins in the battlefield that led to her illness and death. He wanted his revenge. And the president and one of the leaders of Saudi Arabia were excellent targets for his rage.”

  “He must’ve talked to Gabriel Siegel,” said Robie. “He thinks the same thing.”

  “It doesn’t excuse treason,” commented Connors.

  “No, it doesn’t,” agreed Blue Man.

  “And Van Beuren’s daughter?”

  “Knew nothing about any of it, her father said. And we believe him. Nothing will happen to her.”

  “But she’s lost both her parents now,” said Robie.

  “Yes, she has.”

  “Why was Van Beuren knocked out?”

  “The original plan had been to leave him completely blameless. You discovering what you did made this impossible, of course, but they didn’t know that. So Lambert knocks him out and steals his gun. Van Beuren was going to hang around for a while longer in his job, then retire, and go live somewhere else.”

  “And all the deaths leading up to that?” said Robie. “George Van Beuren screwed up. He told his wife what he was planning. Maybe he actually didn’t even think she was listening or lucid. Maybe he just wanted to get it off his chest. But she had heard him and, being the patriot she was, the lady was pissed. When she was visited by Broome or Wind or Getty, she told them. Van Beuren found out and action had to be taken. Scorched earth. Killed them all.”

  “You’ve pretty much nailed what happened,” said Blue Man. “It was actually Leo Broome who had visited her. Broome later confronted Van Beuren about what his wife had said. Van Beuren tried to claim that his wife was simply hallucinating. But Talal’s people had Broome put under surveillance. Broome told both Rick Wind and the Gettys. That signed their death certificates. They dialed you up to kill Jane Wind because they were terrified her ex had told her something. And it was also the catalyst to set you in motion along the course Talal had planned for you.”

  “And they put the tube down his wife’s throat so she couldn’t talk again,” noted Robie.

  “They actually wanted to kill her, but Van Beuren said he wouldn’t go through with it if they did. When the plan was set and about to go off, he took her off the ventilator and she died naturally.”

  “What about Gabriel Siegel?” asked Robie.

  “They wanted us to think he was involved. They called him at work, told him his wife would be killed if he didn’t meet with them. I’m not sure we’ll ever find his remains. They had no reason to keep him alive.”

  “The attack at Donnelly’s?”

  “The Saudis interrogated Talal. He wanted you to suffer. Wanted you to blame yourself for what happened. He was certain you would figure out that you were the real target in all of this. They used a Secret Service van Van Beuren got for them. Stupid on Talal’s part because it would naturally swing suspicion that way. But I guess he thought no one was smarter than he was.”

  “Broome’s money?”

  “We did some more digging. It apparently was stolen Kuwaiti antiquities. He and Rick Wind were involved. Broome invested well. Wind did not Curtis Getty was clean.”

  Blue Man paused and studied Robie. “But even though the president and the crown prince were the actual targets, you were at the center of this, Robie.”

  “I didn’t kill Talal and he decides to find out who I was and then to come after me. When Elizabeth Van Beuren talked Talal saw a way to involve me in all of it. My handler orders the hit on Jane Wind and I’m off and running from one orchestrated event to another.”

  Connors said, “It was a win-win for them. If you killed Wind and her son and later found out she was innocent they probably figured that would screw you up. And if you didn’t pull the trigger on a mother and son, that’s why they had the backup shooter. They’d learned of your exit plan on the bus. And they made sure Julie would be there too.”

  Robie said, “And they probably figured whether I pulled the trigger or not I’d most likely get on the bus with Julie after I figured out who Jane Wind really was.”

  Blue Man added, “But when they learned Julie came up with the idea of questioning other squad members, the game suddenly became too risky. That could lead to Van Beuren. They would kill Julie, and you too if necessary. Nothing could jeopardize the assassination attempt.”

  “Guess it all makes sense,” said Robie slowly.

  Blue Man said, “And Annie Lambert was an even earlier plant. After Talal escaped the attempt in Tangier and found out you were the shooter,