Once. Twice. Three times.
“What is it, Quentin?” Andrea Carbonell finally said in his ear. “Don’t you sleep?”
“As if you weren’t waiting for my call.”
“Knox made a mess at the Helmsley Park Lane. One dead agent, two wounded, another dead in Central Park. I can’t let that go unanswered.”
Noise on the line, like the rotor of a helicopter, signaled that she was on the move.
“What do you plan to do? Arrest us? Good luck, considering how deep you’re into this. I’d love to explain on television what a lying bitch you truly are.”
“A little touchy tonight.”
“You have no idea.”
“I have as much faith in the justice system as you do,” she made clear. “And like you, I prefer my own forms of retribution, administered my way.”
“I thought we were allies.”
“We were, until you decided to do something stupid in New York.”
“I didn’t do that.”
“Nobody would ever believe you.”
“Have you solved the Jefferson cipher? Or was that another lie?”
“Before I answer, I want to know something.”
He wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of discussing much with this woman, but what choice did he have? “Go ahead.”
“How long did you think you could do as you pleased?”
This he could discuss. “We have a constitutional grant of authority from the Congress and the first president of United States to attack, at will, this nation’s enemies in perpetuity.”
“You’re an anachronism, Quentin. A relic from the past that no longer has any place.”
“Our Commonwealth has managed to do things that could never have been accomplished through conventional avenues. You wanted economic chaos in certain Middle East nations. We provided that. You wanted assets stripped from certain persons of interest. We stripped them. Politicos who weren’t cooperating started to cooperate after we finished with them.” He knew she would not want this information broadcast to the world, so if anyone was listening they were enjoying an earful.
“And while you did all that,” she said. “You stole for yourself, keeping far more than the eighty percent allowed.”
“Can you prove that? We make considerable payments to several intelligence agencies on a yearly basis, yours included-payments in the millions. I wonder, Andrea, does all of that end up in the U.S. Treasury?”
She laughed. “Like we’re getting our full share. All you pirates and privateers perform your own special form of accounting. Centuries ago it happened on the high seas, the spoils divvied up per your precious Articles before anyone could see how much had been plundered. What did they call it? The ledger? I’m sure two sets of ledgers were kept. One to show the government to make them happy and another to make sure that everyone privy to the Articles didn’t complain.”
“We are at an impasse,” he said. “We’re accomplishing nothing.”
“But it explains why we’re speaking at this godforsaken hour.”
He tried again. “Have you solved the cipher?”
“We have the key.”
He didn’t know whether to believe her or not. “I want it.”
“I’m sure you do. But I’m not currently in a position to give it to you. I’ll admit that I was planning on taking Knox hostage, using him as a bargaining chip. Maybe even just killing him and be done with it. But your quartermaster moved fast and we took casualties. That’s the price my people pay for their failure.”
Had any corsair or buccaneer regarded his crew with the same callous disrespect, he would have been marooned on the first island encountered.
And she called him a pirate.
“Don’t forget,” he said, “I have what you really want.”
He’d moved on Stephanie Nelle only because Carbonell had specifically asked him to. If she was to be believed, Nelle had been asking questions about Carbonell, investigating her relationship with the Commonwealth or, more specifically, her relationship with Hale. None of the other three captains knew of her existence, or at least that’s what he’d been led to believe. Carbonell had become aware of a meeting Nelle had arranged with a terminated NIA agent, one who harbored no loyalty to his former boss. She’d provided him the Delaware location and Knox had snatched Nelle at the scene, under cover of darkness, no witnesses, quick and clean. She’d wanted him to hold her discreetly for a few days. He could not have cared less. Just a favor done. But with all that had happened over the past few hours, the circumstances had altered.
NIA was no longer a friend.
“How is your guest?” she asked.
“Comfortable.”
“Too bad.”
“What is it you want with her?”
“She has something I want and will not voluntarily relinquish it.”
“So you thought I’d trade Nelle for Knox?”
“Worth a try.”
“I want the cipher key,” he made clear. “If you’re not interested, I could make some arrangements with Stephanie Nelle. I’m sure she’d love to know why I have her. She looks the bargaining type.”
The silence on the other end of the line confirmed that his suspicions had proven correct. That was something she feared.
“Okay, Quentin. Things have obviously changed. Let’s see what you and I can now agree to.”
MALONE TURNED OFF THE HIGHWAY AND ENTERED THE GARVER Institute. Edwin Davis had told him that the facility was a well-financed think tank that specialized in cryptology, the harder the better, and was privy to some sophisticated encryption programs.
It had taken a little longer than he thought to drive the forty miles south from DC into rural Maryland. A storm was shifting north from Virginia. Wind whipped the foliage into a torrid fury. No security of any kind guarded the entrance and none was visible in the lighted parking lots. A depth of trees provided a margin of privacy from the highway. Davis had explained that the lack of any overt security kept the place anonymous. Of the five bland corporate rectangles, four were black stains on the night, one was lit. Daniels had said that a Dr. Gary Voccio was waiting. A password had been provided by the NIA that would gain him access to the solution.
He wheeled into the parking lot and stopped the car, then stepped out into the night, silent save for some distant thunder.
Back in the fray. Seemed he could not escape.
A car suddenly screeched from the far side of one of the buildings. No headlights, its engine revving. The vehicle veered right, hopping a curbed median and careening across the empty lot.
Heading straight for him.
An arm extended from the front passenger-side window.
Holding a gun.