Divine Justice

by David Baldacci

  “I doubt that’s possible now. In fact, that’s why I brought Carr along with me.”

  Hayes glanced sharply over at Stone. “I don’t quite understand.”

  “Well, I might forgive you. But he sure as hell isn’t about to. So since we’re both wanted for murder, I mean . . .”

  “What the hell are you saying, Knox?”

  Stone answered. “What he’s saying is we’ve already done eight. Who the hell cares about one more, especially if it’s you?”

  Hayes staggered back against the wall, his hand to his chest. “Knox, you can’t allow this. I am your superior.”

  “You were my superior. At least in rank. In reality, I’ve always considered you quite inferior.”

  “How dare you—”

  Knox uncuffed Stone and then slipped a knife from his pocket and handed it to him. Stone automatically gripped it in his favored killing position.

  “Knox!” Hayes screamed.

  Stone advanced. “Do you know how many times I’ve done this on behalf of the United States government?”

  “Knox, for godsakes.”

  “You should have given the man his medal,” Knox said.

  Hayes screamed, “I’ll give you your damn medal, Carr. It’s yours.”

  Knox sat in a chair and said, “You were a piece of crap for pulling the plug on it just because he wouldn’t follow your order to slaughter an innocent village in Nam.”

  “I know that now. I’m sorry. I should never have given that order.”

  Stone stopped next to the quaking Hayes and looked him up and down, apparently deciding on the best place to deliver the lethal blow.

  Knox added, “And you shouldn’t have come up to that prison and made a deal with that warden to keep me there because I’d found out the truth.”

  Stone was now holding the knife against Hayes’ throat.

  “I’ve dreamed about this for nearly forty years, Mack,” said Stone.

  “Knox,” wailed Hayes. “I’m begging you. I’m sorry for what I did at the prison. I never should have left you there. I’m sorry. For God’s sake make him stop.”

  “Okay,” Knox said. “Oliver, go ahead and stop.”

  Stone stepped back and flipped the knife to Knox, who pulled out a walkie-talkie and said into it, “Okay, come on in.”

  Five men came rushing through the door seconds later and strode up to the still cowering but confused-looking Hayes.

  One of the men said, “Macklin Hayes, you’re under arrest for obstruction of justice, false imprisonment, war crimes, covering up a drug ring, conspiracy to commit same and for using government property to blow up a civilian car in a public place resulting in reckless endangerment.” The man then gave him his Miranda warning.

  Knox pulled out a DVD from his pocket and tossed it to Hayes. “You can share that with your lawyers.”

  Hayes looked down at it. “What the hell is it?”

  “The place where you met with us at the prison and told us everything because you figured we’d never get out? It was an interrogation room, you dumbshit. Warden up there was real keen on surveillance. There was a hidden camera and it recorded every syllable you said.” He looked at the men. “Take his ass away. I’m sick of looking at him.”

  As they pulled Hayes from the room in cuffs, he screamed, “That man is John Carr. He killed Carter Gray and Roger Simpson. Arrest him, arrest him right now.”

  One of the men said, “Shut up!” and then pushed Hayes out the door.

  After they were gone, Knox and Stone left the house and walked down the dark, quiet, lamplit streets of Georgetown as a chill wind blew in off the nearby Potomac.

  “You know,” Knox said, “Hayes was the only one who was after you. I reported only to him. He was doing this on his own authority, it wasn’t an Agency thing.”

  “He’s a man who holds his grudges,” agreed Stone.

  “My point is, as far as you’re concerned, it’s over.” He put out his hand and Stone shook it. Knox continued, “Now, I’m going to walk that way.” He pointed to his right. “And I suggest you go the other way.”

  “I can’t do that, Joe.”

  “Oliver, get out of this place and go start over somewhere. I’ll even get you some money and a new ID. But you have to go. Now.”

  Stone sat down on a weathered stone step and gazed up at the man.

  “I’ve been going for thirty years and I’m just tired.”

  “But the FBI is still investigating the murders. And with Hayes out of the way any impediment to them turning in your direction is gone. Sooner or later, they’re going to knock on your door. Particularly with Hayes screaming his head off about you.”

  “I know that.”

  “And, what, you’re going to just wait until they come get you?”

  Stone stood. “No. I’m not going to wait. I’m going right to the top on this. But first I need to go get something.”

  “Get something? Where?”

  “At a graveyard.”

  CHAPTER 82

  THE SECRET SERVICE examined the contents of the box that Stone had brought with him. It was the same one he’d hidden at Milton’s burial plot before leaving Washington. Knox had driven him over to the graveyard where he’d gotten the box, called Alex Ford and made the arrangements to be where the three men were now.

  The White House looked particularly impressive in the crisp morning sunlight. Alex knew the agents on duty today at the northeast gate entrance and he talked to them as Knox and Stone went through the metal detector and security process.

  After that Alex led them up the driveway and into the White House. They passed the guards stationed at that entrance. As they walked toward the West Lobby, the security badges issued to the three men bounced against their chests. They arrived at the small West Lobby and were cleared. Stone and Alex sat while Knox nervously paced.

  In a calming voice Alex said, “Down that hall is the Roosevelt Room. It’s got a painting of FDR over the fireplace mentel and one of Teddy Roosevelt on the south wall. Straight ahead of that is the reception room, and to the immediate right of that is the Oval Office. The president doesn’t actually work there. He’s got another office nearby where he can get some real work done.”

  “Interesting,” said Knox as he continued to pace the room, shooting glances here and there. All three men were dressed in suits. Alex and Knox had chipped in to buy Stone some appropriate clothes and he looked distinguished, if uncomfortable in his jacket and tie.

  “You sure he’s going to see us?” Knox asked Alex.

  “We’re on the schedule. So unless war is declared or a hurricane hits somewhere, we’re going to see the man.”

  Knox let out a deep breath and slumped in a chair. “Jesus, Joseph, Mary.”

  As soon as he said the last name, a woman appeared and said, “The president will see you now, gentlemen.”

  In the Oval Office, President Brennan rose from behind the Resolute Desk and shook hands with all three, lingering over Alex, who’d taken a bullet while trying to prevent the president from being kidnapped in Brennan’s hometown.

  “Great to see you, Alex. You all recovered, I trust?”

  “Yes, sir, thank you, sir.”

  “I can never express how grateful I am for what you did for me back then.”

  “Well, Mr. President, that’s partly why we’re here.”

  Brennan looked confused. “The schedule said you wanted me to meet some friends of yours?” He looked at Knox and Stone. “These gentlemen, I’m assuming?”

  “It’s a bit more complicated than that, sir, if you could spare us a few minutes.”

  The president motioned them to sit down in chairs set in front of the fireplace.

  Alex started speaking and didn’t stop for over twenty minutes. Nor did Brennan, known for being an inveterate questioner, ever interrupt him. He just sat in his chair absorbing what Alex was telling him about the events in Pennsylvania and up to what had happened at Murder Mountain and then on to
the confrontation at the Visitor Center underneath the U.S. Capitol where Milton Farb had been killed and Harry Finn’s son rescued. Knox took up the tale from there, and though clearly nervous in the presence of the commander in chief, his voice was strong and his details meticulous as he took Brennan through his part of the story, including Stone being denied the Medal of Honor, their time in prison and ending with Macklin Hayes’ arrest.

  Brennan sat back. “My God, this is incredible. Truly incredible. I can’t believe this about Carter Gray. He was one of my most trusted advisors.” He glanced over at Stone. “And you are John Carr?”

  Stone nodded. “I am.”

  “With this entity called the Triple Six?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “It’s amazing to me that we engaged in that sort of thing.”

  “It wasn’t amazing to me. I was just following orders. It was only later that my conscience got the better of me.”

  “But to kill your family. To come after you like that. I’m sorry, Alex, it just doesn’t sound like the people I knew.”

  Stone held up the box. “Do you mind, Mr. President? I have something here that might convince you.”

  Brennan hesitated but then nodded.

  Stone opened the box and took out the small recorder. He hit the play button and a voice came on loud and clear. It was Carter Gray. At Murder Mountain.

  “I thought you had to give that recording back to Gray,” said Alex as he hit the stop button. “And Finn said they had a device there that could tell if it had been duplicated, and it hadn’t.”

  “Before I gave the phone with the recording on it to Gray I just held this recorder up to it and copied it. Sometimes people forget all about the low-tech ways.”

  He hit the play button and as they listened they came to the part that Stone had particularly wanted the president to hear. When it was over, Brennan stared at them, his face flushed.

  “He was going to kill me. Carter Gray was going to kill me so he could start an all-out war with the Muslims!”

  “Yes, sir,” said Stone. “He was.”

  “And you were the one who saved me,” he said to Stone. “That was your voice on there convincing him not to do it. After the woman was killed. Who was she?”

  “She was my daughter, Beth.”

  Alex quickly explained to the president how Roger Simpson and his wife had come to adopt Stone’s daughter.

  Brennan sat back in his chair, his mind obviously whirling. “They killed your wife and took your daughter. The man who had your wife murdered and tried to have you killed took your daughter and raised her as his own? And Gray, what he did to you. What he almost did to me. It’s . . . it’s beyond horrible, John. I’m rarely at a loss for words but I don’t know what to say.”

  “There’s something else I need to tell you, sir.”

  Knox and Alex both took deep breaths and then held them, their bodies tense as boards.

  “What’s that?”

  “Carter Gray and Roger Simpson were both murdered, Mr. President.”

  “Yes, I know that—” He broke off and locked gazes with Stone.

  “I see,” he said. “I see.” He sat back and looked over at the fireplace.

  Nearly a minute went by and no one broke the silence.

  Finally, Stone said, “Thank you for your time, sir. I plan to turn myself in to the authorities. But I wanted you to hear the story from me first. After thirty years of lies I thought it was finally time for the truth.”

  As Stone and the other two rose to leave, Brennan looked up at him.

  “Listen to me, Carr. You’ve put me in a difficult position. Probably the most agonizingly difficult spot I’ve ever been in, and that’s saying something for a two-term president. And yet with all that, I don’t think it approaches the pain that you’ve suffered at the hands of a country that should have known better.” He paused and stood. “I tell you what I’m going to do, since I wouldn’t even be alive now and this country would be in the middle of a disastrous war but for your efforts, I’m going to take this under advisement. I don’t want you mentioning this to anyone, much less turning yourself in. Do you understand me?”

  Stone looked at Alex and then Knox and then back at the president. “Are you sure, sir?”

  “No, I’m not sure,” he snapped. “But that’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t condone vigilantism. Never have and never will. But I also have a heart and a soul, and a sense of honor and decency despite what some of my political opponents claim. So until you hear from me you are to do nothing except carry on with your life. Understood? I know you’re no longer technically in the military, but I am still the leader of this country. And you will obey that order.”

  “Yes, sir,” said an obviously surprised Stone.

  As they turned to leave Brennan added, “Oh, and it’ll be a long term of taking it under advisement. So long in fact and with all the other issues I’m confronted with as president, it is highly likely that I may completely forget all about it. Good-bye, Carr. And good luck.”

  As they closed the door behind them, both Knox and Alex exhaled in relief.

  “Holy shit, do I need a drink,” said Knox. “Come on, I’m buying.”

  CHAPTER 83

  OLIVER STONE OPENED the gates to Mt. Zion Cemetery and walked up to his cottage. The front door was unlocked, and when he went in he saw that the changes Annabelle had made were no longer there. Everything was just as he had left it.

  He sat down behind his desk and ran his hand over the old wood, squeaked back in the chair and gazed over at his wall of beloved books. He made a cup of coffee and carried a mug with him as he explored the grounds of the cemetery, noting where work needed to be done that he would get to the next day. He was once more the official caretaker of hallowed ground. It was where he belonged.

  That evening, the others came by to see him. He hugged Reuben, Caleb and Annabelle, thanking each in turn again for what they had done for him. Reuben brought a few six-packs while Caleb had a nice bottle of red wine. Later, Alex, Finn and Knox joined them.

  As Knox and Stone sat in front of the fireplace, Alex and Annabelle were engaged in animated conversation in one corner of the room. She held a glass of wine and he had a beer.

  “Why did you really come to help us?” she said suddenly.

  “Friends don’t let friends die by stupidity.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  He drew closer to her. “Well, actually, I did it because it occurred to me that we had left things on the wrong foot. And I wanted to tell you that despite all the mean, nasty things you said about me, I’d still like to hang out with you on occasion.”

  “Oh, is that right?”

  “That’s pretty right, yeah.”

  “Is that the best ‘please come back to me’ line Secret Service agents are taught?”

  “We’re more the strong and silent types.”

  Annabelle hooked her arm through his. “What you did was pretty wonderful,” she said into his ear. “And I am sorry for the things I said.” She glanced over at Reuben. “He really set me right on things.”

  “Let’s just start over and see where it goes.”

  Reuben, who was watching all this from the other side of the room along with Caleb, said, “Oh, man, I’m going to puke.”

  Caleb replied, “Don’t be jealous, Reuben. He’s younger and much better-looking than you are. And besides, I don’t have anyone either. I’m as big a loser in the female department as you are. I hope that makes you feel better.”

  Reuben drank down his entire beer and stalked off muttering.

  Everyone looked over when Alex’s cell phone began to ring. He answered it.

  “Hello? What?” He suddenly snapped to attention and almost dropped his beer. “Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir. I’ll make sure he’s there. You can count on it, sir.”

  He clicked off and looked at the others in complete astonishment.

  Knox said, “Who was that? Not the president?”

>   Alex slowly shook his head and walked over to Stone and put a hand on his shoulder. “That was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”