The Naked Edge

by David Morrell

  “Are you okay?”

  Jamie gripped him tightly. “Yes. What about you?”

  Cavanaugh smelled smoke in her hair. He was so relieved to have her safely with him that the smoke might as well have been perfume. “I couldn't be better now that I know you're safe.”

  Rutherford, a widower, looked as if he wished somebody would be overjoyed to greet him. He knocked on the door and shouted, “This is John Rutherford! FBI! We have the area secured! Evacuation vehicles are waiting for you!”

  Cavanaugh shouted, providing the code word, “It's okay, Tony! You can get off the Treadmill!”

  Slowly, the door opened. Wary security personnel stepped out, their principals in the protective box they formed.

  14

  Carl squirmed in his sleeping bag, sirens disturbing his rest. More sirens than usual at night, even in a city renowned for being festive. More than expected as police tried to contain protestors gathering for the demonstrations in the morning. His pistol and knife close to him, he instantly cleared sleep from his mind and sat up.

  The van didn't have windows at the sides or the back. That made him feel sheltered and yet vulnerable to a sneak attack. He knelt and stared past the front seats through the windshield toward the end of the dark alley. The flashing lights of a police car sped past, its wail peaking.

  A major accident, Carl thought. Or a fire. Or perhaps a collision on the river. Nothing to concern me.

  Wrong. Everything concerns me.

  He squirmed from his sleeping bag and climbed into the front seat, getting behind the steering wheel. Driving from the alley, he followed the direction of the lights and the sirens. When he realized they were leading him toward the heart of the downtown area, he found a safe side street on which to park. Then he got out, locked the vehicle, secured his weapons under his loose-hanging shirt, and went the rest of the way on foot. Passing barricades and growing groups of demonstrators, he avoided the conference center and angled toward the nearby business district, where he encountered so many uniforms and barricades that he was reminded of occupation zones he'd seen years ago in Bosnia.

  At last, he reached his destination: fire trucks and other emergency vehicles surrounding a hotel on Canal Street, smoke spreading from the ground floor.

  No, not one hotel, Carl realized. A further commotion led him to another hotel on Canal Street, more fire trucks and smoke. And another.

  And another.

  It's amateur night, he thought.

  A guy with a sweat shirt labeled OUTSOURCE THE WHITE HOUSE TO INDIA on one side and KEEP AMERICAN JOBS AT HOME on the other told a buddy, “Man, if it's starting this early, tomorrow's gonna be wild.”

  A group chanted, “Stop burning the rain forests!”

  Keeping a distance, avoiding the appearance of any association with the protestors, Carl drifted into the shadowy background. About to return to the van, he paused for a final look at the smoke coming from the hotel.

  Tomorrow's going to be wild? he thought. You have no idea.

  15

  “Good morning, gentlemen.”

  The men looked up from cleaning their weapons as Carl entered the warehouse. Walking toward the podium, he rubbed his hands together enthusiastically.

  “I trust you had a restful sleep.”

  They gathered before him.

  “We've got another fine breakfast for you. Sugared beignets and chicory-flavored coffee. Eggs with Creole sauce and Cajun sausage. Hash browns. Steak. Biscuits. Gravy. Your basic Heart Association, cholesterol-friendly meal.”

  They chuckled.

  “Eat up because you might not have a chance for another meal until tonight. No complaints? Everybody happy?”

  They nodded.

  “Outstanding. So are you ready to earn your pay, to do what you've been training for, to prove how skilled you've become, and show me an honest morning's work?”

  “Yes,” they answered.

  “I can't hear you.”

  “Yes!”

  “Damned straight. An honest morning's work. Once we get to Texas, you can let off steam. But right now and until noon, we're all business. Finish your breakfast. Roll up your sleeping bag. Fold your cot. Set it over by the door. Put the TVs, DVD players, computers, and video games over there as well. Pretty soon, a truck'll arrive, and we'll load everything. Those of you on KP duty will take the leftover food and deliver it to a homeless shelter, a different one from the one yesterday's KP team delivered to. No point in wasting food. Share and share alike. Camp without a trace. Words to live by, gentlemen. As soon as this warehouse looks the same as when we arrived, you'll put on your knapsack and double-check its number with the corresponding number on the map. You'll make sure you know how to get to the street you've been assigned. I don't want anybody wandering around asking directions from a cop.”

  They chuckled again.

  “Control. Discipline. That's what you've been training for. Otherwise, you're just the street thug you were when I took pity on you and brought you to the training camp. Make sure you're wearing your Navy SEAL watch. They're each set to exactly the same time. After you put on your knapsack and go to your assigned street, you'll mingle with the demonstrators. The conference starts at nine. There'll be delays because the protestors will try to block the streets. Some of the trade ministers will want to make an impressive late entrance. But let's assume that by ten o'clock, all the participants will be there and the opening ceremony will be in full swing. Exactly at ten on your watch, take off the knapsack and pull the cord on it. Everybody clear on that?”

  They nodded.

  “When the black smoke comes out and mingles with all the other black smoke and covers your area, pull out your pistol and empty it into the air. Enjoy yourself. Stampede the protestors. But for God's sake, don't shoot any of them. We've been hired to disrupt the conference, not kill people. Clear on that?”

  Again, they nodded.

  “Okay, clean up this warehouse. Put on the knapsacks. Make sure you know where you're going. Don't bunch up after the event. Go your separate ways, and regroup two days from now at the campground near Galveston. Gentlemen, you want to make a bet?”

  They studied him, eager to hear his next words.

  “I bet you make me proud. I bet you prove that I was right to choose you, that you're worth all the training you received. You're not thugs anymore. You're operators. I can't think of a higher compliment to give anyone. Operators.”

  16

  Cavanaugh felt a hand on his shoulder and jerked awake. It took him a moment to realize that he was in a hotel room, that sunlight struggled past the draperies, and that Jamie, who looked as tired as he felt, was leaning over him, nudging him.

  “William's here,” she said.

  Cavanaugh squinted up toward William, who stood at the foot of the bed, holding a briefcase. Despite the long plane trip, William's expensively tailored, pinstriped suit was impeccably pressed. His pristine white shirt was perfectly starched, his striped tie dramatically authoritative. With his coiffed gray hair and projecting chest, he had never looked more like a high-powered attorney.

  “He brought us beignets.” Jamie bit into one.

  “. . . coffee,” Cavanaugh murmured.

  “That, too.” Jamie handed him a Styrofoam cup.

  Groggy, Cavanaugh sipped the hot bitter liquid. “You're the best attorney anybody ever had, William.”

  “Maybe I should open a catering service.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Six-thirty.”

  Cavanaugh turned toward Jamie. “You let me sleep this long?”

  “You were dead on your feet.”

  “Unfortunate choice of word. You were exhausted too, but you still got up earlier than I did.”

  “Things on my mind. Not to mention nightmares.”

  “I know all about nightmares.” Cavanaugh sat slowly, his head feeling as if ball bearings rolled inside it.

  “On the phone last night, you told me to get here as qu
ickly as possible,” William said.

  “And by God, you did. Thank you, William.”

  “Is there a legal emergency?”

  “There's going to be,” Cavanaugh told him. “And that's probably not the only emergency.”

  “When the Gulfstream picked me up at Teterboro airport, my escorts said that I wouldn't be needing their protection any longer.”

  “That's right,” Jamie said. “You're not in danger now. Or perhaps I should say, you're not a specific target.”

  “As opposed to being part of a general target?” William frowned.

  “I'm going to need your help,” Cavanaugh said. “But I can't lie to you. You'll probably be risking your life to help me. Are you willing to do that?”

  “As I recall, you saved my life back at your ranch—not to mention, several times you kept some of my litigation opponents from trying to strangle me.”

  “Then you'll do it?”

  “When do we start?”

  “Good man,” Cavanaugh said. He stood from the bed and looked down at his rumpled slacks and shirt. “Don't have a change of clothes.”

  “There's no time to change them anyhow,” Jamie said, peering down at her own wrinkled slacks and blouse.

  “Or shave.” Cavanaugh scraped a hand over his beard stubble.

  “We're going to hell,” Jamie said.

  “Carl is.” Cavanaugh went into the bathroom, shut the door, and urinated. He put his head under the cold-water facet and soaked his hair. He toweled it, ran a comb through it, then came out and took a bite from what was left of the beignet in Jamie's hand. After snapping his pistol holster to his belt, he put on his sport coat, which reeked of tear gas and smoke. “Knives. Two spare magazines. Looks like I've got everything but a winning lottery ticket.”

  Jamie attached her gun and knife to her belt, then hid them with her blazer. “Ready?”

  17

  Seven a.m.

  The communications center was even more crowded and noisy than the evening before, radios crackling, keyboards clattering. But in contrast with the chaos of yesterday, everyone in the room seemed paralyzed. Motionless agents stood before a vast array of closed-circuit television monitors that showed intense crowds assembling on various streets around the conference center. Helmeted police officers and military reservists formed a line behind barricades, holding shields and batons, ready to respond if the crowd pushed beyond the checkpoints.

  Somber, Rutherford sensed movement behind him and glanced back, frowning toward Cavanaugh and Jamie. His gaze lingered on William.

  “Any developments?” Cavanaugh asked, reaching him.

  A stranger shifted next to Rutherford. A mustached man of fifty, he had gray hair, the severely short cut of which exposed a crescent of skin above each ear. His tie was rigidly knotted, his suit meticulously pressed, his shoes obsessively shined. Of medium height and weight, with pallid skin suggestive of a career spent at a desk, he wore a white shirt whose style communicated the impression he gave: button-down.

  “The demonstrators are getting ready to try to block the streets so the trade ministers can't reach the conference,” Rutherford said.

  “It starts at nine?” Jamie asked.

  “It was supposed to,” the severe-faced stranger said.

  Cavanaugh studied him, puzzled. “I don't believe we've met.”

  “This is Deputy Director Mosely.” Rutherford subtly emphasized the stranger's title, as if giving Cavanaugh a warning.

  “Pleased to meet you.” Cavanaugh extended his hand. “This is my wife Jamie, and my name's—”

  “You've got plenty of names, I hear.” Mosely ignored the offered hand. “I'm surprised you can keep them all straight.”

  Cavanaugh looked at Rutherford and then back at Mosely. “Is something wrong?”

  “You got what you wanted,” Mosely said.

  Two FBI agents edged toward them.

  “I'm not sure what you mean.”

  “Four hotels needed to be evacuated,” Mosely continued. “The ones with the most trade delegates. There wasn't any way to put them in rooms in other hotels in the area. Every place was full. In fact, there weren't enough available hotel rooms within twenty miles. We had to take them to the nearest city: St. Charles. All the confusion forced the WTO to cancel today's meetings.”

  “They did?” Jamie asked.

  “Don't act so surprised,” Mosely answered.

  Other agents stepped closer.

  “Hey,” Cavanaugh said, “if the conference got postponed, it's a good thing, right? It gives everybody more time to try to find Carl and stop whatever he's doing.”

  “Oh, it's a good thing. Definitely,” Mosely replied with sarcasm.

  Frowning with greater puzzlement, Cavanaugh turned toward Rutherford. “John, on the flight here, you and I talked about how important it was to get this thing canceled, how crazy it was that the WTO wouldn't allow itself to appear to give in to the demonstrators. Now the trade ministers did what we hoped they would. A lot of lives have probably been saved.”

  “Oh, I'm all for saving lives.” Mosely stood more rigidly. “But when you couldn't convince the WTO to change its mind, do you think it was right to change their minds for them?”

  “You're not making sense,” Jamie said.

  “Who's this man?” Mosely pointed toward William.

  “My attorney,” Cavanaugh answered.

  “You suspected you'd need one?”

  “William has one of the most attentive, logical minds I've ever come across. I thought it would be a good idea to include him. Maybe he'll notice something we haven't thought of.”

  “Well, he's definitely going to come in handy,” Mosely emphasized.

  On the various TV monitors, the crowd kept getting larger.

  “Wait'll they find out the conference isn't happening today,” someone said.

  Mosely pointed toward a door. “We need to talk,” he told Cavanaugh. “You too,” he told Jamie. He looked at William. “And by all means, you're invited, counselor.”

  18

  The door led to an office that was bare except for a metal table and chair. Two FBI agents joined the group. In the cramped quarters, everyone remained standing.

  Although Rutherford shut the door, Mosely still had to raise his voice to be heard above the noise outside. “You were seen entering all four hotels.”

  “Of course,” Jamie said. “We visited trade ministers in those hotels, trying to persuade them to cancel the conference. We identified ourselves to security personnel.”

  “Someone went to the bottom of the elevator shafts and put smoke bombs in them,” Mosely told her. “Someone went to the roofs, opened the air-condition vents, and put tear-gas grenades inside. Spray paint disabled the lenses on the security cameras in those areas.”

  “That makes sense,” Jamie concluded. “That's the way I'd have done it.”

  “Which begs the question,” Mosely said.

  “Wait a minute. Are you suggesting I did it?” Jamie sounded indignant.

  Cavanaugh looked at Rutherford. “What's going on here, John?”

  “Sorry. I'm afraid it's out of my hands.”

  William stepped forward. “Before this conversation goes any further, are you arresting my clients for what happened at those hotels?”

  “Counselor—” Mosely put rancor into the title. “—I invited you to listen, but I don't believe you're licensed to practice law in the state of Louisiana.”

  “That doesn't mean I can't act as a concerned knowledgeable friend.” William pulled out his cell phone. “But if you want to put this on an absolutely legal basis, I'll make a call to my good friend, Lester Beauchamp. He and I went to Harvard together. He's also my brother-in-law and the former assistant attorney general for the state of Louisiana, not to mention the most respected defense attorney in New Orleans. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to represent my clients.”

  “Let's be clear, counselor. Are you advising your ‘friends’ not to a
nswer my questions?”

  “If you're arresting them, I'm advising you to read them their rights.”

  “We don't have anything to hide,” Jamie insisted.

  “A man and a woman matching your description were seen in the area of the elevator shafts and the roofs just before the incidents happened,” Mosely said. “Your height, your build, your clothes.”

  “Where are your witnesses?” William challenged.

  “They worked the night shift at the various hotels.”

  “That doesn't answer the question. The witnesses are where? My friends are more than willing to stand in a lineup and be identified—or not be identified, which is what's going to happen.”

  Mosely's gaze almost faltered. “We haven't been able to contact them this morning.”

  “Perhaps because they're drug addicts semiconscious from illegal substances,” William continued. “Until you find these so-called witnesses and prove their reliability, these accusations are hearsay and possibly slander.”

  “I was speaking with the Japanese trade minister when the smoke and the tear gas went off in his hotel,” Cavanaugh said. “How could I have been in two places at one time?”

  “Did I neglect to mention that the detonation devices were on timers?” Mosely asked.

  “And where are we supposed to have gotten all that stuff?”

  “Your file emphasizes how resourceful you are. You have an obsession with being close to what you call ‘bug-out bags’ that have all sorts of equipment in them. Your wife carries a specialty knife that has numerous tools in the handle. She wouldn't have had any trouble opening the air-conditioning ducts. For all I know, your corporate jet is loaded with other equipment you needed.”

  “Then search the jet,” Cavanaugh told him.