The Sixth Man kam-5

by David Baldacci

  “Heard you got over to Cutter’s to see Edgar Roy.”

  “We did. Impressive place. No dollar spared, I take it.”

  “Lot of good-paying jobs. And we need every one of them.”

  “So homicidal psychos do have their benefits.”

  “Didn’t get very far with him, did you?”

  “Been talking to Special Agent Murdock?”

  “No. My wife’s friend works at Cutter’s.”

  “So you have a direct line into the place?”

  Dobkin shifted uneasily in his chair. “Wouldn’t go that far.”

  “So how’s the investigation coming?”

  “FBI is being characteristically tight with developments.”

  “What did you want to see me about?”

  “Couple of things. In addition to the phone message your partner left him, Bergin received one phone call about the time he left Gray’s Lodge last night. And made one as well.”

  “Who called him and who did he call?” Michelle knew the answer to the first question but not the last.

  “The one he received was from a Megan Riley. Virginia number.”

  “That’s his associate.” Michelle said nothing about the woman being less than an hour away at Martha’s Inn. “And who did he call?”

  “Cutter’s Rock confirming his appointment the next morning.”

  “That’s strange, since he was there earlier. You’d think he would have just confirmed it then.”

  “Maybe he’s a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy. Or at least he was,” amended Dobkin.

  “Cutter’s Rock. What do you know about it?”

  “It’s Federal. It’s escapeproof. Really bad dudes are kept there.”

  She feigned a smile. “Yeah, those salient points I got. Edgar Roy looked like he was a zombie. They include drugging folks up there in their daily health planner?”

  “Think that would be against the law, unless some medico ordered it.”

  “They have docs there, right? Who maybe will order whatever is needed?”

  “I suppose, yeah. But they do some of that tele-health stuff too.”

  “Tele-health?”

  “So they don’t have to transport prisoners back and forth. Docs can look at them via computer with health techs on-site. Look down a throat with a little camera, take vitals, stuff like that. Same with court appearances that don’t require personal appearances. All done via computer hookup. Transportation scenarios are where escapes are most likely to happen.”

  “Edgar Roy doesn’t look like he could escape even if they gave him the key to the place and bus fare.”

  “Don’t know anything about that.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Not really, no.”

  Michelle eyed him evenly. “You could’ve told me this on the phone.”

  “I like dealing face-to-face.”

  “Doesn’t explain why you want to help us.”

  “You helped my men. Returning the favor.”

  “And a little payback to the FBI for taking over the investigation?”

  “Got nothing against them. Roy is their problem.”

  “Any results back on the postmortem on Bergin?”

  “Feds brought in their own cutter. No report yet that I know of.”

  “How’s the colonel taking being put in the backseat in his home park?”

  “He plays by the rules.”

  “Anything else that might throw light on why Bergin was killed?”

  “Not on my end. Now how about from you?”

  “We’re just drifting right now.”

  “Heard tell your car windows aren’t there anymore.”

  Michelle tried to hide her irritation. “Heard tell from whom?”

  “True or not?”

  “Okay, true.”

  “Where did it happen?”

  She told him.

  “You should’ve reported that.”

  “I’m reporting it now.”

  “See anything?”

  “Nothing to see except a long-range rifle round passing before my eyes.”

  “Not many folks can make that kind of shot.”

  “Oh, sure there are. I bet your little sister could do it.”

  Dobkin grinned. “You always this casual during an investigation?”

  “Helps to break the tension.”

  “You also have a lady with you. Who’s that? Megan Riley?”

  “So how long have you had a tail on us?”

  “We don’t. Just eyes over at Martha’s.”

  “Mrs. Burke?”

  “She’s a good friend of my wife.”

  “Your wife has really helpful friends.”

  “Benefits of a small town.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “So is it Megan Riley?”

  “Yes it is.”

  “Feds will want to talk to her.”

  “I expect they will.”

  “And you’ll let them know she’s with you?”

  “I’m sure Agent Murdock, with the full weight of the FBI behind him, will figure out where she is, especially if your wife can.”

  “I guess that’s it.”

  “For now,” amended Michelle.

  “I appreciate you keeping this little arrangement between ourselves.”

  She rose. “One last thing.”

  “Yeah,” he said quickly, his eyes looking over her shoulder as the sounds of a baby wailing reached them.

  “Your youngest?”

  He nodded. “Sam. Named after my dad. He was a state trooper too.”

  “Was? Retired?”

  “No. Line of duty. Argument between two drunks that went really wrong.”

  “Sorry.”

  He tensed as the baby’s cries picked up. “So what else? I got to help Sally,” he said in a tone designed to close the conversation.

  “Why was Edgar Roy on an FBI watch list? He’s a suspected serial killer, granted. But still, his lawyer gets killed and an army of Fibbies jumps on a chopper from Boston in about twenty seconds?”

  “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “But you strike me as the sort who would wonder about it.”

  “Well, I guess you’re wrong about what sort I am.”

  Michelle walked back to her car, conscious of the fact that Dobkin was staring at her until she was out of his sight line.

  So much for helping Sally with the baby.

  CHAPTER

  14

  SEAN FLIPPED THROUGH the last few pages of a litigation binder and then looked over at Megan Riley, who was rubbing her eyes and sipping on a mug of now lukewarm tea. They were in Sean’s room. Mrs. Burke hadn’t put up any fight about another woman being in his room, so Sean concluded it was simply Michelle the lady didn’t care for.

  Sean had confirmation of this after the innkeeper had brought them up sandwiches, a couple slices of pie, coffee, and the tea for Megan. Before leaving the room Burke asked, “Where’s your friend?”

  “Running down a lead.”

  “Has she had supper?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, it’s very late and the kitchen is closed.”

  “Okay. I’ll let her know.”

  Sean put down the binder and looked at the notes he’d written on a legal pad. “How did Ted come to take this case in the first place?”

  Megan sat forward in her chair and put down her mug. She picked up half of her turkey sandwich. “I’m not sure. He mentioned it in passing several weeks ago. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t really focused on Edgar Roy. I mean I’d read something in the paper about what had happened, but I was busy getting my feet wet as a newbie lawyer. When Mr. Bergin told me I’d be on the legal papers too, I asked him about the case, and he spent a few minutes going over it with me. God, it was horrible. Edgar Roy must really be a wacko.”

  “That wacko is now your client, so keep that opinion to yourself.”

  She sat up straighter. “Oh, right. Sorry.”


  “And you said you did some research for Ted on the case?”

  She swallowed a bite of sandwich and wiped a smudge of mayo off her mouth. “Right. Pretty mundane things. Jurisdictional issues. Competency grounds. That sort of thing.”

  “Any defense theories?”

  “I’m not sure Mr. Bergin had any yet. But he seemed anxious to go to trial.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “From things he said. He really seemed to want to move forward with it.”

  “Which again begs the question of how he ended up being Roy’s lawyer. If the guy was incompetent he couldn’t have hired Ted. And I can find nothing in the record that shows the two had a preexisting professional relationship.”

  “Well, does he have any family that could have hired Mr. Bergin?”

  “That was my next question. But the billing records aren’t in the file.”

  “I think Hilary keeps those separate,” said Megan.

  “But there’s no correspondence going out to a client. And that should be in these files.”

  “I thought I got everything, but I might have overlooked something.”

  Sean’s phone rang. Ironically it was Hilary.

  “I just got back from Mr. Bergin’s house, Sean. There’s no one there.”

  “No one there now. Could you tell if people had been there before you?”

  “The place is pretty isolated, but there is a house you have to pass to get to Mr. Bergin’s. I know the woman who lives there. I asked her if the police or anyone had been by and she said no. And she’d been home all day.”

  “Okay, Hilary, I really appreciate you doing that. Look, I’m here with Megan. Right, we had her fly up tonight. She brought the files, but there’s nothing in here about who Ted’s client was. It couldn’t have been Roy. At least I don’t think it was. And the correspondence file isn’t in here. Who do you send the legal bills to?”

  “There aren’t any bills.”

  “What do you mean? He was doing this pro bono?”

  “I’m not sure. I guess he might have. Or else he’d set up a different payment system.”

  “But he still had to be engaged by someone. He had to contact them. There has to be a legal representation engagement letter somewhere by a person authorized to act on behalf of Edgar Roy.”

  “Well, I don’t know who that is.”

  “Was this typical for Ted?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “To hide the identity of his client from you?”

  She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “This was the only time he did.”

  “Okay, thanks, Hilary. I’ll be in touch.” He put the phone down and gazed at Megan. “Looks like we have a mystery on both ends.”

  The door opened.

  Agent Murdock stood there with his men right behind.

  “Megan Riley?”

  The young lawyer spilled her tea as she stood on trembling legs. “Yes?”

  “FBI. You’ll need to come with us.” He looked over at Sean. “And be thankful your ass isn’t being charged with obstruction.”

  “How would that be possible?”

  “You know the lady is pertinent to our investigation.”

  “Pertinent but not a material witness. And I’m entitled to conduct my own investigation.” Murdock started to say something but before he could get the words out, Sean added, “The way I see it I did you a favor. I brought her up to Maine. I’ll be sure to send along a request for reimbursement of her plane ticket to the Bureau.”

  “Don’t hold your breath,” growled Murdock. “Let’s go, Ms. Riley.”

  Megan looked imploringly at Sean, who said, “Call me when they’re done. I’ll come and pick you up.”

  “No you won’t,” snapped Murdock.

  “You holding her against her will?”

  “No.”

  “Then I will pick her up when she calls.”

  “You better watch yourself.”

  “I suggest you do the same, Agent Murdock.”

  CHAPTER

  15

  PETER BUNTING NERVOUSLY ADJUSTED his tie and nodded at the staffer who had come to escort him to his meeting. He’d been here on numerous occasions, but this time was different. This time he was prepared to have his ass handed to him.

  He suddenly stopped and stared blankly at the man who was just now leaving the office he was about to enter.

  Mason Quantrell was fifteen years older than Bunting and not quite as tall, with a bulldog chest and a jowly face. His hair was still thick and wavy, though the brown strands had turned mostly gray. His mind was far sharper than his features, his eyes roaming and intense. He was the CEO of the Mercury Group, one of the biggest players in the national security field. Revenue-wise, Mercury was well over twice the size of Bunting’s company, but the E-Program platform gave Bunting greater clout in the intelligence community. Quantrell was from the old school. Spread the intelligence around. Let the worker bees do their thing and feed the government paper mill, spewing out reports no one had time to read. He was the dinosaur making billions off Uncle Sam. Quantrell had hired Bunting to work for him right out of college. And then Bunting had left to build his own empire. Two decades ago Quantrell had been the wonder boy of the private-sector clandestine world before Bunting had replaced him.

  They were not friends. In some ways they were even more than competitors. And in Washington there were really no winners or losers, only survivors. And Bunting knew that Quantrell would do everything in his power to knock him off his lofty perch.

  “What a coincidence seeing you here,” said Quantrell.

  I bet, thought Bunting.

  “How’s business?” asked Quantrell.

  “Never better.”

  “Is that right? I heard otherwise.”

  “I don’t really care what you heard, Mason.”

  Quantrell laughed. “Well, don’t keep the lady waiting, Pete. I’m sure she has lots to tell you.”

  He strode down the hall, and Bunting watched him every step of the way until the aide touched his shoulder, which made him jump.

  “Secretary Foster will see you now, Mr. Bunting.”

  He was ushered into the large corner office where the polycarbonate glass allowed in ample sunlight, but never a bullet. He sat across from the woman. She was dressed in pale blue—her favorite color, Bunting had observed. Ellen Foster was forty-five, divorced, childless, as ambitious as he was, and brilliant. That was just the way it was. The filter became incredibly picky at this level. She was also blond, slender, and attractive, and she could gallop the range from iron maiden to feminine flirt with ease. That didn’t hurt, either, in this city where honey and vinegar were often used as aphrodisiacs.

  Foster, the secretary of Homeland Security—a recent innovation prompted by 9/11—nodded at Bunting with an unreadable expression. She was an excellent tactician, he knew. She sat atop the largest security agency in the country. It had swallowed turf and budget dollars like a giant vacuum cleaner. This had caused a lot of envy from other agencies that resented the new kid on the block’s heft and reach. But it was the new world, and Foster was the newest member of the Cabinet. She had the president’s ear and confidence. When the person in the White House had your back, you were platinum. Foster knew this, of course. She could afford to appear cooperative and magnanimous to her competitors. For in the end, she knew she would come out on top.

  Foster rose to greet him. “Peter, good to see you. Family well?”

  “Yes, Secretary Foster, all well. Thank you.”

  She motioned to the couch and chairs set against one wall. A pot of coffee and cups were on the table there. “Let’s relax a bit. This isn’t a formal meeting, after all.”

  This gave Bunting no comfort at all. More professional executions occurred at informal meetings than did at the official ones.

  They sat.

  “I saw Mason Quantrell out in the hall.”

  “Yes, I suppose you did.”

&nbs
p; “Anything interesting going on with Mercury?”

  She smiled and pushed the sugar bowl toward him. Obviously no answer to that was coming.

  “He doesn’t know about…?” said Bunting.

  “Let’s focus on you, Peter.”

  “Okay.”

  He had just placed the cup to his lips when she struck.

  “The vaunted E-Program has obviously crashed off the tracks.”

  He swallowed too large a mouthful of coffee and tried to keep his eyes from watering as the liquid burned his throat. He set the cup down, sponged his lips with his cloth napkin.

  “We have issues, yes, but I wouldn’t say that we’ve crashed.”

  “How would you describe it?” she asked pointedly.

  “We’ve gone off course, but we are working hard to get back on. And I—”

  She held up a finger, silencing him. Foster lifted a phone and spoke three words. “The reports, please.”

  Moments later an efficient-looking aide delivered the folder to her. She leisurely turned the pages as Bunting stoically watched. He wanted to say, You still use paper files? How quaint. But he didn’t dare.

  She said, “The report quality has degraded considerably. Usable intel from the E-Program has fallen thirty-six percent. The reports are a mess. The dots are not being connected like they were. You told me the operation would not be measurably impacted. It clearly has.”

  “It’s true that the bar has been set very high. But I—”

  She broke in again. “Now, you know you have no bigger supporter than me.”

  He knew that was a blatant lie but automatically said, “I appreciate that very much. You’ve been a true asset and marvelous leader during very stressful times.” Cabinet secretaries’ butts were large indeed and required an inordinate amount of kissing.

  She smiled for the requisite few seconds, then her expression turned dour. “There are those out there, however, who do not share my enthusiasm. Over the years the E-Program has ruffled some important feathers. Taken budget dollars and mission responsibility from other agencies. That is the Holy Grail in our world. The pie is what it is. Someone gets a bigger slice, others have to make do with a smaller one.”

  And DHS, thought Bunting, had taken by far the biggest slice of all.

  He said, “But it’s indisputable that the E-Program has been tremendously successful. It’s kept this country safer than if every agency was competing with each other. That model just doesn’t work anymore.”