Camel Club 05 - Hell's Corner

by David Baldacci

  Stone rose and looked out the window and assembled in his mind the topography of the area around the park. To the north and west along H Street were the United States Chamber of Commerce building and the venerable Hay-Adams Hotel. To the northeast was St. John’s Church. Behind all these locations were federal government and office buildings. He recalled that the Hay-Adams had a rooftop garden area. And it was a taller building than the church. And height was important here to explain the trajectory of the bullets.

  He moved on to the next question. Why did they take me to NIC? Just for my observations? There were other people there who could have told them the same things I did. There had to be another reason. Fair winds and following seas?

  Stone looked out the window and saw the black Town Car pull up to the gates. As the occupants climbed out Stone eyed the men. FBI, he thought. Bureau agents tended to spend a little more on their clothes. Stone doubted that they were here to escort him to a plane destined for Mexico. The president would not have involved the FBI in something like that. Too many legal roadblocks. The Bureau tended to follow the letter of the law. And the FBI director had the clout to tell the president no. So perhaps the equation had changed once more.

  And maybe this time in my favor.

  As the four people drew closer, Stone could see that his initial observation was correct. He had just spied an FBI Academy ring on one of the men’s fingers. There was also a woman with them, and Stone didn’t think she was FBI. Assessing every feature from her teeth to her facial structure to her walk, she was a Brit, he concluded. MI6 most likely. Tasked for external intelligence, security and investigations.

  This certainly made sense if the British PM was the target. She was either in country traveling with him, stationed here, or she had taken a day flight over, leaving at around two and getting in at about the same time. By the looks of it Stone opted for the latter.

  And it was very clear why they were here. The bullets were one thing, but that bomb had been meant to blow somebody up and Stone didn’t think it was an overweight jogger. And they thought Stone could somehow help them find the truth.

  Ironic, he thought. The truth.

  He kept watching them as they approached his cottage.

  CHAPTER 9

  THE WOMAN WAS INDEED WITH MI6. Her name was Mary Chapman. Up close she turned out to be in her mid-thirties, about five-eight, with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair held back with a clasp. Her eyes were intense and shining. She had a compact jaw, thin lips and a slender, wiry build, though her bare calves were muscled. Her fingers were long and her grip was a vise. In Stone’s opinion the Brit’s features were classically attractive without being overwhelming. Chapman’s eyes were deeply green and active. She would never be described as “cute,” thought Stone. Confident, intimidating even, but never cute.

  “How was the flight across the pond? Little jet-lagged?” Stone said after everyone had been introduced and they’d taken up seats in front of the empty fireplace.

  Chapman gazed at Stone and then made a show of smoothing out a wrinkle on her suit jacket. “No bloody beds in coach, even on dear old British Air.” Within her accent and words Stone detected a sense of humility along with a potential for broad humor.

  “You must be highly thought of for them to fly you nearly three thousand miles here. MI6 has a permanent footprint in D.C., doesn’t it?”

  Chapman eyed the shabby interior of the cottage before settling her eyes back on Stone’s threadbare clothes. “And I thought the Yanks paid their people better.”

  One of the FBI agents cleared his throat. “Agent Chapman is here to assist the Bureau with its investigation.”

  Stone turned his attention to the man. He was beefy though strongly built. A desk jockey, Stone assumed, by the size of his waist and perspiring forehead. He was clearly only the messenger and note taker. He wouldn’t be doing any of the heavy lifting on this.

  “I’ve already been to NIC. They beat you to it. They came to the hospital. You were slower, if classier.”

  Beefy looked chagrined by this but plunged on. “And was the meeting helpful?”

  “I thought you were into cooperation and sharing these days.”

  Beefy gazed stonily back at him.

  Stone said, “They weren’t particularly forthcoming. I’m hoping you can do better.”

  Chapman crossed her legs and said, “Sorry if I seem a bit nitpicky, but I didn’t see your credentials.”

  Stone replied in a pleasant tone, “I don’t have any to show you.”

  She looked at Beefy quizzically.

  He said stiffly, “A formality that needn’t interrupt the progress of the investigation.”

  Chapman hiked her eyebrows at this but remained silent.

  “Good,” said Stone. He sat back in his desk chair and his features grew serious. “The park.” He gave them a minute-by-minute account of what had happened. When he was finished he added, “There are three people out there unaccounted for.” He gazed at Beefy. “And do we know the name of the unfortunate jogger?”

  “There were human remains found. Everywhere,” Beefy added, his mouth curled up with distaste.

  “Identifiable?”

  “It won’t be an easy one, but it’s also not insurmountable. Clearly DNA at this point. If he’s on a database somewhere we’ll get a hit. We’ve posted his picture from the video feed on our Web sites and given it to the media to splash around. Someone will hopefully come forward or at the very least report him missing.”

  “The other three?”

  “With the man in the suit and the woman we’re running the video feed taken at the park through facial recognition databases, although the man never looked in the direction of the surveillance cameras. No hits as of four minutes ago. We’ve also placed the images with the media, asking for the public’s help.”

  “Do you see them as perhaps connected to this?” asked Stone.

  “Too early to tell. Maybe they were just lucky they left the park when they did.”

  “And the ganger? Was he a cop?”

  “Did NIC tell you he was?”

  “Not in so many words. But they didn’t deny it either.”

  “I won’t deny it either, then.”

  Stone said, “His tooth was sticking in my head until the doctors removed it. You can get a dental match on that, and possibly a DNA hit.” He held up his sleeve. “And this is his blood. Do you have a kit in the trunk of the Bucar? You can swab for it right now.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” said Chapman.

  Stone turned to her. “And why is that?”

  “Because the tooth belongs to one of our security people who was patrolling the park. The doctors didn’t return it to you, did they? See, my man would actually like it back.”

  “And why was your man in the park last night?”

  “Because before he turned his ankle after tripping on some steps at the White House, my prime minister was scheduled to walk across Lafayette Park on his way back to Blair House, at precisely two minutes past eleven. Lucky for him he didn’t, since he would have had his damn head blown off.”

  CHAPTER 10

  AFTER THE FBI AGENTS and MI6 Chapman left, Stone puttered in the cemetery for a half hour, righting tombstones toppled by a recent heavy rain and cleaning debris caused by the same storm. This manual labor allowed him to think clearly. And he had a lot that was puzzling him and no answers. As he was bagging some sticks and small branches, he stiffened and slowly turned around.

  “I’m impressed.”

  He turned to see Mary Chapman come out from behind a bush. “I never moved. What, you have eyes in the back of your head?”

  “Sometimes.” Stone tied up the bag and deposited it next to a wooden storage shed. “When I need to.”

  Chapman walked over to him. “This is amazing cover for an agent. A cemetery worker.”

  “Caretaker, actually. This cemetery isn’t used any longer. It’s a historical site.”

  She stopped,
lifted one leg and rubbed some dirt off her plain black low-heeled pump. “I see. And do you enjoy taking care of the dead?”

  “I do.”

  “Why?”

  “They never argue with me.” He headed back to the cottage. She followed. They sat on the front porch. A minute of silence passed as they listened to the chirps of birds mingled with the sounds of passing cars. Stone stared straight ahead. Chapman’s gaze continued to flick at him like an erratic beam of light.

  “So Oliver Stone?” she said at last, with mirth in her eyes. “I’ve enjoyed several of your movies. Are you here scouting another film?”

  “Why did you come back?” he asked, finally turning to her.

  She rose and surprised him by saying, “Got time for a spot of coffee? I’ll buy.”

  She had a car, so they drove to lower Georgetown and found a parking spot on the street, an almost unheard-of event in the congested area.

  Stone told her so.

  “Right,” she said, clearly unimpressed by this. “Try parking in London.”

  They carried their coffees and sat outside at a small table. Chapman took off her pumps, hiked her skirt to mid-thigh, put her feet up on an empty chair, leaned back, closed her eyes and let the sun fall fully on her pale face and bare legs. “England rarely has sun this strong,” she explained. “And when it does it’s usually immediately interrupted by clouds and then rain. Makes a lot of us seriously suicidal. Particularly if it rains in bloody August and you have no holiday abroad planned.”

  “I know.”

  She opened her eyes. “Do you now?”

  “I lived in London for two years. It was a long time ago,” he added.

  “Business?”

  “You could say that, yes.”

  “John Carr?”

  Stone drank his coffee, said nothing.

  She sipped her coffee and let the silence linger.

  “John Carr?” she said again.

  “I heard you the first time,” he said politely, glancing sideways at her.

  She smiled. “Would you like to know where I heard that name for the first time?”

  Stone didn’t answer, but his silence apparently constituted enough of an assent for her to continue.

  “James McElroy. He’s a good bit older than you are.” She ran her eye over his tall, spare frame. “And not in nearly as good shape.”

  Stone again said nothing.

  “He’s a legend in British intelligence circles. Ran MI6 for decades. But I believe you know all that. Now he has some special title, I’m not really sure what it is. But he does what he wants. And bloody good for the country too, I can tell you that.”

  “Is he well?”

  “Yes. Apparently somewhat due to you. Iran, 1977? Six fanatics sent to place his head on the sharp end of a spear? Six dead men after you finished with them. He said he didn’t even have time to pull his weapon to help you. Then you were gone, just like that. Never had a chance to properly thank you.”

  “I didn’t require any thanks. He was our ally. It was my job.”

  “Well, irrespective, he said that for decades he wanted to buy you a pint for saving his arse, but you never turned up again. He still wants to, as a matter of fact.”

  “Again, not necessary.”

  Chapman stretched, put her feet back on the pavement, edged her skirt down and slipped her pumps back on. “By sheer coincidence he’s here in town.”

  “Is that why you came back?”

  “Yes and no.”

  He stared at her expectantly.

  “Yes, in that I knew he would want to see you. No in that I had my own reasons.”

  “Which are?”

  She leaned forward and Stone saw the Walther PPK pistol hanging from her black leather shoulder holster revealed through the gap between her jacket and shirt.

  He inclined his head at the pistol. “Tough trigger pull, isn’t it?”

  “You get used to it.” She paused, swirling her remaining coffee with a wooden stirrer. “Let’s face it, this has been a cock-up from start to finish. The Americans have so many agencies I can’t get a straight answer from any of them. My boss feels the same way. However, America is our chief ally and we intend to do nothing to disrupt that relationship, of course. But it was our PM put at risk and we have an obligation to see it through.”

  “And you’ve come to me? Why?”

  “James McElroy trusts you. Ergo, I trust you. And you were there last night. That makes you valuable.”

  “Maybe. But Iran was a long time ago, Agent Chapman.”

  “Some things don’t change. McElroy said you were one of them.”

  “That’s assuming that I really am John Carr.”

  “Oh, you are, I have no doubt of that.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “When I was here earlier I lifted a set of your prints from a glass in your loo when I went to take a pee. With my boss’s weight behind me, I was able to get a priority search on NIC’s database. Still, it took passing through eight levels of security, a few burned-out computers and two high-level authorizations before the hit came back.” She hiked her eyebrows. “John Carr. Of the CIA’s late and lamented Triple Six Division.”

  “Which officially never existed,” he said quietly.

  “No matter to me. I was just a nipper when it pulled its last trigger, official or not.” She stood. “Ready to go see the man whose life you saved? He really does want to buy you that pint, Mr. Carr.”

  CHAPTER 11

  JAMES MCELROY WAS SITTING in his suite at the Willard Hotel when Stone and Chapman were ushered in. The Brit spymaster was now seventy-four years old, gray and bowed. His substantial belly poked through the front of his jacket. When he rose from the chair, his arthritic knees quivered a bit, yet the man’s roaming and intelligent eyes clearly showed that while age had decimated him physically, his mental agility remained completely intact. Though he was once over six-two, gravity and infirmity had shaved a couple of inches from his frame. His hair was thinning and slicked back, revealing lines of pink flesh underneath. Flecks of dandruff clung to the shoulders of his blue jacket.

  When he saw Stone, his eyes lit up. “You haven’t changed a jot,” said McElroy. “Except your hair is white.” He lightly smacked Stone’s flat, hard belly before extending his hand and then gripping Stone in a bear hug. “And I’m fat and you’re not.”

  When they separated, McElroy waved them both into chairs. “How the hell have you been, John?”

  “I’ve been,” said Stone simply.

  The Brit nodded in understanding, his expression growing somber. “Yes, I actually have some knowledge of what you mean by that. Events became particularly trying for you.”

  “One way to describe it.”

  McElroy’s eyes narrowed. “I heard about… you know. And I’m sorry.”

  “More than I got from my own side. But thank you.”

  Chapman looked at Stone and McElroy and said, “Care to share, sir?”

  “No,” said Stone. “He wouldn’t.”

  McElroy didn’t take his gaze off Stone but said to her, “John and I are of a generation that will carry our professional secrets to the grave. Understood?”

  “Yes sir,” she replied quickly.

  “John, will you join me for a drink?”

  “Little early for me.”

  “But it’s already quite late in London, so let’s pretend, shall we? Special occasion and all? Two old friends.”

  An attendant brought drinks for all three. Stone had a beer, Chapman a Beefeater martini and McElroy a slender finger of scotch. He looked at Stone over the rim of his glass. “Gallstones. Bloody things driving me mad. But it’s said a small measure of good scotch can kill them dead. At least I believe I heard that somewhere. In this case a rumor will suffice.” He lifted his glass. “Cheers.”

  They all drank and McElroy dabbed his mouth with his pocket kerchief.

  “The PM?” prompted Stone, and Chapman drew a little str
aighter in her chair as she bit into a fat olive from her drink.

  McElroy looked pained, rubbed his side and nodded in a perfunctory manner. “Yes, the PM. Solid chap. I actually voted for him. Between you and me he’s a bit dodgy on some things, but what politician isn’t?”

  “Dodgy enough to be blown up?” asked Stone.

  “Don’t think so, no. Not homegrown, in other words.”

  “Lot of enemies out there.” Stone glanced at Chapman. “Our closest ally. It’s put a bull’s-eye on your little island.”

  “Quite so, yes. But we soldier on, don’t we?”

  “Who knew he’d be walking across the park?”

  “Limited circle,” answered Chapman as McElroy continued to rub his side while finishing his scotch. “They’re all being checked out as we speak.”

  McElroy looked uninterested in this detail, and Stone was quick to pick up on that. “Another theory?”

  McElroy sniffed. “I’m not sure it actually rises to the level of a theory just yet, John.”

  “I go by Oliver now.”

  He looked chagrined. “Of course you do. I read the briefing papers. Afraid my memory’s just not what it was. Well, Oliver, it’s just a thought.”

  “Which is?”

  Just as Stone had done earlier, McElroy held up four fingers of his right hand. “A quartet of people in the park last night.” He lowered one finger. “Our man was the one whose tooth you were briefly in possession of.”

  “Agent Chapman told me he was one of yours and that he was patrolling the park. But why, if the PM wouldn’t be there?”