McDaniels picked up his cell phone. He speed dialed Barrington’s number.
“Barrington.”
“Tom, there’s a brand spanking new black Cadillac Escalade across the street from your window. Kay and I believe it may be Mero’s people. Can you get it under surveillance?”
“Sure, Colonel, I have a few extra mini cameras with me. Pete and Nancy are in her apartment. Pete set up cameras in her living room so he must not have found any belonging to Mero. I have sight and sound already. Does he know about the Cad yet?”
“I told him a couple minutes ago. Can you relay an image into my notebook computer out here?”
“Can do - Kay knows how to punch into our signal.”
Fifteen minutes later, McDaniels and Rasheed were watching the Cadillac Escalade on the notebook computer Rasheed had set up on the console between them. Exhaust fumes coming from the Cadillac puffed out whitely in the cold air.
“These people are amateurs to idle a vehicle they are watching from,” Rasheed commented.
“They’re cold and you’re right, not very smart. At least it confirms we have a group idling out in front of Tamara’s apartment for no apparent reason. I hope Pete briefed Nancy on not babbling about our business in the apartment before he had a chance to check it out.”
“Perhaps young Pete decided to close the deal before getting on with the business at hand.”
McDaniels chuckled appreciatively. “Close the deal, huh? You’re getting witty with the Americanisms, Kay. I’m sure Pete did all that was required of him for God and Country.”
“We can find out what is going on. Let us put our headsets back on,” Rasheed suggested, reaching into the backseat for his.
“You listen if you want. I’d just as soon wait for Tom’s call. They have audio and visual. Besides, if Pete asks you if you were listening in on the receiver we have on him you will not have deniability. I will rat your ass out fast.”
Rasheed tossed the headset into the back again. “You are no fun, Cold Mountain. It would be best if you became more accustomed to interoffice antics so you will fit in better after your return from my homeland.”
“You can brief me on it when I get back, Kay.”
McDaniels’ cell-phone rang and he answered it.
“Nancy took a call from Mero just now, Colonel,” Barrington said. “She’s playing it very well. She didn’t wait for Mero to say anything about Pete. Nancy started right off by saying she would have to get the phone in the bedroom because she had her boyfriend with her.”
“Good deal. Did Jen get a trace?”
“Ten more seconds. Mero wants a meet nearby which I expect means he’ll have his boys pick her up… okay, Jen has it.”
“Can you get a team over there to document it and get Mero on camera?”
“Right away. Jen says they want Nancy to leave the apartment alone and walk north up the street. I had her get in touch with On-Star.”
“Who?”
“It’s installed on all new GM vehicles. Their company can communicate with the driver, unlock the car, or give directions from satellite. They can also shut the vehicle off.”
“Can we do that?”
“I called Diane the moment you told me about the Escalade. The Syrian embassy took delivery of a new Cadillac Escalade last week. Diane went after a court order for us to do anything we want to with it under the Patriot Act.”
“You are the man,” McDaniels complimented Barrington with enthusiasm.
“Wait one… okay we’re hooked up. You’ll be getting tracking info right on your laptop as of now. If things look like they’re going into the toilet, we’ll shut the sucker down.”
“I’m not too crazy about Nancy going in the van with these guys. I probably have her a little too high strung to pull that off safely.”
“She tried to arrange something else but he cut her off. Nancy hinted she had bad news for him… aw crap, Colonel - it’s the Syrian Embassy.”
“You mean the trace?”
“Yeah,” Barrington replied. “You don’t think he’d have her taken to the embassy, do you?”
“It would be the safest place for him. It sucks for us though. How the heck can we follow things without her being wired?”
Barrington laughed. “Colonel, we have stuff the Syrians couldn’t detect even if they had the equipment capable of it. Pete will have her ready. He’s doing a great job of calming her.”
“Will she be able to hear us coach her through anything she gets asked?”
“Yep, that’s the only reason she agreed to go out alone. I think Pete promised her if there was even a hint of trouble you would pull her out.”
“Unless you know something about the Syrian embassy I don’t, I think you may be overestimating my abilities, Boss. If things go wrong in there, a lot of diplomatic immunity types are going to be seriously injured.”
“I see what you mean. You’ve done so many things I guess I figured the embassy would be a cinch. We’ll have to hope the actual ambassadorial staff has plausible deniability in this - in which case Mero won’t bring her in the embassy. I… wait one… what was that?”
McDaniels heard Rutledge telling Barrington something and then Barrington acknowledging it.
“Jen says she went to one of those shindigs they give in Washington and met the Syrian ambassador, Imad Moustapha. She says he’s a consummate politician. He likes his post in Washington.”
“So he wouldn’t want to jeopardize it by tying himself to his own country’s terrorist dealings.”
“Exactly. Mero may not feel any qualms about calling out of the embassy but I’ll bet he draws the line at bringing American citizens into the embassy for interrogation.”
“Hope you’re right. Let me know when Nancy walks out the door. I’ll let the Cad get started and then have Pete ready to join us at the entrance. We’ll take him with us in case we need another player.”
“Good idea. Let me have Jen explain it to him for you. Just concentrate on the Cad… okay, Nancy’s heading out the door now. I hope they don’t plan on gunning her down in the street.”
“You wouldn’t have made a comment like that when you weren’t in charge,” McDaniels complained good-naturedly.
“Are you trying to infer I’ve turned into a Washington weenie, Colonel?”
“Here comes Nancy, Boss.” McDaniels ignored Barrington’s rhetorical question. “The windows aren’t opening up so I guess they won’t be gunning her down after all. I hope she feels better than she looks.”
“I see that. Anyway, Pete’s right behind her waiting in the entryway for you to pull up. There goes the Escalade slowly following her.”
“Let us know how it goes down.” McDaniels signaled Rasheed who started their SUV. They circled the block so as to pass the entrance to Tamara’s building in the same direction as the Cadillac Escalade. “If I spot a stalled out Cad in the road I’ll expect the worst.”
“We’ll pipe the audio to you.”
“Roger that,” McDaniels acknowledged, ending the call.
“She is not breathing well.” Rasheed listened to the audio from Tamara’s transmitter.
Donaldson entered the van as Rasheed slowed. He heard the sound pickup from the notebook computer.
“Nancy had an idea how to play this so don’t think we’re toast yet.”
“I hope so because she sounds like she’s ready to launch into hyper-drive,” McDaniels replied. “They sure are taking their sweet time picking her up.”
The three men listening to the audio on the notebook computer while watching the Escalade’s signal tracking on a map heard someone call out Tamara’s name. Her subsequent sharp intake of breath was her only answer. Tamara kept silent as she walked toward the van.
“Get in,” someone ordered her in heavily accented English.
“Where…where are you taking me,” Tamara asked hesitantly, the naked fear in her voice strikingly evident to the group in Rasheed’s SUV.
“Just get in,
woman,” the man said impatiently.
The sound of her breathing and belting herself into the Escalade seat was followed by silence. The Escalade tracking signal moved off in the general direction of the Syrian embassy.
“I don’t like this, Colonel,” Donaldson stated.
“Do not plan a rescue just yet, Galahad,” Rasheed quipped. “Let us see if they go all the way to the embassy or not.”
“You mean the call Nancy received came from the Syrian embassy?” Donaldson leaned forward in his seat. “I don’t know why, but I figured Mero would have been in the Cad.”
“Not likely. We’re hoping Mero leaves the consulate to meet with her somewhere else. Tom has a team watching on Wyoming Avenue for Mero to emerge.”
“I’m glad Nancy doesn’t know that. Man, she was freaked after the phone call. It was all I could do to get her to stay quiet until I checked the rooms for bugs.”
“And…?” McDaniels asked.
“It was bugged alright. I didn’t have time to look for cameras. I gave the room a micro-blast with the light weapon prototype. Anyhow, instead of tripping out completely, Nancy told me it would be best for her to play the whole thing scared to death. She suggested asking for sanctuary from Mero after she tells him about Dillon and Kasyanov.”
“That’s good thinking,” McDaniels allowed. “The more truth she can put into her story, the better. He’ll already know about the warehouse, Dillon, and the Russians. He won’t know for sure about Nancy. If the Syrians aren’t bankrolling this cell, or controlling it directly, there has to be someone doing it.”
McDaniels’ cell-phone rang.
“McDaniels.”
“Mero just left the embassy with two bodyguards,” Barrington said. “He entered a restaurant on Wyoming, just down the street.”
“That’s good news. I don’t think Nancy would have held up too well if Mero brought her into the embassy. I think I’ll send Kay in for a cup of coffee so we’ll have someone close.”
“Good one. No way Mero will suspect Kay. I was going to ask you if I should send in a couple of people tailing Mero. With Kay watching Nancy’s back I’ll have the team on Mero stake out the embassy for a while. We have a camera on the entrance already. Maybe we’ll see a few other players.”
“Have you come up with anything we can feed these clowns from Aginson’s office?”
“Not yet; but we’re working on it. Aginson thinks we might be able to expose someone causing havoc in Iraq and their neighbors. Your name was mentioned.”
“Count me in on that,” McDaniels replied. “If I can do anything to squelch those rats blowing up everything in sight over there, I’ll get ‘er done.”
“Aginson figured you’d feel…”
“The Cad stopped. Talk to you in a few.” McDaniels ended the call. “You hear the part about coffee, Kay?”
“Yes.” Rasheed parked the SUV well back from the Escalade which had pulled over in front of a restaurant called Ahmed’s Cuisine. “Can I be armed?”
“Hell yeah. I don’t expect anything bad happening. If it does waste the whole bunch of them. We’ll rig it later.”
“I will endeavor not to harm your woman, Pete,” Rasheed waved at Donaldson as he stepped out of the SUV.
“Take care of yourself, Kay. Nancy’s a big girl. She got herself into this.”
“Of course.” Rasheed closed the door behind him before proceeding toward the restaurant. The men in the Escalade had not yet emerged. Rasheed walked by the van with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his coat and his head down. He entered the restaurant, just as the passenger side door of the Escalade opened. A medium built man of Middle Eastern heritage exited and opened the door for Nancy to get out. He held onto her arm, escorting her inside the restaurant. Moments later, above the clatter of a busy restaurant, McDaniels and Donaldson heard a man’s voice speak up in perfect English.
“Nancy, so good to see you again. Please sit down.”
“Things are not well, Mr. Mero,” Nancy replied in a hushed voice as McDaniels and Donaldson heard her sit down over the audio feed in Rasheed’s van. “Could I apply for sanctuary?”
In the ensuing silence, McDaniels smiled at Donaldson. “Oh, that was very well done.”
“Calm yourself, Nancy. Things are probably not as bad as you think they are. Tell me what has happened to upset you so much.”
“They have Dillon and Kasyanov. Both of them know about me. I was sure they would arrest me at any moment. I even went out with some special ops guy. He’s been asking me to date him for some time. I figured my being with him would allay suspicion enough for me to make arrangements to get out of the country. Can you help me?”
“Of course, of course,” Mero said confidently. “That was very smart to get close to a co-worker. I do not think you need worry about either Kasyanov or Dillon betraying you. If they send them out of the country it would be time then to worry about betrayal. If the Israeli’s or Egyptians question them Dillon certainly would name you. Your agency can do nothing with them here after all the backlash over mistreatment of prisoners lately.”
“Please,” Tamara continued her plea convincingly, “I know they’ll…”
“Just a little longer, Nancy - then I will escort you out of the country myself. You will be very well compensated for your work from now on, much more even than before. Were you able to tape any more information during these last few days?”
“Yes, but I’ve been afraid to retrieve it. They’re checking everyone more closely since Dillon’s arrest.”
“It is vital you find a way to get this information to me. The warehouse was a huge setback for us. We have other avenues to pursue if we can continue to monitor your agency’s movements.”
“I…I’ll transfer the recording onto a CD. I’ll make up a label for it which matches one of my music CD holders.”
“Very good,” Mero complimented her. “Did you hear anything you taped?”
“I’ve been afraid to put on my ear piece. That bitch Reskova popped in the other day out of nowhere with three of her people for a meeting with Aginson. I thought she came in to arrest me.”
“Still… I will most definitely need the recording of what went on in the Director’s office during the meeting you speak of, Nancy. We know of this Reskova woman from Dillon. She will be dealt with.”
Chapter 34
Close Call
In the SUV, Donaldson watched McDaniels’ face tighten and a thin smile appear on the Colonel’s mouth. If ever the face of Death smiled, Donaldson thought, this would be how the Grim Reaper would look. Donaldson wondered if the entire operation was now in jeopardy after Mero’s one sentence. McDaniels sensed Donaldson watching him. He looked over at Pete during a lull in the conversation as the party inside ordered their meal.
“What’s up, Pete?”
“You aren’t thinking of doing anything hasty, are you Colonel?”
“Define hasty.”
“Hasty like making Mero a candidate for the next Legend of Sleepy Hollow movie as the headless horseman.”
McDaniels faced forward, leaning back in his seat. “You’ve been hanging around with Kay too long already.”
“We kind of need Mero to remain among the living until we can get a little further along in this, Colonel - otherwise, everything Nancy is doing in there will be for nothing.”
A split second later Donaldson was jammed bodily up against the SUV roof, his back brushing the driver’s side window. McDaniels had moved so suddenly Donaldson’s legs were still twisted painfully under the steering wheel where he had taken Rasheed’s place in the driver’s seat. Donaldson thought with some amusement as he struggled to breathe why McDaniels’ nickname fit so well. The rage drained from McDaniels’ face as Donaldson remained unmoving with a crooked smile on his contorted features. McDaniels released him but remained close to the younger man, staring purposefully in Donaldson’s face.
“Don’t think for a moment I give a shit what your new girlfriend goes
through or doesn’t go through, Pete.”
“I was referring to how far we could get in finding other terrorists with Mero alive, Colonel. I didn’t mean to imply Nancy was more valuable than AD Reskova.”
McDaniels settled into his seat again. “Sorry.”
“My bad. I thought for a moment Mero might not make it out of the restaurant alive.”
McDaniels remained silent as the two men heard the clatter of silverware and the sounds of something being set down on the table where Mero and Tamara were. Donaldson began to worry in earnest.
“C’mon, Colonel,” Donaldson urged hesitantly, “we can protect Diane. If you take Mero out now we’ll lose you too and so will Diane. They’ll lock you up and throw away the key.”
McDaniels glanced over at Donaldson. “The only reason I was ever taken into custody was because I let them take me. I could disappear without a trace five seconds after I put a bullet right between Mero’s eyes and no one would ever find me.”
“That’s true, Sir. Diane would never see you again either - nor would the Marines you’re going back to Iraq with. You did give them your word, didn’t you, Colonel?”
McDaniels tensed, his fists balling up into white knuckled fury for a moment. He sat stolidly for the next few minutes as Mero began speaking in calming tones to Tamara again. Looking over at Donaldson, McDaniels smiled grimly.
“You’re right, Pete, but don’t ever mention my word or my duty to me again.”
“Yes, Sir.” Donaldson let his breath out slowly.
* * *
Rasheed came out of the restaurant with an easy unhurried stride. He entered the SUV in calm fashion.
“They are almost finished,” Rasheed informed McDaniels and Donaldson. “Nothing will happen in there now. Did you get anything… hey, what is up with you two?”
“Nothing, Kay,” McDaniels replied with a reassuring glance back at his friend. Donaldson drove around the block and stopped. “Pete was just reminding me of my duty.”
“Uh oh,” Rasheed said.
“Never mind about that. Nancy seemed to have Mero in her camp. We have it all recorded. There’s enough to get Mero a one-way ticket to Gitmo for the duration. We’ll have to cook up some stuff real fast for Nancy to feed him. Here they come.”
Monster Page 35
