Choppy Water - Stuart Woods Page 0,45
across the hall from my room.”
“What time did the call come in?”
“A little after three-thirty.”
“His man was reporting in,” Tom said.
“They were outside talking when I came down for breakfast. They were excited and elated.”
“Eugene reported a successful hit, and it was, but on the dummy.”
“I got your e-mail,” she said. “I take it my message wasn’t received.”
“It was very broken, but it got us looking. The shot was fired from the rectory at the Episcopal church across the way from the White House. Wright and I checked it out yesterday, and we had planned to be there at four AM, but they turned up early and were long gone when we got there.”
“I heard the White House report on TV.”
“That was about making them think they had succeeded.”
“Well, it worked. Now what?”
“Did anything happen at Sykes’s compound that would stand up as evidence for an arrest?”
“Just what I told you.”
“When are you going back out there?”
“This weekend.”
“Sykes clearly doesn’t trust you.”
“That’s because I’m not sleeping with him. I told him I’m a lesbian.”
“And he wouldn’t trust a lesbian?”
“Not in a century. But I wasn’t willing to fuck him to gain his trust. I’m a lousy undercover agent, right?”
“I like you better lousy. Keep me posted over the weekend.”
“It’s not easy. There’s no cell service, and Wi-Fi is only turned on a couple of times a day, to receive messages.”
“Do the best you can.” They both hung up.
35
Stone and Holly were having breakfast when Bill Wright came into the residence. “You folks ready?”
“As soon as we’ve finished breakfast,” Holly said.
“The Lincoln is waiting for you. I’ll get your luggage. Don’t forget your disguise. And the walker.”
Holly sighed. “You haven’t convinced me about the disguise. After all, they found me.”
“They found a dummy, ma’am. They don’t know where you are.”
* * *
—
They took off shortly after eleven. Bill came and sat down with them. “I want to bring you up to date.”
“Thank you,” Holly said. “I’d like that.”
“We think we know who did this, but we can’t prove it, I’m sorry to say. We have a mole in their camp, but they don’t trust her enough to tell her these things in advance.”
“It’s a woman?” Stone asked.
“It is. She’s an FBI agent who’s been assigned to the Justice Department for several weeks. There’s no cell service at the colonel’s compound, but she managed to get a garbled message out about the attack.”
“And who are the group?”
“The top man is a retired Army colonel named Wade Sykes.”
“I’ve heard that name before,” Holly said. “He left under some sort of cloud, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He was charged with distributing white-supremacy materials on several Army bases, but he agreed to resign if they didn’t prosecute him. He’s quite well connected in Washington, especially among the right-wingers in Congress.”
“Will he keep trying?” Stone asked.
“I will be surprised if he doesn’t,” Bill replied. “Pretty soon he’ll find out that his attempt failed, and I expect that will humiliate him.”
“I think you’d better stay at my house,” Stone said.
“No,” Holly replied. “I’m not going to run from this bastard.”
“We’re working with the FBI on this,” Bill said, “and they’re going to set up surveillance on Sykes’s compound. If he or anyone else leaves the place, he’ll be followed. I’m working with Tom Blake, the assistant director, and he’s setting up the surveillance. He’ll also have some people on the street for you.”
They began the descent into Teterboro, and Bill went back to his seat.
* * *
—
They met at a restaurant in Georgetown. “When are you going back out there?” Tom asked Elizabeth.
“Tomorrow,” she said.
“Has he asked you to be there at that time?”
“No, he just asked if I’d be back for the weekend, and I said I would, if he wanted me to be. We didn’t mention a time.”
“How many vehicles live at the place?”
“Sykes drives a silver Ford Explorer, pretty new. There’s a van, and Eugene seems to drive that more than anyone else. The cook, Elroy Hubbard, drives a Toyota station wagon, but I don’t think he’s really a part of the group. Sykes won’t talk about anything when he’s in the room.”
“All right,” Bill said, placing a leatherette pouch on the table. “There are two trackers in this package. I want you to place them on Sykes’s Explorer and the van.”
“All right.”
“They have lithium ion batteries and only operate when they detect movement. Don’t place them in the wheel wells; they’re too easy to find there. Wait until dark, then crawl under each vehicle and