Collateral Damage (22 page)

It was obvious to all three men that Russell was scared out of his wits. The consensus was that Winters was too stupid to be scared. A string of obscenities spewed from Winters’s mouth about it all being a setup, and he knew the three sons of bitches were in on the heist and he was going to make sure they went to a federal prison.

“Well, damn! See! See! Now we’re having fun.” Jack cackled uproariously; Bert and Harry joined in. “I love it when the good guys catch the bad guys. Just luv, luv it! Being up close and personal is so important. I just feel warm and fuzzy all over. How about you guys?”

Winters started to explode again, but Harry whacked him full in the mouth. One of Winters’s front teeth flew out of his mouth and landed on the dashboard. Jack laughed harder. “If he opens his mouth again, take off one of those swamp boots and shove it in. Then shove the other one up his ass. That should shut him up until we get where we’re going.”

“I hear you, boss.”

I
t was late afternoon when Bert steered the armor-plated SUV to the rendezvous point. He pulled into a gas station that looked like it had gone out of business a hundred years ago. He drove around to the back, where a huge Dumpster was leaning against the ramshackle building that had once been a minimart, so they would be invisible from the road.

The two black Hummers with their blackened windows, engines running, looked frightening in the gray afternoon light. “Why do I feel like I’m in a Stephen King movie?” Jack asked under his breath.

“What’s going on? Where is this place? I want out of here right now. This is Goddamn kidnapping. I’ll have your asses for this, all three of you. Russell, do something,” Daniel Winters bellowed.

The fund-raiser stared straight ahead but remained silent.

“Shut up,” Bert said. “I can’t stand that whiny voice of yours. How the hell did you ever get to be the president’s chief of staff, anyway?”

Russell finally spoke. “He probably blackmailed him. That little shit isn’t even good at what he does. The rumor in town is that he’s going to get his walking papers if the president gets in for a second term. Didn’t you figure out yet that this is what it’s all about?”

“Well, yeah, I did figure it out. I just like hearing that little squirt make himself sound important. Loser,” Jack snarled.

“You’re going to regret this. Russell is just a greedy bastard who tries to seduce every woman in town. Sex is all he thinks about,” Winters sniped.

Russell rose to the bait and squawked. “Yeah, well me and everyone else in town heard about you and that intern and how you couldn’t get it up. Then you wrote a disparaging letter, and she was terminated.”

“Boys, boys, boys! Enough of this pettiness. You’re giving me a headache. Just sit there and worry about what’s going to happen to you at the hands of the vigilantes,” Jack said.

“It will be dark in fifteen minutes,” Harry said. “You sure you have the route down pat, Bert?”

“Got it. I take the lead. I’ve been at The Point before, so I pretty much know my way around. It’s not like we’re going to drive up to the gate or anything. This is clandestine. I came here with Cummings about two years ago, and we got the royal tour. He wasn’t the director back then. Contrary to what the media says, the CIA and the FBI do get along. Most of the time. Relax, Harry.”

“I see snow flurries,” Jack said. “Temperature must be dropping.” He craned his neck to look at the impressive dash with all its bells and whistles. “I’d say 34 degrees is a bit nippy. Too bad our guests are wearing Wall Street attire. Those wing tips are not going to do well in a swamp.”

“Where are you taking us?” Winters bellowed so loud, Jack clamped his hands over his ears.

“All right, all right, if you really need to know, we’re taking you to the vigilantes. They are going to take you into the swamp. Now, are you happy that you know where you’re going?”

Winters sounded like a petulant schoolboy when he said, “I’m not going into any swamp in the dark. You can’t make me.”

Bert turned around and glared at Winters. “You know, for an asshole, you’re one cocky little bastard. You messed with the wrong people, and now they’re going to make you pay for what you did. Get it through that thick head of yours, the life you had before this morning…gone.”

Russell tried to lean forward, but Harry slapped him back into place. “Please, I’ll tell you everything I know, and it isn’t much. All this was Winters’s idea. For God’s sake, I’m just a professional fund-raiser who believes in his president. That little shit doesn’t even like the president. All he does is bad-mouth him.”

“Save it for someone who cares. We’re just the transportation guys. The vigilantes are the ones you need to tell that sob story to,” Bert said.

“Okay, it’s dark,” Harry said. “Time to get this show on the road.”

Bert turned on the headlights and backed up one car length. He gave a light tap to the horn so the Hummers would follow him.

The caravan drove forward on what looked like a normal country road but was actually government property. Bert turned on his signal and made a left turn into a deeply rutted road that looked like it led to nowhere. Minutes later, he pulled off to the side and parked the SUV. Bert ran around to the back and opened the cargo hold’s door. He started tossing out gear left and right. Night vision goggles, infrared binoculars, an infrared-equipped handheld video camera, weapons, and a length of steel cable.

The women were busy doing the same thing.

“We look like a pack of space aliens,” Jack said as he opened the door and yanked at Russell.

Harry pulled a protesting Winters from the backseat.

“Gag them!” Jack recognized Nikki’s voice.

“With what?” Jack demanded.

“Who cares?” Nikki shot back. “This place is quiet as a tomb. If they start yelling, the whole damn complex will come on the run.”

She had a point. Jack peeled off his swamp boots and ripped off his socks. He stuffed them into Russell and Winters’s mouths and used some duct tape he took from his pocket to keep the gags in place.

“How far, Bert?” Myra asked.

“A half hour’s walk, maybe a little less. From here on in we have to be quiet. We use hand signals to do our talking. If anyone has anything to say, now is the time to say it.”

“Actions speak louder than words,” Kathryn said, leaning in close to Daniel Winters to make sure he got the message. He cringed, and Kathryn grinned.

“This is so exciting, isn’t it, Myra?” Annie asked. “I can’t believe I’m walking through a swamp in the dark, and the CIA doesn’t even know I’m here. This is like a dream.”

“It’s a nightmare, Annie. My heart is pumping so hard it might leap right out of my chest.”

“That’s what I mean. Our adrenaline is telling us we’re alive, and the world is ours for the taking.”

“I hope you still think that when the CIA catches up with us. Didn’t you hear Bert? We have to keep quiet now.”

“You’re such a poop sometimes, Myra.”

What was supposed to be a thirty-minute hike to their destination turned into a fifty-minute slog, with Winters dragging his feet, falling down, and having to be dragged. Finally, in frustration, Harry slung him over his shoulder and joined the parade.

Bert stopped suddenly and raised his arm. He turned to Jack, and hissed, “Did you hear something?”

Jack shook his head. The others waited until Bert raised his arm again to continue. Five minutes later they came to a small clearing surrounded by old oaks and maples. To the left of the clearing was a fenced-off area. Razor wire was stretched all along the top of the six-foot-high chain-link fence.

Harry dumped Winters into a heap on the ground and pointed to the fenced-off area. He grinned down at the man groveling at his feet.

Kathryn minced her way over to Winters, dropped to her haunches, and whispered, “Do you know what’s inside that fence? C’mon, take a guess, you piece of shit. No? Okay, I’m going to tell you. It’s
QUICKSAND!”
Winters’s eyes rolled back in his head, and the tears flowed. Russell sank to his knees, shaking from head to toe.

A strong gust of wind whipped through the clearing, bringing a swirl of snowflakes that temporarily blinded the group. Winters opened his eyes to see ten sets of green eyes staring at him. His eyes rolled back in his head a second time. Russell, to all appearances, had given up and was just sitting propped up against a tree with his head between his knees.

The rest were a team then, working in sync as Bert lashed the length of cable to a stout oak limb that was bigger than his waist. The end dangled down over the quicksand pond. Jack and Harry were snapping at the razor wire with bolt cutters and tossing it into the underbrush. When they finished, they hauled both men to their feet and slipped the cable under their arms and tightened it. Standing at the big oak, Bert reached up to see how much slack he had. Satisfied, he gave two tugs, and Winters sailed up and over the quicksand pond. Jack did the same thing with Russell.

Annie, who was standing beneath the tree, looked up, and said, “Hey, Mister Chief of Staff, look at this!” She pulled up one of the signs with bold red letters that said,
STAY CLEAR
.
QUICKSAND
. She threw the sign into the dark, muddy pond, and they all watched as it disappeared with a gurgling sound. “That was quick,” she said, her voice full of awe.

“Serves you right, you…you…you
Republican!”
Myra said.

“Oh, Myra, I’m so happy for you. You’ve accepted being a Democrat!” Annie gushed.

“Jack, bring Winters down and take out his gag,” Nikki said. “We need to have a little talk. If he opens his mouth except to answer my questions, just drop him in the quicksand.”

Jack eased back on the cable, and Winters dropped to the ground three feet from the edge of the deadly pool.

“It’s too late to lie, Mr. Winters. Just tell us why you tried to set us up,” Nikki demanded.

Annie directed the beam of a high-intensity light at his face while Jack stood behind Winters and propped up a screen, which had been unfolded to shield the light directed at Winters from prying eyes. Once the interrogation began, Kathryn stood a ways behind Nikki and operated the handheld video camera, recording Winters’s answers for later use just in case it ever became necessary.

“If I tell you, will you let me go?”

Nikki and the others had to strain to hear what he was saying. “Of course. This is all about truth and the American way. I don’t want little bits and pieces, I want it all. Whose idea was all of this? Speak up so we can all hear you,” Nikki said.

With his eyes focused on Nikki, Winters did not know he was being taped, which no doubt contributed to his speaking freely. “It was my idea, but POTUS had told me to find a solution to our problem. He said he didn’t want to know the details. I did nothing but eat, sleep, and drink this crisis, and it
was
a crisis to the president. We kept dropping in the polls. Those in the know said he was toast unless a miracle occurred. Catching you was supposed to be that miracle. I went to the director of the FBI, told him Navarro was a mole. Told him to set up that task force to flush you out. I really did try to get you a pardon, but the president laughed in my face. That’s the truth, I swear it.

“I went to Russell and asked him to help. He was getting nowhere, all his donors were stepping back and taking a second look at the administration. The funds were drying up fast. We came up with the idea of the stolen donor lists together, but I was really the one who thought it up. Can I go now? I’m freezing.”

“What about Martine Connor and Pam Lock?”

“Connor is as pure as the driven snow. Aside from sleeping around, Pam Lock has a good political reputation and is a great fund-raiser. She hit the roof when she was told the lists were stolen. She blamed Russell right off the bat. She didn’t want to hide it. She wanted to go to the press right away. We had a clandestine meeting, and I convinced her—in the interests of national security—to keep quiet. She gave me a time limit. She actually had the gall to give
me
a time limit. I’ve told you all I know. Ask Russell if you don’t believe me.”

“Oh, I believe you, Mr. Winters. That’s not my problem right now. My problem is that you blackmailed Elias Cummings. You threatened Pam Lock, and by threatening her, you were threatening Martine Connor. You were going to destroy a very fine federal agent with your lies, and you were going to try, I stress the word,
try,
to send us all to a federal prison. Well, look where you are, and look at who put you there!”

“Kathryn, you can stop taping now. Jack, stuff that gag back in his mouth,” Nikki ordered.

Nikki waved her arms, and Daniel Winters sailed through the air once again. Jack let him dangle over the quicksand pond for a good three minutes before he loosened the cable and let the man slide down, down, down. The quicksand made sucking, gurgling sounds as it swallowed his body. When Winters was up to his nose, Jack hauled him out, then Bert lowered Russell and did the same thing. They did it to each of the men six times and had to stop when the pain in their arms got unbearable.

The wind kicked up as it whistled through the trees. The snow had a bite to it by the time Jack and Bert pulled up, then lowered the two men like yo-yos one last time. When a second gust of wind roared across the clearing, the group could hear voices.

The women froze. Bert looked at Jack, who looked at Harry. “Shit!” Bert said succinctly. “Somebody better think of something really quick. It might be some kind of night maneuvers.”

Kathryn stepped forward. “Yank them all the way to the top and let them dangle among the tree limbs. Everyone, take off your goggles. Get down, and don’t even breathe.”

No one had to be told twice. They all skittered toward the underbrush, where they burrowed in as deep as they could. Without the eerie green glow of the night vision goggles, the night was totally black. Unless the new arrivals were wearing the same kind of gear, the vigilantes would be invisible.

Jack, Bert, and Harry hunkered close to the base of the old oak as they waited, hardly daring to breathe.

The minutes ticked by as the wind picked up yet again. The voices sounded closer, or was it a trick of the wind? They continued to wait until suddenly they saw two sets of green eyes. The men were tall, extremely muscular, and dressed for the weather.

“Do you see this? Do you? Son of a bitch!” one of the men said. “We’ll be out here all night trying to put that damn fence back up. Goddamn kids. They keep coming around here doing whatever the hell they don’t want their parents to know about, and we have to clean up after them. Jesus, for all we know they might have…Now we’re going to have to get the equipment out here and plumb the quicksand. Okay, here’s the drill. Dzbinsky, go back to headquarters and bring a team along with the equipment. Don’t drag your ass, either, it’s cold out here.”

The Sisters waited ten full minutes before they crawled forward until they were surrounding the man who had been giving the orders to his partner. As one they clamped on their night vision goggles and stood up.