Stone Cold (24 page)

CHAPTER 66

I
T WAS A NONTRADITIONAL
penetration so Finn had grabbed a couple of guys from his office who normally sat behind a desk analyzing the data that he and his team of specialists routinely gathered. However, the client on this case had wanted low-level people headed up by someone who knew what he was doing—namely Finn. This was because the facility that manufactured vaccines for several man-made biological germ agents was not considered a high-priority target for terrorists. Still, they wanted to see how it measured up. Enter Finn and company.

They had no trouble scaling the unguarded fence at the rear of the facility, though one of the office boys, a hefty fellow named Sam, had a bit of trouble hoisting his bulk over. Finally, with Finn’s help, he managed.

They were able to enter the facility from the rear through an unlocked door. A door being unlocked in a building housing valuable vaccine was something that sounded impossible but that nevertheless happened every day in countries all over the world. Why, indeed, would someone take home a laptop with the personal data of millions of military veterans only to see it stolen during a burglary? It’s what kept bad guys in business and the good guys on antidepressant drips.

Inside, they spread out, their cover stories having been worked out in advance. Finn had donned a white lab coat he’d carried in a duffel bag. An ID was on a lanyard he put around his neck. He also carried an electronic pad for inputting notes. Thus outfitted, he worked his way to the front entrance area. To the guard stationed there he mentioned the name of a scientist who worked in the building. Finn had gotten the name off the Internet, knowing full well that the chap was on vacation. He’d obtained this bit of intelligence by going through the man’s garbage one night and seeing a copy of the detailed travel itinerary for him and his family that the “genius” had cavalierly thrown away. When he was informed that the scientist was away, he said, “That’s right. Bill told me he was taking the family to Florida.” He then mentioned another name he’d pulled off the building directory. He had pulled this maneuver with the guard to both gain credibility and put the security person at ease. Both of these things were usually accomplished by concocting a personal connection with someone who worked at the place he was targeting.

“I can just pop up and see him for a few minutes,” he told the private security guard. “I know the way. I have some test results to go over for the A/B run they did last week on the two new microbe trial vaccines. You in the loop on that?”

The guard, a kid barely out of his teens who proudly wore the standard-issue sidearm, said, “No, I’m not in the loop on that,” and went back to his coffee and computer screen on which Finn caught sight of an online dating service’s latest offerings.

Finn waited patiently inside the elevator car until someone came along. He held up a plastic card he had just taken out of the slot. “Damn RFID’s malfunctioning again,” he said, referring to the encrypted smart card that was needed to access the elevator. “Third time this month. And every time they said they fixed it. Yeah, right.”

“I know the feeling,” the other man said as he swiped his card through the slot and the doors closed. “What floor you want?” he asked.

“Fifth,” Finn replied, as he put his son’s plastic library card back into his pocket.

He got off on the fifth floor and found the door he wanted right next to the elevator bank. It also required a smart card for entry. He slipped inside a nearby bathroom and dabbed some water on his pants leg. When he heard the elevator ding, he opened the door to the bathroom, pretending to be rubbing his wet hands dry as the doors to the elevator slid open. The woman stepped off and swiped her card in the secure door as Finn stood behind her, his library card in hand.

The woman glanced at him and smiled. “Looks like I beat you to it.”

Finn put his card away. “Hasn’t been a great morning. I spilled coffee on my pants leg on the drive over.” He pointed to the wet stain.

The woman smiled again. “Bet that woke you up.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Finn as he followed her in.

“You here to see anyone in particular?” she asked.

Finn shook his head and held up his phony but genuine-looking ID tag that had the imprint of Homeland Security. “Just a random drop-in. Feds need to see how the tax dollars are being spent.”

“Don’t I know it. Have a good one,” she added as she walked off.

Finn strolled around the lab, surreptitiously taking pictures with his buttonhole camera and nodding to people as he walked along jotting down notes on his electronic tablet with his stylus. It really did amaze him. If you looked like you belonged, people never challenged you. He even had several people give him helpful details on certain vaccines’ potencies. He left and made his way back down to the main entrance, courtesy of the help of another clueless Good Samaritan. When he exited onto the main lobby, however, he froze.

Sam, the fat kid from his office, was up against the wall and the security guard was doing a very unprofessional pat-down. Any person who knew what he was doing could have taken the guard’s gun in a second with no trouble.

“What’s going on here,” Finn called out as he headed over.

“Spy!” the guard said. “Caught him red-handed. I’m calling the cops.”

Finn had no choice now but to pull his credentialing letter and alert their contact inside the building that they’d been uncovered. He didn’t like to have to make that call, but when you brought rookies with you, it sometimes happened. At least Finn had penetrated to where he needed to go. That’s how it would have finished if Sam hadn’t done something incredibly stupid. Panicked at the sight of the gun, he pushed the guard away and started to run.

The guard pointed his pistol at Sam’s broad back and shouted, “Stop!”

“Don’t,” Finn screamed as he hurtled forward. The guard fired his weapon just as Finn collided with him. In an instant Finn had the gun away from the man and pushed his credentialing letter in his face. “Call John Rivers in security, he knows all about—” He broke off what he was saying and stared down the hall. Sam was lying on the floor, blood pouring out of a wound on his back.

“Son of a bitch!” Finn jumped up and raced to Sam.

CHAPTER 67

T
HE AMBULANCE PULLED AWAY
thirty minutes later. After reaching Sam, Finn had stanched the bleeding and then performed CPR on his colleague when Sam had ceased breathing and his heart had stopped, perhaps from shock. The EMTs had arrived and taken over from there. Sam would live, but his rehab would take a while because it looked like the bullet had done some nasty damage to a few of his organs.

Finn watched the red rack lights until they disappeared. Standing next to him was John Rivers, the head of security, who had apologized profusely for the guard’s shooting Sam in the back when he was not being threatened.

“Thank God you were there, Harry,” Rivers said. “Otherwise he’d be dead.”

“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t have gotten shot if I hadn’t dragged him here.”

“They give us no money or time to train our guards,” Rivers complained. “They spend billions on the facility and security
technology,
but then they put a gun in the hands of a punk who’s earning ten bucks an hour. It makes no sense.”

Finn wasn’t really listening. He had never had anything like this happen before. Sam was a good man but strictly a desk jockey. Finn had never liked taking inexperienced folks with him on these outings, and had voiced that opinion several times. Maybe now they would listen to him.

He drove home and later took Patrick to baseball practice, silently watching his athletic middle child field all balls hit his way and later mercilessly pound the automated pitches in the batting cage. Finn didn’t say much on the way home, letting an animated Patrick talk about his day at school. Over dinner that night, Susie recited her lines from the upcoming play—although it didn’t appear that trees were given much to say, a fact her two older brothers ribbed her about. She took the kidding well before finally telling them both, “Stuff it, dorks.” That comment drew a warning from Mandy, who’d had her hands full lately with the three because Finn had been so buried at work.

David said, “Hey, Pop, you coming to the soccer match on Friday afternoon? Coach is gonna let me play goalie.”

Finn said absently, “I’ll try, son. I might be tied up.” He had to go visit his mother. His wife would not be happy about that.

Mandy gave David some pocket money for when his class went downtown on their field trip the next morning. She took a small bite of food and looked over at her husband, who was obviously not mentally with them.

“Harry, you okay?”

He stirred. “Just some stuff at work.” There had been no news coverage of the incident, even though the police had been called, because Homeland Security had stepped in to put the kibosh on it. Having Finn exposed in the press would put a severe crimp in the red cell contract work that his company did for Homeland Security, work that was critically important to national security. With DHS in Finn’s corner, the local cops had quickly rolled over. The young security guard had not been charged with anything other than being stupid and undertrained, and his gun had been taken away. He had been reassigned to a desk job and told that if he said anything to anyone about what had happened he would regret it for the rest of his life.

After dinner he drove to the hospital to see Sam. He was in the ICU after surgery, but his condition had stabilized. He was on heavy meds and didn’t even know Finn was there. His parents had been flown in from New York that afternoon and were in the ICU waiting area. Finn sat with them for an hour, explaining the situation and downplaying Sam’s complicity in getting shot by stupidly running away from a nervous kid with a big gun.

He left the hospital and drove around for a while with the all-news radio station on. He finally turned it off after bad news became awful news and then moved on directly to terrible. What a world they were leaving for the next generation.

He headed downtown, because he didn’t want to go home to the Virginia suburbs just yet. He could tell from the expression on Mandy’s face at dinner that she wanted to talk about things, but he really didn’t want to. He didn’t know how he was going to break the news of having to visit his mother again. With the kids’ busy schedule, his being gone really left his wife scrambling. And yet he had to do it, particularly after the John Carr revelation.

He crossed over the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, passing the island named after the very same president. He kept straight and headed down Constitution Avenue, arguably the capital’s second most famous street behind the one named Pennsylvania. Hooking left, he headed up toward the White House before turning right onto F Street and working his way through a congested shopping and business district that was crawling with renewed nightlife. To his right stood the concrete-and-steel skeleton of an uncompleted building whose developer had gone bankrupt. As Finn waited at a red light he stared up at the new residential condo building on his left. His gaze went up seven stories, drifted to the corner unit of the luxury high-rise, and that’s when he stiffened slightly. He had not come here by accident. The drive-by was completely intentional; he did it often.

The lights were on and as he watched a tall figure passed by one of the windows.

Senator Roger Simpson from the great state of Alabama was home.

CHAPTER 68

A
NNABELLE STOOD NEXT TO
P
ADDY
who was slumped in a chair in her hotel room. Daughter nodded at father and on cue he picked up the phone.

Before he punched in the number, she put a hand on Paddy’s shoulder.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” she asked.

“I’ve been ready for this for years,” he gamely replied, his voice cracking a bit.

He didn’t look ready, she thought. The man seemed tired and scared.

“Good luck,” Annabelle said.

As soon as the number was placed, Annabelle picked up another phone and listened in.

“Hello, Jerry,” Paddy said. “It’s Paddy Conroy. Long time no kill. But then again, maybe that’s not entirely accurate. Hear you’ve been busy on that score.”

Annabelle stared at her father. Paddy’s entire manner had changed. His smile was wide, and his voice was confident. He was sitting up big and fearless in the chair.

Bagger was not a man easily shocked. But when he had heard that name, he felt his knees slightly buckle. The next emotion he had was far more familiar. He nearly crushed the phone in his hand and screamed, “How the hell did you know how to reach me, you bastard?”

“I just looked in the phone book under A for assholes.”

On that remark, Annabelle had to stifle a laugh.

“Seen that bitch of a daughter of yours lately?”

“Heard she ripped you for plenty. Enough to get the wind up at the Jersey Control Commission. I must’ve taught her good.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re behind the whole thing. And if you are, all I can promise you is a skin peel that takes about two days.”

“Stop talking dirty, Jerry, you’re getting me horny.”

“What do you want!”

“I want to help you out.”

“I don’t need help from a two-bit, washed-up con.”

“Don’t be so quick on the draw, Jer. The definition of help is when I have something you want. And I do.”

“Like what?”

“Care to guess?”

“Care to have me rip your balls off?”

“I have Annabelle. You still want her or you gotten over her making you look like the world’s biggest idiot?”

“You’d turn over your own daughter to me, knowing what I’m going to do to her?”

“Not going deaf on me, are you? That’s what I said.”

“And you’re doing this out of what, the goodness of your heart?”

“You know me better than that, Jerry.”

“So how much do you want for your little girl?”

“Not a dime.”

“Excuse me?” Bagger said in disbelief.

“I don’t need any more money.”

“So what then?”

“You have to promise me that if I give Annabelle to you, you’ll never come after me again. I got a little time left on this planet and I don’t want to spend it looking over my shoulder for the likes of you.”

“Let me get this straight. You’ll give me Annabelle so long as I leave you alone?”

“That’s right. I know you’ve been on the lookout for me ever since I ripped you off for that lousy ten grand. And I’m getting tired of it.”

Bagger screamed into the phone, “
You’re
getting tired of it?”

“Is it a deal? And I want your word. Because I know you’re a lot of things, but you’ve never gone back on your word. You get Annabelle and you leave me alone, forever.”

Bagger stared down at the floor, the veins throbbing in his neck.

“I want to hear you say it, Jerry. I
have
to hear you say it.”

“I’ll pay you millions for her.”

“Yeah, sure. Say it, Jerry. Say it or no deal.”

Paddy stared over at Annabelle, who was holding her breath as she clutched the phone.

“Why do you hate her so much?” Bagger finally said.

“Because she’s blamed me all these years for what happened to her mum. You killed the woman but I’ve paid the price. Ain’t been one bloke in the whole con world who’d give me the time of day since. She ruined my life. It’s payback time.
My
payback time.” Paddy glanced over at Annabelle and smiled weakly.

“How are you going to set her up? She’s not stupid. So I know she doesn’t trust you.”

“Leave that to me.”

“I haven’t agreed to nothing.”

“But you will. You’re too smart not to.”

“I can just catch her myself. I came close the other night. And maybe you too if I get real lucky.”

“Then go for it. And two weeks from now when you realize she’s long gone, you can’t say old Paddy didn’t tell you the truth. Because the longer you wait, the more time she has to hide, and we both know the girl is good at what she does. Take your time, think about it. I’ll call you back.”

“When?”

“When I want to.”

In one motion, Paddy and Annabelle put down their phones.

She gripped his shoulder. “You did great. You baited him just right.”

He put his hand on top of hers. “We’ll give him a little time to stew on that. That’ll give your friend some time to get his end in gear. I have to say, I was surprised he agreed to help us, no questions asked.”

“Like I told you, he’s not your typical fed. One thing.” She paused, worried.
Was her father really not up to this?
“You didn’t poke around about where Jerry might be staying.”

He looked at her, a smile playing across his lips. “I’m not losing my touch, Annie, if that’s what you’re thinking. You don’t push too hard on the first go-round. Old pro like Jerry will sniff that out every time. Next call, I’ll let him make the slip. Then I’ll hit it.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“Ninety percent of the con is preparation. The other ten percent is seat of the pants, being able to adapt on the fly.”

“But without the ten the ninety is worth shit.”

“Exactly.”

“That stuff you said to Bagger. About my ruining your life?”

“I ruined my own life, Annie. All I’m doing now is trying to get a little piece of it back.”

He gripped his daughter’s hand tightly. He now looked old, sick and scared; his body collapsed into the chair again. “You really think we can pull this off?”

“Yes,” she lied.