The Shut Mouth Society (43 page)

“
All right,” Evarts said. “They know both of us, so we’ll walk the block on alternate sides like we’re casing the house before entering. Use the walkie-talkie to tell us when you’re out of her apartment and on the stairs. Sure you can get through the studio door?”

“
I haven’t forgotten all my training. Let’s go.”

As Matthews approached the converted townhouse, Harding took a circuitous route around the block so that when the time came, he could approach from a different direction than Evarts. Splitting the watchers’ eyes between the two of them would create a better diversion.

It seemed like an eternity before Evarts heard Matthews in his earpiece. “I’m climbing to the second floor.”

“
Hold,” Evarts said. He had kept out of sight over a block away. “I’ll be in position in two minutes. Steve?”

“
Ready.”

“
She took the damn watch,” Matthews whispered.

“
I’ll get it back for you later,” Harding said.

“
In position,” Evarts said.

He turned onto Harding’s street and made a show of looking into cars and at windows. He saw Harding approach him on the opposite side of the street. Their behavior should look normal. They had been ordered to the house, but the union knew they had professional training and wouldn’t just barge in the front door. Hopefully, the watchers would stay behind curtains and track them as they reconnoitered. Everything depended on timing. Both he and Harding passed his townhouse and pretended not to notice each other.

Evarts had reached the end of the block and turned back toward the townhouse when he heard Matthews’s voice in his ear. “Mission accomplished. I’ll buzz you up.”

Evarts resisted an urge to run back up the block. Harding arrived first and waited for him. Without pushing the button, they heard the door buzz and entered the building. When they got to the third-floor apartment, the door was closed. They crouched on either side of the door and drew their weapons. They couldn’t rule out that Matthews had been forced to give them the all-clear message. Evarts took hold of the door handle and twisted it slightly to verify that it was unlocked. Then he nodded to Harding, and they burst through the door.

“
Hi, boys,” Matthews said, pleased with himself. Matthews had two men trussed up on the floor, with duct tape over their mouths.

“
Have you decided which one to kill and which one to interrogate?” Evarts asked.

“
Not yet. But I think they’ll cooperate. They told me there’s nothing in Harding’s house except a package.”

“
Do you believe them?” Harding asked.

“
Yeah, they said they were only assigned to call after you got the package. These guys are rent-a-thugs. Evidently the pros cleared out once they grabbed Baldwin.”

“
Rip the tape off,” Evarts ordered.

Matthews picked the closest guy and tore the tape from his mouth.

After yelping, the man immediately started talking as fast as he could. “Please, this was supposed to be an easy gig. Just ask us anything. We’ll tell ya what we know.”

“
Let me explain,” Evarts said evenly. “I have a nasty background. I’ve been trained to take people like you apart. Your employers grabbed the only woman I’ve ever cared about. I’m telling you this because I want you to know I’m capable and motivated. Do you understand?”

“
Yes.” The one still taped nodded his head vigorously.

“
Good. Who hired you?”

“
A man named Greg Evarts, but I doubt that was his real name.”

Bastards, Evarts thought. “How did they contact you?”

“
They mailed us that cell phone.” He nodded toward Matthews, who took a cell phone out of his pocket.

“
I already checked,” Matthews said. “Only one number in the directory.”

“
What were your instructions?”

“
Watch the house and call that number when you entered. They sent photos of you two with the phone.”

Evarts had already spotted the surveillance photographs on the table by the window. “How were you to be paid?”

“
Wire transfer to an account number that we gave them when they explained the assignment.”

“
Have you ever seen any of the people who hired you?” Evarts already knew the answer to that question.

“
No. Honest. Only the name … Greg Evarts.”

Evarts made a signal, and the three of them retreated to the opposite side of the room. “What do you think?” he whispered.

“
They don’t know shit. Amateurs.” Matthews sounded disdainful.

“
I agree,” added Harding.

“
Any other questions you guys can think of?”

Both shook their head no.

Evarts walked back to the captives. “What’s in the package?”

“
We don’t know. We didn’t plant it.”

“
A bomb?”

“
No. We were supposed to call again after you exited the house. They wanted to know if you appeared angry or grim or whatever. They seemed anxious to—”

Evarts didn’t hear the end of the sentence because he had charged out of the apartment and barreled down the stairs.

Chapter 54

Evarts fumbled with the lock on the door to Harding’s townhouse. When he finally got the door open, he saw a Best Buy shopping bag tucked in the corner of the entry. He ignored the bag and raced through the rest of the house, dreading that he might find Baldwin’s body. He found nothing new or threatening in the house except for the shopping bag. There were things missing, though. All their photocopies and notes had disappeared from the kitchen table, and Evarts didn’t see Baldwin’s laptop computer.

Evarts keyed the makeshift communication system. “House clear. There’s a shopping bag in the entry. Do you read?”

“
Copy. Should I come over?” Harding answered.

Evarts decided he wanted the company. “Yeah. Make sure our guests are secure, and then both of you come over.”

Evarts went to the window and checked the street. Could the rent-a-thugs be a diversion? He saw nothing untoward. He watched Harding and Matthews casually cross the street and greeted them at the door. All three of them looked down at the bag.

“
I don’t think it’s a bomb,” Matthews said.

Harding leaned forward and peeked inside. “Merchandise boxes. The top one looks like a digital camera.”

“
Let’s take it into the kitchen.” Evarts wanted enough flat space to lay out the contents so they could all see.

In the kitchen, Harding reached into the bag and carefully extracted a box with “Canon” emblazoned on all four sides and placed it on the counter.

“
Digital camera. The box has been opened,” Harding said.

“
What else is in the bag?” Evarts asked.

Harding looked. “A disposable cell phone, the kind parents buy for their teenagers. Plastic shell packaging, also opened. The sons of bitches threw in the register receipt.”

“
Pull it out.”

After Harding extracted the cell phone, he said, “And a letter.” He handed the plain white envelope to Evarts. “It’s addressed to you.”

Evarts hesitated for a nanosecond and then ripped open the envelope. Someone had handwritten the message in block letters.

Look at the camera. You should recognize your work. We will trade Baldwin for original you took from DTCC. Use cell phone for instructions.

Evarts read the short note a second time. It told him a lot. He felt heartsick. He knew what must have transpired to force Baldwin to reveal that he had an original document in his possession. He handed the note to Harding. “They broke her.”

He reached for the camera box with an unsteady hand. He jockeyed the camera free from its Styrofoam brick, turned it on, and flipped the setting switch to view the stored pictures. Baldwin’s face filled the little screen on the back of the camera. She looked distraught and in pain. Damn them. The next picture showed only her bare thigh. The image conveyed an unmistakable message: She had been shot in the leg. The last photograph showed her full body with her hands tied behind her back. It was framed to show that the wounded leg belonged to Baldwin. Her helpless, frightened expression made Evarts want to throw the camera across the room. Instead he handed it to Harding and went to the refrigerator for a bottle of water.

He took a long drink that emptied a third of the bottle. When he lowered the bottle, he saw Harding’s sad eyes. “Steve, what’s past is past. We need to focus on getting her back.”

“
How?”

“
I need to make a call,” Evarts said.

Matthews finished reading the note. “Don’t you think we should talk first, go through the scenarios?”

Evarts had a thought and crossed his lips with his index finger. His friends immediately understood: The house might be bugged. Evarts opened the back door and stepped into the garden. Using a business card he had been given at the DTCC, he called Jonathon. After a short time, he stepped back into the kitchen to find Harding and Matthews visually checking for bugs.

Evarts picked up a tablet and pencil on a counter by the landline telephone. He wrote: “Called DTCC. Documents stored as long as fees paid. If payment stops—retain three years—then destroy.”

Matthews immediately picked up the tablet and wrote, “They’re going to kill her.”

“
Yes—unless we stop them,” Evarts wrote.

Matthews nodded toward the door. They stuffed the camera and cell phone back into the bag and left. When they got on the street, Evarts asked, “Find any bugs?”

“
No, but we should proceed as if they heard us,” Harding said.

“
What about our guests across the street?” Matthews asked.

Evarts didn’t believe they could learn any more from a couple of thugs who had been rented for routine watchdog duty. “Leave ’em. If we’re lucky, they’ll starve to death.”

As they walked the several blocks to the car, they reviewed their conversation in the house and decided that, if the union had planted a bug, the only important thing they learned was that there were three of them. This meant that the union might track down and possibly interrogate all of Evarts’s old army buddies, so Harding started making calls to warn people.

As they approached the Navigator, Evarts signaled for Matthews to drive so Harding could concentrate on making the phone calls.

“
Where to?” Matthews asked.

From the passenger seat, Evarts said, “Not your place. They’ll watch it if they start checking my army contacts.”

“
Then how ’bout a motel in Arlington? Lots of D.C. tourists stay there.”

“
Yeah. Fine.”

Evarts had never felt such despair. He also felt foolish and inept. He knew better than to just keep running. Sooner or later, one of their breakneck escapes had to fail. He should have found some way to attack, but the measured unraveling of clues had given him hope that they would uncover some final evidence to bring this nasty venture to a close. He had failed. Now he had to start acting smarter, or he would also fail the most important mission of his life. The fear that he might not rescue Trish made him heartsick.

“
What’re you thinking?” Matthews asked.

“
That Trish is close.” Evarts looked out of the car at the passing buildings.

“
Because of the camera?”

Evarts continued to watch the buildings pass by his window. “Yeah. And the Best Buy receipt was local.”

“
We could run over to that store.”

“
They left the receipt so we’d do just that. Those bastards.”

Evarts tried to understand his feelings. He had had men captured before and had ruthlessly tracked down their captors. This time he felt different. Worse. Way worse. Why did he feel this way? Then he knew beyond any doubt. He was in love with Patricia Baldwin. An odd word for him to even think, but he knew he didn’t want to go back to the solitude he had convinced himself he actually preferred. He wanted a life with Trish. Did she feel the same? He wasn’t sure.

He listened to Harding’s end of the cell conversations for a while and then turned toward the window to hide a tear. He heard himself say, “I want her back.”

Chapter 55

In Arlington, they found a high-rise Holiday Inn that catered to tourists. By the time they checked in, Harding had finished all the calls. They managed to get three adjoining rooms intended for families on vacation, so they had plenty of space. Each room had the ubiquitous small table with two chairs stationed in front of the single window, so they hauled another from Harding’s room into Evarts’s and gathered around the table.

Harding began, “If we can figure out a plan, I believe we can field a full platoon. Everybody wants in.”