The White House: A Flynn Carroll Thriller (19 page)

“No, the animals and plants stay. You do not.”

“Where do we go?”

“You die.”

“When?”

“It's imminent. That's why they've been trying to neutralize you, Flynn. You're probably the only opposition worth worrying about.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“You're a small worry, believe me. An irritant, nothing more.”

“How can they kill us without killing anything else? Hard to see how that would work.”

“For me, too. That's another reason we need to pool our resources. Unless we can understand this, we can't stop it.”

Flynn was torn. Morris could be telling the truth. On the other hand, when it came to misdirection, Aeon was masterly.

“You're still wary of me.”

“Of course.”

“Then let me give you something of real value. We biological robots have a vulnerability you don't know about.”

“I'm listening.”

He leaned forward. “Feel my forehead.”

It was cool.

“My running temperature is eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. Otherwise, there will be overheating at various biomechanical junctures.” He smiled.

If this was true, they would be able to detect biorobots much more easily.

“You will find that I've given you two very valuable pieces of information. It won't stop you from at some point assaulting me, and I don't expect it to. But if you're as bright as you seem, you will join an alliance of convenience with me, at least for now.”

Flynn did not respond.

“You will; I can see it in your eyes.” As he stood up, he added, “There are two plainclothes officers in the bar, compliments of Diana. They're both heavily armed. If you don't want to ally with me, all you have to do is identify me to them.”

Morris left, sliding the door closed behind him. But then he opened it again. “One thing: You're right not to trust Diana's house.”

“I don't.”

“When you meet with her, do it outdoors. An open space, but with cover from above.”

He could think of a few such places, parks with forested paths. “Do you have any specifics in mind?”

“Better that we don't talk specifics.”

When he left, Flynn sat back. His mind raced. Was Morris a trustworthy ally, or was he actually working with them? As always, battle with Aeon unfolded in a dark labyrinth.

He sat watching the afternoon, the ocean sparkling far below, a cruise ship tiny in the great waters.

The airframe shuddered as the airspeed dropped. Descent had started. They would be on the ground at Dulles in an hour and a half.

There remained way too many questions, given the urgency. He could still lose this, there was no question about that, and now it appeared that the stakes were more appalling than he had dreamed and the danger more immediate that he had feared.

The enormous plane landed so gently, it was as if it had settled onto a cloud. He and Morris filed out together, not speaking. They were expedited through customs with the other first-class passengers, and in a moment Morris had slipped away, disappearing like a wisp of smoke.

A moment later somebody was running out of the crowd of waiting families and chauffeurs, and then Diana leaped at him and was in his arms, and he was twenty years old again and, Abby or no Abby, he was just so damn glad.

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“FLYNN, WHY
do you put me through crap like this?”

“I did what I had to do.”

He and Diana were walking together in Dumbarton Oaks Park, Flynn having taken Morris's advice and brought her here so they could talk outside of earshot of any listening devices. He wouldn't tell her about him, though, not yet, not until he had a clearer idea of what to say.

“That's all you've got for me?”

“It's what happened.”

“You walk out of the house and just keep going. The next thing I hear, Mossad's signaling that an American has been captured by the Revolutionary Guard and it's damn well
you
. Can't you ever get it into your thick skull, there's a chain of command?” She stopped suddenly. He could hear her gobbling back sobs. “You make me so damn mad.”

He felt her pain, and his own regret. But he couldn't express feelings like that; it just wasn't in him. He wanted to be tender, but it did not work. He said, “The information I obtained is crucial.”

“I need to know what to do with it, Flynn.”

“That's our next step.”

“Tell me what happened out there. I want details.”

“I was captured immediately. I was tortured. I was helped to escape by what might have been a Special Forces operation. Or I got away from the Revolutionary Guard while they were being too clever for their own good. I'm not sure which. In any case, I escaped and by some miracle survived sharks and a storm at sea. Those are the details.”

“You were tortured by an American agent who wished to hell he didn't have to hurt you and admired your iron resolve, as he should. You were allowed to escape thanks to an operation mounted by Mossad that appeared to be U.S. Special Forces, and our guy saw you to the coast. The Arabs on that fishing boat were Saudi agents sent out to find you after you missed the sub.”

“They were killed. They drowned.”

“They were taken aboard the carrier fifteen minutes after you arrived in the sick bay. You were an actor in a play, Flynn, from the moment I caught up with you.” Still gobbling sobs, she gripped his hand as if it were the last ledge on the tallest building in the world. “That agent—the one called Davood Ghorbani—he risked his operation, his life, everything to get into that torture chamber with you. They would have tortured you to death, Flynn, if we hadn't had him there. You owe him your life.”

“I'll have to thank him.”

“When he comes out, you sure as hell will. If he does. He's at risk now.”

“Because of me.”

Her silence accused him, and that made him angry. “We can't lose sight of the bigger picture. If we can't find a direction to go in, this is all going to happen before we have a chance to stop it.”

“What do you suggest?”

“We figure out two things. How they intend to get rid of us without destroying the planet, and why they need the president, not to mention the Iranians.”

“You left him terribly exposed. Not to mention Cissy and Lorna.”

“What could I do? Talk about it in your house? In the office?”

“What about bringing me here? Ever think of that?”

“There wasn't any time.”

“You just wanted to go charging off on your own, as usual.” She hunched, the speed of her walking increased, and she thrust out her chin.

He caught up with her and spun her around to face him. “There's no time for this, either!”

“You left Greene exposed while you wandered off in a spectacularly unprofessional manner. Who knows what might have been done to him by now? Although I fail to see how he could play a part in the end of the world. Not even a president has that kind of power.”

“But he does. He must.”

“Nuclear war?”

“The planet becomes a radioactive hell for thousands of years to come. So no.”

“Why not? Sounds like a plan to me. For them.”

“They want the lions and tigers and the butterflies. The amber waves of grain. Just not us.” He gestured toward a flaming maple. “They want that.” He pointed to some kids playing soccer. “Not those.”

“And we know nothing, essentially, about what they're going to do?”

“I got us one leg up, not two.”

“You're always so calm, Flynn. It never ceases to amaze me.”

“Battlefield behavior. Put one foot in front of the other, keep your head down.”

“The president has to be told, then. With all the problems that this is going to bring down the road.”

“If there is a road.”

She dropped down on a bench. “The question is, what the hell do we say? He's gonna be on quite a learning curve.”

“Plus, Lorna's going to be all over it, and her response will be to look for angles. How she can play it to advantage.”

“Sounds like a real patriot.”

“She is. To the Lorna Nation, population one. Bill's just a means to an end.”

“Then we need to keep her as far away from it as we can.”

“But we have to let Cissy in.”

“Why?”

“She can help us with her dad. His initial reaction is going to be total, complete, and absolute disbelief. We'll get tossed out on our asses if Cissy's not there to back us up.”

“Right now, I'd like to get hammered,” Diana said.

“Right now, we have to go to the White House.”

“We need an appointment.”

“You figure it out. That's what you do. And thanks for the ticket home.”

“Please call it what it was, a rescue, so please don't do anything like that again.”

As she was speaking, he'd seen a telltale gleam on a roof, just a flicker of light. But it was immediately clear to him what it was. As he threw his arm across her back and began pulling her down, the first bullet passed her head with a quick whisper. He rolled with her behind a bench.

“What the hell!”

“Shooter. Roof of the Danish Embassy. There's a team.”

“How did they find us?”

He thought back to the plane, and to Morris. “They never lost us.” Now it seemed that the meeting had been just another turning in the labyrinth of war with Aeon. Morris's mission, at least in part, had been to lure Flynn into an exposed place. He'd baited the trap with information, though, some of which Flynn thought could be true. Or maybe it was all true. In this war, you never knew.

Another shot passed so close to his head that he felt the heat of the bullet's wake.

Behind them was a dense urban wilderness. Ahead were the spreading greens, beyond them Dumbarton Gardens, though few flowers this time of year.

Death probably waited in those woods, but crossing the greens would be suicide. Staying where they were, inevitably they would be picked off.

“He's missing because he's using a silencer. Plays hell with aim.”

He sensed rather than heard the faint crackle of footsteps in dry leaves. Very careful, very stealthy. “Somebody's back in the woods, coming this way.” He slid his pistol into his hand.

“Thank God you have that.”

It was the little Glock he kept in his Audi, which she'd used to pick him up.

From perhaps thirty yards behind them, there came the distinct but muffled sound of a bullet being chambered in an automatic pistol.

In other words, a mistake. Flynn turned and fired three shots in a tight pattern. The shadow that had been there flew back into the trees as the explosions echoed, crashing back and forth between the buildings that surrounded the park. In the distance, Flynn saw a couple of cops begin trotting this way, their hands on their weapons.

“We need to go,” Diana said, taking his wrist and drawing him toward the woods.

“We're alive because they want us to break cover.”

“You're gonna end up on a murder charge, Flynn!”

“It's a permitted weapon and we were attacked.”

There was more movement back in the woods.

“They're cleaning up the mess right now,” he said mildly. He stepped out into the broad lawn, in the long gold of the sunset. The cops broke into a run. As they came within earshot, Flynn said, “Back there.” He pointed toward the woods.

“Sir, a weapon was discharged.”

He pointed. “It was back there. There's people. Something's going on.”

The movement in the woods faded quickly, but not so quickly that the cops didn't see the shadows and give chase.

Flynn forced Diana to walk casually with him, not hurrying, two lovers in deep conversation.

“I'm with you an hour and I'm getting shot at again.”

“And not getting killed.”

“How did you even know that we were being attacked? I didn't hear or see a thing.”

He didn't bother to answer. The Iranian kill team had been well placed but poorly prepared.

“We need to move on this, Diana. Ignore these distractions.”

“I think the way to go is to call the private number and tell them who you are and you need to see him immediately. And could we get out of the line of fire? Do you mind?”

“The operation failed and they're gone. Smoke in the wind.”

“Until the next time.”

“I guess.”

She handed him her cell phone.

He raised his eyebrows in question.

“The president's on the line.”

“That is very impressive.” He took the phone. “Mr. President.”

“Flynn? What the hell do you want?”

“I need a meeting.”

“Everybody needs a meeting. Let me guess. That crook buddy of yours who corrupted my daughter is up shit creek again.”

“Bill, I wouldn't call if it wasn't critical.”

“Is he gettin' under her tail feathers again? Damn crook needs to stay away from the First Daughter.”

“This has nothing to do with him.”

“Or with you hiding out over here the other night? What in hell was that about, old buddy ole pal? You bangin' her now?”

“Bill, this is national security stuff, and it's urgent.”

“There's a committee for that.”

“Your ears only.”

“I don't want to hear any spy bullshit, Flynn, it mixes me up.”

It was easy to see why they'd gone after Greene. Whatever it was they were doing, he was not going to be hard to handle.

How had Bill gotten into office? Lots of money, fabulous smile.

“Bill, this is about you. You know Bob Doxy's boy, who—”

“—committed suicide?”

“It's about why he was murdered.”

Silence. Beat. More silence. Flynn could hear the brain creaking. “How in hell do you know that?”