True Honor (35 page)

“I talked to the assault team. It’s set for an hour from now, as soon as the winds die down.”

“They need you with them.”

He nudged the glass up, encouraging her to drink it all. “Not as much as you and Tom need me here. Joe wouldn’t have joined us here last night if there was a question of manpower for the assault. He and I located where the missile was fired from: a hilltop north of the marina. Local authorities are trying to track down the eyewitness who called in a report of a van that nearly hit him as it came down that side road.”

Gabriel came into the room on crutches; willpower was about the only thing keeping him moving given the jarring shock to his spine. “We just got DNA results. They’ve confirmed it’s Luther, and Vladimir is a tentative positive. Definitive tests for him should be out in an hour.”

Thank You, Lord. This is almost over.
She’d been hoping for this level of assurance, for there had been no hope of getting a visual identification. “Renee has got to tell us where their home base is.”

“Now that she knows the last hope that someone is coming to the rescue is gone, she’s started cooperating. We’ll have a location of the island shortly. She’s not good at maps—a ten-minute flight from Salina Point leaves a lot of sea and uninhabited islands to check out. The local cops don’t recognize the name she used for the island, but that may simply be part of its charm. It really was Luther’s private domain. But from the luxurious home she described, it won’t take long to locate the place from the air.”

“When it’s located, Bear and I are going with the assault team. We assume Vladimir and Luther didn’t leave the front door unlocked. It’ll be treated with some care.”

“There is no need to hurry, no need to take risks.”

Sam squeezed her shoulder. “We won’t. Wolf is insisting that I pull him from the hospital so he can see it.”

“I’d like to come out too.”

“Once it’s secured, we’ll probably need both you and Gabriel there. I’ll arrange it for you.”

AUGUST 21

Wednesday, 3:45 p.m.

Bahamas Waters / Pirate Place Island

Sam braced as the helicopter tilted rotors to gain speed. Luther’s island was southwest of Salina Point. He had named it Pirate Place Island as a tribute to the pirates of decades past who had roamed these waters. It was fitting. The assault team wanted to get to the island with enough daylight left so they could assess the situation.

The ownership paperwork of the two-mile-by-one-mile island was buried within a trust that owned a set of six uninhabited islands kept for wildlife habitat. The area was hard to reach by boat, for the currents went against it flowing back toward Nassau, and it was set out well past the local tourist area. Other than some shipwrecks in the deep waters that had attracted some archaeological dives, the area was rarely visited. He wished the ride were longer so there wouldn’t be as much time to think.

He’d killed a man. He had been protecting his partner, the woman he loved, but it didn’t diminish the reality of what he’d done. It was one more thing he would have to live with and carry with him because it was a responsibility he had assumed. He’d chosen to be a soldier so that others could be safe.

Lord, it’s hard. I’m sorry I didn’t care more for who Jerry was and the fact he didn’t know You. I kept my distance from thinking about him to protect myself. Now he’s dead, and the opportunity to pray for him is gone. Forgive me for not caring more.

Bear leaned over to confer with the door gunner. Sam had to focus on the job at hand. The time to process the weight of the deployment was after he was home and on leave, not while he was still in the field. A distraction would get him killed, possibly others too.

They didn’t know what security personnel were still on the island or what kind of traps had been placed for unexpected visitors. The helicopter slowed and began to circle the island, looking for any indications of antiaircraft missiles. It was a beautiful island with hills and valleys and a rich soil developed from years of pounding weather against the ancient lava. Sam could see stretches of tall grasses intermixed with the heavy tropical foliage.

The house was set atop a knoll above a lush green valley going down to a pristine beach. Only from the air was it possible to appreciate the size of the estate. There were three wings to the multilevel house, and the sun reflected off the windows along the front of the home.

Set across the valley were several buildings that looked like support structures. Two boats were moored in the harbor. The only people visible were three working on the grounds behind the house, but the appearance of the estate suggested a much larger staff. Renee had given names of twelve of them, but there looked to be more.

Two helos set down on the lawn away from direct view of the house. Weapons off safety but checked, they spread out and provided cover as the last men stepped from the helos. For the next half hour the only good guys would be one of their men. The security sweep began.

Sam looked around the grounds as a sniper would. If he had to defend this place, he wouldn’t try from inside the house but rather take a position outside where he could pick off people moving around. He was very glad Jerry was dead. This house would have been a hunting box.

Sam entered the house behind Bear. A lady who looked to be the cook was excitedly trying to make some point in Portuguese. A soldier from Major Hamilton’s unit answered in the same language and took her arm, pointing her to the spacious living room where she would be out of the way.

Bear signaled him to the east wing. Sam nodded and headed there with Frank at his heels. They went into the rooms with weapons ready, clearing them one by one. This was the office wing of the house. There were secretary offices and file cabinets and at the end of the wing, a huge open office with a view of the grounds. No one was present, a reflection of the fact Luther had been away for several days.

Over the secure communication network he heard the men searching the grounds call off names as they identified people on the known staff list. There was general chaos at what was happening. To the staff, Luther and Renee had simply been a very wealthy European couple who loved to travel.

Sam entered what had to be Luther’s office from its size. “The east wing is secure, Bear. The house doesn’t appear to have even the security I would have expected.”

“Agreed. The staff knows Vladimir, but he stayed here only occasionally. They recognized Jerry’s photo but only saw him here twice. Have you seen any weapons so far?” his boss asked over the security loop.

“None.”

Outside came the sound of a third helicopter landing. Sam broke off his search to meet the incoming men. Wolf had insisted on coming with the second group of security officers. Sam met his partner. “You’re looking a little green.”

“You know I get airsick when these guys fly low,” Wolf replied with a grin. His arm was in a sling, and he looked like he’d lost ten pounds in two days. But he was on his feet and determined to head back to the States on his own feet. “Where do you need me?”

“Paperwork.”

“I knew I should have stayed in the hospital until morning.”

“Luther’s office is in the east wing.” Sam led Wolf to the office.

“Wow, now this is an office.”

“You can tell his priorities.” Sam opened file cabinets to get a sense of the type of records Luther had gathered. There were dossiers on individuals, DIA-type files. He pulled half a dozen names at random—politicians, soldiers, intelligence officers, local cops. They came from several countries and some files were begun recently; others had information going back a decade. On one U.S. soldier there was actually a copy of his security clearance paperwork.

“I wouldn’t want my name in Luther’s files,” Wolf remarked, reading pages.

“You can bet he has one on you if he learned something. He was Czech intelligence; this was how he worked. Luther was recreating his own intelligence service. No wonder he kept his organization to himself, Vladimir, and his wife. Knowledge is power, and controlling who knows something is how he had learned to keep his own security.”

Wolf sat at the desk and opened the bottom drawer of the credenza behind it. “Chief, you’ll want to see this drawer. Folders, several with names having red lines through them.”

Sam walked over to take a look. He read off the names, stopping at the folder with Darcy’s on it. He removed it but didn’t open it. “Several of these people have been awarded the Intelligence Star for Valor; Sergey was right on Luther’s priority in scheduling the hits.”

Sam opened the top credenza drawer and saw folder after folder with names of known terrorists. He tugged one free. “Do you think he has intel on the people we’ve been hunting over the years?” He opened one folder and found it very much like a personnel file with photo, name, aliases, addresses, and a list of events the terrorist had been part of. “We need Darcy and Gabriel here looking through this data.”

“I’ll go find Bear and let him know.”

AUGUST 21

Wednesday, 7:17 p.m.

Pirate Place Island

Sam watched Darcy circle Luther’s office, scanning files and forming an overview of what was in each file cabinet, deciding her place to start. She had arrived with Gabe shortly before seven, carrying not a briefcase and notebook but a soda and her opera cassette. “These files are extensive, and several of the terrorists in these files we’ve never heard of,” Sam commented.

She just nodded and surprised him by starting with Luther’s desk calendar. She looked back three months and forward four. “What else did you find beside files?”

He blinked at the soft question. “This isn’t enough?”

She looked up from the calendar and over at him. “It’s a great find; I’m sure it will be very useful. But the fact Luther collects information about people and uses it to his advantage is nothing new. That was his role for decades. I would have been more surprised if you hadn’t found something on this scale. So what else did you find?”

“Like what?”

“I was hoping for a journal to explain his motives.”

Sam had been focused on this discovery and what this room of data represented; he’d missed the fact Darcy wasn’t at the same place. “I’m sorry; there wasn’t something like that.” He leaned against the desk. “You’re tired, Dar.”

“No, now I’m depressed.” She ran her hand through her hair and gave him a rueful smile. “I thought I’d feel like celebrating this moment, but I don’t.”

Sam had no idea how to help her. She’d given everything she had; there was nothing left. And it added to the reasons why he loved her. “How is Gabe doing on finding the money?”

“The thing Luther valued most—it’s ironic, isn’t it, that he left it all behind? We’ve seized enough cash already to pay for the last year of our time to hunt Luther down. I suppose there’s some justice in that.”

“Not enough.”

“No, not enough.” She sighed and moved away. “What do you need to do to finish up here? I’d like to go back to the hotel.”

He crossed over to join her and wrapped his arms around her. “I’ll take you. You’ll be back in the States in a matter of days, and then you can get home to see your sister, walk away from this. You need that right now.”

“Home used to be a very safe place, my bolt-hole. No matter how hot the world got, I could always go home and be safe. Now I’m wondering what is going to follow me back there.”

He rubbed her back. “I’ll follow you home.”

She tipped her head back and smiled at him.

“I can’t say you don’t have a reason to be uneasy. This war isn’t over, but why worry about dying, Dar? There’s a verse in Romans 14 that says: ‘If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.’ Death is kind of like being born: it happens to everyone. God knows the right time, and He’ll be there.”

“I know. I’ll get over this disquiet eventually. I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

Sam tipped her chin up and kissed her, taking his time. “I love you.”

She turned her face into his shirt. “I love you, too.” She stepped back. “Please take me to the hotel.”

He hesitated and then reached for the portfolio on the desk. “I’m sorry; there’s no easy way to do this. I’ve got some news for you that’ll probably be very hard to hear, but it can’t wait until tomorrow.”

Darcy held Sam’s gaze, the change in him warning her it was indeed going to be hard news. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “What do you have?”

“They found Sergey’s boat floundering at sea a couple hours ago.”

She blinked. “They did? Was it that cutter he bought when he moved to the British Virgin Islands?”

“Yes.”

Her gaze searched his. “Was Sergey’s body found?” She would like to give him a decent burial.

“No, the boat was empty. They’re towing it back to the harbor now. But there was a note for you.” Sam held out the envelope. “A military courier brought it to Joe.”

Darcy slipped the single sheet of paper from the envelope and saw a page of numbers. “Who wrote it? Sergey? Luther after he had Sergey killed? I don’t know what he used to encrypt it.” She tapped the envelope against her palm, and then walked to the desk, picked up her briefcase, and opened it. She retrieved the book she had been reading that first night at the Florida hotel. “Sergey knew I was trying to finish this.” She opened pages, compared letters to the note, and nodded. She sat down at the desk and transcribed the note.

I hate to spoil the novel’s ending, but the butler did it. And Darcy, I am very hard to kill. The Stingers are as good as advertised. Enjoy your retirement. Samuel is a good man.

Sergey was alive.

She felt optimism return for the first time in days.

“What?”

She shook her head, refolded the note, and slipped it back into the envelope. “Sergey was playing with the open code Luther was using. He enjoyed the book I was reading. He must have intended to drop the note into the mail one day.” She owed Sergey a personal favor. This note would never make her reports. Until Sergey chose to make his presence known, he would remain missing at sea. She opened the concealed pocket in the back cover of her book, slipped in the note, and returned the book to her briefcase. “I’m ready to go.”