The man’s voice was so identifiable, Scardino didn’t even ask for the agreed-upon code word. As J.W. looked on, Scardino said, “First, let me congratulate you. Hyattsville and Baltimore, within just hours of one another. We’re impressed.”
Whetstone replied, “I heard about what happened in Washington lastnight. You lost an entire team. I’m guessing you find yourself now with a lot more jobs that need doin’.”
“An unfortunate setback, and yes. But we will adapt.”
“You got any more intel for me on the Gray Man?”
Scardino looked at J.W. and rolled his eyes. “Not at this time, no.”
“Pity. No worries, though, chief, because I have some intelligence foryou.”
Scardino and J.W. exchanged another look in the third-floor Dupont Circle office. “Okay,” Big Mike said. “What doyouhave?”
“This morning, I had a wee chat with him.”
“Him? Who?”
“The Gray Man.”
Another look between the two Americans. Scardino recovered, then said, “How…? Matt Hanley’s address? You were able to—”
“That’s right. I dropped in on Hanley, left a number and a note sayin’ I’d stop my killin’ spree in Washington if he’d call me.”
“You’d dowhat?” Scardino demanded.
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, squire. I’m a sneaky bastard. It’s all talk. Plus, no matter what I do, I’ve got five men with me who can keep on killing for ya.”
“We hiredyou, not your support team.”
“I was in Virginia Beach when that bloke in Baltimore got sent to his maker this mornin’. You can check with the coroner to be sure, yeah, but I do believe he’s just about as dead as if I did it meself.”
Scardino waved a hand in the air, then said, “Okay. So…you said you actually talked to the Gray Man.”
“Yeah, and I thought you might like to know that he’s knee-deep against you, fightin’ on the other side of your mission. Dunno if he was involved in that shite in Washington or not, but he didn’t deny he was tryin’ to stop all that’s happenin’.”
J.W. just shrugged at Mike, as if he didn’t necessarily buy what Whetstone was saying, or if it even made any difference at all. “How do you even know it was him?”
“We had a professional understanding, he and I. I could hear it in his voice. He’s had a bit of my life, I’ve had a bit of his.”
“That sounds thin,” Scardino said. Then he added, “So…if you left this message at Hanley’s place, and the Gray Man called you back, at least we do know now that the Gray Manisinvolved with Hanley to some degree?”
“I’d say they are close. Here’s how I put it together. Hanley wasn’t at his house at four in the mornin’, I can tell ya that, because I was. And Hanley, with all that’s going on, managed to make it to his house after I left, get the number I put there for him, get that number to Violator, and have Violator ring me, all in the course of about two and a half hours. Adding the fact that Hanley had to make sure I hadn’t filled his home with pipe bombs when I had the run of the place, that sounds like two men in close coordination, damn interested in stopping the killin’, wouldn’t you agree?”
Scardino definitely did agree. “So, Hanley might be involved in this, and he does have some influence over Violator.”
Scardino thought a moment, then said, “That’s helpful information. But in the meantime, we need you focused on your next—”
Whetstone interrupted, “Look, chief, I’ll take out whoever you want, but right now, you need to be goin’ to your people inside the U.S. government and finding me more intel about Violator and Hanley. Where they are now, anyone they might be workin’ with.Theseare the enemies to your whole bloody scheme, yeah, and if you’ve got any interest in self-preservation, I’d be thinking about that.”
Big Mike said, “I’m gonna put you on hold.” He tapped the key, then looked to J.W.
“We gave Whetstone the Hanley address because we were trying to string him along, feed him something to keep him working on our targets. But we only tasked Shaw with getting some intel on Hanley. We can reach out to him now, tell him to get everything he can get on Hanley, Violator, their dealings, and all their associates. If we find it likely they are with a group working against us, then we give Whetstone what he came for in the first place. The Gray Man.”
J.W. wasn’t convinced. He said, “We were planning on eliminating Shaw last, so we had access to the information he’s getting us out of ODNI. But he’s a liability now. Ortega knows about him, and Ortega’s in the wind.”
Scardino said, “I agree, Shaw needs to die, and we don’t want to waitaround till the end of the operation, because someone is going to know about him soon enough. But we can’t kill him till we have an understanding about what happened last night in Washington Circle. We definitely don’t want a repeat of that.”
He added, “I’ve got a Gauntlet team following him wherever he goes. If anybody comes after Shaw, then we’ll get him out of there.” With confidence, he said, “Nobody is going to get anything out of him, even if we have to put a bullet in his brain from a distance while he’s getting arrested.”
