“Only in your fucking minds, Court!”
“As long as it’s in one of our minds, then it’s got to be dealt with.” Court sighed. “Am I getting that aircraft? Because if not, I need to go online and book a flight.”
“You arenotgetting an aircraft.”
Court thought a moment. “Okay, fine. Next question. Will you tell these pilots to divert to Dulles, or do I have to hijack this plane?”
“You’re fucking serious right now?”
“I don’t know, Matt. Do Isoundserious? I’ve got Zack’s piece and half a mag of hollow-points. This plane is going wherever I want it to.”
“Dammit!” Hanley shouted. “Okay. Relax. Just relax.” Then he hung up.
Less than five minutes later, the copilot came over the PA. “Sir…we’ve been ordered by the company to divert to Dulles.”
Court nodded, pulled out his phone, and booked the first commercial flight he could. Dulles to Dublin, and then he’d take a train up to Belfast.
From there…he’d figure it out.
He wasn’t thinking straight, but hewasthinking, and he wasn’t acting rational, but hewasacting.
Fifty-Two
James Westwood and Michael Scardino jogged through a foggy morning; the woods were dark and the mist in the air made it almost impossible to see fifty feet ahead.
The pair arrived at the meeting point; they stopped, and Scardino began to check his watch, but before he could bring it up to his face, he saw the flashing lights burning through the vapor in the trees, indicating that the Chinese MSS assets were right on time, as usual.
After the wanding by both sides, Gracie Wu lowered her scarf down to her neck and asked J.W. and Big Mike to sit with her on the fallen log.
Once seated, she said, “Spiral is dead. Snare is dead. Lancer was killed in Colorado.” She looked to Scardino specifically. “Ten Gauntlet men are dead, in all.”
The Americans did not respond, so Gracie continued. “We expected to take losses, but we also expected that the five assets with support would be able to remove the targets, and there would be no comebacks on Operation Marigold. Matthew Hanley and his team have managed to protect the reporter Catherine King and witness Irene Ortega, and these are dangerous compromises.”
Scardino said, “I killed Shaw myself yesterday morning.”
“I am aware,” Gracie replied.
J.W. spoke up now. “How fast will we be able to get the intelligence we need to continue the operations now that Shaw is off the table?”
Gracie said, “I have spoken to my superiors about that. I am assured you will continue to obtain all the intelligence you need even though Shaw is no longer part of the equation. The person or persons in the U.S. government who have been providing what we need understand the critical nature of the intelligence product and will make sure the flow continues.”
“That’s good to know,” J.W. said.
“There is one small problem,” Scardino said.
Gracie looked at him. “If there were only one small problem, I would be very happy.”
J.W. said, “I guess I should say there is anadditionalsmall problem. Whetstone.”
“What about Whetstone?”
“He is not responding. He’s been paid for the work he and his team have done, but four of the five members of his team were killed yesterday in Florida.”
She cocked her head. “The murders in northern Florida? The dead from Boston? They worked for Whetstone?”
Scardino nodded. “Those were his people. He was down there at the home of the father of one of Hanley’s assets. When I killed Shaw, I made it look like Whetstone had committed the assassination, both to cover my ass and to make Hanley and his team think Whetstone was up in D.C. when he was actually on the way to Florida.”
“And Hanley’s asset in Florida survived?”
