Page 34 of Yankee in the Wind

For a short moment, Ace contemplated the idea. “It’s possible. There are sailboats on the Potomac, and it gets quite broad in some areas.”

“That’s right. Fox could have seen a river, not a lake. It would tie in with what I’m seeing: that whatever impending doom the premonition is warning us of is centered in Washington D.C.”

“I’ve had some theories about that too,” Ace said. “We know that our mysterious Mr. Smith tried to force Michelle into finding Fox as he was hacking into the CIA’s servers.”

Jack nodded. Michelle and Fox had told him about it only ten days earlier. “Yeah, what about it?”

“I believe Smith is part of the CIA. That’s how he knows about the top-secret Stargate program. Even though my father ran the program off book, there’s still a possibility that somebody in his orbit got wind of it. And for whatever reason, Smith killed him or had him killed. And then he started coming after the rest of us. The program must have presented a threat to him and whatever he’s planning.”

“So you think he’s a mole in the CIA? Working for a foreign government?”

Ace shrugged. “Possibly, but not necessarily. He could simply represent a domestic threat to the US Government. No foreign country needs to be involved in that. There are plenty of people in the US—Americans—who would like to overthrow democracy.”

“Somebody has to have pretty deep pockets to finance something like that,” Jack mused.

“And connections in the right places.”

“So you think Smith is a big-shot in the CIA?”

“It’s something we need to consider. I’m having Fox work on getting background info on anybody in the CIA who’s got a high enough position with enough power and access we believe Smith to have. Michelle knows his voice, but it’s not an easy job. There isn’t a lot of public information about who’s working for the CIA, apart from the director, and Michelle has already ruled him out. His voice is distinctly different from Smith’s.”

“So how is Fox finding other CIA operatives?”

“He’s setting up a system to capture license plate numbers of all cars going in and out of Langley, and then tracing them back to their owners.”

“Fuck, that must be thousands of cars.”

“I didn’t say it will be easy. That’s why I’m hoping that we’ll find something tonight at that warehouse that will lead us to Smith faster.”

“You and me both.”

16

When Ace, Jack, and Lilly arrived at the warehouse from Thomas’s video recording, it was pitch-black. Lilly couldn’t even see any streetlights. Fox’s surveillance had confirmed that nobody had entered or exited the building for the last four hours—the entire time since Fox had established satellite surveillance.

“It looks deserted,” Lilly said when Ace stopped the SUV.

“Seems like it,” Jack agreed, “but it could be a trap.”

Ace nodded from the driver’s seat. “Check your comms.”

Lilly touched the earpiece Ace had given her before they’d left the mansion. Ace and Jack had the same kind of earpiece.

“Fox, this is Ace,” Ace said into the small microphone extending from the earpiece.

“This is Fox.”

“Fox, this is Yankee.”

“Yankee, all clear.”

“Fox this is Lilly,” Lilly said. “I should have picked a cool code name.”

Lilly heard Fox’s chuckle in her ear. “Lilly, you’re all clear. Good luck, guys. I’ll be watching from here. If I see anybody approach the building, I’ll give you the signal to abort.”

“Roger that,” Ace said.

They exited the SUV. Lilly felt sluggish with the weight of the Kevlar vest that Ace had given her, and Jack had insisted on her wearing. Neither Jack nor Ace were wearing one. According to Ace, it was the only vest he possessed, though he was planning on getting more of them now that their group had increased in size.