AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The grin on Hayes’s face vanished. He began to cautiously consider his reply. “Anna, you already know more than you should. What Mitch does for—” The president paused. He was going to say “the government” but decided that would be too much of an admission. “What Mitch decides to do on his own is something that I am not at liberty to discuss.”
“So you know where he is right now?” Rielly stared at the president with her green eyes, watching every little expression.
Having his law degree and working in Washington for several decades allowed Hayes to focus on the words right now. The president shook his head. “I have no idea where Mitch is.”
“Do you know why he left the country on Thursday?”
Hayes blinked several times and said, “No…I don’t.”
Rielly studied him. “Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think you are being entirely honest with me.”
“Anna, I don’t think we should be talking about this.”
“Sir, I did you and your administration a huge favor by not going public with my story after the hostage crisis was ended.”
“Yes, you did, but this has nothing to do with that.”
Rielly’s voice took on a more confrontational tone. “It has everything to do with it.”
Hayes held up his hands. He didn’t want this to get heated. “Anna, for your loyalty, you have been given phenomenal access. The fact that you were able to get in here to see me at this hour speaks volumes.”
Rielly cut him off. “And that has been greatly appreciated, sir. But that was the deal you made so I would stay quiet.”
“That’s not the only reason you’ve stayed quiet.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anna, Mitch saved your life. He saved mine. He saved a lot of people’s. His wish to keep his life private deserves our respect and continued commitment.”
“I owe Mitch my life. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t think about it.” She frowned. “Please don’t confuse the issue here. This is not about keeping Mitch’s life private. I’m not going to tell anybody about what he does for the CIA. This is about me being worried sick that something has happened to Mitch. It’s about me needing to know if he’s all right.”
Hayes sighed and looked up at the ceiling. He couldn’t believe he was discussing something with a reporter that he wouldn’t even discuss with his own national security advisor.
Rielly reached out and touched his arm. “Sir, all I want to know is if he’s all right. As far as I’m concerned, we never had this conversation.”
“As far as I know”—Hayes shook his head—“he’s fine. But that’s all I’m going to say.”
Rielly’s face lit up. She reached out and grabbed the president’s hand. “Thank you, sir.”
It was dark when American Airlines Flight 602 touched down on the runway at Baltimore Washington International Airport. The flight had just completed its 1,565-mile nonstop journey from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mitch Rapp looked down at his watch as they taxied to the gate. It was twenty past nine on Monday evening. Once he was out of Germany, the journey back to America had been fairly simple. From Lyon, France, he had taken a Trans North Aviation flight to Fort de France, Martinique, in the Caribbean. The nonstop 4,440-mile flight allowed him to catch a full six hours of sleep as he stretched out in first class. On the tiny island, which was an overseas department of France, he had che
cked into a quaint family-run hotel up in the hills overlooking the blue waters of the eastern Caribbean Sea. Rapp paid for both Saturday and Sunday night in cash. Sunday was spent by the pool, relaxing, healing, staring out at the fishing village below, and planning his next step. That evening, he’d allowed himself a cold six-pack while he sat on his balcony and listened to the waves crash in on the rocky shoreline below. He’d allowed his imagination to roam as he thought about what he’d do to the Hoffmans when he got his hands on them.
That night he’d slept for almost eight hours. He awoke with a slight hangover, but after a jog down to the water and a one-mile swim, he felt invigorated and ready to face whatever awaited him back in the States. The two nights and one day spent on tranquil Martinique had brought his mind and body back into focus.
On Monday morning he caught an Air Guadeloupe flight to San Juan, where he cleared U.S. Customs. Monday afternoon was spent shopping for new clothes and eating, and then at 6:15 that evening, he boarded the flight for Maryland. Rapp stepped off the plane in Baltimore looking every bit the tourist who had just returned from a weekend in the sun. He was wearing a faded red baseball cap from Larry’s Dive Shop in San Juan, a blue-and-white Hawaiian shirt, a pair of khakis, and blue boat shoes. His face and forearms were tanned.
Rapp was all but sure the folks at Langley had not been able to track him. He had traveled using two separate identities, identities the watchers at Langley had never been told of. If they got lucky and saw him on one of the airport’s security tapes, that would be fine. He would be gone by then, having disappeared into a city that he knew intimately. There was a chance they might have people at the airport staking out the gates. If they were there, Rapp was confident he’d spot them. As he walked with the rest of the vacationers toward the baggage claim, Rapp stayed close to two women he had met at the airport in San Juan. He kept the brim of his hat down and his eyes alert. He’d stay with the crowd until he was sure he could make a safe break.
On Martinique, Rapp had devised three different plans. The first stage of each involved obtaining some protection. None of them involved going back to the house. At least not until he did a little digging and found out what in the hell had happened. Anna also would have to wait. He desperately wanted to talk to her but knew it was a bad idea, and for more than one reason. She would want him just to walk away and put the whole thing behind him. What she didn’t understand was that in this line of work, loose ends had a way of coming back and biting you in the ass. He would get word to her that he was safe and back in the country, but that would be it.
When the herd of freshly tanned tourists neared the baggage claim, the two women from Bowie, Maryland, suggested to Rapp that they get together for drinks. Rapp smiled sheepishly and told them he didn’t think his girlfriend would like the idea. With that, he took the escalator up and walked out the door onto the curb. There were three cabs within thirty feet in either direction. All three were dropping passengers off. The drivers were not allowed to pick up passengers on the departure level. They were supposed to go back downstairs and line up with everybody else. Rapp waited for one of the cabbies to get back in his vehicle and then darted into the back seat. Before the cabbie could protest, Rapp shoved a fifty-dollar bill in his face. The money did the trick. The cabbie looked around to see if anybody had noticed and then put the car in drive.
“The Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, please.”
The man nodded and pushed the button to start the meter. Rapp turned sideways so he could glance out the back window to see if someone might be following. A few minutes later, they were on Interstate 95 headed south for Washington. The drive proved uneventful, at least as far as Rapp could tell. One never knew anymore, though. In this day of satellites and microtransmitters, eyes and ears could follow from hundreds of miles away, and you’d have no way of knowing.
When the cab pulled up to the Hyatt, Rapp gave the driver another fifty and then went through the revolving front door and into the lobby. After finding the payphones, he plugged in some change and dialed a number from memory. After six rings, an answering machine greeted him. Rapp took this as a good sign. The odds just went up that Marcus Dumond would be where he wanted him to be. Before leaving the lobby, Rapp grabbed a sweatshirt out of his backpack. It was a little cooler here than it had been in the Caribbean.
