Page 107 of Cross Down
He says, “You said you worked with your cousins, one in the CIA, the other in the NSA, to come up with this intel.”
“That’s right, sir,” she says. “Tessie and Paula.”
“Are they both going to their superiors with this same account?”
Captain Cardinal shakes her head. “No, sir. We decided that I should be the one making the case because…well, sir, you have a reputation for getting things done, sir. If Tessie and Paula tried to alert their supervisors, it would just be delayed by bureaucracy. You know how it is, sir—an assistant section leader needs to sign off on it and kick it over to the section leader, then he or she needs to sign off on it, and that’s the way it goes all the way up the line.” Cardinal takes a deep breath. “We didn’t feel we had enough time. We deciphered enough phrases to indicate the final attack will take place today. At noon, sir.”
Grissom smiles and says to the smart young lady, “Captain Cardinal, you’ve done tremendous work, and no worries, you won’t get into trouble for your unorthodox methods or for seeing me without going through channels.”
Cardinal smiles back. “Thank you, sir.”
Still smiling, Grissom reaches into the open desk drawer, removes his pistol, and shoots Captain Cardinal in the forehead.
Chapter
125
With Lopez atthe wheel, the dark blue Chevrolet Suburban with flashing red and blue lights in its grille speeds into the parking lot of Global Security Services. The well-equipped Suburban got the four men here from the Hay-Adams hotel in reasonably good time, and now they’re close to the building.
The glass lobby doors open, and Maynard sees two figures emerge. “Shit, there they are!”
Damn it all to hell, he didn’t tell Lopez to stop, but that’s exactly what the moron does; he hits the brakes and squeals to a halt practically on the sidewalk near the front entrance. And assuming they’ve arrived, the two men in the back, Smith and McCoole, open their respective doors, and Maynard thinks,Lopez, when this is done, you’re a dead man.
But he doesn’t hesitate; he unzips his black duffel bag and pulls out his compact M4 automatic rifle.
Chapter
126
Deacon and Irun down the emergency stairs after leaving Gerrold Mason’s office, avoiding the elevators in case some smart security officer freezes all of them until the police arrive.
Breathing hard, I say to Deacon as I open the stairway door, “No running. Running will call attention to us. A nice casual stroll.”
“How are your arms and shoulders doing?”
They’re throbbing painfully, but I ignore it. “Manageable. Your ex-husband went through parachute schools and advanced training, and he’s still afraid of heights?”
Deacon sticks close to me as we walk across the lobby. She’s carrying her ex-husband’s laptop under her arm, and I have four thumb drives in my pants pocket. God, I want to talk everything through with Deacon, talk about what we’ve discovered, what’s going to happen in less than two hours, but we don’t have time for conversation.
“How hard was it,” she asks, “holding him out the window?”
I say, “Once I got a good grip on his pants and shirt collar, not that bad. And thanks for helping by grabbing my belt. Truth is, it wasn’t the weight that bothered me. It was the smell when his bladder and bowels let loose. That was the worst. I doubt he’s recovered enough yet to make another phone call.”
“Seeing him sobbing in the corner made me smile, John. I’m sorry,” she says. “But he kept on calling me Lizzie. He knows how much I hate that.”
We exit the lobby through the glass doors, and to our left, nearly on the sidewalk, is a dark blue Chevy Suburban, red and blue lights flashing, its doors opening, and I yell,“Gun,”grab my pistol, and start shooting.
Chapter
127
The door toGrissom’s office snaps open, and Colonel Kendricks looks in and sees the sprawled body of Captain Cardinal on the floor, the bright red blood from her shattered head soaking into the carpet.
Kendricks says not a word; she just enters, closes the door behind her, and locks it. “Are you all right, sir?” she asks.
“Yes, yes, I am,” he says, putting the pistol on his desk.
She steps closer, and he says, “Sorry to say, Captain Cardinal found herself in the position of the DIA officer who knew too much. Colonel, you’ve worked at both the NSA and the DIA. Do you recognize her?”
