CHAPTER 74
“IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN,” said Friedman as she sat down at the restaurant table. Annabelle and Caleb were already seated across from her.
“We said we would be in touch,” Annabelle said bluntly.
Caleb said, “We are very excited to move this forward, with your help.”
Friedman slid her napkin into her lap and said, “And I’m excited to get to work on this with you. I’ve made some preliminary inquiries and the time is definitely ripe for your project model.”
They ate and discussed more points of business. As they left the restaurant a Mercedes limo swung around the corner.
“We can give you a ride home,” said Caleb.
“You don’t have to do that,” said Friedman. “I live out in Virginia.”
He took her hand, kissed it. “It is no trouble. In fact it would be my pleasure.”
Annabelle held the door open. Friedman climbed in. Annabelle shut the door behind her and the limo sped off.
Friedman jerked around and tried the door handle. The door was locked. She noticed a presence to her left and whirled in that direction.
A man was staring at her.
“What the hell is going on?” demanded Friedman. She stopped, caught her breath as she focused on him. “Stone?”
Stone said, “That’s my partner up there, Mary Chapman. I’m sure you’ve been briefed on her too.” He motioned to the driver. Chapman gave a small wave before turning onto the next street.
“You’re… you’re kidnapping me?”
“No, we’re meeting with you.”
She frowned. “People who want to meet with me usually make an appointment.”
“We need your help and we wanted to ask for it quietly.”
“I thought you’d been forbidden by Director Weaver to come near me.”
“That’s why we’re asking quietly.”
Friedman sat back, taking all of this in. There was no fear in her eyes. “So Weaver knows nothing about this?”
“Need to know. And right now he doesn’t need to know.”
“Interesting theory considering he runs the country’s intelligence services.”
“As you know, we have great interest in Turkekul.”
“You’re not alone in that regard.”
“You told me you figured out he was a traitor, but when exactly did you learn he was a double agent?”
“You know, you can tell me that Riley Weaver has filled you in, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe it.”
“People are dying at an alarming clip,” he pointed out.
She shrugged. “It’s a dangerous business.”
“And we believe that Turkekul is at the epicenter of that business.”
Friedman hesitated. “I wouldn’t disagree with that assessment. But—”
Chapman spoke up. “And yet he just keeps walking along, no troubles.”
Friedman glanced at her and then at Stone. “I follow orders. I might not agree with them all the time, but I follow them.”
“All the time?” asked Stone.
“I wouldn’t last long in this line of work if I didn’t.”
“Didn’t you learn to exercise some independence in order to get the job done?”
Friedman crossed her legs and folded her arms over her chest. “Any place in particular where we’re going?”
“Just seeing the city. Having a nice chat.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“So you are concerned?”
She snapped, “Who the hell wouldn’t be concerned! A dozen people have died at least by my count. Snipers, bombers, executions. All on American soil.”
“So you’ll help us?”
“I can’t commit to that,” she said frankly. “Until I know what your plan is. You know that.”
“We need Turkekul to talk to us.”
“He’ll talk to you all right. About everything you don’t want to know about. He’s the most tight-lipped, aggravatingly secretive person I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something.”
“He’s just trying to survive. And you do that by not trusting anyone,” said Stone.
“Well, then pray tell how do you propose getting him to talk? Because I haven’t come close.”
“With your help I think we can.”
“I haven’t agreed to anything. By all rights I should report this contact right away. And if Weaver finds out—”
“But you won’t report it.”
She looked at him with a superior expression. “And how do you know that?”
“Because I can tell you want to get this guy.”
“I’ve always wanted to get this guy. But it’s the people behind him that my superiors want. I explained that to you. Without them Turkekul isn’t worth anything. If it were just Turkekul it wouldn’t be a problem. He’d be dead.”
Chapman said, “And you’re sure if you take him out it wouldn’t help matters?”
“Not in the least. The Russians have a dozen Fuat Turkekuls spread around the globe. And if we show our hand we blow an opportunity that will likely never come along again. That’s been the rub with this whole mission. If we can follow Fuat right back to Moscow and show a clear connection between the government there and the Russian drug cartel then I think even the citizens of Russia would sit up and take notice. The UN certainly would as well as the rest of the free world. And Russia would have no choice but to back the hell off its grandiose plans to dominate the planet again, using cocaine and heroin as opposed to guns and tanks.”
“I can see his value more clearly now. You expressed the situation very well,” said Stone.
She glanced up and their gazes locked.
Friedman said, “Would you care to guess how old I am?”
Stone appraised her. “Thirty-five?”
“Add ten years to that.”
He looked surprised. “For such a high-risk profession you’ve aged remarkably well.”
“Outside, perhaps,” she replied. “Inside it’s a different matter.” She gazed at him. “Why do I believe you’re in the same boat?”
“I think I look my age.”
“Most men your age are fat and bowed. You look like you could do the Marine obstacle course at Quantico without breaking a sweat.”
Friedman continued to stare at Stone. “Without breaking a sweat,” she said again.
In the rearview mirror Chapman gazed anxiously between the pair. “So getting back to the matter at hand,” she said quickly as the two continued to stare at each other.
Friedman ignored her and said, “Did I mention that I checked out John Carr’s military and CIA career? The most unbelievable parts I found the most believable for some reason.”
“I did my job. Just like you are.”
“Few people did their job like you did. You’re more than a legend, John Carr. You’re more like a myth.”
“I’m actually flesh and blood. That’s been very apparent to me from the start.” He touched the bandage on his head. “And never more apparent than right now.”
“Your missions and methods were actually taught in the classroom at CIA, did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Not by name, of course, or else I would’ve heard of John Carr much earlier. But I did some digging. Triple Six. Always got a kick out of that name. You never failed.”
“Sure I did.”
“Modesty.”