“You sound like the general,” said Munoz. “Except he’s convinced this is the Russians cleaning up loose ends related to Vektor.”
“Somebody’s cleaning up loose ends. I’m just not convinced it’s the Russians. Our current administration also has a vested interest in permanently erasing any link to Reznikov.”
“It sounds like we need to secure Bauer until this can be sorted,” said Munoz. “Does she have family?”
“A husband that works in Tyson’s Corner at a government think tank. Grown kids on the West Coast.”
“Daniel is bringing Jessica back here. Maybe we should divert him to pick up Bauer’s husband, so we can take that leverage out of the immediate equation.”
Berg nodded. “I know David Bauer well enough. I’ll give him a call. You have my phone?”
“Our tech team downloaded your contact list, call history, all that shit, well before we made our way here. I have a satellite phone for you and a tablet with all that information,” said Jackson. “Your friends here don’t take any chances.”
“That’s why I had you contact them,” said Berg. “Nobody else could have pulled this off.”
Munoz looked puzzled. “Why not have Ms. Bauer call her own husband?”
“Because I want to test a theory. If I’m wrong, this is the Russians, and we can all rest easy.”
“Rest easy?” Jackson echoed.
“Yeah,” said Berg. “Because if I’m right, we are most truly fucked.”
Chapter 38
Audra Bauer drove southwest on Lee Highway, approaching the Interstate 66 overpass. She’d left significantly later than usual from The George Bush Center for Intelligence, per Karl Berg’s instructions. Late enough to take advantage of the fading sunlight on the way to their rendezvous if she detected she had picked up a tail. The other benefit was the traffic. While the roads in and around this area were always busy, they wouldn’t be constrictive. Berg had insisted that this was important, once again, in case she needed to take evasive action.
She didn’t know what to think of Karl’s late afternoon call, heavy on wild conspiracy theories about the Russians and light on any verifiable facts or evidence. She’d almost hung up on him and called the Protective Services Division to arrange a Surveillance and Intervention team escort for herself. But Karl had used a long ago established code word toward the end of their conversation that meant her life was in immediate danger. He might have sounded unhinged, single-mindedly focused on the Russians again, but she didn’t believe he’d play that card for any reason other than its intended purpose.
Now she was on the way to meet him at her favorite coffee shop in Falls Church, though she suspected he had different plans for the final location of their rendezvous. He’d told her to park in back and enter through the rear entrance. Bauer figured he’d intercept her in the parking lot and drive her somewhere else, in case she’d picked up a tail. She still wasn’t one hundred percent convinced she’d go with him. It would all depend on how he looked and acted. She carried a stun gun and pepper spray in her coat pockets just in case he didn’t take no for an answer.
Traffic on Lee Highway, a local two-lane state route, lightened significantly after the Interstate 66 exchange, the beltway artery grabbing late commuters headed to distant western D.C. suburbs. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she noted a few pairs of headlights following her into the heart of Falls Church.
Bauer intended to turn on East Columbia Street, a few blocks up, and drive around the neighborhoods, just to be certain she hadn’t been followed. East Columbia Street was at the next stoplight, which she could see was green and had been green for a short while. She’d try to time her approach to run the light just as it transitioned from yellow to red.
As her car neared the intersection, it looked like the timing would work out. The light turned yellow just before she reached the point on the road where it opened into a left-turn-only lane. When the light immediately went from yellow to red, she pounded her fist on the wheel. The lights in the downtown area were erratic at best. It didn’t matter. She’d still take a little trip through the neighborhoods, emerging on Broad Street.
Bauer triggered her car’s turn signal and eased into the turn lane, rolling to a stop at the intersection. A black Town Car sedan with tinted windows pulled up to the light next to her two lanes over, next to the curb. Not an unusual sight at all in the D.C. area. She stared at the dark sedan for a few seconds, then returned her attention to the intersection. Catching her eye for a moment, a late model, oversized SUV started to turn onto North Washington Street from the direction she intended to take. She glanced up at the light, then back at the SUV, noticing that it had stopped right next to her car. Her right hand shot into her coat pocket. The rear passenger door was open; two men wearing ski masks were rushing her car.
Chapter 39
Melendez watched the intersection through the second-floor corner window of the vacant, unleased building next to North Washington Street, on the opposite side of the westbound lanes. His earpiece crackled.
“This is echo one. Bauer is pulling up to Columbia. I need to cut the light short.”
“Oscar One ready,” said Melendez.
“Oscar Two on the way.”
Oscar Two was composed of Sayar and Petrovich, who had parked in the far north reaches of an expansive parking lot across North Washington Street. They’d start moving through the lot, ready to run street-level interference if a threat emerged that Melendez couldn’t handle. They had no idea if Bauer had been followed.
“Alpha One pulling into position.”
Munoz was in charge of Alpha One, the team that would grab Bauer from her car. With Mazurov driving, Daly would assist with the transfer. It wouldn’t take much to unravel this op. They were stretched precariously thin. A silver, four-door BMV sedan approached the intersection, slowing for the red light initiated by Graves and Gupta.
“Alpha One moving.”
Melendez rapidly scanned the thin westbound traffic, focusing his attention on the black Town Car that pulled up to the light, two lanes over. A white SUV entered his field of view, screeching to a halt next to Bauer’s sedan. He settled into the suppressed M110’s fixed stock and pressed his right eye into the 4X ACOG sight, centering the green reticle on the Town Car’s rear driver’s side door, which sprang open moments later.
A single 7.62mm armor-piercing round struck the man that started to emerge from the car, knocking him back inside. Melendez methodically and rapidly fired tightly spaced groupings of bullets at the vehicle’s most likely points of occupancy. The driver’s window shattered last, the most obvious and immobile occupant taking the last rounds in the magazine. He reloaded, never taking his eyes off the Town Car. Sounds of a pitched struggle between Audra Bauer and Alpha One reached the second-story window.
Tires screeched to the east, momentarily pulling his attention away from the bullet-riddled sedan. An SUV lurched onto North Washington Street, pointing in Alpha One’s direction.
“This is Alpha One. Engaging SUV headed toward the transfer point. Alpha Two, confirm black Town Car at intersection is neutralized,” said Melendez, swinging his rifle in the direction of the new threat.
Melendez centered the reticle on the driver’s side of the windshield and pressed the trigger three times as flashes of gunfire erupted from multiple points along the incoming SUV.