Blevins ignored the question. "They flew all the way to Washington with you?"
"Right. I had my car at the airport. They were going to Alexandria, so I detoured down there on my way home."
"Where did you let them out?"
Burke gave him the name of the motel. "Now will you tell me what this is all about?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hill, but I honestly don't have any details. Mr. McNaughton told me what to ask you. He just said the Bureau wanted to find Rodman and Netto, whose real name is Shumakov. That's all he would tell me."
Burke frowned. "I know where you're coming from. Just do what we tell you and don't ask questions. Have I given you what you need?"
"Yes, sir. Thank you."
Burke glanced again at his watch. "Well, I'd really better get moving."
He hurried out to the main concourse and strode rapidly along the moving walkway. He glanced back and saw Agent Blevins going in the opposite direction. He felt rather good about his performance. Hopefully that would keep them at bay for awhile. Before heading to the check-in counter, he put his carry-on bag in a locker and stopped at a pay phone to call Lori.
After telling her about his questioning by the young FBI agent, he asked what she had heard from Rodman and Shumakov.
"Not good news, I'm afraid."
"What happened?"
"They think the Major spotted them in Memphis."
"Damn! How?"
She told him about the incident at McDonald's.
"Are they sure he recognized them?"
"Not absolutely. But Roddy said it would be a miracle if he hadn't."
"What did Romashchuk do then?"
"He stopped at another fast food place and went in. They stayed clear of it, so they don't know if he used the phone or not."
Burke had no doubts. If Romashchuk saw them, he had called Adam Stern. Probably asked for reinforcements. Burke had no idea what sort of resources Stern would have at his disposal, but he felt certain there would be some kind of adverse reaction.
"Have you heard any more from Roddy since then?"
"He called a short while ago from somewhere between Memphis and Nashville. They're still heading east on I-40. He said the van was moving along within the speed limit, but the Major wasn't dragging his feet."
"I don't like the sound of this. When you hear from him again, tell them to be damned careful. Be on the lookout for anything the slightest bit out of the ordinary."
"I will. Oh, and Burke, I thought of something I forgot to ask you last night. When are they going to send someone to talk to Brenda about that bogus waiter?"
Burke rumpled his brow. The security chief had promised to get someone onto it right away. "You mean nobody has been there yet?"
"Exactly. I called Miss Dolly at the caterer. She hasn't been questioned either."
What the hell was going on here? They should have been able to track the guy down by now. "I've got a few more minutes before time for the flight. I think I'll give Peterson a call."
Worldwide Communications Consultants had a weekend watch officer who kept up with the locations of key individuals. He punched in the number and asked where Peterson could be reached.
"This is Burke Hill," he said in an obviously unhappy tone when the security man answered. "When is somebody going to start tracking down the damned character who bugged my telephone?"
There was a pause, then Peterson replied, "You and the Chief had better get together on this. I thought you knew he told me to hold up on that investigation."
"He what?"
"It was the afternoon after you talked to me, when he got back from New York. He said something had come up that might make it unnecessary, to hold off until I heard from him."
Now Burke was really confused. That morning Nate had been all for getting right to the bottom of it. He wanted to know. Keep him posted, he said. But as soon as he'd returned from New York… a flag suddenly went up. The meeting with Bernard Whitehurst. Nate had canceled the bug inquiry, then gave his little speech indicating he knew Burke was aware of something that involved Adam Stern and the Roundtable. Had the information come from Whitehurst? Had Whitehurst, or Stern, hired someone to bug his house? He thought about that conversation with Lori the morning he returned from Mexico, while they were in the family room. Just enough to tell a listener he believed the Roundtable was involved in something shady in Mexico. Then he realized somebody would have also listened in on the phone call to Lori the night before, when they had plotted the excuse about the twins' illness.
It all began to make sense now. Stern… Whitehurst… Nate… they were all apparently into this up to their eye teeth. And by now, or very shortly, Assistant Director McNaughton, and by extension Director Bradford Pickens, would know that he had deposited Rodman and Shumakov in Alexandria.
He hurried over to the airline counter. With no baggage to check, it was just a matter of checking his ticket. Then he headed for the gate area and eased his way through the crowd. They had formed a rather loose-jointed line in front of the gate, and he managed to camp in a spot fairly near the front. Listening to the conversations around him, he determined there was a family group of five or six people not far behind him. He smiled to himself. It was just what he needed.
When the boarding call sounded, the line firmed up and began to shuffle ahead. As the passengers gave up their tickets, they moved in singles or knots of twos and threes into the corridor of the jetway. Burke handed his ticket to a smiling attendant whose mouth was operating on automatic with "have a nice flight."
He took a step forward, then to the right, paused and looked into his briefcase as though searching for something. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the family group moved up and gathered around the ticket agent. As soon as he was sure the attendant's attention was distracted, he turned suddenly and walked back out into the waiting area as though looking for something he had lost. He didn't stop until he was all the way out to where the lockers were located. Now, if they didn't get hung up on a passenger count, he would be officially on his way to Korea.
He reclaimed his carry-on and headed for the American Airlines ticket counter.
63
It was around one o'clock when the gray Chevrolet van towing the U-Haul pulled off the interstate at the Donelson Pike exit on the east side of Nashville. Yuri Shumakov followed in the exit lane, keeping his eye on the van as it reached the top of the hill, paused, then turned left. Yuri accelerated the Caprice to get back into a position to see the Major's vehicle. When he turned onto Donelson Pike, he saw the van up ahead slowing at a row of fast food outlets. It turned in at the second restaurant, so Yuri pulled into the first one.
"Go get us some hamburgers," Roddy said with little enthusiasm. He was getting tired of the menu. "I'll take the wheel. Give you a horn blast if necessary."
It was the pattern they had followed whenever they had the opportunity. The one not driving would buy the sandwiches, while the other waited behind the wheel, keeping an eye on the van. Roddy took his eye off it for a moment, though, looking to the east, where the sky was turning darker as the clouds thickened. They had driven in sunshine most of the way from Memphis. During the last half-hour, conditions had changed significantly. Tall, black-bottomed cumulonimbus clouds were building to the east. It was not a sight you wanted to stare in the face if you were piloting a helicopter. Fortunately, he was on the ground this time, but he knew they faced some messy weather ahead. It would require closing in on the van to keep it in sight.