“Good. I’ll be flying to Lisbon first thing in the morning for the meeting. I’ll phone you from there to share the good news.”
Chapter 70
Jake Sanders was sitting next to Cathy Moynihan on the steps outside the trailer in silence. The mood had been tense since his conversation with FBI Director Frank Culder. He had cut the dead Russian from the chair and dragged him outside while they waited for his colleague to arrive. Their blank stares toward the road were occasionally interrupted by a shared uncomfortable glance.
Sanders felt the phone in his pocket vibrate. He pulled it out so he could read the message, and then responded. The pressure from the weapon he had tucked in the small of his back ripped away at his conscience. He waited anxiously for Moynihan to turn away so he could do the deed. She hadn’t complied, and each time their eyes met, all he could do was force an awkward smile. This time her eyes held his gaze and penetrated his soul.
“What is it, Jake?” she asked.
Those four words and the sincerity behind them crushed his nerve. He found himself unable to answer. His eyes darted nervously when he heard the sound of crunching gravel, signaling the arrival of the SUV. It stopped in the driveway before it came into view.
Moynihan reached over and took his hand. “Jake, you can talk to me.”
He looked away, so she leaned toward him and entered his field of view.
“I’m here for you. I just want you to know that.”
He began to sweat and clenched his jaw and toes as he wrestled with his conflicting thoughts.
The noise of the vehicle’s door opening and closing shattered the silence.
“We’re going to be okay.” Moynihan smiled confidently, her eyes reflecting her heart.
Sanders heard the back door of the truck open and stood up. It was followed by the sound of rustling material.
“I know,” he said. He put his arm around her. “Come on. There’s someone I want you to meet. Something’s come up, and I need to head out, but I’ll be in touch.”
They walked around the trailer and rounded the back of the SUV. Rudy Pagano stood there with a confused look on his face.
“Hey, Rudy, this is Agent Moynihan.”
Moynihan held her hand out and looked to the ground as he shook her hand. She froze when she saw the pair of body bags laid out next to the vehicle. Her face was ashen when she looked back up at Pagano. She turned to Sanders, and her body began to shake.
“Only one tonight,” Sanders said to Pagano with a nod.
“Oh,” he said, obviously confused. The two men exchanged an uncomfortable look. “Sorry about that. Where’s the stiff?”
Sanders knew Moynihan had felt the tension between the two men.
“This way,” he said.
He grabbed a body bag and led Pagano over to the trailer. The two shared severe glances as they stuffed the Russian into the bag, walked to the vehicle and heaved it into the back of the Chevy Tahoe. After a brief silence, Pagano grabbed the other body bag and threw it in the back before closing the hatch.
“We’ve got to head out. I’ll be in touch,” Sanders said, before the two men climbed into the SUV and drove off.
Chapter 71
She stood there in shock, afraid of what might happen next. The faint sound of gravel being crunched under the weight of a car’s tires sent a cold shiver down Cathy Moynihan’s spine. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing there, but it had seemed like an eternity.
Her heart pounded from a combination of nervousness and fear as she scrambled into the bushes. A silver Honda Civic was slowly pulling into the quarry with its headlights turned off. A man got out and walked over to the trailer. He looked inside and then returned to the car.
The man placed a call on his cell phone. Moynihan couldn’t understand Russian, but she could detect the urgency in his voice.
She stayed hidden and watched and waited, trying not to move a muscle. Within twenty minutes another car approached. The FBI agent recognized the black sedan and its tinted windows from earlier in the evening, and her pulse quickened. Her suspicions were confirmed when the driver’s-side door opened and the dome light inside the car remained dark. She noted a man was in the passenger seat, before watching the driver get out and walk over to the Honda. He grabbed a package and headed back to his car.
Moynihan worked her way through the trees as quickly and silently as she could. There were no cars in sight, so she dashed to her Camry and carefully glided inside just before the black sedan pulled out of the driveway. Her heart thumped loudly as the car turned left. It was immediately followed by the silver Honda. She quickly ducked down into her seat and let the car pass. When she sat up, Moynihan realized she had been holding her breath and quickly filled her lungs with air before starting the engine.
She left her lights off and pulled out quickly in pursuit of the black sedan. A deer suddenly jumped out of the woods and forced her to slam on the brakes. She managed to avoid contact with the animal, before nervously continuing after the car.
The situation was overwhelming. Moynihan was almost certain that one of the two body bags Rudy Pagano had laid out was meant for her, but she had no proof. She decided the events of the past few hours were too far above her pay grade to sort out on her own. There was no doubt in her mind that the phone call she had been putting off needed to be made. Someone she could trust needed to know what was going on.
The FBI agent turned on her cell phone and punched in his number, but the answering machine picked up on the first ring. Things had already spun out of control, so her best bet was to leave a message.
“Uncle Ivor, sorry to bother you, but there’s something going on that I think you should know about. Director Culder has pulled me into something he’s claiming has to do with national security. I’ve been told not to let anyone at the bureau know about what’s going on. The story I’m getting is that he thinks there’s a mole at the bureau.
“I’m pretty sure he’s full of shit, so I wanted to fill you in. People have died… We lost three agents at a house in Poolesville. They were taking a teenager in for questioning — off the record — which doesn’t seem right. This poor girl’s brother was connected to the death of Senator Soller’s son.
“I’m worried about what’s going on, so I need your help. At first I wasn’t sure if you had something to do with my involvement in the case, but now I’m sure that couldn’t be possible. I’m scared and don’t want to make it four dead, if you know what I mean. Jake Sanders is one of the men involved. He’s working with some other guy named Rudy… I can’t remember his last name. I was a little distracted when I met him.
“Jake seemed to be okay at first, but I got the heebie-geebies just before this Rudy guy showed up. I don’t think I’m in any immediate danger, but…I don’t know, I just feel better knowing that you know, if that makes any sense.
“I love you. Call me soon.”
The call to her uncle had helped settle her nerves. He wasn’t her uncle by blood, but he was her father’s best friend, and the very reason she had chosen law enforcement for her career path. Moynihan had been adamant about making it through the bureau on her own. Her uncle respected her decision, and together they had made sure nobody knew how significant their connection was. Right now she just wanted to find out where this car was heading, and then she would try to make sense of the rest of this in the morning.
Chapter 72