Last Chance to Die

38



It was the middle of the night, and Kate couldn’t get herself to sleep. It had been a day and a half since she’d jumped out of Vail’s car. She got up and opened a bottle of wine, turning on the television. Scanning through the channels, she found a Spanish soap opera, which she couldn’t understand a word of. It was the perfect distraction, as it took her complete concentration to try to figure out the relationships between the characters by the expressions on the emotive actors’ faces. After an apparent series of arguments over a sisterly affair and the help of half a bottle of wine, she finally dropped off in the chair.

Although she woke up early the next morning, Kate didn’t get to the office until late afternoon. She’d sat around her apartment thinking about Vail and what he’d said. By now he was probably gone. The Calculus case was over, and everyone was accounted for—or would be as soon as they finished the DNA analysis of the bodies from the well. She did some housework, vacuuming carpets that didn’t need it and pulling weeds in her garden.

After finally arriving at the office, she turned on her computer. Feeling-sorry-for-herself time was over. Back to the Bureau’s business. She checked her e-mails, and there was the usual overnight bureaucratic avalanche of meaningless memos and directionless directives. But there was one sender she didn’t recognize. It was simply entitled “A Favor.” She opened it.

Kate,





Leaving my gun and creds here at the off-site, plus a few other things, if you wouldn’t mind.

Also check www.americanbusinessnews.com





Stan





That he’d signed the message “Stan” caused her to smile.

She felt a tear run down her cheek. He had risked his life to clear her, and she continued to expect so much from him—too much, she supposed. Instead of trying to understand his side of things, she’d lost her temper as quickly as he had. Maybe, deep down, she didn’t want to have to take any more chances, which was the exact thing she’d accused him of. She wondered if there was any chance that he was still in Washington. The time on the message was 5:14 A.M. Knowing him, she was sure he would have sent it just as he was heading out the door. As much as she wanted to race over there and find out, she had a late meeting. It was the only reason she’d come to work. Maybe it really was time to move on.

She clicked on the link and found the site’s generic quality curious. Since Vail had sent it, she suspected that there was more to it than met the eye. It was probably part of “plus a few other things” he’d referred to. There was something waiting for her at the off-site. She packed up her briefcase and headed for the garage.

It was past five thirty and already dark when Kate let herself into the off-site. The alarm was set, so she knew that Vail wasn’t there. She punched in the code and went upstairs to the workroom. Vail’s credentials and his Glock were on the desk in front of the computer. She checked the room that he had used for a bedroom and found that one of his suitcases was still there. She opened it and found his winter clothing. That’s right, she reminded herself, he was going to Florida.

Back in the workroom, she noticed that the computer was on. She turned on the monitor, and the Web page for American Business News appeared. The only difference was the “For Our Clients” windows for user ID and passwords were filled in. Carefully, she clicked on. When she saw the list of sixteen names, she half collapsed into the chair. She immediately spotted Radkay’s name and knew what she was looking at. Vail had pulled one last rabbit out of his hat, and his message was obvious: He was trusting her with this unprecedented trove of counterintelligence information.

After printing out everything, she picked up his gun and credentials. Taking one last look around the room, she noticed some new writing on the wall.

Walking over to it, she read:

The Sixth Why





Why would the CIA agent Rellick have to meet with Calculus three times in exactly the same place and in such a short period of time, knowing that the Bureau was tracking his movements?





What was that supposed to mean? Did it mean anything? Was it one of those philosophical or hypothetical questions that Vail had written for no one but himself? Or was he throwing something cryptic at her, just trying to show that these things were impossible to decode without him?

If there was something to it, Kate was not going to let Vail end this case being one up on her. She walked over to the wall and started reading Calculus’s itinerary, trying to find the answer to the Sixth Why.

She spent two hours making notes and cross-checking dates and locations. Writing theories on a pad and then angrily scratching them out as additional facts eliminated them. When she was done, there didn’t appear to be an answer to Vail’s last question, at least not one that she could find. Kate looked down at the list in her hand and decided that it had to be the priority now.

The CIA agent walked into the airport bar and spotted the man he thought he was looking for. “Vail?”

Vail gave him an appraising glance. “Sit down.”

The agent took out his identification and flipped it open. “Where is it?”

“You want a drink?”

“What I want is the list of our European sources that Rellick stole. That is why you called, isn’t it?”

“I never said anything about just giving it to you.”

“How much?”

“I would imagine right about now there’s quite a panic over at Langley, so it’s got to be priceless.”

“Then why do I get the feeling you’re about to put a price on it?”

“It’s nice to see that the agency didn’t send an idiot.”

“How do I know you have it?”

“Do you really want me to read it so I can give you a name? Why would I say I had it and risk being arrested if I didn’t?”

“Maybe we need to arrest you to sort this out.”

“Then I’d use the list to get free, plus get what I want, so why don’t I just tell you what I want?”

Kate knocked on John Kalix’s door. When he opened it, she said, “John, sorry to bother you at home, but Vail, believe it or not, has come up with another whole list of moles. And since that’s your division, I didn’t want to waste any time getting it to you.”

“Really? Come on in.”

She walked into the living room and sat down, opting for a chair by the window.

“Can I get you a drink?”

“You know, I think I could use one. Any kind of whiskey and water, if you have it.”

A few minutes later, Kalix brought her the drink and sat down in a chair opposite her. She took a sip and pushed the list of spies across the coffee table between them with a touch of drama.

He opened a drawer and took out a pair of glasses. “Wow,” he said. “And how do we know these are spies?”

She explained about the Web site and that Radkay’s name was on it.

“Yes, of course, how obtuse of me.” He continued to look at the list. “Wow. This is going to keep us busy for years. Where is Steve?”

“Scuba diving in Florida—I think. He’s turned in his creds, so as far as he’s concerned, he’s done. I don’t think we’ll see him again. At least I won’t.”

“Really? I thought you two had a little more going on than work.”

“Very briefly. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be. He left the list along with his Bureau property and cleared out of the off-site.”

“No explanation, no good-bye?”

“We had a discussion of each other’s character flaws that got kind of vicious,” she said, smiling sadly. “The only other thing he left was something he wrote on the wall. ‘The Sixth Why.’ ”

“What’s that?”

As briefly as possible, she explained the Japanese inventor’s process for getting to the root of a problem and how they had used it to discover the LCS’s role in the spy ring. “It’s called the Five Whys. In this case I guess Vail felt there was one more that needed to be answered.”

“What was the question?”

“ ‘Why would the CIA agent Rellick have to meet with Calculus three times in exactly the same place and in such a short period of time, knowing that the Bureau was tracking his movements?’ ”

“That is an interesting question. Maybe Calculus had to keep checking with him to make sure that whatever clue he was leaving wouldn’t cause Rellick any exposure.”

“The little bit of experience I’ve had with counterintelligence would indicate the opposite. Besides, we tracked down Rellick by the phone that he and Calculus used to contact each other. They didn’t need to meet. Meeting with your handler too often is probably the easiest way to be discovered. Hasn’t that been your experience?”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. I guess I was just trying to play the devil’s advocate. Do you think there’s anything to this question, or is Vail just messing with you?” Kalix chuckled. “It’s no secret how much he loves management. From what you’ve said, I’m guessing that’s kind of how he sees you now.”

“At first I thought it might be just that. But once I started driving over here, the validity of the question sank in. If you think about it, why weren’t the Russians afraid someone would figure it out? I mean, they met near CIA headquarters at the same park all three times. Almost regimented. Wasn’t that the reason you were able to narrow it down to those nine agents whose photos you showed me?”

“Yes, I guess it was.”

“It’s almost like they wanted us to figure out who Rellick was.”

“What advantage would that be for the Russians?” Kalix asked. “Giving up such a highly placed source would be completely counterproductive.”

“Maybe that’s the real Sixth Why. From all the copies of the documents they recovered at his house, it looks like Rellick’s information had dried up a couple of years ago. If they were giving up Rellick, it changed only one thing: Bill Langston was removed as head of counterintelligence because he failed to chase down the connection between Rellick and his handler, Nikolai Gulin.”

“Why is that an advantage for the Russians? Langston wasn’t exactly dismantling the Russian SVR single-handedly.”

Kate laughed and let her voice shift from a tone of curiosity to one of accusation. “Would you say that the assistant director of the Counterintelligence Division is privy to a lot more classified information than his deputy?”

Kalix took off his glasses and set them on the table. He opened the drawer again and drew out a small silver automatic, pointing it at her. “Nicely done, Kate. You walked me right into it.”

She stiffened in reaction. “So this was all about you getting to the top of the intelligence chain.”

“Sorry about having you locked up, but I had to rescue you and at the same time show how Langston’s incompetence was the cause. Nothing personal, Kate. It was all to make me the hero and the heir apparent.”

“And that included killing one of the LCS men in that shoot-out when you saved Vail?”

“Unfortunately, Vail saved himself. The guy behind the false mirror was supposed to kill him, and then I was supposed to shoot the second LCS man and switch guns with the one who shot Vail, having it look like I killed the lone gunman who killed Vail. I was outside and assumed that Vail had been killed when I heard the initial shooting. I just opened up on the second man. When I came in, they were both dead.”

“The LCS was willing to give up one of theirs to make you a hero?”

“He was the one who tried to kill you at your house by trapping you in the garage with your car running. He told Zogas, who was waiting outside, that you were in fact dead. Alex didn’t like incompetence, so someone had to be held responsible. The whole Calculus gambit was his plan. Quite ingenious, actually.”

“Except that it is about to fail also,” Kate said.

“Yes, I guess Alex wasn’t as smart as we thought he was. But he was quite a businessman and recognized an opportunity when it came along. Because of the Bureau’s ever-increasing scrutiny of the Russian SVR, it had become almost impossible for them to recruit spies. So Zogas started providing the service. He thought the Russians would be his customers for life. What he and I planned to do in the future was that when one of his moles stopped producing, I would be given the name so I could ‘uncover’ him, enhancing my reputation. Which in turn would give me access to more and more information, not only within the Bureau but also from the other agencies. I would have become the great American hero.”

“How about Sundra Boston? How did you know she was onto the LCS?” Kate asked.

“Every morning I checked the Bureau computer system to see if anyone was querying the LCS or any of the moles they were willing to give up—or myself, for that matter. When she requested tolls on Longmeadow, we knew we had to get rid of her.”

“How about the guy in the tunnel in Chicago?”

“He knew that Vail was coming, because Vail had me wire the funds to the account. Vail was getting to be a real thorn in our side, so our man in Chicago was told to take him out. He knew there was no real money on its way. As soon as Vail killed him, I told Zogas, and he came up with the ambush that was supposed to make me Vail’s savior. Zogas was brilliant at visualizing and planning for contingencies. Off of the ambush, he had set up the CIA involvement with that phone number that would lead you and Vail to Rellick. I came up with the idea that the Russians were protecting a CIA agent. Then if Vail didn’t figure out the three contacts between Calculus and Rellick, I would have. I knew about the video with Gulin and him, and Langston’s inability to see its importance. And I knew that you knew Rellick. The other eight photos were men I was pretty sure you didn’t know, so you’d have to pick out Rellick. Funny thing was, Rellick had no idea about your being framed to protect him. In the end he just thought the government had finally caught up with him.”

“Why didn’t you kill Longmeadow when we first heard him on that tape?”

“Zogas liked to profit from every death. Longmeadow was in the air force and technically bright. He had the potential to be of use later. There was no need to kill him when you missed him the first time around. The only reason they put him on the list was that when Zogas was putting this together, Longmeadow was becoming demanding. I always knew where you and Vail were because of the GPS in Vail’s car. I was the one who was monitoring it.”

Kate said, “That’s how you followed him to the Maryland park when he found the flash drive.”

“Yes.”

“And what about you? What did you do it for? Idealism? No, that’s never really the case, is it? Was it to make fools of everyone else?”

“I suppose that was part of it, but ultimately it was about one million dollars a year, tax free.”

“And now?”

“I’ll have to defect. I will be looked up to in Russia—not that it’s a big deal, but at least I won’t be spending the rest of my life in prison. And I have three million dollars in an account there. It’s like an SVR 401(k).”

“More likely you’d be looking at the death penalty.”

“If you’re trying to get me to surrender, Kate, your salesmanship could use a little work. However, the point is moot, since I’m holding the gun,” Kalix said. “But I do have one question: How did Vail break the Web site’s code? I have a different access code than Zogas did, but they’re the same number of digits, twenty-four. The Russians said they’re uncrackable. There are over eighty million combinations. And they change the codes every month.”

“I have no idea, but maybe that’s who Vail is, one in eighty million.”

“Too bad he’s not around to save you this time.”

“So what are you going to do, John?”

“You don’t think I would have given you all the answers and then let you live, did you?”

“Then I’ve got some bad news for you.” She unbuttoned the top two buttons on her blouse, revealing a transmitter mike taped under her bra.

Kalix tightened his grip on the automatic. “How do I know that’s not a bluff?”

“Why do you think I sat down in front of the windows? There’s a SWAT team out there with a sniper locked onto you.”

He smiled cautiously. “You’ve learned a lot of tricks from Vail. This feels like one of his bluffs.”

“It could be.”

“Then I assume there’s a green-light word or phrase for him to fire. What is it?”

“Think about it for a second. If I say it, you’re dead.”

Kalix took a moment. “Kate, one of us isn’t walking out of here alive. If you’re bluffing, you’re dead. If you’re not . . . well, I’m not going to prison or to death row. So let’s have the word and find out which it is.” He raised the gun up to where he could aim it more accurately.

“The word is . . .” She stopped, looking uncomfortable.

After a few seconds, Kalix said, “You are bluffing.” He thumbed back the hammer.

“ . . . John Kalix is Agent X.”

The window exploded as the shot caught Kalix fully just above the ear, ripping him sideways out of the chair.