Court climbed behind the wheel of the cab, and threw it into gear. He lurched forward onto the shoulder, did a quick and dirty three-point turn, and then bounced into the grassy median between the eastbound and westbound lanes. He drove across to the westbound and entered the Beltway here, and he stomped on the gas, trying to get as much speed as possible before showing up below the far side of the overpass. He could only hope that the cops above him had not been able to see the carjacking or the maneuver, and that they would only find out about it as soon as they spoke with the furious cabbie.
His plan paid off, and within minutes he was miles to the west, clear of the area and hunting for a place to dump a stolen cab with blood all over the driver’s seat.
29
Denny Carmichael sat at his desk, his head in his hands. He was back in his suit and tie now, though as soon as he got the energy he would again dress for bed. Two and a half hours ago he was moments from flipping off the lights and lying down on the couch, but then came the suspected sighting of Violator at the Babbitt home in Chevy Chase, so he stood by in his office. When the police were dispatched to the scene he’d received a call from Suzanne Brewer in the Violator tactical operations center on the fourth floor, telling him something he already knew, but he sold his surprise as genuine. He hurriedly dressed and rushed down to the TOC, and here he sat while Brewer and Mayes furiously worked their team of targeting officers. They sent the JSOC special mission unit into the area, but by then Gentry was long gone.
And then, an hour and a half after the assassination, Brewer and Mayes departed for the scene of a carjacking of a taxi a mile and a half north of Babbitt’s house, thinking it possible Gentry was involved in this, as well.
Denny Carmichael had not heard a word from Kaz since sending the text ordering the Saudi kill team to the scene of Babbitt’s killing shortly after eleven, and he had no idea if Kaz’s men had gotten anywhere near Gentry, so he just sat here at his desk waiting, trying to get the energy to climb back to his feet.
His mobile chirped with the sound it made when an encrypted call was waiting. He glanced down at it and saw it was Kaz, and as he snatched the phone off the desk he found the energy reserves he was looking for.
“Talk.”
Kaz said, “My men made contact with the target.”
“When and where?”
“Forty minutes ago, about two kilometers north of the original event.” Carmichael knew this would be the carjacking Mayes and Brewer were en route to inspect.
He asked, “How did you find him?”
“Process of elimination. We saw where the police were focusing their attention. It was mostly to the west, because that was the direction he was last seen moving. But from the radio reports we determined Gentry originally tried to go south, but that was when he knew he was being pursued, so we felt he was leading forces away from his planned exfiltration route. That led us north. I positioned men in five choke point locations, and simply waited, thinking he might still be on foot.”
“What happened?” Carmichael caught himself squeezing the phone so hard he ran the risk of breaking it.
“Two of my men saw a lone man fitting the general description. They stepped out to follow him. When my other assets arrived, the man began to run. We engaged and, I am told, there was blood at the scene. We are confident that we wounded him.”
Carmichael snapped back, “But you didn’t put him down, did you?”
“He managed to escape in a hijacked vehicle. Understand, Denny, this operation my men conducted was completely in extremis. If we’d known something about the person the Gray Man was targeting, this Leland Babbitt, we could have been in a much better tactical position.”
Carmichael growled now. “We didn’t know Gentry was after Lee Babbitt, either.”
Kaz clearly did not believe this. “You contacted me within moments of the first shots being fired in Chevy Chase. The only way you could be so on top of the situation like this is if you had some sort of advance warning.”
Carmichael could not tell Kaz the truth: that they had no advance warning, but had instead been targeting the same man and just stumbled onto Gentry in the commission of their assassination. Instead he changed the subject. “How badly was he injured?”
“My assets had to leave the scene before the police arrived. All I know is Violator has been shot.”
“Very well. I’ll try to do better next time with the quality of the intelligence. It would be helpful if your men do better next time with the quality of their marksmanship.”
Kaz took his time before replying. “We remain at the ready.”
Carmichael said, “Don’t remain anywhere. Keep shaking the trees. He’s out there, and he’s hurt. He’ll be easier to hunt.”
—
Court lay in a shallow ditch on his left side, his ears tuned to the sounds around him so he could make sure there was no traffic on the residential road above. After a full minute like this he felt secure enough to proceed.
He used a small penlight to illuminate the right side of his rib cage. Slowly and gingerly he pushed his torn gray parka out of the way, pulled up his blood-soaked gray thermal shirt, and held the light a little closer.
He lifted his head to get a better look, then he dropped it again.