CHAPTER 14
“Sarin gas,” said Alex Ford as Stone, Annabelle, Caleb, Reuben, and Harry listened.
They were all seated around Stone’s fireplace in his cottage at Mt. Zion Cemetery.
Harry nodded. “I saw the canister in the shaft. Luckily they didn’t get a chance to turn it on.”
“They almost did,” said Annabelle. “According to what you said, Harry. It was close. He actually dropped the detonator.”
“He dropped it when the other guy shot him. He also saved my life. I got knocked off balance and lost my grip on the steel beam. I would’ve fallen except he grabbed my wrist.”
Harry looked over at Stone. “You two were in the bank together as hostages. Who was he?”
Stone shrugged. “I never got his name. He did have a gun that they confiscated.”
“So was he a cop?” asked Annabelle.
“He said he was a lobbyist,” replied Stone, but he tacked on a smile at the end of this statement.
Reuben said, “Whatever he was, what happened to him?”
Stone shrugged. “He apparently vanished into thin air.”
Reuben said, “You got the girl before she got away. But they found the bank manager’s body way down in the parking garage. Two shots. One to the head, one to the heart.”
“A professional kill,” opined Alex.
“How is the vice president?” Stone asked him, changing the subject.
“Shaken but okay.”
“And who were the assassins?” inquired Caleb.
“A mixed bag we’re still sorting out. One of the guys we found dead in the shaft is Adam Chase. Gun for hire. Do anything for money, including setting off nerve gas in a residential building. And those C-4 packs might have taken down the whole building if they had detonated.”
“Was that a backup in case the gas didn’t work?” asked Annabelle.
Alex nodded. “We think so. We’re still interrogating the sole survivor, the woman. We still haven’t identified her yet. She’s not in any database. We don’t know if it’s international terrorism or homegrown. Or it might be a combo because of what we’ve found out. And that’s a terrifying thought.”
“The bank manager?” said Reuben and Alex nodded. “Who was he?”
“Bashir Tufail. Pakistani. Came over here eight years ago. No criminal record. Honest, law-abiding citizen. At least as far as we can tell. I’ve heard some grumblings that our ‘friends’ at the CIA might know a lot more about him than we do, but they’re not sharing.”
“A cell? Planted here until he was activated?” said Harry. “To kill the VP?”
“We think so now. He’d been working at the bank for four years but at another location. He’s been volunteering to work Saturdays at that branch.”
“Because they knew the VP was going to that fund-raiser,” said Annabelle. “He was prepping for that.”
“That’s right.”
“And the CIA may know he was not so law-abiding,” mused Stone. “That’s interesting.”
Reuben eyed him keenly. “I recognize that look. What’s gotten in your bonnet?”
“Nothing,” said Stone. “I’m just relieved we all got out of there alive.”
“And a terrorist is no more,” said Caleb.
“No more,” repeated Stone.
*
After they all left, Stone was seated at his desk reading when he heard something at his door. He inserted his hand inside a secret crevice in his kneehole and pulled out his pistol. He crouched down, waiting.
And he could wait with the best of them. However, after thirty minutes passed and he heard nothing more he moved to the window and peered out. There was no one on his porch. But he did see a piece of paper tacked to the door.
He opened the door and ripped off the paper and unfolded it.
The message was terse and to the point. He would have expected nothing less.
You were not the target. Tufail was. Didn’t know what their plan was. Got lucky it happened while we were both there. You certainly lived up to your rep. And, by the way, I told Shane you said hello. He told me he’d like to see you and talk about old times. You up for it?
Stone looked up and gazed around the cemetery. Without seeing anything to tell him so, he instinctively knew he was being watched.
He slowly held up his thumb and mouthed the words, “I’m game.”
*