Covert Warriors (Presidential Agent 7)

“And?”

“The Vice President and the secretary of State got out and walked to where you and the other dignitaries were standing—where you were waiting for the whatchamacallit, the caisson with the casket, to come down the road.”

“And the people in the limousines?”

“Mr. Danton followed the Vice President and Secretary Cohen.”

“And Mr. Parker?” the President asked softly.

“I didn’t see him there anymore. I guess he didn’t get out of the limousine. I did see him later—”

“Get to later, later,” the President interrupted him. “What about the people in the limousines?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. President. Well, they got out of the limos and arranged themselves in a line where they could watch what was going to happen at the grave. While they were doing that, a woman with a couple of kids walked up to them. They all knew her, and gathered around her.”

“And did you learn who this woman was?”

“Yes, sir. When I told Supervisory Agent Mulligan about the limousines, he told me to find out who they were, I went there, and asked, and they said they were . . .”

He interrupted himself to consult a notebook.

“. . . from the American Legion. From China Post Number One of the American Legion. The guy who told me that showed me his American Legion card.”

“And did you have a chance to . . . overhear . . . any of their conversations?”

“No, sir. I mean, I stuck around to do that, but they weren’t speaking English. Chinese, probably, I guess. But they called the woman ‘Mrs. Ferris’ and I put that together. She’s the wife of the officer who was kidnapped in Mexico when the guy they buried got shot.”

“They all spoke Chinese?”

“I’m not sure if it was Chinese, Mr. President. But it certainly wasn’t English. A couple of them started speaking Spanish . . . Supervisory Agent Mulligan’s orders to me were to stick around, find out where they went . . . but one of them—a guy they called ‘Colonel’—pointed to me and they stopped spea

king that and went back to Chinese or whatever it was.”

“And when the interment was over, what happened?”

“As soon as you gave Mrs. Salazar the flag, they got in the limousines and left. Mrs. Ferris and the kids went with them.”

“They didn’t stay for my remarks?”

“No, sir. They got in the limousines and left. Like Supervisory Agent Mulligan told me to do, I got in one of our Yukons and followed them.”

“Where did they go?”

“To the Mayflower Hotel, sir. That was where I saw Mr. Parker again. He and Mr. Danton were with them.”

“And did you follow them into the hotel?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. President. They went to the tenth floor. After a while—I didn’t want them to know I was following them—I went up there. They were in room—I guess suite—1002. When a couple of waiters started rolling in carts of food, I got a look in. It was them, all right.”

“Did you manage to learn who was registered in suite 1002?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. President, I got that from the waiters.”

Special Agent Douglas consulted his notebook again.

“Suite 1002 is registered to a German guy. His name is Karl von und zu Gossinger. The waiters told me he lives there. I mean, he keeps the suite all the time.”

“Anything else?”