The Escape (John Puller 3)

“And some men followed you in Charlotte and you shot one of them too,” said Schindler. “That’s astonishing.”

“It could have easily been me making that shot,” said Puller. “Knox was just faster.”

Knox said, “But I didn’t kill him. He wasn’t there when we circled back. He might have been wearing armor. Someone might have helped him get away. I don’t know which one.”

Rinehart cleared his throat. “But who could these people be? Are they all tied to Robert Puller in some way?”

Knox said, “Well, we are investigating his escape. I can’t think of another reason why they would be coming after us.”

Donovan Carter spoke for the first time. “But surely you have enemies, Agent Knox. We’ve all read your professional history since we knew you’d be here tonight. You’ve accomplished extraordinary things on behalf of your country. That comes with a price.”

“But there’s no disputing the fact that Lenora Macri tried to kill me. And that she was going to flee to Russia and then from there to who knows where. She aided the hit man coming into DB.”

“Whoa, whoa,” exclaimed Rinehart. “What hit man at DB?”

Puller gave Knox a quick glance. He had been surprised that she had said that, since he had left it out of his report. But he received a barely perceptible nod of assent from her to speak.

He took a few minutes to explain about the extra man in the MP company responding to the situation at the DB, and how Robert Puller had possibly taken his place to escape. Puller added, “Forensic analysis has confirmed that he was recently in Ukraine. Maybe he lived there. And his going to DB to kill my brother is really the only thing that makes sense.”

“Well, not really, he could have gone there to help your brother escape,” suggested Carter.

“Then why kill him?”

“They had a falling-out? It was an accident?”

“His neck was broken, using a specific technique. I don’t think it was an accident.”

“Then a disagreement of some sort?” opined Carter.

“I’m not convinced of that,” said Puller. “And when you’ve planned such an elaborate escape from a max prison, it’s not like you have a lot of time to stand around talking and arguing about details. You just execute the plan. But I don’t see how the plan works if the two of them tried to get out. The guy didn’t have an extra set of riot gear on him. And I don’t see how my brother could have walked out with a second set of gear and nobody noticed.”

Rinehart looked at Puller thoughtfully but said nothing. Carter and Schindler looked unconvinced.

“And what about Daughtrey?” said Knox. “Who murdered him?”

“Again, possibly Robert Puller,” said Carter. “It happened in Kansas where your brother escaped from.”

“Why would he target Daughtrey? I don’t think he even knew him.”

Carter said, “Timothy Daughtrey was the man who took your brother’s slot at ISR at Bolling Air Force Base. Robert Puller was being promoted to lieutenant colonel and would have been assigned to ISR. Instead he went to DB for life. I worked with Daughtrey at ISR. I would have worked with your brother if he hadn’t gone to prison.”

“So you’re saying he targeted Daughtrey because the man took a slot that he couldn’t fill because he was in prison?” said Knox skeptically.

“It could be more than that,” said Carter. “There could have been more between them. They were contemporaries, competitors in the military pecking order. I’m not saying it happened. I’m just saying it was a possibility. And the fact is, while Daughtrey was a rank ahead of your brother, Robert Puller had more gas in the tank. We’d had our eye on him for a long time. He would have passed Daughtrey at some point. Whether between the one- and two-star or the two- and three-star stage, it was only a matter of time. Daughtrey was going to hit the professional ceiling. He was quite talented, but not as exceptional as your brother.”

“But of course that all changed when Puller went to prison,” said Schindler.

“Maybe unfairly went to prison,” said Knox. “And it seems likely now that he was innocent.”

“I don’t see that,” said Rinehart. “Not yet. You’ve offered no proof of that, not a sliver. And what you have offered can be explained away. For example, if Macri was involved in helping your brother to escape, he might have promised her something in return.”

“He had nothing,” said Knox.

“That we know of,” countered Rinehart. “A smart guy like him might have had assets hidden in the electronic ether. He bribes her and gets away. You discover Macri was paid off, you don’t know by whom, and you have a deadly encounter with her. Now she’ll never be able to tell us who she was working with.”

“And the guys in the alley?” persisted Knox.

Rinehart shrugged. “If Robert Puller was a traitor and was selling secrets to our enemy, then those forces would still be out there. They have every incentive for the truth not to come out. And the fact that the dead man at DB has been identified as Ukrainian bolsters this theory. He might have been working for his country, or the Russians, or someone else, which in turn could be who Puller was selling secrets to.”

“So you think he’s guilty?” said Puller.

Rinehart bristled. “He was proven guilty at a court-martial. He escaped from prison. Until you or someone can refute or explain that, then yes, I think he’s guilty.”

“And Niles Robinson?” said Knox.

“He testified against Puller,” said Carter. “And there’s something else, something you may not be aware of.”

Knox and Puller looked at him expectantly.

“As you may know, Susan Reynolds works at the WMD Center. She also testified at Puller’s court-martial. She personally informed me that Robert Puller broke into her home, threatened her, and injected her with some poison to try to make her confess to some lie about falsely accusing him. But she was able to thwart him and reach a weapon. But he escaped before she could capture him.” He paused and added, “Or shoot him.”

Puller simply stared at the man for a few moments. “My brother was in Susan Reynolds’s home?”

He nodded. “And she showed us the injection mark. And her blood was tested. Luckily, there was no sign of poison. He must have been bluffing.”

Rinehart added, “Which means he’s on the East Coast. Or at least he was.”

Puller continued to stare at Carter. “When did you find out about this?’

“Just today.”

“Have you told anyone else?”

“The appropriate parties. Those looking for Puller, yes.”

“Which includes me.”

“Which is why I’m telling you now.”

Puller said, “She told you he was trying to make her confess to lies?”

“Yes. Maybe he was recording her somehow and wanted to use that as some sort of bargaining chip. But if she did say anything incriminating it was because he threatened her and she was fearful for her life.”

Puller started to say something but Knox beat him to it. “What exactly did she say to him?” she asked.

“Between pleading for her life, she said whatever she thought he wanted to hear. He was a convicted traitor who had killed a man to get out of prison. I can’t imagine how frightened she was. We’ve given her protection at her home in case he comes back.”

Puller looked at Rinehart and Schindler. “Did you two know about this?”

“Donovan informed us right before you arrived,” said Schindler. “It does not paint a picture of an innocent man.”

“If it’s true,” said Puller.

Carter scoffed. “Why would she make something like that up? It would just bring her into this mess when she wasn’t involved at all. She would have no incentive to lie.”

“Incentives are in the eye of the beholder, at least that’s been my experience,” said Puller.

“And my experience, Mr. Puller, is to see things as they present themselves. And as opposed to your

brother’s actions, Ms. Reynolds is by far the more reliable witness. She is a valuable employee and has faithfully served this country for many years.”

“I’m just pointing out that we don’t have all the facts yet.”

“Your bias in favor of your brother is natural.” Carter looked first at Rinehart and then at Schindler. “Which makes it very difficult for me to understand why you are even involved in this investigation.”

“He’s involved, Donovan, because we asked him to be involved,” replied Rinehart stiffly.

Schindler added, “With the knowledge he has of his brother we felt, along with his training as an investigator, that he held a good chance of tracking him down. Maybe the best chance.”

“Well, that hasn’t happened, has it?” countered Carter.

“I haven’t even been on the case for a full week,” said Puller, who suddenly realized it felt more like a year.

“And there are other forces pursuing Robert Puller,” added Rinehart. “We don’t have all of our eggs in one basket.”

“Well, I will presume you know what you’re doing,” said Carter, as their meal was served.

They ate mostly in silence, with only an occasional question and reply. After their coffees and a port for Rinehart had come, Puller glanced at Knox before saying to the three men, “We learned that my brother received a threatening letter during his court-martial. A letter that said if he didn’t basically lie down and let himself be convicted that my father and I would come to harm.”

He quickly looked at Rinehart, Schindler, and Carter to see their reactions. He was disappointed because none of them seemed remotely surprised.

“We’re aware of that, Puller,” said Rinehart.

“I was told it was not disclosed to anyone.”

Schindler said, “Don’t believe for a minute that we are relying on you solely to further this investigation. As General Rinehart said, our eggs are not in one basket.”