The Escape (John Puller 3)

Robert looked guiltily at him. “I thought about it, trust me. But it would have put you in an untenable situation. You’d be duty-bound to arrest me.”

“But you made contact now. Why?”

Robert sighed. “Because I didn’t know if I’d ever get another chance. I know how many people are out looking for me. Highly trained people good at their job. I…I just wanted you to hear things from my side. I wanted you to know that…”

“I never believed you were guilty of anything.”

His brother smiled weakly. “Sure you did. Or at least you weren’t certain.”

“I found out about the threatening letter you got in your cell.”

Robert’s smile faded. “Who told you that?”

“Doesn’t matter. You took a dive to protect Dad and me. Your career, years of your life, everything, Bobby.”

“The fact is I was too arrogant. I never thought I’d be convicted because I wasn’t guilty. Talk about naïve.”

“You still took a dive.”

“I couldn’t let anything happen to my family,” he said quietly. “You two were all I had left.”

“Any idea who they might be?”

“No. But you said the voice you heard when you were kid-napped thought of himself as a patriot. That’s both interesting and disturbing.”

“Why disturbing?”

“Because in my experience, patriotism, while a fine quality, can fuel quite a dangerous agenda if taken to the extreme.”

“An agenda as yet unknown,” said Puller.

“I think we can cast a little bit of light on it.”

“How?”

“If I was prevented from going to ISR and Daughtrey filled my slot, then that’s something.”

“But what would be the reason?”

“I’m honest and above reproach. I can’t be bought. Unusual language coming from a convicted traitor, but it is the truth. Daughtrey, on the other hand, might’ve been none of those things.”

“And they wanted him at ISR. Carter told us how important that component is to our national defense.”

“In many vital ways ISR is our national defense.”

“So a traitor could do a great deal of damage?”

“Catastrophic.”

“What do you know about Daughtrey? How did he get that far in the military without anyone suspecting?”

“If he is guilty. We don’t have definite proof of that yet. But if he is guilty, who’s to say when he went over to the other side, or what the motivation was?”

“If he was a traitor why kill him?”

“You said he was part of the team that recruited you to work on my case?”

“Yes.”

“So if he was bad, he was doing that to piggyback on the investigation. He was hoping you would find me and he could make sure I never got back to DB alive.”

“But how can you hurt them?”

“I don’t know. I was nothing to them while I was sitting in DB, John. Something happened to trigger this.”

“Okay, let’s say that’s true. Let’s go back to the question of why kill Daughtrey?”

“The main reason to kill an operative is pretty obvious.”

“He decided to defect?”

“Or had a change of heart of some kind. Maybe he had a conscience and drew the line at outright murdering someone.”

“Then he signed his own death warrant.”

“Yes, he did.” Robert rubbed his thighs with his hands. “So how can we work together without anyone knowing?”

“A couple of burn phones?”

“And we can use that code I invented that we used as kids.”

“You always said it was unbreakable.”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

“One more thing, Bobby.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve got a letter for you to read.”

His brother’s eyes narrowed. “A letter? From who?”

Puller got the document up on his screen and handed his brother the phone. “Just read it.”

Robert took the phone, his features curious, and started to read. Though the letter was relatively short, he was still reading, or more likely rereading, five minutes later.

Finally, he handed the phone back to his brother.

“That’s why the charges were dropped to espionage from spying,” said Puller quietly while watching his brother closely.

“Difference between life and death,” Robert said in a hollow tone. It seemed like every bit of energy had been struck clean from him. “No one ever told me about the letter.”

“I didn’t know about it either, until very recently.”

Puller looked at the screen. His father’s letter had been extraordinary, if for no other reason than that Puller had never seen this side of his father. Even though his brother had already read the letter, Puller felt he had to do it. He believed he owed it, to both men.

He cleared his throat and read:

I had the honor of serving my country in uniform for four decades. Many people who think they know me would probably believe that such service was the high point of my life. They would be wrong. The crowning glory of my life is and will always be as the father of two extraordinary young men. Indeed, God has shown that there can be no higher purpose for a man. And while I was absent for many important moments in their lives, not a single day ever passed without me thinking about them. I love them more than I have ever loved anything or anyone in my long life. So I write to you today, gentlemen, as a person who does not see a grown man faced with the destruction of his professional life and the loss of his liberty, but rather as a father who sees the young boy with a beautiful mind, a kind and sympathetic nature, and an extraordinary heart, who, I know beyond doubt, is innocent of these charges. And I trust that time will prove me right. And by God, I will await that day with all my strength, all my spirit, and all my love for my son, Major Robert W. Puller.

Puller couldn’t go on because his voice was cracking. He stopped reading and looked up.

Robert started to say something but then stopped, put his elbows on his thighs, and hung his head.

When his big brother started to weep, Puller sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders.

The Pullers sat there for a long time together, big, strong, and courageous men transformed back into two little boys by an old man’s loving words that had come a lot later than they should have.

CHAPTER

50

PULLER met Knox in the lobby of the W Hotel the next morning. Though he tried hard to hide it, she apparently noticed something different.

“You okay?” she asked.

He rubbed his eyes. “Didn’t sleep much last night.”

She didn’t look sympathetic. “Join the club. I don’t think I’ve slept a full night since I met you.”

They walked out of the hotel and to his car parked on the street. The air was surprisingly crisp and cool, with a light breeze. A jet overhead made a sharp left bank to avoid flying over restricted airspace after taking off from Reagan National.