“He was that specific? And I thought I had been totally exonerated.”

“That’s highly doubtful, since I believe that you had him killed.”

She waggled a finger and gave him a sly look. “And yet you had dinner with me on the very night he died. Have you no heart, Mal?”

“I didn’t want to believe it of you, of course. You have a first-rate intellect.” His gaze wandered over her body. “Along with other attributes.”

“I seemed to have dressed up for no good reason tonight.” She smiled warmly, her eyes crinkling. “Yet I did get your mind to wander, it seems. You have no idea what you’re missing out on tonight, Mal. Your timing is absolutely horrendous.”

“Stop treating this like a game, Susan! Do you really deny any of what I’ve said?”

She shrugged. “I can tell you’ve made up your mind. And I’ve never been one to waste time, Mal. And I’m sorry. I liked you. I really did.”

“You used me to get what you wanted.”

“I did. But you see, I only use the ones I really like. And just to clarify, the Russians did manage to aerosolize it. A number of years ago. Then the bastards somehow managed to lose it in Africa. Those were the canisters you retrieved. And I thank you very much for your hard work in doing so. It would have been beyond my capabilities, which was why I called on my good friend and fellow START verifier to do it for me.”

Aust said forcefully, “Where are the canisters, Susan? You know as well as anyone what damage they can cause. You will tell me right now, or I swear to God–”

She rose. “I need a drink stronger than wine. Is the scotch in the same place?” She didn’t wait for an answer but walked over to the cabinet set against one wall, opened the door, and pulled out a bottle.

Watching her closely, Aust kept his gun trained on her. “I want an answer, Susan. If you work with me, we might be able to undo the damage you’ve done. That will help your cause later on.”

She took down a tumbler from a shelf and unscrewed the top of the scotch. “I appreciate the professional courtesy, Mal, I really do. It’s rather gallant of you. But I don’t need your consideration. I’m sticking with the ones who brought me to the party.” She poured out a portion of the scotch into a tumbler and swirled it around.

“So you would betray your own country?”

“Well, I don’t see it that way.”

“You’re an American!”

She turned back to face him. “I don’t go by those types of old-fashioned allegiances anymore. They just don’t work for me.”

He tightened his grip on the pistol. “Listen to yourself. Are you insane?”

“Well, you need to get out more. Because these days everybody’s a little crazy.”

She raised her glass as though in salute to him.

A moment later a bullet broke through the window behind Aust and slammed into the back of his head. Aust fell sideways off his chair and thudded to the floor.

Reynolds took a sip of scotch and then put down the glass. She didn’t look at Aust as she stepped over his body and walked out of the house.

CHAPTER

66

THEY HAD OBVIOUSLY left Robert behind when they went to DTRA. Their badges got them into the building and security escorted them to Reynolds’s office.

As the guard unlocked her door using his master key he said, “She won’t be in until tomorrow morning.”

Puller said, “I doubt very much she’s going to be in ever again.”

He switched on the lights and strode across the room to stand behind her desk. “You remember I said something was off when we left Reynolds’s office last time?” She nodded. He picked up the photo he had seen previously when they visited Reynolds here. “Well, this was off.”

Knox said, “How so?”

He pointed to a younger Reynolds standing in a row of men. “There she is.”

“Okay, so what?”

He pointed at some writing at the bottom of the photo. “The caption says this was the START verification team.”

“Again, so what?”

He ran his finger down the line of men. “Recognize anyone?”

She eyed one of the men. “That’s Malcolm Aust. But we knew he was on the verification team. So you’re still suspecting him of partnering with Reynolds?”

Puller ignored this question and said, “Recognize anyone else in the line?”

Knox took the photo from him and went one by one. When she got to the end she started from the beginning and worked her way down it. She paused at one man standing to the left of Reynolds. He was tall, well built, his features sharp and angular, truly a memorable countenance.

“This guy looks familiar for some reason.”

Puller had taken out his phone and brought up an image on it. “I snapped this shot off the computer screen at Fort Leavenworth.”

When Knox looked at the picture on the screen and then the photo, she gasped. “Omigod, it’s him!”

“Ivo Mesic. The ‘Croatian’ who brought my brother’s would-be killer into DB in the trunk of his car.”

“So you believe he’s partnered with Reynolds? But why?”

“She’s at the WMD Center. They were both START verifiers, which has to do with nukes. She was sucking up to Aust, who hunts WMDs for a living.”

“So they’re planning something. With a nuke?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like folks leave nukes lying around.”

As they left the building and got back into the car, Knox’s phone buzzed. She answered it, listened, and then said, “Okay, thanks for the heads-up.” She put the phone away, looking pale and shocked.

“What is it?” asked Puller.

“Malcolm Aust is dead.”

“What?” exclaimed Puller. “How?”

“He was supposed to phone in on a late conference call this evening that originated in L.A. He never did. They sent someone out to his house to check on him when he didn’t answer his phone or email. They found him dead. Shot through the head.”

Puller said, “That means the plan must be coming to fruition. They’re tying up all loose ends.”

Knox snapped, “But what is the plan, Puller? We don’t have a clue. And that means we can’t stop it.”

“We do have clues. We just have to piece them together. And we’ve got one of the biggest brains in the world to help us.”

He jammed down the gas and pointed the car back to where they had come from. Back to Robert Puller.

They sat around the motel room looking at each other. Puller and Knox had filled in Robert on what they had discovered at Reynolds’s office. And also about Malcolm Aust’s murder.

“What had he been working on?” Robert asked. “We need to know that, John. That will narrow things down considerably.”

Puller took out his phone and called General Aaron Rinehart. The general was in a late meeting, but he called Puller back a few minutes later. Puller gave him a quick sketch of what they had learned and what they suspected.

Rinehart said, “I’ll find out, Puller. In the meantime, I’ll make sure everyone goes on high alert. And I’ll put all our resources out to find Reynolds and this Ivo Mesic.”

While Puller was on the phone Robert was typing away on his laptop. After Puller ended the call his brother said, “His real name is Anton Bok.” He spun the laptop around so they could see a page of both pictures and text.

“The START Verification Team from the 1990s. A full accounting with names, backgrounds and photos.” He pointed to one picture. “Bok is the third from the left. Right next to Reynolds.”

“What’s his background?” asked Knox.

“Former military. Former KGB. With the equivalent of a master’s degree in biochemistry and a PhD in molecular biology.”

“Chemistry and biology,” said Puller.

“Molecular biology,” amended Robert.

“But he also had experience in nukes, otherwise he wouldn’t have been on the verification team,” pointed o

ut Knox.

“He was probably there more to gather intelligence for Russia than count warheads,” said Robert. “And to recruit Susan Reynolds to his side.”

Tags: David Baldacci John Puller Thriller
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