A Safe House

49

Back at his Washington house, Eggers resumed his duties as cook and made a big salad for lunch. They were seated at the kitchen table, having polished off the salad, when Jenna spoke up.

“I think we’re in big trouble,” she said.

“Oh?” Stone said. “Why?”

“Well, we’ve made Wallace volcanically angry, and we’ve pissed off Harley pretty good, too. Neither of them behaves rationally when angry. I mean, we’ve just confirmed to the public what some of them may have already suspected: that Wallace is an asshole.”

“I can’t argue that point,” Stone said.

“In public,” Jenna said. “In public is bad angry. I know what he’s like when he’s angry in private, and I have the scars to prove it. But public humiliation sets off a tidal wave of rage in Wallace, and he will do anything — anything — for revenge against those he holds responsible for his humiliation. And there we were, in the audience, a few yards away from where Wallace was revealing his true nature to everybody within earshot at the Hearthrug Bible College, shouting at him and holding him up to ridicule.”

Everybody was quiet for a moment, then Eggers said, “I’d better trot out the shotguns.”

“Trot out everything you’ve got,” Stone said, reaching for his phone and calling the team leader from Strategic Services.

“Yes?”

“It’s Stone. How many men have you got on hand right now?”

“Two,” the man said, “and I’m one of them. The rest have gone in search of lunch, and cell service is spotty around here. I’ll try my radio.”

“You do that. And get everybody to the Eggers house armed to the teeth. We’re expecting trouble.” He hung up.

“It won’t happen immediately,” Jenna said.

“That’s good news,” Stone said, “but why not?”

“Because Wallace is a coward, and he won’t come after us with only Harley to help him. He will amass his forces.”

“Well, who the hell is he going to amass in rural Connecticut?”

“Those folks from the Bible college, maybe,” she said.

“They’re lambs. They’re not violent people.”

“You didn’t read that bulletin board on the way to the speech area. There were posts for things like raids on abortion clinics, and reprints of right-wing essays on hate, and articles about having their guns confiscated by the government. I wouldn’t be surprised if those folks had an arsenal in a cellar somewhere on campus.”

“Maybe we’d better get out of here and go back to New York,” Eggers said, “or to my house in Greenwich.”

“I’d like to hear what our security guy says. We shouldn’t go off half-cocked,” Stone said.

“Okay,” Eggers said, “I’ll give the guy five minutes to convince me, before I take it on the lam.”

As he spoke, a Range Rover drove up, parked in front of the house, and the Strategic Services team leader, Ken, got out.

“Here he comes,” Stone said.

“Alone,” Eggers pointed out.

“He said everybody’s at lunch, and he can’t reach them on a cell phone.”

“Does he have a radio?”

“He said he’d try that.”

“We’re right on the village green here,” Eggers said, “and it’s the highest point around. If he’s going to find any kind of reception, he’ll find it here.”

Ken walked into the house without knocking. “Hello?”

“In the kitchen,” Stone said.

The man walked into the kitchen and looked around. “What’s with the shotguns?” he asked.

“We’re expecting some kind of invasion,” Stone said.

“On what evidence?”

“On the evidence of Jenna’s hunch.”

“You get strong hunches, do you, Jenna?”

“Only about Wallace Slade, and my hunch is: he’s coming for us.”

“When?”

“Just as soon as he can raise a mob and find a rope.”

Ken looked at Stone. “You’re taking this seriously, then?”

“She knows Slade better than anybody else here, including you,” Stone replied. “I think it would be stupid to do anything but believe her and get ready for an assault.”

“Okay. I’d better try my radio again,” Ken said, then unsheathed it. “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday,” he said into the radio.

“Who’s calling Mayday?” somebody responded.

“It’s Ken. Where are you, and how many?”

“We’re at a restaurant in Washington Depot.”

“How many?”

“Two.”

“Where’s everybody else?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t want to wait for a table here.”

“Assemble everybody you can find, meet at the Eggers house, and bring weapons and body armor, stat!”

“You think the villagers are going to torch the house?”

“I think you had better move your ass,” Ken said. “Don’t finish your lunch.”

“Wilco. We’ll search the area for the others. The weapons and armor are in the van, and we’re in the Range Rover.”

Ken put down the radio. “Well, shit. What the hell happened that would make Slade attack us?”

“Ah, well,” Stone said. “We were not a very good audience for his acceptance speech.”

“How not very good?”

“Pretty bad. We humiliated the guy.”

“You poked the pig, huh?”

“That’s about the size of it.”

“Let me give you some advice,” Ken said.

“Never poke the pig?”

“That’s it.”