Hell's Corner

CHAPTER 24

On the way Adelphia told Stone that Fuat Turkekul was staying on the Georgetown campus at the residence of a full-time faculty member who was away on a sabbatical overseas.

Stone looked where they were headed. “This is not the way to Georgetown,” he remarked.

“I would not take you to where he is staying,” she replied. “In case we’re being followed. He will meet us near the George Washington University campus.”

“All right.”

“Your friend did not appear pleased to be left behind,” said Adelphia as they walked along. Stone had asked Chapman to stay back at the park.

“I wouldn’t either. Tell me more about Turkekul.”

“What do you want to know?” she asked in a cautious tone. The car horns arose from the snarled traffic as they slowly made their way west of the White House and toward GW University.

“Everything.”

“That is impossible.”

“You said he’s a scholar and a friend of this country. You said he is also far more than an academician. And that he was meeting with you at the park that night for a reason you won’t disclose.”

“See, I have already told you much.”

“You have really told me nothing,” he countered.

“I didn’t have to come to you at all,” she replied crossly.

“But you did. Don’t let it be for nothing.”

“I will let Fuat decide what to tell or not to tell. It is up to him really.”

And she would say no more. They arrived on the GW campus and Stone followed Adelphia to the place where Turkekul would meet them.

They were let into the building after Adelphia pushed a buzzer and identified herself to a man Stone assumed was Turkekul. They walked up one flight of stairs. Turkekul was waiting for them at the open door to an apartment. He wore a white dress shirt with a cardigan over it, and gray slacks. He was taller than Stone had gauged, about five-ten, and bald, as Stone had correctly remembered. Up close Stone could now see that Turkekul was his age or slightly older.

Adelphia introduced them and Stone showed his badge to the man. Turkekul studied the credentials and then closed the door and motioned them to take seats on the white couch in the main room of the apartment. As Stone looked around he was intrigued by the piles of books and typewritten pages scattered everywhere. From some of the titles he was able to read it became clear that Turkekul was a man of diverse intellectual interests who was versed in at least four languages.

“From what Adelphia told me you’re not staying here, but rather at Georgetown.”

“I also maintain a flat here. Just in case. One can never be too careful,” said Turkekul.

“I’ll never argue with that.”

He offered them hot tea. Adelphia accepted. Stone declined. Turkekul fetched the tea and settled across from them.

“Adelphia has told me some of the situation, and she let me make the decision to meet with you. For that I thank her.” Turkekul’s voice was firm, commanding. He was obviously used to lecturing. Stone tried to diagnose the underlying accent and inflection to determine the man’s origins. Though normally quite adept at that, he came away with no definitive answer.

“Why do you thank her?” asked Stone. “From the way she told it, you didn’t want to meet at all.”

“Then you misunderstood her. I thought it better to clear the air now, instead of having what you call the loose threads.”

“You knew the park was under video surveillance,” said Stone. “And also where the cameras were arrayed?”

Adelphia clenched her teacup a bit more tightly while Turkekul finished a sip of his drink before setting the cup down and carefully wiping his mouth with a handkerchief pulled from his sweater pocket.

“Why do you say that?”

“You kept your back to them. You stooped over, your face pointing down. I remember that. That maneuver threw off my estimate of your height. And you were pretending to read the plaque on the statue, to give you some reason to not look toward the bank of cameras.” He glanced at Adelphia. “Did you tell him where the cameras were located?”

Before she could answer Turkekul said, “You are mostly correct. However, I was not pretending to read the plaque. I did in fact read it. The German von Steuben has long been of historical interest to me.”

“Why?”

“My maternal grandfather was German. He was also in the military.”

“German and in the military?”

“The Third Reich, yes. But with a twist.”

“What twist?”

“He was a Jew.”

Stone said nothing.

“And he was a spy. They discovered his real identity in 1944. They didn’t bother sending him to a concentration camp to join his fellow Jews. They simply executed him on the bombed-out streets of Berlin. The incensed and war-weary crowd of Germans tore his body apart, I was told. It was indeed tragic. A few more months and the war in Europe would be over.”

“He died a hero,” added Adelphia, though she was looking at Stone.

“Adelphia told me you were meeting with her at the park that night, only she never showed up. She also told me that you have interests outside of academia.”

“That is true.”

“What are those interests?”

“I cannot see how they have relevance to what you seek.”

“I’d like to be the judge of that.”

“I can see that.”

“But we can start with what you saw that night in the park.”

Turkekul spoke in great detail for the next ten minutes as he patiently laid out what he had observed. “I was past the Decatur House when I heard the guns commence firing,” he added.

“And what did you do?”

“What any sensible person would have done. I ran in the other direction.”

“So you could tell from where the gunfire was coming?”

“Yes and no. Yes in that I saw the bullets ripping through the trees in the park. Thus I assumed that the origin was coming from H Street or thereabouts. I did not stop to look and gauge exactly the shots’ origins. I have some nerve, but not enough to stand pat when guns are firing.”

“And the woman who left the park about the same time you did?”

“I saw her once. She too was running across the street.”

Stone glanced at Adelphia. “So what were you two planning to meet about?”

“If we refuse to tell you, I suppose you will turn us in,” said Turkekul.

“No.”

Turkekul looked surprised. “Why not?”

“Because Adelphia is an old friend of mine. She’s helped me in the past. She kept secrets about me to herself. I don’t betray my friends.”

“Even though, as I understand it, you now work for your government.”

“I don’t betray my friends,” Stone said again.

“An admirable trait,” opined Turkekul. He remained silent for a few seconds, his index finger tapping absently on the arm of the chair.

Finally he sat forward. “I have been given a mission, Agent Stone. A very difficult one. One that no one else has been able to accomplish.”

“Which is?”

“To help us find Osama bin Laden.”

The voice did not belong to Fuat Turkekul.

Stone turned to see Sir James McElroy stroll into the room.