Hell's Corner

CHAPTER 76

^“He’s on the move,” Agent Ashburn said. She was sitting in the front seat of the SUV wearing a headset. She turned to look at Stone and Chapman. “I hope this works.”

“If it doesn’t, we’ll know soon enough,” said Stone.

“How about his security?” asked Chapman.

“They were told to give him an out.”

“He won’t get suspicious?”

“Their job is to protect him from others. Not from himself. He said he was going to bed. They’re not expecting him to sneak out, which he just did.”

A voice came over Ashburn’s headset. “Okay, he just got in a cab. He must’ve called for one from his apartment. He’s heading west.”

“West?” said Stone. “Out of the city?”

Ashburn nodded. “He just crossed the Key Bridge. Okay, he’s turning right onto the GW Parkway and heading into Virginia.” She tapped the driver. “Let’s roll.”

The truck sped off and crossed the river and then hung a right onto the parkway.

“Keep back a bit,” Ashburn instructed the driver. “We’ve got assets all around. There’s no way we’ll lose him.”

Stone did not seem convinced of this. He glanced at Chapman with an uneasy expression.

Ashburn looked back. “Riley Weaver gets wind of what we’re doing he will throw a hissy. You know that.”

“It won’t be the first time,” replied Stone.

He was peering out the windows into the darkness. The GW Parkway was one of the most beautiful stretches of road in the D.C. metro area. There were thick woods on both sides of the asphalt, stone walls lining the road, steep terrain heading down to the Potomac River and the lighted expanse of Georgetown north of the water. Stone wasn’t focused on this aspect of the trip, however. He was watching the distant taillights of the cab that had just now come into view.

“He’s pulling off,” Ashburn said a minute later. “Onto the scenic overlook.”

Stone had already seen this. The lights of the cab vanished as it made the turn.

“Pull past and then slow down,” Ashburn ordered the driver. She gave this same command into her headset.

Stone didn’t know how many vehicles the FBI had on the scene, but the Bureau typically brought overwhelming force to any task. However, the mission here was not to arrest Turkekul and anyone he was meeting with, but to follow the person he was meeting with and hope that trail led them up the chain of command. Perhaps all the way to the president of Russia himself.

“We’ve got infrared eyes on the entire scene,” said Ashburn. “He’s getting out of the cab and walking over to the wall fronting the parking area.”

“Is there another vehicle there?” asked Stone. “I didn’t see one when we drove past.”

Ashburn looked confused and spoke into her headset. “Well, how is he meeting with someone, then? Are they flying up here?”

She flinched. “A light just came on in the woods near the wall.”

Stone said, “They could have hiked up from the riverbank.”

“Quite a hike,” said Ashburn. She spoke into her headset. “Everyone stand by. Do not intervene. Repeat, do not intervene. This is a—”

The sound of the shot made them all jump. Stone grabbed the driver’s shoulder. “Go! Go!”

The SUV whipped around, plowed across the median and sped back toward the pull-off.

“Move in,” Ashburn called into her headset. “All positions move in!”

SUVs poured into the parking lot. Stone and Chapman were out of the truck before it even stopped. Stone ran toward the still figure sprawled on the asphalt. He knelt down next to Turkekul. Chapman stood next to him.

“He’s dead,” said Stone. “Exit wound from the front. He was facing the river. That means the shot came from the other side of the road.”

Ashburn was already screaming instructions at her troops. A pack of agents raced toward the woods on the other side of the road where the shot had originated. Two other agents were pulling a terrified cab driver from his ride. Chapman slipped over the wall and looked down.

“The light was from a battery-operated lantern with a timer switch,” she said.

She rejoined Stone and looked down at Turkekul.

“Could there really have been a fatwa on him?” she asked.

Stone just shook his head. “We got played. Again,” he added bitterly.

“What happens now?”

“We’re screwed,” he muttered. “That’s what happens now. We’re completely and totally screwed.”