No Man's Land

36

FOR A MOMENT Puller thought that his heart had stopped.

Instantly appearing in his mind’s eye was the image of his father in a coffin dressed in his blues and stars, he and his brother in full dress uniform standing off to the side while folks came to view their dad for the very last time.

“He’s…dead?”

She said quickly, “No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it that way.”

“What the hell is going on, Shireen?” he shouted into the phone.

“Okay, just calm down. I can tell you’re already having a bad day, though it’s still morning.”

“Is my father okay?” Puller snapped.

“Yes. And no.”

Puller closed his eyes and with a massive effort willed himself to remain calm. “Just tell me.”

“Your father got a phone call. I don’t know how it got to his room or why it wasn’t screened out. I mean, the personnel at the hospital know his condition.”

“Who was the call from?’

“Lynda Demirjian.”

“What!” barked Puller. “Did my dad answer the phone? How could he?”

“No one knows how he could, but apparently he did.”

“What did she say to him?”

“Well, we couldn’t ask your father that, of course. But we talked to Stan Demirjian. He told us. He didn’t know that she was going to do that. But she told him afterwards what she’d done.”

“Wait a minute, why ask Stan? Why not just talk to his wife?”

Puller could hear Shireen let out a long breath. “Because she’s dead. She died right after telling her husband about the call.”

Puller put his head in one hand and rocked back and forth on the bed. “And what did she say was my father’s reaction to what she told him?”

“He started screaming things at her. Unintelligible, or so she said. And then he hung up.”

“Well, that’s great,” said Puller. “How did you find out?”

“I’m your father’s lawyer. I started my work. I called Stan Demirjian to get a statement from him before I talked to his wife. That’s when he told me.”

“And how was Stan taking it?”

“His wife had just died, so there’s that part of it; the man was grieving. Plus he was sort of caught between a rock and a hard place-his wife dead, the man she had accused of this terrible crime a person Stan revered.”

Yeah, I get being caught between a rock and a hard place, Puller thought. “Did you tell my father’s doctors what happened?”

“As soon as I got off the phone with Stan. But they had already given him something to calm him. He was so agitated, they just didn’t know why.”

“Thanks for doing that.”

“There’s something else, Puller.”

“What?” he said wearily.

“CID has dropped their investigation. Ted Hull-”

“Has been reassigned, I know.” Puller paused. “Shireen, I want you to just drop the whole thing.”

“What? Why?”

“The CID’s been called off. So just drop it, Shireen.”

“But I thought you wanted to find the truth?”

“I just…just forget I ever called you.”

“Puller!”

He clicked off and tossed his phone down on the bed. He hoped that Shireen heeded his advice.

His phone rang. It was Shireen. He didn’t answer.

It was then that he noticed the piece of paper on the floor. It was over by the door. He automatically pulled his M11 and skittered across the room, keeping low, halfway expecting the door to be kicked in at any moment. He slowly reached down and picked up the paper.

The note was handwritten.

Meet me outside in ten. VK

This could be a trap. His first instinct was to climb out the window, make his way down, bypass the parking lot where an armored Humvee might be waiting, and hoof it on foot for a few miles. But then he looked at the note again.

That’s when he saw there was faint writing at the bottom.

Not the Fort.

He had to smile. This was a line he had given her when they had been working together on his brother’s case. He had called her “Fort Knox” because she seemed impenetrable. This was her way of confirming her identity.

But still, it could be a trap.

The Vice President’s warning came back to him.

Don’t trust anybody.

Knox was in the clandestine world. Puller had found they were the toughest people of all to trust, because it seemed they could never, ever tell you the complete truth.

But Knox had risked her life to save his several times. She had helped to clear his brother and been nearly killed in the process.

He kept his M11 out and checked his watch. His musings had burned five minutes of the ten.

He went to the window that looked out on the front parking lot. Dawn had come and it was light enough to see clearly.

What he didn’t see was a mass of black SUVs waiting to snatch him away. The lot was quiet. There were many parked cars because the hotel was large, but he only saw a couple of people there.

One was a man in military uniform carrying a briefcase. He got into his car and drove off.

The other was a woman who had just gotten out of her cab and was walking to the front entrance, rolling her suitcase behind her.

Puller looked at his watch.

Two minutes to go.

He grabbed his bag and pulled it over one shoulder. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be coming back here. He slid the gun in the other pocket of his windbreaker but kept it gripped in his hand. He hit the elevator and made his way down.

The lobby was empty except for the woman he’d seen earlier checking in and the sleepy-looking front desk person helping her.

He eyed the doors leading out. If Knox was outside he wondered why. He also wondered where she had been.

He crossed the lobby and walked outside. It didn’t take him long to find her. That was because she drove up in a black sedan.

She rolled down the window as he looked at her.

“What are you doing?” he said.

“At the present moment, saving your ass. Get in.”

“My duffel’s in my car.”

“No it’s not. It’s in my trunk.”

“The key is in my pocket.”

“I don’t need a key,” she said. “Just get in.”

“Why not take my car?”

“It’s tainted goods, Puller.”

“You mean they’re tracking it?”

“I’ll explain. Get in!”

He threw his bag into the back and climbed into the passenger seat.

She hit the gas and they shot out of the parking lot.

“What the hell is going on, Knox?”

“I’ll tell you what I know, but you’re not going to believe a word of it.”