The naked edge

2

In the shed, Cavanaugh clutched his cell phone, listening to what Ali told him. "How do I know this is true?"

"If you don't believe me," Ali's voice said, "maybe you'll believe Gerald."

Cavanaugh heard a bump as the phone was repositioned.

Ali's voice was now muffled by distance. "Tell him, damn it. Tell him what you just told me."

Another bump. Then Brockman's pain-ridden voice said, "I… It was me… I'm the security leak."

"Tell him about New Orleans!" Ali insisted in the background.

Brockman obeyed. Hoarsely. Between difficult breaths. His thick words sounded as if they were forced through swollen lips.

Cavanaugh felt that the shadows around him got darker. Staring at the Michael Price knife that Carl had expertly reproduced, smelling the dust and the old metal around him, he was hardly aware of Jamie and Rutherford reacting to his strained features.

Ali's voice returned. "Now do you believe me?"

"Stay with him. Don't leave the apartment. I'll send a team to protect you."

"Get a doctor for Gerald," Ali said.

Cavanaugh broke the connection, then quickly arranged the help he'd promised. As he hurried toward the door, he told Jamie and Rutherford what Ali had discovered.

After the murky interior, the glare of the cold sun was blinding. Passing members of the search team, taking long strides down the lane toward Rutherford's car, Cavanaugh said, "At yesterday's meeting, we tried to find a link among the agents who were killed with sharp weapons. Brockman steered the conversation. We were looking for a common denominator based on their previous assignments or the military units they'd been in. But it was Brockman who suggested their past assignments didn't matter. The next assignments. Brockman made us look at those. I can still hear him saying 'The World Trade Organization.' That was his final job. In case we missed the significance of the blade killings, Carl ordered him to make sure we noticed the connection. He wanted to focus us on New Orleans. The note Carl left here reinforced that idea."

"But why would he go out of his way to warn us when and where the attack will be?" Rutherford asked.

"Every available agent's been sent there. Duran wants to destroy as many targets as possible, but he doesn't care about the trade ministers and corporate executives at the conference. They're a bonus. The agents are his targets. He's already strained the system. Now he wants to bring it to its knees. If he cripples the entire U.S. security network, it'll take months to train new operators. Meanwhile, whoever hired him will be able to attack domestic targets at will."