The Whole Truth

CHAPTER 81

NEXT TO THE TABLE where Katie would be sitting when she made the call, Shaw had set up a large clock with an LED readout down to the seconds. He held a video camera pointed at Katie and the clock; he also had on a headset.

“Just keep him on as long as you can. Once they track the tower locations they can zero in on a more exact location and send in a team.”

Right at midnight the phone rang. Shaw started videotaping the clock as Katie answered.

“Right on time,” she said into the phone.

“How much do you know?” the voice said tersely.

“More than you want me to.”

“How much do you want?”

Shaw motioned to Katie. “Keep him talking,” he mouthed as he listened to the man on the other end of the headset phone.

“Don’t you want to know how I figured it out?” she said. “I mean in case next time you want to avoid something like this happening again.”

“Okay, how?” Pender asked.

Katie took her time explaining about Lesnik, the broken loo, the inconsistencies in his story, and finally the impossibility of him doing what he said he’d done. “You should have just taken him in the place with you,” she advised. “Instead of briefing him on it later.”

“So why’d you write the story then if you knew it wasn’t true?”

“I just found out.”

Shaw jerked his head up as Frank’s voice came through the headset. He pointed at her. “He’s in a moving car. Tell him to pull off the road! Now!”

Katie immediately barked, “Pull your car off the road!”

Pender was so astonished by her observation and demand that he nearly swerved his big Mercedes off the road before regaining control. “How the hell did you know I’m in a car?” he hissed suspiciously.

Thinking fast, Katie said, “You were breaking up. I’m not moving, so you must be. And besides, I can hear the traffic noise in the background. Now pull off so I can hear you clearly. We don’t want any misunderstandings, do we?”

“Give me a minute.” Pender still sounded wary. He pulled off at the next exit and said, “Okay, how much?”

“Twenty million dollars and consider it a gimme.”

“That’s not a gimme. It’s a helluva lot of cash.”

“Well, it’s a helluva big thing you’re involved in. But if you don’t want to pay, fine. I’ll retract my story and tell the real one.”

“Which is?”

“You can read about it along with everyone else. But the world will know that the Russians did not do the London Massacre and the Chinese are not behind the Red Menace. And this whole war thing goes right down the tubes. That’s what this is about, right? War?”

Pender was really sweating now. Twenty million dollars.

“It’ll take me a little time to raise the cash.”

“No it won’t, I want it in twenty-four hours. I have, big surprise, an offshore account. You can write down the wiring instructions. I know you’ll send it in a way that can’t be traced, but that doesn’t matter to me. I just want the cash.”

“I can’t do it that fast. I need more time.”

“How much more time?”

“A week.”

“Seventy-two hours. And consider yourself lucky. I really want to start my vacation.”

“Tired of being a reporter?” Pender sneered.

“I’d much rather be rich.”

“Five days,” he retorted.

“The negotiations are closed! Three days or your plan goes down the tubes.”

“I doubt one story from you will turn such an overwhelming global tide.”

“Fine, then don’t pay and we’ll see what happens. Good-bye.”

“Wait, wait!”

“I’m listening.”

“All right. Three days. But a piece of advice, Ms. James. If you do something as incredibly stupid as double-crossing us-”

“I know, I know. It won’t be pretty. Don’t worry. I’ve already got my Pulitzers. All I want now are the good things in life.”

She gave him the bank information and glanced at Shaw. He was making a slashing motion against his neck.

“Nice doing business with you,” Katie remarked before clicking off.

She looked at Shaw, who turned off the video camera.

“Well?” she asked.

“Western suburbs of Washington, D.C.; the Dulles Toll Road.

“They know that fast?”

“There’re two cell towers right there. It was easy to trace the signal. He would’ve been far safer sitting in a crowded hotel. Too many signals there to narrow down to one person.”

“Okay, but what about just tracing the number the man used?”

“We did. He tried to block the number, that’s why it didn’t pop up on your screen, but we had a wireless intercept on the phone you used. It overrode his block, snagged the number, and sixty seconds later we had our phone number owner.”

“Who was it?”

“According to Frank, an eighty-six-year-old priest in Boston who I’m reasonably sure is not running around the world starting wars, and has no idea someone stole his phone number.”

“So how does knowing that this guy was driving on that road help us? Could they tell which car?”

He shook his head. “Technology’s not there yet. Same as trying to pinpoint a person.”

“So how do we trace the guy, Shaw?” she said, exasperated.

He patted the video camera. “By using this.”

“That? You’ve been taking a video of me and a clock.”

“That’s right.”

“So now what?”

“Now we fly to D.C.”