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The questions and argumentswent on for two hours, but toward the end, the lead interrogator was called out of the meeting twice, and after the second time, came back to say they could go.
“It’s been fun,” Baxter said, as they walked out, Letty slipping the new gun into her Sticky holster.
The new gun was probably identical to her own, right down to the molecule, but it felt wrong in her hand. She slipped it in and out of the holster as they walked to the car, but it never felt quite right.
Delores Nowak saidthe jet carrying her and Colles would be seven or eight hours on the way, but it turned out to be nine before they arrived at the LAX SkyPort hotel, in a black limo, looking beat: “It’s three o’clock in the morning in Washington,” Colles complained. “But we gotta talk this out now.”
Food was waiting in the suite: a basket of a dozen toasted but cold everything bagels, containers of chive cream cheese, plastic knives, a refrigerator stocked with Diet Cokes and Dos Equis beer.
“We’ve discussed your situation with the top counterespionage people at the FBI and they’ve agreed to intervene here, keeping you clear of the Los Angeles inquiry into the Russians at the auto garage, and the deaths of Loren Barron and Brianna Wolfe. The sensitivity of the situation has been deeply impressed on the people here. Deeply impressed,” Colles told them.
“Why?” Letty asked. “Rod and I have been talking. We think Barron was probably the center of the Ordinary People attack on the Russian train system, and that they were interested in gas systems but weren’t interested in attacking a municipal gas system. Now that he’s dead, I mean... what’s left to do?”
“Mmm, it has to do with Loren Barron’s birth name,” Nowak said. “He’s an immigrant. His parents Americanized their names when they immigrated here. Loren Barron was originally Leonyd Baranov.”
Baxter: “He’s a Russian?”
Nowak: “No. His family is Ukrainian. Most of the family, other than his parents and sister, still live in Ukraine.”
Letty: “Oh-oh. CNN says Russia might invade Ukraine.”
Colles: “CNN is correct. The Ukraine leadership still doesn’t completely believe it. They’ve got some good sources in Moscow,but we’ve got better. We’ve got satellites and a whole selection of them are watching every move that Putin makes and recording most of what he says. He’s going to invade, he’s made the decision. Probably in the next couple of weeks.”
“Oh, boy. We’ve got a Russian gang killing a Ukrainian who had the Russian train system in his pocket for weeks,” Letty said. “A preemptive strike...”
“On American soil, by a gang we had no idea existed,” Colles said. “Unfortunately, the part of the gang we took down consisted of the lowest-ranking members. They were living in a dormitory and eating out of a supermarket. But they had lots of guns—AR-15s altered to be fully automatic, among others—and even some grenades, as you found out. The question is, who is running this operation? Are they aimed at Ukrainians here in the States? If so, which ones? If we put together arms packages for the Ukrainians, will they try to interfere? We need to know who these people are. You two guys have got hold of one end of that thread...”
“Very slim thread,” Baxter said. “I didn’t sign up to go mano a mano withspetsnazkillers.”
“These guys we took down weren’tspetsnaz,” Colles said, as though he’d been there in body armor. “They were gangsters. That’s bad enough, but they weren’t exactly the sharpest knives in the dishwasher.”
“What do you want us to do?” Letty asked.
“What youweredoing,” Nowak said. “We think the Russians aren’t finished with the train gang. The Russians are heavily dependent on trains getting supplies close to the front. All the fronts. Ukraine uses the same rail specs as Russia, so the Russian supply trains could roll right through the country, behind the invading forces. It’s part of the way they do things. If we have assets here inthe U.S. who can hinder Russian supply lines, in case of a Ukraine invasion, we don’t want them killed. We do want to know who they are.”
“All right,” Baxter said. He looked at Letty. “You up for this?”
“For a while,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind having another shooter backing us up.”
Colles: “John Kaiser?”
“I was thinking about a friend of mine. Barbara Cartwright with the CIA. We’ve talked, and I know she’s not supposed to work in the U.S., unless it’s as intelligence support with another agency. That would be us—Homeland and the NSA.”
“Why not John?” Colles asked. “You’re friends, you work well together...”
“He’s sort of a billboard that says ‘Delta shooter.’ Barb’s anothergirl. She’s like my older sister. Nobody would ever look at her and think ‘shooter.’ If we can get her...”
Colles said, “If she’s willing, and her supervisors are, we can get her here tomorrow.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Baxter said. “Another murderous broad.”
Nowak: “Excuse me?”
Baxter hastily brought up the subject of the flash drives and CDs they’d taken from Barron’s place and that they hadn’t told the FBI about. “We figured you’d have the best chance at decrypting them, but I gotta say, it’s not much of a chance,” Baxter told them.
“We’ll take a look; maybe something can be done,” Nowak said. “You were right not to mention them to the FBI.”
The meeting broke upat two in the morning.
