Divine Justice (42 page)

Stone and the others watched the street through the front windows of Rita’s. Along with the cop cars and black sedans swooping up and down the road, they observed several citizens of Divine walking around as though in shock, some holding dividend checks that they now knew were nothing more than drug money.

Danny’s body had been taken to the morgue in Roanoke along with Howard Tyree’s. Only when the police had zipped him up in a black body bag did Abby relinquish her grip on her son’s hand. And even then she walked down the road after the slowly departing medical examiner’s wagon.

When everyone had had some food and coffee, Stone stood in the middle of the small circle of the best and perhaps only friends he had in the world.

“I would like to thank you for what you did,” he began, looking at each of them in turn.

Reuben immediately piped in, “Oliver, don’t go sappy on us. You would have done the same for any one of us.”

“You
have
done the same for every one of us,” said Annabelle.

Stone shook his head. “I know how much you risked. I know what you sacrificed to come here and do what you did.” His gaze settled on Alex Ford. “I especially know what you did, Alex. Even though it went against all your instincts as a Secret Service agent. And I appreciate it more than I can ever express.”

Alex could only meet Stone’s heartfelt gaze for a few moments before he looked down at his shoes.

When the door opened, they all turned to see who it was.

Abby had changed her clothes and washed her face, though the imprint of the tears she had bled with Danny’s death seemed to linger. Apparently, no soap could reach that. When Stone rose and went to her, the others silently made their way out of the restaurant and out onto the street.

Abby and Stone sat at a back table. When Stone handed her some napkins she shook her head. “I’ve got no more left. No more tears.”

“Just in case then,” he said. “What will you do now?”

“You mean after I bury my son? Haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“He saved us, Abby. But for what he did, you and I would be dead. He was a brave man who tried to do the right thing. That’s how you have to remember him.”

“I told you I lost my husband. Danny was all I had left. Now he’s gone too.”

“I know it’s hard, Abby. It’s harder than anything else you’ll ever have to do.”

“You lost your wife, but you still have your daughter.”

“What?” Stone said, startled.

“That woman out there said she was your daughter.”

“Oh.” Stone looked embarrassed. “That was a cover story, I’m afraid. My daughter.” He stumbled over what he was about to say. “My daughter died, like I said.”

“How?”

“Abby, you don’t—”

“Please tell me. I want to know.”

Stone slowly looked up to see her gazing at him pleadingly. “She was shot right in front of me when she was an adult. And the thing was she didn’t even know I was her dad. The last time I’d seen her she was only two years old. I found her again after all those years and then I lost her. Forever.”

Abby reached out and took his hand. “I’m sorry . . . Oliver.”

“But you do survive it, Abby. You never get over it, but you can keep on living. Because you really don’t have a choice.”

“I’m scared. I’m alone and I’m scared.”

“You’re not alone.”

She laughed halfheartedly. “What? Tyree? The wonderful town of Divine?”

“Me.”

She sat back and looked at him. “You? How?”

“I’m here. Now.”

“But for how long?”

Stone hesitated. He could not lie to the woman. “I have to go away.”

“Sure, of course you do. I understand,” she said offhandedly.

“I have some things that I have to take care of. Some wrongs finally need to be righted.”

“Okay, whatever you have to do.”

“Abby, I mean it. I will be there for you. Even if I’m not physically here.”

He caught her gaze and held it with a pleading one of his own.

“I want to believe that.”

“You can believe it.”

“When do you have to go?”

“Soon. Sooner than later.”

“Are you sure things will work out for you?”

“I won’t lie to you, there are no guarantees.”

“The trouble you might be in?”

“Yes.”

“Will they put you in prison?”

“It’s certainly possible,” Stone admitted.

A quiet sob escaped her lips and she rested her face on the back of his hand.

“Will you promise me one thing?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“If you can’t come back here, will you never forget me?”

“Abby—”

She sat up and put a hand against his lips. “Will you never forget me?”

“I will never forget you,” he said truthfully.

She leaned across the table and kissed him on the cheek. “Because I’ll never forget you.”

A few minutes later Joe Knox came in. Stone looked over at him.

“You ready?” he asked Stone. “We need to get this done.”

Stone gave Abby’s hand one final squeeze and rose.

“I’m ready.”

CHAPTER 81

T
HE FRONT DOOR
to Macklin Hayes’ stately brownstone in Georgetown was thrown open so hard it smacked the wall hard enough to make a dent in the plaster.

“What the hell?” began the man as he half rose from his chair, the book he’d been holding falling to the floor. When he saw who it was he sat back down, stunned.

“Hey,
sir
, how goes it?” Knox said as he strode in.

“Knox?” Hayes began nervously. “How did you get past the guards outside?”

“Oh, that. One of them is a buddy. I said I’d only be a few minutes. So they went down the street for a cup of coffee.”

A panicked look came to the general’s face. “Knox, let me explain—”

When Hayes saw Stone walk into the room, he could only gape in astonishment. When he observed that Stone’s hands were manacled together, he started to breathe again.

“Mack,” Stone said. “Nice place you have here. A lot nicer than the one Joe and I were in. But then you know that, don’t you?”

Hayes finally wrenched his gaze from Stone.

“Knox, this will earn you that retirement you’ve been after, plus anything else in my power. Anything! I swear it.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Obviously encouraged by this, Hayes rose and put a bony arm around Knox’s burly shoulders, drawing him aside.

“You really shouldn’t have brought him here, though. Particularly since you sent my guards off. He is a dangerous man, handcuffed or not.”

“There was really no other place to take him. And after you left my ass in that hellhole, well, there weren’t a whole lot of options once we broke out.”

“So you . . . broke out? The police are looking for you?” he said nervously.

“I would think they are. I mean, we killed five or six guards along the way.” He turned to Stone. “Was it six?”

Stone said with an impassive expression, “Eight. I got two more while you were strangling the warden.”

Knox turned back to a stunned Hayes. “Okay, so it was eight. I gotta tell you, we weren’t in there all that long, but that place just drives you insane. Frigging out of your mind. I would’ve killed my own mother.”

Hayes took his arm away, his hands visibly shaking. When he spoke, his voice shook as much as his hands. “Listen, Knox, I know what happened was unfortunate. But it was necessary until I could get a handle on what to do with Carr. As you can imagine, it was a highly delicate situation. In fact, I was about to send my men up there to do an extraction. Rest assured, I was not going to let one of my best men rot in that place one second longer than necessary. I swear to God.”

Knox shook his head sadly. “I appreciate that, sir. I really do. But it would have helped to know that
before
I killed all those people to get out of the place.”

Hayes’ face was paper white now. “I’ll talk to someone for you. We’ll figure something out. This is a national security issue.”

“I doubt that’s possible now. In fact, that’s why I brought Carr along with me.”

Hayes glanced sharply over at Stone. “I don’t quite understand.”

“Well,
I
might forgive you. But he sure as hell isn’t about to. So since we’re both wanted for murder, I mean . . .”

“What the hell are you saying, Knox?”

Stone answered. “What he’s saying is we’ve already done eight. Who the hell cares about one more, especially if it’s you?”

Hayes staggered back against the wall, his hand to his chest. “Knox, you can’t allow this. I am your superior.”

“You
were
my superior. At least in rank. In reality, I’ve always considered you quite inferior.”

“How dare you—”

Knox uncuffed Stone and then slipped a knife from his pocket and handed it to him. Stone automatically gripped it in his favored killing position.

“Knox!” Hayes screamed.

Stone advanced. “Do you know how many times I’ve done this on behalf of the United States government?”

“Knox, for godsakes.”

“You should have given the man his medal,” Knox said.

Hayes screamed, “I’ll give you your damn medal, Carr. It’s yours.”

Knox sat in a chair and said, “You were a piece of crap for pulling the plug on it just because he wouldn’t follow your order to slaughter an innocent village in Nam.”

“I know that now. I’m sorry. I should never have given that order.”

Stone stopped next to the quaking Hayes and looked him up and down, apparently deciding on the best place to deliver the lethal blow.

Knox added, “And you shouldn’t have come up to that prison and made a deal with that warden to keep me there because I’d found out the truth.”

Stone was now holding the knife against Hayes’ throat.

“I’ve dreamed about this for nearly forty years, Mack,” said Stone.

“Knox,” wailed Hayes. “I’m begging you. I’m sorry for what I did at the prison. I never should have left you there. I’m sorry. For God’s sake make him stop.”

“Okay,” Knox said. “Oliver, go ahead and stop.”

Stone stepped back and flipped the knife to Knox, who pulled out a walkie-talkie and said into it, “Okay, come on in.”

Five men came rushing through the door seconds later and strode up to the still cowering but confused-looking Hayes.

One of the men said, “Macklin Hayes, you’re under arrest for obstruction of justice, false imprisonment, war crimes, covering up a drug ring, conspiracy to commit same and for using government property to blow up a civilian car in a public place resulting in reckless endangerment.” The man then gave him his Miranda warning.

Knox pulled out a DVD from his pocket and tossed it to Hayes. “You can share that with your lawyers.”

Hayes looked down at it. “What the hell is it?”

“The place where you met with us at the prison and told us everything because you figured we’d never get out? It was an
interrogation
room, you dumbshit. Warden up there was real keen on surveillance. There was a hidden camera and it recorded every syllable you said.” He looked at the men. “Take his ass away. I’m sick of looking at him.”

As they pulled Hayes from the room in cuffs, he screamed, “That man is John Carr. He killed Carter Gray and Roger Simpson. Arrest him, arrest him right now.”

One of the men said, “Shut up!” and then pushed Hayes out the door.

After they were gone, Knox and Stone left the house and walked down the dark, quiet, lamplit streets of Georgetown as a chill wind blew in off the nearby Potomac.

“You know,” Knox said, “Hayes was the only one who was after you. I reported only to him. He was doing this on his own authority, it wasn’t an Agency thing.”

“He’s a man who holds his grudges,” agreed Stone.

“My point is, as far as you’re concerned, it’s over.” He put out his hand and Stone shook it. Knox continued, “Now, I’m going to walk that way.” He pointed to his right. “And I suggest you go the other way.”

“I can’t do that, Joe.”

“Oliver, get out of this place and go start over somewhere. I’ll even get you some money and a new ID. But you have to go. Now.”

Stone sat down on a weathered stone step and gazed up at the man.

“I’ve been
going
for thirty years and I’m just tired.”

“But the FBI is still investigating the murders. And with Hayes out of the way any impediment to them turning in your direction is gone. Sooner or later, they’re going to knock on your door. Particularly with Hayes screaming his head off about you.”

“I know that.”

“And, what, you’re going to just wait until they come get you?”

Stone stood. “No. I’m not going to wait. I’m going right to the top on this. But first I need to go get something.”

“Get something? Where?”

“At a graveyard.”

CHAPTER 82

T
HE
S
ECRET
S
ERVICE
examined the contents of the box that Stone had brought with him. It was the same one he’d hidden at Milton’s burial plot before leaving Washington. Knox had driven him over to the graveyard where he’d gotten the box, called Alex Ford and made the arrangements to be where the three men were now.

The White House looked particularly impressive in the crisp morning sunlight. Alex knew the agents on duty today at the northeast gate entrance and he talked to them as Knox and Stone went through the metal detector and security process.

After that Alex led them up the driveway and into the White House. They passed the guards stationed at that entrance. As they walked toward the West Lobby, the security badges issued to the three men bounced against their chests. They arrived at the small West Lobby and were cleared. Stone and Alex sat while Knox nervously paced.

In a calming voice Alex said, “Down that hall is the Roosevelt Room. It’s got a painting of FDR over the fireplace mentel and one of Teddy Roosevelt on the south wall. Straight ahead of that is the reception room, and to the immediate right of that is the Oval Office. The president doesn’t actually work there. He’s got another office nearby where he can get some real work done.”

“Interesting,” said Knox as he continued to pace the room, shooting glances here and there. All three men were dressed in suits. Alex and Knox had chipped in to buy Stone some appropriate clothes and he looked distinguished, if uncomfortable in his jacket and tie.