The Inner Sanctum (42 page)

Jesse's eyes widened.

"Why now?" Finnerty asked, teeth clenched.

"Because she's dying," Webb answered, a thin smile coming to his face. "She's only got a few months to live. Lung cancer, isn't it, Elizabeth?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I had Roth break into your doctor's office the other night and check your records. I finally realized why you haven't been able to shake that cough. Funny how imminent death has a way of purging the soul," Webb growled. "And it all sounds so heroic. You giving us up. But you took the coward's way out. You only gave Robinson enough to get him started. You knew it would take him time to figure everything out. That way you wouldn't be around when everything blew up."

"Do you blame me?" There was no remorse in her voice.

"But we found out about Robinson," Webb continued. "And then this one got involved." He pointed at Jesse. "And everything spun out of control, didn't it?"

"Yes," she answered softly.

"You had to take care of her."

"Yes."

"You're the one who called her yesterday when we had her nailed at the motel."

"Yes."

Webb shook his head. "You've enjoyed the success I brought Sagamore. The money, the awards. You're a hypocrite, Elizabeth. A goddamn hypocrite!"

"Get over here with me, Jesse," Elizabeth directed, ignoring Webb's invective.

Jesse darted away from Finnerty and Webb to Elizabeth.

"We're getting out of--"

But before Elizabeth could finish, Webb flicked off the flashlight and the tunnel turned pitch black.

Simultaneously, FBI agents poured through every exterior door of Finnerty's house, systematically fanning out through the massive structure. When the lead agent signaled that the mansion had been secured, Senator Walker moved quickly up the brick path escorted by five agents. In the living room he found Art Mohler dead on the floor and David Mitchell sprawled on the couch, blood staining his blue shirt and smearing the manila folder on his lap. "What the hell happened?" Walker demanded of the lead agent.

"I--"

"Webb saw someone outside," Mitchell interrupted, his voice barely audible. He gazed at the lead agent. "Where's Jesse? And Webb and Finnerty?"

The agent shook his head. "I don't know. They aren't in the house."

"What?" David asked angrily. "How could they just walk out of here with her? Didn't you guys have the place surrounded?"

"No one came out of the house," the agent assured David. "And they aren't inside. We've searched everywhere. We're getting the dogs brought in, but that will take a few minutes."

"Dammit!" Walker yelled. "I knew we shouldn't have done it this way." He picked up a picture from a table beside the couch and smashed it in the fireplace. He pointed a finger at David. "When you and Jesse came to me yesterday and suggested this I knew it was wrong. I knew we should have just let the FBI round these people up."

"No," David said quietly. "Jesse wanted this back." He nodded at the hospital folder in his lap. "She was afraid it would get lost in the chaos."

"No folder can be important enough to lead to all this," Walker said, grim faced.

"I didn't think so either," David said. "But I was wrong. It meant everything to her."

"Mr. Mitchell, I suggest we get you to a hospital." The agent pointed toward David's bloody shoulder.

He shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere until I know where Jesse is."

Instinctively, Jesse flung herself to the tunnel's dirt floor as Elizabeth fired in the direction of Webb and Finnerty. She heard a scream from one of the men and then several thunderous reports and flashes of light from Finnerty's .38. Elizabeth went down, a hole in her heart.

Jesse jumped to her feet and moved into the darkness, feeling her way along the wall as best she could, going as fast as she dared. Behind her she heard groans and someone getting to their feet. Then another shot, and another. The bullets hissed past, caroming off the walls, echoing evilly in the blackness. How many shots in total from the .38 now? Five or six?

And then there was a tiny ray of feeble light ahead. She moved faster. The other end of the tunnel. Suddenly her shin struck a wooden step and she screamed in pain. But there was no time to worry about the pain. She could hear someone running toward her.

She scampered up the stairway toward the thin stream of light, came to a set of small double doors and burst through them, tumbling onto the thick cover of leaves on the forest floor. The footsteps were coming up the stairs fast. She scrambled to her feet and raced toward the jeep twenty feet away.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" Webb yelled, standing on the top step, holding Finnerty's .38 with both hands.

Jesse stopped still, five feet from the jeep. "Dammit," she whispered to herself.

"Get your hands up!" Webb screamed. Perhaps Jesse had gotten Elizabeth's gun, Webb suddenly realized as he moved toward her.

She turned slowly around, hands in the air.

Webb stopped a few feet away, gasping for breath. He glanced at the jeep. "I was thinking of having you drive." His eyes narrowed. "But that would be stupid. Never put someone else in control." He brought the .38 up and pointed it at her chest.

Jesse realized Webb was going to fire. That this was it. She lunged at him and watched in horror as his finger depressed the trigger and the hammer released. But there was only a click. No blast from the barrel. The gun was empty.

And then she was on him, adrenaline coursing through her body like floodwater through a dam. She knocked him to the ground, smashed the gun from his hand and fell on top of him, pinning his face to the leaves. But he was a large man, still in good shape despite his age, and he tossed Jesse away like a rag doll. He struggled to his feet and staggered toward the jeep.

Jesse stuck her leg in Webb's path and tripped him. And she was on him again, just trying to keep him pinned to the ground. Suddenly she heard the dogs on scent, barking and baying as they tore through the tunnel leading the agents to Webb.

Webb heard the pack too. He moaned as he threw Jesse off one more time, but she grabbed at his legs as he tried to stand and pulled him to the ground once more. Now he was breathing hard, laboring against fatigue. He kicked her in the cheek and crawled over the leaves to the jeep, pulling himself up, struggling with the door handle.

The German shepherds poured out of the tunnel entrance like lava erupting from a volcano. The agents screamed commands as they too emerged from the blackness and in no time the dogs were on Webb, pulling him from behind the jeep's steering wheel, ripping and tearing at his arms and legs. He screamed for mercy. And then it was over.

David placed both hands on the banister and watched the turquoise water roll gently up to meet the white sand time after time beneath the late afternoon sun. The view from his tenth floor room overlooking the Caribbean was breathtaking. "Carter Webb won't be awarding black-budget contracts anytime soon."

"I guess not," Jesse said softly as she gazed out over the placid sea.

Webb, Coleman, Rhodes and Pierce had all received long prison sentences for their roles in the conspiracy. Ted Cowen had hanged himself in his cell before the government had a chance to try him. And Finnerty had died in the tunnel--as had Elizabeth.

Jesse shook her head. "You really threw me for a loop at Finnerty's house."

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"When Webb mentioned how you had called him about leaving the file in the trunk of the BMW."

"Oh."

"I swear, David, for a second I thought--"

"I just wanted to make sure Webb thought I was working for him."

"It scared me to death."

They stared at the ocean in silence for a few moments.

"How's your mother?" David put his hand on Jesse's, caressing her fingers lightly.

Jesse's face brightened. "Great. Senator Walker found a very nice assisted-care living facility for her in Baltimore County. She moved in last week."

"That was fast. The admissions process to get into those places can be pretty drawn out sometimes."

Jesse tried to hide a smile. "I think maybe he used his influence a little."

"Aha," David said, forcing a solemn look to his face. "The truth will out." He broke into a smile. "The senator probably used his influence to find a government program to pay for it all too."

"No comment."

David shook his head and laughed out loud. "Well, after all, Walker owes you his political career so it makes sense that he would help you as much as he could. He certainly wouldn't have won reelection without you."

"I guess that's true." She took David's hand in hers. "Not without you either."

"I helped. You did the hard part."

Jesse squeezed David's hand and laughed.

"What?" A puzzled expression crossed David's face. "What is it?"

"I was on the phone with Senator Walker before I came to your room."

"And?"

"He wants me to think about running for state senator from Maryland in the next election. He said he would support me one hundred percent. Help me with the campaign and all. He thinks I have a future in politics. Someone at a political consulting firm told him I came across well on television during the hearings and the trials." She laughed. "Can you imagine? Me in politics?"

"Yes I can. You'd be great. You'd be a breath of fresh air."

She turned toward him. "I don't know." She saw he was serious and was suddenly embarrassed. "Senator Walker told me that GEA wil be delivering the first fifty A-100s to the Navy this week." She changed the subject. "He was disappointed."

David nodded. "I'm sure."

They lapsed into silence again, lost in their own thoughts.

"So what about you, David?" Jesse finally spoke up. "What are you going to do now that it's all over?"

"I don't know." David glanced at the horizon. "I won freedom in return for my testimony, but I doubt too many places will hire me now. Of course, I did get to keep my two million." He looked at her slyly.

"What?" She let his hand go.

David nodded. "I told you Sagamore paid me two million dollars immediately after my little initiation. I got to keep that as part of the deal. Of course, it only comes to about a million after taxes."

Jesse brought both hands to her mouth, then poked him playfully in the ribs. "You jerk. And I was worried about you. And you made me pay for my own room down here." She went to jab him again.

But he intercepted her wrist and pulled her arms around him, then put a finger beneath her chin as he pulled her close. "Well, you'd have a million too if you hadn't been so honest and turned over your Sagamore money to the Feds."

"I couldn't keep it. It wouldn't have been right."

David gazed at her. He had asked her to stay with him, but she'd refused, opting for her own room instead. The two days they had spent in the island paradise so far had been very romantic, but he was still saying goodnight to her outside her room. "I was always intending to pay for your room, anyway."

"I see." She gazed back at him for a few moments, then brought her hands to his cheeks and kissed him deeply. Finally, she pulled back. "Tell you what. Take me to a nice dinner tonight. Then maybe we'll stop by the front desk afterward. And I'll check out." She smiled provocatively. "That is, as long as you know of another place I can stay."

The End of INNER SANCTUM