The Innocent (12 page)

“Yes. Why?”

“You just seemed the type.”

“What type is that?”

“The ‘do things my way’ type.”

The sound on the TV was turned down low, but the scene on the screen that came on was self-explanatory. The still smoking bus, burned to a shell of metal. All flammable objects had pretty much disappeared: seats, tires, bodies.

Both Robie and Julie stared at it.

The bus had had a full tank of gas, Robie knew, for the trip up to New York. It had burned like an inferno. No, it
was
an inferno. There would be thirty-plus blackened corpses in that ride. Or at least parts of them.

Their crematorium.

The medical examiner would have his hands full with this one.

“Can you turn up the sound?” Julie asked.

Robie grabbed the remote and inched up the volume.

The TV newscaster, a grim-looking man, stared into the camera and said, “The bus had just departed for New York City. The explosion happened at approximately one-thirty last night. There are no survivors. The FBI is not ruling out a terrorist attack, though it doesn’t seem clear at this point why the bus would have been targeted.”

“How do you think it happened?” Julie asked.

Robie glanced at her. “Let’s eat first.”

The next fifteen minutes were spent chewing, swallowing, and drinking.

“Good eggs,” Julie proclaimed. She pushed her plate back, refilled her coffee cup, and sat back down. She stared at his nearly empty plate and then up at him.

“Can we talk about it now?”

Robie crisscrossed his knife and fork over his plate and sat back.

“Guy who was after you might have set it off.”

“What, like a suicide bomber?”

“Maybe.”

“Wouldn’t you have seen a bomb on him?”

“Probably. Most bomb packs are pretty prominent. Dynamite sticks lined together, wiring, battery, switches, and the detonator. But I tied him up, so it would have been impossible for him to set anything off.”

“So it couldn’t have been him.”

“Not necessarily. You wouldn’t need a lot of juice to blow up a bus. It could have been concealed on him. Some C-4 or Semtex and the full tank of gas will take care of the rest. Some explosive vapor in the tank plus a steady supply of fuel for the fire. And it could have been set off remotely. In fact, if that’s what happened, a remote had to be used, since the guy was tied up. About half the suicide bombers in the Middle East never pull the trigger themselves. They’re just sent out with the bombs and their handlers detonate from a safe distance away.”

“I guess the handlers have the easy job, then.”

Robie thought back to his own handler, a safe distance away calling the shots—literally.

“I wouldn’t disagree with that.”

“So if the guy wasn’t the source of the explosion?”

“Then something else hit that bus.”

“Like what?”

“Incendiary round into the gas tank is one possibility. Ignites the vapor, and boom. Then the gas-fed fire does the rest.”

“Did you hear a shot? I didn’t.”

“No, but it could’ve been so close to the explosion that we might not have.”

“And why would they blow up the bus?”

“How do you think the guy found you on the bus?”

“He came on fast and last,” she said, adopting an analytical tone as she gazed at him.

Robie appreciated that tone. He used it often. “So he either just got the assignment at the last minute and was playing catch-up. Or more likely they lost you but then reacquired you.” He paused. “Which do you think it is?”

“No idea.”

“I’m sure you have some idea. Even a guess.”

“How about the guy in the alley with the rifle?”

“He was after me.”

“Yeah, that I know. You had the tracking device. But why was he after you?”

“Not something I can talk about. Like I said before.”

“Then that’s my answer too,” Julie shot back. “So what now?”

“I can drive you to the gas station. You can call for a cab. Get another bus to New York. Or maybe the train?”

“Train tickets have names on them.”

“Yours would just say Julie.”

“And yours would just say Will,” she replied. “But that’s not exactly enough, is it?”

“No.”

They sat staring at each other.

“Where are your parents?” Robie asked.

“Who says I have any?”

“Everybody has parents. It’s sort of a requirement.”

“I meant parents that were
living
.”

“So yours are dead?”

She looked away, fiddled with the handle of her mug. “This arrangement is probably not going to work out.”

“Do we go to the police?”

“Will that work for your situation?”

“I meant for you.”

“No, it really wouldn’t.”

“If you tell me what’s going on, I can maybe help you.”

“You’ve already helped me, and I appreciate that. But I’m not sure what else you can do, realistically.”

“Why were you going to New York?”

“Because it isn’t here. Why were you going?”

“It was convenient.”

“Well, it’s not convenient for me.”

“So you had to go. Why?”

“Need to know,” she said. “And you don’t.”

“What? Are you a junior spy or something?”

He glanced at the TV when he caught it out of the corner of his eye. Two sheeted bodies on gurneys were being wheeled out of a condo building. One body was big, one very small.

Another reporter was out front talking to a spokeswoman from the D.C. Metro Police.

The spokeswoman said, “The victims, a mother and her young son, have been identified, but we’re withholding their names until next of kin are notified. We have several leads that we are pursuing. We’re asking for anyone who saw anything to contact us with that information.”

“And it’s been reported that the FBI is heading up the investigation?” asked the reporter.

“The deceased woman was a federal employee. The Bureau’s involvement is standard operating procedure in those situations.”

No, it really isn’t,
thought Robie. He kept staring at the screen, hungry for more information. It seemed like a year ago since he had escaped from the building, which was now surrounded by police and federal cops.

“And there was another child?” asked the reporter as she held the mike up to the spokeswoman’s face.

“Yes. He was unharmed.”

“Was the child found in the same apartment?”

“That’s all we can say right now. Thank you.”

Robie turned back to find Julie staring at him.

Her eyes were like acid, eating through any defense or façade he could muster.

“Was that you?”

He said nothing.

“Mother and kid, huh? And what? You help me to make up for that?”

“You want anything else to eat?”

“No. What I want is to leave.”

“I can drive you.”

“No, I’d prefer to walk.”

She went up to her room and was back down a minute later with her backpack.

As he turned off the alarm and opened the front door for her, he said, “I didn’t kill those people.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said simply. “But thanks for not killing me. I’ve got enough shit to deal with as it is.”

He watched her hurry down the gravel drive.

Robie went to get his coat.

R
OBIE PUT ON
a helmet, slid the leather cover off the Honda street bike, fired it up, and drove it out of the barn. He parked the bike, closed and locked the barn, and then boarded the 600cc silver-and-blue motorcycle once more.

He reached the road in time to see Julie climb into the front seat of a big-as-a-boat ancient Mercury driven by an old woman whose head was barely level with the top of the steering wheel.

Robie let off on the gas and fell in behind the Merc, about fifty yards back. He was not surprised when the big car turned into the gas station he had told Julie about. He raced past, cut down a side road, and doubled back. He stopped the bike and killed the engine. He watched through a gap in a hedge by the road as Julie got out and went over to the pay phone. She hit three keys.

Probably 411, he deduced.

She put in some coins and dialed another number.

Cab company.

She talked, hung up, went inside the station, got the restroom key, and walked around the corner.

She’d have to wait for the cab, and so would Robie.

His phone rang. He glanced at the screen and drew a quick breath.

The number on the ID was known as a “blue” call. It came right from the top of his agency. Robie had never gotten one of those before. But he had memorized the number. He would have to answer it. But that didn’t mean he had to be particularly cooperative.

He clicked the phone key and said, “You can’t trace this call. You know that.”

“We need to meet,” the man said.

It wasn’t his handler. Robie knew it wouldn’t be. Blue calls did not come from handlers in the field.

“I had a
meeting
last night. I don’t think I can survive another.”

“There will be no repercussions for you.”

Robie said nothing. He let his silence convey the absurdity of this statement.

“Your handler was wrong.”

“Good to know. I still didn’t complete the assignment.”

“The intel was also wrong.”

Robie said nothing. He had an idea where this might be going and wasn’t sure he wanted to go there.

“The intel was wrong,” said the man again. “What happened was unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate? The woman was
supposed
to die. She was also an American citizen.”

Now it was the other man’s turn to say nothing.

“IG’s Office,” said Robie. “I was told she was part of a terrorist cell.”

“What you were told is irrelevant. Your job is to execute the order.”

“Even if it’s wrong?”

“If it’s wrong, it’s not your job to deal with it. It’s mine.”

“And who the hell are you?”

“You know this is a blue call. It’s above your handler. Well above. Let’s leave it at that until we can meet.”

Robie watched as Julie came back around from the restroom and went inside to return the key.

“Why was she targeted?”

“Listen, Robie, the decision on you can be changed. Is that what you want?”

“I doubt it matters what I want.”

“Actually it does. We don’t want to lose you. We consider you a valuable asset.”

“Thanks. Where’s my handler?”

“Reassigned.”

“You mean he’s dead too?”

“We don’t play those games, Robie. You know that.”

“I apparently don’t know a damn thing.”

“Things are what they are.”

“Keep telling yourself that. You might start believing it.”

“We’re in damage control, Robie. We need to work together on this.”

“I’m not feeling real good about working with you guys ever again.”

“But you need to move beyond that. In fact, it’s imperative that you do.”

“Let’s move on to this. Did you send someone to kill me last night? Guy with a rifle in an alley? Has my shoe prints on his face? Might still be lying unconscious, in fact, in an alley.”

“He was not one of ours. I can promise you that. Give me the exact location and we’ll check it out.”

Robie didn’t believe him, but it didn’t really matter. He told the guy where it had happened and left it at that.

“What do you want from me? More missions? I’m not in the mood. Next, you might have me taking out a Boy Scout.”

“There’s an investigation going on in connection with the death of Jane Wind.”

“Yeah, I guess there is.”

“FBI is heading it up.”

“I guess they are.”

“We want you to act as an agency interface with the Bureau.”

As many scenarios as Robie had thought through, that had not been one of them.

“You can’t be serious.”

Silence.

“I’m not going anywhere near this.”

“We need you to be the liaison. And we need you to play it the way we want you to. That is essential.”

“Why would we need a liaison to this case in the first place?”

“Because Jane Wind was working for us.”