Westland could see that Jameson had taken the wrong approach with the military man. He confronted the CIA man. "I don't appreciate you telling me what to do. You can demand all you want. From what Colonel Turrel has told me, your person approached him. I don't see where he did anything wrong. If you can't control your own people that's your problem." With that the colonel turned and stalked away.
Jameson tried another approach. "Did you make a call?"
Westland played innocent. "Who would I call?"
Jameson bullied past them and looked into the office at the phone. "Where's your STU-III key?"
Turrel pulled out the key Westland had slipped him. "It's been right here the whole time she was in my office." He put away the key. "You know I'm really getting tired of the two of you. Go work out your problems elsewhere." With that the army officer went into his office, slamming the door behind him.
Jameson faced Westland. "What are you doing? What's going on?"
Westland shrugged. "I just wanted to check on some things about the cache the colonel put in for us."
Jameson was totally lost. "I gave you the information on that."
Westland nodded. "I know." She started heading for the stairs. "Well, I'll see you later."
"Wait!" Jameson cried out. "I have a call in to Langley. Strom's supposed to be getting back to me any minute now — I'll find out then what they want me to do about you."
Westland was already halfway down the stairs. "Sorry. Have to go."
As she slipped out the gate of the embassy and headed for the hotel, Westland failed to notice the man shadowing her from a discreet distance. Her mind was on the confrontations in the embassy, not on making sure she didn't have a tail. Prior to entering the hotel, she did a cursory check but noticed nothing unusual.
In the daylight, Riley had managed to find a tree with a slightly better view and a more comfortable branch. He had the M2l rifle with him and was observing the target through the ART 2 scope. He had yet to see any sign of the Ring Man in the grounds. All the windows were polarized, which prevented a clear look inside, and Riley had no doubt they were also bulletproof. Even if they weren't, the odds of getting a good shot through glass at long range were low. The first-floor windows were also covered with bars to prevent anyone going in that way.
Riley had spent the morning watching the guards, trying to determine their patterns. He shook his head. If the Ring Man didn't come out, he wasn't even going to be able to use the sniper option. His ears perked up as he heard the snap of rotor blades coming from the north. He tracked a Bell Jet Ranger swinging in through the valley, heading for the Ring Man's mansion.
Riley chambered a round. If the Ring Man came out and got on that bird, he'd take it out when it took off. It would be an excellent way of doing the job. They wouldn't figure out what had happened to the helicopter until he was long gone.
Riley started considering where the best place would be for his shot. If he got a frontal shot, he'd try penetrating the windshield in the vicinity of the pilot. He had ten rounds in this magazine. He figured he could put all ten into the cockpit in about five seconds. If he didn't get a frontal shot, he'd go for the transmission and engine to crash the bird.
The helicopter flew past Riley's position barely four hundred meters away. He kept the scope on it as it settled down onto the helipad in the front yard. The blades started slowing and three men approached the aircraft. Riley zoomed in on them. None was the Ring Man.
He watched as the doors opened. A man got out from the left side and scooted around the front of the aircraft to the right door. Riley focused on that man's face. An Anglo. Riley wondered who he was. The right door opened and the guards seemed to be helping someone out.
Riley's hands gripped tight on the rifle as he recognized the man they were lifting out. He took a deep breath to calm himself and thought furiously as he watched them drag Powers toward the villa. His finger curled around the trigger and he sighted in on the Anglo who'd gotten off the bird.
"Fuck," Riley muttered to himself as he forced his arm muscles to relax. Blowing away the man, whoever he was, wouldn't help anything and would probably get Powers killed in retaliation. Riley watched as the party disappeared behind the rise of the house. The helicopter picked up and winged away in the direction of Bogota.
Riley leaned back against the trunk of the tree and considered the situation. He'd been right all along. Now he knew not only that Powers was alive but where he was.
Gradually, Riley's initial surprise and elation at seeing Powers dimmed as he realized he still had the same problem. In fact it was even worse now. His first priority was to rescue Powers. Killing the Ring Man wouldn't accomplish that.
If Powers didn't come back out of the villa, Riley knew that meant one thing. He was going to have to go in.
The man in civilian clothes looked up from the piece of paper in his hands and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm going to have to verify this with DCSOP-SO, you know."
Pike nodded. "Of course."
For the tenth time in the last five minutes, the man looked over the satellite imagery Pike had brought. "Goddamn, Mike. You sure have tossed a live grenade in my lap with a damn short fuse."
"Can you do it?"
The man equivocated. "I don't know. It's chancy. We could take a big hit trying to pull this off with such little heads-up. You got the aircraft lined up?"
Pike nodded. "All set. You guys had the warning order to plan contingencies for this last week. Why all the fuss?"
The man relented a little. "Well, we did the area study and some basic plans, but we didn't have anything specific to work from. You're not giving us much time to actually plan the details." The man gave Pike a hard stare. "This isn't any bullshit exercise you assholes in the Pentagon have thought up, is it?"
Pike spread his hands. "Listen, Jim. We've known each other for a long time. Would I do that to you?" If they wanted to think it was an exercise so much the better, Pike thought. It wouldn't change the way they planned or prepared.
The man thought for a few more moments, then grinned. "Guess I'd better get the ball rolling, then. About goddamn time we did something like this."
The Ring Man enjoyed watching Ponte squirm. The man had fucked up too much lately. Both Ponte and Ariel had been sitting across from his desk for ten minutes now, in complete silence. The Ring Man let it drag on. Give them both time to do some thinking. He liked toying with people mentally and physically. He was feeling good watching the two men and caressing his young girl's thigh as she sat on the corner of his desk.
Finally he gestured toward the Israeli. "You did very good in Cartagena. There will be a bonus for you."
The Israeli nodded. "Thank you, sir."
Ring Man turned his gaze on Ponte and his face hardened. "I hope you have some information on the strange American."
Ponte licked his lips. This was his chance. "I do. One of our men trailed a woman from the American embassy to a hotel nearby. She's registered under the name of Gonzalo along with her husband. We have a Gonzalo couple listed on the manifest for the flight on Monday night."
Ring Man considered that. "Did you get an identification on the man?"
Ponte shook his head. "There's no sign of the man. The desk man says he left early this morning and has not returned. His description matches the one the man at the bar gave. The woman is still in the room. I'm having it watched."
"What do you plan on doing?"
Ponte licked his lips again. "Keep the hotel under surveillance until the man shows up and then grab him."