“As soon as they can wheel me into the main room,” said Berg. “We can’t afford to lose any time.”
Bauer nodded, taking his hand. “Thank you, Karl. I have no idea what they had planned for me, but judging by this—”
“I don’t think they had plans to kidnap you, Audra,” said Berg. “They were looking to close the loop on this.”
“On what?”
“All things Reznikov,” said Berg.
“The gift that keeps on giving,” she said. “I’ll get everyone together.”
Chapter 43
Berg felt somewhat embarrassed by his predicament. He lay in an admittedly plush lounge chair from the back patio, situated in the center of the home’s two-story-ceilinged great room. Not a bad place to convalesce under normal circumstances, but nothing was normal about the current situation. He’d been transferred to the lounge chair from a bed and carted here like royalty so they didn’t have to squeeze everyone into the bedroom to include him in the meeting.
On top of that, they needed quick access to Graves and Gupta’s suite of electronics. It made far more sense to bring him to the party instead of the other way around despite the fact that he looked ridiculous and largely out of place among them. At least he wasn’t in a hospital bed. That would have been the icing on the cake.
He caught Jackson shaking his head, trying to stifle a laugh. His friend glanced at him and looked away just as quickly, putting his head down to laugh into his hand.
“What?” said Berg.
“Nothing,” said Jackson, breaking into more silent laughter.
“Seriously. What?”
“I’m sorry, man. You look like… I don’t know what you look like.”
“Like the mummy,” said Melendez, pushing Jackson into a full laugh.
“Sorry, Karl,” said Jackson. “I’m fucking slaphappy at this point, and you do look a little out of place lying where the coffee table used to be.”
A few more laughs followed; then everyone settled down for the serious business at hand.
“First, this is not how I envisioned my next vacation. Just in case any of you were curious,” said Berg, getting the last of the laughter out of their systems.
“I think we can all agree that none of what has happened over the past twenty-four hours is a jumble of coincidences. This is all connected somehow, and I’m still not fully convinced it’s the Russians.”
“Sanderson is pretty convinced,” said Munoz.
“I want to go over what we know and expand our theory base if warranted,” said Berg. “I’d like Audra Bauer to take over at this point, because she does this kind of thing for a living, and as the newest addition to the island of misfit operatives and intelligence officers, I think she’s the least biased. Audra?”
Audra Bauer rose from the couch next to Berg and moved toward Graves and Gupta, who sat at a long Shaker-style table that supported all of their electronics gear. The table had been moved from the dining room and placed flush against a long bank of windows overlooking the pool and forested backyard. She stopped a few feet away from them and nodded at the group.
“Most of you don’t know me personally, though our paths have crossed. I don’t think it’s any secret that I work at the CIA. I was deputy director of the National Clandestine Service when those paths crossed, so I know about the background events potentially contributing to this sudden outbreak of kidnapping events. I’ve always been both impressed by and thankful for your work, even if I cringed every time I heard Sanderson’s name.”
“You’re not the only one,” said Daniel.
“I’ll second that shit,” said Jackson, and the group shared an uneasy laugh.
“Seriously, I just want to set the record straight. I believe in Sanderson’s work. Your work,” said Bauer. “The fact that any of you are here is a testament to the program.”
“Sanderson can be persuasive,” said Daniel.
“He’s a smart guy, with a solid knack for seeing the bigger picture,” said Bauer, pointing at Berg. “Same with this guy.”
“So how do we do this?” asked Jackson.
“Right now, we need to share what we know and piece things together. Here’s how I’d like to do it,” said Audra. “I ask directed, big-picture questions and get brief answers. If anyone disagrees they speak up. I’ll gradually narrow the questions until we get as close to a consensus as possible. Sound good?”
Everyone nodded or mumbled agreement. Berg had made the right choice putting her in charge. Audra facilitated decisions faster and more accurately than any high-level CIA officer he’d ever worked for during his thirty-plus-year career. Until True America stepped into the White House, he was convinced she’d sit behind the director’s desk one day.
“Let’s start in Chicago, with the attempted Petrovich abduction-murder. What do we know about the attack’s motivations?”
“Well justified in Srecko Hadzic’s mind. No question about that,” said Berg, glancing at Daniel, who nodded in agreement.
Jessica was missing from the group, which Berg still found to be highly unusual. She’d felt dizzy after planting the GPS tracker, according to Daniel. He didn’t press for a better answer. Daniel looked pretty short on patience, and he’d given up trying to figure out the Petroviches. He barely had the mental energy to focus on the problem at hand.
“What stands out as odd?” said Audra. “Big picture.”
Munoz answered, ostensibly as Sanderson. “Hadzic had been confirmed as killed in a botched attempt to rescue him from the United Nations Detention Unit at The Hague. There’s no way this could be covered—”
“Hold on,” said Bauer. “The shorter your answers, the better. Let’s get to the heart of the matter. Did Hadzic have the money and contacts necessary to make this happen?”
“Unlikely,” said Munoz.
“But not impossible,” Berg countered. “He still had several million dollars floating around and a devoted group of followers.”
“So we really can’t move beyond theories regarding Chicago,” said Bauer.
“I suppose not,” said Daniel, clearly not happy with the assessment.
“Let’s move on to Karl’s abduction,” said Audra. “What was different?”
“The team that kidnapped me was American. Military-style contractors, if I had to guess,” said Berg, instantly realizing she’d correct him.
“Let’s not guess,” said Audra. “Mr. Graves?”
The flat-screen TV mounted above the fireplace mantel activated, displaying a face with a red hole in the center of its forehead.
“Jesus,” said Audra’s husband.
Audra nodded curtly. “Sanderson’s people know how to shoot.”
“Bottom of the stairs,” said Munoz.
“Sorry. I would have done this in private, but there hasn’t been a spare minute since I got back,” said Audra. “Darryl, we’ll go through these quickly, on the off chance you recognize one of them. Mr. Jackson works in this industry and has extensive contacts throughout.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Jackson.
The grotesque slide show proceeded until the fifth image.
“Hold up,” said Jackson.
Berg recognized the face. The man with two bullet holes in the upper forehead had been his chief torturer in the farmhouse cellar.
“You know him?” asked Berg.
“I don’t know for sure,” said Jackson, “but I swear I’ve seen him at Brown River. He’s not a member of the Special Operations Division. I know that much.”
“What do we know about this guy, Graves?”
“FRD identifies him as Samuel Harper. Staff sergeant in Force Recon, back when that was still a thing.”