But Jamie Long and Joe Brammer would be the last, he promised himself. The very last.
He nuzzled Buck’s neck and inhaled the baby sweetness of his flesh. An intoxicating scent. It was almost enough to make him believe in God.
“Daddy loves his little Buckie,” he told the baby. “Daddy loves you very, very much.”
When Buck drifted off to sleep, Gus put him back in his carrier, feeling quite proud at how adept he had become at handling babies. He kissed the top of Buck’s head then leaned over the carrier that held Randi’s sleeping child and kissed his head, too. “They are so beautiful,” he told Randi.
“Yes, Mister Gus, they are so beautiful,” she said with a lovely smile.
He liked the way Randi said “beautiful,” enunciating every syllable. He liked Randi. She was both intelligent and pragmatic. “Have you ever been to Texas before?” he asked.
Randi shook her head. “No, sir. I understand that Dallas is a very large city.”
“Yes, it is. Lots of people in cars driving around on a maze of highways, just like lots of other cities in lots of other states. Before we head back to Virginia, we’ll fly out to the ranch for a few days. It’s very peaceful there and quite beautiful in its own way.”
“I would very much like to visit this place that you and Miss Amanda love so much,” she said.
Gus patted her shoulder then walked to the back of the plane and sat at the conference table next to Zubov, his new head of security-a former KGB agent with piercing black eyes. After the fiasco in Oklahoma City, Gus had decided to take charge of the planning and be on hand for its implementation. Facing them across the table were three members of Zubov’s team: a lean Russian woman he called Bella, a large young man known as Johnny who looked to be either a Pacific Islander or a Native American, and a hard-bodied black man with a British accent called Frank.
Zubov and his three associates were wearing navy-blue uniforms complete with nightsticks and holsters hanging from their belts and shiny badges on their chests. Four additional men, also in uniform, would join Zubov’s team in Dallas.
By tomorrow night it would all be over, Gus thought. Finally.
He wasn’t quite sure of the explanation he would give Randi when another baby turned up, but she was pragmatic and would not ask questions. Randi understood that her continued association with Gus meant good things for her family. And she realized that Gus sincerely cared about her son and would someday send him to a fine university along with any other children that she and her husband might produce.
Zubov produced a file folder filled with photographs of Jamie Long and Joe Brammer that obviously had come from high school and college yearbooks. There were the usual head-and-shoulders-Jamie with her high school track team, Brammer in a basketball uniform, Brammer with some other guys in front of a fraternity house. And there was the picture taken by Bentley Abernathy’s secretary-Jamie with her long blond hair, looking scrubbed and young and wholesome. “The girl does not look this way now,” Zubov said. “Her hair is short and brown. Look for tall young woman with blue eyes and body of athletic person. And for young man with brown eyes and athletic body. His head is shaved and maybe he have beard. The baby is same size as those two,” he said with a gesture toward the front of the plane.
“I have two goals,” Gus told them. “The first is to gain possession of the child without harming him in any way, and the second is to eliminate the man and the girl even if others are harmed in the process.”
“Do you think they will be together?” Bella wanted to know.
“The man and the girl may or may not arrive together,” Gus said, “but yes, I am sure they plan to be together when they attempt to confront my sister on live television.”
Gus had no trouble at all crawling inside the heads of Jamie Long and Joe Brammer. They envisioned a scenario in which, after Amanda shows the stand-in baby to her adoring followers in Dallas and around the world and claims to be his biological mother, they confront her with Jamie’s baby. When Amanda insists that Jamie’s baby belongs to her, people will realize that she has been lying to them. Jamie will get a fair hearing. The correct questions will be asked. The entire situation will be dealt with in an aboveboard way, and Jamie will be allowed to tell her story. Amanda and Gus Hartmann’s criminal acts will be exposed. The truth will solve everything. Except that Jamie Long and Joe Brammer were not going to live long enough to tell it. Ideally the two of them will have been dealt with before Amanda appears onstage, and the baby she shows off to her flock will be Sonny’s.
As usual, the Alliance had hired a force of fifty uniformed security guards from local security companies who would be posted throughout the parking lot, at every entrance to the facility, and throughout the building. They would have pictures of Jamie Long and Joe Brammer and be told that the couple had made threats against Amanda. One of the two would be carrying a baby. If the guards spotted them, they were to keep them under surveillance and immediately notify Zubov. Under no circumstances were they to approach the couple or do anything that might jeopardize the safety of the infant.
Gus hoped that Jamie and her boyfriend would be apprehended before entering the sanctuary, but he was certain that they would both be disguised in some way and, with the flood of people that would be pouring through those doors, they might slip through unnoticed. In which case, everything was to be put on hold until the end of the service, when Amanda invited worshippers wanting to confess their sins and dedicate their lives to Jesus to come forward. After giving the invitation, Amanda would make her way down the steps to greet the penitent. Gus had no doubt that Jamie and Brammer would join the stream of people coming forward.
Zubov unrolled a floor plan of the Temple of Praise. Five doors opened into the sanctuary from the large lobby area. There also was access to the sanctuary from both the office and education wings. And there were fire exits on both sides of the stage area. In addition, there were two outside doors into the stage area and two more into the practice hall.
Just before the service began, Bella, Johnny, and two of the Dallas contingent were to take positions in front of the stage. The rest of the floor crew would remain in their positions throughout the sanctuary until Amanda made the invitation, at which time the floor crew would make their way forward. As soon as Brammer and the girl were sighted, Zubov’s people would surround them. Brammer was to be killed immediately. Those closest to Jamie were to grab her and assist Bella in removing the baby from her possession. “If the girl won’t relinquish the baby, threaten to put a bullet through his head,” Gus told Bella.
To the three men, he said, “The instant the baby is out of harm’s way, shoot the girl.”
Then the men were to surround Bella and the baby and get them to the fire exit on the east side of the stage. Three vans with flashing lights and sirens would be waiting. Zubov and Bella with the baby were to board the first van and be taken away separately.
Gus knew that by the time local law enforcement arrived, they would be greeted with pandemonium and conflicting stories. It could be hours before he could extract himself from the investigation and escort his sister, Randi, and the two babies to the hotel. It might be morning before he could travel to a motel in Lewisville, where he could finally claim Sonny’s child.
Gus leaned back in his chair, his hands folded on the table. He looked at each of the faces around the table in turn. “Pull this thing off,” he said, “and I will double what Zubov has promised you. Just make sure no harm comes to that baby. The instant he is safely out of the girl’s arms, shoot her.”