Chapter 59
TYSONS CORNER, VIRGINIA
Connor was already regretting it when Vaughn turned into the lot across from Strategis.
Not because he had changed his mind about Olson, he hadn’t, but because the office park looked like every other unsightly office park in Northern Virginia.
It was full of low buildings, too much glass, and far too many parking spaces.
There was not a damn thing to separate one private firm from the next.
And that went double for their employees.
All the buttoned-up worker bees looked the same.
“This is it?” Erin asked from the back seat.
Connor kept his gaze on the lobby. “This is it.”
Vaughn killed the engine. “How long do you want to sit?”
His eyes flicked to the side lot and then he mentally inventoried the vehicles parked along the curb. “Depends on what we see.”
They all knew what that meant. This could very easily turn into one big wild goose chase.
“At least there’s a Panera across the street,” said Erin, looking over her shoulder, trying to add a little levity. “And we’re in luck. I brought my MyPanera card with me and I think I’ve got a free bagel coming.”
No one laughed. No one even smiled. It was shaping up to be a long, uneventful day.
The first hour came and went. Then the second.
Then the third. People entered the building and left the building.
Delivery vans of all sorts pulled up, dropped off packages, and departed.
The most interesting thing they saw all morning wasn’t that interesting at all.
A postal worker showed up wearing a winter hat, coat, and gloves, which considering how mild the day was, seemed a bit odd.
Other than that, everything had been normal. Too normal in fact.
Connor was getting ready to suggest they pull the plug when a black Range Rover turned into the lot and slowed in front of the building.
The former Marine sat up straighter.
“What?” Vaughn asked.
“I think that’s Olson,” he said, feeling his pulse quicken.
When the Range Rover pulled into one of the reserved spots and the driver got out, they all recognized him. He looked exactly like he had in the photos, just older in the face and harder around the eyes. Mid-forties, fit, controlled. He also wasn’t alone.
A second man climbed out of the passenger side and walked with him toward the lobby’s glass doors. He was late fifties to early sixties, trim, graying at the temples. Connor was normally good with faces. Sometimes, however, he could have trouble placing them.
“You know him?” Vaughn asked.
He didn’t answer right away, but kept watching the man walking beside Olson.
Then Erin leaned forward between the seats. “Oh my God,” she said.
Connor looked at her. “What?”
“Your old think tank’s Christmas party,” she replied. “He spent half the night talking my ear off.”
He looked back at the man. “About what?”
“My job.”
“At the NSC?”
Erin nodded. “At the time, I thought he was just another self-important Beltway asshole trying to sound plugged in. But he kept asking questions. What I worked on. Who I worked for. Who at the NSC had access to what. I remember because he wouldn’t let it go.”
“You never told me that.”
“At the time, I didn’t think it mattered. D.C. parties always have a handful of people like that.”
Vaughn looked at him. “Who is he?”
Connor shook his head. “He was one of the senior research guys. Asia policy, if I remember correctly. What the hell is he doing with Olson?”
Erin sat back as the two men disappeared into the building. “You think he had something to do with you getting pushed out of your job?” she asked.
Connor didn’t answer. His mind had already been entertaining the same thought. Maybe they hadn’t fired him because he was damaged. Maybe they had fired him because he was getting too close to something that somebody wanted buried.
They sat staring at the entrance for ten more minutes to see if Olson or the man whose name no one could remember came back out again. Neither man did.
“Maybe we should go,” said Erin.
Connor kept watching, focused like a hawk on the lobby. “Not yet. A few more minutes.”
After several had passed, Vaughn finally said, “We’ve been here long enough.”
He knew she was right. Looking at the doors for another beat, he then nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”
Vaughn started the SUV, and as they pulled away, Connor checked the building one last time. No sight of them. The feeling, however, stayed with him.
While Vaughn drove, Erin sat quiet in the back.
As he watched Strategis fade from view in the side mirror, Connor said, “I wasn’t crazy.”
Neither woman said anything. They didn’t have to.
Above the lobby, behind a wall of reflective glass on the building’s top floor, Olson stood at the window and watched the SUV turn onto the road.
As it drove out of sight, he smiled. Their attention had been so consumed with watching the lobby, that they had never noticed the thumb-sized black disc that had been affixed beneath their vehicle.