Chapter Fifty-Two
Fifty-Two
James Westwood and Michael Scardino jogged through a foggy morning; the woods were dark and the mist in the air made it almost impossible to see fifty feet ahead.
The pair arrived at the meeting point; they stopped, and Scardino began to check his watch, but before he could bring it up to his face, he saw the flashing lights burning through the vapor in the trees, indicating that the Chinese MSS assets were right on time, as usual.
After the wanding by both sides, Gracie Wu lowered her scarf down to her neck and asked J.W. and Big Mike to sit with her on the fallen log.
Once seated, she said, “Spiral is dead. Snare is dead. Lancer was killed in Colorado.” She looked to Scardino specifically. “Ten Gauntlet men are dead, in all.”
The Americans did not respond, so Gracie continued.
“We expected to take losses, but we also expected that the five assets with support would be able to remove the targets, and there would be no comebacks on Operation Marigold. Matthew Hanley and his team have managed to protect the reporter Catherine King and witness Irene Ortega, and these are dangerous compromises.”
Scardino said, “I killed Shaw myself yesterday morning.”
“I am aware,” Gracie replied.
J.W. spoke up now. “How fast will we be able to get the intelligence we need to continue the operations now that Shaw is off the table?”
Gracie said, “I have spoken to my superiors about that. I am assured you will continue to obtain all the intelligence you need even though Shaw is no longer part of the equation. The person or persons in the U.S. government who have been providing what we need understand the critical nature of the intelligence product and will make sure the flow continues.”
“That’s good to know,” J.W. said.
“There is one small problem,” Scardino said.
Gracie looked at him. “If there were only one small problem, I would be very happy.”
J.W. said, “I guess I should say there is an additional small problem. Whetstone.”
“What about Whetstone?”
“He is not responding. He’s been paid for the work he and his team have done, but four of the five members of his team were killed yesterday in Florida.”
She cocked her head. “The murders in northern Florida? The dead from Boston? They worked for Whetstone?”
Scardino nodded. “Those were his people. He was down there at the home of the father of one of Hanley’s assets.
When I killed Shaw, I made it look like Whetstone had committed the assassination, both to cover my ass and to make Hanley and his team think Whetstone was up in D.C.
when he was actually on the way to Florida. ”
“And Hanley’s asset in Florida survived?”
“Yes.”
“Why isn’t Whetstone responding?”
Big Mike said, “If he ever responds, I’ll ask him that question.”
“Do I detect insubordination?” the young woman asked, her eyes locked on Scardino.
“You detect frustration,” J.W. said, speaking for Mike. “We have one active asset, and we still have targets to attend to.”
Scardino said, “And I’m having Gauntlet units exposed in ways we never agreed to.”
Gracie paused a beat, then said, “This has been a difficult operation, conducted under less-than-ideal circumstances. But do not be concerned. My superiors are extremely satisfied with the work you both have been doing for us.”
J.W. said, “That’s good to hear.”
Gracie said, “We have decided to remove all the remaining names on the original list.”
The two men looked at one another. Confused.
“Marigold is complete?” J.W. asked.
“Not entirely,” she said. “The Russian cell in New York will be eliminated by Gauntlet. The Russians will be blamed for all the targets killed; Gauntlet will be lauded for its part in stopping the threats.”
She added, “And we are assigning some new targets. Gauntlet will have to help with this, as well.”
Scardino said, “Let’s not get greedy, we’ve already accomplished a lot.”
The young Chinese woman said, “Getting greedy is not necessarily a bad thing, when the result warrants it.”
Westwood looked into the woman’s eyes in the poor light. As usual, he could read nothing from them. “Who are the targets, then?”
Gracie turned to him. “One of the targets is Paula Kerr.”
Westwood blinked once. Once again. Finally, softly, he said, “Senator Paula Kerr?”
Gracie said, “I shouldn’t think I would need to specify.
She is the junior senator from New Hampshire.
” Gracie added a little smile, which was incongruous with her personality.
“Your home state, James. Her tragic death will lead to a major investigation, needless to say, but if your team executes the mission correctly, then her tragic death will also lead to something else, won’t it? ”
J.W. glanced to Scardino, whose own eyes were open wide. J.W. said, “Bill Farrelly, our governor, would appoint someone to take her place for the remaining five years of her term.” He looked back to Gracie, fully understanding what she was inferring. “You think he will appoint me to the Senate?”
“I know he will.”
“I mean…I have an excellent relationship with Bill, have since college. But there’s no way to be certain that he would appoint—”
The young woman interrupted. “There is a way to be certain. Don’t worry. If you execute the first half of the operation successfully, then I am told my organization and its contacts in the United States government will execute the rest of it. You will become a United States senator.”
Chinese intelligence was telling James Westwood and Mike Scardino that the governor of New Hampshire was, or could be, under their control.
J.W. said, “Is there some tie between Paula and the intelligence community, some other reason besides installing me as a senator that—”
Gracie shrugged, a gesture that conveyed she neither knew nor cared.
“I’m not told these things. Perhaps something will come out in the press afterwards, perhaps not.
Obviously, if the death could be made to look like an accident, that would suppress a deep dive into any connections she might have had to Marigold, and that would only expedite your rise to the Senate seat. ”
Big Mike confirmed. “This target…you are giving it to us now.”
“You are a green light for Paula Kerr. I was going to suggest you use Whetstone, but since you seem to have misplaced him, perhaps you should employ Masquerade.”
“And the other new targets that you mentioned?”
“Not assigned yet, but you need to begin immediate preparations. If it happens, just know it will be in the D.C. area, it will be in the next few days, and it should be carried out by a plainclothes Gauntlet field team. It will require significant paramilitary skills, and military weaponry that we can help provide.”
Scardino just nodded, unsure what any of this meant.
Gracie said, “You complete these tasks, and Marigold will be considered a great success. You both will be rewarded, and our collective interests will be furthered.” She smiled.
Neither of the Americans had ever seen her smile even once, and now she had done it twice in less than a minute.
“We are so close, gentlemen. Let’s get this done. ”
J.W., beaming with newfound exuberance, said, “Mike and I will get it done.”
The meeting ended moments later, and Gracie jogged off into the fog with her team.
A minute after this, James Westwood ran through the dark and the fog, a verve in him he hadn’t felt in thirty years.
He had been ready to wait two years to become a United States senator; he was ready to wait over six to run for president of the United States, but the Chinese were offering to repay him for his hard work by shaving several years off his wait.
For a sixty-year-old man, this was significant.
Scardino ran alongside him. “When you get to the Senate, I hope you’ll remember fondly your friends at Gauntlet.”
J.W. laughed. “Tell you what. You get Masquerade up to New Hampshire to begin looking into how to do it, make it look like an accident, and Gauntlet will have my vote for any contract it wants.”
Scardino said, “Will do. And regarding the still unsanctioned op she mentioned, I’ll go ahead and put together a team of my most experienced Gauntlet men, guys who won’t have a problem with a targeted killing. Who do you suppose the Chinese will send us after?”
J.W. said, “Somebody with some security, it would seem.”
It was quiet between the two men, only the slapping of their feet on the unpaved trail. Then Scardino said, “Any way we can pick up the pace, boss? I’ve got a shit-ton of work to do.”
J.W. smiled, then sped up considerably, and the younger man struggled to catch up.
—
Matthew Hanley hung up his phone; the fury he felt right now threatened to get the best of him, so he took some calming breaths there in his office, then he called his principals team in.
Travers and Hightower were on their way to Charlottesville, and Gentry was likely on his way to Europe, so it was just Conductor, Gumdrop, and Bricklayer who converged in his office, but at the last moment, he decided to conference in Angela Lacy.
Even though she was a CIA employee and not a Ghost Town spook, Hanley wanted her to hear his take on the matter.
When it was all set up, he said, “I just talked to Trey Watkins. Angela? Do you know what I’m about to say?”
“I have no idea,” the woman on the speakerphone replied.
“Well, Watkins has reassigned Jim Pace. Taken him off the investigation into the murders, the involvement of Gauntlet.”
Angela spoke first. The shock in her tone couldn’t have been more authentic. “I…I talked to Jim an hour ago. He didn’t seem to know anything about—”
“This just happened. I demanded to know why, and he refused to answer me directly over the phone. He told me we are to stand down, effective immediately. To delete any files, destroy any papers, any information or images relating to the work we’ve been doing this past week.