Chapter 64
Watching the local news show with the sound off because I didn’t speak Spanish, I saw a clip about the anniversary of the
clutch of people entering through a bulletproof glass door, I saw Amanda Croft talking to the Israeli prime minister, both
of them laughing at something the Argentinian minister of foreign affairs had said. They were only on the screen for a second
before being whisked inside. Once they were gone a veritable platoon of armed security took their place outside the entrance.
I glanced over at Shoshana taking her turn on the headset and said, “Anything from Veep?”
She looked over at me and said, “No. But it looks like Aaron and Jennifer have done their lap. They just left the Israeli
embassy and are headed back here.”
I said, “You want to go back out when they get here? Seems like a waste of time now. I just saw our VIPs enter the Jewish
center. They’re locked down.”
Shoshana said, “Let’s talk with Aaron when he gets back. Maybe we interrupted the terrorist plans, but I doubt it.”
Before I could answer, the laptop connected to the Taskforce VPN dinged with a message. Shoshana brought it out of sleep mode
and I saw Creed sitting behind the camera. He said, “Pike, you there?”
I wondered why he was calling because Knuckles was still in the air. He couldn’t have landed in DC yet. I motioned to Shoshana and she turned on our microphone and camera. Creed saw Shoshana and comically recoiled, saying, “Where’s Pike?”
For some reason Shoshana scared the shit out of him. Well, she scared the shit out of most people, so I shouldn’t hold it
against him.
Behind her, I said, “Right here. What do you have?”
He said, “We have movement on that credit card you were chasing in Buenos Aires. The one that rented the hotel, the car and
bought the fireworks. I don’t know if it matters at this point, as it might be real-world fraud, but we got an alert.”
Which was weird. Why would they go back to using a card they knew was compromised? Were they getting desperate? Had we really thrown that
big of a wrench into their plans?
“Where was it used?”
Before he could answer, Shoshana said, “It’s a trap. They want us to go there to investigate. Nobody is that stupid.”
Which was actually a pretty good point. Creed said, “It appears to be a parking garage. Someplace called Recoleta? And the
charge was outrageous, so whoever used it left their car for a few days.”
I said, “Recoleta Cemetery? Is that it?”
“I don’t know. I’m sending the address.” The other screen popped with the information and Shoshana put it into the map she
was using to trace Aaron and Jennifer’s movement from the Israeli embassy. It popped right outside of the Recoleta Cemetery
grounds, the same area we’d seen the Ghost on video.
Holy shit. I said, “It’s the car. The rental car. They used the card to get in, but it didn’t charge until they left. Get Aaron and
Jennifer on the line. They’re headed right for it. Make sure they have the rental description of the car and see if they can
locate it.”
Shoshana looked like she wasn’t listening, and I said, “Did you hear me?”
She held up a finger and said, “Veep, stand by.”
She turned to me and said, “You call them. Veep’s got something.”
I relayed what I knew to Jennifer, to include the vehicle information, and got her moving in the right direction, then turned to Shoshana and said, “What does Veep have?”
Still listening, she ignored me. She finally said, “Give me a grid.”
Hating not having on the headset, I impatiently said, “What is it?”
She turned, showing her wolf smile and said, “The phone’s active again, this time it stayed on. He’s sending a location.”
Driving on the gigantic boulevard known as July Ninth Avenue, Jennifer asked, “Did you find a route to the cemetery?”
Next to her, punching buttons on his phone slaved to the on-screen navigation, Aaron said, “Take your next left. We’re going
to have to zigzag to it. Can Pike give us anything else?”
Pike’s voice entered her earpiece, saying, “Koko, Koko, this is Pike. I have a moving grid. I’m looking at your route of march
and you’re about six blocks away. I’m sending it to your phone, but it’s moving. From this position, it’s headed southeast
on Vincente López. You copy?”
She dug out her phone and tossed it to Aaron saying, “I copy. Send it,” then turned left off the avenue, leaving the broad,
open thoroughfare for the cloistered streets of the city.
Aaron looked at her phone, then at the screen in the dash, saying, “Left again, then straight. If he’s headed southeast, we
need to go farther down to intersect.”
They reached a large park filled with families and teenagers, surrounded by a low iron fence with trees and paths threaded
through it. Aaron said, “Next right past the park. That should be Vincente López.”
She took it and they began driving more slowly, passing intersections and carefully watching every car that went by them,
looking for the green Renault Fluence described in the rental agreement.
Three blocks up, it finally passed them, a male driving with a woman in the passenger seat. Jennifer said, “I think that guy
driving is the one from the hotel passports.”
Aaron said, “The woman is Hezbollah. She’s the one we were tracking in Iguazú.”
Jennifer looked in the rearview mirror, watching them getting farther away. Aaron got on the net, saying, “Pike, we have jackpot.
Temporarily unsighted, but we’re re-engaging.”
Jennifer waited for another car to pass, then executed a three-point U-turn and began heading the other way, one car in between
them and the Renault. She saw it take a right and followed, now directly behind it. She clicked on the net saying, “We’ve
got five-five now. What do you want us to do?”
“I’m trying to get the local police involved through a liaison with the diplomatic security guys on the SECSTATE’s security
detail. Just keep eyes on it. If they leave the vehicle, let me know immediately and clear the area. I think that thing is
a VBIED.”
Off the net, Jennifer looked at Aaron and said, “Great. We’re chasing a slow-moving smart bomb.”
The car made another right and she followed, calling Pike back, “He appears to be driving in circles, making one right turn
after another. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s doing a surveillance detection route.”
The car drove for about a half mile, then made another right turn, ending back on Vincente López and stopping at a traffic
light. Jennifer followed and said, “Pike, my heat state is boiling. I’m going to have to let him go.”
“That’s okay, that’s okay. We have him with the phone lock. I’ve got the diplomatic security service guys working the problem.
We’re okay unless he gets spooked. Go ahead and back off.”
The light went green and Jennifer saw the reverse indicators of the Renault illuminate. Aaron put his hands against the dash
and said, “Shit. Too late.”
Before she could react, the Renault came flying backwards and slammed into her front grill, throwing both her and Aaron forward.
The Renault shifted gears and tried to sprint away, the back bumper locking for a split second and causing the tires to smoke
against the asphalt. It finally broke free and the Renault began flying up the avenue.
Jennifer sat up, looked at Aaron and said, “You okay?”
He said, “Yeah, I’m fine, but he knows somebody’s chasing him now. He’s going to park that car at the first place he can,
then run and initiate it.”
Pike came on, saying, “What happened? What was that noise?”
“He slammed into us. He’s running and we’re burned.”
“Get on him! Don’t let him out of your sight! He won’t initiate while he’s in it, and he won’t stop while he’s being followed.
DSS is telling me the police are inbound.”
She hit the gas, closing the gap with the Renault, saying on the net, “Pike, are you sure? What if he’s a suicide bomber?”
Aaron pulled out his pistol and said, “Get up to the driver-side door. I’ll shoot him and stop the vehicle.”
She accelerated, saying, “It’s a fucking bomb! Am I the only one that sees the problem here?”
“He can’t initiate it if he’s dead.”
She kept the pedal to the floor, muttering, “This is insane.”
The park they had originally passed coming into view, she drew abreast of the Renault, shouting, “Don’t miss! Don’t miss!”
Aaron rolled down the window and waited for his shot. His door came parallel to the driver’s side window and the man behind
the wheel pointed a pistol with his right hand, the left clamped on the wheel. He began wildly pulling the trigger.
The bullets flew inside their vehicle, puncturing the windshield and causing Jennfier to jerk the wheel to the left. She regained
control and Aaron jammed his shoulder into the frame pillar, holding his pistol in two hands and taking careful aim.
He broke the trigger twice in quick succession and the target vehicle immediately swerved to the right, slamming into a row
of parked cars before bouncing back into the road and accelerating towards the park.
Jennifer slowed, letting the other car get ahead of her, then accelerated again, matching its pace.
The Renault hit the curb of the park at full speed, plowing over it before smashing into the iron fence surrounding the grass.
It flattened the fence and bounced over the metal, continuing into the park.
It careened forward out of control before slamming into a large Jacaranda tree, sending metal and glass flying.
Jennifer slowed, the people in the park running for their lives and the cars at the intersection all slamming on their brakes.
She saw the passenger door open, then the female get out and begin to run in a halting manner.
At first, Jennifer thought she was injured, then realized she was trying to dial a phone as she ran. Aaron recognized what
she was doing as well, shouting, “Hit her! She’s trying to set off the bomb!”
Jennifer goosed the gas pedal of her vehicle, lining up on the path the Renault had laid. She bounced over the curb, ground
across the fence, then swerved to the concrete path the woman was shuffling down.
She heard the vehicle coming and turned. She stopped running, held the phone in the air and screamed like a feral animal,
her face a mask of rage. Jennifer floored the pedal, hitting her full on and throwing her body in the air just as a massive
explosion erupted behind them.
The overpressure flung her vehicle sideways, the body of the woman smashing into the windshield and bouncing away. The car
spun a half turn before coming to rest, bouncing Jennifer off the steering wheel.
She looked behind her and saw the Renault burning furiously, pieces of metal still falling around her vehicle. She turned
to Aaron, saw he had a cut above his eye, but was otherwise okay, and said, “That was the dumbest damn plan I have ever heard.”
He touched his brow and looked around the park, searching for bodies but seeing none. He said, “Yeah, but it just might have
worked.”