The Final Heist (Eddie Grant Book 4) by John Pearce

Author:John Pearce [Pearce, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JohnPearceBooks.com
Published: 2023-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

PART IV

37

WANDA

Washington

The Air France flight, a graceful Airbus 330 flying half full, left De Gaulle airport on time and landed at Dulles precisely nine hours later. If Icky was on schedule—a big if, considering the murder of Franz—they should be at the CIA safe house before the Beltway drowned in rush-hour traffic.

Icky normally waited for him at the curb in whatever fast and fancy car he had bought that year, but not today. Halfway there, he spotted a man wearing a chauffeur’s cap and holding a sign with “Mr. Grant” printed on it in shaky block lettering. In his other hand he held a small plastic shopping bag from Walmart.

“I’m Grant.”

The man tipped his head toward the wall, inviting Eddie to follow him out of the crowd.

“Your host is sorry, but he couldn’t meet you. He will talk to you later.”

He pushed a hand into the pocket of a worn plaid blazer and withdrew an iPhone, which he palmed and passed to Eddie. “Use this one while you’re here. You should listen to voice mail first thing. Don’t use your Paris phone no matter what.

“There are two new burner phones in this bag. Use one of them when you call home. They’re not smartphones, but they are safe. Or as safe as anything can be these days.”

As the messenger walked away, Eddie rang voice mail on the new iPhone and found a single message. In his unmistakable Down East accent, Icky said, “Can’t meet you, sport. Things are pretty chaotic right now, and on top of everything else, the director has named me his acting deputy.

“Get a car and drive to the main entrance of the Martin Marietta stone quarry near Boonsboro. Keep going for a half-mile and turn into Bush and Sons Scrap. The guards will get you to Wanda. It should take you less than an hour and a half, even if you take the scenic route.”

Eddie sat down to work the Hertz app. He had been trapped in unexpected tough situations more than once and knew a fast car made getting out of trouble a lot easier, so as a precaution he always chose the speediest car available. In this case it was a Focus. He would rather have had a Ferrari.

On his way to the shuttle bus he bought a copy of The Washington Post. “Manhunt in Paris,” a three-column headline above the fold screamed. The story, a second-day follow-up, detailed the search for the two Russians Grace had identified in the iPad lineup and identified them as members of the same Russian agency that had poisoned the Skripals in London the year before. It speculated, as Eddie himself had during the long flight across the Atlantic, on why the weapon had been a bomb rather than novichok poison. The assassination of Franz Bauer was definitely not being ignored.

The Focus had seen better days, but it would do the job so long as he didn’t call on it to outrun the highway patrol. GPS told him the drive would take a little more than an hour.

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