It had to be Maya. Meaning it had to be Kanezaki.
The queries had started broadly and become increasingly focused. Grimble himself, to start with. Then credit card use. Cellphone calls, incoming and outgoing, of which there seemed to be few. Cellphone movements going back years, with trips to Schrader’s various properties, and more recently, little movement at all. Then a house, apparently some sort of Japanese-style mansion, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Then schematics for the house. Details about its alarm system and other security.
Whatever Schrader had given up before he died, Kanezaki believed Grimble was part of it. Why else the extensive use of Guardian Angel? Why else the obvious preparations for a visit?
She decided it was time for a visit of her own. And this time, she wouldn’t be sending a detachment of contractors. This time, she would personally lead an in-house team from Special Operations Group. The same type of team she had run at the black sites.
No more screwups. She’d risked too much, and there would be too much payback from Devereaux if she failed. She was going to get the keys to those videos. And when she had them, all the Devereauxs of the world would be on their knees before her, begging for her favor.
Or for her mercy.
Of course, the videos would be useless against Kanezaki. He wasn’t involved. He was too junior. And too much of a boy scout.
Well. There were other ways of dealing with him. Maybe she couldn’t make him useful. But she didn’t have to let him linger as a threat, either.
chapter
sixty-three
DEVEREAUX
It was early evening, and Devereaux was about to crack the seal on a fresh bottle of Mylanta when he got the call he’d been waiting for: Dutch, the head of CIA’s Special Operations Group, the Agency’s blandly named paramilitary wing. Well, wing wasn’t really the right word anymore. Since 9/11 and the advent of the drone program, the operations tail had been wagging the intel dog. Once upon a time, Devereaux had harbored some misgivings about that. Now all he cared about was having people loyal to him in the right positions.
“You wanted a heads-up about Rispel,” Dutch said. The man, a legend in CIA’s wars going back to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, had a peculiar way of talking, the end of each word bitten off just before being enunciated. Dutch didn’t know it, but he had a lot of behind-the-back imitators. Or maybe he did know and simply didn’t care.
“That’s right,” Devereaux said. “You have something?”
“She just requisitioned a six-man team and a Jeppesen jet. Dulles to San Jose, California.”
It was exactly the kind of thing he’d been waiting for. But what did it mean?
“Anything else?”
“She gave my guys the schematics for a compound in Silicon Valley. Owned by some Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous character named Constantine Grimble. You want me to find out more?”
Devereaux smiled. “I want you to find out everything.”
chapter
sixty-four
KANEZAKI
Kanezaki was outside the terminal at Leesburg Executive Airport, standing in the shadows behind one of the portico’s concrete support poles. If Rispel had anticipated him, he wanted some cover and concealment. But he’d have to be careful about announcing himself to Rain and the rest. They weren’t a crew you wanted to surprise.
He saw a car pull in at the far end of the lot. The area was otherwise empty—the airport was closed for the night. His heart kicked up a notch, and for the dozenth time in the last half hour, he squeezed the grip of the HK Mark 23 he was holding inside his coat.
The car hit a dip and the headlights bounced. A moment later, it passed one of the parking lot’s streetlights, and he caught a glimpse of the driver—a stunning blonde who must have been Delilah. And there, in the passenger seat, Rain. He relaxed his grip on the HK, took his hands out of his coat, and walked out from behind the support pole so they would have plenty of time to see him.