“Your word means a great deal. You too have sacrificed much for your country.”

“It was my honor and privilege.”

“I have stopped thinking about such things.”

“That saddens me.”

“It is actually uplifting to me.”

“The money, yes. I can see that. But we are doing the right thing too. It’s what we all want. My country in particular.”

“If it was what your leaders wanted, my friend, you and the director would not be doing all of this on your own.”

“We’re not alone, I can assure you. However, sometimes the leadership is unwilling on the record to take the steps necessary to achieve essential goals. But they would not begrudge us the opportunity to employ sufficient if unpopular methods.”

“Right. The less they know the better.”

“I would not put it exactly that way.”

“You talk of course about violent death; the execution of your own people if it jeopardizes those goals. Americans have always been reluctant in that regard. Frankly, I have always seen that as a weakness.”

“We are a civilized people, Mahmud.”

“Well, perhaps one day my people will be as unfamiliar with violent death as your people are, Jarvis. What a great thing that will be.”

“I hope to live to see that day.”

“I would have to say that your chances of doing so are far better than mine.”

“I hope you are wrong there.”

“Even if I’m not, so what? There will be others to take my place. For a people so certain that there will be an afterlife of paradise, you Americans value life too much. None of us are irreplaceable. Even if bin Laden dies, there will be others. That is the way the world works. That is what keeps you gainfully employed, correct?”

“I would happily retire if there would be no more bin Ladens, Mahmud.”

“Then you will never retire, my friend. If you require us to assist in ‘cleaning up’ this problem you will let me know?”

“I think I have the right people for the job.”

“So many have said and yet been wrong.” There was an edge to the Palestinian’s words that caused Burns to draw his gaze from the mirror where he’d been watching the man’s eyes and instead look out the window.

“I understand that your people have to survive. By any means possible.”

“They have nothing. This way they have something. The money cannot stop now. They have grown used to it. If you don’t pay, others will. Your leaders are very shortsighted in that regard. That is why we’ve had to go this route. Cash trumps all.”

“It won’t stop. I guarantee it.”

“That is good, because they do not love your country. But they can be bought. Anyone can be bought, it seems.” He paused and added bluntly, “Even me.”

“Enemies closer.”

“Allow no one to ever convince you otherwise.”

A few minutes later Burns left the cab and climbed into the back-seat of a waiting Town Car and turned to the woman sitting next to him. Mary Bard had discarded the jumpsuit and was dressed in much the same way as she had been when disposing of Karl Reiger and Don Hope.

“I appreciate your professionalism,” Burns said. “In a difficult assignment.”

Bard shrugged. “One assignment is much like another assignment. They vary only in degrees of complexity.”

“Moral as well as logistical?”

“I leave the moral debate to others. The logistical side is quite enough for me.”

“I can provide fresh orders for you if you require them,” Burns said, testing her.

“I have my orders. Your director has told me to assist you and only you in any way you require.”

“I must make a note to ask to have more people like you sent my way.”

“For that you will have to talk to my superiors in Moscow,” she said.

“I will.”

“So what do you wish me to do?”

“I need you to be on the watch for two people.” He showed her pictures of Roy Kingman and Mace Perry. She stared at them for a full minute.

“You can keep the photos,” he said.

“I don’t need them. They are now in my mind.”

“All right. We’re setting up perimeter defensive positions. But together with that I need to locate some bait, just in case.”

“I’m very good at finding bait.”

“I know that you are.”

CHAPTER 97

MACE PARKED her bike behind the building and got off. Her gaze scanned the rear parking area, which had space for ten slots. As she stepped forward she could see the names of two doctors stenciled in yellow on the asphalt in side-by-side parking slots. The big shots always got their own space, she thought. A short stack of steps led up to the back door, which was solid wood. There were two windows in the back, both barred and curtained.

And there were the green trash cans that the Captain had mentioned. Not that that helped very much since there were only a million of them in the area and they all looked the same. She heard the clink of boots against the pavement before she heard the voice.

“Can I help you?”

She turned to see the rental cop walking toward her, his hand resting lightly on the top of his sidearm. He looked to be in his fifties and was probably a retired cop making some extra money. To her, he had the ease but also the awareness of a guy who’d walked a beat and talked the talk for a lot of years.

“Just checking the place out.”

He looked at the rear of Potomac Cryobank. “Just checking it out? Or casing it?”

“I’m not really in the market for sperm right now.”

“Lot of people are. It’s a hot commodity.”

“I bet. You guarding the place?”

“Not out for my health.”

“You former MPD?”

“You a cop?”

“Used to be.”

“I’m retired now. Do security full-time. What was your beat?”

“Mostly Six and Seven Ds.”

“Okay, you earned your stripes.”

“I’m doing some PI work now.”

“Involving this place?”

“I was hired by a lawyer to check out an alibi that has to do with the sperm bank. Don’t think it’s going to fly, but you have to go through the motions.”

“What sort of alibi?”

“Guy says he was around here going through trash cans when something else was happening at another place.”

“And at this other place the something happening was a crime and your guy was arrested for it?”

“You’re a fast learner.”

“Not really. Story’s always the same.”

“I’ve actually been in the sperm bank. I thought it had a security system.”

“It does.”

“So why you too? Is sperm really that hot a commodity?”

“I asked that very same question myself. I’m not some college kid wanting to make some extra bucks or some cop wannabe who doesn’t give a crap. I go into a situation I want to know what’s what. They told me that the security system had been acting screwy here and so they needed feet on the pavement.”

“Acting screwy?”

“Yeah. Energy spikes maybe, or a freak wire or software glitch. But they came in one day and found the alarm not even on. And the nurse said she remembered setting it. She was the last to leave.”

“Did you talk to the nurse?” He nodded. Mace described the woman that she and Roy had spoken with.

“Yeah, that’s the gal.”

“She’s pretty efficient. If she said she set it, I bet she did.”

“Anyway, they had the alarm company come over but they couldn’t figure out what had happened. And there was no record of any break-in or anything, or the alarm going off or any sensors being tripped. It was like the system just went to sleep for no reason. I don’t think anything turned up missing and there was no evidence that anyone actually broke in. But the folks still got worried and they’re in the process of changing the whole system over. Until they get it done, I’m here.”

“Do you remember when all this went down?”

“Why are you interested? Think it has to do with your alibi?”

“Never know. And I’m just naturally curious.”