Part 20 (1/2)

'Actually, we use what's known as false subtraction,' he said. 'In this case it means you have a series of ten separate subtractions. For instance, when you subtract six from zero four numbers in, you don't borrow from the column to the left, you just invent the ten. Or when you subtract nine from seven*you pretend the seven is a seventeen. False subtraction adds an extra layer of security and makes the math simpler, once you get used to it. The total here is a sort of alphabetical equivalent of one hick.' The number fifteen equals the letter O, fourteen equals N, etcetera. Now, one hick' doesn't sound very encouraging, but it's probably the closest safe house Burt had at his disposal.' He flipped through the atlas. 'Ah, there's a Hickory Road about twenty miles north.'

The light at the end of Charlie's tunnel burst back on at high wattage. With energy to match, he threw the Durango into a U-turn.

'So what's the deal with this Hen' guy?' he asked.

'From the Cavalry?'

'Yeah.'

'First, I need to tell you one more thing.'

'What?'

'What I said about Grandpa Tony?'

'Yeah?'

'You won't tell him that you know, okay?'

A s.h.i.+ver ran the length of Charlie. 'There's no chance whatsoever of that happening,' he said haltingly. Grandpa Tony had pa.s.sed away eight years ago, and not only was there a funeral, Charlie and Drummond both were pallbearers.

'Thank you,' said Drummond.

'So who's Hen?' Charlie asked.

To no avail.

31.

Cranch continued firing questions, and Alice volleyed with enough information to create the illusion of cooperation. Eighty percent of the information was useless, but it would be impossible for him to determine which was which. firing questions, and Alice volleyed with enough information to create the illusion of cooperation. Eighty percent of the information was useless, but it would be impossible for him to determine which was which.

'What about Drummond Clark?' he asked. 'How did you get him?'

'We used a Meals on Wheels van.'

'So that wasn't a real Meals on Wheels van?'

'It was, once upon a time, in Albany. One of our people got it from a junkyard. It still ran. Just needed a little work on the brakes was all.'

'Were the Meals on Wheels volunteers your people too?'

'Glorified cutouts, really. They believed Clark was an embezzler and that we were a special investigative unit of the IRS.'

'What did you want with him?'

The objective of Alice's actual operation, code-named 'Marquis' (as in de Sade de Sade, an explicit reference to Fielding), was to investigate Fielding in general and, specifically, to determine whether he'd hired Lincoln Cadaret to a.s.sa.s.sinate Roberto Mariateguia, an NSA officer who'd penetrated the s.h.i.+ning Path in Peru. Mariateguia was found bound to a desk chair in a Lima hotel room, having been bled to death by leeches. The gruesome scene yielded no link to Fielding, but certainly it was his directorial style. A more tangible link was that the contractor who'd built Fielding's three-hundred-thousand-gallon swimming pool recently had installed a smaller version for Cadaret on nearby St. Bart's, gratis. Alice had found her way onto a murky trail that led to veteran Company man Drummond Clark. NSA had intercepted numerous communications from both Mariateguia and Fielding to Perriman Appliances, where Clark nominally worked. Her hope was that Clark would shed some light on Mariateguia. Her 'holiday' in Brooklyn provided only more questions, though, and the unexpected news of Prabhakar Gaznavi's visit required she hurry back to Martinique before she could get any answers.

'Drummond Clark works for Perriman Appliances,' she told Cranch, hoping that with only slightly expurgated truth she might elicit the true nature of Fielding's interest in Clark. 'We know Fielding worked there from ninety-one to ninety-four.'

'Thousands of people worked for Perriman Appliances during that time period.'

'We also know about the CIA entry Clark leaves off his resume. We wanted to learn his connection to Fielding. But as you know if you heard the audio, the closest thing to a secret I uncovered was that Clark's son goes by Charlie, rather than Charles.'

'One just has to know the right questions.' Cranch balled his hands as if they contained a magic key. 'I expect to be getting on a private jet to go debrief Mr. Clark shortly. Maybe you'll get to listen to some of that audio.'

Until now, Cranch had given Alice no indication that he cared whether she lived or died. Yet here he was trying to impress her. And in so doing, she realized, he'd let slip a bit of information that might prove critical.

32.

At Hickory Road, thick woods dissolved into a secluded pastoral valley. Charlie turned the Durango in at I HICKORY, the mile-long lane's only sign, onto a gravel driveway that wound through hundreds of acres of serene pasture neatly fenced by weather-grayed rails. After several more miles, the driveway ended in a cobblestoned circle and a large stucco-over-stone colonial farmhouse with a commanding view of old-growth orchards and a barn that almost had to have been the basis for the Wyeth painting. Everything was copper as the sun sank into the hazy foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

As he turned off the engine, he heard only a mild breeze, the whinnying of horses, and the soft-shoe of a stream. Nudging Drummond from a nap, he said, 'If we need to hole up somewhere while Hattemer straightens things out, this wouldn't suck.'

'Burt Hattemer?' Drummond asked, as if there had been discussion of several Hattemers. Clearly the nap had not recharged him. Hattemer?' Drummond asked, as if there had been discussion of several Hattemers. Clearly the nap had not recharged him.

'Christ. Please don't tell me he's really one of them?'

'Them?'

'The people you used to work with who keep trying to kill us?'

'Right, right, of course. No, we're okay. Burt's a good friend.'

Despite the a.s.surance, Charlie thought only of how Hattemer might prove their undoing. There was an H in Hattemer, and an E. But at least there was no N. If his name were Hatten, Charlie would have insisted they drive the h.e.l.l away this instant.

'Come on inside before y'all catch your death,' came a squawky voice.

It belonged to the man who stood atop the marble front steps, holding open the door. Seventy if a day, he wore a parka over long underwear surely purchased in his beefier years; the bottoms hung like pantaloons until sucked into high rubber boots. In and around his a.s.sortment of puckers and pits and creases was a cheery face topped by a thicket of white hair.

Ushering Charlie and Drummond into the vaulted foyer, he said, 'I'm Mort, the caretaker, and I'm it for the staff here during winter months, so don't be cross if your suppers are nothing fancy.'

Entering, Charlie was struck by an anxiety he couldn't explain. He hoped it was just a reflex born of being attacked everywhere he'd set foot the last two days.

He took in the foyer, furnished with an antique drop-leaf table, a tall pewter vase, and a series of framed ornithological watercolors. The l.u.s.trous pine floorboards were as wide as diving boards. If this room were representative of the home's decor, interior design enthusiasts would pay admission to see the rest.

'Whose place is this?' he asked Mort.

'Sir, all I can tell you is he's an oilman named MacCallum from up in Alaska.'

'You mean that's all you're allowed to say?'

'No, sir. Except for he's a friend of Mr. Hattemer's, it's all I know. Mr. MacCallum's never once set foot here.'

Charlie suspected that he now knew at least as much about MacCallum as Mort did.

'Why don't y'all come on here into the den and take a load off?' Mort said, leading the way.

The floor of the ma.s.sive 'den' was covered by a pair of rich Oriental carpets*probably no single Oriental carpet on Earth would have been big enough. The walls, with refined checkerboard wainscoting, boasted more art than many galleries; the gla.s.s and pewter frames mirrored the flickering within the stone fireplace, making the bra.s.s banquet lamps unnecessary. Charlie ogled a Breugel snowscape.

Drummond remained behind in the doorway, seemingly lost.