Chapter 12
Efraim awoke with a start, his heart pounding. He could hear the soft intake of Francine's breathing, she was sleeping peacefully. Something had woken him up.
He carefully sat up so he wouldn't wake up Francine. He reached over and grabbed his watch, it was 5:10. He looked at the windows, the morning was still dark, no traffic sounds reached him from the street below. He grabbed the sweat pants from the chair and pulled them on. He stood at the door, listening and watching the alarm panel. The lights on the panel suddenly went out.
"Shit!" He ran back over to the bed. "Francine, shhhh. Listen hon, we have a problem. Get some clothes on, grab me some and our guns. Quietly and as fast as you can. Understand?" He was whispering furiously in her ear. He looked at her, her eyes were narrowed as she listened to the sounds of the house. She looked at him and nodded, climbing out of the bed.
Efraim went back to the bedroom door and listened. He pushed the button on the alarm control panel for the back-up power system. It blinked on, showing him movement in the kitchen and dining room. He shook his head. He felt Francine's hand on his back, he looked at her and saw she had his racquetball bag with clothes stuffed in it. She handed him his SIG and nodded to him.
He pointed to the stairs leading to the third floor and Francine nodded at him, slipping past him and quickly running up the steps. Efraim smiled in spite of the situation; Francine had thrown on one of his academy sweatshirts and as she ran barefoot up the steps, he could see glimpses of her lovely backside when the shirt bounced.
Backing to the steps, he made his way up to the third floor. Francine was pulling a pair of jeans on and she tossed clothes to him. They quickly dressed, tying on tennis shoes and throwing on heavy jackets. Efraim watched the control panel as it showed the movement of three people downstairs. Showing three fingers to Francine, he pointed to the deck. He closed the door and turned the lock, moving to his computer and sending files to the Agency computer for safe keeping. He stuffed several discs and floppy's in the gym bag along with his laptop and followed Francine out on the deck.
Looking over the railing, Francine pointed to a car in front of their kitchen door. She turned to Efraim and shrugged, not knowing where to go. Efraim pointed to the opposite corner of the deck, pushing Francine along. He pointed to the small, iron ladder on the side of the gable wall that led to the roof and chimney. Francine backed up, her eyes wide as she looked at the tiny ladder.
"What's the matter? Go up the ladder!" Efraim whispered harshly as he pushed her toward the railing.
"I'd rather get blood on my walls and carpeting then climb that ladder Efraim!" she hissed back at him.
They heard pounding on the door that led to the study and deck. Francine threw her leg over the railing, steadied by her husband and climbed the ladder to the roof. Efraim followed her, taking the lead when he made it to the roof, showing her safe footing across the joined roofs of the old town homes. Coming to the end of the roof, Efraim pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket and called Geiger.
"Dave, Beaman. We have . . . . What? Is he hit? . . . When? . . . Are you alright? . . . We're fine, we got out and are on the roof." Efraim looked at Francine who was shivering in the early morning wind. "Yeah, thanks. I'll look for them." He hung up the phone and took Francine in his arms. "It looks like it was a coordinated hit. They busted in on Geiger over at Stone's and. . . damn! Lee and Amanda. My Dad!" He pulled the phone out and tried to dial his parent's phone number. Francine took the phone and pushed the speed dial, leaning into Efraim to give him her support.
"No answer. Dammit!" Efraim put both of his arms around Francine and held her tightly.
"Efraim, try your Dad's cell phone. They're fine, I know they are."
Efraim pushed the speed dial for his Dad's cell phone. It rang. "Dad? Thank God! Are you alright? Is Mom with you? Where are you? . . . What hospital? . . . Is Alice okay? . . . Good, look Dad, don't go home this morning. . . no, Dad, please listen to me. Don't go home until you hear from me, okay? Please, stay with Lucy and Russ at the hospital for now. . . Dad. . ."
Francine took the cell phone away from her husband. "Dad. Look, there's trouble and we're afraid it may involve you somehow. . . .He didn't want to upset you, Dad. Please do as John asked, please? For me?. . . Thank you. We'll be in touch soon. Bye."
Kissing his wife's forehead, he was thankful once again for the woman he had married. "Thanks hon." She nodded. They heard the sound of loud voices coming from their deck, and they flattened themselves into the gable corner they had been leaning on. The car that had been parked behind their house started pulled out, heading away from them. Francine sighed as Efraim loosened his hold on her.
"Francine, I want you to get to the Agency as soon as we get down from this roof. Do you understand me? Drive through the damn Georgetown entrance if you have to, but do not stop for anyone or anything. I'm checking out the house." Efraim climbed back over the gable stop and headed to their deck. As he grabbed the ladder, he watched as Francine waited for him to make the jump to the deck. He put out his hand and hauled her over the railing as soon as she was close to him. He took her in his arms and kissed her hard. "I love you. Now get down the bricks, take the Explorer and go." He showed her the bricks and she nodded to him. He waited for her to climb over the railing and climb down. "Francine, I need you to go."
"No."
"Francine. . . ." His hands were on her hips, he didn't have time to argue with her.
She pushed him toward the French doors that led into his study. She had pulled her gun and motioned for him to take the lead. Efraim sighed and nodded, silently swearing about his stubborn wife.
His computer had been smashed and what files he had left were missing. He swore and pointed for Francine to get behind the door. Carefully opening the door he went into the hall and listened. He put his hand back and motioned for Francine. She silently moved into the hallway behind him.
They systematically checked each room of each floor. Francine swore when she saw her crystal vases that had held the tulips Efraim had given her shattered. Other than the vases and the computer and the third floor study door, there was no damage in the house.
"Now explain to me what's happened?" Francine demanded, her hands on her hips. "What happened to Dave?"
Efraim shook his head as he looked at the shards of glass on the kitchen floor. He knelt down and picked up the tulips, carefully pulling the stems away from the sharp edges. "Dave said they were hit about the same time. Stone was hit in the leg, he'll live. Dave has an ambulance on the way. He said he killed one of the intruders, and hit another and has him in custody. The other one got away." He stood up and handed the tulips to Francine. She took them and found another vase and placed them in water.
"Amanda and Lee?" Francine stared out the window over the sink.
"I don't know hon."
They both jumped at the pounding on the front door. Efraim gave Francine the eye to which she just rolled her own. Walking to the front door, Efraim looked out the security hole. "Lee and Amanda," he told her over his shoulder. He opened the door and let them in.
"We had early morning guests this morning. I was up, saw them and was able to get rid of them before they made it to the house," Lee told them as he walked in. Amanda immediately hugged Francine, taking in the broken vases on the floor in the entry and on the hearth.
"Ours made it in. We got out through the deck." He filled them in on what he knew. "What the hell is happening?" he wanted to know, watching the faces of his wife and friends.
"I don't know, but I'm going to go get showered and change into some decent clothes. I think it's going to be a long day. B? I suggest you do the same thing. Lee and Amanda will be fine here." Francine walked over to her husband and waited.
Efraim nodded and put his hand out to Francine and led her upstairs to shower and change.
"I'll make some coffee for everyone, alright?" Amanda offered, pulling out the coffee pot, happy to have something to occupy her.
Lee sat down and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He had gotten agents to his own home to sit with Dotty and the kids, and he wanted someone over here as soon as possible. He watched as Amanda pulled half and half out of the fridge and set up cups for coffee for everyone. He knew that the activity helped with her nerves. He understood the need to be active when something happened. He flipped his phone and made his calls.
Efraim was pulling on his uniform jacket when Francine came out of the bathroom pulling her hair into a twist. He smiled at her, stood and opened his arms for her. She wrapped her arms around him and inside his jacket, hugging him tightly. "You okay Francine?"
"I'm always okay when I'm with you, B. You know that." She sighed against his chest, loving the feel of his arms around her, the steady beat of his heart. She meant what she had said, she was always fine with him. "I feel safe with you."
He laughed and kissed her. "Thank God for that. Let's go find out what the hell is going on. I think I have an idea what's happening, and it's not gonna be good if I'm right."
The smell of freshly brewed coffee was heavy in the air as they went downstairs to rejoin Lee and Amanda. Francine saw that Amanda had cleaned up the broken vases and she sighed. She had to admit that she was almost as upset about that as the intruders themselves. Joining Amanda and Lee in the kitchen, the tulips had been added to the ones that Efraim had saved and now sat on the kitchen table. Efraim pulled out a chair at the table for Francine and the one next to her for himself. Francine pulled two cups and poured coffee for them, fixing Efraim's the way he liked it and handing it to him.
"I called the Agency, they're sending over some watch dogs to babysit here." Lee said, taking a drink of coffee and a bite of the piece of toast that Amanda had made. "Any ideas?"
Francine looked at Efraim, who nodded his head.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so. I'm thinking that Carlson found out what happened, that we got to the Senator. Possibly Stone. Or both. This was coordinated to take all of us out, the only way to insure his safety would be to pull such a move," his hand slammed down on the table. "Damn! I didn't think of it earlier...Billy!"
Francine jumped, fear evident in her face as she grabbed the phone from the kitchen wall and quickly dialed Billy's home telephone number. Efraim came to stand by her, listening to the ringing of the their bosses telephone. Francine shook her head, no answer.
"Damn it." Efraim took the telephone from Francine and hung it up. Lee pushed back the chair he was sitting in and began to pace the kitchen.
"We need to go to the Agency and get in control from there." Efraim watched as Lee nodded his agreement. Amanda put her coat back on and flicked off the coffee maker. Efraim walked Lee and Amanda to the front door, acknowledging Lee's unspoken warning. Closing the door, he took his and Francine's coats out of the closet and walked back into the kitchen.
Francine was at the kitchen sink, the water running as she held coffee cups under the flowing water. Efraim walked up behind her. "Hon? Are you alright?"
"I don't know. I was nearly killed in my bed this morning, or would have been had my husband not had the ears of a bat! Our friends have been attacked, we don't know if someone tried to hit Dad and Peg. We don't know if Billy is okay. And you know? We didn't even think about what may have happened to Dr. Smyth. This is just bad business, B."
"I know. Let's go take care of it then, okay?" Efraim held open the kitchen door and did a quick look of the area. He nodded to Francine to come out and helped her in the car, climbed in and headed for the Agency. It was 6:10 in the morning, an hour had passed since he had first opened his eyes that morning.
The sun never really made it through the clouds that day.
The elevators opened on the Operations Level. The bullpen was in full swing, which gave both Efraim and Francine hope that Billy was alright. They headed straight for his office and upon hearing his bellow to enter as they knocked, Francine threw herself into Efraim's arms and held him tightly.
"It's okay hon, he's here and fine."
Her eyes were clouded with worry, but her smile stopped his heart for a moment. "I was so worried." She pushed open the door to Billy's office and went straight to his desk. "And where were you Billy, when I was calling your home at 5:30 in the morning? Are you alright? Don't you know that some people might be concerned about you? You have some nerve not calling and letting me know that you were alright. I have . . ."
"Are you through, Desmond?" Her boss yelled back at her.
"Beaman." She retorted, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes narrowed on Billy.
"Beaman. Sit down."
Efraim sat on the couch, noticing Lee and Amanda for the first time. Lee rolled his eyes, they had all seen these blow ups between Billy and Francine before and knew it was how they expressed their concern for one another.
"Your telephone was not working, Francine." Billy voice was approaching normal levels. He knew that Francine was worried about him, and he played along with her, knowing this was how she handled stress. "Beaman's cell phone was busy. Lee's cell phone was busy. When I was able to get through to your home, you had left and when Lee got here, he told me you were on your way. Now you can see for yourself that I am fine. And I can see that you are fine. Let's sit down and try to figure out what happened this morning."
Francine nodded, feeling better after her flare up with Billy. She sat down in the chair next to his desk, pulling files off of his desk and reading them. "What about Dr. Smyth?"
"What about me, Mrs. Wedded Bliss?" Austin Smyth walked into Billy's office, looking less than his usual spit and polished 5th Avenue self. Dressed in jeans and a pullover sweater, his cigarette holder missing, Dr. Smyth seated himself on the corner of Billy's desk and let his pale eyes settle on everyone in the room. "I had an early morning visit, and I'm assuming that each of you had as well. I so dislike being dragged from my slumber before I'm ready. Now, what do we know?"
"Not much. Each of us, including Geiger were attacked this morning. Geiger got one, wounded another and Stone was hit in the leg. He's with the one that he wounded trying to get information, but he said he was sending over their fingerprints, they didn't have ID." Billy told them.
"It has to be Carlson." Efraim said. "Why else would all of us be hit at once? Has anyone tried the Senator?" Francine got up and went to her office to make the call to the Senator's home. "My Dad was at the hospital, my niece was having problems, we need to send a team out there." Amanda got up and went to take care of that.
"I agree Boy Scout. Why?" Smyth said, picking up one of Billy's donuts and taking a bite of it.
"It has to be the Senator, he's the weak link."
Smyth laughed. "I'm glad I've kept you around Beaman, you certainly do entertain. Yes, the Senator is the weak link, I concur that when we get to the bottom of this we'll find that the Senator pulled the rug out from underneath us. We can assume that Carlson has run, I want you on it, find out where he's going."
Efraim got up and was leaving the office when Smyth stopped him. "Glad to hear the Admiral is fine, Beaman. Your father is a good man."
"Thank you, Sir." Efraim nodded and went to his office. Francine had opened the door between their offices and he could see her on the phone. He sat at his own desk, opening the buttons on his jacket. He reached for his computer keyboard, accessing CIA files on Carlson.
It looked like Carlson had done a wipe of his data base and Efraim smiled. He loved a challenge and got to work rebuilding the files that Carlson thought he had wiped cleaned. Within twenty minutes, Efraim had rebuilt the entire data of Carlson's CIA computer. He started a search for travel information and wasn't surprised when he saw several returns for foreign destinations.
He accessed Carlson's bank accounts and his credit cards, all showing nothing. He sat back in his chair, feet up on the desk and thought about it for a few minutes. Pulling his feet off the desk, he went back to the computer and looked at Carlson's files from the CIA again.
Nothing.
He hacked back into the CIA computers and started tracing the pathways that Carlson may have used. He found several low level clearance systems accessed by Carlson and went to check out the information. He chuckled when he saw how Carlson had tried to hide his tracks, shaking his head at the extent Carlson had gone to hide his tracks.
"Amateur," Efraim finally saw what he was looking for. He printed the information he wanted and went on the Internet to check flights that had been listed. He found Carlson's name on a flight to Istanbul, printed the manifesto and went to Francine's office.
"I have him, hon!" He stopped when he saw the look on his wife's face. "Francine. Honey, what is it?" He kneeled by her chair and reached for her hands.
"Efraim, the senator's wife committed suicide."
Wrapping his arms around his wife, he carefully stood up and leaned against the desk, holding her tightly to him.
"Oh B, it's such a waste. We think it's all a game and then this happens. What's wrong with us?"
"Hon, we don't treat anyone like they're a pawn in a game. We treated the Senator with the utmost respect and gained his permission to engage in a manner that would bring Carlson down. I don't know what happened to cause this, but it's not because we treated anything lightly. I have my suspicions that Lang thought he could run his own operation."
Francine nodded, she had gotten that much from the Senator's aide.
"That explains why all of this has happened. Carlson lost his edge." He kissed her hair, knowing that they had to continue with their operations to bring Carlson in. "Carlson will be held responsible. We have to track him down."
"Do you know where he is?" Francine stepped back, anger evident in the set of her jaw and mouth. Efraim knew that look and he had not one ounce of pity for Carlson when they found him. He just hoped Francine didn't get to him first.
"Yeah, he's going to Istanbul."
Nodding her head, she walked to the door of her office. " Iyi ahlakly, ile sevibmek Istanbul."
'Hakikaten, ben o kadar." He told her as she walked out.
Lee let Francine pass him as he came in the office, a concerned look on his face. "What did she say to you?"
"She loves Istanbul. I told her as do I."
"We going to Istanbul?"
"Seems that way. Have a seat, I have bad news. The Senator's wife committed suicide."
"Damn. That's why Francine looked upset."
"Yeah. She said the Senator's aide told her the Senator tried to run his own end game on Carlson. I can only imagine what happened to cause this."
"Damn."
Efraim nodded at Lee's comment. "My sentiments exactly."
"Tell me about Istanbul."
"Carlson tried to hide his trail, but I reconstituted his data base and traced some pathways he used to secure an airline ticket out of the country. His flight left at 5:45 last night. Next flight out isn't until this evening, if we want to take the same itinerary he did."
"What's the earliest flight out of Dulles?"
"Today at 12:45."
Nodding at the information, Lee headed out of Francine's office. "Get packed Beaman. You're going to Istanbul." Lee tossed over his shoulder as he headed back to Billy's office.
Efraim sat down in his wife's chair and stared after Lee. "Damn."
