“Krimakov,” she said, as if saying his name aloud would help her remember more clearly, picture him standing in the shadows, “he had a very light sort of English accent, more so on some words than on others. He was fluent in English. I don’t think he sounded particularly old, but I just can’t be certain. Krimakov is your age?”
“A bit older, perhaps five years.”
“I wish I could say for certain that he was that old but I just can’t. I’m sorry.”
Thomas sighed. “I’ve always thought it unfair that nothing’s easy in this life. He’s had years to plan this, years to think through every move, every countermove. He knows me, probably now he knows me better than I knew him back then. When he finally found you—my child—then he was in business.”
“I wonder where he is,” Becca said. “Do you truly believe he’s still in New York?”
“Oh yes,” Adam said, no doubt at all in his voice. “He’s in New York, planning how he’s going to get to you in the hospital. He’s licking his chops, absolutely certain that you’ll be there with her, Thomas. He’s got to believe that he’s trapped you now. He’s flushed you out and now he’s got his best chance to kill both of you.”
“It was an excellent idea, Adam,” Thomas said, “to let everyone in the media believe that Becca is still at NYU Hospital, recovering from internal injuries and under close guard. I pray he disguises himself and tries to get in.”
“I have no doubt he’ll want to. I just hope he doesn’t smell a trap. He’s smart, Thomas, you know that. He might have figured we’d do exactly what we have, in fact, done.”
“I’m worried about the people at the hospital who are playing us,” Becca said. “He’s—” She paused a moment, trying to find the right words. “He’s not normal. There’s something very scary about him.”
“Don’t be worried about the agents,” Adam said. “They’re professionals to their toes. They’re trained, and their collective experience probably exceeds the age of the world. They know what they’re doing. They’ll be ready for him to make a move. Another smart thing done—the FBI has installed security cameras to record everyone who goes in and out of that room. They’ve scheduled doctors and nurses to go in there at given hours. Our guys will stay alert. Our undercover agent who’s playing you, Becca, Ms. Marlane, won’t take any chances if he does show up. She’s got a 9mm Sig Sauer under her pillow.”
Thomas said, “Then there’ll be that black government car pulling up and a guy who looks remarkably like me getting out and going into the hospital.”
Adam said, “Yep. Twice a day. I hope Krimakov does try to get in. Wouldn’t that be something if it all ended there, in the hospital, in New York? That would be a hell of a thing.”
Becca said, “He managed to down Chuck with no one the wiser. So far he hasn’t failed at anything he’s tried.”
“She’s right, Adam,” Thomas said. “Like I said, Vasili is smart; he improvises well. If there aren’t any leaks, it’s possible he’ll sniff out the trap. But even if he’s fooled into thinking she’s there, perhaps believing that I’m there with her, under guard, for just twenty-four hours, it’ll give us time to try to come up with some sort of strategy.”
Adam nodded and said, “If he doesn’t go down in New York, then he’ll go down here.” He sighed. “Strategy is all well and good, Thomas, but I can’t think of anything at the moment that isn’t already being done.”
Thomas said, “I keep wondering if the agents playing our parts should be told that it’s a former KGB agent who might come there. Maybe it would make them sharper.”
“No, knowing that a killer is coming is all they need,” Adam said. “Besides, they’ll know who they’re dealing with quick enough. I believe that Krimakov will make a move real soon now. Maybe he’ll even make a mistake.” Adam looked at Becca, whose hands were fisted in her lap. She was too pale and he didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do about it.
She said, more to herself than to either of them, “If they don’t get him, then how do you come up with a strategy to catch a shadow?”
Thirty minutes later, their driver pulled up in front of a white two-story colonial house, set back from the street on a gently sloping grass-covered yard, right in the middle of Bricker Road in the heart of Chevy Chase. It looked like many of its neighbors in this upper-middle-class neighborhood, lots of surrounding land, lots of oak and elm trees, and beautifully landscaped lawns.