Chapters (84)

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Acknowledgments

“I see you do your homework.”

“Wasn’t that hard actually. What exactly was your beef with Bagger, Ms. Hunter?” Knox didn’t believe for a moment that that was her name but he was willing to play along, for now.

“What’s it to you?”

“Humor me.”

“Why the hell should I?”

He pointed to the cup she was holding. “How about I take the prints off that and run them through a database. Would I pull up the name Susan Hunter?”

“There’s no law against changing your name.”

“Right, but the reason for changing your name, now that might be illegal.”

“Bagger hurt someone I cared about and I wanted to nail him for it and I did.”

“With Alex Ford and Oliver Stone’s help?”

“Yeah. Bagger was a crook and a sociopath. The FBI and Justice Department had been after him for a long time. He got what he deserved. So what’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t really give a crap about Jerry Bagger. I want Oliver Stone. Or John Carr. I don’t know which name you refer to him as.”

“I only know him as Oliver Stone. I have no idea who John Carr is.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“About six months ago.”

“You heard about Carter Gray’s and Senator Simpson’s murders?”

“I watch the news.”

“Stone had a relationship with Gray.”

“Didn’t know that.”

“Alex Ford never bothered to tell you? Because he knew all about it.”

“We’re just friends, and friends don’t share everything.”

“Why’d you leave the cottage?”

“Got tired of living with dead people.”

“You wouldn’t have happened to have heard from Stone? Maybe he told you to take it underground?”

“Why would he do that?”

“You tell me.”

“How can I tell you about something that didn’t happen?”

“I think your buddy’s on the run.”

“From what?”

Knox stood. “Okay, my BS alarm is clanging so hard it’s hurting my ears. So like I told your friend, Ford, I’ll be in touch. And don’t try to leave the city. That would not make me happy.” He walked off.

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

MACKLIN HAYES did not seem particularly pleased. He and Knox were sitting in front of a fire in the library of a luxurious late-nineteenth-century brownstone in the heart of D.C. that Hayes had access to 24/7. Spy kings, it seemed, had gold-plated perks.

“So you’ve run around interviewing all the usual suspects today and have no progress to show for it.”