He then went about briefing Claudia on the plan. Any anger he felt toward her over what had happened earlier that day was now mitigated by the news that Mitch Rapp would be going under the knife in the morning. Since Gould had first learned about the knee problem that morning things had only gotten better. Rapp's wife unwittingly gave Gould a constant stream of updates as she called friends and family and told them in detail that Rapp was going in for arthroscopic knee surgery in the morning. She had given away the entire timetable. When they were supposed to be at the hospital, and what time she expected to get back to the house. Gould had at minimum a seven-hour window to get things ready.

In almost all matters tactical, Claudia deferred to Louie. In this instance she made only one request-that he avoid killing the woman. She was not part of the contract. Gould had expected this, and it was one of the reasons that he had withheld from Claudia the fact that Rapp's wife was pregnant. He would make an effort to keep the woman out of it, but he would not let it compromise the mission. Rather than argue with her, though, he promised her that Rapp's wife would be fine.

Gould took the opportunity to lay down the law to Claudia. He didn't want her leaving the hotel until her new morning ritual was over. He couldn't have her out in public drawing attention to herself by throwing up every thirty minutes. Claudia agreed. She would stay back at the hotel and monitor the position of Anna's car and any new audio they might pick up. With the plan solidified they packed everything up. Gould would be leaving the hotel in the pickup truck before sunrise and Claudia would check out around noon as long as Anna's car stayed put at the hospital.

At 6:00 a.m. Gould left the hotel, and stopped at a gas station midway between the hotel and Rapp's house. He was wearing a pair of Carhartt blue jeans, brown work boots, a blue and gray flannel shirt, and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. He hadn't shaved in three days, and was already well on his way to having a full beard. Gould topped off the truck's tank and then filled all six gas cans. He grabbed a newspaper, paid for everything in cash, and left. At a separate gas station a few blocks away, he pulled in and had them fill the forty-pound propane tanks.

He'd picked out his spot the night before and pulled into the strip mall parking lot at exactly 6:22 in the morning. He checked the tracking device and noted that Rielly's car had not moved. He looked east and then west down the highway and wondered for the twentieth time what the odds were that they would take Rapp's car instead of hers. There wasn't much he could do at this point other than wait and see. Gould turned off the truck, went into the Starbucks and grabbed a black coffee. He came back out a few minutes later and settled in for what he hoped would be a short wait. He started reading the paper and tried to take his mind off what lay ahead. At 6:31 the device beeped, telling him that her car was moving. Gould breathed a sigh of relief. This was going to be much easier if they knew exactly where Rapp and his wife were.

Six minutes later, the blue BMW Series Five came flying past Gould. Rapp was in the pa.s.senger seat and his wife was driving. Gould watched with professional detachment. Rather than leave right away, he stayed put. Getting to the house too early might raise some suspicion, so he drank his coffee, read the paper, and kept on eye on the tracking device. At five minutes before seven Rielly's car stopped near George Washington University Hospital. Gould waited another fifteen minutes and then finished the last of the coffee. He backed out of the spot and headed for Rapp's house. A mile down the road he dialed Claudia's mobile phone. She answered on the fourth ring.

"Allo."

Gould nearly bit his own tongue in an effort to stop himself from screaming at her for answering in French.

"How are you feeling?" he asked in a tense voice.

"Not good," she answered.

"Go back to sleep. I just wanted to tell you that everything looks good. I'm headed over. I'll call at ten to give you an update."

"Okay."

Gould ended the call and gripped the wheel tightly with both hands. Claudia was not herself. The sooner he got this over with the better. Gould considered how much of it was due to her being pregnant and how much of it was due to burnout. He'd noticed the first sign four months ago. She'd gotten drunk after an operation they'd run in Ukraine and asked him if he thought she would go to h.e.l.l. A self-professed atheist, he told her there was no such thing as h.e.l.l. She shook her head and told him he was wrong, and then she began to sob uncontrollably.

Gould looked back on it now and saw it all very clearly. Getting pregnant was her way out, and it was her hold on him. He had little doubt she had stopped taking the Pill. She wanted an excuse to walk away, and better yet, one that would make him walk away with her. Gould shared none of her guilt over what they had done, but he understood it. This one last job was all he wanted. Seven more hours tops was all he needed. Rapp was being handed to him on a silver platter. He'd be disoriented from surgery, his instincts and skills greatly diminished. He could never again hope to have such a chance. Six million dollars if he did it right. A total of eleven million dollars to kill one man. He must have really p.i.s.sed someone off to get a price tag like that on his head. Gould smiled at the prospect of so much money. They would have true independence. Live wherever they wanted and do so lavishly. A few more hours, A few more hours, he told himself. he told himself. Keep it together and stay focused. Keep it together and stay focused.

When he reached the road that Rapp lived on, he put on his Oakley sungla.s.ses and slowed down like he was looking for an address. From the county road turnoff it was 2.4 miles to Rapp's house. Gould pa.s.sed an older couple walking their dogs, but that was it. He hoped it stayed this quiet all morning. He continued past Rapp's house to where the road dead-ended and then turned around and came back. Everything looked good. Rapp's car wasn't in the driveway so Gould a.s.sumed it was in the one-car garage.

He backed the pickup down the long driveway and came to a stop ten feet short of the garage. Gould hopped out and was putting on a pair of work gloves when a dog came bounding around the corner. For a split second he froze. The dog let out a bark, but it was not the kind of bark Gould was so familiar with, the type a dog gives right before it lunges for your throat. This was more playful. Gould took off one of his work gloves and squatted down. He held his hand out, palm up, and the dog approached tentatively. Once it got a good sniff of him the animal relaxed and Gould scratched its neck.

"Not much of a guard dog, are you?"

The dog, a collie mix of some sort, just wagged its tail and looked at Gould with its big brown eyes. Gould glanced around and wondered if the dog belonged to one of the neighbors. He couldn't imagine anything this docile was owned by Rapp. There was at least two hundred feet between houses on either side and there was a stand of trees and shrubs that delineated the property line. While the leaves had started to change color, none had yet fallen. Gould checked the dog's neck for a collar. It wasn't wearing one. The important thing is to keep acting normal, The important thing is to keep acting normal, he told himself. If a neighbor came up he was here to do an estimate for new gutters. he told himself. If a neighbor came up he was here to do an estimate for new gutters.

Gould stood and unlocked the extension ladder. He lifted it out of the bed and carried it around to the side of the house where he set it on the ground. Six paces from the garage stood a big silver metallic propane tank. It was partially concealed on three sides by pyramidal arborvitae. Gould walked over and read the gauge. It was just over two thirds full. He nodded to himself and got to work. After standing the ladder up against the side of the house he went back to the truck and grabbed the roll of plastic, the knife, and tape. As he climbed onto the roof, the dog sat at the base of the ladder and watched him. Fortunately the fireplace and the two vents were all situated on the water side of the gable. Anyone driving down the road wouldn't see him on the roof except when he was working on the chimney. That's where Gould started. He tore off four long strips of duct tape and stuck them to the waist of his jeans. Next he cut out a large section of plastic and laid it over the top of the chimney. After all four sides were secured, he ran a strip of tape around the entire thing to make sure it was sealed. The vents took only a minute or two apiece.

Once off the roof he walked around to the back of the house. He stopped on the back deck for a moment and looked out at the bay. There were a couple of smaller boats not far from sh.o.r.e. He thought they were probably fishermen. Gould leaned over the railing. It was almost a straight drop down to the water. There were two boats tied up: a ski boat and a fishing boat with a deep v-hull. He walked up to the gla.s.s French doors and looked inside at the kitchen area. Going inside was a nonstarter. A guy like Rapp would have the place wired with every type of security device known.

Gould completed the circle of the house and ended up where he started. The air-conditioning unit was located between the propane tank and the house. Right next to where the cooling hose entered the house was the fresh air vent for the heating and cooling system. It was a six-by-six-inch galvanized cover that angled out from the house so that there was a three-by-six-inch opening at the bottom. Gould got down on one knee and with a needle-nose pliers removed the screen from the inside of the vent. He went back to the truck and got the extension cord and the remote receiving unit he'd picked up at Radio Shack. He plugged the remote receiving unit into an outdoor outlet, checked to make sure it was in the off position, and then walked to the end of the driveway. The dog followed him. He pointed the handheld remote at the garage, pressed the b.u.t.ton once, and walked back. Gould was satisfied to see the remote receiving unit was now in the on position. He flipped it back to the off position and grabbed the extension cord.

The French Foreign Legion had taught him a lot of things, and one of them was how to make improvised explosive devices. Gould cut off the female end of the extension cord and stripped away the insulation. He twisted the two exposed wires together and then fed the cord into the fresh air vent on the side of the house. He figured eight feet was enough and plugged the male end into the remote receiving unit. Now things got a little tricky. Gould uncoiled the two high-pressure hoses, fed them into the vent with the extension cord, and then taped off the opening with plastic. There was only one thing left to do. He took the two forty-pound propane tanks from the truck, hooked them up to the high-pressure hoses, and opened the valves.

The dog came up and dropped a dirty tennis ball at his feet. Gould picked it up and threw it toward the road. The dog came roaring back and Gould gave the ball another good chuck. He checked his watch. It was ten after eight. He figured it would take about five more minutes to empty the tanks. Between throws of the tennis ball, he grabbed all but two of the gas cans and carried them over to the side of the house. Gould dropped down to one knee and listened to see if the propane was drained from the tanks. The hissing noise was gone, so he closed the valves and carefully extracted the high-pressure hoses from the side of the house. Gould quickly sealed the plastic with more duct tape, and then lined up the rectangular gas cans between the house and the large propane tank.

With a rubber-handled crescent wrench, he crawled under the big metallic tank and began to slowly loosen the gas line that ran from the bottom of the tank, underground, and into the house. With every half turn he'd stop and listen. He didn't want the connection too loose or the neighbors might smell it and call in a gas leak, or possibly Rapp and his wife. He wiggled the line a bit and gave it one more quarter turn. A soft hissing noise came from the connection and Gould caught a slight whiff of liquid propane. He remained there for a few minutes to see if it remained constant. It did, so he crawled out from under the tank and unscrewed the caps on each of the gas cans.

If all went according to plan, the gas cans would be knocked over by the initial explosion. The cascading fuel would reach the underside of the large tank almost immediately. The fireball from the house would ignite the gas which in turn would mix with the slow leak from the large tank. The secondary explosion would obliterate the extension cord, the remote receiving unit, the gas cans, and probably the entire house. With no evidence left, all fingers would be pointed at the Chesapeake Bay Propane Company.

38.

R app came out of his drug-induced sleep feeling groggy and disoriented. After a moment he realized he was in a hospital room. He looked down the length of his body at his knee. His leg was there, but he couldn't feel anything. It was propped up in the air and covered with a blanket. Her touch was so gentle he didn't even notice at first that she was holding his hand. He slowly turned his head and looked into his wife's beautiful green eyes. Rapp blinked several times and looked around the room. The shades were drawn. He had no idea how long he'd been out. When he looked back at Anna, she smiled her perfect smile and asked him how he felt. app came out of his drug-induced sleep feeling groggy and disoriented. After a moment he realized he was in a hospital room. He looked down the length of his body at his knee. His leg was there, but he couldn't feel anything. It was propped up in the air and covered with a blanket. Her touch was so gentle he didn't even notice at first that she was holding his hand. He slowly turned his head and looked into his wife's beautiful green eyes. Rapp blinked several times and looked around the room. The shades were drawn. He had no idea how long he'd been out. When he looked back at Anna, she smiled her perfect smile and asked him how he felt.

"Thirsty," he answered in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

She raised the bed up a few degrees and gave him some water through a straw. "The doctor says you did great."

Rapp looked around the room again. "What time is it?"

"A little before eleven."

"In the morning?"

"Yes."

Rapp rubbed his eyes. "When can we get the h.e.l.l out of here?"

She smiled. "I told them you wouldn't want to wait around."

"Can you open the shades?"

Rielly got up and pulled back the heavy gray plastic curtains.

Rapp squinted. He had the twisted look on his face that belongs to an extremely hungover man who is forced to endure the bright midday light without sungla.s.ses. Anna knew there was no way they could keep him in bed for two more hours so she left to find his doctor. They came back a few minutes later and the doctor pulled back the sheet covering Rapp's legs. He carefully unwound the Ace bandage and removed the ice pack. Rapp looked at his knee. It was yellow from the betadine they'd used to sanitize it for surgery. Rapp was surprised that it wasn't more swollen and said so. The doctor explained that the surgery had gone very well. He'd cleaned out the cartilage and removed two bone spurs that were the likely cause of most of the discomfort.

"Can you feel anything, yet?" the doctor asked.

Rapp wondered which answer would get him home quicker. "A little bit."

"Does it hurt?"

Rapp shrugged.

The doctor nodded. "Since you've been running around on this thing for as long as you have, my guess is you have a pretty high tolerance for pain. Your wife said you'd like to get home as soon as possible."

"Yeah."

"How do you feel?" the doctor asked.

"Fine," Rapp lied. He had a splitting headache and was slightly nauseated.

"Your wife says you don't want to take anything stronger than Tylenol Three."

Rapp nodded.

"Good, but if you change your mind, call and we'll get you something better."

"The Tylenol will be fine."

"I'll get the nurse to give you a five-day supply. You're in great shape, so I think you're going to recover quickly."

Rapp sat up a little more. "When can I start running again?"

"I'd like to see you give it up altogether, but since I know that isn't going to happen, you should wait at least a month."

"A month?" Rapp asked, obviously not happy with the answer.

The truth was two weeks, but the doctor dealt with guys like this all the time. No matter what he told them, they'd divide by two. "You can do some light biking in four days, and you can try swimming as long as it doesn't hurt, but I really want you to lay off the running for at least four weeks. The first step though is to stay off it for the next forty-eight hours and you have to ice it every other hour." He looked at Anna. "When he goes to bed tonight, elevate the knee with a couple of pillows and put ice on it. Try to get up at least once and change the ice pack. Above all, though, make sure he stays off it and he keeps it elevated."

"When can I leave?" asked Rapp again.

"I'll get the paperwork started, and we'll get you out of here in no time."

Rapp's idea of no time was fifteen minutes. The doctor's was an hour, so it was 12:07 by the time they wheeled him out the front door. He was dressed in a pair of workout shorts and a blue Syracuse T-shirt. His knee was bandaged and he noticed for the first time someone had placed a powder blue booty on his left foot. Anna had the car pulled up to the curb and was standing by the open pa.s.senger door. Before the orderly could help, Rapp pushed himself out of the chair and put one hand on the open door and the other on the car's roof. He hopped into position and lowered himself into the seat. Anna helped him with the seatbelt and closed the door.

She got behind the wheel and pulled away from the hospital. "You must be starving."

Rapp dug through the glove box and found an old pair of sungla.s.ses he kept in her car. Even though it was a slightly overcast day, the light was really bugging him. "Not really," he answered. "It must be the drugs."

"Straight home then?"

"Yeah."

They cruised through the light midday traffic and within ten minutes they were nearing the Beltway. Rapp was starting to feel better. Up ahead he spotted the golden arches and suddenly he was extremely hungry all over again.

"Let's stop at this McDonald's on the right."

"McDonald's?" she asked in a disapproving tone. Rielly was extremely health conscious.

"Honey, humor me. I'm starving."

"All right." She reluctantly hit the turn signal.

A few seconds later they were in the drive-through lane and Rapp was placing his order. When he was done he asked Anna if she wanted anything. She relented enough to order a Diet c.o.ke and small fries.

Back on the road Rapp tore into his Big Mac with a fury. In between gulps of c.o.ke and fistfuls of fries he finished the Big Mac in short order and moved on to a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

Anna sipped on her Diet c.o.ke and frowned. "You might want to slow down, honey."

Rapp kept eating and she kept driving. He'd finished every last sc.r.a.p of food and was working on his large c.o.ke when they turned onto their street. Rapp leaned back and said, "That really tasted good, but why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret eating it?"

"Maybe because you just consumed an entire day's worth of calories, and enough fat, salt, and sugar to last you a week."

Rapp knew she was right, but he turned to her and said, "Oh, was it ever delicious though."

"You're definitely going to regret it."

Rapp looked down the road. Their house was coming up on the left. A sweat was forming on his forehead and upper lip. His stomach turned and he felt a little light-headed. He looked over at Anna and said, "I think I already am."

39.

A fter leaving the house, Gould drove up to Annapolis and ditched the ladder in an alley. Out on Riva Road he wiped down the handles of the propane tanks and left them behind a gas station. The rest of the stuff, with the exception of the two remaining gas cans, was thrown into a garbage bag and tossed in a Dumpster behind a grocery store. It was 10:23 when he got back to the hotel, and he was relieved to find Claudia packed and ready to go. Gould changed into his biking clothes and helped her go over the room one last time to make sure they'd wiped away any fingerprints. When they were done he used the express checkout function on the TV and they left the hotel through a side door. fter leaving the house, Gould drove up to Annapolis and ditched the ladder in an alley. Out on Riva Road he wiped down the handles of the propane tanks and left them behind a gas station. The rest of the stuff, with the exception of the two remaining gas cans, was thrown into a garbage bag and tossed in a Dumpster behind a grocery store. It was 10:23 when he got back to the hotel, and he was relieved to find Claudia packed and ready to go. Gould changed into his biking clothes and helped her go over the room one last time to make sure they'd wiped away any fingerprints. When they were done he used the express checkout function on the TV and they left the hotel through a side door.

Gould opened the back hatch of the rented Ford Explorer and lifted out his mountain bike. He set it in the pickup bed and asked Claudia, "Any questions?"

She looked like she might say something for a moment and then she simply shook her head.

"Go to Galesville and do a little shopping. Get some lunch if you want, but make sure you've got a signal on your phone at all times. As soon as I'm in position I'll call."

Claudia reached out and grabbed his face. "I know you're worried about me, but you do not have to be. I want to be done with this more than you do."

This was exactly what Gould wanted to hear. He put his hands on Claudia's waist. "Good. Be ready to move in case I need you." He kissed her on the lips and then whispered in her ear, "Let's get through the next few hours, and then we'll put it all behind us."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. "I love you."

"I love you too." Gould held her for a long moment and then opened her car door. "I'll see you in a few hours."

GOULD HAD MISSED the path that first night when they'd followed Rapp's wife home, but when he and Claudia took their bikes by the house the next morning it jumped right out at him. There were no posted signs. He didn't need to say anything to Claudia, she just followed him. As far as Gould could tell it wasn't maintained by anyone. It was simply a dirt path, worn by use and use alone. They followed it for just under a mile through the woods until it split. The trail to the left led to a small public beach and to the right it joined up with a dirt road that ran along the edge of a small gra.s.s landing strip. Gould followed the dirt road until it hooked up with a county road and noted the spot on the map. On the way back he noted a few places where he could leave a vehicle. the path that first night when they'd followed Rapp's wife home, but when he and Claudia took their bikes by the house the next morning it jumped right out at him. There were no posted signs. He didn't need to say anything to Claudia, she just followed him. As far as Gould could tell it wasn't maintained by anyone. It was simply a dirt path, worn by use and use alone. They followed it for just under a mile through the woods until it split. The trail to the left led to a small public beach and to the right it joined up with a dirt road that ran along the edge of a small gra.s.s landing strip. Gould followed the dirt road until it hooked up with a county road and noted the spot on the map. On the way back he noted a few places where he could leave a vehicle.

He was now on that road, and so far his luck was holding. There wasn't a soul around. Up ahead he spotted the big oak tree he'd seen the day before and he pulled the truck as far off the road as he could. Gould put on his backpack and helmet and took out the mountain bike. Right as he was about to get on the bike, the tracking device in his backpack beeped. Gould took the pack off and looked at the GPS locator. Rielly's car was on the move. He clipped the device to one of the backpack's shoulder straps with a carabiner and got on the bike. He wanted to be settled in well before they got there.

It took him only five minutes to bike through the woods, and then he continued past Rapp's house for a few hundred yards and came back. He was fairly confident that no one was about, so when he got back to Rapp's house he hopped off the bike and picked it up with his right hand. He stepped over the first bit of gra.s.s carefully and then had to duck under the leafy branches and twist around others. He did not have to go far to find decent concealment-maybe twenty feet. He set the bike down on its side and took off the backpack. He pulled out a camouflaged hunting poncho and the 9mm Glock. He screwed the silencer onto the end of the Glock and chambered a round. The underside of the backpack had a large pocket. Gould unzipped it and slid the pistol in, silencer first. He shouldered the backpack again and checked to make sure he could reach around and grab the weapon. It wasn't ideal, but it worked.

Gould opened his phone and punched in Claudia's number. She answered on the first ring and he said, "They're on their way."

"Good. Is everything set?"

"Yes."

"If you need me let me know."

"Absolutely. I'll see you in a little bit." He hit the End b.u.t.ton and switched the phone over to the silent mode.

Gould lay down flat and covered his upper body and most of the bike with the hunting poncho. Its muted green and brown pattern blended in perfectly with the surrounding foliage. The air felt heavy like it was going to rain, which would be welcome as long as it didn't come too early. He needed the fire to destroy the majority of the evidence. After that the rain would help destroy it even further.