Deep Sleep (Devin Gray #1)(42)

“What kind of help?”

“The kind that advertises its services by word of mouth and is very picky about its clients,” said Berg. “They also have a checkered past with Russia, so there’s a chance they’ll do this freelance.”

“We have a hundred thousand dollars,” said Devin.

Berg shook his head before biting into a fried egg roll.

“How much higher?”

“Out of our price range,” said Berg. “Even with my discount.”

“Discount?”

“I got them a lot of work back in the day. I also got them in a lot of trouble. We’ll see if I came out ahead.”





CHAPTER 18


Berg had an answer from his “picky” friends in the morning. They’d do some poking around and get back to him. Devin wasn’t exactly encouraged by their cryptic answer, but Berg seemed to take it in stride. He wolfed down a cold plate of the leftover Thai food and went back to work in the vault with an espresso in one of the paper cups he’d bought at Walmart. Devin repeated the process with the Nespresso machine and joined him in front of the evidence wall with one of the better cups of espresso he’d tasted in a long time. Berg tapped the headshot photo of a dark-haired, blue-eyed man in his mid-to late thirties. His face had been circled with red marker and crossed out.

“Sean Walker. A rising star in the True America Party, when that was still a thing. A key adviser to President Alan Crane,” said Berg.

“Shot himself in a drunken stupor while sitting in the hot tub attached to his pool,” said Devin.

“Yeah. Yeah. I read all about it. Family conveniently gone for the weekend. Empty bottle of bourbon found next to the hot tub. A few more empties inside the house. Put a mystery pistol to his temple and pulled the trigger,” said Berg. “Clean up on aisle five. Sleeper with no future blew his brains out.”

“Makes sense,” said Devin. “He would have represented a major liability after True America imploded. Crane resigned after the vice president was arrested for treason. Walker’s boss, Raymond Burke, on the run—soon to be nabbed by the FBI. Walker was a dead man as soon as the VP went down.”

“They didn’t implode,” said Berg. “They were exploded, but that’s a story for another time. And the FBI didn’t catch Raymond Burke. He was delivered to them bound and gagged in the trunk of a car.”

“Story for another time?”

“Story for another life,” said Berg. “So forget I even mentioned it.”

“Got it,” said Devin. “When will we hear from the crew you’re in touch with?”

“They sounded interested,” said Berg. “But like I said, they’re a cautious bunch when it comes to jobs like this. I had to level with them about the severity of the situation. I forwarded a digital copy of Helen’s executive summary.”

“Jesus, Karl.”

“Don’t Jesus me,” he said. “We need these people, and if they get the sense that we’ve misrepresented the situation at any point moving forward, they’ll walk away.”

“Are any of them between forty-three and fifty years old?” asked Devin. “With parents that stepped off a UFO in Fresno during the seventies?”

“If anyone on this team is a Russian sleeper, we may as well just book the next flight to Moscow, drive straight to Lubyanka, and turn ourselves in. Or fly to Tahiti with the money in your mother’s safe. Tough call.”

“Not that tough,” said Devin. “Tahiti sounds pretty good right about now.”

“You ain’t kidding,” said Berg. “I expect to hear from them by tonight. They work fast.”

“Good. Because I don’t see how we can move forward without their help,” said Devin.

“I have a good feeling about them. This is their kind of cause. So fingers crossed,” said Berg before turning away from the wall. “To expedite the process if they say yes, we’ll need a place for them to set up shop. An Airbnb that can accommodate eight should work. No closer than ten minutes away. Preferably a decent area. Something we can occupy for at least a month. We should get that arranged no later than this afternoon.”

“What if they say no?”

“Then we’ll have a place with furniture, real beds, and showers to study the files and come up with another plan,” said Berg. “Plus, we can’t expect Henrietta and her family to keep clear of the building forever. I don’t know how long this is going to take, or how long we’ll need Helen’s map and library, but at some point, we’re going to have to cut the cord to this place, for their sake. It might not be a bad idea to find a place that will rent to us for six months.”

“You’re going to stay with this for six months?” said Devin.

“I’m here for as long as it takes to hit a home run or strike out. Whichever comes first,” said Berg. “If it takes us six months to compile what we need to take this network down, looks like I’m eating crab cake sandwiches instead of Gulf shrimp—and rooting for the Orioles. That’s true dedication.”

“This all comes too easy for you,” said Devin. “You don’t look worried at all.”

“This is all a practiced act I’ve mastered over three decades of uninterrupted fear and anxiety. Most of those spent looking over my shoulder. I don’t see this ending well—for either of us, frankly—but I’ve thought the same thing before, more times than I can count. And I’m still here. They say I have nine lives.”