Deep Sleep (Devin Gray #1)(49)

“Was he watching me the whole time?” asked Farrington.

“No. He went back to looking at his phone as soon as you passed by,” said Gupta. “Looked up once after that, but just for a moment.”

“Thank god the lot was full,” said Farrington. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this small, with one way in or out.”

“That’s my fault,” said Gupta. “It looked like it connected to the street behind it on Google Maps, or I would have said something.”

“Any hits on any other vehicles?” asked Farrington. “I didn’t see the Durango or Pathfinder.”

“None. But I have two Kentucky plates. The rest are regional, with a few Floridas and an Illinois,” said Gupta. “They’re all in the system now, so if they come up again tonight, we’ll have a heads-up.”

“Might not be a bad idea to take a spin through any nearby hotel parking lots,” said Daly.

“Actually, that’s a stellar idea,” said Farrington. “What are we looking at?”

“There’s a Hampton Inn on the southern edge of Falls Church. Pretty close to Marnie Young’s house,” said Gupta. “We should definitely swing through there. I also see a few motor lodge–type places a little farther down Broad Street. And a Marriott TownePlace Suites a few streets over to the west. An Econo Lodge in East Falls Church.”

“We may as well hit all of them,” said Farrington. “It’ll take Young some time to arrange the Airbnb. We can’t really start any serious planning until we have that address—and the rest of the team, which should be in place before rush hour starts.”





CHAPTER 22


Devin Gray paced the vault while Berg spoke with the man who held their fate in his hands. Berg mostly listened, responding here and there with a question or a brief answer—none of which gave Devin any indication one way or the other what the team had decided. This went on for another minute, until the call ended, and Berg stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the evidence wall. Not saying a word.

“Well,” said Devin, approaching him.

Berg turned his head and nodded, a satisfied grin on his face. “They’re in. No cost to us.”

“No cost?”

“No major costs. We’ll pay for their food, incidentals, and emergency purchases. Little stuff like that.”

“That’s really generous of them,” said Devin. “They can spend everything in that safe as far as I’m concerned.”

“They won’t need it. The team was given access to a generously funded account for this job. I contacted someone with a vested interest in national security matters. A well-intentioned and thoroughly vetted benefactor.”

“I feel like this isn’t going to be a secret for very long at this rate,” said Devin. “How much did you tell this benefactor?”

“Very big picture. No details. She trusts my judgment.”

“Is there anyone else in on the secret that I should know about?”

“No. That’s it,” said Berg.

“What is the team’s timeline?”

“Rich is flying in five operatives to help with the heavy lifting. They’ll arrive at different times throughout the afternoon and early evening. The team should be assembled and ready to meet with us tonight. I know most of them on some level. We’re in good hands.”

“Sounds like he made up his mind a little earlier than this call,” said Devin.

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” said Berg. “But he started moving the pieces into place last night. I knew the specter of a massive Russian sleeper conspiracy would pique his interest. He still wants to dig through all of this with the team to make sure we’re not full of shit.”

“That seems to be everyone’s first reaction to learning about this,” said Devin.

“It’s a big pill to swallow,” said Berg. “I only drove up here out of respect for your mother’s wish to try and keep you from getting yourself killed. I’m not sure this is what she had in mind—but here we are.”

“Thank you for doing this,” said Devin, feeling choked up. “Though I get the feeling this is exactly what she had in mind.”

“You’re probably right,” said Berg. “I had developed a bit of a reputation for working outside of the system toward her later years at the CIA. I wonder if that made a difference. When did she leave exactly?”

“Two thousand nine.”

“Jesus. Yeah. That was one hell of a year. I had gone from director of the Special Operations Group within the Special Activities Division in early 2008 to sitting in an obscure cubicle with nothing of any consequence crossing my desk by the spring of 2009.”

“Wow. That’s one hell of a demotion,” said Devin, feeling kind of awestruck to be in his presence.

He’d presumed that Karl Berg had been some kind of big deal at the CIA at one point, but to find out he’d run the black ops side of the house for the agency? No wonder his mother had asked Karl for this favor.

“What happened, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“True America happened,” said Berg. “Right around the time your mother was ousted, come to think of it. You know, she was still doing really good work for Langley at that point—pet sleeper project aside, which ironically turned out to be her best work. I wonder if her removal wasn’t somehow related, given the fact that one of President Crane’s top advisers was one of those sleepers. True America cleaned house in 2009. It wouldn’t surprise me if whispers of her theory reached the wrong ears, and Sean Walker made sure she was swept up in the political purge.”