The Escape (John Puller, #3)(136)

He ran his finger down the line of men. “Recognize anyone?”

She eyed one of the men. “That’s Malcolm Aust. But we knew he was on the verification team. So you’re still suspecting him of partnering with Reynolds?”

Puller ignored this question and said, “Recognize anyone else in the line?”

Knox took the photo from him and went one by one. When she got to the end she started from the beginning and worked her way down it. She paused at one man standing to the left of Reynolds. He was tall, well built, his features sharp and angular, truly a memorable countenance.

“This guy looks familiar for some reason.”

Puller had taken out his phone and brought up an image on it. “I snapped this shot off the computer screen at Fort Leavenworth.”

When Knox looked at the picture on the screen and then the photo, she gasped. “Omigod, it’s him!”

“Ivo Mesic. The ‘Croatian’ who brought my brother’s would-be killer into DB in the trunk of his car.”

“So you believe he’s partnered with Reynolds? But why?”

“She’s at the WMD Center. They were both START verifiers, which has to do with nukes. She was sucking up to Aust, who hunts WMDs for a living.”

“So they’re planning something. With a nuke?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like folks leave nukes lying around.”





As they left the building and got back into the car, Knox’s phone buzzed. She answered it, listened, and then said, “Okay, thanks for the heads-up.” She put the phone away, looking pale and shocked.

“What is it?” asked Puller.

“Malcolm Aust is dead.”

“What?” exclaimed Puller. “How?”

“He was supposed to phone in on a late conference call this evening that originated in L.A. He never did. They sent someone out to his house to check on him when he didn’t answer his phone or email. They found him dead. Shot through the head.”

Puller said, “That means the plan must be coming to fruition. They’re tying up all loose ends.”

Knox snapped, “But what is the plan, Puller? We don’t have a clue. And that means we can’t stop it.”

“We do have clues. We just have to piece them together. And we’ve got one of the biggest brains in the world to help us.”

He jammed down the gas and pointed the car back to where they had come from. Back to Robert Puller.





They sat around the motel room looking at each other. Puller and Knox had filled in Robert on what they had discovered at Reynolds’s office. And also about Malcolm Aust’s murder.

“What had he been working on?” Robert asked. “We need to know that, John. That will narrow things down considerably.”

Puller took out his phone and called General Aaron Rinehart. The general was in a late meeting, but he called Puller back a few minutes later. Puller gave him a quick sketch of what they had learned and what they suspected.

Rinehart said, “I’ll find out, Puller. In the meantime, I’ll make sure everyone goes on high alert. And I’ll put all our resources out to find Reynolds and this Ivo Mesic.”

While Puller was on the phone Robert was typing away on his laptop. After Puller ended the call his brother said, “His real name is Anton Bok.” He spun the laptop around so they could see a page of both pictures and text.

“The START Verification Team from the 1990s. A full accounting with names, backgrounds and photos.” He pointed to one picture. “Bok is the third from the left. Right next to Reynolds.”

“What’s his background?” asked Knox.

“Former military. Former KGB. With the equivalent of a master’s degree in biochemistry and a PhD in molecular biology.”

“Chemistry and biology,” said Puller.

“Molecular biology,” amended Robert.

“But he also had experience in nukes, otherwise he wouldn’t have been on the verification team,” pointed out Knox.

“He was probably there more to gather intelligence for Russia than count warheads,” said Robert. “And to recruit Susan Reynolds to his side.”

“So biology and chemistry are his specialties,” said Puller. “What can we learn from that?”

Robert said, “Not all WMDs are nukes. Nukes are tough to get and impossible to make unless you have a large infrastructure and billions of dollars and years to work with. But you have plenty of far cheaper and easier-to-manufacture bioterrorism possibilities. Contaminating the air, water, and food chains. That would also be more in line with Bok’s background.”

Knox said, “I’m surprised she left that photo out in her office.”

Puller said, “She never knew we had latched on to Ivo Mesic at Fort Leavenworth. So she wasn’t worried about our making the connection. And remember what her son Dan said about his father? He would kill the guy if he got the chance? I think Susan Reynolds and Anton Bok are a lot more than business partners. She probably got a kick out of seeing his face every day. And who would get suspicious? She has a photo in her office of her days as a START verifier? Perfectly normal.”

“You’re probably right, Junior,” said Robert.

A few hours later Puller’s phone buzzed. It was Aaron Rinehart. Puller listened and nodded. He stood. “Rinehart has someone we need to talk to.”