Block it out. Block him out.
Smooth, carve.
Stop, measure.
Show me the way, Kevin. Innocence or wickedness? Were you like your father and able to fool everyone around you? Or did you look like the monster you are?
CHAPTER
13
Leesburg, Virginia
THE OLD MAN LOOKED MORE frail than he had the last time Venable had seen him, the CIA agent thought as he walked down the path toward the small garden at the rear of the house. He should not have aged this quickly. It had been a steady downhill path since he had been robbed of years and vigor by one tragic blow. Yet there was no question the general was thinner, his shoulders a little more bowed.
And he looked … tired.
He glanced up from the strawberry bed he was weeding and stiffened when he saw Venable coming toward him. He sat back on his heels. “Hello, Venable.” He forced a smile. “I won’t say it’s good to see you. Do we have a problem?”
Venable nodded. “I’m afraid so, General Tarther.”
The general got slowly to his feet. “And it must be a considerable problem if it rates a personal visit.” He grimaced as he moved toward the striped canvas chair a few feet away. “It’s hell to get old. I hate all the aches and pains.” He sat down. “And it’s even worse when I remember how young and strong I was only yesterday. I do a lot of remembering.” He gestured to the other chair. “Sit down, Venable. Don’t stand there hovering like a vulture.”
Venable sat down. “I was being respectful.” He smiled. “As is due a general of your caliber and stature. How are you doing, sir?”
“Health-wise, a few issues. Emotionally, more than a few. I get ambushed more frequently all the time.”
“Ambushed?”
“Memories. Things that have been, things that could have been. I find the older I get, the less likely I am to keep a stiff backbone and deny that against those ambushes I’m completely helpless. Very chastening for a military man.” He smiled at Venable. “I’m even admitting them to you, Venable.”
“You’ve fought your battles, sir. You’ve won a hell of a lot of them. You don’t have to win that battle.”
“That’s good, because I’m not.” He looked away. “Why are you here? What’s the bad news?”
“Doane has left the safe house.”
“And?”
“He’s abducted a woman, and she may be in danger.”
“You told me that Doane wasn’t like his son.”
“I told you as far as I could tell there was a good possibility,” Venable said. “I believe I was wrong. Even if not as bad, he certainly is very dangerous. He killed one of my agents, who was protecting Eve Duncan.”
“More killing.” Tarther was silent. “If he’s like his son, did he help Kevin Relling kill my Dany?”
“No, he wasn’t in Europe at that time. We know that for certain. I told you so when we arranged protection for Doane. You wouldn’t have asked me to give Doane protection if there had been any hint that was true.”
“Things seem to be changing. I had to make sure that had not changed.” His gaze swung back to Venable. “Did you get the disk?”
It was the question he had known was coming and one he did not want to answer. “No, sir, I did not.”
“Then we have to assume he will use it. Have you protected my men?”
“I’m in the process now, sir.” He paused. “My bet is that Doane is going to be occupied in the immediate future and won’t make an attempt to release any information. There’s still an opportunity to get the disk back. But I had to tell you that I’ll have to pull out all the stops when I go after Doane. I can’t have any more lives lost.”
“I know. But my men’s lives are at stake, too. Why do you think I sent you to shelter that monster’s father? All I wanted to do was forget that he existed and brought Kevin Relling into the world. Instead, I woke every day with the knowledge we had no proof that the apple had not fallen far from the tree. I don’t want it to be for nothing, Venable.”
“I’ll try to take him alive,” Venable said grimly. “And if I do, I guarantee you’ll have that disk.”
“Just save my men.”
“I’ll do everything I can, sir.”
“I know you will,” Tarther leaned back and wearily closed his eyes. “You’re a good man, Venable.”
“If I were that good, Doane wouldn’t have slipped away.”
Tarther’s eyes opened, and he smiled faintly. “Now you’re doing it. Another ambush, Venable. What might have been? That’s the cruelest ambush of all.” His gaze went to the strawberry patch he’d been weeding. “Every year I put in strawberries. My Dany loved strawberries. They would make her mouth red, and she’d rub it against my cheek and laugh. I loved her, Venable.”