The Carolina Coup: Another Rwandan Genocide? (The Jeannine Ryan Series Book 4) Read Free Page A

Prince William Hospital in Manassas.
    At the hospital, Hamm tipped the driver another twenty, stepped down from the cab and went through the hospital doors.
    As soon as the driver left, Hamm stepped back out and crossed the street.  He walked down the road to a car rental agency.  There he presented the clerk with a drivers license with his photograph and the name “Walter Harmon.”  Then he selected a Honda Accord, paid cash, and left.
    His next stop was the Manassas Post Office.
    There he rented an oversized postal box into which he squeezed the supple briefcase.  Then he took an envelope, placed the key inside along with a note, and mailed it to a “Dr. Jeannine Ryan.”
    That done, he drove to nearby Gainesville, Virginia.  There he took a room in the Hampton Inn. He needed to rest and plan his next move.
    Bill Hamm was a formerly covert CIA agent who knew how to disappear with the Agency’s assistance, but now he was on his own.  The authorities would be looking for him.
    He would be hunted by good and bad alike.
***
    Hugh Byrd was frustrated.  The searches of Hamm’s car and office had yielded nothing.
    His cell phone vibrated.  He picked up.  It was “the woman,” Denise Guerry.  He feared this call.
    She spoke with a French accent.
    “Is it true?  Are the contents of the safe missing?  Tell me you have found them, that they are secure.”
    Hugh grimaced and stayed silent.
    Who on his staff had informed her?  Bob? Damn him!
    She interpreted his silence correctly.
    “So Hamm has them.  Idiot!  Find out everything you can about him, his assignments before Austria and the Torbee, everything.  And locate his women.  Get back our papers and those security tokens!  You and Holder will do nothing else.  Find Hamm and get them back.”
    She lowered her voice and spoke, barely above a whisper.
    “Have you forgotten our clients?  These Africans have no patience.  If they see any danger of failure, they will make sure that you and I never existed.”
    “Don’t disappoint me, Byrd.  My uncle said I could trust you.”
    “Click.”
***
    Whatever his faults, Hugh Byrd was an experienced operative.  He took the elevator down to the security center.  Bob was no longer on duty.  The head of the day-shift greeted him.
    “What can I do for you chief?”
    “Get me Hamm’s phone records, recent calls.”
    “I’ll pull them up.”
    Hugh studied the computer screen.  Two numbers were more frequent than the others.
    “Whose numbers are these?”
    “One is a small company in Bethesda, Maryland, Ryan Associates.  The other is a woman, Jeannine Ryan.  Looks like it’s the same Ryan, both numbers have the same address.”
    “Google her.”
    A newspaper article appeared.  It featured a photo with a woman.  She was incredibly attractive.  Hugh Byrd studied her features.
    Nice!  No wonder Hamm keeps calling you.  You will lead me to him!
    Hugh called Tom Holder.
    “Tom, there’s a Dr. Jeannine Ryan in Bethesda.  I want you to fix her phones for me.  It’s one location, one visit.  Her business and personal phones are in the same house.  This woman may be our key to Hamm.  Get on it!”
***
    But Hugh Byrd was not satisfied.  Although the Ryan woman was a good lead, there had to be more.
    Hamm was gone.  Hugh was convinced that the papers too were gone.  But how?  How had he gotten the documents through security?  They had not been on his person.
    Hugh left his room, walked to the window at the end the hall, and stared out.  Since his arrival, a light rain had coated the pane with droplets.
    Rain from that hurricane in the Gulf?
    As if in answer to these thoughts, lightning lit the sky and wind-driven drops splattered the glass.  In only seconds, a torrential downpour sent water swirling down the glass in rippling waves.
    Hugh watched in silence.  The storm matched his mood.
    He stood frozen for minutes.  Then the downpour changed to a drizzle and the sky lightened as dark clouds