The Templar Reprisals (The Best Thrillers Book 3) by James Best (free ebook reader for ipad .TXT) 📗

castles, the clan does not flaunt it’s wealth.”

“I presume you’ve discovered that the medieval Templars fled France in 1307 in a fleet of eighteen ships. Legend has it they landed in Scotland with much of their portable treasure.”

“And found sanctuary within the Scottish Freemasons. Yes. We found all that. I presume you’re thinking along the same lines as us.”

“What line would that be?” Evarts asked.

“That treasure found its way to Clan McFraser, who owns Black & White though a hedge fund cut-out. That’s not the clan’s only holding, however. They own many other companies, vast tracts of real estate, and many landmark commercial buildings across the globe.”

“Good work,” Evarts said. “Anything else?”

“One of the companies owned by Black & White is Night Work, Inc. They’re the largest janitorial service in the world. Three years ago, they had a major civil suit filed against them for industrial espionage. The claimant was an Egyptian company with U.S. headquarters in D.C. They claimed Night Work did an onsite hack of their computer system. The case was settled with some iron-clad nondisclosures.” She took a deep breath. “Can you use your D.C. connections to find out if this Egyptian company is a front for the Ikhwan?”

“Have you tried?” Evarts asked concerned.

“No. We were afraid the queries could be traced. We waited for you.”

“Smart. And yes, I’ll have someone check this out. Give me the particulars.”

She did.

Evarts asked, “Anything on the Baltimore mob angle?”

“Very little. A paid gig. Not much more. Don’t take this to the bank, but Baltimore PD says the bounty has been withdrawn.”

“Could be disinformation,” Evarts said thoughtfully. “We do have two teams roaming our town looking for me.”

“Egyptians, not mobsters.”

“What do you make of that?” Evarts asked.

There was a long pause.

“They brought the contract inhouse. You’re still on their radar.”

Chapter 74

Before eating, they had checked the news on both cable and the internet to find nothing about bombings or arrests in Washington, D.C. No news was exceptionally good news. Evarts wanted to call O’Brian, but he assumed he would be busy for the next few hours. Besides, O’Brian had their burner cell numbers and would call them when he had an opportunity to talk.

Evarts shared everything with Baldwin over a dinner. Their meal consisted of frozen fettuccine alfredo with chicken and broccoli, paired with an expensive white wine. They made dessert out of dethawed key lime pie. The frozen dishes reminded Evarts of his bachelor days only a couple years prior.

“What do you think?” Baldwin asked after Evarts finished explaining his call to Standish.

“I think we’re lucky to have snuck back into town.”

“You’re obfuscating.”

“Because I don’t know what to think,” Evarts said. “Those Egyptians are obviously not a welcoming committee. We could easily arrest them, but others would follow. O’Brian and the FBI thwarted an Ikhwan attack and probably executed a major takedown of their organization in D.C. and Jakarta, and our government will soon have a confidential informant high up in the Templars.” Evarts fidgeted with his fork. “O’Brian will be leery about helping us deliver a major blow to the Templars, especially if he thought it might jeopardize his new asset inside the Templars.”

She smiled. “You know, I never really liked shootouts as much as you thought I did.”

The comment caught Evarts by surprise. “You have something in mind. What?”

“Money. Standish found a lot of it. Let’s make some of it disappear.”

“Interesting. But for that to do us any good, we’d need the cash drain to be public … and something we personally engineered. Otherwise it won’t get the Ikhwan off our back.”

“Right … so how do we do it without exposing Smith?”

Evarts laughed. “This was your suggestion.”

She threw her hands up. “Greg, I do big ideas. Details are on you.”

Evarts thought. Neither of them was a financial whiz. Within his immediate acquaintances, he knew only one person who understood financial forensics.

“I need to call O’Brian,” Evarts said.

In a few moments, O’Brian answered. “Sorry, Greg, I don’t have time for a debrief. Call you tomorrow.”

Evarts spoke quickly to stop O’Brian from hanging up. “I need your daughter-in-law’s help. Immediately.”

“That’s why you’re calling?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“To engineer a financial debacle for our errant brothers.”

O’Brian would know he meant the Templars. Masons often referred to each other as brothers.

“I can’t let you drag an Army non-com into a civilian affair.”

Evarts said. “You owe us. You dragged civilians into a military affair.”

“Touché. Okay. I got to go, but she’ll call you first thing in the morning.”

The phone went dead.

“Well?” Baldwin said.

“She’ll call in the morning. It’s late on the East Coast and she’s been working around the clock. In the meantime, I need to figure out what to do about the Egyptian nationals cruising our town. I’m considering making myself visible to them.”

“What?” Baldwin almost bounded out of her chair.

“Listen, Standish has learned nothing from the taps because they had nothing to report to their superiors. Trish, if they spot me, communications will begin. Maybe we can learn something.”

“Hell, no. The Army and Templars using us as bait was bad enough, but now you want to toss us out like chum to circling sharks. That’s a damn stupid idea.”

“Sorry, you’re right.” He sighed and thought some more but came up empty. “You got any ideas?”

She didn’t answer at first, but eventually said, “No. Maybe we’ll need to try your scheme … but only if Wilson can’t come up with a financial stratagem. Let’s hope she can, and it pulls their attention away from us.”

Evarts nodded. It made sense. In the meantime, he had another idea.

“Do you feel safe?” he asked. “I mean, right at the moment?”

“Yes,” Baldwin answered carefully. “The nation’s capital is saved, no one knows we’re in town, our hidey-hole is secure, and we have a plan.” She shrugged. “Until someone spots us, we’re in a calm.”

Evarts grimaced. “You mean like a calm before a storm?”

Her expression turned serious. “I fear so.”

They both finished off their wine.

“Is this going where I think it’s going?” Baldwin asked.

“Well, I was trying