so damaged.”
Sawyer took a few minutes to jot down notes and asked Rowe a few
follow-up questions. Then Rowe escorted him back to the exit.
“You think of anything else, Quentin, you let me know.” He handed Rowe a
business card.
“I wish I knew what the hell was going on, Agent Sawyer. I have my
hands full with CyberCom, and now this.”
“I’m doing what I can, Quentin. Hang in there.”
Rowe slowly went back inside, Sawyer’s card clutched in his hand. Sawyer
walked to his car; he could hear his cellular phone buzzing. Ray
Jackson’s voice was agitated. “You were right.”
“About what?”
“Sidney Archer’s on the move.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
A half block behind the airport cab were the two FBI tail cars.
Two other sedans were running on parallel streets and would cross over
at strategic points to take over the chase so as not to alert the person
they were tracking. That person swept the hair from her eyes, took a
deep breath and stared out the window of the cab. Sidney Archer swiftly
ran through the details of her trip once more and wondered if she had
just exchanged one nightmare for another.
“She came back to the house after the memorial service, stayed a little
while and then the cab came and picked her up. The direction they’re
heading, my call is Dulles Airport,” Ray Jackson said into the car
phone. “She made one stop. At a bank. Probably withdrawing some
cash.”
Lee Sawyer pressed the phone against his ear and fought through
rush-hour traffic. “Where are you now?”
Jackson relayed his position. “You shouldn’t have trouble, Lee, we’re
crawling through traffic here.”
Sawyer started looking at cross streets. “I can be up with you in about
ten minutes. How many pieces of luggage she carrying?”
“One medium suitcase.”
“Short trip, then.”
“Probably.” Jackson eyed the cab. “Oh, shit!”
“What?” Sawyer almost yelled into the phone.
In dismay Jackson watched as the cab abruptly pulled into the Vienna
metro subway station. “Looks like the lady just had a change in travel
arrangements. She’s hopping on the subway.” Jackson watched Sidney
Archer step out of the cab.
“Get a couple of guys in there right now, Ray.”
“Roger that, double-quick.”
Sawyer turned on his grille lights and cut around the stalled traffic.
When his phone buzzed again, he snatched it up. “Talk to me, Ray, only
good news.”
His partner’s breathing was a little more normal. “Okay, we got two
guys on with her.”
“I’m one minute from the station. Which way she headed? Wait a minute,
Vienna’s the end of the orange line. She must be headed into town.”
“Maybe, Lee, unless she’s gonna double back on us and grab another cab
when she exits the subway. Dulles is the other way. And we got a
potential problem with our lines of communication. The walkie-talkies
don’t always work so well on the metro. If she changes trains inside
the metro and our guys lose her, she’s gone.”
Sawyer thought for a moment. “Did she take her luggage, Ray?”
“What? Damn. No, she didn’t.”
“Get two cars glued to that cab, Ray. I doubt Mrs. Archer is leaving
behind her clean undies and her makeup kit.”
“I’m on it myself. You want to pair with me?”
Sawyer was about to agree, then abruptly changed his mind. He streaked
through a red light. “You hang on it, Ray, I’m gonna cover another
angle. Check in every five minutes and let’s hope she doesn’t give us
the slip.”
Sawyer did a U-turn and hurtled east.
Sidney had changed trains at the Rosslyn substation and boarded a
blue-line train heading south. At the Pentagon metro station, the doors
on the subway opened and approximately one thousand people careened off
the train cars. Sidney was carrying the white coat she had been
wearing. She didn’t want to stand out from the crowd.
The blue sweater she wore was swiftly lost in the thickening crowds of
similarly attired military personnel.
The two FBI agents pushed through the masses as they desperately tried
to relocate Sidney Archer. Neither one noticed Sidney re-board the same
train several cars down, and she continued on to National Airport. She