Gabriel's Trumpet

Chapter 5

A tall figure in a grey coat and black gloves strode down the arrivals concourse at Washington's Reagan National airport. After collecting his bags he left the terminal building and headed for the rental car pickup across from terminal A. He picked up the keys for a small sedan at the rental office and exited to the car park. Once he found the vehicle and he was safely inside, Agent Belobrov took out the photographs of the two contacts he was supposed to meet from the yellow envelope in his coat pocket. He studied the pictures closely. Belobrov hated the thought of his power being bound, but the Director had been quite explicit. He was to point these two in the direction of the target only and just monitor their progress. Only once they had retrieved the article was he free to move in to collect it. There were to be no comebacks on this job. Nevertheless, the thought of leaving the collection to these amateurs made him uneasy. This was a job that required delicacy. Were it up to him alone, the crystal could have been easily substituted without anyone ever knowing he had been there. These two were almost certain to leave traces of evidence behind. He supposed that was probably the point, and so long as they didn't mess things up completely this would make his job easier. Belobrov looked at the photo of the American and wondered whether he even knew what he had in his possession. Probably not, or else he would have moved already. He decided not to risk the chance. This man was going to meet with an unfortunate accident very soon, unless of course one of the other agencies got to him first. Time was ticking. Belobrov slid the photos back into the envelope, placed them in the black briefcase that once belonged to a Mr Daniel Messenger from Silver Spring Washington, and pulled out of the car park.

#

It was already late by the time Dan got back to his office. It had been a tough day. The President Elect's press briefing had gone better than expected, although it had taken Dan most of his day to rework her address. Mary Whitman had commented briefly on the terror alert status, telling the press that this was a routine precaution and a matter best left to the security agencies to monitor, before gently steering the focus of the questioning back to policy by talking about new unemployment data released ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates. Now back in his office, Dan looked down at the briefcase sitting beside his chair. He placed it on the desk and pushed back both tabs on its side at once to release the latches. He took out the small leather box inside and put the briefcase back on the floor then he opened the box and removed the black velvet bag, before finally withdrawing the crystal from inside. He felt the weight of it. It was warm in his hands. As he turned it light danced brilliantly along its edges. He wondered what it was made of. Perhaps it was valuable? It was certainly beautifully presented. It formed a long tube that splayed out at the end into a kind of funnel. Dan's eyes caught something beyond the crystal in his hands sitting on the bookshelf on the opposite wall of the office. The crystal that now sat in his palms looked remarkably similar to a quartz paperweight he had been given some years earlier, except that where the paperweight flared out, it made room for a small hanging stone, forming a little bell, whereas this crystal was hollow all the way through. He got up from his chair and walked over to the bookshelf. He picked up the paperweight from the right end of the shelf and removed the small hanging stone. Then he placed the crystal on the left where it balanced its partner at the opposite end. It wasn't a perfect match, but for now it might as well be functional he thought, at least until he could find his own briefcase and return this one to its rightful owner. Of course! He hadn't had a chance to even get Carol to trace his own briefcase. Dan's mind returned to the incident with the intern in the hallway. He collected up the case and headed back down the corridor. When he got to the reception desk Carol was packing up for the evening.

"Hi Dan, I was just heading off", she said, wrapping a long scarf around her neck, "you working late again tonight?"

"Oh, no, not really, I'll be leaving soon myself."