Chapter 66

66

"Hey, there," I said into the satellite phone as I heard it stop ringing.

We were in the stairwell of the old factory by the back window. I looked over at Colleen as we waited.

"Who is this?"

I smiled.

"Let's kick it into gear already," I said. "Time for you to throw something new at me, buddy. Think outside the box, would you?"

"Who are you?"

The voice was American. Cold and deep and gravelly, like that of a drill sergeant.

"It's obvious," I said. "I'm the king of the castle which makes you the dirty rascal."

"You think this is a joke, pal? This is the FBI and this is an evacuation situation and I am ordering you to come out with your hands up right now."

"Hands up?" I said as I began to pace in front of the window. "Nah. Feet up is the only way I come out. Which, I take it, is how you're probably taking Daisy out right around now. Gonna bury her in the woods next to Big Joe? And I thought she was smart. Boy, was I wrong about her."

"You're wrong about a lot of things," the drill sergeant said. "That's why you need to give up on this. You're done. The wife is dead. You got no place to go. This game is over."

"Over?" I said, laughing as I continued to pace. "Not only is it not over, I'm still up by at least three. Or maybe four now as I heard one of your guys maybe didn't like it so much when I returned one of the presents you left us.

"Speaking of which, you guys are carrying some real nasty gear. What are you? A Green Beret? You sound like a Green Beret to me. A retired one who didn't really retire because old soldiers never die, do they? You're a mean green professional killing machine, the kind that the big-dough, billionaire, white-shoe types keep in the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency box, am I right?"

"You're the one in a box," the voice said. "A pine box that I'm going to drop the lid on if you don't start cutting a deal here."

"Cutting a deal?" I said, laughing. "Are you not noticing that your guys are starting to stack up like firewood out there? Like those first four suckers you sent. They were all thumbs with the explosives, huh? Not good. Butterfingers cost you plenty in the big bang biz."

"What's your play here?" he said. "The waitress said you were a retired cop. What's up with the hero routine? Trying to relive the glory days? 'Cause it's going to cost you everything."

"I'm a man with a cause," I said. "You know what my cause is?"

"Being a pain in my ass."

"No, surviving at all costs by any means necessary. So, I'd take a hike right around now if I were you," I said.

"Take a hike? We have you surrounded on every side."

I smiled.

"I know," I said. "You dirty rat bastards can't hide now."

"What's your angle?" said the mercenary. "Nice face that Miss Doherty. A real Irish beauty. You sleeping with her or something?"

"Don't know what you're talking about, Sarge," I said. " Dateline is showing a rerun again tonight. That's why I'm here. There was nothing else to do."

"How about this, cop," he said. "Work with me. Jodi Cushing didn't come by to borrow a bowl of sugar from your girlfriend. She must have had something, some evidence. A video maybe? You hand that over, I show it to my boss, you and your girlfriend get a free ride back to the gutter and we call it a night."

"A free one-way ride into the forest is more like it," I said. "With you and a shovel. I'll pass. I figure the longer I hold out, the faster all the people you're suckering with this shit carnival are gonna start smelling the BS."

"You have more faith in the intelligence of people than they deserve," he said. "Honestly, I'm here to help, cop. You come out now, I'll take it easy on you. But if you make this any harder than it has to be, there's going to be consequences for you and especially Miss Doherty. Consequences of a kind you never even heard of."

"Oh, I'm going to make this harder," I said, gritting my teeth. "So much harder that you're going to wake up in the graveyard. Do you think this is the first phone call I made with this satellite phone? See all the hills around here? The hills are going to have eyes real soon, Sarge. You think you're the only one who knows how to play bury-them-in-the-woods?"

"Oh, I'm shaking," he said.

"Fine, you have to make me say this, don't you?"

"Say what?"

"I got a confession to make. That explosion wasn't an accident. That was me."

"Yeah, right," he said.

"It's true. I beat your buddies to the detonator punch. Daisy told you I was a cop, right? Maybe she forgot to mention what kind of cop I used to be."

I paused smiling.

"I was on the bomb squad, dummy. Out of all the walls of all the joints in all the world, your buddies had to try to breach one that had a block of MDX on its other side."

Over the phone line there was silence. He was pondering what I'd just told him. I knew I'd struck a nerve there. Bringing up your opponent's own personal safety tends to do that.

"As a final warning, you stick around, there's a real good chance I put a bullet in your head before you put one in mine. So why not wave the white flag, Sarge? Take a knee. Get out of here. Or don't. Come in here so I can snap your neck.

"One last thing," I said. "Do me a favor and tell your boss that if he has one of those billionaire bunkers somewhere, it's bugout time. Because when I'm done with you, he's up next."