Дэвид Балдаччи - The Sixth Man

She did a pivot, keeping her body behind the tree trunk. She couldn’t rule out the possibility that the shooter had night-vision equipment. Or that there was only one shooter. If there were a pair of them the other one might be outflanking her right now, trying to capture her in a pincers maneuver.

Her gaze darted to the far end of the garage. She saw nothing but drilled 911 on her phone and spoke quietly into it, relaying her dilemma and location to the dispatcher. She had no idea how long it would take the police to get here, but she had to assume it would not be quick.

You’re going to have to get yourself out of this, Michelle.

She dropped to her belly and started to scoot backward. She alternated her gaze forward and aft, looking for an attack on both fronts. She reached the woods and stood, keeping behind a massive oak that fronted the edge of the grass. She looked for movement while trying to keep as still as possible. She kept her profile sideways to reduce her target signature.

She looked at her truck parked in the driveway. There was a lot of open ground to get there. With night-vision gear she’d be dead after two steps, pistol or not. This could be a waiting game, and maybe she should be content to do that with the police hopefully on the way.

Twenty minutes went by and nothing happened.

Sirens.

The cop car pulled up a minute later, its tires crunching into the gravel as it slid to a stop.

Two county cops emerged from their ride, guns drawn, in half crouches, peering around.

Michelle called out, “I’m Michelle Maxwell. I’m the one who called this in. There was a shooter in the front yard. I fired at someone. I think I might have hit the person.”

The cops peered in her direction. One of them yelled out, “I don’t see anyone. I want you to come out with your hands visible.” He added, “Are you armed?”

“I just said, I shot at the person shooting at me, so yeah, I’m armed.”

“Throw your weapon out and then come out, hands visible.”

“And if the shooter is still out there?”

“Like I said, I don’t see anyone. They must have already taken off.”

Michelle tossed her gun, moved out from behind the cover of the tree, and came forward. One of the cops hustled forward, marked her weapon with his foot while his partner covered Michelle.

“I’m a private investigator, here with permission.”

“Let me see some ID.”

Michelle showed him her ID and her gun permit.

“I was in the garage when I heard someone in the house. I slid out the window and took gunfire over there.” She pointed to the spot. “If you hit the grass with your light, you’ll see where the round–”

“Joe, you better get over here,” said the other cop. He was standing near Michelle’s truck.

“What is it?”

“Just get over here.”

Joe motioned Michelle to go ahead of him and they hustled over to where the other officer was standing.

They reached the spot and looked down.

The body was on its face, hands out wide, one shoe off. A bloody patch was dead center of the back where a bullet had gone in.

The other cop knelt down and turned the body slightly, while his partner focused his light on the corpse. There was no exit wound in the front. The round was still in her.

Michelle gasped when she saw who it was.

Hilary Cunningham, Ted Bergin’s secretary.

Joe shone the light at Michelle’s face making her look away. “Do you know her?”

Michelle nodded as she stared down in disbelief. In a halting voice she said, “She was the woman who gave me the keys to this house. She worked for the owner.”

“Well, lady, it looks like you just killed her.”

THE PHONE BUZZED.

He slept on.

It buzzed again.

He stirred.

It tickled his pocket one more time.

He woke. “Hello?” Sean said in a sleepy voice.

“It’s me,” said Michelle. “And I’m in a shitload of trouble.”

Sean sat up in the bed and automatically checked his watch. He had fallen asleep in his clothes. It was one in the morning.

“What happened?”

Ten minutes later he knew as much as Michelle did as she succinctly recounted the past events.

“Okay, don’t say anything else to them. I’m on my way.”

“On your way how?”

Sean stopped halfway off the bed. “What?”

“No flights for six hours.”

“I’ll drive.”

“That’ll get you here about the same time as the morning flight and that’s if you drive straight through. Which means you’ll be a zombie or else you’ll be dead after running off the road and hitting a tree. Or a moose. I’ll be okay for tonight. Just get down here with your brain intact and let’s figure this out.”

“Wait a minute, are they holding you?”

“I’m not local. I have a car. A woman is dead. I was the only living person on the scene. They have my gun. Which is the second weapon I’ve had confiscated by the cops, so yeah, they’re holding me.”

“Was it your slug that killed her?”

“They don’t know yet. They haven’t done the post. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it were. I fired in that direction at someone.”

“Do you think Hilary was firing at you?”

“There was no gun found on her person. All I know is a round came within six inches of landing in my head instead of the dirt.”

“Well, the slug will confirm your story.”

“Let’s hope they find it.”

“Isn’t it in the dirt?”

“I think it might be. But it also might have hit a stone buried in the grass and ricocheted off. I didn’t hang around to find out.”

“Okay. I’ll take the same flight you did to D.C. and then drive over to Charlottesville. I should be there around three.” He paused. “Do the cops really think you killed her intentionally?”

“I think the fact that I called it in, and they confirmed the call came from my cell, has made them less suspicious, but it still looks bad.”

“Okay, just sit tight until I get there.”

“Not much else I can do. Any news from Megan?”

“No.”

“Anything exciting happen to you while I was gone?”

Sean hesitated, debating whether to tell her. “Nothing that can’t keep.”

“Oh, bring the gun I bought up in Maine.”

“Fine. Let’s just hope this one isn’t confiscated, too.”

Sean clicked off, called the airline, bought a ticket, packed his bag, retrieved Michelle’s gun case from her room, and then called Megan’s cell phone. It again went right to voice mail. The FBI was definitely keeping her under wraps. In the message Sean didn’t tell her why he was heading back to Virginia, only that he would be in touch.

He also left a note for Mrs. Burke and headed out. He cranked the heater up and drove as fast as he could with the wind rushing through the shattered windows. He got to Bangor at about five in the morning. He prayed that when he went to check Michelle’s gun and ammo, they would not scrutinize his permit to carry a weapon, since he didn’t have one that was valid in Maine.

It was early, the airport folks were tired, and they didn’t even raise an eyebrow when he showed them his Virginia concealed weapon’s permit. Maine was the Vacation State, after all, and Americans did love to vacation with their weapons. And it also probably helped that he was checking the gun with no way to get to it during the flight.

He had coffee and stepped onto the plane at six thirty. He catnapped for the short flight. The connection in Philly did not go smoothly, and he had to scream at several airline personnel before they stuck him in the rear of a turboprop outbound to Reagan National. By some miracle Michelle’s gun found him at baggage claim, and he cabbed it home, packed his things, and was on the road to Charlottesville in a one-way rental about forty-five minutes behind schedule.