Дэвид Балдаччи - The Escape

He quietly retreated to where his truck was parked. He had kept the engine running because it was quieter than trying to later start it. He’d also backed into the spot so he could now pull straight out. He climbed in, slipped the truck into gear, released the brake, eased out, and then basically let the truck’s forward momentum take him where he wanted to go. Once he was sufficiently far away, he hit the gas and sped down the road.

Robert Puller had followed his brother from the motel where General Daughtrey had been found. Then he had continued to follow him all the rest of the day, ending at the place where his brother was staying. He had seen the men force John into the SUV and he had followed them here. He didn’t know what had gone on inside the house. He had heard snatches of a voice, but could not make out what had been said. He didn’t know who the men were. He had made a quick search of the SUV, but there was no registration or other identification documents.

He could have charged into the house, but even with the brutally efficient weapon he was carrying he thought the odds of his winning the battle were too low. And he didn’t want to jeopardize his freedom or his brother’s life on bad odds.

He knew his brother could run a mile in less than six minutes and perform the Army standard two-mile run in a bit under twelve minutes. He checked his watch. John Puller should reach the main highway shortly. He would have found some way to defeat his bindings. He had a gun. He was safe.

Robert Puller pulled off to the side of the road. He did this for two reasons. He wanted to see if anyone was coming after his brother. And he also wanted to give John time to reach the main road. If he passed him in the truck, his brother’s CID instincts would kick in, meaning he would memorize the license plate of the truck, the make and model, and every element of the driver that he could see under the current conditions. And Robert was still paranoid that his brother would be able to see through even his elaborate disguise.

He waited eight minutes and drove down the road at a slow pace until he reached the main road. As he pulled onto it his gaze swept in all directions. He saw him about fifteen seconds later. And he eyed with more than a bit of pride his brother walking along the road, his hands free.

Some people one could completely rely on. And his brother was one of them.

As Robert Puller drove slowly along he saw his brother take out his phone and start punching in numbers. Then he turned off the main road, crossed over a berm, and disappeared on the other side.

You’re welcome, bro. And keep your head down from here on. It’s not going to get any easier. It’s only going to get worse. Trust me. If you still can.

Robert Puller punched the gas and sped on.

JOHN PULLER CHANGED motels once more.

At this rate he thought affordable lodging opportunities in Leavenworth might be extinguished far sooner than he would like. He spent some time with AWOL, who had taken the move better than he had. If only the feline could talk, for AWOL had been the only one other than Daughtrey to see the Air Force general’s killer.

He didn’t know if the police had come in answer to his 911 phone call, not that it would have mattered. He wasn’t planning on reporting his kidnapping. The local cops would not be able to figure it out and Puller wanted to play all these recent cards very close to his vest.

He did call Knox and asked her to meet him the next morning at the same diner where they’d had dinner.

At seven a.m. he was sitting in the same booth when the door opened and she walked in, dressed as usual in a dark pantsuit with a white blouse. He watched her spot him and walk over. As her long legs ate up the ground Puller knew he had to do one of two things: trust her or not trust her. And despite her seemingly sincere and graphic display of her war wounds, he did not trust easily. That was because his trust had too often been either misplaced, outright broken, or both.

She sat down and ordered coffee from the hovering waitress, and when the old woman had gone off to fill the request Puller leaned forward and recounted to her what had happened. He watched her closely to see if her surprise was genuine.

He concluded that it was. But Puller also knew that whatever he was dealing with was so full of deceit and fraught with peril that even the slightest misstep could be disastrous. He was also beginning to doubt his normally reliable judgment.

After her coffee came and the waitress drifted away she spoke. And Knox’s first question intrigued him.

“Who fired the shot that killed the light?” she asked. “Because whoever did that probably saved your life.”

“Shots,” corrected Puller. “At least six. I’m thinking an M4A1. The M4 has a max three-round burst option. I’ve fired enough of them to know the sound it makes. But you’re right. The shooter did save my life. And whoever did it had followed us up there.”

“So did that person have you under surveillance or the other guys?”

“Fair question. But I don’t have an answer.”

“An M4 is a standard Army issue,” she noted.

“It used to be a mainstay of Special Forces. I carried one when I was a Ranger. All infantry units use it heavily too.”

“Do you think these guys are the ones who killed Daughtrey?”

“I don’t know. Could be. But something about what the voice said made me think.”

“Think what exactly?”

“That he’s not simply a criminal,” said Puller.

“Because he talked about having the good of the country in mind?”

“Only what country, Knox? Maybe he’s in the intelligence field.”

“Puller, American intelligence agencies do not kidnap and try to murder federal lawmen.”

“You sure about that?”

“I can’t believe you’re even asking me that.”

“Really? After everything that’s happened?”

She gazed down, seemingly unable to meet his eye. She tapped her spoon against her coffee cup. “If the person is in the intel field, maybe it’s for one of our enemies, like you suggested.”

“Maybe.”

“There is one thing you should know.”

“What?” he said, reading her tone to mean that whatever she was about to say would not be good news.

“Al Jordan, the maintenance guy who had the blown transformers?”

“Yeah, did you talk to him? Find out who took them?”

“I tried to talk to him.”

“What do you mean, ‘tried’?”

“He’s been transferred.”

“Transferred! Where?”

“I can’t get a straight answer on that.”

“He’s a maintenance guy. He’s been here for fifteen years. I checked his file. There would be only one reason to transfer him, Knox.”

“To get him out of the way so he couldn’t tell anyone what he knows – as in who took the damn transformers!” she finished angrily. “And I checked the substation. All the debris has been cleaned up. Even if we go out there we won’t find anything.”

Puller sat back and looked around the diner before giving her a piercing stare. “And you’re jacking me around for being paranoid?”

Now she looked up at him. “Maybe I just didn’t want to believe it was possible,” she said quietly.

“I thought in the intelligence field allies became enemies on a daily basis.”

“That is grossly exaggerated by the press and in the movies and on TV.”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“I guess you will. So where do we go from here?”

“Fort Leavenworth.”

“And what are we looking for there?”

“How a guy not connected to the United States military ended up as part of the response team to the incident at DB and was found dead in my brother’s cell. And I’m not leaving there until I find an answer.”