Robert Crais - Sunset Express

Rossi and I slipped up to the side of the shed, then crept toward the door. We listened, but all we could hear was Mrs Earle crying. I touched Rossi, then pointed to myself, then the door, telling her that I was going to risk a look. She nodded. I went down onto my hands and knees, edged forward, and peeked inside. Mrs Earle was on the floor, tied, and Kerris and Truly were standing together just inside the far door. Truly looked nervous, like he didn't want to be there. The black guy wasn't inside; he'd probably gone back to help the crew cut with the shovels. I was still looking at them when the guy with the crew cut walked past the side of the shed with the shovel and the plastic and a sour expression and saw us. He did a classic double take, said, 'Hey!' then dropped the shovels and plastic to claw for his gun when I shot him two times in the chest. I said, 'Get Mrs Earle.'

Rossi rolled past into the door with me behind her when we heard three shots from the front of the shed. Kerris grabbed Truly and pushed him in the way and fired fast four times. Rossi said, 'Shit.'

Truly was looking confused and Mrs Earle was staring at us with wide, frightened eyes, and I was scared that if I tried to hit Kerris I would hit her. I fired high and Kerris fell back, scrambling through the door, firing as he went. Truly turned to run after him, and when he did he turned square into Kerris and was kicked backwards by one of the rounds, and then Kerris was gone. There was shouting out front, Kerris and the black guy, and more firing. The black guy was yelling, 'I'm hit! Oh, Holy Jesus, I'm hit!'

Rossi went to Mrs Earle and I went to Truly. Truly was trying to get up and not having a good time of it. The bullet had hit him maybe three inches to the right of his sternum, and a flower of red was blooming on his shirt. He said, 'I think I've been shot.'

Rossi was untying Mrs Earle. I said, 'Are you all right?'

Mrs Earle was still crying. 'They shot Mr Lawrence.'

Rossi helped her up, telling her that she had to stand, that she had to move to the side, out of the way, telling her that everything was going to be okay. The lies you tell someone when you need them to cooperate because their life depends on it. Truly said, 'Am I going to die?'

I tore off my shirt and bundled it and pressed it to his chest. 'I don't know.'

I pulled off his belt and wrapped it around his chest and the shirt and buckled it tight. He said, 'Oh, God, that hurts.'

There were more shots by the cars and running footsteps, and then Joe Pike slipped through the door. Maybe six shots slammed into the door and the walls and through the open doorway. Maybe seven. Pike said, 'Those Glocks are something.'

Rossi duck-walked over. 'What's the deal out front?'

Joe said, 'The black guy's punched out. Kerris is behind the Jaguar. I don't know about the crew cut.'

Rossi nodded toward the rear. 'Forget him.'

I said, 'Can we get to Kerris?'

Pike made a little shrug. 'He's got a clean field of fire at us. We could go back the way we came, maybe, and work our way around.' He glanced at Truly. 'Take about twenty minutes to work around behind the Jag.'

I turned Truly's face so that he looked at me. 'You hear that, Elliot? You're bleeding and we're pinned down in here and Kerris is doing the pinning.'

Truly opened his mouth, then closed it. He blinked at me, then shook his head. 'Kerris kidnapped these people. He shot that old man. I didn't know anything about it.'

Rossi said, 'Bullshit.'

I shook Truly's face. 'Stop lying, you idiot. Stop worrying about incriminating yourself, and start worrying about dying.'

He shook his head. His eyes filled with tears, and the tears tumbled out and ran down into his hair.

I said, 'It's you and Kerris and the black guy and the guy with the crew cut. Is there anyone else up here?'

He shook his head again. 'No.' A whisper.

'Is anyone else supposed to come up here?'

The crying grew worse and became a cough. When he coughed, pink spittle blew out across his chin and the chest wound made a wheezing sound.

I said, 'Tell Kerris to give it up. If Kerris gives it up, we can get you to a hospital.'

Truly's face wrinkled from the pain and he yelled, 'Kerris! Kerris, it's over. I need a doctor!' It wasn't much of a yell.

Kerris didn't answer.

Elliot Truly yelled, 'Goddammit, Kerris, enough of this, would you, please?! I'm dying! I've got to get to a doctor!' He coughed again, and this time a great red bubble floated up from his mouth.

Rossi duck-walked over. She said, 'You're fucked, Elliot. Your man outside is in for murder and he's looking to save himself. He's got to kill us and this woman to do that, and he doesn't give a damn if you live or die.'

Truly moaned. 'Oh, God.'

Rossi leaned closer to him. 'Maybe you'll make it, but maybe you won't. We still might get Kerris, though, and the sonofabitch who put you into this spot. Give him up, Elliot. Tell us what we want to hear.'

Truly squeezed his eyes shut, but still the tears came out. 'It was Jonathan.'

Rossi smiled. It was small, and it was personal.

I said, 'Everything that's happened, it's so Jonathan can take over Teddy's companies, isn't it?'

Truly tried to nod, but it didn't look like much. 'Not at first. At first, Jonathan was just going to defend him, like anyone else.'

'But Teddy got scared.'

Truly coughed, and more bubbles came up. 'Oh, God, it hurts. God, it hurts so bad.'

I said, 'Did Teddy kill his wife?'

Truly wet his lips to answer, and made his lips red. 'Yes. He denied it at first, but Jonathan knew. You can always tell. You know when they did it.'

Rossi frowned at me and nodded. You see?

Truly said, 'Then he just admitted it. I'm not sure why, but he did, just out of the blue one night when we were going over his story. Jonathan and I were alone with him and he started to cry and he admitted that he killed her. That changed everything. Jonathan advised him to negotiate a plea, but Teddy wouldn't do that. He was scared of going to prison, and he begged Jonathan not to quit the case. He said that he'd do anything rather than go to prison.'

'Even give away everything he owned.'

Another nod. 'That was Jonathan's price.'

Rossi said, 'All that stuff about Pritzik and Richards. That was bullshit?'

'Jonathan and Kerris and I put it together. Jonathan had the idea of a straw man, and Kerris came up with Pritzik and Richards, and I knew Lester. We just put it together.' He started coughing again, and this time a great gout of blood bubbled up and he moaned. I put my hands on the compress and leaned on it. He said, 'I don't want to die. Oh, God, please Jesus, I don't want to die. Please save me.'

I wiped the blood off his face and forced open his eyes and said, 'You're a piece of shit, Truly, but I'm going to save you, do you hear? Just hang on, and I will get you to a hospital. Do you hear me?'

He nodded. 'Uh-hunh.'

'Don't die on me, you sonofabitch.'

He moaned, and his eyes rolled back.

I checked on Mrs Earle, and made sure that she was behind as much metal as possible, and then Rossi and I went over to Pike. Pike was peering through a split in the door jamb. 'He got a shotgun from the van. He's talking on his cell phone.'

'Great. Probably calling for reinforcements.'

Pike glanced at Rossi. 'Be real nice if Tomsic happened to find us about now.'

Rossi shrugged. 'Let's all hold our breaths.'

I edged past Pike and looked through the split. Kerris was behind the Jaguar with the shotgun. The black guy was lying on his side between the Jag and the van, and Mr Lawrence was on his back a few yards behind him. The black guy was probably unconscious, but he might've been dead. I yelled, 'Come on, Kerris. There's three of us and one of you. Don't be stupid.'