Дэвид Балдаччи - The Guilty

“He’s a complicated man. Like father like son. We still need to find Pete.”

His phone buzzed. It was Taggert.

The phone call in question had been untraceable. She wanted to know the significance of it.

Robie said, “I don’t know if it is significant. But now it’s a dead end.”

He clicked off and looked at Reel.

“Maybe we should bring the cops in on this,” she said.

“Taggert is good. But I don’t know about the rest of them. And I don’t want this to get screwed up. It might be our only shot.”

“Okay,” said Reel.

There was a knock on the door.

Robie answered it, revealing Victoria standing there in jeans, a white short-sleeved blouse, and heels.

“You two have time for a drink before dinner?” she asked. “Or do you have to keep on staying behind closed doors conspiring?”

They followed her downstairs, where there was a pitcher of vodka martinis on the rear verandah.

Victoria drank hers down. Robie sipped on his. Reel just held hers.

“We saw my dad today,” said Robie.

Victoria looked at Reel. “And what did you think of him?”

“Wasn’t like I had time to psychoanalyze him.”

“Your gut reaction.”

“Good guy, tough, proud, unbending. Doesn’t suffer fools gladly or any other way.”

Victoria looked impressed. “You have a perceptive gut.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“So, do you think you can find out what really happened to Sherman Clancy?”

“I hope we can.”

“Making progress?”

“Little by little.”

Victoria finished off another vodka martini.

“Where’s Tyler?” asked Reel.

“In his room. He was tired today. Think it’s the heat. Even if you’re used to it, it can wear you down. I guess that might be why life is slower down here. If people move too fast, they’ll just melt.”

After dinner Reel went back to her room and Robie joined Victoria on a walk of the rear grounds. They ended up next to the pool where they sat in low-slung lounge chairs.

“Jessica seems like someone you can depend on,” said Victoria.

“She is. And I have.”

“You two are tight?”

“As tight as anyone I know.”

“Good, Will, we all need somebody like that.”

“Did Dad talk to you about his idea?”

“You mean the one where Tyler and I get the hell out of Dodge?”

“Yes.”

“Not going to happen. I told him that. I’m here for the long haul, come what may.”

“I told him that would be your answer.”

She smiled. “Oh, so you think you can read me like a book, Will Robie?”

“Not saying that. But you didn’t strike me as the type to abandon someone.”

Her face fell for an instant before she regained her composure.

“I’m not,” she said firmly. “I wish others I’ve known had thought the same way. Had the same backbone.”

“So you’ve been abandoned?” asked Robie.

“In a way, Will, we’ve all been abandoned, haven’t we? Some of us just don’t know it, is all.”

Robie and Reel were on the move two hours before the set time.

The sky was cloudy with low rumbles of thunder, the breeze hot and the air so thick with moisture that a storm unleashing a tropical downpour appeared imminent.

They parked their car about a quarter mile away and hoofed it the rest of the way. When they reached the spot they split up and started their vigil.

They were armed with both weapons and night optics, which Reel had brought with her. They were also commed together.

Robie was hunkered down behind a stand of bushes. In front of him was the spot where he and Sara had first met. In his ear he heard Reel’s voice.

“I’ve got the high ground,” she said. “As soon as I see anything, I’ll ping you.”

“Roger that.”

He settled farther down behind his cover and let his sector sweeps go into automatic. He saw everything in wispy green thanks to his optics. He didn’t know what they would be encountering tonight. They had struck quite a staggering blow to what might be forces from the Rebel Yell Casino. These men had planned on killing Sara Chisum after using her as bait to get to Robie. He did not believe the young woman would be stupid enough to try her luck with them again.

But then again, you could never underestimate the stupidity of some people.

He checked his watch. Two minutes to go.

He let out a long breath. He wasn’t going to achieve complete cold zero now, but he also knew something else:

I’m in my element. This is what I do.

Robie heard the sound of the vehicle approaching in the distance. It would be pulling down the dirt road. It would go as far as it could go. And then the person would have to get out and walk the rest of the way, as Robie had when he’d first come here and stumbled upon Sara.

But where was Sara?

He assumed she would be arriving either by foot or by bike.

He spoke into his mic.

“You hear that?”

“Roger.”

“See anything?”

“I don’t have a sight line to the road from here. You want me to get one?”

“No, stand by. They’re supposed to meet in this clearing. The driver will have to get out of the car and walk to reach this spot.”

“You think Sara is coming by car?”

“Doubtful.”

Though he still couldn’t see it, Robie heard the vehicle come to a stop.

He knew he would next hear the engine being killed, the door opening, and feet smacking dirt.

But he didn’t hear any of those things.

The gunshot seared the silence of the night like a branding iron on skin.

Robie immediately spoke into his headset.

“Got a sight line of that shot?”

“Muzzle flash from the west.”

That was directly ahead of them. The direction from which the car had been coming.

Robie swept out from behind his hiding place, keeping low and with his target silhouette shrunken to a sliver. He aimed his pistol in front of him.

A few moments later Reel spoke into his ear.

“I’m on your left flank. Eight on the dial.”

Robie instantly started to move toward the sound of the shot. He wasn’t going to rush this and knew Reel wasn’t, either. It was all about urgency under control.

But when he heard the car’s engine roar he started to sprint forward.

He cleared the last of the trees and looked to his left.

Reel was emerging just at that instant, but on his left, about thirty yards away.

Her sniper rifle was in hand. She peered toward him, a set of NV goggles over her eyes.

He gave the hand sign, which he knew she could see with the aid of the goggles. He didn’t wait for her to confirm. He shot forward, turned to his left, and came out onto a section of the dirt road.

He saw two things.

First was Sara Chisum lying on the left shoulder of the road. She was on her back, her body in the short grass.

The second thing Robie saw was the set of taillights. They were nearly out of sight.

He raised his gun and fired six times at the fleeing vehicle.

His odds of hitting it at this distance, and in these conditions, were low. But he thought he might have struck it once. At least it sounded like metal hitting metal.

Reel burst out onto the road a second later. She lifted her rifle. She would have a far better chance to hit the vehicle, but before she could fire, it turned and was completely out of sight.

And as good a shot as Jessica Reel was, she could not force a bullet to defy the laws of gravity and bend its flight path at a forty-five-degree angle in order to hit a target.

“Damn!” exclaimed Reel.

Robie was already next to Sara Chisum. He pressed his finger against her carotid, searching for a pulse.