Дэвид Балдаччи - Daylight

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause I know the limo driver. See, it was the same driver and limo. He was just ferrying folks, because no one came at the same time. He sometimes comes up to the parties. I’ve talked to him. No, they were going to that apartment, for sure.”

Pine thought about all this for a few moments. “Okay, let’s move on. What about Sheila Weathers?”

“She was just a chick at the fort. She worked in the cafeteria. She was nice. She really knew nothing about the drugs. Why would they kill her?”

“Because they wanted to frame me for it and make sure I wasn’t around to defend myself, that’s why.”

“That’s really shitty.”

“They killed your old man, you know. Because we talked with him. He knew something was going on with you. He said you were in over your head.”

Vincenzo’s head drooped. “Yeah, I figured out that he was right, a few minutes ago.”

“Why did he say you were in over your head?”

“I went to visit him. I was getting freaked out. I mean, the strange writing on the boxes, this fancy apartment with all the cameras, Lindsey popping up at the bar like she did and coming on to a guy like me.”

“And what did your father tell you?”

“He told me to get out while I still could. Only I couldn’t figure a way to do it.” He looked up at her. “So what the hell is going on here? It’s not just about drugs, is it?”

“No, it’s a lot more than that. But let me ask you something else, totally off topic.”

“What?” he said curiously.

“Your grandfather, Ito?”

Vincenzo looked surprised. “My grandfather? What about him?”

“Did you ever meet him?”

Vincenzo’s eyes narrowed. “If I did, I don’t really remember. He... he just disappeared one day, or so my dad told me.”

“Any idea what happened to him?”

“No. My dad said he just up and vanished. Not a word to him or my grandma. They were pissed. Why are you interested in him?”

“Just in connection with something else. What else did your dad tell you about him? I know about the ice creamery. What else do you know about his past? Did he serve in Vietnam?”

“Yeah, in the Army. My dad told me Ito had a low lottery number and got drafted. Did his training at Fort Benning. You know that place?”

“Oh, yeah, I know it. You ever go up in the attic here and look through the boxes, old photo albums?”

“I only come here to drink beer and sit on the beach.”

“You ever heard of a man named Leonard Atkins? Who might have saved your grandfather’s life over there?”

“No.”

Pine was about to ask another question when she heard a noise outside. She hurried to the window overlooking the front of the house and saw a black SUV pull in.

She ran back into the bathroom and grabbed Vincenzo. “I hope you can run as fast as you did when I was chasing you.”

“What? Why?”

“Because your girlfriend’s cleanup team is here. Move!”

Axilrod must have heard the sounds of the car, too, because she started to kick the wall of the closet and scream.

Pine jerked the door open, leaned down, and clocked her in the face with her fist. Axilrod slumped unconscious. Pine looked up at Vincenzo. “Damn, that felt good.”

She and Vincenzo flew down the steps and then out the back door. They ran flat out toward the beach and turned right when they hit the sand. This direction, Pine knew, would carry them toward the police station she had passed on the way in.

As she sprinted along, Pine pulled out her phone, punched in 911, identified herself, gave the address of the beach house and what had happened there and their approximate current location. Then she put the phone back in her pocket, turned, and saw light skipping over the sand and coming toward them. A second later, bullets sailed past her.

“Go, Tony, go,” she screamed at him, and he picked up his pace even more, as Pine slowed just a bit. She was going to keep herself between Vincenzo and the people after them.

To get to him, they’d have to kill her.

And right now, Pine wouldn’t have bet on herself surviving the night.

I am not going to die on a beach in freaking New Jersey.

Pine was running as fast as she could in the tightly packed wet sand as the breakers pounded to the left of her and the tide was heading out. And if that wasn’t enough, a storm was starting to rage off the coast.

Sweat was running down her face, though it was chilly. Out over the water a spear of lightning punched out of the dark clouds and headed directly to the Atlantic. Then followed an unholy crack of thunder that seemed to shake her right to her soul. She could see Vincenzo about fifty feet in front of her and running flat out.

“Keep going,” she urged. “As fast as you can.”

As more shots were fired at them she decided to do something. She stopped, pivoted, pulled her Glock and her Beretta, and opened fire, even as more bullets sailed over her. She was aiming at the dots of light coming her way. They stopped shooting and fell to the sand for cover. She turned and ran.

Where the hell is Tony?

He was no longer in front of her. She looked to the ocean and beach side and saw nothing. She sprinted full out. And fell flat onto the beach because she had tripped over something lying on the sand.

Pine felt wetness on her face, and it wasn’t rain or ocean spray. She righted herself and flinched when she saw that what she had tripped over was Vincenzo. He was gasping for breath, and in the spike of another lightning bolt she saw both his contorted features and the bloody wound in his chest. She quickly felt under him and her hand came away all bloodied. He had apparently been shot in the back while running and the bullet had come out the front.

He suddenly focused on her and grabbed Pine’s arm.

He gasped, “D-don’t let me... die. P-please.”

Tears streamed down his face and mixed with the raindrops that were starting to fall.

“Okay, Tony, just stay calm. Stay calm.”

She knew this was pretty much impossible under the circumstances.

Pine felt the pulse at his neck and looked down at the ugly, bleeding wound in his torso. She put her hand over the wound to stop the flow of blood, but that wasn’t going to work since he had holes in front and back. And he was no doubt hemorrhaging internally.

She eyed the pursuers behind her. They were still hunkered down apparently. She fired four more shots in their direction to keep them there.

She called 911 again, explained the situation, and put her phone away. As she looked down at Vincenzo, she knew they were never going to make it in time.

He seemed to understand this because he gripped her arm even more tightly and his eyes became even more panicked.

“I’m here, Tony. Help is on the way.”

He shuddered and then shook his head stubbornly, now clearly aware that his death was near. He motioned for her to bend closer. She did so.

“T-tell my mom that I... I love h-her.”

“Just hang in there, okay?”

She didn’t want to give him false hope, but she didn’t know what else to say. And what did any words really matter at this point?

The next sounds Pine heard were sirens cutting through the dark.

She looked back and saw the light dots swiftly moving to the street. They had evidently heard the sounds, too, and were beating a hasty retreat.

When she looked back down at Vincenzo another lightning burst revealed his face clearly.

He was dead.

She closed his eyes, rose, and sprinted toward the street.

Pine arrived there in time to see the men climb into the black SUV farther down the road and speed off in her direction. She ducked down behind a garbage can before it got close. As the vehicle raced past her she saw the person in the back seat.