Jack Ford - Dead Edge - the gripping political thriller for fans of Lee Child

Cooper wiped his lips. Big mistake. Felt like he’d just been kicked in the mouth. ‘Don’t play games, Earl, tell me where I am. I haven’t got time for this.’

‘Oh, I think you’ve got plenty of time, Coop. In fact, with the list of things they want to charge you with, time seems to be all you’ll have. So off the top of my head, it goes something like this. Grand theft auto, aggravated motor vehicle theft in the first degree, reckless driving, exhibition of speed, vagrancy…’

‘Vagrancy?’

Earl nodded, his over-gelled, jet-black hair staying perfectly in place. ‘Take that one on the chin, Coop; something tells me that charge is going to be the least of your worries. Oh, and just in case you didn’t realize, this is before you add on skipping Judge Saunders’ afternoon court session, and everything he wanted to throw at you. Want me to carry on?’

‘Nope. I get it… How did you know I was here?’

‘Officer Monroe called me. He recognized your sorry butt. He was the officer who picked you up the last few times. Anyway, once the Feds realized you weren’t a significant threat to the president, and once you’d been checked out by the doc, they placed you in the custody of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department… Jeez, Coop, you got a big problem if you can’t remember any of this.’

And he was right. Not remembering was a problem because right then it led on to him remembering. The dam of amnesia crumbled, the flood of memory came crashing in, bringing an anxious tide of tight, strangling breath. ‘Is he… is he okay?’

Earl looked puzzled. ‘Who?’

Cooper gripped onto the cell bars as if a drowning man. He spilled his words as quietly as he could. ‘The President. Is he okay? Was he hurt…? Just answer me, Earl.’

‘Coop?’

Banging on the steel bars blasted an agony through Cooper’s shoulder. ‘Just answer me! Please! ’

‘What’s going on?’

‘Earl, Goddamn it!’

Puzzlement drilled into Earl’s words and if Cooper hadn’t known him so well, it might’ve sounded like scorn. ‘Yeah… yeah, of course. He’s fine. Coop, what’s this about? What’s the President got to do with anything? I…’

Cooper didn’t hear the rest of Earl’s words. He just vomited. Right there. Retching up his relief. His fear from the pit of his stomach.

‘Christ, Coop. You okay? I’ll go and get someone.’

Cooper slumped hard on the iron contraption they called a bed. ‘No, it’s okay. Wait, look. I just need you to get me out of here. How much bail are they asking for?’

Earl’s feet shuffled. ‘Here’s the thing Coop, I can’t.’

‘Can’t what?’

‘Can’t get you out. Rather, I’m not going to do that.’

‘I love you, Earl, and I’m sorry about everything. Truly. But let’s put it right on the table; your jokes have never been funny, and right now, they’re even worse than usual.’

Earl’s expression became pitiful. ‘I’m sorry, Coop, this isn’t a joke. I promised I wouldn’t help to get you out, not this time. But I still wanted to come down to see if you were alright.’

Cooper stood up. Too fast. Pain ripped through. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

‘I promised I wouldn’t. Look, I’d better go, I’ll get one of the officers to come and clean that up for you. And I am sorry… I’ll see you soon. Okay?’

‘Earl…! Earl! Don’t you leave me here…! Promised who…? I’m talking to you, Earl. Come back here—’

‘Hello, Cooper.’

That voice which sang the backdrop of his childhood. Screamed the setting of his youth. Cried the resentment of his military days and the chant of sorrow. That voice, it explained everything.

Cooper stared at his Uncle. Captain Beau Neill. Commandant and kin. One-time martinet, these days a monk.

With as much hostility as he could muster, Cooper said, ‘I take it this is your idea, Beau, not to get me out of here.’

Beau chewed on his unlit cigar. Dug his fingers into the top of his throbbing sciatic nerve, something he often told Cooper was his test of suffering . With disappointment dripping from his voice, Beau pulled a disappointed face. ‘What the hell did you think you were doing, Cooper? You never change do you? But no, for your information, keeping you here wasn’t my idea.’

Cooper gritted his teeth. Regretted it straight away. ‘Just get me the hell out.’

‘Sorry, no can do. There’s a person who thinks keeping you here just for a little while longer might help you think about what you’ve done, and I have to agree.’

‘I’m not a kid, Beau.’

‘No you’re not, Coop, but you sure as hell act like one.’

‘Is this what they teach you in the monastery, Beau? How to be compassionate?’

‘Oh don’t worry about me, Coop. I’ve got a lot to learn and a hell of a lot of sins to repent, so I’ll just go on and add this one to the list. And hey, I can live with that.’

‘Is this funny to you?’ Cooper said.

‘Not one Goddamn bit…Tell me something, Coop, because I need to know if you’ve lost your mind completely… Enlighten me as to what made you think it was a good idea to follow the President’s motorcade? Because I’m guessing that’s what you were doing. But here’s the really big question… Why?’

‘I dunno… maybe it wasn’t the smartest of things to do.’

The shaking of the head in cold disapproval was the epitome of disdain. Something Cooper knew Beau was well versed at. ‘You got that damn right.’

Cooper took a deep breath. Tried to hold onto his temper. Gave up trying. ‘What the hell was I supposed to do? Come on, tell me, seeing as you’ve got all the answers.’

‘What the rest of us did. Keep our damn heads and find out the facts first. If I’d had a knee jerk reaction and acted like that when I was a Captain in the US Navy, just because I’d heard something, what kind of Captain would that have made me? Or when I was serving in…’

Cooper cut Beau down. ‘You don’t have to give me a history of your military career, Beau. I served under you and I know exactly the kind of Captain you were.’

Beau stepped closer to the bars. Hissed his words. ‘Are we going to go through this again? Cooper, I was not responsible for the accident, and you know that.’

Hurt bobbed off Cooper’s words. ‘I never said you were, Beau. Problem is, when I’m stuck on one side of the bars – the wrong side – and you’re on the other and you won’t help me out, well, I can’t help but feel resentful… Reminds me of that day.’

Beau came back with hostility. ‘You can’t help yourself, can you?’

‘You were not only my Captain, you were my Uncle, and when I asked you… begged you to help , you turned your back and you walked away…’

‘Now you listen here, Coop, I don’t know how many times over the years I’ve had to say it, but it was too damn late. Now let it go.’

Quietly Cooper said, ‘You make it out like it’s a bad thing to love someone.’

‘You puzzle me, Coop. I don’t understand you, because the only relationship you seem to have or want is with a dead woman. What about with all the other people who care about you? You push them away. You don’t give a damn about them or how they feel. That’s why I don’t get this crazy car chase you did. The majority of the time you don’t want to know. But yet, you do a mad dash. Was it the drugs? Turn your mind?’

Cooper wanted to smash something. Anything. Anything which would give him some breathing space from his Uncle Beau. ‘No, it wasn’t the Goddamn drugs. I just… I just…’

‘Don’t say you care, Coop, because we both know you don’t.’