Part 24 (1/2)

”Did you hear it?”

”I didn't imagine it.”

”It talked. It said said something.” something.”

”Did you hear what it said? said?”

Chapter Forty-Seven.

Irons sat in his office atop the Berg Brothers tower in downtown Orlando. He was calm. He was cool. The news was pouring into him by the second. His fax machines whirred constantly and his e-mail was logjammed and his other lines rang incessantly.

But he was cool.

He had picked up the phone and he had made a phone call. One was all it would take. Now he would just have to wait. He sighed and buzzed his secretary.

A day later.

Davis Cauthen was there. He sat in Grisham's office, the two of them with Cauthen's own a.s.sistant, a willowy man named Morgan, and Redmond was there. They had things to talk about before Grisham went out once again to wipe out those d.a.m.ned birds.

”It's too late for this kind of action, Winston,” Cauthen told him. ”The word's out. Too many people saw saw them. The government is already down here like white on rice, and you know it. There's nothing you can them. The government is already down here like white on rice, and you know it. There's nothing you can do, do, now.” now.”

Colonel Grisham sat and steamed. His face was pale with rage. ”Well, I'm not taking the fall for this bull. My men were supposed to clean Holcomb's place, mop it up, leave nothing nothing. But those d.a.m.ned birds took my men out out. All of them.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his military-cut head in disbelief.

”They're going to be here to question you, soon, Winston. And there are things you're going to have to say. You're going to have to take some of the heat for this. You know that.” Senator Cauthen looked grimly at his old friend. His expression was not without some pity.

”No way. I'm not taking any heat for this. I have the proof of who ordered this action, how I was bribed and entrapped into it. And I'm going to cough it all up to the media. I won't play their stinking games. Do you hear hear me?” He smashed his hard fists down on the desk to punctuate his threat. me?” He smashed his hard fists down on the desk to punctuate his threat.

”I'm sorry you feel that way, Win. You don't really mean it, do you?”

”You're d.a.m.ned right I mean it. I'm not playing any games with these Yankee a.s.sholes. They don't know who I am or what I am. They know nothing of the things we deal with on a daily basis: our word, and the loyalty of our fellows. I've got the proposal they offered me, and I have the information they already had concerning the existence of these d.a.m.ned monsters monsters.”

”That's your final word then,” Cauthen said.

”It is. You can take that back to them. We'll see how this ends up. You have my word on it. And I have my men. Men like Redmond here, who will always stand up for me.”

”Well, then.” Cauthen cleared his throat.

At that signal, Cauthen's a.s.sistant and Redmond were on Grisham in a flash. The younger men each rushed forward and held him down. The old colonel stared in complete shock at the two, then at his old friend. ”What? What's the meaning, Davis? What are you do-”

But he never finished the question. For Cauthen produced and had jammed the barrel of a .44 magnum into Grisham's opened mouth and pulled the trigger. All three men were spattered with blood and tissue as the bullet emerged from the top of the colonel's skull and lodged in one of the old books on a shelf just behind his head.

”What happened here, Redmond?” Cauthen asked as he straightened.

”We tried tried to stop him. That's why he called you down here. To help him out of the jam he'd gotten himself into. He ordered the attack on Holcomb's compound, to try to get rid of the commie eco-freak. And while you were sitting here trying to talk him into turning himself in, he blew his brains out. We tried to stop him, but it was just no good. He was a determined man.” to stop him. That's why he called you down here. To help him out of the jam he'd gotten himself into. He ordered the attack on Holcomb's compound, to try to get rid of the commie eco-freak. And while you were sitting here trying to talk him into turning himself in, he blew his brains out. We tried to stop him, but it was just no good. He was a determined man.”

Wiping the pistol clean of his prints, the senator placed it in the hand of his old friend. ”Very good, son. I'm sure you'll find your life enriched by your testimony. You keep mind of that each time you buy something nice for your kids or that new house for your wife.”

”Don't give it another thought, sir.”

No one did.

In Irons' office, a special line rang for him. Only three people had that number, and he always always picked it up. On the other end a familiar voice spoke to him. picked it up. On the other end a familiar voice spoke to him.

”It's taken care of,” the voice said. ”Grisham ordered it alone.”

”Thanks for the news,” Irons said. And he hung up.

Chapter Forty-Eight.

Looking back on it, Ron had to be amused.

After the brown one went down and the red one ran off, the place had almost become the media-driven madhouse Mary had predicted. As if what had happened already had not been bad enough.

The first thing that happened was that Holcomb seemed to take command, despite the fact that most of the officials who showed up were employed by a company that thought of him as an implacable foe. It was rather funny, or would have been in a world in which true justice exits. A large truck with a large cage was needed, Holcomb had informed the security boys. And somehow, some way, just such a contraption was located. And before Big Bird woke up. It was all so comforting to see the truck arrive and the bird be locked safely behind iron bars just before it began to stir.

And that's when Holcomb noticed Ron and Mary. Really Really noticed them. noticed them.

”What are you doing with those guns?” he asked, pointing at the rifles with the very fancy nightscopes mounted on.

Ron and Mary stammered for a bit, the hired cops looking upon them with suspicion now that the resident jillionaire had singled them out for questioning. Their cop brows went up in what amounted to curiosity behind their thick skulls. What came out of Ron and Mary was, basically, ”We got them from dead guys.” They were quickly disarmed and handcuffed.

But they were not formally arrested until the real police arrived from the county seat.

From there, things got interesting and it was only after long bouts of questioning and the hiring of lawyers and the arrival of further representation from Fish & Wildlife that first Ron, and then Mary were released. After a few days their story was finally believed and authorities took them at their word that they were not involved in the killings that had taken place at Holcomb's compound. It was roughly around the time that Holcomb appeared on their behalf with testimony from a witness to corroborate their tale.

”Kate Kwitney was there. She saw the whole sordid event unfold,” Holcomb had told them. And sure enough, the wounded young woman had told her tale from her hospital bed. Her own story was pretty amazing, too, Ron and Mary thought. The militia madmen had left the lady for dead, The militia madmen had left the lady for dead, and only when Holcomb had arrived with help was she discovered unconscious in the lab where she and her murdered coworkers had often worked. and only when Holcomb had arrived with help was she discovered unconscious in the lab where she and her murdered coworkers had often worked.

In the days thereafter, Ron and Mary tried to convince everyone who would listen that Kate had provided the killers with aid, had even gunned down Adam Levin. But she said it had been an unfortunate accident; that she was aiming for one of the killers she saw in the forest. She would never touch a gun again as long as she lived, she pouted to one and all.

The newspapers and the video magazines had a field day with it. Grisham, extremist nut that he was, took the fall for everything. But Ron and Mary knew better. Not that the information meant anything. They had talked it over and had decided not to rock the boat. It wouldn't do either of them any good, and might even get them sued into oblivion, the only fate they knew of worse than death.

So they kept their mouths shut. ”Sure,” Mary had told the cops. ”Come to think of it, I think maybe she was was aiming at someone past Levin.” aiming at someone past Levin.”

Case closed.