Part 33 (1/2)
”I don't know,” I said. ”Maybe somebody's coming. You just got through telling me how many people you got on your back.”
”We've got a wall and a gate.”
”You got a boat?”
”No,” he said. ”Why?”
”If they get as far as the gate, you're going to need a boat. They could sit there and starve you out.”
He said nothing.
”I'll take the Saab,” I said.
”Why?”
Because it's lighter than the Cadillac.
”Because I want to leave the Cadillac for you,” I said. ”It's bigger.”
”What are you going to do?”
”Whatever I need to,” I said. ”I'm your head of security now. Maybe nothing's happening, but if it is, then I'm going to try to take care of it for you.”
”What do I do?”
”You keep a window open and listen,” I said. ”At night with all this water around, you'll hear me from a couple miles away if I'm shooting. If you do, put everybody in the Cadillac and get the h.e.l.l out. Drive fast. Don't stop. I'll hold them off long enough for you to get past. Have you got someplace else to go?”
He nodded. Didn't tell me where.
”So go there,” I said. ”If I make it, I'll get to the office. I'll wait there, in the car. You can check there later.”
”OK,” he said.
”Now call Paulie on the internal phone and tell him to stand by to let me through the gate.”
”OK,” he said again.
I left him there in the hallway. Walked out into the night. I detoured around the courtyard wall and retrieved my bundle from its hole. Carried it back to the Saab and put it on the rear seat. Then I slid into the front and fired up the engine and backed out. Drove slow around the carriage circle and accelerated down the drive. The lights on the wall were bright in the distance. I could see Paulie at the gate. I slowed a little and timed it so I didn't have to stop. I went straight through. Drove west, staring through the winds.h.i.+eld, looking for headlight beams coming toward me.
I drove four miles, and then I saw a government Taurus. It was parked on the shoulder.
Facing toward me. No lights. The old guy was sitting behind the wheel. I killed my lights and slowed and stopped window to window with him. Wound down my gla.s.s. He did the same. Aimed a flashlight and a gun at my face until he saw who I was. Then he put them both away.
”The bodyguards are out,” he said.
I nodded. ”I figured. When?”
”Close to four hours ago.”
I glanced ahead, involuntarily. No time.
”We got two men down,” he said.
”Killed?”
He nodded. Said nothing.
”Did Duffy report it?”
”She can't,” he said. ”Not yet. We're off the books. This whole situation isn't even happening.”
”She'll have to report it,” I said. ”It's two guys.”
”She will,” he said. ”Later. After you deliver. Because the objectives are right back in place again. She needs Beck for justification, now more than ever.”
”How did it go down?”
He shrugged. ”They bided their time. Two of them, four of us. Should have been easy.
But our boys got sloppy, I guess. It's tough, locking people down in a motel.”
”Which two got it?”
”The kids who were in the Toyota.”
I said nothing. It had lasted roughly eighty-four hours. Three and a half days. Actually a little better than I had expected, at the start.
”Where is Duffy now?” I asked.
”We're all fanned out,” he said. ”She's up in Portland with Eliot.”
”She did good with the phones.”
He nodded. ”Real good. She cares about you.”
”How long are they off?”
”Four hours. That's all she could get. So they'll be back on soon.”
”I think they'll come straight here.”
”Me too,” he said. ”That's why I came straight here.”
”Close to four hours, they'll be off the highway by now. So I guess the phones don't matter anymore.”
”That's how I figure it.”
”Got a plan?” I said.
”I was waiting for you. We figured you'd make the connection.”