The Hit (37 page)

Yet they had taken his original vision and turned it into something very different that suited their own purposes.

He walked over to the gas fireplace set against one wall. With a flick of a remote that he kept on the mantel, Kent turned on the fireplace. Then he dropped the white paper on top of the gas logs and watched it quickly disintegrate.

In less than thirty seconds it was gone.

But the ideas in there would remain with Kent for the rest of his life.

Whether that was to be a short or long time he couldn’t tell right now.

He was suddenly beset with doubts. His mind raced ahead to one
catastrophic scenario after another. Such thoughts were never productive. But finally his military training took over and he calmed rapidly.

His secure phone, still on the desk, buzzed.

He hurried over to it.

The message was from the person with whom he had just talked.

It was a text. It was only three words.

But to Kent it proved his superior was indeed a mind reader.

The text read,
No going back.

T
HE CAR WAS PARKED OUTSIDE
of a grill pub across from a bank. It was late, the darkness deep and broken only by the exterior light of the building.

There were only four other cars in the parking lot. One car’s lights came on as the owner hit the unlock button on her key fob.

She walked toward the car, staggering slightly. She had had more to drink than she probably should have. But she lived close by and was confident she could navigate the roads to her home safely.

She climbed into the car and closed the door behind her. She started to put the key in the ignition when a hand clamped over her mouth.

Her right hand went to her purse, to retrieve the pistol she kept there. But another hand encircled her wrist and held it inches from the purse.

The passenger door opened and the woman climbed in.

She had her gun pointed at the driver’s head.

The woman with the gun was Jessica Reel.

The woman in the driver’s seat did not seem to recognize her. She started, though, when the man’s voice from the backseat said, “I might need you to sew me up again, Doc. The tracking device in the sutures got broken.”

In the rearview mirror Karin Meenan looked at Will Robie.

He said, “Start the car. Then we’ll tell you where to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” said Meenan.

Reel pulled the hammer back on her gun.

“Then she’s going to put a bullet in your head right now,” said Robie.

Meenan glanced at Reel, who was staring directly at her. The look in the woman’s features was clear. She wanted to pull the trigger. She was hoping for any chance, any opportunity provided by Meenan, to do so.

Meenan started the car, put it in gear, and drove off. Robie directed her to a dilapidated motel about five miles away. They parked in the rear and Reel and Robie bookended Meenan as they walked to their room.

Robie closed the door behind them and directed Meenan to sit on the bed.

She stared up at them. “I don’t know why you’re doing this, Robie. You’re in a lot of trouble. You’ve kidnapped me at gunpoint.”

Robie sat in a chair and seemed not to have heard her. Reel stood with her back to the door and her gun pointed at her.

Meenan snapped, “Who the hell are you?”

“You know who she is,” said Robie calmly.

Meenan turned to look at him.

“And you might want to watch your drinking and driving,” noted Robie. “Two beers and a shot of tequila. You’re officially shit-faced. That could cost you your clearance and your job.”

“You were watching me?”

“No, we just happened on you by accident. I feel so lucky right now, I’m going to play the Lotto.”

“You’re cracking jokes?” she snapped. “Do you realize what you’ve done? You’re going to prison for this.”

“Is that the same bar where you met Roy West?” Robie asked.

“I never met Roy West at a bar. He was briefly a patient of mine. I already told you that.”

“You want to reconsider that answer?”

“Why should I?”

Robie slipped a photo from his pocket. “I had a friend at the FBI pull this off the surveillance camera from the bank across the street from the bar.”

He held it up. On the image were Roy West and Meenan getting into her car.

“I’ve done nothing wrong. So I had a drink with Roy West. So what?”

Robie slipped off his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeve, revealing where the sutures had been.

“I took out these and the ones you put in my leg. Pretty ingenious stuff. Communication filaments and an internal power source disguised basically as stitches. GPS locator. Satellite up- and downlink. Probably electronically lit me up like the Eiffel Tower at night. The agency has really made great strides in the surveillance business.”

Meenan looked at Reel. “Robie, if that is Jessica Reel you should be arresting her. Or killing her. She’s the enemy. Not me.”

“Who told you to put those sutures in me?” asked Robie. “Sam Kent?”

Meenan made no reaction to this.

“Howard Decker,” said Reel.

Again, no reaction from Meenan. She kept her gaze on the far wall.

“Somebody else up high,” Robie barked.

Now, there was the barest of flinches from Meenan. But it was enough.

She must have realized that she had given herself away. She looked at Robie with an ugly expression. “You have no chance.”

“I was about to say the same thing to you.”

This came from Reel, who had placed her muzzle against the back of Meenan’s head.

The doctor looked at Robie with pleading eyes. “You’re just going to let her murder me?”

Robie’s look was impassive. “I don’t know, Doc. People have been trying to murder us. Why should you be any different?”

“But… but you’re one of us.”

“One of us? I don’t really know what that means anymore.”

“Please, Robie, please.”

“I’m not sure what to do with you, Doc. Can’t really let you go.”

Meenan was crying now. “I won’t say anything. I swear to God.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” said Robie.

He glanced at Reel. “What do you think?”

Meenan shrieked, “Don’t ask her! She’s crazy! She’s a traitor!”

Reel looked at Robie. “Okay?”

“Okay by me.”

“No!” screamed Meenan.

Reel dropped her muzzle to the base of Meenan’s neck and pulled the trigger.

R
OBIE CARRIED
M
EENAN OVER HIS
shoulder and down the steps into the bomb shelter. They were under the barn at his hideaway. At the far end of the underground shelter was a makeshift cell that Robie had constructed. It was easily strong enough to hold someone like Meenan.

She was starting to come around after Reel had shot her in the neck with a tranquilizer dart.

Robie lay Meenan down on a cot in the cell. Stacked against one wall were enough provisions to last the woman two weeks. Robie assumed that by then he would have worked things out or else died trying.

He locked the cell door about the time that Meenan slowly sat up, rubbed her neck, and looked at him. “You didn’t let her kill me?”

“We never had any intention of killing you.”

“Why not?”

“You may be corrupt, but you were defenseless.”

”You’re an assassin, that’s what you do.”

“Did you read the apocalypse paper?”

“The what?”

“The white paper that Roy West wrote. Reel told me he used to brag about it to people. Maybe you were one of them. Over pillow talk? At the bar?”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“Did you believe it?”

“Roy talked about a lot of things. And many of them made sense.”

“So you’re for an apocalypse?”

“For real change to happen, certain people have to be sacrificed.”

“Wasn’t that what the Nazis said?”

She snapped, “Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not even a close analogy.”

“Really? You got led around like a lemming by a nut who loaded up his cabin with explosives and had plans to blow up half the government? How does that make sense? You
work
for the government.”

“We all fight for liberty in different ways.”

“I’ll stick with my way. You can keep yours.”

“You go and kill the people they tell you to. Talk about a lemming.”

“Well, the difference is now I understand that. You apparently don’t.”

She gave him a condescending look. “You can’t stop this from happening.”

“I can if you help me.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“So you just stand by and watch all those people die? Doctors are supposed to preserve life, aren’t they?”

“I’m not just a doctor. I care about my country. Our enemies are trying to destroy us. We have to kill all of them first.”

Robie said, “Care to tell me who is really behind this?”

She folded her arms across her chest and looked at him dully. “Just give it up, okay?”

He held up her phone. “Got your laptop too. They should tell us a few things.”

She looked suddenly panicked.

“Don’t ever go to Vegas,” he advised. “Your poker face is seriously lacking.”

“They’re password-protected.”

“You had your phone on a five-minute auto lock. You must have just used it before you got into the car. The lock hadn’t reset yet, so I got everything I needed. As for your laptop, next time use a password
more difficult than your name spelled backwards and your date of birth.”

“Robie, you’re on the wrong side of this. Trust me. Reel is a murderer. She killed two defenseless men. In cold blood.”

He pointed to the provisions. “There’s enough food and water to last you at least two weeks, maybe more if you ration.”

“And if you’re not back by then?”

“Start yelling. Somebody might hear you. Oh, and while you were knocked out Reel stripped you down and checked every possible place for a transmitter. You might be sore, but you’re definitely tracker free.”

“Robie!” She jumped up and ran to the cell door. “Think about this very carefully. You won’t get a second chance.”

“Funny. That’s what I was going to tell you.”

“You’re being stupid. Please let me go.”

“This is the safest place for you.”

She looked at him with a stunned expression. “Safe? Are you insane?”

“They didn’t find our bodies, Doc. And they can no longer track us. Which tells them we’re onto how we were tracked. You put the sutures in. We found you. You’re out of the loop for a while. If we let you go, you go back to them.”

“I won’t say anything. I promise.”

“That’s not the point.”

“So what is the point?”

“They’ll know you were with us. They’ll interrogate you. And then they’ll kill you.”

Meenan took a step back. “Why would they kill me? I’m on their side.”

“Because they’ll believe you helped us. That would be the only way we would’ve let you go. And your price for that is you die. It’s really that simple. See, to them, you’ll have become the enemy. And like you said, the goal is to kill all of the enemy. And now that includes you.”

“But—”

“It’s not an either/or proposition. So you stay here, you live. You go out there, you die. I’ll let you decide. What’s it going to be?”

Meenan stared up at him and then took a few hesitant steps back before plopping down on the cot and studying the floor.

“Good choice,” said Robie, and then he walked out.