Exit Strategy (47 page)

“I met Wilkes.”

She blinked, then glared at Jack. “Well,
that’s
not worth telling me about.” She looked at me. “So what happened…and start at the beginning.”

I told her.

“So now he’s missed two scheduled hits,” she said. “Plus he has an eyewitness…a victim who fought back. Probably saw you and decided to skip the demographics and take the easy mark.” She chortled. “Oh, he’ll be mad now. Spitting mad.”

“And off-balance. We need to keep him there. If we act now, we can use it to our advantage and end this.”

Jack’s hands clenched around the steering wheel. “We’ll end it. The old-fashioned way. Legwork. Stop this shit and—”

“That’s not
fast,
Jack.”

Our eyes met in the rearview mirror. His were ice cold. “And this is? Running after him? Facing him down in alleys? Almost getting killed?

“I had him. If you saw it go down, you know I had him.”

“Where I stood? Looked fifty-fifty.”

“Seventy-five/twenty-five. At least.”

“So that’s okay? Twenty-five percent chance of getting killed? Fuck, yeah. Why not? Goes bad? Who gives a shit? You don’t.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Jack went silent, his gaze turning back to the road.

“Oh, don’t you dare,” I said, taking off my seat belt and moving to the edge of the seat. “If you have something to say, have the guts to say it.”

He said nothing. I clenched the edge of the seat. Goddamn him. Challenge most guys with that, and they’d rise to the bait. Not Jack. Never Jack.

“Pull over,” Evelyn said. “You and Dee need to have a chat.”

He kept driving.

“Jack…”

When he didn’t answer, Evelyn thumped back against the headrest.

“Okay, fine, do it your way. Dee? The next time you get a chance like that, you go ahead and take it. You want this guy taken down more than we do, so any risk you take is your decision, and we support that—”

Jack turned the wheel so sharply I smacked into the door panel. The car slowed at the side of the road. Without a word, Jack got out and headed for a dirt track leading into a cornfield.

Evelyn looked over the seat at me.

“Go on. You won’t get another chance.”

Brown cornstalks whispered in the breeze, empty and dying, waiting to be mowed down for next year’s crop. Through them I could see the back of Jack’s jacket.

“I’m here,” I said.

He didn’t move. I walked through the rows to come out in front of him.

“I’m here,” I said. “So talk.”

He only stared at the setting sun.

“Okay, you
don’t
want to talk. You just want Evelyn to shut up, and you know what, Jack? That’s fine with me. We can stand here and pretend we’re having it out, then go back and tell Evelyn everything’s fine. But the next time you decide to take some cryptic jab at me? Think about whether or not you plan to follow through. And if the answer’s no?” I met his gaze. “Then shut the fuck up.”

He didn’t so much as blink. Just held my gaze for a moment, then looked away. So I guess that meant we were waiting it out, and that was fine with me. Anything to avoid a fight.

I gave it five minutes, then said, “Good enough. Let’s go back to the car.”

I made it two steps.

“Back there,” he said. “In that alley. When things went bad. What’d you do?”

“Do?”

“When it went off course. Could have run. Didn’t.”

I turned to look at him. “Run? And let him shoot me in the back?”

“Gun wasn’t out. You’d know that. Too risky. Cops everywhere. Even if it was? Could have made it.”

“Made it where? I was in the middle of an empty alley.”

He stepped closer. “Second alley. Ten feet away. You saw it.”

“It looked a lot farther than ten feet from where I was standing and maybe that’s my fault, but I sure as hell didn’t see an escape route and just ignore it, if that’s what you meant.”

“Yeah. That’s what I meant.”

He met my gaze and, in his look, I knew he’d seen through my lie—knew I’d seen a chance to escape and rejected it.

I broke away, and continued, “As for getting caught, I misjudged—and yes, I admit that I screwed up. I thought I could turn and get the jump on him, but he was right there.”

Jack nodded, gaze down, as if studying a mole hole at the bottom of a cornstalk. Without looking up, he spoke again, his voice quiet. “Let’s say…sake of argument. You saw the alley. Knew you’d make it. Would you?”

I considered lying, but from that look in his eyes, he already knew the answer.

I squared my shoulders. “Not while I saw a reasonable chance to catch him.”

“What’s reasonable? Greater than zero?”

I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut, and forced out a calm tone. “Reasonable is whatever I decide it is because, as Evelyn said, it’s my risk to take. Maybe you don’t like that, but I’d never endanger you or anyone else, so I don’t see the point of arguing about it.”

His eyes darkened. “No, you don’t, do you? You die? Who gives a shit? No one to care.”

“No one—?”
Don’t let him bait you. Just ease back
. “I guess that’s right. It’s not like I have a husband and kids at home to worry about.”

“Got no one. Few friends. Everyone else pissed off after Franco. Never came back.”

My nails dug into my palms. “Thank you so much for reminding me of that, Jack.”

“Didn’t mean it like that. Was just—”

“Pointing out that no one would notice I’d died today?”

“No. Just meant—What happened to you. Lost every-thing. Family. Friends. Career. Future. Whatever you thought your life was going to be? Gone. Won’t come back.”

“Well, when you put it that way, maybe I shouldn’t have stopped Wilkes. Just let him put me out of—”

“You want this bad. Knew that. But I fucked up. Didn’t realize
how
bad. How far you’ll go.”

“How far—?” I could barely get the words out, my heart hammering. “I want
what
so bad? To kill myself? I am not—”

“Suicidal? Nah. But it happens? It’s a risk? You’ll take it. Won’t let it get in the way.”

“Get in the way of—?” I swallowed the rest, swept aside the cornstalks and headed for the car.

“Dee…”

I didn’t answer. “Nadia…”

I picked up my pace.

I climbed into the backseat. Evelyn turned to look at me, then sighed.

“He wouldn’t talk, would he?”

“Oh, he talked.”

Another keen-eyed study. Another sigh. “And it was one of those times when he does, and you’re left wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.” She shifted to face me. “Jack isn’t very good at expressing himself.”

“I think he expressed himself very well.”

I looked out the windshield. There was no sign of Jack. I glanced at my watch.

“He’s just walking it off,” she said. “He hates confrontations. I remember this time, years ago, a middleman was bad-mouthing Jack behind his back and…” She noticed my wandering gaze. “And you’re really not in the mood for ‘insight into Jack’ stories, are you? In that case, I’d suggest we discuss something that it takes very little insight to know he’s not going to want to discuss. Our next move.”

“It’ll need to involve me. Up close and personal with Wilkes again. I’m the eyewitness who got away.”

She nodded. “And this whole thing started because he wanted to shut up his last—and only—witness. Meaning if he can get a shot at you, preferably before you go to the Feds, there will be no luring involved—he’ll jump hurdles to get to you.”

“Question is: how to make sure he finds me?”

“I have an idea for that, but Jack will absolutely hate it.”

“At this point, not a concern.”

She looked at me, and her mouth opened, as if she wanted to say something, then she gave a sharp shake of her head.

“He’s a big boy,” she murmured. “Okay then, here’s what I’m thinking….”

By the time Jack returned to the car, fifteen minutes later, we’d hammered out the skeleton of a plan. When it was time to tell him, I let Evelyn do the honors. As he listened, his face darkened. He let Evelyn get into it, then interrupted.

“Involving the Feds is stupid.” He looked at me. “That your idea?”

I smiled. “But of course. If it’s stupid, it must be my idea.”

“I didn’t say—”

“We can’t just make Wilkes disappear. You saw the scene in that Vegas diner. People need to see a body, to know this is really over. They need resolution.
We
need resolution or every pro is still on the Feds’ hit list.”

“And no, it wasn’t Dee’s idea,” Evelyn said. “It was mine. If this agent in charge is as ambitious as Quinn says, he’ll make the trade. He gets the glory of the arrest, and in return, plays down Wilkes’s past, doesn’t portray him as a psycho hitman. Things go back to normal. Sure, the cops still want us gone, but they won’t be seeing us all as potential serial killers. That’s what we’ve been trying to do all along, isn’t it? Get back to business as usual?”

“Pulling Feds in—”

“One Fed. Maybe two if he needs someone to hold his hand. As for exactly how he’ll manage it without involving his team and his superiors, that’s his problem.”

“This okay with you?” Jack said, twisting to look at me, eyes unreadable. “Taking Wilkes down by yourself?”

“Sure, Jack. Why not? A chance to catch a killer and redeem my sorry life, and if I fail, well, it’s not like anyone will give a damn if I turn up in a Dumpster somewhere.”

Evelyn looked at him. “What the hell did you say to her?” When neither of us answered, she leaned back into her seat. “Oh, boy. This will be fun.”

Next we had errands to run. Jack phoned Quinn to summon him and Felix to West Virginia. Then we drove out of town to dispose of my things and pick up supplies. By the time we got to our hotel, it was evening, and my mood had lifted. We had a plan, and I was an integral part of that plan, so there was no time for sulking.

As for Jack, well, he was quiet, maybe still simmering, or maybe just gone back to his normal self. Either way, I wasn’t dwelling on it.

I walked through the door joining the two hotel suites Evelyn had checked us into.

“Better digs than
he
puts you up in, I’ll bet,” Evelyn said, shooting a look at Jack.

“We had a nice place in Ohio,” I said. “Real flowers, Jacuzzi tub…”

Evelyn sniffed. “And a heart-shaped vibrating bed? Classy, Jacko.”

“Do you want this room?” I asked, moving into the bedroom doorway. “Or I guess if the other has two beds, you and I should take that—”

“This one’s yours. You took on Wilkes today, you deserve something special, and this hotel is my way of saying ‘good job.’” She glanced at Jack. “You can take the sofa.”

I shook my head. “We all need a good rest tonight. There are four beds—”

Evelyn cut me off with a sigh. “Fine, share my room with me. You don’t snore, do you?”

I thought about the nightmares, but Jack said, “She’s fine.” He paused. “Or she will be. Gotta get those hands fixed.”

I picked up the drugstore bag he’d laid on the table. “I’ll do that now.”

“Can’t bandage your own hands.” He took the bag from me. “Sit down.”

“I’ll be unpacking,” Evelyn said, and left.

Jack was still cleaning my wounds when Felix rapped at the door. Jack opened it. Quinn walked in and stopped dead, staring at my hands.

“Shit, are you okay?” he said.

I nodded.

“How did you—?”

“Garrote wire.”

Felix stepped up beside me and frowned down at my wounds. “A garrote wire can be tricky to use. The instinct is to wrap it around your own hands, but if it’s sharp enough, then you see the damage you can inflict.”

“This isn’t—I wasn’t using it on someone; he was using it on me.”

“And you managed to get your hands under it? Excellent reflexes. However, it does beg the question…”

“Who the hell tried to garrote you?” Quinn said as he crouched and took my hand.

Jack waved him aside and took his place, then unrolled the bandage.

“Wilkes,” he said when I was slow to answer.

“Wilkes attacked you?” Felix said as he sat in a chair. “So he knows we’re in pursuit? That could lead to some difficulty—”

“Doesn’t know,” Jack said. “Picked Dee as a victim. She—” A hard look my way. “Lured him in.”

Before anyone could comment, Evelyn walked from the other room. As Felix and Quinn greeted her, Jack inspected the cleaned wounds.

“So you decided to join the hunt,” Quinn said, flashed a smile at Evelyn. “Getting a little too exciting to ignore? I bet—Ah, wait. The anonymous ‘concerned party’ who’s paying our wages. Guess I should say thank you.”

Evelyn said nothing, but from the look that crossed her face, she had no idea what Quinn was talking about. I’d never suspected Evelyn was the person funding the job—she wouldn’t hire a group of hitmen for a nonprofit expedition. But if it wasn’t her…

“Stop squirming,” Jack said. “Gotta get this fastened.”

Quinn sat on the sofa. “So Dee lured Wilkes into a showdown?” He grinned my way. “Way to go.”

Jack shot him a look, but Quinn continued, “You went mano a mano with the infamous Helter Skelter killer. The first victim who fought back. Did he say anything? Too busy getting his heart out of his throat, I bet.”

Jack scooped up the bloodied cloths, wrapped them in the empty bag for later disposal and took them back to his room. I crouched to clean up the first-aid supplies. Quinn slid down beside me to help. As he leaned over for the scissors he whispered, “I’m jealous.” I laughed. We both reached for the spare tape roll. I got to it first, but he pretended not to notice and grabbed for it, ending up with my wrist instead. A quick grin and quicker squeeze, and he released me.

“You’ll have to tell me all about it later,” he said.

I smiled. “We’ll see.”

As I straightened, I caught Evelyn watching us.

“When Jack called us in, he said you have a plan,” Felix said. “Care to share?”

Felix liked the plan. Quinn wasn’t so sure. I understood his reticence. What he and I knew, and the others didn’t, was that we were expecting a federal agent to do something no agent should ever consider. However often one might see movie cops playing lone cowboys, it didn’t work that way in real life. You’re trained to be a team player, and there are plenty of checks and balances to make sure you stay that way—like Quinn having to provide a hotel name and phone number while on vacation.