No Way to Die (33 page)

“Good. Do you believe he might try to take them from you using force?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “If we had an exploitable weakness, he might. But my guess is he’s a predator. He knows we have similar numbers to him, probably similar weapons. Like most predators, I don’t believe he’s in the habit of fighting high-risk engagements as part of his normal business.I’m betting he’ll talk it out of us or sneak it out of us or even ambush it out of us, but he’s not likely to come at us head-on. Besides, that’s not only dangerous, it’s a really bad way to stay off the radar screen.”

He nodded. “That makes sense. But all the same, I’d be careful if I were you.”

“Will do,” I said. “Thanks.”

“And please report to us immediately if you hear from him in the meanwhile,” he said. “I believe you know how to contact Special Agent Thomas?”

“I do,” I said. I turned to Jen. “I’ll call you if I hear anything.”

THE MEETING BROKE up, and I drove back to the office. On the way, I hit the speed dial to call Toni on her prepaid to let her know what had happened. With no resolution this afternoon, we were going to have to babysit Holly another night. Toni was going to be pissed. I needed to work out something to say to her, really quicklike. She was supposed to be at the office with Holly at five-thirty, but I didn’t want to spring this on her in front of everyone.

Turned out I was going to have more time than I thought because she didn’t answer her phone. It just rang and rang.

I pulled out my regular phone and powered it up. When it had a signal, I speed-dialed Toni’s regular number. The call went right to voicemail—apparently she still had it switched off. Her cheerful voice explained that she’d be out of the office for a couple of days—the same message we’d each recorded on our normal phones yesterday. We’d all decided to power-off our cells in case they were being tracked so I turned mine back off after I hung up.

I did the backward merge onto I-5 (520 merges from the left onto I-5—the high-speed side) and had to quickly maneuver my way across three lanes of crowded freeway traffic in order to make the Mercer Street turnoff on the right, a half mile ahead. Once I was safely in the far right lane and ready for the exit, I punched the button on the prepaid for Doc.

“Hey,” he said. “How’d it go?”

“He never showed,” I said.

“No shit?”

“Yeah. We waited there more than forty-five minutes. Not even a sign of the bastard.”

“And he hasn’t called?”

“Nope. Not yet, anyway.”

“Damn,” he said slowly. “He probably will,” he added.

“I hope so,” I said. “Where are you guys now?” I asked as I made the exit onto Mercer.

“We’re here at the office, waiting for news,” he said. “Richard, too. And Bobby.”

“Is Toni there?”

“Not yet. She’s supposed to be here at five-thirty.” This made me concerned. Not worried, just concerned.

“Okay, I just got off I-5—I should be there in five or ten minutes.”

“We’ll be here,” he said.

* * * *

Our door was locked when I got to the office, but before I could get my key out, Kenny saw me. He unlocked the door and let me in.

“Hey boss,” he said, the relief obvious in his voice. “It’s good to see you.” He glanced down at my duffle bag. “Not so good to see that. So I guess the ‘device’ is still with us?”

I nodded. “Yeah, unfortunately, it is.” I walked through the lobby, and he followed. “Is everybody still here?” I asked.

“Yep.”

“Toni here yet?”

“No, not yet.” Now I was worried.

“Okay,” I said. “Let me put this crap down in my office. While I do that, gather everybody up. I want to have a meeting in the conference room.”

Two minutes later, we were ready to start. Doc and Richard and Bobby were already in the conference room when Kenny and I walked in.

“Bad luck,” Richard said as I flopped down into my chair.

“I suppose,” I said. I looked around. “Boys, I think we may—” The office phone rang and interrupted me. Caller ID:Unknown. I hoped it was Toni as I punched the speakerphone button on the phone on the table.

“Toni?” I asked.

“Sorry, ’fraid not,” said the voice on the other end. I froze. It was Marlowe. I’d expected to hear from him, but just the same, I was suddenly gripped with a cold chill—the kind of feeling you get when you suddenly realize you’ve made a mistake—a big one. “Just me,” he said. “I must apologize that I had to miss our meeting at Starbucks this afternoon. Something came up that required my direct attention. I tried calling, but your cell phone went directly to voicemail.”

That’s because it was turned off so you couldn’t track me
. “That happens,” I said.

“Indeed. Well, anyway,” he said, “if I may be so bold, our relationship seems to have progressed nicely to the point where there’s no longer any need to—as you say—‘beat around the bush.’ Would you agree?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Good. So here it is, then. You’ve got something that I want. You’ve got the Starfire Protocol box and the key.” He paused. “And as it so happens, now it seems as though I’ve got something that you want, as well. Would you care to guess what that might be?”

“Put her on,” I said.

“Aren’t you the clever one,” he said. “Unfortunately, Ms. Blair is—how shall we put it—indisposed at the moment.”

I clinched my eyes tightly shut. I saw Toni—my best friend. She was hurting and needing my help. “Fuck you then, Madoc,” I said. “I’ll just hand this little key over to the FBI, and you’ll lose—what, ten, twenty, thirty million dollars or so? I figure you must have a buyer standing in the wings. Hell, you’ve probably already collected a deposit and that’s the money you planned to use if you had to actually buy the key. Things might get a tad uncomfortable for you if you can’t deliver.”

It was quiet for a second. “So,” I continued slowly, “if you ever want to see the key, put. Her. The fuck. On.”

A second later, I heard her. “Danny?”

“Toni,” I said quickly. “Are you all right?”

“I’m good,” she said. “Did Aunt Thelma call?”

Before I could answer, Marlowe was back on the line.

“I assume that was some sort of code between you,” he said. It was. Aunt Thelma was our code word for being under duress. “No matter, though. You heard her. She said she’s fine. And there’s absolutely no need for you to mount any sort of heroic endeavor on behalf of Ms. Blair. You have my 100 percent assurance that no harm will come to her—no one will touch a hair on her beautiful head—as long as you do exactly what you are about to be told. You needn’t worry.”

“Coming from you,” I said, “that makes me feel so much better.”

He laughed. “Be that as it may; do you agree?”

“Go.”

“North of Seattle, perhaps fifty miles or so, there’s a small community called La Conner. Are you familiar with it?”

“I am.” La Conner is a rural community just west of I-5 in the Skagit Valley. It’s a popular tourist destination in the summer, and it’s famous for its vast tulip fields in the spring.

“Good. There’s a small farmhouse located at 1217 Marsh Road in La Conner. You are to be there tomorrow morning at nine sharp. You must bring the Starfire Protocol box that you have and the USB key. Come alone.”

“I’ll give you the hardware, and you’ll give me Toni. Right?”

“Precisely,” he said. “It’s all we ever wanted. I’m afraid things have a tendency to get much more difficult than they need be.”
Right.
If people actually try to stick up for themselves, that is.

“A few things you should keep in mind,” he said. “First, do come alone this time. Most likely, there are FBI agents still sitting at Starbucks waiting for me to appear. They rather stand out. Second, make certain you actually bring the hardware and the key. No shenanigans. Finally, please remember that I have no desire to harm Ms. Blair in any way. She’s an absolutely beautiful woman and truly delightful. But, if need be, I’ll have no trouble putting a bullet in her brain. So don’t disappoint me.”

“That’s good,” I said. “Since we’re giving instructions here, I have a couple for you.”

He laughed. “I fail to see how you believe you’re in a position to issue instructions to me,” he said.

“Really?” I said. “Then maybe you should listen. A—I have the key. No key; no Starfire. No Starfire; no money.B—and this one’s really important, so you need to listen extra careful here—you don’t know me. If you harm Toni in any way—if you even touch her—then rest assured, I will make it my life mission to track you down and kill you. You won’t have a minute of peace the rest of your days on this earth. I don’t care where—your Lake Como place, wherever—I will find you. And I will kill you.”

“Well, let’s not let it come to that then, shall we?” he said.

“I’ll be there tomorrow,” I said. “Red Jeep. Nine o’clock sharp.”

“SHIT,” I SAID. My fists were clinched in rage. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” I stared at the phone and literally felt the blood drain from my head. Though I was seated, I leaned forward and held on tightly to the edge of the table for support.I tried my best to hide the thoughts racing through my head, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t do a very good job. Then again, it probably didn’t matter much because the other guys were no doubt feeling the same way I was—they’d heard enough of the conversation to know what had happened. While I might have been the official leader of this group, Toni was the heart—and the soul. If she was in trouble, we were all in trouble.

My heart raced.A kaleidoscope of images began to spin through my mind as I began to succumb to the cold grip of fear that was trying to lock itself around me. Pictures of Toni laughing, smiling, teasing. Pictures of Toni screaming at a bad guy that she’d just floored, of her comforting an old lady. So many pictures—so many memories.

Stop! I couldn’t do this. My army teachings filled my head: “Fear leads to panic. Panic leads to inactivity. Inactivity leads to death.” Andrew Jackson said, “Never take counsel of your fears.” Clearly, turning into a blubbering immobile idiot was not the way to solve this problem.

I took a deep breath. “Sorry, guys.”

Focus, Logan! Suck it up! Be a leader!
I could feel the guys watching me, looking for direction. I took a deep breath and searched for something profound to say.

“Well, that pretty much sucks,” I said finally. It’s the best I could do at the moment.

Simple words, but they seemed to help everybody snap out of the fog. They all looked at me.

“Well said,” Richard said somberly.

Kenny could only nod his agreement.

“We need a plan,” Doc said.

I nodded. “We do,” I agreed. I thought for a full minute, organizing things in my mind. When I started to form some ideas, I said, “Doc, tell me. In the army, what did they teach us—what are you supposed to do when you’re ambushed?”

“Move forward,” he said immediately. “Attack. Get out of the killing zone.”

“That’s right.” I looked at each man. “Get out of the killing zone. Gentlemen, that’s where we’re sitting right now—right in the middle of Marlowe’s goddamned killing zone. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let my best friend suffer because I didn’t do anything to fix that. Fuck that. I’m moving forward. I’m going to attack. I’m not going to sit here and let that son of a bitch Marlowe dictate the rules of this game.” I looked at each of them again, and then I said, “Marlowe’s got her—we’re going to go get her. End of fucking story.”

Doc nodded.

“Good!” Kenny said.

“Let’s start by seeing what we’re looking at,” I said. “Kenny, turn on the computer, put it on the big screen, and bring up Google Earth. Let’s see where this place is.” I took a deep breath. I was functional again.

While he was doing that, Richard said, “Danny, what about notifying the FBI?”

I thought about that for a second and said, “Yeah, just now thought about it. Want to guess what I came up with?”

He smiled. “No need,” he said. “I just thought I’d raise the issue.”

“I’ll tell you anyway. My recent experience with the Feds—FBI, DEA, you name it—makes me think this is a little too fluid and too dynamic for them to be directly involved,” I said. “They probably have some sort of standard procedure all worked out for just this sort of scenario—number of agents, who reports to whom, who stands where, rules of engagement, all that sort of shit.”

“You can count on it,” Richard said.

“And if things start to vary from their plan, as they almost certainly will with Marlowe involved, then there will likely be problems,” I said. “And—when it comes to getting Toni out of there—I don’t want any problems.”

Richard nodded. “I don't disagree. Besides - you’re the boss. I’m with you 100 percent.”

“Not to mention, Marlowe’s no doubt gearing his defensive prep for a big, lumbering, FBI-type rescue,” Doc said.

“There’s also that,” Richard said.

“Here it is,” Kenny said as the big screen came to life. He did an address search on Google Earth, and the screen zoomed in to a small farm just west of Mount Vernon, Washington.