The Legacy (34 page)

Cole shook his head. First

Get out! Jim yelled. Hes going to be back here soon. He doesnt leave me for long.

Its all right, Dad. We got the guy. Hes going to be unconscious for a while.

Are you talking about the General?

I guess so. Hes a short, wide guy with a crew cut.

Im not talking about him. Hes an idiot. Im talking about Suddenly Jim convulsed into another terrible coughing spell.

As Cole watched his father fight the cough, an eerie feeling overtook him, and he placed a hand on his fathers shoulder. Who are you talking about, Dad?

A man namedBennett Smith, Jim gasped.

The man who delivered the envelope to me with the safe-deposit key in it? Cole couldnt believe what he was hearing.

Yes.

What? Tori was confused.

Bennett is the man I told you about while we were driving to the Lassiter River, Cole explained. He was my fathers best friend, and the man who I suspect helped Dad fake his own death.

Thats right, Jim confirmed. The coughing fit had subsided. Bennett arranged for me to hole-up here with the General. Bennett flew me out in a small plane the night after we made it back from our last mission, and I parachuted in. The General was ready for me. Hes a retired army officer. Bennett knew him somehow. Coles father struggled with the shackles for a moment, but it was useless. Christ! Thirty-six years, you think you know someone. Im here for a month and no problem, then out of nowhere the General smacks me on the back of the head while were watching television. It was the night Bennett was supposed to have delivered the envelope to you in Manhattan. I wake up in here the next morning chained to the bed. I knew exactly what had happened. Then Bennett shows up here last night. The bastard! he shouted as he yanked furiously at the chains once more.

Because he was following me until yesterday, Cole murmured. It was all falling into place.

What?

Bennett was the first messenger, correct?

Yes.

And Tori was the second.

Right.

You set up two plans as insurance.

I had to be careful.

And you were wise to be, because Bennett turned on you. He wanted money.

Ill rip him apart.

I seriously doubt it, Cole said quietly. Not in your condition.

Did Bennett take the first tape from you? Jim didnt want to hear about his weakened condition.

No, others did.

Others?

It was as you and Bennett thought. There was an operation buried in the DIA. Bennett explained all that to me when I thought he was my friend, Cole added.

Jesus.

They got the first tape before he could, so he made himself out to be protecting me. Somehow he knew about the second tape.

Jim shut his eyes tightly. It was a mistake to tell him it existed. I should have known better.

He figured if he kept watching me, Cole went on, Id lead him to it.

And once he made the decision to go for the money, he couldnt take the chance that Id get up and walk out of here. Coles father was working through the scenario. He didnt want to kill me, because if you didnt lead him to the second tape, he figured he might be able to get me to talk. So he had the General bolt me to this damn bed, Jim moaned, pulling weakly at the shackles again for a few seconds.

Easy, Dad. Cole could hear the congestion in his fathers lungs. It was thick and horribleenough to make Tori turn her head away and put a hand to her mouth.

Jim was having a difficult time sucking in air as he gasped, Get out of here, Cole. Now. Im not kidding. And take Tori with you. Bennetts going to be back here soon. I heard them talking. He was just going into town to buy a few things.

Weve got to get you out of these shackles first.

Forget me! The cough was back. It would take hours to cut me out of these things, he sputtered. And unless youve got a bazooka in your vehicle, dont bother trying to break them by shooting them. That wont work. Theyre too thick and strong. We use these things in the DIA. Youll need keys.

They have to be here. Cole glanced at Tori. Search this room, he ordered as he stood up.

Right.

Cole hurried back into the main room, knelt down beside the General, rifled through the mans pockets but found nothing. As he searched, the General began to moan. Cole sprinted to the door on the far wall, which led into the garage. He yanked it open and peered around in the dimness until he found a piece of rope lying on the garage floor next to a tire. He picked up the rope, brought it back to where the General lay and bound him tightly. Next, Cole moved into the kitchen, still searching for the keys, but he found nothing there. Finally he tried the dresser in the first bedroom. He found no keys, but in the top drawer was a revolver. He scooped it up and returned to the bedroom in which his father lay prisoner.

Did you find the keys? he asked Tori.

No. She shook her head.

Get out of here, Jim said. Veins bulged in his arms and neck as he struggled.

I cant leave you, Dad.

You can and you will, you son of a bitch! he yelled.

Cole recoiled as if hed actually been hit with something.

Tori saw the hurt in Coles eyes. Jim, you dont need to talk to

Shut up, Tori. I told you to make sure he got money for that thing. I havent done many good things in my life. Jim gazed steely-eyed at Cole. Ive killed people who didnt need to be killed. Your mother is dead because of me. And Ive stayed away from you my whole life because I was afraid of finding out what you thought of me. Im not the kind of man you can be proud of, Cole. Thats the reality, harsh as it is. He was laboring with his breathing again, trying desperately to suck in air. But I can begin to make amends with that tape. The public can see what really happened that day in Dealey Plaza. I can help Tori with her career. And you, Cole, I can get you a great deal of money. It doesnt come close to making up for my absence all these years, but at least its something. That tape is my legacy. Im ashamed of what Ive become, but if the tape makes it into the right hands and I can do something for you, then at least Ill feel like my life wasnt a total waste. He coughed once more. Now leave me. Please.

Im going to save you, Dad.

No one can save me at this point, Cole. Im going to hell. Straight to hell without passing go or collecting two hundred dollars. Im gonna burn, Cole, and the match is already lit.

Huh? A chill and then a wave of heat passed through Coles body. The match was already lit. You mean youre dying?

Were all dying, Cole. Im just dying a little sooner than the rest of the world.

Tori brought her hands to her mouth. Oh no.

Oh yes.

Of what? Cole asked.

Hodgkins disease.

Thats treatable.

Not at this point. I found out about it six months ago. Now Ive got a few months to live, tops.

But doctors could have treated you.

I didnt want to be treated, Jim gasped. He convulsed into another coughing fit. He had contracted pneumonia in his weakened condition. Get out. Tiny drops of blood appeared at the corners of his mouth. Get that tape someplace safe, then come back for me if you really want to.

I

Cole! We have to go! Hes right. Theres nothing else we can do. Tori looked up at him. Weve got to get out of here.

Thank you, Jim said sarcastically. If youre too stupid to figure it out for yourself, boy, listen to the woman.

Cole turned his head to the side, as if to deflect the remark.

Tori grabbed Cole by the arms. Dont worry about what hes saying or how hes saying it. Hes just trying to protect you. He doesnt mean it.

The hell I dont.

Cole glanced at his father. All right, Dad, he said calmly. The hell with you. He placed the revolver he had taken from the dresser drawer in the other room on the bed beside his fathers right hand. There was enough slack in the shackle that he would be able to fire it if he needed to. Cole had checked the gun for ammunition and found that it was fully loaded. You might need that. Cole turned to Tori. Come on, lets go. He walked from the room without looking back.

Tori bent down and kissed Jim on the cheek. You didnt have to be that harsh with him.

Yes, I did, he whispered.

COLE AND TORI moved past the General, now wide awake and struggling against the ropes, and into the garage. Cole had seen another vehicle as he found the ropes he would use to tie up the General. It was an aging black Bronco. Its fenders were rusted completely through and its tires were caked with mud. Cole yanked open the Broncos door and checked the ignition. There were no keys.

Were going to take this thing down the mountain? Tori asked. It doesnt look as if it could make it.

The alternative is to climb back up the mountain, then go down the other side to the Jeep, Cole answered curtly. He was visibly upset. The meeting with his father hadnt gone as he had envisioned. That would take a couple of hours. If we take this Bronco instead, well be back on the interstate in fifteen minutes.

But what if

What if Bennett Smith is coming back up the mountain while were heading down? Cole finished the question for her. Thats a chance well have to take. Cole tossed the Generals gun onto the dashboard of the Bronco. And it hasnt been all that long since Bennett left. He probably hasnt even gotten to town yet. By the time he gets back here, well be halfway to Helena.

Tori hopped in the passenger seat as Cole reached beneath the steering wheel, popped the hood latch, then moved to a switch on the wall and pushed it. With a grinding noise the garage door began to rise in front of the Bronco and sunlight bathed the interior.

Did you find the keys to this thing while you were looking for the key to your fathers shackles? she asked.

No. Cole raised the hood, moved to the side of the Bronco and leaned over the engine.

Tori hunched down and gazed through the opening between the dashboard and the raised hood, trying to see what he was doing. Suddenly the engine roared to life and she jumped back, startled.

Cole slammed the hood closed, removed his backpack and threw it on the backseat, jumped in and thrust the Bronco into first gear.

Hot-wired the car, huh?

Yes.

Youre a man of many talents, Cole Egan.

Cole had already popped the clutch and punched the accelerator. They were hurtling down the winding driveway, skidding on loose gravel as he navigated the unfamiliar road.

Look out! Tori yelled, clutching the handle above the door as they careened around a tight turn and the ground on her side fell steeply away toward the canyon floor several hundred feet below. She turned her head and buried her face in her shoulder. I hate roller coasters! she yelled.

Suddenly the white sedan they had seen leave the Generals house appeared in front of them as they raced around another bend. The sedan was less than a hundred feet away.

He must have seen the Jeep! Cole yelled.

The sedan skidded to a stop, blocking the Broncos path, and Bennett Smith jumped out. He knelt behind the open drivers-side door, leveled his gun at them and fired twice. The first shot smashed one of the Broncos headlights and the second smacked the middle of the windshield and tore out the back window. The windshield didnt shatter, but it cracked so that it looked like a spiderweb and Cole had to strain to see out.

As they bore down on the white sedan, Cole jerked the steering wheel left, toward the mountain. It was his only choice. There was nothing to the right but a vertical drop and certain death. All four tires left the ground as the Bronco hurdled the deep drainage ditch paralleling the road. Then the left fender and the front left tire dug into the soft hillside, pitching Cole and Tori forward. Almost instantly, the Broncos momentum exploded it up and out of the dirt, throwing Cole and Tori back against their seats as Cole instinctively pulled the steering wheel to the right.

Bennett rose up and fired several more times over the sedans roof as the Bronco screamed past, but the bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the vehicles doors.

Now the Bronco was tilting precariously to the right, at the same angle as the mountainside. Cole and Tori screamed. It seemed inevitable that they would roll. But the right front of the Bronco slammed into the bottom of the drainage ditch, tearing the bumper from the chassis, and then they were soaring skyward. Though Cole frantically pulled on the steering wheel, it was a useless effort because all four tires were off the ground and the vehicle hurtled toward the edge of the cliff. When the Bronco at last bounced onto the gravel road, it didnt turn.

Tori closed her eyes. The front of the Bronco was headed straight for the precipice. She was certain they were going down, but at the last second the front tires caught the side of the road, spinning the rear end of the Bronco crazily out over the edge of the cliff. The passenger door popped open as Tori slammed against it, and her legs were suddenly outside the vehicle. Desperately she clung to the overhead handle. For what seemed an eternity they slid forward sideways, the front of the vehicle barely hanging on, tires spewing grass and small rocks over the cliff.