The Last Mile

by David Baldacci

  “We have some avenues to get there. But it won’t be easy.”

  The waitress came back and poured out fresh coffee for Oliver and everyone else. After she left Oliver said, “What can I do to help? If it’s legal issues, I can definitely provide assistance.”

  Decker nodded. “Thanks. It may very well come to that.”

  Jamison added, “The key will be to find what was in Roy Mars’s safe deposit box. We think that will be more than enough proof.”

  Oliver said, “And since he met with Melvin, we know he’s nearby.”

  “He was nearby,” corrected Decker. “He could be a long way away by now. Particularly if he got on a plane.”

  Mars looked at the others. “I’m not sure we should pursue this.”

  They all looked at him.

  Oliver said, “Melvin, we have to.”

  “Why? To correct the wrongs of the past? By my count a mother has been killed and her son left as an orphan because of our investigation. The guy I thought was my father is a stone-cold killer. My mother was dying of brain cancer before he blew her head off. Decker, Milligan, and me almost died in a fire set by these assholes. And these crimes from the sixties? I’m not saying I don’t want to nail the bastards responsible, but at what price? Are you going to get killed next, Mary? Or Alex? Or Decker?”

  Decker said, “We all signed on for this.”

  “Well, I didn’t. I think maybe I need to get on with whatever life I have left.” Before they could say anything else, Mars rose and left.

  “He’s upset and frustrated,” said Oliver. “I’ll talk to him.”

  “Let him be for now,” said Decker. “He’s had to deal with one body blow after another. Those punches add up. I’m surprised he’s still standing.”

  “He’s tough,” pointed out Oliver.

  “He’s going to have to be,” replied Decker. “We all are.”

  CHAPTER

  65

  ONCE MORE DECKER was awoken from a dead sleep.

  This time the man wore a mask. The hand over his mouth was gloved. The other held a semiautomatic pistol. The muzzle was placed against Decker’s temple.

  It was a hell of a way to wake up.

  “You need to really listen to what I’m going to say,” said the man in a low voice. “Nod if you understand.”

  Decker nodded.

  “You have two choices. One, you abandon what you’re doing and go home. Your buddy is out of prison and he’ll stay out. We’ll see to that. You will pursue this no further. Do you understand the first choice?”

  Decker nodded.

  “The second choice is that you continue investigating. The consequences of that will be that you start to lose people close to you. Jamison first, then Oliver. It won’t be pretty. But it is guaranteed. There will be no second request. One step more and they die. Then you. Do you understand the repercussions of the second choice?”

  Decker nodded once more.

  Then something stuck him in the neck, his eyes rolled back in their sockets, and he passed out.

  * * *

  Sometime later his eyelids fluttered a bit and then popped open.

  Decker sat up so fast he felt nauseous. He thought he was going to be sick, but he took several deep breaths and his stomach quieted down. He rubbed his neck where they had injected him. Powerful stuff. It had knocked him out in a second.

  He slowly touched his toes to the floor and stood. He was shaky at first, but his balance returned and he walked into the bathroom and splashed water on his face.

  He checked his watch.

  Six a.m.

  He had no idea how long he’d been out.

  Whoever had been here was long gone, of that he was sure.

  He went back to his bed and sat on the edge.

  Two choices. Two very different choices.

  He groaned and covered his eyes with one big hand.

  He just sat there for a while and then made up his mind.

  He dressed, walked to Mars’s room, and rapped on the door.

  “Yeah?” the voice said immediately.

  Mars apparently was already up. Maybe he hadn’t even gone to sleep.

  “It’s Decker, we need to talk.”

  Mars opened the door and Decker strode in. Mars closed the door and the two big men faced off in the center of the room.

  “Look,” began Mars. “I know what I promised you, but this was before the case took this detour to the sixties. It’s not just Roy out there. He’s bad enough. We got killers coming after us, Decker.”

  Decker said, “I know. They were just in my room.”

  Mars simply stared at him for a few moments. “Come again?”

  Decker quickly explained the two choices.

  “So you’re abandoning the case?”

  “I’m not, but I want the three of you to get the hell out of town. I’ll contact Bogart and tell him what happened. They can arrange for protection until this is all over.”

  “You mean until you’re dead.”

  “I can’t tell the future, Melvin.”

  “Seems pretty clear to me. You pursue the case, they kill you.”

  “And that’s my choice.”

  “Why are you willing to die for this? It’s not even your problem.”

  “It is my problem, because I chose to make it mine.”

  “I don’t get you, man, I really don’t.”

  Decker sat in a chair and stared up at him. “It’s all about radio timing, Melvin.”

  Mars slumped on the edge of the bed. “Well, that clears everything up, doesn’t it?”

  “I was driving from Ohio to my new job in Virginia. For some reason I turned on the radio. And right that second the story comes on.”

  “What story?”

  “Your story, Melvin. A minute off here or there and I never would have heard it. And nothing that’s happened since would have happened.”

  “So you believe in fate?”

  “No, I believe in not ignoring something staring me in the face.”

  “They said they’d kill you.”

  “And that gives me hope.”

  “Are you losing your damn mind?”

  “Why threaten me unless they’re afraid?”

  “You should be afraid.”

  “I am afraid. I was afraid every time I stepped on the football field. Or did a patrol round as a cop. Still didn’t stop me from doing my job.”

  “So you’re staying?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Mars sighed and looked around the small room, as though all the answers he needed would be there.

  “Well, then I’m staying too.”

  “You’re not going to do that, Melvin. You lost twenty years of your life. I’m not going to be the reason you lose the rest.”

  “Well, like you said, it’s a choice. They already tried to kill us once. And that pissed me off. And when I got pissed off on the field I played my best ball. I called it controlled chaos.”

  “You must have had it when you played us.”

  “I did. Second play of the game your nose tackle told me I ran like a girl.”

  “He always was an idiot.”

  “I’m staying, Decker. I walk away now and something happens to you, I’ve got to live with that for the rest of my life.”

  “So? It’s not like we’re lifelong friends.”

  “But you’ve risked your life for me. You discovered truths about my past that I never would have known. I can’t walk away from you now.”

  Decker nodded slowly. “Jamison and Oliver aren’t going to take this well.”

  “They will if you tell them that Bogart wants them to come to D.C. to work on the case from another angle while we keep looking here.”

  “And you think they’ll buy that?”

  “If you tell Bogart what happened to you tonight I think he’ll be able to sell the deal. Maybe Mary goes back to Texas to work on my stuff. Perfectly natural for her to do that. And Jamison heads to D.C. We can go with h
er initially so she won’t get suspicious.”

  “Sounds like a game plan. And if things get hairy, bring your controlled chaos tactic.”

  “In my back pocket and ready to go.”

  “It’s the fourth quarter, Melvin.”

  “Where I always played my best ball.”

  “I think we’re going to need everything you can bring to the table,” replied Decker.

  “And it’s not like anyone would want to swap places with me. Not even you, I bet.”

  Decker stared at him for a long moment.

  “What?” asked Mars.

  “That word again. The waitress back at the restaurant used it too.”

  “What word?”

  “Swap.”

  “Swap? How does that help us?”

  “Believe me, it does. In fact, it pretty much changes everything.”

  CHAPTER

  66

  WHAT THE HELL are we doing here, Decker?” said Jamison.

  They had flown into D.C. and were in a spare office at the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

  He pointed to the binders spread over the desk. “Working on another case,” he replied.

  “But why?”

  “Because we ran into a dead end on the other one. I’m not saying we won’t pick it back up, but for now, we focus on something else.”

  “What about Mary Oliver?”

  “She’s back in Texas working on Melvin’s legal claims. There’s more paperwork to be filed. And he needs that money. Otherwise, he has nothing.”

  “And Melvin? Where is he?”

  “He’s around, just laying low for now.”

  She slumped back in her chair, her arms folded over her chest, her features stubborn. “I can’t believe you’re just giving up.”

  “I’m not giving up.” He paused, looked resigned, and said, “I got threatened, in my hotel room back in Mississippi. Masked guy with a gun. He said if we didn’t back off, they would take out everybody. You, me, Melvin, Davenport, Oliver, the Montgomery kid, everybody. Dead.”

  Jamison sat forward. “Holy shit. So these people have Davenport? Did you tell Bogart?”

  “Yes, but his hands are tied. Huey has seen to that. He’s stuck here.”

  “So we just do, what, nothing?”

  “Nothing now. But maybe something in the future.”

  She looked at the briefing books in front of them. “None of these cases are as interesting as the one we were working on.”

  “I agree. But we have to be smart about this.”

  She shot him a glance. “If you’re worried about me, I can take care of myself. I have a gun.”

  “The fact is, I’m more worried about Melvin and Mary Oliver.”

  “So the criminals win, that’s what you’re saying?”

  “For now they do. But it’s a long game, Jamison. And I always play for the long game.”

  * * *

  Decker met with Bogart later that day.

  Bogart said, “I’ll be here preparing our senior people for Hill testimony for several weeks. I have officially been taken out of the field during that time.”

  “So Huey is nervous?”

  “Which may not be a good thing.”

  “It is a good thing if they think we can prove murder charges against them.”

  “You were threatened in your hotel room, Decker. These people are not messing around.”

  “Agreed, but we still have no proof.”

  “You may never have any proof.”

  “If we can get to Roy Mars we might.”

  “He’s probably in a country with no extradition back here.”

  “We still have a chance.”

  “You have a far better chance of dying. My advice to you is to lay low and let this whole thing cool off. I can’t offer you any protection.” Bogart stared keenly across at Decker. “But of course you’re not going to take my advice.”

  “That doesn’t mean it’s not good advice or that I’m not grateful, because it is and I am. But, no, I can’t do that. These guys are killers. They need to go down for it. Simple as that.”

  “And if you die in the process?”

  “What law enforcement officer doesn’t have to answer that question every day? And they still put on the uniform and walk out the door.”

  “But you’re no longer a cop.”

  “I still feel like one.”

  “And Mars?”

  “He’s along for the ride.”

  “You’re sure that’s smart?”

  “He’s a big boy. There’s nothing I can do to stop him. And we might be safer together than apart. Two old helmet heads blocking for each other.”

  “Your original plan for us to track McClellan if he tried to contact the others won’t work now that we’ve been pulled from the case.”