“He had his aide Randall steal Y’Grok’s body to delay the funeral. That gave Weathers an excuse to stay in town till you arrived. Then he planned on having Randall kill you, but Randall missed at the cabin.”
“You strangled the wrong man,” Kevin said. “Y’Suom didn’t shoot at you. And a little while ago, Randall slipped the sheriff’s tail in Asheville. He’s probably on his way here.”
“You’ve got to do something,” Talbert pleaded.
“I don’t want to do anything. I’m on Stormy’s side. But the truth is you’re not worth either Randall or Stormy going to jail.”
“Okay. Let me —”
The front door crashed open. Like a cat, Captain J.R. Randall landed on his feet, a pistol in one hand, a military flashlight in the other. Kevin whipped his gun around, but held his fire.
I stood paralyzed. Then I sensed Talbert lunging for me. Before I could move, he hooked his left arm around my neck and dug his right hand into my jacket pocket. Too late, I understood he had seen the bulge of my pistol.
He jammed the cold barrel in my ear and hid behind me. “Drop your guns or I’ll shoot him. I swear to God I will.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Three guns in the room. Two were pointed at me and the third kissed my eardrum.
Kevin lowered his revolver but kept the hammer cocked. “Let him go, Franklin. You can’t shoot both of us.”
“No, but Clayton and I can walk out that door and nobody gets shot.”
Kevin cut his eyes to Randall. “It’s over, Captain. Sheriff Wadkins knows about the morgue at Fort Jackson and he’s confronted Stormy. You can do the general a big favor by abandoning his orders before someone gets hurt.”
Randall’s rock-steady hand kept his gun level with my chest. The mouth of the barrel looked like a black hole, sucking the life out of the room.
“What orders?” Randall spoke the words without moving his lips.
“You don’t need to fall on your sword,” Kevin said. “Barry talked to Lieutenant Crawford. We know he held Y’Grok’s body for Stormy.”
“General Weathers has nothing to do with this. This is between me and Talbert.”
Talbert’s hairy forearm dug into my Adam’s apple. His breath blew hot on my neck. “You and me? What have we got to do with each other? I don’t even know who you are.”
Randall nodded. “Then maybe it’s fate I missed you yesterday. What’s the pleasure in sending you to hell without you knowing why?”
Talbert shouted at Kevin. “Who is this guy? You said he was working for Stormy.”
“I’m Captain J.R. Randall. J.R. stands for James Raven. You murdered my father.”
Talbert’s body stiffened. His weight bore down on me. I was as much a support as a shield.
Kevin looked at Randall in amazement. “You’re Jimmy’s son?”
“My mother remarried. The jerk gave us his last name and then took off.”
Talbert angled me toward Randall. I could feel his sweat dripping on my neck.
“I didn’t kill your father. You’ve got to believe me.”
“I believe in actions, not words. Y’Grok wouldn’t have spent his dying days coming here if his story weren’t true. He told his son what he suspected and Y’Suom told me a year ago when General Weathers put us in contact with each other. He wanted me to meet the son of one of my father’s most trusted allies.”
“So Stormy is involved,” Talbert said. “Can’t you see he’s trying to frame me?”
Randall’s tight mouth curved into a cold grin. “General Weathers knows nothing about this. I handled the arrangements to smuggle Y’Grok out of Vietnam. Y’Grok knew he was dying and I knew his funeral would be the one chance I’d have to avenge my father’s murder. But then you were late so I had to take matters into my own hands.”
Kevin looked doubtful. “Why didn’t Stormy tell us you were Jimmy’s son?”
“When I picked General Weathers up at Fort Jackson, I said I wanted to surprise my father’s friends after the service. He believed me. When I talked to Y’Suom Monday night, he told me Y’Grok had brought proof you killed my father.”
“Y’Suom let you steal his father’s body?” Panic rose in Talbert’s voice as the magnitude of Randall’s obsession dawned on him.
“No. That was my idea. Y’Suom thought the proof would be enough for a trial, but he didn’t know where or what it was. My plan depended upon us crossing paths. I didn’t tell Y’Suom what I did, but I’m sure he knew. I owe him because he kept quiet. Now I’ll settle two scores for the price of one.”
Randall’s zeal terrified me as much as the gun pressed to my head. The military phrase “collateral damage” popped into my mind. Had security guard Edith Delaney been the first casualty? “Listen.” My voice croaked and Talbert loosened his grip slightly, hoping I would talk sense to Randall. “I didn’t know your father, but I can’t believe he would condone murder. I know Y’Grok wouldn’t. He trusted Kevin with the evidence because he wanted Talbert to be tried, not assassinated.”
Kevin raised his revolver, only now he aimed at Randall. “That’s right. Otherwise, why give the proof to me? Y’Grok wanted justice, not revenge.” Kevin’s voice hardened. “And I sure as hell won’t let you sacrifice Barry.”
“Then you’ll have to kill me because Talbert’s not weaseling out.”
Kevin softened his tone. “We have the evidence. I’ve seen it. And we’ll nail Talbert for Y’Suom as well.”
Randall’s lips curled in a sneer. “The LAPD had O.J. Simpson nailed. A celebrity with slick lawyers trumps truth every time.”
Kevin edged closer to Randall. He held his gun in both hands. “Stand down or I’ll take you down. Is that the way you want this to end? I suspect Stormy’s been as much a father to you as anybody. Do you want to face him with Barry’s blood on your hands? How does killing an innocent man honor your father and everything I know he stood for?”
Duty and honor. Kevin had pitted two virtues against each other. If Randall felt he had a duty to avenge his father’s death, he must also feel compelled to honor his legacy. Randall’s jaw muscles twitched. Then he slowly lowered his pistol.
Talbert exhaled. He pressed against me. I refused to move.
Kevin stepped back where he could see Randall from the corner of his eye and swung his gun toward Talbert and me. “Let him loose, Franklin.”
“We’re going out that door,” Talbert shouted. “I’ll let Clayton go as soon as I get in his jeep. In here, I’ve got nothing to lose because I don’t trust either one of you.”
Kevin looked at me and then at Randall. He stepped between us, using his own body as a shield to keep Randall from having second thoughts. “All right. Get out of here. But if you don’t let Barry go unharmed, I’ll hunt you down myself.”
Again, Talbert pushed me. I walked toward the front door, letting him swing me around to face Kevin. When we reached the threshold, Talbert stopped. “Stay inside. Clayton will be back in a minute.”
Kevin’s face was as hard as a granite bluff.
Behind him, Randall smiled. “Be seeing you.”
Talbert stepped outside and tugged me after him. The pistol sight ripped my ear as he yanked the gun away from my head. “To the jeep, and fast.” He shoved me along the walk. Halfway down, our motion triggered the spotlights.
I fumbled through my jacket pocket for the keys. At the driver’s door, I turned and held the keys up to Talbert’s face.
He laughed. “Get in. You’re driving.”
“That wasn’t the deal.”
“The deal’s changed. You know the back roads out of these hills. You’ll get me to Atlanta.”
Hot blood trickled from my ear to my jaw. “For what? To catch a flight in the middle of the night?”
He jammed the gun in my chest. “Get in the damn jeep!”
As I opened the door, Talbert circled around the front, keeping the pistol trained on me. He climbed in the passenger seat. “Start the engine and tu
rn around.”
I looked up at the condo and saw Kevin standing in the doorway. “They’ll come after us.”
“Let them. You’re going to lose them.” He chuckled. “The first thing you learn in military operations is always have an escape route. This afternoon I reserved a plane in a small private airport outside Atlanta to be readied at a moment’s notice. I’ve shot movies all over the world and I learned to fly years ago. I’ll be out of the country before daybreak.”
“Then you did kill Raven and Y’Suom. Why else an escape route?”
“Drive, or the next body your funeral home buries will be yours.”
I shifted into reverse and jolted us backwards. Then I shot up the driveway.
“Shit!” Talbert screamed as the headlights swung up the side of a black SUV parked across the driveway entrance.
The second thing you learn in a military operation is cut off the enemy’s escape route. No wonder J.R. Randall had smiled.
I braked hard, rocking us forward.
“Go around,” Talbert ordered.
“The slope’s too steep.”
“Drive!”
I backed up and shifted into four-wheel drive. I had to leave the driveway at an angle to avoid Randall’s vehicle, but not so great an angle that we’d roll over. The landscaped slope was drenched by the storm and the jeep’s wheels immediately started sinking. The jeep lurched toward the road and faltered. I pressed the accelerator and the tires spun deeper into the soaked soil.
“We’re down to the axles. Nothing’s moving this jeep short of a tow truck.”
Talbert glared at me. In the wash of the dashboard, his face became a demonic mask. He grabbed my collar and pushed the gun in my face. “Open the door and get out slowly.”
As I did, Talbert crawled across the seat, never releasing his grip. We sank in the muck churned up by the wheels.
“Up the hill,” he growled.
“Franklin! Give it up.” Kevin’s voice rang from the bottom of the driveway.
I struggled forward, climbing through the beams of my headlights with Talbert’s gun at my back.
I stepped on the wet pavement and turned around. Talbert pushed but I refused to budge. I heard a siren rapidly approaching.
“Move, damn you.” Talbert snaked behind me and again wrapped his arm across my throat.
“I’ll bet that siren’s Tommy Lee.” Kevin spoke from the dark shadows beside Randall’s SUV.
Again, Talbert stuck the gun to my head. “Stay back.”
The clouds drifted clear of the moon. The pale light showed Kevin and Randall side by side, twenty feet away. Each man had his gun leveled at me.
I realized I had nothing to lose. If Talbert took me with him, he’d have no qualms about killing me. “He’s planning on flying a plane out of Georgia. I’ll be dead in a ditch between here and there.”
“Shut up.” Talbert tightened his grip.
“Why should I? Shoot me, and then who will you hide behind?”
A patrol car sped around the curve, blue lights flashing and tires squealing. The vehicle’s headlights turned Kevin and Randall into dark silhouettes before blinding me.
I didn’t need to see to take control. “You’re on your own, Talbert.” I pressed to my left, against his arm and away from the pistol.
For a second, Talbert struggled against me. “Damn you.” He stayed behind me for a few steps, and then let go. Without me as a hostage, he knew the situation was hopeless. He dropped the gun on the road and put his hands over his head. “Don’t shoot. I give up.”
I made a foolish mistake. I should have walked toward Randall, as insurance that honor would win out over duty, like Kevin had done in the condo. But I stepped clear, anxious to escape the blinding headlights.
Randall walked forward and brought up his gun. “This is for my father.”
In the cross light from the jeep, I saw Kevin’s eyes widen. “No!” His gun fired with a deafening roar. Talbert pitched backwards, landing flat on the asphalt.
Randall stared ahead, stunned. He looked down at his pistol, a cold hunk of steel. He no longer had a target.
Kevin reached out and took the gun from Randall’s hand. The captain gave his weapon up without resisting.
I heard a car door open as I ran to Talbert. Blood spread across his blue-checked shirt. His eyes fluttered.
“Help me,” he whispered.
“Radio for an ambulance. He’s still alive.” I ripped off my jacket and shirt and wadded them into a compress. I knelt beside Talbert and pressed against the chest wound. Talbert’s breath came in gasps. He lost consciousness.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kevin and Randall beside me.
Randall looked up from Talbert and stared at Kevin in disbelief. “Why?”
Kevin’s eyes never left Talbert. “He wasn’t worth it. I couldn’t let him destroy you too.”
“An ambulance will be here in ten minutes.” Tommy Lee crouched down on the other side of Talbert. “How’s he doing?”
“Depends on what that bullet did. Went in on the upper right side nearer the shoulder, but there’s so much blood. Maybe you’d better call the hospital, give them a heads up.”
Kevin knelt beside me. “You call. Tommy Lee’s got work to do. I’ll keep the pressure on.” He slid his hands alongside mine.
I hesitated.
Tommy Lee didn’t. “Go on. Use the phone in the condo. I’ll handle things here.”
I got to my feet. Randall stared at me, his face drained of color. When hate burns out a man, there’s nothing left but ashen cinder.
I touched Randall on the shoulder. “What did you do to the security guard?”
“I knocked her out. But I checked her. She’ll be all right.”
“That’s assault.” I stared down at Tommy Lee. “The line’s been crossed.”
Kevin looked up. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll face the consequences.”
I found the cordless phone lying on the marble top of the kitchen island. I dialed a number I knew by heart. Pain seared as I pressed the receiver to my ear. I switched to my left, noting the blood smear on the cream-colored plastic.
“Hello?” Susan sounded tired.
“I’m sorry to bother you. There’s been a shooting.”
“Barry! Are you all right?”
“Yes. Franklin Talbert’s been shot and it’s bad.”
“James Raven’s son?”
Her question stopped me cold.
“Captain Randall,” she added.
“How did you know?”
“Melissa Bigham just called looking for you. She found out doing a background check.”
I didn’t want to get into an explanation of what happened. “Yeah, Randall. Tommy Lee has him. The ambulance should be there with Talbert in less than twenty minutes. He needs a good thoracic surgeon.”
“I’ll call the hospital. Ray’s there.”
Of course. Mr. Wonderful. “Okay. Tell him the wound’s a right lung entry but where the bullet went after that’s anybody’s guess. He’s bleeding like crazy.”
“I’m coming in, Barry. Ray’s only a resident. I’ll want O’Malley as well.”
O’Malley was the chief surgeon and founder of Susan’s clinic.
“Thanks. We’ll be there as soon as we can.” I left the blood-smeared phone in the designer kitchen.
Kevin knelt over Talbert, still trying to stem the bleeding. Randall sat in the patrol car, slumped forward with his cuffed hands covering his face. Tommy Lee stood by the car, talking into his radio.
Faint gurgles sounded each time Talbert took a shallow breath. Kevin’s crimson hands applied steady pressure to the wound. “Live, damn you.”
I flashed back to that moment in the atrium when I stumbled over Y’Suom’s body. Franklin Talbert had strangled the young man by cinching a belt so hard the leather crushed Y’Suom’s windpipe. I had no doubt of Talbert’s guilt. I had every doubt that he’d be convicted.
As for the murder
of Jimmy Raven, I could hear the defense lawyer painting the horror of combat and the reality of friendly fire. “Yes, that might be my client’s bullet, but could any member of the jury condemn a good soldier for a tragic accident in the fog of war?”
As Randall had raised his pistol, I’d seen only two choices—Kevin shoots Randall, or he lets Randall execute Talbert. Had the gun been in my hand, I don’t know what I’d have done. But Kevin’s third choice never entered my mind. He’d saved Randall from throwing his life away by shooting Talbert himself. Now, Kevin swore at him to live.
I heard an ambulance racing through the night. The wail of the siren echoed along the valley. At Laurel County Memorial Hospital, Ray Chandler would be rallying the trauma team for Talbert’s arrival. Susan and O’Malley were headed for the O.R.—they would be scrubbed and ready. A transport helicopter would be en route from Charlotte—airborne as a backup if Talbert could be stabilized enough to benefit from the resources of a major medical complex. Professionals all, performing life-saving duty with honorable dedication. Duty and honor for a man who knew neither.
Tommy Lee stepped beside me, his uniform etched by the blue light strobing from his cruiser. “General Weathers told us Randall is Jimmy Raven’s son, but he didn’t know anything about Talbert’s involvement in Raven’s death.”
“Randall told us.”
Tommy Lee stared at my bloodied ear. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Talbert got my pistol. He tried to take me hostage. He had the gun to my head, stuck it in my ear. The gun sight tore the skin.”
“Took guts to walk away from him.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. I didn’t feel like a hero. “And I may have cost him his life.”
Tommy Lee put his arm around my shoulder. “We all make our own choices. You can’t bear the burden for someone else’s actions.”
“But you saw what happened.”
Tommy Lee cocked his head and his one eye widened. “From the car. You broke away from Talbert. Then Randall stepped in front of him. I saw Kevin fire.”
A siren swelled to ear-splitting intensity and then abruptly ceased as an ambulance pulled behind Tommy Lee’s patrol car. Two paramedics rushed to attend Talbert.
Foolish Undertaking: A Buryin' Barry Mystery (Buryin' Barry Series Book 3) Page 23
