by Robert Crais
Pike was behind the dude’s desk, adding a laptop to a cardboard box already filled with computer CDs, papers, and a couple of hard drives. Account information where he had stashed the Vahnich money. A hundred million and change.
Stone looked at the body and lifted his pistol.
“Piece of shit.”
Jon Stone fired two shots into what was left of the head. Pike kept going through the desk even with the shots loud as bombs.
Pike, over his shoulder, said, “Stop.”
“Fuck him. You should have let me have him. I could have kept him alive for weeks, traitorous fuck.”
Stone shot the body again.
Pike said, “Jon, please.”
Stone lowered his gun. He tapped it against his leg, irritated because he was frustrated. Jon would have skinned the sonofabitch alive, a fuckin’ American doing business with terrorists; snipped off the fucker’s fingers and toes a joint at a time, then carved the living meat right off his bones. Well, okay, maybe not-Jon wouldn’t have done those things, but it was fun to think about, and he had thought about it every day since Pike told him to find the sonofabitch. Jon Stone had been a soldier, a mercenary, a private military contract broker, and even an assassin, but he was also a patriot.
Pike’s gun was on the floor by the couch. Pike had popped the fucker, then tossed his gun, which was how they planned it. Their weapons were local junk Jon picked up for the job; use’m then lose’m, which was easier than sneaking firearms into the country.
Pike came around the desk with the box.
Jon said, “Got everything?”
Pike grunted. What passed for a yes.
Stone kept thinking about the incredible view and how much he liked the house. Every full moon, the beach filling with out-of-control chicks.
Stone tapped his pistol.
“What the fuck, bro? Let’s keep it. Wouldn’t be like we’re stealing it from worthwhile people.”
Pike studied the room to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.
“It’s going home. Pitman might be able to do something with the hard drives.”
Stone tapped his pistol again, then glanced at Pike’s gun, thinking it would be easy-double-tap center-of-mass, and the box would be his. Spend the rest of his life in this fine, fine house.
Stone said, “Fuck it.”
He raised his pistol and shot the body again, a single shot, square up the dude’s ass. Then he tossed his gun onto the body.
Wouldn’t be right, keeping this money, but it was fun to think about. Jon had made a fortune off Pike’s contract anyway, and Pike hadn’t taken a dime. Wouldn’t. Though he made Jon help him find Kline. For free. That part of it sucked.
Pike said, “Hold this.”
Pike pushed the box into Stone’s hands, then went back to the desk. Pike took something from his pocket. Stone wondered what in hell Pike was doing, then saw it was a snapshot of the girl. Larkin Conner Barkley. Pike propped the snapshot against the dude’s humidor so she was facing the body. Pike was a strange cat.
Back when Stone was a combat troop, the boys dealt business cards on their KIAs. Called’m Death Cards. Let the enemy know who they better not fuck with.
Pike touched the picture to make sure it was just right, then came back for the box.
“Okay. We’re done.”
They drove back through paradise along a winding road to the airport. They turned in their rental, then headed to the terminal, all the disks and computer stuff now packed in their bags. It was a small terminal: one low, flat building surrounded by sand, shells, and coconut trees.
Stone said, “I’m gonna grab a smoke. Wanna hang with?”
“Meet you at the gate.”
Stone lit up as Pike disappeared into the terminal. He waited a few moments, then strolled to the end of the building and sat back to enjoy the moment. The sun was pure and bright in the very best way, and the air so clean Jon Stone wanted to stay there forever.
Stone had one of those cell phones you get to call home when you travel abroad. He dialed a U.S. number, then waited for the man to answer.
Stone said, “Over and out. We’re coming home.”
“Thank God. Thank Christ for that. He’s all right?”
“Thanks for asking about me.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Pike’s fine. He did what he had to do, just like you knew he would. That boy’s a bulldog.”
“I didn’t have any choice.”
“I know, I know.”
Jon thought, Jesus, shut up already! The sonofabitch had been apologizing for months like he felt guilty for turning Pike loose. Jon suspected the man knew what Pike would do and how he would do it from the beginning.
The man was still going on.
“I didn’t know how else to protect that girl. I knew what it took, but I wasn’t up to it. He was.”
“Listen, I gotta get goin’-”
“He’s a good man.”
“Yeah, he is, Mr. Flynn. That’s why he’s Pike.”
“You boys get home safe.”
Stone turned off the phone. He finished his cigarette, enjoying the clean sky and sensuous air until they called for his flight. Then he went inside to find Joe Pike at the gate.
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