End Game

by David Baldacci

  Under his breath Robie said, “Before you do, tell me to go screw myself and that I’ll get jack shit from you, and I’ll look sufficiently intimidated.”

  The men stared at each other for a moment.

  “Go screw yourself, Fed, you’ll get jack shit from me,” Bruce screamed.

  Robie put up his hands in mock surrender and turned back to his beer.

  Bruce walked back to his friends and high-fived several of them.

  But when he sat down he glanced over at Robie, and his stare lingered for a few moments.

  Robie finished his beer, rose, and left, the eyes of the “apostles” on him every second of the way. But at least one of them now might not want to kill him if it came to it.

  And, as Robie knew better than most, one could be a very powerful number.

  Chapter

  13

  JESSICA REEL WALKED into the hotel lobby just as she did any space: with her eyes open and her gaze taking in all possible threats.

  She stopped on one possibility.

  The man sat in a chair near the double front doors. He was in his forties, with salt-and-pepper hair and a face that was more youthful than the graying hair would suggest. His build was lean but wiry. He wore wire-rimmed glasses and a navy two-piece pinstripe suit. His starched white shirt was buttoned all the way to the collar. Polished cowboy boots were on his feet.

  When Reel came into the lobby he rose and put out a hand.

  “Agent Reel?”

  She stared at him, her hand remaining at her side. “And you are?”

  “Doctor King.”

  “What kind of doctor?”

  “No kind. Doctor is my given name. My parents’ idea. They never told me the reasons.”

  “How do you know I’m an agent?”

  King smiled. “Small town. Just the way it works.”

  “And what do you do here?”

  King took a few moments before answering. “I’m trying to implement change. I’m trying to show people who were born and grew up in a bubble that there are options in life.”

  “And you have a compound outside of town?”

  “I see you’ve been talking to some of the locals.”

  “Roger Walton, you know him?”

  “No, but I do know that he went missing.”

  “Do you know anything about that?”

  “It’s one reason I’m here. I don’t know anything about it.”

  “What’s the other reason you’re here?”

  “To ask if you needed any help.”

  “Unless you’ve got Walton tied up somewhere, the answer to that would be no.”

  “I could give you insights on the people here.”

  Reel sat down in a chair opposite and stared across at King. “Let’s start with Sheriff Malloy.”

  King looked surprised. “Why her? She’s on your side.”

  “Nobody’s on my side until they prove they are. She wasn’t all that forthcoming when we met with her. If we’re going to be working the case with her, I need to know if she’s the real deal or not.”

  King nodded. “Okay, that makes sense. She came here because of her sister.”

  “She mentioned that. Holly. Do you know her?”

  “I’ve met her on occasion. I understand she had a drug problem and went into rehab for it. I encouraged her to become one of my apostles, in fact. I thought it would help her.”

  “Apostle. So you’re a religious organization?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “The term apostle sort of implies that.”

  “Perhaps in your narrow definition, not mine. But you’re certainly entitled to your interpretation.”

  “You choose your words carefully,” noted Reel.

  “I’ve found that to be a good practice.”

  “Are you from this area?”

  “I am now.”

  “What else can you tell me?”

  “If you want my two cents, Malloy is the real deal. She’s been a good, fair sheriff here. People respect her, and that’s not an easy thing to come by out here. So if you’re worried whether she’ll have your back or not, I’d say you could trust her.”

  He rose.

  “Is that it?” asked Reel. “I have a lot more questions.”

  “I’m sure you do, but I have some things to take care of.”

  “Why did you come here? To see me, or my partner?”

  “I wanted to make your acquaintance. Your partner is in the bar across the street. Some of my apostles are there as well.”

  “Your apostles like their liquor?”

  “They’re young men. You have to be flexible. But they work hard.”

  “Doing what?”

  “I wish you luck in finding your friend.”

  She watched him walk out of the lobby.

  She waited a minute and then followed. She met Robie in the middle of the street. They each brought the other up to speed.

  “This King guy reminded me of a lawyer or something,” said Reel. “But he said he knows nothing about Blue Man.”

  “Yeah, they all seem to say that. But this place is small enough that it seems everyone knows everything that goes on here.”

  “He did say that Malloy is the real deal. That we can trust her.”

  “Well, we don’t know if we can trust him,” retorted Robie.

  “True. So no guess as to how King and his court make a living?”

  “The bartender didn’t seem to know. ”

  “King told me that Holly was in rehab for drugs. He said Holly was the reason Malloy came out here in the first place.”

  Robie threw up his hands. “So what? And I don’t think we’ve made a jot of progress.”

  Reel shrugged. “I still don’t get why they don’t just flood this place with FBI agents.”

  “You heard the DCI. That’s not how they want to play this.”

  “You know the probability is that Blue Man is dead, don’t you?”

  “No, I don’t know that. My money’s on Blue Man surviving.”

  “Well, then what’s our next move?” replied Reel curtly.

  “We’ve checked out where he was staying. We’ve talked to his ex-flame. So let’s go check out the house where he grew up. I got the address from Claire.”

  Reel said, “Why is that relevant?”

  “I don’t know that it’s not, so that means it’s relevant.”

  He walked toward their Yukon and she reluctantly followed.

  Twenty minutes outside of Grand, a pair of bullets cracked the Yukon’s windshield.

  Chapter

  14

  “NOW THAT’S MORE like it,” said Reel, as Robie guided the Yukon to a stop off the road. They took up position behind the SUV and Robie sighted through a pair of binoculars in the direction of the shot.

  “Rounds hit dead center of the middle row,” Reel said. “Optics shot, so the shooter didn’t want to kill us, just send us a message. If he could hit the windshield he could hit us.”

  Robie nodded but said nothing. He knew all of this, and she knew he knew it.

  Reel gazed out at the bleak landscape. She pointed to some higher ground about six hundred yards away. “I’m thinking there.”

  Robie nodded again and lowered the optics. “So do we keep going? The next shots might not hit the seats.”

  In answer Reel popped the rear cargo door and unlocked the aluminum case that was in there. In less than a minute she had assembled her rifle and attached the scope. She climbed into the cargo area, used the rear seat as her fulcrum, and sighted through her scope.

  Twenty seconds went by and she said, “Got ’em. Two guys, one rifle.”

  “So a spotter?”

  “Looks to be.”

  “So maybe professional then.”

  “Most people out here probably know how to use a gun. At least most people we’ve seen have them.”

  “Right.”

  “Dodge Ram truck. Can’t see the plate.” She turned back to loo
k at Robie. “What do you want to do?”

  “Send them a message back,” instructed Robie.

  Reel smiled at this, climbed out, stood on the rear bumper, placed her rifle on the roof of the Yukon, manipulated her scope, made her sighting, locked them in, settled down, took aim, and fired once. She took another aim and fired again.

  Six hundred yards away each bullet slammed into a tire sidewall, exploding it.

  The two men were so startled that they threw themselves down on the dirt and then scrambled like mad for cover behind the truck.

  “Now let’s go have a chat,” said Robie. “Keep eyes on them.”

  He took the driver’s slot while Reel slipped her scope off the rifle’s rail and climbed in on the passenger side. She kept eyes on the pair as Robie wound the Yukon up to eighty. He slipped his pistol from its holster and cradled it between his knees.

  “Movement?” he asked.

  “They’re still hunkered down wondering what the hell just happened. Now they’re climbing into the truck. Started up and…they just found out they have two flat tires. Idiots. They should have checked that first.”

  “So maybe not professionals then.”

  “Probably not.”

  The Yukon had rounded a bend, moved up the high ground, and Robie slammed it to a stop twenty feet from the disabled pickup.

  He and Reel climbed out, their pistols trained on the front cab where the two men sat, looking stunned. They slowly raised their hands.

  Robie motioned with his weapon for the men to get out of the truck.

  The doors squeaked open and the men nearly fell out.

  One was older, in his fifties, with a full beard and a sunburned face. He wore faded dungarees, dusty boots, and a leather vest over a flannel shirt.

  The other man was in his twenties, lean and wiry, about five nine. He was dressed like his companion. His beard was bushy and dark. His eyes were small and resembled gray, moistened pebbles.

  They each had holstered weapons. Robie told them to drop their gun belts and kick them away. They did so without saying a word. Lying next to the truck was a rifle with a scope.

  Robie pointed to the Yukon’s punctured windshield. “I think you owe us some new glass.”

  Reel looked the younger man up and down and said, “You dropped your rifle on the ground. No way to respect your equipment. And what, you were just going to drive off without it?” She went over and nudged it with her foot. “Nice optics. Too bad they got damaged.” She stomped twice on the device with her boot and the scope broke in half.

  “What the hell are you doing?” screamed the younger man.

  Reel looked up at him. “It’s pretty simple. I’m making sure you can’t ever shoot me through that scope.”

  Robie said, “Who are you and why are you firing at us?”

  The younger man looked toward his elder. The older man said, “Just saying hello. It’s a local custom.”

  Reel pointed to his truck’s flattened tires. “Well, we returned the greeting. But since you fired on two federal agents, the only hellos you’re going to be saying for the next twenty years are to people from the federal correctional force, your lawyers, and fellow inmates who want to get to know you better.”

  The young man’s features fell. “You talking prison?” He shot his colleague a look of stark betrayal.

  The older man said, “Now let’s just hold on here. We didn’t mean no harm. Boy could’ve hurt you if he wanted to. He’s a damn fine shot. I don’t think we need to involve the law on this. Just a misunderstanding.”

  “Who are you and why did you fire on us?” asked Robie again. “We can talk about misunderstandings and the law later. And you bullshit me again with this is your way of saying hello, your ass is gone.”

  The older man considered this. “My name’s Zeke Donovan. Russell here is my nephew. We got us a place about two miles from here. Do some guide work. Miscellaneous stuff. Whatever we need to do to get by.”

  “Why did you fire on us?”

  “Well, somebody asked us to put the fear’a God in you.”

  “And who would this somebody be?”

  Donovan stroked his beard. “I can’t say without breaking a confidence.”

  “Is that confidence worth twenty years in a federal pen?” asked Reel.

  “Probably not,” admitted Donovan.

  “Well then?”

  “His name’s Roger Walton.”

  Chapter

  15

  ROBIE STARED AT the pair through the width of the cell bars.

  Valerie Malloy stood next to him.

  “Zeke, do you know how stupid that was?” she said to the older man.

  He looked up at her. “Well, hell, I do now.”

  Russell sat next to him looking at the concrete floor.

  “How do you know it was Walton that told you to warn them off?” Malloy asked.

  Zeke pointed at Robie. “Like I done told him, he left a note at my place.”

  “Yeah, I get that, but—”

  Robie interjected, “How do you know it was Walton then? If you didn’t see him?”

  Zeke spread his hands. “Well, who else would’a told me to do it if not Mr. Walton?”

  Robie looked at Malloy. She shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment. When she reopened them she said, “Well, Zeke, since these people work with Walton it’s highly doubtful he would’ve wanted you to scare them off. And when did you get the note?”

  “Well, I seen it early this afternoon, but I’d been gone for a few days so it could’ve been there a while. Or it could’ve been delivered today.”

  “Well, since we just got here this morning I doubt somebody would have sent you a note that said scare off people who weren’t even here yet,” said Robie.

  Zeke’s face brightened. “Hey, I bet you’re right about that. Yeah, that’s a good point, son.”

  “Did it mention the two people by name?” asked Malloy.

  “No, just said a couple of strangers looking for Walton. Well, I