End Game

  “No sir, not one bit. I was just showing them around. They are not here in their official capacity.”

  Randall hitched up his pants, placed his hand on the butt of his weapon, and said, “That’s a good thing. I don’t like legal problems. Got a whole army of lawyers to handle that crap.”

  “I’m sure you do,” said Reel.

  “So we’ll just be going,” added Robie.

  “I don’t like government folks,” continued Randall. “They just get in the way of people that know what they’re doing. They mess every damn thing up. It’s like we’re living in a communist country sometimes. I can take care of myself. I don’t need the damn nanny state holding my hand while it sticks the other hand in my wallet.”

  “Okay, so when someone robs you, don’t bother calling 911,” snapped Reel. “Handle it on your own.”

  Randall patted his gun. “I got no problem with that, hon.”

  “Oh, I think you’d have a big problem with that. And don’t pretend otherwise. I mean, isn’t that why you bought your little insurance policy here? So they could protect you from the big, bad riffraff banging on the door to get in?”

  His wife stepped forward. “Who the hell do you think you are? Do you know who he is? He could buy and sell you.”

  “Hank, why don’t you go on and head out now while I show the Randalls to their quarters?” said Lambert quickly. “I just don’t see the direction of this conversation as being productive.”

  The hulking Hank, an AR-15 slung over his shoulder, came forward. “Yes, sir, Mr. Lambert.”

  The chauffeur had popped the trunk and was pulling out massive pieces of luggage.

  Reel eyed this and turned to the wife. They were about the same height. “Just a piece of advice, hon, in an apocalypse, no one is going to care what you’re wearing.”

  Mrs. Randall glared at Reel. “You little bitch!”

  Reel moved closer. “I’m someone with a badge, so lose the attitude and go check out your luxury digs while we get on with our petty little lives.”

  Reel had turned away when the woman grabbed Reel by the shoulder. “Hey, I’m not finished with you yet.”

  Reel moved so fast, it was hard to follow.

  She pivoted, kicked out with her right leg, and took out the back of the woman’s knees. Mrs. Randall cried out in pain and fell back on her butt. The next instant Reel was straddling her, pinning her arms to her side.

  Randall leapt forward and grabbed Reel by the neck. But a moment later he was lying on his face with Robie’s knee in his back and one hand on his neck, pinning him to the ground. When Randall reached for his gun, Robie blocked him and then leveled his own weapon against the man’s temple.

  “You and your wife just assaulted a federal agent. We could arrest you both for that right now. But in the spirit of generosity from the government you loathe, we’ll let it pass. Don’t let there be a second time, because this is your only ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

  Malloy squatted down next to Randall. “And that goes double from local law enforcement.”

  Reel rose off a gasping Mrs. Randall while Robie removed his knee from her husband’s back. Randall scrambled to his feet while Lambert helped Mrs. Randall to hers. She staggered a bit and grabbed at her right leg.

  “I’m gonna sue your ass off!” the woman screamed at Reel. “I think you tore something in my fucking knee.”

  “Well, we can always hope,” said Reel.

  “Please, everybody,” said Lambert. “Let’s just chill out here.”

  “Good idea, Lambert,” said Robie. “Stick ’em both in the chill-out room. I think they could use it.”

  He glanced at Hank, who was standing there looking helpless.

  “Let’s hit the road,” said Robie.

  They all walked toward the SUV. When Robie looked back the Randalls were screaming at Lambert and pointing at Robie and Reel.

  As Robie and Reel passed by the chauffeur, the man said under his breath, “You just made my day.”

  Chapter

  42

  “SOMETHING GOING ON you want to tell me about?”

  Reel was looking at Robie in the lobby of their hotel. Hank had just dropped them off. Malloy had walked across the street to the police station to make some calls and check on things.

  “About what?” Robie asked.

  “You tell me.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Robie. “If I had something to tell you, I’d just tell you.”

  “Okay,” said Reel, but she didn’t look convinced.

  Robie’s phone buzzed and he groaned.

  “What?” asked Reel.

  “DCI’s office. She wants another update tonight.”

  “Well, let’s spend the day trying to get an update for her.”

  “Starting where exactly?” asked Robie.

  “Everybody who knew about the prisoners in the van has disappeared: JC Parry, Clément Lamarre, and Blue Man.”

  “Holly Malloy was connected to that and she didn’t disappear,” pointed out Robie.

  “That’s true. But maybe they didn’t know she knew. The others might have done something to show their hand. And maybe they were planning to get to her, but Dolph beat them to it.”

  “Okay, but where does that get us?”

  In answer Reel pulled out her phone. “How about we get the Agency to dial up a satellite in this part of the sky to see if it saw the van that night and recorded something about it, the license plate, the direction it went, or even the destination?”

  “Good idea,” said Robie. “Let’s do it.”

  They went up to Reel’s room, where she made the call and laid out what she wanted.

  She clicked off and said, “They’re going to see what they can do.”

  “How long?”

  “You heard me tell them to give it a top priority. I used the DCI update tonight as the stick.”

  Three hours later she received a call back. Her expression told Robie all he needed to know. When she clicked off he said, “They found nothing?”’

  “They didn’t have a bird pointed in that direction during the relevant time period. So there goes that.”

  Robie said, “Wait a minute, didn’t Lambert say that they have a satellite-based network so they can monitor what’s going on outside the silo?”

  “Yeah, he did.”

  “You would think his bird would be pointed in the right direction. Meaning at the silo and the area around it. If memory serves me correctly, the silo’s in the same general vicinity as Clyde’s Stop-In.”

  “We’ll need to get the details on the sat from Lambert in order to do that.”

  “Which would mean explaining to him why we want it. The fewer people we loop in on this the better.”

  Reel picked up her phone again. “Let’s see what they can do with the information we do have.”

  She made the call and relayed what she wanted. Then Reel clicked off and looked at Robie. “They’re working on it.”

  “Let’s hope they work fast. I don’t want to tell the DCI we have no progress to report.”

  “I don’t care what she thinks,” shot back Reel. “I just want to find Blue Man alive.”

  “So do I,” said Robie.

  “Good, I’m glad we’re in agreement on that.”

  They walked downstairs to the hotel restaurant to grab some lunch.

  Midway through their meal Roark Lambert walked in, spotted them, and hurried over. He grabbed a chair and sat down at their table.

  “How’re the Randalls?” asked Reel. “Still screaming?”

  “Look, I’m sorry about that. I think I got them calmed down so they won’t sue.”

  “I don’t give a crap if they do. They assaulted me. They can go to a federal prison for that. So they should be thanking me for not arresting them, not feeling generous for not suing me!”

  “I pointed that out to them seven ways from Sunday, but in case you hadn’t noticed, they don’t listen
too well,” Lambert retorted.

  Reel said, “Piece of advice. If the world blows up and those two are in the silo, you might want to just put them in the chill-out room permanently, because I don’t see either of them playing well with others.”

  Lambert nodded. “You’re probably right about that. Just about all the other owners are as nice as they can be. I’m sorry you had to run into the Randalls. They are not representative of the other folks. I know rich people get a bad rap, but the other owners are really good people. Considerate and respectful and reasonable.”

  “I have no problem with rich people,” said Robie. “I’ve met rich and poor and people in the middle of the pay scale who are great, and I’ve come across people along that same spectrum who are jerks.”

  Lambert said, “I think Randall’s daddy spoiled him. And his wife just enables that crappy attitude because I think she’s even worse than he is. I mean, she was screaming at him for not shooting you, Agent Reel. Slapping him in the face and everything. I finally had to hold her back. I mean, damn.”

  “If he had tried to shoot me, he’d be dead,” said Reel. “I hope you know that.”

  “I have no doubt,” said Lambert. “Anyway, they’re in their quarters now. Her knee will be fine. She’s got some ice on it.”

  “Trust me when I say I wasn’t worried in the least about that,” said Reel.

  Lambert cracked a smile. “I wish you two could be in the bunker when things go to hell.”

  “If they go to hell,” corrected Robie. “Remember, let’s think positive.”

  With a hurried good-bye, Lambert rose and left them.

  “I think he might be regretting this whole thing,” said Robie.

  “He made his bunker, now he has to sleep in it. Literally.”

  “So what do we do while we’re waiting on the agency to see if they can access Lambert’s satellite?”

  Reel took a last sip of her iced tea. “Let’s check Blue Man’s cabin one more time.”

  “Why? There was nothing there.”

  “Blue Man is one of the most resourceful people either of us knows. There was no sign of a struggle at the cabin, so I don’t think he was taken completely by surprise. He might have known they were coming. If so, he would also know that people from the Agency would be dispatched to find him.”

  “So you’re saying he might have left a clue?” said Robie. “Something we missed earlier?”

  “Let’s hope to God he did.”

  Chapter

  43

  SOMEONE WAS WAITING for them when they came out.

  Malloy was leaning on the front fender of her patrol car.

  “What’s up?” asked Robie.

  “What I was just about to ask you. After our little jaunt to the bunker, I figured you two would be heading out to do some investigating. So that’s where I’m going too.”

  Reel said, “What we do is classified. We can’t have conversations with you around. We can’t examine information we have related to our investigation. So having you as a third wheel would pretty much make our work impossible.”

  “I thought you wanted to find this guy,” said Malloy.

  “We do,” said Robie.

  “Then it seems to me that you would use any tool at your disposal. I can be one of those tools.”

  Robie looked at Reel. She looked back at him with an expression akin to a fist coming right at him.

  He turned back to Malloy and said, “We’re going to search Walton’s cabin again. If you want to follow us up there, fine.”

  He took his seat in the truck and started it up.

  Reel slowly turned to look at Malloy.

  “Just so we’re clear—you die, it’s not my responsibility.” Then she climbed into the truck next to Robie.

  Robie waited for Malloy to get in her cruiser and then pulled off down the road. They had driven for about five minutes before Reel broke the silence.

  “You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  Robie didn’t look at her. “She’s local law enforcement. She could be useful. And her sister’s dead and we know it but she doesn’t. I feel sorry for her.”

  “Feeling sorry for her does not justify letting her screw up our search for Blue Man.”

  “She’s not going to screw it up. She’s a trained professional.”

  “So you’re really not going to tell me what’s going on?” said Reel.

  “There is nothing going on!” barked Robie.

  Reel turned to look out the windshield.

  When Robie glanced over at her a few moments later, he did not like what he saw.

  They drove on.

  * * *

  “Someone’s been here,” said Reel.

  They were standing outside of Blue Man’s cabin. The door was still padlocked and the police tape was still up but there were fresh muddy boot prints on the porch. It had rained some the previous night.

  Reel glanced at Malloy, who was looking at the prints. “I thought this was a crime scene. Shouldn’t it have been secured?”

  “Like I told you before, Agent Reel, we don’t have the manpower for that,” retorted Malloy. “And the door is still locked.” She knelt down and studied the footprints. “They look familiar.”

  “You know people by their shoes?” quipped Reel.

  “Some of them, yes,” said Malloy, rising to her feet.

  “So any idea who those belong to?” asked Robie.

  “Working on it,” she said evasively, a worried look on her face.

  “Can you get this open?” Reel said, pointing at the door.

  Malloy unlocked the padlock and opened the door.

  Reel passed by her and went inside.

  When Robie started to follow Malloy gripped his arm.

  “I want to see you again,” she said.

  Robie shook his head. “Valerie, last night was a big mistake.”

  “Not for me it wasn’t,” she said sharply, as Robie kept shaking his head. “Are you telling me you didn’t enjoy it?”

  “That’s not the point. It was a mistake. We’re both working a case. We can’t be personally involved.”

  She ran her hand down his arm and smiled. “I think that boat has sailed. We nearly broke the bed.”

  Robie was about to say something else when the front door swung open, revealing Reel.

  “Are you coming?” she demanded, looking at each of them in turn.

  Robie brushed past her on the way into the house.

  Reel looked at Malloy. “What were you two doing out here?”

  “Just talking shop.”

  “Right,” replied Reel. She moved aside to let Malloy pass.