End Game

  two slender instruments and efficiently picked the lock.

  The door didn’t squeak as she opened it, for which Reel was immensely grateful. She stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind her.

  Reel looked around the room and nothing jumped out at her, figuratively or literally.

  She searched the rooms on the first floor. There was a half floor above reached by a set of stairs. The place was pretty rustic, and Reel couldn’t see rich boy Randall spending much time here. And she doubted that his wife knew anything about it, or if she did, she would never choose to set one foot inside a place that was about as far away from the Hamptons as one could get.

  But according to Page, Randall came here often, and he must have a reason for doing so. The fact that he chose this place over his luxury doomsday bunker was puzzling. Reel assumed there must also be a good reason for that. And also a compelling purpose for needing the serious dudes along for the ride.

  In an upstairs closet Reel finally discovered some things, although she couldn’t make sense of any of the items.

  A pair of work boots covered in dirt and grime and smelling of chemicals.

  An old map of an area she didn’t recognize, though it could have been somewhere in eastern Colorado.

  A box of ammo. Forty-five-caliber ACPs.

  But with one important difference.

  Reel slid one of the cartridges out and looked at it. Her mouth dropped open in surprise.

  They’re blanks.

  Chapter

  55

  ROBIE SLOWED THE truck about two hundred yards from the bunker’s outer perimeter fence.

  He pulled off the road and parked behind a copse of trees, cut the engine, grabbed a pair of night optics from the duffel in the rear, and climbed out. He squatted on his haunches and surveyed the flat ground in front of him.

  The dying guy had said the silo.

  Were the prisoners in there somewhere?

  But how could that be? Why would Roark Lambert have led them on a tour of a place that held people against their will?

  Yet as Reel had pointed out, surely they had not seen every inch of the bunker. And for all Robie knew there were secret compartments in there that none of the other owners might know about. In fact, they were almost never here. And the prisoners could easily be gotten out of the way when owners showed up. So prisoners could be kept in there and no one would know about it.

  Robie, however, had no way to get in. The bunker was closely guarded, and even if he managed to somehow evade all the security, he had no way to defeat the blast door.

  But he would watch the place tonight and see if anyone went in or out, including a white van with prisoners in the back.

  An hour passed and he had a thought after mulling over another question of his.

  He took out his phone and texted a message to the number that Dwight Sanders had left them.

  Ten minutes passed and then the answer dropped into his in-box.

  Others have left Dolph. I don’t think he cares. There will always be others.

  That answer was puzzling.

  The sole reason that Dolph had given for his going after Luke and Holly was that Luke was planning to leave the skinheads and Dolph blamed Holly’s influence on that. But according to Sanders, other followers had left Dolph and the man had done nothing.

  There could be only one answer to that, Robie knew.

  Dolph had gone after and killed Luke and Holly because he knew that Holly was aware of the prisoners in the van. And Dolph had to assume that Holly had told Luke about it.

  So they had to be killed.

  Robie stiffened and sank deeper into the shadows as a car passed by on the road heading to the bunker.

  As it passed by he saw that it was not a white van.

  It was Roark Lambert in a Range Rover.

  Through his optics Robie watched the vehicle pull up to the gate. His window came down, and Robie assumed he was speaking into the voice box as he had done on their previous trip to the bunker. The gate opened and he pulled through. After a bit, Robie lost sight of the Rover.

  He looked at his watch. A bit late to be heading to the bunker. But then again, he was staying overnight, so it made sense that he would sleep at the bunker.

  More time passed and no other car came down the road. At first, Robie had thought that Lambert might be meeting someone here, but that apparently wasn’t the case.

  Robie waited a bit more, then climbed into his truck and headed back to town.

  His phone buzzed along the way.

  It was Malloy.

  “Well, you left a shit storm behind,” she said.

  “Sorry, but they brought it on themselves.”

  “They are with Dolph’s group. Even without the uniforms, I recognized two of them.”

  “Right.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “Heading back to town.”

  “Heading back from where?”

  “Someplace.”

  He heard her sigh.

  She said, “You have no problem coming to my home tonight and having sex with me, but you still can’t give me straight answers? How messed up is that?”

  “One is completely different from the other. I wall them off.”

  “Well, thanks for walling me off right now. But I need you to meet me at the police station and give a statement. If you don’t,” she added quickly, “I’ll have no choice but to get an arrest warrant issued. You did leave the scene of a crime. And I only have your word for it that these guys attacked you.”

  “I’ve got rounds from their guns embedded in my truck.”

  “Great, I look forward to seeing it.”

  “Where’s Bender?”

  “Processing the scene. I didn’t mention your involvement to him.”

  “Why not?”

  “I wanted to talk to you first.”

  “Okay.”

  “Robie, just so we’re clear, I need you to meet me at the station in one hour.”

  “I can make that.”

  He heard her let out another sigh, this time perhaps one of relief at his acquiescence to her request. “Great. Do you have any idea why they came after you?”

  “Because they wanted to do me harm.”

  “Yeah, that one I already figured out on my own. I mean why tonight in particular?”

  “I don’t know, Valerie. I really don’t. Unless it was for revenge because of what we did to Dolph.”

  “I guess that would be a good motive. I’ll see you at the station in one hour.”

  He clicked off and kept driving.

  Nearly fifty minutes later he arrived at the police station. Malloy’s car was parked out front.

  He went inside, preparing in his head what his “statement” might consist of.

  The overturned chair got his attention first.

  Then the smashed glass on the floor.

  And some blood on the floor by her desk.

  He pulled his gun and quickly searched the space.

  He reached the rear of the building and saw the door standing open.

  Outside, he saw tire tracks.

  Malloy was gone.

  And it clearly wasn’t voluntary.

  Chapter

  56

  REEL PULLED THE stretch limo back in front of the bar and, despite the late hour, noted that things were still going strong inside the place.

  She had taken photos of the map and the ammo box and had used a cloth she found in the cabin to take samples of the dirt and other grime from the boots. If they could get it analyzed, it might provide an answer as to where the boots had been.

  She climbed out of the limo and walked over to the bar and peered through the front window.

  Tommy Page was still at the bar and he was still sipping on a beer. How many he had drunk since she had left and taken his car, she didn’t know. And really didn’t care.

  She looked around the space and saw that some of the Apostles were still there. As were some
of the burly guys wearing Confederate caps. The same couples were on the dance floor doing the same moves.

  But there were others there now who hadn’t been there before.

  Claire and Patti Bender were sitting at a table off to the side. Claire was dressed elegantly if simply in black slacks, a white blouse, and high heels. Her daughter had on cammie pants, an Army green T-shirt, and work boots.

  Somewhat in keeping with their dress, Claire was sipping on a glass of white wine while Patti had her fingers curled around the neck of a beer.

  Reel walked over to them. “Having a nightcap?” she asked.

  Claire smiled up at her. “Actually, we’re just getting started. Care to join? Women out here are outnumbered and I haven’t had a real girls’ night out in ages.”

  Reel sat and ordered a beer. When it arrived she took a swig and studied the other two women. They could not have been more dissimilar in appearance.

  She set the bottle down and looked around. “Place is hopping.”

  “What else is out here?” said Patti. “You want another drinking hole you have to drive a long way. Might as well go to Denver.”

  “How’s your investigation coming?” asked Claire, her features turning serious.

  “It’s a puzzler,” admitted Reel. “I’m not sure we’re much further along than when we started.”

  “Did you speak to the skinheads?” asked Claire. “They’re disgusting people. If anyone had something to do with Roger’s disappearance I have to believe it was them.”

  “We did interact with them,” said Reel slowly. “And I agree that they could have had something to do with whatever happened. Apparently, Dolph has gone underground.”

  “If you mean underground as in dead, that would be wonderful news,” said Claire.

  Patti cracked a smile at this.

  Reel said, “I wish I could tell you that was so, but what I meant was he’s lying low.”

  Claire took another sip of wine and eyed her appraisingly. “Is that because of your interaction?”

  “Can neither confirm nor deny,” said Reel, but a smile played over her lips.

  “Well, then I hope you get to interact with him again soon,” said Claire.

  “Where’s Will?” asked Patti. “I saw him driving off tonight.”

  “He was running down some things,” Reel replied quickly.

  “Really? He told me was just getting some fresh air.”

  “He keeps things close to the vest.”

  “I guess you have to,” noted Claire.

  “So how’s the medical marijuana business?” said Reel.

  Claire lifted her glass. “Better than ever. I’m trying to get my daughter here to join the cause. Lead it into the future. But she wants to keep playing tomboy.”

  “I’m not cut out to sit behind a desk,” said Patti. “And are you surprised? Look where I grew up. In the great outdoors. I never even went to college.”

  “You could have,” said Claire pointedly. She looked at Reel. “In high school she was a straight-A student. National Honor Society and everything. One of her teachers said he’d never seen a more talented student.” She looked back at her daughter. “You could have been a great scientist or something. Or a writer.”

  “College wasn’t my thing.”

  Claire said, “Okay, but you don’t have to have a sheepskin to run a business. Look at Bill Gates. He dropped out of Harvard. I’ve built up a great company. Your brother has no interest in it. I’d like at least one of you to take it over.”

  Patti glanced at Reel. “Mom rarely accepts defeat in any argument.”

  “I wasn’t aware that we were arguing,” said Claire, her tone turning a bit icy.

  “Actually, we’re not, since my decision has already been made. And I wouldn’t call it being a tomboy. I just like my guns, the country, and being my own boss. And I’m not that much into weed, really.”

  Claire smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Well, you can’t blame a mother for trying.”

  They both fell silent. Reel finally said, “Do either of you know Scott Randall?”

  Claire looked at her curiously. “He bought one of Roark’s places in the bunker, right? Roark mentioned him to me before.”

  “He’s the one whose daddy left him a ton of money and he runs around with that bitch of a wife,” observed Patti.

  Reel looked at her. “How do you know that?”

  “They came into town a while back. I think when they were first purchasing the unit. They came into the bar. You could tell that he thought he was the cock of the walk and he just wanted to show off his wife. She wiped the chair before she sat down and refused to drink anything here. She thought it was all cheap shit.”

  “Well, I ran into the lady too, and I have to agree with your assessment,” said Reel.

  “Why do you ask about Randall?” said Claire.

  “I found out that he comes back here from time to time, but he doesn’t go to the silo. He stays in a cabin a ways from here. And he goes there with folks who have been described to me as serious dudes.” She looked at both of them. “You two know anything about any of that?”

  Claire shook her head. “I have no idea. Unless he was hunting or fishing.”

  Reel focused on Patti. “How about you? You get around, see things. Maybe Randall without his wife?”

  Patti shrugged. “Yeah. I saw Randall around here a few times. I didn’t see these other people you’re talking about.”

  “What was he doing when you saw him?” asked Claire curiously.

  “One time he was driving. Another time he was walking.”

  “Was he armed?” asked Reel.

  “Not that I could see.”

  “Where was he walking?”

  “Bluff Point Road. Around there.”

  “That’s where his cabin is.”

  “Didn’t know that,” said Patti.

  “You think that Roger is dead, don’t you?” Claire asked Reel abruptly.

  They both looked at her.

  “Why do you ask that?” said Reel.