The Hit

by David Baldacci

  stenciled on the wall.

  There could be a firebomb in here somewhere, but he didn’t focus on that. There was a woodstove, a table, chairs, and a bed. And a small toilet and sink. Just like his cabin. On the table was a battery-powered lantern. He examined it for booby traps, found none, turned it on, and the room became dimly illuminated.

  Also on the table were two pictures set in frames.

  One was of Doug Jacobs.

  The other was of Jim Gelder.

  Black slashes had been drawn across the pictures of the dead men.

  There were three other frames lined up next to them. There were no pictures in them. In front of the frames was a single white rose.

  He picked up the pictures of Jacobs and Gelder and checked to see if anything was hidden behind them. There was nothing. He did the same with the three other frames.

  Robie wondered whose pictures Reel intended to insert in these when and if the time came. And he still didn’t know why, other than that for some reason she thought these men were traitors to their country.

  Robie still had no proof of that.

  But what had happened to Janet DiCarlo made him realize that something was off. He touched the white rose. It felt moist. Perhaps it had recently been placed here.

  He whipped around so fast, he heard her gasp at the speed of his reflexes.

  His gun was pointed right at her head, his finger past the trigger guard and near the trigger itself. One twitch of his finger and she was dead from a third eye between her other two.

  But it wasn’t Jessica Reel.

  It was Gwen from behind the counter at the Bull’s-Eye Inn who stared back at him.

  CHAPTER

  57

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” demanded Robie.

  He did not lower his pistol. She was old but she could still be a threat.

  She said calmly, “I could ask you the same question, young man. This is not Cabin 14. This is Cabin 17. As I told you, it’s already rented.”

  “Doesn’t seem to be anyone here. Doesn’t look lived in at all. Just photos and a white rose on the table.”

  Gwen looked past him to the photos and flower then drew her gaze back to him. “Doesn’t matter. They paid, and it’s theirs to do with what they want.”

  “Who exactly are ‘they’?”

  “Like I said before, confidential.”

  “I think we’re well past confidences, Gwen. I think you need to tell me right now.”

  “She won’t but I will.”

  Robie swung his pistol around to take aim at the newcomer.

  Jessica Reel was standing in front of him.

  What surprised him was that she had no gun. Her arms were down by her sides. Robie ran his gaze quickly over her.

  Reel said, “No weapons, Will. No throwing knife. No tricks.”

  Robie remained silent as she took another deliberate step into the room. He kept swiveling his gaze between both women.

  Reel had said she was unarmed, something he didn’t believe. But she hadn’t said the old woman wasn’t packing. And at this short distance even an eighty-year-old could shoot and kill him.

  “You two know each other?” he asked at last.

  “You could say that,” replied Reel. “She was my security blanket.”

  Robie cocked his head questioningly at her.

  “I thought if she was here you wouldn’t put a bullet in my head.”

  “I didn’t in Arkansas.”

  “I appreciate that more than you’ l l ever know. But circumstances change.”

  “Yes, they do. But why would you think her being here would stop me from killing you now?”

  “Because if you kill me, you’d have to kill her. And you don’t kill innocent people. It’s not how you’re wired.”

  Robie shook his head. “How do I know she’s innocent? She doesn’t seem surprised by any of this.”

  Gwen said, “But I was. Didn’t think you could move that fast. Scared me.”

  “He always did move fast,” said Reel. “But no unnecessary movement. Everything calculated for maximum efficiency. I saw that in Arkansas vividly. A one-man army.”

  “So where does that leave us?”

  “With you pointing a gun at me. Like back in Arkansas.”

  “Doesn’t really answer the question.”

  “What do you want the answer to be?”

  “You killed two members of the agency in cold blood. Under normal circumstances that would be enough of an answer for me. That’s what I told you in Arkansas, and that’s what I’m telling you now. Back there I asked for an explanation. I’m asking again.”

  She took another step forward. “Under normal circumstances?” she said.

  Robie let his finger slide past the trigger guard and close in on the trigger. Reel noted this and stopped moving. They both knew he was close to the point of no return.

  Gwen hovered in the background looking tense, her gaze focused on Reel.

  Robie said, “DiCarlo? She made it clear to me that the situation was not normal.” Robie gestured over his shoulder to the table. “White Rose? Resistance group in World War II. Fought against what they considered the traitorous Nazis.”

  “I was afraid they’d police the roses I left.”

  “They did, only they missed a couple of petals. Probably the only reason they left the book in your locker for me to look at. They didn’t think I’d have any evidence of the flower.”

  “Good to know they make mistakes.”

  “My problem, though, is that maybe you’re the traitor and all this is a smokescreen.”

  “Maybe I am.”

  “Jess!” snapped Gwen. “You know that’s not true.”

  Robie let his gaze flicker over the old woman. He had already noted she was fully dressed, though the hour was very late.

  This was all planned.

  Robie asked Gwen, “Who exactly are you?”

  Gwen looked at Reel but said nothing. Reel slowly turned to look at her. Robie thought he saw her smile, though it was hard to tell in the poor light.

  Reel said, “An old friend of mine. A very old friend. Family, actually.”

  “I didn’t think you had any. Your mom’s dead. You old man’s in prison for life.”

  “Gwen was the only decent foster parent I had.”

  “When they took you away...” Gwen began, but her voice faltered.

  “If you were a good foster parent, why was she taken away?”

  Reel answered, “There is no logic in foster care. What happens happens.”

  “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why she’s here.”

  Reel said, “I bought this place four years ago. Under an alias, of course. I brought Gwen up to run it.”

  “You own the motor court?” said Robie in surprise.

  “I had to put my money somewhere. And while I wasn’t that concerned about turning a profit, I did want a place where I could get away.”

  “Literally get away?” said Robie.

  She glanced past him to the photos on the table. “Aren’t you going to ask me about them?”

  “I thought I already did. I don’t remember hearing an answer other than they were traitors but you had no proof.”

  “I walked in here with no weapon. What does that tell you?”

  “That you want to talk, so talk. I especially want to hear about the apocalypse.”

  “It’s a very long story.”

  “My calendar is clear for the rest of the year.”

  “Can you lower your weapon?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  She held out her hands. “You can cuff me if it’ll make you feel better.”

  “Tell me what you need to tell me. Explain to me why you put a bullet in Doug Jacobs when you were supposed to be planting a round between the eyes of a man who has sworn to destroy our country. Tell me why Jim Gelder had to die. And tell me why you killed an analyst turned militia freak. I’m really looking forward to the answers. It might sa
ve your life. Might,” he added.

  “I told you, I didn’t kill Roy West. He tried to kill me and I defended myself. He died from shrapnel wounds when his house blew up.”

  “Why go out there at all?”

  “He had something I needed.”

  “Yeah, you told me that in Arkansas. But what? You told me you’d already read the paper he’d written.”

  “Confirmation.”

  “Of what?”

  “Of which people had seen the paper.” Reel watched him expectantly. “You had figured that out. I can tell by your expression.”

  “You killed those people over think-tank bullshit?”

  “It wasn’t a think tank. And it wasn’t bullshit. At least to certain people it wasn’t. The paper was not widely circulated. But a few key people read it. People in a position to make the plan contained in the paper a reality. And if that happens, Robie . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  He was just about to ask what specifically the paper said when they both heard it.

  People were coming.

  Not deer. Not squirrels. Not bears.

  People. For it was only people who moved with stealth like that. And both Reel and Robie recognized the movements.

  Reel snapped her head around at Robie. The accusation in her face was clear. “I didn’t expect this of you, Robie. You led them right here.”

  In answer Robie reached behind his back, slid his spare gun out of its holster, and tossed it to her. She caught it, racked the slide, and held it loosely in her hand.

  Now it was Reel’s turn to look surprised.

  “They’re not with me,” said Robie.

  “Then you were followed.”

  He turned off the lantern, plunging the cabin into darkness. “Looks that way. I just don’t know how. Is there another way out of here?”

  Reel said, “Yes, there is.”

  CHAPTER

  58

  REEL WENT TO THE CORNER of the room, shoved the table aside, knelt down, and lifted up a section of the floor, revealing a three-foot-square opening.

  “Where does that go?” asked Robie, who sounded chagrined that he hadn’t noticed it before.

  “Away from here.”

  She sat on her butt and dropped down into the hole. “Let’s go. They won’t be waiting out there long.”

  “Then let me persuade them they should exercise some caution,” said Robie.

  He moved to the window and fired five shots through it. He placed his rounds in a wide enough array that anyone approaching would be forced to take cover. Then he moved to the hole and dropped through. He stood up and motioned to Gwen. “Come on.”

  Gwen shook her head. “I’ll just slow you down.”

  Reel stood next to Robie. “Gwen, you’re not staying behind.”

  “I’m old and just worn out, Jess.”

  “This is not open for discussion. Come on.”

  Gwen slipped a revolver from the front pocket of her dress and pointed it at Reel. “You’re right. This is not open for discussion, Jess. Go.”

  Reel looked at her in disbelief.

  Robie pulled on her arm. “Not much time.”

  They heard footsteps approaching from all sides.

  “Go!” snapped Gwen. “I didn’t raise you to die like this. You’re going to go and finish this, Jess. Now.”

  Robie slung his bag over his shoulder, pulled Reel down into the hole, and then moved the piece of flooring back into place. Gwen scuttled over and repositioned the table back over the opening. Then she turned to the door to face what was coming.

  Robie and Reel had to crawl on their bellies. At one point in the tunnel there was a large knapsack. Reel snagged it, slung it over her shoulder, and kept crawling.

  “Where does it come out?” asked Robie.

  “In the woods,” she whispered. Her voice was strained.

  Robie knew where her mind was. On Gwen. On what was about to happen to her. But maybe they wouldn’t hurt the old woman.

  The gunshots they both heard moments later settled that question. Barely inches behind her in the tunnel, Robie ran up the backs of Reel’s legs as she stopped at the sound.

  They just lay there for several seconds. Robie could hear Reel breathing fast.

  “You okay?” he finally asked.

  “Let’s go,” she said in a husky voice, and she started crawling again.

  What they heard thirty seconds later made them accelerate their movements. Other people had dropped into the tunnel. Robie and Reel whipped their bodies back and forth, performing a hyper-speed version of the Army crawl.

  A minute later Reel stood, pushed against something, and then her legs disappeared from sight. Robie scrambled up after her, gained purchase on the dirt, and looked around.

  They were in the middle of the forest.

  The cover for the tunnel had been well designed: a fabricated tree stump made of lightweight materials.

  Reel unzipped her bag, slipped out a grenade, counted to five, pulled the pin, bent down, and tossed it as far down the tunnel as she could.

  Then they both ran for it, Reel in the lead because she knew where to go, Robie right behind. His gun was out and he was alternating between following Reel and covering their rear flank.

  The explosion wasn’t loud, but they could both hear it clearly.

  “That was for Gwen,” Robie heard Reel say as they raced through a barely discernible path between the trees.

  Up a he ad was an old shack. Reel headed right for it. She unlocked the door, darted inside, and a few moments later came out, rolling a dirt bike behind her.

  “I wasn’t expecting company. It’ll be a tight fit.”

  They could barely sit on the seat together. Reel drove and Robie clung to her. He was now carrying both bags over his shoulders. As they wound through the trees he was nearly thrown off several times, but just managed to maintain his seat.

  Twenty minutes later they finally hit asphalt after clearing a cleft in the trees and then a broad ditch that Reel simply jumped. They landed