The Guilty

by David Baldacci

  Robie did not step out into the clearing.

  “Are you alone?” he said.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  A bit too quickly.

  Robie’s hand went to his waistband and out came one of the Glocks. A round was already chambered. He had three spare mags on him as well as his other Glock.

  “Come all the way out in the clearing,” he said.

  She did so.

  And then so did the other man. Right behind Sara.

  It was the same guy from the other night: bandaged face in the car.

  He held up his gun hand, which was also heavily bandaged. He had his gun in his left hand.

  “Hello again,” said the man. “Remember me, Mr. Robie?”

  The guy was murderous intent all dolled up in gauze and attitude.

  Robie looked around for the others. No way this guy came alone. They were probably starting to outflank him now, coming from all corners.

  Bang-bang you’re dead.

  Stupid for him to have come here alone at night. He fished for his phone. But who would he call?

  Taggert?

  Who knew how long it would take for her to get here?

  And if she did manage it she’d be outgunned and end up dead like him.

  911?

  He remembered what she’d said about that.

  They’d get here tomorrow to take pictures of the body. What was left of it.

  He put the phone away.

  “You better come out, Robie,” said Sara, a touch of nervous triumph now in her voice. “They got you surrounded,” she added, her voice quavering. “Should’ve offered to pay me more than three hundred!”

  “Shut up, bitch!” yelled the man. He slugged Sara with the butt of his gun. She screamed and fell to the ground, holding her head where he’d struck her.

  The man pointed his gun at her.

  “Robie, you got ’til the count of five and then she’s dead.”

  “How about you being dead too, then?” replied Robie. He lined up his iron sights on the man’s face. There was just enough moonlight to make this an easy kill.

  “I’ve got lots of guns aimed at her, Robie. Even if you kill me, she’s dead. And when you fire you reveal your position. And then you’re dead.”

  “Looks like I’m dead either way, so why not take you and as many of your boys with me as I can?”

  “Because if you come out with your weapon down I’ll let her go.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Please, Robie,” sobbed Sara. “Please do it. They’re goin’ to kill me!”

  “You were dead the minute you did the deal with them.”

  She shrieked, “Robie! I don’t want to die!”

  Robie was on the move. If the head guy was in the middle of the clearing he figured he had deployed his troops in a circle around that area, which would include where Robie was right now. If they had come in from the direction Sara had stepped from, that meant the guns assigned to get in behind Robie were the farthest away and probably still getting into position.

  He did not intend to allow that to happen.

  He encountered the first sentry thirty seconds later.

  The man had a gun and a knife.

  Robie stripped him of the gun and used the knife to slit the man’s throat. He laid him quietly on the dirt and turned to his left.

  “Robie, I’m going to shoot her in three seconds unless you walk out here.”

  “Kill her. Then you have no more leverage. Then I’ll kill all of you. Guaranteed.”

  The man gripped the gun more tightly and looked around the dark woods. His confident look slowly fell away as though he had just realized his costly miscalculation. “One…”

  Robie slipped to his left, passed by a tree in a low squat, found the second sentry anxiously peering around in suit and polished shoes, and snapped his neck cleanly. He laid this man down, too.

  “Two…”

  “Robie, please!” screamed Sara.

  “Okay,” said Robie. “I’m coming out.”

  He stepped toward the clearing, aware that as soon as he stepped into it a number of weapons would be pointed his way.

  He had one gun in hand, his backup in the small of his back. And a knife palmed on the inside of his left hand.

  He stepped into the clearing and looked over at the man and then down at Sara. The girl was trembling all over. When she saw Robie, she said, “Thank God.”

  She started to get up.

  The man kicked her. “Stay down.”

  She sank back to the dirt, sniffling.

  The man stared over at Robie from a distance of ten feet.

  “Drop the gun.”

  Robie did so.

  “I think you got other weapons.”

  “Maybe I do.”

  The man pointed his weapon at Robie. “You don’t look so tough now.”

  “Neither do the two guys I already dealt with. You’ll need to hire more.”

  “Not a problem. The position pays well. So should I kill her first or you?”

  “What?” wailed Sara. “You said you’d let me go if he gave himself up.”

  “I was lying, you stupid piece of shit. You think I’m gonna kill him and leave you to tell everyone? Jesus, get a freakin’ brain, willya? I’ll be doing the gene pool a favor getting rid of you.”

  “Omigod, omigod,” whimpered Sara.

  Robie could see she was just about to go into hysterics, which meant he would kill her first. He slid the knife into place. Ten feet, not a problem. Aim for the neck, move to his left, pull his backup.

  “Bye-bye, Sara, baby,” said the man. He aimed his pistol at her head.

  She shrieked and covered her head with her hands, as if that would matter.

  Robie pulled his knife, took aim…

  The sound of the shot shattered the night.

  The man holding the gun on Sara stood there for a moment, not quite realizing what had just happened.

  Which was that he had just died.

  He dropped first to his knees, then to his hands, and finally onto his face, what was left of it.

  Sara screamed and rolled away.

  Robie slid to the side and pulled his backup Glock.

  Shots erupted from all over.

  Bullets whizzed and zinged overhead and more than occasionally smacked into trees. Bark flew off in jagged chunks, birds scattered from trees, small animals scurried away in the darkness as man, the world’s most dangerous predator, got down to battle.

  They were pistol shots, Robie could tell.

  Mostly pistol shots.

  But some weren’t.

  Some were high-powered rifle shots. The one that had killed the guy certainly was. And every time he heard it fire a moment later he heard a man grunt. And then he heard a body hit the dirt.

  Robie raced over to Sara, grabbed her by the arm, and flung her behind a stand of trees.

  He took up position behind an oak and peered around the trunk, trying to take in the details of the battlefield.

  A shot hit close to his head. He slid to the other side of the trunk and fired back at the spot from where the shot had come.

  The firefight went on for another five minutes. Robie had used up both pistols’ original ammo and eaten into one of his backups. He had killed one more guy for a total of three, and the rifle, he thought, had equaled that.

  Then there were no more shots.

  Only running feet. Bad guys were in retreat, leaving the dead behind.

  Once they had disappeared, Robie surveyed what had become a battlefield complete with the requisite corpses.

  “Omigod, omigod,” whimpered Sara. She was still on the ground, curled into a little ball. “I could have died.”

  Robie looked at her in disgust. “You had no problem helping those guys come here to kill me!”

  She didn’t answer. She just kept on whimpering.

  He whirled when he heard the sound. Two feet smacking dirt, as though someone had leapt from a tre
e.

  “Don’t shoot, I give up,” said the voice.

  A voice Robie instantly recognized.

  He holstered his gun and peered around the tree.

  Jessica Reel was standing there, her rifle over her shoulder.

  She said, “I leave the country for five minutes, and you get yourself in so much trouble I have to come here and save your ass?”

  Chapter

  37

  REEL STRODE FORWARD.

  “Jessica, what the hell are you doing here?” Robie exclaimed.

  “Blue Man called me back from assignment. Sent a jet to bring me directly here. Said you needed some backup over a family matter. Since I could easily relate to that, here I am.”

  “When did you get here?’

  “Early this morning. I picked up your trail at the house where you’re staying. Been following you ever since.”

  “I didn’t see you.”

  She cracked a smile. “Would you expect to?”

  “But why didn’t you tell me you were here?”

  “Blue Man told me to cover your six. Showing myself might have made that difficult. But with what happened tonight, I had no choice.”

  “Well, it would’ve gotten a little hairy without you here.”

  “Hey! Could you guys catch up later?”

  They looked down at Sara, who was still crouched on the ground. There was a small pool of sick next to her where she’d thrown up.

  “I’m bleedin’, okay?” she snapped. “I need medical attention. Now!”

  Reel said, “I don’t know, Robie. She was going to let these guys kill you for some quick cash. What say we just pop her right now and leave her for the gators? I saw one on the riverbank over there. Big sucker. Probably swallow her whole.”

  Sara stood and backed up against the tree. “You…you can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” said Reel. “You were going to help murder my friend here. Why should you get to live?” She looked over at the body of the man who had held the gun on Sara. “He didn’t.”

  “But I’m just a kid,” whined Sara.

  “No, you’re an adult. You made choices. Really shitty ones.” She looked at Robie. “What do you say? One right between the eyes, like her buddy over there.”

  Sara dropped to her knees again. “Omigod, omigod.”

  “As much as I like the idea, I think we just need to call it in,” said Robie, hiding his smile.

  Sara looked up. “So you’re not going to kill me?”

  Reel said, “He’s not. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

  Sara collapsed flat to the ground. “Omigod, omigod!”

  In a low voice Reel said, “Shit, I’d like to shoot her just to shut her up.”

  Taggert showed up a half hour later. She was not in uniform and her hair was full of cowlicks, but she had her gun out. When she reached the clearing and saw them, she said, “What in the hell is goin’ on, Robie?”

  Before he could answer she saw the dead body. “Holy shit! Who’s he?”

  “He’s the dead guy,” replied Reel. “At least one of them.”

  Taggert scowled and said, “And who are you?”

  Robie answered. “She’s a friend of mine who came to my aid. Without her Sara and I would be dead.”

  Sara pointed at Reel and cried out, “That bitch said she was goin’ to kill me.”

  Taggert looked from Reel to Sara and then back at Reel.

  Reel said, “She lured Robie here so these guys could kill him.”

  “Did not!” screamed Sara. “He…he arranged to meet me here for sex. He was payin’ me for it! The sick bastard.”

  “Then exactly how do you explain the dead guy?” said Reel.

  “He…he was here to rob us,” said Sara lamely. “While we were doin’ it. Scared me to death. I was all naked and all.”

  “So if we examine you, we’ll find traces of…Robie here on your body?” asked Taggert.

  Sara looked doubtful. “Um, well we hadn’t gotten to that part yet. We were just kissin’.”

  “But you just said you were doin’ it and you were all naked when this guy came to rob you in his suit and tie in the middle of the woods,” Taggert pointed out.

  “Oh, right, well, I mean—”

  Taggert had obviously had enough. “Just sit your butt on the dirt and shut the hell up,” she barked. “Before I arrest you for obstruction of justice and wastin’ police time. But mostly for bein’ a dumb shit.”

  Sara sank to the ground, her face in a childish pout.

  Taggert turned to Robie. “Okay, talk to me.”

  He took five minutes to explain it all. They walked around the area and found six more bodies. All men, all in suits, all with guns.

  Robie said, “I killed three of them. Reel here got the other four, including the guy over there who was going to shoot Sara. Whoever was left beat a fast retreat.”

  “And you think they’re with the Rebel Yell?”

  “I don’t know, but they were the same guys that were at Pete Clancy’s that night.”

  Taggert gave him a triumphant look. “So you were in the middle of that.”

  “Yeah, I was. I saved Pete’s butt. They were going to kill him.”

  “You should have told me,” she said crossly.

  “I did tell the FBI.”

  “FBI!”

  “In the form of Special Agent Wurtzburger from Jackson. They’re in town. Didn’t you know?”

  “No, I didn’t know. Why are they here?”

  “I imagine they’re here investigating the Rebel Yell for various and sundry infractions of federal law.”

  Taggert scratched her head and placed her hand on the butt of her service weapon, which hung in its holster. She looked over at Sara. “And I see you’re head over heels involved in this crap.”

  “Please don’t tell my dad. Please!”

  “If you think that’s all you have to worry about, missy, you’re even dumber than I think you are,” snapped Taggert.

  She gazed at Reel and the rifle she still held. “And where did you