No Man's Land

by David Baldacci

  “A deal for what?” said Myers sharply. “I wasn’t aware I’d done anything wrong.”

  Knox said, “Anton Charpentier. And we have the pictures to prove it. The Feds are already working up their indictments.”

  Myers paled and glanced out the window.

  Rogers said, “They want Jericho. Not the small fish. You talk, maybe you walk.”

  Myers said, “I…I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?” said Knox incredulously. She looked at Davis. “Okay, so we nail her ass for espionage and she goes away for life. How about you? You want to deal?”

  Rogers glanced at her. “Don’t be dumb.”

  Davis shrugged.

  Puller added, “Cooperate now and it will only help you down the line.”

  “They just hired me to look after this guy,” she said, indicating the old man. “Other than that, I don’t know squat.”

  “Guys, don’t you mean?” said Knox.

  “I don’t know, do I?”

  “You play games, you’re going to do some hard time.”

  “Well, I guess that’s why they have lawyers.”

  Knox glanced at Rogers. “Is she stupid or tougher than she looks?”

  “She killed a guy, so I’d opt for the latter.” He looked at Davis. “They hired you? I thought you said that Jericho had adopted you.”

  Myers gaped and said, “What?”

  Davis kept her gaze on Rogers. “Nobody adopted me. I got the gig through Josh. I told you I knew him before.”

  “How did you know him before?” asked Knox.

  “We had some good times. And we had some bad times.”

  “And you’re not sorry he’s dead?” said Knox.

  “Like I already said, I don’t care one way or another. I can tell you that Josh wouldn’t have cared if I were the one dead. That’s sort of the relationship we had.”

  “You had enough of a relationship to screw him,” said Rogers. “At the beach house.”

  Davis appraised him. “Well, I screwed you too. Does that mean we have a relationship?”

  Knox and Puller exchanged a quick glance.

  Rogers shook his head, “I think it was just sex.”

  Davis and Rogers looked away from each other.

  Puller kept driving.

  Chapter

  68

  THEY REACHED THE motel in Hampton at three in the morning. They got the old man into the bed, leaning him up against the headboard because he was having a little difficulty breathing. He had said nothing the whole trip and now immediately fell asleep.

  Knox looked at Myers and Davis and motioned to two chairs. “Sit.”

  Davis said, “You can’t just keep us here against our will. It’s kidnapping.”

  Puller said, “I’m a cop.”

  “Yeah, I saw you at the bar with your Army creds. Guess what, I’m not in the military, so you have no jurisdiction over me.”

  Puller looked at Rogers. “You didn’t tell me she was a lawyer.”

  “I’m not a lawyer, but I want to call one. So even if you think you can hold me, you can’t stop me from talking to a lawyer.”

  Myers said, “Why don’t you shut up and listen to what they have to say?”

  Davis gave her a withering look. “I’m not the one passing government secrets, am I? So why don’t you shut the hell up, Little Miss Spy?”

  An exasperated Myers said to Puller, “What kind of deal can I get?”

  “Depends on how much information you have.”

  “If I give you Jericho and Charpentier?”

  “Then we may be talking minimal prison time in a federal country club. You’ll be out and setting up a new bar in no time.”

  “Okay.”

  “So is that a yes?”

  She nodded while Davis looked disgusted.

  Knox said, “How did you get involved with all this?”

  “Through Josh. He came to me. Jericho had brought him in to ‘run’ Atalanta Group, but really to ferry the information to Charpentier. She had a prior relationship with him.”

  “So Claire Jericho handpicked them both?”

  “Yes.”

  Knox said, “Makes sense to use the bar as a transfer spot. Lots of military there, no one would be suspicious.”

  Puller nodded and looked at Myers. “And the secrets? Were they commercial applications of the patents that Ballard held?”

  “Yes. They were worth an unbelievable amount. But like you said, Ballard controlled them.”

  “And what’s the deal with Ballard?”

  “He got Alzheimer’s.”

  “And is this Ballard?” asked Puller, indicating the old man.

  Myers started to say something but then stopped. She glanced at Davis.

  Puller looked at her. “You want to get in on the deal too, or are you going to let your friend here get all the goodies?”

  “Ballard’s dead,” said Davis. “He was dead before I came on board.”

  “How did he die?” asked Knox. “Natural causes?”

  “If you call a bullet to the head natural causes.”

  “And who killed him?”

  “Jericho, at least I think. I wasn’t there. Josh thought it was her.”

  “And how did you get involved?”

  “I already told you that. Through Josh.” She eyed Rogers. “I told you we went way back, right?”

  Rogers nodded, his gaze steadily on her.

  “He was a dick and a crook. That’s why Jericho hired him. Then he brought me on to babysit the old guys.”

  “Josh was a good man,” interjected Myers.

  “Bullshit.”

  “How does a crook get a security clearance to work for a defense contractor on classified work?” asked Knox.

  Davis said, “Jericho. She pushed it through, I bet. And you know how many ways there are to beat a polygraph? And what, we haven’t had spies in the ranks before?”

  “You sound like you know about stuff like that,” said Puller. “What’s your background?”

  “I’m just a party girl who learns fast and thinks quick on her feet.”

  “Right,” said a skeptical Puller. “But why kill Ballard?”

  Davis was crossing and uncrossing her legs.

  “You can go and pee if you need to,” Knox said.

  Davis jumped up. “Thanks.” She hurried off to the bathroom.

  When the door closed behind her, Myers said in a low voice, “She’s lying.”

  “About what?” asked Puller.

  “About Ballard. He wasn’t killed. He’s not dead.”

  “So where is he?”

  She pointed to the bed. “Right there. That’s Chris Ballard.”

  “Why should we believe you?” said Rogers.

  “She already lied about being adopted.” Myers looked around nervously. “And there’s something else.”

  “What?” asked Knox.

  “Davis has a gun.”

  Rogers said, “I’ve seen her use it. She saved my life.”

  Myers dropped her voice to a whisper. “That’s not what I mean. She has a gun on her now. I saw her put it in her robe pocket before we left the house.”

  Puller and Knox instantly rose and pulled their weapons while Rogers looked on.

  They glided over to the bathroom door, one on either side of it.

  The bullet hit an inch above Puller’s head. He dropped to the floor and rolled as another shot shattered the lamp on the nightstand. Knox cried out as a shard of glass cut her face.

  Myers turned and fired again. This shot found its mark as the bullet slammed into the forehead of the old man. He slumped over, dead. Another shot ricocheted off a metal lamppost and burned a tunnel across Puller’s left forearm.

  Rogers threw a chair at Myers, but it missed. She pointed her gun at his head.

  The next instant the bathroom door was thrown open. Davis came out firing. Her first shot hit Myers in the shoulder and Myers’s gun fell to the floor. The second shot hit My
ers in the neck.

  That was the kill shot.

  Myers screamed and clutched at the wound in her neck, which was gushing enough blood that she would only have seconds left to live.

  She looked at Davis, who still had her pistol aimed at her, then dropped to the floor, convulsively twitched once, and lay still.

  Puller, Knox, and Rogers stared at Davis, their guns pointed at her head. Davis slowly lowered her pistol.

  “What the hell just happened?” exclaimed Knox. “Why did Myers start shooting?”

  “Because she wanted to kill all of you,” said Davis.

  Puller said, “But why? We offered her a deal.”

  “She wasn’t interested in a deal.”

  “Why not?” demanded Knox.

  “Because she’s Claire Jericho’s daughter,” replied Davis.

  Chapter

  69

  KNOX AND PULLER had triaged each other using supplies from Puller’s duffel. The wound on Puller’s arm wasn’t deep but had bled profusely. They had finally gotten it under control. Knox’s cheek was bandaged where the glass had cut it.

  Rogers stood over Myers’s body.

  Davis sat down in a chair. “Did she tell you I was lying?”

  Puller nodded. “And that you had a gun. We thought you’d gone in there to get it out and then ambush us.”

  “No, I just really had to pee. But I didn’t know that Myers was armed. When I heard the shooting I pretty much knew what was happening, though.”

  Knox looked at the dead man in the bed. “She said this was the real Ballard. Why did she kill him?”

  “Because he’s not the real Ballard. Like I told you, he’s dead.”

  “How are you so sure?” asked Puller. “Did someone tell you?”

  “Josh brought me on to play the part of companion to Ballard. The real Ballard. He knew I—well, he knew I was used to skirting the rules just like him.”

  “Wait a minute, you were babysitting the real Christopher Ballard?” said Knox.

  Davis nodded. “Then he just died. Nobody shot him. I lied about that.”

  She glanced at Rogers, who was staring directly at her. “I tend to lie as my first instinct on things.” She smiled and Rogers smiled back at her.

  “This was about eighteen months ago. I went into his bedroom one morning to bring him his coffee. And there he was stone cold dead. I called Josh. And he called Jericho. And they came out and had a powwow over what to do.”

  “And they decided on a replacement?” said Puller.

  “Two, actually. A spare, just in case. You see, Ballard had Alzheimer’s. Before he died he didn’t know his own name. So it wasn’t like the replacements would need to carry on a conversation. And nobody came to visit Ballard. He had no family that I knew of.”

  “But why the need to create the impression that he was still alive?” said Knox.

  “I don’t know,” replied Davis. “I just know that the staff was well paid to keep their silence. If the truth did come out they all would lose their jobs, so they had no incentive to talk. And the guys they got as replacements weren’t right in the head, so they weren’t going to talk to anyone.”

  “I threw who I thought was Ballard out the window,” said Rogers.

  “At first they thought the guy had gone nuts and dove out the window,” said Davis.

  “And they called in the spare?” said Knox.

  “Yes.”

  Knox sat down next to Davis. “Can you tie Jericho to any of this?”

  “It would be my word against hers. And when they check into my background I’m not sure how credible I’ll be.”

  She glanced at Rogers, who was staring at her.

  “I’d believe you,” he said, garnering a smile from Davis.

  Puller’s phone buzzed. When he answered it Robert Puller didn’t waste a second. He said, “Wherever you are, get the hell out. Now!”

  Puller hustled everyone out of the room and into his vehicle. They sped off into the darkness.

  “Puller,” said Knox nervously.

  He held up a hand and then hit a key on his phone.

  His brother answered on the first ring. “Are you out?”

  “Yes. What’s going on?”

  “Did you kidnap three people from Ballard’s estate?”

  “How the hell did you know about that?”

  “So it’s true.”

  “I wouldn’t say abducted.”

  “What would you say?”

  “Rescued.”

  “So they were being held against their will?”

  “We think so.”

  “You think so? And they’re all now safe?”

  Puller eyed Knox before drawing a deep breath and saying into the phone, “One is. Two are dead.”

  “Tell me everything,” barked his brother.

  Puller did so and then waited for Robert’s response. He could hear his brother’s elevated breathing, which he did not take as a good sign.

  “This is a shitstorm, John.”

  “Is it?”

  “They’re going to find Helen Myers and an old man, who may or