Long Road to Mercy

by David Baldacci

  He gave his name to the maître d’ and was escorted to a table far in the back. The hour was late for dinner, and the room was nearly empty.

  There was no one at the table, which was set for two people.

  Priest sat down and looked around.

  He checked his watch and fiddled with his napkin.

  The waitress came over to take his drink order, but he deferred until his guest arrived.

  Another ten minutes went by, and Priest’s anxiety grew. He bit his nails, constantly surveyed the dining area, and absentmindedly clinked his fork against his knife.

  “Eddie?”

  Priest looked up to see the tall woman staring down at him.

  At first, he looked confused, but when he gazed more closely at the woman, his jaw slackened.

  “Ben?”

  “Keep it down, Eddie, I have excellent hearing.”

  Benjamin Priest was dressed in blue slacks, a long-sleeved white blouse, a beige linen jacket, and low pumps. A dark wig covered his head, and his face was modestly covered with makeup. Tinted glasses covered his eyes.

  He sat down and placed his purse in the seat next to him.

  “When you said a disguise, I didn’t know you meant this,” hissed Ed.

  “That’s the point. To be unpredictable.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” said Pine as she slid into a seat across from Ben.

  He jerked and started to rise until Pine set her FBI shield on the table and slid open her jacket, revealing her holstered pistol.

  “Let’s not create a scene, Ben,” said Pine, and he slowly resumed his seat.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “Your friendly neighborhood FBI agent. So now that we’re past that, you need to tell me what the hell is going on.”

  “I can’t. You’re not cleared for it.”

  “If I’m not cleared for it, then I doubt your brother is. So if you can’t tell him, why are you here?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I never doubted that.”

  “Look, I can’t get into all this here.”

  “Then where? You were the one who arranged to meet here.”

  Ben looked around nervously. “Outside. I have a truck. But you need to understand that you don’t know what you’re involved in.”

  “I completely agree. That’s why I’m here. To understand.”

  “You’re really with the FBI?”

  She held up her badge with one hand and slipped her ID pack out with the other.

  Ben scrutinized both and said, “Outside.”

  As they headed toward the front entrance, Ben’s and Pine’s gazes were constantly swiveling. Pine was looking for anyone who seemed to be paying them even a bit of attention. But there were only a few guests coming and going, and a handful of hotel workers. Ed Priest, by contrast, kept his gaze straight ahead.

  They reached the front doors and Pine took the lead. She opened the door, stepped out, took a sweep of the area, and nodded to the two men.

  “Where’s your ride?” she asked Ben Priest.

  “In the parking lot over there. The light green Explorer.”

  “We’ll take your truck and come back later for mine. Give me the keys, I’ll drive.”

  “Where are we going?” asked Ben.

  “For a little ride and a lot of talk. From you.”

  Ben rode shotgun and Ed was in the back.

  “Start from the beginning,” said Pine as she steered them out of the parking lot and onto the road heading out of the park. “Capricorn Consultants?”

  “It doesn’t exist.”

  Ed said, “But you told me that’s where you worked, Ben.”

  Ben swiveled around to look at his older brother. “I’m sorry, Eddie. It comes with the territory.”

  “Which is what, exactly?” said Pine. “Are you in the intelligence field?”

  “I used to be,” replied Ben.

  “For our side?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  Pine said, “It is for me. If you’re a spy for another country, we’re going to have a big problem.”

  “Shit, Ben, please tell me that’s not true,” exclaimed Ed.

  “I can work for interests outside this country without working against this country. But allies are allies until they become enemies. And sometimes our enemies can be allies. It’s a fluid situation.”

  “So, do you work for one of our allies or one of our enemies?”

  “I work for myself after working for Uncle Sam and others. And doing it well and honorably.”

  “Okay, go on,” prompted Pine.

  “I put out my own shingle.”

  “Doing what?”

  “I help arrange things.”

  “Like what? The guy on the mule pretending to be you?”

  “You’ve no doubt heard of money laundering?”

  Pine said, “Not only have I heard of it, I’ve investigated cases dealing with it.”

  “Well, money is not the only thing that can be laundered. You can launder people, too.”

  “You mean switching their identities? Making them disappear?”

  “Something like that,” answered Priest.

  Pine could sense he was lying but decided to move on. She said, “Talk about the guy on the mule. He disappeared and left behind a dead animal with the letters j and k carved on it.”

  Ben let out a long breath. “I don’t know what that means.”

  Pine thought he might be telling the truth on that one. “Was it part of the plan that the guy would head out at night on a mule?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, what was the plan?”

  Ben shook his head. “I can’t get into that.”

  “Do you know where he is now?”

  Ben shook his head again. “I haven’t heard from him.”

  “Does our government know about whatever he’s doing?”

  No answer.

  Pine said, “The FBI’s National Security Division is very interested in all this. Did you know that?”

  Ben took off his glasses and wiped at his eyes. “I’m not unaware of it.”

  “Spoken in true doublespeak,” said Pine sharply. “You’ve told me basically zip, and I’m rapidly losing my patience.”

  “Ben, you need to work with Agent Pine,” implored Ed. “She has my family in a safe place. We were threatened.”

  “I know, Eddie. You told me, but there’s nothing I can do.”

  “Bullshit! You were the one who got us into this.”

  Ben snapped, “No, you got yourself into it. You should have stayed out of it. Then they never would have come after you.”

  “All I did was try to contact you when you disappeared. What did you expect me to do?”

  Ben pointed at Pine. “You spoke with her. You talked to the FBI. They know that.”

  “Who does?” said Pine quickly.

  Again, Ben would not answer.

  “She called me,” said Ed. “What was I supposed to do?”

  “Look, this is getting us nowhere,” said Ben. “I need to get back.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” said Pine. “You either work with me, or I’m going to arrest you.”

  “On what charge?”

  “Obstruction of justice and wasting police time. The search for you cost thousands of dollars and wasted the time of a lot of first responders who could have been helping other people.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it!”

  “We can let a judge sort that out. But I’d prefer that you answer my questions so we can get to the bottom of this.”

  “Who said I wanted to get to the bottom of it?” replied Ben coolly. “Or that I wanted you to?”

  “You’ve put your brother and his family in danger. You need to help fix that.”

  “No, I really don’t.”

  “Ben!” exclaimed Ed. “We’re your family.”

  His brother turned to look at him. “On this, my family comes sec
ond. It’s just too big. I’m sorry, Eddie, but that’s how it has to be.”

  “You son of a bitch!” screamed Ed. “And everybody thinks you’re the golden boy! You’re nothing but a selfish bastard.”

  Pine wasn’t paying attention to either of them. They were on a lonely stretch of road. It was completely dark, and she could see no lights behind her.

  But still. Her professional antennae were going crazy.

  “Hold on,” she called out.

  A moment later something hit them from behind with such force that the rear wheels of the Explorer were lifted off the pavement. The truck came back down so hard that they were propelled toward the ceiling, only kept in check by their harnesses engaging. With the impact, all the air bags deployed.

  The truck swerved off the road and onto the dirt shoulder. Just beyond the shoulder was a six-foot strip of grass, and then a wall of thick trees.

  Pine did not fight the wheel. Peering around the air bag, she calmly steered into the direction the truck was moving so she could regain control of it.

  They cleared the shoulder, and then the six feet of grass.

  “Brace,” she called out.

  A moment later the truck slammed into the wall of trees. But Pine had maneuvered the truck just enough to prevent it from broadsiding the trees, which would have crushed the side of the truck she was on. Instead, the truck impacted the trees at the corner of the left front fender.

  With the air bags already deployed, Pine’s head hit the window.

  And then the already damaged gas tank fully cracked and the leaked fuel caught a spark. A trickle of flames headed up the side of the SUV.

  Inside the truck, Pine let out a groan and then lapsed into unconsciousness.

  CHAPTER

  21

  A little girl. Beckoning to her.

  A small hand held out to provide assistance.

  A whisper of urgency.

  Hurry, Lee. Come on. You’re in trouble. Come on. Quick now, Lee.

  Pine came to as quickly as she had fallen unconscious. She pushed the deflated air bag and side curtains out of the way and saw in the rearview mirror flames creeping her way.

  The commingled scents of burning plastic and upholstery were nauseating.

  She could smell escaped fuel and knew that the impact had cracked the gas tank.

  The image of her sister calling to her slowly faded.

  Lee, instead of Atlee. That was what Mercy had always called her. The truncated name had stuck growing up. She was Lee Pine until she went to college.

  For some reason, she had not minded the change back to Atlee. The name Lee represented her past. And right now Pine wasn’t sure she had much of a future.

  She undid her harness and looked across at the passenger seat.

  Ben Priest was slumped against the door, a thin trickle of blood running down his forehead.

  In the backseat, Ed Priest was moaning and holding his shoulder.

  Pine tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. The impact had jammed it. She slid into the backseat, reached across Ed, and opened the door. She unharnessed him and pushed the injured man out of the truck, as the flames crept closer.

  She could feel the heat over every inch of her. It was fierce and made her skin tingle. Any second and the fumes in the cracked gas tank could ignite. And then in a flash of flames and vapor ignition it would all be over. They would collect her scattered remains in a trash bag.

  Her boots hit the dirt and she pulled Ed away from the truck.

  Ignoring the danger, she ran back to the flaming truck, yanked open the passenger seat door, unharnessed Ben, and pulled him free. She lifted the tall man over her shoulder and fast-walked him away from the truck before laying him next to his brother.

  Next, she crouched, pulled her gun, and looked around. Whatever had hit them must still be out there. She wiped away blood from the side of her face and with her free hand she called 911 and requested assistance, giving her location as specifically as she could.

  She looked at her watch. It was nearly ten o’clock. She had no idea how long it would take for the local cops to show.

  The explosion lit the night, and Pine ducked down as debris from the Ford sailed through the air. Parts of the truck crashed down all around them.

  Ed Priest suddenly cried out.

  She scuttled over to him and saw a piece of metal sticking out of his upper arm.

  It was a part of the trim from the Explorer. It had pierced his skin like a fired arrow and the wound was bleeding heavily.

  She took off her jacket and wrapped it tightly around the wound. She didn’t attempt to take out the piece of metal. That might cause a gusher of blood if it had grazed an artery.

  “Help’s coming,” she said.

  He nodded and lay back on the ground, groaning.

  And then Pine saw the headlights.

  Not from the ground.

  But in the air.

  The chopper swiftly shed altitude, its searchlight delicately probing the ground like a snake’s tongue before coming to rest first on Pine and Ed. Then it found the still unconscious Ben Priest and held there.

  It landed barely fifty feet away, its prop wash pummeling them and providing more oxygen to the burning truck, fanning the flames and smoke all over the road.

  Another mini explosion occurred, causing Pine to momentarily duck before returning her attention to the chopper. She studied its silhouette and its blade configuration.

  “What’s happening?” groaned Ed.

  “Just keep still and quiet,” she whispered back, her gaze steady on the chopper.

  Pine reached into a small compartment attached to her shoulder holster and pulled out her laser sight. She clipped it to the top of her gun’s Pic rail and lined up her shot on the aircraft’s main prop assembly.

  And then her target changed as the chopper doors on the left opened and two figures in body armor and combat helmets climbed out. Both carried M16s, with laser sights. These guys were ready for war.

  Seeing this, Pine lowered herself to the ground, spread-eagled, making her target silhouette as small as possible. But she knew this was no longer a fight on equal terms, if it ever was.

  Her Glock and backup Beretta had no chance against a weapon that was designed for max firepower and resulting death on a battlefield. A torso or head shot from a combat weapon was pretty much not survivable. It didn’t wound; it made organs disappear.

  She decided she might as well give it a shot. She called out, “FBI. Identify yourselves or I will open fire.”

  Neither of them made any indication that identification would be forthcoming.

  Instead, one of them threw something toward her.

  She put her head down and told herself it would be over in a second. No pain. Just . . . nothing.

  Another part of Pine kissed her ass good-bye.

  Still another part of her cursed that she was going to die without even knowing why.

  The thrown object hit the ground. There was a flash of light and an explosion.

  And once more Atlee Pine’s world went dark.

  CHAPTER

  22

  Special Agent Pine?”

  Pine drew in a long breath and an antiseptic odor filled her nostrils.

  She wondered if Heaven was super clean.

  She doubted Hell would bother.

  “Special Agent Pine?”

  Her eyelids fluttered open and then closed.

  Then they opened again and remained that way.

  Carol Blum was staring anxiously down at her.

  The older woman breathed a sigh of relief as her boss’s gaze fixed and then held on her.

  Pine rocked her head from side to side and saw that she was lying on a gurney.

  “Where am I?”

  “Emergency room.”

  Pine touched her forehead. There was a gauze bandage wrapped around her head. “How did I get here?”

  “Ambulance.”

  “What about the
others?”

  “Others?”

  Pine tried to sit up, but Blum put a hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her back down.

  “I was with two men,” said Pine.

  “I don’t know anything about that. I got a call that you had been in an accident and had been brought here.”

  “Who called you?”

  “The hospital.”

  “Why would they call you?”

  “They actually called the office. They must have seen your badge. I got the message from there. I called them back and then drove straight here.”

  “I phoned the cops about a situation. We were hit from behind. Someone tried to kill us.”

  Blum shook her head. “Again, no one told me anything about that.”

  At that moment, a doctor in a white coat and light blue scrubs came in with an iPad in hand. He was in his late forties with thinning hair and a calm, almost bored look.

  “How are we doing, ma’am?” he asked in a cheery tone.

  “I’m fine,” said Pine. “What about the two people with me? They were injured, too. One of them badly.”

  The doctor’s casual demeanor evaporated. “Other people? There were no other people. You’ve had a concussion. I don’t believe you’re thinking clearly.”

  “I’m thinking very clearly,” said Pine. “There were two men in the vehicle with me.”

  He shook his head. “Look, I’m the only doctor on duty in the emergency room. One ambulance came in last night. With you. Automobile accident. You ran off the road and were injured.”

  “And who told you that?”

  “The ambulance crew.”

  “How about the cops?”

  “I haven’t seen any cops.”

  “Shit.” Pine sat up and pushed off efforts by the doctor to stop her. “Where are my clothes. And my guns?”

  “In a secure locker,” said the doctor.

  “Get them. I need to get out of here.”

  “We’re keeping you for observation.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I’m the doctor here and I’m telling you—”

  Pine swung her legs off the bed, her bare feet hit the floor, and she pulled off whatever medical devices were attached to her.

  “I’m an FBI agent. And I’m telling you to get my stuff, or I’m going to arrest you for interfering with a federal officer.”