by Diane Capri
Kim didn’t expect to find a pulse, but she slid down the side of the ditch, stumbling and flailing.
When she reached his corpse, the adrenaline surging through her body gave her enough strength to heave him sideways.
Dead eyes stared straight ahead.
She checked his carotid artery just in case.
Life no longer pulsed in his veins. The big Navigator had pounded it out of him.
She patted his pockets, looking for ID. She didn’t find any. She had no idea who this guy was. But she saw enough to know one thing for sure.
He wasn’t Jack Reacher.
Kim stood on the bank of the trench for a few more moments, allowing the truth to sink in. Willing her heart to slow and gasping to control her breathing, forcing her nerves to settle.
She wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve and then jammed her hands into her pockets to control the jittering.
The Navigator rested sideways on the shoulder. It was not drivable. Burke couldn’t walk anywhere.
There was nothing more she could do for the man in the ditch. Burke needed medical attention. There were medics on the way.
Kim stood, watching the fires in the distance, waiting for an ambulance.
She walked around to the Navigator’s open door, leaned in, and found the emergency flashers. She pushed the button to turn them on, hoping they still worked. The last thing she needed now was to have one of the rescue vehicles plow into the Navigator because they didn’t see it.
The noises from the sirens and the fires and the explosions in the distance roused Burke from his stupor once again.
He opened his eyes, twisted his head to scan the interior cabin, looking for Kim.
He struggled to talk, but no words emerged from his dry throat.
Kim found an old bottle of water she’d left in the cup holder, twisted the cap off, and handed it to Burke.
He took a couple of deep swigs, swishing the water around in his mouth before he swallowed. Then he cleared his throat a couple of times.
Finally, he managed to rasp, “Is Reacher dead?”
CHAPTER 50
Wednesday, May 18
Las Vegas, Nevada
11:30 p.m.
The firefighters and EMS units and local law enforcement vehicles began to arrive at the scene. Sirens wailing, lights flashing, zooming past the Navigator where it still rested on the shoulder.
One of the units stopped to offer aid while the others rushed toward the blazing warehouse. The EMTs checked Burke out and then rolled him on a gurney into the ambulance.
Kim expected him to be admitted for treatment. Whatever had happened to his torso would take a while to fix.
In response to her questions, the EMT said, “He’ll be in the hospital at least twenty-four hours. Maybe longer if surgery is required.”
“When can I see him?”
“It’ll be a few hours, at least. Probably not until mid-morning,” the EMT replied as he closed the back doors, leaving Kim standing on the shoulder.
Watching the receding tail lights on the ambulance as it headed back to downtown Vegas, she patted her pockets until she found the ticket the driver had given her on the way out to the warehouse. She called him to pick her up.
They transferred her bags and Burke’s stuff from the Navigator to his SUV. The first responders were overwhelmed with issues down at the warehouse. Someone would notice the Navigator and come around asking questions at some point. The Boss could deal with all that.
She settled into the backseat and closed her eyes, content to let the driver handle traffic as they left the chaos at the warehouse behind.
Twenty minutes later, the driver dropped her off at the hotel she’d checked into earlier. She didn’t need a mirror to know she must look like an escaped refugee who had clawed her way out of a pile of rubble.
The bellman met the SUV at the hotel entrance. He flashed odd glances her way before he worked up the courage to suggest that she might want to freshen up, as he put it before she entered the casinos.
“Thanks. That’s my plan,” Kim replied. That dinner-plate-sized shower head was calling her name.
“Would you want to ride up in the back elevator with me?” Which she took as a request instead of a suggestion.
She nodded. “Yeah. One moment.”
When she returned to pay the driver, adding a generous tip, he said, “Keep my card. You may need another ride while you’re in town.”
She didn’t bother to argue. After all, he’d been right before.
The bellman delivered Kim and her bags to her room and backed out, thanking her profusely for the second large tip she’d delivered tonight. It was only money. Cooper’s money. And he owed her.
Kim emptied her pockets onto the bed. Three cell phones, some cash, a fresh roll of antacids, and not much more. She pulled off her weapon and tossed it onto the bed, too.
The clothes she’d sent to the laundry earlier had been returned to her closet.
She stripped off the now revolting new suit and stuffed it into a second laundry bag, trying not to gag when the stench of sweat, smoke, dirt, and whatever else was at the bottom of that ditch back at the warehouse assaulted her senses.
Kim closed the bag up tightly, using the elastic band from her hair, and dropped the whole mess into the trash can. No laundry on earth could ever make those clothes wearable again.
She spent the next thirty minutes under the shower’s dinner-plate-spray. She’d soaped up her hair and her body and rinsed until her fingers were wrinkled prunes before she turned off the water and stepped out.
Housekeeping had brought fresh towels and another luxurious white robe. She dried off, slipped into the robe, and padded into the bedroom. The mini-bar yielded two small bottles of red wine, two bottles of sparkling water, and some mixed nuts. There was a wine glass, too. And a room service menu.
She gathered it all up and carried it to the bed and plopped down, cross-legged, to prepare dinner. She twisted the top off one of the wine bottles and poured it into the glass. Then she ripped the mixed nuts open with her teeth.
After she’d taken a sip of the red wine, which was actually not too bad for mini-bar booze, she saw The Boss’s burner phone jumping around on the bed where she’d tossed it earlier.
She munched and sipped and watched the vibrating rings bounce the plastic phone around for a good long while before she punched the answer button and put the call on speaker.
“Burke will be in the hospital overnight,” was the first thing he said. “He’ll be discharged tomorrow, ready to go.”
“Uh, huh.” While he talked, she thumbed through the room service menu. The copywriter had done an excellent job describing the food. Her mouth was watering and her stomach was growling already.
“He’s got a nasty gash on his left side. Fortunately, whoever slashed him with whatever it was didn’t hit any vital organs.”
“Good to know.”
“He’s got soot in his lungs, probably exacerbated by the dry air out there. But the docs expect it to clear up on its own after they give him some oxygen. If he stays hydrated.”
“He’s lucky. Could have been a lot worse.” She read through the entrees. The crab cakes and grilled asparagus sounded perfect.
“What’s wrong with you?” Cooper demanded, noticing her lack of engagement. Normally, he didn’t care about her at all. For some reason, tonight he did. Odd.
“Took you long enough to ask,” she replied, definitely adding the gourmet mac and cheese. And a nice bottle of red wine, too. She wasn’t going anywhere else tonight. Might as well splurge on Cooper’s tab.
Cooper ignored her sarcasm and carried on with his report on her partner. “Burke says he fought with Reacher. He says Reacher wounded him.”
“And you believed that?” She leaned back against the pillow, sipping the wine.
Cooper’s exasperation made him snappy. “Why wouldn’t I believe it?”
“Seems unusual, is all,” she
said, pulling the house phone off the side table to order her meal. “How many people have we come across who were wounded by Reacher? Lots of dead people. Not too many wounded ones walking around.”
He paused. After a moment, he said, “You think Reacher wasn’t at that warehouse tonight.”
“I’m fairly sure he was there, actually. The scorched earth levels of damage done to the place, not to mention the dead bodies, has ‘Reacher’ written all over it.”
“So what’s your point?” He’d run out of patience.
Kim had tired of the game and was ready to order dinner. “My point is that Burke had no business being out there in the first place. He left me alone in the desert. He’s my partner. He’s supposed to have my back. But he didn’t. We’re supposed to work as a team. But we don’t. Why is that?”
“You’re the team leader, Otto. You tell me. Your team’s dysfunction is your problem, not mine,” he snapped and disconnected the call.
Kim swiped the phone off the bed and sent it flying across the room. The cheap plastic hit the wall and busted, sending bits of plastic flying, which made her grin.
CHAPTER 51
Thursday, May 19
Las Vegas, Nevada
1:05 a.m.
Destroying Cooper’s phone had been a childish thing to do, but it was satisfying in the moment. And it was a short-term solution. He’d deliver another one soon enough. He always did.
She picked up the house phone and dialed room service. Delivery was promised in thirty minutes.
Before she had the chance to check in with Gaspar, the third burner, one of the new ones she hadn’t even turned on, vibrated on the bed.
She picked up the phone. The caller ID was blocked. Not many hackers could activate a burner phone remotely and place a call like that. Only three she could think of, including Cooper.
“Yes,” Kim said.
“Good evening, Otto,” Lamont Finlay replied smoothly. His deep voice was one of his best features. “How are you tonight?”
“Getting better,” she replied. She didn’t bother to ask how he’d acquired the number. He wouldn’t have told her anyway.
“Sounds like you’ve had a busy time lately.”
“You’re calling because you think I got too close to Reacher tonight,” she replied.
“Not exactly, but yes. Much too close.” His upper-crust Boston Brahmin accent supplied his words with heavy gravity.
“I will find him. You know that.”
“You may. When he’s ready. Not before.”
A few moments of silence filled the gap. She glanced at the clock. Her dinner would be here soon and she wanted to enjoy it while the food was fresh and hot.
“So what is the reason for your call?”
“I’m worried about your new partner,” Finlay replied.
“What the hell? Burke will be fine. Cooper just told me they’ll be stitching him up and giving him some oxygen. Doctors say he’ll be right as rain by tomorrow,” she said. “Why is everybody so worried about Burke?”
Finlay chuckled and covered the speaker, but she heard him say that he’d be done with this call soon.
When he came back, he was totally serious. “I’m not worried about Burke’s health. I’m worried about you. Burke is not Gaspar. Watch your back, Otto.”
“What do you know that concerns you?” She felt the familiar anxiety begin to hum in her veins, her body’s warning system fully reactivated by his simple admonition.
He was quiet and she realized his attention had been snagged by someone else. When he came back this time, he said, “I’m sorry. I have to go. We’ll talk again. But don’t forget what I said. Be careful out there.”
Before she could reply, he’d hung up.
A loud rap on the door made her jump. “Room service,” a female voice called out.
Kim let the woman in. She set up the table and opened the wine and Kim signed the bill. The food looked amazing and smelled even better. But her stomach was in no state to appreciate it all at the moment.
What the hell was Finlay warning her about? She paced the room, seeking clarity and finding none.
Her glance returned to her meal, ready and waiting.
Resting on the table was a padded manila envelope, puffed up with the new burner cell phone from The Boss. She shook her head. The guy wasted no time.
The sight of it spoiled her appetite.
She carried a glass of water over to the bed, opened her laptop and wrote her personal report, sending it off to her secure server. Paying her insurance premium, she called it.
Next, she wrote a sanitized version of the past few days for The Boss and sent it off to him. She included all the ancillary loose ends, like Petey Burns and the Thai women and Eleanor Duncan.
She identified four bodies. All were known associates of Rossi. Thaddeus Sydney and three cousins in the Callo crime family—Big Tony, Little Tony, and the one who shot into the Navigator’s windshield trying to kill her, Joey Prime.
She mentioned the Thai women and the connection between the man impaled on the rooftop and his sisters who had been abducted along with Eleanor, Jade, and GiGi. Kim still had no idea what the connection was between the Thais and Reacher. But her gut said the link existed.
Cooper would follow up or he wouldn’t. Either way, the women weren’t her responsibility. After she kicked all of that upstairs, she wasn’t required to do more. She had problems of her own to deal with.
Finally, she downloaded several files from Gaspar. He’d included more intel he’d gathered on Burke. She read through it quickly, frowning as she finished each paragraph.
By the time she’d written all the facts that had been swirling around in her head, her appetite had returned.
Kim stifled a yawn and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. The morning was well underway in Miami. She called Gaspar while she sipped the wine and nibbled on the crab cakes, which were, as advertised, worth dying for.
“Hey, Chico.”
“Talk to me, Suzy Wong,” he said in his easy, unflappable style. She could almost smell the Cuban coffee from here.
CHAPTER 52
Thursday, May 19
Las Vegas, Nevada
3:15 a.m.
Kim reported everything to Gaspar like she would have if they were still partners, slipping into the familiar pattern. She imagined she could see steam coming out of his ears when she told him about her conversation with Finlay, and she grinned.
During the call, she opened the padded manila envelope from The Boss. She dumped the new burner phone and the encrypted flash drive onto the table.
Gaspar held his questions, but she could hear him clacking keys on a keyboard the whole time.
When she’d brought him up to date and finished the first crab cake, she washed it down with more of the amazing wine. Her stomach had stopped thrashing and she was starting to feel a bit mellow, which was probably more about the wine than relaxed anxiety about Cooper or Burke or Reacher.
“I located the Mercedes GLC that Petey Burns drove out of the warehouse lot. He ditched it at a shopping mall and picked up a boxy black thing. Meaning a black G-550. Reacher was still with him, like you thought,” Gaspar said, still clacking his keys.
“Where’s the G-550 now?” she sipped and munched and waited.
“Lost them somewhere in downtown Las Vegas. Burns has probably ditched the G-550 by now anyway. I’ll keep looking, but don’t get your hopes up. Lots of people and lots of vehicles in Vegas. Finding them again won’t be easy.”
She grinned. “Of course not. If it was easy, anybody could do it. I wouldn’t need high-priced talent like you, Chico.”
He laughed. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Suzy Wong.”
“I’m counting on it,” she replied good-naturedly. After a brief pause, she broached the subject that bothered her most. “The Boss believes Burke engaged Reacher at the warehouse.”
“Yeah?”
“Burke says the fight was close and pe
rsonal. And Reacher walked away.”
Gaspar said with a dry chuckle, “The only way Reacher loses a fight is when at least three burly guys hold him down while two more wail on him.”
“Exactly. So if this fight actually happened, why would Reacher leave Burke alive?” she pondered aloud.
“You think Burke is lying?” Gaspar said slowly, trying the idea in his head.
“Not totally. I think Reacher was there. I saw Petey Burns, and we know they’ve been together for a few days. Which means Reacher was probably there, too,” Kim said. “But why engage Burke?”
“And if Burke was the aggressor, why fight him and then leave Burke alive…” Gaspar’s voice trailed as if he was considering the possibilities and wasn’t happy with the options.
“What?” Kim asked.
Gaspar blew out a long, frustrated breath. “The only thing that makes sense to me is that Reacher believes Burke has vital intel.”
“Vital to whom?”
“Dunno,” Gaspar said.
“Intel Reacher already knows?”
“Don’t know that, either.”
Kim ran her hand through her hair and shook her head. “Doesn’t make sense. Reacher’s got my number. He’s called before. If the intel was all that vital and he already knew it, he’d tell me himself. Wouldn’t he?”
“Hell, Sunshine. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe he just has a hunch, and he needs you to dig up the dirt. I don’t know. No point in guessing. Let me sleep on it.”
She nodded and moved laterally to a slightly different topic. “And what about Burke?”
“What about him?” Gaspar said lazily. “He’s done you a lot of favors here, Suzy Wong.”
She grinned, feeling slightly better, more normal. “Such as?”
“Better the devil you know, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Now you know you can’t lean on Burke. You also know he’s a glory hog,” Gaspar said.