‘Tell him, honey.’
‘It doesn’t matter, Ed. I can’t just execute the guy…’
‘You had no problem with Hunseth.’
‘Hunseth could’ve killed you.’
McQuarry shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Every day I prayed those men would kill me, Agent Drexler,’ said the girl softly. Both agents turned to her. ‘I took a big hit in the crash, you see. Hurt my hip and my head. I was unconscious when that man and his brother and son killed Mum and Dad. I didn’t wake up for days, though I could hear things sometimes. Hear what they did to Sally and the way they laughed when she begged them to stop.’ The tears continued to roll down her face. ‘They were going to kill me, but the boy wanted to wait. Wait till I woke up. They wouldn’t … hurt me unless they knew I could feel the pain. That’s what they liked best. Towards the end I was conscious more and more, but you know what I did, Agent Drexler? I pretended. Every time they came in I pretended so they wouldn’t touch me. But I had to listen when they hurt Sally. I had no choice — except one. I could have protected my little sister. I could’ve taken her place. I’m glad she’s dead. She doesn’t have to live with what happened to her. She doesn’t have to hear the voices when she closes her eyes.’
‘I’m sorry about your family, Nicole,’ said Drexler.
‘Then let’s stop the hand-wringing, Mike and put an end to this,’ urged McQuarry. ‘Shoot the son of a bitch so we can get out of here. That’s why you brought Sorenson’s gun.’
Drexler looked down.
McQuarry looked at her watch. ‘Come on, Mike. We haven’t got all night.’ She set off for the bathroom.
Drexler brandished the gun. ‘Where the hell you going, Ed?’
‘I’ve got to douse this baby in gasoline. We can’t leave all this evidence around after you kill Ashwell.’ She disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a canister and began to unscrew the top.
‘Stop it, Ed.’ She ignored him so Drexler braced to fire.
‘Stop.’
McQuarry stopped unscrewing the top of the canister and stood upright. ‘What are you going to do, Mike? Shoot me with a rogue gun, then ride off into the sunset with Ashwell? Think it through for once. That’s always been your weakness. I know this is sudden, but I’m still your friend and always will be.’
Drexler stared coldly at her. ‘I’m beginning to wonder if you’ve ever been my friend. How long have you been planning this?’
‘It doesn’t matter, Mike. It doesn’t change our friendship…’
‘How long?’
McQuarry took a deep breath. ‘The professor picked you out three years ago.’
‘The professor?’ snarled Drexler.
McQuarry looked down at her shoes. ‘Then all we had to find was the right welcome gift.’
‘My father,’ nodded Drexler.
‘It wasn’t easy, Mike. He sure didn’t want to be found. But we managed it.’ She picked up the note. ‘Put the address in your pocket. That’s your introduction.’
‘Introduction to what?’
‘To our organisation. The Reaper. You figured it out. That’s who the professor is. That’s who I am now — a disciple. So will you be after your initiation.’
‘Killing Ashwell?’
‘He’s already dead, Mike. You’re just here to make it official.’
Drexler smiled grimly. Sorenson-speak. ‘Why?’
‘Because we’re losing, Mike. Losing the war against the bad guys.’
‘So we just execute them.’
‘That’s right. Like Hunseth was executed.’
Drexler nodded. ‘That was no accident. You got too close, Ed. You got cut. Deliberate?’
‘To do good, sacrifices have to be made. I told the professor you’d be useful to us but we had to be sure. I knew you’d take Hunseth down. He was a Doppelganger for your father.’ McQuarry took out a cigarette and her lighter. ‘And now you’re going to take down Caleb’s brother.’
‘Can I have a cigarette?’
McQuarry threw him the packet and the lighter after lighting her own. ‘Remember Sally’s face, partner.’ She nodded at Jacob. ‘He came in here to screw that little girl. He screwed her younger sister then stood around laughing while Caleb put a bullet in her head. It shouldn’t be hard. You can do it. You’ll be one of us.’
‘Us?’
‘Another disciple. The professor’s recruiting all over the world.’
‘Detective Sergeant Brook in England?’
‘He’s just one of many. Soon there’ll be dozens, maybe even hundreds of us. Really making a difference.’
‘He recruits traumatised little girls to help him?’
‘Hell no. She volunteered.’
‘That’s right, Special Agent,’ said Nicole. Drexler had almost forgotten she was in the room. ‘I wanted to help. For Sally’s sake. For Mum and Dad.’
‘Can you even begin to imagine what she’s been through in that hellhole of a room? The professor saved her life, Mike. If he hadn’t gone there to kill Caleb and Billy, she’d be dead now.’
Drexler hung his head and remembered his own father torturing and abusing his sister, his mother.
‘Of all people, Mike, you must understand. Remember that nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.’
‘Wittgenstein. Sorenson’s got all the answers, hasn’t he?’
McQuarry nodded. ‘So shoot this piece of shit and avenge that little girl.’
‘And if I don’t? You kill me?’
‘Jeez, Mike. Don’t be so melodramatic. Think I could do that? That’s not what we’re about. You’re one of us. One of the good guys. That’s our oath to Sorenson. Go to the authorities, tell your story. We won’t stop you. Not if it means killing one of our own. Chances are you’ll be spilling to another disciple. Think about that. I’m your friend no matter what. We take out the lowlifes only when we’re sure. If you won’t do it, I’ll have to.’
Drexler lit his cigarette and took a huge pull before picking up the note from Sorenson and holding the flame under it until the fire took hold. McQuarry pulled her weapon.
‘Tell Sorenson I’ve made friends with my past.’ He dropped the burning paper into a metal bin.
‘He’ll be as disappointed as I am,’ said McQuarry, walking round the room now towards Ashwell.
Drexler levelled his gun at McQuarry. ‘I can’t let you do that, Ed.’
‘You gonna stop me, Mike?’ she said, pointing her weapon at Ashwell’s head.
‘Ed. I mean it.’
‘Jacob Ashwell is going to die tonight. It’s just a question of whether you kill me at the same time. That what you want?’
Drexler tossed the cigarette. ‘I mean it, Ed. I will fire.’
McQuarry dropped her weapon to her side and turned to her partner. She looked him in the eye and moved towards him. ‘You don’t actually think Sorenson would give you a working gun before we were sure, do you?’
Drexler squirrelled a glance at his gun, but maintained firing position. McQuarry lifted her gun into her holster and clipped it home. ‘Have it your way, Mike. Put that down. It’s a dud.’ She walked towards him and stood with her eyes an inch from the M9’s barrel.
Drexler lifted the M9 to the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The gun made a dull clicking noise but didn’t fire. He smiled into the break of tension then dropped the weapon to reach for his own gun in his ankle holster. But before he got close, a sharp pain in his neck made him recoil and he turned to see Nicole Bailey pull away from him with an empty hypodermic in her fist.
Drexler began to feel his legs buckle but McQuarry held him upright. He could feel the skin of her face touching his and was vaguely aware that she was talking to him, but he couldn’t take in what she was saying.
Then she dragged him to the bed and lowered him onto the mattress. She slapped his face and forced him into eye contact then extracted the keys to his Audi and threw them to Nicole.
‘You blew it, Mike. All you had to do was make the world better. Gather up that sheet, hon.’
