Ballistic

Matt shrugged. “You did fuck up my life, but now that it is fucked-up, there’s not much more they can do to me.”

Court didn’t understand. Hanley saw this and continued. “Look, you’d have done it for me. In the Goon Squad, you did your job and you did it well. Of course you fought back when we turned on you. I can’t begrudge you that. I’m not going to just sit and watch the fucking Daniel de la Rocha Cartel torture you to death. You may be persona non grata amongst the top brass at Langley, but I didn’t get into this line of work to watch Mexican drug lords murder American patriots.”

Gentry nodded. Leaned back against the cold concrete.

Matt said, “This isn’t the first time I’ve been sent by Denny to ID you.”

“No?”

“Couple of years ago. I was in Paraguay at the time.” He chuckled. “I didn’t know how good I had it in Paraguay. Fucking Haiti, kid. You have no idea.”

“We don’t have much time.”

“Anyway, that thing goes down in Kiev. Carmichael has my ass on a company jet from Asuncion to Kiev so fast my head’s spinning. They were trying to ID you as the operator there, as if one man could have pulled that off, but we both know it wasn’t you.”

Gentry nodded. Hanley stared him down, and Court knew the other man was doing his best to read Court’s face for any reaction to his statement. Court’s face still twitched from the current that had been ripping through his central nervous system; no lie detector–type clues from his limbic system would be reliable in his current state.

Hanley gave up. “Anyway, got a free trip to Europe out of it, at least.”

Still no response from Gentry.

Matt smiled again, “You were always the quiet one. The one who did most of the work but never bitched. Hightower was the loudmouth of the group.”

“How is Zack?”

“How is he? Is that a serious question? He’s dead. They’re all dead.”

“All who?”

“All the Goon Squad guys. You killed them all, buddy. You put both barrels of a .44 Derringer into Zack Hightower’s chest, sent him cartwheeling out a window. He died at the scene.”

Jesus, thought Court. Matt Hanley really was out of the loop. Zack had survived the shoot-out, and Court had run an op seven months earlier in North Africa with him. Zack had been wounded badly in the Sudan, and Court did not know for sure whether or not he’d survived, but clearly, he knew a hell of a lot more than Matt Hanley did about what had been going on at the upper echelons of the Special Activities Division.

The CIA had a shoot-on-sight directive out against the Gray Man, yet the Gray Man was not as much of an outsider as Matthew Hanley.

“Who put the shoot on sight out on me?”

Hanley looked at the tequila bottle, like he was measuring his consumption. “Denny Carmichael was the one who contacted me. Told me you had to go.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t.”

“Bullshit.”

“Carmichael knows. Others at the top. I was told you were the enemy, to execute the shoot on sight. I was shown a presidential finding to that effect; it mentioned something about a foreign nation’s involvement, and I asked Denny what that was all about. He told me a deal had been worked out between folks way above my pay grade, and I needed to shut the hell up and execute the finding. I told Denny the only way to be sure to wax you was to drop a JDAM on your head, but he ordered me to use the team to liquidate you. I told Zack, he told the others, and now they are all dead.” Hanley took an exceptionally long pull of the clear liquid. Court saw him wobble a bit from its effects.

He laughed a moment. “You didn’t hear any of that from me.” He laughed some more. “I am so fired.”

Court looked at his former boss incredulously. “Matt . . . for what you did back there in the basement, you aren’t just going to get fired.”

“Federal prison? A wet squad at my door? Nah, I’ll convince them you got away somehow. I’ve made a decent living bullshitting my friends and coworkers.” He smiled, but Gentry saw that he was nervous. “It was worth it to waste those carteleros.”

“Matt . . . Langley will kill you for saving me.”

Hanley shrugged. “I’ll have to sell it. You shot your way out of the basement, took me as a hostage, beat me up, and dumped me by the side of the road as you made your escape with that embassy douche.” He paused. “We’re going to have to make it look good. I’m thinking a pair of black eyes, maybe a cracked rib.”

Court just shook his head slowly.

“You have something else in mind?”

“You said it. We’re going to have to make it look good.”

Hanley blew out a long sigh, nodded as if he expected this. He drank another three swigs of tequila in rapid- fire succession, then backed up to the wall of the parking garage. He tossed the bottle underhanded, away into the dark. It shattered. Then he pointed to a place high on his shoulder. “Right there. Do it, Violator!”

Court pulled the Bersa Thunder .380 from his pants pocket. Took a few steps back and raised the weapon. Hanley watched him through eyes squinted in anticipation of the pain and agony that would come. “Please don’t miss, kid.”

Then Court looked away from his weapon’s sights and into the man’s tight eyes.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

The pistol lowered.

“No!”

Court shot Matthew Hanley in the stomach. Hanley brought his hands to the searing pain in his right side. Warm blood oozed through his thick fingers. Softly, he gasped, “For the love of God, Court.” The heavyset case officer lowered to his knees, fell to the cold cement, rolled onto his stomach writhing in pain.

Court fired again, shot Hanley in the back of the right shoulder.

“Jesus!” screamed Jerry Pfleger. He’d sat up in the trunk and could see the action against the wall. Court turned to him, stormed over to the car with his pistol up, and Jerry ducked back into the trunk. Gentry slammed the trunk lid, then returned to the man rolling around on the bare concrete. Hanley was on his back now; he tried to scoot away from the Gray Man but could not.

As he stood over the big man, Court said, “Nobody was going to buy a textbook bullet hole in your shoulder. Not from a guy like me.”

“I could have sold it, you fuck! I could have made them believe!”

“C’mon, stop crying. The shoulder is through and through, and the gut shot is lodged in a shitload of fat. Are you the only guy in Haiti putting on weight these days?”

“I’m going to bleed to death!”

“No, you’re not. Listen, nobody at Langley is going to question whether or not you were helping me when they find out I shot you three times.”

Hanley was fighting shock. Still his eyes widened.

“Three times?”

Court stood, quickly pointed the pistol again, and shot his former boss in his left thigh.

“Motherfucker!” The thick man screamed, rolled to his side, and grabbed his leg.

“Listen, Matt. I am doing you a favor. Carmichael knows I don’t punch people in the jaw who are trying to kill me. I didn’t hit any organs, any arteries; you are going to be fine. Better than fine considering what Denny would do to you if he thought you and I were in cahoots. Put some pressure on your gut; don’t worry about your leg or shoulder. I didn’t hit anything vital.”

“That’s fucking easy for you to say! Fuck, Violator! I saved your ass!”