“Yes, sir.”
“It’d be better if you sent him on outta there and got him outta the line of fire,” Tyrel said. “And tell them friends of yours to watch out for themselves too. If Victor Gant can’t get at you, he’ll take what he can.”
Shel listened to the thud of his heart banging inside his chest. How does my daddy know someone like Victor Gant? Shel couldn’t think clearly enough at the moment to reason that out.
“Well,” Tyrel said, “I reckon that’s all I got to say. Now that I said it, I’m gonna go to bed. If you had any sense, you’d do the same instead of lying awake at all hours of the night.”
“Yes, sir,” Shel said, but even before he got the words out of his mouth, Tyrel had hung up. Shel took the phone from his face and gazed at perplexedly.
“Shel,” Don said softly.
“Yeah.”
“What did Daddy want?”
“To tell me to watch my six,” Shel said numbly.
“Your six?”
Shel tossed Don the phone. “My rear flank. He told me to look out for trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“From Victor Gant.”
Don took a moment to reason that out and connect the dots. “The father of the young man you shot?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would Daddy call you to tell you that?”
“He said Victor Gant is one of the devil’s own. He said Victor Gant would come after me for killing his boy.”
“I think Commander Coburn knows that,” Don said.
“Probably. Will’s a smart man.”
Don looked puzzled for a moment. “How did Daddy know about Victor Gant?”
“He said he knew him.”
“Daddy?”
Shel nodded.
“How would Daddy know a man like that?”
“That is the question, isn’t it?” Shel lay back on the pillow, but he knew he wasn’t going to get any more sleep that night.
v
28
›› Sheraton Hotel
›› Charlotte, North Carolina
›› 0639 Hours
Will rolled over in bed and grabbed his iPAQ phone from the nightstand. “Coburn.”
“Aren’t you up yet?”
It took Will a moment to recognize Police Chief Tarlton’s voice. The man sounded entirely too awake and happy for it to be the time that showed on the PDA’s viewscreen.
“No,” Will answered. He slitted his eyes against the weak sunlight hammering the eastern balcony windows. The drapes only blunted part of the brightness. “Is Shel-?”
“Everybody at the hospital is fine,” Tarlton said. “Besides your people, I okayed some of my guys for OT.”
“I appreciate that.”
“No problem. Since you’re going to help me stir up my favorite hornet’s nest and rile the FBI, it’s the least I could do.”
Despite the lack of sleep, the worry, and the fatigue he felt, Will couldn’t help but grin. “I’m going to do all that, am I?”
“Oh yeah. In fact, you’re going to love the next little thing that dropped onto our plates during the night.”
Will waited.
“That’s the part where you’re supposed to ask me what happened,” Tarlton said. “Kind of a prompt.”
“I’m patient,” Will said.
“Guess what was broken into last night?”
“I don’t have a clue.”
“The county medical examiner’s office.”
Thoughts circled through Will’s mind, and he didn’t like how any of them were shaping up.
“Want to guess who broke in?” Tarlton said. “I’m discovering that you’re lousy at prompts.”
“Victor Gant,” Will said.
“Yep.”
“But that doesn’t make sense.”
“We’re not exactly dealing with a logical person here,” Tarlton said. “You need to keep that in mind.”
“Was Gant caught on the premises?”
“No. That would have tidied up what we had planned for the day.”
“If you could have sold the judge on it.”
“I think I could have. But Gant breaking into the county medical examiner’s office gives us a free move. So to speak.”
“The medical examiner’s office is under county jurisdiction.”
“Yes.” The smile was evident in Tarlton’s voice. “Guess who’s going to be riding shotgun with us today?”
“The sheriff.”
“Yep. He’s an old fishing buddy. After I got the particulars of this, we agreed that a joint effort by the city and county was required. We also decided that the NCIS could stand the heat too.”
Will smiled. “Because you know that busting Gant today is going to irritate Urlacher.”
“Nolan-that’s the sheriff-and I figured you and yours could ride along. When it comes to matching up federal muscle, we thought maybe you could handle Urlacher and the FBI.”
“Because Bobby Lee Gant’s body is property of the NCIS as evidence.”
“Exactly. How soon can you be down to Alice’s Cafe?”
“I don’t know where that is.” Will stood and started grabbing clothing from his duffel bag.
Tarlton gave him directions.
“Why are we meeting there?” Will asked.
“Because we don’t want the bad guys to figure out what we’re going to do,” Tarlton said. “And so Nolan and I can have a piece of pie while we’re waiting on you. It’ll take you ten minutes to get here.”
›› 0643 Hours
Will knocked on the adjoining room door and said his name, then used a key card to disengage the lock. Slowly he pushed the door open.
Remy was sitting up in bed with his pistol gripped in both hands. His eyes were red-rimmed with sleep. Max sat on the bed beside him. The Labrador’s head was lifted, and his ears were pricked.
“Tarlton found a lever we can use to get over on Victor Gant,” Will announced. “We’re rolling in five minutes. You’ll need your riot gear. Meet me in the parking lot.”
Remy nodded and said, “I brought my gear with me. Never go anywhere without it.” He pushed out of bed like he’d had eight hours of sleep and walked over to a duffel on the desk.
SEALs, Will thought in disgust as he went back to his own room. He figured he’d be lucky to beat Remy to the car.
