Paul and Thorne had changed into black Gore-Tex SWAT-team outfits. Once on board, they would be within handgun range and would use safety slugs so that if they missed, the bullets would, at least theoretically, shatter before they could pass through walls. Reb and Laura were in an unknown location on board, assuming they were still alive. Paul looked at the diagram Thorne had put together from his limited knowledge gleaned from his single visit to the Shadowfax.
“I want to try something, to gain us some time,” Paul said. “Thorne, get on the radio and try to reach Martin. Tell him I’m on the way in. Tell him I want to negotiate. I have a hunch that if he knows I’m coming, he’ll wait to do whatever it is he plans to do.”
Thorne lifted his radio and keyed the transmitter button. “Martin Fletcher, this is Thorne Greer. Do you read me?”
There was silence for fifteen seconds. Then Thorne repeated the salute. Paul was standing with his weight on the cane’s handle. Then, after a short wait, they heard the microphone being keyed, followed by Martin Fletcher’s unmistakable voice. “What you want, Thorne?”
“I want you to let them go, Martin.”
He laughed, the sound filling the otherwise silent cabin. “Laura and the young virgins? Or are they? Hard to tell with kids these days. We all know Laura is a loose woman. Surely you’ve had her.”
He doesn’t know! Paul thought. They’re still in the V berth.
“Paul wants me to tell you that he’s flying in. He wants a face-to-face.”
“With what’s left of the army?”
“No, alone. He said he’d come alone. He said for us not to press you. The weather is going to clear shortly, so he can land. No one’s going to do anything until then.”
“Word of honor?” Martin laughed into the transmitter. “You think I’m crazy, Thorne? I’m going to kill these people if anyone comes within a mile of this tub. I’ve got Play-Doh on board. Half again as much as I used in the little harbor display. I have the detonator with me, and there’s another just like it with my friend.”
“No, please, Martin. Don’t do anything rash. I can get a boat and meet you so we can talk face-to-face. Give me a location.”
“I’d like to see Paul. I’ll tell you what, Thorne. I’ll keep sailing, soaking up the atmosphere for exactly one hour. Then, if Paul isn’t here, I’ll set off the Semtex. Did you enjoy the Pearl Harbor re-creation we put on?”
Thorne gritted his teeth. “How did you manage?”
“Trade secret. Don’t bother me again until Paul arrives. And don’t try anything. Because, old buddy, if you do, I’ll enliven the atmosphere on the old cruise ship with a little entertainment that will violate child-decency regulations, the laws of nature, and possibly the Geneva convention. I’ve never been much for rules. There’s already blood on the walls.”
Silence.
“Woody?” he asked.
“You in contact with Masterson?”
“Yeah.”
“Get him on a hookup. I want to speak to him.”
“But Martin, I’m-”
“Now, asshole.”
“Just a second.”
Thorne killed the microphone by releasing the button.
Paul took the radio and counted silently to thirty. Then he nodded at Thorne and held it up so he could speak into it. “Okay, go ahead.”
“He’s on,” Thorne said.
Paul turned the radio to his mouth. “Yeah, Martin.”
“Paul, long time no see.”
“Wasn’t my idea. I was kinda hoping we’d meet in the mountains before now.”
“Been looking over your shoulder?”
“I had hoped it could be just the two of us.”
“Wanted to die under the stars, huh? High pass drama.”
“You that sure I would die?” Paul said. “You’re awfully good at killing children, Martin. Been a while since you took on someone your own size.”
“Ask Dietrich and Woodrow about that. I took out the two best you had. Now there’s nothing in my way.”
“You? I would have bet it was your pal Kurt Steiner who took them out. I hear he’s pretty sharp. But you want me to believe you got it over on Woody Poole and George Spivey. Come on, Martin. I mean, you and I are both old men.” When Paul mentioned Kurt Steiner’s name, he heard an audible release of breath from Martin. Good, put the son of a bitch off balance!
“Old men, Paul?” he said. Paul could hear the anger in his voice. “I’m going to show you that I’m not getting older, Paul. I’m getting better.” He laughed, and his laughter was a dark thing, filled with the energy of fury.
Paul wondered if making Martin mad was smart. Yes, put him off balance.
“Dietrich told me some interesting things before he died, Paul.”
“That he was a pro who’s been waiting for you to show for a year?”
“You know? I guess he was lying. But it amazes me that T.C. knew what I was doing for that long. Gave Dietrich this boat, a Jaguar, and a big bag of DEA money.”
Paul felt as if he’d been slugged in the chest. T. C? He had thought Spivey was put into play by the CIA. It was what he had been told by Tod Peoples.
“You knew that, right?” Martin had picked up on the uncertainty as a wolf smells blood. “You didn’t know he was hired by DEA? You didn’t know!” He sounded truly excited.
Paul was silent for a second while he thought. “Spivey didn’t know I knew who he was. I didn’t know who hired him, exactly. It doesn’t matter.”
“If T.C. didn’t tell you, how’d you know out there in Montana?”
“I know a lot of things. I even know about you and Steiner playing on the pier with Lallo Estevez.”
“Good old T.C. Just like that spineless faggot to double-cross his own man.”
“Spivey?”
“No, you! You know so fuckin’ much-you don’t know your director paid Spivey to do you, too,” he said, laughing again.
Paul felt his heart lurch in his chest.
“That creep that your pal T.C. sent to do me, Paul-that guy has been sitting fat for a year, porking your ex- bride and waiting to drop the hammer on both of us!” He laughed out loud. “Now, that- that’s ironic.”
“You are truly one sick bastard, Martin. Tell you what I’m gonna do for you, Martin.”
“What’s that, Paul?”
“I’m gonna come out there and I’m gonna beat the cold shit out of you, Martin. And then, when I’m finished kicking your ass around the boat, I’m gonna kill you, man to man. You’re one sick fuck. What kind of animal would vaporize his own mother?”
“Hmmm. Get any of your people, did I?”
“I’m coming for you, and my face is going to be the last thing you ever see.”
“Maybe I’ll entertain myself with the family until you get here!” The voice was filled with barely controlled rage. “Maybe I’ll love up on Laura.”
“You should have kept Spivey alive if you wanted somebody to act jealous.”
Martin calmed his voice. “I’ll wait exactly one hour. We can open a bottle of wine, sit around, and shoot the shit like old times. Then you can watch me kill your seed, cowboy-like I watched my family die.”
“What do you really want, Martin? What’s your price?”
“My price, Paul? I’ll tell you what. Give me back Angela and Macon, and we’ll call it even.”
“Was your pals did that, not me. I don’t kill people, Martin.”
“Not you!” Martin laughed. “Innocent and pure right down to the last drop, that it?”
“No. Not hardly.”
“You framed me.”
