“Clever.”
“Life savers in the Mideast,” Cain said.
Cain unzipped a breast pocket of his combat shirt and removed a similar earpiece. He settled it in place. Harper did the same. They tested them. All good.
Cassie and Hack climbed in her Jeep and spun from the lot.
“I’m going on foot,” Cain said, “through town. See if I can pick her up before she reaches the park.”
“I’ll circle to the far side and come in that way.”
Cain darted across Main Street, cut between two buildings and came out on Elm Street, which paralleled Main but was darker and quieter. No sign of Marla. He headed east toward the park.
CHAPTER 68
The parking deck stood at the end of Elm Street and overlooked Davis Road, the park beyond. Three stories, the top floor open, embraced by a three-foot concrete wall. Most of the park was dark but Dalton could make out some details. Open areas and clumps of trees, a pair of park benches near the entrance. The parking lot empty at this hour and beyond it, across Main Street, the lights of the hospital ER were clearly visible.
Earlier, when Dalton spiraled up to the top level, there were only three cars, clustered near the north end. Hopefully, cars that stayed overnight and not owned by someone working this late. Not a likely scenario but one that could present a problem. A random citizen could spin things sideways. He didn’t have the time to worry about that right now. Better to simply deal with it if it happened. Dalton parked well away from the cars, toward the southeast corner.
Now, he, Navarro, and Harris knelt behind the wall where they had views of the park and back up Elm Street. All was quiet. They waited. Not for long.
Jason appeared and entered the park from Main, a block away. He seemed on alert, his head swiveling. He crossed the open area and planted himself beneath a broad oak tree. He lit a cigarette, leaned against the trunk.
“Now we wait for the girl,” Dalton said. “Make sure they weren’t followed and then go take care of business.”
Navarro pulled out his Glock, screwed the sound suppressor on the muzzle.
“You going to shoot them and leave?” Harris said. “Or take them somewhere else?” He leaned his scoped rifle against the wall.
Dalton considered both options. The chance of someone hearing their suppressed weapons was practically zero. But if one of them did run or put up a fight or scream like a scared pig, some stupid ass citizen out stumbling around might see or hear something. Then, come to investigate or call for help. Not likely at this time of night but you just never knew. He’d done bolder things. Taken out guys that were more exposed than this.
Then again, hadn’t everything that could possibly go wrong happened in this shitty little town? But, herding them away to somewhere more isolated had a lot of moving parts. It also opened up the possibility they might put up a ruckus. Better to simply walk up, shoot them, load the bodies in the car and head out. They’d only have to carry them about fifty yards to reach the road a little north of the deck where the trees were thicker. Easily doable.
Either way, Jason and Marla had to disappear. With no bodies, folks might think they simply ran off. With Greene taken care of and these two, that’d be three down and the doc to go. That would be the hard part. But the cops couldn’t keep him locked down in the jail forever.
He wasn’t sure how Greene knew that Myrick had been killed by the chick cop, that Jessie and Buck were at the jail, and Dennie in the hospital, but he seemed certain of all that. He probably had some inside source. Dalton had actually thanked him for the info, right before he shot him in the head.
He wasn’t worried about Dennie and Jessie. They’d stay strong and silent until they were bonded out, which no doubt Frankie could arrange. Maybe they’d keep Buck only a day or two before they decided that Dalton and his guys must have left town. Swinging by and torching the cabin, and all the evidence inside, would only underline that. Why burn down your hideout unless you were leaving?
Waiting around a day or two to get to Buck, the only one left standing that could connect them to the killings, would require another hole to crawl into. Maybe the motel, maybe another cabin. He’d deal with that later.
Right now, first things first.
“We’ll play it by ear,” Dalton said. “I’d rather take them off into the woods somewhere but we’ll see how they react when we show up.” He looked at Navarro. “Any hint they might do something stupid, dump them. Got it?”
Navarro nodded.
“Hopefully it won’t come down to me,” Harris said, nodding toward his rifle. “I don’t have a suppressor for this so all hell could break out.”
“That’s why you jump in only if the cops show up,” Dalton said. “You’ll be covering our backdoor.”
They settled in and waited, watching Jason light a second cigarette. The minutes seemed to drip by, then, “I got something,” Harris said.
Dalton spun on his haunches, raised enough to see over the wall, and looked in the direction Harris pointed. A figure walked down the sidewalk along Elm Street toward the park. Not in a hurry, not slow. Not casual, though. Like Jason, checking the surroundings. The figure moved closer, now a half a block away. A girl with long, blonde hair.
“That’s her,” Harris said.
“I guess Jason did his job,” Dalton said.
The girl crossed Davis Road and entered the park. She followed a straight line toward the oak tree.
“Okay,” Dalton continued. “Give them a couple of minutes. Maybe let her get some drugs up inside. Make her easier to handle. Then, Navarro and I’ll go in.” He looked at Harris. “You all set?”
Harris nodded.
“When you see us head
