‘Who is?’
‘Petr. And Heidi.’
‘Heidi’s left her mansion? Left her security?’
‘She’s desperate. She called Petr, then Petr called me. He told me he wants to double-cross her, gave me the address. But I don’t trust him. He’s coked up, erratic. I could hear it over the phone. I don’t know what I’m walking into.’
King stared at the taillights ahead. They were gaining ground on Frankie. ‘Listen, Frankie’s still alive. I’m tailing him. You think she’ll call him for help?’
‘Probably. Does he have men with him?’
‘No. It’s just him left.’
‘Is Will with you?’
He hesitated. ‘No. He went to deal with the guys Frankie had left.’
‘He’s not answering.’
King remembered the sight of the overturned car. ‘I think he’s preoccupied. He’ll be fine.’
Alexis sighed. ‘Let’s just get this done.’
Frankie made a left out of Bayview, onto the 101.
Only one guess as to where he was headed.
King said, ‘I think Heidi called Frankie. He’s heading toward San Mateo. I think he’s going to help her. I won’t be long.’
Alexis said, ‘I’ll call you when I’m closer.’
She hung up.
All roads leading to a single point.
61
Heidi did her best to stay out of sight, but she was smart enough to be aware of her flaws.
She knew in a realm like this, a realm she was wholly inexperienced in, her best wouldn’t be close to good enough.
She crawled out of the copse of trees, her Burberry jacket caked in dirt. There were only a handful of streetlights along the desolate gravel road running parallel to the lip of the flood control channel. She couldn’t see the belly of the beast from her position — the dry and rocky channel that the huge concrete banks sloped down to — but she’d been down there before. She didn’t need to see; she knew. This section of the creek lay bone dry in summer, where it was manmade. Not an ounce of water churning through it.
There were no floods to control in the evening warmth.
Petr stood out in the open on the ground above the slope, holding a long and sleek pistol by his side, the barrel aimed at the ground. The exposure and lack of cover seemed foolish, an unnecessary risk. She could make out his owl-like eyes piercing the dark, waiting to detect the slightest hint of movement. She was still draped in shadow, at the edge of the trees that led to the side of the channel. If she stood up to cross the road, he’d see her.
She’d lied to people her whole career. In the boardroom, over the phone, to the separate departments. She was good at it.
She didn’t know how good Petr was.
She didn’t know if he was lying about his allegiances.
He called into the dark. ‘You can stand up. I see you.’
She didn’t move. Her whole core was tense, her bones like steel. Like a kid playing hide and seek, burying their head in the sand, pretending they hadn’t been spotted. If she didn’t acknowledge it, it might not be true…
‘Come out, Heidi,’ he said, his voice carrying. ‘Come out to play.’
She thought she might be sick. Might vomit right there in the dirt. But she stood up, tottering and swaying even though she wasn’t wearing heels. Her life had been insulated, she realised. She was effective at handing out orders, effective at dealing with all the stresses of running a company, a company she knew full well had no functioning product. She’d thought that made her tough. She understood now that she wasn’t.
She walked across the street toward Petr, shaking.
She didn’t bother going for the compact pistol she’d brought with her, the little SIG P365. The store she’d bought it from had showed her how to use it, but she’d forgotten.
If she tried to pull it out, he’d be able to empty his pistol into her without breaking a sweat, before she even got the chance to squeeze a shot off.
She was smart.
Aware of her flaws.
Heidi came right up close, stood in front of him. He dwarfed her. He wasn’t particularly tall but she was a small woman, and very thin. She’d always needed to overcompensate for that. Maybe she’d taken it too far.
Too late to dwell on that.
‘I gave your friend a call,’ he said. ‘She’s on her way.’
He still spoke in that manic wavering tone, but it wasn’t as strange as it had sounded over the phone. The coke must be wearing off. Heidi had no idea whether that was a good thing.
She tried to sound confident. ‘What did you tell her?’
He raised an eyebrow under the moonlight, his features accentuated by the distant glow of the nearest streetlight. ‘What do you mean? I told her to come.’
‘Why would she do that?’
He smiled. She couldn’t tell whether it was sinister or jovial, how deeply the drugs were still entrenched in his system.
He said, ‘What are you asking, Heidi?’
‘How did you convince her to come?’
He didn’t even pause. Straight away, in that smooth accented voice, he said, ‘I told her that I wanted to kill you. That you are a pathetic amateur with no regard for the sanctity that comes with this profession. That it’s expected of contractors to do careful research, to understand which jobs are possible and which aren’t. That you violated the code when you sent all my men to their deaths. I told her that I had no hard feelings against her, because she was simply doing her job when she went to war with us. There’s nobility in that, after all. Having enemies, having skin in the game, putting up a fight. I respect it more than you would ever understand. There’s far less nobility in sitting behind a desk, directing men into the shadows with blank checks, not giving a shit whether they make it out alive or not. At least this other woman has her boots on the ground. For that, I told her, she has my respect. And if she’d like to make an appearance
