Hour Game

forward with fresh lives, finally free of their monster patriarch.

He lay back down on the cot, listened with one ear to the radio and with the other to any noise coming from outside. The cave's isolated location and well-hidden entrance made it highly unlikely anyone would come near. However, if they had the misfortune to, he'd give them a proper burial. He was not a monster; in his case the apple had fallen far from the tree.

I am not my father's son. And thank you, Jesus, for that. But I'll be seeing you soon, Pop. Maybe the devil will bunk us together. For all time. We'll talk.

He cracked his thick knuckles and dreamed of such an encounter as the afternoon receded into night. The night when he'd be on the move. To his shortcut. To his last target. And then the big curtain would come down on the Eddie Lee Battle Show. There'd be no encore. He was getting tired.Good-bye, everybody, it was cool while it lasted.

Just one more to go… Or maybe more? Yes, maybe more. What did it matter after all?

CHAPTER 92

THE SMALL BUILDING HOUSING THE Wrightsburg Gazette was dark and empty at this hour of the night. There was no alarm system and no night watchman either, for what was there to steal from the venerable but money-losing Gazette other than paper? Cash was tight at the daily publication, and the owner didn't like to waste it on protecting things he believed didn't need it.

The back door's simple lock turned and then opened, and Eddie moved inside, shutting the door behind him. He shot across to the small room at the back of the printing area. He pushed open the door to this windowless section, shone his light around at the flat file cabinets stacked one on top of the other and started reading the labels on the fronts.

He found the one he wanted, opened it, lifted out the spool of old-fashioned microfiche and went to one of the terminals that lined the outside ring of the room. He sat down, inserted the spool into the reader, clicked on the light behind the screen and turned on the machine. He knew the date he was looking for, and he quickly found the story he wanted. Of course, it all fit now, all the things he'd heard over the last few years, the little clues here and there. Another thought struck him as he remembered something Chip Bailey had once told him. It had happened before, not in this country, but in another.

Yes, now it all makes perfect sense.

He removed the spool and replaced it in the file cabinet. He was about to leave but paused, thinking something over, finally breaking into a smile. Why not? He picked up a Sharpie pen from a holder on one of the tables and went over to the wall. He wrote the four letters large on the concrete wall. They couldn't very well miss it, could they? Not that they'd have any clue what it actually meant. He wanted to get there first after all. They could come and pick up the pieces after it was all over.

He admired his handiwork for a moment and then slipped back out. His truck was parked about a mile off, on a dirt road that he very much doubted the police would be covering. He kept to the wood line as he made his way back.

Chip Bailey sat up in bed, confused for a moment, then realized what the noise was. It was his cell phone ringing. He groped around, found the light in his small motel room and clicked on the phone. It was Chief Williams; his message was terse but drove from him thoughts of sleep.

Someone had just broken into the Wrightsburg Gazette. The description of the person fit Eddie Battle. They were locking down the entire area. Bailey was dressed in a minute, put on his belt clip and slipped his gun inside. He ran to his car and jumped in.

The knife hit him in the chest with such force that the hilt smacked into Bailey's sternum. The dying FBI agent tried to look around, to see who'd just killed him, but the blade had nearly severed his heart in two. He slumped back against the seat, his head tilted to one side.

Eddie rose up from the backseat and let go of the knife. He'd passed by the motel on his way back to his truck. Seeing Bailey's car in the parking lot, he'd thought it appropriate to pay back his old friend for 'saving him' all those years ago. He might not get another chance. He'd dialed Bailey's cell phone, a number well known to him, from a pay phone. He'd imitated Williams just well enough that the groggy FBI agent would not have picked up on the difference.

Well, that inattention to detail had certainly cost him.

Sorry, Chip, you snooze you lose. And you weren't that good of an agent anyway. Pretty damn inept and pompous actually. And you wanted to be my stepfather so badly. Those big bucks are quite the attraction, aren't they, old Chip? Old buddy. Old pal.

Eddie climbed out of the car. He made it to his truck in half an hour, keeping well out of sight of the roads. It was now time to sleep and prepare. And then to act on the information he'd obtained tonight.

His shortcut to determine the identity of the person who'd killed his father had worked to perfection. He just hoped the 'execution' on the other end would be as flawless.

'It was his knife,' Williams told King and Michelle at the Battles' house. 'His prints were on it. Eddie's not trying to hide that he did it. Hell, he's probably proud of it.'

Chip Bailey's body had been found the following morning by one of his men. The death of the veteran FBI agent had staggered everyone.

'Pretty damn ballsy for Eddie to come out of hiding to take out Chip like that,' said King.

'I'm not sure that's the only reason he came out,' replied the police chief. 'You two better come with me.'

He drove them to the Gazette building and pointed out the word on the wall that Eddie had written there.

TEAT

King looked at the word and then glanced at Williams. 'Teat? What, like a cow's teat? You're sure this was Eddie's doing and not some kid's prank?'

'No, I'm not sure. It looks like just that, in fact. But the Gazette isn't that far from the motel where Chip was killed.'

King looked around the room. 'What would he want from here?'

Michelle pointed to the numerous microfiche files. 'Maybe he was looking for something in there.'

'That's a lot to look at when you don't know what you're looking for,' said King. He turned to Williams with a concerned expression. 'You better watch your back, Todd.'

'I'm not looking to get a knife in my chest. I've got twenty-four/ seven protection on me. I wish Chip had done the same.'

'Maybe he thought it could never happen to him,' said Michelle. 'Or maybe he was too proud.'

'Or maybe he really believed Eddie was his friend,' commented Williams.

'Some friend,' remarked King. 'How's the search coming?'

'Way too many back roads and woods. And apparently, everybody within a four-state area has called in and said they saw Eddie. He's ten feet tall with claws and has body parts dangling out of his blood-encrusted mouth. I swear to holy Jesus I don't know how anybody gets convicted in this country, I really don't.'

'It only takes one good lead,' Michelle reminded him.

'I might die of old age before that happens,' Williams shot back.

Michelle looked at her partner. 'What do you think, Sean?'

He shook his head wearily. 'I think after all this, Eddie's in the driver's seat and we're back at square one.'

CHAPTER 93

KING AND SYLVIA HAD JUST FINISHED dinner at her home. King had taken leave of the armed camp at Casa