Rook said, 'Nikki, careful, Jess Ripton is-'
'Right here,' he said as his arm reached in from the hall and he placed the muzzle of his Glock against her temple. 'Let it fall, Detective.'
Heat had no alternative. With a literal gun to her head, she saw no option but to comply. There was an easy chair between her and the fireplace, and she tossed her gun onto the cushion, hoping to keep it close by.
When Rook hadn't answered his phone the second time, her suspicion had grown and she couldn't shake it. She had never known him not to return a call, and Nikki couldn't get past the concern that there was a disturbance in the Rook Force. Ribbing aside about showing up unannounced, she decided that was exactly what she would do. If it was awkward, let it be awkward. Nikki decided she would rather deal with that than light up the radar with a door buzz if her worries were founded.
After ringing the super downstairs and getting the key, Heat took the stairs rather than the elevator, mindful of the racket it made when it braked at Rook's floor. When she got up there, she put her ear to his front door. That's when she heard the scuffle in the distant reaches of the loft. Normally, she would have followed procedure and taken time to call for backup before she went in, but Nikki's fears for Rook were already spiking and it sounded like time was of the essence. She used the key to let herself in.
And now, for the second time in a week, Heat found herself in Rook's place, in crisis, looking for an opportunity to turn the situation around. As she watched the Texan reach behind to the small of his back and come up with a.25-caliber Beretta, she began reciting her mantra: Assess. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
'Move into the room,' said Ripton. He gave her a slight nudge away from the easy chair with the Glock. Heat made note that it was the soft push of an amateur. She wasn't sure what to do with that impression other than to underscore her conclusion that between the two, if she ever got the chance, Wolf got her first bullet.
'I've got backup, you know. You're not getting out of here.'
'Really?' Since Wolf had her covered with his gun, Ripton stepped to the door and shouted up the hall toward the front door, 'Come on in, everybody!' Then he cupped an ear to listen. 'Huh…'
Nikki's heart sank when Ripton went to the easy chair and picked up her Sig. She watched the handler slip it into his waistband and then she turned to Rook. 'How are you doing, OK?' He was staring down at the floor under his desk, fidgeting. 'Rook?'
'Sorry, cramp. You'll pardon me if I don't get up.'
Wolf spoke. 'You know, Jess, maybe now's the time to pull the pin.'
Before Ripton could answer, Nikki went for a stall. 'We've arrested Toby Mills, you know.'
'No, I didn't.' He appraised her a beat. 'What for?'
'You know.'
'You tell me.'
Now it was her turn to do some appraisal. Why was Ripton pushing her to answer first? It felt to her like poker games she had been in when it comes down to who's going to be first to show the hand. Translation: He wanted her to reveal what she knew-because he was wondering how much she knew. So Nikki gave up as little as she could in order to keep conversation going and buy time. 'Your client was booked for the confession he made about what happened the night Reed Wakefield OD'd at the Dragonfly.'
The Firewall nodded slightly to himself. 'Interesting.'
'Interesting?' she said. 'That's all you've got to say about what you've done? 'Interesting'? Sooner or later it's going to come out that Toby had you guys kill the story by killing everyone who knew it, and all of you are going to take the weight.'
The ballbuster in Jess Ripton kicked in. 'You don't have any idea what you're talking about.'
'I don't? I have his confession saying that he and Soleil Gray were there when Wakefield overdosed. Your client gave him the drugs. You snuck Toby out of there. And my take is that when the hush money wasn't enough to keep a lid on this, Toby Mills had you kill the concierge and the limo driver because they were tipping off Cassidy Towne. Who he also had you kill. Tracks for me.'
'They'll never make a connection for one simple reason,' said Ripton. 'Toby Mills had nothing to do with those killings. He doesn't even know I'm involved in all that.'
'Sounds like you're making a confession,' said Heat.
He shrugged, and in it conveyed his certainty that whatever he said would never go beyond Rook's office. 'Truly. Toby doesn't know. He still doesn't even know about Cassidy Towne's book. Or the leaks and the spying by that limo driver and the concierge. All Toby knows is he has a dirty little secret to keep about a party that got out of control.'
'Come on, Ripton, I don't think this is the time to be doing your spin. Not after you've killed three people just to save your client's precious endorsement deals.'
Wolf was getting anxious to go. 'Jess? Ready?'
Rook blurted, 'That's not why they killed them.' He made a quick glance down at his foot and then looked up again at Nikki. 'They didn't kill those people to protect Toby Mills's image. They killed them to cover up the fact that Reed Wakefield's death was not accidental-it was murder.'
Heat was taken aback. She had no idea Rook could be so good with a bluff. But then she was floored again because his expression told Nikki he wasn't bluffing. She turned to assess the reactions of Jess Ripton and Rance Wolf. They weren't disagreeing with what he'd said.
'So you do have the last chapter,' said Ripton. He took a step closer to the desk. 'You wouldn't know about the murder unless you did.'
Rook shrugged. 'I've read it.'
'Murder? How is it murder?' said Nikki. 'In Toby's confession he said it was an accidental overdose.'
'Because Toby still believes it was,' answered Rook. 'Because Toby and Soleil didn't know it, but Reed Wakefield was still alive when they left that hotel room.' Rook punctuated the point by glaring at Ripton. 'Right Jess? Then you and Tex here killed him.'
'Where is it?' Ripton looked under the desk where Rook had been fidgeting, and when he didn't see the chapter, he said, 'You're going to tell me where you hid that chapter.'
'Let her go first,' Rook said.
'I'm not leaving.'
'Damn right.' Ripton turned to scan the mess again.
'Nikki. Trying to help you here.'
'Where is it, Rook? Last time.'
'OK,' said Rook. 'It's in my pants!'
A brief quiet fell over the room. Rook gestured with his head to his lap and then nodded, affirming.
'Check it out,' said Ripton.
The instant Wolf turned and took his gun off Nikki, Rook pressed the toe of his shoe on the radio controller sitting on the floor at his feet. Over on the windowsill behind the Texan, the orange CB180 helicopter whirred to life. As soon as the main rotor began to spin, its tip buzz-sawed against the windowpane, jarring the room with a grating vibration. Wolf twirled around and shot at the copter, shattering the glass. Jess Ripton, who was startled into a frozen state, brought his hands up defensively. Heat threw herself at him, slamming into his side. She grabbed Ripton's forearm and raised it up while, at the same time, sliding both her hands down past his wrist toward his gun.
The Texan spun back around to take aim at her, giving Nikki no time to pull the Glock away from the manager's grip. So Heat slapped both her hands around Ripton's, took her best aim, and using his finger, squeezed off a shot. It missed the mark, puncturing the sling. The Texan moaned and fired.
As Nikki began to fall backward, she gripped harder onto Jess Ripton's hand and squeezed off four more rounds into the left front pocket of Rance Eugene Wolf's Western shirt before she hit the floor.
Chapter Twenty
Almost two hours later, sitting by himself at the counter that separated his kitchen from his great room, Jameson Rook stared at the two streams of bubbles rising in perfect parallel lines from the bottom of his pint glass
