She gave it to him. Sam already had his phone on silent and let it ring.
'The prick doesn't answer. That really pisses me off.' Frick shoved the phone in his pocket. 'Where's Ben Anderson?'
'I don't know,' she said.
'Where'd your boyfriend go?'
'Somewhere nearby. We're on an island, remember?'
Frick gave her a backhanded slap so hard, her knees sagged.
Sam forced himself to wait.
'Where would he go?' Frick asked.
'I don't know.'
Frick's cell rang.
'Yeah?' Pause. 'Yeah. Be right there. We got Haley Walther.' Pause. 'I'm taking care of it. I gotta go.'
Sam tensed up, knowing he could surprise Frick as he came through the front door.
Instead, Frick turned on his heel and headed for the back door.
Sam groaned inwardly. Frick was going to take one last look around the yard.
'This is gonna be real good,' Rafe was saying as he cuffed Gibbons to the stair railing and released Haley so that he had her, hands cuffed behind her back.
'Upstairs. We're gonna need a bed and a lighter. I ain't got any condoms, so I guess we'll just do without.'
Sam went to the side of the house, looking for signs of Frick. He didn't want Frick behind him with a gun. On the far side of the fence, he heard someone walking through the brush, then saw flickers of light through the boards. At the end of the fence was the street and Frick's car.
Haley was probably near the top of the stairs by now. Soon Rafe would start. Sam fought the impulse to go inside. Quickly he made his way down toward the end of the fence. Suddenly Frick sped up and began crashing through the brush and then onto the road. He jumped in his car. Sam waited for Frick to start the engine. Seconds went by like slow thuds in his head. Start the car. Start the car,… Frick must have been on his cell phone again.
Sam went ahead, deciding to forget Frick. What was Rafe doing? He tried not to let his imagination start. A desperate sadness came over him. Just what he'd wanted to avoid… another fellow traveler. Sam wondered if he was in love with Haley and then put the thought away like a jewel in its case.
He slowly moved up the hill under the cover of darkness, wanting to get to the porch so that he could get to Haley. As he neared the porch, another car pulled up, a man got out and spoke to Frick. As they talked, Sam slipped up on the porch and went through the front door.
At last the car started and Frick peeled out. The second man was no doubt coming to the house.
One more problem.
Gibbons looked at Sam and nodded upstairs.
With a painful effort Sam yanked off his shoes. He had seconds at best.
CHAPTER 15
On the way back to the foundation, Frick made a quick call to the hog farm, explaining that he would need the grinder by the next day or the day after. He would land at a private strip. After what Rafe and he would do to Haley Walther, she had to disappear.
Ground up with grain and turned into hog feed. The public would learn of a tragic boating accident as the suspect sought to escape justice, after which Walther's body fell victim to strong tides and/or marine predators.
It took him about four minutes, driving at reckless speeds, to get back to the foundation.
He needed to get on the phone with Nash, but Nash didn't like cell phones. At the conference room he found eight men waiting and decided to put off the phone call.
These were crude men-the ones with lengthy criminal records-and they were here for a pep talk and the dos and don'ts of the job. Calm and baritone, Khan's voice carried the certainty of authority. As he spoke, he strode in front of a blackboard on which he had made some notes and taped large photos of Robert Chase and Ben Anderson. Khan sounded as calm as a college professor, but everyone knew he was as ruthless as any thug. Consequently, he did well leading rabble, staying above the fray, while at the same time letting them know he was serious. When Khan did lose his cool, it was part of a very effective act.
Some of the men worked as hard money collectors, some as personal bodyguards for some very tough people, who ran meth labs and worse. Three were bouncers in the seediest Vegas strip clubs, places that were little more than fronts for prostitution. Many had personally been beaten senseless by Khan, which engendered a respectful attitude.
Using these types worried Frick, but the thought of an out-of-control operation headed for failure worried him more.
Khan abruptly ended the lecture. 'You've been entertaining Haley Walther?'
'Not yet,' Frick said. 'We need to talk.'
They walked into the hallway outside the conference room.
'You must be pretty desperate, having me use this crew,' Khan said.
'You got that right. So what?'
'Is there extra if I deliver?'
'You know it.'
'How much extra?' Khan said.
'Fifty K for good measure,' said Frick. 'Additional fifty K per head if you or Rafe have to waste somebody. You work it out with Rafe.'
'That'll do it. How are we gonna solve your problem by Monday?'
'It's a small island. We're hitting everybody Ben Anderson knows and watching all the harbors. Rafe has Haley Walther. She may be able single-handedly to solve the problem.'
'He'll rape her.'
Frick just stared at Khan.
'I'm telling you 'cause Rafe tends to get distracted by his own pleasure,' Khan said.
'You need to know that'
'Yeah, well, he was all I had at the moment. We've got eight more men to dispatch.'
'Give her to me, instead.'
Frick thought about that. 'Maybe later. Right now, I need you running these guys.'
'I'm a professional. I'm not looking for conjugal rights. I'll get the information.'
'Just manage your boys. If I need your help with her, I'll ask.'
Frick then laid out the places they needed to search and watch. After Khan had his questions answered, they got down to the specific assignments.
That took a few minutes. Khan had one last comment.
'With what's going on inside that house between Rafe and the girl? That boyfriend of hers will come back. In his gut he knows.'
'He would if he could, but he's hurt. Ran off the property. I left another guy with Rafe. I don't expect the boyfriend will be back all that soon. We need to discuss the most important job you got. I need you to supervise personally.'
'Okay.'
One of the things Frick liked about Khan was that he listened. And he was smart.
'You caught up on what McStott's pulling out of Anderson's research?' Frick asked.
'Octopuses, genes, and proteins. Crazy shit, but I followed.'
'McStott's nothing more than a dirty scientist; he's got a couple lab tech helpers that are greedy bastards to help out. You supervise and try to tell the pony from the horseshit.'
