A dusty, late-model four-door Jeep sat in front of the cabin. Local plates. Gun rack in the back with a rifle and scope hanging on it.
She started to move forward, then thought better of it. Keeping behind a tree, she lifted a slender metal object from her pocket, fired it up, and pointed it in front of her at near ground level. The invisible laser lines became visible. Trip field. Alert only? Or maybe booby-trapped.
There could be IEDs all over this place, with the owner the only one knowing where they were.
Reel stayed where she was, contemplating how she was going to pierce this perimeter. There were ways; she just had to come up with the right one.
As she watched, the front door of the cabin opened.
Maybe the problem would solve itself.
CHAPTER
39
IT WAS AN EIGHTEEN-HOUR DRIVE to Arkansas where Roy West had taken up residence. Robie only stopped for gas and to use the bathroom. He ate from provisions he had taken with him from his safe house.
The sun had risen as he pulled to a stop at what he calculated to be five miles from his final destination.
He looked around. He had passed civilization about two hours ago and was officially in no-man’s-land. He hadn’t even seen another house in a half hour. The terrain was both rocky and lush. The roads—well, there didn’t seem to be many of them. And the ones there were had gone from asphalt to gravel and now to dirt.
Robie checked his watch. He had gained one hour by entering the central time zone. He hoped it was worth it. He was tired, but not exhausted.
He rolled down the window and breathed in the crisp air.
He had traveled over mountains and flatlands.
He was back in the mountains.
Arnie had said Roy West had worked at the agency. Reel had apparently been interested in a document that Robie assumed West had authored. This meant something to Reel. Something important.
And where was Reel? Already here?
He looked around again. Lots of places to hide. If the place he was going to was this remote, there was no way he could get to it unseen if he just continued to drive.
So he had to leave his truck behind.
He liked to be on foot better.
A truck was a big target at which to shoot.
Robie parked his vehicle well off the road, changed into cammie gear, and also blacked his face. He slung his gear pack over his bag and set off. He had memorized the directions to West’s house. He was going to treat this like any other mission.
But unlike every other mission, he didn’t have a clear goal when he got to his destination. He didn’t know if West would turn out to be a friend or foe. He had no idea if he had just driven into a trap somehow orchestrated by Jessica Reel.
The terrain was rugged, but he traversed it easily. He had trained for years for missions like this. And even at age forty he floated over the rock and through the hilly terrain with the agility of an elite athlete in his prime.
He counted down the miles in his head. As he drew closer to what might be ground zero his grip tightened on his primary weapon, his sniper rifle.
He had two other weapons in his pack, with enough ammo to take on a lot of guns on the other side. The weapons had been chosen for different scenarios.
His MP5 was for close-quarters battle against superior numbers. Its auto-fire selector could lay down opponents at a ferocious rate.
His Ka-Bar knife was for killing hand-to-hand. He could use it to slice or gut with equal efficiency.
His Glock rode in the shoulder holster. He never went anywhere without the weapon. It was like his third arm.
And he had a special type of ordnance in his gear pack. It was his fail-safe.
He reached a clearing and took the opportunity to snag his binoculars from his gear pack and take a good long look around from the vantage point of high ground.
There was not much around here that he could see other than nature. Then he spied it. A chimney poking out from a break in the trees. There was a dirt road full of switchbacks running up to it. He couldn’t see the house attached to it.
Robie saw no smoke coming from the chimney, but the temperature wasn’t that cold, so someone could still be there without needing to build a fire. And in his mental map that house was his destination, the abode of Roy West.
He kept looking in a wide arc through his optics. He finally set his binoculars down and looked through the scope on his sniper rifle, which was far more powerful than the binoculars.
He wasn’t just looking for West or whoever else might be with him. He was looking for Reel. For Robie was now certain of one thing.
The woman was here.
He could just feel it.
CHAPTER
40
THE MAN STEPPED OUT OF the cabin.
He did so and gripped the pages. He pulled them close and read down the first page.
“So what?”
“You wrote it?” she asked.
“What if I did?”
“Why?”