The Hit

Chapter





62





ROBIE CARRIED MEENAN OVER HIS shoulder and down the steps into the bomb shelter. They were under the barn at his hideaway. At the far end of the underground shelter was a makeshift cell that Robie had constructed. It was easily strong enough to hold someone like Meenan.

She was starting to come around after Reel had shot her in the neck with a tranquilizer dart.

Robie lay Meenan down on a cot in the cell. Stacked against one wall were enough provisions to last the woman two weeks. Robie assumed that by then he would have worked things out or else died trying.

He locked the cell door about the time that Meenan slowly sat up, rubbed her neck, and looked at him. “You didn’t let her kill me?”

“We never had any intention of killing you.”

“Why not?”

“You may be corrupt, but you were defenseless.”

”You’re an assassin, that’s what you do.”

“Did you read the apocalypse paper?”

“The what?”

“The white paper that Roy West wrote. Reel told me he used to brag about it to people. Maybe you were one of them. Over pillow talk? At the bar?”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“Did you believe it?”

“Roy talked about a lot of things. And many of them made sense.”

“So you’re for an apocalypse?”

“For real change to happen, certain people have to be sacrificed.”

“Wasn’t that what the Nazis said?”

She snapped, “Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not even a close analogy.”

“Really? You got led around like a lemming by a nut who loaded up his cabin with explosives and had plans to blow up half the government? How does that make sense? You work for the government.”

“We all fight for liberty in different ways.”

“I’ll stick with my way. You can keep yours.”

“You go and kill the people they tell you to. Talk about a lemming.”

“Well, the difference is now I understand that. You apparently don’t.”

She gave him a condescending look. “You can’t stop this from happening.”

“I can if you help me.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“So you just stand by and watch all those people die? Doctors are supposed to preserve life, aren’t they?”

“I’m not just a doctor. I care about my country. Our enemies are trying to destroy us. We have to kill all of them first.”

Robie said, “Care to tell me who is really behind this?”

She folded her arms across her chest and looked at him dully. “Just give it up, okay?”

He held up her phone. “Got your laptop too. They should tell us a few things.”

She looked suddenly panicked.

“Don’t ever go to Vegas,” he advised. “Your poker face is seriously lacking.”

“They’re password-protected.”

“You had your phone on a five-minute auto lock. You must have just used it before you got into the car. The lock hadn’t reset yet, so I got everything I needed. As for your laptop, next time use a password more difficult than your name spelled backwards and your date of birth.”

“Robie, you’re on the wrong side of this. Trust me. Reel is a murderer. She killed two defenseless men. In cold blood.”

He pointed to the provisions. “There’s enough food and water to last you at least two weeks, maybe more if you ration.”

“And if you’re not back by then?”

“Start yelling. Somebody might hear you. Oh, and while you were knocked out Reel stripped you down and checked every possible place for a transmitter. You might be sore, but you’re definitely tracker free.”

“Robie!” She jumped up and ran to the cell door. “Think about this very carefully. You won’t get a second chance.”

“Funny. That’s what I was going to tell you.”

“You’re being stupid. Please let me go.”

“This is the safest place for you.”

She looked at him with a stunned expression. “Safe? Are you insane?”

“They didn’t find our bodies, Doc. And they can no longer track us. Which tells them we’re onto how we were tracked. You put the sutures in. We found you. You’re out of the loop for a while. If we let you go, you go back to them.”

“I won’t say anything. I promise.”

“That’s not the point.”

“So what is the point?”

“They’ll know you were with us. They’ll interrogate you. And then they’ll kill you.”

Meenan took a step back. “Why would they kill me? I’m on their side.”

“Because they’ll believe you helped us. That would be the only way we would’ve let you go. And your price for that is you die. It’s really that simple. See, to them, you’ll have become the enemy. And like you said, the goal is to kill all of the enemy. And now that includes you.”

“But—”

“It’s not an either/or proposition. So you stay here, you live. You go out there, you die. I’ll let you decide. What’s it going to be?”

Meenan stared up at him and then took a few hesitant steps back before plopping down on the cot and studying the floor.

“Good choice,” said Robie, and then he walked out.