The Innocent (36 page)

“It went right to voice mail.”

“Text him.”

She did. They waited for five minutes and no text came back.

“Call him again.”

She tried twice more, with the same result.

“Where was he going to confirm that the debts were canceled?”

“At a bar over in Bethesda.”

Robie thought quickly. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To the bar in Bethesda. We might be in time to save his life.”

O
N THE WAY
Robie called Blue Man and requested backup. They would meet him at the bar.

Robie gunned the Volvo and glanced over at Cohen. Her face was tear-streaked and her breaths only came in short gasps that might have caused Robie to feel sorry for her under different circumstances.

She glanced at him, her look of misery deepening. “You think he’s dead, don’t you?”

“I don’t know, Michele. But that’s why we’re here. To prevent it if we can.”

“It seems so stupid now. Of course they wouldn’t just let him walk away. But it was the only chance we had. We were desperate.”

“Which made you the perfect people to approach.”

He made a left, a quick right, and pulled the car to the curb. “That the place?” he said, indicating a bar farther down the street with the sign “Lucky’s” above it.

She nodded. “Yes, that’s it.”

Well, I hope it’s lucky for us.

Robie looked around for his backup. He texted Blue Man. The reply came back almost immediately.

Sixty seconds away.

Cohen blurted, “That’s Mark’s car over there.” She pointed to a gray Lexus sedan parked a half block down.

A few moments later an SUV pulled up behind Robie. He signaled to the driver. The man signaled back. Robie got out and
escorted Cohen to the SUV. There were three men inside. Cohen got in the backseat.

“Stay put,” he told her. “No matter what you see or hear, these men will take care of you, okay?”

“Please bring my husband back to me.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Robie looked at the man in the passenger seat. “You want to come with me?”

The man nodded, racked his pistol, and put it back in the holster.

The pair moved down the street, their heads rotating side to side, looking for anything threatening. When they got to the bar Robie saw that it was closed.

He looked at his watch and eyed the other man. “Late opening time for a bar.”

“You’re right about that. How do you want to do this?” asked the other man.

“Give me two minutes to access the back. Then hit the front. We’ll meet in the middle.”

The man nodded and Robie skirted down an alley leading to the rear of this cluster of buildings.

He quickly found the back entrance to the bar. He didn’t know if the door was alarmed and didn’t really care. If the cops came, so be it. They might have to come anyway, depending on what Robie found inside.

He used his pick tools to beat the lock, pulled his gun, and slowly pushed the door open. It was nearly dusk outside, and totally dark inside. Robie wasn’t going to risk a light. He was already a target enough without helping anybody to see his position better.

He let his eyes adjust to the low level of light and moved forward. As he stepped he listened. He checked his watch. His partner should be coming through the front door right about now.

Robie passed through the kitchen and saw nothing except pots and pans, rows of clean glasses and mugs, and a line of mops. The next room had to be the bar area. He would meet his guy there.

Only his guy wasn’t there.

But someone else was, and Robie’s attention was immediately captured by the person. He ducked down behind the bar and took in the room grid by grid, noting all possible shooting points. He waited another thirty seconds and then came out from behind his cover. The room was empty. Except for him and the other guy.

Robie approached the man sitting in the booth to the left of the front door. He was leaning back against the leather seat.

There was enough light coming in from the front windows for Robie to see what he needed to. He thumbed 911 on his phone and spoke briefly.

He clicked off and eased over to the man.

Single gunshot wound to the head. Robie touched his hand. Cold.

He’d been dead a while.

Robie grabbed a napkin off a table and covered his hand with it. He snaked his hand inside the man’s jacket and pulled out his wallet, flipped it open.

The name on the license was Mark Cohen. The man’s picture, minus the bloody wound to his head, stared back at Robie.

He put the wallet back, looked at the front door.

Shit.

He raced to the door, unlocked it, and stepped outside. There were people walking up and down both sides of the street. Robie noted them and then his gaze went across the street.

His Volvo was there.

The black SUV was not.

He ran across the street and slid into his Volvo as he heard sirens coming.

He got on the phone to Blue Man. “Mark Cohen is dead and your guys took off with Michele Cohen. Want to explain that to me?”

Blue Man said, “I don’t understand. They were two of my best men. My most trusted people. They were supposed to follow your orders.”

Robie said, “There were
three
guys in the SUV.”

“I only sent two.”

“Then one of them tagged along, and I guess now I know why.”

“This is unprecedented, Robie.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Go right now and check on Julie. Take a bunch of guys with you. They can’t have bought off all of them.”

“Robie, are you saying—?’ ”

“Just do it!”

W
HEN
R
OBIE RACED
into the secure building the first person he saw was Blue Man.

The second person he saw was Julie.

Robie’s gut unclenched and he slowed his pace.

Blue Man said tersely, “Follow me, both of you.”

They walked quickly down a hall. Robie saw that Blue Man had a gun in a belt holster.

Robie looked at Julie striding next to him.

She said anxiously, “Is something wrong, Will? What’s going on?”

“Just a precaution. Everything will be cool.”

“You’re lying to me, aren’t you?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Thanks for being honest about your dishonesty.”

“Seems to be the best I can do these days.”

Blue Man closed and locked the door behind them. He motioned for Robie and Julie to sit.

Robie gazed at the pistol. “You don’t usually carry a weapon.”

“We don’t usually have traitors in the ranks.”

“Michele Cohen?” Robie asked.

“Dead. Along with two of my men. The two I officially sent.”

“Where and how?”

“They just found the bodies in the SUV about ten blocks from the bar. Gunshot wounds, all of them.”

“Who was the third guy?”

“Malcolm Strait. Worked here for ten years. Impeccable record.”

“Not anymore. Describe him to me.”

Blue Man did so.

Robie said, “He was the guy who was supposed to come through the front door of the bar. Any sign of him?”

“Not so far. He no doubt had an escape plan in place.”

“What are we talking about?” asked Julie. “Who are these people?”

Robie looked at Blue Man and said, “I think she deserves to know.”

“Go ahead, then.”

Robie took a few minutes to fill Julie in.

She looked puzzled. “Why would they get this lady to tell an obvious lie? They had to know you would track her down, find out the truth. They would have had to kill her and her husband anyway to shut them up.”

Robie said, “You’re right. What did they gain by having Michele Cohen come forward with her story?”

Blue Man said, “Exactly. What did they gain by it?”

Julie said slowly, “Otherwise it was a big risk for them.”

“Michele Cohen had no idea who had approached her husband,” said Robie. “She said he’d gone to the bar to confirm that his gambling debts had been paid off. Instead he got a hole in the head.”

“And so did his wife,” added Blue Man.

“Who else did this Malcolm Strait work with here?”

“Lots of people.”

“You need to talk to all of them. At the very least we need to learn if he left behind anybody.”

“Agreed.”

“So this guy might have somebody else here?” said Julie. She looked straight at Blue Man. “Not so safe a place.”

Blue Man glanced at Robie and said, “We will find that out as quickly as possible. This sort of breach is highly unusual,” he added, looking back at Julie.

“Well for me, it’s one out of one,” Julie shot back.

Robie said, “We can’t stay here now. We have to move.”

“Where?” asked Blue Man.

Robie rose. “I’ll be in touch. Let’s go, Julie.”

Blue Man said, “Where are you going?”

“Someplace safer than this,” said Robie.

Robie piloted the Volvo through the gate and turned left. “This is the spot where we could pick up a tail,” he told Julie. “We’re in a funnel here. Only one way in or out. So keep your eyes peeled.”

“Okay,” said Julie. Her gaze swiveled from side to side and then she turned her head and checked the rear.

As they pulled onto the main road and sped up, she said, “I don’t see any car lights.”

“How about a satellite overhead, can you see that?”

“Are you kidding? They could be tailing us with a satellite?”

“The fact is I don’t know.”

“So what do we do?”

“Hope for the best and prepare for something a lot less than that.”

“Where are we going?”

“The only place I’ve got left. The little house in the woods.”

“Pretty isolated if someone wants to ambush us.”

“And far easier to see someone coming at us. Trade-off. Weigh the pros and cons. I say the pros win in this case.”

“What about satellites?”

“They can’t use a satellite to harm us. They have to have boots on the ground for that.”

“They might send a lot of guys.”

“They might. And then again they might not send anybody.”

“But why wouldn’t they?”

“Think about it, Julie. What’s their endgame? This Malcolm Strait guy was inside that facility with you. He could’ve killed you there. And they could’ve popped me a couple of times already, but conveniently missed.”

“So they want to keep us alive, like you said before. With the bus and everything. But we still don’t know why.”

“No, we don’t. But we will.”

“W
ILL, THIS ISN’T
the way to your place,” said Julie.

“Slight change in plan.”

“Why?”

“Getting a little needed help and making a big confession.”

Robie had made a decision, an unusual one for him. He had been a loner most of his life. He did not normally seek help from others, preferring to solve his own problems. Yet he had finally realized that he could not do this alone. He needed help.

Sometimes asking for help showed strength, not weakness.

Whether the decision would turn out to be the right one or a disaster, Robie couldn’t know. Yet right now it was
his
decision.