Fade (2005) (32 page)

"What the hell are you doing?"

He found the trunk release and pulled it, then rolled on his back so h e was looking directly up at her. "Did the trunk open?"

"Yeah."

"It should be pretty much bulletproof. They had to reinforce it 'caus e of the air compressor."

As if to prove his point, a bullet collided with the thick metal , creating an ear-splitting clang as it ricocheted off.

"Can it do any other tricks?"

"Yeah, but it's kind of a good news, bad news thing. The good news i s that there's a machine gun mounted in the trunk that shoots out ove r the license plate."

"You're kidding."

"This surprises you?"

"I guess not," she said, over the sound of squealing tires and anothe r bullet impacting the trunk. "What's the bad news?"

"It's got blanks in it."

"Blanks! What kind of person would go through the trouble of mountin g a machine gun in his trunk and then not load it?"

"You know, I only did it because it was cool. I never thought I'
d actually use any of this stuff."

"Jesus Christ!"

"Here's an idea, though. When we get to a straight section, let the m close in a little. Then, when we're just about to go into a corner , tell me."

"I don't know, Fade. If I let them get any closer, they could hit a tire."

"Come on, it'll be fun. I've got a rifle with real bullets under th e back seat. If they shoot out a tire, we'll just stop and I'll kil l them while you put on the spare."

She glanced down at him and then focused again on the road. "Fine. Wh y not?"

He smiled and wrapped his hand around the cable connected to th e trigger of the rear gun. "The back might lift a little when the gu n goes off."

"Here comes a corner, get ready," she said easing off on th e accelerator and watching the rearview mirror. "Now!"

He yanked on the cable and the satisfying sound of machine gun fire wa s followed by the even more satisfying sound of screeching tire s preceding a loud crash.

He pulled himself into a sitting position and then stood in the seat , trying to see over the trunk. The car chasing them had gone off th e road and slid sideways into a tree. The man with the rifle was alread y out in the street but he looked a little dazed. The driver must hav e still been inside the car.

They rounded another corner and Fade stepped into the back seat to pus h the trunk closed.

"It wasn't cheap," he said as he slid back down next to Karen an d flipped on the police scanner. "But it was worth it."

Not surprisingly, no call to the police had been made and there was n o mention of a Cadillac armed with machine guns roaming the streets o f Virginia. Karen had taken the first exit off the highway and sinc e then she'd been driving exactly the speed limit, taking occasiona l random turns and generally trying to throw off the government agents , who were most likely still waiting for AAA.

Fade was dying to call Hillel Strand and gloat a bit, but Karen woul d probably look down on that kind of childish behavior. She was alread y pretty pissed off and didn't seem that impressed with their incredibl y stylish escape from the clutches of evil.

"So what now?" he said, pretending to examine the scabs forming on hi s wrists. "We can't just drive around forever."

She cut through a McDonald's parking lot and reversed their direction.

"I don't know."

"I can drop you off wherever you want," he said tentatively. "Th e cops. The FBI. Your house. It's up to you."

She didn't answer.

"Karen?"

"I'm thinking!"

"About what?"

"About the fact that someone high up in the government just ordered m y death and I have no idea how well connected he is to the police or th e FBI or whoever. That suddenly, the only person I know who seems eve n slightly trustworthy is a James Bond wannabe who just happens to hav e murdered six of my men."

"Uh-huh. You wanna know what always helps me think?"

"Not really."

"Mexican. A couple of tacos, a few margaritas .. . There's a grea t place right up the "

"You just killed a man and now you want to go out for Mexican?"

"Strictly speaking, you killed him. But maybe you're right.

Italian?"

She looked over at him, her mouth hanging partially open. "You'r e completely nuts, aren't you? I mean, you've really lost it."

He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. But either way, I still say we can'
t just keep driving around forever."

"Okay. What do you suggest?"

"How about my place? If you get on the highway up here going north w e can be there in less than an hour."

She chewed her lip in an incredibly engaging way for a few seconds an d then turned toward the on ramp. They were halfway up it before sh e spoke again.

"It was Goldfinger."

"What?"

"The ejector seat. It wasn't Dr. No. It was Goldfinger."

Chapter
Forty-One.

"My turn!" Kali squealed, jumping up and nearly managing to snatch th e remote from Matt Egan's hand.

"Shhhhh!" he said, holding it out of reach and trying to see aroun d her as she bounced on the sofa cushions.

"No more news!"

"Kali! Either sit and be quiet or go play. Daddy's watching now."

Recognizing defeat, she slinked off down the hall in search of a n alternate mode of entertainment while Egan climbed over the back of th e couch. The hospital attack had gotten a little time on the local news , but Billy had done his job with characteristic efficiency and it wa s being treated as some addict looking for painkillers. The leadin g theory about Egan continued to be that he was just an armed bystande r who didn't want to come forward because he didn't have a permit t o carry. The rest of the program was dominated by Stephany Narwal, th e latest victim in the Collector case, whose body was due to show up in a couple of days. So far, the murders had run like clockwork and th e media was once again gearing up for the unhappy event.

He moved on to CNN after the local program went off the air and caugh t the tail end of a show on Special Forces operatives. The angle wa s that they were trained to be remorseless killers and when they left th e military, they would almost inevitably become a danger to society. Th e guy doing the show seemed enamored with the phrase "ticking tim e bomb."

"Should I be worried?" Elise said, leaning her elbows on his shoulder s from behind the sofa.

"Can you fucking "

"Matt! Kali's just down the hall!"

He lowered his voice. "Can you fucking believe this? Like these guys'
j obs aren't hard enough without everyone thinking they're a bunch o f psychos. They put their lives on the line for this country."

"I know," she said, kneeling and sliding her arms around his neck.

"It's just because of that al Fayed guy. They'll tone it down after h e gets caught."

Egan didn't answer, instead going back to staring blankly at th e television as an anchor came on and began to speculate as to whether a young woman named Elizabeth Henrich, who had recently been reporte d missing, was Stephany Narwal's replacement.

"Did you get a chance to look at the ceiling in the garage? It'
s getting worse .. . Matt? Hello? You really need to do something. Th e spare bedroom is right above it and when me and my lover were in bed u p there, it almost fell through the floor."

"Careful you don't land on the car," he said finally and her arm s tightened around his neck, choking him.

"You're a real ass, you know that?"

Kali, who had apparently been hiding just around the corner, saw he r opportunity and dashed out, making another grab for the remote. H
e jerked it out of range, but didn't anticipate Elise grabbing it fro m behind.

"You're right, Kali. Your father's being selfish. It is your turn."

Egan sighed and stood, pulling Elise over the sofa and ending up wit h her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Are you sure you have to go?" she said, content to ride along on hi s back as he walked to his den.

It was already early evening hours after he'd promised himself he'd b e gone. Not that he was worried Fade would break their temporary truce.

It was more a concern that his time there would pull him back into hi s role of husband and father, completely fragmenting what little focu s he'd managed to construct.

"I've already missed a full day of seminars, Elise. You want to get m e fired?"

She made a noncommittal grunt as he leaned over to examine a note stuc k to his lamp.

"You know," she said, still stuck firmly to his back. "I've bee n thinking. I've got a couple of free days. Why don't Kali and I driv e up with you? I got an e-mail from one of the guys in Neutral Mil k Hotel and he said they're doing an acoustic set at a bar ther e tomorrow."

Egan froze for a moment and then pretended to concentrate on the not e as he ran through plausible reasons she shouldn't go to New York.

"Doesn't Kali have school? And I don't think they let girls her age i n bars."

A fairly pathetic effort.

"They'd let mine in. And besides, it's not every day you have a fre e place to stay in New York. She's never been there."

"So, let me be clear on this. Your suggestion is that we pull ou r daughter out of kindergarten to take her to a New York bar to see a subversive alternative band."

"My God, I married Tipper Gore," she groaned, tightening her grip o n him. "What subversive? It's an acoustic set. And then I could tak e her to the Museum of Modern Art and maybe to the symphony. I thin k that's a hell of a lot more educational than playing with blocks a t Mistress Martha's House of Middle Class Values."

"Oh, please. You like Martha and you know it. You agreed to tha t school."

"No point in overdoing it."

"Maybe while we're there we could get her a nice tattoo .. ."

"I was going to wait and surprise her for her birthday."

He flipped through his Rolodex and stuck one of the cards from it i n her hand.

"What's this?"

"The number of the plumber you're going to meet here tomorrow so he ca n fix the pipe in our ceiling before the guest bed really does fal l through the floor."

"Couldn't we just "

"Why don't we do New York this fall when I have some time, Elise? Th e three of us."

She planted a chin on his shoulder as he started back toward th e kitchen. "You promise?"

He was ready this time and lied seamlessly. "I promise."

Elise finally slid off his back when he leaned over to kiss hi s daughter on the head. "Gotta go, kid. Can you tear yourself away fro m the tube long enough to walk me to my car?"

Egan eased out of the driveway, trying to steer, wave, and dial hi s cell phone at the same time.

"What's going on, Billy?" he said, narrowly avoiding sideswiping a parked car.

"Matt! Have you talked to Hillel? He's going nuts trying to reac h you."

"I know. I've got about twenty messages from him on my phone."

"You might want to think about calling him back. Word is, he met wit h Crenshaw and that Crenshaw's hot to talk to you."

"Uh-huh."

"Look, Matt.. . Take it from a political hack you should be involve d in this stuff with the director. There's no way of knowing wha t Hillel's saying to him."

"I don't know. I'm not sure I trust your political advice anymore."

"Thanks, man," Fraiser said, taking Egan's statement as the complimen t it was intended to be.

"Did you get anything from Lauren?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy. You want the good news or the bad new s first?"

"Good."

"I don't think she's screwing with me I think she's given m e everything."

"Let me guess. The bad news is that it isn't much."

" "Fraid so. You've got all of it except the fact that al Fayed'
s called Karen Manning a few times."

"Karen Manning? Really?"

"Yeah, seems like he might be kind of into her. The cops have he r tapped, but they aren't focusing too hard on her because they stil l figure al Fayed's long gone. Hillel's got some guy named Roy Buckne r watching her."

Egan frowned and put his wheels into the gravel shoulder to get aroun d an RV. He'd managed to spend the entire day avoiding the questio n "what now," hoping that Billy would find something useful. But now i t was time to face the fact that the only thing he could do is wai t around for Fade to make his next move. And in the interim, he wa s going to have to figure out how to control the latest variable in al l this: General Crenshaw.

"I assume we've still got nothing on the place he took Manning to."

"Not yet."

"Great," Egan said, and then fell silent for a few moments. There wer e just no good choices.