Shoot Him if He Runs (28 page)

“Who is in this with you?”

“There is a group of us on the island, mostly members of Parliament, as I am, who thought that with Croft and duBois out of the way, we could go to Winston and bully him into backing off. After all, he had already accumulated enough to keep him in luxury for the rest of his life.”

“From what I know of Sutherland,” Stone said, “I don’t think he could have been bullied.”

“Neither do I, and I was prepared to go further if he resisted us. Then, early this morning, Teddy killed duBois, and I believe that he suddenly found himself with an opportunity to kill Winston, and he did that, too. I don’t think it was planned.”

“How long have you known that Pemberton/Pitts was Teddy?”

“I suspected it from what I had read in the international press about Teddy, but I didn’t press him on it, until you arrived and told me what you were doing. Immediately after that, after he had taken on the Harold identity, I asked him, straight out, if he was Teddy Fay, and he admitted it. Irene has always known, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Holly,” Thomas said, “you’re very quiet back there.”

“I’m just taking all this in, Thomas, and I’m wondering what your next move is.”

“Let me ask you a question: do you believe that you and Stone can take Teddy alive, get him past the police and transport him back to the United States in your airplane this morning?”

Holly took a deep breath. “After reflection, no.”

“Then you’re going to Black Mountain to kill him.”

“I’m not,” Stone said.

“I am,” Holly said. “And so are you, aren’t you, Thomas? You and your people can’t risk having Teddy taken by the police, just as my people can’t.”

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Thomas said.

“Are you in touch with Teddy?” she asked.

“He has a cell phone.”

“Call him and tell him that I want to talk to him, just talk. Tell him I have an offer from the director that he should consider.”

“Do you have an offer from the director?” Stone asked.

“No.”

Thomas pulled the car to the side of the road, took out his cell phone and pressed a button.

Y
es?” Teddy said.

“It’s Thomas. I’m in the car with the woman you know as Ginny Heller; her real name is Holly Barker, and she’s with the Agency.”

“I’ve known that for several days,” Teddy said. “It took some time for me to place the face, because she looks different from the last time I saw her, but I finally remembered.”

“Holly has an offer from the director to present to you,” Thomas said.

“Do you really believe that?” Teddy asked.

“Yes, I do, and I think you should hear her out. This could be the best possible solution.”

“Does it involve going back to the States and being tried?”

“I don’t know; you’ll have to ask her that.”

“Where are you, Thomas?”

“We’ll be at Irene’s in ten minutes.”

“All right, I’ll hear her out, but I’m not making any promises.” He hung up.

“He says he’ll hear your offer, Holly.”

“All right.”

Thomas put the car in gear, began humming, then softly sang the words…‘Gonna cut him, if he stands still, and shoot him, if he runs.’”

“What?” Holly asked.

“Just an old song,” Thomas said. “An old blues.”

58

T
eddy left his workshop and walked up the hill to Irene’s house. She was in the kitchen making a salad.

“I’m done here,” he said.

“I figured you would be, after I saw the TV this morning,” she replied. She wiped her hands on her apron. “Why didn’t you tell me what you were doing, Teddy?”

“Surely you knew something was up, especially after I sent the yacht north.”

“Knowing that something was up is not the same as knowing that you were going to take out three government officials, including the prime minister.”

“Life is going to be better for you here with those three gone,” Teddy said. “Their replacements are going to be of a different order.”

She put her arms around his neck. “When will I see you again?”

“Until a few minutes ago I thought I could get myself to Lauderdale, sell the yacht and come back as Harold Pitts. That’s not possible now.”

“Why not? The identity is still good, isn’t it?”

“There are some people on the way here now, and I expect they want to kill me.”

“Who?”

“Thomas, Stone Barrington and the Ginny girl, whose real name is Holly Barker.”

“I know that name; she works for Lance!”

“I know.”

“How are you going to get out? You’ll meet them going down the road.”

“I’ve made some preparations.”

They both heard the crunch of gravel from the driveway, and car doors slammed.

“Shit!” Teddy said. “You’re going to have to stall them for me; give me as much time as you can.” He kissed her and ran out the back door as the doorbell rang. As he ran, he looked up at the overcast, which was nearly down to rooftop level at Irene’s house. This was going to be tougher than he had thought. He headed down the hill at breakneck speed.

I
rene Foster opened the door, wearing an apron. “Well hello, all of you, what a nice surprise! I was just making a crab salad; can you stay for lunch?”

“I’m afraid not, Irene,” Thomas said, stepping into the house. “Where’s Harold?”

“He’s just getting out of the shower. Why don’t you all have a seat; he’ll be out as soon as he’s dressed.” She showed them all into the living room, but nobody sat down.

“We really need to see him right now, Irene,” Holly said.

“Goodness, what’s the rush? Can I get anybody some iced tea?”

From outside somewhere came a loud buzzing noise.

“What’s that?” Stone asked.

“Chain saw,” Irene replied smoothly. “They’re clearing out some trees in the ravine below the old guest house.”

“There aren’t any trees in that ravine, and that’s not a chain saw,” Holly said, and she started running.

59

T
eddy sat in the front seat of the two-seater ultralight aircraft, his case strapped into the rear seat. A map image appeared on the Garmin portable GPS he had fixed to the frame ahead of him. He tapped in the identifier for Nevis airport and pressed the “Direct To” button. A line appeared on the map; all he had to do was to follow that. He pushed the throttle forward for takeoff, and the engine died. He hadn’t had time to warm it up properly.

“Shit!” he practically screamed. He pulled the choke out halfway and pressed the starter button, hoping to God he wasn’t flooding it. The engine began turning over again, but more weakly than the first time; the battery was a small one.

“Teddy!” he heard Thomas yell from up the hill somewhere. “Teddy!”

The engine caught and roared to life. Teddy pushed the throttle slowly forward, letting the rpms build, trying not to let it die again. Finally, it was wide open. Teddy took the knife from his belt and turned to cut the light rope that was all that was holding the little aircraft back.

H
olly rounded the corner of the old guesthouse ahead of Thomas and Stone, clawing at the pistol stuck in the belt of her jeans. “Teddy!” she yelled. “It’s Holly Barker! Don’t do anything stupid!” She came to a sliding halt and fell on her ass. Teddy Fay was sitting in what looked like a large bird, made of aluminum and cloth, and he was reaching behind him with a knife. The noise from the propeller was deafening. Holly got to one knee and aimed carefully at Teddy’s upper body. “Don’t do it, Teddy!” she yelled and began squeezing the trigger.

Teddy cut whatever was holding the little airplane back, and, finally freed of its tether, it shot down the hill, as Holly fired, missing him.

T
eddy concentrated on keeping the ultralight airplane in the concrete spillway, which was all the runway he had. The little craft gained speed, and as the end of the spillway rushed at him, he pulled back slightly on the stick, clearing the rough ground, but still headed downhill, picking up airspeed. He heard another gunshot, this one a little different-sounding. Two of them were shooting at him. It was now or never.

Teddy pulled firmly back on the stick, and the ultralight started to climb toward the thick clouds above him.

H
olly braced herself against the corner of the house and sighted carefully. This time he was hers. She squeezed off the round, then, suddenly, the ultralight disappeared.

Teddy felt a blow on his right calf as the ultralight entered the clouds, but he couldn’t let that distract him. He was going to have his hands full, keeping the wings level with no visual references. All he had was a compass, mounted at eye level, and it was moving, signaling a turn to the south. He corrected gently to his right, and the wind through the rigging began to sing louder. He was in a descent, and he yanked back on the stick.

T
here!” Thomas shouted, as the aircraft partly descended from the clouds to the south, but before he could get off a shot, it climbed into the clouds again, and from the noise, seemed to be turning north. In desperation, Thomas began firing at the sound, and Holly joined in.

T
eddy heard the whistle of bullets, much closer than he would have liked, and a tear appeared in the right wing. He thought he had the aircraft stable now, headed north and climbing. The firing stopped.

H
olly popped out the magazine and dug in her pocket for the spare Dino had given her. “Are you out, Thomas?”

“Yes, and I don’t have any more ammo,” he replied.

She rammed in the fresh magazine, racked the slide and listened. The sound of the engine had grown a little fainter. “Where is the fucking thing?” she yelled.

“More to your right, I think,” Thomas said. “He seems to be headed north.”

Holly raised the weapon and emptied the magazine, knowing that her chances of hitting anything were remote. “That’s it,” she said finally. “I’m out, and Teddy is gone.”

“Good,” Stone said quietly.

“Whose side are you on?” Holly demanded.

“There aren’t any sides now,” Stone said.

The thick cloud around Teddy began growing brighter and suddenly, like flipping a switch, the airplane was flooded in sunlight. He was on top of the clouds, and he leveled off. How high was he, he wondered. He had been airborne for what, two minutes, three? The ultralight could climb at about five hundred feet a minute, so he must be a thousand, maybe fifteen hundred feet high. He kept the airplane just above the clouds, in case a helicopter or another airplane appeared. If that happened, he could duck back into the undercast and change direction. He eased back on the throttle to what seemed a decent cruise power setting, not wanting to waste fuel by running at full throttle.

The tank held five gallons of fuel, enough for about two hours of cruise. The prevailing winds were from the southeast, and that would help his speed and extend his range a bit. The GPS told him he was making forty-one knots over the ground, or the sea, whichever he was over. He did a damage assessment.

As far as he could tell only two rounds had had any effect. One had struck the wing, and the tear was getting worse. He slowed the airplane, bringing the ground speed down to thirty-five knots. He sure as hell didn’t want to stall the thing at a low airspeed, but the fabric of the wing had now stopped tearing, and that was good.

He pulled up his trouser leg and looked at his right calf. He could see an entry wound and an exit wound, and the exit wound was bleeding profusely; his shoe had begun to fill with blood.

He took off his belt and made a tourniquet just below the knee, and the blood stopped flowing. That would hold him until Nevis airport, he reckoned, and he had a first-aid kit in the Cessna, which was secured in its hangar. He stopped thinking about the pain and concentrated on keeping the ultralight level and on the GPS line to St. Martin.

60

H
olly grabbed a map from the glove compartment of Thomas’s car and turned it over, for a display of the Caribbean, then she got out the satphone and called Lance.

“Lance Cabot.”

“It’s Holly; Teddy’s gone.”

“Gone? You mean he’s dead?”

“No, though I think I hit him.”

“He’s on an island; how can he be gone? Does he have a boat?”

“No, he had an ultralight airplane.”

“You mean one of those spit-and-baling-wire contraptions?”

“More like aluminum and nylon, but you get the picture.”

“I don’t understand; how far could he get in one of those things?”

“I’m looking at the map now.”

Stone spoke up from the back seat. “It’s probably good for a couple of hours of flying at forty or fifty knots.”

“Stone’s a pilot, and he says it can fly for a couple of hours. From my map, I’d say that Barbuda, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis are all within his range. Guadeloupe is a lot farther.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

Holly gave him a nutshell explanation. “Most of those islands have airline connections,” she said. “You should check those first.”

“No, he would avoid the airlines; he has to have an airplane stashed somewhere.”

“I guess that’s possible.”

“Are you at the St. Marks airport now?”

“We’re on the way; half an hour out.”

“Don’t let anything keep you from getting out of there.”

“Thomas Hardy is with us; he’ll help.”

“I’ll meet you at Manassas,” Lance said.

“I don’t know what time we’ll get there.”

“I’ll know.” Lance hung up.

Holly turned to look at Stone. “Lance thinks Teddy’s got an airplane stashed on another island.”

“That makes a lot of sense.”

“Where could he get to in a light airplane?”

“Do you know what kind?”

“Before, he had a Cessna 182, the one he blew up.”

“Well, in a similar airplane he might have a range of five to seven hundred miles. He could go north to other islands, but it would make more sense to head for South America. You say you think you hit him?”