The Outsider (James Bishop 4) (3 page)

Bishop stared at her. ‘And this somebody. That would be me, right?’

Delaney smiled back. ‘Can you think of anyone better?’

Bishop thought for a moment, then said, ‘For how long?’

Delaney paused. She obviously knew that the more she told Bishop, the easier it would be for him to find out which high-profile murder trial she was talking about. There were only so many. Finally, she said, ‘A week, maybe. Ten days tops.’

‘A week to ten days,’ he said, then shook his head. ‘I still don’t get it.’

‘Don’t get what?’

‘There’s no shortage of decent talent out there, Delaney, and any one of them would be more than happy to take you up on an offer like this. So why come to me?’

‘Well, there’s another big problem, which is this has to be completely off the books. And that means I can’t get official authorization to pay a professional close protection officer the going rate. What I
can
do is fudge my expenses and pay him out of that, but it wouldn’t be much. I could probably go to eight or nine hundred, but that’s about it. How many of your old colleagues at RoyseCorp would agree to that kind of reduction in pay?’

‘Not many. More to the point, why would I?’ Bishop stood up and walked over to the window. ‘Out of interest, how exactly would you explain this new addition to the rest of your team? Without getting lynched, I mean.’

‘That’s all been arranged. Once I told the principal what I had in mind and how it might cause problems, he understood and said I can tell my team that he’s given me an ultimatum, that after what happened to his wife, either I bring in an outside agent to help or he takes his son and walks. They won’t be happy, but they’ll accept that.’

‘Sure about that?’

‘About as sure as I am about anything.’

Bishop looked out the window again. The sky was overcast with dark grey clouds coming in from the east. Looked like more bad weather was on the way, or worse weather.

After a few more moments spent thinking to himself, he turned back to Delaney and said, ‘Sorry, Delaney, but I don’t think I can help you.’

‘Really? Care to give me a reason?’

‘I can give you plenty. I’ve been out of the close protection game far too long, and I’m too rusty. That’s one. And I also stopped taking orders a long time ago. That’s another. I can roll off some more if you want, but the end result will be the same.’

‘Come on, Bishop, I can be pretty diplomatic when I want to be. I can suggest without ordering. And I already know your record back to front so it wouldn’t be hard for me to look upon you as an equal. In fact, I’d value any advice you had on possible weak spots in our defences. And I don’t believe you’re
that
rusty. So what other objections have you got?’

He stood up and sighed. ‘Okay. Here’s a big one.
Why
should I? And don’t bring up the money again. I’m not that desperate.’

‘Well, in that case, maybe you should cast your mind back to the first time we encountered each other. I seem to recall I played a sizeable part in getting you off the hook, in more ways than one. Or have you forgotten?’

‘I rarely forget anything.’

‘I know. Eidetic memory, according to your high-school teachers.’

‘So what’s your point?’

‘My point is you owe me one.’

Bishop shook his head. ‘I don’t see it that way, Delaney. While chasing me you came across evidence that confirmed I wasn’t quite as guilty as you’d been led to believe, which you then passed on to the relevant people. As far as I’m concerned you were simply a professional doing her job. And doing it well, I might add. I wish there were more cops around with your work ethic, but don’t start thinking I owe you any favours, because I don’t.’

She looked at him. ‘You’re a hard man, Bishop.’

‘That’s the second time you’ve said that to me. Maybe you should have thought about that before making this trip.’

‘And I can’t exploit any personal feelings you may have for me at all? We did share some pleasant moments together a couple of years back, or am I misremembering?’

‘No, you’re not, but we were just ships passing in the night, that was all. It was fun, but after two weeks I came out of it knowing as much about you as when I went in.’

She paused for a moment, frowning. ‘Okay, how about this for an idea? Come in with me, and after all this is over I’ll owe you a favour. A
professional
favour.’

He raised both eyebrows. ‘You mean like a get out of jail free card?’

‘My influence doesn’t run that far, Bishop. But if you ever get yourself in a bad scrape, I might – repeat,
might
– be able to get you out of it. And that’s not an offer I make lightly. In fact, I almost regret making it now. So what do you say?’

Bishop smoothed his hand back and forth over his scalp. ‘That’s a very tempting offer, Delaney. You don’t know how tempting, but it’s still a no. Sorry.’

He walked over to the front door, pulled it open and waited.

Delaney got to her feet and used a hand to carefully smooth out the creases in her trousers. She went over to Bishop and stopped just before the doorway. ‘Meeting’s over, is it? Just like that?’

‘I think we’ve pretty much exhausted the subject, don’t you?’

‘And I can’t say anything else to change your mind?’

Bishop shook his head. ‘I can’t think of anything else I want.’

‘In that case, I’m sorry to have wasted your time.’ She nodded grimly at him before walking out and down the hallway towards the stairs.

Bishop watched her go, then gently closed the door.

Angela Delaney hated Mondays as a rule of thumb, but this particular Monday morning was turning into a real peach and it wasn’t even ten yet. They’d been ensconced at this new safe house in this remote section of North Vegas for almost a fortnight now without too many problems, so John Strickland decided today was the day to abandon all caution and screw with the routine, just so he could take in some fresh air. He currently had her cornered in the kitchen. She’d only come in to get a coffee refill, and now this.

‘Come on, Delaney,’ he said, ‘I need fresh air. We both do. Barn and me have been cooped up here for two weeks now and we’re going stir crazy. At least I am. I need a cigar and I need to feel the sun on my face. Just for a few minutes, that’s all I’m asking.’

‘Look, you can suck it up for just a few more days, can’t you?’ she said for about the twentieth time. ‘Then once this is all over you can have all the fresh air you want.’

‘Hey, we got desert all around us, for Christ’s sake. Who’s gonna see?’ He motioned to Deputy Marshal Reiseker, standing by the sliding glass doors at the other end of the room, watching them both. ‘Your man’s right there, keeping watch on the rear. He hasn’t seen anything. None of the others have spotted anything either. Just let me out in the backyard there for a few minutes. I mean, what can it hurt?’

‘I’d prefer not to find that out the hard way.’

Delaney took a sip of her coffee and watched him exhale loudly, trying to calm himself. She realized he was greying at the temples, and wondered why she hadn’t noticed before. Or maybe it was a recent thing. She studied the handsome, tanned face and saw it also contained lines she hadn’t seen before. Strickland had always looked younger than his forty-five years, but now he seemed to be aging before her eyes. Not too surprising, though, after what he’d been through. As annoying as he was being today, she still felt sorry for the guy.

Strickland went over to the kitchen island, perched on one of the breakfast bar-stools and in a calm voice said, ‘Listen, Delaney, in all the time we’ve been here I haven’t asked for much, but I want this and I’m not gonna take no for an answer anymore. Now anybody else would have told the DA to get screwed after Carrie … after Carrie got killed by that bitch, but I’m still sticking to the plan like I said I would, even though it was
your
people who screwed up in the first place. So it comes down to this. I’ll get up there and do my thing when the time comes, but only if you let me have some time in the open air right now. That’s the deal.’

‘And if I refuse?’

‘Then I don’t testify.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘I’ve never been more serious. I’m not bluffing, either. Try me and you’ll see.’

Delaney sighed and wondered if it was worth the risk. He looked as though he really meant it, though. And as much as she hated to admit it, he did have a point. He
had
been a good boy so far, despite having every reason not to be. She knew she was just being stubborn. And a few minutes of fresh air wasn’t an unreasonable request. But only after a few precautions were taken first. She wasn’t about to start getting careless now.

‘Okay,’ she said finally, ‘against my better judgement you can get your fresh air, but you follow my instructions to the letter and only one at a time. Agreed?’

‘Now
that’s
what I’m talking about,’ he said, grinning. ‘You’re okay, Delaney. Let me go tell Barney while I get my cigar.’

As he trotted off to his room, Delaney said, ‘Reiseker, go get the camera.’

‘Right, boss.’ The deputy moved off down another corridor towards his room, where both cameras were kept.

Delaney stepped over to the rear doors, made a gap in the shutters and looked out onto the large, empty, north-facing backyard and the desert beyond. This wasn’t anywhere near as good a spot as the one in Apple Valley, but it had been the best she could come up with on such short notice.

They were on Gulliver Street, in the sparsely populated north-eastern tip of Las Vegas. All the houses around here were set on large plots with plenty of space separating them. The streets at the front and sides were also quiet enough that strangers could be spotted immediately. The biggest downside was the flat desert beyond the rear fence back there. It was totally open, or almost. The unlit Las Vegas Beltway cut across the landscape two hundred yards to the north. But beyond that, nothing. That was why she’d also brought the thermal imaging cameras along. Day or night, they could pick out any life form within a five-hundred-yard radius.

Reiseker came back in holding the ATN thermal eye monocular scope. He slid the rear door open, stepped outside and kept going until he reached the wooden fence. It only reached his chest. She watched him bring the scope up and make a slow arc from west to east. Then back again. Then again. Finally, he lowered the scope and in her earpiece Delaney heard, ‘A few cars whizzing by on the Beltway, boss. Otherwise, nothing out here at all. Not even a road runner.’

‘Fine,’ she said into the wrist mic. ‘Stay there and keep scanning. Hammond, Lomax, I need you both at the rear kitchen doors. The principals are going to take a little fresh air. Alpha One will be going first.’

Both men acknowledged. They arrived in the kitchen area at the same time as Strickland, who had an unlit corona in one hand and a book of matches in the other.

Swallowing her misgivings, Delaney motioned to Lomax and Hammond, who both nodded back. Lomax, the larger of the two, went out first. There were three lawn chairs stacked up against the left-hand fence and he brought one over and set it down five feet from the rear doors. Then he came back and stood by the door, waiting.

‘I don’t like that low fence back there,’ Delaney said, ‘so do your smoking sitting down, okay? I’ll give you ten minutes to finish your smoke and then you get back in here.’

Strickland nodded and stepped outside with Reiseker and Hammond on either side of him. Then he just stood there for a moment, breathing in like a man just released from prison. ‘Man, air never tasted so good,’ he said, raising the cigar to his lips.

Delaney strode over to him and hissed, ‘Sit
down
, I said.’

She was in the act of placing a hand on his left shoulder when Strickland’s head suddenly snapped round violently to the left and a sharp crack echoed through the air.

Delaney had just enough time to see a blood-red dot appear on Strickland’s left temple before he dropped to the ground like wet cardboard.

The shooter watched from his hiding place as the four deputies moved in a blur of motion around the fallen target. He smiled. His patience had been rewarded. As he knew it would be. Almost thirty hours in this same spot, but it had been worth it. He knew there would be at least one opportunity, however minimal, but that’s all he needed. All he’d ever needed.

He watched the woman immediately dive to the ground and cover the victim with her body. The others had already pulled their pieces and were scanning their designated areas like they’d been trained. The one with the thermal scope kept the device at his eye and swept the desert again, frantically searching for him.

Yeah, good luck with that
, the shooter thought.

He was currently in a shallow trench of seven feet by three feet, about three hundred yards away from the rear fence. It had taken twenty minutes of intensive digging the night before last. Then he’d placed his equipment, rations and water supplies in there, laid himself down and carefully covered himself in the thick foil thermal sheet he’d brought along. He’d taken great care to camouflage it so it would be indistinguishable from the rest of the desert. At least when seen from a distance.

The marshals were very disciplined in their movements. Calm and collected. None of them panicked. The second man was covering the west side, while the other took the east. Impressive. They’d obviously gone through enough drills to ensure every movement counted. For all the good it would do them.

Three seconds had passed already.

The shooter slowly brought his left hand away from the trigger and, without looking, slid it along the dirt to the cell phone he knew was there. He felt along the keypad and pressed a single button and waited. In his earpiece, he heard the familiar ringing tone begin.