Gavin tapped the tablet and smiled. “Just head back out of town and I’ll show you.”
* * *
• • •
DIRK MADE NO MENTION of Riki’s appearance to Summer as they grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel, then made their way toward Portmagee. There was only light traffic as they left the outskirts of Tralee, which vanished altogether when they turned onto a side road leading west.
“Do you really think they would have transported Meritaten from the Slieve Mish Mountains to an offshore island for burial?” Summer asked, gazing at the flat pasturelands rushing by the window.
“It seems possible,” Dirk said. “If her sons died on Skellig Michael, there is certainly logic to the notion.”
The road edged along the River Fertha on their right, which expanded into a wide inlet that ran west to the Atlantic. Dirk drove past a scattering of old white farmhouses as the road curled along the shore. Reaching a short straightaway outside the town of Cahersiveen, he tapped the brakes when he spotted a car blocking the road ahead.
It was the silver Audi. It was parked crossways on a narrow two-lane bridge that spanned a river inlet. The car’s flashers were blinking, and a gruff-looking woman stood behind the open driver’s door waving her left arm.
As Dirk slowed, he passed a heavyset man lingering at the forefront of the bridge, seemingly unconcerned about the woman.
“Why is she blocking the road?” Summer asked.
“I don’t know. She doesn’t look like she’s in distress. Maybe the road is out behind her.”
Dirk pulled to a stop in front of the Audi. He had started to roll down his window when the woman raised a pistol from behind the car door. Aiming the weapon at Dirk and Summer, she fired three shots through their windshield.
“Get down!” Dirk yelled, ducking low beneath the dashboard.
Jamming the transmission in reverse, he punched the accelerator, sending the car screeching backward. He peeked over the dash to get his bearings as multiple popping sounds punctuated the air. The rear window shattered next, followed by the instrument cluster.
Glancing at his side-view mirror, Dirk saw the hefty man they’d passed earlier standing in the middle of the road. He had his arms raised and was firing a weapon from behind.
“Get us out of here,” Summer urged, crouching to the floorboards.
“Trying,” Dirk muttered.
Caught in a cross fire, he decided the best chance of escape was to blast forward. Pounding the brakes, he shifted back into drive and floored the accelerator. The little rental car, a Nissan crossover, shimmied as it regained forward traction. Dirk pointed the car at the woman ahead, sending her running to the side. As he drew closer, he spun the wheel, aiming for the narrow gap between the Audi’s back end and the bridge rail.
The Nissan’s front bumper struck the Audi’s rear quarter panel with a bang. Both cars jolted off the ground.
As Dirk had hoped, the Audi’s tail spun away, opening an escape route across the bridge. Less expectedly, his own car’s back end swung laterally from the angled blow. As front airbags erupted, the rental car’s tail slammed against the side rail of the bridge. The barrier was just a thin metal bracing, and the Nissan’s bumper sliced right through it.
Dirk kept the accelerator pinned, but it was no use as the rear of the car burst through the railing, and the back end skidded over the edge. The car hung suspended, its rear wheels spinning madly in the air. Then gravity took hold, and the car slipped backward off the bridge.
It was less than a ten-foot drop to the water below. The car struck the surface with a bellowing splash, then flipped onto its roof. For a moment, the car floated on the surface, its drive wheels still turning. Then, with a gurgle of bubbles, the vehicle sunk beneath the surface.
Gavin ran to the ruptured bridge railing and peered over the side. Only a sporadic belch from the murky water marked the car’s resting spot. Holstering his weapon, he turned to Ainsley and grinned.
“Worked out better than planned.” He gazed up at the overcast sky. “If the rains keep falling and the river stays high, they might not be discovered for months.”
He reached down and bent the shattered side railing back into place, trying to conceal the damage.
Ainsley approached with a tentative gait and looked for herself. Tiny splatter waves still rocked the shore, but there was otherwise no sign of Dirk and Summer’s rental car. In the distance, the sound of an approaching vehicle echoed off the hills.
“We better get going.” She turned and pointed to the damaged rear fender on the Audi. “What do we tell Sadler?”
“Why, we tell her the truth,” Gavin replied. “They ran into us by accident and they ended up in the drink.”
57
The ancient flintlock fired more slowly than a modern gun. When Loren squeezed the trigger, the gun’s hammer dropped and the piece of flint attached to it struck a metal frizzen. The impact sent sparks falling onto the flash pan below, igniting a priming charge of powder. A small flare erupted in the pan. It took another moment for the black powder to burn through a touchhole and ignite the main charge in the barrel.