The Sixth Man (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 5)

“Will that be enough?” he’d asked. “To bring her all the way back?”

“We can only hope,” the surgeon had said. “But frankly one more episode like that and we’ll be hard-pressed to hold her.”

And with that comment most of Sean’s hope had evaporated.

He lifted his head when he heard them come in.

Kelly Paul was with her brother.

Edgar Roy’s face still carried the wounds from his encounter with Megan Riley, or whatever her real name was. She was dead, that was all Sean cared about.

Paul drew close and stared at Michelle before touching Sean on the shoulder. “I’m sorry. It should never have happened.”

“Things happen,” said Sean in a low voice. “They happen all the time. Shitty things, to people trying to do the right thing.” He eyed her brother. “And she wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. I owe you everything, Edgar, I really do.”

“I owe the same to you, Mr. King,” Roy said quietly.

Paul asked, “How is she doing?”

“Day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. They can’t tell me if she’ll ever wake up. But I’ll be here when she does.”

He straightened and turned to look at her. “Quantrell and Foster?”

“Taking turns selling each other out. Even if the prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence before, they do now.”

“Where’d they get the six bodies to plant in the barn?”

“From all over. People they knew were totally off the grid.”

Paul leaned forward and took Sean’s hand. “It was my mission to bring these people down, not hers. I accomplished the mission but I failed her. I failed both of you.”

“I came here to basically say the same thing.”

They all turned to find James Harkes in the doorway. He wore his black suit, white shirt, and black tie. His body was rigid, his features just as tight as his body. He moved forward to join them. He looked down at Michelle and then quickly glanced away.

“I thought we had every base covered,” he said apologetically. “But we didn’t.”

Paul added, “Her real name wasn’t Megan Riley, of course. It’s not important who she was. She was Foster’s fail-safe, one that nobody else knew about.”

“Was she even a lawyer?” asked Sean.

“Yes, among many other things. That’s why she was selected by Foster to work with Bergin.”

“And she killed him?”

“Undoubtedly. We always thought it was someone he knew or else he wouldn’t have pulled off the road like that. We knew there had been a phone call from Riley to Bergin that day. We just assumed she was in Virginia. How she explained to him her coming to Maine I don’t know.”

“So she took out Bergin so she could be lead counsel and spy on us?” Sean said.

“Right,” said Harkes. “And she killed Dukes because they couldn’t trust her to go along with the extraction scheme.”

“And of course she shot Eric Dobkin. That way she could be brought back in later as a Trojan horse. And it worked,” Paul added ruefully.

“I had a gut feeling that Foster wasn’t telling me everything,” admitted Harkes. “She said Riley was her ace in the hole. I thought she meant as an innocent hostage. She obviously wasn’t innocent or a hostage. Foster really outflanked me on that one.” He grimaced and shook his head.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Harkes,” said Sean. “You did a good job. No, you did a great job.”

“Frankly, it wasn’t good enough.” He paused and looked around the room. “Uncle Sam is footing the bill for all of this. She’ll get the best care in the world, Sean. And from what I’ve seen of the lady she’ll be up and kicking in doors before we know it.”