The Hit (Will Robie 2)

stenciled on the wall.

There could be a firebomb in here somewhere, but he didn’t focus on that. There was a woodstove, a table, chairs, and a bed. And a small toilet and sink. Just like his cabin. On the table was a battery-powered lantern. He examined it for booby traps, found none, turned it on, and the room became dimly illuminated.

Also on the table were two pictures set in frames.

One was of Doug Jacobs.

The other was of Jim Gelder.

Black slashes had been drawn across the pictures of the dead men.

There were three other frames lined up next to them. There were no pictures in them. In front of the frames was a single white rose.

He picked up the pictures of Jacobs and Gelder and checked to see if anything was hidden behind them. There was nothing. He did the same with the three other frames.

Robie wondered whose pictures Reel intended to insert in these when and if the time came. And he still didn’t know why, other than that for some reason she thought these men were traitors to their country.

Robie still had no proof of that.

But what had happened to Janet DiCarlo made him realize that something was off. He touched the white rose. It felt moist. Perhaps it had recently been placed here.

He whipped around so fast, he heard her gasp at the speed of his reflexes.

His gun was pointed right at her head, his finger past the trigger guard and near the trigger itself. One twitch of his finger and she was dead from a third eye between her other two.

But it wasn’t Jessica Reel.

It was Gwen from behind the counter at the Bull’s-Eye Inn who stared back at him.

CHAPTER

57

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” demanded Robie.

He did not lower his pistol. She was old but she could still be a threat.

She said calmly, “I could ask you the same question, young man. This is not Cabin 14. This is Cabin 17. As I told you, it’s already rented.”

“Doesn’t seem to be anyone here. Doesn’t look lived in at all. Just photos and a white rose on the table.”

Gwen looked past him to the photos and flower then drew her gaze back to him. “Doesn’t matter. They paid, and it’s theirs to do with what they want.”

“Who exactly are ‘they’?”

“Like I said before, confidential.”

“I think we’re well past confidences, Gwen. I think you need to tell me right now.”

“She won’t but I will.”

Robie swung his pistol around to take aim at the newcomer.

Jessica Reel was standing in front of him.

What surprised him was that she had no gun. Her arms were down by her sides. Robie ran his gaze quickly over her.

Reel said, “No weapons, Will. No throwing knife. No tricks.”

Robie remained silent as she took another deliberate step into the room. He kept swiveling his gaze between both women.

Reel had said she was unarmed, something he didn’t believe. But she hadn’t said the old woman wasn’t packing. And at this short distance even an eighty-year-old could shoot and kill him.

“You two know each other?” he asked at last.

“You could say that,” replied Reel. “She was my security blanket.”

Robie cocked his head questioningly at her.

“I thought if she was here you wouldn’t put a bullet in my head.”

“I didn’t in Arkansas.”

“I appreciate that more than you’ l l ever know. But circumstances change.”

“Yes, they do. But why would you think her being here would stop me from killing you now?”

“Because if you kill me, you’d have to kill her. And you don’t kill innocent people. It’s not how you’re wired.”

Robie shook his head. “How do I know she’s innocent? She doesn’t seem surprised by any of this.”

Gwen said, “But I was. Didn’t think you could move that fast. Scared me.”

“He always did move fast,” said Reel. “But no unnecessary movement. Everything calculated for maximum efficiency. I saw that in Arkansas vividly. A one-man army.”

“So where does that leave us?”

“With you pointing a gun at me. Like back in Arkansas.”

“Doesn’t really answer the question.”

“What do you want the answer to be?”

“You killed two members of the agency in cold blood. Under normal circumstances that would be enough of an answer for me. That’s what I told you in Arkansas, and that’s what I’m telling you now. Back there I asked for an explanation. I’m asking again.”

She took another step forward. “Under normal circumstances?” she said.

Robie let his finger slide past the trigger guard and close in on the trigger. Reel noted this and stopped moving. They both knew he was close to the point of no return.

Gwen hovered in the background looking tense, her gaze focused on Reel.

Robie said, “DiCarlo? She made it clear to me that the situation was not normal.” Robie gestured over his shoulder to the table. “White Rose? Resistance group in World War II. Fought against what they considered the traitorous Nazis.”

“I was afraid they’d police the roses I left.”

“They did, only they missed a couple of petals. Probably the only reason they left the book in your locker for me to look at. They didn’t think I’d have any evidence of the flower.”

“Good to know they make mistakes.”

“My problem, though, is that maybe you’re the traitor and all this is a smokescreen.”

“Maybe I am.”

“Jess!” snapped Gwen. “You know that’s not true.”

Robie let his gaze flicker over the old woman. He had already noted she was fully dressed, though the hour was very late.

This was all planned.

Robie asked Gwen, “Who exactly are you?”

Gwen looked at Reel but said nothing. Reel slowly turned to look at her. Robie thought he saw her smile, though it was hard to tell in the poor light.

Reel said, “An old friend of mine. A very old friend. Family, actually.”

“I didn’t think you had any. Your mom’s dead. You old man’s in prison for life.”

“Gwen was the only decent foster parent I had.”

“When they took you away...” Gwen began, but her voice faltered.

“If you were a good foster parent, why was she taken away?”

Reel answered, “There is no logic in foster care. What happens happens.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why she’s here.”

Reel said, “I bought this place four years ago. Under an alias, of course. I brought Gwen up to run it.”

“You own the motor court?” said Robie in surprise.