The Bishop's Pawn (Cotton Malone 13)

Valdez shrugged. “Not even a hint. It was easy to push him along. Hate filled him. As did the need to be somebody. He just lacked opportunity, which I provided. I read those books with a smile on my face. Nearly every word in them was a lie. Until the day he died he unknowingly did exactly what we wanted.”

I could see that Coleen was still working away, trying hard to keep her arms and shoulders still.

“Why not just kill him afterward, like Ruby did to Oswald?” I asked.

“I would have, if he’d made it to Africa. But not only did Hoover want to kill King, he wanted the credit for capturing the killer. He told me that when we met that night, in his house. Nobody then could accuse him of prejudice toward King. But that capture had to be a corpse. Jack Ruby, to his credit, never explained why he killed Oswald, and died quickly in prison. Ray, on the other hand, lived a long time and could not keep his mouth shut. Thankfully, he was a pathological liar.”

I was keeping him talking, buying Coleen time, but I was worried about the choice of subjects. We were drifting closer and closer to forbidden topics. Foster’s eyes pleaded with me not to raise any questions about him. But I was more concerned with what Valdez was about to do. He had not brought us here to chat.

Valdez flicked the muzzle of his weapon toward Foster. “Get those envelopes.”

A tingle of apprehension ran down my spine.

I walked over and retrieved them.

“Open them.”

I tore open the sealed flaps and removed the stacks of paper inside.

Each sheet was blank.

He chuckled. “I thought as much. I knew you wouldn’t bring that information along. I told Oliver, but he didn’t believe me. You still have my files.”

I nodded. “Stored away safely.”

At the Mail ’N More in Gainesville, Florida, stashed in a locker I’d rented, paid for six months in advance, where no one would ever find them.

“How did you plan to make a deal with Oliver?” he asked me.

“I didn’t.”

He chuckled again. “You have balls, I’ll give you that. I watched as you stole that seaplane in the Dry Tortugas, double-crossing me. That took nerve.”

He stepped away from me and walked over toward where Foster and Coleen sat on the dirty concrete. I noticed Coleen stopped all movement and sat still. Valdez crouched down in front of Foster, unconcerned that he’d turned his back on me, as if he were taunting me with a challenge. I may have been a rookie, but I was no fool and did not take the bait, deciding to wait until the odds were a little better.

He reached down and tore the tape from Foster’s mouth. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you. Something your daughter asked me. What did you do to get that Double Eagle?”

Foster said nothing.

But Coleen’s eyes were unmistakable.

She wanted to hear the answer to that question, too.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

I waited for Foster to reply, wondering how he intended to do so.

“For an operation like Bishop’s Pawn,” Valdez said, “Jansen had to have reliable and continuous information. He was directing me with great care, wanting Ray in a given place at a given time. I moved him around like a player on a chessboard. Each move calculated, and King was right there, every time. Jansen’s field reports talked about a reliable confidential source he used repeatedly. Was that you?”

“I loved Martin Luther King. I admired him more than any man I’d ever known. I still do to this day. I never would have betrayed him.”

I listened to the words, amazed at the sincerity of the lie.

“I stood side by side with him in the marches,” Foster said. “I was there, working to change the country. The FBI was working to destroy us.”

Valdez pointed a finger. “But they knew everything King was doing days in advance. I had Ray actively stalking King from the end of March until April 4. I was told precisely where to have him in Memphis at a precise time. Six P.M. In the bathroom of that rooming house. With a clear line of fire to the balcony outside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. How would Jansen have known that?”

“You should have asked him those questions,” Foster said.

“I did. Several times. He told me nothing.”

I noticed how Valdez kept his back to me, continuing to dare me to make a move. Or maybe he thought me incapable of challenging him? No matter. I was more concerned with Coleen and what she might do. I liked the idea of her freeing herself, but I preferred a coordinated attack.

Valdez reached over and ripped the tape from her mouth.

“What has your father told you?” he asked her.

“You never answered him,” she said to her father. “Why do you have that coin?”

An element of anger and pleading had entered her voice.

Foster said nothing.

She glared at Valdez and asked, “You never told us back at the restaurant, how did you know my father had the coin?”

“Jansen told me shortly after I was paid mine.”

I saw the surprise on Foster’s face.

So did Valdez.

“Yes, Reverend, I’ve known about you from the beginning. I just never knew your exact role, or why it was worth paying you a Double Eagle. Recently, when I came into a need for money, I decided to locate you.” He motioned at Coleen with the gun. “And if not for you calling me back, I would have never known that coin still existed.”

Valdez stood and stepped back my way.

Coleen quickly worked her shoulders and arms again, still fighting with the bindings to her wrists.

“Where is my coin?” Valdez asked me.

I ignored his question.

“Why can’t you answer me?” Coleen suddenly said.

Both Valdez and I looked her way.

She was staring at her father. “Why can’t you tell me the truth? You’re a man of God. Is not being honest with your daughter important to you? Why do you have that coin?”

Foster kept silent, feigning and stalling, seemingly trying hard to avoid a damaging admission. Finally, the older man said, “Being honest is the most important thing in my life, Coleen. I have never lied to you.”

“But you worked with the FBI, didn’t you?”

“My job was to find the spies within the SCLC. I did that.”

Not an answer, but realization dawned in her eyes. “But you didn’t tell anyone about what you found, did you? That’s why they paid you. To keep silent about their sources?”

“They would have paid a few thousand dollars in cash money for that,” Valdez said. “Not a Double Eagle. Your father had to do much more

for that coin.”

“Lieutenant Malone,” Foster said to me. “Surely you knew Oliver and Jansen were not going to be satisfied with blank pages. How did you plan to make a trade with them?”

I got the message. Change the subject.

“He didn’t,” Valdez said. “He’s young and eager to please. His superiors want those files and he intends to deliver them.”

“You placed us all in jeopardy,” Foster said. “Coleen especially.”

He was right, but that was a chance I’d been prepared to take. Now I wasn’t quite so sure. This had not played out as I intended, but with Oliver and Jansen gone there might be another way to get us all out of here alive. I hadn’t mentioned the coin. Valdez had no reason to believe it was here.

Time to use it.

But before I could play that card, Coleen leaped to her feet.

Valdez’s attention had been momentarily on me, but he turned at the sudden movement. She was fast and agile, springing his way in just a millisecond. Perhaps she sensed, as I did, that Valdez intended on killing us all. Why wouldn’t he? That way there’d be no trail, nothing left linking anything that had happened over the past two days to him. But Valdez was a seasoned pro. A trained operative accustomed to tight situations. Sure, she had thirty years on him in age, but time had not dulled his reflexes.

He swung the gun around and fired.

“No,” Foster yelled.

The bullet hit her square in the chest.

I reacted and started to pounce, but he whipped the weapon back my way. Coleen grabbed at her midsection, struggling to breathe. Blood spewed from her mouth with each exhale. Her eyes changed from rage, to concern, and finally to fright. I could do nothing but watch. Foster tried to come to his feet, but having his hands bound behind his back made it difficult. She looked my way, her expression pleading for help. Then her eyes rolled skyward and she smacked facedown to the concrete.

Foster’s face was filled with shock.

Valdez’s attention alternated from Coleen to Foster.

A rage I’d never felt surged through me. Uncontrollable. One that canceled all fear and focused everything on one thing.

Attack.

I dove at Valdez.