End Game (Will Robie 5)

Robie glanced at her with a quizzical look but said nothing.

“But you have to find him first,” Claire pointed out.

“Can you think of nothing to help us?” said Robie.

“I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with something. But I haven’t. Look, we have bad types around here. I can only think that Roger might have stumbled onto something and these folks found out and…” Her voice trailed off and she dabbed at her eyes with the tissue again.

“I ran into one of Dolph’s guys,” said Robie. “Did Derrick tell you about that?”

“No. He’s very professional and keeps police business close to the vest.”

“The guy told me that Dolph might be at the bunker.”

She looked puzzled. “At Roark’s silo?”

“I guess.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible. I doubt that Roark even knows Dolph. It’s not like they moved in the same circles. And why would he be at the silo?”

“Hiding out?” suggested Reel.

“Why would he be hiding out?” asked Claire.

“I can’t get into that,” said Reel.

Robie took out his phone and showed Claire the photo of the map Reel had found at Randall’s cabin. “Do you recognize this?” he asked.

She put on her glasses while Robie magnified the image. “Well, if I had to guess, I’d say that was southeast of here. You see that name there, that’s what makes me think that. I actually drove over there a few years ago with Roark.”

“Why did you do that?” asked Robie.

“Well, he was thinking about buying that second missile silo site, but for some reason it didn’t work out. That’s where the site’s located.”

Reel and Robie looked at each other.

He exclaimed, “A second missile site!”

“Shit, Robie,” said Reel. “That’s right. Lambert mentioned that to us at the dinner party at Claire’s. He said he missed out on another site around here.”

“Yes,” said Claire. “Another old Atlas missile site. That’s the one I’m talking about.”

Robie thought about this for a moment. “One of Dolph’s guys said he was at the bunker. Then the other guy shot him before he could tell me anything else. Then the guy who shot him told me Dolph was at the silo, meaning Lambert’s silo.”

Reel said, “Silo versus bunker. Different terminology because they were talking about two different places.”

“And the second guy shot the first guy before he could tell me anything else. And then he tried to throw me off by saying Dolph was at the silo.”

“Why wasn’t Lambert able to buy it?” Reel asked Claire.

“I don’t know for certain, but I would suppose it was because somebody else beat him to it.”

Robie and Reel exchanged a quick glance.

“Any idea who?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Roark might know.”

“We’ll be sure to ask him,” said Robie.

Reel said, “Claire, can you tell us how to get to this other silo?”

“I think so but it might be better if I write it down.” She took a sheet of notepaper from the top of the desk, picked up a pen lying beside it, and took a few minutes to slowly write out the directions.

She handed it to Reel. “This is as about as much as I can remember. You should see a sign for the road to turn at. It’s in the middle of nowhere, which I guess was the point when they picked the site.”

“So unlike Lambert, whoever might own this hasn’t started trying to turn it into a luxury bunker?” Reel said.

“Not that I’m aware. And I would be. Hell, the whole town would. When Roark was building his out, he had an army of guys, including a bunch of locals. They came to Grand to eat and drink and some stayed here at the hotel, others at a bunch of mobile trailers Roark set up out on-site and powered with diesel generators. You can’t hide all those workers. It takes a lot of manpower to overhaul a missile site and turn it into a place people will plunk down millions for.”

Reel looked down at the directions and said, “So whoever bought the silo might have purchased it for another reason.”

“Or maybe they’re trying to get financing,” said Claire. “I know Roark took out loans to do his work. It took a while for the banks to see the potential.”

“That’s possible,” said Reel, who was looking at Robie.

“I need to get going,” said Claire, rising from the chair. “With all this going on, I’m going to make Derrick and Patti dinner. At least then I can keep an eye on them.”

After she left Robie pulled out his pistol. Reel looked at him strangely.

“Thinking of shooting someone?” she asked.

With his other hand Robie pulled out a slip of paper. It was the one with the drawing of the stick figure holding the ball that Blue Man had left behind.

Robie said quietly, “I think Blue Man was being quite literal.”

“What do you mean?” asked Reel.

“There were actually two clues here,” replied Robie. “And they both were trying to tell us the same thing.”

He rolled the paper up and partially slid it inside his gun muzzle. “A man in a silo.” He pulled the paper back out. “And I’m thinking that’s not a basketball he’s holding. It’s supposed to be the world. He’s holding up the world.”

Reel gaped. “Like Atlas. The Atlas silo.”

“Right,” said Robie.

Chapter

60

THEY WAITED UNTIL it was dark to head to the second silo site. Reel’s phone buzzed. Reel answered.

It was the Agency. She put the call on speaker.

A man’s voice said, “We found out some things about Scott Randall that might be helpful. His father made a fortune in the oil exploration business and then he and his wife died in a house fire. Scott was the only child and inherited everything. All told it came to nearly a hundred million net after estate and other taxes.”

“Convenient house fire,” said Reel. “From what we’ve seen of the guy the police might want to look into that a little more.”

“But the son was not his father’s equal in business. Not even close. He lost a lot of the money in several stupid deals where he was apparently in way over his head. Then he tried to build his fortune back up by going to Vegas and trying to become a professional gambler.”

“I wouldn’t think the odds of doing that were too high,” noted Robie.

“They’re not. He lost what little he had. He came out of that pretty much penniless and without many prospects.”

“But the guy has a jet and a place in the Hamptons and a multi-million-dollar luxury doomsday bunker,” said Robie. “And that’s just what we know of. So he’s not penniless anymore.”