The Innocent

He clicked off took Julie’s hand. “Keep low,” he warned her.

“Are we going to die?”

“Just keep down and follow me.”

He led her out of the room, cleared the hall, and they ran, not to the front or back doors, but to the opposite side of the house from where the shot had come. They crouched down in the room while Robie did a turkey peek out the window. There was no way he could do a clean sweep of the area with his naked eye, but he didn’t see a scope reflection, although the high-end equipment they had out there now wouldn’t necessarily have such a signature wink of light. He had no idea if the guy who had told him to hang tight was an ally or foe, and he didn’t think it was a good idea to wait and find out for certain.

They would be expecting them to go out either the back door or the window on the side opposite from the sniper fire.

So Robie planned to go out the front door.

But first they had to get there.

They moved back into the hall, and with Robie leading they made their way slowly toward the front of the house. The house was in a neighborhood with one road in or out. There were no houses close by. You had to really want to get to the place. Someone evidently had. And he had done so with help from the inside.

When Robie looked around the corner into the front room he saw the body of one of the agents lying there, feet closest to the front door, blood around his neck. Not a bullet wound. Robie would have heard the shot, and only a shotgun would have made a gash that big. Had to have been a knife. Hand over the mouth, knife slash to the neck, not much sound. Death would come fast.

Hand over the mouth. Killer would’ve had to get real close for that.

Another traitor in the ranks.

“Oh my God.”

He looked back at Julie. She had just seen the body.

“Look away,” said Robie.

He thumbed his phone keypad again. Vance picked up. Robie could hear the sound of her engine. She must’ve had it revved to over a hundred.

“Got one dead agent. Don’t know where the others are. Dead guy has up-close wound. Whoever nailed him he thought was a friend.”

“Shit!” exclaimed Vance.

“How far away are you?”

“Three minutes.”

He put away the phone and turned to Julie.

“We’re going to go out that front door, but we need to draw attention somewhere else.”

“Okay,” she said, her gaze darting between Robie and the dead man. “How?”

Robie cleared the chamber on his pistol, popped the mag, pulled out the two top rounds, inserted the two rounds he’d taken from his jacket pocket, and smacked the clip back into place. He racked the slide, which pushed one of the new rounds into the chamber.

He edged to the door and used his foot to move it open.

“What are you going to do?” asked Julie. “Shoot your way out of here?”

“Cover your ears.”

“What?”

“Cover your ears and look away from the door.”

Robie waited while she did so. Then he aimed and fired.

The first round hit the gas tank on the Bucar parked in the driveway. The incendiary round ignited the gasoline vapor and the explosion lifted the sedan right off the asphalt.

His second shot was aimed at the second Bucar, parked next to the first. A second later it joined the fireball of the first.

Robie grabbed Julie’s hand and they sprinted through the doorway. Keeping the wall of flames and smoke between them and, hopefully, whoever had just tried to kill Julie, they turned away from the house and ran down the street. Robie had debated trying to reach his car but decided that that would be akin to painting a target on their heads.

A car turned onto the street and accelerated. Robie saw the blue grille lights. He flagged Vance down. She hit the brakes and the Beemer skidded to a stop. Robie threw open the door, pushed Julie into the back, and jumped into the front passenger seat.

“Go, now!” he told Vance.

She put the car in reverse and smoked her tire tread backing down the street. She hit a J-turn, and as soon as the hood of her car was pointing in the other direction she gunned it. She reached the end of the street and turned left.

She looked at Robie and then glanced at Julie huddled in the back.

“You both okay? Nobody hurt?”

“We’re okay,” said Robie tersely.

“So tell me what the hell happened.”

Robie said, “Just keep driving.”

CHAPTER 76

Robie rode shotgun and he kept rotating his gaze to look behind and then over at Vance. His gaze was suspicious and his hand gripped the butt of his Glock. That had been unbelievably close. If he hadn’t looked down and seen the dot, Julie would have joined her parents among the dead. It was apparent to Robie that the other side no longer required either or both of them to continue living.

He settled back in his seat, but his posture was rigid, coiled. He did not think the danger was over just yet.

Vance kept her gaze on the road mostly. Every once in a while she would glance at Robie’s gun and then her gaze would travel to his face. When their eyes occasionally met, she would quickly look away.

They had traveled about two miles when she finally spoke.