“Would you be able to pick it out of the trucks in the lot at the Dizzy Duck?”

“Absolutely.”

Max returned to the bar and drove slowly through the parking lot while Lyle scanned the rows. No luck. They drove through a second time with the same result. Max pulled onto a small side street and parked to rethink the plan.

“He must have bought a new vehicle,” Lyle said.

“Do you know anyone who might know what he drives?”

“Assholes like Reed don’t have a lot of friends.” Lyle turned in his seat to face Max. “Let’s just follow him. Wait here until he gets off work and follow him.”

“What if he makes us?”

“This is my family we’re talking about. We could put an end to this thing tonight.”

“Or he sees us and we give up our only advantage.”

“If you had a kid, you’d understand how it takes everything I got not to set a blowtorch to that son of a bitch.”

Max thought of the easing of tension he had felt in his chest as he watched Mikhail Vetrov sink beneath the ice. He knew Lyle’s pain. “All I’m saying is that we wait one more night—find out which vehicle is his and come back tomorrow.”

“That’s an eternity. We’re so close.”

“There are too many ways to get spotted.”

“I’ll make a deal with you,” Lyle said. “We follow him tonight, keep a good distance back. If you think it’s too risky, we can abort and come back here tomorrow with a tracking device.”

Max gave it some thought. He was driving, so he would be able to back off if he felt that something was wrong. “Okay,” Max said. “We’ll give it a try, but it’s my call. If I see the slightest sign that he’s checking for a tail, we come back here tomorrow and track him with my cell phone.”

“Deal.”

CHAPTER 32

There were only three vehicles left in the parking lot when Reed Harris walked out of the Dizzy Duck. He climbed into the biggest of the three, a black SUV that looked to be a Tahoe. Max and Lyle slid down in their seats as Reed pulled out of the lot and passed by them. Max waited until Reed was some distance away before starting his Cherokee, the headlights coming on automatically.

Reed drove north into Grand Rapids, keeping to the main highway through town, which made it easy for Max to follow without being conspicuous. He slowly closed the gap to half a mile once they entered the city limits. There were very few cars out at that time of the morning and with the stoplights flashing yellow, Max didn’t have to get too close. He expected Reed to pass through Grand Rapids and head north to the woods, but Reed turned onto the road where he lived, a river road that followed the Mississippi as it left town.

“He’s going home?” Max asked.

“He’s being careful. He’s not a fool.” There was a hardness to Lyle’s voice.