‘You should go. You mustn’t miss your meeting.’ She wrapped him in her arms, then held his face apart from her and kissed his forehead. ‘There may be something, some other way of doing this. I have some contacts, sympathetic people who may give us advice. Go on, go. Whatever happens, you mustn’t let this get in the way of your job.’

Chapter 51

51

Texas

Tom drove because he had had less to drink. After eighteen hours awake he was relying on the adrenalin to deal with any fatigue.

‘They’re real bad, that’s for sure.’

‘How bad?’

‘Remember Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber? That bad. One part Nazi, one part Survivalist, three parts fuck-brain. Their target’s a building downtown.’

‘What is it?’

‘It belongs to some associate of Stutz’s.’

‘Who?’

Kyle shrugged. ‘That’s not for us to know. We just do the job. We don’t get the whole scoop. But we have all their moves from Skip’s surveillance. They’re all ex-National Guard and crazy gun freaks. Jefferson’s the leader, supposedly, but he ain’t too bright. We’ll be paying him a visit at his trailer. He’s OTH – other than honourable discharge from the Marines. He didn’t make the grade. He’s a loner, no personal life, spends a lot of time honing his shooting skills. And he’s the designated asset of a local chapter of neo-Nazis. He’s got no idea we’re coming.’

From the back of the van, he produced a Glock 9mm with a titanium suppressor and an extended twenty-round magazine.

At a set of traffic-lights, Tom racked back the top slide to check the chamber and make sure it was empty. He wouldn’t ask if the rounds in the mag were subsonic. If they weren’t, the suppressor was useless – but of course they would be. He had just got the weapon from Kyle.

‘Keep it, at least while you’re with us. It’ll help you sleep nice and peaceful too.’

He directed them on to the Loop going east, then north on the 45 towards Conroe. Tom needed to find out how prepared he was, without appearing to question his judgement. He kept his eyes on the road.

‘You recced the place?’

‘Yep. It’s pretty secluded, next to the lake. There’s a few other trailers, trees and scrub, plenty of cover. Easy.’

Tom could see Kyle was nervy, pumped. Had he thought this through? ‘You want to be a little more specific?’

‘I’m saying relax, the set-up’s fine. Jefferson’s routine’s pretty standard. This time of day he’ll have had a few beers and some weed so he’ll be nice and mellow. He doesn’t have any reason to believe he’s under threat so shouldn’t be thinking he’s expecting anyone.’

‘How often does this sort of job come up?’

‘When it does.’