“Would I lie to you, Robert?” Brooke said, smiling.

“When did this happen?”

“Six hours ago.”

“And everything is in there?”

“Yes,” she said. “All of it. He took it back to his apartment. He stared at it for quite some time. There was some crying. When he put it away, he hid it in his closet in an old suitcase.”

“So the wife doesn’t know?” Reyland said, pumped.

“Presumably.”

“That is very good news. He’s committed. He’s really going to do it.”

“It certainly looks like it.”

Reyland found himself suddenly smiling.

“So we’re still on.”

“Yes. Full speed ahead. We seem to have him on the hook now. Congratulations. I knew you’d be pleased. How long have you been planning this? A year?”

“And a half,” Reyland said.

Reyland, still smiling, shook his head at the white walls as he pondered the ways of fickle fortune. Even after everything. Even after the disaster with the plane and Dunning’s death, the last phase of the operation had just clicked into place.

They could still pull it off, Reyland thought. They really, really could. They just had to seal up everything.

“Okay. Very good. But don’t pop the champagne yet, Brooke.”

“I know full well. We still have what? Six days?”

“Yes. We just need to keep everything under wraps for six more damn days,” Reyland said.

“How’s things on your end with the crash management?” Brooke said.

Reyland looked at her. She obviously hadn’t looked at the news in a while.

“Still not one hundred percent, but we’re getting a cover on it.”

“I thought you said you had eyes on the issue,” Brooke said, raising an eyebrow.

“We did but…”

Reyland thought of Mr. X factor, the way he took out his contractors. The fact that they had completely lost the trail on him and Everett.

“But what?” Brooke said.

“Don’t worry about it, Brooke. Don’t spoil my good mood. We’ll sew everything up on this end. Especially now that the good doctor has shown his fresh new commitment to the cause.”

“Shall I give word to our special friends of the latest happy developments?” Brooke said.

“No,” Reyland said as he glanced at the text on his encrypted phone. “Please allow me, Brooke. I’m actually meeting with them in the morning.”

63

Gannon didn’t know what time it was when something woke him.

He was in the trailer’s living room on an air mattress they’d found, and it squeaked as he sat up in the complete darkness.

“What is it?” Stick said from the couch.

“I don’t know,” Gannon said, standing.

He crossed past the kitchen into the hall. He knocked on the back bedroom door and waited a moment then opened it and turned on the light.

The bed was empty. The pillows and blanket were gone. He crossed past the bed and checked the bathroom. Ruby wasn’t there either.

“What’s up?” Stick said as he came back out into the hall.

“She’s gone.”

“Gone?”

Gannon lifted Stick’s Glock off the kitchen table as he pushed out the door.