Before going down to the lower level again, he looked around the loft for anything that might help him escape or defend himself. A tool for prying off the lock hasp, or even a piece of solid wood to use as a club. What he found instead might work better. Behind a row of broken hay bales was a rusted pitchfork.

Bosch dropped the pitchfork down to the first floor, careful not to land it on Banks’s body, and then climbed down. With the pitchfork in hand he made one more search around the barn, looking for a way of escape. Finding none, he returned to the light at the center of the barn’s floor. He checked Banks’s body on the off chance he carried a folding knife or something else he could use.

He found no weapon, but he did find the keys to his rental car. Drummond had forgotten to retrieve them after killing Banks.

Bosch moved to the front doors of the barn and pushed one more time, even though he knew they would not part. He was less than fifteen feet away from his car but couldn’t get to it. He knew that in the trunk, beneath the cardboard boxes of equipment that he had transferred, there was another box that he had moved from his work car to the rental. It was the box that held his second gun. The Kimber Ultra Carry .45, loaded with seven bullets in the magazine plus one more jacked into the chamber for good luck.

“Shit,” he whispered.

Bosch knew he had no choice but to wait. He had to surprise and overpower two armed men when they returned. He reached over and switched off the light, dropping the barn back into darkness. He now had the pitchfork and the darkness and the element of surprise. He decided that he liked his chances.

Chapter 34

34

Bosch didn’t have to wait long. No more than ten minutes after he turned off the light, he heard the scraping sound of metal on metal as the slide bar outside was moved. This was done slowly, and Bosch thought maybe Drummond was trying to surprise him.

The door slowly came open. From his angle Bosch could see the outside darkness. He could feel the rush of cooler air enter the barn. And he could just make out the shadow of a single figure entering.

Bosch braced himself and raised the pitchfork. He was standing near the light switch. This is where one of them would go first. To turn on the light. His plan was to thrust from shoulder level and drive the weapon through the body. Take out the first one, go for his gun. Then it would be down to one on one.