Chapters (46)
- COVER PAGE
- PRAISE
- DEDICATION
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- SNEAK PEEK: EXIT .45
Erin leaned back in her seat, and for a second it looked as if she’d given up: blank-faced and red-eyed as she looked at the wall, hands upturned in her lap. Then she blinked, and that tiny movement erased the moment, and she rallied with a smile and said, ‘Nice suit, by the way.’
Probably she meant nothing by it—just a way to lift the mood—but man, any other day he’d try to see if that led somewhere. Give her a compliment in exchange, just to take the temperature of the situation, and then maybe see if she had time for a drink downstairs. Turn away, and then kind of turn back to her, like it had just occurred to him. One day he might get the chance.
He said, ‘So what do you want to do?’
She looked across her shoulder, as if she could see straight to the car. ‘What happens if we phone it in?’
Vincent said, ‘I imagine they’d get a ticket for parking on a red kerb. The car from this morning’s probably in a chop shop somewhere.’
There was a copy of Underworld by Don DeLillo over on the side table by the room phone. Vincent had read it during his first deployment, back in 2003. He liked the first section, about J Edgar Hoover at the baseball, and the last bit, where they tour the hospital, see all the people disfigured by Agent Orange. That would be a good one to discuss with her: let her talk a little bit about the splendours of foreign meddling, and then ask her about chemical weapons.
He said, ‘They probably don’t have anything incriminating with them. They probably just want a presence.’
‘Yeah. But who is “they”?’
Vincent said, ‘I don’t know. I thought I’d go and ask.’
He met Beauden outside at the valet station.
Beauden said, ‘Is this going to be one of those follow-and-see-where-they-go type exercises?’ Standing close, studying him. ‘Or do you think there’ll be a bit more to it?’
Vincent wasn’t sure yet. He said, ‘I don’t want to drag you into anything.’
‘Yeah, all right.’ Smiling a little. ‘But given this seems to involve my car …’ Looking him up and down. ‘And my suit, I’d better come with you.’
The car was a bright-red Cadillac ATS Coupe. Vincent tipped the valet and got in the passenger seat, and Beauden got behind the wheel and drove them out the access road to Wilshire Boulevard and made a right. The SUV was still there at the bottom of Trenton Drive.
‘You got your phone there?’