Ahead there was a road that led to a roll-up door at the back of the laboratory building. There was no point taking it, or I’d wind up closer to the vehicle I was trying to avoid. So when I reached the end I swung left. Continued around The Building. Swung left again and drove back along the far side. I came to the picnic area. The place was full of tables and umbrellas. There was no way through. They were too close together. So I drove over a bunch of them. I saw a dirt road to the right. It ran along the rear of eight buildings adjacent to the TEDAC site. They were new. The road was probably leftover from the construction phase. And there were no vehicles its whole length. It was on the far side of a fence so I smashed through, straightened up, and pressed harder on the gas.
I heard sirens. Behind me. I checked my door mirror. It was shaking horribly. All I could make out was a pair of black sedans with flashing light bars on their roofs. They were catching me. Easily. But catching me wouldn’t do them any good. They needed to stop me. I didn’t know how they were planning to do that. Whether they knew what the truck was carrying. How reckless they were prepared to be. Or how stupid. I figured I was about a thousand feet away from the laboratory at that point. Roughly the width of the whole TEDAC campus. Probably far enough from the smoke bomb’s transponder. The sedans were almost behind me. One disappeared from view. Trying to sneak up the passenger side. Then two more sedans appeared. Directly ahead. I decided that would have to do. I took my foot off the gas. Shifted down a couple of gears. Hit the brake. And coasted to as gentle a stop as possible. I took my shirt off. Hung it out of my window. It wasn’t white, but I hoped the guys got the message all the same.
* * *
—
I spent the next hour in Conference One with two guys with guns. Neither of them spoke, which suited me fine. I sat in the same chair as before. Leaned forward. Cushioned my head in my arms. Ran through some Magic Slim. And followed up with a little Shawn Holt.
I didn’t sit up until Lane came into the room. He walked to the head of the table and set down a small box. It was black. Dusty. And a bunch of colored wires were sticking out of one corner.
“Mr. Reacher, I owe you thanks. And an apology. Today was a bad day for terrorists because of you.” He pointed to the box. “This was found in the city destroyer. It transmits and receives, and it’s coded to the transponder in the smoke bomb. If they’d come within range of each other, there’d be no more Redstone Arsenal. No more us. And maybe thousands of other casualties.”
I said nothing.
“One question.” Lane sat down. “How did you know?”
Michael’s warning had been the key. Along with Dendoncker’s desperate behavior. But those were all things I didn’t want to get into. They’d only raise more questions. Ones I didn’t feel like answering. So I said, “No biggie. Just a lucky guess.”
“And motive? Khalil trying to destroy some evidence that’s stored here?”
“Trying to destroy evidence, yes. Khalil, no.” I had no proof of that. Only a hunch. Which meant the West Coast was going to have to wait after all.
Chapter 55
“He won’t come,” Fenton said. Again.
She first said it when she met me at the small airfield an hour from Los Gemelos.
She said it right after she climbed in behind the wheel of Dr. Houllier’s Cadillac.
She said it three more times as the huge car wafted and wallowed along the long straight roads into town.
She said it as she parked outside The House.
She said it as we walked through the tunnel.
She said it as we checked that the money and the narcotics were still there.
She said it as we confirmed that the final smoke bomb had been removed from Michael’s workshop.
She said it as we sat down against the back wall of the old school’s assembly hall.
And every time she said it, I gave the same reply. “He will.”
“How can you be sure?”
“He has no choice. His plan failed. That means he can’t stay in the United States. He can’t return to Beirut. He’ll be on watch lists everywhere. So he’ll have to go to ground. Forever. So he’ll need every penny he can put his hands on. And every valuable thing he can sell.”
“What if the FBI already caught him? He tried to destroy TEDAC. They’ll have a hard-on for him like you wouldn’t believe.”
“The Bureau wants to find him. Sure. But they don’t know where to look.”
“You didn’t tell them?”
I said nothing.