‘What’s going on?’ Logan asked.
‘I got everything that I needed from those guys already.’
Logan concentrated on the junction ahead, the traffic system still feeling alien to him. After safely negotiating a left turn, he glanced at Cahill.
‘Alex, this is serious stuff and we need to back off now. Leave it to the FBI.’
‘Like at Ruby Ridge? Or Waco?’
Logan had never heard of Ruby Ridge and thought that WACO was an ATF operation so far as he could remember. Not that it mattered.
‘So what? This isn’t our fight. We got to the truth about your friend. Let’s go home.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Can’t you let it go for once?’
Cahill said nothing. Didn’t look at Logan.
‘What is it with you and this thing?’ Logan asked, almost shouting now.
Cahill sighed.
‘It’s just me.’
‘What does that even mean?’ Logan said, pulling the car to a stop at the side of the road.
Cahill turned in the passenger seat to face Logan. In the harsh light from the streetlamps outside he looked older to Logan than he had before. The lines on his face more prominent. A roadmap of his life in service.
‘What I mean is, it’s who I am. I don’t back away from anything. I never will.’
Logan held his friend’s gaze.
‘A good man died. Maybe not directly at the hands of this Raines and his crew, but close enough. And not just a good man, but someone who put his life on the line for others and for his country. Who served with me. If it had come down to it, we would have died together defending what we believed in.’
‘But…’
‘And I know that Webb and Grange and Hunter and the others are the same. But that doesn’t matter to me. It’s personal for me. And that means that I can’t let it go.’
Logan twisted his hands over the steering wheel.
‘You’ve been through enough with me now to understand.’
‘I don’t think I’ll ever understand, Alex. I guess we’re just built different.’
‘If I ask you to stay in this with me, to cover my back, will you do it?’
‘You know that I will.’
Cahill put a hand on Logan’s shoulder.
‘Not so different,’ Cahill said.
When they got back to the hotel, Logan called Ellie’s mobile. He knew she would be up, getting ready for school.
‘Hey, Ellie. How’s things there?’
‘Okay. But I miss my own room. I mean, having my own stuff around.’
‘I know. Me too.’
‘When are you coming home?’
‘Soon. Probably tomorrow.’
Assuming I’m not in jail. Or dead.
‘Cool.’
Do kids still say that? he wondered.
‘We’ll do something when I get back, okay. Go out for dinner or whatever.’
‘Shopping?’
He laughed.
‘If you like.’
‘I like.’
‘Okay. Look, it’s late here so I’m going to go to bed now.’
Cahill was watching him when he ended the call.
‘That sounded nice,’ he said.
‘It was.’
‘You miss her.’
‘Of course.’
‘Then make sure you get back to her. That girl needs you.’
‘I’m not quitting on you, if that’s what you’re saying.’
‘I wasn’t saying that. We’ve all got families.’
Nothing bonded one human being to another like blood.
Logan went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. It had been a long day. He dried his face and went back out to the main part of the room. Cahill was sitting at the small table by the window looking at the TV. Logan was sure he wasn’t taking in what was on. There were two handguns on Cahill’s bed, nestled tightly in nylon holsters with a box of bullets beside them.
‘This was your errand?’ he asked. ‘When I went to get the car.’
Cahill looked at him and nodded.
‘Are they legal?’
‘No.’
‘Where did you get them?’
‘I can’t tell you that.’
‘I mean, it wasn’t from a criminal or anything, was it?’
Logan heard how stupid the question sounded even as the words formed in his brain and left his mouth. Wished he could have it back.
Cahill laughed. It sounded genuine, not like he was mocking Logan.
‘Stupid question,’ Logan said.
‘I know what you meant,’ Cahill told him. ‘She’s an ex-cop.’
‘And how did she get into the business of selling illegal weapons?’
Cahill shrugged.
‘She wanted to do some good.’
Logan shook his head and sat on the bed.
‘One of these is mine?’ He picked up one of the holsters and slid the gun out, feeling the weight of it in his hand. ‘And you loaded them already.’
‘Not much use to anyone otherwise.’
Logan put the gun back in its holster and replaced it on the bed.
‘So,’ he said. ‘What’s the plan?’
8
‘Why did you support Hunter when he was pressing Webb to have the SWAT team on standby for this Raines operation tomorrow?’ Logan asked Cahill.
They were sitting at the table in their room with the TV on mute. The guns were still on the bed.
‘You’ve heard that cliche?’ Cahill asked.
‘I’m a lawyer. I’ve heard lots. Which one in particular?’
‘That failing to prepare-’
‘Is preparing to fail. Yeah, I’ve heard that one.’
‘Webb said Horn told them that he was meeting Raines alone, right?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘But if Horn’s story is true, he’s been thinking about coming in for a while now. And he deliberately messed up the drug cocktail to draw attention to their operation.’
‘You mean killing people? There are other ways.’
‘You’re missing the point, Logan.’
‘I get your point. I was making a different one. What you mean is that his behaviour might have rung an alarm with Raines. Who obviously isn’t stupid.’
‘Correct.’
‘So Raines might be suspicious of Horn now and not tell him everything.’
‘Go on.’
‘Which means we should be ready for him coming to the meeting with back-up.’
‘I knew all that training you’ve been getting wouldn’t go to waste.’
‘Trouble is, I don’t think that Webb or Grange were buying into what you were telling them. Why else would the SWAT team be on standby at the police HQ instead of on site?’
‘A mixture of institutional arrogance — which is standard for the Feds from what I can gather — and a desire to keep it low key. They figure if Raines doesn’t see an army coming for him his reaction might be less…’
‘Extreme?’
‘Good word. Yes.’
‘What’s your take on that? I mean, Hunter was definitely on your side.’
‘According to what you read about that Fed bank robbery job he got caught up in, he’s got reason to be cautious. Every new screw-up by the Feds that gets someone killed demonstrates a certain resistance to anyone’s perspective but their own.’
‘I think Grange said no because it was the opposite of what you said.’
‘You might be right. Great tactical thinking, huh?’
Logan smiled, though the knot of tension in his stomach was tightening with each minute that passed. He glanced back at the guns.
‘You know, you can still say no,’ Cahill said, seeing the anxiety in Logan’s face. ‘And I’ll go it alone.’
Logan stood and walked to the window, looking out into the city.
‘Tell me what we’re going to do,’ Logan said.
He turned to Cahill and leaned back against the window sill.
‘Webb and Grange will be across the street in the building opposite the diner where Raines will meet Horn. It’s a three-storey residential apartment building. They’ll put the occupants of the second-floor apartment at the front up in a hotel and use that as their forward command post. They’ll have comms links to their agents on the ground and to the SWAT team.’