The agent grabbed Will’s right wrist and pulled. “I said-,” he started.
Will smoothly slid his hand over the agent’s wrist, rotating his own wrist toward the man’s thumb to pop it free. He grabbed the man’s jacketed shoulder before he could react, then twisted him around and shoved him face-first into the wall hard enough to jar the picture hanging there. He jacked the wrist he’d captured up toward the man’s shoulder blades.
The man grunted in pain and stood in place.
“Touching me without provocation is assault,” Will said in his commander’s tone. “I’m a federal officer, so that’s a federal violation.”
The other two agents reached under their jackets for their weapons. Will held his captive and stared straight into Urlacher’s eyes. Victor Gant seemed amused by the situation.
Urlacher raised his hands and the two agents pulled their hands back. “Commander Coburn.”
“That’s right,” Will said. “I thought maybe we could have a word.” He forced a smile. “A polite word.”
“It’s hard to be polite when you’re wallpapering the hallway with one of my men.”
“It’s hard not to wallpaper the hallway with your men while one of my team is lying in the hospital because you had to try to high-hat us,” Will said. His captive struggled, so he lifted the man’s arm higher till he was tiptoeing to keep the pain at a tolerable level.
“Pretty harsh talk from a single man,” Urlacher said.
“Trust me,” Will said, “I’m all that’s standing between you and a base full of Marines that happen to think a lot of my gunnery sergeant.”
“What do you want?”
Will stepped back from his captive and released him. He watched the man. The agent nursed his arm and walked over to join Urlacher and the others.
“There’s going to be a review by the Charlotte police department crime teams of what went down last night,” Will said.
“You mean the shooting.”
“I do mean the shooting,” Will said. “I expect my gunney to be cleared in the matter. I thought I’d come talk to you and get this worked out ahead of time. In case you or your men had problems remembering exactly how everything happened last night.”
“You’re with the NCIS?” Victor Gant asked. A crooked smile twisted his thin lips.
Urlacher put a hand on Victor’s chest and held him back. “Stay out of this,” he said.
“Do you know who I am?” Victor demanded.
“I do,” Will said. “I don’t have an issue with you at the moment, Mr. Gant. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Maybe I have an issue with you,” Victor said. “Your man killed my son. Shot him down like he was a dog.” His voice was hoarse with anger.
Will met the man’s angry glare and didn’t look away. He couldn’t. Both of them knew it hadn’t happened the way Victor Gant said it did, but any weakness on his part would have confirmed the other man’s story in his mind.
Urlacher grabbed Victor by the arm and shoved him back. “Get moving.”
Victor continued to stare at Will.
“Take it outside,” Urlacher said, eyeing the man vehemently. “Or I will arrest you.”
Victor went, accompanied by two of Urlacher’s agents, but he glared at Will until the elevator doors closed.
1 8
›› Federal Bureau of Investigation Field Office
›› 400 South Tryon Street
›› Suite 900
›› Charlotte, North Carolina
›› 1132 Hours
Urlacher wheeled on Will. “Your timing stinks, Commander.”
“I’d have preferred to meet in your office,” Will said. “You’re the one who forced this.”
Urlacher stepped to within inches of Will. “I didn’t force anything.”
“You did.” Will didn’t budge an inch. He locked eyes with the older man. “If you hadn’t gone there last night, my guys could have taken Bobby Lee Gant without anyone getting hurt.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. They’ve worked a lot of pickups. And did it without anyone getting hurt.” Of course, there were some that didn’t turn out so well, but Will wasn’t going to mention those.
“What do you want?” Urlacher asked.
“Like I said,” Will replied, “I want that shooting report squared away. No problems for my gunney. He’s a good man and a fine Marine. His record’s going to stand clean and without blemish.”
“And if I don’t see it that way?”
“Then you’re going to be in a world of hurt.”
Urlacher laughed, but the effort didn’t sound convincing. “There’s nothing you can do to me.”
“You seem to be getting awfully chummy with Victor Gant,” Will said. “My guess is that you’re going to try to get him to snitch on some people for you.”
“I can’t hold him on what I’ve got.”
“He wasn’t wearing cuffs when he went through here.”
Urlacher didn’t say anything.
“My gunney took three bullets and nearly died,” Will said, “so he could take down the problem you lit a fire under without getting that woman hurt. If your report doesn’t corroborate that, I’m going to look into Victor Gant’s business with a microscope.” He smiled slightly. “I’m betting that’ll throw a kink in whatever tea party you’ve got planned with Victor Gant.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I can.” Will kept his eyes locked on the other man’s. “When Bobby Lee Gant hurt that Marine in Jacksonville, he had three men with him. I’m still looking for those three men. For all I know, they’re part of Victor Gant’s little motorcycle club.”
Urlacher growled a curse. “You’re making trouble for yourself.”
“Not if I don’t have to. I’ll take a clean report on that shooting and I’ll pack up and leave.”
A frown tightened Urlacher’s lips and he gave a grudging nod. “It’ll be like you said.”
“Not like I said,” Will told him. “Like it was last night. You owe my gunney that. He might have saved the lives of your men.”
“You’ll get your report.”
“By end of day,” Will said. “Or we start turning over rocks in Victor Gant’s neighborhood.” He reached into his jacket pocket and took out one of his business cards.
“I’ll have it there.” Urlacher scowled as he took the business card. Without another word, he turned and walked away.
Silently Will watched the FBI agent go, but he couldn’t help wondering what it was that Urlacher was working on. For the agent to have capitulated so quickly, it had to be something big.
Let it go, Will told himself. You’ve got enough on your plate. He let out a deep breath, then turned and walked away.
But he couldn’t get Victor Gant’s eyes or voice out of his mind. The man had radiated pure evil and hate. Will decided he was going to be happy when he could get Shel out of the hospital and back home.
›› 1137 Hours
Surrounded by FBI agents, Victor stared at the elevator indicator lights as the cage dropped to the bottom floor. One of the agents had stopped the cage and waited for Urlacher to get on again. Victor had only heard a muffled version of Urlacher’s conversation with the NCIS agent. The cage swayed and the two men next to him bumped against him.
“Don’t go getting any ideas,” Urlacher said.
“Wouldn’t think of it,” Victor replied.
“You tangle with the NCIS, make this personal, I don’t have enough juice to pull them off you.”
“Understood.” Victor nodded. It was already personal. How could somebody killing his son not be personal?
“What happened to your boy-”
“Bobby Lee,” Victor interrupted.
Urlacher looked at him.
“My boy,” Victor said. “His name was Bobby Lee. Don’t you go remembering him as just another dead kid.”
Urlacher didn’t back off. “Stay away from those NCIS people.”
Despite the No Smoking sign posted in the elevator, Victor took out his pack of cigarettes and lit up. Overhead, the smoke alarm shrilled.
“I heard on the news that Marine who shot Bobby Lee lived,” Victor said.
“If you go around him, I’ll toss the deal and put you in jail.”