Kate lay beside him, her arm still across his chest, her naked breasts pressed against his shoulder. She looked peaceful in sleep. He shifted his position in the bed and she stirred. She opened her eyes. Looked at him.
‘Hey.’
He smiled. ‘Hey.’
‘That was fun.’
‘We were supposed to do investigative work last night,’ he said.
‘Well, that’s a shame, isn’t it?’
King kissed her again, relishing the feeling. ‘We don’t have much to go off. I’ve got a USB drive, with video footage of the two men I told you about picking up your package. That’s it.’
‘Worth a shot. We can watch it on my laptop.’ She hesitated. ‘What would you have done without me?’
‘Huh?’
‘You don’t have a computer. No phone, nothing. You’re a ghost.’
King stared at the ceiling, one arm around her. ‘Getting off the grid was the whole point of coming here. When I up and left I knew there would be a lot of people wanting to follow my every move. I didn’t want anyone to be able to contact me, or know where I am. It meant leaving everything behind.’
‘No luggage?’
‘I barely had any possessions in the first place.’
‘What about clothes?’
‘I’ve just been buying them along the way. I’ll get a carry bag soon, and start fresh. But I wanted to sever all ties to my past. That meant nothing from America came with me.’
‘That’s efficient at least. Where were you planning to go from here?’
‘Wherever. I’ve got all the time in the world now.’
They got dressed and Kate retrieved her laptop from the chair near the door. She slid a thin notebook out and turned it on.
‘Got the stick?’ she said.
He handed her the USB and she plugged it in, bringing up a folder containing a single file.
‘That’s it,’ he said.
She smiled. ‘I figured that. You’re a little bit ancient, aren’t you?’
‘I’m not that old,’ he said, smiling.
She turned. ‘How old are you? You keep saying you retired.’
‘Thirty-two. You retire young in my field.’
‘Huh,’ Kate said, mulling over the new information. ‘I’m twenty-seven. We’re not that far apart after all.’
‘You’re saying I look old?’
She laughed. ‘No, not at all. But the way you talk doesn’t line up with your age. At thirty-two you should be worrying about your mortgage, or complaining about your nine-to-five, or having a mid-life crisis.’
‘I guess I’ve seen a lot.’
‘I guess so.’
She double-clicked on the video file, bringing up grainy security footage inside the post office. The camera faced the row of PO boxes. For a long minute there was no movement. Then in the top corner of the screen the doors swung open and the pair of contract killers walked in. They moved quickly, both determined to draw as little attention as possible. They paused by one of the largest boxes. The man on the left produced a key and unlocked it with a twist of the wrist.
The package gave nothing away. It was square and wrapped in brown paper, indistinguishable from any other parcel. The man on the right — who King recognised as Buzzcut — withdrew it and they headed for the door.
‘Fuck,’ King whispered. A dead end. Now they were left clutching at straws.
And then in the final few seconds of the video Buzzcut ripped open the top of the package and extracted a slim black device. A smartphone. He opened his jacket and tucked the phone inside, into a pocket. The other man opened the door and the pair disappeared from sight.
‘Well, that’s something,’ Kate said.
King stared long and hard at the image of the empty post office frozen on the screen. It definitely was something. Which was far more than he’d expected to see.
He strode over to the bed and snatched his windbreaker off the duvet. The Beretta went back in his waistband.
‘Where are you going?’ she said.
‘I know where that phone is.’
‘Oh, god,’ she said. ‘You’re seriously not going to…’
‘That’s what this kind of life entails, Kate. Killing bad people. Searching dead bodies. Like I said, it would be healthier for you to have nothing to do with me.’
‘You know that’s not true.’
He couldn’t help but smile. ‘Stay here, okay? I’ll be back in an hour.’
‘And if you’re not?’
He paused. ‘Then get as far away from Jameson as possible, and forget all about what happened here. Exactly like you said.’
‘I told you I’m not—’
King crossed the room and rested his hands on her shoulders. ‘Look, I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but hundreds of people have tried to kill me before. If I die today, then these people are trained professionals beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Which means that you will die if you stay here, no questions. It’s not worth sticking to your refusal to leave if it means getting killed. Maybe even slowly.’
‘I don’t—’
‘Promise me you’ll leave if I don’t come back.’ He could see the tears brimming in the corner of her eyes.
‘I don’t want to,’ she said. ‘There’s nowhere to go.’
‘You can go anywhere. It’s better than being dead.’
Reluctantly, she nodded. ‘Okay.’
He kissed her. Unsure for how long. When they finally parted, Kate touched a hand to his face and looked him in the eyes. ‘Will I see you again?’
He snatched Billy’s car keys off the coffee table and opened the motel door. ‘Of course. You think I’m going to let them do anything to me?’
She shook her head.
He knew it would do both of them no good to linger and contemplate what would happen if he didn’t come back. So he closed the door behind him and made his way down to the carport without a shred of hesitation.
It was an icy morning, much like the last one. A thin layer of dew covered everything. The sun had only just risen and the temperature still hovered close to zero. He used his sleeve to brush flakes of ice off the windscreen. Before he got in the car, he glanced down the main road, looking into town. There was little activity at this time of morning. He guessed the daily bustle didn’t start until around seven. All around him, the ringing cacophony of bird calls added to the eerie feel of the woods.
He decided he didn’t like the country all that much. Its stillness and tranquility had been ruined by the chaos of the last two days. Now the isolation only meant his death would go completely unnoticed. His body would rot in the woods. An unnerving thought, to say the least.
It took several attempts to get the car started, which he chalked up to leaving it outside as the night froze over. On the third try it coughed and spat to life, eventually settling into a rhythmic chugging. He reversed out of the parking space and set off along the mountain roads, which had become all too familiar. He knew the rough location of the metal work factory. He hoped there would be some way to access the clearing by vehicle.
It took five minutes to reach the area where he’d seen the two construction workers die, and in that time he did not pass a single vehicle on the roads. Once again, the emptiness of the landscape sent a shiver down his spine.
Zero witnesses. Zero help.
After trawling through a maze of deserted routes he came across yet another indiscriminate gravel path. It seemed there was one everywhere he looked. He pulled the sedan up to its entrance and stared down its length. It trailed away into the forest. He couldn’t determine exactly where it ended, but it seemed to head toward the general vicinity of the factory. He would never know for sure unless he tried it. There was nothing to do but hope he wasn’t heading into a trap, spin the wheel and guide the car down the rocky path.