He had said trackers with an s. “So there were more of them?”
“A few. One in each of his sneakers. Some of his toys. His favorite stuffed animal.” He waved it off with disinterest. “They’re small and they’re a dime a dozen.”
“And all along, all this time, you knew Navarro was still alive?”
“Come on.” He sneered. “I didn’t buy that car bomb horseshit for a minute. Then when he started grabbing these scientists . . . they were all working on psychoactives. One of the guys he took over in Santa Barbara was synthesizing iboga to turn it into a pill for heroin addicts. They fit too closely to what I knew he was after.”
I felt a fresh surge of anger. “You could have asked Stephenson to just create a fake report. Or made him do it using your charms.”
His mouth bent downward at its edges, and he shook his head. “No. There was a high risk that Navarro would have had him grabbed by some hired guns, like he did with the others. Some bikers or what not. And Stephenson would have broken under questioning in a heartbeat. It was pointless to even try that. No, Stephenson also had to believe in our story.” He paused, then his expression softened. “How is he, anyway? Alex?”
I didn’t think I owed him an answer, but I still said, “He’ll be fine. Now that we know what you did to him, we can start to undo it.”
He just nodded vacantly. “Good.”
He didn’t say he was sorry. I guess he wasn’t.
“So what happens now? Is this where you pull out your gun as I’m ‘resisting arrest’?”
My expression soured, and I just shrugged. “No. I’m just going to go back.” I paused, then added, “And write my report about what happened.”
He looked at me, like he was sussing out what I meant. I guess my face said all I had to say.
I turned to go, and he called out after me. “For what it’s worth . . . it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t an easy call. But I couldn’t see any other way.”
It wasn’t worth much to me.
I walked out of his front door, and as I opened the door to my car, I heard the bullet.
I didn’t go in to check.
I just strapped on my seat belt, swung out of his gates, and set off to spend the rest of the day with Tess and my son while trying not to think too hard about what Navarro had said about the past lives of his that he’d researched nor about what I would do with the stainless steel vial I’d taken off Munro’s dead body.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RAYMOND KHOURY is the author of four consecutive New York Times bestsellers: his debut, The Last Templar; The Sanctuary; The Sign; and The Templar Salvation. His books have been translated into more than forty languages. To find out more about his work, visit his website at www.raymondkhoury.com, or join him on his official Facebook fan page.
ALSO B RAYMOND KHOURY
The Last Templar
The Sanctuary
The Sign
The Templar Salvation