And that there was nothing on it.
He stood there, arms crossed, squeezing his biceps, his head hanging, for a moment feeling completely defeated.
Remar said, “No go?”
Anders shook his head and looked at Delgado. “How did you get this? Be specific.”
“That’s what I was trying to tell you. The woman said she’d hidden it behind the toilet of the ladies’ room in the nursing home where she keeps her father. Manus went to check it out while I held her. A little while later, he shows up at the Sprinter, says he found it just where she said it would be.”
Remar said, “Hamilton might have sent two decoys, not just one. Although—”
“Yes,” Anders said, “agreed it’s not likely. The FedEx shipment felt like a head fake, intended to distract from the snail-mail shipment. If so, there would be nothing to gain by snail-mailing a second decoy. Meaning that, presumably, the snail-mail shipment was the real drive.”
“All right,” Remar said, “Gallagher herself might have planted a decoy. But—”
“Agreed again,” Anders said, finding some small comfort in the familiar back-and-forth analysis that had long since become a kind of shorthand with Remar. “Thomas, you texted me that you and Manus took Gallagher easily outside the supermarket. No signs of surveillance consciousness, no indications of paranoia of any kind, is that correct?”
“Correct.”
“Right,” Remar said. “Difficult to imagine she’d be so sanguine, and yet have taken precautions elaborate enough to include planting a decoy drive. Okay, then, the third possibility. Manus took the real drive, or maybe he failed to find it, and provided this fake one, instead.”
Anders nodded. Of course, there was a fourth possibility — that Delgado was the one providing the fake drives. But this seemed the most unlikely scenario of all. It was impossible to imagine a motive for Delgado, for one thing, while, as Delgado himself had pointed out, Manus’s motive was obvious. Beyond which, there was the fact of Delgado’s condition, and his unfortunate detention in the van. Not to mention the four bodies outside Gallagher’s apartment.
No, the most likely explanation was that Manus was simply torn between his loyalty to Anders and his newfound infatuation with Gallagher. Anders had sensed this dynamic earlier, of course, when Manus had failed to fully report on what had happened with the woman. But he thought Manus had come to his senses. Well, either Anders had been played, or Manus was ambivalent and acting inconsistently as a result. It didn’t really matter. The problem was the same either way. Manus had become unreliable.
But there was something… something that didn’t quite fit.
“You said you had a gun on him,” Anders said, thinking out loud.
“Yeah, that’s right. I shouldn’t have let him inside the Sprinter. Not enough space. And like I said, he’s fast. He took it away from me.”
“That’s interesting.”
“Interesting how?”
“Well, I’ve never known a man who pulled a gun on Marvin Manus and lived to tell about it. Indeed, after his run-in with you, Manus killed four men I sent to Gallagher’s apartment.”
“What? I told you. He’s a complete psycho.”
“What I’m wondering is, why didn’t he kill you?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll tell you this. Not killing me? Worst mistake that freak ever made. Look at my fucking face. Jesus, it hurts. And his girlfriend, too. She got in a few cheap shots after I was handcuffed.”
Anders considered. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that Manus has no compunction about killing. Killing is practically a default setting for him. On top of which, as I’m sure you’re aware, you’ve given him ample reason over time to feel some… animosity toward you. And yet he didn’t kill you tonight. He could have, clearly, but he didn’t.”
Delgado touched a swollen lip and winced. “What are you saying, I was somehow in on this? You think I let Manus do this?”
“No. Not at all. I’m just trying to make sense of Manus’s behavior.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that. You might as well try to figure out a rabid dog. What’s the point? You just put the damn thing down.”
Anders suspected that in fact Delgado would torture such a dog first, but saw nothing to be gained by pointing it out.
“No,” he said after a moment. “Manus isn’t a rabid dog. But”—he glanced at Remar—“I’ve heard him compared to an abused one. One who is exceptionally loyal to the only master who’s ever been good to him.”
“Honestly? My head feels like there’s a brass band playing inside it and I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“What I’m saying is, Manus didn’t refrain from killing you because he likes you. He refrained from killing you because he knows I like you. Well, value you.”
“Thanks. I feel very appreciated.”
“Manus knows how much I value your services, Thomas. Hurting you would be hurting me. And Manus would never hurt me. Which is why he didn’t hurt you.”
“Seriously? Look at me. You don’t think this hurts?”
“I once saw Marvin Manus tear a man’s ear off and tell him, ‘This is the only warning you get.’ Think about that. Tearing a man’s ear off, a mere warning.”
“Great. So you already knew he’s a psycho.”
“You see, from Manus’s perspective, he didn’t hurt you. He wanted to kill you, I have no doubt of that. But he didn’t.”
“What’s the point?”
“He’s doing what he has to right now, but also trying to minimize the damage. He doesn’t want to burn bridges. Because… he wants the bridges to be intact. So he can cross back over. In fact… I believe in sparing your life, Manus was sending me a message.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got a message for him. He’s a dead man.”
Remar said, “What message?”
“He’s telling us he’s still on-side.”
Delgado groaned. “You have got to be kidding.”
“Think about it. What happened tonight? He rescued Gallagher. He beat you severely. He killed four men outside her apartment. And now he’s on the run with her and her little boy. How could she do other than trust him now? He’s telling us to give him a little space. He’s still intent on that thumb drive. And he plans to give it to us — if we agree to his terms.”
Remar said, “Which are?”
“Obviously that we leave Gallagher alone. Presumably in exchange for her promise to forget any of this ever happened.”
Remar’s expression was unreadable. “Do you think that could work?”
“No,” Delgado said, “it couldn’t work. Because I’m going to kill that bitch. And that psycho.”
“What matters,” Anders said, rubbing his hands, “isn’t whether it could work. What matters is whether Manus believes it could work. Clearly he does.”
“So you get him to turn over the drive…” Remar said.
Anders nodded. “In exchange for a promise. A promise we have no intention of honoring.”
Delgado nodded. “That sounds more like it. Just tell me when and where.”
“Thomas, respectfully, you’re injured. And you’ve seen how formidable Manus is. We’re not looking for a fair fight here. What we need is overwhelmingly superior firepower.”
“Wait a minute—” Delgado started to say.
Remar cut him off. “We’re shorthanded after what happened outside Gallagher’s apartment, but I can get a detachment of contractors from Jones.”
“Oh, come on,” Delgado said. “Don’t deal me out on this. This is bullshit.”
“You can have Gallagher,” Anders said. “But we can’t take chances with Manus. Surely you can see that.”
Anders glanced at Remar. If the man had a problem with what Anders had just promised Delgado, he wanted to hear about it now, rather than letting it fester. But Remar was impassive.