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“Neither significant nor relevant,” replied Kent.

“Reel?”

“Again, neither significant nor relevant.”

“I think she is very significant and relevant. Jacobs, Gelder, you? She has a list. How?” he demanded.

“It’s obvious,” said Kent. “I trusted Joe Stockwell when I shouldn’t have. I thought he was one of us. He wasn’t. He fooled me and it cost us.”

“So he told Reel?”

Kent nodded, looking thoughtful. “That seems to be the case. Too bad we didn’t kill him sooner.”

“Why? What’s the connection between Stockwell and Reel?”

“I don’t know,” replied Kent. “But there must have been one. He was with the U.S. Marshals at one point and had good connections. I tried to find what those were after we learned he was spying on us instead of working with us. But a lot of it is classified. I couldn’t push too hard without raising suspicions.”

“Then we’re all compromised. I’m probably on that list. He knew about me.”

“Yes, you very well could be on the list.”

“Reel got to Gelder. He was the number two, for God’s sake. What chance do I have?”

“A very good chance. We almost got her, Howard. She has to know the targets are hardened by now. She’ll be on the defensive. She’ll have to pull back.”

“If she killed West, she’s hardly on the defensive,” countered Howard.

“West wasn’t really a hardened target. And we still don’t know all the facts. If she did kill him she went there to gain more information.”

“And if he gave it to her?”

“He had none to give. She was grasping at straws. That shows how weakened her position is.”

“Someone had to tell her about West.”

“We’re looking into that. But I don’t see it as especially important. We have bigger fish to fry.”

“West went psycho militia. I would hardly call that not hardened. He had guns and bombs and a bunch of men as crazy as he was. And she still killed him.”

“I never said she wasn’t capable or dangerous. She is.”

“So she could get to me.”

“She could get to me too. But we have to play the odds, Howard. And the odds are with us. But at the same time, when we entered into this ‘opportunity’ we knew it came with risks. You don’t set out to do something on this grand a scale without risks.”

“What if she knows everything?”

“She doesn’t. If she did there are other channels she could have pursued. She knows who is involved. She may know generally what we want to do. She doesn’t know the specific target. I would know if she did, trust me.”

Howard passed a hand over his forehead, which was wicking off sweat though the day was cool. “It didn’t seem as risky when we were planning it.”

“Planning something never seems risky. It’s in the execution where all the risk comes.”

“And that’s what Reel has been doing, executing people.”

“That’s what she does. And she’s good at it.”

“How do you know so much about it?”

“I wasn’t always a judge, Howard.”

“Intelligence?”

“Not something I can talk about.”

“How did you end up on the bench?”

“A law degree and friends in high places. And it allows me great cover and latitude for other endeavors. But I know what I’m talking about. We’ll get through this. Don’t for a second think that I’m not counterpunching against Reel. She’s good, but she’s alone. She can’t match our resources.”

“She’s still out there. She’s still alive.”

“For now.” Kent looked toward the house. “I think they must be getting close to cake and ice cream. We should probably head back. Don’t want to disappoint the kiddies.”

As the two men walked back to the house, Kent thought about the next move on the game board.

He had not been entirely honest with his nervous congressman.

Reel was a force to be reckoned with; that was certain.

But Kent had bigger problems.

The fact of Jacobs’s and Gelder’s murders didn’t bother him so much. Now that the plan was being executed, it was to his advantage that principal players started dropping. If the plan went awry it was always fellow conspirators who turned and brought you down.

Gelder probably would have held up, but he also had a lot to lose.

Jacobs was a weak link. He was a necessary part of the operation on the ground, but he came up short when real pressure was applied. He would have turned on them. If Reel hadn’t killed him Kent would have.

When they were back at the party, Kent glanced sideways at Decker as the ten-year-old birthday boy blew out his candles.

Decker was another weak link.

Kent should have known better than to enlist a congressman, but Decker had his value—his chairmanship of a committee that was of particular use to Kent. Now that value had been utilized and Decker’s importance had declined correspondingly.

And there was one other person on board.

He was not a weak link.

Kent, in fact, had to take precautions against this person arriving at the decision that he himself was a liability.

That was his bigger problem. If he was deemed to be a weak link by this partner, then his life was in grave danger. More danger, in fact, than having Reel on his trail.

Kent left the house with his youngster in tow. He watched Decker get into a Town Car with his son. The driver looked capable and was no doubt armed.

But there was only one of him.

Right before Decker climbed into the car he stopped and looked back at Kent.

The judge smiled and waved.

Decker waved back and then got into the car.

Kent climbed into his Jag. He had no guards with him. But he had his son. And from what he knew of Jessica Reel, she wouldn’t kill him in front of his boy. That moral compass of hers was his best protection.

Now if he could think of a way to glue his child to him, he’d be fine.

Absent that, he had to find Reel and kill her as quickly as possible.

And he thought he had a way to do just that.

And that plan involved a man named Will Robie.

CHAPTER

46

ROBIE PARKED ACROSS FROM THE school and waited.

He had returned to the D.C. area, put his truck back in the barn at his isolated old farmhouse, and taken a cab to retrieve his car from the mall.

He hadn’t heard from Evan Tucker since he had left the IHOP.

He hadn’t heard from anyone since he’d left the IHOP.

He didn’t take that as a good sign.

But he hadn’t been arrested. He took that as a plus.

He stiffened when Julie came out of the school building and walked to the bus stop. He sat lower in his car and watched her.

She was dressed in her typical kneeless jeans and floppy hoodie and dirty sneakers and carried the same overstuffed backpack. She tucked her long hair behind her ears and stared around.

She wasn’t listening to her music on her phone.

She wasn’t texting.

She was being observant.

Good, thought Robie. You have to be, Julie.

The bus came and she got on. When it pulled off Robie follwed. He followed all the way until the bus stopped and Julie got off. Then he watched her make it safely into her home. When she walked inside and the door clicked behind her Robie drove away.

He knew he couldn’t do this every day. But right now he just wanted to keep Julie safe. He just wanted to be accomplishing something positive.

He stared down at his phone and decided to just do it. He hit his speed dial.