Vance kept her gaze on the road mostly. Every once in a while she would glance at Robie’s gun and then her gaze would travel to his face. When their eyes occasionally met, she would quickly look away.
They had traveled about two miles when she finally spoke.
“You have a particular reason keeping your gun out with the muzzle pointed in my direction?”
“I have about a dozen reasons for it, but you’ve probably thought of them all.”
“I didn’t rat you out, Robie. I’m not the one behind all this.”
“Good to know. I’ll take that into consideration.”
“I can understand why you don’t feel you can trust anyone, including the FBI.”
“Again, good to know.” His voice was flat, dead. Robie didn’t even recognize it as his.
“Where do you want to go?”
He looked at her, his expression inscrutable. “Why don’t you pick a place? We’ll see how it goes.”
“Is this a test?”
“Why shouldn’t it be?”
“Will you guys stop? This is not helping.”
They both glanced in the rearview mirror to see Julie staring at them.
“Someone just set us up while in FBI custody,” said Robie, his voice calm and even. He said again, “So pick a place, Agent Vance. Take us there and we’ll see what happens.”
“How about WFO?”
“How about it?”
“Robie, I’m on your side!”
He glanced out the window. “The guys you called in from out of town?”
“I didn’t call them in. They were called in by others at the Bureau.”
“What others?”
“I don’t know specifically. I put in a request for agents from out of town.” She gave him a hard stare. “At your insistence. They were the ones who were sent.”
“One was killed,” said Robie. “I doubt he came down here to die. So we can rule him out. But someone left the blinds open in the room where Julie was placed.” He looked at her. “Which agent sent you back there?”
Julie said, “The one who came to the door after the shot was fired. I recognized his voice.”
“The one who never came back. The one who killed his partner,” added Robie. “The one who told us to hang tight.” He glanced at Vance. “Just like you told me to. Hang tight.”
Vance slammed the Beemer to a stop in the middle of the road. She turned and faced him.
“Okay, shoot me, then. If you don’t trust me I’m no use to you anyway. So put the gun against my head and pull the damn trigger.”
Robie said, “Histrionics really won’t get you anywhere on this.”
“So what exactly do you want me to do?”
“I already told you. For now, just drive.”
“Where?
“Pick a direction and stick to it.”
“Shit,” Vance muttered in a shaky voice. She put the car in gear and sped off.
She said, “I heard explosions before I turned onto the street. Your doing?”
“I blew up two Bureau cars. Be sure to bill me for that.”
“You blew them up?”
“We needed a diversion,” chimed in Julie. “It was the only way we got out of the house alive.”
Robie sat back in his seat. “So I’ve got traitors in my own organization. Traitors in the FBI. A puzzle I’m not close to solving. And time is running out.”
“So what are you going to do?” Vance asked nervously.
“Regroup and rethink. The three of us are going to stick together. But we need new transportation.”
“What’s wrong with my car?”
“Principally, that people know it’s your car.”
“Are you going to steal another car, Will?” asked Julie.
“Another?” asked Vance in a raised voice.
“He’s really good at it,” added Julie. “Makes it look easy.”
“And I hope you’re just as good at driving,” said Robie to Vance.
“Why?” asked Vance.
He had his gun up and he hit the button to bring his window down.
“Because we have an SUV on our six and it’s coming fast.”
CHAPTER 77
Vance looked in the rearview mirror. An SUV, black, big, and gaining on them way too fast. It looked like a bulky jet barreling down the runway just prior to liftoff.
She punched the gas and the Beemer leapt forward.
“Wait a minute,” she exclaimed. “Do you think they’re cops or Feds?”
The shot shattered the Beemer’s rear glass. Julie shrieked and ducked down as the bullet passed between Vance and Robie and cracked the windshield.
“No,” said Robie tersely. “I don’t think they’re cops or Feds.”
Vance cut the wheel to the left and screeched the Beemer into a ninety-degree turn, racing down a side street.
“Well then do something!” she snapped.
He turned, looked at Julie, who was hunkered down in the seat. “Undo your seat belt and get on the floorboard,” he said.
“What if the car wrecks and I don’t have a belt on?” she said.
“I think that’ll be the least of your worries.”
Julie undid her belt and dropped into the space between the front and rear seats.
Robie took aim with his Glock and fired once through the shattered back window. His shot hit the front of the SUV. Robie had aimed to take out the radiator. His shot had hit dead center. He could hear the round ping off.
“Armored,” he said to Vance.
He fired next into the left front tire. The rubber should have shredded. It didn’t.
“Run-flat tires,” said Robie. “Cute. Really cute.”
“If they’re armored we should be able to outrun them,” said Vance.
“Depends on what kind of horsepower they’ve got.”
He fired again, at the windshield. It cracked part of the glass, but the SUV did not slow down.
“Well, at least they’re not perfect,” said Robie.
He saw the gun appear from the passenger-side window. Robie observed instantly that it wasn’t just any gun. If it hit them it would be over.
He grabbed the wheel from Vance and slammed the car into a hard right turn that took it off the road, over the curb, and into someone’s front yard.
A split second later the gun pointing from the SUV roared a dozen automatic times. The rounds missed the Beemer, but behind them the car that was parked nearest the intersection exploded.
The SUV couldn’t make the turn and continued to speed down the road. Then came the screech of brakes and gears reversing.
Robie worked the wheel and the Beemer jumped the curb and landed back on the road. He took his hands off the steering wheel and looked back.
“What the hell was that?” demanded a shaky-looking Vance.
“It’s called a Sledgehammer,” said Robie. “Assault combat shotgun. I recognized it from the big ammo drum. It must’ve ignited the fuel tank on that car back there.”
He pointed up ahead. “Take the next left and then a right and then hit the gas hard. By the time they get back on our tail we’ll be gone.”
Vance did as he instructed and they were soon alone on a road leading west away from all the shooting. They could hear sirens seemingly coming from all directions.
Julie sat up and buckled her seat belt after wiping shards of automobile glass off the seat and out of her hair.
Robie glanced at her. “You okay?”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
He looked around. “You left your backpack at the safe house?”
She nodded again.
Vance said, “What changed, Robie?”
He looked at her after easing his gun back into its holster.
“Come again?” he said.
“They didn’t want to kill us before, just scare the shit out of us or intimidate us or who the hell knows what. But now it seems pretty clear they want us gone. So what changed?”
“Could be lots of things,” he answered. “Without knowing the endgame it’s hard to know what makes these folks tick. Or what part any of us play in all of it.”