“And if we do?” asked Reel quickly.
“Then all appropriate action will be taken against you.”
“So I get habeas corpus and a fair trial?” Reel said.
Marks looked up. “I didn’t say legal action, did I?”
“So it’s do or die, then?” said Robie.
“You can label it however you wish. But ultimately the choice is completely up to you. So what will it be?”
Robie and Reel exchanged another glance. Then Reel nodded. Robie did the same.
“Excellent choice,” said Marks.
“Where is this rehab going to take place?” asked Reel.
“Oh, I’m sorry, didn’t I mention that?”
“No, you didn’t,” said Reel tersely.
“It will take place at a location I think you both know well.”
She paused and took a moment to look at one and then the other.
“The Burner Box,” she said with a slight smile. “We leave in twenty-four hours.”
Chapter 6
How long will you be gone?” Julie Getty asked.
Robie looked down at his plate and didn’t answer right away. They were at a hole-in-the-wall diner in D.C., not far from where fifteen-year-old Julie attended school. Robie had about eight hours to go before he and Reel would be headed to the Burner Box. Julie had been excited to hear from him; her excitement had diminished when she learned it was to say goodbye, at least for a while.
“I’m not sure,” said Robie as he pushed his food around on his plate. “It wasn’t specified,” he clarified.
“And you can’t tell me where you’re going, of course,” she said resignedly.
“It’s…it’s a training site.”
“Why do you need to train? You’re already, like, I mean, great at what you do, Will.”
“It’s like going back to school, you know, continuing education. Lots of professions do it.” He hesitated. “Even mine.”
She studied him critically and he just as resolutely avoided her gaze.
“Are you going alone on this?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Is that woman going with you? Jessica?”
Robie hesitated before answering. “Yes.”
“So you’re both in trouble?”
Robie glanced sharply at her. She stared back at him with an expression that said his look of surprise was unnecessary.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with you, Will. When people were trying to kill us. When you were moody. When you didn’t have many options, but you still figured out how to get out of a jam.”
“And your point?” he asked with genuine curiosity.
“You look to me like a guy who doesn’t see a way out of this. And that’s just not you. So it must be really bad.”
Robie said nothing while Julie fiddled with the straw in her drink. She said, “I read in the papers a while back that Ferat Ahmadi, the crazy Syrian trying to gain power over there, was gunned down. They never found who killed him.”
Robie remained silent.
“I’m not going to ask you if you and Jessica had something to do with that because I know all I’ll get is a blank stare. But if you did, then it seems that your mission was successful. So it has to be something else. Is it connected to Jessica?”
“Why do you ask that?” Robie said abruptly.
“Because things were going good for you at your agency. Until she showed up.”
“I can’t get into that with you, Julie.”
“Because, you see, I liked her. I think she’s a good person.”
“I think so too,” said Robie before he could catch himself.
Julie smiled. “Cool.”
“What?”
“You’re letting your guard down around me. And you must really care for her,” she added in a more serious tone.
“I can relate to her and what she’s going through,” Robie said diplomatically.
“So she’s your friend?”
“Yes.”
“You need to take care of your friends, Will.”
“I’m trying, Julie, I really am.”
“Are you ever going to be free of all this crap?”
“I wish I had the answer to that.”
After they left the restaurant and Robie dropped Julie off, his phone buzzed. It was Reel.
“I think we need to talk.”
“Okay.”
“But you’re being followed and I want some privacy.”
Robie’s gaze flicked to his rearview mirror. He noted the car on the street two back from his.
“Okay, let me see what I can do.”
“No need. I’ll take care of it.”
“So you’re back there too?”
“Did you really have to ask? How’s Julie?”
“Concerned. Where do you want to meet?”
“In case someone is listening in, our place in the rain.”
“Roger that.”
“Take the next right. When you reach the alley, punch it.”
Robie clicked off and sped up. He hung the right. The tail did the same.
He saw the alley and floored it, creating separation from the tail. In the rearview he watched as a semi pulled out of the alley, blocking the road.
He heard brakes screech and a horn blaring.
“Nice, Jessica,” he said to himself.
He punched the gas, made a series of turns, and then glided onto Constitution and passed the Washington Monument, no longer shrouded in scaffolding after the earthquake and lit up like the Eiffel Tower. Some people thought they should have left it that way.
Five minutes and as many turns later he pulled to the curb, put the car in park, cut the engine, and got out. He walked to the car parked in front of him and slid into the passenger seat. Jessica Reel started the car and sped off.
“Where to?” he asked.
“Nowhere. Just want to move while we talk.”
“Talk about what?”
“The Burner Box.”
“We’ve both been there, Jessica.”
“And you really want to go back?”
“I didn’t think we had a choice.”
“You have a choice, Will. It’s me they really want. I’ll go. You don’t have to.”
“I think it was a package deal.”
She pulled off the street, stopped the car, and slammed it into park.
“Look, if you think you’re doing me a favor by coming with me, you’re not. It’s just one more thing for me to worry about.”
“When did I say you ever had to worry about me?”
“You know what I’m talking about. It’s better if I go it alone.”
“And what if they kill me for not going? How is that better for me?”
“I pulled the triggers on those two, Robie, not you. You can work out a deal. Go to your people. They’ll provide you cover. POTUS is on your side, for God’s sake.”
“But what if I want to go to the Burner Box?”
“Why in the hell would you? And don’t say for me, because that’ll just piss me off even more.”
“Then I’m doing it for me.”
“You’re making no sense now.”
“I want to know if I can still cut it, Jessica. The Burner will tell me that.”
“The Burner could end up killing you.”
“Well, if I can’t cut it there, I sure as hell can’t cut it in the field.”
“You heard Marks. She’ll be gunning for both of us. It won’t be a fair evaluation, despite what she said. Evan Tucker will have seen to that.”
“I don’t really care.”
“Robie, how can you not care? You’ve only got one life.”
“Now you’re the one not making sense. Every time I walk out the door I’m risking my one life.”
“Evan Tucker went after us once and missed. This is his follow-up act. I doubt he’ll make the same mistake. Unlike in Syria, he can control all aspects of the Burner Box and what goes on in there. Take it from me, an ‘accident’ will happen that will tragically end our lives.”