Consent To Kill

41

Gould awoke to the sound of the TV and Claudia crying. It took him a moment to even remember where he was and he looked at the TV and saw a photo of Anna Rielly. They'd first heard the news on the radio the night before, driving through Columbus, Ohio. Claudia cried for the better part of an hour. Fortunately, he had told her the truth, which was that he didn't know if the woman had survived. He had waited as long as he could before triggering the explosion and when he left the scene she was in the front yard.

When they reached the hotel in Indianapolis, Claudia cried herself to sleep and now here she was in the morning shedding yet more tears. This pregnancy thing was really screwing with her emotions, and Gould didn't know how much more he could take. He'd tried to console her with words, he'd tried to comfort her by holding her, but nothing was working. This was not the first time he'd killed someone other than the primary target, and she had never so much as had a sniffle before.

Gould rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom. After relieving himself he stood in front of the mirror staring at his reflection. He looked the same. Same hazel eyes, same wavy brown hair, same broken nose. Nothing had changed, inside or out, for him, but something had fundamentally changed for Claudia. As they were falling asleep in the hotel room, Gould reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. It was a gesture he'd made countless times. It was silent in nature, but it communicated the simple message that he was there for her. He did not expect his touch to cause her to shudder and whimper with even greater intensity. Although her reaction hurt his feelings, he was too tired to pursue something that he knew words could not solve. This was going to take time.

Gould was still tired. After leaving Rapp's house he'd thrown the bike in the back of the pickup truck and whipped a quick U-turn. Back on the paved roads he made his way over to U.S. Route 301 and took it south across the Potomac River and into Virginia. He'd located Caledon State Park on a map, and it looked to be the perfect place to dump the truck. It was only a few miles across the river into Virginia. Gould drove past the main entrance and continued down Virginia State Route 218 until he found a secondary road that led into the park. A half mile into the park, with no one else in sight, he put the truck into four-wheel drive and turned onto an overgrown trail. Once he'd made it far enough in that he could no longer see the road through his rearview mirror he shut the engine off and grabbed his backpack and helmet. Gould took the license plates off, shoved a hand towel from the hotel into the gas tank, and then doused the cab and the rest of the vehicle in gasoline. The forest looked pretty dry so he took a few steps back before lighting the match and then let it fly.

He took off on the mountain bike and was near the town of Osso when the fire trucks passed him heading in the other direction. Thirty-four minutes later he pulled up in front of the James Monroe Museum and left the bike unlocked in a bike stand. He then walked three blocks and found Claudia waiting behind the wheel of a white Town and Country minivan. Gould got in the front passenger seat, kissed her, and they were on their way. Once they were a few miles outside of town Gould had her pull over and he took over driving duties. He set the cruise control five miles an hour over the posted limit and told Claudia to e-mail the German and tell him it was done. That was when she'd asked about Rapp's wife.

They'd driven through the late afternoon and well into the night. Gould wanted to get as far away from Washington as possible. They were now on their third rental car in as many days, all of them acquired under a new license and credit card. There was no trail for anyone to follow. They were going to disappear into America's heartland for a month if need be and then make their move. At least that had been the plan, but now Claudia was acting so strange, Gould wondered if it wouldn't be better to turn south and get her out of the country.

He looked at his watch. It was 8:06 in the morning, and he was horny. He stared at his reflection in the mirror and told himself to get any thought of sex out of his head. He told himself it was the pregnancy. Once she got her hormones under control she'd be fine. She'd be back to her old self. Maybe she'd even miss the thrill of the hunt. He knew he would.

Gould came out of the bathroom. Claudia was propped up in bed, a box of tissues on her lap, her normally beautiful almond-shaped brown eyes looking very tired and puffy. Gould turned off the TV and said, "Stop torturing yourself. What's done is done."

She shook her head and refused to look at him. "How did it ever come to this?" "Comment en est-on arrivй а un tel point?"

Considering her current fragile state he didn't even bother to reprimand her, but he did note that her operational discipline was shot. It might not be wise to take her anywhere. "Darling, we have been through a lot together. The important thing is that we are putting all of it behind us. Do I wish things could have ended differently? Of course, but I have told you before…she knew who she was married to. Mitch Rapp was responsible for hundreds, maybe thousands of deaths. How many innocent women and children do you think were sacrificed so he could kill someone the United States deemed a terrorist?"

"I don't know." She raised her chin in defiance. "And neither do you. I think the Americans practice great restraint in this awful war."

"The Americans, with their arrogance, have brought this on themselves."

"You better be careful." Claudia raised her voice. "You're beginning to sound like some of my old university friends who you despise so much."

The mere mention of her socialist deadbeat friends sent Gould's temper flaring. The last thing they needed was a shouting match that ended with the hotel calling the police, so he checked his temper and in as calm a voice as he could muster said, "Everybody is killing each other. Each side tries to take the righteous high ground, and all we've done is sit in the middle and profit."

"It's a hell of a way to make a profit." She looked out the window and shook her head.

It was obvious she was disgusted, but Gould couldn't tell if it was with him or herself. "Claudia, I'm sorry." Part of him wanted to scream at her to go turn herself in if it bothered her so fucking much, but that wouldn't solve a thing. He lowered his head, and even though he didn't mean it, he said, "I'm sorry, I let you down."

With that he put on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and picked up the car keys sitting on the desk.

"Where are you going?" Claudia asked.

"I'm not sure." He grabbed a Chicago Cubs baseball cap he'd purchased at a truck stop yesterday evening and slid into his tennis shoes.

"I thought you wanted to get on the road."

He detected a bit of nervousness in her voice, which was what he wanted to hear. "I get the feeling you'd rather not be around me right now." Gould grabbed the door handle and said, "I'll be back in time to check out. If you decide you'd like us to go our separate ways I'll understand." Before she could say anything Gould opened the door and was gone. Pregnancy or not, he felt he had to do something to snap her out of her current emotional state. Yelling at her would only make things worse. Passive-aggressive was the better path to take. A subtle threat to leave would force her to look at more than just the last twenty-four hours. She knew he loved her, but she also knew he had the lone wolf gene in him. A little solitude and the thought of raising their child all on her own would get her thinking rationally again.