Kill Decision

CHAPTER 31

Henry Clarke stood in front of his Reston, Virginia, office looking up at a crescent of ghostly white moon in the daytime sky of early spring. He’d never noticed that this place was actually beautiful.

A powerful V-8 engine rolled up somewhere behind him, followed by a few taps on a horn. He kept gazing at the woods just beyond the business park. How far did they go? Funny that he’d never wondered about that.

The whine of an electric window rolling down came to his ears, and he heard a familiar woman’s voice shout, “Get in the car, Henry. We’ve got a disaster on our hands.”

Clarke turned to see Marta peering out from the rear passenger seat of a black Cadillac Escalade. Steamlike emissions trailed from the tailpipe as the driver stood by, idling. Clarke walked toward the SUV as Marta’s fingers drummed impatiently on the window frame.

She didn’t look happy. “Why haven’t you been returning messages? You’re not even carrying your phone. I’ve been trying to find you all morning.”

Clarke just stood silently at her window.

“What the hell is going on with you?” She grabbed her sunglasses from her purse and put them on with exaggerated irritation. “Get in the car!”

Clarke shook his head and looked around the parking lot. “I’m not coming.”

She frowned and leaned forward. “Get in the damned car. I can’t believe you aren’t already scrambling to deal with this.”

He gave her a blank look that must have spoken volumes.

She looked horrified. “Are you telling me you have no idea what’s just happened?”

He shrugged. “I sure don’t. And you know what? It’s kind of nice not to know what’s going on.”

“I hope you’re not still freaking out over your midnight visitor.”

“He could just as easily have killed me, Marta. And what would have happened to him? Nothing. You and I both know it.”

“Probably, but that’s not the way it-”

“I had no idea I was signing on for that. I’m not a soldier.”

“This is how the world works. Power comes at a price. Maybe now you’ll realize there are one or two things I can still teach you.”

He shook his head. “I’ve learned everything I want to know already. This isn’t fun anymore. I need to get busy finding out what I want from life.”

“Get in the damned car.”

Clarke shook his head again. “I’m not getting in the car, Marta.”

“This isn’t a request.” She pulled off her sunglasses again, her eyes boring into him. “There’s a news story about to break in media outlets we have no control over. We’ve got to get out in front of this-disarm the opposition before our support in the House and Senate crumbles. There are hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, Henry. We need a full-court press, and it’s going to take all of our resources to contain the damage. So get your ass in the car.”

Clarke looked into her hazel eyes. He could see the unhappiness there. He’d never realized that before. It seemed a dismal prospect to think that this was all he could aspire to. “I’m done.”

“You’re done when I say you’re done. There is the slight technical detail that you have a contract.”

Clarke could smell her fear. “My company has a contract with your company. Remember, you didn’t think enough of me at first to require my personal involvement. All you’ve got over me is a three-year noncompete clause.” Clarke laughed ruefully. “And I won’t be remaining in the profession.”

Her eyes narrowed at him. “If you leave now, in the middle of this crisis, we will blackball you. You don’t want to know what we can do to marginalize you, to discredit you-oh, but then again, maybe you do know.”

He couldn’t help but grin as he looked at her with something amounting to pity. “Who acts like this, Marta?” Clarke started walking along the horseshoe drive.

The black SUV rolled alongside him, keeping up. “You’re like a mental patient.”

He laughed, feeling lighter and happier with every step. “You know, I actually feel more sane than I’ve ever felt.”

Her cell phone started warbling. “Last chance, Henry. If you don’t get in this car immediately, you’ll regret it.”

At that he doubled his walking pace. It really was a beautiful spring day. He heard the electric window whine closed behind him, as the SUV’s engine thrummed. It accelerated past him, the blacked-out windows sparing him her disdainful look.

Clarke smiled to himself-as though a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He’d been dreading that conversation, and now it was over.

He watched her SUV halt at the entrance to the business park, signaling a right turn, heading to the centers of power.

Let them fight over it. He was done.

Suddenly a dark object streaked in silently from above-moving so fast he could barely perceive it. It impacted the black Escalade, waiting at the intersection, instantly detonating into a shock wave that sent metal parts, glass, hurtling into the air, followed quickly by a rolling fireball and a deafening BOOM that broke windows in the nearest office building. Car alarms started wailing all over the parking lot.

“Jesus!” Clarke was frozen in place on the sidewalk, watching the roiling flames as they consumed the twisted remains of Marta’s SUV. People abandoned nearby cars and ran for safety. Others came out of nearby office lobbies to watch the vehicle burn. As spectators began to gather, Clarke pushed through them, passing dozens of people holding up their smartphones as they tried to take video of the wreckage.