Near Miss

Chapter 50

Ed Rawls watched the departure of the Russians from the dock next door and did a head count: two missing. He sent Peter Greco a text with this information and confirmed that the two were the same pair Greco had suspected would be the problem.

In short order he received a reply: This should be a straightforward assassination. You may shoot to kill. Don’t forget the cleanup. Payment will be as agreed and placed in your mailbox.

Consider it done, Ed wrote back. He walked over to the newly renovated house next door, which he knew to be unoccupied, carrying only a key and a briefcase.

He assembled the Czech sniper’s rifle, set up a tripod on an upper deck where it could not be seen from the road, and checked the view from the deck, past his house and dock. As the sun set, a dinghy appeared at the dock of the new house, and two men carrying duffels alit on the dock and tied up the dinghy.

Using a 24x monoscope, he followed them up the dock and past his perch, watching as they waited behind shrubbery for the traffic to clear, then crossed the road. Ed went back to his silenced rifle and began to follow their progress with the rifle’s scope. A message came on his radio, through the earpiece. “Anytime now.”

Ed aimed at the second of the two figures sneaking up to the house, and sighted him in. He squeezed off a round, catching the man above the ear and felling him. His companion turned around to discover the source of the sound he had heard, and Ed shot him in the forehead before he could collect himself.

Ed spoke into the radio. “All present, dead, and accounted for,” he said.

“Excellent,” came Greco’s reply. “When will disposal take place?”

“Your part, as soon as the sun goes down,” Rawls said.

“They will be bundled and delivered to you in the craft they arrived on, at that time,” Greco said.

“Good. I will complete my part after dinner, pending receipt of payment.”

“Done.”

Rawls disassembled and packed the rifle. He walked back to his house, put the case in his safe, then got into his car for the drive to the Barrington house. On the way, he stopped at the mailbox to collect the waiting envelope. When he reached his destination, he took a moment to do a fast count of the envelope’s contents, pocketed it, and walked up to the house.

Carly met him at the front door, while the others were just gathering at the table. “Come in, Ed, and take a seat.”

Stone looked at him questioningly for a moment. Rawls nodded.

“Welcome, all,” Stone said, raising a glass of a fine California Chardonnay to them in greeting.

The others joined the toast, then they all took a seat.

Mary began distributing plates, and Seth, her husband, brought in a large serving dish, set it on a trivet at the center of the table, and removed the lid. Stone was handed each plate and, in turn, filled them with roast pork and apples and sent them around the table.

“Bon appétit,” he said, raising his replenished glass. They responded, then dug in.

After dinner and an hour of drinking port and eating Stilton before the fireplace, Rawls excused himself. “Pardon me for leaving a little early, but I forgot to set out the trash.”

He drove back to his house, using his iPhone to work his way through the security system, then he walked down to the dock. Tied up on the opposite side of his own dinghy was the one the failed assassins had left at the neighboring dock. Inside it lay two lumps in separate canvas bags, each properly weighted.

Rawls brought his dinghy alongside and took the other in tow. Some distance out on Penobscot Bay, he checked the depth sounder, found himself in nearly a hundred feet of water. He rolled each bag overboard and waited for it to sink, then he put a few holes in the other dinghy and watched it go under.

Satisfied with his evening’s work, he returned to his dock, secured his boat, and walked to the house. He checked all his security checkpoints, then let himself in. Shortly, he searched his satellite directory for programs he had recorded, then settled in to watch a new season’s debut of Succession.

Who were these people? he wondered of the cast. He wouldn’t have any of them in his house!