Relentless

5

“By morning,” Vickers continued, “a cordon of police officers and National Guard troops will have this mountain range completely surrounded. We’re establishing roadblocks on every road and trail that comes out of the range. If the storm holds off until daylight, the troops will begin to move into the mountains from all sides, and we’ll have helicopters up there to locate the fugitives. We’ve got them bottled up in there-they’ve got no way out. It’s only a question of time now.”

Ben Lansford’s outdoor eyes squinted at Vickers. He made a half turn and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, bobbing and ducking his head. A lot of excited talk ran around the yard. Lansford met Sam Watchman’s glance, ran a hand through his hair showing his desperation, and said in a lower voice than he’d used before, “You mean you’ve got these horses saddled right here and you’re not going in after them.”

Vickers stepped in. “Mr. Lansford, they’re only three horses. There are at least five heavily armed men out there. I don’t see taking the kind of risks we’d run with a three-man scavenger hunt.” Vickers made an elaborate sweeping arc with his arm and looked at his watch. “Once the fugitives have satisfied themselves there’s no way out of those mountains past the cordon of troops they’ll have to see the logic of releasing your wife and giving themselves up.”

“Will they?” Lansford said. “Would you?”

“Naturally.”

Lansford’s mouth clamped shut: rage swelled behind his eyes. You could see the obsession that had him in its grip. Five toughs had his wife. One look at Ben Lansford-bluff, loud, impatient, arrogant-and you knew the kind of conclusions he must have jumped to.

And it was little comfort knowing they might be the right conclusions.

Vickers said, “Try to relax, Mr. Lansford. We’ll keep you advised of every development. But right now there’s nothing for any of us to do but wait.”

Watchman’s hair rose. He had tried to convince himself it wasn’t going to come to this but that had been stupid. Obviously it was going to happen the same way every time Vickers found a theory that pleased him. Vickers and his kind had this marvelous ability to find ways to make all the facts fit the theory.

Vickers was continuing in his clumsy reassuring voice: “If the storm passes by we’ll move in right away at dawn. If it doesn’t, the fugitives won’t be going anywhere either. In either case, Mr. Lansford, thousands of men will ridgewalk every inch of those mountains if it becomes necessary. We’re good at what we’re paid to do. Trust us.”

Watchman turned. “I’d like a word with you.”

“Go ahead.”

“In private.” He turned past Vickers, went by the horse trailers and chose a spot behind the jeep.