Silent Treatment

Chapter41

'Raymond, you were careless seven yearsago,' Garvey said. 'And you were careless tonight.' Still holding his revolverto Harry's temple, he shuffled sideways away from the front door, until his backwas to the river. 'My man big Jerry, here, called the gatehouse to set up agolf game with his pal. And what do you know? No answer. Now then, get thatthing off Dr. Perchek's hand.'

Santana didn't move. 'You son of a bitch,'he said. 'How many of our guys did you get killed? How did you get paid? By thescalp?'

Ray glanced towards the door. It was onlythe slightest movement, but Harry caught it. So did Garvey.

'Don't try to pull that shit with me,' hesaid. 'There's no one out there, and you know it. Face it, Raymond. You tried,you lost. Now take that off Anton's hand.'

Santana again glanced towards the door — just a flick of his eyes. Then he reached over and loosened the screw. Perchekflexed his finger and the device clattered to the oak floor.

'A lot of the guys you sold out hadfamilies,' Ray said. 'Kids that had to grow up without a father. We worked forshit pay and took crazy risks because we believed in what we were doing. We alltrusted you. And you just handed us over one by one. I can understand him.' Hegestured toward The Doctor. 'He works for the highest bidder, whoever ithappens to be. He's a machine. But you. . you're something worse. You'rescum — a soulless, gutless traitor.'

'The tape,' Garvey snapped. 'Take it offhis mouth.' Santana complied, though not at all gently. 'You should have stayedback in Kentucky, or wherever the hell you were, Raymond. Everyone would havebeen much better off. Now we've got to run some sort of damage control in orderto keep my pet project up and running.'

'Is that why you broke Perchek out ofprison? To work for The Roundtable?'

'Let's just say that as soon as I got thehang of my new career in the health insurance business, I appreciated thepossibilities. Now, however, I need to find out who among my knights needs tobe taught a lesson in loyalty. Fortunately for us, I believe our friend Dr.Corbett can come up with that information. And coincidentally, we have just theman here who can help him do it. You will help, won't you Anton?'

Perchek smiled. 'It will be a pleasure.'

'So move aside there, Raymond. Big Jerrywill untie The Doctor. Harry, would you be so kind as to crawl over and takeDr. Perchek's place in that chair?'

Garvey placed his gun barrel at the baseof Harry's skull and forced him down to his hands and knees. Slowly, Harrymoved across to Maura, still on the floor. His eyes were fixed on Santana, whoremained crouched beside Perchek.

For the third time, Ray glanced minutely,almost inadvertently, toward the front door. Harry found himself beginning tobelieve there actually was someone out there. Sean Garvey clearly feltthe same way.

'Jerry, I'm sure our friend Raymond isrunning a scam, but just take a quick look outside, will you? Then untie thegood doctor.'

Harry heard the motion behind him as Jerrymoved to the front door.

Then suddenly, snarling with rage andhatred, Santana sprang from his crouch and charged his one-time boss. Garveyshot him at point-blank range — once, then again. Jerry whirled quickly andtwice fired into him from behind. But Santana's unearthly cry only grew louder.He collided chest high with Garvey, driving him backward through the screendoor and out on to the deck. Jerry lunged toward them, but Harry could see hewas too late. Santana, silent now, had his nemesis in a death grip. His legswere churning like a halfback's even though life had already left his body.Garvey hit the top of the waist-high guardrail just as Ray pushed off, and thetwo men flipped over the railing like toys. Garvey's scream filled the night.Then it stopped with the suddenness of a guillotine.

Jerry was staring at the spot where thetwo men had vanished when Perchek cried out his name. He spun around just asHarry dove from his knees for the corner of the table where Santana had placedhis gun. Harry grasped the butt of the pistol at the moment the killer fired.The edge of the table shattered. Harry rolled, then rolled again as a shotslammed into the floor behind him. There was pain in his chest, but he was farbeyond reacting to it. Then suddenly, he was on his belly, sighting down thebarrel of his gun at the chest of the man who was preparing to kill him. It washis recurring Nha-trang dream. This time, though, there was no youthful Asianface, no loud report echoing in his ears — only a soft spitting sound and aflash of flame. The front of the behemoth's neck blew apart, just above hisjersey. He flew backward, exploding through the plate glass window and on tothe deck.

Harry scrambled to his feet, prepared tofire again. But there was no need. The man lay motionless, blood spurting fromhis severed carotid artery. In just a few seconds, the spurting became atrickle. Maura raced to Harry's side. He slipped off his rucksack and took outa powerful flashlight. Together, they peered over the railing of the deck.Santana and Garvey, their bodies shattered, lay on the rocks a hundred feetbelow.

'Oh, Ray,' Harry murmured.

Maura quickly turned away.

'At least Ray's pain is finally over,' shesaid, stepping clear of the huge corpse, stretched out on a bier of brokenglass just a few feet away. 'He told me in the hospital that he didn't think hecould go on much longer. When he got the call about Perchek's fingerprint, he'dbeen thinking more and more about suicide.'

Out of Maura's line of sight, Harry bracedhimself on the railing until the boring pain beneath his breastbone began tosubside.

Damn. Not now.

'Perchek injected him with thathyconidol,' he said finally. 'Ray hated him. But Garvey was the one he reallywanted. Garvey was the one who handed him and the other undercover agents over.Listen, we ought to get out of here before the other guys at the main housecome over. We can call the police from my RV.' He left the railing and followedMaura back inside. 'Okay, Perchek, let's go. Mess with me in any way, and Iswear I'll kill you.'

'I can see that you are very good atthat,' The Doctor said.

Harry replaced the adhesive tape gag, cutthe rope binding him to the chair, and forced him facedown on the floor. Onceagain he noted that Perchek was powerfully built, especially through theshoulders and arms. And even with his revolver pressed against the man's spine,Harry still felt at risk.

'Tightly,' he said as Maura tied Perchek'shands behind him. 'Make sure his hands are relaxed. I don't want even a littleslack. Then take that gun on the floor over there. Be sure the safety is-'

'I know. I know.'

Harry pulled Perchek to his feet andforced him through the door. Across the room, bound and gagged, the guardwatched them go.

'Down this way, along the fence,' Harryordered in a whisper. 'Maura, keep your eyes out for the other two guys.'

They moved carefully through rain-soakedbushes and shrubs. Ten yards. Twenty. The fieldstone wall was easy to see now.

'There!' Maura whispered urgently.

She pointed at a figure moving stealthilytoward them across the lawn, gun drawn. Harry pulled the adhesive tape fromPerchek's mouth.

'Tell him to stop right there,' he said.Perchek said nothing. Harry jammed the muzzle into the base of his neck.

'Dammit, do as I say, or I swear I'll killyou right now!'

'It's me, Perchek. Don't come any closer.The good doctor has a gun in my back.'

'Where's Doug?' the guard called back.

'Dead. Now just stay where you are.'

'No, back away!' Harry yelled. 'Back awaynow! But stay on the grass where I can see you. Maura, we're going to head forthe gate. There's one more of them somewhere, so keep looking.'

They crossed the lawn. Harry held the ropebinding Perchek's wrist in one hand and Santana's silenced pistol in the other.Maura kept her revolver poised to fire.

'You'd best kill me,' Perchek said.

'Shut up.'

'Santana didn't take advantage of theopportunity when he had it, and look how he ended up.'

They had reached the gate. Harry checkedinside the guard house. No one.

'Keep close,' he whispered. 'Is that guystill out on the lawn?'

'Still there,' she said.

'Okay.'

He held his breath, pulled Perchek closer,and guided him through the ornate wrought-iron pedestrian gate, adjacent to themassive main gate. The Winnebago was right where they had left it, fifty yardsdown the road.

'Maura, that mobile home is ours. The keyis under the right rear tire. You drive, I'll stay with him. It looks imposing,but there's no trick to driving it. Just turn it on and go. Until we get there,keep your eye behind us. Shoot anything that moves.'

'Last chance,' Perchek said.

Harry did not bother responding. Hisattention was fixed on the huge mobile home, now no more than thirty feet away.

'Everything still okay back there?'

'No problem,' Maura said.

'Were almost there.'

They were at the corner of the wall now,less than ten feet from the RV. It appeared undisturbed.

'Okay. You go for the key. I'll coveryou.'

Harry pressed back against the side of theWinnebago. Maura ducked past him, ran to the rear tire, and swept her handbeneath it. Again, Harry held his breath.

Be there, he prayed.

'Got it,' she said.

She hurried back to the door on thepassenger side, opened it, and clambered across into the driver's seat. Harryguided The Doctor over to the step.

'Okay, Perchek. Step up and get on to thatcouch over there,' he said.

At that moment, a gunshot cracked fromsomewhere atop the wall near the gate and a bullet slammed into the metal byHarry's face. Before he could react, a second shot tore through his upper arm.He cried out and reeled back against the side of the RV clutching the wound.The gun dropped from his hand. It took only a second for Perchek, his handsstill tightly bound behind him, to sprint off toward the gate. Another bulletsnapped into the side of the Winnebago. Maura jumped to the ground, but Perchekwas already diving to safety through the pedestrian gate. She fired three timestoward the wall, but the shadow on top of it had disappeared.

'I'm okay,' Harry said. 'Get up there andstart this thing. I can make it.'

He followed her into the Winnebago andslammed the door behind him. Seconds later, Maura pulled away. He tore away thesleeve of his turtleneck. The bullet had hit the meat part of his deltoid andexited only an inch or so lateral to where it went in. Blood was oozingsteadily from the wounds, but it was venous bleeding, not arterial. He couldmove his fingers and his elbow, although there was a good deal of pain — enoughto think the shaft of the humerus might have been hit as well. He wrapped thesleeve around the wounds and used his teeth and free hand to tie it as tightlyas he could stand. As Maura sped past the massive gate, the headlights of thesedan that had been parked there flicked on. Harry cursed himself for notthinking to shoot out a tire as they walked past it.

They're coming after us,' he said.

'Where should I go?'

'The river's off to the right. Stay onthis road and look for a left you can make.'

'Harry, this thing is huge.'

'Just take it up to as fast as you canhandle it and then go a little faster.' He snatched up the phone and dialed911. 'This is Dr. Harry Corbett! I'm wanted by the police. Right now we'redriving along the Palisades in a Winnebago motor home, being chased by men whowant to kill us. We're-'

The window beside Maura exploded inward,showering her with glass. Reflexively, she ducked, then poked her head up andaccelerated through forty.

'You all right?'

'Cut on my arm and my face, but I'm okay.'

Tires and brakes screeched as she snappedthe wheel to the left. They skidded on the wet pavement, then felt a bump andheard the crunch of metal against metal. The lurch sent cabinets flying open.The fax machine snapped off its stand and shattered against the wall. Pots,pans, and canned goods clattered out on to the carpet and bounced off the teakdining table.

'Can you put your seat belt on?'

'I can't let go of the wheel.'

Harry dropped the phone, picked up Maura'sgun, and raced to the driver's-side window in the lounge.

'I don't see them!' he cried. 'Maybe youknocked them off the-'

The window behind him shattered. Hewhirled and fired three shots just as Maura pulled the wheel sharply to theright. He lost his balance and cried out as his wounded arm struck a counter.The collision with the sedan was louder and more forceful this time. The heavysedan was much faster, but hardly a match for the Luxor in close-in battle.

'Harry?'

'I'm okay. There are three of them, Ithink! Perchek's in the back seat! I'm sure of that!'

He had to holler now to be heard over therush of wind and the roar of the two engines. They were heading down a fairlysteep hill.

'Harry, I can barely stay on the road!'

'Is there any way you can make a left onto a side street?'

'I'm going fifty-five! I'd have to slow toten! I just hope this road doesn't turn too sharply, or we're going to tipover!'

'Hang in there! You're doing great!'

The sedan pulled alongside them again.This time, the center window on the driver's side was shot in. Harry bracedhimself and pulled the trigger of his revolver, but got only an impotent click.The pursuers inched forward.

'Watch it, Maura!' he cried.

A shot came through the vacant windowbeside her and spiderwebbed half the windshield. She whipped the wheel to theleft. Only the pressure from the sedan kept them from flipping. Harry scrambledinto the passenger seat, fumbled for the seat belt with his wounded arm, andthen gave up trying. If she didn't have one on, he didn't want one either.

'Harry, they're in front of us, trying tocut us off!' she yelled. 'I can hardly see through this windshield! Harry,watch out! The road's gone! They're in front of us!'

The sedan had spun against the grille ofthe Winnebago, beneath the massive windshield. It was being pushed sideways,plowing through a forest of saplings and low bushes at fifty miles an hour.Trees snapped like firecrackers as the Winnebago barreled forward, brakesscreeching. Several larger trees flashed past, their branches whipping throughthe empty windows. Again and again, the wheel spun out of Maura's grasp. Eachtime she managed to steady it. Then suddenly, the dense young woods fell away.A ten-yard stretch of wild grass ended in blackness. Ahead of them were thelights of Manhattan. Well below them was the Hudson.

'Harry! Harry!' Maura cried, bracingherself. 'We're going over!'

The sedan and motor home hurled off theedge of the precipice together. Harry grabbed the edge of his seat, stiffenedhis legs, and watched through the cracked windshield in numb horror as the cartumbled away from them and hit the water just beneath them. The Winnebago nosedslightly downward as it passed over the spot where the sedan had splashed down.It hammered into the ebony water with dizzying force, striking it first withthe front bumper. Instantly, the windshield collapsed inward, and the massivedual airbags filled. Chilly water flooded the cabin.

Harry snapped forward and collided withthe dash at the instant the airbag drove him back into the seat. The pain inhis chest, which had never fully abated, exploded through him once more.

'Maura!' he cried.

The river poured in with force, fillingthe Winnebago in seconds. Still tilted forward, the huge RV glided downward,beneath the surface. Harry, battling the rushing water, the airbag, and thepain in his arm and chest, inhaled deeply and clawed his way toward thedriver's seat, expecting at any moment to connect with Maura's body. The murkyriver pushed him backward toward the sitting area. He kicked off his sneakersand struggled to calm and orient himself. The blackness was total. Wherewere the windows? Below him? Above? Were they still sinking? His breath wasgoing. He kicked and battled to find a way out. Nothing. Water was entering hisnose and mouth. Soon, any second now, he would have to take a breath. He feltthe consuming panic of being trapped in water — panic unlike any he had everknown.

His movements grew weaker, more futile.The pain in his chest grew worse. Water seeped down his throat.

Breathe, his mind cried. You musttake a breath.

Darkness closed in.

Reluctantly, Harry surrendered to it. Hisarms grew heavy. The dreadful ache beneath his breastbone began to fade. Then,at the instant his consciousness vanished, he felt a hand take hold of the backof his shirt.