The Sixth Man

CHAPTER 64

SEAN STARED OUT the window while Michelle cleaned both their guns on the kitchen table. He’d called Megan Riley, who was upset that she had once more been relegated to an afterthought.

“I’m resigning as counsel,” she told Sean.

“Megan, please don’t do that. We need you.”

“What you need, Sean, is a kick in the ass.”

“You’re part of the team.”

“I don’t feel like I’m part of anything. Now I don’t even get to stay in the same place as you two, so what’s the point? I’ll leave the court documents at the inn. You can come and get them. I’m heading back to Virginia.”

“Megan, just give it a couple of days, please. We really do need you.”

“Words, Sean. How about some action?”

“I promise you that your time will come.”

There was a long silence. “You’ve got two days, Sean, and then I’ll be back in Virginia.”

He’d told Michelle what Megan had said.

“I can’t really blame her,” said Michelle. “And if she does jump ship, we’ll just have to find another lawyer or you’ll just have to do it.”

“But she knows a lot. She could be in danger.”

“True, but I’m just not sure what we can do about it.”

Sean put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone. A message had just come through. “Damn!”

Michelle looked up from her work. “What is it?”

“Someone left a message. I must’ve been on the phone with Megan.”

He listened to the voice mail.

“Who was it?”

“Peter Bunting.”

“What did he say?” asked Michelle.

“He wants to talk.”

“Kelly Paul was right. He did come to us.”

Sean called the man back. He answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“It’s Sean King.”

“Thank you for calling me.”

“I’m surprised to hear from you after our last meeting. My partner and I are lucky to still be breathing.”

“I don’t know what happened after I left you,” said Bunting. “But I apologize if you were put in any danger. That was not my intent. For what it’s worth the rest of the evening was far from pleasant for me either.”

“Okay.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Actually, I do.”

“I want to meet with you.”

“That’s what you said on the message. Why?”

“I have a proposition.”

“Change of heart?”

“You could say that.”

“They’ve come down hard on you, haven’t they?”

“I need to know one thing. Is Kelly Paul working with you?”

“Who?”

“We don’t have time for that,” Bunting said irritably. “Is she?”

Sean hesitated. “Yes.”

There was silence.

“Bunting?” Sean said sharply.

“We really need to meet.”

“How can you get away from them? You know they’re watching you. In fact they’re probably listening to our conversation right now.”

“Impossible,” said Bunting.

“Why?”

“Because I’m using better scrambling technology than the president of the Untied States uses for his calls. Not even the NSA can touch it. And as soon as you picked up on your line, my technology pipeline was extended to your phone as well.”

“But that still doesn’t answer my question of how you can physically get away from them.”

“Leave it to me. I didn’t build a billion-dollar business in the intelligence arena by being a moron.”

“And your family?”

“Let me worry about that. I’m assuming you’re somewhere near Edgar Roy. How about we rendezvous halfway? Say Portland, Maine?”

“When?”

“Tomorrow night.”

Sean said, “Where in Portland?”

“There’s a restaurant down by the waterfront. Clancy’s. They’re open until midnight. My wife and I used to go there when we were dating.”

“If you’re trying to set us up–”

“My family is in danger, Mr. King, and I need to make this right.”

Sean let the silence linger. He listened to the other man’s tight breathing.

“See you in Portland,” said Sean.