The Summer House

Chapter 74

Special Agent Manuel Sanchez is on his way to the Ralston jail, the other Ford behind him, Pierce driving, Doc Huang sitting next to him.

After York left for her trip to the Waffle House — How in hell can anybody seriously eat at a place that sounds like it belongs in a Disney park? Sanchez thinks — they went back to the convenience store to see if they could get the current manager to say anything more about the indictment that’s put the store in danger, but the manager they talked to last had been replaced by a gracious woman with about a half dozen English words in her vocabulary.

Another visit to the funeral home revealed the director is gone on an unexpected trip to Atlanta, and District Attorney Cornelius Slate is in the middle of a trial and can’t be disturbed.

The sky is overcast, and Sanchez feels, yeah, a big-ass storm is coming, and everyone’s heading for the hills.

Sanchez is in a hurry, but he’s keeping his speed right below the limit. No use giving Sheriff Williams and her criminal gang an opportunity to pull them over for speeding. He did the same back in LA as a cop, when looking for any excuse to—

The other Ford is flashing its lights, honking its horn, and his phone starts ringing.

Damn it, he thinks, something must be up.

He pulls over the Ford, braking hard, tossing up a cloud of dust from the side of the road. Around them are nothing but trees, fields, barbed wire, and skinny cows.

Sanchez gets out as Huang and Pierce come over to him, both looking worried.

“Give,” he says.

The dust settles. Huang gives him his phone, set to the home page of an Atlanta TV station.

Sanchez tries to scroll through the screen, but he does it wrong, and a goddamn weather app shows up.

Pierce wipes at his forehead. “They’re not identifying the two dead,” the JAG lawyer says, “but the seriously wounded is a woman. We’ve been calling Connie’s cell ever since the story broke. No answer.”

“What now?” Huang says. “Manny, what do we do now?”

Sanchez gives the smartphone back to Pierce. “I’m heading to Savannah. You find out what hospital York’s been taken to, let me know. If she learned anything before the sons of bitches started shooting, I want to find out.”

“And what about us?” Pierce asks.

Sanchez walks back to his rental. “You two stay on the job. Get to the Ralston jail. And—”

He stops.

Their original goal was to try to see the Rangers again, to find out why in hell the staff sergeant is planning to plead guilty tomorrow.

But the ambush of York changes everything.

Sanchez quickly walks back. “You two get to the jail. I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but you’re going to protect those three Rangers. Got it? All the witnesses in this county are gone, and now they’re going after us. The Rangers are next. Get to the jail, do what it takes to protect them.”

Pierce says, “How?”

“Figure it out.”

From Huang: “But...”

“But what?” Sanchez says. “We’ve got no time.”

Huang looks at Pierce. “We’re... a lawyer and a doctor. That’s all. How can we do this?”

Sanchez says, “You’re wrong, Doc. You’re both armed officers of the United States Army. Act like it.”

Then he heads back to the rental and, after his first two steps, starts running.