Читать книгу The Payback - Mike Lawson - Страница 15

‘Sir,’ the marine said, ‘I need to check that bag.’

Norton couldn’t believe it. Tonight, of all nights. They didn’t usually check things going out the gates, and if he had left at the same time all the other day-shift workers had, they never would have stopped him. But he was going out late because of what Carmody had told him to do – and because of what had happened today – and now the damn marine at the gate, a nineteen-year-old kid bored out of his skull, had decided to fuck with him.

‘Uh, yeah sure,’ Norton said. There was no point arguing with the marine; you can’t argue with marines. He put his backpack on the little table near the gate and unconsciously hitched up his pants. When he realized what he was doing, he stopped immediately. He had to get a grip on himself.

‘Would you please open the bag, sir,’ the marine said.

Norton opened the backpack and the marine peered inside. Inside the backpack was a paperback book, a pair of sunglasses, a brown bag containing the remains of Norton’s lunch, and a chessboard. The marine removed the lunch bag from the backpack, peered inside, then set it aside. Then he reached for the chessboard.

Oh please, God, Norton thought.

The marine hefted the chessboard in his hand. ‘This thing’s pretty heavy,’ he said. ‘What’s it made out of?’

Before Norton could answer, a voice behind him said, ‘You search that bastard good, Corporal. He works for me and I want to make sure he’s not stealing me blind.’

Carmody placed a big hand on the back of Norton’s neck and gave it a squeeze like he was being friendly. The squeeze wasn’t friendly.

To the marine, Carmody said, ‘In fact, you oughta put on some gloves, son, and probe this boy’s orifices. The only problem is, he might enjoy it.’

The young marine smiled – he couldn’t stop himself – then quickly rearranged his face back into a serious expression.

‘Sir,’ he said to Carmody, ‘if you could please step …’

Carmody glanced at the marine’s name tag. ‘Heesacker,’ he said. ‘Did you have an older brother, flew choppers in Iraq in ’92?’

‘Uh, no, sir,’ the marine said.

‘Well, you’re the spittin’ image of a guy named Heesacker I knew over there.’

‘You were in the corps, sir?’ the marine said.

Norton saw the marine was still holding the damn chessboard.

‘Nah,’ Carmody said. ‘SEALs.’

The young marine almost saluted. SEALs were his gods; a SEAL was what he wanted to be.

The marine shoved the chessboard back into Norton’s backpack and replaced the lunch bag he’d removed. To Norton, he said, ‘You have a good evening, sir.’ Looking directly into Carmody’s eyes, he added, ‘Both of you.’

Carmody and Norton walked together for a block, neither man speaking. Norton was afraid to speak. When they reached the lot where Norton’s car was parked, Carmody said, ‘Did you get them?’

‘Yeah,’ Norton said, and he reached into the back of his baggy pants and pulled out two square plastic cases containing unlabeled CDs.

‘Give me the laptop, too,’ Carmody said.

Norton quickly unzipped his backpack and handed the chessboard to Carmody.

Carmody stared at Norton for a second, and then he put his face close to Norton’s and said very softly, ‘Somebody died today because you fucked up. The next time you fuck up, guess who’s gonna die?’

Carmody stood in the center of an old steel bridge called the Manette Bridge. From where he was standing he could see the shipyard less than a mile away. The drydocks were lit by banks of lights – like those used for night games in old ballparks – so work could proceed around the clock.

Carmody looked around, made sure there were no cars coming from either direction, and dropped the chessboard into the water below him. He had thought about just hiding the laptop but had decided not to take the risk. He’d get another when they needed one, which probably wouldn’t be for quite a while.

He placed his forearms on the bridge rail and looked down into the water.

This whole thing was coming apart; it was time to shut it down. But he knew she wouldn’t do that. He looked at his watch. He had to get going. The rendezvous was in less than two hours.

She made him drive a long way from Bremerton for the meeting, past Green Mountain, up a winding road that changed from pavement to gravel and ended at a clear-cut section of forest surrounded by a lonely ring of still-standing trees. She also kept him waiting longer than normal before she approached his car, taking twice as much time to make sure he hadn’t been followed.

She entered the car and he was surprised at the way she was dressed. She normally wore the sort of clothes a cat burglar would wear, dark jeans and a long-sleeved dark T-shirt. But tonight she was wearing a low-cut black cocktail dress, a dress which showed off very good legs. On her feet were sexy, impractical high heels that must have been tough to walk in in the area where they were parked. She even had on perfume. The rendezvous must have caused her to interrupt or cancel whatever plans she’d had for the evening, but Carmody couldn’t imagine her having a social life. He had no idea what she did when they were apart; he had always thought of her as a beautiful vampire lying in a coffin waiting until the sun disappeared.

As usual she began without any sort of greeting. ‘What will you do now?’ she said.

‘Wait. Just lay back and wait.’

She stared at him a moment then nodded.

‘Did he talk to anyone before he left the shipyard?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You have to control those fools,’ she said.

‘Hey! I didn’t recruit them,’ Carmody said.

‘They’re your responsibility,’ she snapped.

She was right about that.

‘How long do you think we’ll have to wait?’

Carmody shrugged. ‘Maybe a month.’

She paused a beat then nodded. One thing Carmody liked about her – maybe the only thing – was that she didn’t waste time nagging at him, telling him that she wasn’t happy with the delay.

Apparently having nothing more to ask him, or further instructions to give him, she opened the door and started to leave the car.

‘There’s something else you need to know,’ Carmody said.