He walked back to his truck trying to keep his nerves steady. He climbed in the rig, fired it up and pulled away. As he steered one-handed along the winding country road, he used his free hand to flip open the glove box. He pulled out his nine-millimeter pistol and laid it on the seat next to him.

John Carr here I come.

CHAPTER 58

ANNABELLE LOOKED DOWN at her vibrating phone. "Who would be calling me in the middle of the night?"

"Maybe it's Reuben?" said Caleb as he drove along.

"No. I don't recognize the number." She flipped open the phone.

"Hello?"

"Annabelle? How's it going?"

She snapped, "What the hell do you want?"

Alex Ford said pleasantly, "It's nice to hear your voice too."

"I'm a little busy, Alex."

"I'm sure you are."

"Wait a minute. Where are you calling from? I didn't recognize the number."

"A payphone."

"Why a payphone?"

"Because I'm pretty sure my home, cell and office phones are being tapped."

"And why is that?" she said slowly. "Is Knox on your case still?"

"That's why I'm calling. I got a frantic phone call from Knox's daughter, Melanie. She's a lawyer in D.C. Her dad's disappeared."

"No he hasn't. He's after Oliver and we're after Knox."

"And where is all this taking place?"

"In the boondocks of southwest Virginia. So you can tell little Melanie that her daddy is just fine. For now at least."

"That's not all. His house was turned over by someone looking for something, and I'm not talking your random burglary. And on top of that I had a visitor, a man named Macklin Hayes."

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"No reason it should. He's a former army three-star who's now on the intelligence side. His rep is like a Carter Gray only more sinister and evil. He's also Knox's boss and he doesn't know where his guy is, which means Knox is roaming free."

"Why would he be doing that?"

"He might if he found out something that made him uncomfortable about what was really going on with all this. I don't think Knox is a killer. He's a tracker, and if Hayes put him on Oliver, he must be the best they have on that score. It seems clear that when Knox finds Oliver, he was to call in Hayes' heavy artillery to finish the job."

"What would Knox have found that would make him start freelancing?"

"No clue. How close are you to finding Oliver?"

"Hard to say. We narrowed it down to four towns up here-at least we think that's the case. We've cleared two of them and we're heading to a third now."

"Caleb and Reuben with you?"

"Of course. We're the Camel Club, remember?"

"Or what's left of it."

"Yeah, we seem to be dropping members like flies in a jar. Of course some chose to leave, others had no choice."

"Annabelle, I'm trying to help here, okay? I'm taking a big risk just talking to you about this."

"Nobody's asking you to take any risk, Alex. Just go back to your nice, safe federal job."

"What is it about you that pisses me off so much?"

"My girlish personality?"

"Well, keep this in mind, girly. If Knox is on his own then in Hayes' eyes he's become a target just like Oliver. Hayes will take them both out and anybody else who's standing around."

"The three of us are willing to take that risk."

"I know you are, but have you bothered to ask the other two?"

"I don't have to ask. The fact that they're with me right now is all the answer I need. Unlike some people."

Caleb glanced nervously over at Annabelle.

"Okay, just don't say I didn't warn you."

"Yeah, thanks for all your help." She clicked off and threw the phone down.

"I take it the conversation didn't go all that well," Caleb said.

"You can take it that way, yeah."

"So what did he say?"

"Hang on a minute. There's Reuben."

The big fellow was waving to them from the side of the dark road. They pulled over and in a few minutes had loaded the motorcycle into the back of the van. As they resumed driving Annabelle filled them both in on what Alex had told her. At the mention of Hayes' name Reuben's face turned a shade paler.

"Macklin Hayes?"

"Yeah," she said. "Do you know him?"

Reuben nodded. "I served under him at DIA. Also did some fieldwork for him in certain parts of the world, where the good general had a well-deserved reputation of leaving his men out to drown when things went to hell. I happened to be one of his little sacrifices. But no dirt ever splashed on him. Which is why the asshole sits where he does today."

"Well, he's apparently after Oliver and Knox now."

"So Hayes' plan is to take out Oliver then?" Reuben said slowly.

"But we're ahead of the dude on that score," said Annabelle, noting the nervous look on Reuben's face. "And since he screwed you this would be a perfect way to settle things, Reuben," she added.

"You don't settle things with a guy like Macklin Hayes, Annabelle," he said. "He's got an army behind him and, while the man's heart is as black as they come, he's also smart and cagey as hell. I've never known him to lose at anything."

"Reuben, we can beat this guy."

Caleb said, "But we really don't know if Knox is on the run from Hayes. That's just Alex's opinion. They could still be working this thing together. Maybe Hayes' visit to Alex was a ruse."

"That makes no sense, Caleb," Annabelle snapped.

"It makes as much sense as us running around the country trying to find Oliver while the CIA is too. I mean, do we actually think we can beat them at this? And what if we do find Oliver first? Then what? We just make him disappear without a trace with all those people looking for him? We're not experts at that."

"I am," Annabelle retorted.

"Fine, you are. I'm not. So we make Oliver disappear. Then what? I go back to my job at the library after being inexplicably absent? You don't think they won't be all over me?" He looked over at Reuben. "And if they waterboard me, I'll spill my guts. I'm not naïve enough to believe that I can withstand that crap. And then I go to prison for the rest of my life. Great!"

"If that's what you thought, why the hell did you even come with me?" Annabelle said hotly.

Reuben answered, "We came because we care about Oliver and we wanted to help him."

"And you've changed your mind?" she said.

"It's not that simple, Annabelle."

She said fiercely, "Sure it is, Reuben. The question hasn't changed. So your answer must have." She looked between him and Caleb. "So what now? You two want to give up? Go back to town? Fine, go! Get the hell out of here. It's not like I need you."

Reuben and Caleb glanced guiltily at each other.

"Pull over the van, Caleb," she said. "I want out of here."

"Annabelle, just calm down," Reuben said in a slightly raised voice.

"No, I won't. I can't believe that you two and Alex are such wimps that-"

Reuben roared, "Shut the hell up!"

Annabelle looked as though he'd popped her in the mouth.

Reuben stared at her, his eyes those of a man barely in control of his anger. "I fought in wars for my country. I got my ass shot up for my country. I've almost died about twelve times following Oliver on his little adventures. I love him like a brother and he was there for me when I didn't have anybody else. I walked into a death chamber called Murder Mountain with him and we almost didn't walk back out alive. And you know who was right there beside us? Alex Ford. He put his career right on the line when he could've just walked. And he also got his ass shot up, stood up to a team of freaking Korean ninjas looking to slit our throats, took a round for the president of the United States and pretty much single-handedly got us out of that hellhole." He glanced over at Caleb. "And this guy's been kidnapped, knocked out, almost asphyxiated, nearly blown up and saved me and Oliver's ass on several different occasions. And we both had to deal with one of our closest friends in the world getting blown away. And all we did was hold up our heads and try to keep going. And now we're out here in the middle of frigging nowhere trying to keep Oliver alive while an asshole that would make Charlie Manson look like a soccer mom is breathing down our backs. So if that's your definition of a wimp, then we're wimps with a capital W, lady."