End Game (Will Robie #5)(79)

“I’m not saying that’s the case,” replied Robie. “But we at least know that Walton knew he was in danger and that he tried to leave us a clue. And while we may not know what it means now, we might figure it out at some point. In fact, we have to figure it out.”

“Do you think it speaks to where he’s been taken?” said Bender.

“Since he left the gun behind, how would he know where they were going to take him before they took him there?” said Reel.

“That’s a good point,” conceded Bender, a hopeless expression on his features.

“We have to figure out the clue,” said Reel. “It’s the only one we have.”

Robie and Reel left Malloy and Bender at the station and made their way back to the hotel.

“We have to do something, Robie,” said Reel as they entered the lobby. She looked at her watch. “We’re going to be talking to the director in less than four hours. We have to have something to tell her.”

Reel’s phone buzzed. She answered, listened for two minutes, and then said curtly, “Thanks.” She put her phone away and looked at Robie.

“Well?” he said.

“We might have another lead.”

“Who was that?”

“The sat guys. They managed to break into Lambert’s bird and see what it saw.”

“And?” said Robie impatiently as she fell silent.

“They went back about a month focusing on the convenience store late at night. They saw the van at Clyde’s. It all happened like Lamarre said. Van pulled in, trouble with the reader, and Lamarre came outside. And then the van drove off in the direction of Lambert’s bunker.”

“Did it actually go to the bunker?”

“They don’t know. The bird swung away before that could be revealed. But it was damn close. Within a couple of miles, they said.”

“A couple of miles out here is a lot of space to cover.”

“But what else is out there other than Lambert’s bunker, Robie? I doubt they were driving around in circles with prisoners in the back of the van. And Blue Man asked for a tour of the place. He was interested in it for some reason. And I’m thinking that interest stems from the prisoners in the van he was told about.”

“Okay, but are you suggesting that Lambert is bringing prisoners to his bunker? For what reason? And if so, why would he have offered us a tour of the place, much less Blue Man?”

“Well, he sure as hell didn’t show us the whole place,” said Reel. “There must be lots of nooks and crannies down there to stash people.”

“Granted, but for what purpose?” persisted Robie.

“Maybe we should take a ride and try to find out.”





CHAPTER





45


“Okay, I think I can see twenty miles ahead, and it looks exactly like the twenty miles we just passed,” said Reel.

They had started at Clyde’s Stop-In and left in the direction the Agency people had told them the van had taken.

“We just passed the road going to Lambert’s bunker,” said Robie.

“So that could be where the van went.”

“If so, I don’t see how we’re going to get in there without Lambert knowing about it. You saw the security measures on the perimeter. And then how do we open the blast door? You got a nuke handy?”

Reel said, “And we don’t even know for sure if the van is connected to Blue Man’s disappearance.”

“Damn, Jess, let’s not keep turning the wheel back on that. Lamarre knew about the van. He told Holly who told JC Parry who told Blue Man. So Lamarre goes missing and so do Blue Man and Parry.”

“And it seems that Lamarre was taken, too, because he left his suitcase behind,” admitted Reel. “But what about Holly? How would anyone have known that Lamarre told Holly about the van while they were in rehab?”

“Well, like I just said, she told Parry. And Parry told Blue Man.”

“Right, but Holly didn’t expressly say that she told Parry or Blue Man about where she’d gotten the information from.”

“That’s true,” said Robie. “Though she might have.”

“Let’s assume that she didn’t. How would someone have found out Lamarre was the source?”

“He told his girlfriend, Beverly Drango,” pointed out Robie.

“And she said she told no one. And she hasn’t disappeared.”

“Well, she hadn’t when we saw her.”

“But isn’t it odd that they would snatch Lamarre from her house and not take her too?” said Reel. “I mean why wouldn’t they assume that he had told her about what he saw?”

Robie thought for a few moments. “They would have had to assume that he would tell her. But maybe she wasn’t there at the time.”

“They could have gone back when she was there. Or put eyes on the place so they’d know when she did come home. And yet there she still was when we went to her house.”

“Maybe we need to talk to her again.”

“Maybe we do.”

As they drove along Robie said slowly, “That was a good deduction you had about the gun based on what Bender said. You two seem to feed off each other well.”