Long Shadows (Amos Decker, #7)(120)

“And what happens with me? My partner knows I came here and why. If I don’t show back up, things will get really bad for you, really fast.”

“You have no proof of anything. I could let you go right now and you can go and spew all the theories you want, claim that we all confessed, and what will it amount to?”

“Not much.”

“But I am a man who does not care for loose ends. And you like to go for walks on the beach at night. There is a beach here. You will walk on the sand.” He pulled out a syringe from a drawer of a credenza. “And then your heart will feel funny, like it is racing. You will not be able to breathe. You will stumble and fall and that will be that. And you are a large man and not a young one, so nothing unusual about such a man having a heart attack. And by the time the postmortem is done, what is in this syringe will no longer be detectable in your body.” He uncapped the needle. “So, shall we begin your last walk, Mr. Decker?”

Decker looked at each of the men. “I suppose I can’t convince you to turn yourselves in?”

Perlman shook his head and smiled. “I don’t believe there is a phrase for that in Russian.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” He rose. “Well, okay, I’m sick of this case. Let’s do it.”

The door was kicked in and a team of armored personnel poured into the room pointing automatic weapons. Perlman’s accomplice quickly dropped his gun, and Perlman the syringe, as they backed up against the wall.

Perlman snapped, “What is going on? You have no right to be here. This is a private house. This man broke in and we were simply defending ourselves.”

One of the armored people took off their helmet. White brushed hair out of her eyes. “You good, Decker?”

“Much better than I was a minute ago.”

Perlman shouted, “You will leave my house now. You have no proof of anything.”

Decker walked over to the table and picked up his gun. He turned, pointed the gun right at Perlman, and pulled the trigger.

Perlman screamed and fell to the floor, his hands over his face.

Instead of a bullet coming out of the gun, though, they all listened to the conversation that had gone on in the room before White and the others had shown up.

“A recording device disguised as a gun?” said Perlman in disbelief.

“It smacks of the old Cold War days, doesn’t it?” said Decker. He lowered the gun and turned off the recorder by pulling the trigger again. “And just so you know, Deidre Fellows is alive and well. As soon as she became a key witness, we put her under protection.”

“But my man, the news feed,” snapped Perlman.

“Yeah, your guy is in custody. We caught him sneaking into the grounds, made him talk, and then we used his phone to text you that the mission was complete and he was leaving the country as planned. And the news feed was set up by the Bureau to make you think what we wanted you to think.”

He looked down at Perlman. “And you walked right into it, amateur.”





Chapter 91



HE KEEPS ASKING TO CALL his damn embassy,” reported White to Decker after Perlman and his men had been arrested and charged.

“He can call Vladimir Putin for all the good it will do him.”

They were at the police facility where the men had been brought to be booked for the murders.

White had contacted Agent Andrews and filled him in. As they were standing there, Maya Perlman rushed in, looking alarmed.

“There was a police officer at my house when I got back. He drove me here. Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Your husband and two of his associates have been charged with murder and attempted murders,” said Decker.

“Murder? That’s ridiculous. Who is Trevor supposed to have murdered?”

“Alan Draymont, Alice Lancer, Patty Kelly, and Kanak Roe. And the attempted murders were a woman named Deidre Fellows and me.”

She gaped. “You?”

“We have it all on audio,” said White. “Your husband is some kind of Soviet spy from way back.”

She looked at White. “A Soviet spy? You must be delusional.”

White squared off with the woman. “Are you saying you knew nothing about any of it?”

“Of course I didn’t. Because none of it is true.”

Decker said, “Well, then you might want to ask your hubby why he keeps demanding to speak with someone at the Russian embassy.”

Perlman shot him a terrified look. “The Russian embassy?”

“Yeah. If you listen closely you can hear him.”

She looked down at the floor. “Oh my God, what is happening?”

White said, “A lot is happening, Mrs. Perlman, and none of it good. Your husband is a bad guy, a real bad guy who blackmailed Americans into turning against their country.”

She put a hand to her mouth and sobbed. “This isn’t happening. It can’t be.”

White’s look softened. “Okay, I know this is a lot to process. Let me get you some water before you pass out. Then I’ll find you a room where you can have some privacy. I recall you have kids from your first marriage, right?”

Perlman dumbly nodded.

“You can call them. They can come and be with you. Okay? Help you get through this?”