Zero Day (John Puller, #1)(130)

He watched as the silhouette came forward. The bathroom door opened, the woman slipped through it and then out of the room, closing the door behind her.

A setup. He had fallen for it.

The silhouette turned to hard flesh.

The man stood in front of Strauss and looked down.

John Puller said, “You’re a long way from Drake, West Virginia, Bill.”

Strauss just sat there staring upward at the far bigger man.

Puller grabbed a chair, flipped it around, and sat down facing Strauss. In his right hand was one of his M11s.

“How did you know? The fact that I ran for it, I guess?”

“Actually, I knew before then. You’re not a good liar. I could read you pretty easily the night we came by the house to tell you your son was dead. At Trent Exploration you were the second banana. But you wanted the bigger house. You were the brains and Roger was the front. Why should he get the lion’s share? And you were in the perfect position to rip him off. No one would suspect you, the money guy, because everyone assumed that if the business tanked, you would as well. But that wouldn’t be the case if you’d already taken all the cash. And the plans to the Bunker were in your safe, Bill. Not Roger’s. That was the clincher. You knew all about the place. And you figured out that Treadwell and Bitner had discovered the plans.”

Strauss’s head dipped low.

“Focus, Bill, I need you to focus.” Puller smacked the man on the shoulder and Strauss looked up at him.

“They killed your son, Bill.”

Strauss knuckled his thighs and nodded. “I know that. You know I know that.”

“But what are you going to do about it?”

“What can I do?”

“Your run is over. You’re going to prison for the rest of your life. But you can make amends. You have that opportunity. You can go out on your terms. That’s something.”

“No, I can’t. I can’t do that, Puller.”

Puller edged forward, his hand bringing up the M11 slightly.

Strauss eyed the gun. “Are you going to kill me? Is that why you’re here?”

“I came a long way to see you. And no, I’m not going to kill you. Unless you give me a reason to,” he added.

“I’m sorry about Sam.”

“I’m not here to talk about Sam. I’m here to talk about you.”

“How did you find me all the way down here?”

“I didn’t have to find you.”

Strauss looked puzzled. “I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t have to find you because I never lost you. We knew where you were at all times. We followed your path all the way down here, in fact.”

“I don’t understand. How did—”

Puller stood. “They killed Dickie, Bill. Shot him right in the head. You never intended that, did you?”

Strauss shook his head. “It wasn’t supposed to be that way. Never that way.”

“Right through the head. Just riding his bike. And bam.”

Strauss nearly tumbled off the bed as Puller fired his gun and the slug ripped into the wall and stayed there.

“Shot him,” Puller continued calmly. “Blew up his brain. I was there, saw it all. Hydrostatic pressure to the head from a supersonic rifle round. A Lapua round, Bill. It was overkill. They wanted to make sure he was dead. He never had a chance. You never would’ve recognized your kid, Bill. He had no face left.”

Strauss pulled himself back up and snapped, “That was not part of the plan. I didn’t know… No one told me that Dickie…” His voice trailed off and he started weeping.

“I suppose you’re sorry he’s dead,” said Puller.

“Of course I am. When you came to my house and told me I was distraught. His mother is devastated.”

“But you had no problem leaving her behind,” Puller pointed out.

“There was no way to bring her. There was no way to explain to her…” He halted, ground his fists into his eyes, wept some more.

“So you kept the missus in the dark over all of this.”

“I’ve set up an account for her. She would never want for anything.”

“Except her husband and son. And since you left her behind, you couldn’t know she wouldn’t die when the bomb went off.”

“I was told… I mean our house was far enough away—”

Puller cut in. “Doesn’t it piss you off that they murdered your son?”

Strauss said nothing.

Puller slipped his hand into his jacket and pulled out a photo. “I have the autopsy photo right here. You want to see your kid? See what they did to him?”

More tears trickled down Strauss’s face. He made no effort to brush them away. “Wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Well, it did happen, Bill. You want to see?” Puller said in a tighter voice. He held out the picture.

Straus recoiled from it. “No. No, I don’t want to see him… like that,” he said in a hushed voice.

“Somebody did that to my boy I’d want payback. I’d want revenge. I’d want justice.”

“I… There’s no way to do that now.”

“Sure there is.” Puller slipped the picture back in his pocket. “Amends, Bill. You can make it right. You can do it for your son.”