Long Road to Mercy (Atlee Pine, #1)(88)

“Hermione.”

“Like from Harry Potter?”

Debbie nodded.

Pine knelt down and gave her a hug. “I’ll be back to check on you.”

“Promise?” said Debbie.

“Promise.”

Then Pine stood and faced Chung. “Let’s go.”





Chapter

49



THEY WALKED BACK to their compartment without seeing anyone else, though they did hear people talking in their rooms as they passed by.

Pine went in first, followed by Blum and Chung. He closed the door behind him.

“Sit,” he said.

Pine and Blum sat on the lower bunk.

“Take your gun out and put it on the floor,” ordered Chung as he kept his weapon pointed at Pine’s head.

Pine did as he said.

“Kick it over to me,” he said.

She did so. He bent down and picked it up, placing it on a small metal desk behind him. Next to it was Blum’s pistol, Pine saw.

“Your other pistol too, please,” said Chung. “I know that you carry a spare.”

Pine took off her ankle holster and slid it across the floor.

Chung pushed it behind him.

“How did you know we were on the train?” asked Pine.

“This is the only train that goes to Arizona. And you two are the only passengers who paid cash for your tickets. And, apparently, you did not provide names to the ticketing person. So, she simply named you Jane and Judy Doe. Quite the red flag.”

Pine grimaced at this. “You had the train stop somehow. Did you put a car on the track or something?”

“Completely irrelevant.”

“Okay, then what do you want?”

Chung reached into his pocket and held up something. “This man.”

He tossed the piece of paper over to Pine, who caught it.

She used her Maglite to look at the object.

It was a photograph.

Of David Roth.

Pine and Blum looked up at Chung.

“I don’t know where he is.”

Again, the Korean moved so fast, Pine had no time to even try to block his blow. She went heels over ass against the wall.

When Blum stood and tried to lash out at Chung, he merely grabbed her wrist and twisted it until Blum cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor, holding her hand and gasping for breath.

Pine slowly sat up, rubbing blood off her mouth.

“I did not come all this way for you to tell me that you do not know things that you do know,” Chung said.

“I’m looking for Roth, it’s true,” said Pine, spitting blood out of her mouth. “But I haven’t found him. Yet.”

“But you have an idea where he is?” said Chung.

“I think I do.”

“Where?”

Pine looked down at Blum. “If I agree to tell you, will you let her go?”

Chung shook his head. “She is not a little girl.”

Blum struggled up and plopped down next to Pine.

“Well, good, because I’m not going anywhere.” Blum brushed off her clothes, set her hands in her lap, and said pleasantly, “Now tell the nice man where you think Mr. Roth is, Agent Pine.”

Pine said nothing.

“Well, then, I guess I’ll have to do the honors.” She looked at Chung. “We believe that Mr. Roth is in Flagstaff. That’s where we’re headed. You already know that because you checked on our tickets.”

“Why this Flagstaff?”

“There’s an FBI office there. It’s the largest one near the Grand Canyon. We think he’s going to turn himself in there.”

“Why turn himself in?” said Chung tightly.

“We think he’s afraid,” said Blum. “He doesn’t want to die. He thinks the FBI can protect him.”

“Can they?” Pine finally said, looking at Chung.

“You ask me? It’s your employer, not mine.”

“Irrelevant to my question,” said Pine, mimicking the Korean’s earlier statements. “I want to know what you think about that.”

Chung mulled this over. “I do not think anyone can protect him. Least of all your people.”

“Well, then we agree on something. Why do you want him?”

“I think it obvious.”

“Not to me, it’s not. Unless you want your nuke back.”

Chung appraised her. “The world is complicated, Agent Pine. Far more complicated than you seem to give it credit to be.”

“I think planting a nuke on American soil and killing a bunch of my fellow citizens is pretty simple, actually. Simply insane! You have every reason to work with me.”

“Why is that?”

“If that nuke goes off, North Korea will cease to exist. We’ll bomb it back into the Stone Age.”

“I completely agree with you.”

Pine was about to say something else, but then simply gaped at him.

Blum found her voice. “You…you agree with that?”

“Of course I do,” said Chung. “Why do you think I’m here?”

Pine said, “Why don’t you explain that to me? Because it doesn’t make any sense.”

“That is not my job to explain things. And if you can’t help me, then…” He shrugged.