Last Chance to Die by Noah Boyd (large screen ebook reader .txt) 📗

an indistinguishable voice. Vail thumbed the safety off his Glock and lightened his step, moving toward its source.

It seemed to be coming from the bridge’s underpass, a corridor of fifteen-foot-high off-white concrete walls that curved overhead. At the other end, Vail could see the lights of downtown Arlington reflected off the Potomac. He stopped again and listened. Now, because of the hum of the tires driving over the bridge, he seemed to be in some acoustical dead space, because the voice suddenly vanished. It was the perfect place for spies to meet on a winter night. Especially for Russians, who loved parks, the cold, and vodka.

At the midpoint of each of the walls were walk-in doors, probably leading to maintenance storage. Vail wondered if Rellick had somehow gotten into one of them to wait. He started toward the closest one with his weapon pointed at the other. When he reached the door, he tried the knob. It was locked.

All of a sudden, ahead of him, around the end of the concrete wall, he heard a man’s voice. “Call me back in five minutes, Tanner. . . . I’m not going to wait much longer. . . . Where else would I be?” Rellick walked around the corner and into view as he ended the call. Vail pointed the automatic at him. “That’s it, Rellick, FBI. Right there.”

The CIA agent raised his hands, still holding the phone. Glancing up at the lighted screen, Rellick pushed a couple of buttons and placed his finger on another, ready to press it. “Unless you want that list of European informants to be e-mailed to the Russian embassy, you’d better drop the gun.” He lowered his hands slowly but confidently.

“How do I know you’ve actually got it on your phone?” Vail asked.

“By now you know I’ve downloaded the list. And I would need a quick way to send it from anywhere, even here, if I got in a tight spot. So I put it on speed dial. I thought it would be better than a gun. Was I wrong?”

Vail knew by Rellick’s confidence that the list had to be on the phone. He dropped his gun on the ground. As soon as he did, Rellick drew a small revolver. “Now walk over here.”

Suddenly Vail felt his cell phone vibrate. It was probably Kate, ready to tell him that Rellick and his cell phone were under the bridge. Vail kept walking slowly, hoping to get close enough to make some kind of move. But when he was five feet away, Rellick said, “That’s close enough, on your knees. And put your hands in your pockets.” Vail did as he was told and wrapped his hand around his knife. But he knew that even if he could get it out in time and open it, Rellick would still be too far away. Rellick carefully cleared the screen on his phone and put it in his overcoat pocket.

“Meeting your handler here?” Vail asked.

“My handler?” Rellick burst out laughing. “My handler offered to get me to Moscow, where I’d be a hero. I’d rather live in a federal prison than in Russia. So I told him I wanted a million dollars for the list. With that much money, I can live fairly comfortably in South America.”

“So he says he’s bringing you a million dollars here? Tonight?”

“You sound skeptical.”

“The banks are closed, and I seriously doubt they keep that kind of cash at the embassy. I hope you didn’t tell him where the list was.” Rellick didn’t answer. “You did. Myles, I think Moscow and federal prison aren’t your only options. I’d consider the possibility of death. And not in that order.”

“Shut up,” Rellick said. “I’ve got to get out of here. That leaves only one option for you, and it isn’t Moscow or federal prison. Unless you can come up with a fourth option.” He raised his revolver. “No. Then death it is.” Vail took his hands halfway out of his pockets and got ready to charge him; he had nothing to lose.

A gun exploded, and it took an instant for Vail to realize that the shot had come from behind him. The CIA agent looked surprised, even indignant, that a bullet had wound up piercing his chest instead of Vail’s. Suddenly the hand holding his gun went limp, and the weapon dropped to the ground. He looked past Vail and tilted his head in confusion at the black man moving quickly toward him, ready to fire a second shot. Then he looked around as if wondering where he was and fell forward heavily, landing on his face. Bursaw snapped on his flashlight and moved past Vail, keeping his gun trained on Rellick in case another shot was needed.

It was then that Vail realized that his vibrating phone call with Rellick’s location had gone to Bursaw first.

“Do you think you waited long enough, Luke?”

Bursaw’s smile verged on laughter. “Remember that time you left me out in the cold and I got really sick?” He rolled over the body and holstered his weapon.

“Again with that. You know, at a certain point the need for revenge can become very unflattering.”

“Not when it’s you on your knees.”

“I hope we’re finally even.” Vail took Rellick’s cell phone out and made sure it was still on. Then he slipped it into his pocket. “No one needs to know that I’ve got this.”

“Because . . . ?”

“If we give it back to the CIA today, it’ll be worth a very nice thank-you. Give it back in a week and it will be . . .”

“Priceless,” Bursaw finished.

“Maybe that Ivy League education wasn’t wasted.” Vail called Kate on his phone. “Rellick’s dead.”

“Both you guys okay?”

“We’re fine.”

“Should I ask?”

“Actually, it was Luke who shot him. Can you call Metro Homicide or the Park Police, whoever’s jurisdiction this is?”

“Sure. Then I’m coming there.”

“I appreciate it, but we’re probably not going to be here very long. And you’re not out of the woods yet, so let’s not push it. When I find out where we’re going, I’ll