Countdown - Iris Johansen [126]
They reached the gravel road.
Jock was breathing harshly as he jumped into the passenger seat beside her. “Don’t gun it. Slow. Very slow.”
The gravel crackled beneath her tires like BBs spat from a child’s gun.
No sign of life from the chalet.
Or was there?
Yes, a light illuminated one window.
“Go!” Jock said. “Get on the highway but get off at the first exit. They’ll expect us to stay on it. We’ll access another highway later.”
Her cell phone rang.
She glanced at Jock and then punched the button.
“What the hell are you doing?” Trevor asked. “And where’s Jock?”
“Sitting beside me.” The highway was just ahead. “I left you a note.”
“Get back here.”
“Read the note.” She entered the highway. “I’m sorry, Trevor.” She hung up the phone.
“I’m sorry too,” Jock said gently as he held out his hand for the phone. “I want to trust you, Jane. I promise I’ll give the phone back to you when we get to Reilly.”
She slowly put the phone in his palm. The surrender made her feel very vulnerable.
“Thank you.” Jock turned off the ringer and stuffed the phone in his jacket pocket. “Now get off at the exit coming up.”
Goddamn her.” Mario’s expression was as violent as his tone. “She’s cheating me.”
“Watch your mouth,” Trevor said. “You read the note. Jock didn’t give her much choice. She said she’d let us know something as soon as she’s verified Reilly’s location.”
“There’s always a choice,” MacDuff said. He reached for the phone. “She should have come to me. I’d have managed to make Jock cough up everything he knew.”
“What are you doing?” Trevor said.
“Arranging for a rental car to pick me up and take me to the airport. She said Idaho. I’m going to Idaho.”
“We’re going to Idaho,” Trevor said.
“Why not just take off after them?” Mario said impatiently. “We might be able to intercept them before they find Reilly. And maybe Jock lied to her and intends to change the destination once they’re on the road.”
“Jock made a deal with her,” MacDuff said. “And right now I doubt if he’s capable of any complicated deceptions.”
“Or is he?” Trevor asked Mario. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with him.”
Mario thought about it and then slowly shook his head. “He kept going in and out. Sometimes almost normal, other times he was sort of blurred.”
“Then it’s Idaho.” Trevor picked up his duffel and started stuffing clothes into it. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
19
Two Days
We’d better stop for gas,” Jane said. “There’s a truck stop up ahead. They usually have good food in their restaurants.”
“Yes.” Jock looked at the brightly lit gas station. “And very good coffee.” He smiled. “It’s strange how well I remember little things and have trouble with the big things. They must slip under the wire somehow.”
“How long were you with Reilly?”
“It’s hard to remember. The days blurred together.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe . . . a year, eighteen months . . .”
“That’s a long time.” Jane pulled into the gas station. “And you were pretty young.”
“I didn’t think so at the time. I thought I was old enough to do anything, be anything. Cocky. Very cocky. That’s why I had no problem taking the job Reilly offered me. I couldn’t imagine that my judgment could fail.” He grimaced. “But Reilly showed me, didn’t he?”
“Evidently Reilly is very good at what he does.” Jane got out of the car. “I’ll pump the gas. You go in and get us coffee. It’s going to be a long drive.”
“Don’t get too much gas.” Jock got out of the car. “Just enough to get us to the next big town.”
“What?”
“We’ll have to abandon this car and rent another one. The laird will be checking to get the license number of this one.”
“That’s very astute of you.”
He shook his head. “Training. You never stay in the same rental car for any length of time.” He smiled sardonically. “Reilly wouldn’t be pleased, and that meant punishment.”
“What kind of punishment?”
He shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
“I think you do. I believe you remember more than you tell me. Whenever you don’t want to answer, you conveniently ‘forget.’”