Free Fire - C. J. Box [108]
“Repeat it,” he said.
“Pay you what they owe you or you talk,” Layborn muttered.
“Good! And when I say pay, I don’t mean another empty promise about sometime in the future. I want it all, every penny plus the penalty, now. Now! I don’t care what they do to get it. The transfer should be made immediately, in full. Do you understandthat?”
“I guess.”
“If my banker doesn’t confirm that the transfer has been made within twenty-four hours, I call in the FBI. Simple as that. If they want to negotiate, it’s the same as saying the deal is off. No more delays, no more Plan B’s. Tell them,” McCann said.
“Tell who?” Layborn asked weakly.
The lawyer rolled his eyes and snorted. “Too late for that. I can tell you know exactly what I’m talking about, and you know exactly who to talk to. Why pretend you don’t? It’s just us pals now, Ranger. Just us buddies. And we’ll all get rich, won’t we? In the meanwhile, I want you to personally start working on transferring me out of here to a federal facility. I’ve spent more than enough time in the Yellowstone jail.”
Layborn shook his head. His face was pale. “All hell has broken loose out there,” he said, mumbling. “You’ve got no idea what’s happened in the last twelve hours. That game warden and the ranger, they’ve done all kinds of damage.”
McCann thought this was interesting. The game warden? What was it with that guy? Suddenly, he knew who had been watching him the day before. The game warden should have gone away by now, it seemed. The park was about to close, and he was just a state employee. His business card wasn’t all that impressive, after all.
“I really don’t care,” McCann said after a moment. “I’ve got more important matters to contend with. So do you, I suspect. And so do your bosses, although I’m sure you’d rather I call them your business partners. I hope they’re smarter now than they’ve been so far, don’t you? They need to forget about some stupid game warden and think about me. Me.”
Layborn looked up. “The whole world doesn’t revolve around Clay McCann, you know.”
McCann arched his eyebrows, said, “Actually, right now it does. You forget, I’m free to go. All I have to do is walk outside and talk to the first reporter I see. I know they’re out there, Ranger. Imagine what a scoop I can provide! It’ll make the story of the Zone of Death and my first incarceration here seem like small potatoes.”
Layborn took a long breath, then blew it out. His shoulders slumped; he looked beaten down.
McCann thought, That was easy.
For the first time in two days, he allowed himself to visualize himself on that beach with a drink in hand, millions in his account,a girl at his side. Not Sheila, though. Too bad, he thought, he was really starting to like her. Killing Sheila was the only thing he really felt bad about.
25
Like any family on vacation in yellowstone National Park, the Picketts did the sights. First the Upper, then the Lower Loop; Yellowstone Falls; Hayden Valley; Fishing Bridge; Old Faithful (where they ate cheeseburgers for lunch in the snack bar because Old Faithful Inn was closed); FountainPaint Pots. Winter was held off for yet another day althoughit didn’t even attempt to hide its dark intentions anymore, and the weather was cool and clear. Pockets of aspen performed maudlin Technicolor death scenes on the mountain-sides,and brittle dry leaves choked the small streams and skitteredacross the road with breaths of wind. Sheridan and Lucy were delighted with the park, Marybeth was cautiously relaxed.Oncoming fall brought out the wildlife. Sheridan kept track of The Animal Count in a spiral notebook, noting elk (twenty-four), coyotes (one), bald eagles (two), moose (one), wolves (two), trumpeter swans (seven), Ridiculous-Looking Tourists (five), and buffalo (eighty-nine and counting). Lucy claimed to have seen a bear but it turned out to be a tree stump, thus was docked ten points in Sheridan’s counting system, which she seemed to be making up as they drove along to ensurethat she would win.
Marybeth played referee and awarded Lucy five points back for “looking cute,