Blowout

eyes met.
    Günter didn’t drop his gun, he shot from the hip, missing Savich by inches. Before he could fire again, a single loud rifle shot pierced the air. Günter whirled about, thrown forward as he slapped one palm against his neck. The last thing he saw was Dave Dempsey stepping from out behind a car at the curb, a sniper rifle aimed at him.
    A half-dozen agents came running from their positions, guns aimed at the unmoving body. They walked to where the man who’d wreaked so much devastation lay, unmoving.
    There was absolutely no sound for a good thirty seconds. Finally Jimmy Maitland said, “Jesus, am I glad that’s over.”
    Ben nodded, stood up. “Sherlock, are you okay?”
    “Yes, fine. Don’t worry about me.”
    Jimmy Maitland said, “He doesn’t look all that scary now, does he? He just looks like a dead old man with a slack jaw. Nice shot, Dave. And thank you, Ben. You shaved it a little close, but you got him out to us.”
    He turned to Savich, who had Sherlock pressed against his chest. “I was watching through the living room window, Savich. When he put that bullet through Sherlock’s arm, I nearly shot him myself then. Okay, I guess it’s time to call Dr. Conrad and get the trash taken away.”
    Two paramedics came quickly forward, stepping over Günter to see to Sherlock. Ben looked at Savich, but Savich was focused on his wife.
    He turned back and smiled at Dave Dempsey. “That was a good shot, Dave.”
    “I guess it’s something for Luther’s family. But not enough. It’s never enough.”
    “Ben,” Savich called out, “check him for I.D. Find out who he is.”
    Günter lay on the sidewalk on his back, his gun still in his hand. Both Jimmy Maitland and Ben went through all his pockets. They came up with nothing at all, not even a fake driver’s license. Slowly, they both rose. Ben called out, “Nothing, Savich. Nothing at all.”
    “It’s not a surprise,” Jimmy Maitland said, staring down at Günter. “He lived with another man’s name and died with no name at all.”
    Savich had bared Sherlock’s arm. “The bullet came real close to your knife scar.”
    “I’ll be fine. Dillon, before you turn the paramedics loose on me, I think you, Ben, and I should talk. You know we do.”
    “Yes,” he said slowly. “Yes, of course you’re right. Ben, could you come into the house for a minute?”
    Ben nodded.
    Savich picked her up and carried her inside over her protests, leaving the paramedics to wait in the ambulance for another ten minutes before Savich called them in.
    Jimmy Maitland wondered if Savich would ever tell him what the three of them discussed.

CHAPTER
37
    T UESDAY NIGHT
    I T WAS JUST after eleven o’clock when Ben pulled his truck into Margaret Califano’s driveway.
    “I can’t believe it’s over,” Callie said. “And you never said a word to me. I could have stayed outside with the other agents.”
    “I couldn’t, direct orders from Savich. You’ve been saying that all evening. I guess that means I’ll never hear the end of it, will I?”
    “Probably not. But I’ll forgive you since Savich gave me that great inside interview for the Post this morning. Coombes is dancing on the file cabinets, high-fiving everyone he runs into, an idiot grin on his face. You said you liked my story, but what do you really think? Did you notice it was above the fold on the front page? Right there with my own byline?”
    She was so proud, he smiled. “Yes, I really did like your story. It was excellent. Congratulations. So this means your job is safe?”
    “Oh yes. Suddenly I’m valuable to him again. I was relieved to see Sherlock looking back to normal, well, nearly so. Dillon kept going on about the sling.”
    “He told me it reminded him of a night he didn’t want to remember. He wouldn’t tell me about it.”
    “Maybe I can get it out of Sherlock.” Callie settled back against the seat and closed her eyes. “It’s all happened so fast, I still can’t quite process it, even after writing my story. I’m glad Günter’s dead, but the fact that he picked my stepfather by chance? It didn’t matter which Justice he murdered? Stewart was such a fine man—” She stopped and drew a deep breath.
    Ben repeated what he’d been saying over and over to her that evening, “He was crazy, Callie, just plain crazy. He wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. How better to get attention than to murder a Supreme Court Justice, any Supreme Court Justice, and all