Cross Fire

they’d come back to DC. Chances were, if we didn’t find at least one of them soon, some other fox in the henhouse was going to get a bullet in the brain.
    Nothing like a little pressure to help you do your best work, right?

Chapter 83

    IT WAS JUST after midnight when Denny approached the black Lincoln Town Car parked on Vermont Avenue and got in. The man he knew only as Zachary was waiting for him. Zachary’s usual nameless driver/goon was sitting face front at the wheel.
    “The clock’s winding down on this thing,” Denny said straight-out. “We need to put it to bed before it all blows up.”
    “We agree,” Zachary said. Like it was his decision. Like the big man in the ivory tower, whoever he was, didn’t pull the strings, write the checks, and call the shots here.
    Zachary took a plain manila folder out of the seat pocket and handed it to him. “This will be our last arrangement,” he said. “Go ahead. Take it.”
    Arrangement
. The guy was too much.
    Inside the folder were two dossiers, if that’s what you could call them — a couple of pictures, a few paragraphs, and some Google maps slapped together on copy paper, like somebody’s shitty little school project. Wherever the boss man spent his billions, it sure as hell wasn’t on document prep.
    But as for the names on those dossiers? Now
they
were impressive.
    “Well, well,” Denny said. “Looks like your man wants to go out with a bang. That’s a pun, little joke. No extra charge.”
    Zachary pushed his pretentious horn-rims a little higher on his nose. “Just… focus on the material,” he said.
    It would have been nice to go upside this guy’s head one time. Nothing major, just enough to put some kind of expression on his face. Any expression at all would be a big improvement.
    But this was no time to start coloring outside the lines. So Denny kept his mouth shut and took a couple of minutes to absorb the information. Then he slid the manila folder into the seat pocket and sat back again.
    This part was all rote by now. Zachary reached over the seat, took the canvas pouch from Mr. Personality in the front, and put it on the armrest. Denny picked it up.
    Right away, he could feel it was light.
    “What the hell is this?” he said, and dropped it back on the armrest between them.
    “That,” Zachary said, “is one-third. You’ll get the rest afterward. We’re doing things a little differently this time.”
    “The hell we are!” he said, and just like that, the driver was up and over the seat with a fat .45 shoved halfway up Denny’s nose. He could even smell traces of gunpowder. The weapon had been used recently.
    “Now listen to me,” Zachary said. More like purred. “You’re going to be paid in full. The only change here is our terms of delivery.”
    “This is bullshit!” Denny said. “You shouldn’t be messing around with me now.”
    “Just listen,” Zachary told him. “Your incompetence up in New Jersey was not appreciated,
Steven
. Now that the authorities know who you are, this is just good business practice. So, are we going to have a smooth finish to this thing or not?”
    It wasn’t a real question, and Denny didn’t answer. What he did was reach down and take back the canvas pouch. That spoke for itself. The .45 was dislodged from his face and the driver pulled back, although he didn’t turn around.
    “Did you see the car parked behind us?” Zachary asked softly, as if they’d been sitting here having a friendly chat the whole time.
    And, yes, Denny had seen it, an old blue Subaru wagon with Virginia plates. His spotter’s radar wasn’t something he turned on and off.
    “What about it?” he said.
    “You need to get out of the city. We’ve got too much exposure here. Take Mitch and go somewhere discreet — West Virginia, or whatever you think is best.”
    “Just like that? What am I supposed to tell Mitch?” Denny said. “He’s already asking too many questions.”
    “I’m sure you’ll think of something to handle him. And take this.” Zachary handed over a silver Nokia phone, presumably encrypted. “Keep it off, but check it at least every six hours. And be ready to go when we tell you.”
    “Just out of curiosity,” Denny said, “what’s this ‘we’ shit anyway? Do
you
even know who you’re working for?”
    Zachary reached across and opened the door to the sidewalk for him. They were done here.
    “This one’s your big payout, Denny,” he said. “Don’t blow it. Don’t