The Overlook

open drawer of a small cabinet with lit votive candles on top of it. The gun was about eighteen inches from where Samir was lying.
    “He went for the gun and we took him down,” Peck said.
    Bosch looked down at Samir. He wasn’t conscious and his chest was rising and falling in a broken rhythm.
    “He’s circling the drain,” Hadley said. “What have we found?”
    “So far no materials,” Peck said. “We’re bringing in the equipment now.”
    “All right, let’s get the car checked,” Hadley ordered. “And get her out of here.”
    While two OHS men raised the crying woman up and carried her out of the room like a battering ram Hadley headed back out of the house to the curb, where the Chrysler 300 awaited. Bosch and Ferras followed.
    They looked into the car but didn’t touch it. Bosch noticed that it was unlocked. He bent down to look in through the passenger-side windows.
    “Keys are in it,” he said.
    He pulled a pair of latex gloves from his coat pocket, stretched them and put them on.
    “Let’s get a reading on it first, Bosch,” Hadley said.
    The captain signaled one of his men who was carrying a radiation monitor over. The man swept the device over the car and only picked up a few low pops by the trunk.
    “We could have something right here,” Hadley said.
    “I doubt it,” Bosch said. “It’s not here.”
    He opened the driver-side door and leaned in.
    “Bosch, wait-”
    Bosch pushed the trunk button before Hadley could finish. He heard the pneumatic pop and the trunk came open. He backed out of the car and walked to the rear. The trunk was empty, but Bosch saw the same four indentations he had seen earlier in the trunk of Stanley Kent ’s Porsche.
    “It’s gone,” Hadley said, looking into the trunk. “They must’ve already made the transfer.”
    “Yeah, long before the car was brought here.”
    Bosch looked Hadley squarely in the eyes.
    “This was a misdirection, Captain. I told you that.”
    Hadley moved toward Bosch so he could speak without his whole crew hearing him. But he was intercepted by Peck.
    “Captain?”
    “What?”
Hadley barked.
    “The suspect went code seven.”
    “Then call off the paramedics and call the coroner.”
    “Yes, sir. The house is clear. No materials and the monitors are picking up no signature.”
    Hadley glanced at Bosch and then quickly looked back at Peck.
    “Tell them to check the place again,” he ordered. “The fucker went for a gun. He had to have been hiding something. Tear the place apart if you have to. Especially that room-it looks like a meeting place for terrorists.”
    “It’s a prayer room,” Bosch said. “And maybe the guy went for the gun because he was scared shitless when people came busting through the doors.”
    Peck hadn’t moved. He was listening to Bosch.
    “Go!” Hadley ordered. “Tear the fucker apart! The material was in a lead container. Just because you got no reading doesn’t mean it’s not in there!”
    Peck hustled back to the house and Hadley turned his stare to Bosch.
    “We need Forensics to process the car,” Bosch said. “And I don’t have a phone to make the call.”
    “Go get your phone and make the call.”
    Bosch went back to the SUV. He watched the woman who had been in the house being placed in the back of the SUV parked on the lawn. She was still crying and Bosch assumed the tears wouldn’t stop anytime soon. For Samir now, herself later.
    As he leaned through the door of Hadley’s SUV he realized that the vehicle was still running. He turned off the engine, then opened the glove compartment and took out the two phones. He opened and checked his to see if the call to Rachel Walling was still connected. It wasn’t and he didn’t know if the call had gone through in the first place.
    When he turned from the door Hadley was standing there. They were away from the others and no one would hear them.
    “Bosch, if you try to make trouble for this unit I will make trouble for you. You understand?”
    Bosch studied him for a moment before responding.
    “Sure, Captain. I’m glad you’re thinking about the unit.”
    “I have connections that go all the way up and right out of this department. I can hurt you.”
    “Thanks for the advice.”
    Bosch started to walk away from him but then stopped. He wanted to say something but hesitated.
    “What?” Hadley said. “Say it.”
    “I was just thinking about a captain I once worked for. This was a long time ago and in another place. He