The black Crown Victoria rocketed across the lane. Will watched the semi-truck fly by like it was going the other way. He glanced over to the speedometer, but it was pegged at 125 MPH. He swallowed for a moment, then cleared his throat. He was about to speak, when Clayton’s phone went off. Clayton picked it up and looked at the display. He quickly frowned and pushed a button on the side. Soon the car was dark again, save the light from the stars and the headlights of oncoming cars. “Does this car have airbags?”
“Probably, but I doubt they’d help at this point.”
“I don’t know if they have deer in the Twin Cities, but we have a fair amount of them here.”
“I’m aware of the deer. We’ll just have to hope to get lucky.”
“Is there a reason you’re trying to break the sound barrier?”
“I want to get to Aberdeen before Garrett and Lewis.”
Will turned more towards Clayton. “So, I take it not all the governmental agencies are playing nice like they’re supposed to?”
“Something weird is going on. The N.G.A. and N.R.O. don’t go throwing their weight around like this, or like ever. I know both of those agents have C.I.A. ties. Yet they don’ t want me pursuing a lead on two men who might be the key to my investigation into Gerrard Dinkley.”
“Who also might be the key to our murdered officer.”
“You haven’t heard then, ballistics came back with the shell casings found at the scene.”
“So, they know who’s gun?”
“The bullet casings matched a gun owned by one Officer Laura Black.”
“Say what?”
“Exactly. Isn’t that tidy? The rogue officer who was impersonating a dead officer is also on the hook for a murder? An officer who happened to be off the day it happened, and is now missing?”
“So, why aren’t we on I-29?”
“That’s the road Garrett and Lewis are taking. We need to get there without them knowing we’re going. We’ll have to hope that we don’t hit any deer once we exit I-90 and go up US-281.”
***
“Sit? Give me one good reason I should sit right now!”
“Just…please Michelle. You need to hear this.” Bob took one last bite of his burger, which he had eaten rather quickly, considering he’d almost choked on it a few minutes ago. Michelle sat down, but she looked out to the parking lot. Her arms were folded, and she wasn’t looking at either of them. Phil’s eyes were bloodshot and on the verge of watering up. Bob looked over at him, swallowed the rest of his burger, and sighed heavily. “Phil, you’ve been a friend for almost ten years, right?”
“More or less.”
“Michelle, you and Phil had a good thing once. Do you know how much it hurt him when you left?” Michelle didn’t answer. “I’m sure you thought you had a good reason.”
“I had my reasons.”
Bob had a few options to him, but he decided to take a blind leap. “Reasons you’ve since rethought, right?”
Michelle looked at Bob, with a mix of confusion and anger. Phil just looked confused for the moment.
