“We’ll see what you have to say once I drop a match. That was a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline I sprayed you with. It burns nice and hot when it gets going. You should have seen what it did to your friends. There really wasn’t a whole lot left of them to bury.”
Risa froze. There was no way to get closer without leaving the shelter of the trees. But she began to doubt that she was going to have the luxury of waiting for Nate before being forced into action.
“I did you a favor by burning that motherfucker,” Eggers screamed at him. “If Lamont had lived, you’d have ended up hooked on the same poison he had your mother shooting in her veins. You should be thanking me.”
“You’re right. And I’ve arranged a very special thank you. I wanted you to be last. I hated you the most. But flexibility is the key. I can come for the other two later. When Juarez and Gorenson least expect it.” There was blood on Baltes’s face. His voice sounded strange. Risa’s best guess was that Eggers had put up a fight.
Her hand crept to her weapon. Hovered above the holster. Damn, she could touch it. Could use it. She’d proved that the other night, hadn’t she?
“I’ve dreamed of this moment since I was eight years old. Today is justice day. But you’re not going to die quickly.” The hatred in Baltes’s voice was apparent. “It’ll be slow. Agonizing. And I want you to remember when you start begging and pleading what it was like for me to hear Lamont die. Remember you started this whole thing.”
“He was a lying sack of shit and a cheat.” There was a thud when Baltes’s fist planted in Eggers’s face. But it didn’t stop the man. He spit blood at Baltes and continued. “Tried to cut us out of his operation and, when that failed, threatened blackmail. Burning him was an example, and an effective one for over twenty years. No one dared try to screw with us after that.”
“You’re going to scream.” Baltes’s voice held an element she’d never heard in it when he’d pretended to be Darrell. “You’re going to beg. I won’t be able to watch your death dance with this setup.” There was no mistaking the regret in his voice. “But I think you’ll agree that this is a little extra special. Think about that for the next few minutes.”
With supreme effort, Risa forced herself to grasp her gun. Draw it out. And then nearly dropped it, her hand shook so violently. Baltes was on the move. She may be given no better opportunity to release Eggers. If only she knew how far the other man was going. Back to the vehicle? To a stash inside the brush? There was no way of being certain. But he had already faded into the darkness. Which meant she had to move.
She approached Eggers in a swift crouch. Her weapon hand was steadier now. But holding the gun was a far cry from pulling the trigger. Just like shooting a window bore no resemblance to shooting a man.
Martin Volk swam across her mind, holding a terrified Ryder Kremer. Should she have taken a chance with the man’s kneecap? The cost of her moment’s hesitation had been devastating.
Risa shook the image from her mind. There would be no reason for indecisiveness if she had the opportunity to wound Baltes.
Unless she froze in the act of pulling the trigger.
There was brush on two sides of Eggers. But a huge clearing was in the center of it. There was no protection as she hurried toward the victim, even as she took care to stay down. Whichever way Baltes approached from, she and the detective would be plainly visible.
She was coming up on Eggers from behind when she slowed. There was a huge trench dug around the man. Two feet wide. A foot deep. And it was lined, she noted sickly, with brush and branches. It was all too easy to imagine what Baltes had in mind.
He planned to surround Eggers with a ring of fire.
For a moment, horror at the thought held her motionless. Then she straightened enough to leap over the trench. Piles of discarded dirt were piled inside the circle. She stumbled over an abandoned shovel as she raced across the twelve-foot expanse of grass to where the solitary victim sat waiting for death.