Chapter 92 fourth quarter

Decker's mouth was parched from worry.He hung up the phone and walked into the rain, feeling even colder.He trotted across the street, into the darkened parking lot of the motel, and under the cover of darkness, came behind the dumpster and whispered to Esperanza the deal he had struck.The sound of rain muffled his voice. "You're risking your life," Esperanza said. "Is there anything else to say?" "Go ahead, man." "He won't kill me. He doesn't want to spend the rest of his life running for his life." "Escape from your imaginary friends."

"Well, I think if he kills me, you'll go after him." "Yes." Esperanza thought for a while. "Yes, I will." There was a light behind the drawn curtains of Room 19. "I can't let him find a weapon on me. Here's my pistol," Decker said. "If things go wrong, don't hesitate to shoot him." "It will be an honor for me," Esperanza said. "When I tell you to throw things towards the front of the hotel, pick up the empty bottle at your feet and throw it there. If you throw it higher, he won't know where you are."

Decker didn't want to reveal where Esperanza was hiding.He crawled back into the darkness and emerged from the shadows of another part of the parking lot.With his hands up, he waded through pools of water toward the Pontiac in front of Room 19. The curtains were drawn like curtains in a theatre.Decker saw what was revealed, and it made him feel like his body was losing its normal rhythm, and it was driving him crazy.Beth was tied to a chair with a rag stuffed in her mouth.Her blue-gray eyes fluttered with terror.Her hair was loose, and her oval face was tense, with high cheekbones pressed against the skin.She looked pale with fear.But then she saw him through the window, and Decker was touched by the deepness in her eyes that replaced the fear and the trust in seeing him.Obviously, she felt relieved and full of confidence in him.She believed that he was the hero she had dreamed of as a child, her hero, and he would save her.

One, hiding behind the narrow cinder-block wall between the window and the door, extended an arm from the left and pointed it at Beth's temple.In that hand was a revolver with the safety on. Decker tensed up.He heard a sound behind the door, the lock was unlocked, and the handle was turned.Light came through a narrow slit. "Decker?" McKittrick didn't lean out. "I'm next to your car—I said I'd be here." The door was wide open.McKittrick stepped out, his strong shoulders and football player frame outlined by the lights.His chest looked thicker than the last time Decker saw him, and his flaxen hair was cut shorter than Decker remembered, making his boxy, rugged features all the more striking.His eyes reminded Decker of a pig's eyes.

McKittrick smiled and aimed his gun at him.Decker panicked, terrified that McKittrick would shoot.Instead, McKittrick came through the open door, grabbed Decker, and shoved him against the still-warm hood of the Pontiac. "You'd better not have a gun, old friend." McKittrick searched him roughly, keeping the muzzle of the gun to the back of his neck. "I don't have a weapon," Decker said, "and I always keep my word when I make a deal." Decker's cheek was pressed against the wet hood of the Pontiac.He squinted and caught a glimpse of the lit window and the revolver pointed at Beth.The cool rain poured on his face, and he kept blinking to see better.

Beth writhed in terror. McKittrick finished his rough search and took a step back. "My God, you did it. You gave yourself to me. You're so sure of yourself. What makes you think I'm not going to put a bullet in your head?" "I told you - I have backup." "Yeah, sure, yeah. Who's going to help you? The FBI? That's not how they do things. Langley? It's got nothing to do with national security. Why should they bother?" "I have friends." "Hey, I've been spying on you, remember? In Santa Fe, you didn't have any friends. You didn't have a friend that you could trust and have your back."

"A former friend." "Go to hell." "Make some noise," Decker called to Esperanza in the shadows. McKittrick flinched when an empty bottle suddenly fell on the sidewalk by the motel door.Shards of glass splashed in all directions. McKittrick scowled, turning the gun on Decker again. "As far as I know, that's an alcoholic, you pay him and he throws the bottle." "The problem is you don't know if that's the case," Decker said. "Why take the risk?" "I'd be overjoyed to have you disappear from my life."

Decker panicked again, terrified that McKittrick was going to pull the trigger. And McKittrick yelled at the open door, "Let's go." A figure appeared—a man of medium height, wearing a black raincoat that was too long, and a rubber rain hat with a wide brim hanging down over his face.Whoever he was, he was carrying a suitcase in his left hand, and the revolver in his right was still aimed at Beth at the window. McKittrick opened the Pontiac's rear door and let the man in the raincoat throw the suitcase into the car.McKittrick opened the driver's door until the man was in the back seat and let Decker get in and sit on the other side.The man in the back seat was sitting behind Decker, holding a gun to Decker's head, and McKittrick sat behind the wheel while aiming the gun at Beth.

"Good job." McKittrick grinned. "Without these troubles, I have nothing to worry about. Now, old friend, you have what you want." His tone became serious. "We'll take you for a ride." McKittrick started the Pontiac, turned on the headlights, and started backing up.The glare of the headlights shone on Beth.Through the rain-drenched windshield, Decker could see her struggling to free herself from the ropes that bound her, while turning her head to avoid the glare of the headlights.The Pontiac kept falling backwards, and she got smaller and smaller.Then McKittrick turned the car around and drove forward, picking up speed, and drifted away from the motel.Decker was relieved that Beth was safe, but at the same time lonely and empty.He turned to take one last look at her and saw that she was struggling to break free from the ropes that bound her to the chair.She looked in his direction, her eyes were heartbreakingly sad, and she was worried about him.

"Who would have guessed?" McKittrick turned right onto the dark street outside the motel. "A romance." Decker said nothing. "She must have charmed you," McKittrick said. Decker still didn't answer. "Hey," McKittrick said, looking away from the road, pointing the pistol in Decker's face. "This kind of talk is so boring." "Yes," Decker said, "she appeals to me." McKittrick grunted contemptuously and looked back again.He looked in the rearview mirror. "No headlights, no one to follow." "Did she know who I was when I first met her?" Decker asked.

"what?" "Is she just using me for extra protection?" "You are so strange. You look like an expert on the surface and can control yourself, but you ruined your life for a woman." "I don't see it that way." "Then what do you think?" "I didn't ruin my life," Decker said. "I found my real life." "But it's not for long. You want to talk about a life ruined?" McKittrick snapped. "You ruined my life. If it wasn't for you, I'd go on working in Intelligence. I'll be promoted, my dad will be proud of me, and I won't have to do this goddamn job in the Executive Agency as a bodyguard for the mob." McKittrick raised his voice. "I can still stay in Rome!" The man in the back seat said something—his voice was hoarse, as if it had been squeezed out of his throat, and it was weird.Decker didn't understand him.Decker had heard the strangely odd sound before—when he was eavesdropping outside McKittrick's room.But somehow, he felt that the voice was familiar, as if he had heard it long ago, which made him a little uneasy.McKittrick was obviously familiar with the voice, and immediately understood the meaning of the words. "I'm not going to shut up!" said McKittrick. "I didn't say anything! He knows as well as I do, and he can't bear to see me succeed! He shouldn't have interfered! If he let me Do it my way and I'll be a hero!" "If you are a hero, you won't let yourself be mixed with scum like Giordano." "Hey, since the good guys are determined to kick me out, I thought I'd see what the bad guys did to me. It's much better, thank you. I'm starting to realize there's not much difference between the good guys and the bad guys. ' McKittrick laughed. "I've had a lot to gain in terms of money." "But you betrayed Giordano again." "I finally realized that there's only one side of all this that matters—my side. You're on the wrong side, and now it's time for revenge." McKittrick held up something.For a moment Decker thought it was a weapon, then he recognized the seeker. "I'm not as careless as you think. I've been asking myself since you called, how did you find me? At the delivery point I dropped the briefcase in case something had been tampered with. But I never thought about banknotes. So I checked every bundle of banknotes, and I guess that's what you dug a hole in." McKittrick pushed a button, and the driver's side window lowered.In a rage, he threw the seeker into a ditch through which the car was speeding. "Now, see who's smarter? Whoever's working with you, he can't follow us anymore. You're in my hand." McKittrick turned onto a side road, pulled over to a shoulder lined with trees, stopped, and turned off the Pontiac's headlights.In the darkness, rain beat on the roof of the car, and the wipers on the windshield swung rapidly, making Decker's heart beat violently.In a flash of lightning, he saw McKittrick aiming his pistol at him. "I could hide for a long time with a million dollars," McKittrick said, "but if you stopped chasing me, I wouldn't have to hide at all." McKittrick kept his finger firmly on the trigger. "We made a deal," Decker said. "Yes, and I bet you'll keep your word on your part. Get out." Decker tensed even more. "Get out," McKittrick repeated. "Get out. Open the door." Decker moved away from McKittrick and put his hand on the passenger door.He knew that as soon as he opened the door and stepped out of the car, McKittrick would shoot.He was distraught, nervously thinking about how to get out.He could try to distract McKittrick and snatch the gun from his hand, but what about the man in the back seat who would shoot if Decker made a provocative move? gun.I could jump into the ditch, he thought, and it was night and raining, and they probably wouldn't be able to hit me. He opened the car door slowly, praying, before leaning over to get out of the car. "Does she really love you?" McKittrick asked. "Does she know who you are? Is she using you?" "Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to know," Decker said. "Go ask her." "what?" "Go back and ask her." "what are you saying?" McKittrick resumed his smug tone.He was playing a game, but Decker didn't know what it was. "I'm keeping my promise on my part. You're free. Go back to Diana Scolari and see if she's worth the price you've voluntarily paid." "It's for Beth Dwyer." "You're a real romantic." Decker's feet hit the rain-soaked curb when McKittrick slammed on the gas pedal.The Pontiac roared away from Decker, nearly running over his foot.The car door slammed shut, and McKittrick laughed.The taillights of the car quickly went away, and Decker was left alone in the dark rainy night.