‘You ever see that film,’ he said, ‘where all the guns are laid out on the bed, and De Niro’s buying? Man, I can’t wait to see their faces when we turn up toting this little package.’ Spike’s grin was halogen-white.
I thought I saw Bel shiver, but then it was getting late. I felt a little shivery myself.
27
And still there were decisions.
For instance, should we check Provost’s house, see if he really had gone to Lake Crescent?
Should we visit the house on Hood Canal first? That way, we might take out possible reinforcements. We didn’t want to lay siege to the cabins only to have a vanload of newly-summoned heat creep up on us from behind.
Should we take the pick-up, the V-Dub, or both? They’d be looking out for the camper, but then they’d also be on the lookout for a crazy pick-up driver with dents in his cattle-bar.
One thing we knew: it was too dangerous to cross on to the peninsula by ferry. They’d almost certainly be watching Bremerton. In fact, there weren’t nearly enough roads into the Olympic Peninsula for my liking. For an area measuring roughly ninety miles by sixty, it boasted only two routes into it. There was just the one main road, the 101, circling the perimeter of the National Park and National Forest. Using as few as maybe half a dozen men, they’d have advance warning of any approach we might make.
There were other possibilities, but they were time-consuming. One had us take a boat to Victoria, British Columbia, and then another boat back from there to Port Angeles. The two crossings would take a total of several hours, and as Spike pointed out, Kline would already have considered this. If he was agency or government, he’d have an order put out for all sailings to be watched.
‘What you’re saying,’ said Bel, ‘is that there’s no way in there without them knowing about it?’
Spike nodded, but I had an idea. It was just about my craziest notion yet, but my partners went for it. After that, things started slotting into place.
Since the authorities weren’t on the lookout for Spike, we rented a car in his name in North Bend. It was a bland family model, and Spike decried the loss of his beloved stick-shift. But it gave us the confidence to head back into Seattle. We stopped at Ed’s Guns and Sporting Goods. I asked Archie if anyone had been asking questions. He shook his head.
‘What’re you looking for this time, son?’
‘Balaclavas and warpaint,’ I informed him.
It was when I said this that it all hit home, the sheer madness of it all. I was way out of my league; I was playing a different game altogether. I should have been scared shitless, and I was. I could hardly stop my hands shaking — not exactly a good sign in a professional sniper. My heart was thumping and I kept thinking I was going to be sick. But at the same time it was like being a little drunk, and Bel and Spike felt the same. We kept grinning at each other and collapsing into fits of nervous giggling. I burst out laughing in Archie’s shop. He gave me a look, and smiled like he got the joke.
‘There’s no joke,’ I told him. And there wasn’t. There was just the euphoria of fear. I was pushing myself towards the confrontation as though each step had to be taken in thicker and deeper mud. It was the slowest day of my life. For all the activity and movement, it was slower than all the days I’d spent in hotel rooms, waiting for my hit to arrive in town, all the days I’d sat by windows, working out firing angles and distances. Archie seemed disappointed at the size of the sale.
‘I see your friend’s going to be all right.’
‘What?’
He smiled. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody. They had a photo of him on TV. I recognised him straight off.’
‘What’s the latest?’
‘He’s awake. The police are talking to him. So far it’s as one-sided as staging The Price is Right in a convent.’
I nodded, relieved. ‘Archie,’ I said, ‘could you go to the hospital, say you’re a friend of his?’
‘You want me to go see him?’
‘If you give your name and address, I think he’ll agree to see you.’
‘Well, hell, what am I supposed to say?’
‘Tell him we’re fine. Tell him today’s the day. It might help cheer him up.’
He screwed shut one eye. ‘Does this make me an accessory?’
‘What’s the crime?’
‘Well...’ He scratched his head. ‘I can’t close up the shop till six.’
‘This evening would be fine. It’d be perfect.’
I tried handing him a twenty for his trouble, but he wouldn’t take it.
‘Be careful out there,’ he told me.
‘I will, Archie, I will.’
‘I hate this car,’ said Spike. ‘This is the most boring car I’ve ever sat in in my life. Period.’
We were parked at the top of the hill, a hundred yards from Provost’s house. We’d been sitting watching for a while, Spike drumming his fingers on the steering-wheel.
‘I say we switch to my plan.’ Spike’s plan was simple. He’d walk up to Provost’s front door and ring the bell.
‘Just like the Avon lady,’ he said.
The plan depended on two things: the fact that Provost, Kline and the others didn’t know Spike, and that Spike could manufacture some bullshit excuse as to why he was ringing the bell in the first place.
We took a vote: it was two to one in favour. I was the lone dissenter. So Spike got out of the car and jogged his way down the hill.
‘What’s wrong?’ Bel asked.
‘I can’t help feeling we’re playing our joker a bit early.’ She didn’t get it, so I explained. ‘Spike’s our secret weapon. If they rumble him, we’re back to square one.’
She smiled. ‘Aren’t you mixing your card games and your board games?’
I gave her a sour look, like I’d just bitten on something hard and was checking my molars for damage. Then I watched through the windscreen for Spike’s return.
It wasn’t long before he came jogging back up the hill again. He cast a look back to see if anyone was watching him, then got into the car and turned the ignition.
‘The place is empty,’ he said. ‘I took a look around, nothing. They’ve got curtains over the windows, but even then I could tell nobody was home.’
‘Then he’s gone to the peninsula,’ said Bel.
‘Looks like. Either that or he’s off to Costco for his month’s groceries.’
This was it then. We were headed out to confront Provost and Kline. I felt weary, and leaned my head against the back of the seat, happy to let Spike do the driving. He turned on the radio and found a rock station. Springsteen: Born in the USA. Spike turned the volume up all the way and sang his heart out to the distorted song.
We already knew we were taking the long route to the peninsula, south through Tacoma and then north again.
‘Spike,’ I said, ‘we really appreciate you helping us.’
‘Man, I’m not helping you, I’m on vacation.’
‘How’s it been so far?’
‘More fun than Epcot, I’ll tell you that.’
‘I’m not sure that’s a recommendation.’
He was grinning with his near-perfect teeth. ‘It is, believe me. We should all go to EPCOT when this is over.’
‘Who knows?’ I said quietly. We drove into Port Angeles and then out again in the direction of Pioneer Memorial Museum.
We stopped on the southern edge of town, not far from the Park Headquarters. Then we put my plan into action.
Bel managed to get the attention of two park wardens who’d just driven their car out of Park HQ. She brought them over to our car, where Spike and I smiled and nodded a greeting.