Dayton laughed. “Okay, point taken. But if you don’t want to negotiate surrender, why call?”
“Look, we both want the same thing. Capturing the assassin and removing that death threat is my current number-one priority. I believe that same assassin killed your police officer. So the Vegas Police want to capture and arrest the killer as much as I do. I’ve done my homework on you, Dayton.”
“Ah, classic military principle—know your enemy,” Dayton said.
“Are you my enemy?”
“I’ve already said I believe you’re innocent. So where do we go from here? Do you have any evidence or information about Grant’s real killer, or who is trying to kill you, if it’s a different person?”
“Like you, I have suspicions but no proof about who murdered Grant, Pitt and the prostitute. But I do have some solid information about who’s trying to kill me. All I’ll say now is that I don’t think the person after me is the same person who committed the first three murders, but the two killings may still be connected. If that’s true, then capturing and arresting the hit man may lead you to the real Grant killer.”
Now it was the detective’s turn to stop and think. Calvin was sure that his call had caught him totally unprepared.
“You’ve given me a lot. I’d appreciate it if you gave me a minute to think about where we are now.”
“Take your time,” Calvin said.
Dale was thinking as fast as he could to catch up and think ahead.
Watters was desperate.
He could see that the hit man was a bigger threat to Watters than the police. That was understandable self-interest. If Watters did have information about the hit man, he was offering something valuable. What did he want in exchange?
Could he trust Watters? Only to the same point that Watters trusted him, assuming that Watters believed what Dale had said about his innocence.
While he was thinking, one of the phone techs confirmed that the call was untraceable and unrecordable. Now Dale knew just how much trouble it was going to be to bring in Watters.
They had the same goal, even if their motives were different.
He got back on the phone. “Okay, you got my attention. I’m ready to deal. What do you want from me, from us, in exchange for your information about the hit man?”
The call had now gone on for four minutes.
“I’ve been following the investigations, so I know how little you have. You need me to help you solve this—no offense intended.”
“One thing at a time. What’s your plan?”
Watters explained it. Dale thought it had a good probability of success, but it risked lives, reputations and careers. The usual.
When Watters finished, Dale said, “I’m going to talk to a few members of my team, the ones who have balls and who I trust. Then I’ll see if the bosses will fine me if it fails.” Dale paused, then continued. “No, scratch that. I know they would. So screw them. Anyway, call me in an hour and I’ll tell you if it’s a go.”
“Fine.” Watters hung up.
Book Five: Collision Course
Chapter 36
At exactly 3:00 p.m. the phone rang. Dale and Jimmy, with the sergeant standing in the background, answered separate phones. “Hello?”
“It’s me,” Watters said.
Dale licked his lips nervously. “Okay, we’ll do it.”
“You are sure you can do your part?” There was doubt in Watters’ voice.
“Watters, don’t fuck with me. You need this and so do I, so what choice do you really have? Is someone else going to help you, or do I sit back and let them catch you?”
Watters was silent.
“We’ve held up our end by agreeing to do it your way,” Dale said. “There’s still a warrant out for your arrest and I can’t get it overturned just yet. But my boss has agreed to give us some leeway and time to execute the plan. Now I need something from you.”
“I’ll help. But I want something in return.”
Dale signaled to the sergeant to pick up another phone and listen in. “What do you want?”
“When this is over, you’ll owe me. I don’t trust witness protection programs, but you can do a couple of things to get me started on a new life.”
Dale turned to the sergeant, who nodded. “Okay.”
“Good,” Watters said. “Now for what you want to know. Earlier this year, Pitt told me that Sanders had put a substantial bid in for Doug Grant’s casino. He declined the offer, which infuriated Sanders. It’s my belief that Sanders’ greed led him to commit these murders.”
“Lots of people can see that scenario, but what’s your proof? If you don’t have it, there’s no real deal here for us.”
“Not yet, but I know how to get it.”
“How?”
“I also know who killed your officer.”
“What?” Dale looked at Jimmy.
“His name is Derek Baxter. He’s an ex-Marine. He had to have been hired by Sanders.”
“What’s the proof?”
“Find Baxter. He’ll talk.”
Watters told them about the hit man following him and what he thought the sniper’s next move would be. Dale listened quietly, not liking the situation one bit.
“Okay,” Dale said. “This sounds possible. But I’m not happy. A lot of it is guesswork. You think I should protect you from everyone after your hide because of a guess and an internet search?”
“Detective, how many assassins have you caught in Vegas? How many murders-for-hire have there been in the last ten years, would you say? The newspapers suggest ten or twelve.”
“So, smartass, how can we get this guy out into the open?”
They went over details for almost twenty minutes.
When they had hammered out the finer points, Dale said, “Okay. Send his photo and all you have on Baxter.”
“Done. One last thing. I need Rachel out of the house.”
“The girl’s with you?” Dale wasn’t really surprised though.
“Yes. I know how we can get her out before Baxter moves in.”
Dale agreed.
When he hung up, Jimmy spoke. “I agree Watters is smart, but Baxter is a professional killer and is going to drop him.”
“Probably so. Do you have a better plan?” He was getting tired of everyone else’s plan—kill Watters and put all the killings on him or try Watters and do the same thing. Jimmy was his old friend, but no saint about justice.
The fax spit out Baxter’s picture and the plan of Watters’ fortress, including the location of booby traps.
Dale looked at Jimmy. “Call in Parker, Duncan, Smith and Ramirez so we can set it up. In your spare time, try to explain why a guilty killer would give all his best secrets and defenses away? Maybe we have a super-genius here and it is all a crazy trap. But I’m pretty smart too and when you’re not lazy or hanging out with street sleaze, so are you.”
Chapter 37
Clouds dark and heavy with rain poured down on Vegas that evening.
Calvin popped a couple of painkillers. Not a full dose, just enough to reduce the pain. He felt as if he were back in college with pre-game jitters. He started to enjoy the ride from the most powerful drug in the world—adrenaline.
He looked for Baxter on the quiet, unmoving monitor. Out there lurked a high-powered scope set for him and Rachel. Calvin got up to choose his weapons.
He pushed the computer desk against the wall, rolled up the area carpet and grabbed a round metal pin that lifted a trap door.
He followed the stairs into the damp, dark bomb shelter. On one side, there was enough canned food for several months. On the other, an arsenal.
He took down an armful of various weapons and then went to conceal them around his fortress. Then, he got the call.