“What if I tried my network, or a different one?”
“Try anything, lady, but don’t expect to get very far. We’ve got no proof, and without it anyone who takes this on camera would look like a damn fool. Besides, you think that boss of yours was the only one in television Krayman Industries had in its pockets?”
“So you’re saying Washington will do nothing if left to itself?”
“By doing nothing, they’re accomplishing something — saving their asses. The people at the top fear embarrassment more than assassination. They can’t risk exposure of how close they came to losing control. It makes them look ineffective, which is just what they are, but so long as the illusion holds up, who’s to know? Even if I got by Krayman’s people, I’m not sure I’d be able to find anyone in the capital to listen to me. Remember what Terrell said about everything coming down to one group seizing control from a weaker one? Well, if everything about Omega comes out, that might just happen — quite legitimately — on Election Day. They can’t take that chance.”
“So the bad guys want us dead and the good guys want us quiet,” Sandy concluded grimly.
“There are no good guys, just levels of bad.”
Sandy raised herself up more. “Then why don’t you just walk away from it all, find yourself your own private island in the Caribbean?”
Blaine shook his head. “No, I can’t. The job’s not finished and if it stays that way, the country just might be. I still believe, Sandy. When you come right down to it, that’s all I’ve got.”
They looked at each other for a long moment. Sandy tightened her features. “You could have sent flowers and a card, Blaine, but instead you came in person. This is all leading somewhere, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure where myself. All I know is that you’re right about exposure being our best, our only chance to stay alive and end this for certain.”
“But how?”
“I’ve got this crazy feeling, but before I can pursue it I’ve got to ask you some questions.”
“You gonna tell me what this feeling is?”
“Not until I’m sure. When I am, you’ll be the second to know. Let’s just say there’s only one way to expose Omega irrefutably and only one man who can help us do it. It’s a long shot, but it’s all we’ve got.”
“Ask away,” Sandy told him.
Christmas had brought with it forty-degree temperatures and the beginnings of an early thaw. The boatman had spent his holiday with his whiskey. Between swallows he had started repairs on his battered craft. The island was quiet now, less ominous, sulking in the shadows across the bay like a beaten bully. The boatman was finally alone, which was just the way he wanted it.
The sloshing of shoes through the slush made him poke his head through the opening in the boat’s engine compartment. A big, bearded man was approaching, better groomed and less anxious than the last time the boatman had seen him.
“Good afternoon,” said McCracken.
“Seems to be,” returned the boatman as he climbed back upon his craft’s deck. “If you come to bring me a Christmas present, friend, you’re a day late. And if you’re after my boat again, you might notice she ain’t exactly seaworthy.”
“It’s not the boat I’m after, it’s you.”
“Don’t think I caught that, friend.”
“I think you did … Mr. Krayman.”
The boatman’s face lost all its color. He pulled his frame to the dock and sat down on the edge.
“How’d you know?” was all he said.
“I didn’t. At least, I wasn’t sure. But I did a little research on the car crash that supposedly took your life five years ago in New York. Fire made identifying the bodies impossible, and one was actually unaccounted for.”
Randall Krayman’s gaze grew distant. “They came out in a helicopter to make sure they’d finished the job.”
“Dolorman’s men?”
“Or Hollins’s. It didn’t much matter.”
“And you hid from them by burying yourself in the snow just like you did two nights ago on the island, correct?”
Krayman nodded.
“That woman with us Christmas Eve was a reporter,” Blaine said by way of explanation. “She’s been researching you for months. She told me about your brave enlistment in the army and subsequent training in which you learned how to use an M-16. You saved our lives by emptying a clip into Wells’s men. That was obviously no fluke.”
“Ayuh,” acknowledged Krayman softly. “I enjoyed it too.”
“Revenge, Mr. Krayman?”
“Justice, friend, something you should know about better than most if I read you right.”
“I wasn’t criticizing.”
“What else did that reporter lady tell you ’bout me?”
“General features like height, the color of your eyes, and, of course, the fact that you were born in Maine. You came back here to hide from them, but you wanted to watch, to monitor their actions. An inlet across from Horse Neck Island couldn’t have been a random choice.”
Krayman’s blank expression confirmed all of Blaine’s words. “At first all I wanted was to stay dead. I thought maybe Dolorman and Hollins had done me a favor. I didn’t know about Hollins at first, but I had my suspicions and over the years, well, I had plenty of time to figure everything out. Thing of it was, here I sat with everything behind me. …” Suddenly his eyes sharpened. “But I couldn’t let go, friend, not then.”
“And what about now?”
“You want me to go back to civilization with you?”
Blaine nodded. “You’re the only man who can expose Omega’s existence once and for all and begin the process of destroying its remnants. You’re the only man no one can argue with on the subject … since the operation was yours originally.”
“Not the way Dolorman and Hollins envisioned it. I realized that in time. But they decided to get me out of the way ’fore I could do anything about it.”
“Dolorman’s dead. Hollins too.”
“So am I, friend, and that’s still the way I want to keep it. Don’t you think I coulda gone back and told the world the truth if I’d wanted? Well, I didn’t. I just wanted to stay dead. I’d had enough.” A pause. “I still have.”
“I’m not going to argue the merits of society with you, Mr. Krayman. I’ve seen enough to know that your position is justified. But speaking of the world, it would be a hell of a lot worse off with Omega still threatening it.”
“Do you really believe that, friend?”
“Absolutely. The world’s not perfect and neither is the country. As a matter of fact, lots of it stinks. But we can’t let the Dolormans and the Hollinses feed off the rot.”
“I guess you’ll expose me if I don’t turn myself in,” Krayman said, scratching at his beard stubble.
Blaine shook his head. “No, Mr. Krayman, the decision’s yours. You saved my life and I owe you for that.”
“Lord in heaven, an honorable man. … Where were you fifteen years ago?”
“Killing people somewhere in Indochina. Things haven’t changed much since.”
“No,” Krayman said reflectively, “I suppose they haven’t. You’ve been fighting a lot of wars, friend.”
“No, just one big one. A lot of people say it’s futile. I say, what isn’t? The world’s a lousy place by nature, but things tend to get even worse when men like Hollins gain control. It’s out there for them to grab and there aren’t many of us left to keep their fingers off it.”
Randall Krayman slapped his thighs and stood up. He gazed at the sun, treating his leathery flesh to its warmth.
“You got a car, friend?”
“Gassed up and ready.”
“You think I oughta shave?”
McCracken shook his head slowly. “The stubble becomes you.”