Page 77 of The 9th Man

Don’t defend, engage, explain, or personalize. He tacked on a fifth piece of advice to what the article had said.

And destroy them.

Definitely.

Which was what he planned to do.

His men were ready.

Of course, they knew nothing about what he had in mind. They were simply following his orders, as they had for a long time. Their loyalty was entirely to him, as not one of them had ever laid eyes on Thomas Rowland. Hopefully, nothing he planned would spill over onto them or their families. What was the saying? If you come to kill the king, make damn sure you kill the king. For the alternative was something unthinkable.

Especially with Tom Rowland involved.

He left the pilot to deal with the drone and walked over to his men.

“Load up,” he told them. “We’re going in.”

34

LUKE HAD TO ADMIT, SUE SIMMONS COULD COOK. SHE’D MADE Afeast of bayou dishes. Andouille, jambalaya, gumbo, finishing it all off with praline brownies and what she called Cajun coffee. Finely ground Colombian beans, a couple of teaspoons of dark molasses, a splash of rum, and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Heaven.

He and Jillian both were hungry and starting to fight jet lag. Luckily, they were both familiar with the malady and knew how to deal with it.

A little decompression felt good.

Especially considering what was coming. He had no doubt Talley would come. And soon. Surely once darkness had settled in. Or at least that’s the play he’d make if the roles were reversed.

Sue and Jillian’s lives seemed to overlap. In an eerie way. Their grandfathers had both died suddenly and violently, taking to the grave a shared something. Compounding their grief, they’d been left a legacy that neither asked for nor understood. Even worse, whatever Benji and Ray had been involved with seemed to now be visited upon their descendants. Jillian was all in. No question. But he’d given Sue the option of leaving and letting them handle what might come before morning. Their hostess declined saying she’d never run from a fight in her life and wasn’t about to start now.

Around 10:00P.M.Sue wandered upstairs with Crusoe on her heels, a shotgun in her hand.

Jillian curled up on the couch. “I’m going to rest my eyes for a few minutes.”

The two Berettas lay on the coffee table.

Luke was counting on the fact that the property was wired to give them some advance warning. So he made himself a second cup of Cajun coffee then returned to the three pages they’d amassed. Lots of formulas and equations. Variables and Discrepancies. Benjamin Stein and Ray Simmons were investigating something. What had Ray written?Hopefully our friend will make it all worth it. I know we found the truth.That seemed to indicate there was someone else involved. One thing was certain. They’d taken great pains to keep the nature of whoever that was and what they were working on private.

The rifle from Benji’s storage unit still bothered him. Stephanie had reported Malone retrieved both it and the other materials from the car. They were all currently on their way to Washington by a special flight. It was equally strange that Simmons would keep only the three sheets of paper in a locked safe. None of them were self-explanatory or made much sense. So why secrete them? After the lamp in Benji’s bedroom he decided on a more thorough inspection. The safe itself had been empty, save for the nylon bag. He examined the bag’s exterior. Blue, puffy to the touch signifying padding between the inner and outer layers. He squeezed all around and felt nothing unusual. The bottom had a base, a couple of inches wide and about a foot and a half long, that allowed the bag to stand upright.

He squeezed that too.

Pliable.

Except for one end, where he felt something solid inside the seams among the padding. Round. Maybe three inches long.

He walked into the kitchen and found a steak knife, which he used to make an incision in the nylon and freed the object.

A small plastic vial.

Like what pills came in from the drugstore.

Sealed at the top with tape and filled with cotton. Embedded within the cotton he saw a flash drive.

He smiled. The hits just kept on coming.

He heard a faint beeping from upstairs.