Page 133 of The List

“Roger.”

He kept walking.

His quarry turned the corner a hundred yards ahead.

10:26A.M.

BRENT CHECKED HIS WATCH.

His ten minutes were almost up. Hank should be at the barge dock any second. He had no idea what his friend had in mind, but he knew De Florio was closing in, so whatever Hank was planning had better damn well get them both out of here and fast.

He rounded the corner, the river in sight. Suddenly, to his left, Hank bolted out of the building and jumped from the loading dock. The two joined together for the last hundred feet.

“We’ve got company, Hank.”

“Don’t I know.”

“De Florio’s behind me.”

“And another’s on my tail.”

“Where we going?” he asked.

“Away from here.”

He shot a look back.

De Florio was rounding the corner and a security guard was exiting the building. The barge dock was a stubby concrete slab that projected twenty feet out into the muddy Savannah River. It was used mainly to off-load crude oil into three storage tanks nearby, but the company kept a small outboard tied to it for environmental testing of the river. No barges hugged the dock today.

They raced to the end of the short pier and up to one of the metal ladders leading down to the water. He looked below and saw a small boat manned by Clarence Silva.

“Get in the boat,” Hank said.

He looked back. De Florio and the guard were headed straight for the dock. A redneck who three weeks ago wanted to beat the shit of him waited below. He chose the lesser of two evils and descended.

Hank slid down the ladder behind him. “Hit it, Clarence.”

The engine roared to life and the boat shot out into the current.

JON REACHED THE END OF THE DOCK.

He pointed to the company outboard and said to Jacks, “Use that and follow them.”

His associate slid down the ladder on the other side, jumped into the boat, and yanked several times on the outboard.

BRENT ANDHANK WATCHED WHILE THE GUARD TRIED TO START THEcompany’s outboard.

“Goin’ to be kind of hard without these.”

Silva held up the spark plug wires and smiled proudly through his trademark corn-kernel teeth.

“I never thought I’d be glad to see you,” Brent said.

“Only thing I hate worse than lawyers is them security guards.”

“Clarence is a good man,” Hank said. “A little warped at times, but okay.”

“I take back every bad thing I ever said about you,” Brent said.