Court Gentry walked back among the schoolkids, towards his rented car. It was twelve twenty in the afternoon, and he shuffled along, unsure where he’d go now, unsure where he’d be at six p.m.
He still wanted to kill, to avenge his father.
But somehow, he did not want to kill this man.
He thought about going to a bar, having a few drinks, letting the whiskey tell him what to do.
As he drove off to the south, leaving the church and the man he’d sworn to kill, and the grave of a boy he had killed, he looked down at his phone.
He’d gotten several calls—he didn’t check them—and several texts on Signal. He ignored them all.
He was putting his phone away when he saw that he had one text that came through unencrypted. He looked down and saw it was from Zoya.
This was strange. Zoya never sent texts.
He opened it.
Call me. Now!!
He switched to Signal and dialed her number.
Epilogue
Bellstar Aviation chartered the Hawker 800 at Derry Airport, and Court boarded three hours and ten minutes before his scheduled fight to the death with Campbell Coyle over the Northern Irishman’s son’s grave.
He was rushing back to America because of what had happened just hours earlier in D.C., and he wondered if Campbell would ever wonder why he wasn’t there at the appointed time.
Court put the Northern Irishman out of his mind when his phone rang. It was Signal, and it was Lacy.
“Hey,” he said. “How’s Matt?”
“He’s stable. It’s an absolute miracle. There were five men in that car. Matt and a thirty-three-year-old Agency bodyguard survived. Both have broken bones and burns. Matt’s going to need a few surgeries, but hewilllive.”
“And Trey Watkins?”
Lacy took a moment. Said, “Dead. Presumably he and Hanley were both the intended targets. You know, I thought Watkins might have been somehow involved in all this.”
“You weren’t the only one.”
“Well, he’s dead, so I have a feeling he was just another victim, and not the culprit.”
Court said, “Matt’s not safe. Even in the hospital.”
Lacy replied, “I know. I spoke with Conductor. She’s got the Five Guys watching over him there.”
“Good.”
Lacy said, “I’ve been reassigned overseas, but I don’t leave for a few days. I’d like to talk to you when you get home.”
“I’ll meet you in the morning,” Court said.
“Let’s do it in Charlottesville. That safe house is secure. Anthem and Catherine and Irene are there, Teddy and Night Train are there, we have plenty of security, too.”
“Okay,” Court replied, happy that he was going to get to see Zoya. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Six?” Lacy said.
“Yeah?”
