Page 103 of No Safe Place

“I have to disagree there,” Shaw said. “What’s to stop you from sending it out when you leave here with her?”

“The knowledge that guys like you with your now almost complete global surveillance grid will never stop hunting us down,” I said.

“What’s to stop us from doing that anyway?”

I shrugged.

“Why bother if you get what you need. Even if we went to the press with the footage, they wouldn’t even show it. You guys got that covered, too.”

Shaw drummed his fingers on the tabletop.

“You killed my guys.”

“How many people did you kill?” I said. “And you destroyed a town.”

Shaw squinted, considering what I was saying. Then he brought a small Glock out of his pant’s pocket as he stood, pointing the gun at my forehead.

“You can’t be this stupid,” I said, looking at him with genuine surprise.

Shaw laughed.

“You shouldn’t have killed my buddies. They were like sons to me.”

“Were they? Wow, that’s touching,” I said, checking my watch as I leaned back. “Don’t make me laugh. As if you ever cared about anyone but yourself your whole life.”

Shaw laughed again.

“You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that,” he said. “Ice cubes of extra-large size. I promise I’ll use them ethically, for chum, when I go fishing later for swords when Frank helicopters back.”

I shook my head as I checked my watch again.

“You’re a real piece of work, Shaw. It’s not your fault. You’re human, I guess. You don’t learn. Some people just can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

I checked my watch again.

“If you’ve got some place to be,” Shaw said, “you probably should call ahead because, believe me, your plans have changed.”

“Shaw, I told you I was a bomb squad guy, right? Well, before that I was a SEAL. You know the navy SEALs?”

“And?” he said.

“What do SEALs do, Shaw?”

“Cowboy around like obnoxious jackasses? Die young?”

“Besides that, we do underwater demolition, Shaw,” I said.

I watched as a puzzled expression formed on his face.

“What if I told you,” I said, “that when I called Frank Stone, it was from behind this boat, after I was done.”

“Done?”

“You’ll see. Any second now. It’s just about time,” I said with a laugh as I looked over at Olivia and smiled.

“Time?” he said.

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