Page 152 of To Die For

“If I told you I’d made up my mind about that, Devine, I’d be lying.”

“You must have insurance in case they get to you.” He looked out the car window. “Despite the army of FBI agents out there.”

“I’m not stupid, Devine. Idohave insurance and these assholes know I do. They kill me, they go down. It’s just Betsy. I…” He shrugged helplessly.

“The feds aren’t going to wait forever. At some point it’s do or die, Danny.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” snapped Glass.

“What would it take to make you cooperate?” asked Devine.

“Can you guarantee that nothing will happen to Betsy?”

“Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one, Danny.”

“So we’re just going in circles.”

“But what if we took the fight to them?”

“How do you plan on doing that?” asked Glass.

“If I can think of a way?”

“Let me know, Devine. And then I’ll letyouknow. But right now my indecision is the only thing keeping Betsy alive.”

“Not the only thing. There’s me.”

“And you’re taking her back to her home, I understand.”

“Too many threats in a big city that you won’t see coming. I can defend her better out there.” Devine was sure that Glass knew nothing about the feds using Betsy as bait.And I should tell him, but I won’t or he might blow the whole plan up.

Glass turned so he was staring directly at Devine.

“So why did you really come here today?” said Devine.

“I wanted to look you in the eye and ask you something, man to man.”

“What?” said Devine curtly.

“If it comes to it, will you lay down your life for Betsy’s?”

Devine didn’t have to give it much thought. “Yes, I will.”

Glass reached out a hand and Devine shook it.

CHAPTER

69

PRU JACKSON SAT IN HER SUVand did what she did best: observe.

Her target today was the picturesque town of Ricketts.

The disguised Jackson was considerably overweight, her hair short and graying. Her baggy shirt fell over stretch pants that were expanded to their absolute limit. Her shoes looked like giant waffles. She wheezed and had an oxygen line running to her nose with a small tank of it in a harness that she could wear over her shoulder. Her tinted glasses covered the one thing that could give her away: penetrating eyes.

However, she was now a nonentity. People might stare for a moment, perhaps from sympathy or even pity, but then they would look away and forget what they had seen.

Presently, she had her eyes on the government building. People had been coming and going for the last hour. Cops, admin, probably some elected officials. She had seen Eric King arriving in a specially equipped van. Jackson had continued to watch as he expertly extracted himself from the vehicle deploying a side ramp and then levering himself down using hand straps attached to the inside of the van.

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