Page 167 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

“I—I—I have no idea.”

Sticks pressed a remote, setting off a trio of ignition devices he’d hidden among the wood scraps in the truck, then jumped to his feet.

“It’s done.”

Without another word, he ran back toward the road.

“We should go,” Nico urged.

“No, not until we’re sure they catch fire,” Petry said.

“If they don’t, there’s nothing we can do about it, so what does it matter?”

“It matters because I said so.”

Petry watched the fire through the binoculars. The flames had started to spread, and the corner of one of the pictures had begun to burn. He smiled and then switched his focus to Barrington.

The lawyer was not looking at the fire anymore. He was staring straight in Petry’s direction, as if he knew he was there, and he was smiling.

That wasn’t right. He should be screaming, panicked, and trying to rescue his mother’s work, but the blaze didn’t seem to faze him at all.

Three people ran up to Barrington, each holding something in their hands. At a word from Barrington, they turned so Petry could see what they were carrying. Each held one of the paintings that Petry had bought, the same paintings he could see burning on the fire.

That’s when the realization hit him. Duchamp, who had been horrified at Petry’s plan, must have teamed up with Barrington to make Petry the fool.

That arty son of a bitch was going to pay for this. “Let’s go.”

They got up and turned for the path back to their sedan but didn’t even make it a step. Standing in their way was the giant frame of a man who was supposed to be dead.

Phillip raised the pistol in his hand. “Going somewhere, gentlemen?”

“Nico,” Petry said. “What’s he doing here?”

“Uh…”

The corner of Phillip’s mouth ticked up. “Your fixer isn’t so great at fixing things, I guess.”

“Hey,” Nico said. “There’s no need for this to get ugly. I told you, it wasn’t personal.”

“It felt personal to me.”

“Look, we can work something out. Mr. Petry is a very rich man. What will it take so that we can all walk away from here?”

“You think buying me off is going to save you?”

“Everyone has a price. Name yours and I’ll make it happen.”

Petry watched Phillip’s eyes, waiting for them to focus solely on Nico.

The instant they did, Petry shoved his lawyer in the back, sending him sprawling toward Phillip, then he sprinted into the cover of the brush.

Phillip’s gun went off. Petry kept running, expecting a bullet to tear into him, but it didn’t.

Another shot hit the trunk of a tree as he passed it. He zagged right and moved deeper into the brush, then headed in the direction he thought would take him back to his car.

Chapter 52

Stone ducked as a gunshot echoed past Billy’s house. He glanced at his friends. No one appeared to have been hit.

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