Page 103 of One Final Target

COLLINS’S FACE WAS A STUDYin anger and petulance.

“He’ll be here. He’s never late. He’ll get here in time.”

“In time for what?”

He looked away.

Sam knelt to be at eye level with Collins. “Look, Dennis, none of this makes sense to me. Okay, you’re a smart kid. Did you go on a killing spree just because you weren’t hired? Why even try to be a cop if you were so invested in what was illegal?”

“I could have been a good cop. Do you know how many cybercrimes I could have thwarted? Instead LBPD said I wasn’t good enough.”

“So you killed four good officers?”

“They weren’t as good as me, huh?” He arched an eyebrow.

Sam stood and went back to the window. It was light now and he could see they were surrounded by forest. They were still in GVL, he bet. He doubted they’d gone as far as Big Bear or Lake Arrowhead.

“It’s been more than ten minutes. Where is Jonah?”

Collins said nothing.

“All this death and destruction, yet you let the FBI agent live. Why?”

“Just to prove we can do whatever we want.”

“You saywe, but Jonah calls all the shots.”

Collins’s face reddened. “We discuss everything.”

“Well, maybe he got caught. He called the police to brag; they know where he is. Did you discuss how to deal with that?”

Collins said nothing.

Sam paced, keeping an eye on the window. “Why does he want to kill Mike King? I thought they were lifelong buddies.”

“You don’t stab a buddy in the back.”

Sam turned and looked at Dennis. “The IED was to get back at Mike King?”

“Sure. Two birds with one stone. Gus had the decency to die when he was supposed to.”

“Jodie escaped. Then you tried to shoot her last Saturday.”

Dennis looked away.

“You had a line on her. Did you freeze up? Not so easy to kill someone up close.”

“I got the deputy good. He never saw it coming. He thought I was small and weak. I showed him.”

Sam considered Collins’s bravado now. He wanted to break the facade; what would get under the kid’s skin?

“Something tells me shooting Jodie wasn’t Jonah’s idea. I dothink Jonah is smart, a lot smarter than you. He planned the IED, maybe with your help. It was sophisticated. The mess of C-4 under your house, not so much. Yeah, I’m beginning to see... Jonah is the brains here.”

“He wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much done without me.”

“Whose idea was the IED at the very beginning?”

“Jonah had the idea. But I worked out the details. It would have been perfect if...”

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