Page 72 of Ground Truth

Bauer hesitated half a moment. “He is.”

“Detain him until I arrive.”

“Of course.”

“Advise the pilot we’ll be leaving earlier than planned.”

“Of course,” Bauer said again.

Hedinger disconnected the call.

He placed the shotgun and the shells on the ground. Bauer would dispose of them.

Which was practically a crime in itself.

The gun had performed perfectly as it had been designed to do. Hedinger had no complaints about the firearm or the shells.

The gun would be replaced. Perhaps the new one would function as well as its predecessor.

Perhaps not.

New didn’t always mean improved, of course. One needed only to consider Mario as the most recent example.

Hedinger had had such high hopes for the boy. Foolish hopes, as he now realized.

Still, Mario’s treachery was a gift.

If not for whimsy or serendipity or whatever name one wished to attach to such unexpected fortune, Hedinger would not have discovered the hole in his security.

Now that he knew, he could plug it and stop Schmid before something much worse than a screeching harpy invaded his paradise.

By the time Hedinger returned to the driveway in front of the clubhouse, Meier was waiting with the Rolls.

“Directly to the airport?” Meier asked after Hedinger was settled into the back seat.

“Yes.”

The drive from the back of Atabei to the airport was short and easy. The island wasn’t huge, and the roads were as perfect as roads can be.

Meier was an excellent driver, and the Rolls was perhaps the best car on the planet for passenger comfort, in Hedinger’s opinion. Which was the only opinion that mattered.

Hedinger had not a complaint in the world at the moment. Except that he’d been looking forward to his round of skeet. Disappointed to miss it.

“Next time,” he said aloud as he watched the sparkling turquoise Caribbean Sea wash gently against the island’s beaches.

Meier turned into the long driveway toward the airfield hangar that housed Hedinger’s private jet.

Bauer had passed along his orders.

The gleaming bird was waiting on the tarmac.

Meier pulled up near the jet stairs and exited the Rolls. He opened the back passenger door to allow Hedinger to climb out.

“Your bags are in the trunk. I’ll bring them up to the cabin with me after I park the Rolls inside,” Meier said.

“Excellent.” Hedinger glanced around the tarmac for his staff as Meier pulled the Rolls away toward the garage.

Bauer and Schmid strode purposefully forward from the hangar’s office fifty yards away. Hedinger waited near the jet stairs, allowing them to clear various equipment and personnel buzzing around the area.

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