Page 116 of Rest In Pink

“Who?”

“Pete. He said Mickey saw the cops at the house.”

“Right.”

“How could he have done that?” she asked. “How could he have seen that?” She looked terrible, white as a sheet. “He was on that damn cell tower, Vince.”

Chapter Fifty-Two

I dropped Liz off at the Blue House. I’d told her some, but not all of what Mickey had said. Enough that she knew to be on guard but it wasn’t likely that anything would happen until tomorrow morning. She assured me they would set the alarm and she would keep watch until I got back. Then I raced down the hill in the dark to Route 52, turned left, and drove to the Big Chef. I checked my rearview mirror often, half-expecting to see a single motorcycle headlight, but I really believed, despite Liz’s forebodings, that Mickey would keep his word.

Up until the moment he got his money. Then all bets were off.

The Big Chef light beckoned me home, but I wasn’t staying. I parked with the headlights pointed at the diner, grabbed my power drill and removed one of the panels covering the subspace where the wheels were. A footlocker was chained to one of the axles. I unlocked the padlock from the chain, dragged the locker out and put it in the bed of the Gladiator.

I was about to get in and head back, but looked up at the bright sign. I went inside and turned it off, then headed back to the hill. I drove past Navy’s house, where the fire engine was still parked, its headlights illuminating the wreckage. I saw dark figures going through, Mac and his brother Chris among them. Olson and his boys weren’t waiting for morning. They were doing their job now.

I turned off on Short Hill Road. It was dark under the trees on the narrow road. I checked my GPS to make sure I didn’t miss the turn for the tower. When I reached it, I pulled over, out of the way, on the bank where Rain’s Mercedes had slid off. The bigger wheel and lift of the Gladiator easily straddled the edge.

I pulled my forty-five off the magnet on the door and put it in the holster, safety off. Then went to the footlocker and unlocked it. On the top was a combat vest which I shrugged on. It was heavier than the one I used to wear as a uniformed officer. The armor was better and the pockets bigger. Then, pressed flat, was my rucksack, sun-faded and still imprinted with dirt from the other side of the world that no amount of cleaning would ever remove. I put it to the side. Then perused the goodies in the bottom. I took a flash bang grenade, black duct tape, and a spool of fishing wire. I put those in pockets of the vest. Put the ruck back in the Jeep.

I removed an M-4 rifle, similar to the one I’d used in the Ranger Battalion, except it had the automatic capability removed to be legal. We rarely used that anyway. Better to shoot straight than fast.

Slapped a magazine in and charged it. Then put a pair of night vision goggles on my head and pulled them over my eyes. I turned them on and waited for them to come alive and then for my eyes to adjust.

M-4 at the ready, I headed up the hill. When I reached the edge of the woodline, I stopped and looked up to the top of the tower. I had to adjust the goggles because the flashing red light almost overwhelmed them. There was no sign of Mickey, but if he were in the bucket next to the microwave relays, he couldn’t be seen from down here. I did a circuit of the treeline to see if his dirt bike was hidden anywhere.

I didn’t find it, but I did find where it had been hidden. Liz was right. He’d been here. There was a narrow slot between two trees. Tread marks in the dirt. Broken branches to the side, which he’d used to cover the bike when he went up. I chided myself that I hadn’t done a recon of the base of the tower, but, then again, why would I have?

But Major Rogers of Rogers Rangers would have.

Reasonably confident Mickey wasn’t here, I slung the M-4, pushed the goggles up on my forehead and climbed. I passed through the cell platform where I had been just hours earlier with Liz. It scared me to think of Mickey above us. He’d have seen us coming a long way away. Seen the Gladiator’s headlights pull up to the base.

But he couldn’t have heard us. It had been too windy. Even now, the tower was groaning in the breeze. I climbed up to the bucket and stepped in. Mickey had been here. There were pieces of the same rolling paper I’d found on the platform below. I looked about. I could easily see the lights of the fire truck at Navy’s house. Burney, in all its non-splendor, was visible, from one end to the other, just an old village, trying to survive. Mickey could have watched the factory, the museum, even the Shady Rest from here. The last one must have disappointed him when it was put out before it could spread.

This was Mickey’s perch.

I looked at the Blue House. All the lights were on and they were waiting for me.

I got to work. I taped the flash bang on the outside of the bucket, facing away from Burney. I looped fishing line through the ring holding the pin, then threw the spool out and away. It unreeled all the way to the ground external to the tower. When I went back down, I’d tie the line off to the outside of the base. It was practically invisible and I very much doubted Mickey would spot it. It would give me an advantage over him if he was trapped up there thinking he had the advantage.

I took out my cell phone and called Rain.

“Still breathing and in one piece?” she asked when she answered on the first ring.

“Yep. Mickey has been using this cell tower as his spotting post.”

“Want me to fire a flare so you can check my position?” Rain asked.

“I can see all of Burney from here. No flare needed. He probably got his rocks off in here.” Which was not a pleasant thought as I considered there was the distinct possibility he had and he probably wasn’t the sort to clean up after himself. A shower was definitely in my immediate future. “He wants Liz to make the drop.”

“Are you going to take her to him?” Rain asked.

“Hell, no.”

“Good. If all he wants is the money, he won’t care. You want me along to back you up?”

“He saw you with me at Navy’s house. He’ll definitely break the deal if he sees you.”

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