Night Game by Kirk Russell Read Free Book Online

you can picture it. Petroni thought I’d kept this other operation secret from him as a way of making my teamlook better, and that somehow I knew it was all going to go down.
    He threw that theory at me in a parking lot in Placerville a year later.”
    “He was hurt.”
    “Yeah, and it didn’t make any sense to him. He was the one with the wildlife experience.”
    He told her a little more but not the whole story as they drove back to Placerville. When they reached the safehouse Marquez called Bell and told him the team was kicking in the money and would wait to get reimbursed. They were going forward with the buy. Alvarez and Cairo were getting their gear ready, everything spread on the dining table. Roberts and Shauf stood in the kitchen talking.
    “I don’t like how you’ve done this,” Bell said. “I feel like you went around me.”
    The conversation ended badly, and he felt lousy after hanging up. The team had all grouped into the kitchen, Roberts and Cairo laughing at some joke they’d shared.
    “We’re on,” Marquez said, as he walked in.
    “We were going either way, Lieutenant,” Alvarez said, his face lit up, the energy building now.
    Marquez stood among them, taking up the last space, larger than the rest. They were all from different walks of life, coming from different places, more than twenty years between him and Melinda Roberts. Roberts’s hands flew over a keyboard while he still pecked out his reports. She was also a rated sharpshooter. Alvarez came out of East Palo Alto, had worked at his dad’s auto shop, and had planned to be a mechanic. He was the guy who could adapt to any problem, the type you read about surviving an avalanche, somehow reacting quickly enough. Cairo had gone to a year of law school before going through the Fish and Game academy. He was an easy-going surfer type. Even the people he busted didn’t get pissed off at him, and some apologized.
    “Okay,” Marquez said, “let’s go over it again before everyone takes off.”
    They moved out to the dining room table, and Marquez spread the map. Alvarez and Cairo would leave first, get dropped off near the creek bridge by Roberts, and would hike in until they found the rock.
    “The rock has white spray paint on it,” Marquez said. “That’s what he told me to look for. I’m supposed to start up the road at 8:00.” He glanced at Alvarez, then looked at Cairo. “You need to find positions up the slope where you can see the rock. Time yourself going in this afternoon, and that’ll tell you roughly how long it should take for me to get there.”
    “How about whistling as you come up the road?” Cairo said.
    “Yeah, or I’ll sing.”
    The team’s laughter was a nervous kind, and Marquez could feel the change since the CD. The address in Roberts’s file was her parent’s peach orchard outside Colfax. She’d talked to him about the orchard’s isolation, the vulnerability. They were all a little worried.
    Marquez watched Alvarez and Cairo load gear, then climb into Roberts’s van. Shauf left ten minutes later, and he was alone at the safehouse. He got his gear together and put on the Kevlar vest, but it didn’t feel right. He sat and held the vest in his hand for a while and then picked up the coat with the fiber optic sewn into it, the camcorder, and it just didn’t feel like the right move. He’s not through checking us out, and he gave us too much time to prepare today . Marquez picked up his phone and called Roberts.
    “I’m not going to wear anything,” he told her. “Tell Alvarez and Cairo they have to get as close as they can. They’ve got to be able to move fast.”
    She chuckled. “You found a new way to cowboy it, Lieutenant.”
    “No, I’m running with my gut. He’s giving us too much time to prepare.”
    She was quiet then said, “Okay, I’ll let them know.”
    He hung up and took a call from Kendall. “How about meeting me in Placerville for a beer?” Kendall asked. “I want to compare