Part 21:
If you do not seem cooperative, they’re going to try to frighten you more. What they are not going to do is shoot you in that clearing. They don’t know how, and they don’t want to. Bosch said reassuringly, “I’m sure not.” “Comforting,” Ryan said. “It is not comforting. It is an operational assessment.
The vest is a backstop, not a plan. Right. The plan is this. You arrive at 4:00 p.m. You stop at the coordinates I give you, not in the clearing itself. You stop about 20 ft before the clearing, and you wait. If they come to the truck, fine. If they want you to get out and walk the last 20 ft, you do, because that is a reasonable ask.
You do not go beyond the clearing. You do not get in a vehicle with them. You do not follow them anywhere. If they try to move you, you say, ‘Burlington.’ “Got it.” They will not be expecting you to have a wire, because they saw you come out of Sharp’s office on Thursday, and Sharp does not sweep his office. So, they will have no reason to think you are recording.
This is our advantage. We keep it. You do not touch the wire. You do not adjust your shirt. You do not reach into your pocket for anything that is not your phone. Your phone stays visible to them throughout. “Right. Your goal in the clearing is simple. Get them to say, on record, the names of the men above them, not Sharp.
We have Sharp. We need to know if there is anybody above Sharp who signed off on this operation. Celeste thinks there might be. I am not convinced. It would be nice to know.” Ryan glanced at Celeste. She was looking at the map. She didn’t look up. “How do I get them to say that?” “You ask, gently. You play nervous.
You tell them you want to know how high this goes because you want to know how scared you should be. That is a plausible thing for a frightened man to ask. They will not tell you. They will not tell you. Do not push. The tape is gravy. The envelope and their willingness to hand it to you is the main dish. Okay. One more thing.
What? There is a chance Carl Voss is in the woods. Ryan looked at her. A chance? He is the muscle of this operation. If they have put anyone in the woods to watch you, it would be him. He is too invested to stay home. Marcus’s team will be placed such that if anyone is in the woods, we will see them before they see us.
But you should be prepared for the possibility that Carl is within 50 feet of you during that conversation. Jesus. I know. If he is, what then? Then you finish the conversation. You take the envelope. You drive out. Once you are on the highway, my team sweeps the woods. If he is there, we will see him leave, and we will follow him, and we will pick him up before sundown.
But you do not acknowledge him. Do you understand? Yes. Ryan. Yes. You did a very hard thing on Thursday. You’re about to do a harder thing tomorrow. I’m telling you this now while you’re sitting in a warm room because tomorrow when you’re in a cold truck 20 feet from strangers who want to hurt you, it will be useful to remember it.
You’re not doing this alone. There are eight people in this room and six more outside who are going to be thinking about you all at the same time for the entire 2 hours between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. You are not the only one carrying it. Do you understand me? He did. He nodded. Good. Now, stand up.
Owen is going to fit you for a new vest. The vest was thin, thinner than he’d expected. It went on under a flannel shirt, and Owen, the thin young man with red hair, smoothed it against his chest with the small, tired, patience of a man who had fitted a lot of nervous civilians into armor. How’s it feel? Like I’m wearing a wetsuit that hates me.
Yeah, sorry. Don’t stretch your arms above your head a lot. It pulls weird. You can put a winter coat on over it and nobody’s going to notice. Owen? Yeah. Has anyone you fitted for one of these ever gotten shot? Owen paused. He looked at Ryan. He had a kind face under the red hair. “Twice.” he said. “In both cases, they walked away.
” Okay. “You’re going to walk away, too, Mr. Hale.” Ryan? Ryan? Yeah. “You’re going to walk away.” Okay. Owen finished the fit. He pulled Ryan’s flannel back down over the vest. He stepped back. “You’d never know.” I know. Yeah. Ryan put his coat on. He looked in the small mirror Owen had on the inside of the door of the fitting room.
He looked like a man in a flannel and a coat. Which was what he was. Mostly. He went back out to the conference room. Delia and Marcus were still at the map. Most of the other people had gone. Celeste was standing at the window with her back to the room, looking out at the parking lot. Delia looked up. “You’re set.
Home, sleep, be at your apartment at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Your car will leave from there. It’ll be your truck with a GPS on it and a second driver following 2 miles back. We do not want you alone on the road.” Okay. “Eat a real breakfast.” Okay. Ryan? Yeah. “I know you didn’t ask for this life.” No, I didn’t. “You are doing it well.” Thanks. She turned back to the map.
