Gonzaga undid his seat belt, lifted a long, bolt-action rifle with a heavy scope from beneath his seat, and went to the side door. His man, Bobby, undogged that door and slid it on interior rails to the left. Gonzaga went to one knee and braced himself against the rear bulkhead, moving the rifle in slow circles as he looked through the scope.
"I see one man at the barrier at the top of the drive," Gonzaga said, still hooked to the intercom circuit, "and another closer, in that little open cupola Kurtz said was heated."
"Do you have a shot?" asked Baby Doc.
"Not on the far guy. But I'll take out the one in the cupola."
Kurtz raised his hands to his ears before he remembered that he was wearing the headphones.
The sniper rifle had some sort of suppressor on it. It spat once, twice a lull then a third time.
"He's down," said Gonzaga. He slipped onto the rear bench next to the doctor and fastened his seat belt. He was still holding the long gun.
"Did the other guard notice?" asked Angelina.
"No."
"All right everyone," said Baby Doc. "Hang on. I'm going to put it down on that flat, grassy area about forty feet south of where the Huey is tied down. That wind sock is going to help."
"Wait," said Kurtz. "How you going to land this thing without the noise waking everybody."
"I'm going to use a technique called autorotation," said Baby Doc. He was throwing switches.
Kurtz turned to look at him. "Isn't that just sort of a controlled crash, just using the turning rotors without the motor on?"
"Yeah." Baby Doc killed the twin turbines. The night grew silent except for the slowing rush of rotors and the rising sound of the wind.
CHAPTER FORTY
It was her sister-in-law, Gail DeMarco, calling. Arlene answered in a whisper, although it was doubtful that the burned man could hear from this distance.
"Is everything all right?" asked Gail. "We were going to talk after the weather"
The two women spoke almost every night after the Channel 4 weather, before the sports, before going to bed. Arlene had been looking forward to tonight's conversation because they were going to talk about Rachel's fifteenth birthday later in the weekalthough Arlene was dreading being asked if Joe was going to attend. Rachel looked up to and adored the occasional dinner visitor, Joe Kurtzthe girl's real father, Arlene was absolutely sureand Joe seemed oblivious to it all. It had reached the point where Gail almost couldn't stand Joe"a jerk" Gail had called him during a recent conversation with Arlenebut Gail understood the situation, and wanted Rachel to know the man who was probably her father.
"I'm sorry," said Arlene, still keeping her eye on the dark pest control truck near the mall. "I'm out running an errand for Joe and just forgot the time."
"An errand for Joe?" said Gail. "At this hour?" Arlene could hear the disapproval in her friend's voice. Arlene had been close to her husband's sister when Alan and her son were alive, but they'd grown even closer in the years since those deaths.
"Something that had to be done," said Arlene. I'd kill for a cigarette , she thought, and then realized that was an option. Just walk up to Mr. Burned Face in his bug truck and put two.44 slugs into him. As he waits for his girlfriend on the night custodial shift to come out for a midnight lunch . Arlene decided that if she went that way, she'd use the nicotine-withdrawal defense in court. Maybe the jury would be composed mostly of ex-smokers. Hell, it would only take one .
She and Gail chatted for a few minutes, Arlene keeping her voice down and the Buick's window up. If the Burned Man was still in the cab of the van, he wasn't showing any movement.
"Well," said Gail, her voice changing slightly, "will Joe Kurtz be coming to dinner on Friday night?"
Arlene chewed her lip. "I haven't asked him yet. He's been busy."
"Yes. Dr. Singh asks me about Joe Kurtz almost every day. I imagine Joe's been in bed a lot, recovering. It must mean extra work for you at the office."
"Not that much," said Arlene, commenting on the first part of Gail's sentence but letting her think she was answering the second part.
"But do you think he'll be up to coming to Rachel's birthday party? It would mean the world to her."
Arlene knew that although Rachel was a sensitive and lovable girl, she had few friends at school. Besides Gail and Arleneand maybe Joethere would be only one other teenager besides Rachel at the party, a skinny, bookish girl named Constance.
"I'll ask him tomorrow," said Arlene.
"I mean, he does remember it's Rachel's birthday, doesn't he?" asked Gail, voice rising a bit.
"I'll ask him tomorrow whether he feels up to coming," said Arlene. "I'm sure he will if he can. Gail, by any chance do you have Rachel's phone around? The one I gave you in the spring?"
"Rachel's cell phone?" said her sister-in-law. "Yes. She never carries it I think it's in her room. Why? You want it back?"
"No, but could you go get it right now? And check the battery."
"Now?" said Gail.