Terror Bounty Read Online Free Page B

After inspecting it for blemishes, he polished it on his shirt and
took a huge bite.
    “And you think you can pull this off?”
    “How hard can it be to find someone?”
Rick replied with a shrug, his mouth full.
    “Hard enough that the guy’s picture has
been in every police precinct in the known world for the last 20 years and he
hasn’t ever been spotted.”
    “Why are you busting my balls about this,
Uncle Pete?”
    He stood up again and decided that after
all he wasn’t in the mood for an apple. He tossed it in the garbage.
    “Why I’m busting your balls? Rick, you’re
talking about going after an international terrorist. I hate to break it to you
but you’re an insurance salesman.”
    “I was , keep your verb tenses
straight.”
    “You don’t think the resources of the
entire world aren’t on this already? The CIA probably has a hundred people
working on this as we speak, and you think you can do it single-handedly?”
    Titus had told him essentially the same
thing. The FBI, Interpol, the CIA, everybody was working on this, if not for
global security then for the professional glory.
    “Uncle Pete, that’s the advantage of
working alone.” He opened his mouth to say something else when a memory flashed
through his head. “You remember when I was 15 and you and dad took me hunting
in New Hampshire?”
    “Yeah, I remember. Where is this going?”
    “You taught me about stalking. Remember,
you said that I had to be careful, I had to be quiet. I’d floated this bonehead
idea, that if we really wanted to bag a deer we should storm the woods with a
dozen guys and machine guns. Only you said the deer would run away if it sensed
our presence. You’ve always been wise.”
    “I am?”
    “Totally. That’s why I think the same
principle applies here. If you’re a terrorist, you can see that the world
closing in, you feel it. But just one guy not associated with anyone? Someone
like me? He’ll never see it coming.”
    “That’s still a hell of a risk,” Peter
said.
    “I’ll have a secret weapon.”
    “Such as?”
    Rick grinned. “You can get me the files.”
    “Oh no!” Peter brought his glass to his
lips before deciding against it. “No way.”
    “You get me the files the FBI has on the
guy and suddenly my job becomes a lot easier. You know, you improve my risk of
not ending up a corpse.”
    “Forget it. You wanna play detective?
Fine. Get yourself a PI license, investigate missing cats, investigate cheating
husbands. Not this cockamamie shit.”
    “Why are you fighting me on this?” Rick
asked with exasperation.
    “Because you’re gonna fail, kid!”
    The reply was so spontaneous that it took
both men by surprise. Rick felt heat rise to his face while his uncle avoided
his gaze, clearly having said more than he’d intended.
    “Why would you say such a thing?”
    “Face it, Rick. You don’t ever finish
anything. Law school, the 72 jobs you’ve had. You start something, you see that
it’s too hard, and you move onto something else. Tracking down a terrorist?
That’s not something you do halfway. There’s no half measures on this.”
    The two men stared at each other for long
seconds. Rick was stung because there was truth in this. Then again, he needed
a change in his life. He knew this time it would be different. Angie Miller
getting killed had somehow made him grow up very quickly.
    He crouched next to the table, right in
front of his uncle. The room was quiet, only the old refrigerator humming in
the background.
    “I need to do this, Uncle Pete. I took a
sales rep job as a temporary measure. I’ve been doing all these jobs for the
past five years and I don’t see the end. I don’t want to end up like dad. I don’t
want to be so resentful of my life that I drive a bullet through my head when I’m
47 years old.”
    “Jesus, Rick…”
    They never talked about his father, about
his suicide. It was as if talking about it would shift blame on someone.
Although they had never