Dead Edge: the gripping political thriller for fans of Lee Child. Jack Ford

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      ‘Don’t get smart with me, you know exactly what I mean… I want to know why, when this is an FBI issue, you took him off American soil to Turkmenistan to question him almost immediately after his arrest? I’ve had the director of the FBI on the phone as well as the Attorney General. And let me tell you. They’re not happy. And hey, what do you know, neither am I, Chuck.’

      ‘Mr President, if you’ve got a problem with the way I’m managing the CTC, I feel I’d have no other option but to step aside so a more suitable candidate could take over the role. My duty to this country and the security of the American people is paramount. I won’t hesitate on doing what’s needed.’

      Woods rolled his tongue in the back of his mouth. Tried not to be goaded by the glint in Chuck’s eye – nor by the fact Chuck knew he was the best man or woman for the job, so he had him by the balls… Failed on both counts. ‘Start explaining, because I need to tell the FBI what the hell is going on.’

      Chuck looked around the room. Made a sweep count of the number of pens in the pot-holder. Began to count the number of files on the table. Forced himself to break away. It was a habit. A tiring one. Surveying everything including the most banal of stuff. A direct consequence of working too long in intel. There was no switch off button. Ever. Not when you were on vacation. Not even when you were making love.

      Drawing his eyes away, Chuck said, ‘Mr President, not everyone here is privy to the level of classified information we need to discuss. Perhaps we can convene with just the necessary?’

      Woods nodded. Slightly afraid to make a sudden movement. Watched most of the assembled men and women walk out. Envied the fact they could use the restroom.

COLORADO, USA

       12

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      Maddie drove. Hard. Fast. Making sure Cooper felt every moment of it. Every bump. Every Goddamn pot hole on the road back home. To the home they’d once shared before life with him had become too complicated. To the home their six-year-old daughter, Cora, had loved.

      To the home where she’d packed her bags, taking too long about it, just in case he’d come back home and begged her to stay.

      That had been last year. And she wished she could say she’d never looked back. But she had. Damn, had she. She’d looked back so many times her neck hurt. She didn’t even bother trying to deny to herself how much she still loved him. But loving someone wasn’t enough if they were hell bent on destroying themselves. And Cooper was. And like a maelstrom she knew he’d pull and draw everyone who was near enough down with him.

      ‘You want to slow down a bit, Maddie?’

      Maddie side-glanced Cooper, as they sped along Colorado’s dirt track roads in the heat of the afternoon sun. The dial hit eighty-five miles per hour, and the dust blew from underneath the wheels as if on fire, and the wind billowed in through the open Chevy windows, and she brushed away spiraling curls from her eyes and shouted over the sound of the engine. ‘No, actually I don’t, Tom. You know what I actually want to do? I want to go faster…’

      She put her foot down.

      Hard.

      Harder.

      Pushing the engine. Swerving those holes in the road. And not giving a damn.

      ‘Remind you of anyone, Tom? Do I? Bring back memories from your cannonball run?’

      ‘Jesus, slow down, Maddie! What the hell’s got into you? I know you’re mad at me, but wasn’t leaving me in a cell punishment enough?’

      ‘Mad at you? Oh you haven’t seen mad, Tom. You wanna see mad, Tom? ’Cos I can show you that.’

      Maddie pushed down on the accelerator, touching the worn out brown carpet of the Chevy floor with her equally worn out cowboy boot.

      ‘Whatever it is you’re pissed about, killing us both won’t solve things.’

      ‘Won’t it? Isn’t this what you want, Tom? Isn’t living on the edge what you want to do?’

      ‘I won’t tell you again Maddie… slow down.’

      ‘No, Tom, because this is the only way you feel isn’t it? Fast. Dangerous. To hell with anything else. With anybody else.’

      ‘Maddie…’

      ‘You feeling this, Tom? You feeling it? Doesn’t it feel good…? Or are you feeling scared? Desperate? Out of control? How about powerless? You feel that one? Powerless. That one’s good. Eats your soul. Like there’s nothing you can do to stop, and any moment you’re going to watch a car crash and feel the pain that goes with it.’

      Cooper brushed the sand out of his mouth. ‘I’m sorry… Okay. I’m sorry!’

      The car hit ninety-five and Maddie glanced over at Cooper. ‘Not good enough, Tom! Everything’s just a big-ass sorry with you… Do you know how hard we’ve all tried to stop loving you? Because we would, you know, if we could. We’ve all been through hell, thinking that we’re going to lose you. And then just as things start to quieten down you go and do it all again like the last time, and the time before Goddamn that.’

      ‘Maddie…’

      ‘No, you promised, and you just couldn’t keep your promise could you? And before you ask, these aren’t tears in my eyes, it’s the Goddamn wind.’

      Cooper let go of the seat he’d been holding onto. Tightly. Still shouting. Still not quite sure what had brought this on. ‘I don’t get it, Maddie, because remember, it was you who walked away. You walked out on me. You didn’t want us anymore.’

      Maddie screamed at the top of her voice. Shrill and high, reminding herself of the bobcats which roamed and hunted the Sonoran Desert at night. ‘How dare you, Tom!? God, I always wanted us. I always loved you. But you? Most of our marriage you weren’t even present. And when you were, you never even noticed I was there.’

      ‘That’s not true.’

      Maddie swerved the car. Had Cooper holding back onto his seat. ‘It is true, Tom, and you know it.’

      ‘You’re acting crazy, just stop the Goddamn car and we’ll talk.’

      ‘I thought crazy was where it was at.’

      Maddie slammed her foot on the brakes. The ’54 Chevy churning up the earth like a cyclone.

      Cooper flew forward.

      Banged his head.

      Sense told him it was best not to look for sympathy.

      Pushing open the door, Maddie marched round to the trunk. Banged it. Sprung right open. Pulled out a Beretta 87. Marched right on back to Cooper.

      ‘There you go, Tom. Take it.’

      Cooper cocked his head. Hadn’t a hell clue what she was talking about. But then women and sense weren’t always an equal СКАЧАТЬ