Dead Heat: BookShots (Book Shots) by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson [Patterson, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2016-08-10T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

IT IS NOT an easy thing to accept the authority of a younger man. However, the older I’ve become, the more I’ve had to get used to it. Silva is not a bad captain. But he is young. And right now he’s nervous.

‘You know this department is being watched?’ he says.

He’s trying to stay level, and I guess I appreciate the effort.

‘Let me ask you a question,’ I say. ‘Would you rather I’d let Gilmore smash his javelin through the President?’

‘That doesn’t change the fact, Carvalho. You shot an athlete.’

‘Gilmore killed himself, when he took aim at the President. What I’m doing is trying to work out why.’

‘And in the meantime two more athletes are dead, and another one is barely alive.’

‘They’re connected.’

‘I don’t doubt it, Carvalho,’ Silva tells me. ‘But what’s the deal? Why’s it happening? How many more are going to die?’

‘None.’

Captain Silva scowls.

‘How do you know?’

I stare through the glass. Paz has taken a seat at one of the desks in the pit, and I watch her as Silva closes his office door.

‘I need something solid,’ Silva says. ‘I trust you, Carvalho, but there is a wave of shit heading your way. My boss. His boss. They’re gunning for someone, and right now you’re in the cross-hairs.’

‘Nothing new.’

‘Help me to help you. What do you have?’

I pull up a chair and fall gracelessly into it. I’m tired and I’m beyond trying to hide my years from my younger boss.

‘I don’t know, Marcelo. It might be drugs.’

‘It might be drugs?’

‘Maybe. Lucas Meyer’s psychologist is in town. He says Meyer was taking something that was making him paranoid.’

‘Was there anything in the tox report?’

I shake my head.

‘But there wouldn’t be, according to the psychologist. He says it’s untraceable.’

‘You buy that?’

‘Well, they all showed signs of paranoia.’

‘And the Chinese girl?’

I raise my palms.

‘Who knows? Paz is digging up some background.’

Silva looks hard at me.

‘She needs to dig fast, understand?’

‘She’s digging right now.’

Silva stays quiet for a moment.

‘What if it’s something else?’

‘Like what?’

‘Well, terrorism, for example. The Mayor’s office is on the phone every hour asking about security.’

‘If Gilmore was a terrorist, he wasn’t a very good one. He was never going to succeed. If I hadn’t shot him, somebody else would have. Witt didn’t seem as if he actually wanted to shoot anyone. Zou shot Witt, and Meyer tried to kill himself. Do they sound like terrorists to you?’

‘Okay,’ Silva concedes. ‘So it’s drugs?’

‘I don’t know for sure, Marcelo. I’m working on it.’ The Captain sighs.

‘Well, as I say . . . work fast.’

Paz is behind a stack of files and an ancient computer screen when I get back to the bear pit. She puts the phone down as I approach. She looks stressed.

‘Bad news?’

‘What?’

‘The phone call. Was it bad news?’

‘Oh – no, it was Hunter Brown. Gilmore’s trainer. I told him what Jaffari said about performance-enhancing drugs, but Brown’s convinced Gilmore wasn’t taking anything.’

‘Well, as a coach he’s hardly going to want to admit something like that.’

‘True, but I pushed him hard.

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