Hour Game - v4 by David Baldacci

Author:David Baldacci [Baldacci, David]
Format: epub
Publisher: SK & MM
Published: 2010-07-02T17:14:35.578000+00:00

CHAPTER

52

MICHELLE DROVE WITH CHIP Bailey to the outskirts of Middleton, Virginia. It was a crisp morning with nothing but blue skies overhead and a nice breeze to relieve the growing heat.

“Good day to fight,” said Bailey.

Is there really ever a good day to slaughter each other? thought Michelle.

The big man sipped on his coffee and munched on an egg sandwich from McDonald’s. Michelle chewed on an energy bar and cradled her bottle of orange juice. She wore jeans, hiking boots and her Secret Service windbreaker. Bailey had donned khakis, a sweater and wraparound shades.

“You ever been to one of these?” asked Bailey.

“No.”

“They’re actually pretty cool. They have all these events, infantry drilling, hospital demonstrations, bands, dances, even fancy balls, afternoon teas, candlelight tours. The cavalry charges are really something. These guys are serious about this stuff. You’ll see hundreds of them out there today, although during the actual war the armies had tens of thousands of soldiers. But they put on a good show anyway.”

“How did Eddie get into that? Doesn’t seem like something a sensitive artist would be drawn to.”

“I think it was his father who was interested in it at first. He was very much into history, even helped finance some of the battle reenactments.”

“Was Eddie very close to his father?”

“I think he wanted to be. That’s one reason he got into reenactments — at least that’s my educated guess. But Bobby Battle was an inscrutable fellow. And he wasn’t around all that much. I think he preferred sailing around the world in a hot-air balloon or building a factory in Asia to raising his kids.”

“I understand he offered you a job after you rescued Eddie.”

Bailey looked surprised that she knew this.

“He did but I wasn’t interested.”

“Mind my asking why not?”

“No big secret. I just liked being an FBI agent. I hadn’t been with the agency all that long, and I wanted to make a career out of it.”

“How’d you bust the case?”

“Got a tip that I ran to its source. Eddie was in college back then, and I did some digging around. Found out this guy living at the same apartment complex was a convicted felon.”

“Why didn’t Eddie live at home? Didn’t he go to UVA?”

“No, he went to Virginia Tech over in Blacksburg, a few hours from here. Anyway, turns out this guy had found out who Eddie was, or more to the point who Eddie’s parents were. Eddie came home late one night, and next thing he knew he was tied up in a shack in the middle of nowhere.”

“How’d you learn about the shack?”

“The guy had used it before for hunting. I’m not saying he was the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was dangerous. The Battles paid the money; but we were watching when the pickup was made.”

“Wait a minute; I thought the Battles didn’t pay the ransom.”

“No, they did but they got it back — well, at least most of it.”

“I’m not following.”

“With kidnappings the dicey piece for the criminal is getting the payoff.

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