Free A Soldier's Revenge: A Will Cochrane Novel by Matthew Dunn

thorough. They’ve run the victim’s DNA through our national databases three times, plus have been cross-referencing them to the archives of hospitals on the East Coast, in case for some reason her details weren’t transferred to the main database. Nothing. We have to assume she’s not an American national. Forensics is going to start liaising with foreign counterparts, starting with Europe, to try to identify her that way.” Painter stared out the adjacent window. Outside it was lashing rain and looked bleak. “The hostage said that Cochrane claims he’s innocent of the murder.”
    “Most murderers say stuff like that.”
    “What if he’s telling the truth?”
    “Well, if he’s innocent, he’s digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole.”
    She pointed at the dreadful weather. “If we don’t get him, it’ll only be a matter of time before he dies from exposure to the weather.”

CHAPTER 9
    A fter Marty Fleet ended his call to Detective Kopa ń ski, he spooned pureed food into his wheelchair-bound sister’s mouth. The thirty-eight-year-old had glossy straight auburn hair that Marty had washed, blow-dried, and combed an hour earlier. They lived in Chevy Chase, outside Washington, D.C., in a big apartment building that had great views of the city and had been selected with care by the lawyer because it had excellent wheelchair access and elevators to the twenty-second floor where they lived.
    Her brain damage meant that while she would forget what had happened an hour ago, she still retained enough clarity to occasionally look at Marty with a heartbreaking expression that said she knew exactly what he was saying to her. He spoke to her constantly when in her presence. He believed it might keep her brain alive.
    “I’ve got to head off to work in thirty minutes. Before then, I made this specially for you, Penny. A new experiment: bacon, eggs, waffles. Let me know if it tastes like puke.”
    Penny smiled. It was one thing she could do very well, and it made Marty’s toil to look after her worth every effort. He did have help, in the guise of a home health aide who attended to Penny when he was at work, but when he returned, he always sent the aide home and took over her duties.
    “NYPD and Virginia State police are very close to catching Will Cochrane, but we had a serious incident on a train last night. He disarmed a detective and uniformed cop, put them on their asses, jumped the train, and escaped. My best detectives think it’s a warning, that he’s likely to turn cop killer very soon if we push him into a corner. Trouble is, we have to corner him. My officers want me to get the AG to issue a warrant to bug a house where Cochrane has family connections.”
    Penny emitted a sound.
    “That’s what I think. Still, we have no choice. It’s a shitty part of the job.” Marty continued feeding his sister her breakfast. “This is the first time I’ve been in a legal case involving a man with Cochrane’s background. See, he was a covert operative, worked for us as well as the Brits. The CIA pushed him too hard. I’m dealing with a dick there called Philip Knox. He doesn’t seem to care about what’s happened to Cochrane’s mind, though I can tell he and everyone in the Agency highly regard Cochrane. But they keep hanging guys like him out to dry. They squeeze them for everything they’ve got, then abandon them. I believe there’s something wrong with that.”
    Penny responded in her way.
    “Yeah. None of it makes any difference. Most likely Cochrane’s going to get the death penalty.”
     
    I clambered out of a hedgerow three miles beyond the outskirts of Baltimore.
    I’d stopped for an hour—the rest being not sleep, but rather a change of consciousness; eyes open, mind for the most part powered down but aware of sounds, images, and smells around me. During the preceding hours, I’d covered thirty-three miles on foot, my route erratic, zigzag, sometimes doubling back before moving off on