Free Chase by James Patterson Page A

an address in San Jose, California.
    “Long way from San Jose, Justin,” I said. I found a Clif energy bar in his bag, ripped off the wrapper, and started chewing.
    “Where are the others?” I said, spitting crumbs.
    “Where the hell do you think they are? Out looking for you.”
    “You’re the only one here?” I said skeptically.
    “Yes. I mean no. Therkelson is in the trailer with a broken back. And the old man is here. They got him locked up.”
    “The old guy in the blue truck? He’s here?”
    “Yes. He’s okay. A little roughed up, but okay.”
    “Get up and show me,” I said, kicking him.
    We walked to the clearing and stopped.
    “Rosalind, I’m going to take this guy back over to those trailers. If something happens, I want you and Roxie to try to get to Chapman by yourself. But if it’s okay, I’ll whistle and you and Roxie run as fast as you can to the trailers, okay?”
    “Okay,” she said. “Where’s my grandpa?”
    “In one of the trailers, I think. Just let me go check first.”
    I turned back to Justin.
    “Okay, buddy. Showtime. If you’re lying and somebody takes a shot at me, I won’t shoot back at him. I will pull this trigger on you, Justin, and we can die together. Now get moving. Fast.”
    The twenty seconds it took to run out in the open toward the trailers were the longest of my life. Any moment, I thought I would know what it felt like to take a high-powered bullet to a vital part of my body. But we made it. There were no shots.
    We found Joe Walke in the second trailer, sitting against the wall in his orange vest.
    “You got the drop on them!” he said, leaping up with surprising energy. “I knew it! Where’s Rosalind?”
    I whistled.
    Their hug moments later on the edge of the firing range was epic. Roxie, who couldn’t contain herself any longer, let out a happy bark.
    “Okay, Joe. Here’s what I’d like you to do. Find some keys, take one of the vehicles, and head down the hill.”
    “What are you going to do?”
    “My job,” I said, shoving Justin back into the trailer in front of me, “is to end this thing. Now go.”

Chapter 29
    I made Justin sit against the wall.
    “You ever want to make it back to San Jose in the vertical position, you better start explaining just what in the hell is going on here, Justin. Because I’ve had a long night, and I’m not in the mood.”
    “We’re training at the camp.”
    “Training for what? The coming alien invasion? I’m a cop, Justin. NYPD. I know what happened to Eardley. How he didn’t die in the crash back in ’07. How his old buddy Haber is here running a paramilitary operation, and decided Eardley should take a dive off the side of a building. What are you guys? CIA?”
    Justin looked at me.
    I took a chance. “Look, man. I have no stake in this, except that I tried to solve a murder and now people keep shooting at me. But I was just at the Pentagon, asking how this guy turned up dead again, and the brass are all over this. The secret is out.”
    Justin grunted, so I continued. “And this little training camp is gonna look pretty strange when the powers that be start sniffing around. I wouldn’t be surprised if Haber took that chopper and flew away. If not, I’m gonna wait here with your weapon to greet him in style. But if you tell me what’s going on, I can help you.”
    He exhaled and slumped down. “Give me a cigarette, man. They’re in my bag. I’ll tell you the whole thing. This mission is cursed.”
    I lit his Marlboro for him with his Zippo and placed it between his lips.
    “Okay, Justin. Now, from the very beginning,” I said.
    He took a breath.
    “It all started in Iraq. On the night of May 1, 2007, we ran a raid from the Special Forces command in Balad up north all the way down south. Near the shore of the Persian Gulf in Basra.”
    “In Eardley’s C-130?”
    “Yeah. It was a big CIA-run operation. There were Rangers, Green Berets, and SEALs. I was just a weatherman and forward