CHAPTER 8: THE LAST LIE

The loudspeaker outside crackled.

Danner's voice filled the annex.

"Ryan."

He sounded almost gentle.

"Come outside."

Ryan stood behind a concrete pillar.

I watched his face.

"Don't answer," I said.

Danner continued.

"You've been manipulated."

Thomas closed his eyes.

"He's always been good at that."

"Ryan, these federal agents are transporting a wanted fugitive."

Ryan laughed bitterly.

"Wanted by who?"

The loudspeaker paused.

Then:

"Your father murdered two deputies sixteen years ago."

Thomas shook his head.

"Lies."

Ryan keyed the building intercom.

"Then why did you tell me he died in a fire?"

Silence.

Ryan continued.

"Why didn't you tell me he was a murderer?"

No answer.

"Why did you use his call sign to send me after Agent Hale?"

Outside, an engine revved.

Danner's voice returned.

"Because I needed the convoy stopped."

There it was.

No more pretending.

Ryan looked at me.

Danner continued.

"I knew you'd follow procedure."

Ryan laughed.

"You don't know me very well."

"I know you better than he does."

Thomas flinched.

"Ryan, I taught you to shoot. Taught you to drive. Got you through the academy."

Ryan's eyes filled.

"Yeah."

He lifted the intercom microphone.

"You taught me something else too."

"What?"

"That nobody is above the law."

Danner stopped speaking.

Ryan whispered:

"Even you."

Gunfire immediately erupted against the front entrance.

The annex doors shook.

Ortiz moved her team into position.

"Rear exit!"

The technician shook her head.

"Blocked."

I looked toward the sealed evidence case.

"Grand jury testimony means nothing if we die here."

Thomas said, "Then transmit."

Shaw stared at him.

"What?"

"The records."

"Network is cut."

Ryan pointed upward.

"Emergency radio tower."

Ortiz looked at him.

"Roof?"

"Manual relay."

I understood.

"If we transmit the evidence archive over the county emergency frequency—"

"Every state receiver in range logs it," Ryan finished.

Shaw opened the sealed evidence case.

Inside were three encrypted drives.

"Can we?"

The technician smiled.

"If someone reaches the antenna."

Gunfire hammered the entrance again.

I grabbed a tactical vest.

"I'll go."

Ryan stopped me.

"You don't know the building."

"I'll learn."

"I do."

"No."

He looked at my wrists.

"Consider this the first thing I do next."

Then he ran.

"Mitchell!"

Too late.

Ryan vanished into the stairwell.

Thomas moved after him.

I grabbed Thomas.

"You stay."

"That's my son."

"Which is exactly why you stay."

Above us came the sound of metal stairs.

Ryan climbed toward the roof.

Ortiz's technician began preparing transmission packets.

Thirty seconds.

Forty.

The front doors buckled inward.

Federal agents fired controlled bursts through the breach.

Danner's people returned fire.

Then the radio chirped.

Ryan's voice.

"At antenna."

The technician shouted instructions.

"Connect cable seven to auxiliary relay."

"Done."

"Switch left panel to emergency override."

"Done."

"Now hold transmit manually."

Ryan laughed.

"Of course it's manual."

Thomas closed his eyes.

"Just like the old system."

The transmission began.

Five percent.

Twelve.

Twenty.

Outside, Danner's men changed tactics.

A vehicle rammed the loading entrance.

Concrete cracked.

Thirty-seven percent.

Then another voice appeared on our radio.

Mercer.

"Marcus."

I froze.

His voice wasn't coming by phone.

He was outside.

"You came personally," I said.

"Someone had to clean this up."

"You're working with Danner."

"No."

Gunfire paused.

Mercer continued.

"I'm here to arrest him."

Danner's voice suddenly roared over the external loudspeaker.

"Liar!"

I looked at Ortiz.

The alliance outside was fracturing.

Mercer said, "Danner went rogue when he blew the bridge."

"And before that?"

Silence.

"How many cases did you bury?"

"Enough."

"How many people died?"

Another silence.

"Too many."

Transmission reached fifty-one percent.

Mercer spoke again.

"I can still end this without more deaths."

"Turn yourself in."

"You know I can't."

"Then you can't end anything."

A gunshot cracked outside.

Then several more.

Not aimed at us.

Danner's deputies and Mercer's contractors were shooting each other.

Ortiz smiled grimly.

"Corrupt partnerships. Never built to last."

Sixty-three percent.

The roof radio suddenly erupted with Ryan's shout.

"Movement!"

I looked at the ceiling.

"Ryan?"

A gunshot.

Static.

Thomas lunged toward the stairs.

This time I didn't stop him.

We ran together.