The Gray Zone Read Online Free PDF Page B

Jake Brooks in a monotone voice. “He appears to have been a victim of homicide. Congressman Garrett will be deeply missed by his family, his friends—and the American people.”
    The mug fell from Kelly’s hand and shattered on the floor. A firework of coffee arced around the shards.
    “Mommy, you spilled!” cried Libby.
    Kelly fought to control her reaction to the grief and confusion she was forced to tackle. Her mind was spinning. The race was on. It wouldn’t be long before they’d trace everything to her.
    “Honey, you alright?” said the waitress, bending over with a dustpan. Kelly kept an eye on the TV as the waitress swept up. She saw Porter’s wife, supported by two large men, stagger into a limousine. Pictures of an ambulance speeding away, a row of police barricading the hotel, a reporter with a microphone standing in front of some yellow tape. Suddenly, the reporter’s face on the screen morphed into the weathered and kind face of Porter. Kelly caught her breath. It was file video, probably from a campaign, and Porter looked comfortable, even heroic, surrounded by bright lights and a crowd of people.
    Los Angeles,
thought Kelly.
He’ll be buried in LA, where his wife always wanted him to stay. And a lot of his big donors will be at the funeral.
    The waitress mopped up the last of the coffee. “Well, you want to know what I think? Politicians can go to hell. When’s the last time a politician ever did anything for us?”
    Kelly struggled to keep her mouth shut. It was crucial she didn’t make herself memorable. She put a twenty on the table, smiled politely, and pulled Kevin and Libby out to the parking lot.
    Even before the diner’s door shut behind them, she felt a trap closing in on her. It was Kevin who voiced her thoughts for her.
    “Mommy, the car’s gone!”
    “We must have parked it somewhere else,” Kelly said, trying to make light of the moment. But even she didn’t believe her own words.
    “Nope,” Kevin responded, shaking his head. “It was parked right over there,” he insisted, pointing to the empty spot.
    The hairs pricked up on the back of Kelly’s neck.
    “Maybe someone
stole
it.” Kevin sounded excited by that possibility. It was Kelly’s turn to shake her head, her heart racing. What should she do?
Get out of the exposed parking lot and into shelter.
She grabbed Kevin and Libby by the hands and pulled them toward the gas station next to the diner. Suddenly Kevin wrenched his hand free and pointed.
    “Look, Mom! Over there.”
    Kelly looked. Behind the diner was the car, parked under a scraggly palm tree that shivered in the hot breeze. Kelly approached the car and looked in the window. On the driver’s seat was a piece of paper. Kelly looked closer. Drawn in blue pen was a smiley face. Her husband. He—or someone who worked for him—had done this. Kelly opened the door and snatched it away.
    The game was on. The same game he had taunted her with many times before. She was the prey, he was the hunter … and the kids were collateral damage.
    “What’s happening, Mommy?” asked Libby.
    “Nothing, honey,” answered Kelly, scanning the backseat. “Someone was playing hide-and-seek with our car. Pretty silly, isn’t it?”
    The children laughed and climbed into the car. Kelly dropped behind the steering wheel, scouring the road to the left and to the right as she pulled back onto the freeway. There were no cars in sight. She didn’t even notice the police cruiser parked behind the gas station—or the cop inside it, talking into his radio as she drove away.
    Her mind was somewhere else. She kept returning to the encounter with Jake Brooks at the nightclub. She kicked herself for pulling that stunt with the wig. She had let her ego get in the way of all her careful planning.
    The net had been cast, and Kelly was on automatic pilot. Only two words echoed in her brain: The first was
run!
The other was his name.
    Porter.

CHAPTER 4
    “COOPER, WHAT’VE YOU