Page 49 of So Sinister
The Expert growled and pulled the Great Incompetent back through the door.“Move!”
He pushed the Great Incompetent deeper into the terminal.Tears of frustration and rage rolled down his cheeks.“You assholes,” he whispered.“Youassholes!”
“Please,” the Great Incompetent said.“If you let me go—”
“Shut up!”
The Expert wanted to live.He desperately wanted to live.
But not as much as he wanted the Great Incompetent to die.He would find another way to survive, but one way or another, the Great Incompetent was going to die today.He was going to get what he deserved.
And then, finally, things would be made right.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“That son of a bitch,” Jessica growled as the three FBI agents stepped out of the administrative building.“Can you believe he asked us to keep this shit a secret?”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.”Faith hung up and put her phone back in her pocket.“Suresh is going to send some officers to keep an eye on Portnoy.To answer your question, yes, I can believe that Donald Portnoy is still more concerned with himself than with others.That’s the unfortunate reality of people like him.They can feel shame and guilt like others, but not enough to make them risk themselves, even when others are harmed by their mistakes.”
“It’s just so shitty,” Jessica said.“Can we do something about it?I mean, about him?”
Faith sighed.“I don’t think so.We didn’t record that conversation, and if we come forward, he’ll just deny it.People might believe us, or they might not.Not to mention it could lead toanotherdefamation lawsuit.The last time I talked to Smythe, I got the impression the FBI would lean toward just firing us rather than going through the effort to litigate something that we don’t have any real proof for.”
Jessica frowned.“You can’t leverage your relationship with Bridgette to get her to run some sort of exposé?”
Faith tensed.“I think it would be wise for us to follow your previous advice and no longer think of the press as an asset.”
Jessica sighed.“Yeah, you’re probably right.I’m just mad.It’s funny.I can wrap my head around insane killers, but I can’t understand people in power who use the little people working for them as scapegoats.Maybe it’s just becauseI’mone of the little people.I don’t know.”
Faith clapped Jessica on the shoulder.“Let’s just get this killer off the streets.Then we’ll figure out what, if anything, we can do about Portnoy and the others involved in the cover-up.”
“Yeah.Sounds good.”
They stepped into their rental car.Faith pulled her phone out and started to dial the number for the TSA office at Ronald Reagan.She was interrupted by Lieutenant Suresh.She frowned slightly and answered.“Hey, what’s up?”
“Faith, there’s another bomb threat.”
Faith’s eyes widened.“Shit.Where?”
“Ronald Reagan.Your suspect, Robert Stevenson.He just took the chief of security hostage.”
Faith’s jaw slackened.“Hostage?”
“Yeah.He showed the bomb to everyone, pressed a detonator and said that if he takes his thumb off the detonator, the bomb goes boom.”
Faith took a moment to absorb her shock.How had he escalated so much?Whyhad he escalated this far?Clearly he considered Hartford to bear the largest share of the blame for what happened, but to threaten innocent lives?
This could be another dud bomb, but Faith doubted it.The killer had shown his face.He had taken a man hostage and threatened the public.He might not be an artist, but he was a showman, and this was the grand finale.
“Son of abitch!”she cursed.She covered the phone and told Jessica, “He’s at Ronald Reagan.He’s got Hartford hostage.”
“Shit!”Jessica put the car in gear and spun the tires out of the lot.“Tell him to clear our plates so we don’t get pulled over for speeding!”
"Suresh, put an APB out for our car.We don't have lights, but we need traffic laws not to apply to us for a little while."
“Sure, give me the plate, color, make, and model.”
She gave him that information, then said, “Are you on your way?”
