THIRTY-SIX
Chance sat in the dark corner and waited. This wasn’t his preferred method, but he had no choice.
Blevins flicked the lamp on at his bed and spotted Chance in the chair aiming a gun at him.
Fear flickered across his face. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s time for you to remember something.”
The man lifted his palms. “You don’t want to do anything stupid.”
“I already did that a long time ago. You’re the one who doesn’t want to do anything stupid.”
“You’re not going to shoot me.”
“I have nothing to lose.”
“What do you want from me? Why are you doing this, man? This isn’t like you. Not at all.”
“Oh, so you do remember me.”
Blevins stared at Chance but said nothing.
“Who’s behind the deliveries?” Chance asked.
“I don’t know anything.”
Chance fingered the trigger, hoping Blevins believed the bluff.
“Okay, okay. I remember you. But maybe you shouldn’t be so anxious for me to remember. Maybe it’s better that I forget I saw you.”
“Yes, please forget. But only after you give me something I can use. I need to face off with him. This was supposed to be my last run, and then I was free.”
Blevins laughed. “Did you ever stop to think that your freedom simply meant your death?”
Chance paused at that. “No, actually, I hadn’t. But since it sounds like my life is threatened, you’d better start talking.”
Blevins wiped the sweat from his brow. “Friends stop by the bar and have a beer with me. Sometimes it’s a stranger who hands off information for a drop point or pickup point. Or we walk out together, and I take the package. It all happens in plain sight. When you sat down, I knew that something had gone very wrong.”
“How did you know I wasn’t supposed to be there?”
“I was told to expect the delivery. Then I saw on the news that the plane had crashed. Then you—the pilot from the crash—showed up, and I knew you were going to be trouble.”
“So once the package is handed off to you, what do you do with it?”
“I hand it off to a woman. She meets me at the bar. We have a beer and a few laughs. We sometimes leave together like there’s something going on, and I hand off the item. I’d say she could tell you what you want to know, but she was murdered.”
“She was murdered. Jim was murdered.”
“Tonight I was packing up to get out of town for a while.”
“Because you could be next?”
The man barely nodded. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll disappear too.”
“I already disappeared once. Biggest mistake of my life. I intend to end this once and for all. But if you don’t have the package, then who does?”
“I have no idea.” Blevins sat on the edge of the bed. “Do you know what you were delivering?”
Chance pursed his lips. Unfortunately, he did know. In fact, he’d looked inside the box. Just this once, on his one last trip, he wanted to know what all the fuss was about.
He’d been shocked to see what was inside.
And ... the one person who Chance would suspect to be behind that particular delivery had died a long time ago.
Chance eyed Blevins. “I’ll help you pack.”