Backfire

And someone had shot the bitch. It had looked to Xu like she was dead, a shot through the head, but of course he hadn’t checked, just shoved her off him and run.

Who was he? Was it the same idiot who had shot Judge Hunt at the wrong moment and blown the Cahills’ trial apart? Had he shot the agent purposefully to save Xu? Why?

Who was he?

When the knock came on the door of his motel room, Xu grabbed his gun, gasped at the rip of pain through his arm, and shouted, “Go away!”

Another knock.

Xu raised his Beretta, aimed it at the motel door. “Who is it?”

A hard rasping smoker’s voice called out, “I’m the one who saved your bacon.”

Xu stared at the man standing in front of him, his back to the motel door. He was wearing a Giants baseball cap, sunglasses, a loose blue Windbreaker, jeans, sneakers, and gloves. He smiled at Xu, not moving since Xu’s Beretta was steady on his chest.

“Who are you?”

“I already told you, I’m the one who saved your bacon. Good thing I followed you here from that doctor’s office in Sausalito, since it looks like you’re going to need some more saving.”

“How did you find me?”

“Well, now, I’ve got to admit I had a bit of luck there. My car was near that white Infiniti you stole—nice job, incidentally, yanking that guy right out, no muss, no fuss, and you were out of there. I lost you for a while because of all that snarled traffic you caused at the Fairmont, but then I thought about it and decided you’d probably headed to the Golden Gate, so I did, too. And there you were ahead of me, going through the tollbooth. I followed you off at Spencer Avenue, watched you leave the Infiniti and steal the blue Honda. Then I sat back and waited for you just down the block from that doctor’s office.

“Yeah, I heard the gunshot. You killed the guy. Why? He saved your bacon, too.”

Xu’s arm hurt from holding the Beretta steady, but it didn’t matter. The Beretta didn’t move. “I overheard the moron calling the cops. I had no choice.”

“Good to know you don’t just go around shooting folk for no reason.”

“No,” Xu said, “there’s always a reason. Then you followed me here?”

“Sure, not a problem. I was surprised you made it so far the way you were driving. Gotta say, you sure don’t look so hot. You’ve still got some blood on your face from when that agent planted you on the sidewalk.”

There was blood on his face? What did this guy want? Xu said slowly, “But that was yesterday afternoon. Why did you wait until today to knock on my door?”

The man said matter-of-factly, “The Feds might have been following you or you might have had some other help coming. I had to wait, seeing as how I’m not too fond of the cops myself. You know, there’s a chance the clerk in the dinky motel office might have seen the blood on your face, and if he did, he must have wondered. Surely he wondered. If he sees your photo on TV, he’ll know.”

“Nah, the kid doesn’t know anything; he was too busy playing video games when I checked in. I don’t even remember a TV.”

“Like I said, you don’t look too hot. Do you want another pain med? Once we get you feeling better, we can decide where to go. Look, if I’d wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have shot that agent off your back. I’m not here to hurt you. You’re already in bad shape. I’m here to help you. Stop pointing that ridiculous gun at me.”

Xu ground out the words “Why would you care?”

“I’m thinking we’re a lot alike.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Nah, I kill because I want to, and you kill because you have to. See? Not so different.”

Xu stared at the guy for a long time, and nodded. “The pills are on the night table.”

The guy shook two pills out onto his gloved palm, handed them to Xu, waited until he swallowed them, and gave him a glass of water.

Xu still didn’t pull down the Beretta. He motioned the guy to step back, then held himself still and waited for relief.

“I see from the number of pills still in the bottle you’ve been going light on the pain meds. Not a bad idea, given who could come through that door.”

“Take another step back. I don’t want you so close to me.”

Xu watched him take two steps back.

“Why did you kill that FBI agent who was on my back?”

“Well, you see, when she knocked you down, she was out there in the open. I had a nice clear shot, and I took it.”