The ditch was about fifteen feet wide and ten feet deep with brownish water in its bottom. Gerry turned the rental so he was driving parallel with the ditch. As the speedometer fell below fifty, he felt the shotgun’s barrel being scraped across the back of his neck. It felt like a hot wire and he braked the car, then threw it into park. Bronco leaned forward, and put his lips next to Gerry’s ear.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you.”

Gerry thought about it, then shook his head.

“Can’t think of any?” Bronco asked.

“I can think of plenty,” Gerry said. “None of them are any good.”

Bronco let out a mean little laugh. “Get out of the car.”

“You going to shoot me in the back, like my old man?”

Bronco stared back, saying nothing. Gerry realized he was a goner unless he did something. Think, he told himself.

“You’re going to need money,” Gerry said.

Bronco blinked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re on the lam and don’t have any money. Well, neither do I, unless you think you’re going to get far with my credit cards and the forty bucks in my wallet. You’ll be back in jail before you know it.”

“That’s all that’s in your wallet? Forty bucks?”

“That’s right.”

Bronco chewed on his lower lip, thinking.

“I know how you can make a fast buck,” Gerry said.

“How? Flipping burgers at McDonald’s?”

Gerry grinned. His father had liked to say that even Hitler had a sense of humor.

“With a monkey’s paw,” Gerry said.

Bronco lowered the shotgun so it was no longer touching Gerry’s neck.

“Where’d you get a monkey’s paw?”

“From your house in Henderson,” Gerry said. “The Las Vegas Metro Police found the place, and they let me and my father have a look around. We found the monkeys paws in a box in your workshop; my father explained how they worked. I grabbed one when he wasn’t looking, and shoved it into my suitcase.”

“Why?”

“Because I planned to use it.” Gerry turned his head and looked Bronco in the eye. “I used to be a bookie. My wife talked me into quitting the rackets, and going into business with my old man. Only, I can’t quit. It’s something in my blood. So I stole one of your little devices.”

“You’re saying you’re a scammer,” Bronco said.

“All my life.”

“Where’s the monkey’s paw you took from my house?”

“In my suitcase in the trunk.”

“Show me,” Bronco said.

Gerry pushed a button beneath the dashboard that popped the trunk, then climbed out of the rental with his hands stuck on his head like a POW. He’d gotten Bronco to start thinking about his own salvation, and sensed that Bronco wasn’t as intent on killing him as he had been a few minutes ago.

Bronco climbed out of the vehicle in his baggy guard’s uniform and cheap prison sandals. He aimed the shotgun at Gerry’s face. Gerry dropped to his knees. Bronco went and flipped open the trunk. There were two suitcases in back.

“Which’s one yours?”

“The black Tumi. The monkey’s paw is on top, wrapped in plastic.”

Bronco unzippered the Tumi. Seeing the monkey’s paw, his eyes lit up like someone who’s found buried treasure. He removed the cheating device along with a shirt and a pair of pants, then slammed the trunk closed. Coming around the rental, he shredded the plastic from the slot-cheating device, then pushed the button that made the strobe light flash on its end.

“You took my favorite one.”

“Lucky me,” Gerry said.

Chapter 27

Valentine hiked down the dirt road back to the highway, all the while staring at the face of his cell phone, waiting for a satellite signal so he’d could make a call. Several times the phone lit up like it was working, only to betray him by losing the signal when he tried to call. He’d hated cell phones and always would. Whenever he went to the movies, some guy who couldn’t make the rent was blabbing loud enough to ruin everyone’s good time. He stared at the one clutched in his hand.

“Come on, you crummy piece of junk,” he said.

He came to a rise in the road, and as he reached the top, saw the cell phone light up. Was it really working, or just trying to torture him? He stopped walking and waited for the signal to disappear. When it didn’t, he began to dial Bill Higgins’ cell phone number, thinking it would be best if he had Bill tell the police what had happened, rather than trying to get a police operator to believe him.

He heard the call go through, then saw a car racing across the field in the distance. It was their rental, and it was coming towards him.

“Higgins here,” he heard Bill say.

Valentine considered running, then realized there wasn’t enough time. Instead, he retreated several steps, then lay down on his belly in the tall grass, keeping his head up so he could watch the car, the cell phone pressed to his ear.

“Tony, is that you?”

“Yeah,” he said, watching the rental bump across the field. His vision wasn’t worth a damn anymore, and he strained to see how many people were inside. It looked like two, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Where have you been?” Bill said. “Bronco escaped from jail; every cop in Reno is hunting for him. I tried to call you, but your cell phone was turned off.”

“He hijacked my rental and kidnaped my son,” Valentine said.

“ What?”

Valentine explained how Bronco had abducted them, then told Bill the getaway route they’d taken. Bill repeated it back to him, word-for-word. Valentine was still watching the rental approach as Bill finished.

“How did you get away?” Bill asked.

“My son saved my ass,” Valentine said.

The rental was a hundred yards away. Valentine stared at the driver’s side, and saw Gerry manning the wheel. Bronco was in the bucket seat, and had the shotgun stuck against Gerry’s neck. He got a good look at Gerry’s face. His son looked flat-out terrified, and Valentine’s heart did the funny thing it did when he was faced with a situation out of his control. His doctor called it a flutter, but Valentine had always thought it was God’s way of reminding him that life was rarely fair.

The rental flew past, then disappeared down the road. Valentine slowly rose and dusted himself off, the cell phone still to his ear. He started to walk toward the highway.

“You there?” Bill said.

“Barely,” he said.

Chapter 28

“You’re a liar,” Bronco said.

Gerry stared at the dirt road through the rental’s dirty windshield. There was not another car in sight. He had planned to flash his brights at the next car he saw, and alert them so they’d dial 911 on their cell phone. But that option suddenly seemed like a bad idea: Bronco was acting like he was going to kill him the first chance he got.

“What are you talking about,” Gerry said.

“Look at these clothes I’m wearing.” He shoved the shotgun’s barrel into Gerry’s chin. “Look at them!”

Gerry glanced at the clothes Bronco had taken from the trunk and exchanged for Klinghoffer’s uniform. The pants were black, the shirt a white Brooks Brothers with a button-down collar. They were old man’s clothes, and Bronco looked ridiculous in them.

“What about them?” Gerry said.

“These aren’t yourclothes.”

“Sure they are.”

“You think I was born yesterday?”

“The day before,” Gerry said.

Bronco cuffed him in the side of the head. The car swerved dangerously over to the side of the road, nearly flipping. Gerry quickly straightened the wheel.

“These are your old man’s clothes,” Bronco said. “The monkey’s paw was in your father’s suitcase. He took the monkey’s paw from my house, didn’t he?”