“And I will. I just had to prove to her who was running this show.”
“Concentrate on doing what I told you to do,” he said through set teeth.
“I didn’t mean to make you angry. You know I only want to please you.”
Keep it cool and calm. “You always please me.” He paused. “I just have to be sure everything is clear. I don’t have much time.” He added sardonically, “In a few minutes, they’re going to take me back to my cell and perform the usual rituals for my meeting with the executioner.”
Myatt was silent for a long moment. “Are you frightened, Colby?”
“You insult me,” he said sharply. “Fear is for lesser men. Not for me. Not for you, Myatt.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“I’ll forgive you if you do your duty to me. I have to go now. Good-bye, Myatt.”
“I won’t disappoint you.”
“I know.” Colby broke the connection and pushed the phone once more beneath the pew in front of him. He remained kneeling there for another few minutes, his lips moving as if in prayer.
Then he lowered his head on his arms on the pew in front of him as if in despair. Two more minutes, and he lifted his head. He gave a deep sigh and rose to his feet.
The next moment, he was moving down the aisle toward the back of the chapel, where Salazar waited.
The guards in the aisle parted for him like the Red Sea did for Moses. A very apt comparison, he thought bitterly. His power and intelligence against their stupidity and brawn.
Salazar straightened as he saw Colby coming toward him. “Did it help? Did you make your peace?”
“You could say that.” Colby didn’t look at him as he headed for the door of the chapel. “At least I made sure that I wouldn’t be forgotten.”
CHAPTER
13
San Quentin Penitentiary
East Gate
MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND PROTESTORS lined the roadway outside the prison gate, almost matched in numbers by the TV news crews, print journalists, and online bloggers with video cameras.
Lily Holt had just finished an interview with the particularly bloodthirsty female president of a victims’ rights group when Bobby Chatsworth walked up and joined her behind the barricade.
“Any luck?” she asked.
“No. I wasted an entire day trying to buy our way into that witness room. A reporter from the Los Angeles Times almost sold me his for five thousand dollars, but he got cold feet. He was afraid of losing his job.”
“They don’t allow cameras in there anyway.”
Chatsworth smiled as he fluffed his full red beard. “Cameras they can detect, you mean.”
Her gaze narrowed on his face. “What are you saying?”
“My day wasn’t entirely wasted. I found out there’s going to be a very special auction tomorrow morning. One of the ‘reputable citizen’ witnesses is smuggling in a miniature HD video camera, possibly in a pen or a brooch. Video of the entire execution will be sold to the highest bidder.”
“That’s grotesque, even for you.”
“Thank you, my dear.”
“The network will never air it.”
“Certainly they will. I’ll promote the hell out of it, and it will be the ratings event of the season. And when we put it online, millions more all over the world will watch for years to come.”
“My friends and family are already asking me how I can work with you. What will I say then?”
Chatsworth laughed. “I’m leaving immediately after the execution. The auction will take place in San Francisco tomorrow morning.”
“Please understand if I don’t wish you good luck.”
“Understood. Any progress on the Kendra Michaels interview?”
“None yet.”
He shrugged. “No worries. If this execution footage comes through, we’ll have everything we need.”
* * *
THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN when Kendra drove the Ferrari back to FBI headquarters.
Lynch was standing on the street, waiting.
She got out of the car and went to meet him. She gave him the keys. “You didn’t call me. The governor hasn’t made a decision?”
“We just heard five minutes ago. Griffin just got off the phone with the governor. They didn’t believe our grounds were strong enough to delay the execution.”
“What about your Washington friends? No influence?”
“It didn’t come into question. I didn’t call them.” He looked her in the eye. “But it had nothing to do with you. If the death penalty hadn’t been in jeopardy, I would have done it. I would have pulled every string I could. I just couldn’t stand the thought of Colby’s not getting his full punishment.”