“A couple hours from now we’ll be lying out by the pool,” Nick told them, closing the door. He turned, and took Deke’s leash from Gus. “I’ll call you the moment I go in. We’ll stay in constant contact once we’re in the bank. Anybody in front looking suspicious, let us know.”
Gus nodded. He walked around to the driver’s side of the Lincoln while Nick walked Deke two spots over, opening the Cadillac’s rear door and motioning for Deke to jump up. Nick left first as they had previously arranged. He drove to the bank, parking in the spot they had used for surveillance. Looking around with his spotting scope, he saw only a few cars parked near the shops along Main Street. The traffic was sparse. In the few minutes before Gus arrived, Nick only spotted one person going into the bank. He watched the Lincoln pull up in front of the bank, and then drive away, leaving Rachel walking confidently into the bank.
Nick waited fifteen minutes. Leaving the Escalade with notebook computer bag in hand, he walked quickly over to the SunTrust bank and went inside, phoning Gus as he did. A woman was signing Rachel into the safety deposit box area when Nick came through the entrance.
“Rachel’s in,” he relayed to Gus. “Open up a three way for us with her.”
“You’re on,” Gus replied simply.
“Everything okay, Rach?”
“They’re all here. I’ll be out in ten minutes.”
“Hang up, put your cell on vibrate. Once you’ve left the drives with me, sit down in the waiting area. I’ll call you when we’re clear.”
He walked over to a teller’s window in the nearly empty bank and deposited two hundred dollars before moving to the forms desk, where patrons could get deposit and withdrawal slips. They also had forms for obtaining ATM cards. Nick took one of those and began filling it out carefully. Rachel walked out of the safety deposit box area a few minutes later, spotted him, and walked over to the form table. She put the Ziploc bag with flash drives on the table, picked up some deposit slips, and went to sit on one of the chairs in the waiting area.
Nick put the filled out form in his bag with the flash drives. He signed into the safety deposit box area and retrieved his box with the help of Rene Santora’s replacement. Inside the private viewing room, he opened up his notebook computer and started the tedious process of copying the flash drives over to his hard disk, and to a new set of flash drives. When he completed the process, he put the original flash drives in his safety deposit box. After storing away the new copies and notebook computer in his bag, he waited for the attendant. When she came over to help him, Nick returned his safety deposit box to its slot and left.
“Gus, I’m on the way out of the safety deposit box area. Are you across the street?”
“Yes, and there’s a woman pacing out here: brunette, mid-thirties, designer blue and green jogging outfit. She’s moving around as if waiting for a running partner. I don’t like it.”
“I’ll take a look. Get Rachel back on with us now.”
Nick walked to the entranceway and stopped near the security guard. He knelt down as if to rearrange or check the contents of his notebook computer bag, all the while watching the woman doing small stretches out front. She finally glanced at the bank entrance, giving Nick a facial view. Nick took his partially filled in form out and walked to the forms desk once more.
“I know her. She’s not Tanus or Fletcher. Rachel, I want you to go get the security guard at the front to walk you out to where Gus is going to be. Don’t engage the woman at all. Don’t look at her. Don’t pause. Have your stun gun ready even with the security guard next to you. If she so much as asks for the time, zap her. We have to flush her partner out. Gus, is that warehouse place we used a couple years ago on the dock between here and St. Pete still abandoned?”
“Yeah, the rebuilding money fell through during the mortgage dump.”
“Take a drive around Sarasota for the next thirty minutes, and then take them there. You know the drill. Don’t drive anywhere you’re not in the middle of traffic. Use the approach near the water, where the buildings are on your left. Stop fifty yards from where the access winds around to the left.”
“Got it.”
“Leave now, Rach.”
“What if the security guard won’t walk me?”
“Make a fuss if he bulks, but don’t go out to Gus without him.”
Rachel stood up with bag in hand. She walked quickly to the security guard, engaging him in conversation for a moment. The man nodded agreeably, and held the door open for Rachel.
“She’s on her way, Gus.”
Nick went to the front entrance and watched her progress. When the woman saw the security guard, she took out her cell-phone and made a call. She did not approach Rachel. The Lincoln was waiting when Rachel reached the street. She thanked the security guard and slipped into the passenger seat next to Gus. A white Lexus drove by in front next, stopping long enough for the apparent jogger to jump in before it followed the Lincoln. Nick left the bank and jogged toward the Cadillac. He opened up the cargo area and stripped off his coat and shirt, throwing them in the back. Deke sat up on the passenger side front seat when Nick opened the driver’s door.
“You’re going on a field trip with me, Deke,” he told the dog, slamming his door and gesturing Deke into the back seat.
* * * *
“I hope you ladies enjoyed our scenic tour of Sarasota,” Gus spoke up, as he drove toward St. Petersburg.
“What are we doing, Gus? Is the woman from the bank still following us?”
“She’s back there. Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of her white Lexus.”
“Where’re we headed now?” Jean asked.
“A warehouse spot near the ocean almost to my house,” Gus answered. “We’ll only be stopping there for a moment before we go back to the condo.”
Because the traffic thinned out considerably, both Rachel and Jean saw more of the Lexus as they traveled. When Gus turned into a dock area, lined with graffiti covered warehouse buildings, Rachel looked around worriedly. Gus slowed to a crawl as they drove along the litter filled access road. The Lexus had plainly followed them.
“What the hell are you doing, Gus?”
“Calm down, Rachel,” Gus urged as he approached a winding curve.
Gus stopped the Town Car. Rachel and Jean watched the Lexus get larger in the tinted rear window. It stopped only twenty yards behind the Lincoln. A few seconds after the Lexus halted, its windshield shattered. Rachel and Jean both jumped. The passenger side door of the Lexus started to open; but the woman they could see plainly through the now open windshield area suddenly pitched backward, her left shoulder a bloody pulp. Gus turned the Lincoln around.
“Close your eyes ladies,” Gus advised.
He drove by the idling Lexus. Neither Rachel nor Jean looked away. The Lexus driver no longer had a head. His woman companion moved only slightly. As the Lincoln accelerated, Rachel saw Nick’s Escalade round the curve and stop next to the Lexus. Rachel turned toward the front. She knew the end of this particular story.
“That’s the Terminator,” Jean said quietly, still watching out the back window.
“Yes it is, honey,” Gus agreed.
* * * *
“Hello, Kate.” Nick peered into the Lexus, his H &K at the ready. “Does Frank have anyone else down here right now?”
“An…an army,” the woman moaned, clutching her wound where the.50 caliber slug had ripped the top of her left shoulder off. “Christ…Nick…you did this on purpose.”
“You know me and loose ends, Kate. This is going to hurt a little.”
* * * *
Kate’s high pitched scream dropped into an agonized wail as Nick backed off from prodding her wounded shoulder. Nick had revived the woman twice in the last forty-five minutes, noting that blood loss would quite shortly put an end to the interrogation. Kate’s story had not changed in any significant detail as Nick had taken her through it three times.
“Now, Kate,” Nick urged. “Is -”
“Pleaaaaaasssssseee…Nick,” Kate sobbed grotesquely, head writhing from side to side, her blue and green top soaked in blood. “No…no more -”
“Just a little more, baby,” Nick implored in a soft but urgent voice. He added a new question. “Where were you to take the flash drives?”
Kate hesitated. In doing so, she knew instinctively it would mean more pain. She began crying piteously. “You…you cared for me once.”
“About as much as you cared for me, Kate. You knew who Frank sent you down here against.”
“I never thought…you’d protect the Hunter woman. I told Frank I thought you’d send her down here to get the drives…and…and if she didn’t get them you’d -”
“Write her off?”
Kate’s mouth moved for a moment, but no words issued forth. She looked away from Nick, life and pain fading from her anguished features. “Jason…Bidwell…”
Nick heard the rattling exhale of life, as the final loss of all worries in this world erased the lines from the woman’s face. It took nearly thirty minutes for him to position the Lexus. Five minutes later, he watched the vehicle sink beneath the ocean’s surface.
* * * *
Deke ran into the condo, charging across the room to Jean, his whole body wagging. Jean immediately began wrestling with him on the floor near the dining room table where Gus and Rachel sat drinking coffee. Nick, carrying the clothes he had discarded before setting up his trap, walked in only seconds after Deke and closed the door. Jean gave him a hesitant wave from where the dog had her pinned on the carpet. Nick waved back and threw the clothing over a chair back before sitting down.
“How we doing, partner?” Gus asked.
“Pretty fair,” Nick answered as Rachel reached over to cover his hand with hers. “It seems my little feint toward Washington didn’t draw everyone away from the area. The good news is those two in the Lexus were the only ones. Frank had his own insider at the bank; but it’s no one we have to worry about, because Rachel won’t be going in there again. I made the call to the cops about Santora. They won’t be finding the Lexus and its occupants anytime soon.”
“Did you know the woman outside the bank personally, Nick?” Rachel asked.
“I knew both of them,” he answered without any change of expression. “The woman gave me a name: Jason Bidwell. He’s the one they were to take the drives to. I believe we can count Frank out of helping us return things to normal.”
“As in Jason Bidwell, former senator, financier, and big time trader in carbon offsets?” Gus rattled the facts off with a low whistle and small shake of his head. “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
“We?” Nick exchanged smiles with Gus. “You signing on for the duration or something, Gus? I figured to transfer some funds and you’d be on your way like always.”
“I think I have a chance to finally get even with you, brother.”
“If you mean Jamaica, we’ve been square a long time.” Nick’s smile diminished into a tight-lipped grimace. “What the hell makes you think I have you on the pad for Jamaica? Those two runs off the keys, when no one else in the world would have anything to do with me, evened us up just fine.”
“Those were cake-walks.” Gus waved Nick off with some annoyance. “My brother’s a doctor now up in Boston because of Jamaica. You need me on this, just like I needed you back then. Burning Jason Bidwell will bring all kinds of hell down on you, Nick. I like your new family here, if you haven’t scared them off with that stunt today.”
“Stunt? Well, maybe it was a little creative, but -” Nick started.
Gus cut him off. “Without me, your ass would’ve been hanging out in the breeze.”
“Which is why I brought you into the Florida part of this,” Nick reasoned. “I didn’t turn your offer down. For the first time, I don’t know where this shit ends. Bidwell’s just the newest addition to a growing list of guys we can’t run from. If word gets out you’re in this with me, no one you ever knew will be safe, Gus.”
“We’ll just have to be careful then, won’t we, Boss?” Gus stuck out his hand. “Don’t worry, it’s going to cost you a nice tidy sum I ain’t decided on yet.”
“If we pull this off, my friend, you’ll be able to retire in style.” Nick shook Gus’s hand. “Best think it over tonight before throwing in with us.”
“Hey, what are friends for, right Rachel?”
“That’s right, Gus,” Rachel nodded her head happily. “I’m glad you’re staying.”
Nick shook his head. “Would this be a good time to tell you those two folks in the Lexus were friends of mine too?”
* * * *
Deke ran full out to the fence after the bouncing softball. Gus ran toward second base to help Jean who waited halfway to the fence for Deke to bring the ball back. Rachel streaked around second base, while Nick moved from first base to cover home plate. Deke dodged Jean and faked Gus off his feet to one knee. When Deke reached Nick, he dropped the ball with Rachel still ten feet from home plate. Rachel squealed and barreled into Nick, who had grabbed up the ball and moved to block her. They went down in a heap as Gus and Jean ran up to umpire the action. Deke poked his nose into the squirming, two-player pile. Suddenly, Nick’s right arm shot up from under Rachel with the softball in his hand.
“Yoooooooouuuuuuuuu'rrrrrrrrreeeeee out!” Gus and Jean yelled in chorus to Rachel.
Rachel sat up on Nick with an outraged look, red faced and panting.
“No fair!!! I scored before he tagged me.”
“Oh waaahhhhh. Get off me you big baby… you are so out.” Nick used the softball to bop Rachel in the forehead, which set Gus and Jean off on a laughing jag.
Rachel went for Nick’s throat, forgetting about the ever vigilant Deke. Rachel’s left forearm ended up in Deke’s mouth, while the dog stared her down with a growl.
“Damn it, Deke! I had my first homerun, you ungrateful cur!” Rachel complained, disengaging herself from Nick and the dog. “Now I have slobber all over my arm and forehead, and I’m out. Thanks a lot.”