I have fallen into the shit pile and emerged smelling like the proverbial rose
.
“Nick, aren’t you going to say something?”
“Putting aside your seemingly legitimate distrust for the US Marshalls’ service, I think you acted very well under pressure. You did consider Tanus’s boss is implicated on one of those flash drives, right?”
“Yes…but listen…those guys have more money than God. They buy and sell politicians, police, and judges. I’d hand over the key. The cops get the files. The files get lost, and I’m a dead mom with a dead little girl. Fingering Tanus was my ticket out of New York to a new life and possible safety. Even after a year, Tanus was only now coming up for trial to be indicted. The chance of anyone arresting the guy above him is a joke.”
“I’m having trouble faulting your logic,” Nick admitted. “Since you have to be signed in on their list to get into the safety deposit box, having the -”
“I am signed in on the box,” Rachel cut in.
“Where’s the box located?”
“Sarasota, Florida. Rick opened an account with five hundred dollars and obtained a safety deposit box attached to the account. Any fees would be debited from the five hundred dollar balance. He did it while we were on vacation with Jean and the account is under my maiden name. Jean is my daughter’s real name.”
“Jesus…”
She’s good
. “I can really understand your reticence in giving over the key. I’m sure the same questions popping into my head would have been popping into the cops’ heads.”
“I didn’t know what he was doing, Nick.” Rachel squeezed his wrist with attitude as if she could physically press the point into Nick. “Rick put gold and silver coins in the box he had showed me. He said they were our little nest egg the government wouldn’t know about and if something happened to him I would have a little safety line. I saw him put a small plastic baggy with the flash drives in there. Rick told me they were backups to our financial records.”
“Easy, Rachel… I believe you.”
No, I don’t. You picked the wrong guy to tell this story to. I don’t believe anyone. Shit list, here I come
. “Your explanation is plausible. I only meant I can understand how you would think the FBI might look at what you’ve told me.”
“No one will believe me now. I am so screwed.”
Birds of a feather
. Nick smiled at his own weird commiseration with Rachel.
* * * *
Rachel let go of Nick’s wrist. “You think this is funny?”
“I write fiction for a living. That means I’m a paid liar. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a computer security guy, married to a beautiful blonde haired, blue-eyed woman and they had a beautiful little blonde haired, blue-eyed daughter. The computer security guy tells his wife all about some of the very strange dealings the company he’s working for is into. Wifey suggests digitizing the strange dealings for a rainy day, just in case they run across something they need. The computer guy’s a little uncomfortable with this idea but it sounds like a nice insurance policy.
“Computer guy copies the company’s strange dealings. He and wifey then take the daughter down to Florida on a nice vacation, where they set up their emergency nest egg. Low and behold the day arrives when wifey thinks they’re not living quite the way she thinks they should and talks computer guy into cashing in on their insurance policy.”
Nick paused, watching Rachel’s shoulders slump as she turned in the chair, picked up her glass and drained the wine. She poured another glass out of the bottle on the table with a shaking hand.
“How’d I do?”
“On a scale of one to ten on my annoyance meter, you’ve blown the top cap on the tube,” Rachel stated tiredly, keeping her eyes on the fog.
“That good, huh?”
“I killed Rick as sure as if I had put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He…he was a good man. Jean idolized him. He created computer games for her, and…and taught her how to play softball.”
Rachel’s lower lip trembled as she took another gulp of wine. “He didn’t want to do it.”
“And he died without revealing your part in the nest egg,” Nick added quietly.
Rachel nodded, unable to speak without bursting into tears.
“Rick stepped up,” Nick continued. “What are you willing to do?”
Rachel turned to him, setting her wine glass aside. “What do you mean?”
“I mean it appears you’ve figured out what matters in life now, and dangerous games can and will get you killed. You want to make sure nothing happens to Jean. What would you do to keep her safe?”
“Who do I have to kill?” Rachel asked, without a hint of tremor in her voice.
“That’s the spirit.” Nick poured himself another glass of wine.
“Who the hell are you, Nick?”
“I’m what they call a ‘Jack of all Trades’. I think I can help you and Jean.”
“You’re already helping us.”
“You’re going to need more help than a place to hide out in for a couple weeks.”
“How would you be able to help with that?”
“I have contacts but I don’t plan to get on the wrong side of the US Marshalls Service. I will make a few calls tonight and do some bargaining. Something I’ve been working on in a peripheral way is the leak in the Witness Protection Program. Our friends Grace and Tim may be on their way to closing it. Whoever jumped the gun and sent US Marshalls to follow us tonight either is the leak or knows exactly who the leak is. I’m thinking one of my contacts has already closed the leak. What took place tonight did not go unnoticed.”
“That would mean we’re safe here.” Rachel wondered where the conversation was headed.
Who is this guy
?
Is he delusional
?
“Not a hundred percent but probably around ninety-five percent. If I manage to help you work things out, I might have a proposition for you.”
“Damn it, Nick! Who the hell are you?” Rachel demanded again in frustration.
“I’m a cold-blooded psychopath with just a tiny thread of humanity left,” Nick answered, patting her hand.
“Oh, c’mon, Nick, I’ve seen you with Jean and Deke.”
“I killed a woman once while I petted her dog. I blew Tanus’s head off with a fifty caliber sniper rifle and had brunch in Pennsylvania later in the day. Tanus hired me to kill you.”
“Oh my God!” Rachel pulled her hand away. She stared into Nick’s unblinking eyes and knew the truth. “You’re Diego?”
“Diego’s a campfire girl compared to what I am,” Nick replied bluntly. “Now that we know a little about each other, what say we work out a way to keep you and Jean in one piece?”
“How…I mean…I don’t know any more than I already told you.”
“I figure it this way, if the leak is plugged, my boss will get the hell off my back. It will make him more amenable to my taking on a team. We’re going to visit your safety deposit box and I’ll get a name or possibly a couple names. I’m going to trade the flash drives to my boss for an okay to sanction the top of the Tanus ladder.”
“What do you mean take on a team?” Rachel whispered, with sudden dawning realization of what team Nick meant.
“As you said, I have a nice place here. After ten years in this business, I’m getting a bit frayed around the edges and in a position to pick and choose what I want to do. Business takes me all over the world and -”
“…and you need a cover,” Rachel continued for him with growing horror. “You think your novelist persona is wearing thin. With a family, no one would suspect what you are.”
“I knew you were smart.” Nick smiled. “The only way this works is if I make it safe for you and Jean to get famous and photographed. Being a best-selling novelist’s wife will mean a lot of exposure, so naturally, all the people who want you dead are going to have to die first.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I return you to Grace and Tim. You and Jean hit the outlaw trail again with Deke. Maybe everything will be okay once the leak in the program is patched.”
“What if I go with Grace and Tim and trade your ass for something nice?” Rachel continued to stare directly into Nick’s eyes.
Rachel shivered slightly as a cold smile wavered and spread outwards on Nick’s mouth. The smile did not stretch to his eyes.
“Why don’t you sleep on it, and let me know what you decide when we walk to the beach tomorrow morning?”
“Does this proposition involve partnering up with you in the biblical sense?”
“You can sleep on that too.”
“When I saw you the first time at the restaurant, were you staking me out?”
“No, I was deciding whether to take Tanus out or not. The picture I had of you reminded me of someone from long ago. You still reminded me of her when I saw you in person.”
“And if I hadn’t?”
“Then I wouldn’t have been there to pull you out of the way last night.”
“Is this what they mean by being caught between a rock and a hard place?” Rachel nodded with a smile at Nick’s admission.
“No, this is between a rock and a cold, hard place,” Nick replied, smiling back.
“Nick.” Rachel looked up as Nick stood and gathered the glasses and wine bottle. “The woman you killed, she was bad…right?”
“She was to someone.”
Chapter Five
Deal Goes Sour
“Well, well, well, I can sure understand why you missed checking in after your date,” Frank’s voice greeted him as Nick answered the satellite phone following his initial call in. “If you were ready to start a family why didn’t you say so, Nick? How is the family? How did you know the sniper wasn’t shooting at you, Pappy?”
“Maybe we should skip the sarcasm for now.”
“Very well.” Frank paused for a moment. “We plugged the leak. I can’t say I’m pleased with your methods, but you damn sure lured the dummy out into the open. What the hell made you think taking Hunter and her daughter to your place would work?”
“We have differing views, Frank. You keep looking for criminal masterminds, and I look for impatient dolts who like the money but not the precautions. Let’s tackle the next order of business.”
“Don’t you want to know anything about the leak?”
“Why should I? The mark won’t know anything anyway. The FBI can trace the money trail to the dead end I’m sure is waiting for them.”
“You don’t do detective work but it seems you’re pretty good at it. Did you enhance your rep as Sherlock Holmes by consulting with the Marshalls and local PD? I know those idiots didn’t get the shooter by themselves. I thought maybe you were figuring on opening a detective agency or something.”
“You’ve developed quite a sense of humor, Frank,” Nick replied, without a trace of humor. “I have a kink in this case I think you’ll like if you’re all through with the comic act.”
“Give it to me but it better be damn good. The thought of you playing house and risking the asset we’ve built for ten years will eventually lead to an adjustment. Know this, Nick: it won’t be me who clips off all the loose ends you’re creating.
If it comes, I’ll be the first one tied on the tracks with the train coming.”
“Acknowledged.”
Oh boy, I wonder if I should get my hanky out
. “Let’s see if I can get you in the good graces of whatever monstrous entity is pulling your strings. The Hunter woman talked her husband into blackmailing our buddy Tanus, which left her a widow with a safety deposit box. Some very interesting flash drives are stored in it.”
Nick smiled as the silence stretched on for a very long moment.
“I could have the US Marshalls pick her back up.”
“And she would, of course, not know squat about any safety deposit box.”
“What do you want, Nick?”
“I get a sweet family cover for the heinous deeds I do, and a little company. You get the flash drives with the whole Tanus network documented…after I take a look at them. We agree on the upper echelon of the network meeting with inexplicable accidents and everyone’s happy.”
“Have you been watching reruns of ‘Father Knows Best’ on Nickelodeon or something?” Frank asked with obvious disdain. “You have a psych profile making you the original Lone Wolf. You don’t play well with others.”
“I need a change.”
“Go to Barcelona.”
“Did I say something to make you think this was a debate?”
“Okay…listen pal, there’s no use in me pretending I don’t care about those flash drives, but what happens after you get tired of playing house? I wager Hunter knows too much already and her kid will…shit…why am I talking about this? You’re insane.”
“If things don’t work out, I’ll set them up real nice somewhere. Rachel Hunter is a bit more complex than you think, Frank. In the meantime, I acquire an added family dossier to waylay suspicion overseas. It’s not like they can find out about you or your puppet masters. Hell, I don’t even know about them, but if you think I need to, I could find out.”
“Now wait a minute…you’re playing a dangerous game, Nick.”
“Oh, I’m so scared.”
“The trouble with you, Nick, is you’re getting delusions of grandeur…and invincibility.”
“Not at all,” Nick reasoned. “I know my value. In addition, while we’re on the subject, you do realize that taking me out will have some unintended consequences, do you not?”
“Overseas?”
“I sure wouldn’t hide implicating evidence in Podunk, USA. It would be embarrassing for you if I’m ever unable to touch base with my contact.”
“I’m going to miss Tanus’s taste in hits.” Frank sighed audibly as Nick heard him take a deep breath. “It will be extremely interesting to finally find out from those flash drives why his choice of bad people intersected our own so often. What do you need from me?”
“Nothing,” Nick answered. “If you take a hand in this to get the US Marshalls off my back, it’ll be way too suspicious. You plugged the leak, but they know someone still wants Rachel dead. You’ll have to be patient. I’ll take Rachel to get the flash drives as soon as possible.”