“Whoa there, big guy!” he almost shouted. “RC, it's me, TRIPLEM, and this is PIP with me. What are you doing here? They're after you. Get in the damn car already. There are cameras everywhere.”
Philonias stood rooted to the concrete. Ten minutes. If he hadn't spent those last ten minutes being sentimental, he would have gotten away clean.
Son of a bitch!
“Didn't you hear me, RC? I said, âGet in the damn car!'” Abner growled.
Mary Alice tried to push the big man, but it was as though his feet were glued to the concrete. Then reason took over, and RC opened the car door and climbed in. Abner and Mary Alice scrambled in behind him.
“We can get out of here. I know we can. We just need a plan. Where were you going, RC?” Abner asked.
“They kidnapped me, RC,” Mary Alice shrilled from the backseat. “They're either vigilantes, avengers, or crackpots. And they have this killer dog that wanted to rip out my throat. Abner says they're all of the above. Your text made me cry, RC. Abner, too, but he probably won't admit it. We didn't want to help them. Honest.”
“But you did,” Philonias said quietly.
“Yes. And I think I can explain if you give me a chance,” Abner responded, just as quietly.
“Now what?” Philonias asked.
Abner let his hands flap in the air. “We want to help you. Just tell us what we can do. We split from the others. I couldn't do it anymore. I refused, so I dragged PIP out of there. My plan was to drive her back to Arizona in my Range Rover, because she has no ID and can't fly. We can go with you wherever you're going. If you'll have us, that is. Right, PIP?”
“Right,” Mary Alice said.
“How do you know I'm not on my way to the post office or the supermarket? What makes you think I'm taking it on the lam?” Could he trust them? He thought so, but . . . There was always a
but
.
“The duffel bag. Just big enough to carry the essentials. Your text. A ten-year-old could figure that out. You actually live here, don't you?” asked Abner.
Philonias snorted. “What was your first clue? Took you long enough to figure it out. I have to say I am disappointed, TRIPLEM.”
“I figured it out when Dixson Kelly said he met this really
big
guy in the Tiki Bar. For whatever it's worth, I didn't voice my thoughts to anyone. So where are you going? You got a hidey-hole somewhere?”
“Out to the desert. And the answer is yes. Are you serious about helping me? Can I trust you?”
“Yes,” Abner and Mary Alice said in unison.
“All right then. It's not like I have options here. PIP, get down on the floor. Abner, follow me in your Rover. Give me a five-minute head start before you follow me. Just stay on my tail until we reach our destination. If we get separated in traffic or for some other reason, I'll send you a text so you can find your own way. No, I am not going to evade you, so you can get that thought right out of your head. Even I know right now I'm on a slippery slope. We good here?”
Abner, his head down, was already out of the Bentley and running toward the Rover. He was glad now that he'd had the foresight to fill the gas tank before he arrived at Babylon yesterday. Or was it the day before? For some reason, he'd lost track of time. Or maybe it was that suddenly time had no meaning.
Abner waited the requisite five minutes, then peeled out of his parking space, tires burning rubber. He wasn't sure, but he thought he took the ramp on two wheels.
The sun was about to set, but there was still a golden glow to the day as he kept his eyes on the silver Bentley up ahead. Abner's thoughts raced as he settled into the heavy traffic. He knew the others back at Babylon were still trying to figure out what he was all about. He also knew they were trying to contact him, because both phones in his pockets kept buzzing. “Screw you all,” he muttered under his breath. Then he remembered Isabelle's cigarettes. He fished around in the middle console, where he had stashed the pack he found in the glove box, found the package, and fired one up. He coughed and sputtered but kept on puffing. He rolled down the window. If ever there was a time for a cigarette break, this was that time.
Abner had no trouble following the silver Bentley, because RC was a cautious driver and, for obvious reasons, did not want to get pulled over by some overanxious state trooper or local cop.
The drive took ninety minutes before RC turned on his right-turn signal and headed up a long, manicured drive to a security fence. Abner watched as he tapped in a code. The gate opened, and both cars sailed through.
Abner blinked at what he was seeing, a condo complex. It was hard to believe RC would live among a bunch of thirtysomethings. Then again, RC was proving to be a constant surprise.
Both vehicles parked, and everyone got out.
Mary Alice stretched her neck right, then left. “I'm thirsty,” she announced.
Abner stomped his feet to get his circulation moving. “Which one is yours?”
Philonias waved his hands in the air. “All of them. No one lives here. I just come out here from time to time to sort through things. I guess in the back of my mind I thought someday I might need a . . . hidey-hole, as you called it.”
Mary Alice looked around. “Who owns all these cars?”
“I do. I wanted to make it look real. I have bogus names on the deeds to all the condos. Even the one I use has a bogus name. No one comes here but the mailman. I pay all the bills, taxes, and insurance online and a year in advance through a secure server in Bucharest. Very little mail other than occupant stuff comes through here. Last year, for some reason, I changed the mail drop to the post office, so now not even a mailman comes out here. I think I must have had some kind of epiphany. All right, come along, and let's see what we can do about this current situation.”
Mary Alice rolled her eyes at Abner, who rolled his eyes right back to her. In for a penny, in for a pound, or whatever that saying was that Charles was so fond of using.
Charles.
Abner clamped his teeth shut. This was no time to think about Charles or any regrets about what he had just done.
Philonias keyed in his code at the door, then opened it. The condo had a beautiful layout, but it smelled musty from being closed up. He quickly turned up the air-conditioning and looked around. “The room at the end of the hall is mine. Pick whichever ones you want. Each has its own bathroom. The room in the center is the computer room. While you're settling in, I'll head for the kitchen to see what I can rustle up for dinner. I have a freezer full of food and a pressure cooker. No problems with power out here, but if there is a blackout, I have a generator attached to each unit.”
“Nice hidey-hole, RC,” Abner said. “Do you think this place is safe?”
“I did up until I saw you in the garage. I could have sworn I didn't screw up cyber wise. How did you find me?”
“By accident. We were leaving, and so were you. They have no clue you live at Babylon. Dixson Kelly
thinks
you are somehow involved in whatever he thinks is going down. No one believes him, so he's more or less whistling in the wind. Even Bert Navarro had to set him straight.”
“There was an episode in the garage.”
“My fault. I thought it was you but wasn't sure. I'm the one who sounded that alarm, and Sparrow, who is the director of the FBI, took it as spot on. Glad you managed to elude him,” Mary Alice said.
“I'll start dinner and make us some coffee. Go along and do whatever you want to doâshower, freshen upâand then come back here to the kitchen.”
“By any chance do you have a toothbrush, RC?” Abner asked.
“Everything you could need is in the bathrooms and closets. I keep sweat suits here, all sizes. Don't ask me why. Survival training or something I read along the way. Just another one of those instances of you never know what is going to happen or what you will need, so be prepared for any and everything. It took a long time to outfit this complex.”
Both Mary Alice and Abner started down the hall, then splintered off to shower and change into whatever was available.
Thirty minutes later, they joined Philonias in the kitchen. He had cups out, along with frozen cream he'd thawed in the microwave oven. A red light glowed on the stainless-steel pressure cooker. RC noticed them looking at the pressure cooker.
“I actually know how to cook, but today I just dumped a roast with a bunch of frozen vegetables into the pot. I mixed up some dough, and bread is baking in that other machine that has a glowing red dot. We won't starve, but I don't guarantee tastiness. Pour your coffee, and let's sit in the family room, where we can be comfortable and can
talk
.”
In the blink of an eye, the threesome was settled into soft, buttery leather chairs that were more comfortable than any bed. Abner took the initiative.
“We're here, RC, so that should tell you we're on your side. I say we give up on the cyber crap for now and just be three human beings talking to one another. We, PIP and I, know you know everything there is to know about us. We're actually okay with that, but it would be nice if you'd share a few facts about yourself. I give you my word that you can trust me. PIP?”
“Me, too, RC,” Mary Alice agreed.
“So let's get started here. From here on in, I'm Abner and PIP is Mary Alice. You are Philonias Needlemeyer. What kind of name is that, anyway?”
Philonias nodded. “I was born Needlemeyer. My mother named me Philonias because she said no one else would ever have that name. She wanted me to be different, special. I guess she didn't think my size qualified for different or special. I might ask you what kind of name Tookus is.”
Emboldened by Philonias's easy acceptance, Abner said, “One of my many foster parents gave me that name, but I can't remember which one. I really don't know who I am or where I came from. I was dumped at an orphanage when I was born. So, moving right along, we're going to call you Phil. Growing up, didn't your friends call you Phil?”
“I didn't have any friends growing up, Abner.”
“How about when you were a teenager or when you were in college? What did your peers call you?”
“Freak,” Philonias said flatly.
“Well, Phil, Mary Alice and I are not them. We're flesh-and-blood people, and we are your friends. We live, we breathe, we laugh, and we cry. We can do that because we are real people. Right now, we are not hiding behind our cyber names and tapping our fingers to the bone. We are no longer invisible. Are we all on the same page here?”
Mary Alice nodded.
Phil took a little longer, but he also nodded. “But you both betrayed me. I would never have betrayed you. Never.”
“Yes and no, Phil,” Abner said. “You set up the rules early on. You need to own your part of all of this. Trust goes a long way. Had you not done that, we might not be sitting here having this conversation. And in your heart you know the why of it all. Do not pretend otherwise, or this new friendship is not going to work. We share a hundred percent. Tell me if you agree.”
Phil wagged his index finger in the air. Mary Alice did the same thing.
Abner went on. “We, Mary Alice, myself, you, and all our brothers and sisters out there who belong to our . . . hacking family, are not leading normal, healthy lives. Actually, the truth is, we have no lives other than the obvious one. Take yourself, for example, Phil. You said you never had friends, still have no friends. That's not good. I stepped out of the box, got married. Mary Alice has her seed business, but she doesn't interact with people. Nor do you. I do. I want us all to be normal and help each other. In other words, mingle with the human race and stop hiding behind what we do.
“Having said all that, and I'm sure it didn't come out right, here's the bottom line. You have to give the money back, Phil. I know it's going to be a bitch of a job, but I think you kept records, so maybe it won't be that hard. If you don't, they
will
find you. Not because of Mary Alice or me, but because those people will do what they do. Just like you, Mary Alice, and I do what we do. So, what do you say, Phil?”
Phil didn't bother to argue. He had known all along that someday it might come to this. And he was prepared. What he hadn't prepared for was having two helpers.
“Okay. It's a lot of money, Abner.”
“I know. They were saying almost a billion. That's with a
b
.”
Phil laughed. “True.”
“What did you do with it?” Mary Alice asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“I gave it all away. I didn't keep one penny. In my own defense, I made a lot of people happy. What makes me so different from you, Abner?”
“What? You're actually asking me a question like that! You're an outright thief, Phil. You ripped off all these casinos. Why?”
“Why? Because I could. You and Mary Alice do the same thing. What makes me so different?”
“We're not the same. I'm going to speak only for myself, and you already know what I am going to say. I deal with bad guys. Bad guys who are doing bad things to good, kind, decent people. I keep a finder's fee, in case a job comes in where there is no money involved, just information. Evening the odds a bit. Justice is blind sometimes. We take off the blindfold and do the best we can. I have never gotten caught. Not even close, because I am aware of that invisible line I cannot cross. You stepped on it, then crossed over it, just because you could. Now you have to give it back. Mary Alice?”
“I couldn't have said it any better. Abner is right. I operate the same way.”