Live Bait (25 page)

Straight confirmed my guess. "He wants me to come to the foot of the escalator on this level, close to the subway, Lee said."

I nodded, although he was pretending he could not see me. "That figures. He can stand one or two levels up and check that you're clean. Then he'll come down on one escalator and take you up on the other so that you can't be followed."

Straight half turned his head to me, then realized he was out of character and checked the motion. "Have you done this kind of thing before?" he asked and his voice was almost respectful.

"Security is a big part of police work," I told him. "I figure he'll be on the far side, above you, so he can get the best possible view past you down towards the subway. If he sees me, or anybody suspicious, he'll be gone."

Straight sighed, a quick nervous uptake of air to calm his nerves. "What can we do?" he asked and I could almost see all the cogs turning in his mind, churning out the questions, like why am I here?

"What we do is this. You take off those glasses and walk out there and wait. Make a point of checking the time, look impatient. That will make him think you want to get away. I'll get off at Dundas and go through the bottom level with Sam. I'll be there before you are. What I want you to do is hang in, at the bottom of those steps. If he tries to call you up, pretend not to notice him. He has to come to us or we'll lose him. Okay?"

He nodded. "Okay," he said quietly. Just to be sure he understood, I made him go over it again and he did, word perfect. And then we were at the Dundas station with two minutes to go before his stop. We both stood up and he took off the glasses and handed them to me. "I hope you know what you're doing," he said.

I didn't tell him otherwise. I didn't let him know I was running on instinct. Sure, Willis was wanted for investigation on charges relating to the finding of the hijacked truck. But he was wanted on the strength of my say-so. Any lawyer could get him off in a flash by saying I had set it all up out of vengeance. And the fact that somebody had followed us had me tense. I wondered who, and why, but I hid the facts and clapped Straight on the shoulder.

"Trust Sam," I told him, "he'll keep you safe as a church." I put the glasses on myself and took Sam's leash. "When the train comes in, get out fast and head for the nearest exit," I told Straight. "I'm on my way. Just stick to the plan and this guy is off your back." He nodded once and turned to the door, gripping the post hard as the train pulled to a stop.

As always there was a crowd of people waiting at this stop. I made a show of being blind, letting Sam move ahead of me, out to the turnstile and into the concourse. Now I took the glasses off and unsnapped the leash from Sam's collar.

You have to go down a flight of steps to the bottom level of the Eaton Centre and I pattered down with Sam behind me like a shadow. He was so well behaved that nobody noticed us although no dogs are allowed inside the building.

I moved quickly through the basement of the Eatons store and on into the concourse. There's a fast food area there with all kinds of take-out food and half an acre of chairs and tables. Away on the far side of it I could see Straight, like a rock in the river of people that swirled around the bottom of the escalators. He was using his head, concentrating on looking around him, not up. That meant he couldn't be called up, out of my sight and beyond Sam's and my power to help him.

I moved closer, taking care to stay far enough back that I could not be seen from the gallery above this level. The escalators flow out into the floor space in the center of the mall, directly under the big glass roof, against a fountain where some kids who should have been in high school were leaning down to scoop out coins. There is an orange-drink stand close by. I moved in to the far side of it, using it as cover while I waited. A bright little girl with red hair came around inside it and asked if I wanted a drink. I shook my head and waited.

Suddenly I saw Straight stiffen, glancing up. He looked around, didn't see me, and licked his lips nervously as he moved closer to the foot of the escalator.

I hissed at Sam and came up under the escalator, moving out far enough to see Straight as he waited, obviously, for someone to come down to him.

He took a couple of steps to the left, out of my sight. I flicked a glance above me, making sure nobody was looking down on top of my attempt to hide, then moved around the foot of the escalators, through the torrent of people pouring down, nonstop, from the floor above. Straight was at the foot of the escalator, talking to Lee, the boss of the Palace Gates Restaurant. I saw him shake his head while Lee smiled and talked and smiled and waited. I saw Straight lick his lips again, then finally he nodded and went ahead of Lee on to the up escalator. I swore, under my breath. I could lose them both. Willis might be waiting at the top of the escalator. If I stepped out, he would see me and be gone before I could reach the second floor.

Impulsively I took off the glasses that Straight had been wearing. The merest trace of his lime aftershave clung to them. I held them down to Sam and he nosed them while I fussed him and told him he was a good boy. I let him take thirty seconds, then I told him "Track" and he took off around the corner, nose to the ground.

The Eaton Centre isn't the best ground for tracking. Half the men in Toronto wear some kind of cologne. Sam must have been teased by a thousand sniffs that could have been Straight's scent but he followed true. After a second's hesitation he ran up the escalator, moving among the people as if they were trees in the bush up north.

I sprang after him. People exclaimed and tutted but they moved back as I hissed "Police" at them. I was watching Sam and he took off to the left towards an Olde Englishe type pub. I gave a short, sharp whistle and he stopped in his tracks, nose twitching, following the trail in the air. People were commenting, calling out to one another. I thought Willis would be inside the pub, waiting for Straight to be brought to his table. He wouldn't see Sam. But I was wrong.

Ahead of me, beyond the short row of stores, there was a second balcony. And there stood Willis, his back to the rail, Lee at one side of him, Straight in front of him. And as I came closer he saw me.

I saw his hand go for his pocket and I pushed Sam, racing forward and shouting "Fight." Sam covered the distance in a moment, hurling himself at Willis's arm, pinning him while he writhed and roared. All around, people were screaming, backing away. I sprang in and grabbed Willis in a headlock. "Put your hands up," I told him. He squirmed against me, but suddenly went limp and slowly raised his free arm. I took hold of the other one and told Sam "Easy." I pulled the hand out of his pocket and put my own hand in. There was a gun in there but before I could take it out he reversed his position and locked me in a hold, head down. I called to Sam "Fight!" and he slashed into action, gripping Willis by the leg. Willis kicked back at him and swore. Sam hung on, I knew he was watching for a chance to grab Willis's arm, but he had them too high, holding me in a full nelson. He was strong and the pressure on my neck was insupportable. I knew he would kill me in a second if I gave up. So I struggled back, and when he was braced as firmly as he could, I dug into the inside of his calf with my heel, scraping down past the nerve center on the inside of the shin so he went weak in the legs, then kicking his foot out from under him so that we fell and Sam was on top of us, grabbing him by the arm in a hold that could not be ignored.

I felt his hands slip from my neck and I wriggled out from the loose hold and stood over him while Sam, my precious, life-saving Sam, hung on keeping a steady pressure.

Now I glanced around. Lee had gone. Straight was still there and I told him, "Phone the police and vanish," and he went towards the pub in a rapid, hobbling stride. I didn't take the gun out of Willis's pocket. If anybody saw me with it, the case would be confused beyond belief. Instead I did the old gypsy trick of pulling his coat off his shoulders so that it pinned his arms back. Then I sat on his back and told Sam "Easy."

Sam stood, panting, and I sat while the police came. It took them only a couple of minutes but in that time the crowd had swelled to a couple of hundred people. Tourists were taking photographs, teenagers were climbing on top of seats and garbage containers to look at Sam and me. I was glad to be against the railing where nobody could come up behind me. Crowds are fickle. If somebody thought Willis was being abused they could turn on me in a moment.

The policemen were young and handsome, with the little dark moustaches that seem to come with the uniform these days. I told them "I'm a police officer. This man is wanted for hi-jacking and he's armed. He has a gun in his right coat pocket." I stood up and pointed down at him, turning him over to their care.

They didn't ask any more questions. One of them got out his handcuffs while the other dug in the coat pocket for the gun. He got it out and broke it open to check it for load. That was a mistake. Willis gave a shout and rolled on to his back and kicked the first one in the testicles, then smashed the second with his elbow, got up and ran into the crowd, along the edge of the railing around the balcony.

I yelled "Track" and Sam followed him but before he could reach him, Willis stopped and grabbed a baby out of the arms of a woman coming out of a store. She screamed and flapped at him but he pushed her down and turned to face me.

"Shoot the dog or the kid goes over the railing," he shouted. He meant it. His face was sweating red and his eyes were blazing with fury. The mother got to her feet, screaming, reaching for her child past other people who held her back. She was pretty and black, maybe thirty years old and her scream was out of a nightmare. Her baby was wailing too, and all around us people were yelling and my beautiful dog was waiting like an unexploded bomb for me to give him the order to bring Willis down.

Willis adjusted his hold on the baby, moving his fingers through the fabric of its woolen jacket. As he did it the wool slipped up over the round little belly and the baby dipped in his hands. The sigh from the crowd was a gust of horror. Willis did not even look at the child. He kept his eyes on me. "Shoot the dog," he said.

"Then what. You're going to have to face this crowd. They'll tear you to pieces. They won't need any dog."

"Don't waste time," he said again. "I've got the kid and I'll kill it if anybody gets in my way. The first thing is, shoot that dog."

Sam must have known we were talking about him. He adjusted the set of his head, cocking it sideways as he stared at Willis, wondering why my command to fight him was so long in coming. In the same view I could see him, puzzled, waiting and see the screaming, terrified baby, hysterical with fear. I heard his mother whimpering "Please, please, please," over and over.

"I'll need a gun," I said.

"Get one offa one a the cops." He nodded towards the policemen. One was on the ground, rolling around silently, holding his testicles. The other was sitting against the railing, holding his smashed face. They were out of it.

"What happens after that?" I wasn't going to kill my dog while I could still argue.

The mother of the baby was screaming and wringing her hands. Willis looked at her and grinned a tight little snicker. "Ask her what you gotta do."

All she could say was "Please. Please," like a prayer. I went over to the policeman with the injured testicles and unsnapped his holster. He made a move to stop me but was frozen with pain and I took the gun. Willis had moved closer to the rail. "Shoot the dog now or I hang the kid over," he said.

And then from out of the crowd came a roar that drowned all the other voices. It was the roar of a powerful man and as we all turned, even Willis, a big black man came out of the crowd and grabbed Willis by the throat with one hand as he grabbed the child with the other. He moved so fast there was no time for anything else to happen. I saw Willis let go of the child and I leaped to take it as Willis's hand went down to gouge at the other man's eyes. I shouted "Fight," and Sam caught Willis's hand again. Then the baby's mother grabbed her child and next we were buried under an avalanche of helpers as man after man piled on top of the struggle. I called Sam off, and when he was free, slipped out from under the mass and went back to the policemen. They were recovering now. The one with the injured testicles was sitting, holding his groin, his face like chalk. The other one was fingering his broken teeth. I handed the gun back to the man on the floor and he put it away. To the other one I said, "You've got yourself a good pinch, attempted murder of the child." Behind us the fight went on, like a rugby scrum, people seething in to land a punch or kick on Willis. I was hoping to slip away while the police made their arrests but as I turned, with Sam at my heels, three more uniformed men came running up and the man with the hurt face told them, "This guy's a copper. There's a guy on the bottom of that pile who had a gun."

 

 

 

Chapter 29

 

 

T
hey booked Willis into Toronto General, short a few teeth. People in Toronto are more law abiding than you find in most places but you can't fool around with a baby and expect to have the crowd on your side. The doctors also found facial cuts, broken ribs and a dislocated wrist. Willis was too tough to act sorry for himself but he was plenty mad at me. He had the brass to complain to the Metro detectives that I had set him up. As the senior policeman at the scene I should have controlled the crowd better.

Hooper told me about it, after they questioned Willis and laid charges of attempted murder for his episode with the baby. They still had nothing on him for conspiracy in the Bonded Security extortion caper that had brought me into the case, nor on the murder of Tony Caporetto. But Hooper told me they were working on it. And he gave one of his rare grins as he said it. They were well pleased with progress.

For now, they had Willis to themselves for as long as they liked, nobody was going to grant bail to a man who menaced infants. No righteous lawyer could make a case for releasing him. He was staying inside without bail. I was glad of that. He might or might not have been a criminal mastermind but he was a mad dog, and it was comforting to have him behind bars where he couldn't try to avenge himself on me or on Louise and her children.