Authors: Don Bruns
He glanced around the parking lot. Walking to the truck, he unlatched the rear door and looked inside. Finally he walked back to me. “Yeah. I’ll release the girl.”
That was what I needed to hear.
“Lean against the car, hands on the door.”
I did as he ran his hands over my sides and front. I would have been hard-pressed to conceal a recorder in my jeans and T-shirt. He had James do the same thing.
“I assume this is the card,” he said as he pulled an envelope from my rear pocket.
I hesitated. This was the moment I’d dreaded. If he didn’t believe it was the real thing, I could probably say good-bye to Em.
“Get in the car.”
James took a step back.
“You. You drive the truck and follow us.”
Chen opened the passenger door, and I glanced at the hood before sliding in. A dent on the left side looked like a body might have done the damage. Shuddering, I closed the door. James got in the truck.
Chen was quiet as he started the car.
There were so many things I wanted to say. So many questions I wanted to ask, but if this guy knew what I thought we knew, he’d never let any of us go. I’d pretty much figured out he was behind Ralph Walters’s death and possibly those of Tony Quatman and his wife. I knew he’d killed Carol Conroy. This guy had nothing left to lose, except the rumored $75,000,000 from the Chinese. I think LeBron James got a contract with Nike Shoes for $99,000,000 and he never had to kill anyone. Just rough them up on the basketball court.
We drove a familiar path. I’d been heading that way for several days now, and I was pretty certain that Synco Systems was our final destination. This was the time where Chen should admit what had been going on. Telling me that he had a private plane taking him to an unknown location, and we’d never hear
from him again. But he didn’t. This was the place in a good movie where I would say, “You know, you’ll never get away with this. The Department of Defense has all the information on you, and they’re freezing all their codes.” But I didn’t.
I was pretty certain that the DOD had blown me off. And this was the time I should have leaned over, looked him in the eyes as he drove, and said, “If anything has happened to her, I’ll hunt you down and kill you.” But I didn’t. Nothing was said as we pulled into the parking lot, James driving in behind us.
Chen got out of the vehicle and looked back at the truck. “I didn’t think that thing could make it this far.”
He opened his trunk, and motioned to James and me. We gathered around and he pointed to a large package in the well. “It’s heavy. Pick it up and take it inside.”
We looked at each other, an uneasy frown on James’s face. Together we picked up the box, about the size and weight of a case of beer. It was wrapped in several layers of plain brown paper. I wondered how much $75,000,000 in cash would weigh. Probably more than this, but I certainly had no frame of reference.
“Go.” A man of few words.
Three cars were in the lot. Em’s new blue BMW wasn’t one of them. Neither was Sandy’s yellow sports car. There was Carol Conroy’s Lexus, a new Cadillac, and another gray Honda Accord. I could only guess who was left in the building.
“Work room. Set it on a table.” We put it on a worktable next to a computer station and stepped back.
“Office one.” Chen pointed. No gun, no force, just the fact that he had Em and we didn’t.
I opened the office door and there they were. On the floor, side by side, tied with white plastic rope. Sandy Conroy, Feng, and Emily. And sitting on the desk, pistol in hand was Sarah Crumbly.
“Skip. I’m really sorry you had to get involved.” She nodded at me, a grim smile on her face.
“Gotta go where the money is, right, Sarah?”
“It’s just too sweet a deal to pass up, Skip. Just too sweet.”
I’d never seen it coming. But then, I’m not sure she did either. Sarah Crumbly was a hooker. For sale to the highest bidder. When someone made her a better offer, she took it. It was as simple as that. It made sense.
“Can we untie Emily now. You’ve got your card.” James froze his stare.
“It’s not quite that easy.” Chen glanced around the room. “We’re taking the girl with us.”
“Hold on, you promised me that—” I glanced at Em. A rag was stuffed in her mouth, and her eyes were full of fire.
“We’re leaving her at the abandoned building. If you leave this building, or this office, within the next half hour, we’ll kill her.”
I turned my attention to Sarah. Hooking was one thing. Killing was something else. She never met my gaze, just held onto the pistol, waving it back and forth at the trio on the floor.
“Are we understood?”
I wanted to jump this guy. He was about five eleven, in good
shape, but I knew James and I could have taken him. And why we didn’t, I don’t know. I don’t think that Sarah had the courage or desire to fire the pistol, but I couldn’t take the chance.
Chen leaned down and picked up Em, dragging her toward the door. “I’m closing this office door. And then I’m going to stand here and wait. I can’t tell you how long. If you open that door, I’ll shoot the girl, and I’ll shoot you. Do you understand?”
I nodded.
“You can pick the girl up at the building in an hour.” Cold, menacing.
Sarah jumped off the desk and followed Chen out the door. I didn’t hold out much hope that she’d survive this ordeal either, but you could never tell. She pushed the door shut and James and I stood there, not knowing what to say. Em was still in a lot of trouble.
There was a gurgle from the floor and Sandy Conroy scooted on his back and gave me a pleading look. Feng stared up as well.
“I don’t see any reason to help these two, do you?” James nodded to the two men.
“No. James, we should call the cops.”
“You should never call the cops, Skip.” The day they hauled his father off to prison was the end of any trust James had for officers of the law.
“But, man—”
“Bro, you call, they go after Chen, he kills Em.”
And, of course, he was right.
“What do you think was in the box?” The thought was in my mind too.
“I thought it might be money.”
“Yeah.” James sat down on the edge of the desk. “Lots of money.”
“James, do you think they’ll leave Em off at the building?”
“Skip, I can’t figure out why they left us all here. I mean this guy has apparently killed anyone who got in his way. So why leave us all alive to tell the authorities what happened?”
“Makes no sense.”
We were quiet for a minute. I glanced at my cell phone and saw that five minutes had passed. Sandy and Feng lay on the ground, obviously very pissed off at us.
“Do you think they’re out there? Ready to shoot if we open that door?”
“No.” I didn’t. I figure Chen was buying time. He was long gone.
“Care to take a peak?”
I thought about it. Em’s life would be in danger. I walked to the door and twisted the handle. “I’ll just tell ’em I had to go to the bathroom.”
I opened the door just a crack. Couldn’t see much. A little wider and I froze. There she was, lying on a worktable next to the brown box. I cringed, waiting for a gunshot. Nothing. I opened the door just a little farther, and saw the raw fear in Em’s eyes. Quickly glancing around the room I saw they were gone. And then it hit me.
I bolted out of the room. “James. Down. On the floor.” I grabbed the box, heavy, bulky like a case of beer, and I bolted for the doors. Down the hall, past the reception area, my legs pumping, my arms aching. The flames in my lungs leaped into my throat and my mouth as I hit the door. It opened and I ran into the parking lot, thinking that I’d seen this play out once before. Ten steps into the lot, I heaved the box, fell to the ground, and buried my head under my arms. I think I heard the roar of the explosion. But I’m not sure. I was dead.
If you donate your organs, they like to harvest them when they’re fresh. And when the body is still functioning, but there’s no brain activity, the organs are fresh. I never signed the paper to donate my organs. Probably a good idea, considering.
They call it neurologic shock. There’s no brain activity and your brain is swelling from the concussion. As far as I’m concerned, when your brain quits working, you’re dead. And that’s what the doctor told me.
They can drill holes in your head to give the brain room to swell. James would have had a field day with that solution. But I think it was a drug, Mannitol, that takes fluid from the brain so it goes back into your bloodstream, that saved me. That and a bunch of very good doctors. I’ve got to thank the team of Drs. Bob and Pat Gussin, James Kahn, Praveen Malhotra, and Anne Gideon. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be around if it hadn’t been for them.
“You saved us, pally.”
“Yeah. But died in the process.”
James grabbed my arm and squeezed. Very hard. I thought
there were tears in his eyes, but this was my buddy James. I’m sure I was mistaken.
“Visiting time is over.” The surly nurse escorted him out. Five minutes at a time. They said they just wanted to keep me alive this time. I appreciated the effort.
“Two weeks. And it seems like two minutes.”
“Hey, you slept most of the time.” Em looked great, fresh, hair hanging down around her shoulders, a light summer dress.
She stroked my cheek. “You’re getting a little shaggy, Skip.”
“When you sleep twenty-four-seven there isn’t much time to shave.” I was sitting in a chair. An hour a day now.
“I kind of like a beard on you.”
“So, you’ve been quiet about current events.”
Em sat on the edge of the hospital bed. “They caught Chen.
He never got out of Miami.”
“You know the thing about Sarah is that she’s a—”
“I know. James told me. She wasn’t with him when the cops took Chen in.”
“You don’t think he killed her?”
“Personally, we don’t think there was time. James is scanning the escort services. He says she’ll show up sooner or later.”
“They know that Chen killed Carol Conroy?”
“Evidence was all over his car. He never got it fixed.”
“And Sandy? Feng? How can they still be walking around?” She reached out and put her hand on mine. “No evidence.
They didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You and I both know that’s bullshit.”
“Can’t prove it, babe. That video card hasn’t turned up. If there’s any evidence on that, it’s disappeared.” She stroked my hand. “You saved their lives.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I did. I did. Didn’t really care about their lives.”
“You saved mine. You saved James.”
“Yeah. Come to think of it—”
Ellen DeGeneres was on the flat-screen television. No sound. I could look out the window and see two stories below. There were three box trucks clustered by a construction site where workmen were building an expansion to the hospital. “The truck’s gone, right?”
“Yeah. James found another one. Not quite as good, but it’s the same model. He’s trying to pull some money together—”
“He’s nuts.”
“He’s your best friend.”
“Other than you.”
The phone rang and I flipped it open. “Yeah.”
“Amigo. I’d be there today, but I’m working two shifts at Cap’n Crab. Got to make some extra money for a new truck.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry I blew up your old one.”
“Could have been me, Skip. I owe you so much, I’ll never, ever be able to pay you back for this one.”
“You know, you showed me how to dispose of a bomb. I just didn’t think I’d ever have to use your example.”
He chuckled. “Called Riley at DOD, pard. He’s not there.”
“Like, not in?”
“Like, doesn’t work there.”
“James, I talked to him. Tried to get him to cancel the codes.”
“Very hush-hush. I don’t know if they downloaded from the computers or not.”
Em smiled at me. Beaming. She’d had that smile since she walked in.
“What about the money? Did Chen have the millions?”
“I get the impression, no. But no one’s talking.” James and I would probably never hear all the details.
“And Synco Systems?”
“Closed. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” I did. They weren’t going to pay the bill. Carol Conroy couldn’t pay the bill, and the best I could hope for with Sarah was to take it out in trade. And with Em in my corner, that wasn’t ever going to happen.
“Hey, James, did you thank J.J.? I mean, he gave us the plan.”
“He did. Cops took the sound card from The Sound Max and they’re going to use it as part of the case against Chen. They’ve got him on explosive charges, attempted murder, kidnapping—”
“But no stealing codes. International espionage or whatever it’s called?”
“No proof.”
“Anyway, thank J.J.”
“Never got a chance, Kemo Sabe. He moved out a couple days after you died.”
“So tell me, James, did the date with Eden ever happen?”
“Number three coming up this weekend. And number three is the magic one, right pally?”
“Good luck, James.”
“Good looks and charm, Skip. That’s all you need.”
I suddenly felt tired. Not sleepy, but like at the end of a long workday, or at the end of a long vacation where you partied just a little too hard. I said good-bye to James and closed my eyes.
“Hey, I’m going to stay awhile. If you want to sleep—”
“Maybe.” I opened my eyes again. “Do I still have a job?” Flowers from Michael were on the desk. I think he bought them in the discount bin at Wal-Mart.
“I think so. Obviously things are a little crazy at Jaystone right now.”
I smiled. I hoped I had a job. I needed the money. I owed Jody Stacy for a smoke detector, GPS unit, and The Sound Max. The cops were keeping that as evidence. Jody apparently had called Em several times. Checking up on me, probably checking
up on when he’d be paid, and I’m certain he was checking up on Em. Another reason to bust out of this joint as soon as possible.
“So no one is looking into the fact that secrets were stolen? That the DOD was compromised?” I gazed at her. God, she looked good.
“Oh, I think they’re looking into it every minute. I think the government is scared out of their minds right now. I think, because of you—because of you—” she started crying. “Because of you, Skip Moore, I’m alive.”