The Queen of Cool (44 page)

“
Mutt get Lisa! Take cover!
We have a shooter!” Manny said into the walkie-talkie. “Mrs.
Williams, you know what to do.”

“
I’m on it,” Mrs.
Williams’s voice said over the walkie-talkie.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lo saw
something flash in the dark.

Bam!

Manny collapsed.

“
Manny!”

Q

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Lo ran to Manny and dropped to the concrete
beside him. In the dark, she couldn’t see his wound. Leaning over
him, his headlamp flashed in her eyes and blinded her. She yanked
it off his forehead and tossed it into the corner. A shot followed
the light and rang off the concrete. Lo set her flashlight facedown
on the floor and switched off her headlamp. In the dark, she put
her ear over Manny’s mouth. He was breathing. Her hands moved over
his face and neck. Nothing.

“
Remember Lo, the bullet
entry wound is usually small,” the Don in her mind repeated the
words he’d said all those years ago when teaching her weapons
safety. “You probably won’t notice it.”

“
It’s the exit wound that’s
the problem,” Lo said out loud.

Moving as fast as possible, she lifted
Manny’s shoulder and found the wound just below his shoulder
blades. Two inches wide, the bullet must have gone right through
him. She stripped off her hooded sweatshirt.

“
Manny!” she whispered in
his face.

She stuffed Renee’s taser deep in the front
pocket of Don’s jeans. She pulled Don’s old work shirt out and
tucked the handgun into the back of her waistband. Don wouldn’t
have liked that but where else was she going to put the handgun.
She stuffed the sweatshirt into Manny’s wound. Like Don had taught
her, she punched the sweatshirt to get as much as possible in the
wound. She carefully set him down to let his bodyweight act as
pressure on the wound. She heard more gunshots over the
walkie-talkie.

“
Lo, Sy’s been shot!” Lisa
whispered over the walkie-talkie. “Someone came in and is shooting.
We’re hiding upstairs.”

“
Manny was shot,” Lo
switched her walkie-talkie to open and set it next to Manny’s head.
“They’re still here.”

Lo heard a scuffle on Lisa’s end of the
walking talkie and the sound of fists hitting flesh.

“
Manny!” Lo whispered in
Manny’s face. “Can you hear me!?”

Manny’s eyes moved and he moaned.

“
Don’t you dare leave me,
Manuel Rodriguez,” Lo said. “You abandoned me once when my daddy
died. You’re not going to abandon me now.”

“
You broke up with me.”
Manny’s voice was weak and his eyes fluttered.

“
I did not, you stupid
jerk,” Lo said. “My daddy died and you came over to tell me you
were in love with some chick called Mindy Sue. You didn’t even ask
how I was or anything.”

Lo heard a sound and turned to look. A fat
fist moved toward her face. After ten years of boxing, Lo shifted
automatically to avoid the punch. The fist glanced off her chin.
Dazed, she fell forward. Her hands hit the cement floor on either
side of Manny’s body. Her eyes locked on Manny’s brown eyes.

“
Don’t,” a man’s voice came
from somewhere nearby. “We need her to get in.”

“
Jaden.” Manny’s lips moved
but no sound came out. His eyes flicked to his right pocket. She
slipped her hand into his pocket and took out his folding knife.
She nodded.

“
Ah Lo,” Jaden
said.

Lo’s head flicked in the direction of his
voice. More shots rang out over the walkie-talkie.

“
Jaden!” Lo smiled at the
snake. “I’m so glad you’re here. Manny’s been shot. Can you help
us?”

“
Shot but not dead,” Jaden
pointed his handgun at Manny’s head.

“
Dead,” Lo collapsed over
Manny covering him with her body. “He’s dead.”

She didn’t have to work hard for the tears
to start. Manny did his part by pretending to be dead. She felt
arms on her shoulders. She was lifted from Manny’s body by the
burly man who’d tried to hit her.

“
You have to help,” Lo
sobbed. “Please. Call 9-1-1.”

“
I have other plans this
evening,” Jaden said.

He grabbed hold of her arm, pulled her to
standing, and marched her across the first floor. His lackey
followed close behind. When they reached a cement stairwell, he
turned and shot the man walking behind them. The bullet ripped
through the man’s throat. Lo screamed and the man dropped to the
ground.

“
Walk,” Jaden pressed the
handgun into her back.

Lo started down a small flight of cement
stairs. With only the moon as her light, she stumbled. Jaden caught
her arm before she fell. She was about to punch him when her old
boxing coach’s voice came in her mind.

“
Only fools attack at the
very beginning of a fight when their opponent is rested and fired
up,” her instructor had said. “Seasoned fighters are patient. They
test, test, test to find their opponent’s weak spots. They wait for
their opponent’s fire to burn down, then look for the perfect
opportunity. Are you a fool Lorraine?”

“
I’m not a fool,” Lo
whispered.

“
What?” Jaden
asked.

“
Nothing.”

Lo shook off his arm. She turned at the
landing and took the next flight of stairs. At the end of the
stairwell stood a deep-red metal door. Lo nodded to herself. Don
loved this color. He thought it was lucky.

“
Open it,” Jaden
said.

“
How am I going to open
it?” Lo turned around to face him. “You can point that gun at me
all day but I don’t have a key.”

“
Guess I should just kill
you now,” he sneered.

He reached around her to the wall and
flicked a light switch. A set of fluorescent lights flickered and
came on. Lo blinked at the light. Jaden turned her body to face the
wall next to the door. There was a keypad on the wall. She looked
at the keypad and then at Jaden.

“
What’s the code?” Lo
asked.

“
If I
knew
that, I wouldn’t need you,” Jaden sneered. “Would
I?”

“
Why would I help you?” Lo
asked.

“
Because I have a gun?”
Jaden rocked the gun in his hand.

“
What makes you think I
care?” Lo asked. “Shoot me. You’ll be doing me a favor.”

“
Just open the door,
Lorraine,” Jaden lowered the gun to point at her belly.

“
No soul,” Lo said. “Just a
body, tissue, no soul.”

“
God damn it,” Jaden said.
“You’re really going to make me kill you.”

Score one Lorraine. He hadn’t come there to
kill her.

She scowled at him and looked at the
keypad.

“
Open it,” Jaden
said.

“
Give me a second to
think,” Lorraine said. “You know, I’m not really in my right mind.
That guy just killed my good friend Manny, and you’re towering over
me with that gun and…”

“
Fine,” Jaden took a step
back.

“
Hey! Over here!” An
unfamiliar woman’s voice came from the first floor and Jaden ran up
the stairs to look.

As fast as her fingers would work, Lo
attacked the keypad. She put in their wedding date. The door didn’t
open. Lo scowled. She put in her birthday. Nothing. She added up
the numbers in their wedding date plus the number of years they’d
been married. Fifty-two. She put in the date they met and added
fifty-two on the end. She was rewarded with a satisfying click. She
spun in place and slipped through the opening. She pulled on the
door with all her might.

She nearly had it closed when Jaden jammed
it with his handgun. Twice her size, he had no trouble wrestling
the door from her. He whipped the grip of the handgun across her
face. Lo fell to her left, hit the brick wall, and slid to the
ground. He moved her out of the way with his foot and slammed the
door closed.

“
Thought you’d lose me? Me?
I’m the only reason you’ve survived this long!” Jaden’s face was
marked with rage. “You think anyone gives a shit about you? Your
stupid baby?”

Lo moved to sit with her back against the
wall. Her hand went to her bleeding cheek. Frightened and angry,
she panted to catch her breath.

“
These people don’t care if
they kill you or a thousand people like you,” Jaden’s angry voice
bounced off the bricks. “They don’t care.”

“
You’re responsible for
every single one of those deaths.” Her voice was low and
deadly.

“
Is that what you think?”
Jaden asked. “You think I glibly kill people.”

“
Yes,” Lo said. “You killed
Don, my father, my mother, Mrs. Williams’s husband, Manny, and God
knows how many other people have been killed by this horrible
thing.”

“
You’re such a child
Lorraine,” Jaden shook his head at her. “You think there are good
people and bad people in this world. I’m bad. My father was bad.
Don was good. You’re good. Wake up. There are only people doing
what they have to do so that children like you can wander around
doing your workouts and showing off at your pageants oblivious to
everything around you.”

“
I see. Henry
Downs
had
to beat Don, sell this VX crap to the highest
bidder, and have children with Don’s wife because he was such a
saint.”

“
That’s right. He did what
he had to do,” Jaden said.

“
Lo?” Alisha’s voice came
from the other side of the red metal door. A hand banged on the
door. “Lo? I hear your voice. Are you in there?”

Jaden raised the gun to shoot through the
door. Lo kicked his legs out from under him. Jaden fell in her
direction. She rolled out from underneath him and jumped to
standing.

“
Not yet,” her boxing coach
in her mind advised her. “Not just yet. Let him think that’s all
you got.”

Jaden bounced off the wall. His long arms
kept himself from falling. Lo took a moment to assess where she
was. She was standing in a small antechamber. A thick glass wall
separated where she was from a larger space filled with shiny metal
industrial machinery. A door was cut in the glass wall near where
she was standing. A clear Plexiglas worktable was attached to the
glass dividing wall. A computer keyboard, mouse, and monitor sat on
top of the table. There was a hum from a set of computer servers
attached to the far wall. As if it was waiting patiently for its
owner, a brown leather backpack rested in a black office chair.

“
What is this place?” Lo
asked.

Jaden shook his head. He took a moment to
get back on his feet.

“
Lo!” Alisha’s voice came
from beyond the door again. “Say something!”

“
So help me God, I will
kill her if you say another word.” Jaden walked to the computer
keyboard and pressed a few keys. The monitor flashed to life and a
video image of Alisha came up on the screen. Her ear was pressed
against the door to listen. Her hand pounded on the door. “One
shot. Armor piercing rounds.”

He put the gun against the door where
Alisha’s head was located. Lo shook her head at him. He put his
finger to his lips. Precious minutes ticked by as Lo watched Alisha
pound on the door. Her daughter went over to the keypad and punched
in some numbers. She swore. Jaden moved the gun to where she was
standing. The door didn’t open.

Alisha’s head jerked toward the top of the
stairs.

Lo moved the brown leather backpack off the
chair and sat down. Never taking his eye off the screen, Jaden
sneered at her.

Alisha nodded to something. She looked up at
the video camera and blinked twice. Lo gave her image a soft smile.
Alisha turned in place and ran up the stairs.

“
What was that?” Jaden
asked.

“
When Ali was twelve or
thirteen, she competed in chess tournaments,” Lo said. Stalling so
she could figure out the computer in front of her, Lo elaborated.
“She’d played with her father most of her life. I mean, I couldn’t
play with her to save my life, but she and her dad really loved the
game. They played over the Internet every Friday. Gosh, they
probably played the day before he died.”

Lo smiled at Jaden. He moved away from the
door.

“
The blinking?” Jaden
asked.

“
The matches were these
very serious, quiet, events,” Lo said. “Alisha, she… she always
struggled with feeling loved. I mean, you can’t blame her, really.
When she would panic in the middle of a match, she would look for
me in the crowd. I would blink twice to remind her that no matter
what happened I loved her.”

“
You mind?”

Jaden leaned over her and clicked a key on
the keyboard. The video surveillance vanished leaving lines and
lines of green code on a black background in its place. A computer
program. Lo’s eyes scanned the code. Some portion of the program
had run and it was now ready to finish executing.

The last line read, “Click enter to
start> |.” The cursor blinked next to it.

Jaden turned off the monitor.

“
That’s none of your
business,” he said.

“
You don’t know what it is,
do you?” Lo’s eyes went wide with astonishment. “You don’t know
what any of this is! How is that possible?”

Jaden stepped back to evaluate her.