Fool's Run

by Sidney Williams

  Chapter 34

  “I have Mr. Ryan Moates for Mr. Alexeeva.”

  Hollie did a good job of making her voice crisp, cool and professional. I watched her hands tremble since I sat beside her with one of two earbuds in my ear. None of the tremble reverberated into her voice.

  “Can you wait one moment please?” It must be Taras. Very professional.

  “Yes, certainly.”

  She widened her eyes as she looked at me, wondering if she was doing all right. We’d decided on a few cues to communicate outside the conversation. I nodded just to let her know the preliminaries were going fine. We weren’t far enough in for a screwup.

  She drummed fingers on her thigh and drew in a breath, which she held a while. Fortunately, she’d set it free before we heard a voice again.

  “I’m sorry Mr. Alexeeva isn’t available at the moment. Can I give a message from Mr. Moates?”

  “We understand Mr. Alexeeva’s been interested in a business conversation with Mr. Moates. I believe you placed a call to us. Mr. Moates is at a point where he might have a few moments in the near future. If we could set something up.”

  We hadn’t written that out verbatim, but it was what we’d agreed on. Aloof but willing to listen, just like Alexeeva was being.

  “Where can Mr. Alexeeva reach you?”

  She gave him her cell, thanked him and rang off then sighed a bit with relief when he’d clicked off.

  “He was the one that wanted the meeting. How long is he going to make us wait?”

  “That’s going to be indefinite,” I said. “He may let you wonder a while. When he makes an offer, we need to steer him toward a meeting here or at the very least an environment we control.”

  “What if he won’t agree to that?”

  “Steer casually but harder. Or work it back to here and keep the emphasis on hard-to-get even while you’re trying to reel him in.”

  I left her with instructions to call the burner as soon as they heard something and to strive for a little lead time but not too much. I needed Crystal available.

  We packed up the entourage now and moved toward the apartment door. Kenny kept his gaze locked on Owen as we started for the exit, tearing it away only after a final warning glare.

  Hollie followed me to the exit.

  “How long do we have to hold this together?”

  “As long as it takes,” I said.

  “I don’t know if I can keep Ryan on board….”

  “You’re going to want to,” I said. “It’ll keep things a lot less complicated.”

  I slipped the thumb drive from my pocket and showed it to her in my palm.

  “He tries to lawyer up, you won’t be allies, you won’t be friends. You’ll need a separate attorney. You won’t have rental payments coming on this pad any more. Bye, bye, Owen, but you’re not that attached, right? I’m guessing there’s more to lose.”

  I saw all of that register in her eyes. I felt like an asshole, more than I had the many times before I’d guided criminals to confessions or cooperation with nudges, intimidation, or false assurances. She hadn’t knifed a tourist or beaten up a girlfriend over a bad day at work. She’d just bought into a slick guy’s flash and promises. Big mistake.

  I had young kids lives in the balance. I had to exploit that. At least a little longer, until we had Dagney in sight where we could grab her.

  Chapter 35

  I’d been waiting two days when the phone rang. I’d fought the boredom with what was becoming my morning exercise ritual followed by computer sessions, improving my knowledge of shell companies and matters related to Moates and Alexeeva’s activities.

  Teri, my wife’s friend, interrupted all that the morning of the third day.

  “She called me back,” she said.

  “You get a number?”

  “She had caller ID blocked. I’m not going to lie to you, Si. She didn’t sound exactly blissful.”

  “How about Julianna?”

  “She said she’s fine. She kept saying all was fine, but I got a feeling she was nervous. I wondered if she felt like Finn didn’t want her talking to me or maybe anyone.”

  “Did she say where they were?”

  “No. Sorry.”

  “Did you get to tell her I was looking for them?”

  “I got that in, told her you might be able to help. She didn’t ask that you do anything.”

  “I don’t suppose you got to give her a number?”

  “No. I offered.”

  “You didn’t get anything to go on?” I asked. “A location?

  “Sorry.”

  “Great job, Teri.”

  “You wouldn’t know anything if I hadn’t tried to help. She just said she’d try to talk to you when she could. She didn’t ask for a number or give me a chance to give it.”

  When the call ended, I sat feeling a dark quagmire open for me to wallow in. I didn’t pass it up. I sat staring at the wall as my emotions folded in on themselves, pain clawing at self-pity. If I’d had a bottle, I would have climbed into that.

  Since I didn’t, I just lay on my side on my futon and let the pain rage until I dozed and dreamed horrible dreams.

  In both battles, I had a waiting game.

  I thought about continuing surveillance on Alexeeva to pass the time. I didn’t expect another bit of luck like we’d had with Dahlia, but I prayed for one. I needed one, but as it turned out Alexeeva made Moates wait only three days before suggesting dinner at a Creole restaurant with a French name.

  “His assistant was insistent that Sunday brunch was the only time he had available,” Holton said.

  “We’ll take it,” I said. It wasn’t ideal, but we couldn’t get choosy.

  I was getting good enough with the phone to keep her talking while I Googled the location, one of the historic buildings not far from Jackson Square.

  “That’s not far from the apartment. You can invite them back afterwards for coffee.”

  “It’s a nice place. It’s not that noisy.”

  “It’s not a controlled environment. Keep the negotiations going and get him where we want him.”

  “Isn’t that just an extra layer of complication?”

  She had no idea I wasn’t really interested in recording a conversation. It seemed a reasonable question.

  “It is, but we want him private and we don’t want to have to mic you or Mr. Moates. The equipment’s not as cool as on TV.”

  “We’ll do what we can.”

  “That’s all we’ve ever asked.”

  “Fuck you.”

  I thanked her and called Crystal then Arch. We had a showtime.

  On Yelp, the restaurant had great reviews and pictures of shrimp and crab dishes in herb-flavored sauces that gleamed and looked so rich in photos you could almost smell them. They’d won recognition awards in local publications and served up signature drinks alongside favorites like shrimp and grits that had long rivaled Charleston’s. I hated that I wasn’t going to get to eat there. Since Arch and I had been at the club, we didn’t need to take a chance on being recognized, remote though it was.

  Kenny and an Amara looking unrecognizable with her hair wound into a tight bun and dressed in a slightly more conservative beige dress got that honor. Crystal coached her on keeping Kenny in line as well as having an eye on the Alexeeva table and having a phone near the proceedings. I really wanted them there more to keep up appearances and Moates in line than to conduct surveillance. Arch was on the ground outside, watching at a safe distance, but the fun wouldn’t begin until they brought Alexeeva to the apartment.

  On that Sunday morning, Crystal and I headed there first, and Owen let us in with a grunt. Moates had insisted he be on hand. Now he was the bodyguard.

  Given how Arch and Kenny had handled him, I couldn’t imagine he’d be much of a stumbling block to Nestor making any kind of offensive drive.

  Crystal just gave him a curt nod and carried a small satchel past. Dressed in her power suit at the moment, she m
aintained the prosecutor persona with ease. If the change in hair color registered on him, he didn’t show it.

  “We’ll set up in the bedroom,” I said. “Can you keep quiet?”

  “Sure.”

  He gave me a menacing glare.

  I patted his shoulder.

  “Good boy. Sorry I didn’t bring any treats.”

  He didn’t like it, but he’d been coached to behave. He didn’t like it when I told him to leave us alone either, but he complied with that as well, picking up a magazine. I sat in the living room a while after he was out of the way in a guest bedroom then I headed down the hall to the master bedroom once Crystal called out to say she was ready.

  Time for more waiting.

  Amara called after we’d been sequestered for a while, making a show of selfies with her cell, one earbud in. The place had tiled floors, so the chatter was loud around her.

  They’d managed a spot near a window just a few tables over from Moates and Holton, so I could see them over her shoulder silhouetted against the establishment’s cream-colored walls near a large pillar.

  She spoke to an imaginary friend as she panned gently.

  “Can you believe this table, Susie? How great is that on Sunday morning? We were so lucky.”

  “Take it down a notch,” I said softly. “You’ve established the scenario for anyone paying any attention.”

  “Gotcha,” she said, a fraction of a decibel lower.

  “Hold it as still as you can,” I added. “I don’t want a seizure or motion sickness.”

  Alexeeva was paired this morning with a blonde woman of about forty in a flowing white outfit, the first hint I’d picked up of a serious relationship for him or a relationship at all. Or maybe she was there for appearances, age appropriate to avoid calling too much attention.

  In the jumpy view from the phone’s lens, chat seemed casual at the moment, everyone nodding even occasionally smiling. At a glance it looked like two professional couples enjoying a casual meal and not the opening shot in a negotiation for fraud and financial conspiracy.

  A view for me wasn’t essential, but we’d wanted Hollie to know she was under scrutiny so we’d told her to note the couple fitting Kenny and Amara’s description.

  After a few seconds of that, suddenly the phone angled toward the ceiling then did a quick pan of the room, sweeping past street-facing windows and exposed brick, taking in a couple of waiters then some chandeliers. I thought I was going to get motion sickness after all.

  Then Kenny’s face filled the frame, broad cheeks as pale as chalk in the available light.

  “You want me to get closer?” he asked. “Let you hear?”

  “No, Kenny. You’ll call attention to yourself. We don’t need to hear.”

  But the earbud jack was in, and the buds weren’t in his ears, so he didn’t hear the admonishment. A few seconds later, and he was on his feet and the camera eye was doing Blair Witch sweeps of the room, the floor, the ceiling and surrounding tables. Someone was having shrimp and grits. The shrimp looked huge.

  Why did Kenny pick now to get animated?

  I tried a couple more times to halt his progress, but he couldn’t hear me, so I just sat, hoping we’d avoid a train wreck.

  “Can you have Arch reel him in?” Crystal asked from over my shoulder.

  “That’d be a bigger show than Kenny rampaging through a restaurant,” I said, shaking my head. “All this was just to keep Moates and Holton on the reservation.” I was reminding myself as much as explaining it. “Without calling attention that might get noticed by Alexeeva’s people if they’re close,” I added.

  “I know.”

  On the screen, Kenny seemed to have stopped near one of the pillars and was angling the phone somewhere I presumed to be in the direction of the Alexeeva party. I heard hubbub and the usual rattle of silverware and ice cubes with voices in multiple languages mingling in the mix.

  Then Holton and Moates came into view past a half moon of Kenny’s face. Soup cups had been placed in front of them, and they nodded and returned conversation while dipping round spoons and swirling in oyster crackers. Neither of them appeared to have much of an appetite, but they were trying.

  I didn’t see signs of conflict in the conversation, just nods, and the occasional tick of an eyebrow or wrinkle of a lip. Still in chitchat mode. That was good to know at least.

  “Kenny, can you hear me?” I asked.

  He still didn’t have the earbuds in. He must have wrapped them around the phone or something but left them plugged in.

  I saw his broad cheek turn. He had a bit of a grin. It must have seemed like a game to him, one more variation on maneuvers at the compound. We’d established him with Moates, so his just being seen didn’t matter that much. Moates would just figure it was more confirmation we were watching. He just didn’t need to look too off kilter.

  “Kenny, one of his men may be watching the restaurant. Go back to your table.”

  But he still couldn’t hear me, of course, while audio kept pouring to us, though we weren’t going to get real conversation in a crowded restaurant. We didn’t really need to. It would just be helpful to know if the gang was headed our way, the other reason for positioning Kenny and Amara.

  “You didn’t see this coming?” Crystal asked from behind me where she was changing.

  “Good help.” I threw up my hands. “He pulled off the stare-down so well I thought he’d be stoic or at least manageable.”

  The phone stabilized again, and I caught signs of head nods and then some hands raised with palms flattened. Maybe some of the resistance we’d suggested from Moates was being carried out.

  My breathing quickened. I tried willing Kenny through the phone to go sit down. What we were attempting was delicate enough and unlikely to work. We didn’t need boat rocking, and he seemed to be slipping a little further around the pillar. I saw Alexeeva shaking his head now. Debate and pushback were probably good if we could stop Godzilla from storming through Tokyo.

  A hand brushed past the phone’s eye reaching for Kenny. As if my willing it was working, Amara had approached. God bless the initiative. A bonus for her as well. With the Holst’s money.

  “Come on, Honey,” she said. “Our food’s going to be here in a second. Don’t want it to get cold.”

  She kissed his cheek and began to guide him away from the pillar. We caught one more fleeting glimpse of the conversation before we got live point-of-view video of the trip back to Kenny and Amara’s table.

  I watched the jostle of the phone as Amara took her seat, and then her features came into frame. Pinched fingers inserted earbuds as she looked at the screen.

  “I don’t guess you caught any of the conversation,” she said, keeping her voice low.

  “Too much hubbub. Just keep an eye on them. Call if they get up to head this way. Ms. King knows to give you a signal.”

  “Got you.”

  She clicked the phone off.

  And we waited.

  Plenty of time to worry, not just about this operation but about Juli and life in general. To think about where I’d gone wrong and to console myself with the thought that I was trying to fight something grim and evil. It was easy to think of Alexeeva that way, especially with the talk of his dark magic qualities. In a city tinged with voodoo and other whispers of things beyond recognition, it wasn’t difficult to let those thoughts on the dance floor. Usually dark deeds and violence took the center spot, but sometimes you could contemplate even the darker possibilities.

  Crystal moved to a mirror attached to a dark wood dresser behind me, working on her hair, crafting it into the new look. Her fingers worked with a deft ease, swirling and capturing locks to tie them with bits of ribbon.

  “Looking okay?” she asked, catching the reflection of my gaze.

  “Sure,” I said. What did I know? She wasn’t terribly tall without the heels, and she’d done interesting work with the makeup. It ought to work.

  We didn’t seek Owen�
��s opinion.

  As she painted her toenails and then applied a colorful Band-Aid to one knee, we talked about the weather and the humidity and about nothing memorable until the phone trilled again.

  The party was moving our way.

  Chapter 36

  “This Scotch is not bad,” Moates said. “It’s called Dalmore.”

  We could hear him through the closed bedroom door as footsteps shuffled in the entryway.

  “It’s not quite midday, but we work with the time we have.”

  At least we could tell how he’d lured Alexeeva back to the pad. The promise of a dram. Despite the hour.

  It felt for a second as if palpable evil had entered the dwelling, was in the air and seeping through the door. It had to be my knowledge of what Alexeeva was capable of, stimulated in my subconscious, but the sensation was more like a cold spiritual wave, what it must be like in a séance where a dark spirit has been conjured.

  I steeled myself and pressed my ear against the door, straining to discern sets of footfalls. I’d been okay at that once, and now given my prior knowledge of the parties I thought I could account for both couples with no extras. I wished I’d dragged Owen in here to keep an eye on him. After Kenny, I didn’t want any freelancing. Noise needed to happen when we were ready. Not before.

  The footsteps diminished to a single set after a few seconds, so everyone must be seated except Moates who must be stepping over to the cluster of bottles on the counter that served as the bar.

  I couldn’t hear a lid being unscrewed. My ear wasn’t that good. I probably wouldn’t hear ice if there was any. They probably wouldn’t diminish the subtleties of the Scotch or forfeit the show of manliness.

  After a while the footsteps moved again. Moates heading back to the sofa.

  “…twelve-year-old…”

  Still talking about the Scotch.

  I could hear muffled voices for a while after that, snippets that didn’t sound business related then conversations seemed to diverge with a little more shuffling of feet. I wondered if Alexeeva wanted his companion to be aware of much of his work. Had the camps divided so the men could negotiate?