The Fall Guy

by Simon Wood

  Cochrane had provided the slap. So Black had followed through on his promise and given him up for the points it would earn him. He tried to be angry, but couldn’t. It was all way beyond petty squabbles now.

  Cochrane looked a mess. He still wore the same ripped clothes as he’d worn earlier. Bruises had blossomed from their tussle on the stairs. Todd tried not to take pleasure from the purple necklace in the pattern of a handcuff chain across Cochrane’s throat.

  Cochrane jammed his pistol under Todd’s chin. “I should fucking kill you and be done with it, but I can’t let you off that easy.”

  Cochrane’s cool was gone and along with it, his power of menace. Todd no longer found him frightening. He was nothing more than a barking dog staked to a spot in a backyard. True, the gun could end his life at the squeeze of a trigger, but that was inevitable and he couldn’t be frightened of an inevitability. He wouldn’t die in fear of Leo Cochrane and without that hanging over his head, things didn’t seem so bad.

  “I thought about turning you into a human torch. I even brought the gas along.” He pointed at a plastic gas can behind him. “But I thought of something better.” A sadistic leer spread across his face. “Where’s my coke?”

  “In a luggage locker at the Caltrain station on 4th Street.”

  “Where’s the key?”

  “In my pocket.”

  Cochrane rooted around in Todd’s pockets. “You know what I’m going to do with the coke?”

  Todd shook his head.

  Cochrane jerked out the locker key. He held it up close to Todd’s face like it was the Holy Grail. “I’m going to feed it to you. I’m going to watch you choke, spasm, convulse and die eating my coke.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  The voice startled both Todd and Cochrane. Cochrane jerked his gun up in the direction of the voice.

  “Put it down, Leo,” the voice ordered. “It’s over.”

  “Redfern,” Todd said unconsciously.

  Cochrane picked up on what Todd had said and the tension went out of his body. “Is that you, Redfern?”

  Redfern emerged from the shadows with his gun aimed at Cochrane. A bandage replaced the blood Todd had last seen masking half his face.

  “I thought you were dead.”

  “Kevlar, Leo. You’ve gotta love it.”

  “Wearing it now?”

  “That would be telling.”

  “I can make a headshot.”

  Elation rushed Todd by surprise. It was over. Whatever Cochrane tried, it was over. SFPD and SWAT had it covered. Yet something was missing.

  “Where’s the backup, Redfern?” Todd asked.

  Cochrane laughed. “What did he tell you? That’s he’s one of San Francisco’s finest? Have you been fibbing to our friend here, Redfern?”

  Redfern said nothing. He grimaced like he had the onset of a migraine and maintained his aim on Cochrane.

  “Redfern, here, hasn’t been a cop in five years.”

  How have I been so stupid? Todd thought. He’d never seen any ID, just the shield. And how hard was it to get one of those? He wanted to be sick.

  “Rumors of taking bribes, wasn’t it? Bribes paid by me to you, wasn’t that it, Redfern?”

  “You framed me.”

  “And you think this is going to win you back your career. Is that it? This isn’t a movie. Hell, not even a TV movie.”

  “Just put the gun down and give yourself up. That’s all I want.”

  “You make it sound so easy, but I’m sorry. No Hollywood endings this time around.”

  Todd saw Cochrane’s trigger finger tighten. Cochrane was still crouched over him, still within reach. Todd snapped out a leg a second before Cochrane fired. His foot smashed into Cochrane’s hip, knocking him on his side and sending the bullet wild.

  Cochrane swung the gun around on Todd. Hatred burned up his features a moment before a bullet from Redfern’s gun tore it away. The impact jerked his head around before he collapsed on his back.

  Redfern rushed in and kicked the pistol from Cochrane’s hand. He fired a glance Todd’s way. “You okay?”

  “As soon as the cops get here.”

  ***

  Hotel life was taking its toll on Todd, mainly around the waistline. Normality would resume in the coming days. The San Francisco Police Department’s investigation was drawing to a close and ending his free stay at the Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf. When he wasn’t giving statements, he was exploring the city, for once as a tourist. When he lived there, he never got to this stuff, but with the speed of a major criminal investigation, there was plenty of free time.

  After returning from a tour of Alcatraz, he was walking back to his room when a midnight blue Bentley Continental GT pulled up next to him. The window glided down into the recesses of the passenger door and Jeremiah Black leaned over from the driver’s side.

  “Get in.” When Todd didn’t move, he said, “Look, you’re cool. I’m alone. My boys aren’t around. They’re plenty busy, thanks to you. I just want to talk. Get in. Please.”

  Todd eyed the street for the Dodge Magnum or any other suspicious vehicles in the vicinity. He saw none and got into the car. Black pulled away and Todd watched his hotel get small in the distance.

  Today, Black had left the sharp suit at home and had gone with an urban look. The contrast went well with the best-that-money-could-buy automobile.

  “Nice ride,” Todd said.

  “Nice? Are you tripping? This is a premium ride.”

  “My mistake. What do you want?”

  “You’re a suspicious son of a bitch, aren’t you? Can’t a man say thank you?”

  “Not when you served me up to Leo Cochrane.”

  “That? You’re going to let something as small as that come between you and me?” He sucked air through his teeth and shook his head in mock disgust.

  Todd decided he was trying a little too hard with all this. It was time to keep it real.

  “You masterminded all this, didn’t you?”

  Black attempted a poker face, but the gleam in his eyes gave him away.

  “I’ve had plenty of time to think all this through. Redfern, Cochrane, they didn’t fall upon me just because I gave off some scent. They were pointed at me and you did the pointing.”

  “So you found me out.”

  Black steered the Bentley onto the Embarcadero and drove slow. The car caught every pedestrian’s eye. Todd guessed half of them thought they’d caught a glimpse of some celebrity.

  “I knew Leo and Redfern had clashed in the past at Redfern’s expense. He’s a private citizen and I had someone whisper in his ear that it might be worth his while to follow you because you might just lead him to Leo and a crock of drugs. I spiced it up with the idea he might win his job back—and he has, so I hear.”

  Pending an internal investigation, Redfern would wear his shield again, but not in his old capacity. What capacity it would be, only politics would decide. That had been Redfern’s opinion when Todd had spoken to him last.

  “I had to tell Leo so that he and Redfern could collide.”

  “You used me as bait.”

  “I object to that. Bait is expendable. You were never in any danger. My boys had your back. They would have swooped in if you’d needed saving.” Black laughed. “I gotta say you shaved a few years off their lives with all the fireworks at Redfern’s crib.”

  “With Leo out of the way, I just made you king.”

  He smiled. “And your monarch thanks you.”

  “I thought you weren’t interested in rocking the boat. You were happy with your turf.”

  “Did you think I was going to tell you anything? Besides, I told you that I wasn’t going to be your trigger man.”

  “Instead, I became yours.”

  “I think its time you chilled out. I came here to say thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For being a good soldier.”

  Todd saw where this was going. “Hey, I don’t work for you.
”

  “But you can.”

  “No thanks.”

  “Can’t work for a brother. Is that it?”

  “No. I’ve been in the firing line one too many times of late and I’m looking for a different career. I don’t need thanking. Leo Cochrane is off my back and everything is right with the world.”

  “Then what am I going to do with what’s under your seat?”

  Todd pulled out a nylon bag. The material was so flimsy it was easy to tell what it contained. He unzipped it for confirmation and came face to face with a brick of hundred dollar bills six inches thick.

  “I shouldn’t take this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’ll have something on me. It’ll keep me quiet about your involvement.”

  “But you’re going to take it.”

  Todd smiled. “Oh, yeah.”

  Black stopped the car in the shadow of SBC Park. “Just tell me you won’t piss it away and you’ll do something good with it.”

  “I will.”

  They shook hands and Todd got out of the car. Black roared away.

  Todd glanced back up the Embarcadero. He had a long walk back to his hotel ahead of him. He could catch a cab. He could afford it, but he doubted that a taxi driver could break a couple of hundred thousand. He liked the idea of a walk.

  He pulled out his cell phone and punched in Charlie Ruskin’s number. They’d been in touch constantly since Redfern had killed Cochrane. A bond had grown between them and he liked that. She answered on the second ring.

  “How’d it go today?” she asked.

  He filled her in on the finer and duller details of the investigation. He didn’t want to talk about it and switched subjects.

  “How’s business?” he asked.

  “Fine. Inventory is turning over.”

  “What are your prospects?”

  “Good. This is Texas. Everyone has to own at least one car. Why all the questions?”

  Todd cast an eye down at his money in its nylon bag. “I was wondering if you’d be interested in taking on a partner.”

  “What makes you think you can sell cars?”

  “You wouldn’t believe the skills I have.”

  The End

  TERMINATED

  The following is an excerpt of TERMINATED by Simon Wood, from Dorchester Publishing and available in bookstores everywhere from June 1, 2010.

  Chapter One

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  Gwen tasted Tarbell’s bitterness from across her desk. She’d made a mistake. She’d feared Tarbell’s performance review would turn adversarial, or to be more exact, that Tarbell would turn adversarial. Now she’d incited him. She knew it wouldn’t take much to set him off and she blamed herself for this downward turn of events. She thought if she catalogued his positive traits before his shortcomings, it wouldn’t sound so bad. A spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down and all that. Now, she saw the glaring error of her approach. It looked to him as if she’d built him up only to slap him down. She should have given it to him straight. No doubt the direct approach would have still drawn his ire, but it also would have gotten the issue out in the open earlier.

  “Steve, it’s not like that.”

  “Stephen. Only my friends call me Steve.”

  Gwen trod carefully. She couldn’t be seen kowtowing to Tarbell on this point. If she began calling him Stephen and it got around the water cooler that he had insisted on it, it would make her look weak. She’d never had Tarbell’s respect, but she couldn’t afford to lose the respect of her other subordinates. At the same time, she had to respect his wishes. For now, she wouldn’t call him anything.

  “This isn’t personal.”

  He leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms and legs and twisted his mouth into a sneer. “Isn’t it?”

  “No, it’s not. I have to follow strict criteria for performance evaluations. I couldn’t make it personal even if I wanted to.”

  “Bullshit.”

  The expletive split the air like a gunshot. Gwen glanced outside her office. The outburst hadn’t caught anyone’s ear.

  “Steve, that’s enough.”

  “Stephen,” he corrected.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to grow up, but she bit the remark back. She’d only be perpetuating his juvenile behavior. This review was on the verge of getting away from her. If she followed Tarbell down this road, it would speak more to her poor management skills than to his shortcomings. She paused to give them both a moment to cool off.

  Tarbell uncurled his long-limbed body, leaned forward and pressed a fist down on the edge of the desk. Gwen fought the urge to back away.

  “Why don’t we cut the crap and be honest for a second. We both know why you’re doing this. You want me out because you know I should have gotten the promotion instead of you. I have more experience and seniority. What do you have? Nothing, but they still gave you the job. Call it affirmative action or sexual equality or equal opportunity employment, but you only got the job because you’re a woman. I should be sitting in that seat, not you. I should be telling you you’ve failed to meet the standards expected of this company. Christ. What a joke.”

  There it was. One of them had finally said it. Tarbell’s attitude had never been great, but Gwen could pretty much track his performance deterioration from the day she’d gotten the promotion to Manager of Quality Assurance six months ago. They’d both gone for the position along with four outside candidates. Despite Tarbell’s experience and years with the company, they’d chosen Gwen. It wasn’t just because of Tarbell’s reputation. Gwen had made an instant impact at Pace Pharmaceuticals since her arrival eighteen months earlier. She’d grasped the firm’s concepts quickly and patched holes in the systems that management knew existed, but had been unable to fix. Tarbell relished interdepartmental battles, whereas she was a team player. These elements won her the promotion.

  “What’s it like to be sitting where you are based solely on possessing a vagina?”

  Christ, this guy was a first class asshole. She deserved her promotion. She squashed the knee-jerk need to defend herself and bottled her disgust.

  “I think this evaluation is at an end.”

  Tarbell leaned back in his chair with a smug expression plastered across his face. The son of a bitch felt he’d won a round in some prize fight that didn’t exist. Gwen saw no value in pointing this out to him. It would have no effect. As much as it would be a big managerial feather in her cap if she turned Tarbell around, succeeding where others had failed, it wasn’t worth it. The guy would keep acting out until he gave Pace cause enough to fire him.

  Gwen slid a copy of Tarbell’s evaluation across the desk. “You’ve received a failure to meet expectations, resulting in a number of items which you must complete to remove the substandard rating. You’re welcome to challenge the rating, but you have to file your complaint with Human Resources by next Wednesday.”

  Tarbell made no effort to take the evaluation. He seemed content to bask in his own glory.

  “Is there anything else you’d like to say?”

  Tarbell shrugged and grabbed the evaluation. “You’re a class act, Gwen,” he said on his way out.

  Gwen remained stoic until he passed out of view of her office window, then released a breath. Damn that man, she thought. She shouldn’t have let him get to her, but he was so damn infuriating. At least it was over. Done. It was his problem to solve, not hers, and she let the stress of the encounter bleed out of her. She was breathing hard and felt sweat cooling against her skin under her arms and down her back. She needed to freshen up. She still had two more evaluations this afternoon.

  She made a beeline to the restroom. Thankfully, no one occupied it. She could do without any chitchat. She slipped off her suit jacket and frowned at the sweat rings that had turned her white blouse transparent.

  “Shit,” she murmured.

  She locked herself into a stall and dabbed under her a
rms with a wad of toilet paper. She’d have to keep her jacket on for the rest of the afternoon, a small penalty under the circumstances. She gave her makeup the once over before returning to her office.

  The remainder of the afternoon passed swiftly and without incident. Her two remaining evaluations helped settle her. Lauren and David received excellent reviews and were in and out of her office in less than an hour. Swift and efficient. A little too swift and efficient. She finished up David’s evaluation just after three thirty, leaving Tarbell ninety minutes to retaliate against her for his perceived injustice.

  But the retaliation didn’t come. Tarbell passed her office twice, never making eye contact, and it didn’t look like he had shared his evaluation results with anyone either. No one gave her any sideways looks. For all his slurs and insults, maybe she’d gotten through to him. Acting like an ass in the workplace wasn’t acceptable and if he expected to keep his job, he had to change his ways. Score one to the Gwenster.

  The evaluations had screwed with her day, putting her behind. Even if she worked without interruption, she wasn’t going to get caught up. She could either pull a late one or come in early. She was leaning towards coming in early the next day, just to put this shitty day behind her, but she found her rhythm reviewing deviation reports and decided to finish them. She left a message on the machine at home for Paul to expect her home late.

  Five o’clock came and the usual exodus made its way to the parking lot. As the roar of engines died down from outside and the whine from the HVAC overtook the chatter in the cube farm, she realized her mistake. Tarbell worked late every night. They’d end up alone with each other, which would give him the perfect opportunity to ring the bell for round two. But when she went to the copy room to collect a report, she found that he'd already left. No doubt he was eager to draw a line under today too. His car was gone from the parking lot, which confirmed his oddly early departure. She was somewhat pleased with herself. She’d survived her first major managerial test and confirmed as much when Deborah Langan from Human Resources looked in on her way out.