A Latte Difficulty

by Angela Ruth Strong

  Zam held up one hand to calm their nerves and moved slower when retrieving his phone. He tapped the screen then held up his messaging app for them to read.

  YOUR DOG IS GROOMED AND READY FOR PICKUP.

  “I signed up for the Americana Fest discount. I wanted to get Sheila home before the fireworks started. Then I saw you two in the mirror outside the maze and stopped here to see what you were up to. You were never in any danger.”

  “But Randon is.” Marissa leaned back against a slick wall in both relief and dread. The weight from all Zam’s revelations was too much to bear on one leg.

  Tandy grabbed her arm. “Come on. We need to get to the hospital before Cash does.”

  Marissa eyed Zam before shifting forward. Just in case he’d made all this up, she wanted to stay behind him. “You go first. I don’t want to slow anyone down.”

  Zam’s eyes narrowed like he knew she still suspected him, but he stepped forward without argument.

  Tandy leaned close to whisper to Marissa before following Zam. “I want to believe Zam, but I pressed record on my digital voice recorder before putting it in my pocket to be safe. If anything looks suspicious, cover your mouth so Zam can’t read your lips then whatever you say will be recorded for later.”

  Marissa opened her mouth to say she approved the precaution, but Zam looked back so she pressed her lips together.

  Zam dropped an eyebrow but kept leading them through the maze until they reached the dark night and gentle breeze. Marissa inhaled the sulfur scent of fireworks, glad to return to a public area. Not that anyone still hung around the carnival when the show was beginning. The first pop of an explosion could be felt though the air.

  Zam must have felt it too. Or maybe he saw the bright lights raining down from above. Because he looked up, completely missing the click of a gun being cocked and Cash stepping out from the shadows of the trailer.

  The man’s green eyes zeroed in on Marissa for the first time since she’d seen him attack Randon. She couldn’t run this time. Her heart lurched into her throat. If he hurt anyone else, it would be her fault.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tandy gasped. “You jerk.”

  Cash extended the barrel of his gun toward Zam’s back and stopped her with a warning glare. “One move, and he’s gone.”

  Zam stood unaware, arms relaxed to his sides, face turned toward the fireworks beyond. He casually glanced over his shoulder to see if the girls were ready to go, caught sight of Cash and staggered sideways before catching his balance. His wild eyes bounced from face to face to read the situation.

  Tandy squeezed her hands into fists but forced herself to wait for a better opportunity. Cash hadn’t shot anyone yet. Maybe he wanted something from them. Maybe she should want something from him…something like a confession. She did, after all, have her phone recording this conversation.

  “So it was you, Cash Hudson.” She made sure to pronounce his name clearly. “You hacked Cross Enterprises, set it up to look like Randon was responsible, then you tried to kill him with the belief that investigators would assume the hit had been made for revenge.”

  “Stop talking.” Cash scanned their surroundings.

  So much for the confessional idea.

  The few employees in the area had their faces turned toward the sky. Not only would they be unable to hear the conversation going on, but any gunshots fired would likely be mistaken for fireworks. If nothing else, Tandy could at least stall until the show ended. Then, hopefully, if Cash fired his gun, there would be witnesses. “What do you want?” she asked.

  Cash tilted his head past the bright lights of the carnival toward the dark part of the park where Tandy had first met Zam at the pet contest. “We’re all going to head toward the gazebo. Unless you don’t mind your new friend here taking a bullet for you.”

  Marissa met her gaze, dark eyes steady. She wiggled her crutches as if pointing out that she had big wooden sticks in her hands. What was she going to do? Knock the gun out of Cash’s hands? If so, they’d have a fighting chance. But Marissa wasn’t known for eye/hand coordination. If she missed, they could all be killed. Best to wait for the overhead explosions to cease fire.

  Tandy lowered her chin as if in submission and lead the way slowly through the openings between trailers.

  “That ‘a girl.”

  Marissa huffed and followed, her extra appendages helping to block the phone in Tandy’s back pocket. To Tandy, the device felt huge and obvious, much like the tell-tale heart Edgar Allen Poe once wrote about. She had to play it extra cool not to give herself away.

  She glanced over her shoulder to see Zam follow them into the shadows. He looked down only long enough to step over electrical cords, but his gaze zeroed in on her once again.

  Cash nudged him with the gun to his back. A reminder not to try anything.

  Tandy’s stomach roiled. “How did you know where to find us,” she asked. “How did you know we’d figured you out?”

  “Keep going to the gazebo.”

  “Why, what’s at the gazebo?”

  “Shut up.”

  Tandy’s steps grew heavier. Is this what it was like to be led to execution? Would she be better off fighting here even if there was nobody to help? It was dark except for the flashes from overhead. If Cash couldn’t see as well, they might have a better chance to escape.

  A dim blue light glowed ominously from inside the gazebo, but no gang of ghetto computer geeks awaited them. It was still the three of them against Cash. They could…

  A dark shape passed in front of the light. There was someone else there.

  “Susan?” Marissa had seen it too.

  “I’m sorry,” a little voice responded. “This was never my intention. I only wanted money to go to college.”

  “It’s their own fault, Susan,” Cash’s voice growled from behind them. “If they’d minded their own business, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

  “Minded our own business?” Marissa trilled. “You came into my shop and chased me with a gun. How is that possibly my fault?”

  Susan’s shadow morphed into the shape of a body as they continued their march forward. Though Tandy had been angry at Susan earlier that year when the pink-haired visitor had hired Greg to defend her dad in court, she hadn’t expected the other woman to do something else where she’d need an attorney.

  The younger woman wouldn’t even meet Tandy’s eyes now. She glanced halfway up a couple of times, but mainly kept her gaze focused on the open laptop sitting on the ground in the center of the octagon shaped platform. What did the laptop have to do with anything?

  “Don’t listen to her, Susan. You know I was only trying to get Randon’s laptop since he’d put a virus in the code he designed. None of this had to happen.”

  Yes… Tandy was getting Cash’s explanation on audio. She’d try to keep Susan talking. “Were you dating Randon for the code, Susan? Is this the code that Cash used to take control of company data in exchange for ransom?”

  Susan glanced at Cash. “I liked Randon. I did.”

  “Oh my gosh, Susan,” Cash snarled. “He betrayed you.”

  Tandy snorted. “Who betrayed who? Randon is the one in a hospital bed.”

  Zam’s gaze still zinged around, but how much of this could he possibly be getting? It had to be hard to read lips at night. He was in the dark, literally. But she needed him if her plan was going to work.

  Susan stood in front of the computer, wringing her hands. “I just want to go to college.”

  “You’re going to college, Sue.” Cash’s impatience did not make it sound like he had any concern for her goals at all. “As soon as we’re done here, you’ll be able to go anywhere you want.”

  “What exactly are we doing?” Tandy wanted to know.

  Cash motioned with his gun for Zam to move toward the computer. “Zam is going to log into Randon’s computer and download a virus into the computer systems of five major airlines. If only one of them pays the ransom, Susan
here will be so rich she doesn’t need to go to college.”

  Tandy’s heart clenched.

  “But Cash…” Susan’s voice whimpered. Had she known this part of the plan?

  “What happens to those who don’t pay the ransom?” Tandy asked to make sure the cute little twenty-something knew what she’d gotten herself into. “There are planes in the air right now. What happens to their computer systems?”

  “It depends on whether they pay the ransom or not.”

  Susan gasped.

  Tandy focused on her. On the fear Cash used against her. Tandy needed to create a bigger fear to get her on their side. “This isn’t simply wanting to go to college anymore, Susan. This isn’t protecting your boyfriend from prison by trying to suffocate Randon or pinning a threatening note to Marissa’s door or setting a fire with fireworks. This is terrorism.”

  “No,” Susan argued, though her voice faltered. “They’ll pay. They won’t even lose any money because they have insurance. Nobody will be hurt.” The words came out like a tour guide spouting off a script.

  “What about us?” Tandy asked. “You don’t think we’re going to be hurt?”

  “Do what you’re told, and you’ll all be fine.” Cash extended his arm fully toward Zam. “Sit down and enter the password I tell you.”

  Susan covered her mouth.

  Zam continued to look around, unsure what was going on. Probably unsure that he’d even been issued an order.

  “Hey dumdum, he can’t hear you,” Marissa pointed out. “And it’s too dark to read lips.”

  “That’s a lame excuse.” Cash kicked the back of Zam’s knees.

  Zam buckled then regained his composure, turning to seethe at Cash.

  Cash enunciated every word. “Sit down, or you’ll die.”

  Marissa moaned. “You’re setting him up, aren’t you? You want the police to think he did all this.”

  Cash pointed at the computer screen again. “He is going to do all this.”

  Tandy strained to see Marissa’s eyes in the dim light. “Then we’ll be witnesses. And we know what Cash and Susan do to witnesses.”

  “You’re going to kill us anyway?” Marissa screeched. She turned on Susan. “After all I did to help you when you moved to town, you’re going to kill us?”

  “I don’t want to.” Susan shook her head. “Cash, I don’t want to go to college that bad.”

  “Well, do you want to go to jail?”

  Susan whimpered. “No…”

  Tandy had the evidence she needed. Slowly, she reached for the phone in her back pocket. If she could send her recording to Griffin, he might be able to find them in time to prevent Cash from killing anyone. Heart thumping, she waited for Cash to look at Zam so she could hit send on the audio file.

  “All you have to do, Susan, is be quiet so I can explain the password to this idiot. When the police find the computer with him, they’ll suspect him of the girls’ deaths. Your conscience will be clean.”

  The man had no conscience. Tandy shivered and hit send then clicked Griffin’s contact info. Done. Susan’s eyes met Tandy’s for the first time, their whites flashing with terror in the pale blue light. The same terror sent ice through Tandy’s veins. For Susan had seen what she’d done.

  The girl watched her without moving. She was in a tough position. She had been since birth, having grown up in a home with a car thief for a dad. She’d been introduced to scum like Cash. She’d tried to find her identity with tattoos and piercings and pink hair, but she had a longing for something more. This guy had taken advantage of her. Did she know she could say no to sin at any time? She could choose the fear of the Lord at any time. She could not tell Cash what Tandy had just done.

  Tandy gave a small lift of her chin. An invitation to have a truly clean conscience rather than trying to hide the truth from herself any longer. For that had to be what caused the dark circles under Susan’s eyes and emptiness in their depths.

  The girl’s lips remained still. But the phone in Tandy’s hand buzzed. If Griffin was calling, she needed to answer. Stealthily, she tilted her phone to see the screen. A giant red exclamation point proclaimed her file too big to be sent.

  Now what? She was empty handed. Though not as empty handed as when she’d tossed her phone at Zam in an effort to escape. It hadn’t worked then, but if the four of them worked together, they could use their strengths against him. Four including Susan, who had to be on their side since she hadn’t told Cash about the text she’d sent.

  “Cash.” Tandy laced her tone with ridicule, so he wouldn’t suspect he was being played. “If you want Zam to know what you’re saying, you’ll need to have Susan shine a light on your lips.”

  “Tandy,” Marissa hissed. “Don’t help him.”

  “I just don’t want him to kick Zam again.”

  Zam stood still in the center. His gaze lifted to hers. She needed to hold that gaze. Keep his eyes on her.

  Cash cursed. “Let’s get this over with. Susan, do you have a flashlight app on your phone?”

  Susan sniffed but reached for her cell and tapped the screen. A beam of light sliced across the wooden planks then traveled up Cash’s body to his ugly sneer. “Zam, look at me,” the man said.

  Zam kept his eyes on Tandy’s.

  Tandy gripped her phone. It was risky, but she had to take the risk before thousands of plane computers went dark. She was afraid for her life, but she was more afraid for all the other lives that hinged on her actions. “Even if Zam enters your password and you kill us, Cash, you’re still going to jail. Because I recorded everything you said.”

  She hit the arrow icon. The recording of Cash’s voice echoed through the darkness: “One move and he’s gone.”

  Her own voice came out with more control than she felt. “I’m sending this to the sheriff.”

  Cash swung his gun her direction. Every nerve ending jittered. But she soothed them with the knowledge that she’d prepared for this moment.

  The fireworks overhead fizzled away. The roar of a crowd erupted.

  With a prayer to the only One Tandy had to fear, she tossed the phone in the air.

  Marissa’s mouth dropped open at Tandy’s bold move. Why would she reveal her trump card that way? Cash could simply shoot them all and take the phone before police ever found it.

  Except Zam caught it, flipped it, spun.

  Cash’s gun darted his way.

  Zam whisked the phone back toward Tandy. She juggled like a clown, then tossed it to him again.

  Cash’s gun swung back and forth like a contestant at a carnival game. Except if he fired, there would be bloodshed that would be hard to explain in his setup of Zam.

  “Blind him, Susan,” Tandy yelled.

  The beam of light spotlighted Cash’s fierce glare, but only until it forced him to pinch his eyes shut.

  That was the cue Marissa had been praying for. She dropped one crutch, lifted the other like a baseball bat, and swung for a home run.

  Cash went down hard. His gun clattered away. He scrambled after it.

  Marissa’s heart jerked. God wouldn’t bring her this far only to let her and thousands of innocent plane passengers die. She couldn’t believe it. But she’d used all the tricks up her sleeve. It wasn’t like she could race across the gazebo with a sprained ankle. All she had left now was the power of prayer, and that was enough.

  Zam’s sneaker smashed onto Cash’s extended hand. He bent forward, retrieved the gun, and stood tall to point it at Cash. “I used to dream about this moment,” he said.

  Marissa’s stomach clenched. Was he going to take revenge into his own hands? He certainly had reason to. Cash had ruined Zam’s business and tried to make him responsible for acts of terrorism.

  Susan tripped backwards to the ground and crab walked until she hit the gazebo railing.

  “Zam,” Tandy said, though he wouldn’t be able to hear.

  He leveled the weapon on Cash. The man rolled away but hit the railing on the opposite
side from Susan. He pushed to a seated position and gripped the posts behind him.

  “The man whose business you destroyed wouldn’t hesitate to pull this trigger.” Zam’s voice was hard. Cold. Controlled.

  This must be why Connor had suspected him. Maybe Zam’s God talk was an act after all. He had befriended Tandy in order to gain this very opportunity.

  Tandy shook her head slowly, but she was behind him. Her motions still had no impact.

  “Lucky for you, I’m not that man anymore.”

  Marissa’s abs released. She tipped sideways on her good foot and caught herself on the railing in order to sink down to the ground where Susan cowered. She reached for Susan’s trembling hand.

  Zam continued. “As crazy as it sounds, I believe God allowed you to destroy my company. I believe what you intended for evil, God has used for good. I know my battle was never against flesh and blood, and I will pray that is a lesson you learn for yourself while behind bars.”

  A sob shook Susan’s body. Tears rained down and splashed warm against Marissa’s skin. She reached over and hugged the young woman closer for comfort. The very woman who’d used fireworks to try to burn down her safehouse. The reason she was in a walking cast.

  But would they have been able to win this battle if Marissa hadn’t had her crutch with which to strike?

  “I’m so sorry,” Susan mourned. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Shut up, Susan,” Cash hissed. “This was your idea. This is all on you. You’re going to be the one who goes to prison.”

  Susan shook harder. She looked up at Marissa, her wet face shiny in the blue light. “Am I going to prison?”

  “Yes,” Marissa told her, compassion clenching her throat. Somehow more words came out. More words she hadn’t planned to say. “But that doesn’t mean your life is over. You still get to choose everyday how you’ll live. You can still choose to turn your life around the way Zam did.”

  Susan buried her face in Marissa’s shoulder, weeping like she would never stop. Marissa didn’t know whether she was weeping for herself or in remorse for the sins she’d committed, but she had a feeling God wasn’t finished with the woman.