Fatal Error rj-13

by F. Paul Wilson

  Vicky's terrified expression fueled a burst of strength that allowed her to pull free. She whirled, fingers bent into claws. She remembered Jack telling her that if she was ever in a situation like this to go for the eyes. No matter how big or mean an attacker, they'd drop whatever they were doing to defend their eyes. A gouged cornea monopolized anyone's attention. She'd never thought she could do something like that, but this creep had crossed the line.

  She lashed out and raked her nails across his face. He ducked back but not before she made contact, scraping his forehead and the bridge of his nose, but missing his eyes.

  She grabbed Vicky and began to hurry her away when a hand clamped on the back of her neck.

  "You fucking little-ungh!"

  The hand suddenly released her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Gabe down on one knee, his face a mask of pain as a man twisted his ear. The man wore a Nets sweatshirt with the hood up. His face was partially hidden but her heart leaped as she recognized what she saw of it.

  "Jack!" Vicky cried.

  Jack didn't react to her. He had his eyes fixed on Angelo.

  "Not another inch unless you want a present," he told him.

  Gia knew that tone. She'd heard it only a few times and each of those had ended in terrible mayhem. It was the voice of the other Jack, the one he kept hidden. The Hyde Jack. She knew she'd hesitate to strike at someone's eyes, even someone like Gabe. And that hesitation had given Gabe a chance to duck away. Hesitation was alien to Jack, especially the Hyde Jack. She didn't understand his thought processes in that sort of situation, or even if thought was involved. Jack acted.

  She used to be afraid of the Hyde, worrying that he'd take over and not let go. But over the years she'd come to see that he was but a small part of Jack, and if she loved Jack, she'd have to love the Hyde Jack as well. Hyde was part of the package. And strangely enough, with time she realized that the seeming danger Hyde represented attracted her to Jack all the more.

  Angelo looked baffled as he tried to make sense of Jack's comment. Gia was baffled as well.

  "Present? What the f-?"

  "Your buddy's ear." Jack gave it a vicious twist, eliciting a howl from Gabe as he touched his other knee to the floor and further lowered his head. "Another inch closer and I'll make you a present of it."

  Angelo backed off a step.

  Everybody around the carousel was watching now. But, as before, no one moved to interfere.

  Jack turned his attention to Gabe. His voice shook as he spoke.

  "What… what did you think you were just doing? What made you think you could do that to her? What-what-what-what-WHAT!" The last word was a barely decipherable roar.

  Against all reason, Gia suddenly feared what might happen to the creep. Not for the creep's sake. For Jack's. He looked ready to lose it. And if he did he could end up in terrible trouble.

  "Jack? Don't."

  He didn't look up.

  "Don't what?"

  "Whatever it is you feel like doing to him, please don't."

  "You can't imagine what I feel like doing to him."

  "I won't even try."

  She was about to say, For your sake, don't, but realized he might be in a place where that wouldn't matter. She did know something that wouldn't fail to reach him.

  "Vicky's watching."

  He glanced over at Vicky and her worried expression. He paused, then lowered his head toward Gabe's ear and said something. Gia couldn't make out the words, but she was pretty sure they weren't sweet nothings.

  Finally he released Gabe and stepped back. The creep jumped up and covered his ear with a hand.

  "You all right, Gabe?" Angelo said.

  Instead of answering, Gabe pointed a finger at Jack.

  "You're fucking dead! Angelo here is my witness, motherfucker. You are so fucking-!"

  The word ended in a cry of pain and Gia realized that somehow Jack had gotten hold of his finger and bent it back at an impossible angle-impossible without breaking or dislocating it.

  Again… without the slightest hint of hesitation.

  Cradling his damaged hand in his good one, Gabe bent and hobbled away.

  "You're dead!" he screamed. "DEAD!"

  Jack watched them go, then turned and walked toward her-with a limp. What had happened? But as he approached, he smiled and Gia saw Hyde fade away.

  19

  "I want to go home," Vicky whined from her mother's lap.

  So did Jack. And he knew Gia did too. But even if he could fit them on the back of the bike-and he couldn't-passage to the city was impossible unless he went back the way he came in. And that was out of the question. Riding the Triboro walkway into Astoria hadn't been bad, but he'd had to leave the highway and travel local streets to get here. Twice along the way guys tried to jump him, but he managed to scoot out of trouble by inches. He'd almost lost control of the bike once, coming that close to going over. And that had been solo. Taking the same route back with one passenger, let alone two, was out of the question.

  Gia closed her phone with a frustrated snap.

  "Still dead. How long is this going to last?"

  Jack shrugged. "Could be a long time." He took her hand. "Sorry about this."

  "This is hardly your fault."

  "Your being here is. If I'd kept my mouth shut, you wouldn't have changed your flight. Right now you'd be in Iowa, sound asleep in your folks' place."

  She squeezed his hand. "You hardly twisted my arm. I wanted to get home." She stared at his hood. "Are you going to keep that up all night?"

  "Yeah. This is an airport. Cameras everywhere."

  "But you're just sitting."

  "I wasn't just sitting when I had my little run-in with your admirers."

  "I'm sorry you had to wind up in the baggage area. I had it all planned to meet you out front so you wouldn't have to-"

  "It's okay."

  Whatever pain he might have felt revisiting the site of his father's murder had vanished in a blast of rage when he spotted that animal dry-humping Gia. It had taken every nanoparticle of restraint he possessed to keep from tearing off his ear and shoving it down his throat. He could feel the memory of it pulling his lips back from his teeth…

  Shaking it off, he scanned the mobbed Central Terminal and sensed impending disaster. The place was a pressure cooker building toward an explosion. People with canceled flights could not go back home because the Grand Central Parkway outside and all the roads around it were at a standstill. Taxis and buses and limos filled the ramps to and from the terminals with nowhere to go.

  At least the traffic was keeping new departing passengers from reaching the airport, but planes were still landing. And the debarking passengers had nowhere to go but the terminal and the baggage claim area.

  As soon as they'd retrieved Gia's bag, Jack had found two seats at a table in the food court and installed Vicky and her there. They were lucky. Not an open seat left in the entire airport now. Then he'd hit the food stands, stocking up on whatever was ready for immediate consumption: bottles of water, bags of nuts, candy bars, big soft pretzels, hot dogs, and a couple of slices of pizza. Gia had passed on a dog, opting for pizza instead, while he and Vicky enjoyed theirs. They squirreled away the nuts and pretzels for later.

  Good thing too. The concessions and restaurants, even though they were operating on a cash-only basis, soon ran out of food and drink. Bare display cases in the Italian specialty shop, empty ovens at the pizza place. Beer and liquor still remained in a good supply at a big, open bar at the center of the food court. That seemed a good thing right now, but what happened when they ran out?

  More people kept pressing in from the arrival gates, but at a slower rate. With airports all over the country shutting down departures as well, fewer planes were in the air. All those passengers were on the ground, but they couldn't go home. How many more bodies could the terminals accommodate before someone blew a fuse and the place went nuts? Mass hysteria here could leave a lot of people dead, crushe
d in the panic.

  "Should we stay?" Gia said with a worried look, obviously getting the same powder-keg vibe.

  "Well, at least we're warm. It's pretty damn cold outside, and I don't see frostbite as a viable option. The hotels are full, so-"

  "You're sure of that?"

  "More than one source said so."

  After picking up the food, he'd made his way to the drop-off area-somewhat difficult then, a major challenge now-and spoken to the skycaps. They said guys had walked to the hotels for a room and returned saying they were all sold out and people were camping in the lobbies.

  He'd considered making the trip himself to verify it but hadn't wanted to leave his ladies alone that long. He couldn't see any reason for the skycaps to make that up.

  "How long do we stay here?"

  "We can try heading back to the city in the morning. It will be warmer then and, well, most likely we'll have to walk."

  Her eyebrows lifted. "You really think so?"

  "I do. Maybe not all the way. Your place is less than ten miles from here. Maybe some of the traffic will thin out overnight. Maybe we can cover some of the distance in a cab. It'll be cold, but we'll make it. And then we'll all be back home and feeling like we've won the lottery."

  She leaned against him. "I'd give anything to be there now." She straightened and looked around. "Any sign of…?"

  "Your fans?"

  Jack too took a quick look and saw nothing. Not that he could see very far. Every square foot of floor seemed occupied-those not standing were sitting on their suitcases. No one looked happy.

  "Nah. Been watching. Didn't you say they had a friend nearby?"

  She nodded. "They said their buddy Jake lives a mile from here and it was going to be 'party time.' "

  "How could you turn down an offer like that?"

  "Well, it wasn't easy, and under normal circumstances I'd jump at the chance-you know me, right?"

  "World's number-one partay babe."

  "You got it. But I know how cranky you get when I run off to partay with complete strangers."

  "Yeah, well, but I'm in therapy for that-deep into multiple twelve-step programs-so you could've gone."

  "Really? If only I'd known. I-" She looked around again and shook her head. "Sorry. Nothing funny about those two."

  "No argument. But they're probably at their friend's place getting loaded. And even if they're still here, they aren't armed-"

  "How can you be sure?"

  "Well, they were on the flight with you." He lowered his voice. "You can sneak certain types of weapons aboard a plane these days"-he'd done it-"but neither of them struck me as having the wattage to pull it off."

  "Well… I hope you're right."

  He shrugged. "Even if I'm not, doesn't matter. I didn't have to go through security."

  She lowered her own voice as she looked at him. "So you're…"

  "Of course."

  She snuggled against him again. "I can't believe how much comfort I'm taking from that."

  "Ms. No-guns sees the light?"

  "I was never antigun. My father has shotguns for hunting pheasant. And though I'm not crazy about the idea of going out and shooting harmless birds, it's part of life out there. But he stored them in a loft in the garage. Guns around the house, especially handguns, make me uncomfortable. Own all the guns you want, just not near me."

  Jack smiled. "But I gather you'll admit to an occasional exception?"

  "Don't rub it in."

  Vicky twisted in her lap. "I'm hungry."

  "I'm Mommy," Gia said. "Pleased to meet you, Hungry."

  Vicky rolled her eyes. They went through this all the time. "Can I pleeeease have something to eat?"

  "Sure you're not just bored?"

  She clutched her throat and spoke in a strangled voice. "I'm staaaarving!"

  Gia fished in her bag and came up with one of the big soft pretzels Jack had bought earlier. She gave Vicky half and tucked the rest away.

  "Can't I have the whole thing?"

  "If you finish that and you're still hungry, we'll see. We've got a long night ahead of us."

  Jack watched her shrug and take a hefty bite. He saw Gia squirm under Vicky. She didn't weigh much, but she'd been perched on her mother's lap for a good hour.

  "Want me to take her?"

  "That's okay. I-"

  "Hey!" Vicky cried.

  Jack looked up and saw Gabe taking a big bite out of Vicky's pretzel. His left ear was red and swollen, and someone-the first aid station?-had taped his damaged pointer to its neighbor. Three welted scrapes ran across his forehead and the bridge of his nose-Gia's work. Angelo stood behind him, smirking. They'd squeezed through the crowd to wind up in front of them.

  He spit out the bite and made a face.

  "These things taste like shit without mustard."

  Then he dropped the remainder and ground it under his sneaker.

  Vicky began to cry. The sound hurled Jack to the brink. He felt the door to where he kept the darkness penned explode off its hinges. His muscles tensed, readying to leap at Gabe and rip out his throat, when he felt slim fingers grip his thigh.

  "Don't," Gia said in a low voice. "He's goading you."

  "Ya think?" His voice sounded far away, the words like croaks.

  But she was right. A fight here could trigger a panic, endangering Gia and Vicky.

  He let the darkness flow through him, saturating him without controlling him.

  He locked eyes with Gabe and saw him flinch. Some of the confidence seemed to drain from him.

  "We need to talk."

  Gabe blinked. "Talk?"

  "Yeah. Someplace private."

  Gabe grinned, his cockiness back. "Oh, I getcha. Yeah. Private. I know just the place."

  "I'll bet you do."

  "Jack, don't," Gia said, increasing the pressure on his thigh.

  "It's okay," he said, rising. He lifted the sobbing Vicky from Gia's lap and put her in his seat. "We're just going to talk." He glanced at Gabe. "Right?"

  The grin widened. "Right."

  She grabbed his hand. "Please, Jack. They've got something planned."

  He looked down at her worried face and winked. Then pulled the hood farther forward to hide more of his face.

  "We'll just talk. Like two civilized adults." He pulled free and turned to Gabe and Angelo. "Lead on."

  "Jack, no!"

  He waved but didn't look back. Gabe turned and began moving away. Angelo tried to fall in behind Jack.

  "As if," Jack said, pointing to the spot behind his pal. "After you."

  20

  "You like making little girls cry?" Jack said as they forced their way through the crowd.

  "Yeah," Gabe said over his shoulder. "I like making big girls cry even more. Like your GF. Oh, man, that bitch gonna cryyyyyyy for more when I do her."

  Jack let the words roll off. Because they were only words. But this guy had assaulted Gia, and made Vicky cry. Actions… actions didn't roll off. Actions demanded reaction. And reaction was on the way.

  He knew these guys-not these two in particular, but their type. He ran into them all the time. They weren't schooled, but they weren't dumb. They possessed a cunning lupine radar for when a situation could be turned to their advantage. They sensed the veneer of civilization thinning here and they were responding. They knew nothing about the Internet, but they knew this was no ordinary night. Opportunities were knocking and they were eager to answer the door.

  Jack had been assessing the situation as he followed in their wake through the throng. They'd made sure to provoke him past the point where few men could remain passive. That meant they had a plan-and from the way Gabe had agreed to "someplace private," Jack figured getting him alone had been part of the plan all along. Too many witnesses and cell phone cameras in the Central Terminal.

  This could go down a number of ways.

  Get him alone and pound him to a pulp with some improvised weapon; Jack didn't see any sign of one on either
of them, but they could have it waiting for them.

  Or they could have a gun or a knife, delivered by their pal, Jake. Who knew? Jake himself might be waiting wherever they were leading him, ready to partake in the beat down.

  They reached an EMPLOYEES ONLY door in a recess near some restrooms. People were huddled against the door, just as they huddled in every square foot of the terminal.

  "Come on, move your asses," Gabe said. "I told you before, y'gotta keep this door clear."

  Before… that meant he'd been through here recently.

  "Yeah, clear," Angelo said.

  Gabe pulled out a plastic card and swiped it through the reader.

  "You work here?" Jack said.

  "Nah. Got a friend who does."

  Would his name be Jake, perhaps?

  Gabe entered, Angelo close behind. Jack paused on the threshold, ostensibly concerned about the legality of all this…

  "Are we allowed?"

  … while he checked out both sides of the inner doorway.

  Clear.

  "Yeah," Gabe said. "We're cool."

  Jack kept his head down as he stepped into a well-lit stairwell. He didn't bother to look around to check for cameras. He'd work on the assumption they were everywhere. With all the chaos in the terminal, he doubted anyone was watching too closely, if at all. But he'd bet the ranch they were recording.

  Keeping a careful watch behind and on all the shadowed recesses along the way, he followed them down a series of flights of stairs. Gabe and Angelo hurried ahead but Jack refused to be rushed. Not that he had much choice. His injured hip complained bitterly about the stairs.

  "You're slow as shit, y'know that?" Gabe said from below.

  "I'm scared of heights."

  "Pussy. I can beat the shit out of you, y'know."

  "Maybe."

  "Ain't no fuckin' maybe. You suckered me before. Got me from behind. Square on, man to man, I can kick your ass from here to the Bronx. Even with a broken finger I can take you."

  As Gabe ranted, Jack sneaked a hand under his sweatshirt to make sure the Glock was loose in its nylon low-back holster. He'd chambered a round after the melee on Randall's Island, and it remained chambered, ready to fire. He had his slapper and his Spyderco Endura in his pockets, and his Kel-Tec backup in its ankle holster.