by Dave Daren
“Yep,” he said. “This is the first go round with this one. It can also sync to your phone. So, I got a couple of the guys synced with me.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, they can see what I see,” he said, “from their phones.”
He powered up the small camera and let me look at the display. I hadn’t used one, but I had seen them before. He pointed it around the cab.
“Alright, everybody,” he said. “Say hi to the camera.”
“Hey,” I mumbled to the camera.
Earnie looked irritated and Quentin shot him a look. “Put that damn thing away.”
Bill turned it off, and I watched as he put the headgear on. It was an around the forehead elastic band, with the camera in front, and then another piece of elastic went over the top of the head to stabilize the weight of the camera. Then he put his safari hat back on and looked around at us.
“Looks great, Bill,” I said. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun lying to someone. “But doesn’t the hat obstruct the camera’s view?”
“A little bit,” he shrugged and looked at me with his giant tumor of a headpiece. “But I’m a man who takes a lot of pride in my personal appearance.”
“That’s commendable,” I said without a hint of sarcasm.
“Got to save the batteries for when we got the real work, though,” he said and took the contraption off. I was actually sorry to see it go.
After the adventure with the camera, it pretty much calmed down in the truck. Bill showed me the app to download to see through his camera and also had everyone in the three vehicles add him on his walkie-talkie app.
“We’ll need to communicate via Zello while on site,” he said. “It makes it easier.”
After I added all his apps to my phone and synced my entire life to the ten other phones on the trip, I figured I had earned a nap. I tried to sleep against the window, but got a crick in my neck, and that reminded me of a memory I hadn’t thought of for a very long time.
One of my first clients out of law school was a rock band. For some reason, and I forget exactly why, I ended up driving with them on their bus from Seattle to Las Vegas. They were a fairly new band, just signed to a small label, and they traveled in fifteen passenger van.
It was a seventeen hour drive, and we did it in about a week, because we stopped and did three shows along the way. After the Vegas show, I had what I needed, and flew back to L.A. They toured for another few months. That’s my ‘life as a rock star’ story. I used it throughout my career to gain “street cred” with potential new clients.
“Yeah, man,” I would say. “I’ve been out in the trenches. Touring in a fifteen passenger van that smells like dudes. Dudes and fast food. You got somebody’s sweaty feet in your face, and your drummer’s sprawled on the floorboard asleep or drunk, you don’t know which. You left your wallet in a Starbucks in God Knows Where, Middle America, and you didn’t realize it until you were fifteen hours away. So now you’re trying to remember exactly what town it was in, so you can look up the number on your phone. Then your phone dies, and your charger is in one of three bags that someone is using as a pillow. I know, man. It’s always the little things that kill you on the road. I know how it is.”
That speech worked on every client I ever tried it on. After a few laughs and a couple vignettes of their own, they signed on the dotted line every time. Now, on this road trip with dudes, and yet no fast food, I was reminded of how far removed from those days I really was.
We finally eased off the highway to Holbrook. Holbrook is a small highway town. It wasn’t much more than truck stops, motels, and dining and shopping for the rural locals.
“Alright, Bill, you’re up,” Quentin said. “Where is this place?”
Bill pulled it up on his phone GPS, and the navigation sent us down a rural two-lane highway.
“Looks like we’re about two streets away,” Bill said. “We can’t come blazing in with a three vehicle caravan. We need to be more subtle.”
“Alright,” Quentin said. “This is your show. How do you want to go in?”
I was surprised Quentin was deferring to Bill, considering he had made a show of shutting him down earlier.
“Let me call my source,” he said. “See if he can do a quick recon before we go in.”
Bill got on the phone. “Hey,” he said. “We’re almost there. What’s it look like? ...Great... We’re coming in.”
“Alright,” he got off the phone. “There is no one there right now. They’re all out at a party. We still need to be careful, though. Let’s do a sweep in the truck, see if we can see anything first.”
Bill got on the walkie, “We got three teams by vehicle color.”
He paused as the feedback from all four radios in the truck was distracting. We all turned our volumes down, and he continued.
“Red is Quentin’s truck,” Bill said, “Black is security, and brown for the cowboys. Red team is going in first. Brown and black stand by for further instruction.”
“Black team copy,” we heard.
“Brown team copy,” was the next response.
Quentin turned onto a long country lane, and the other two vehicles parked on the side of the main road. The street was full of long white fences with farmhouses deep set into fields of grass. Occasionally, horses or cows grazed. Bill strapped on his head device, switched on his camera, and put his safari hat on.
“Destination reached,” the GPS announced.
We were at a gated compound with high brick walls. We all sat in silence because no one wanted to be the idiot who asked the obvious question, but I certainly thought it. How are we going to do this?
“Drive further down, see if they stop using brick down that way,” Bill pointed.
Quentin drove another few yards, and we got to the next property.
“Google Earth says that there’s a break in the wall on the neighbor’s side,” we heard the black team come through Bill’s phone.
“Copy that,” Bill replied.
It was so odd to me that they were seeing what we were seeing.
“Alright,” Bill said. “I’m going in.”
Bill looked at me and readied his gun. “You up for an adventure, law dog?”
I shrugged. “Sure.”
“Don’t let him fool you,” Earnie said. “He’s an adrenaline junkie. He shot a tiger. I was there.”
Everyone laughed. “We heard about that,” Quentin said. “Take Tarzan with you, Diego.”
I turned to Quentin with a quizzical look.
“Even I’ve got grandkids,” he said.
I jumped out of the truck to follow Bill. He motioned me to stay behind him and crouched down low, with his camera’s red light blinking.
“You got a phone headset?” he said as he motioned toward the clip in his ear.
“No, not with me,” I said.
“Stick with me,” he said. “You may not be able to run your walkie on site.”
He motioned for Quentin to leave, so our truck left, and Bill and I snuck into the neighbor’s empty yard. It was all wall until some twenty yards down, where it looked like the wall was being repaired. There the crumbling rock was only about three feet high. Bill and I climbed over the wall and found ourselves in the middle of an empty field.
“What now?” I asked as I dusted off my clothes and hands.
“Well,” he said. “Let’s have a look-see.”
“There’s a barn over there,” I noticed.
It was a massive barn about the size of house thirty yards away. We headed toward it, and Bill touched his headset.
“The security team just scaled the wall,” he whispered to me.
We approached the barn, and it had a rusted latch with a padlock. In about three moves, Bill banged the padlock and broke it off. He opened the door, and there were close to a dozen horses. It occured to me that we were breaking and entering, so I started keeping a mental count of the felonies we were committing.
If the zebra
wasn’t here, we could go to jail. Even if the zebra was here, we could probably still go to jail. Then there was still the slim chance that we could find and steal a zebra, and it was the wrong one. Then we would really go to jail.
“Bill,” I said. “Are you sure this information is good?”
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s here somewhere.”
We browsed the horse stalls and saw no zebra. I started to wonder if I should have gone on this trip. Maybe this should have been a preliminary recon trip, and then they’d bring us all out there once they were sure the zebra was here.
“This is Zed Walker’s place, right?” I asked.
“Yes,” he whispered a hint of impatience creeping in his voice. He turned to me and paused the camera. “Look, Henry, this is bounty hunting. It’s not a sure thing. Nothing’s ever sure. You go on what you got, and sometimes you’re wrong. But if you’re right, and you do find the criminal, you can’t come back later with a team of cops or they might not be there. You gotta be ready to bring them in then. Strike when the iron’s hot.”
“Alright,” I said.
He unpaused the camera, and we left the barn. In the distance, I saw the security team creeping around, and on another side Quentin and Earnie had made it over the wall and were breaking the lock on the front gate. It looked like pretty much everyone was here, wandering around looking for the zebra, some of them watching Bill’s view on their phone as well.
I noticed a movement in my peripheral, and saw about fifty yards away, in the tall grass, the telltale black and white stripes.
“Bill,” I said. “It’s there.”
Bill turned, and he saw Neptune. “Alright, let’s get a move-on.”
We sprinted toward the area, and the whole team caught on and ran with us. We ended at a fenced in corral, where the zebra happily munched on a bale of hay.
“We’re sure that’s the one?” Quentin asked.
I looked at the zebra for the first time in weeks, and I had a sudden rush of emotion, remembering the last time I had seen the animal. I didn’t expect to feel this way about Alister. But, as weird as that man was, he sure loved his zebra, and that was something.
“Yep,” I said. “I am sure.” As if there was some imposter zebra rolling around Arizona.
At this point, the brown team with the horse trailer pulled up to the corral. Evan jumped out and guided Josh to back into the corral. The commotion spooked the zebra, and he bucked and kicked his back legs up and narrowly missed Evan before he ran away. Everyone backed away and I remembered in AJ’s manual, reading that a kick from a zebra’s hind legs can kill a lion. Evan jumped back over the fence to safety.
“We need to get the horse out,” Evan told Josh.
“I didn’t realize there was actually a horse in the trailer,” I told Bill.
“Yeah,” he said. “They said they can use the horse to chase the zebra into the trailer.”
“Will the zebra and the horse get along in there?” I asked.
“It has double stalls,” Evan said as he overhead my question. “They’ll be completely separate.”
Josh and Evan opened the trailer, brought out a brown and white spotted horse, and quickly saddled it. Evan mounted the horse and then chased the zebra. The chase went very peacefully as the horse quietly walked along behind the zebra, and the smaller animal trotted quickly right up into the trailer.
They had just gotten both animals in their stalls when we heard the guns cock. Everyone turned, and there were four men with large guns, and at the front of the pack was none other than Cindy Greenwood.
Chapter 18
“Put the zebra back,” Cindy said as she held a gun to Bill’s head.
Bill had a stone face and raised his arms in surrender, but didn’t say anything. Behind her, the four men guarded her with guns, so that no one tried to disarm her.
I had always been great at negotiating pleas and charming juries, so I decided I was the most qualified in the situation to tip the scales. I confidently strode into the corral. The guns all turned to me. I threw up my arms.
“I come in peace,” I said. “I just want to get back home to my lady, and in one piece, same as all of you. So, what can we do for you, Cindy?”
“Who are you?” one of the gunmen asked. I turned to him and noticed he was the same one I saw at the festival. The pieces finally fit together.
“You know who I am, Zed,” I said.
I noticed a shadow of fear cross over his face when I said his name. He wasn’t going to shoot me, and I knew it. As long as I pretended to play along, it was all posturing. It also occured to me that Bill’s camera was still on, and it appeared they hadn’t noticed. Maybe they thought it was a headlamp? Either way, I figured I would get as much of this on tape as possible. If I could extract a confession, I could get a conviction wrapped up, two cases in one.
“I’ll tell you who I am,” I said. “I’m the man with the checkbook. What can I do for you?”
“We want the money,” she stated. “We were very clear.”
“Ah, Cindy,” I said. “Et tu, Brute?”
I quoted the famous line from Julius Caesar when Caesar realizes his best friend Brutus has betrayed him. She caught the reference.
“Don’t talk to me about loyalty,” she said. “I gave that man the best years of my life. And what does he give me?”
“A regular six figure paycheck,” I replied, “annual vacations to tropical islands, use of the private jet, and I believe a house in the Hamptons. You are a regular Oliver Twist.”
“You know what I mean,” she said.
“No, I don’t,” I said. “Enlighten us all.”
I was surprised my sarcasm was going over so well considering the corral was full of loaded guns. I wondered where our security team was.
“After Vera died,” she continued, “Alister swore he would never love again. He was so depressed, he wouldn’t leave his bedroom for almost a year. During that year, I nursed him and brought him back to health. We became friends, and then that friendship turned into something else.”
I raised an eyebrow and I looked her over. Was she lying? He had Mila and Emily, what did he want with her? She looked the perfect part of the invisible executive assistant-- one who could slip in a meeting, hand out a report, and leave without anyone even realizing she ever existed. Maybe that was what he wanted. Someone who cared who he was, not how rich he was? But, now, standing here, all evidence was the contrary.
“Everyone got cut out, Cindy,” I said. “Even Emily and Mila.”
“Forget those dumb sluts,” she said. “They didn’t have what I have.”
“What do you have?” I asked.
“A son,” she said. “I have a son with Alister.”
My mouth dropped in shock. “I didn’t realize that. He was never named in any of the documents.”
“He was born early, eight months after Vera’s death,” she said. “Alister thought it was inappropriate to move on so quickly, so he wanted to keep it secret. He doesn’t even know. But, I think he deserves a share of the money.”
“How old is the son now?” I asked.
“Thirty-one,” she declared.
“What’s his name?” I inquired.
“Perry,” she answered. “Perry McGrath.”
My mouth dropped. Perry McGrath was Alister O’Brien’s secret love child? And with Cindy Greenwood? I smirked at the irony.
“I happen to know Perry,” I said. “And my suspicion is that money isn’t on his list of priorities.”
She laughed snidely. “You think you know him? You don’t know anything about me or my son.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “But I can’t just hand you money. You’ve filed a lawsuit, and the hearing is actually in a couple of days--”
“Oh, shut up,” she interrupted. “You know that lawsuit’s bullshit. We don’t have a chance. This is the only chance for me to get what I deserve for me and my son.”
“And you drag in Alucio’s old arche
nemies for a cut?” I concluded.
“That’s right,” she said.
“Old cattle and horse thieves steal a zebra for you,” I said, “and hide it out here, and you pay them a couple mil, and you get the rest, and split it with Perry.”
“For the baby,” she said.
“How altruistic of you,” I said. “Does Perry even know you’re doing this?”
“Are you kidding?” she retorted. “Perry wasn’t always like he is now. It wasn’t until college that he got into all of his Marxist crap. I thought it was a phase, and he would grow out of it. I was wrong. Now, I want to buy his mind back. Buy my son back.”
“So, you want to corrupt your son with greed and money,” I said.
“Hey,” Zed said as he waved his gun. “You’ve had your turn. Now, give us what we want.”
Over their heads, I saw our security team creeping up behind them. I kept eye contact with the gunmen so that they wouldn’t think to look behind them. It looked like the security team needed a few more seconds.
“The zebra or the check?” I asked.
“We want the check,” Zed motioned with his gun, his tone impatient.
“Okay,” I said. “We can get you a check. It will just take a few days--”
“We’ve already heard that line,” Cindy said. “And we’ve been more than gracious. It’s time for the money or else.”
Cindy pressed the gun into Bill’s temple for emphasis, and she had a wild look in her eyes. One of the security guards was mere feet behind her, and the gunmen still didn’t see him. I just needed to keep their attention on me for a few more minutes. I didn’t know what they were waiting for, but I couldn’t be distracted by that. I needed to keep Cindy engaged.
“Absolutely,” I said. “I can get that check right now.”
Without taking my eyes off them, I motioned behind me to the general area where I knew Earnie was.
“Earnie,” I called out. “Earnie takes care of all the accounting.”
Earnie came up beside me, and I could hear his breathing was heavy.
“Earnie has the company checkbook in the truck, and we would love to get it for you.”
“Not a problem,” his voice shook with fear.
