Holly grabbed the phone away from her. “Who is this?” she demanded, but the phone clicked dead. “Did they say anything?” Holly asked.
“No. Just breathing.” Stacy shivered and Holly rubbed up and down Stacy’s arms trying to wipe away the goose bumps.
“You want to tell the FBI guy?”
“No. I’m sure it was nothing,” Stacy said, shaking it off. “Do you still think I have a syndrome?” Stacy asked, changing the subject.
“No. I think you fell in love with your kidnapper. But I think that’s even worse.”
“You can’t say anything about what I told you, Holly. I didn’t tell the FBI anything about the first kidnapping, and they can’t find out,” Stacy said.
“I won’t say anything,” Holly said.
“I think I need to get some sleep. I don’t feel so good,” Stacy said.
“You want me to stay?” Holly offered.
“No. That’s okay. I’ll call you later. Maybe we can get a bite to eat. I don’t have any food here,” Stacy said, looking in her refrigerator. She took out a Dr. Pepper and walked Holly to the elevator. “Thanks for coming to get me,” Stacy said, hugging Holly.
“I’ll talk to you in a little while,” Holly said. She got in the elevator and pointed to Alex and mouthed, “He’s cute!” and Stacy laughed and nodded in agreement just as the doors closed.
When Stacy turned back she had a big smile on her face, and she was trying not to laugh. She held out the drink. “This is for you.”
Alex stood up and took the drink. “Thanks,” he said. Stacy watched him open it and take a big drink.
“Are you bored sitting out here?”
Alex laughed. “Not yet. How are you feeling?” he asked, checking out the bruises on her face.
His gaze made Stacy self-conscious and she touched her cheekbone and under her left eye. “I know, it looks really ugly.”
“Actually, I was thinking it looks painful,” he said.
“That too,” she smiled. “I’m going to take a nap. Do you need anything?”
“Let me clarify something for you, Miss Trent,” Alex said. “I’m here to protect and serve you. It’s not the other way around. You are not required to wait on me, or bring me food or drinks.”
“I know I’m not required to, Alex. It’s merely common courtesy. If you had a repairman working at your house for hours at a stretch, wouldn’t you offer him a drink of water or something?”
“I never have,” he said.
“Seriously?”
“You offer your repairmen a drink of water?”
“Of course I do. It’s common courtesy.”
“Well, you’re a lot more courteous than I am,” he laughed.
Stacy rolled her eyes. “I’m going to sleep,” Stacy said. “And I hope in the meantime you don’t want anything because you’re sure as hell not getting it from me.” Stacy could hear Alex laughing as she closed the door.
The phone was ringing when Stacy got back in and she took a deep breath before she picked it up, “Hello.”
“You never told me who cut your hair,” Holly said.
Stacy laughed. “Consuela, the housekeeper.”
“Really? The housekeeper? Okay, ’bye,” Holly said, and she hung up.
Stacy went into the bedroom and unplugged the phone, then she changed into a big T-shirt and crawled under the covers. Her bed felt wonderful and she curled up around a big pillow and fell asleep and slept until morning.
Chapter 31
It was noon when Niki finally woke up and when he did he had the worst hangover he’d had in years. Eli was knocking at his door and it took everything Niki had to get himself out of bed and to the door.
“You look like shit!” Eli said.
Niki groaned and fell back on the bed. “How come you’re so chipper?” Niki asked.
“Because I quit drinking about six bottles of tequila and twenty beers before you did.”
“You did?” Niki said. He tried to think how the night ended, but he couldn’t remember much of anything. “My head is killing me,” Niki said. He looked up at the ceiling and yelled, “Sta-cy!” Then he reached up and grabbed his head. “That hurt.”
Eli laughed at him. “Man, you’re a mess.”
“Where is everyone?”
“I haven’t seen Jason or Ramos. They’re probably still asleep. Carlos is downstairs in the restaurant.”
Niki got up and went to use the bathroom, then he turned on the shower and brushed his teeth while the water got warm. “Have you eaten?” Niki asked.
“No,” Eli said. “Hurry up. I’m starving.”
Niki showered and they knocked on Jason’s door before they headed downstairs. Jason opened the door, and Niki laughed when he saw him. His hair was poking in all different directions and his eyes were barely open. “What time is it?” Jason asked.
“Past noon,” Eli said. “We’re going downstairs to eat.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you down there,” Jason said yawning.
When they got to the restaurant, Carlos and Ramos were already sitting at a table drinking a beer. They both laughed when they saw Niki.
“Fuck you,” Niki said, and he slumped down into the chair and put on his shades.
They ordered lunch and by the time the food came Jason wandered into the restaurant. Niki pushed his plate of food over to Jason.
“Here,” Niki said.
“You don’t want it?” Jason asked.
Niki shook his head. “Go ahead.”
Ramos took a drink of his beer. “Are you up to visiting Corazon today?” he asked Niki.
“Fuck yeah,” Niki said. “I’m ready to get the hell out of this place and go home,” he said, and Ramos laughed.
“Okay. We’ll go when we finish eating,” Ramos said.
Niki pushed himself away from the table. “I’ll meet you outside.”
A half-hour later, they were on their way to Corazon’s compound.
“What can we expect at Corazon’s place?” Niki asked Ramos. “Does he have henchmen?”
“No. Corazon’s a two-bit punk,” Ramos said. “The guy’s a loser. I don’t expect we’ll have any problems.”
“Good. I don’t even know if I can focus to shoot him,” Niki said.
“I’ll do it,” Jason said. “It would give me great pleasure.”
“I’m tempted to let you,” Niki said.
They reached the compound within the hour. There was a wall surrounding the place and an iron gate at the front driveway. Ramos drove to the end of the wall and parked off the road.
“You coming?” Niki asked Jason.
“Hell yes!”
They got out and Niki leaned back in. “Drive around and come back in twenty minutes,” he said.
“You want me to come with you?” Ramos asked.
“No. Too many will just get in the way,” Niki said.
Niki closed the car door and he and Jason took off. They scaled the wall and disappeared as Ramos drove off. There was thick foliage within the compound and it was easy to get from the back of the property, where they had entered, to the house without getting out in the open. A black sedan with tinted black windows was parked in the circular driveway close to the house. Niki and Jason went around to a side entrance and slipped silently in the door. They could hear someone moving pots and pans around in the kitchen, so they headed that direction.
Jason peeked his head in and pulled it back quickly. “Housekeeper,” he whispered. Niki pointed to the stairs and they sneaked past the kitchen and walked up the stairs. They got to the top of the stairs and could hear voices coming from one of the rooms. They split up and checked the other rooms first, then met back in the hall.
“Nothing,” Niki said, and Jason nodded.
They went back to the room where they had heard voices. Niki took the safety off his pistol and opened the door to the room. Corazon was on top of a woman with his bare butt in the air, and Niki burst out laughing.
“What
the hell!” Corazon yelled, jumping off her and fumbling with his shorts.
The woman screamed and grabbed the sheet and tried to cover herself up. Jason pulled her out of bed, shoved her in the closet and told her in Spanish, “Be quiet and you won’t get hurt.”
Niki had his gun leveled at Corazon’s head. “You know who I am?” Niki asked him.
Corazon didn’t answer, but it was obvious that he did. “What do you want?” Corazon demanded.
“What do I want?” Niki said calmly. “I want to kill the fucker who beat up Stacy Trent. And I want to kill the fucker who blew up my boat. That’s what I want.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Corazon.
“I think you do,” Niki said. He lowered the gun and fired into Corazon’s left knee and the man screamed out in pain and fell to the floor.
“That’s for the boat,” Niki said.
“Please!” Corazon begged. He grabbed on to his leg to try to stop the bleeding.
“Please what?” Niki asked. He pointed the gun at the other knee and pulled the trigger. “That’s for me,” he said.
There was blood all over the floor and Corazon would have bled to death before it was over, but Niki had too much pent up rage to stop there. He pointed the pistol at Corazon’s heart.
“This one’s for Stacy,” he said. He pulled the trigger. Corazon’s body fell forward in a lump on the floor.
Jason went to the closet and opened the door. “If you call the police we’ll find you and kill you,” Jason said in Spanish, then he closed the door and they left the bedroom and went back downstairs. They got to the kitchen and the maid was standing at the door with a butcher knife in her hand. Niki walked up to her and took the knife out of her hand and put it back in the knife rack. She was crying and backing away when he turned back around.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” Niki told her in Spanish. He put her in the broom closet and shoved a chair up under the knob and they walked out the front door. Ramos was waiting when they got back over the wall and they got in and drove away.
Ramos looked in his rearview mirror. “Your man from the motel called,” Ramos said. “The guest from Room 6 is there.”
“Is he?” Niki said. “Go back to the hotel and let me borrow your car,” Niki said.
“Why?” Jason asked. “We don’t need him anymore.”
“I want to talk to the guy. He saved Stacy’s life. I want to thank him,” Niki said.
“You can take the car,” Ramos said.
They got back to the hotel and Niki got behind the wheel. “Do you have a phone I can borrow?” Niki asked Ramos.
“You’re not going to call Stacy, are you?” Jason asked.
“No, I’m not going to call Stacy,” Niki mimicked.
“Asshole,” Jason said.
Niki drove off and called one of his bankers at home. “First thing tomorrow, I need you to set up an account at El Banco Popular in Bogota and transfer $100,000 into the account. A man will come into the bank in the morning and he’ll say that I sent him. You set up the account in his name.”
“Yes, sir,” the banker told him.
“And make sure he has access to the funds immediately.”
“Okay, sir,” he said.
Niki got to the motel and knocked on the door to room number 6. The curtains moved, then the door cracked open and a man looked out. “What?” he asked in Spanish.
Niki introduced himself in Spanish, then he told the man, “I’m a friend of the girl you helped. She’s very special to me, and I just wanted to thank you.”
The man smiled and came outside and closed the door. “The girl is good?” he asked in English.
“She’s going to be fine,” Niki said. “I’ve set up an account for you at Banco Popular in Bogota. The funds will be available in the morning. You tell them I sent you and everything will be taken care of,” Niki said, and he handed the man a card with his name on it.
The man’s eyes lit up. “Your girl told me she would pay me to help her, but I never expected that it would really happen.”
“Well, you were wrong,” Niki said. Niki stuck out his hand and they shook hands. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, sir,” the man said.
Niki went around back to the office and tossed a wad of bills on the counter. “Thanks for calling,” he said, and he turned around and left. He drove back to Medellìn wondering how he was going to go a month without contacting Stacy.
Chapter 32
Stacy woke up thinking of Niki. She knew he would have gone to search for her, and she wondered if he had heard of her successful escape from Corazon. It seemed like forever since she had seen him. She was overwhelmed thinking of everything that had happened, and she wondered how long Niki would wait before trying to contact her. Stacy looked at the clock. It was already after 9:00. She got up and ground some coffee beans and put on a pot of coffee, then went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. The phone rang as soon as she plugged it back in.
“Hello,” Stacy answered. Breathing. She slammed the phone back down, but it rang again immediately. “Hello!” she said, this time angrily.
“It’s Agent Parker.”
“Oh, good morning,” she said. “You want to bring those pictures over?”
“In about an hour?” he asked.
“I’ll see you then,” Stacy said.
She hung up and poked her head out the front door. “Hey, Alex,” she smiled. “Have you been here all night?”
“Good morning. No, I just got back on duty.”
“At the risk of sounding like I’m required to wait on you,” Stacy said, “would you like a cup of coffee?”
Alex laughed. “I’d love one.”
“Come in,” Stacy said. Alex followed Stacy into the kitchen and she handed him a mug from the cabinet. “You didn’t bring donuts or anything?” she asked.
“No,” Alex laughed. Is this chick for real, he thought.
Stacy was standing in front of the refrigerator holding the door wide open. Maybe if she stood there long enough something would materialize that she could eat.
“You’re letting all the cold air out,” Alex said, pouring coffee into his mug.
Stacy closed the door. “There’s nothing in there anyway,” she said. “Have you eaten breakfast?” Stacy asked.
“Hours ago,” Alex said.
“I’m not supposed to drive,” Stacy said, and Alex saw it coming. “Will you please, please, please drive me through Taco Cabana?”
Alex groaned. “Where’s Holly?”
“She can’t come over right now because I’m supposed to look through some photos with Agent Parker. He’s coming over in 45 minutes, so we need to go right now,” Stacy said. She headed towards the door but stopped. “I don’t have any money. Will you buy me a taco?” she asked.
“Yes, I’ll buy you a taco. Come on,” Alex said, feigning annoyance.
“Will you buy me two?” she asked. Alex gave her a look and she laughed. “I’ll pay you back!” she said.
Alex rolled his eyes and walked out to the elevator while Stacy found a spare house key. She came out with two cups of coffee and handed him his. “You forgot your coffee.”
They went out in the parking lot and got in Alex’s car and as they drove past the slot where Stacy’s car should have been, she shouted, “Wait!”
Alex slammed on the brake. “What?”
“Someone stole my car! My car should be parked right there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” she snapped at him. “What kind of question is that?”
Alex ignored her. “We’ll check it out when we get back.”
Stacy laid her head against the seat and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m just hungry.”
He looked over at her and couldn’t help but smile.
Alex took her to the drive-through of the familiar pepto-pink Mexican restaurant. It was a late-night place for partiers who had the munchi
es and a place those same people went when they were hung over the next morning. The palm trees and tropical setting made Stacy think of Niki and the island and it gave her a queasy feeling in her stomach. They went back to her condo and Stacy had her bag of tacos in her hand when she approached the building’s security guard.
“Hi, Santos,” Stacy said.
“Stacy! How wonderful to see you!” he said.
“Thanks,” she said smiling. “Hey, do you know anything about my car? It’s not out there.”
“Your father sold it,” Santos said.
“Oh. Thanks.” Alex was waiting at the elevator. “It wasn’t stolen. They sold it.”
“You can get another one,” Alex said.
They rode up to the penthouse and Stacy unlocked her door. “Thanks for the tacos. I owe you three bucks,” Stacy said.
Alex handed her his empty coffee cup and sat back down outside her door. “Thanks for the coffee,” he said.
Stacy had just finished devouring her tacos when Parker arrived. He declined coffee and they got to work.
“You were right about your father’s involvement in the bank robbery. We’ve dug up an insurance scam that he and a local jeweler were trying to perpetrate.” Parker held up a photo. “Have you ever seen this man before?” It was the beheaded guy from the bank and Stacy’s heart skipped a beat.
“Yeah. He was in the bank that day. He held the door open for me.”
“He was decapitated a few days ago, found behind a dumpster.”
“That’s horrible,” Stacy said, trying to act shocked. “And you think he was involved with my father somehow?”
“He filed insurance claims in the millions of dollars range and so did your father. On the insurance claim the jeweler filed, he stated that he was in the bank that day to put certain pieces of jewelry, including your mother’s necklace and bracelet, in a safety deposit box, and that they were stolen when the bank was robbed.”
“Who killed him?” Stacy asked.
“We don’t know. And we can’t rule out the possibility that your father hasn’t met with the same fate.”
Back on Solid Ground Page 22
