Lucky the Hard Way

by Deborah Coonts

  “Irv is a master of shell games,” Teddie mumbled, his mouth full of fermented something. After swallowing, he gave me a grin, one of the green things wedged between his front teeth.

  Feeling all passive-aggressive, I didn’t tell him. “I see you’ve kept your flair for the obvious.”

  “Wouldn’t want to disappoint.” His smile fled as he laid his fork with concentrated precision on the plate in front of him, lining it up perfectly. When he looked at me again, I saw the Teddie I used to know in his eyes. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I never meant to. I wish I could show you what I’ve learned.”

  “I’ve moved on.” My voice sounded steady, but my insides were jelly.

  “It took losing you to realize that you meant everything.”

  He was saying all the right things, but I didn’t believe him. And even if he was telling the truth, I didn’t have the energy to teach him all the other lessons he didn’t know. He still played at being a grown-up.

  And, with everything and everyone riding on my shoulders, I’d stopped playing and had become one.

  How I wanted to go back to the first kiss when I’d been as ignorant about life and love as Teddie still was. Such fun it was when nothing else mattered and the Big Boss was my life preserver in the tempest of life.

  Teddie shook his head as if he’d been waiting for me to say something. I saw the pain on his face—I’d felt that pain when he left me for the wan little pop star. Nonetheless, I felt like a heel for causing his.

  But I’d moved on. I reached across and took his hand in mine. “I’ll always be here.”

  “Not the same.” He gave me a weak smile, then pulled his hand from mine.

  His touch still affected me. A warmth rather than a sizzle, but a connection solid and true. “Better than nothing, and I’m not sure you deserve it.”

  “True.” He didn’t say he hadn’t slept with her; he didn’t lie, and that told me he’d learned something. “So, what’s next?”

  As if answering his question, his phone rang—a personalized ringtone. A snippet of a song he’d written for me. Really? Running for his life and he’d made sure that song sang when his phone rang? Even though my head didn’t know what to make of that, my heart did.

  Teddie let it ring. When it stopped, he started counting. Exactly when he got to ten, it started ringing again. He looked at me with a grim smile. “We need to go. The girls are ready.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  TEDDIE didn’t take me back to the center of town to the whorehouse. Surprising me, he led me to a small car parked around the corner from the hotel. He bent to unlock what I normally would think of as the driver’s door for me. “One of the girls lent me this. It’s a big thing to own a car here.”

  I folded myself into the tight space and tried not to worry about Teddie’s right-hand driving skills. “With everybody gunning for me, what if I died in a car accident? How ironic would that be?”

  Teddie ignored me as he settled behind the wheel and fired up the engine.

  Unable to keep still, I flapped my mouth. “You do know where we’re going, right? Give me the address; I can plug it into my phone.” With one knee bouncing, I balanced my Birkin on the other and rooted for my phone.

  “Stop worrying. When you fidget and blather like that, you make me nervous. I know where I’m going,” he said with confidence, then added, “sort of,” eroding mine.

  “Seriously, Siri can help.”

  He looked over his shoulder, then pulled away from the curb. “I’m not used to this, so don’t distract me.”

  A clever way to tell me to shut up. Getting lost sounded better than bent metal and possible bloodshed, so I let him have his way. He only scared me twice as we wound our way through the narrow streets. The traffic was light, but the trucks were starting to move with their early morning deliveries. One street we tried was completely blocked. Backing up was even more terrifying than going forward, so I stared straight ahead and braced against an abrupt stop.

  It didn’t come, and soon we were motoring on. “Siri?”

  “Almost there.”

  The buildings gave way to a park, and we parked at the entrance, stopped by a closed gate. “We’ll hoof it the rest of the way.” Teddie didn’t seem worried about heading into a dark forest, but I understood why he’d traded his stilettos for something more reasonable—Gucci sneakers.

  From afar, the chain securing the gate looked locked. Teddie gave the padlock a twist and it opened easily. After letting us both through, he replaced the lock as he’d found it.

  I kept pace with him as he started up the hill. Darkness closed around us, and I felt creepy things in the shadows—just like Halloween when I was a kid. Nothing was there, but my imagination loved to terrorize me. Was it only me, or did that happen to everyone? I’d never asked—apparently that little bit of truth would be too traumatizing. Something rustled in the dark. I reached for Teddie’s arm, then stopped myself before I’d made contact.

  “Are you scared?”

  I nodded even though somewhere in my terrorized synapses, I knew he couldn’t see me that well.

  “Didn’t you do scouting when you were a kid?” Teddie acted like he did this sort of accessory-after-the-fact-thing all the time—technically we were breaking and entering since the park was not technically open.

  I tried to take it all in stride—breaking and entering was one of the lesser felonies I was contemplating. “I had a short and inglorious career as a Brownie.”

  He set a fast pace into the dark. “Somehow I knew that. What’d you do? Break someone’s nose? Set a fire? Beat your leader at arm wrestling?”

  “They took us to a place with trees, lots of trees. Like this.” I felt them closing in, looming over me, and the childhood panic returned. Once again, I reached for Teddie’s arm—this time I held on. “Growing up in Pahrump, in the middle of the Mojave, I wasn’t used to trees and not being able to see for a hundred miles in any direction. I got separated from the group. I didn’t know where I was, and I couldn’t find my way out.”

  Teddie patted my hand on his arm, but didn’t slow down. “How old were you?”

  “Seven, maybe eight.”

  “I bet you were scared.”

  “The forest was like this one.” My mouth went dry with fear; my heart pounded. Something sweet perfumed the air. A soft breeze tickled the branches like wraiths whispering. “I was terrified.” Unable to help myself, I clutched his arm so tightly I was sure I’d break bone.

  He didn’t flinch. “What’d you do?”

  “I followed the trail we’d come up.”

  “There you go.” Teddie pointed in front of our feet. “That’s all I’m doing here.”

  My thoughts had been so rusted by fear I hadn’t even noticed the small path we followed. The moonlight wasn’t enough to expose us, but it let us see just far enough ahead to stay on track. I could do this. Although I wasn’t comfortable enough to let go, I relaxed my grip on Teddie’s arm. I’m sure he appreciated the return of blood flow.

  He flexed his fingers. “We’re almost there. One of the girls knows the guy with the key. She took it off him last night. No one will be here. No cameras either—it’s not like an old fort is high on the list of places to break into.”

  “Women.” And I didn’t bother to point out we’d broken in.

  “What?”

  “Women. Calling us girls is derogatory. You’d be insulted if someone called you a boy, wouldn’t you? They…we…are women. Young women. More mature women. But all of us women. Not girls.”

  “I didn’t think about it, sorry.”

  “Men are used to talking down to women, underestimating us.” I clamped my mouth shut. What was it with me today? I knew; I just didn’t want to admit it. The whorehouses the world over, the children forced to work in them, women doing whatever they could to survive.

  Men like Cho.

  “Let’s get these bastards,” I whispered, imploring the demons that lurked in the dark.
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br />   We rounded a bend and the trees thinned. The remnants of stone walls loomed above us. The path gave way to rough cobblestone. “What is this place?”

  “The old fort built by the Portuguese to defend the island. Never saw much action, although a priest, vastly outnumbered when the Danish showed up to take the island, accidentally fired one of the cannons and blew the ammunition ship and half the fleet into the next life.”

  “Maybe his ghost will help us. We certainly need to tap into that kind of luck or divine intervention, whatever you want to call it.”

  Teddie moved to our right. “Over here.”

  Five women gathered around one of the canons that pointed toward one of the larger casinos in old town—I loved the irony. The lights from town illuminated each face as the women turned at our approach. Various ages, all looking serious, Ming one among the five. I’d asked for the best.

  I released Teddie, and he joined the women, all eyes turning to me.

  With a few flicks across my phone’s screen, I pulled up a picture of Irv Gittings. “Here.” I handed my phone to Ming, who stood nearest to me. “Pass this around. Each of you memorize this face. And put your phone numbers in there as well with your name, or, if you aren’t comfortable with me knowing that, give me something to call you.” I waited until my phone had made the rounds and the last young woman handed it back to me. Afraid I might turn to stone, I closed the photo without looking at it. “I need to know where he goes, who he talks to. I want to know when he eats, when he goes to the bathroom, who he sleeps with, and where he stays. Who his friends are and who wants to see him dead, besides me.”

  Their expressions intent, no one backed down.

  “This is very dangerous. If you are afraid, please walk away now. This man,” I held up my phone, the screen dark, but they knew, “he is a killer. I know you all work the hotel in teams and you communicate via cell phone.” The women who worked the Babylon did the same thing—tag-teaming their mark. Watching for a man with money to spare and either a win to celebrate or a loss to commiserate.

  Once again, I powered up my phone and pulled up my own phone number. “We’ll coordinate through my phone.” I checked to make sure their names were in the call list. “You all have my phone number?”

  Teddie shot me a look. I knew what he was thinking. At some point, I might have to hand over my phone to someone else to run this part of the operation, and I’d be flying solo. As long as I had Irv Gittings in the crosshairs, I wouldn’t care.

  “Wait,” he said. “Let’s coordinate through my phone.” He didn’t wait for me to argue; instead, he cut me off. “I work with these women,” he said to me. “I live with them. It makes sense. Besides, you have bigger fish to fry. I’ll be your backup.”

  The ladies nodded. No one asked for his number—it seemed they already had it. The guy knew how to work a crowd. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, especially in this context. His track record with women hadn’t left me in a happy place, so my skepticism was well earned.

  “Okay,” I shifted to take in everyone. “But if you can’t get through to Teddie or he doesn’t answer, then come right to me. You got it? And I might reach out to you directly.”

  There were nods all around as each woman in turn programmed my number into her own phone.

  “When do you want us to start reporting, Miss?” a young woman, the smallest of the group, asked. She had a fierceness about her that I responded to—a fellow warrior.

  “As soon as possible. The next thirty-six hours are critical. And call me Lucky.” I raised my gaze to include everyone. “All of you. We are in this together.”

  “I’ll be in the Panda 777 junket room,” Teddie said. “If any of you need help, find me. Don’t worry about anything at that point other than your safety.”

  “And I’ll be in the hotel, not sure where, but I’ll have my phone. If I’m not close, I can get help to you quickly.” I scanned the group, memorizing faces, and trying to step on my fear. If any one of these women got burned and we didn’t succeed, they would pay the price…or their families would.

  They’d been warned; yet here they were.

  As I looked at them, absorbing their bravery, their spirit, I was humbled. And horrified, wishing upon all that I loved that I could do this myself and not involve anyone.

  Not gonna happen. And, in a way, we were all fighting for futures that were better than our presents. I had to let go and just be grateful.

  “Any questions?” I could see a few in their faces, but no one asked anything.

  Then one woman in the back spoke up. “You get rid of Mr. Cho?” Her face was closed, her expression serious.

  We hadn’t talked about Mr. Cho. As a local, he had friends, even among the women, I’d bet. Through my life, I’d met many women who still worshiped at the altar of men who abused them. Didn’t understand it, never would, but I understood it was real.

  So it was anybody’s guess as to the answer she wanted. I thought I knew, but only one way to find out. Any one of these women could sell us out—best to weed out the bad seeds now. I leapt into the abyss. “Yes.”

  A moment for that to sink in, then smiles split faces all around.

  Okay. I gave myself a moment as I bowed to them. Nothing better than a plan coming together and wishes granted.

  I had my army.

  Ming gathered the women tighter, talking low to them in their local lingo. I started to bristle, then she turned to me. “My apologies. I know this is not nice. We said a quick prayer, a warrior’s prayer. I don’t know the exact words in English—it is an old prayer, old words.” She pulled her gang closer even still. “We are ready.”

  And she was their leader, the one they trusted.

  So noted.

  With kisses all around, which took a bit as here they did the European two-for-one thing, not that I was complaining, then the women filtered into the night, each choosing her own route out through the deepening darkness.

  The darkest hours came right before dawn.

  “Shall we?” I asked Teddie. Gesturing grandly toward the path, I made a show of bravery as I girded my loins to tackle the forest.

  “Follow the path,” he said like a New Age mystic.

  My Galahad, he offered me his arm. This time I didn’t hold onto him quite as tightly. By my calculations, we’d made it halfway to safety and sanity when a figure materialized in front of us shattering any hopes I had of both.

  Teddie and I stopped, but the expletive was all mine. “Shit!”

  Thin and lithe, the outline didn’t look menacing. But somewhere in my past, someone had told me to make myself big when facing a threat in the forest. So I did…not that hard, really. To everyone on this spit of land, I was big already.

  “That’s for a bear,” Teddie hissed.

  “Not helping.”

  The figure stepped closer. A young woman. I recognized her. One of my vast army. Stars whirled through my vision, then I remembered to breathe. If I lived through this adventure, I’d be two decades older and Jean-Charles would throw me over for a younger model.

  “Miss Lucky.”

  I didn’t correct her. “Yes.”

  “I can tell you some things about that man. The other women, my friends, I didn’t want to say it in front of them.” She hung her head.

  With a finger under her chin, I lifted her eyes to mine. “All of us have done things we aren’t proud of, but we have nothing to be ashamed of. You understand?”

  Her features relaxed and I could see how stunningly beautiful she was. “Yes, Miss…Lucky.” She glanced at Teddie.

  He took the hint and moved away.

  “That man?” she began.

  “Mr. Gittings?”

  “Yes. The night he arrived with Mr. Cho.” She hesitated, licking her lips. “He bought me for the night. Big money. You understand?”

  “Of course.”

  “He was…” She searched for the words.

  I waited. She was clearly nervous, and somet
hing else. Angry? Yes, angry. That was the key to her escape.

  “He was nervous, yet excited, wild almost. There was blood on him.” She ducked her head for a moment. When she looked at me again, her eyes were bright with tears. “Kim’s blood. I didn’t know that then. He had paid. I…” She swallowed hard, but her gaze didn’t leave mine, instead holding it steady, her head high.

  “You are very brave to tell me these things. What was Kim to you?”

  “Kim taught us we could get out. We could be lawyers, or corporate executives like you, or anything else we wanted to be.”

  And you could end up dead.

  We both thought the same thought—I could see it in her face—but we didn’t say it. In this world, this time, with all the possibilities, I still seethed that there were women who had to pay with their life to chase their dreams. Changing that was a dangerous game.

  “Where did you meet Gittings? In the hotel?”

  “No, there is an apartment in the hotel next door. Very fancy. He stays there. Miss Liu said it was okay to tell you, that we can trust you.”

  “Who owns it, do you know?”

  Her brows furrowed. “You do.” I must’ve looked shocked as she clarified. “Your hotel does. Mr. Whitmore buys many of us for his special clients who stay there.”

  “I didn’t know. Thank you.”

  She bowed her head. “There is one other thing. I don’t know if it’s important.”

  “It’s all important.”