Ambush

by Patterson, James

  God knows what would have piqued his interest. He was a great organizer, a talent the church utilized. He could have just as easily organized a gambling ring or some other semi-illegal endeavor, which would’ve caused me grief at every turn.

  Sister Agnes had just shown me how much she and the school cared about my children and their education. To say they were going above and beyond the call of duty was an understatement. The only thing they were asking in return was that I keep Seamus on his side of the church and out of Eddie’s and Trent’s educational plans.

  Now I was walking into his clean, organized office and felt confident I’d find him in good health and with a worthwhile activity occupying him.

  I had two ways I could handle this. I could lie to him or just tell him to mind his own business.

  I found Seamus leaning back in a chair sipping coffee.

  He looked up at me from the desk. “What are you doing here, Michael?”

  “Just had an interesting conversation with Sister Agnes.”

  “What could that Ivy League snob want to talk to you about?”

  “Why do you call her that?” My grandfather was not usually malicious.

  “She’s got a degree in some kind of mathematics from Harvard, and she thinks I have absolutely no role in the school whatsoever.”

  “You don’t. You work at the church. Why would you have a role in the school?”

  “I have ten great-grandchildren at the school. That’s reason enough right there.”

  This was not going to be as easy as I thought.

  “Am I missing something? Do you have a personal issue with Sister Agnes?”

  “I gave up personal issues when I entered the priesthood. I have never once faltered on the vows I made to the Church.”

  I caught the somber tone and edge of outrage. I said, “Not that kind of personal issue. I mean some issue you have with her at the school.”

  He looked down at his desk for a moment, then said, “Okay. She might have nixed my suggestion that I teach a class on Irish history.”

  “I can’t imagine why a reasonable school administrator would turn down a chance to have a class taught by someone with no background in history or teaching.”

  “Don’t be a smart aleck. It doesn’t become you. I learned oral history growing up in the old country. But she wasn’t interested in any of that. She said there weren’t many kids with an Irish heritage at the school. She said even my own great-grandchildren weren’t technically Irish. At least most of them.”

  I had dealt with Sister Agnes for years, and I knew she wouldn’t have used the tone that Seamus was using now. But I saw her point. The kids here came from varied and interesting backgrounds. They probably wouldn’t fully appreciate fables told by an elderly priest who still had an Irish accent.

  I waited for him to calm down a little, then said, “I’m sorry she shot down your idea. But you have to recognize there’s great opportunities coming for Eddie and Trent. And I don’t want you to cause any heartburn about it. Understood?”

  He bowed his head and mumbled, “Understood.”

  I joked with my grandfather quite a bit. We traded jabs on a regular basis. But I never liked to see him disappointed. And that’s how he looked right now. As usual, though, in a couple of minutes he was past it. He looked across at me as I sat at the other desk and thought about my day.

  My grandfather said, “What’s wrong, Michael? I know that look.”

  “Just general stress. Someone trying to kill you tends to do that.”

  Seamus chuckled. “They tried to kill Alonzo, too. Unless I’m mistaken, he’s tickled pink by it. Something about missing the action from his old life.”

  “That makes him insane.”

  “He may be insane, but he has reenergized the school and brought out a whole untapped population of students who never had an interest in sports before. It’s not just soccer. He understands basketball as well. I think his real genius is in motivation.”

  “I won’t soon forget how he helped me when those men tried to shoot me the other day. I’m glad he’s a good coach, but I’m even happier he was a tough cop.”

  Seamus put down his coffee and straightened some papers on his desk. “What have you got planned for today?”

  “I’m going by to visit Juliana in Brooklyn at the TV show set.” I saw him perk up immediately.

  “Let me come with you.”

  He sounded like a kid pleading to go with his parents.

  I said, “I’m just going to say hello, then get back to work.”

  “You won’t deny an old man the chance to see his great-granddaughter, will you? I’d love to see what the set looks like.”

  “Give me a break. ‘Old man’—that’s laughable. You get around the city better than I do.”

  Then Seamus said the one thing that always got him his way.

  “Please.”

  I let out a heavy sigh and said, “Okay, but dress in civilian clothes. We don’t want to freak out the movie types. Or maybe they’ll think you’re an extra from another set who wandered over. Either way, don’t wear the collar.”

  He sprang from his seat and called out, “C’mon, Alonzo. Michael is taking us to Brooklyn.”

  I mumbled, “What the hell—the more the merrier.”

  Chapter 79

  Alex Martinez was in a good mood. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel on this job, which seemed to go on and on. All she wanted to do was go home to her ranch and her daughters and live her life.

  She’d already turned down a job offer she’d gotten earlier in the morning. A Swiss banking cartel needed her to clean up a mess in Marseille, France. They had a bank president who had showered his family with gifts paid for through embezzlement. News of the scandal would cripple the stock price. But a fatal hit-and-run would solve everything.

  She politely turned the job down, then they offered her more money. She turned it down again, and they said what everyone says: “It’s an easy job. You could phone it in.”

  Alex said, “If it’s that easy, why don’t you handle it yourself?” She felt invigorated when she hung up the phone.

  Now she was walking onto the set of Century’s End. Dressed in a very sharp skirt with a very conservative blouse, she walked through the hallway with purpose and drive. Not one person questioned her presence.

  Sitting at the far end of the set in a director’s chair was the young woman she was looking for. She ran it through her head one more time to make sure she called her Jules, not Juliana. She wanted this to move quickly and smoothly. She just needed to lure the girl away from the set, then make contact with her father.

  Alex didn’t like using a stunt like this. She was not much for traumatizing a young person not involved in any crime. But she had to make a choice. Bennett had proved to be resourceful and dangerous. And she wanted to get home. Immediately.

  The other issue was the girl herself. She’d be able to identify Alex if anyone could find a photo. Alex wasn’t too worried about that. First she had to get Bennett into the right position. Then she’d worry about witnesses.

  Juliana Bennett was having a serious conversation with an attractive young man. The name on the back of his chair was Cade Jason. She had no idea who he was. She’d only done research about Juliana.

  Both young people looked up as she came to a stop in front of them.

  When she concentrated, Alex had almost no accent when she was speaking English. She looked directly at Juliana and said, “Hello. Are you Jules Baez?”

  The girl hesitated, then said, “Yes. Yes, I am.”

  “I’m Alice Marshall with the Suzanne Grossman Talent Management Company. Have you heard of us?”

  Juliana’s face lit up as she said, “Of course I have. You guys are one of the biggest agencies on the East Coast.”

  Alex didn’t rush it. She felt a surge of confidence in her plan. She said, “If you have a few minutes, I’d love to talk about representing you.”

  T
he girl smiled from ear to ear. “Yeah. I don’t have a stage call until after noon.”

  “Great. Can I take you out to an early lunch somewhere close by?”

  “Absolutely.” She was standing, gathering her purse.

  As Alex started to turn, the young man who was sitting next to Juliana said, “I’m Cade Jason. Would you like to talk to me, too?”

  Alex could recognize the smugness on this young man’s face. She couldn’t resist saying, “No, thank you.”

  She was rewarded with a snicker by Juliana.

  Everything was going as planned.

  Chapter 80

  I almost regretted my stop at Holy Name. Not only did it give traffic a chance to build, I also had two passengers I’d have to drop off at the church again on my way back.

  Sometimes dealing with my grandfather was like dealing with a child. It was easier to just give him his way.

  Father Alonzo, sitting in the backseat, leaned forward and said, “How goes your investigation? Any leads on the men who tried to shoot us?”

  I didn’t know how much I should say.

  Father Alonzo said, “I’m sorry, but it just gave me a glimpse into my past life. Perhaps I miss the action more than I thought.”

  I said, “Don’t worry about it, Alonzo. I know exactly how you feel. The biggest problem with the case is that, at the heart of it, it involves two organizations. The Canadian mob and the Mexican cartel.”

  Alonzo said, “I have studied trends in organized crime for many years. Although Canadians don’t cause a great deal of problems in Colombia, I still know that they can be as ruthless as anyone. They’re also constantly underestimated. The stereotype of the polite Canadian doesn’t help them when they’re trying to scare people.”

  I said, “But they’re no match for the Mexican cartel.”

  “Agreed. Especially if the Mexicans are importing killers from Colombia. They have too much money and too large of an established network. I’m just sorry they decided to throw you in with their list of targets.”

  “I’ve got a great team working on it with me. We’ll find this killer and keep her from causing any more havoc.”

  Father Alonzo said, “It has been my experience that just as people underestimate the Canadian mob, they tend to underestimate female killers. There’s a reason she has this job. She has to be extremely smart and resourceful. This may be a tall order.”

  “I’m not going to give up on it.”

  “No—that’s not what I’m suggesting. You need to be ready all the time. She’ll try to hit you when you least expect it. Or she’ll be very sly and somehow lure you into a trap. You won’t know what happened until it’s too late.

  “You must make use of your advantages. This is your territory. You know the city. Use what you know and she doesn’t.”

  I thought about his Zen-like advice. I did have resources here and knowledge of the city that I doubted this killer possessed.

  I just hoped when the time came, I would remember that.

  Chapter 81

  Driving with my grandfather in the car is like having an uninvited know-it-all tour guide with you. He kept saying he didn’t get to lower Manhattan and Brooklyn much and wanted to see the sights. Not the Freedom Tower or the bull on Wall Street, but the little markets he used to frequent and the restaurants he knew were no longer in business. He said he just wanted to see the facades of the buildings.

  He also explained everything we saw to Alonzo in minute detail. Like the history of how Little Italy evolved and the construction details of the Brooklyn Bridge. Finally I had to tell him I was on a schedule and that the NYPD expected me to work occasionally. But that didn’t stop him from making me circle the building where the TV show was being filmed.

  Seamus said, “I’ve been here. I remember this place. It was a restaurant-supply distribution center I ordered from when I owned the bar.”

  I said, “When’s the last time you were here?”

  “Probably twelve or fifteen years ago. It brings back a flood of memories. I’d sometimes buy cases of beer that ‘fell off’ actual beer trucks. I could buy them for about 30 percent of the regular cost.”

  “So you’re telling me you bought stolen beer and sold it in your legal bar?”

  “Sometimes I’d tack on an extra fee, saying that there was a shortage of the beer and I was able to grab some of the last cases.” He wore a mischievous grin that made him look like a leprechaun.

  It made me smile because it reminded me of when I was a child. How we would go on adventures together and he’d tell me wild tales that even then I knew weren’t true.

  I was surprised to see that the side of the building facing the river housed a beautiful glass-enclosed set of offices with a receptionist at the front. The grassy park between the building and the river made it that much nicer. I wondered if this had anything to do with the TV or movie business. Maybe it was a separate part of the building the owner rented out. With the East River in front of it and some nice landscaping around the park, it was definitely upscale.

  Seamus rolled down his window and said, “I don’t care what anyone says about the East River—I like the smell of it. Reminds me of home. The sea.”

  As we slowly turned at the corner of the building and were driving next to the sidewalk, Seamus said, “I can’t wait to see Jules.”

  I said, “Juliana.”

  “She likes to be called Jules on the set.”

  “How do you know that? Have you been on the set before?”

  I stopped the car to stare at him as he looked sheepish and wouldn’t meet my eye.

  A stagehand carrying a box on the sidewalk looked over and said, “Hey, Father.”

  It was rare to catch the old man so cleanly. Now I gave him a good nod and said, “Explain that.”

  Without missing a beat, Seamus said, “He’s your illegitimate uncle.”

  “Funny.” I did note that Father Alonzo was laughing in the backseat. “You just said it had been a dozen years since you saw the building.”

  Seamus said, “I meant it had been a dozen years since I saw the front of the building, by the river. I saw the rest last Friday when I watched them film a scene with Jules. She was fantastic. She’s really talented.”

  Then I saw two women come out of the building’s door about fifty yards from us. It took me a moment to realize that one of them was my daughter.

  Seamus said, “Who’s that with Jules?”

  I didn’t recognize the striking woman with the long dark hair. She was chatting casually with Juliana, but there was something about her that seemed familiar.

  I started to get an uneasy feeling. I pulled to the curb.

  Chapter 82

  Alex Martinez smiled as she listened to this captivating young woman speak. She was very poised for an eighteen-year-old. She was also very excited that an agent was interested in talking to her about representation. Alex was sorry the girl’s dreams were about to come crashing down.

  Getting her to leave the building had been remarkably easy. Even the timing was good. She was on a break, so Alex didn’t have to stand around and chat with someone who might know she didn’t work for the Grossman talent agency.

  They were just coming to the heavy security door that led to the outside. Her plan was simple from there. Get the girl to her car, then make her call her father.

  Alex had no intention of killing an innocent girl—unless she found herself in a situation where there was no other choice.

  Just as they stepped out the door, the sun caused Alex to raise her hand and let her eyes adjust. Juliana said, “Would you mind if I called my dad real quick?”

  “Not at all. In fact, if you’d be more comfortable, invite him to lunch with us.” Could she be this lucky?

  As Juliana reached into her purse for her phone, Alex reached into her own to make sure her stiletto and pistol were within easy reach.

  Juliana pulled an iPhone from her purse and paused. She looked across the front courtya
rd and said, “I think that’s my dad’s car right there.”

  Alex saw the Impala and kicked herself for not noticing it immediately. It wasn’t like she’d never seen it. She’d followed Bennett around most of yesterday.

  This plan was so much less complicated than the original one. She slipped her hand into her purse and wrapped her fingers around the grip of her 9mm pistol. She’d wait until he was so close there was nothing he could do.

  As soon as she was done, Alex intended to hop in her car and be back in Manhattan before the first patrol car arrived.

  Chapter 83

  I followed my instinct and left the car idling by the sidewalk. I started to walk quickly toward Juliana and the other woman. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary as I cut across the grass and looked straight ahead. Still, I picked up my pace.

  Juliana smiled and waved. The woman stood next to her and made no overtly threatening movements. Maybe I’d let my paranoia get the best of me again. I felt like an idiot.

  I stepped onto the walkway that led to the door where the two women were standing. I looked over my shoulder quickly to make sure my grandfather and Father Alonzo were still in the car.

  They had both stepped onto the sidewalk.

  Now I relaxed slightly, as it appeared that Juliana was just coming out the door with someone from the production company. Most of the people working on the set looked like electricians or plumbers.

  When I was about twenty feet from Juliana, she said, “What are you doing here during a workday?”

  “I’m never too busy to see one of my kids.” I was waiting for an introduction to the other woman as I walked toward them.

  The woman reached in her purse casually. When she pulled out her hand, I could clearly see the small semiautomatic pistol in it.