Contract to Kill

by Andrew Peterson

  “We’re taking him to the ER.”

  “Wait. You know what that means.”

  “We’re already all-in.” He gave Toby a quick examination. “Some of his fingers are broken, and his skin is abraded under the cuffs. They beat his face to a pulp. It’s obvious he gave up his cell phone under torture. That’s why it isn’t here. We need to know what else he told them. We—”

  A low-pitched woof rattled the window.

  Nathan recognized the sound and rushed to the curtains.

  “ID,” Harv said, joining him.

  Incendiary device.

  “Toby’s Sentra.”

  “Are you guys seeing this?” Holly asked.

  “Affirm. We’re on our way down. Start the sedan and be ready to go.” Nathan immediately noticed the rear passenger compartment of Toby’s car already glowed. In another minute or so, the entire vehicle would be fully involved. “Why torch Toby’s car?”

  “A diversion?”

  Nathan nodded.

  “That car fire actually helps us.”

  Nathan couldn’t hide the tightness in his voice. “Helps us? How the hell does it help us?”

  “The fire department is already scrambling, and they can usually arrive quicker than the police or an ambulance. They’re all first responders and they might have an EMT with them.”

  Nathan didn’t mean to sound incredulous, but it came out that way. “So we just leave him here?”

  “At the risk of sounding callous, yes.”

  “Harv, even if we leave Toby’s front door wide open, there’s no guarantee the firefighters will see it in time or assume the open door is connected to the car fire. We need to transport him.”

  “If we take him down to the sidewalk, there’s no way they’ll miss him. Nate . . . we can’t stay. We have to clear the area.”

  “Shit, Harv. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just really pissed off right now.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Harv said.

  Nathan pulled his knife and cut the plastic bindings securing Toby’s hands and feet, then grasped him under the armpits while Harv picked up Toby’s legs. Together they hauled him off the dining room chair.

  “This guy weighs a ton,” Harv said.

  “That might be the only reason he’s still alive. They probably used subsonic .22 rounds again.”

  They moved him through the door onto the walkway.

  Just ahead, a door on the opposite side of the stairwell opened and a young woman in a bathrobe stepped out. She approached the rail and stared down at the blazing car. She hadn’t seen them yet, but she would soon enough. The entire wall of the apartment building was bathed in orange light.

  “Excuse me, ma’am,” Nathan said.

  She looked at them and covered her mouth. “What happened to Toby?”

  “Please call 911 and request an ambulance. I think he may’ve been injured from the explosion down there.”

  Without saying another word, she backed into her apartment.

  Toby’s butt scraped along the stair treads as they hauled him down. At the bottom, they laid him on the sidewalk where he couldn’t be missed. Flames now roared from the Sentra’s blown-out windows. The rain wasn’t going to help much. IDs contained their own fuel and burned hotter than most fires.

  Toby’s eyes opened for a few seconds, and he turned his head.

  “Harv, he’s awake.” Nathan bent down and spoke softly. “Toby, it’s Nathan.”

  Toby’s mouth moved soundlessly, his eyes fluttering closed. “Med hall . . . ”

  “What’s that?” Nathan asked.

  “Med . . . ”

  “I don’t understand you, but you’re going to be okay. Did you tell Mason about us? Toby? Toby! Shit, he’s out.”

  “Nate, we gotta go.”

  “Did you catch what he said?”

  “It sounded like ‘med hall.’” Harv nodded toward the other side of the street. “People are watching us.”

  “Fuck ’em,” Nathan said.

  “Nate . . . ”

  “Okay, okay.” They walked at a brisk pace along the sidewalk. “I’m ready to burn BSI to the ground.”

  “A few bad people doesn’t make the entire company bad.”

  “I don’t like being in reaction mode. We’re going on the offensive.”

  “We will, but let’s get through the next few minutes first.”

  Nathan issued a dismissive grunt and pictured himself in Mason’s shoes. His primary concern would have been finding out if Toby had told anyone what he’d witnessed on the soccer field. He’d obviously beaten Mara as well, and he hoped she’d denied him the satisfaction of breaking her.

  By the time they reached the corner of the next street where Harv had parked, the entire neighborhood was awake. Dogs barked, and people stood on the sidewalk with cell phones held to their ears.

  They both heard it then: the distant cry of a siren.

  Nathan wasn’t too worried about the woman they’d seen on the second-floor walkway; it hadn’t been brightly lit up there. If questioned, she could give the police a general description of two big men carrying Toby—not terribly useful. Wearing ball caps, they’d also kept their heads down.

  When they turned the corner at the end of the block, Nathan felt a certain amount of relief upon seeing Harv’s car. They’d be clear of this area in the next twenty seconds.

  Getting in the backseat, he asked, “Do you think Toby or Mara caved?”

  “It’s hard to say. They went at Toby pretty hard, but Mara didn’t look as bad. She could’ve given us up before they got rough, or they might’ve used her against Toby. There’s no way to know until we talk to him.”

  Holly pulled away from the curb. “Are they alive?”

  “Mara’s not, and Toby’s hanging by a thread. Mason shot both of them in the head multiple times.”

  “Nathan, I’m so sorry.”

  “You aren’t going to say I told you so?”

  “Of course not,” she said.

  Nathan felt his cell vibrate. He pulled it from his pocket and read the name. Karen. A name from another life—from his time with Mara, when he’d first met Toby. Why would she be calling? Especially now?

  “Karen?”

  “Nathan, I think there’s someone in my front yard. The floodlights just came on!”

  “How many blinking red lights do you see on the master control unit?”

  “I don’t know. I think I saw two. I’m looking out the window.”

  “Stay away from the windows! We’re on our way. We’ll be there in three minutes. Which zones are blinking red?”

  “The front yard.”

  “Who else is there?”

  “No one. I’m alone.”

  “Karen, don’t question me right now: I want you to activate the panic feature on any of the keypads. Do it right now. Keep your phone with you, and put it on silent mode. Get into your emergency hiding place as fast as you can, and clear your recent-call list.”

  “Nathan—”

  “Hide now!” Nathan yelled. “And clear that call list!”

  CHAPTER 15

  Rain pelting off his cap, Mason walked at a good clip down the residential sidewalk. If anyone happened to spot him, he didn’t want to look like a burglar. This neighborhood had no apartments or condos, only single-family homes on small lots. Boring boxes full of boring people, thought Mason. Aside from an occasional porch light, most of the neighborhood remained dark because the streetlights stood several hundred feet apart.

  The address he wanted was the next house on the right. He slowed and looked for motion sensors mounted on the eaves. Detecting none, he angled across the lawn, heading for the front door.

  Mason inwardly cursed when four floodlights snapped on. He must’ve stepped through an
IR beam or triggered a hidden motion detector, something he should’ve anticipated. He left his gun in his waist pack and ran across the brightly lit yard.

  Karen felt panic tighten her skin. She’d never heard Nathan sound so intense. Dressed only in underwear and a T-shirt, she bolted through the dark house to the kitchen. She jammed the red button on the keypad controller three times in quick succession. The result was instantaneous. The entire house erupted with an ear-piercing electronic shriek—like a hyperactive ambulance siren. And the front and backyard ignited with additional blinding light. To avoid being seen in the bleed light invading the house, Karen crouched below the level of the countertops and crawled over to the kitchen island.

  “Holly, stop and switch places with me.”

  Without bothering to pull to the curb, she braked hard in the middle of the street and climbed out. Five seconds later, Nathan floored the accelerator.

  Holly asked, “What’s going on? Who’s Karen?”

  “She’s Mara’s friend; they used to live together.”

  “You think Mason’s at Karen’s house?”

  Nathan didn’t answer.

  “They’re sterilizing,” Harv said.

  “Why there?” Holly asked. “Why her?”

  Again, Nathan didn’t respond; he was too focused on Karen, going over the layout of her house in his head. First Security had upgraded her alarm system a few years ago. There were multiple keypads in the house, so it shouldn’t take her more than a few seconds to trigger the panic feature and get into her rabbit hole. He hoped she hadn’t used it for storage.

  Mason knew his way around security systems and believed someone had just triggered the panic button. The increased exterior light and blaring shriek inside the house meant he had very little time to break in, grab the woman, and bug out. Keeping his head down in case there were hidden cameras, he charged the front door and threw his weight against it. No match for his momentum, it flew open and banged against the wall.

  Karen opened a cabinet door and thanked heaven for finding an empty space. She’d been worried Cindy might’ve put stuff in here. She scrambled inside and pulled the door closed.

  Total blackness engulfed her.

  Over the blaring alarm, she heard a loud bang and knew someone had just kicked open her front door. She blindly felt for the small shelf in the upper-right corner and closed her hand over the butt of the .25 automatic pistol. Fighting back tears, she tucked her knees against her chest and waited for Nathan or death to arrive.

  Nathan’s phone vibrated, so did Harv’s. If any of their clients ever activated the panic feature, both of their phones received text alerts.

  Nathan accelerated to eighty miles an hour along a straight section of road. “Let’s hope the noise chases Mason away. He should know the police will treat Karen’s alarm like a 911 call.”

  “Agreed. Our system shows a home invasion’s taking place. If she made it into her rabbit hole, she bought some extra time. She’s got a gun in there, doesn’t she?”

  “Yeah, she’s supposed to. We’ll need to park down the street and proceed on foot.”

  Holly asked, “Doesn’t this seem like overkill? I mean, at some point the crimes you commit to cover things up exceed the original crime.”

  Harv sighed. “Yeah, they do. It’s the same principle as lying. It snowballs.”

  “Hang on. I’m going through.” Nathan approached a red light without slowing.

  “Clear on the right,” Harv said. “Good driving, partner.”

  Nathan cranked the windshield wipers to their highest setting.

  “So Karen knows Toby and Mara, right?” Holly asked.

  “Yes.” Nathan ran another red light without incident. “We don’t know whether Toby or Mara told Mason about us, but it looks like one of them may have contacted Karen.”

  “But why?” asked Holly. “Why bring someone else into this? You said not to tell anyone.”

  “Mara and Karen are close friends,” Harv said. “Friends share secret stuff with each other.”

  Nathan nodded. “Well, let’s hope the rabbit hole works. The alarm should force Mason to conduct a quick room-to-room recon, and when he doesn’t find anyone, he’ll bug out.” Or burn the place down. Nathan braked hard and made another turn. The wheels drifted on the wet concrete, but he maintained control. “We’re almost there. I’ll park at the corner and take point on the west side of the street. I’ll use whatever landscaping is available to advance. If any of Karen’s neighbors see me, that’s okay. The more people calling 911, the better. Harv, you take the east side of the street and give me a ten-second lead.”

  “What about me?” Holly asked.

  “You’ll take Harv’s six, twenty-second delay.”

  Harv said, “Karen didn’t mention seeing any vehicles, did she?”

  “No.”

  “Then we should keep an eye out for their SUV and Lexus. Based on everything that’s happened tonight, I know how this is going to sound, but we should avoid a firefight if possible. Again, we don’t have vests and we can’t risk a stray bullet entering someone’s home. Let’s agree that our mission objective is to chase them away if they’re still around.”

  “It’s tempting to shoot them, but I agree, Harv. We’ll get an opportunity later. When we’re finished with those BSI . . . contractors, they’re going to be droolers for the rest of their lives.”

  “Amen to that.”

  Nathan made a tight left turn onto Mount Acadia Boulevard and accelerated to twice the speed limit. Every hundred yards or so, he honked his horn. If anyone was out here at 1:43 AM, at least they’d hear the big Mercedes coming.

  Harv said, “Be careful, Nate, they could be tearing out of there. If we see some headlights in Karen’s neighborhood, there’s a good chance it’s them.”

  Nathan braced himself for another high-speed turn.

  “There’s something else we have to consider,” Harv said.

  “What’s that?”

  “If it’s Mason, and he finds Karen . . . ”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m more worried about her being kidnapped. Mason won’t hang around to interrogate her; he’ll grab her and leave.”

  “He’ll also take her phone.”

  “I told her to clear her recent calls, but in her current state of mind, who knows. My phone number or name might be front and center in her recent-call list. Let’s hope it doesn’t say Nathan McBride—First Security.”

  “Maybe we’ll get some footage of them. Karen’s security system activated all the cameras—inside and out.”

  Nathan asked, “It’s a live link?”

  “Yes, the video is sent directly to our server.”

  Nathan didn’t say anything.

  “She’s going to be okay, Nate. We’ll be there in ninety seconds.”

  Mason rushed through the breached door and crouched at the entrance to the living room. Except for the bleed light from the exterior floods, it was dark in here. If there were any other sounds, they were impossible to hear over the obnoxious shrieking.

  Each passing second represented increasing danger. Many Americans owned guns, and he didn’t want to be facing the business end of one. He was also worried about dogs, but fortunately, none charged out of the darkness.

  He rushed from room to room, pivoting around corners and using furniture for cover when he could. His earpiece came to life with Darla’s voice.

  “Skinner, we’ve . . . lights coming on in the house . . . door to the north. Same thing . . . the street . . . think we’ve got less . . . thirty seconds before . . . coming outside.”

  “You’re unreadable over this alarm. Copy you’ve got neighbor activity?” Mason reached down and cranked the volume.

  “Affirm.” Darla’s voice was louder.

  “It doesn’t look like anyone’s home, but somebody had to press t
he panic button.”

  “It could’ve been triggered remotely.”

  “Either way, we’re not hanging around to find out. Regroup at the vehicles. I’m on my way. You copy, Chip?”

  “Affirm.”

  Mason looked for framed photos of the people who lived here but saw none. This place was pretty stark. It didn’t have the feel of someone’s home; it felt more like an office. The infernal noise was getting under his skin. Annoyed at not finding anyone, he kicked a Tiffany table lamp across the room. Its shade shattered on the hardwood floor.

  Outside, he kept his head down and sprinted through the blinding light.

  “Skinner, we’ve got more trouble.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I just heard chatter through the scanner. The fire department just requested a code-three bus for an unconscious gunshot victim.”

  Nathan slowed about a hundred yards north of Karen’s house and found a parking spot midway between streetlights.

  In the distance, multiple sirens pierced the night. The three of them performed a radio check to make sure all their wiring was still good.

  With Harv following across the street, Nathan hustled down the sidewalk. He’d cut into people’s yards closer to Karen’s.

  The setting and mood felt eerily familiar and reminded him of the night he’d fought with Toby. Just as they were now, recycle bins had been stationed along the street’s curb like sentinels. Contrasting the anger he felt, the soft patter of rain hitting their plastic forms sounded benign, almost calming.

  He could now see the glow from Karen’s yard and hear the blaring of the security system’s alarm—a good sign. If he could hear it at this distance, other neighbors could too. Their system did exactly what it was designed to do. Nathan hoped it would be enough.

  He glanced across the street and saw Harv a few paces back, mirroring his forward progress. He couldn’t see Holly, but knew she was back there somewhere.

  “Holly, status?”

  “I’ve got Harvey in sight.”

  “Harv, how long ago did we receive the panic-button text?”