The Eligible Suspect

by Jennifer Morey

  “Shut up. Don’t talk. I’m going to make a lot of money.”

  “Not if you’re in prison. Korbin said the police have DNA evidence. Is it yours? Tony doesn’t care what happens to you. He will walk away from this. It will only be you who is arrested.”

  Damen grabbed the bars with one hand. “I said shut up! That isn’t true!”

  “It is true. You’ll be arrested.”

  “Only if I’m caught.”

  Demarco had to try another tactic. “What about me, Damen? What about you and me?”

  “You always had it good. Everything is always so easy for you. Your wife. Your career. It all fell right into place. You don’t know what it’s like to have to struggle for everything.”

  “You could have had the same.”

  “No, I couldn’t. You were the smart one. Well, you weren’t so smart when you followed me, were you?”

  “A life of crime isn’t a life, Damen. You’re going to get yourself killed or sent to prison.”

  “You’re as bad as Korbin. Mr. Too Good is what the both of you are. A couple of Mr. Too Goods.”

  “Let’s go, Damen.”

  Demarco had to reach through to his brother. Somehow. “What are you going to do after you make your money?”

  “Take a vacation.”

  “What about me?”

  “What about you? Are you going to rat me out?”

  This time when he answered, he’d be lying. “Of course not. You’re my brother.”

  “Well, then I suppose when I can trust you, I’ll let you go.”

  Behind him, Tony snorted. “Like that’ll ever happen.”

  Damen turned to him. He didn’t like being laughed at. When they were kids, a boy had bullied him in the playground. Damen had started swinging on a swing and the boy had begun teasing him. There was a girl in the swing next to him. It was all very stupid. The bully had said Damen was a girl because he liked to swing with girls. He didn’t play sports like other boys. The boy laughed at him. Damen had stopped swinging, got up and went over and punched the boy. Got him so good he sailed onto his backside and bled out of his nose. He’d been the first of many.

  “What do you know about it?” Damen asked, that familiar bite in his tone.

  Demarco should have paid more attention to the signs.

  “Your brother will say anything to get out of there. Are you that dumb?”

  Just like the bully, Damen charged. He punched Tony and sent him to the floor.

  “Hey! What’d you do that for?”

  “Don’t talk to me like that.”

  “Like what? You’re going to get us both caught.” Tony pointed to Demarco. “He knows too much.”

  “He can get me arrested for murder. I don’t see what you’re so worried about. You can deny you even know me.”

  Tony stood up, wiping his nose. “Whatever. Come on. Let’s go, damn it.”

  Damen looked back at Demarco. “I’m sorry.”

  “Damen, don’t do this. Think about it. Think about what this will do to your future.”

  “My future is already a goner if you tell the cops what you saw.”

  “They won’t need me to convict you.”

  Damen started for the stairs.

  “What are you going to do? Kill Korbin and Savanna? Kill me? Kill everybody? You won’t get away with it!”

  At the base of the stairs, Damen hung the key on a nail and followed Tony to the main level.

  “Damen!”

  His brother kept going up the stairs.

  “Damen!” he yelled louder. When the door closed, he screamed, “Damen!”

  But Damen didn’t come back.

  He had to do something. He had to warn Korbin. Searching around the small room, he noticed a mini refrigerator with a TV on top. He rattled the iron door, checked the hinges to see if he could undo them. Next, he kicked the wall. It was all solid. His brother had built a tree house when they were young teenagers. He was good with wood. Demarco remembered when they’d invited some friends over and one of the boys started arguing with Damen about which actor played in a popular fantasy movie.

  Everybody knows that, the boy had sneered.

  And in the next instant, Damen had pushed him out of the tree house. The boy had broken his leg and their parents had a tough time talking the boy’s parents out of a lawsuit. It was lucky that insurance had covered all the medical bills.

  More signs.

  He rarely showed remorse. He didn’t like animals and animals didn’t like him.

  As an adult, he’d seemed to have outgrown his childhood faults...for a while. His relationship with Collette had once appeared normal. But now, Demarco had come to find out, she’d been afraid of him. Damen hadn’t changed. He was still irrational and solved his problems with violence. And he had just become one of Damen’s problems.

  Chapter 16

  “We’re here to see Pavlo Borsuk.” Savanna stood beside Korbin at the security desk of NextGen Emergency Communications Systems, or NGECS. State-of-the-art automated doors requiring an access card were on both sides of the island desk. Metal detectors scanned anyone entering the outer doors, and two guards stood post. A lot of good all that would do if someone were already inside.

  “What’s the nature of your visit?”

  “Personal.”

  “Sign in, please.”

  Korbin signed his false name and Savanna did the same. The guard called an extension and announced their arrival. He repeated their names. “They said it’s personal.” He looked up at Korbin and Savanna. Then he hung up. “He’ll be right here.”

  No one seemed to recognize them.

  A few minutes later, a tall, thick man with a bushy crop of brown hair and brown eyes appeared through the security doors, followed by another man not as tall and thinner with blond hair. They both wore overalls that must be the required uniform. Pavlo looked to the guard for guidance, and that one pointed to them. The man behind him was looking at Korbin.

  Pavlo approached, hiding what had to be his surprise or confusion. “I am Pavlo.”

  His rich Eastern European accent was muted as though he’d spent a fair amount of time in the United States, learning to blend in. His partner hung back. He must have come along so they could resume whatever janitorial work had been interrupted.

  “Mr. Borsuk, we’re tracking down all of the contractors employed by United Janitorial Services. We’ve noticed some inconsistencies and we were hoping you could clear some things up,” Korbin said.

  “What things? Who are you?”

  “We’re acquaintances of Tony’s. How long have you been employed here?” Korbin noticed how his coworker stood straighter, pushing off the security desk where he leaned, and watching and listening much more intently.

  “Five years. You are friends of Tony’s?”

  “Is that when you became a US citizen?”

  The coworker glanced at Pavlo.

  “Why do you need to know such things? If you are doing survey, you call Tony.” Pavlo started to turn to go. “Let’s go, Nate.”

  “Aside from stealing employee identities, what are you planning?” Korbin asked.

  Pavlo stopped cold, then turned to him. “Excuse me?”

  “We know all about your operation. You immigrate to this country, establish citizenship and then get jobs at these kinds of corporations. You lie dormant for years, until it’s time to execute your plan. What else is there?”

  “I do not know what you are talking about.”

  Korbin glanced at Nate, who seemed interested to the point of anxiety. “If you give us information, the FBI might be persuaded to go easy on you.” Easier, perhaps, than they did the others involved. It may not be wise to suggest the FBI was onto them, and
yet that very thing might scare this man into talking.

  Pavlo looked closer at him and Savanna. “You are that couple in news. Jorge, call the police. This is the man wanted for that murder.”

  The guard stared at Korbin, but recognition didn’t come.

  “They’re planning a terrorist attack,” Korbin told him, also including Nate in on it. “There are several more like him at other corporations. Foreigners who apply for citizenship and then get jobs like this so they can infiltrate sensitive American companies.” To Pavlo he asked, “What job got you a work visa? Janitorial? Did Tony handle all of that for you through his bogus company? Explains why he showed no profit at first. He brought you over here on visas and you all worked lesser jobs until you were able to land this one.”

  “Call the police, Jorge.”

  Jorge, a rule-follower, picked up the phone. “Mr. Howard, there are some people up here that you should come and talk to.”

  He hadn’t called police. He’d called his boss.

  “Wait here,” the guard said.

  A mocking smile touched the Ukrainian’s mouth. He waited with them until Mr. Howard appeared, a big African-American man in a suit.

  “What seems to be the problem?”

  “This is our head of security,” Pavlo said. “These two are—”

  “Tony Bartoszewicz runs an operation through a front company called United Janitorial Services,” Korbin said. “Mr. Borsuk works for him. You hired him under contract. We’ve traced several United Janitorial Services employees to corporations like this one. What do you think terrorists could do with access to an emergency communications company?”

  “That is going too far. Terrorist?” Pavlo sneered as though insulted.

  “Some of the other companies are water treatment plants and the biggest banks in the country,” Savanna said.

  “They are lying. Do you not recognize them? This is the man wanted for that woman’s murder.”

  The head of security hadn’t said anything, but he listened. Before he could say more, the front doors opened and in rushed a dozen policemen.

  Grabbing Savanna’s hand, Korbin shoved the head of security and then punched Pavlo in the nose. It was enough to get him out of the way. Running for the secure doors, he reached Nate. Acting on instinct, he reached for his badge and yanked, breaking the thin lanyard. With Savanna behind him, he opened the secure doors and together they ran down a long hallway, fluorescent lights a runway with closed doors lining each side. Thundering footsteps came up behind them. A woman in a pencil skirt toppled out of the way. A man spilled coffee on the floor. Another stopped short at an intersecting hall.

  Korbin chose an exit sign and headed there. He caught a sign made on printer paper that told everyone this was Shipping. Korbin pulled Savanna with him through two swinging double doors. Cool air flowed through an open overhead door. He jumped off the loading dock and turned to catch Savanna, guiding her by her waist until she had her footing. Over her head, he saw security guards and police burst through the shipping room doors.

  He ran for the parking lot. Seeing a car find a space, he ran faster. The driver got out and saw them running, saw the throng of pursuers and started to get back into his vehicle. Korbin grabbed the keys dangling from the man’s hand and a fistful of his jacket. Tossing him aside, he climbed in after Savanna as she crawled over to the passenger side. He stuck the key in place and revved the engine.

  One of the policemen slapped his hand on the trunk as they sped away.

  * * *

  Savanna checked behind them for signs of police and saw none. “We need to ditch this car.”

  “Let’s take the train.”

  They parked, and walked and ran to the nearby station. Savanna sat next to him, still reeling from their near brush with the law. She was getting good at this. And it was kind of thrilling. Even more thrilling was the man beside her. His thigh was pressed to hers. His quick thinking back there had her marveling. The way he took that man’s badge and held her hand. His determination to avoid arrest so that he could clear his name was full of stealth. She believed wholeheartedly that he’d succeed.

  She glanced over at him and he caught her. Neither looked away.

  At their stop, they got off and walked the rest of the way to their RV campground. In the full light of day, she kept her vigilance on high alert for police or Tony or Damen. Or anyone the two of them might send.

  She wasn’t sure if it was the excitement of their escape or his capability in doing so that had stirred this titillating reaction in her. Walking up the lane in the campground, a car approached behind them. She turned with him, him taking hold of her hand. Her heart thumped faster from flight-or-fight and him.

  At their RV, she stopped to look around with him.

  “Looks like we’re safe,” he said.

  “For now.” She looked at him. They both seemed content to stand here and do just that. “What made you think to grab the man’s badge?”

  “He works with Pavlo. And he looked like he knew something.”

  “You want to go talk to him?”

  “Yeah. Tonight.”

  What were they going to do until then? She glanced around. They should probably go inside.

  When she looked back at him, he was watching her in a way that convinced her he wondered the same.

  A bicycler buzzed by, shooting into view in front of the RV. Savanna jumped.

  The bicycler didn’t pose any harm, but the car approaching down the lane did.

  “That’s Damen,” Korbin said, incredulous.

  How had he found them? Tony was driving. A gun came out of the passenger window.

  Korbin shoved Savanna and she ran for the front of the RV as a gunshot tore into the wood of the picnic table. The car screeched to a stop at their site. Korbin had the keys out and the passenger door unlocked as running footsteps grew closer.

  She scrambled into the big RV just as Damen ran around the front of it. Savanna screamed as Tony appeared at the driver’s door and tried the handle. It didn’t open.

  Korbin kicked Damen. The gun flew out of his hand and Damen jumped up and onto Korbin, and they fought on the front passenger seat. Savanna ran through the RV and went to the backroom where she kept a pistol in the bedside drawer. Rushing back to the living room, she found Korbin wrestling with Damen just behind the cab, half in the kitchen. Tony was about to climb in on the passenger side.

  Savanna fired the pistol, making him duck and fall out the door.

  Korbin kicked Damen and got to his feet, running to Savanna and taking the gun. He swung it around as Damen stood with a knife in his hand.

  “Get out,” Korbin demanded.

  “When you’re dead,” Damen hissed.

  Tony climbed up on the step of the door and aimed his pistol inside the RV. Savanna moved behind the wall next to the side door. Korbin kept Damen between him and Tony.

  Remembering Korbin had another gun in the kitchen drawer, she leaned around the wall and reached for the top handle. Korbin was sparring with Damen.

  “You aren’t going to kill me,” Damen taunted, jabbing the knife.

  Korbin jumped back to avoid being sliced.

  Tony fired the gun, a bullet hitting the wall under the cabinet. Savanna ducked back.

  “You’re not so tough when I’m not tied,” Damen said.

  Korbin kicked him, sending him sailing backward onto his back. Savanna leaned forward, watching Tony taking aim at Korbin. She opened the drawer and retrieved the gun as Korbin fired his weapon at Tony, making him crouch behind the passenger seat.

  Savanna readied the pistol and aimed for Tony’s head while Korbin faced off with Damen again. He was back on his feet with the knife, an evil, confident gleam in his eyes.

  “I should have taken care of you when
I took care of those gang members who came after me.”

  If the reminder that those gang members had cost him his wife bothered Korbin, he didn’t show it.

  “You were such a pansy after that.” Damen continued to taunt him. “I always thought she made you too soft. She was the reason you started drifting away.”

  “From crime?”

  “You didn’t have a problem with it before you met her.”

  “Maybe I finally grew up.”

  “You think you’re so much better than everyone else.”

  Korbin didn’t respond.

  “I was glad when she got shot. I thought I’d get my friend back.”

  While Korbin’s anger brewed into a dangerous storm that Damen recklessly stirred, Savanna saw Tony disappear from the passenger door. She searched for him through the windows. She saw him in the living room slide-out window. He shot at Korbin but the glass protected him.

  Damen lunged with the knife again, catching Korbin on the arm, but Korbin slammed the gun alongside Damen’s head. Damen recovered quickly, ramming into Korbin, sending him stumbling backward. Knife raised, Damen tried to stab him in the chest. Korbin gripped the knife handle over Damen’s hand and the two fought for their own purpose. Damen to stab Korbin, Korbin to stop him. Damen blocked Korbin from swinging the gun again.

  Moving closer, Savanna aimed her pistol. “Stop or I’ll shoot.”

  Damen looked at the gun she held straight at his head. Then, slamming Korbin’s arm to the floor, he loosened Korbin’s grip on the gun. He snatched the pistol and began to move the barrel toward her. Seeing that Damen was about to shoot her, Korbin used both hands and turned the knife on Damen, sinking it into his chest. Savanna dived for the cover of the table as Damen fired.

  Lying on her side, she watched Damen grip the handle of the embedded knife and slump to the floor, eyes on Korbin, wide with disbelief.

  Panting for air, Savanna opened the side door and pointed her gun outside, looking for Tony. She spotted him behind the RV, peeking out to see her and then drawing out of the line of fire when he did.