by Rick Murcer
Easy, boy.
Josh grinned. “I suppose that’s true. And I’m sure no one else noticed, but you two women are as gorgeous as any on the island.”
Sophie reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “You still have a way, Boss,” she grinned. “And I’ve got my throwing stars in a place most men only dream about seeing.”
Chloe laughed out loud. “The same for my gun.”
Dean swallowed hard; so did Manny.
“Okay, enough stirring up the help,” said Josh.
Turning serious, he looked Manny’s way. “So, this is the best way?”
“Yeah. Pretty sure it is. We couldn’t put those people at risk knowing that the killer could be planning something big, so the next best thing was to fill the place with cops and hope he still shows.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” said Alex, tugging at his cummerbund. “Aren’t we supposed to be protecting the public?”
“Yes, we are. Canceling this exhibit would give us zero chance to catch him and stop this crazy prick from killing even more people, so we have to hope we guessed right, and get that chance. It wasn’t much of a problem to get a hundred cops to show up here, impersonating high society, I just pray we didn’t tell the wrong guy to stay home.”
“Do you think we did?” asked Chloe.
“Only three people on the guest list were members of the fencing clubs, one of them a woman, so our chances are good that we didn’t lose him there. I’m more worried about, and I hate to say this, the unsub being in law enforcement. But we checked each of them out, so we should be good,” said Josh. “Not to mention, he may not even be here. He may have led us here and has something else planned altogether. That’s not likely, but . . . listen. We all feel nervous about this one, but I don’t see another way. We couldn’t risk any more civilians dying,” said Manny.
“Do you think he’s already in the building? If the chances are good that he is, then maybe we should storm the place and see who’s not a cop,” suggested Dean.
“Grasshopper. Have you forgotten the little head-explosion trick he pulled at the morgue and what Josh just said?” said Alex, putting his hand on Dean’s shoulder.
“Good point. So maybe he doesn’t show at all?” asked Dean.
“Like we talked about at the office, that’s possible, but I don’t think so. This is his coup de gras, his reason. And I think he’s driven to get personal. Real personal. He’ll be here, if we’ve guessed the clues properly. The questions are when and how,” answered Manny.
“We don’t want any cops to get hurt either, and Crouse’s CO can stop the event at any time he feels there could be a serious problem, but I doubt he will. He wants this over with too. He said if this iffy plan doesn’t work, the people that couldn’t attend will be pissed and call on their political contacts to have his ass. He said the governor would be his new proctologist.”
“Even though we’ll all be cops, it still sounds dangerous,” said Dean. His face caused Manny a slight tinge of nervousness, but he dismissed it. They just had to do their job, that’s all.
“Okay. The gallery is a block in that direction. We need to get into position. The four of us will go through the back. You all know where you’re supposed to be, and don’t forget to keep in contact with each other. These wireless intercoms aren’t cheap. Dean will hang around across the street from the front door and keep us posted.”
The CSI nodded. “That works for me. I’ll watch your backs. I hate tuxes anyway.”
“And for God’s sake, and your own, don’t get stupid. We’re a team, act like you know what that means. If something is wrong or goes down, call first, act second. Got it?”
The collective nod said they did.
When they reached the backdoor, they walked in, spoke to the cops disguised as guards, then they were in their assigned positions. Manny looked at his watch. Thirty minutes until the doors were supposed to open to display one of the planet’s best. He felt more anxiety, or maybe it was excitement. At any rate, a few deep breaths were required. This man, this complex psychopath, was more than unpredictable. Had he changed his MO? Was this going to be some kind of bomb attack? Gas? No. It didn’t fit. He was fairly sure of that. Besides, the gallery had been scanned and searched for all of those things. At the front door, “guests” were arriving in elegant style, the long limousines and the sparkling necklaces making the ruse look authentic. He saw Chloe on one side of the room and Alex on the other. Josh and Sophie had taken the assignment inside the room where the Picassos were encased in bulletproof, fireproof glass as clear as a Caribbean morning. Just in case the killer was also a thief.
Out of nowhere came a loud, crashing sound and Manny reached for his weapon. Turning quickly to face the wine and hors d’oeuvre table, he saw a tray of black caviar staining the expensive Oriental rug.
“I’m so sorry,” apologized the large woman officer. “I just bumped it.”
“No problem. I’ll get maintenance up here to take care of this. Accidents happen,” said her date.
Letting his Glock drop back into the holster, Manny released a breath he’d borrowed from hell. His heart told him he couldn’t take too many more of those, and from the look on Alex’s and Chloe’s faces, their hearts were speaking the same language.
The clock seemed to move slower as everyone in the room anticipated something that might not even happen. In spite of that, he felt, somehow, that showtime was quickly approaching. How? Where? And Good God, who?
Still scanning the crowd, he only partially noticed the cop maintenance man as he began cleaning up the spilled caviar. The man looked in Manny’s direction and went back to work.
What the hell?
He knew that face, even with the dark beard, didn’t he? Then it hit him. His head swam because it was impossible. He’d seen the pictures; this man was dead, butchered into so many pieces.
But if he were here, then what had really happened in El Yunque? Manny’s mind was swiftly flooded with the rest of the truth. He pulled his Glock, stepped around two cops, and stood ten feet behind the imposter.
“Caleb Corner! Stand up and put your hands in the air.”
Chapter-66
Caleb froze in mid-motion as his head bowed. Manny watched the flexing of his right hand and knew that he was looking for a way out. Even in that second, his mind still rumbled with the fantastic reality of Caleb’s state.
This will kill Josh.
By then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Alex and Chloe had noticed his posture, and his gun, as had some of the fake guests who were standing near him. Chloe hiked up her dress and pulled out her Smith and Wesson from her thigh holster and started to run in Manny’s direction. Alex was right behind her.
Standing to his full height, left leg stiff, Caleb dropped his hands to his side, never turning in Manny’s direction.
“Agent Williams. I guess you figured it out. But it’s too late.”
“Raise your hands! Don’t even think about pulling that blade. Do it now.”
What the hell did that mean, too late?
Josh’s half-brother hesitated and kept his right hand still, hovering like a cobra ready to strike, but then he moved quickly. He drew the blade from his coveralls, then grabbed the female cop who had knocked over the plate of caviar, and slit her throat. Then he hacked at her date. The accompanying scream told Manny that he’d struck well.
Cops weren’t supposed to panic, but that was now a reality. Guns, blade, yelling, and two more agents hurrying to confront the killer was a sure-fire incantation for disaster. The yelling coursed through the room, and people scrambled to get away from Caleb and started pulling weapons. In the confusion, it was simply too close of quarters to get a clear shot—for anyone. Four cops ended up directly between him and Josh’s brother. Caleb seemed to sense his chance to make a break and headed for the door. His movements were fast and graceful. Manny raised his gun and yelled for him to stop, wondering if that ever worked, and tried to get a bead on
him, but he had no shot, at least one he wanted to take. Damn it. He hadn’t thought about the close quarters. This was turning south in a hurry.
Caleb pushed two people out of his way, slashed at one of the security guards, and the woman went down screaming as the gash running across her face flowed a scarlet river before she hit the marble floor.
“Stop! Now!” yelled Chloe.
But Caleb didn’t stop. Instead, he pushed an older cop in her direction and rushed her. Manny still had no shot, and he worried that someone else wouldn’t exercise such control. But so far so good.
The older cop crashed into Chloe, causing her weapon to fly from her hand. It discharged, and the shot hit some five feet above the ornate bay window on the wall to Manny’s left. Two more shots rang out while someone yelled to cease fire. What happened next could only occur in real life—no one in Hollywood could have dreamt it.
Catching the cop Caleb had tossed her way, Chloe steadied him as Caleb wound up to swing the shining Katana in a full arc. Reacting like a woman of her substance would, she swung the cop to the side as Caleb’s blade began to move forward.
There is no horror like the repeat of one a man has already endured. In a blink, Manny knew that Chloe was going to die.
Enter Alex Downs. With a push of his left hand, he sent Chloe sprawling, getting a shot off, but he missed and Caleb didn’t. Alex’s left hand spun to the floor landing gracefully, palm up, before Alex ever realized it was his own. Then Manny had a shot and took it, just as another gun exploded from behind him. Caleb took one slug in his shoulder and another in his leg. The killer, the brother of a friend and more, crumbled, the sword skidding across to where Alex sat on his knees staring at his wayward limb. Glancing behind him, he saw Josh Corner’s gun still smoking. He hadn’t hesitated to shoot his half-brother, even though the shock at seeing his brother alive had to be akin to seeing him dead.
Caleb had now joined the ranks of the screaming, as chaos began to settle, and fifty cops pulled their weapons. But it was the wrong kind of scream. It was not from pain, but from the frustration and the madness that he so willingly embraced. He pulled a smartphone from his pocket and the screams turned to laughter, the kind that haunts any respectable insane asylum.
“I’ll kill all of you!”
Before Manny could react, there was a third shot and a whir as something sped past his ear. The bullet from the third shot caught Caleb’s left ear, tearing it off as the throwing star hit the hand holding the phone. The next set of screams Caleb indulged in was from unadulterated pain. Maybe the experts were right: nothing like a little agony to clear one’s mind. He knew where the star had come from, and he could hear Sophie breathing hard two feet behind him. He looked to the front door, where the shot had originated, and saw Dean lower the gun and sprint toward Alex.
Manny rushed to Chloe, helped her up, and held on like there would never be another morning.
“I’m okay, I’m okay. But Alex—” her voice caught as she whispered.
Alex.
Releasing Chloe, he dropped next to his long-time friend. The man, maybe his best friend and the hero of Manny’s life, was on the floor, but not alone. Dean had barged through the crowd, grabbed Alex’s left arm, and looped a nylon wrist restraint around the lower part of his arm and pulled it tight. Immediately, the flow of blood was reduced, but the floor was covered.
“Someone call for an ambulance,” yelled Manny.
“Done,” answered a voice who sounded like Detective Crouse.
The siren blaring somewhere near confirmed it.
Looking back at Alex, Manny’s self-control left the building as panic called his name.
Sophie had slid behind Alex and was holding him in her lap, rocking back and forth and talking to him softly, sobbing at the same time—the way people do when they’re ready to say goodbye.
Chapter-67
Josh looked at the injured and bleeding Caleb Corner, hesitated, then took three steps from his family and squatted by Alex, his eyes glistening.
Our worlds are shaded by our choices.
Manny sat down and raised Alex’s arm to help stop the bleeding. He could see that Alex’s eyes were glazed over, but he was there.
“Did we get him?” Alex asked, steady as a rock.
“Thanks to you,” said Manny, his voice not really his own.
“Chloe?”
“You saved her life.”
The CSI smiled. “Hey, Sophie, that’s nice.”
Alex smiled wider and then closed his eyes. Manny’s spirit fell into a black, bottomless pit, and his tears flowed, unashamedly.
Sophie kept talking to Alex until the EMS team steamed into the room. The look on the first one’s face only added to the awfulness of the situation.
The second one felt for a pulse, raised her eyebrows, and began barking orders to two others. “Let’s get him into the unit. I can’t get a pulse. I want 3ccs of epinephrine and crank up the defibrillator. Move it.”
The woman who was barking out orders touched Sophie’s hand.
“You’ve got to give him to us, okay?”
Sophie nodded. “I’m going to ride with him.”
“One of you can, but that’s it.”
“We’ll be right behind you, you go,” said Manny.
Then, not sure why he did it, Manny reached down and picked up Alex’s hand and gave it to the third EMT. “This is part of him.”
One minute later, Alex was out the door, into the ambulance, and on his way to the hospital, Sophie at his side.
“What about this Corner?” asked Julia. “He’s in tough shape, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to die anytime soon.”
“Too bad,” said Dean.
Just then, the second ambulance pulled up outside the double doors.
“I guess that answers that,” said Chloe.
“You three go after Sophie and Alex, you’re going to need each other. I’m—I’m going to ride with Caleb,” said Josh.
“You’re sure?” asked Manny.
“He’s my brother. Maybe he’ll talk to me. Maybe.”
Manny knew he wouldn’t. The Caleb Corner that Josh had known was gone, way gone.
***
Seven hours later, Chloe brought Manny and Dean another cup of coffee and Sophie a cup of tea. The waiting room had grown quiet, and Manny was grateful. There was a time and place for confusion, but this wasn’t it.
The EMTs had managed to get Alex’s heart beating, but it had taken five minutes, then they’d lost him again, but got him back much faster. By the time they’d reached the hospital, Alex had left and returned three times—not ideal, but he was fighting. Sophie had said they rolled him right into the ER surgery room, and that’s where he’d been for the last six hours and fifty minutes. No updates from any doctor, or any nurse, just the ticking of the wall clock, the stack of old magazines, and the smell of dread.
Josh had come in twice and then gone back to Caleb’s room after he was out of surgery. He said that Caleb would survive, maybe have a limp, but healthy enough to go through the justice system when the time came. However, Manny had guessed right. Caleb had not said a word to anyone. But that could change in a heartbeat with men like him, especially if he thought it could work to his advantage.
Moving back to the worn leather chair directly between Sophie and Chloe, he sat down, put his coffee on the floor, and folded his hands together. For the one-hundredth time, he asked God to fix this. He had to because no one else could.
The vision of Alex’s blood flowing from his arm and spilling on the marble showed itself. It whispered that not even your God can fix this. He tried, but the truth the vision spoke was far too difficult to ignore.
“Is he going to make it?” asked Sophie, her dark eyes scanning his face.
“I don’t know, Sophie. He lost a lot of blood, but he’s fighting like a madman.”
She offered a slow nod. “I’ve been praying, ya know. I’ve been talking to your God.”
; “That’s good, real good. Me too.”
“So, seriously, does He listen, really?”
Before Manny could answer, Chloe did. “He does, and He will. I don’t think I could live with myself if—well, I mean, he was so brave and that kind of bravery doesn’t die early. I know it.”
“That whole thing about faith being the substance of things not seen kind of works here. I don’t see how, but we don’t have to. We just have to ask,” said Manny softly.
Dean came back in from the restroom and sat on the other side of Sophie. Manny noticed his knees were red. Apparently he was on the same page as the rest of them.
“Okay,” said Sophie, “but I feel so helpless.”
Then she reached for Manny’s hand.
At that very moment, the door from the waiting room swung open and two blue-clad doctors strode directly at them, neither smiling.
For the second time in one night, Manny’s heart disappeared.
No!
The four of them stood in a group just as Josh came through the other entrance to the waiting room. He took one look at the doctors and ran toward them.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t do more. We’re not sure if the hand’s going to make it,” said the tall, slim doctor on the left.
“What?” said Sophie. “His hand? What?”
“Someone had the good sense to make sure it got here with Mr. Downs.”
“His hand. What about him?” asked Sophie.
The second doctor grinned. “Oh, he’s going to live. In fact, he’s awake. We reattached the hand, but it’s touch and go. I apologize, we don’t like doing things this way, but he made us promise—how did he say that?—to scare the hell out of all of you first.”
“That Dough Boy’s gonna wish he would have croaked,” growled Sophie.
She pushed past the doctors and headed for the recovery room, Manny close behind.
Chapter-68
“Hi guys. SO GLAD to see you. They got this great pain stuff, and I’ve never felt better in my life. Did you know I can control it? Look at this.” Alex punched the tiny button near his right hand and leaned back, smiling.
