“Shit, it’s you!”
“Mierda! It’s you,” wheezed Selena Salerno at the same time.
“Are you okay?” I asked, then checked myself. Was I crazy? What did I care?
“Can’t…breath…” she croaked. I took my weight off her. She beat her right hand against the ground, trying to inhale; she’d really had the wind knocked out of her.
My brain was doing cartwheels. Salerno. Here! Chasing me! Was it coincidence? Her former boss was in jail, because of me. Was it revenge? How did she know I was alive?
At that moment, Salerno gave a huge, rattling gasp. She breathed again and rolled over on her side, trying to get up on all fours.
“You’re, alive!” she gasped. “Impressive.”
Well that answered one question. She had indeed believed I was dead. So what was she doing chasing me? Here was the conundrum: I wanted answers, but I had no way of subduing Salerno—no cuffs, no duct tape, and any minute she would have her faculties back. Once she was on her feet I wouldn’t be able to beat her in a fight; even in this state she’d make short work of me. Behind me, I could hear the sound of sirens coming closer. I decided I’d better get out of there. I could only hope that Selena would keep my secret safe. But who would she tell that I was alive? The police? Aldo Frances?
I ran to her motorcycle. It was a beautiful black Harley Street. I felt bad as I reached down and, grabbing the frame, levered it over the edge of the promenade and into the river with a splash.
I heard Salerno groan behind me and turned to see her up and staggering toward me, like an angry but gorgeous zombie. I side-stepped her and ran back to my bike; she was still too winded to follow. She stopped, hunched over with her hands on her knees. Before I started the engine, I opened the storage container and pulled out my cell phone.
“Give me your number,” I called to her, but she was lumbering toward me now, and picking up speed.
“Never mind,” I said, and threw the phone in her direction. I put my helmet on and climbed on the bike. “I’ll call you.”
I put Gromet in gear and roared off toward Lower Wacker, stopping at the first streetlight to fasten the strap on my helmet.
Safety first, after all.
Ten
In the basement of Marty’s building was a windowless office we called ”the bunker.” It had been a workspace for him before his recent windfall, and he still leased it, perhaps for old times’ sake. I made use of it often when I was in the city. It was a two-room office, but it had a little kitchenette off the main room and a bathroom off the smaller one. Basically, an apartment without a shower, but you could get creative in the sink. I often did.
I was met at the door by El. I thought she might be mad at me for ditching her, but she seemed thrilled to see me still alive. She stepped forward to hug me, then thought that might be too forward, so she awkwardly slapped me on the back and dragged me into the main room. It was still decorated the way Marty had left it: old 1980s movie posters, a few couches, two folding tables with three computers and monitors on them. A big corkboard had index cards pinned all over it, outlining our plan to use a drone to cross the rooftops and switch the statue. The plan didn’t mention Selena bloody Salerno anywhere in it!
I looked at Ruby, who was making tea in the kitchen. We stared at each other for a moment.
“Thank you,” I said.
She shrugged. “You see? You need me in the field, still.”
“Where did she come from?”
“Crazy,” said Ruby, coming into the living room.
“Wait, she?” gasped Park.
I looked at Ruby. “You didn’t tell her?”
“I thought I’d wait for you.”
I walked past the kitchenette to the smaller room, with the bed in it. On the kitchen counter as I passed was the Degas statue. Unharmed. The little dancer’s face stern in concentration. I stuck my tongue out at her.
I kept a dresser full of clothes here now. I wonder what Marty’s girlfriends thought, if he brought any of them here. A quick wash in the bathroom sink and a new outfit, jeans and a bright orange t-shirt that said “Moxie” on it, and I was feeling better. I brushed my teeth quickly, too, to get the clammy taste of abject fear out of my mouth.
Back in the living room, I was halfway through telling El the thrilling “Tale of the Sexy Assassin” when the door opened and Marty came in.
“What the hell happened?” he blurted, giving me a bear hug, then turning to give a long embrace to Ruby.
Marty was twenty-four years old, and was now the CEO of his own booming tech business. He had a better haircut now, but he still looked young and rough, which is, I suppose, exactly the look that you want for a wunderkind tech millionaire if you want the media to love you. And the media loved Marty. He had beautiful blue eyes and dark wavy hair, and his enthusiasm was contagious. When he was interviewed on the Chicago news, everyone around him looked like they were carved from tofu. He was huge on social media, where he had rocketed from obscurity to celebrity over the summer based on an app game about fire hydrants and meter maids called Red Zone White Zone. Marty was a case study of the ways in which it took money to make money. He’d always had the ideas, but it was a deep investment in promotion since our recent windfall that led to his breakout success.
He let go of Ruby and turned to El. “Hello, small person, whom I don’t know but trust implicitly because you are with Kay and Auntie. Welcome to the bunker!”
“This is Ellery Park, our new henchwoman,” I told him. “El, this is Martin Martynek, CEO of Technology Acquired.”
“Nice to meet you,” said El. “I’m a big fan of your work.”
“Oh,” smiled Marty. “Red Zone?”
“No,” she said, “the electromagnetic alarm disarmer. Brilliant!”
“Right. Right! I’m so glad I could be of use, and I’m so glad you’re all still alive! Ruby told me there was a near-catastrophe, so I rushed right down. Also, I ordered pizza. It should be here in ten minutes.”
“That,” I said, plopping down on the couch, “is the best news I’ve heard all day.”
I looked across at Marty, who was perched on the edge of the computer table.
“It was Salerno.”
He went pale.
“What? No! How?”
I shook my head.
“I wish I knew. It’s got to be a coincidence, right?” I ran my half hand through my hair. “When she saw it was me, she was surprised. I mean really surprised—no way she was faking that.”
“Okay,” grunted Ruby. “So, we don’t know why. What about the what?”
“Come again?”
From her spot next to me on the couch, she gestured to the statue on the counter. “She clearly wanted the statue. Why?”
“How did she even know you had it?” asked Marty.
“Hmm,” I hmmd. “Based on what I know about Selena, she very well might have planted a camera somewhere in the room. She could have seen me take it.”
“But you weren’t Georgette, yet,” countered Ruby. “She would have recognized you.”
“Maybe,” I admitted.
Meanwhile, Park, who was sitting on one of the high stools at the counter, walked over to the statue and turned it upside down. She picked a butter knife up from the countertop and started to pry at the bottom.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Well,” she grunted, getting more leverage, “we hid something inside the statue we left in Jared Dexter’s office, right?” We all nodded. “Who’s to say there wasn’t something hidden in the statue that was already there?” And with that the bottom of the statue flipped free, flying across the room and hitting the Blade Runner poster. “Voila,” she said, shaking the statue until a small black felt bag fell out onto the counter.
We all gathered around as Elle picked up the little bag, loosened the string, and tipped a handful of diamonds onto the counter. They shone a pure, perfect white.
“Golly!” she exclaimed.
&n
bsp; Eleven
I gasped, and Marty gave a low whistle. It was like a fairy tale; no one ever expects to see a pile of diamonds, not in real life. There had to be forty or fifty of them, each the size of a small pebble.
“Golly is right,” said Ruby. “This makes more sense now.”
I groaned and slapped my forehead.
“What horrible luck! Of all the things we could’ve swapped out, we pick the one with the priceless jewels.”
“I don’t see how that’s exactly bad luck,” said Park, holding one up to the light and admiring its brilliance.
“Don’t you see? We’re supposed to be invisible. Our job was to plant a listening device, without anyone knowing about it. I think they’re probably going to know about it when they check on their diamonds!”
“Which they must have already done,” chimed in Marty, “if Selena was on your tail so quickly.”
He opened his mouth to say more, but his phone chimed in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the text message on the screen.
“Pizza’s here!” he said cheerfully.
“I may have lost my appetite,” I moaned.
“You know, Kay, that never happens to me,” said Marty. “Not sure why.”
He took two twenties from his wallet and handed them to Ellery. “Go meet them in the lobby, would you?”
“Why me?”
“Lowest on the totem pole,” said Ruby, with authority. “Go.”
As Park left, I looked back down at the diamonds.
“We’d better hide these for now,” I said, pushing them back into a pile. Ruby picked up the little felt sack.
“Wait a minute,” I said, reaching back into the pile to pull out one of the diamonds. “What’s this?”
I held it up to the light. It wasn’t a diamond. It looked a bit like a small watch battery, but on the bottom there was a tiny green LED.
“Let me see that,” said Marty. I came around to his side of the countertop and gave it to him. He moved across the room to the computer table and picked up a little box covered with switches and lights. I followed him to the table, and we both bent over for a close look as he held the box above the doodad and flipped a switch.
There was a small beep. I frowned.
“Meaning?”
“Active electronics,” said Marty.
“Like a battery?” I asked, but the tumblers in my brain had already turned, and I saw the answer bearing down on me like a freight train.
“No, more like a—”
“—homing device,” I finished, already turning for the door.
“Park!” I shouted, running into the stairwell. I looked up just in time to see El hurtling backward down the stairs. She crashed into me and we both fell hard on to the concrete. I sat up as I heard boots banging down the steps toward us.
Salerno jumped the last three stairs and landed next to me, cocking her elbow back and into my solar plexus, knocking me back to the ground. She was wearing a close-fitting black tank top, which had probably been under her leather jacket. Her riding pants were rasped and torn from where she had slid across the concrete path and into the bushes.
Park jumped into a fighting stance, but she was no match for the Mexican. She went down under a flurry of kicks and punches, blocking maybe half of them, until she was on her back on the ground. Salerno gave Park one last kick to the ribs and she lay still.
“Park!” I yelled again, as Salerno turned on her heel and marched back over to me.
“You!” she spat, and her usual flirtatious grin was gone. “I liked that bike!”
Before I was halfway to my feet, she wrapped me in a headlock and dragged me over to the door of the bunker, slamming the top of my head straight into it, and causing stars to explode at the edges of my vision.
I clawed at her arm, but her grip was iron. She opened the door and dragged me down the hall and into the living room, where Ruby was leaning on her cane, her old police Glock in her right hand.
“Hola,” said Ruby, and cocked the gun.
But Selena didn’t stop. She barreled straight at Ruby, twisting as she moved so that I was between the two of them as a shield, straight-arming Marty as he rushed at her from the side. He staggered from the blow and fell into the computer table, scattering gizmos in all directions.
I tried to get a foot under me to relieve the pressure on my windpipe, but at that moment Salerno threw me forward and into Ruby’s cane, knocking it, and her, to the ground. In an instant, the woman’s right hand was locked onto Ruby’s wrist, and with her left hand she released the cartridge on the Glock. It fell to the ground and skittered across the kitchenette floor as Salerno twisted the gun from Ruby’s hand and threw it across the room in the other direction.
Ruby rolled over and away, behind the counter, and I came up to my feet with a turn kick that should have taken Salerno’s head clean off, but Selena was way ahead of me, blocking my foot with her forearm while sweeping my other leg out from under me. I landed hard on my back, and she was on me again: knees on upper arms in a reverse of our position in the park, just over an hour ago. She leaned forward and put her forearm on my neck, pressing hard enough to obstruct my air.
“Don’t move, computer boy,” she said to Marty, without looking to the side. He had picked up a fallen lamp and was starting toward her, holding it like a club. “And you,” she barked. “Tia. Get back where I can see you, or I break Red’s windpipe.”
Ruby came out of the kitchenette with her hands up, and Marty also stood down, dropping the lamp on the carpeted floor with a thud.
Salerno rolled off me in a move that was so fast I couldn’t follow it, somehow dragging me up to a sitting position and then pulling me, by my short hair, to my feet. Her arm was around my neck again, this time from behind, and she pulled me close to her, backing up to the far wall, so she could see both Marty and Ruby at the same time. I could feel her chest rising and falling against my back, fast at first but then slower as the heat of the moment passed. Her bare arm was still firm against my neck.
I racked my brains for a plan that would keep her from killing me, and then after, my friends. Suddenly it came to me: Give her the diamonds!
“Give me the diamonds,” hissed Selena, the moment I thought it.
“Sure,” I croaked. “You can have them.”
I looked over at the countertop, but the diamonds were gone! I panicked for a moment, then recalled Ruby gathering them up when the pizza arrived. Then I panicked again. Ruby. This was going to go really badly, I could tell.
“Ruby, give her the diamonds,” I said.
“No.” I knew it. Here we go.
Salerno tightened her grip on my throat. She had told me once that she didn’t kill people, though I hadn’t really believed her. She had certainly caused people to die, but maybe that was just a moral backflip she used to help herself sleep at night. Regardless, the grinning, puckish woman from that time was gone. This Salerno was tense, and all business. Maybe I shouldn’t have wrecked her bike.
Selena looked at Marty.
“Tell me where they are, or I kill her.”
Marty still had his hands up, over his head, like in a stick-up.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said, his voice quivering. This was probably true, technically. He and I had been busy examining the tracking device when Ruby had hidden the diamonds. On the one hand, I admired his ability to lie—or misdirect—convincingly under pressure, on the other hand there was no need to put her threat to the test, not when my life was potentially on the line. I pulled hard with both hands on Selena’s arm, but it didn’t budge. The whole time a part of my mind was on Ellery Park, lying in the stairwell, possibly dying.
I looked back at Ruby.
“Ruby,” I grunted. “This is silly. Just give her the diamonds. What’s the point?”
Ruby just ignored me, levelling her gaze at Salerno. She held out her arms wide and turned a slow circle.
“You can search me,” she taunted, “but I clearl
y wouldn’t hide them on my person. I’ve put them somewhere safe, and this room, though tiny and poorly decorated, will take you too long to search.”
“I will kill her!”
“I don’t think you will,” said Ruby. Great, psychoanalysis was just what we needed right now. “Besides,” she shrugged, “if Kay is gone then there are more diamonds for me.”
Selena snorted. “I don’t believe that for a moment.” She gestured at Marty. “You going to let me kill him, too?”
I bugged my eyes at Ruby. What was she stalling for? Did she think Park was going to save us? I wasn’t even sure El was still alive.
“You are just stalling,” Selena continued. “You think the chica in the hall will save you.” Woah, jinx again.
Ruby’s face turned dark and thoughtful.
“He is blood,” she said, gesturing at Marty. “It would be a harder decision, but one I won’t have to make. Security will be here any second.”
Selena snorted, spittle going right on the side of my face. “That is ridiculous.”
“It’s not,” said Ruby calmly. “We have tactical force, ever since someone tried to blow Kay up this spring. Tactical force, silent alarm. Full military response. They will blow down that door any minute.”
“That’s bull—” but she didn’t get to finish her sentence, because there was a series of loud, popping explosions. I flexed my legs and slammed Selena back against the wall, breaking her grip in the confusion, grabbing her hand in both of mine and wrenching it backward.
She gave a low scream, and threw me off her, so hard I went over the back of the couch and onto the floor. I looked up and saw black smoke billowing across the ceiling. What the hell had Ruby done? My thoughts were shattered by an ear-splitting alarm going off. I got to my feet and looked around to see Selena crouched in a fighting stance, face to face with Ruby, who was holding her sword in front of her with two hands. She wouldn’t stand a chance against Salerno, sword or no sword.
Diamond White: A Red Riley Adventure #2 (Red Riley Adventures) Page 6
