Tanner couldn’t be certain, since he was hardly an expert at lip reading, however, it appeared to him that Wexler had whispered the words, “Soon, very soon you little bitch.”
Tanner thought that it would be his pleasure to kill the human cockroach. The money he received for the hit was simply icing on the cake.
***
After ice-skating, Sharad and Jennifer had a late lunch and then took a cab to Central Park.
Sharad sat beside Jennifer on a bench, took her hands in his, and proceeded to tell her what was happening, including the fact that he was part of a terrorist cell.
Jennifer released his hands and stood in a rush.
“Are you insane?”
Sharad took her hands again, pulled her back onto the bench, and explained about his grandfather and how his life had been in the years he was away.
Jennifer listened, but her eyes were moist with tears and disappointment.
“Why are you telling me all of this if you’re not really a terrorist? You should be telling the police, warning someone.”
“Baby, I have. You heard me mention my friend who’s a cop, Mike O’Leary?”
“I remember you mentioning him. Why do you ask, have you talked to him about this?”
Sharad laughed.
“If I had, I’d be locked up right now. No, I didn’t talk to him, but I left word with him anonymously, and once Mike talks to his superiors, Smith’s plan will be stopped.”
“Oh Sharad, but then that man Smith will implicate you.”
“I know, baby, and that’s why I have to run away.”
“Run away? No, then I would never see you again.”
“Maybe, but you’d be safe, and I won’t spend the rest of my life behind bars.”
They grew quiet, as around them people walked by talking to each other, or on cell phones, their chatter invariably cheerful with anticipation of the holiday which loomed before them. Now and then there would be a man dressed in a Santa Claus suit, possibly on his way to Times Square.
The area’s business association was sponsoring a publicity stunt named 1,000 Santas, where they hoped to have a thousand or more Santa Clauses marching along in a parade.
Sharad closed his eyes as he envisioned Smith’s act of terrorism being successful, and in his mind, Sharad saw a thousand Santa Clauses lying dead upon the grounds of Times Square.
The thought of it made him feel ill.
When Jennifer squeezed his hand, Sharad opened his eyes.
“We’ll go talk to Daddy. I’m sure he could think of something and also act as a character witness for you.”
“Your father won’t be able to keep me out of going to prison.”
“You don’t know that, and besides, you haven’t done anything wrong, not really, and it’s because of you that your friend O’Leary will be able to stop the attack. In my eyes, Sharad, that makes you a hero.”
Sharad was about to lean in and kiss Jennifer when he saw Habib walking towards them. Habib, who he had seen with his own forbidden woman and lied to Smith about it.
“What’s going on?” Sharad asked Habib.
“Mr. Smith told me to find you,” Habib said, before adding, “Tell your American whore to leave.”
Sharad looked the man up and down as he wondered where he got the nerve to speak about Jennifer that way.
“Talk about her like that again and I’ll break your nose, Habib. Besides, we both know that I could tell Smith a thing or two about you.”
“You finding me with that pig was a test, it was a test for you, and one you failed.”
Habib opened his jacket and showed Sharad the gun stuck in his waistband.
“You’re coming with us, Sharad.”
Sharad tore his eyes away from the gun and looked at Habib.
“Us?”
Habib pointed to their left. Sharad spun around to see a man named Rasa walking their way. Rasa was a huge Syrian who despised Americans, and he liked to cause pain.
Sharad placed a hand on Jennifer’s cheek and kissed her softly on the lips.
“Go! I’ll be all right, but you need to go now.”
Jennifer looked at Habib, then Rasa, and then back at Sharad. She leaned in as if to kiss Sharad, and then whispered in his ear.
“I’ll talk to Daddy; he’ll know what to do.”
Jennifer moved away and followed a group of college kids who were laughing and carrying shopping bags full of Christmas presents.
When neither Habib or Rasa went after her, Sharad breathed a sigh of relief.
Rasa came up behind him and gripped his neck.
“You come with us, Sharad. Today we make history.”
Sharad went along with them. He assumed that they would all be picked up soon, since thanks to him, the authorities knew about the terror plot.
However, sanitation police officer Michael O’Leary never received Sharad’s note, and O’Leary himself would soon be dead.
CHAPTER 8 – Things that go bump during the day
Tanner followed Wexler back to the man’s apartment, which was located on the third floor of a five-story brownstone in upper Manhattan.
There was a couple sitting on the steps outside, a young man and woman, and they greeted Wexler with blank stares, which were followed by looks of disgust after the man passed by them. That told Tanner that Wexler wasn’t well liked in the building.
Wexler would be registered as a sex offender and those lists were accessible to the public. Word about the man’s past must have spread to his neighbors and rendered him a pariah among them.
That was good. If anyone were to become aware that Wexler was in trouble while Tanner spent time with the man, they wouldn’t be likely to come to his aid.
Tanner watched the building from across the street while sitting in the shelter of a bus stop. He was waiting for the couple on the steps to either leave or enter the building before he made his approach.
As he watched, Tanner became aware of a drama taking place on the second floor of the building that was to the right of Wexler’s abode. The sun was setting early, on what was one of the shortest days of the year, and the windows of several apartments glowed with electric light.
Through a drawn shade, Tanner could see the silhouette of two men. They appeared to be struggling with each other, as if in a fight to control something, and judging by the way it tapered, and its pointy end, Tanner thought that something was a knife.
The shadowy figures came and went from view and then stopped after the sound of a crash emanated from the building. It was loud enough for Tanner to hear from where he sat across the street, while the couple sitting on the steps of Wexler’s building jerked their heads around to stare up at the second floor window.
The couple was discussing the noise when a car pulled up in front of the building and gave a beep of its horn.
That took the couple’s attention away from the building and onto the occupants of the car.
The man smiled and waved while the woman bounded off the stairs and ran over to the passenger in the front seat.
“Oh my God, Annie, I’m so happy to see you. It’s been too long.”
A minute later, the couple had climbed into the car and the foursome had driven away.
Tanner left the bus stop and headed across the street.
Like many people, he had to work on Christmas Eve.
***
Jennifer rushed inside her Brooklyn apartment and found her father and sister sitting together in the living room.
They were staring at a laptop and watching a live feed from Times Square. When they saw the panicked look in Jennifer’s eyes, they rose off the sofa and went to her.
“What’s wrong, dear?” her father asked her.
Jennifer told it all in a rush as best she could, and while she spoke, her father and sister both grew troubled expressions. However, while her sister looked saddened, her father had grown red with rage, and he slapped Jennifer hard enough to knock her to the floor.
> “You stupid girl! Don’t you see what a glorious thing Smith has planned? We will be striking terror into the heart of America on one of their most holy days.”
Jennifer was stunned by the blow she received, but it was nothing compared to the shock administered by her father’s words. She looked up at him and shook her head in bewilderment.
“You’re a part of this?”
“I’m one of its architects, and damn Sharad for involving you. We had assumed that he would run the second his feet touched American soil, but when he stayed in New York City, we’d begun to believe that the boy was one of us, and that he wouldn’t simply be a scapegoat. That hope died earlier today, but I never dreamed that he would unburden himself on you and reveal his cowardice and dishonor.”
Jennifer stared up at her father, and she was aghast at what she was hearing.
“You think it’s cowardly and dishonorable not to want to murder innocent people? Daddy, listen to yourself. Terrorism is insane, no matter the cause.”
Carly leaned down and ran a soothing hand over her sister’s hair.
“You’re a Muslim, Jenny. You have to see that it’s either us or them.”
Jenny stared at her father and sister, and then she shot up from where she was lying and bolted for the door, to run to the police.
Carly tackled her back onto the floor and the two sisters tussled until their father came over, bent down, and smashed a fist into Jennifer’s chin. The blow rendered Jennifer senseless, and she lay moaning atop the carpet.
Professor Gates helped Carly to stand and then ordered her to assist him in dragging Jennifer into the kitchen.
“We’ll tie her to a chair for now. I have to talk to Smith about this.”
“Daddy, what do we do with her... I mean in the long run.”
Gates stared at his daughter and communicated without speaking.
Carly began crying, but she took her sister’s arm and dragged her off to be bound like a prisoner, like an enemy. Which is what she was in their eyes.
CHAPTER 9 – Giving and taking
In Forest Hills, New York, Merle and Earl were on their bellies and shimmying along a thick tree branch, one which overhung the small balcony outside the bedroom of Francis Nash.
Nash had returned home without realizing that he was followed and Merle and Earl walked around his house trying to find an unlocked window or door that they could use to enter.
They hadn’t found one, but then Merle came up with the idea of using the tree branch to drop onto the bedroom balcony.
It seemed like a good idea from the ground, but as they edged closer to the tip of the branch, it bent downwards from the pressure of their weight upon it.
Instead of dropping lightly onto the balcony floor like a ninja, Merle had to grip the top of the structure’s railing and pull himself over it. It proved to be a struggle.
Merle had to use both arms, while his legs were still wrapped around the tip of the branch, and the wrought iron railing was like ice to the touch, even felt through the knit gloves he wore.
He tumbled to the balcony floor with a thud, and then heard Earl let out a cry of fright behind him. The full removal of Merle’s weight had caused the branch to spring upwards again, causing Earl to lose his balance and slip off.
His hands still had a hold on the branch, but Earl’s shifting weight had caused the tree limb to jounce up and down, as if it were trying to fling him off itself.
“Hold on Earl,” Merle said, as he reached out to grab his brother. When Earl had managed to inch a little closer by moving hand over hand, Merle grabbed him by the belt and pulled.
The two of them tumbled onto the balcony, and Merle’s head slammed against the sliding door that led inside the home.
The contact made the door open an inch, and the boys smiled at the sight. They moved inside slowly, while wondering if all their fumbling had been overheard. It hadn’t been, as Nash was down the hall.
He was in the bathroom and singing Christmas songs as he showered.
Earl had ventured out into the carpeted hallway to see if anyone was coming. When he turned back to say that the coast was clear, he saw that Merle’s mouth was hanging open.
There was a very realistic looking Santa costume laid out on the bed, along with the phony white whiskers. Next to the outfit were boxes of gold envelopes, but they went unnoticed.
Merle had picked up the Santa suit to look at it and discovered the bundled cash lying beneath it.
There were five bands of currency that held a hundred bills each, and each bill was worth one-hundred-dollars. In all, there was fifty thousand dollars.
“Earl.”
“Huh?”
“It’s gonna be a very merry Christmas.”
Earl grabbed up the fancy red velvet sack that matched the Santa costume, and Merle shoved the money inside it.
By the time Francis Nash finished his shower and dried off, Merle and Earl were driving away in their stolen crapmobile.
They had just robbed Santa.
***
Tanner looked over at Richard Wexler.
The man was lying atop the floor of his bedroom with his hands and feet bound together with zip ties and a gag in his mouth.
His eyes followed Tanner around the room, and he moaned when Tanner found the hidden compartment at the rear of a dresser drawer.
There were photos in the compartment, pornographic photos of young girls. One child was so small that Tanner couldn’t imagine that she was any older than three. None of the girls had clothes on, and in several of the photos naked men stood about the children, their faces covered with grotesque masks.
Tanner peeled back tape from Wexler’s lips and yanked out the rolled up socks he had jammed in the man’s mouth to gag him. Afterwards, he held up a photo that showed the naked men.
“How do I find these bastards?”
Wexler attempted to yell for help and Tanner shoved the dirty socks back into his mouth.
Tanner had come across a handy tool while looking through Wexler’s kitchen drawers, and he used it now to smash Wexler on the right knee. It was a combination meat tenderizing mallet combined with a cleaver.
Tanner had used the mallet end on Wexler’s knee and the pudgy pervert’s eyes bulged in their sockets as he released a muffled cry of pain. When he had recovered some, Tanner spoke to Wexler while holding the sharp meat cleaver side inches from the man’s left eye.
“Try to call for help and I’ll blind you. Tell me how to find these men.”
Tanner removed the gag again, and through tears, Wexler told him how to set up a meeting with his friends over the Internet. He also gave Tanner their names.
“Where do they get the girls?”
Wexler shrugged, and it was a jerky movement since he was lying on his back.
“Those are the men’s daughters. If I bring a girl with me, they’re free to use, otherwise I have to pay.”
“Is one of these men the doctor, Max Vannick, the man that provided your alibi?”
“Yes, damn it, but now listen, I’ve told you everything you want to know. Arrest me and I swear I won’t mention what you did to me.”
“Arrest you? Wexler, I’m not a cop.”
“What? Then who the hell are you?”
Tanner smiled.
“Let’s just say that the chickens have come home to roost.”
The socks went back in. The mallet raised once more, and Richard Wexler learned that it was far better to give than to receive.
In the coming days, his friends would all receive gifts as well, visits from the police, after the cops obtained information supplied by Tanner.
‘Twas the season to give.
CHAPTER 10 – Mass casualties
Laurel screamed as she felt the thin strip of wood break beneath her foot.
She didn’t fall far, because her gloved hands still gripped the thick vines that were weaved throughout the latticework of the ancient trellis.
A wave of fear passed
through her and powered her up to the window, and as she hoped it would be, the window was unlocked.
Laurel stepped into what had been Merle and Earl’s childhood bedroom and found the space empty. She wandered throughout the home while using the flashlight app on her cell phone and found the house devoid of furniture.
However, a look inside the hall closet revealed a pair of folding chairs, and she opened one and sat in the middle of the empty living room. She had been hoping to find and reconnect with her brothers, her only family, instead, she had found... desolation?
Tears ran down Laurel’s cheeks, and she felt more alone than she ever had before.
***
In New York City, Joe leaned back in his seat with a shocked look on his face.
He had entered Sam Giacconi’s home office to reason with the man and ask him to think about stepping down, when Giacconi beat him to the punch. After responding to Joe’s greeting of Merry Christmas, the next words out of the old man’s mouth were a declaration that he was retiring after the first of the year.
“What’s the matter, Joey? Did you think I was gonna hang on forever? And let’s face it, I’m losing my marbles.”
Joe spread his hands.
“It can’t be an easy thing to admit, Sam, and who knows, maybe the doctors will be able to help you.”
“It’s Alzheimer’s, Joey, we both know it, and I won’t endanger everything I built by being too stupid to step aside. Which means I have a decision to make.”
“Is that why Johnny R was here?”
“Nah, Johnny just stopped by to say Merry Christmas and drop off a few gifts, but, I am considering handing things over to him. What do you think about that? The truth now, boy, I don’t need you to bullshit me.”
Joe attempted a smile, but then sighed.
“The truth is that it hurts to think that you’d pick him over me.”
The old man started to speak, but Joe continued.
“It’s also true that he’s the best choice. I think I might have done a good job as Don, but Rossetti’s a natural. The kid is smart as hell and the guys respect him.”
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