Slay Bells

by Remington Kane

  “Yeah, I liked them cookies.”

  Merle stood up from the toilet, rubbed at his reddened eyes, and followed Earl out of the bathroom.

  CHAPTER 14 – I spy

  Fourteen Marker Street was located in Lower Manhattan and was one of the few streets in the city that had a sharp curve along its length.

  Building number 14 came after the street curved left. The old brick building was narrow in its width, but long in its depth. On its right side, there was an alley separating it from a condemned and fire-damaged building, which bore numerous signs warning people not to venture within.

  Fourteen Marker Street was a defunct factory with a high ceiling that had boarded up windows and a chained front door. It appeared dark and empty from the street, but Tanner had ventured down the garbage-strewn alley and saw a light behind a covered window.

  The window was positioned high in the wall, with its top near the roofline. Tanner used a vent pipe to help climb up to it, as the toes of his boots found footholds between the chipped and weather-faded bricks.

  Tanner was dressed for stealth, as he wore all black and had left everything but a throwaway cell phone and a gun back at his rented car.

  The window was useless. Despite the glow of light drifting from it, there was no way to use it to see inside the building because it was painted black from the other side. Tanner was about to climb back down when he detected a second and brighter glow atop the roof. When he raised his head to look, he spotted a large skylight.

  He climbed up and moved carefully, so as not to cause the roof to creak beneath his feet. The building was old, and the roof appeared to have weak spots in some places. There was no doubt in his mind that the roof leaked when it rained, but by being careful, he avoided making any noise that might alert someone inside the building.

  At last, he reached the skylight. He was glad to see that although its cracked and dirty glass had wire mesh embedded in it, it was still clear enough to see through, and not painted over as the window had been.

  Tanner looked down into the warehouse from an outer corner of the skylight and saw a number of men changing into Santa costumes. They were in what appeared to be a locker room and bathroom.

  It was likely where the factory workers had changed clothes during the years when the building was alive with activity. A large round sink sat near the stained urinals. It was an old ceramic washfountain with foot pedals, which would allow several people to wash their hands at the same time.

  A cracked plastic soap dispenser perched atop its center, while the sink basin was filled with debris from the crumbling ceiling, cigarette butts, and old beer bottles.

  Whatever the factory had produced in its heyday, it looked to have been dormant for a long time, and being out of the way as it was, Tanner understood why the men below had chosen it as a meeting place.

  Most of the men were swarthy and appeared to be of Middle Eastern heritage. One of the men was huge and had skin the color of copper, while two of the smaller men had light skin, and one of them caught Tanner’s attention.

  He was young and sitting alone on a bench in a corner, while holding his head in his hands.

  Everything about the young man said that he was worried. When the big man yelled at him to put his Santa suit on, the young man raised his head and cast an angry glance at him. Tanner knew the kid’s face; he was certain of it. He was looking at Sharad Jones, the man he had seen in the photo earlier.

  ***

  The young man Tanner was gazing down on was Sharad, and Sharad was not only worried, but also frightened.

  In the note he slipped inside the locker of Michael O’Leary, he mentioned Smith and gave O’Leary the address of the old factory he was currently in. He had also warned against using the liquid calcium chloride.

  Sharad believed that at the very least Smith’s plans would be postponed and the current plot ruined. However, Habib claimed that Smith had somehow intercepted the letter. Not only that, but Sharad’s attempt to disclose the plan had caused Smith to move his timetable up an hour. It appeared as if the terrorist plot was moving forward.

  Sharad wasn’t certain what that meant as it concerned the sanitation cop Mike O’Leary, but he assumed it wasn’t good and wondered if his friend was dead.

  ***

  Tanner had heard the man who murdered the cop mention the words, “Mass casualties,” and “Times Square.”

  He wondered if that same man could be using the men below to carry out some kind of Terrorist attack, or if he was one of them.

  Dressed in Santa costumes in Times Square on Christmas Eve, they could easily walk about and blend in, noticed, but unseen.

  Tanner moved silently to another corner of the skylight to see if it gave him a different angle. It did; it allowed him to see towards the front of the narrow building.

  On a table, there were guns and ammunition sitting all in a row. The guns all looked to be the same type, and judging by the short slide rails, Tanner took them to be older model CZ 75’s, which was a very reliable weapon manufactured in the Czech Republic. The pistols were old and their black surfaces looked dull, but if their insides were cleaned and oiled they would kill all the same. Next to the guns were ceramic knives that were designed to go undiscovered by metal detectors.

  There was another table beside that one. It held the sort of red kettles used by charities to collect donations. These were made of a hard plastic and had an unusual handle. Beside that table were three blue polyurethane barrels sitting open, each containing some sort of chemical. Two of the barrels held white powder, while the third held a silvery substance that resembled sand.

  There was also a line of plastic cubes that each contained a rodent, possibly lab mice. Next to that was a 1-liter bottle of clear liquid, alongside a bottle of plain spring water. Tanner thought that he had seen enough to make a call and bring in the authorities.

  He took one last look at Sharad and saw that he was putting on his Santa suit. By the look on the man’s face, you’d have thought that he was going before a firing squad.

  There were seven men. Tanner considered killing all but Sharad, but he knew that there was a chance they might have vital information that the authorities could use.

  He would leave the building and make an anonymous call to the FBI, and then he would keep watch over the men until someone arrived.

  It was a good plan, but as he leapt the last several feet to the ground after climbing down the side of the building, Tanner was struck from behind and driven to his hands and knees.

  As he reached for his gun, a voice spoke. He had heard the same accented voice through a bloody bathroom window only an hour earlier.

  “Show me your hands or I will shoot you in the head.”

  Tanner cursed beneath his breath as he stood and displayed his empty hands. When he turned around, Tanner saw a middle-aged man pointing a gun at his face from five feet away.

  The man was on the short side and was dressed all in black as Tanner was. He looked Middle Eastern, but like the worried boy Sharad that Tanner had seen through the skylight, this man had light skin.

  It was Smith, Sharad’s cell leader.

  Smith reached into a pocket with his free hand and brought out a Taser. Tanner felt the twin barbs bite into the flesh of his neck, and the alley floor came rushing up at him.

  CHAPTER 15 – Look to the cookie

  Miss Mary not only owned the building where Merle and Earl lived, but she could tell you the names of everyone who had rented a room there during her lifetime, which was nearly eighty years. She attempted to do just that as Merle and Earl munched on fresh cookies.

  “That’s right,” Miss Mary said, “The man who plays the old judge in that show about the zombies used to live right across the hall from me. Of course, he was just a boy back then. He came here from Oklahoma see, and you talk about a hayseed, my my, but that boy was green.”

  Miss Mary was not only talkative, but still spry and seemed to do nothing but bake all day, to
the delight of her tenants. She had lived in the tenement building her entire life having been born there, and her parents had owned the property before leaving it to her.

  When Merle finally managed to get a word in edgewise, Miss Mary smiled at him.

  “Santa? Oh, that would be Ricky Horton. He lives next to you on the right.”

  “The guy with all the tattoos?” Merle asked, and Mary nodded.

  “Why does he dress up like Santa Claus? Does he work in a department store?”

  “No, he’s some sort of walking billboard down at Burt’s Electronics Store, but today he’ll be uptown for that 1,000 Santa stunt that’s going on. The way I understand it, Ricky’s parole officer helped him get that job. With Christmas almost here, Ricky will have to find new work soon. Playing Santa isn’t a full-time job, and hey, speaking of Santa, isn’t it sad what happened to that man in Forest Hills?”

  Merle and Earl glanced at each other and then stared at Miss Mary.

  “What happened in Forest Hills?” Merle asked.

  “Somebody robbed Santa, that’s what happened,” Mary said, as she pointed at the TV that was sitting on the counter behind Merle and Earl. On the screen, the man they had robbed, Francis Nash, was standing outside his home and talking to a reporter. The caption beneath the picture had the words, SECRET SANTA ROBBED BY HEARTLESS CROOKS.

  “What’s Secret Santa?” Earl asked, before biting into his eighth oatmeal raisin cookie.

  Miss Mary smiled.

  “That man right there is a saint. He goes around every Christmas Eve handing out envelopes of cash to people on the city streets. My daughter-in-law received one from him years ago and she still talks about it. Whoever robbed that man is evil, just plain evil.”

  “We didn’t know that he was—” Earl said, but Merle cut him off.

  “He’ll get that money back, uh, somehow. Whoever robbed him will see that report and realize that they made a mistake.”

  “Mistake?” Miss Mary said.

  Merle shrugged.

  “They probably just thought he was some rich dude that didn’t need the money.”

  “Maybe so, but without The Secret Santa going around and handing out money to strangers, Christmas won’t be the same in the city.”

  ***

  The boys managed to get free of Miss Mary and went back upstairs where they entered Ricky Horton’s apartment. It wasn’t difficult to get inside, Ricky had left the door unlocked in his haste to rob Merle and Earl.

  There was no sign of the bag or the money and the brothers decided to go look for Ricky in Times Square.

  As they walked towards the subway entrance, they talked about the best way to get the money back.

  “He must have the bag with him,” Earl said.

  “Yeah, and we gotta get that money back.”

  “Merle?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t want to keep it anymore. I think we should give it back to that Nash guy and let him give it away to people.”

  Merle grinned.

  “I was thinking the same thing, little brother.”

  “What if this Ricky sees us before we see him?”

  Merle stopped walking and thought that over.

  “Yeah, and he’s dressed like Santa too, we might walk right by him.”

  “We gotta check the bottom of his boots for that white paint stain. If you see that, you’ll know it’s him.”

  “Yeah, but he still might spot us first.”

  Earl grinned and pointed at a store across the avenue. The name of the store was Party Planet.

  “I bet they got costumes and disguises in there.”

  Merle agreed.

  They left the store a short time later wearing their own Santa costumes. Then, they went hunting for their thieving neighbor.

  CHAPTER 16 – Deep doubt

  Tanner had his hands duct taped behind his back by the man calling himself Smith, but as the effects of the Taser began to fade, he lashed out with a foot to kick the man.

  The kick hit the man on the shin, but it was a weak blow, and Smith grabbed Tanner by his bound wrists and pulled hard.

  Tanner made it to his feet as pain shot through his shoulders. The pain cleared his head further and he tried sending another kick at the man, aiming for his crotch. However, Smith was fast, and he blocked the blow easily before taking out a long knife.

  “Move over there and face the wall or I’ll slice open your stomach.”

  Tanner complied. He had seen what the man could do with a knife, having found the tortured cop named Michael O’Leary. He would not like a similar fate.

  Once Tanner was facing away from him, Smith made a call. When it was answered, he spoke to someone inside the building.

  “This is Smith, open the side door.”

  The door opened moments later and Tanner turned his head to see the seven men he had been looking down on from the skylight. They had all finished dressing in their Santa suits, but had yet to add the belly stuffing, hats, or fake white beards.

  “I found this man spying on us. Take him inside,” Smith said.

  Two of the men rushed forward and grabbed Tanner. As they dragged him past Sharad, he saw the fear in the young man’s eyes.

  Then, Tanner was down on his knees after having been punched in the stomach. He looked up through eyes squinted in pain to see who had delivered the blow.

  He had seen the big man earlier while looking through the skylight, but at eye-level, he looked even larger. The Santa costume was too small on him. Tanner guessed that the man wouldn’t need to add stuffing to his already rounded waistline.

  The men who held his arms helped him to his feet and Tanner kicked the big man in his gut. The man moaned loudly and placed his hands over his stomach. When he stared at Tanner with hate, Tanner grinned at him.

  The grin infuriated the man and he pulled out a gun. Smith shouted for the man to put the weapon away and the huge man followed orders, but stared at Tanner with a murderous gaze.

  Smith slapped the big man on his shoulder.

  “You can have him once I’m done talking to him, Rasa.”

  Smith had spoken to the man, Rasa, in Arabic, not knowing that Tanner could understand the language to some degree. While far from fluent, Tanner had studied Arabic and could even speak it with a very limited vocabulary.

  Tanner was searched, and then shoved into an old wooden chair, all while Smith aimed a gun at his chest.

  The tape binding Tanner’s hands together was cut apart, but his relief at having his hands free was short lived, because just moments later, his ankles and wrists were duct taped to the chair.

  Smith pocketed his weapon and went through the cheap cell phone Tanner had been carrying. After searching the phone’s call history, Smith made a sound of disappointment.

  “Bring me a chair, Habib,” Smith said, and Tanner watched as a short dark man slid a chair over for his leader to sit in. Again, Tanner locked eyes with Sharad and saw that he was different from the others. It also seemed as if he were being watched closely by Rasa.

  Someone must have tipped the sanitation cop O’Leary onto Smith. Tanner thought that someone was likely Sharad. If true, it meant that he had a possible ally.

  Smith sat across from Tanner and looked him over carefully before leaning back and asking his question.

  “Who are you?”

  “My name is Tanner.”

  “And why are you here, Tanner?”

  “I was curious. I come down this alley often and this was the first time I ever saw lights on in the building. No one has been in here for years.”

  “Tell me, Tanner, why would you come down the alley at all? It leads nowhere.”

  Tanner shrugged.

  “I use it when I have to take a leak and can’t hold it in.”

  Smith smiled.

  “You are lying, but I also do not think that you are a police officer of any kind. If you were, there would have been men assisting you, but no, you are here alone.”r />
  Tanner didn’t respond and Smith kept staring at him, as a look of bewilderment came over him.

  “Why are you not afraid?”

  “I’m terrified,” Tanner said in a calm voice.

  That made Smith laugh, and then he reached into the shoulder bag he had set on the floor and brought out a laptop.

  Within minutes, Smith had checked to see if the surveillance cameras he had in place about the area were recording any danger. Other than the normal traffic, there was nothing.

  The immediate area was zoned solely for business and was set to go through a major renovation over the coming year. What few enterprises remained in operation were all closed because of the holiday.

  Tanner wondered where the man had hidden the cameras since he had looked for signs of surveillance equipment before venturing into the alley. Wherever they were positioned, they must have been camouflaged.

  Smith stared at him in a manner that told Tanner the man was a trained observer, and when he went to the trouble of examining his hands, he was certain of it.

  “You are not the law, but you have experience at dealing with serious situations. Still, you do not strike me as being of a military bent.”

  More staring, but then Smith gave a tiny shake of his head, displaying frustration at his inability to classify Tanner.

  “You are an enigma, Tanner, but do you recognize the name Michael O’Leary?”

  The name made Sharad jump.

  “The name doesn’t sound familiar,” Tanner said. “But maybe I’ll run into him someday.”

  “Oh, I doubt that very much.”

  “And why is that, is he dead?”

  Before Smith could speak, the huge one, Rasa, spoke.

  “It does not matter if other man dead, because I will soon kill you.”

  Smith pinned Rasa with a withering look and Rasa lowered his head, while looking ashamed.

  “Please forgive me for interrupting you, Khalid,” Rasa said in Arabic. “It will not happen again.”

  When Smith took his eyes from Rasa, Tanner asked a question of his own.