by Mark Parragh
In the middle of the sentence, he exploded at Crane with a punch. Crane slid to the left and raised one forearm to blunt it. With the other, he trapped the arm with a move that flowed into a strike to Tate’s shoulder that turned him around. The turn forced Tate’s weight onto one leg, so Crane delivered a short kick to the back of the knee and Tate fell. Crane guided him down to the ground with his right arm now held rigidly behind him, and ended with one knee in the small of Tate’s back.
Tate cried out as his cheek pressed hard into the gravel road.
“Nice,” said Swift, standing back and looking on with appreciation.
“See,” Crane answered, “that’s how you do it without just killing someone outright.”
Swift shook her head and slung the MP-5 over her shoulder as she came to join Crane. “That’s just because you need him alive. If you didn’t, you’d be tempted.”
“Yeah, okay.” He hauled Tate to his feet and slammed him face first against the side of the truck. “But this guy earned it. Back there …”
Swift helped him zip-tie Tate’s wrists and ankles. Then they dumped him on the edge of the road.
“I don’t need your approval for my methods, John,” she said. “I learned them the hard way. Now let’s get this thing back over on its wheels, shall we? You’ve got a plane to catch.”
The rally truck was built to take punishment. Once they rolled it back over, it started on the first try. They drove back to the airstrip with Tate lying on a pair of huge spare tires, lashed down in the back.
Now Crane stood at the edge of the runway with Swift at his side. He put the radio headset to his ear.
“Zookeeper, this is Ocelot. Ready to go here. What’s your status?”
Jessie’s reply came back immediately. “Couple minutes out. Glad you’re ready. Radar shows four aircraft about fifteen minutes behind me. I’m thinking we want to be gone when they get there.”
Crane glanced at Swift. “Keep the engines running.”
“Roger that.”
“So who’s coming behind her?” he asked Swift.
“That will be poor Turnstone,” she said, “coming to make sure I finally meet my well-deserved fate when I’m caught doing something I shouldn’t.”
“What’s that?”
“Throwing a monkey wrench into his organization to save you, of course. I’ve completely wrecked his relationship with the Obregon cartel. That’s his liaison trussed up in the back of his toy truck over there. All for you.”
She reached out to playfully squeeze his bicep.
“My word,” she said in a fake southern belle accent so thick Crane could almost see her fanning herself. “What a charmer you must be, John Crane, to seduce me so completely.”
So she was using him as part of some scheme, he thought. Again. Just as she’d used him to keep the Czech underworld from realizing that she’d had Branislav Skala killed. He had to admit she was good. If this was the level of play for Team Kilo, he could see why people were so afraid of them.
The sound of the Short’s engines rose in the background, and he saw Jessie’s plane, a dark dot descending toward them. In a few moments it was down, and he saw Jessie in the cockpit in her baseball cap and sunglasses. At the end of the runway, she pivoted the Short to face back the way she’d come and lowered the cargo ramp. She left the engines running.
Crane dragged Jason Tate out of the back of the truck. He took Tate’s shoulders, Swift took his legs, and they carried him up the plane’s cargo ramp and dropped him on the deck.
Jessie shouted back from the cockpit. “You okay? We should move.”
“Give me a minute,” Crane called back.
Swift was heading back toward the truck. Crane hurried to catch up with her.
“Last plane out,” he said. “Do you need a ride? We can drop you somewhere.”
“I’ll be okay,” she said. “All part of the plan. I’d love to borrow that radio, though.”
Crane unclipped it and handed her the radio and headset.
“Thank you,” she said as she clipped it onto her own belt. “Think about my offer, John. We could do great things together.”
Then she pulled him to her and kissed him, hard. Her tongue probed his lips, and he found himself pulling her closer, one hand moving up her back to run his fingertips through her short blue hair. He found himself wishing she didn’t find it quite so easy to kill people.
As they broke the kiss, she suddenly darted back in for another brief coda, and then she stepped back, licking her lips as she met his eyes.
“You be careful out there, John Crane,” she said. “I’ll be in touch.”
By the time he got Tate safely secured in the back and joined Jessie in the cockpit, the Short was at cruising height and heading north. Crane closed the cockpit door and settled into the copilot’s seat.
Jessie glanced over as if to confirm that he was okay. “So. Friend of yours?”
Crane chuckled. “Not sure I’d say that.”
“She certainly seemed friendly.”
Crane conceded the point with a nod. “But a little too bloodthirsty for my taste.”
Jessie raised an eyebrow at that, but let it drop. She adjusted something on the control panel and was quiet as the plane droned on toward home and safety.
Crane found himself remembering that kiss, the taste of her lips and the feeling of her body pressing into his. Yes, she was dangerous and not to be trusted. The wise move would be to keep his distance and not get himself snared in whatever trap she was setting.
But he already knew it wasn’t going to be that simple.
CHAPTER 43
Josh and Myria Group’s General Counsel met with a very polite officer from the Investigations Division of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department. They met in a conference room at Myria with leather chairs and an untouched pitcher of water on the table. Josh was in no mood for the meeting. There was the very welcome news that Crane was all right. Jessie Diamond would have him and Jason Tate back in the United States very soon. Beyond that, though, the news was just confusing. Too many pieces moving at once.
The officer said there was still no sign of Tim. Deputies had searched the area but found nothing. Josh hadn’t exactly mentioned injecting Tim with drugs of unknown legality, so they seemed to assume he’d simply walked off. Apparently there were reports of someone who might have been Tim stumbling along the road nearby.
So you didn’t actually murder him outright. I guess that’s something.
It also appeared that someone had hurriedly gone through Tim’s apartment. It wasn’t yet clear whether that was Tim himself or someone else. Either Tim was on the run somewhere, or whoever was pulling the strings had gotten to him and then cleaned the apartment to remove anything leading back to them. His fiancée had reported him missing and was frantically searching for him.
Emily. You were going to have them out for steaks one weekend. Congratulate them, give them some extravagant wedding gift, wish them a future of happiness that won’t happen now.
The short version was that the detectives were inclined to agree that Tim had been induced to kidnap him by persons unknown. Josh was lucky to have escaped. When the kidnap attempt failed, the accomplices panicked. The officer spoke carefully around the subject, but Josh got the impression they weren’t expecting to find Tim alive.
Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
“I got him killed, didn’t I?” Josh said suddenly. “It’s my fault, isn’t it?”
His General Counsel looked at him with alarm.
“I mean, sure, he did what he did. But he wasn’t evil. This was done to him because he worked for me. If he’d never run into me, he’d still be living a normal life.”
“I can’t speak to that, sir,” said the officer. “But the choices he made were his. They weren’t your fault.”
“But you’re a cop. You must see this all the time. How much crime is just ordinary peo
ple and a moment of weakness? They get tempted by something, or their life’s lousy and they think they see an easy way out? I think we all have that inside us if he hit just the right situation. It’s just that most of us never do.”
The officer hadn’t come here to talk philosophy. There was a hint of disapproval in his eyes as he said, “I don’t believe we’re all criminals waiting to happen, Mr. Sulenski. You’ve got a lot of people working for you here. None of them ever tried to hurt you.”
No, until someone gets to them. Maybe they’ll just poison me next time. I don’t see anybody drinking this damn water.
He nodded. “I’m sorry. I’ve just … it’s been a rough couple of days. Then this. I’m still feeling like I’m off course. It’s all right.”
“You’ve gone through something very traumatic, sir,” said the officer. “It’s normal to experience some aftereffects. You might want to talk to a counselor. The county offers a group program.”
“Yeah. Thank you. I’ll look into that.”
Great. This guy’s going to go home tonight and tell his wife that today he sat down with one of the richest men in the world, and he was a ragged ball of anxiety, just a wreck. And she’ll say it just goes to show you that money doesn’t solve all your problems and sometimes the rich have it worse than us. Then he’ll tell her how his duck painting is going to be on the three cent stamp, and he’ll put his hand on her huge, pregnant belly and say, “Two more months.”
That’s the end of Fargo, you jackass. Now? Here? You just can’t help yourself, can you?
He noticed that the officer and his General Counsel had stood up. Apparently the meeting was over. He stood and shook the officer’s hand, and they walked him out. The officer promised that his department would keep Josh informed of any new developments, and Josh thanked him.
It was all very businesslike and civilized.
Twenty minutes later, Josh was in the Mercedes, driving toward Hayward. It wasn’t like he’d forgotten how to drive himself. He’d done it all the time when he was a normal person.
Of course you’re alone out here. If someone comes after you, you’ve got no protection.
Shut up. Just stop thinking. Stop it.
His phone chimed through the car’s speakers, and he checked the screen. It was Laura Berdoza calling from the war room. He hit the accept button.
“What is it, Laura?”
“We found Alexander Tate,” she said. “He was checked into UCSF Medical Center an hour ago.”
“How is he?”
“Don’t know yet. We’ll know something when they do.”
“Thank you, Laura. Who checked him in? Who’s responsible for him?”
“Working on it.”
Josh felt a rush of relief as he hung up. There was one gnawing burden of fear lifted, anyway. At least Alexander was alive and in safe hands. If his condition had been induced, the doctors at UCSF would be able to help him. If not, he’d still be getting real care instead of whatever had been done to him at Fallon Point.
Josh pulled into the Hayward Executive Airport and through a side gate to the general aviation area. He pulled up in front of the hangar where his Gulfstream waited, and got out. He walked around the car, feeling the wind through his hair, listening to the sounds of airplane engines in the distance. After he’d circled the car, he leaned back against a front fender, and for a time, things were simple. The flat black plain of the tarmac, a car, a hangar, a lone figure with the sun warm on the back of his neck. If he could shut out the rest of the world, fall back to just that, maybe he could calm the fears and the gnawing doubts that were eating him alive.
So simple when you could just play at solving puzzles, put them down when you were done, and none of it really mattered. What have you gotten yourself into?
Josh stood there for a long time and fought his quiet, inconclusive battle. After a time, the sound of propellers disturbed him, and he saw Jessie Diamond’s plane taxiing toward him. It stopped, the propellers spun down, and a few moments later, John Crane stepped out. Crane looked banged up but intact. Josh noticed some bruises and a bandage beneath his shirt. Whatever he’d been through himself, Crane had had it worse, Josh reminded himself. On the other hand, he realized, he’d assumed Crane was indestructible, but this proved he wasn’t.
What’s going to happen if he doesn’t come back one day? From something you sent him into?
“It’s good to see you, John. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Crane said. “How about you?”
“I’ve been better,” he admitted. “I will be again.”
Crane nodded. “This is a win, Josh. It’s a messy one, but it’s a win. Jason’s here. Is the warrant out?”
The DA’s office had issued a material witness warrant for Jason Tate the day before. Pressure in the right place had greatly increased the system’s interest in reviving the old case.
Another useful lesson right there. You should be taking notes.
“The warrant’s out. But we’re on pretty shaky legal ground ourselves, you know. We kidnapped him in Mexico and illegally extradited him. If we’re not careful, we’ll let him off the hook for everything.”
Jessie emerged from the plane and tossed a quick salute at him as she walked over.
“Hey, Josh. Found your spy.”
Josh smiled despite himself. “Thank you, Jessie. I mean it. Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me until you see the bill,” she said. “This one wasn’t cheap.” Then she leaned over to Crane and said, “Ten minutes.”
Crane nodded. “He’s not getting away with it. Jessie’s got someone coming to drive him down to the Tenderloin. There’s a room waiting for him at the Ambassador. The police will get a phone tip that he’s hiding out there. He can yell about illegal extradition all he wants, but it’s just going to be noise. A judge isn’t going to care. Unless the cartel sends someone up to testify for him.”
“I want to see him,” Josh said suddenly.
“You sure?” Crane asked.
“Very sure.”
Crane and Jessie traded a look, and Jessie shrugged. “Come on.”
They walked over to the plane, and Josh noticed bullet holes in the fuselage. They entered through the side door and went back into the cargo hold.
Jason Tate was there, trussed up and stacked on a folding jump seat like a sack of mail. He looked like hell. He was bruised and dusty, his hair was an unkempt mess, and he hadn’t shaved in a couple days. He glared up at Josh and let loose a string of obscenities as Crane hauled him to his feet.
“What have you done, Jason?” he asked. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Sulenski,” Jason spat. “Great. You’re in this too. Great. This your trained ape? That’s perfect. I’m going to have fun watching you go down.”
Josh wasn’t intimidated in the least, he realized. Jason wasn’t something to be feared at all. He just looked pathetic.
“What happened to you?” he repeated. “Your own father.”
“Fuck you, Josh. He was more father to you than he ever was to me. You can keep him. I hope you’re enjoying this. It’s not going to last. You have no idea what kind of shit you’ve stirred up.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“I’ve got power at my back. I’m not talking the cartel. They’re nothing. The people I’m talking about, you won’t even see them coming. Put me in court. I dare you. I’ll walk out, and your whole world will be falling down around you before you get back to your car.”
That would be a lot more intimidating if they hadn’t already taken a shot at you and missed.
Josh just smiled at him. “I don’t think it’s going to play out like that, Jason. My legal team’s been watching your little empire. Last twenty-four hours or so, things have been moving fast. Companies folding up, accounts transferred, assets liquidated. Somewhere, some lawyers have been burning the midnight oil. They’re filing papers by the pound over there.”
He saw Jason’s face st
art to fall, saw fear start to rise up behind his eyes at last.
“They’ve cleaned you out, Jason. What they could grab quick, anyway, and that was a lot. You don’t have a whole lot left to work with. And your friends won’t be sending their lawyers to get you out of trouble this time.”
He heard a car horn honk twice outside. Jessie’s driver was here to take Jason to the next station on his little railroad to hell.
“They’ve burned you, Jason. They’ve cut you loose so you don’t bring them down with you. They’ve tossed you off the back of the sleigh to distract the wolves. So that’s how I think it’s going to play out. I think you’re going to go to jail for a very long time, and I think I’m going to go home and have a nice grass-fed porterhouse and a bottle of Malbec.”
Jason struggled in vain against his restraints, and Josh could see the rage and fear in his face. “Kill you,” he snarled. “I’ll kill you!”
“First things first, Jason,” he said. “Your ride’s here.”
Crane and Jessie walked him forward and out onto the tarmac. Josh followed and saw a black Chevy Suburban with tinted windows waiting nearby. They loaded Jason into the back, and the Chevy sped away.
“I need to get the plane out of here,” Jessie said when they came back. “Are we good?”
“We’re good,” said Crane. “Josh?”
He nodded. “Thanks again, Jessie.”
“Don’t mention it.” She grinned. “Try and stay out of trouble, you two. When you can’t, give me a call.”
“That was good,” Crane said as they walked over to the Mercedes. “You handled him well. How did it feel?”
Josh laughed. “I’ve felt worse in the last few days.”
They reached the Mercedes, and Josh waved the key fob at the car and unlocked the doors.
“I was serious about that steak and the Malbec, by the way. What do you say?”
“That sounds really good,” said Crane.
CHAPTER 44
Josh’s house was quiet, and its cavernous rooms were dark. Josh explained that he’d sent most of the household staff home as he switched on the lights.
