“You say ‘naming.’ Is that your real name, Abay... whatever you said?”
“I don’t have a birth name anymore, only Abayomi.”
She noticed a gold chain with a pendant around Abi’s neck. It was the same symbol repeated and carved into the walls of the chamber. It was the shape of a cross, but with the top section in the shape of an oval. Amy reached out and held the pendant.
“That’s nice. What’s the significance of the symbol?”
“It’s called an Ankh. The symbol of everlasting life.”
Amy let go of the pendent, set a false smile, then edged toward the elevator. There were three buttons for the levels.
“You wouldn’t get far if you tried the elevator. The exits are well guarded on the other levels.”
Amy scowled. A plastic arrow shape under the buttons glowed red.
“Our leader is coming to see you and you are to be prepared for your naming.”
“What?”
“We must prepare you.”
Abi held out her hand, and with a glint in her eyes, she fingered strands of Amy’s hair. Amy brushed her hand away.
“Forget that shit, you’re not cutting my hair.” An LED flickered next to the second level indicator. “Awe, crud.”
The wall mounted telephone rang. Abi reached out and took hold of the handset.
“Oh, okay.” Abi said, then glanced at Amy.
She placed the handset back in the cradle.
“Relax, they won’t be ready for you until tomorrow. Some sort of emergency meeting. We’ll be going to the meeting in the second-floor chamber when they’re ready for you.”
Amy’s thoughts scattered in a multitude of directions. Not having her naming until tomorrow would give her time to work on Abi for information, she thought. Besides, she hoped that getting to second floor would get her nearer to the surface to mount an escape.
“Listen, tell me, what does this naming involve?”
Chapter 41
HE was tired, but the message from the speaker on his radio caught his attention. Shaw put his laptop to one side on his bed. Taskforce One repeated his message over the scanner speaker.
“The Fox is out of the hole, over.”
Ted was on the move. He tugged at his hair with both hands.
“Damn.”
He hadn’t expected Ted to defy his curfew so quickly. But then thinking about it, Ted wouldn’t know that he was being staked out, or that they’d put a GPS tracker on his SUV, together with a tracker app into his iPhone. He could have decided to run, because he knew the FBI agents were visiting. There again, he could be running to a base where they were holding Amy. Shaw thought that if the latter were the case, he’d made a big mistake of withholding what he knew from the FBI. They were the experts. They should be the ones following him. They were in the next room.
Shit.
Shaw had had doubts that Frank’s bunch of misfit home-defense buddies could be up to the task. He felt trapped. It’s not as if he could monitor progress with the phones tapped, he knew that much. And he couldn’t join in the surveillance. Cox and Carla would expect him to stay at home to answer any ransom calls from the kidnappers. Hell, he realized that was his priority. He’d relied on his answer phone up to now, asking callers to phone his cell phone. He threw his legs over the side of the bed, then stood, and hurried into the living area.
“We’re nearly set up,” Cox said. “We just need our office to make a call for me to test out our voice wavelength recorder and we’re good to go.”
“Great,” Shaw said. “I’m just going down to the office to alter the answer phone to have calls redirected to my home line. I’ll not answer the extension.”
“No answer the call. If it’s the kidnappers, stall them so we can at least try and trace the call.”
“Fine”
Shaw left the room, scurried down the stairway into his office and flicked the light switch. He picked up his radio microphone and turned the dial to the taskforce frequency. He pressed the speak button.
“Blue Leader to, Taskforce One. Do you have a visual on the Fox? Over.”
“Monitoring on all fronts, over.”
He assumed that meant he was in sight and they had a visual of his movements on the GPS tracker.
“What direction, over.”
“West on the hoof, over.”
Shaw glanced at the map on the wall. Going west, the highway at the bottom of Ted’s street would take him away from Breakers Pass in the direction of Claymore. He wondered why he hadn’t taken his SUV. There were no stores nearby along the route for a good twenty miles if he was short on provisions.
“I have visitors, keep me posted, but keep it short, Blue Leader, out.”
“Your coffee,” said Carla. Shaw’s body flinched. He switched the radio off. “Sorry to have startled you.”
“Yeah, I am a little on the jumpy side.”
“Understandable that your nerves must be on edge. I didn’t mean to listen in, but your call sounded interesting.”
“Call, oh that. Nothing really. It... It’s just a farmer friend who’s having trouble with a fox taking his chickens.”
“It must be great living out here. I‘d sooner be chasing down foxes than criminals.”
“Yeah, well at the moment, the town’s more to think about than criminals.”
“Why’s that?”
The phone rang. He raised his arm, showed Carla the flat of his hand, and then answered the call.
“Shaw.”
“I need to speak with agent Cox, please, it’s her office.”
“I’ve got it,” said Cox.
He set the handset down and turned to Carla. “We’ve got a bug doing the rounds. One hundred dead so far. The whole town’s going to be put on quarantine. So don’t go wandering outside until we know what it is. It could be airborne, or it could be bad food.”
“What!”
“I thought your office would have known and told you. They’ll be running tests on the bodies, and I have someone running tests of my own on the tap water. My freezer is well stocked, and we’re okay with bottled water. I guess we’ll just have to sit it out.”
“Lucky we weren’t thinking of going anywhere. Not with the job we have here, I guess,” Carla said. She sniffed at the coffee, then twitched her nose.
“The coffee will be okay with the water boiled.”
“I hope you’re right. Listen, I’ll tell Amanda. It’ll freak her out. She has an obsession with cleanliness as it is on account of her Asthma.”
“Asthma. I wish she’d have said. Good thing I didn’t give her a tongue lashing for her attitude.”
“Yeah, she can come across as a bit on the sharp side. I hope you’ll make allowances.”
Carla set the coffee mug down, did an about turn and walked out of the office. Shaw changed his answer phone message, and then headed up the stairway to join Carla and Cox. As he walked into the room, his phone rang. They all exchanged glances.
“It’s the office number,” he said.
“We’re good to go,” said Cox.
He sat on the sofa and picked up the handset.
“Shaw.”
“Greg Hewson. I’m Ed Grimes’ attorney down in LA. I’ve just come off of the phone with him. Says you’ve had him in for questioning.”
“Routine, that’s all.”
“Doesn’t sound like that to me. I want a transcript of the tape.”
“I’ll have one of my deputies send it to you.”
“He won’t be saying anymore on tape without me present, I want to make that clear. He told me what your game is. What’s this all about a statement from a witness?”
“Simple. I told your Ed. I have a witness statement saying they’ve seen your client regularly visiting Maria late at night up to her death.”
“Just so you know, he’s not denying that he’s visited the vet’s surgery, so any forensics pointing to evidence he’s been there is coincidental.”
“Ah, ye
ah, first thing that sprung to mind... coincidence. I could write a book about coincidences.”
“I’m sure you can. What forensics have you had back?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Good, so there’ll be no need to talk to him again.”
“Bit difficult really, seeing as how he’s my mayor, this being a small town ’n’ all.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m sure I do.”
“Then I’m sure you’ll know all about the laws of slander if you start rumors spreading around, saying he was having an affair with the vet.”
“Ah, now were getting to it. Yeah, I know.”
“Good that’s all either of us have to say on the subject. Take down my number and have your deputy call me for my address.”
“Sorry, phone back in office time. One of them will deal with it. I’m busy right now.”
Shaw closed the call and huffed.
“Does that machine of yours tell you if someone is a slime ball?”
“Not quite. But analyzing the variance in speech pattern can give indications of stress. Ed Grimes, did he say?” Cox said.
“Yeah, Edward Grimes, Mr. Freakin’ Mayor.”
“I guess he’s a suspect in the death of this Maria?” she said.
“Yeah. You could say that.” Shaw relayed all the details surrounding the events. “Listen. I’m gonna turn in. If there are any calls, shout me.”
“Sure,” Cox said.
Shaw headed for his bedroom. He switched on the scanner and climbed onto the bed. With his head on the pillow, he listened to the static crackling from the speaker. In the background noise, he could hear a tone that sounded as if someone was tapping out Morse code. The sound was rhythmic. Steady, like a metronome. His eyelids closed.
Shaw opened his eyes to the sound buzzing in his ear.
“Taskforce One to, Two. The Fox is stationary. No visual, over.”
He glanced at his alarm clock on the nightstand. It was 4:10 a.m.
“Taskforce One. What’s your position, Two, over.”
Shaw recognized Frank’s voice as Taskforce Two.
“I’m at the intersection of Claymore and Pine Ridge. Clear view, but no sign of the Fox. I’m almost on top of the signal, Taskforce One, over.”
“He could be hiding. Hang back, and keep watching, over.”
“Will do, Taskforce One, out.”
Shaw’s cell phone rang. He snatched it from the nightstand and answered before the second ring. Frank’s name appeared on the screen.
“Yes, Frank. I heard. I have visitors, remember.”
“Sorry. Just so you know. I think the Fox has rumbled us. We’ll stay on it.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.”
He placed his cell phone back on the nightstand. Shaw heard a tap on his door and turned on the bedside light.
“Come in.”
The door opened. Cox stood there holding a scanner.
“Well. Is there something you’re not telling us?”
Chapter 42
SHAW knew that he was blushing. There was no hiding his embarrassment. He sat upright on his bed, hesitating how to respond. He stared at the silhouette of agent Cox in the doorway. Damn it, she’s listened in.
“Well!” Cox said, and waved her scanner at him.
“Hell’s teeth! Which pony did you ride into town on, lady?” He threw his legs over the side of the bed, then stood and faced her. “You come into my home as if you own the damned place, giving orders, and then listen in on my private conversations.”
“Yeah, well, in case you’ve forgot that’s why I’m here. You didn’t mention a shortwave radio when we set up the wiretaps. The kidnappers could use that to make contact. If you don’t keep me in the loop about what’s happening around here, how are we meant to find Amy?”
“So, I forgot about the radio. So what? Don’t give me that crap about finding Amy. I may be a small town sheriff, but even I know you’re meant to close a call once it’s known that it’s nothing to do with the kidnappers. You’re unprofessional. That’s what you are.”
“Unprofessional! Like you eyeing Carla up and down when we arrived. How professional is that for a sheriff?”
“Yeah, well, what do you expect when an FBI agent flashes her tits instead of a badge? I don’t suppose either of you would have thought it professional to change into suits.”
“Oh, I get you now. Well let me tell you, I’m professional enough to know when someone is hiding something. And keep your voice down, or you’ll wake Carla.”
“There you go, giving orders. Read my lips. This is my home and on that note, just what the hell are you doing creeping into my bedroom for the frequency of the channel? And no, you don’t get me. Not at all.”
Cox huffed, and then sighed. “You think—Oh never mind.”
“No go on, out with it.”
“Carla told me about the conversation you had in the office. She said you were acting cagey. I mean, chasing a fox. I got the frequency number from your radio in the office. I didn’t want to disturb you resting. It isn’t the channel for law enforcement around here.” Her finger dragged at the loose skin under her eye. “Do you see any green in here?”
Shaw took a step back and took a deep breath. Cox was right, despite her lousy attitude from the minute she arrived. She was there to help get Amy back. He wasn’t used to lying to this extent to hide the truth, only to get confessions out of suspects. He knew he was overreacting to cover up the situation with Ted. He’d been caught on the hop by Cox and a displayed lousy attitude of his own. There again, he wondered if him blowing his stack was the lack of downing a bottle of JD. He realized he’d not had a drink since the day after that night in LA. Arguing was going nowhere. The lady could hold her own, no doubt in his mind about that.
“Whoa, let’s take a step back,” he said. “It’s after office hours, and I’ve been using a different frequency for private business... that’s all. And for your information, some guys I know are chasing a fox. It’s something we pass the time with around here... hunting. I’m sorry if I thought you’d sneaked into my bedroom.”
“Yeah, well I’m sorry if I jumped to conclusions. As for the orders, I’m used to being the man of the house, so sorry for that. I forget sometimes.”
Man of the house?
“Anyway,” said Cox. “Let’s start again. I have something that might be of interest.”
She turned on the ball of her foot and set of down the corridor. Shaw followed her, intrigued by what she meant by ‘interesting.’ He hoped it was news from the gang bust down in LA. Carla sat up on the sofa, rubbing her eyes.
“What’s all the noise for,” Carla said, and yawned.
“Just sorting our differences,” said Shaw. “Everything’s fine.”
Carla dropped her head on the pillow, then pulled her blanket over her head. Cox handed him a buff file and whispered.
“Read it.”
Shaw raised an eyebrow. He guessed she couldn’t help giving orders. He opened the file. It looked as though Cox had been busy. The top sheet of paper had details he already knew. It was Ed Grimes conviction for a misdemeanor. He flicked through the rest. They were all details of shareholders’ transfers, and details of the current CEOs of small businesses that Grimes had bought out. At the back of the file was a brief summary surrounding the investigation into the death of Ed Grimes’ dad, Jedward Grimes. The agent’s name signing off the report was familiar. FBI Agent A Cox.
He closed the file, stood and signaled for Cox to follow him with a sway of his head. Entering the kitchen, he flicked on the light switch. Cox joined him. He closed the door, and pulled out a stool for her.
“Any news on the gang bust?”
“No, not yet.”
“What’s all this about?” Shaw asked, and waved the file. He set it down on the breakfast bar.
“As soon as I heard the name Ed Grimes, the hairs on my neck stood on end.”
“Why’s
that?”
“It all goes back to his dad’s death. I was told to close the file and have it marked as an accident. I wanted to keep it open. He must have powerful friends in high places. So anyway, I printed off some of my file on him for you to read through.”
“I thought he had an alibi for the time of his dad’s death.”
“He did. It was cast iron tight. But he also had the strongest motive. I don’t go for coincidences.”
“Yeah, I know all about the money motive.”
He studied her. Cox’s attitude toward coincidences in crimes matched his own. He knew they had that in common.
“I’ve kept my own file on him,” said Cox. “Been watching him for a while now in my own time. I don’t get why he runs an empire from a small town here in the wilds. And running a bar for Christ’s sake.”
“Yeah, I only just found out about his supply business in LA. But I didn’t know about these others. Maybe he thrives on being mayor, and the bar provides his popularity and drinking buddies.”
“Maybe. You mean like the Mafia Don who runs a pizza place because he likes eating the unhealthy crap and gets free meals.”
Shaw was getting to admire her cynical worldview.
“What are all these businesses he’s been buying?”
“They’re all water bottling plants, or distributors. He’s been buying them up over the past few years.”
“Perhaps he foresaw the drought. Some would call that astute.”
“Some would call it racketeering, the way he’s forced their hand to buy some of them. Oh, not him though, his henchmen. There have been a few mysterious deaths and disappearances along the way. Nothing that I could make stick to go to my bosses with. It’s where his money comes from to buy them that I hit a brick wall. His investors are all from offshore corporations.”
Shaw admired her for carrying out her own maverick investigations.
“I don’t know how all this helps me with the vet’s case.”
The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles Page 27
