by Maris Soule
Mentally numb, Mary stared at her house until the chill of the wind permeated her windbreaker, and she began to shiver. Finally she went inside. First thing on her to-do list was call the insurance company.
Her telephone started ringing the moment she reached her kitchen. She wasn’t surprised when she heard Ella’s voice on the other end of the call. ‘Are you all right?’ her friend asked.
‘Upset, but all right.’ Mary made herself comfortable on the stool. The insurance agent would have to wait until after she’d talked to her neighbor.
‘I was watching your house when they came down the street. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that truck run up on your lawn. I called 911 right away.’
‘I’m glad you did.’ The fire department’s quick arrival had eliminated any chance of the fire smoldering under the siding and flaring up later.
‘Do the police have any leads?’
‘I haven’t talked to them since last night.’
‘I told them all I knew,’ Ella said, sounding proud that she had witnessed the event. ‘I described the truck and the car, told them how many occupants I saw in each, I even gave them the exact time, just like Officer Carlson told us we should.’
‘I’m glad you were watching.’ Mary wondered how long Ella had been at her window, watching what went on across the street. Probably from the time David arrived. Her friend had been paranoid enough before the Neighborhood Watch meeting.
‘It’s a shame they ran into Shannon’s car. Didn’t she get that just last summer?’
Mary was sure Ella knew exactly when Robby had bought the car so Shannon could take a summer job in South Haven, but Mary told her again. ‘He gave it to her in June.’
‘I thought so. What are you going to do about the front of your house?’
‘As soon as we finish talking I’m going to call my insurance company.’
‘Oh, well then, I’ll let you go. Oh, my, that white car is back. It just parked in front of your house. I think … Yes, that man from last night, the one who went into your house … he’s back.’
So she wasn’t the only one who didn’t wait until afternoon to return.
‘You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend,’ Ella said, almost whispering. ‘He’s very good-looking.’
‘He’s not a boyfriend,’ Mary insisted. ‘Just, ah …’ She wasn’t quite sure how to describe her relationship with David. ‘Listen, I’ll talk to you later.’
Mary hung up the phone and made it to her front door just as David was about to ring the doorbell. He looked refreshed and debonair, his austere black suit of the day before replaced by tan slacks, a black turtleneck, and a tan, knee-length wool overcoat. His polished presence made her wish she’d put on more than an old pair of gray slacks and an off-white cable-knit sweater.
‘Good morning,’ she said, glad she’d at least applied some makeup before leaving her son’s house.
David smiled. ‘You saw me coming?’
‘My neighbor did.’
‘I wasn’t sure if you’d be home yet, but I thought I’d drive by, just in case you were. Have any coffee made?’
‘It will only take a second.’ She headed for the kitchen. ‘Did you have to stay here very long after Shannon and I left last night?’
‘No, your detective buddy finally ran out of questions to ask. He’s certainly curious about you.’
David settled down at her kitchen table as she turned on the coffee maker and grabbed a mug from the cupboard.
‘He’s been doing his best to figure out what you were doing before you moved here.’
‘He told you that?’ Mary asked, starting the machine.
‘No.’ David slipped out of his overcoat – exposing his shoulder holster and gun – stretched, and leaned back in his chair. ‘But he’s been looking for information about you for weeks now. His searches started after you attacked those boys.’
‘I didn’t attack them, they attacked me.’
‘Well, you know what I mean. He even had his son looking for information about you. The son’s an FBI agent, so we squelched that fast.’
She didn’t ask how. She knew they had ways.
‘Last night, after I left here, I had Samantha – she’s our nighttime IT gal – go into Rossini’s computer again. Your sergeant had mentioned someone named Jose, and I wanted to find out how he was connected to those kids last night.’
‘And did you find out?’
He nodded. ‘Looks like the boys you tangled with are connected to an ex-con named Jose Rodriguez. According to Rossini’s files, the guy has taken over a gang called the River Boyz and is using this area to transport and distribute some major drugs.’
Mary handed him his coffee, then sat down across from him. ‘So why is this gang so determined to get back at me?’
‘I’m not sure,’ David said and paused to take a sip of the coffee before going on. ‘But I paid Rodriguez a visit this morning.’
She hadn’t expected that. ‘And…?’
‘Rossini was there, too. At least he was parked down the street from Rodriguez’s place when I left.’
‘So is Rodriguez dead now?’
‘Not yet.’ David smiled over his mug of coffee. ‘I thought I’d leave that up to you.’
Mary stared at him, not quite sure what to say … or what he was saying to her. ‘How are you leaving it up to me?’ she finally managed.
‘I told him you were going to take him down, that those two you tangled with were just the start.’
Slowly she understood. ‘So this is how you’re getting rid of me.’ He’d said he wouldn’t push her down the stairs. He hadn’t said she wouldn’t die.
‘It’s up to you. You take him out and the gang will fall apart. Do nothing and the next attack may succeed.’
She knew he was right, but she shook her head. ‘Even if I wanted to kill the man – which I don’t – how could I? With one phone call you know who the gang’s leader is and where he lives. I tried to get that information last week and hit a wall. Mary Smith Harrington doesn’t have the same resources as Pandora Coye had, and the reality is, I’m an old lady. I lucked out the other night.’
‘There is one other alternative.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I have to get back to Washington. Those nosy senators subpoenaed me. I’m scheduled to appear before the committee next week, so come with me, Pan. Come back to work for us. I’d like you to train some of our new recruits.’
‘Come back?’ She stared at him.
For forty-four years, she’d been Mary, a woman who lived a quiet life, didn’t get involved in causes or politics, was a good wife and mother, and carried spiders outside so she didn’t have to kill them. Did she want to be Pandora again? Did she want to teach others how to kill and not care?
Slowly, she shook her head. ‘No.’
‘Why not? Your husband’s dead, your son is all grown up and capable of taking care of himself, and your granddaughter seems to be fine. Who needs you here?’
A good question, she guessed, but not one that mattered. Whether her family needed her or not, she needed them. Again she shook her head. ‘I’m not going with you.’
‘Don’t forget that Dubois kid is still around, Pan. I don’t know exactly where he is, but Samantha tracked his computer to this area. As far as she can tell, he’s about fifteen miles north of Rivershore and ten miles or more southwest of some town called Allegan.’
Mary knew approximately where that might be. ‘Sounds like he’s near the Allegan State Game Area.’
‘They have wireless at the park?’
‘No, I don’t think so, but there are homes and farms in that area. Lots of them.’
David nodded. ‘Then my guess is he’s staying in one of those homes or farms. Which means he’s probably just biding his time before he comes here.’
That made two men – or more – who wanted her dead. Maybe she wasn’t going to have a choice. Maybe she should go with David, get out of town.
<
br /> He seemed to sense her indecision. ‘I can wait until you pack a bag,’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t need to take a lot. Just some memorabilia. Everything else you can buy once you’re in D.C.’
She thought about it, thought about all of the memories she’d be leaving behind, about never seeing her son or granddaughter again. Again she shook her head. ‘I can’t, David. I just can’t.’
‘So you’re saying Pandora Coye is dead?’
The way he said ‘dead’ bothered Mary, but she simply nodded.
‘Then I guess it’s time for me to head out of here.’ He put his mug down and stood. She watched him slip his overcoat back on, watched his eyes for any signs of emotion, and thought maybe she saw sadness. Or maybe not.
Mary walked with him to the front door. There he paused and touched the side of her face with the tips of his fingers. ‘I loved working with you, Pan. You know that, don’t you? I think we were fools. We should have had an affair.’
‘Goodbye, David,’ she said, knowing an affair would have meant nothing to him, that back then, just as now, he would have ultimately left her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
AT THE POLICE station, Wally and Phil were waiting for Jack’s arrival. They followed him to his desk, and waited for him to remove his overcoat and sit down. The first thing he noticed was his screensaver was showing. ‘We tried to log in,’ Wally said. ‘But I forgot where I put the list with everyone’s passwords.’
‘Do you think someone stole it?’ Jack asked as he typed in his password.
‘Well, I guess that’s a possibility, but wait ‘til you see what comes up.’
‘If it comes up,’ Phil said, edging behind Jack’s chair so he could get a clear view of the monitor.
Jack didn’t have to wait long to see what had Wally and Phil so upset. It only took a moment after he pressed the enter key for his monitor to turn completely black and for the sound of maniacal laughter to come out of his speakers. Almost immediately after that, the screen turned a bright red and the words ‘Beware of AntiSec’ appeared in black in the center.
‘Yep, that’s exactly what happened with ours,’ Phil said and gave a deep sigh.
Jack stared at the screen. He knew how to use the computer to type up a report, gather information on the Internet, and access the few data banks his rank allowed, mainly AFIS and IAFIS. Anything beyond those tasks baffled him. It was his son, John, during one of his rare visits, who had urged Jack to use a password and helped him download an antivirus program, firewall, and anti-spyware program.
‘So now what?’ he asked, looking up at Phil and Wally.
‘I hit the spacebar,’ Phil said, ‘and it went away.’
Jack hit the spacebar on his keyboard, and his screen went black again, but only for a second, and then the picture of his granddaughter, taken when she was five, appeared, as it normally did, along with the usual icons on the side.
‘I described what happened to the county’s IT specialist,’ Wally said. ‘He suggested we keep our use of the computers to a minimum until he can look at them.’
‘Oh, that’s just great.’ Jack stared at his granddaughter’s picture. He wanted to go into his files and see if he still had his list of informants, but he didn’t dare.
‘He asked if any of us had received any strange email messages recently,’ Wally added. ‘Something that didn’t look quite right, but that we might have responded to. Someone asking a question, or an email that looked like the message had been sent to the wrong email address.’
Jack started to say he hadn’t received anything like that, but then he remembered the message about the business in Rivershore, the one that didn’t exist. ‘I may have received something like that,’ he said and told them about the request. ‘I responded that I didn’t know of such a business.’
‘McDonald’s Hardware?’ Phil asked.
‘No, King’s Pharmacy,’ Jack said.
Wally grunted an obscenity. ‘I never even thought of that. Mine asked about Arby’s Grocery.’
‘And that gave them access?’ Jack stared at his computer.
‘I guess it’s one way these hackers get in,’ Wally said, ‘least that’s what the IT guy said. He also suggested we look into changing servers.’
‘Meanwhile, are you saying everything we had on our computers will be spread across the Internet?’ Jack didn’t like the idea of his personal correspondence as well as his official documents being out there for anyone to see.
‘I don’t know,’ Phil said. ‘All these messages today have said “Beware of AntiSec.” For all I know, this could be a test from Homeland Security, or maybe the FBI. They’ve been investigating this Anonymous group. And I don’t think we should feel bad that this happened. My gosh, the Department of Defense and the CIA, along with other law enforcement agencies, have been hacked.’
Jack looked at Phil. He wasn’t sure if the younger officer was naïve or simply hopeful, but as far as Jack was concerned, his computer had been raped. His personal information had been violated.
And, as irrational as it might be, Jack felt Agent David Burrows was somehow responsible.
Mary sat at the kitchen table staring at David’s half-empty mug of coffee. So you’re saying Pandora is dead. He’d said those words as calmly as if he’d been talking about a third person, but she’d understood the message. If those gang members wanted revenge, sooner or later they would get to her. If Pandora Coye was truly dead, it would be Mary Harrington – an elderly grandmother – facing the gang. Mary Harrington wouldn’t have a chance.
And what about the boy who was now a man? If Peter Dubois was looking for her, when would he show up?
She doubted it would matter to him that people here in Rivershore knew her as Mary Harrington. Just as it had been with David, Peter Dubois would look at her and see Pandora Coye.
Did she really want to simply let him shoot her as she’d shot his mother so long ago?
Was she ready to die?
When Harry passed, she’d pondered that question. She’d been seventy-two then, and in her teens she’d considered that old. Really, really old. Back then she’d figured anyone who lived past fifty had had a good life and should be ready to die. She’d quickly changed her opinion about that when she reached fifty.
But for a while after Harry died, life without him hadn’t seemed worth living. For several weeks she’d moped around the house, hating the silence, and wondering if she wanted to go on living without him. She wasn’t quite sure when her attitude changed. Maybe when Shannon came by the house all excited because she’d passed her driving test and wanted to take her grandmother for a ride. Or maybe when she went back to exercising.
But now, would she have a choice?
Mary Harrington couldn’t take out this Jose Rodriguez guy. She wasn’t even sure Pandora Coye could. Oh, years ago it would have been an even match. Years ago she would have had the upper hand, but nowadays there was no way Mary or Pandora could protect herself against Jose’s gang members. She might be in excellent physical condition for a woman her age, but that was the paradox. She was now seventy-four. Her joints grew stiff if she sat too long, and her body wasn’t as supple as when she was in her teens and twenties. She wasn’t as strong, couldn’t move as fast, or hit as hard. She needed glasses to read and had tinnitus, which made hearing difficult. The agency had taught them that their survival in the field depended on relying on their senses, and more than once, when she’d been on an assignment, she’d put that lesson into practice. An almost indistinct sound, the slight movement of a hand, and she’d been ready to counter an attack.
Now…?
She got up from the table and opened the cupboard under her coffee maker. From the top shelf, she pulled out the box that held the weapons she’d brought up from the basement. She placed it on the table in front of her and slowly lifted the lid. The kubotan she’d made years before was on her keychain, and the nunchuck was gone, either already in the possession of Jose’s gang or taken by the s
on of the woman she’d killed.
Mary checked the remaining weapons. The metal kubotan – the one the agency had given her – along with the throwing stars and fighting fans wouldn’t be much help if she was attacked by more than one person. The night her car had stopped running, she’d been able to use the element of surprise to her advantage. That wouldn’t happen again, and unlike fights in the movies, gangs didn’t hesitate to attack en masse. None of this standing around as the hero fought off one attacker, then another, and then another.
If she hoped to survive, she would have to act before they knew what was happening.
Mary chuckled and picked up one of the throwing stars. Even when she’d been younger she’d had trouble throwing the stars. Since then the closest she’d come to any sort of practice was back when she used to play Frisbee with Robby.
As for a gun, Harry hadn’t believed in them, and she’d never asked him to buy one. Living in Rivershore, neither Harry nor she had felt a need for a gun, and even when she’d been working for the agency, she’d rarely carried one. Her assignments had involved eliminating her targets in ways that made their deaths look like accidents or natural causes. Even on her last assignment, the gun wasn’t hers. The whole idea had been to use Dario Mendez’s gun so he would be blamed for his girlfriend’s murder. The French police and media would have seen both of their deaths as casualties of trafficking in drugs. Too bad, so sad … thin the herd.
And if the right woman had been murdered and the boy hadn’t testified otherwise, the plan would have worked.
But of course, it didn’t.
She dropped the throwing star back into the box and replaced the lid. Bringing her weapons upstairs had been a mistake. Forty-four years ago she’d put her days of killing people behind her. She wasn’t going to start again. Not for David and not to save her life.
