He put the phone on the side table, crouched and lifted the bedstead. Nothing. Just then he remembered taking a silver pen from Lucas’ apartment Saturday morning, assuming it must have been his. He dashed back to the front room and rummaged through each compartment of his laptop bag before he finally saw it. A shiny silver object that looked very much like a fountain pen. He grabbed it and pulled the ends apart to expose a USB connector just as the woman had said.
He put the cell to his ear. “I’ve got it. It’s a USB stick.”
He heard the woman sigh. “You need to get out of there, but you can’t leave the building yet. You need to go to a neighbor’s place and wait there till I tell you.”
“But what am I going to tell them?”
“I don’t care. Make something up. You work on Wall Street, right? Just say anything, but you have to go now.”
Tobias dashed toward the door and moved the couch out of the way. As he reached for the handle, he paused and looked around the room, thinking about what to pack. He hurriedly put his laptop into its leather bag, grabbed his phone charger and left everything else. Slowly, he opened the door and looked down the hall in both directions. Silence. He then rushed to an apartment about ten steps away and knocked firmly. Nobody opened it, so he knocked again, this time much louder. The door opened and a dark-haired, middle-aged woman stood in front of him. He recognized her as a nurse he frequently said hello to when he’d come home from the nightclubs just as she was coming home, too. A bewildered look covered her face.
He was unable to speak. He had no idea what to say. Just then, the elevators on his floor made a sound similar to the striking of a bell. He charged into the flat, dragging her inside. She let out a mild scream before he placed his hand over her mouth and firmly closed the door.
She looked at him wide-eyed. He whispered into her ear, “I’m not going to hurt you, but please, stay quiet.”
She nodded and he eased his hand away from her mouth. He put his ear to the door and listened for footsteps. He counted at least four people walking along the corridor before all went quiet. He assumed they had reached his apartment. He heard a knock on his door, and another and another. The force with which the door was struck increased steadily. He heard someone shout something he couldn’t quite make out, but he was sure he heard his name mentioned.
His heart beat faster. He glanced at the woman seated on the floor opposite him with nothing but fear on her face. He raised his hands, trying to reassure her, before he heard the other woman’s voice on the phone again.
“What’s happening?” she said.
“They’re at my door. They’re banging on it.”
“Just stay calm. They’ll go soon.”
He glanced at the woman on the floor and edged away from the door. “What the hell is going on?” he whispered into the phone. “What are these people doing at my place?”
The woman didn’t speak for a few seconds. “The people at your door are the police. They think you killed Penélope.”
Tobias sunk to the floor. He breathed heavily, his mind barely able to function. Shit, shit. They think it’s me. What do I do? What do I do? “What the hell,” he said. “So I’m the suspect they talked about on the news.”
“Yes,” the woman said.
“But I didn’t do it.” He stood and walked toward the door. “Why am I hiding? It’ll just make me look guilty.”
“Listen to me, you fool. It’s not just the police after you. You see that memory stick you have? It contains some serious evidence against some pretty powerful people, and there’s no way they’ll let the police get their hands on it without killing you first.”
Tobias sunk back to the floor and grimaced. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. This can’t be happening. I don’t even know how the hell that memory stick got there.”
“Just stay calm. As long as you do what I say, you’ll be fine.”
Tobias continued taking deep breaths, noticing that the woman sitting opposite him did the same. After ten minutes, he could no longer hear footsteps or voices outside.
“What now?” he asked the woman on the phone. “I can’t hear anyone anymore.”
“Just stay there. It’s not safe yet. I’ll tell you when to leave.”
“But where are you? How will you know?”
“Trust me. I’ll get you out of this, but you have to do what I say.”
Tobias relaxed his back against the door, thoughts racing through his head. He noticed the woman opposite him trembling as she looked at him intently. “What’s your name?” he asked.
The woman opened her mouth to speak but quickly stopped herself.
“It’s okay. I swear I won’t hurt you.”
“Nancy.”
“Okay, Nancy. I’m going to go pretty soon. I know you have the right to tell the police what you want, but I’m begging you, please don’t say anything. They won’t ask you any questions, because they don’t know I’m here.”
Nancy stopped trembling. “What have you done? Why are they after you?”
Tobias rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “It’s so messed up. They think I did something I didn’t, and now these other guys are after—”
“That’s enough,” the woman on the phone shouted. “Do you want to get her involved? Just stay quiet until I tell you it’s safe to go. If you must chitchat, make it about something else. Hell, talk about the weather. Just don’t tell her anything important.”
Tobias stood up. “Then tell me what the hell is going on. I’m going out of my mind here.”
The woman didn’t respond.
Tobias looked at the phone’s display and saw that the call was still connected. “Hello? Hello?”
“Quiet,” the woman said.
Tobias leaned against the wall, and he and Nancy exchanged nervous looks.
“Okay. Tobias,” the woman on the phone said, “I want you to open the door now.”
He grabbed the door handle.
“Slowly. You can’t rush this.”
“Okay, okay.” He left his hand on the handle and glanced at Nancy. “What about her?” he whispered into the phone.
“Do you think she’ll talk?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then leave her, but you have to leave now.”
Tobias nodded at Nancy and walked out of the apartment with his laptop bag hung over his shoulder. “What now?”
The woman waited five seconds before responding. “I want you to take the eastern stairwell all the way to the ground floor and wait there.”
Tobias paused and glanced backward. He could be walking into a trap. I have no choice. If I stay, I’m probably dead anyway. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“I’m waiting for you there now. It’s safe.”
Tobias took a deep breath and took steady steps toward the door in the easternmost section of the building. He stopped a number of times upon hearing voices in nearby flats. His breathing accelerated when a man walked out of an apartment carrying a large refuse bag.
“Someone just walked out,” Tobias said to the woman on the phone.
“Stay calm. Just walk like nothing’s wrong.”
Tobias placed the phone by his side and smiled at the man. Once he’d passed him, he rushed for the stairs and ran down. “Okay. I’m here now.”
“Just go on down like nothing’s wrong. I’ll see you at the bottom.”
“I can hear someone.”
“Who?”
“Hang on.” Tobias stopped and listened as footsteps drew closer. He saw the doorman he hadn’t recognized walking toward him. He took the phone from his ear and swallowed with a dry throat, both hands trembling. The man had the same blue blazer on, with a gold, triangular emblem on the breast, but his hat was gone. His head was bald and smooth. His stare seemed to tear through him.
“Tobias Mead,” the man said.
Tobias nodded.
The bald man pulled out a badge. Tobias couldn’t see it clearly from where he stood, but it resembled FB
I identification. “I’m Agent Podolski,” the man said.
Tobias twitched. The man didn’t look like an Agent Podolski. The face just didn’t go with the name. “What do you want?”
“You have to remain calm. I know you’re scared. Hell, I’d be, too—”
“Why?” Tobias demanded. “Why would you be scared? What have I actually done?” He took a step back. “Do you even know anything about me, or are you just here to kill me?”
“Relax, son. I just want to talk.”
“Oh yeah. Where’s you backup?”
The man smiled and pulled out a pistol. “You know, I tried to make this easy, but you’re really pissing me off.”
Tobias took a deep breath and held it for a second. He put both hands in the air. “What do you want?”
“Not here. Come.” The man pulled out a pair of handcuffs with his left hand and approached Tobias, the gun still in his right.
Tobias’ hands shook as he took a step forward and then another.
“Stop right there,” a woman screamed.
Tobias looked past the man to see a tall woman with short hair and bright blue eyes pointing a pistol at the bald man. Shit, that’s Annabel, Penélope’s friend from Friday night. She must have been the person on the phone.
“Turn around slowly,” the woman said, “and put your goddamn hands up.”
The man put both hands in the air—the gun still in his right—and turned around, not uttering a word.
“You okay, Tobias?” Annabel said.
Tobias put his phone in his pocket and wiped his mouth. “Yeah.”
Annabel took a step back and aimed the gun at the man’s head. “Tobias, listen to me. I know you’re scared, but I want you to take the gun from him and handcuff him to the railing.”
Tobias’ face tightened, and after a few moments of hesitation, he grabbed the gun from the man’s hand. He handcuffed him to the thick metal rails. The man only smiled at him.
Tobias ran toward Annabel.
“So you’re just gonna leave me here?” the man said.
Annabel walked up and slapped him. “You tell Antonio that he’ll never get this man. And if I find out that he killed my friend, I’ll make sure he doesn’t get away with it. I don’t care who he is.”
She ran down the stairs. Tobias followed closely behind her.
“You won’t get away with this, you know,” the man shouted. “We’ll find you wherever you go.”
Upon reaching the foot of the stairs, Annabel cautiously walked outside, avoiding eye contact with the many pedestrians on the sidewalk.
***
Rico answered his phone on the fourth ring. His attention had been on the police cars departing from the apartment’s entrance. The unusually calm voice of Antonio greeted him.
“Have we got him yet?” the comisionado asked.
Rico shifted, trying to clearly see the many faces leaving the building. “I don’t know what’s going on. Most of the police cars have left, but no sign of Tobias.”
“What about Fernando?”
“He’s still in there.”
Antonio grunted. “Why do you sound like you’re going on a fucking milk run?” He raised his voice. “We need to get this guy and we need him today.”
“I know the stakes.”
“Do you? If Fernando isn’t out in one minute, I want you to go in there and get him.”
“But are you sure—”
The phone disconnected. Rico sighed and continued studying everyone leaving the building. He glanced at his watch five minutes later and got out of the car.
He rushed along Fifth Avenue, his cell in his hand. A man brushed past him in a blue uniform similar to the one Fernando had stolen from the janitor they’d beaten unconscious the night before. “Excuse me,” he said to the man. “Where’s the back entrance to that place?” He pointed at Tobias’ apartment building.
The man pointed to a small, almost invisible alley. Rico gave the man twenty dollars and soon found the back entrance. He drew his .45 and shot the lock off the back door. He ran up the stairs and reached Fernando four stories up.
“Quick,” Fernando said after Rico had taken the gag out of his mouth, “they’re getting away.”
***
Tobias held on to Annabel’s left hand as she led the way along Fifth Avenue. The sun shone brightly on them, making him perspire heavily through his gray cardigan. He leaned toward her after a few minutes of walking. “You see back there,” he said, “you were ... you ...
Annabel stopped and looked at him, irritation on her face. “What? What is it?”
“Nothing.” He continued following her, but something didn’t feel right. She knew her way around a gun a bit too well. Who was she, really? Some sort of police agent?
Annabel urged him to walk faster. “We need to get a move on. We’re still not safe.”
Tobias swallowed. “What? I thought the police had gone.”
Annabel stopped walking again. “Do you think that’s it? That they’ll just give up. The police are around here waiting to just catch a glimpse of us. As for that clown, do you think he’s alone? Whoever he’s with will find him soon and they’ll be after us all over again.”
They continued down Fifth Avenue, Tobias twitching each time he made eye contact with a pedestrian. “Back there,” he said, “you mentioned the name Antonio to that man. You meant Antonio Cabrera, right?”
“Yes.” Annabel didn’t look at him.
“So he’s after me, too?”
She glanced at him. “They’re all after you.” She nodded toward his pocket. “The police, Antonio, all of them. They want what you have on the memory stick.”
“But it’s not even mine,” he said. “It’s probably my friend’s. I saw it by the side of his bed when I left his place on Saturday. I just thought it was a pen.”
“Don’t you get it yet?” Annabel said. She increased her pace, continuously looking backward. “It was Penélope’s. She must have dropped it there and you found it.”
“Fuck. How did she get involved with these people?”
Annabel cast glances behind her and spoke quickly. “It doesn’t matter now. She’s dead. All that matters is what you’ve got and what’s on it.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll see soon enough. But you need to walk faster. We have a tail.”
Tobias looked back sharply, but Annabel yanked him back around. “Do you want to get us killed? They don’t know we’ve seen them. Let them keep following us. We’ll lose them soon.”
“Who is it? Police?”
“I’m afraid not. Remember what I said about Antonio sending more than one man? Well, I’m afraid it’s him.”
Just then, the silhouette of the bald man from the building appeared about ten feet ahead of them, six people away. Annabel stopped Tobias and turned around. A second man was behind them, steadily navigating the pedestrian traffic, a gun in his hand.
7. Distraction
Annabel shifted her focus between the two approaching men. To their left, the bald man moved cautiously, hands inside the breast of his jacket. The man to their right moved slightly quicker, easing people out of the way, his gun close to his right leg.
She leaned into Tobias, her back grazing his. He trembled, casting worried glances at both men.
“What’re we going to do?” he asked. Scores of pedestrians continued to pass them, not immediately noticing the fear on his face. He imagined numerous faces watching him from the taxis that passed.
Annabel held his right hand. “Where’s the gun?”
“‘In ... in my pocket.”
“I want you to shoot into the air.”
Tobias turned toward her sharply, his eyebrows rising.
“Just do it.” Annabel drew her gun as she exchanged looks with both men again, clearly signaling her willingness to use it. A scream soon followed, and then another.
Tobias looked two feet to his right and saw a woman and a teenage girl with their hands
raised to their faces, their screams getting louder.
“Gun,” a man beside him screamed. “It’s a gun!” He ran away, pushing scores of people out of his way.
More eyes focused on them, but the commotion didn’t escalate.
Annabel tugged against Tobias’ shoulder. “Now. Do it now.”
Tobias pulled the gun from his pocket, evoking screams from numerous people directly in front of him. He raised his hand in the air and let off a shot, and then another, the recoil almost throwing him to the ground. The explosion turned Fifth Avenue into chaos. Men, women and children scrambled away. Some ducked for cover.
Cars stopped abruptly as people ran into the streets, many pointing toward where the shots had been fired. Annabel held firmly to Tobias’ hand. He saw that the men chasing them were throwing fleeing pedestrians to the ground.
Annabel grabbed Tobias’ wrists and ran across the road, forcing drivers to halt by brandishing her gun. She continuously pushed panic-stricken people out of the way, all the while trying to keep her eyes on their pursuers.
Tobias let go of her hand and ran alongside her, his laptop bag still firmly over his shoulder. Police sirens soon filled the air, and two marked cars appeared about thirty feet away, at the intersection with West Thirteenth Street. Just then an explosion rang in his ears as shards of glass from a nearby shop window shattered.
He turned briefly toward where he’d felt the shot come from to see the bald man extending his gun as he ran through the crowd. The sound of another shot came, followed by a loud grunt. A tall man in a green jumper slumped to the ground, blood pouring from his back.
Annabel frowned and continued running beside Tobias, shoving pedestrians aside. Three more police cars arrived, and an ambulance edged toward the civilian-filled streets, horn and siren sounding in unison. Two more shots rang out and a middle-aged woman fell to the ground.
A third shot struck Tobias in the right arm. He grunted and slammed into a lamppost, blood covering the wound. “Fuck.”
Annabel grabbed his arm and inspected the wound while still keeping an eye on the approaching men. Tobias strained his neck to look.
The Kiss after Midnight (The Midnight Trilogy) Page 6
