The Outsider (James Bishop 4)

by Dean, Jason

  Bishop had actually been to Pahrump many years before with a client who’d wanted to check up on a flight school he owned out there. He figured the town was as good a place as any to take stock and figure out their next move.

  ‘Sure you don’t want us to drop you in Vegas?’ Roger asked. ‘I mean, you’ll want to contact a breakdown service to bring your SUV back, right? You don’t want to leave it out there too long.’

  ‘It can wait until we get to Pahrump,’ Bishop said, improvising quickly. ‘I know a good mechanic there who’ll haul it back at a fraction of the price those outfits in Vegas charge.’

  ‘Fair enough. Pahrump it is, then.’

  It also meant Roger could avoid Vegas altogether by taking the Beltway route and then joining up with State Route 159. That would eventually connect up with SR 160, which would then take them west to Pahrump, fifty miles away. He looked out the front at the road ahead. They were currently doing a steady seventy down I-15. He saw a sign telling drivers the Beltway turn-off was only a mile away.

  Eleanor turned to Strickland, sitting on the couch on the other side, and said, ‘You okay over there, Carl? You haven’t said much.’

  ‘Sorry.’ Strickland gave her a wan smile. ‘Got things on my mind.’

  ‘Woman trouble,’ Bishop said under his breath.

  ‘Ah,’ she said.

  She looked about to add something else, so Bishop quickly changed the subject and said, ‘This is a real nice RV you got here, Eleanor. Very stylish.’

  Eleanor smiled at the compliment. ‘Well, we simply figured that since we planned to spend a large portion of our twilight years travelling all over this great country, we might as well do it in comfort. After all, it’s only money, right?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  Even to Bishop’s untrained eye, the RV was clearly one of the high-end luxury models. It certainly had all the mod cons. Oak panelling, a fully stocked kitchenette, a Sony sound system, a 40-inch Panasonic flatscreen TV, and more. From the surround speakers, a subdued Frank Sinatra was assuring everybody that the moon was yellow and the night was young.

  But Bishop was mostly thinking about the overturned cruiser they’d just left. He was sure somebody must have spotted it by now and reported it in, which meant the cops would be erecting roadblocks pretty soon, if they hadn’t already. For sure though, things were going to get very precarious very soon.

  He was proven right twenty minutes later.

  Eleanor had just finished recounting their recent tour of Utah’s Monument Valley, when Bishop looked out the front and saw they were coming to the crossroads that joined them with SR 160. There was a large gas station directly in front of them, and no other building in either direction. Roger stopped at the intersection, then flicked his right indicator and turned onto SR 160. At which point Bishop spotted two Highway Patrol vehicles blocking part of the westbound lane up ahead. They were about a hundred yards away. Two troopers were standing by their vehicle, hands on their belt holsters, as a third questioned the driver of the car at the front of the line. It was a small line. The eastbound lane was being left alone. There wasn’t a whole lot of traffic going in either direction.

  ‘Oh, great,’ Roger said. ‘What now?’

  Bishop looked over at Strickland and noticed an Air Force baseball cap lying next to one of the cushions at the other end of the couch. He made a vague head movement until Strickland saw where he was looking. Then he understood. He reached over, picked up the cap and placed it on his head. Eleanor was watching him with a faintly puzzled expression.

  ‘We’re going to need your help here, Eleanor,’ Bishop said, taking off his suit jacket and placing it on the seat next to him. He pulled the Glock from the side pocket and rested it on the table, not pointing at anything in particular.

  ‘What – ?’ Eleanor said, her eyes wide as she stared at the gun. ‘What is this?’

  ‘I’m afraid I wasn’t being entirely honest with you before, Eleanor,’ Bishop said. ‘Now we’re in a real bind here and we need to get out of the area fast, which means you and Roger are going to have to help us get past this roadblock.’

  ‘Oh, God,’ she said. Her voice sounded unsteady, but Bishop was just grateful she wasn’t screaming.

  ‘Honey?’ Roger was watching them in the rear-view. ‘You all right back there? What’s wrong?’

  ‘We just need you to stay cool, Roger,’ Bishop said, ‘and get us past this roadblock without any fuss. Can you do that?’

  ‘Please just do what he says, Rog,’ Eleanor said. ‘He’s got a gun.’

  ‘A gun?’ Roger turned in his seat and glared at Bishop. ‘Mister, if you hurt her—’

  ‘Nobody’s getting hurt, Roger,’ Bishop said calmly. ‘Not if you get us past these cops, like I asked. The car in front just moved up a spot.’

  Roger stepped on the gas and closed the gap. The trooper was now questioning the driver of the car in front. They were next. In the background, Frank was now singing about having one more for the road.

  ‘Okay,’ Roger said. ‘Okay, what do you want me to say?’

  ‘Just be natural and say what you’d normally say in these circumstances. If they ask about us two tell them we’re family, but only if they ask. Don’t make a big deal out of it. And no secret signals, Roger. That would be a very bad move. I can’t emphasize that enough.’

  ‘I’m not stupid,’ Roger said.

  ‘I know you’re not,’ Bishop said.

  Then the car in front moved off and the trooper was waving for them to come forward and stop. Roger obeyed and pulled up beside the trooper. He lowered his window and said, ‘What’s the trouble, Officer?’

  The trooper leaned an arm on the window frame without answering. He wasn’t smiling. He looked in the back of the RV and saw Bishop and Eleanor sitting at the table. Then he glanced at Strickland on the couch.

  He turned back to Roger. ‘Where you folks coming from?’

  ‘Utah,’ Roger said. ‘We been touring the national parks, and let me tell you it’s some beautiful country up there.’ His voice sounded very natural to Bishop.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ the trooper said. ‘You folks all travelling together?’

  ‘That’s right, Officer,’ Eleanor called out. ‘What happened, did somebody finally rob one of the big casinos on the Strip or something?’

  The trooper’s face softened just a little. ‘No, ma’am, nothing like that.’ He turned back to Roger. ‘Where you all headed?’

  ‘Pahrump,’ Roger said. ‘Then we plan on heading on over to Arizona and spending a few days exploring the Grand Canyon.’

  ‘Grand Canyon, huh?’ The trooper looked at the road behind them and said, ‘Okay, well, you can move along now.’

  ‘Right, Officer.’ Roger carefully put the vehicle into Drive, stepped on the gas and drove on through the gap.

  As they picked up speed, Bishop breathed out again.

  ‘So what happens now?’ Eleanor asked.

  ‘Now you take us to Pahrump and drop us off in town, as agreed. Then you’ll continue on your way and forget you ever saw us. Deal?’

  Eleanor swallowed and attempted a smile. ‘Deal,’ she said.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Just over an hour later, Roger Souza pulled up next to the sidewalk in the main part of town. They’d already passed a number of small casinos along the way, but thankfully no more roadblocks. On the other side of the street was the Pahrump Shopping Center with an Albertson’s store serving as the anchor.

  ‘Here okay?’ Roger said.

  ‘Perfect,’ Bishop said, standing by the side door with Strickland. During the drive Bishop had explained their current predicament in fairly vague terms without mentioning Barney at all, so things weren’t anywhere near as tense as before, but he knew the Souzas wouldn’t be sorry to see the back of them. ‘Thanks for the ride, folks. And I’m real sorry about the gun, but you wouldn’t have taken me seriously otherwise. Now my advice is to continue with your lives as before and just forget
we ever existed.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Eleanor said at the table, ‘we won’t say anything.’

  Bishop nodded his thanks and opened the door and pushed the still-withdrawn Strickland through and followed him down the step onto the sidewalk. He raised one hand to Eleanor. She gave a brief wave back, then he closed the door and Roger pulled away and off they went to their own lives. Bishop almost envied them.

  ‘It’s been over an hour now,’ Strickland said, ‘and still nothing. What’s taking them so long?’

  ‘They’re just making you sweat is all. They’ll call. Don’t worry.’

  ‘Don’t worry. Easy for you to say. Barney’s not your son.’

  Bishop looked both ways. Traffic was very light. As they crossed the road, he said, ‘Believe it or not, I want Barney back just as badly as you.’

  Strickland gave a snort. ‘Yeah, right.’

  ‘Okay, maybe not as badly as you, but if those two morons back at the car wreck had wanted to make a trade there and then I would have still handed you over in a heartbeat.’

  Strickland turned to him. ‘No shit?’

  ‘No shit.’

  ‘So what makes Barn so important to you all of a sudden?’

  ‘Aside from the fact that I like him, I also gave my word I’d keep him safe. And you too, for that matter. But Barney’s still a kid, which means he takes top priority.’

  ‘At least we agree on something then,’ Strickland said.

  They reached the opposite sidewalk and Bishop began walking across the vast parking lot towards the Starbucks he’d seen on the right. They needed to camp somewhere while they waited for the phone call, and the coffee shop would do as well as anywhere else.

  ‘So who’d you give your word to?’ Strickland asked, keeping pace alongside.

  ‘To Delaney. During her last few moments.’

  ‘Oh,’ Strickland said. ‘Okay.’

  They kept walking until they reached Starbucks. There were also a couple of empty wooden benches along the walkway in front of the store. Bishop was motioning for Strickland to take a seat on one when the cell phone in his pocket began chiming. He pulled it out. Unknown Caller was displayed on the screen.

  This was it. The worst-case scenario in actuality. Now he was doubly glad they’d gone through that role-play exercise the night before.

  ‘Is it them?’ Strickland asked, his face a mass of worry lines.

  ‘It has to be,’ Bishop said, and sat on the nearest bench. He looked around. Other than a couple of female shoppers exiting the Albertsons store fifty feet away, he and Strickland were all alone.

  ‘It’s you they’ll want to talk to,’ Bishop said, passing the phone to Strickland. ‘And don’t forget to put it on speaker. Okay?’

  Strickland sat down next to Bishop and stared at the cell phone for a moment as though it were an alien object, then he pressed the green button and the ringing stopped. He pressed another button and from the small speaker a tinny, amplified voice said, ‘Who am I talking to? No names.’

  ‘The father,’ Strickland said. ‘Let me talk to my boy.’

  ‘Maybe later, now’s not convenient. He’s in transit. But you know he’s with us, right? And you also know we’re not amateurs at this, and that he’ll stay unharmed. For now.’

  Strickland let out a breath. ‘I know.’

  ‘And you know what we want in exchange, don’t you?’

  ‘I can take a guess. Your, uh … your voice sounds familiar.’

  ‘Thought it might. So if you know the voice, that’ll save us unnecessary time-wasting. And since we don’t want to risk attracting the attention of certain third parties who are probably already monitoring the airwaves, no names to be used from now on. Now I think we should keep things as simple as possible, so what’ll happen is I’ll give you the address of one of our people out there. You’ll hand yourself over to him and then we’ll release—’

  Bishop watched as Strickland extended his index finger and pressed the red button, instantly ending the call.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Bishop raised an eyebrow as Strickland carefully placed the cell phone on the bench between them. His hand was shaking. Which wasn’t too surprising, considering.

  Bishop just looked at him, waiting. Things were starting to fall into place now.

  ‘This is the only way to prove I’m serious,’ Strickland said finally. ‘He’ll call back.’

  ‘I know he will. I just wasn’t sure if you did.’

  In fact Bishop was certain this guy would call back, but that didn’t stop him from being impressed with Strickland’s handling of the situation. With his boy’s life at stake he wasn’t letting his emotions get in the way. But then, he probably knew better than anybody the kind of people he was dealing with.

  ‘You’re not quite the honest man-off-the-street Delaney made you out to be, are you, Strickland?’

  ‘Huh? What are you talking about?’

  ‘Just how long did you work for Hartnell? Was it months? Years?’

  ‘Look, Bishop, maybe now isn’t the time to get into—’

  ‘Now’s the perfect time. How long?’

  Strickland sighed. ‘Just over ten years.’

  ‘And what was your role in his organization?’

  ‘Mostly I was a bagman. You know, collection and delivery, that kind of thing. Usually money. Hartnell liked to call people like me middle management. It was his idea of a joke.’ He looked up at Bishop. ‘You don’t look surprised.’

  ‘I’m not. When Delaney told me how you supposedly witnessed the murder, the details didn’t really add up for me. It just seemed so unlikely that you’d luck into witnessing the world’s most paranoid man personally executing an undercover cop. I had a feeling there was something missing and now I know what it was. Did she know who you really were?’

  ‘Yeah, I filled her in when she took over from the previous guy. A few others know too, but not many.’

  Bishop wondered if that’s what Delaney had wanted to tell him the night before, outside Strickland’s room. Something else he’d never know. Not that it mattered now.

  ‘So who’s the guy on the phone?’ he asked.

  ‘His name’s Dominic Callaway, and he’s been Hartnell’s right hand since forever. I hate to think how many people he’s wasted for his boss, but it’s probably close to three figures. This is not good, Bishop. Not good at all.’

  None of it was. And Bishop knew it wasn’t likely to change for the better anytime soon, either. He glanced around as Strickland fidgeted, but they were still alone. Strickland rubbed his forehead with an unsteady hand. Then the phone rang again and Strickland immediately reached down for it and paused. He let it ring twice before answering.

  ‘You know close you came there?’ the same voice said. ‘I make one call and—’

  ‘Skip it,’ Strickland said. ‘We both know what’s in store for me, so don’t waste time with pointless threats. Now we either do this my way or I go straight to the men in suits right this minute and nail our friend to the wall two days from now. What’s it to be?’

  There was a pause. Then, ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘Okay. You’re aware I’m not alone?’

  ‘Yeah, I know. The wild card who came to the party late, right? You listening in, pal?’

  Bishop saw nothing to gain by speaking, so he stayed silent. It was usually best.

  ‘He’s here,’ Strickland said. ‘And what’ll happen is this. We arrange a simple exchange. You get me, he gets my boy, then both sides go their separate ways.’

  ‘That’s reasonable.’

  ‘Good. So we just need to agree a time and place. Now I think—’

  ‘Thursday morning,’ Callaway cut in. ‘Six o’clock. Here in Ohio.’

  ‘Why do I get the feeling,’ Bishop said, ‘that you had this in mind all along?’

  ‘Is that you, friend? ’Cause I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘I’m not your friend. Why there?
’

  ‘Well for a start, my employer’s currently unable to set foot out of this state and I know he’d like to keep a close eye on things. And there’s the home advantage factor too. Plus a few other reasons that don’t concern you. But it does mean you’ll need to get your skates on if you want make it in time. Oh, and you’ll need to steer clear of anybody in uniform, but you already know that.’

  ‘Even if we were to run into them,’ Bishop said, ‘it wouldn’t necessarily mean anything. Your man here can still refuse to say anything on Thursday.’

  ‘Yeah, and you’ll take my word that we’ll release our bargaining chip the second the thing’s dismissed? Come on, man. I’ll respect your intelligence if you do the same for me. You get grabbed and we’ll assume the worst, and you know what that means.’

  ‘You’re too smart to cancel him out just like that. You’d at least wait until Thursday and see what happened.’

  ‘You’re partly right, friend. I am smart, but I also work for a man who likes things to happen a certain way. If they don’t he gets angry, almost vengeful. You know, Old Testament-style. And this is how he wants it. I’d like to guarantee the package would be released safe and sound if your pal there decided not to go ahead, but I know my boss. He’d want reimbursement for having to sweat out the past few weeks not knowing what was coming. And with the package so close to hand …? Well, what can I say?’

  Strickland didn’t look quite as composed as before. He said, ‘Ohio’s over two thousand miles away.’

  ‘Gee, is it? So drive. Fly. Take a train. I don’t care which. Just make sure you’re here at dawn on Thursday.’

  ‘Where, exactly?’ Bishop said.