by Jonas Saul
He put his plate on the edge of the little sink and threw away the plastic utensils. They’d brought real cutlery, but he made them go back down for plastic. He used the bathroom, then walked over and opened the main door.
“Darwin, what are you doing?” Rosina asked.
“I don’t know. Something, anything. We can’t stay here, cooped up in a hotel room, brooding. This has to end.”
An FBI agent stepped up behind him. “Do you need anything?”
“Yes, to leave.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“So we’re, like, prisoners now?”
“Not exactly. You are not a prisoner. We’re here to protect you. This is for your own safety.”
“No, we’re prisoners by every definition.”
The FBI man stared without speaking.
Darwin shut the door. “What are we going to do? We’ve been in Toronto all of six hours and we’re already going stir crazy.”
The phone rang.
They looked at each other.
“No one knows we’re here but the police,” Darwin said before he answered.
“Darwin?”
“Yeah,” Darwin said as recognized Greg’s voice.
“Good. I was hoping it was you who picked it up. I couldn’t tell Rosina what I have to say.”
“Go ahead.” His stomach dropped. What now?
“It’s Rosina’s parents. We had them protected. Six officers on the detail. Four of them are dead and two are missing. There is no sign of her parents. I’m sorry, Darwin, we did everything we could. We lost good men today. I’m sorry.”
Darwin hung up the phone and turned to look at his wife.
Chapter 10
No one had visited them since dinner, the phone hadn’t rung again, and now it was midnight. Rosina had fallen asleep on the bed, after crying for two solid hours. He’d waited until she’d fallen asleep. He was wide awake from his long rest on the plane, and he was bent and bound to do something about the threat that had befallen his family, his wife.
He got up, put on his shoes, and walked to the door. When he opened it, a new FBI man stood there.
“Do you need anything?”
Darwin stepped out into the hallway. “Actually, yes,” he said, and closed his door behind him.
“Sir, don’t do that. You’re not supposed to be in the hallway. Can I have your room key please?”
“Oh, damn, I left it inside.”
“Okay, stay here. Don’t move. I’ll radio down and have another one brought up. In the meantime, I’ll keep you behind me while I watch the hall.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Sir?”
“I’m leaving.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”
“Well, you don’t really have a choice, do you? I’m not a prisoner. I’ve broken no laws. Well, at least none that I’ve been charged with. So that means I’m free to go. Now, please step aside.”
The FBI man crossed his arms. “Sir, I have orders to keep you in your room with your wife.”
“What’s your name?”
“Special Agent Trent McMahon.”
“Listen, Trent. How did they get to Rosina’s parents? They were under police protection too. Six officers, as far as I understand it. How many do we have here? Now, of course, I appreciate the thought, but there’s been enough bloodshed. It’s time I meet with these people and end this. I won’t stay in the same room with my wife, endangering her further, while these people are free, running around, conspiring to kill me and everyone I know. Are we clear?”
Trent stood back. As Darwin delivered his speech, his voice had grown more and more intense. The Rome side of Darwin was coming out. He didn’t mean it, but what had happened in Rome had changed him, and he could never go back to the way he was pre-Rome.
“I understand what you’re saying, and I sympathize. But I have orders. I intend to follow them.”
Darwin had been prepared for that, but he also knew the FBI man wasn’t going to shoot him.
He looked past the cop’s shoulder, widened his eyes, and pretended to see something horrible. He ducked and yelled, “Look out!”
It was beyond the oldest trick in the book, but Trent ducked anyway and spun on his heels, reaching for his weapon. By the time he turned back around, Darwin was running down the hall, halfway between Trent and the door to the stairwell.
When he hit the stairs, he looked back and saw Trent speaking into his wrist.
Darwin ran down the stairs two at a time. Fourth floor, third, second and finally the ground floor, his shoulder wound aching a little at the raised heart rate and extra movement.
Instead of running outside through the exit door, he headed into the lobby. He walked past the front desk to a sliding door on the left. It opened as he neared it.
As soon as he walked outside and into the dark night, it seized him. He hadn’t thought enough about it. It was just after midnight. It was dark. What was he going to do? Run around Toronto in the dark? How effective was he going to be for anybody?
The familiar stirrings of anger began to surface. An image of his stepmother’s face flashed in his mind.
A car raced up and squealed to a stop in front of him. Two men in suits ran toward him, before he even realized what was happening. They flipped open badges and grabbed his arms.
He winced and pulled his left arm away.
“Shit, that fucking hurts,” he grunted, his teeth clamped together.
“Sorry,” the agent on the left said.
They guided him to the car and put him in the center of the backseat. Both men got in on either side and shut the doors. A second later, the vehicle was under way.
“Turn on the interior light,” Darwin said.
“What?” the driver asked.
“I said, turn on the interior light. Now.”
“Sir?” the driver said, looked in his mirror for approval.
The agent beside Darwin nodded and the light flicked on.
No one said anything as the driver pulled out and turned right. He went through the green light and turned into a Park-N-Fly lot, grabbed a ticket and then raced to the back where it was relatively empty.
When the vehicle was parked, the agent next to Darwin said, “We need your help.”
Darwin nodded. Anything to being cooped up in a hotel room for months or years. “Shoot.” That’s funny. Oops.
“We feel the kidnapping of Rosina’s parents had inside help.”
Shit.
“I’m not surprised,” Darwin said. “Without knowing more, I’d say I believe you.”
“You already know the man.”
Darwin frowned. “What?”
“Greg Stinsen.”
“No way. You’re joking.”
“Wish I was. We followed him when he left the Quality Suites before dinner was sent up to you. He drove to an adult store on Dundas and Dixie. He came out with a black bag. Now, normally those kinds of stores have black bags to protect what the purchaser just bought from the public’s eye. But the Fuccini family owns and operates a lot of these adult stores. They do a number of payouts through them. Men can walk right out in public with large sums of cash and no cop could ever see the drop-off taking place. The windows of these stores are covered up, so unless I got a cop on the inside, for all we know, Greg rented a few movies.”
“Let me guess,” Darwin interrupted. “You think he dropped the dime on Rosina’s parents and collected his payout?” Cool, I even talk the talk now.
“Exactly.”
“Assuming that’s the case, then I’m like a farm animal being led to the slaughter. He flew to Rome to oversee my delivery to Toronto so Fuccini could have me on his home turf.”
The agent nodded. “We believe that to be the case.”
“Fuck. What about my wife? She’s up there in her room alone. Greg knows where we are.”
“She’s being moved to a secure location as we speak.”
&nb
sp; “Where?”
“The less people know, the better.”
“No, you’re going to tell me where my wife is. There’s no other option here for you.”
“Calm down. If I do and Fuccini gets his hands on you, you’ll be able to tell him.”
Darwin sat back. The logic worked, but how could he trust the man? How could he trust anybody?
“What we want you to do shouldn’t be too dangerous. But we have to ask you if you’re willing first.”
“What is it?”
Car headlights on the 427 Highway raced by behind them. The lights caught his eye as he tried to focus on what the agent was saying.
“We’re going to explain to Greg that we’re moving you and your wife to a new location. That we feel there has been a leak. Your wife will be safe the whole time. She won’t be anywhere near the area we tell him. We’re going to ask Greg to deliver you to this location. He’s the natural pick as he was the one who brought you from Rome. We will stay close the whole time. If he veers from the route, we’ll know. If someone tails you, we’ll know. At any time, if he contacts a third party, we’ll intercept and take him out.”
“For this risk I take, what’s the payoff?”
“When he makes contact with anybody, we’ll be able to trace it. His cell phone is tapped now. Everything he does is being watched, but he won’t do anything stupid. Without this, if he’s already told them about Quality Suites, he won’t make contact again. We have to force his hand. We need to get him to make contact again. He won’t risk his career, or his life, to do anything to you personally. He will have to make contact and we’ll be there to handle it.”
Darwin looked out at the lights of the cars going by in the night. If he was going to stare out at darkness, he had to set his eyes on lights.
What they were saying was too much to handle. Could Greg, his pal, a man he considered a friend, be selling him out? Something was off. Yet, what these guys were selling seemed to make sense.
The agent thought his zoning out might mean he was ready to say he wouldn’t help as he started in on his spiel with renewed vigor.
“Darwin, listen. I know how tough this is. I heard what went down in Rome and, believe me, not many agents could’ve pulled off what you did. The Harvester of Sorrow has an international reputation. Word on the street, and when I say on the street, I mean every street hoodlum from New York, Montreal and Toronto all the way to Via Roma, have heard that a Canadian white boy, under the nickname, Natural Selection, crushed Harvester’s skull. You are one serious fucker out there. I know what Rosina went through. You should be at home having a beer and watching a ball game. I get it.” He patted Darwin on the shoulder. “But I need you here. Four of my men, guys I went to the academy with, were slaughtered tonight and two of my men are missing. They took Rosina’s parents. Someone blabbed the location to the Fuccini family. We are pretty fucking sure it was Greg. We need you, man. Anything, at this late hour, that we do out of routine, Greg will suspect. The only thing he won’t suspect is moving you and your wife, in separate cars, to a new, secret location as soon as possible, after what happened at Rosina’s parents’ place. This he would consider normal, routine. So, that’s why you’re here. We’re begging you to help. We need you. You’re our only guy. What do you say?”
“Consider me in. When do we do this?”
“Right now. Greg is meeting us here in,” the agent looked at his watch. “Less than five minutes.”
Chapter 11
Right on time.
Darwin got out of the FBI vehicle and into the next one. He wasn’t wired and they hadn’t given him a gun. He had no means of protection except for the agents following them.
Darwin had posed a great question. Since Greg was a seasoned agent, wouldn’t he suspect a tail?
They had explained that they too were seasoned agents, and that the tail would be a rotating one, where an agent followed for two to three blocks and turned off as another agent fell in behind the suspect vehicle, which was seriously hard to spot by even the best agents.
Darwin sat in the backseat of Greg’s cruiser. Greg had already turned on the interior light for him.
“How are you feeling?” Greg asked.
“I’m worried about Rosina. When she heard her parents had been taken, it was seriously hard on her.”
“I can imagine. I’m sorry Darwin, I really am.”
Yeah, right.
“But how could they have found out?” Darwin asked.
The agents had warned him about asking leading questions. Ones where he let the cat out of the bag. Greg was a pro. He would catch on. But Darwin sat behind him and it took everything he had in him not to reach up and strangle the man as he drove.
“We’re still trying to piece it together. We have no idea.”
Greg looked at him in the rearview mirror.
“With those two agents that are missing, could it be possible that one or both of them could be rogue?” Darwin asked.
“You watch too much TV. They’re missing because the kidnappers needed hostages they could hurt or kill. If the kidnappers get boxed in, they wouldn’t want to hurt the parents because they need them for whatever negotiation they’re planning to get to you. Taking two agents gives them an expendable body count. When they get where they’re going, the two agents will be disposed of. That’s the nature of this business.”
“Sounds dangerous. Why would anyone sign up for this?”
“I know. I keep asking myself that question every day. For the pay we get, it really is too dangerous.”
So you work for the other side and get paid a hell of a lot more? Is that it, you motherfucker?
“Where are we headed?” Darwin asked.
“Can’t tell you.”
“What? They didn’t say anything about me not knowing.”
Greg looked at him in the mirror again. “Sure. What if I told you right now the exact location? Then, in three minutes, I’m T-boned in this car and killed on the spot. They grab you, pull you out and force you to tell them where Rosina is. That wouldn’t work. In this situation, need to know basis is followed to the letter.”
Darwin was done meeting Greg’s eyes in the mirror. If he looked at him one more time, he was liable to attack and deal with the questions later.
“I think they think someone’s on the take,” Greg said.
Darwin looked up. Is he baiting me?
“And you think they’d tell me something like that?” Darwin asked. “Come on, they won’t even tell me where I’m going or where my wife is.”
“True. But I still feel they have a few suspects in their sights.”
Greg looked in his mirror again.
Is he looking at me or watching the road behind us? Could a Fuccini clan member be coming or is it a tail he suspects? Shit, what the fuck is going on?
“I’m sure they do suspect someone.” It was out before he could bottle it. The anger inside rose too fast. After all he had been through. All that Greg had done for him. To be betrayed like this. His own father and his mother- and father-in-law, kidnapped because of him. It was Darwin’s family. Not the FBI’s. Not the Fuccini family. Darwin’s. He wasn’t about to take that lying down.
“Did they say something while you waited for me?”
“Who is following us?” Darwin asked, avoiding Greg’s question.
No more games, asshole. Lay your cards on the table. The wheels on the bus go round and round.
“I have no idea, Darwin. I’m only checking my mirror out of habit. Why, do you feel someone is following us?”
Darwin stared straight ahead. It had been years since he’d spent this much time outside at night. Months ago, if he knew that he’d be out in the dark this much, it would’ve caused him to go back into therapy. He would have asked to be committed for a few days to avoid the dark at all costs.
But something about it was getting easier. The sun had gone down in Rome on him and he survived. It was the middle of the night in Toronto and h
e was surviving. He could look out the window at the passing lights and know it was other cars out there and no real danger. He could look. A week ago, he wouldn’t have been able to.
But today, he could. The therapist had used the term flooding. Maybe that’s what he had meant by it. Or maybe flooding referred to the anger he felt. Even though he could look out a car window into the dark night now as that part of the phobia seemed to be healing, the anger remained. It seemed, the more he looked right into the dark, the more his ire urged him on, roiling like a hot stew over an open fire. The flames grew higher until the contents were consumed.
