She watched her still, dropping back far enough so she could light a cigarette and not be seen. She lost track of her as she smoked, but it was no real consequence, she would find her again. She took a deep breath, sucked smoke into her lungs and only barely got turned around when she heard a noise behind her.
“Now who the fuck are you,” The girl asked, “And why have you been following me?” The question was rhetorical. An aluminum bat hit the side of Nikki's head hard, and she found herself looking at the leaves on the floor of the woods a few seconds later. The leaves were cool, moist, they felt good against her cheek. Something trickled out of her hairline and into her eye. Sweat? Blood? The world went hazy and then winked out for a second.
The world came back: A second blow was coming down, she saw the bat blurring as it descended. She rolled, barely missing it.
The swing had thrown the girl off balance and she stumbled forward and crashed to the ground. Nikki was on her a second later. Her head throbbing, a knife at the girl's throat. The girl was breathing hard, making little murmuring noises in her throat.
“Don't... Don't... Please don't”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You tried to kill me,” Nikki told her. She pulled the knife back and then poked it at her throat, causing a little well of blood to form and trickle away from the point. “You are gonna tell me all about you. All about you.” She settled her weight onto the girls' chest, rocked back a little and waited.
Thursday afternoon:
Thompson Park
The Cop
Something was wrong. He couldn't just hang around in the parking lot all day. He'd be missed.
He'd been listening to the radio and should have called in when the dispatcher had called for all available units to roll to the report of the DB on Lott road. He'd stuck it out though. Someone else had gone, and at least he'd have that unfolding drama to listen to over the radio as he waited. Some female: It sounded like she had been killed and dumped there, maybe as early as this morning.
Lott road was all scum of the earth as far as he was concerned. Trailers. Enough druggies, welfare mothers and crack whores to keep any decent people out. Most of the men out that way were sporadic workers at best. They always looked familiar to him, like he had seen them in county jail whether he had actually seen them there or not. They all had a similar look... Similar attitude.
The body was gone and things had died down, still nothing from down the hill. He'd heard someone earlier and they had left, or at least their car had started. Maybe that was half of whom he was expecting, but that didn't tell him where the other half was. It made no sense. The tip was for this morning, not this afternoon, or wherever this was heading to. He glanced down at his watch. Afternoon. And it wasn't heading to afternoon it was afternoon.
The conversation he had picked up had sounded right. One guy talking to another about how to act. Talking about the deal and how it needed to go down. It sounded right, and he had been sure the other car would be pulling in any second after that, but it hadn't happened. The day was bleeding away, and it made no sense at all. The worst part was that he had no choice. He had to stick it out now, had to see it through.
Thompson Park
Ben Neo
Ed was antsy: Ben was pissed off. Something was absolutely wrong. On one hand he couldn't care less, but on the other hand he had to finish this to get where he wanted to get to: If he had anticipated this kind of deal he probably would have made different plans. In fact, he told himself, there was no probably about it, he would have.
He was stuck now though. He couldn't call Tommy to find out if something had happened. He wouldn't know anyway, most likely, but he would know something was wrong as soon as Ben called.
He couldn't call Prescott either for the same reasons: If it took too long he would have no choice, he'd have to call, bite the bullet: Find out what had happened.
There were reasons why a delay now made him more than a little paranoid. He had gambled himself. He was on the verge of something. He had made some moves and was about to make the big move. And he had been so careful too.
Or had he? He thought about Carlos. Carlos had been sure right up to the end that he had made the right moves. That he was safe, and nobody knew. Now some of him was in a duffel bag in the trunk and the rest of him was stuffed in Ben's own refrigerator back in Rochester. That was what thinking got you.
It really bugged him that after he had met Jimmy and picked up the cash, he had had no idea where Jimmy had gone to. He normally wouldn't know, shouldn't know but now he had a need to know. Was Jimmy coming after him? Had Tommy found out that Ben was about to disappear and decided it would be better if Jimmy disappeared him? It was certainly possible that was for sure.
Lott Road
Nikki
She sat in the Ford and waited. She had pulled down off the little used road into the woods. Apparently people only used it to dump trash. She wasn't surprised that there had been a problem. It seemed there were always problems when it came to counting on other people: If she had only herself to depend on it would be so much better, but the world didn't tend to work that way.
She was okay with the car. She was positive no one would find it, and anyway she would be able to see it from where she was going to be if anyone did come down onto this road from the other road.
She looked in the mirror. She looked good. She looked believable even. She had done a good job, and that was all she could hope for. Her cell phone rang. She answered with a quiet hello and then laughed.
"On board is what I am. Where are you? What's taking so long?... Yeah?... No, I'm about to. No, really, you wouldn't be able to tell, I swear... Yeah... I love you too... Yeah. It's with me. Call when you want... I'm going now... Okay."
She clicked off, took one more look in the mirror, and then put everything back into her new purse. She got out, walked around the car and started down the dirt road.
Manhattan
Lita Prescott
Lita got up carefully from the bed and walked to the mirror. Her face was black and blue. Her nose was pushed over to one side; encrusted with blood. One eye was closed, the other red and blood filled. She let the robe she wore fall away from her shoulders. Her body wasn't much better. Marks from the belt he had used on her twice, the pain was incredible.
He had told her he sent everybody away for the week coming up. So there would be no hope of any help at all for the next week and by that time she would most likely be dead.
She knew Carlos was dead, he had told her: Gloated over the fact that sometime in the next few days he would have his severed head and hands to prove it, along with something just for her. She had shuddered at the beginnings of the thoughts that had leapt into her mind, and then she had refused them. Pushed them completely away. Shut down that part of her mind completely, and she had not been back to visit it.
He had told her a story about her mother. How she was a whore too. How she had played around on him and gotten pregnant. How she, Lita, wasn't really his daughter. It had gone on and on. She had screamed and yelled, but no one had come. It seemed even the bodyguards were gone. She let the robe fall closed and headed to the door. It wasn't locked. She was in her parents bedroom. He had bought her to her own mother's bed. She opened the bedroom door and walked out into the hallway.
When she was younger she and Mia used to play hide and seek in her father's study. All dark wood panels, potted palms, desks, a bar, chairs, couches, there were so many places to hide. She headed down the hall towards that study now, her robe falling open once again as she walked, but she didn't care.
They had discovered a small hollow behind one of the desk drawers. She herself had discovered it while she had been hiding there and happened to look up. She opened the door to the study now and crossed to the desk: When she had looked up she had seen that the space had purposely been created to hold a gun. A small chrome plated gun. Almost toy like, but even then she had known what her father was, and she had known that the gu
n was no toy. She hadn't touched it, but she hadn't forgotten it either.
She stopped in front of the desk now, walked around it, rolled a chair aside and felt under the desk with her hand. She came back with the gun and for the first time a smile touched her face.
She left the study and met him coming from the living room. Her robe hung open, her hands dangled at her sides, the small pistol concealed easily in one hand. He stopped when he saw her, something about the look on her face, the set of her eyes.
"Lita, what are you doing?" He asked harshly.
"You hurt me," she said.
"You whored... You whored just like your mother, Lita... Go back to the bedroom. I'll be in to deal with you in a few minutes," he said.
She continued to walk until she stood directly in front of him. "No," she said.
His eyes flashed, his hand pulled back to slap her and Lita raised the little gun and shot him in the head twice.
She watched him fall in slow motion, he took so long to hit the floor. She looked down at him. One eye was gone and blood dripped from the socket to the floor. She watched, but he didn't move. She couldn't believe it had been so easy to kill him. She laughed, put the barrel of the gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.
Thompson Park
Late Thursday night
Ben Neo
Ben was more than pissed off. He had planned things for months and now something had happened. He had no idea what and he had now waited far too long to call Tommy. In fact he was a little surprised that Tommy hadn't called him yet: Grateful, but surprised.
He was waiting alone by the turnout, he'd sent Ed down the road to find them some fast food. He would probably be back soon. He had decided that was better than having Ed wait and have the guys show up to do the deal. That would really fuck things up. This was his well planned last deal. Well planned right down to the last item, or so he had thought. The only thing that he could figure was that Tommy had tumbled to the fact that he was going to disappear; it made no sense, yet it was all he could think. The piece that didn't fit was why would Tommy deliver fourteen and a half million dollars to someone he knew was going to disappear? Plus the items that only a few of them knew about: He, Tommy and two other men; that were hidden in the packaged pot. Were they really there? He had no way of knowing, would have no way of knowing until he had them in his hands. He didn't know what to think. He only knew that as the hours slipped by he became more and more concerned.
He had spoken with Nikki and even that part of his plan had gone wrong. She was out there on Lott road waiting for him. She was his way out after he ditched the car, she would wait, plant the drugs in the cops' car, nothing more, but she had killed some girl that had just happened onto her where she had hidden. Ben had not listened to the radio or seen any newscasts, but he wondered now if it was a good idea to do what he had planned. Maybe the cops would be watching Lott road now. Nikki said no. Nikki said they had come and taken the body and that had been that, they were none the wiser.
Nikki had taken it in stride. It was a bad place and bad things happened in bad places all the time, she had said. It was no reason to change their plans. She had gone so far as making herself up to look like the girl. She was convinced it could help them when everything else unfolded, and maybe it could, but it had not been something he had planned. Again something had gone wrong, changed despite his plans. The whole thing seemed to be falling apart.
And now there was this part of the plan, slowly falling apart as he stood waiting. Something had gone wrong, that was the only thing that he could see. Maybe someone had found out that there was something even more valuable inside the pot. Something more valuable than the entire shipment: If so... If someone had found out, all bets were off.
Whatever had happened, he knew it was over for him. It had to be, there could be no going back for any reason at all. He had gone too far. Everything was in motion, and he would be smart to be on his way, instead of hanging around to see what was going to happen here, if anything at all was going to happen.
His phone rang.
TWO
Thompson Park
The Cop
He had gone back, hung around long enough to be seen with the rest of the guys on the day shift and then he had left. If anyone had thought anything was strange or wondered where he had been all day, no one had said anything at all. He had stopped and picked up a sack of burgers and a couple of large coffees on the way back up to the park. Whatever the hell was going on, he intended to wait it out. He had too much invested in it now; he had no choice but to tough it out.
He sat in his car in the parking lot, munching on one of the cold burgers. A clump of congealed condiment and pickle fell into the paper wrapping. He stared at it for a second and then tossed the whole mess back into the bag in disgust. He grabbed the coffee, also cold now, and washed the taste out of his mouth.
He could hear one side of a conversation, had to be talking on the phone. He had panicked when he had come back up to the top. He had taken the opportunity to drive past the lookout when he had left and had spotted a green Ford Taurus parked there. It had been gone when he came back up. A few seconds later though, he had picked up the one sided conversation. Just grunts and a few Yeah that sounds good, or No that sounds bad, or I just don't know. But it proved to him that there was still someone there.
Maybe they were as worried about why the deal wasn't going down as he was, or at least the side of the conversation he could hear suggested that. The other person must have left for some reason. He had no idea why, but he had gone with the car. Maybe they had gone for food, after all they've been up here all day long too.
He had heard the two of them talking. Ed and Ben, and the fact that they were referring to each other as Ed and Ben meant they probably hadn't known each other long or only had a business relationship.
The car came back a few minutes after he had gotten back, and it turned out the one called Ed had gone out for food.
He fished his cigarettes from his coat pocket and lit one. He sat, smoked and waited.
Adams
State Park Area
Danny and Daryl
Daryl opened his eyes. He closed them, opened them again and then screamed in panic. The shit had blinded him.
"I'm blind! I'm fuckin' blind! Poison! Poison,” he screamed. He lunged forward, slammed into the dashboard and then fell back, flailing around the front seat of the car.
"What! What?" Danny yelled as he suddenly came awake to the screaming.
"We're blind! We're blind! It was bad shit, Danny, bad shit and it blinded us." Daryl started to sob.
Danny's hand shot past him in the pitch black and fumbled around on the dashboard. A second later the headlights came on, lighting up the outside and making Daryl jump and smack his head on the hangar book above the car door as the dash lights seemed to flood the interior of the car in light. He looked at the hook and rubbed his head. Who in fuck would put a hook there anyhow, he asked himself.
"We're not blind, you goofy fuck," Danny said. "It's just dark, we must've fallen asleep or something."
Daryl nodded... "The whole fuckin' day, Danny? The whole day?"
"Or more," Danny said.
Silence held for a few minutes.
"Did we do the deal, Danny?" Daryl asked hopefully?
"I don't remember doing it," Danny said. He reached over, pulled the keys from the ignition, got out and hurried back to the trunk. He unlocked and raised the lid. The light came on. It was all still there.
"Motherfucker," Danny said.
Daryl came up beside him. "We'll blame them, whoever they are... They... They did something... Right?" Daryl asked.
"How in fuck do we blame them, Daryl?" Danny asked.
"Are you stupid? We say they did it. They were late... Something," Daryl said.
"But we're the ones who've been out of touch, not them. They probably already called their people wondering where we were. They got the alibis, we don't," Danny said.
>
"He'll kill us," Daryl said. "We damn well better have an alibi, something: Carlos is nobody to fuck with and we know who he works for."
"Like it's all my fault?" Danny asked.
"No, man, it was mixing that cocaine with that heroin, that's what did it," Daryl said.
"Great," Danny said. "We'll just tell Carlos, "Sorry man, that shit we stole from you fucked us up and we passed-out and missed the buy, ... I'm sure he'll love that."
"We really are fucked," Daryl said. "If we don't do the deal we can't say they ripped us off. It'll never be in their hands... We are so fucked."
"Yeah? Well, start the fucking car and get us out of here before you kill the battery and then we're stuck out here in the sticks on top of everything else: Let's at least go see if maybe we got here too early or something," Danny said.
Daryl looked at him. "But it's night-time," Daryl said as if talking to a child.
"Yeah, but maybe this shit has us so fucked up that we got here before we were even supposed to be here, you see? Like it's not even Thursday morning yet, get it?" Danny asked.
"No, man, I don't, 'cause, see, we got here in the morning."
"Yeah? Well you better start remembering it different. We're going up there and take a look and if in the morning? If those guys aren't there? Well, they messed it up, not us, do you see that? Do you see how we waited and waited for those fuckers and they never showed up?" Danny asked.
"Yeah... Okay... I see that," Daryl said. He reached down, started the engine and bumped over the rutted turn out and onto the overgrown dirt road. He turned back onto the main road a short time later and headed toward Watertown.
Watertown
Lott Road
April Evans Trailer
Nikki
"Come on out, girl, I don't bite," John Porter said. He pounded on the trailer door.
She moved behind the door and then slipped the chain, opening it slowly.
Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7] Page 142
