Below Zero

by C. J. Box

  Stenko chinned toward the hill that rose behind him. “Over the top,” he said. “My money bought it.”

  “Why don’t we go there now? I need a shower and a bathroom. I’m not used to sleeping in cars.”

  “We’ll go soon enough. I need to scout it out first.”

  “For what?”

  “For my old friend Leo. Leo was my accountant. Still is, as far as I’m concerned. Leo knows where all my money is.”

  She nodded. She could tell he wanted to say more.

  “You know, April, I’ve learned a lot of important things in my life. It takes a while. When you’re young, you think you’re the only person to take this journey and you’re going to do it better, smarter, and more thoughtfully than all the people who came before you. But as you get older, you start to gain wisdom. Wisdom is a lost commodity. And here’s some wisdom in the form of a riddle: Who rules the world?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Who really rules the world? Do you think it’s politicians? Lawyers? Presidents of the bank?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I never thought about it. All I know is it isn’t kids.”

  He laughed. “Maybe this world would be a better place if you did. But no, April, it’s the accountants. Accountants rule the world. They can steal more with a pencil or a few clicks of a keyboard than a bank robber can with a gun or a politician can with a telephone. If the accountant is working for you and on your side, he can make you rich. But if he has his own dreams, well, he can secretly buy a ranch in Podunk, Wyoming, and live out his fantasy. He can be what he always wanted to be all those years in Chicago: a cowboy.”

  With that, he rolled his eyes.

  They both watched as Robert awoke in his sleeping bag. He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair and stretched.

  Stenko said, “You know, I’ve really come to admire Robert. He’s still young enough to think he can change the world. He still has passion—maybe too much. I want to enable that passion before I go. That’s what this is all about.”

  “He shot that man in the drugstore,” she said.

  Stenko nodded. “He did it for me. So I could keep going.”

  So he could get the money, she thought.

  SHE FOLLOWED STENKO and Robert as they hiked up the hill. Robert had the gun in his belt. A pair of binoculars dangled around his neck from a strap. Stenko’s breath was labored from the climb, and he had to stop several times to steady himself against the trunk of a tree and rest.

  When they reached the top, Stenko dropped to his knees, and for a moment she thought he’d collapsed. She reached out for him but Robert slapped her hands away. “Leave him alone—he’s fine,” Robert said. “Get down. We’re crawling the rest of the way. We don’t want them to see us.”

  She was angry with Robert for treating her that way, but she kept her mouth shut. She’d remember it, though.

  The three of them wriggled through the dirt and over rocks until they reached the top. A lush wooded valley opened up before them.

  “Wow,” she said, pointing to a massive rock column in the distance. “What’s that?”

  “Devils Tower,” Stenko whispered.

  The column stood high above the forest like a primitive skyscraper. It was cylindrical with a flat top, and the sides were fluted.

  She said, “I saw it in a movie once.”

  Robert said, “Yeah—Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That’s where the aliens landed.”

  Stenko said, “The legend is better than the movie, though. See, the Indians say there were seven sisters and a giant bear came after them. The bear was a bastard and had caused all kinds of trouble with the tribe. Well, this bear cornered the sisters and planned to kill and eat them, but they prayed to the Great Spirit, and as the bear got close, the earth started to rise. The sisters were on top as the column went up higher and higher into the sky. The bear got mad and still tried to get at them by trying to climb the tower. Those are supposedly his claw marks on the side. But he couldn’t get them.”

  She asked, “How did they get down?”

  Stenko turned to her. “They didn’t. They went to the Great Spirit and turned into stars. Have you ever seen the seven sisters in the sky?”

  “No.”

  “Me either,” Stenko said. “But it’s a good story. And you know how I know it?” he asked Robert. Before Robert could respond, Stenko said, “That damned Leo told me. This was eight, nine years ago. See, he wanted to buy a ranch out here that had a view of Devils Tower. He said land was always a good investment, and we had too much money tied up in the islands and in Indian casinos. He said we should consider something way out here as a quiet investment. He called it a ‘retreat,’ as if I’d ever retreated from anything. Apparently, Al Capone had a ranch out here in the Black Hills back in the thirties. So Leo made this pitch to me and when I asked him what the hell Devils Tower was he told me that crazy story. I don’t know why I remember it, but I’m glad I did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have figured out where this place is.”

  Robert was focusing the binoculars down on the valley floor. She tried to see what he was looking at and for the first time noticed a light square of flat green as well as a red roof partially hidden by trees.

  “Tennis court,” Robert said, “and I see a couple of guys playing tennis. Unbelievable.”

  Stenko took the glasses. He snorted, “Nathanial and Corey Talich. And there’s Chase standing off to the side like he’s the referee. Damn! We’ve found it.”

  He swept the binoculars over the grounds of the ranch. “I don’t see Leo, though. He must be in the house.”

  Robert said, “So how do we get through those guys to get to Leo?”

  Stenko said, “We don’t get through them, son. We recruit ’em.”

  Robert just stared at Stenko, shaking his head slowly as if witnessing the sad last act of a madman.

  THEY TOOK THE CAR down into the valley. Stenko directed Robert to drive right by the ranch entrance that led to the front of the sprawling old Victorian home with the red roof. He told him to turn on a service road that led to the rear of the property where the tennis court was located. They saw no one.

  “You’re sure you want to do it this way?” Robert asked Stenko.

  “I don’t see that we have a choice,” Stenko said. “We’re outnumbered and outgunned. When that happens, you either run away or bull straight ahead. I always bull straight ahead.”

  “Any last words?” Robert asked with sarcasm.

  “Yes,” Stenko said. “Where’s my morphine? I need another shot.”

  “I’LL STAY BACK AND COVER YOU,” Robert said as he pulled off the road and parked. “You know them. I don’t. They’d probably just as soon shoot me as look at me.”

  Stenko chuckled but didn’t refute Robert. To her he said, “Do you want to go with me or stay here with Robert?”

  It was an easy choice. Despite the danger, there was no doubt in her mind that she’d choose Stenko every time. Shooting an unarmed pharmacist in a white smock was one thing. Facing three tough men from Chicago was another. If things got rough, she was sure Robert would run. If it weren’t for the possibility of getting the money, she thought he would have run already.

  Robert dropped behind them as they walked into the trees toward the tennis court.

  She asked, “What are they like?”

  Stenko said, “The Talich Brothers worked for me for years. They’re loyal if not imaginative. I always got along with them, but I didn’t try to get too familiar. I just paid them well and that was enough.”

  She said, “But they’re gangsters, right? I didn’t know gangsters played tennis. It’s just not right.”

  Stenko chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. She was familiar enough with him now to know the morphine was surging through him, cheering him up, making him feel strong. He said, “Gangsters do all sorts of normal things, April. We’re just businessmen with a different kind of business. We marry, we have kids, and we pain
t the trim on our houses. We put snow tires on the car and go to PTA meetings. At least most of us do. My theory is we’re all the same—the gangsters and the citizens—except maybe for one or two percent of our personalities. That one or two percent isn’t much difference when you think about it. Of course, the really bad ones, the psychopaths who can’t control themselves, well, with a few exceptions they don’t last long.

  “Besides,” Stenko said, “what else are these guys going to do but play tennis? They’re from the city. Are they going ride broncs or something? Rope doggies? Sing around a campfire? At least they know tennis.”

  In the distance she heard the thwack of a tennis racket hitting a ball. Instead of another thwack she heard a man curse, “Shit!” and she imagined him missing it.

  “There are three of them,” Stenko said, lowering his voice. “Corey’s the oldest. He has blond hair and he’s the best looking of the bunch. He’s smooth and does all the talking, usually. Chase is the middle brother, the one with black hair. Chase never smiles. Hardly talks, either. Chase is the one we send out to collect overdue loans because all he has to do is look at you with those black eyes and you start sweating bullets and reaching for your wallet. It’s a gift he’s got. On the rare occasion that he says something it’s best to listen. The youngest is Nathanial. He’s the redhead. He’s the one who worries me the most because he’s a hothead, and without his brothers’ calming influence, he’s known to explode. Don’t stare at him, whatever you do. He doesn’t like it. Plus, I don’t think he likes females very much, based on the stories I’ve heard about what he’s done to some of them. Frankly, he’s found his calling as a killer.”

  She said, “They sound dangerous.”

  “I won’t kid you—they are. That’s why Robert hung back. He’s heard of them. But I’ve got no animosity toward them, and as far as I know they’ve got none toward me. But anything can happen, April.”

  She stumbled on a root but didn’t fall. She said, “When this is over . . .”

  “You want to leave?” Stenko said, barely hiding the hurt in his voice.

  She nodded.

  “Well, I can’t say I blame you,” he said. “This isn’t what you bargained for, I’m sure. If everything goes well here, I can go out the way I want to go out. I’ll get my debt paid down below zero, Robert will get his funding, and you’ll get to be with your sister.”

  She didn’t ask what would happen if everything didn’t go well. As they approached the tennis court, her legs got heavier and harder to move. It was difficult to get her breath and her stomach ached from more than hunger. She was getting tired of being terrified.

  There was another sharp thwack and another curse and a man laughed, “You suck at tennis, Natty.”

  COREY, THE BLOND BROTHER, was in the process of serving to Nathanial when they cleared the trees. He had just tossed the ball into the air and reared back when he saw them and froze in place. The ball dropped to the court and bounced between his feet. Then bounced again. Corey made no move to reach for it. Which made Chase, who stood at the side of the court and watched the match with dead black eyes, follow his brother’s lead and turn his head to see Stenko and her. And slowly reach behind his back, for something in his belt.

  Nathanial was still poised to receive the serve. To Corey, he said, “What was that about, just dropping the ball like that? Don’t try to mind-fuck me, Corey. Just serve. Come on . . .”

  Corey ignored Nathanial, said to Stenko, “I can’t believe what I see.”

  “Me either,” Stenko said, much more jolly than she thought possible. The sound of his voice made Nathanial snap his head around toward the voice. Stenko said, “I never in my life thought I’d see the Talich Brothers playing tennis of all things. Target practice, maybe. Seeing who can hang the most men from a meat hook in a day, sure. But tennis? Come on, you guys.”

  Corey laughed, repeated, “Hang the most men from a meat hook. You still got it, Stenko. You can always crack me up.”

  “I never lost it,” Stenko said.

  Corey pointed at her with his tennis racket. “And who is this?” To her: “You look familiar. Where have I seen you before?”

  She shrugged. She was pretty sure she’d never seen Corey or any of the Talich Brothers.

  “She looks like someone,” Corey said. “Who am I thinking of?”

  Stenko said, “You’re thinking of Carmen. That was a long time ago. This is April. You don’t need to know any more about who she is.”

  “I’ll bet,” Nathanial said, spinning his racket and leering.

  Stenko went cold the way he had back in that building in Chicago. Before he pulled his pistol and rescued her. He said, “I’m sure, Little Natty. And I think you should keep your mouth shut when it comes to her.”

  She was grateful Stenko had defended her that way, but she thought, Isn’t Natty the one Stenko described as a killer?

  Nathanial, surprisingly, broke off and looked away first. But his face and neck were red. For the first time, she saw the bundle of leather and metal on a bench on the other side of the court. She recognized the bundle as a pistol or two in holsters that he’d taken off in order to play tennis. He could get to the bundle in three steps. He was staring at it and fuming, but he didn’t make a move. She found herself stepping closer to Stenko, reaching for his hand.

  “Anyway,” Corey said, “I’m very surprised to see you.” To Nathanial, Corey said, “Calm down, little brother.”

  Nathanial took a deep breath, but his face was still red. He faced them squared up, taking deep breaths that made his nostrils flare out.

  Stenko said to Corey, “I know. You figured I’d be in jail.”

  “No,” Chase, the dark-haired one, said. “We figured you were fucking dead.” The hand that had been around his back swung to the front again, empty.

  “Is that what Leo told you?”

  The three brothers exchanged looks, which confirmed that yes, that’s what Leo had told them. She was surprised at their reaction. Despite the fact that the three brothers were bigger and younger than Stenko and at least two of them had guns, it seemed understood Stenko was their superior.

  Stenko said, “Guys, Leo screwed you and he really screwed me. I suppose he told you the gig was up, that I was all but gone and I was singing to the feds. So the only thing you could all do was pack up what you could and move our base of operations out here away from Chicago and the feds. Does that sound about right?”

  Chase nodded yes. Nathanial looked to his brothers for direction. Corey said, “Mr. Stenson, Leo has never steered us wrong before. He was, you know, your second-in-command. He said you were going down and everything you’d built together was going down with you. He said you were all remorseful and feeling guilty, and that you were out of your head with pain and drugs.”

  Stenko raised his arms and his eyebrows, said, “Is that how I look to you?

  “Look,” Stenko said, reading their faces one by one, “Leo saw this as his chance to cut and run. He’d been planning this for years behind my back and using my money to finance it. Since he thought I might be sending someone after him, he convinced you boys to come along with him for protection. He played you for suckers. Can you believe the disloyalty? The betrayal?”

  “So you ain’t even sick?” Nathanial asked.

  “Oh, I’m sick,” Stenko said, “but as you can see, I’m battling it. And I think I’m doing pretty well, considering. But Leo screwed me. He diverted all my holdings and closed the accounts I had access to. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Can you believe Leo tried to do this to me?”

  Corey said the obvious, “So you came here to get your money back. To get back in business.”

  Stenko said, “Yes. And you boys can either help me or you can stand in my way. But if you help me, it’ll be just like the old days. We can go home and go back to work. You can’t tell me you like it here, can you?”

  After he finished Stenko gave her a quick glance, signaling her he was lying to them. Sh
e was reassured.

  Nathanial paused and appeared to be thinking over what Stenko said, then snorted and threw down his tennis racket as if it had suddenly become electric. It was a gesture that seemed to say he was throwing away the whole ranch as well.

  Corey said, “The only one who likes this nature shit is Leo. We call him ‘Hoss’ behind his back because no matter how he dresses or acts like a cowboy, he’s still just a little jerk-off accountant to us. He’s the farthest guy you can think of for a Hoss.”

  Nathanial said, “There’s nothing around here but trees and cows. There are no women unless you get really hot for fat divorcees, snuff queens, and barrel racers.”

  Chase reached back and this time drew the pistol. He racked the slide and said to Stenko, “Let’s go see that son of a bitch Leo.”

  THE TALICH BROTHERS and Stenko walked across a shorn hay meadow toward the side of the old house. They walked shoulder to shoulder, spaced evenly apart. Chase held his pistol loosely at his side. Nathanial had strapped on his shoulder holsters, and he held a gun in each hand.

  Corey said, “Gunfight at the OK Corral.”

  Chase said, “Tombstone.”

  Nathanial said, “Fucking Young Guns, man.”

  She stayed a few feet behind Stenko. When she looked over her shoulder, she couldn’t see Robert anywhere in the trees. She wasn’t surprised. She guessed he was back at the car hoping he wouldn’t hear any shots from the tennis court.

  Stenko spoke softly to all three brothers, “Look, what I need most from Leo is information. Starting with where he keeps my cash hidden. Then account numbers, passwords, personal identification numbers. When I get all that info and check it out, then I don’t care what you do with him.”

  Stenko scared her because he spoke with a coldness she wasn’t familiar with. She considered turning and running herself. But what if Robert had left in the car? Or if he was so jumpy he might start firing at her from the trees when she got close?