Blink of an Eye

by Roy Johansen

  * * *

  “Rimrock!”

  Kendra sat bolt upright on the living room sofa, startled awake by Jessie’s yell. It was still dark outside, and she felt as though she had just drifted off. She checked her watch. Five fifteen A.M.

  Jessie held her phone in front of her. “I heard back from my friend. That burner phone has been connecting to a cell tower out in the desert. It hasn’t moved since yesterday afternoon.”

  Kendra sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Where?”

  “I told you. Rimrock.”

  “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Me neither, until I just looked it up. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, near Joshua Tree. According to Google Maps, the town doesn’t even have a traffic light.”

  Kendra thought for a moment. “If he’s still in that RV, he shouldn’t be too hard to track down there.” She stood up from the couch. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER

  ​5

  Burns Canyon Road

  Rimrock, California

  Kendra and Jessie slowed as they rolled into downtown Rimrock, which was even smaller and dustier than it had appeared on the satellite image. The town mostly consisted of a mile-long stretch of homes and small ranches, with street names that included Tumbleweed Trail and Apache Pass.

  “There isn’t much place to hide an RV around here,” Jessie said. “Maybe in one of those barns or behind a house.”

  They reached the end of the town in less than two minutes. “Maybe he’s already left,” Kendra said.

  “My friend said he’d call if his phone started connecting to a different tower.”

  “There’s another possibility.” Kendra looked around. “It wasn’t Adrian who bought that phone after all.”

  “I’m not prepared to admit that possibility.”

  “Me neither. But if we don’t find him here, then…” Kendra’s gaze locked on something ahead. “Wait a minute. Drive forward a little bit.”

  “What do you see?”

  “Just go.”

  Jessie drove until they were alongside a shallow ridge that rose a few feet over the roadway. Large tire tracks curved from the shoulder and over the ridge.

  “I’d say someone may have gone off-roading,” Kendra said. “But those don’t look like jeep treads to me.”

  “Gotcha.” Jessie pulled over and killed the engine. “Let’s take a look.”

  They climbed out of Jessie’s SUV and walked up the short embankment. Jessie reached the top first and froze. “Shit.”

  Kendra was half a second behind her. There, in an empty field just fifty feet in front of them, was a Vita Class C Winnebago.

  “That’s it,” Kendra whispered.

  Jessie nodded.

  They quietly walked toward the RV. Wind whistled across the deserted landscape as they drew closer.

  Jessie pointed to the rear of the vehicle, and Kendra followed her as she walked around to the other side.

  “Aughhhhhh!” a man yelled and jumped from behind the RV. He swung a tire iron toward Jessie’s head, but she grabbed it and punched the man in the throat and torso. He dropped to his knees and gasped for air.

  Kendra crouched beside him. “Hello, Adrian.”

  Adrian’s face was bright red. He had shoulder-length hair and a full beard. He wore cargo shorts and a faded Tom Petty tour T-shirt.

  Jessie held up the tire iron. “Is this any way to greet your guests?”

  The man finally caught his breath and looked at Jessie. “It is when you’re scared shitless. But I know you…You’re Jessie Mercado. You used to run security for Delilah Winter.”

  “Once upon a time.”

  “You’re working for her again?”

  “No. Just helping out an old friend. I’m hoping you can help her, too.”

  Adrian stared at her for an instant before getting to his feet. “We can talk inside.” He walked around toward the RV’s side door, opened it, and climbed inside. Jessie and Kendra followed.

  The Winnebago had obviously not seen an interior update since it was purchased twenty-five or more years before. The well-dinged oak cabinets and countertops were complemented by the linoleum floor and burnt orange cooktop.

  Adrian cracked open the curtains and stole a quick glance outside. “I wish it hadn’t been so easy for you to find me.”

  “It wasn’t exactly easy.” Jessie hefted the tire iron she’d taken from him. “Who’d you think you were going to use this on?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Stop lying, Adrian,” Kendra said.

  “I’m serious. I have no idea who could come walking through that door at any minute.”

  “Second question. Where’s Delilah?” Jessie’s grip tightened on the tire iron. “That’s all we need to know right now.”

  Adrian shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Wrong answer.” In one motion, Jessie leaped behind him and snapped the tire iron over his throat. She pulled it back, cutting off his airway. “Do better.”

  He rasped something unrecognizable.

  “Where is she?” Jessie pulled harder on the iron.

  “Don’t…know.”

  “Who does?”

  “Don’t know…his name.”

  “Bullshit.” Jessie’s knuckles went white as she squeezed even tighter.

  Adrian’s eyes rolled back into his head.

  Kendra put her hand on Jessie’s arm. “You’re going to kill him.”

  “It’s a distinct possibility.” She practically hissed into his left ear, “You’re going to tell us everything you know about what happened to Dee. Because that knowledge is your only worth on this planet.”

  His face was purple. “Please…I’ll tell you…what I know.”

  Kendra gripped Jessie’s forearm. She could see that her emotions were getting the better of her. “Give him a chance. Let him talk.”

  Jessie finally pulled the iron away.

  He staggered away and rubbed his throat. “I guess I deserved that.”

  “Glad you agree,” Jessie said. “You most certainly did. Now start talking.”

  He took a moment to catch his breath, then leaned back against the tiny kitchenette counter. “I got into debt with some bad guys. Really bad guys.”

  “Gambling?” Jessie said.

  “I wish. Narcotics. Just oxy at first, but then some harder stuff. It wiped me out. I needed money bad.”

  Jessie glared at him. “That’s your excuse for kidnapping Dee?”

  “I didn’t kidnap her. But I…may have helped the people who did.”

  “May have?” Kendra repeated.

  He looked down. “Look, I like Delilah. She was great to all the crew. No one was supposed to get hurt.”

  Jessie bit her lip in anger. “If you only knew how many times I’ve heard some dumbass tell me that. Who said that to you?”

  “He said his name was Arthur Cabot.” He made a face. “I guess that was a phony name. I met him at a diner in Denver a couple weeks ago. It wasn’t an accidental meeting. He said he’d been watching me. I think he and his partners had been watching a lot of us, maybe looking for the perfect…”

  “Dumbass?” Jessie snapped.

  “I was gonna say ‘sucker,’ but yeah, ‘dumbass’ works, too.” Adrian shook his head. “He knew how desperate I was, and he zeroed right in. He said he had a way for me to make half a million dollars. All I had to do is give him some information and loan him my access badge for a few hours. I guess he cloned it.”

  “What information did he want?” Kendra asked.

  “Just our travel and sound-check schedule. I talked to him maybe five or six times between then and the night Delilah was taken.”

  Jessie’s face flushed with rage again. “You knew they were going to kidnap her, and you helped them?”

  He looked ill. “He seemed like a nice enough guy. And they said they wouldn’t hurt her. They told me they wouldn’t hurt anybody.”

  “Tell that to thos
e two dead security guys.”

  “I know.” He let out a long breath. “That’s when the shit got real.”

  “It got real the second you put Dee’s life in danger,” Kendra said. “And those men might still be alive if it hadn’t been for you.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” He pounded his fist on the counter with sudden violence. “He said she’d be home for dinner safe and sound, less than an hour after the ransom was paid.”

  “No one’s even asked for a ransom yet,” Jessie said. “We haven’t heard a thing.”

  “Shit,” he whispered. “It’s not the way this was supposed to go down. None of it.”

  “Why’d you leave town?” Kendra asked. “The police had no reason to suspect you until you left.”

  “It wasn’t the police I was worried about.” Adrian’s face tensed. “When I saw that these people were willing to kill two security officers, I figured what in the hell would stop them from killing me? Then Arthur called and asked me to meet him in Griffith Park at five A.M. the day after the abduction. He said he wanted to give me a cash advance for my good work.”

  “Out of the kindness of his heart,” Jessie said caustically.

  “It didn’t sound right to me, either. So I went home, threw some things together, and got the hell out of town.”

  “We found you quickly enough,” Kendra said. “If Dee’s kidnappers want you dead, they’ll find you, too. You can identify one of them. If the FBI can link him to known associates, their whole scheme falls apart. That’s pretty good incentive to silence you.”

  “That’s why I’m living in this thing.” Adrian gestured around the RV’s shabby interior. “So I can keep moving.”

  “You’re not going anywhere except back to L.A.,” Jessie said flatly. “You’re going to tell your story to the FBI.”

  Kendra nodded. “We’ll sit you down with a sketch artist and get a good drawing of this Arthur. We’ll spread it everywhere and see if anyone recognizes him. If you’re really sorry about what happened to Dee and those security men, it’s your only option.”

  “I can’t go to jail. I’d go nuts in there.”

  Jessie crossed her arms and leaned against the small stovetop. “Maybe you won’t have to.”

  “Don’t bullshit me.”

  “I’m not gonna lie, this is bad for you. If you don’t play this just right, you could go down for two murder accessory counts and one for kidnapping. You could be serving hard time for a long while.”

  He looked down. “Shit.”

  “But you have another path. You come with us to the Federal Building in Westwood and talk to the FBI. You tell them everything, and you help them every way you know how.”

  “I’ve already told you everything. What else can I do?”

  Kendra thought for a moment. “Maybe you can convince this Arthur and his crew that you’re still in and want the money you’ve been promised. You’ll arrange to meet him.”

  He shook his head. “I could get killed.”

  “The FBI will have your back,” Kendra said. “If he or anyone else makes a move against you, they’ll be on it. In the meantime, we’ll keep you safe.”

  “What could they do about a sniper’s bullet?”

  “The FBI is smart. They’ll be watching out for that. We wouldn’t let you meet them anywhere that would be unsafe for you.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “You can trust us.”

  “I can’t trust anyone.”

  “We’re your only chance. Even when we do get Dee back, we’ll need you to testify against those scumbags,” Jessie said. “You can get your life back if you just do what’s right.”

  He slowly shook his head. “It’s too risky. Pay the ransom. Maybe she’ll be okay…like they told me.”

  Jessie stepped toward him with a bearing that even Kendra found surprisingly intimidating, especially given her small size. “Just so you know, this isn’t a negotiation. You’re coming with us.”

  He tensed with alarm. “You’re not cops. You can’t make me do shit.”

  In one lightning-fast motion, Jessie grabbed his left wrist, wrenched it behind his back, and slammed his face onto the cooktop. He howled in pain.

  Jessie leaned over and spoke into his ear. “Ever hear of citizen’s arrest? That’s a real thing, asshole. If you’d like to ride back to L.A. with plastic zip ties cutting into your wrists and ankles, we can make that happen.”

  A high-pitched whine escaped his lips. “I think you broke my arm.”

  “Trust me, you’d know if I’d done that. Wanna see what it feels like?” She pulled on his wrist, and he screamed. “Kinda like that, but about fifty times worse.”

  His eyes were wild. “You’re psycho!”

  “I’ve been called worse, buddy.” Jessie grabbed his other hand, pulled it back, and slapped a zip tie around his wrists. She pulled it tight. “Did I mention how much I like that sweet kid you sold to those scumbags?”

  “Owww.” He wiggled his fingers. “You’re cutting off my circulation.”

  “Your hands will be a nice shade of purple by the time we get to L.A. I wouldn’t worry unless they turn black.”

  “Can’t we…discuss this?”

  She shoved him toward the open side door. “Sure. We can talk all the way back to the FBI L.A. regional office.”

  Kendra followed as Jessie steered him to her SUV and practically threw him into the backseat. Adrian gazed pleadingly up at Kendra. “Jessie doesn’t believe that I’m really sorry about Delilah. It’s true. But I’ve been so scared and desperate ever since this began.” His eyes were frantic in his pale face. “I’m not a bad guy, and I can see how wrong I was to let them take her. Maybe I can make it up to her somehow. You guys were right, I have to try to change it. I’ll do whatever you want to save her. Just don’t let anyone hurt me.”

  She could see he was terrified. Not only from his dealings with those kidnappers, but Jessie must have thoroughly intimidated him. And what was more encouraging was that he also seemed sincere about wanting to save Dee. What he’d said about her had held the ring of truth. “All you have to do is cooperate and you’ll get through this okay. But you have to help us or we can’t do anything. Do you understand?”

  “I told you, anything you want. Anything I can do to save her.” His voice was shaking. “If I do that, will you promise I’ll come out of this alive?”

  “I promise. All we want is to save Delilah. Just give us a chance to do that, Adrian.” She slammed the door. “And it would help if you’d avoid irritating Jessie on the way back to L.A.”

  She glanced at Jessie as she climbed into the passenger seat. “We can get him to help us to find Dee,” she said quietly. “I believe him.”

  “I can see you do.” Jessie shrugged. “I hope you’re right. Better let Kelland know we’re on our way.”

  But Kendra was already on the phone to Kelland. “We got Adrian.”

  He sounded surprised. “By ‘got’ you mean…”

  “Hands zip-tied behind his back, stuffed into the backseat of Jessie’s SUV.”

  “You’re not joking.”

  Jessie started the SUV and peeled out.

  “Definitely not joking.” Kendra turned around and held up the phone. “Adrian, say something to the nice FBI man.”

  “I want a lawyer and protection the minute we pull up in front of your office.”

  She pulled the phone back to her ear. “That’s Adrian.”

  “Can’t wait to meet him. What’s his story?”

  Kendra filled Kelland in on the information they’d gathered from Adrian, emphasizing his meetings with the mysterious Arthur Cabot.

  After she finished, Kelland paused for a moment. “Good work. But did it even occur to you to loop me in when you got your lead on him?”

  “Actually, no. If you really wanted to tag along with us for every lead that may or may not pan out, you wouldn’t have time for anything else. I think you have better things to do with you
r time.”

  “Maybe so. Especially if you believe my contribution would be limited to ‘tagging along.’”

  “No offense. We all have our strengths, Kelland.”

  “Nice. I’ll make sure the team is here when you arrive with Adrian.”

  “Good. We’ll be there inside of two hours.” Kendra cut the connection and turned to Jessie. “He’s only slightly annoyed.”

  Jessie didn’t respond. Her eyes were focused on the rearview mirror.

  “What is it?”

  “Not sure. Maybe nothing.”

  Kendra leaned forward to look in the side mirror. The highway behind them was deserted except for two men on motorcycles. As she watched, the men exchanged hand signals.

  “See that?” Jessie said.

  “Yes.”

  “Any idea what they’re saying to each other?”

  “No.”

  “Me neither. But they’ve been making those signs to each other for the past half mile.”

  Kendra watched them for a moment longer. “It’s not sign language for the deaf.”

  “And they’re not motorcycle group riding signals, at least none that I’ve ever seen.”

  Kendra looked at the men for a moment longer. They wore black leather jackets and matching black helmets that looked as menacing and stylish as their identical Ducati motorcycles. The riders were now facing forward.

  Kendra called back to Adrian. “Get down. Now.”

  Adrian spun around to look out the back windshield.

  Kendra grabbed him by his back collar and yanked him down so that his face slammed onto the car seat. “What did I just say?”

  Adrian made a choking sound. “Okay, okay. I just wanted to see.”

  “Friends of yours?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe your buddy Arthur?” Jessie said.

  “Hard to say. These guys look bigger than he was.”

  “They’re both loaded down with padding and tactical vests,” Kendra said.

  The two riders split and raced toward Jessie’s SUV, advancing on it from either side.

  Jessie gripped the wheel harder. “Shit. Both of you get down.”

  Kendra slid lower in her seat. “What about you?”

  “Someone needs to drive this thing.” She checked her side-view mirror. “I think this one is wearing a holster underneath his jacket.”