Joshua heard the faint sound of gunfire and wondered if it was the police or the National Guard trying to restore order. He hoped so. If the police regained control, Haley would have a better chance of getting the care she needed.
Something on the right caught his eye and he saw headlights through the tops of the trees. Any vehicle traveling that high above ground had to be approaching the gates at the crest of the hill. The thought occurred to Joshua that it might be Dr. Anderson returning home from the courthouse. If it was, Joshua would force the man to drive to where he’d left Haley and make him care for her.
Thinking of Haley made him want to rush down the other side of the wall to get help. However, that would be foolish given how tired he still felt from the climb up. He decided to wait another few minutes to make certain his muscles were prepared to expend more effort. After climbing down, he still had to walk along the beach and navigate the long flight of wooden steps that each home had. The homes had been constructed on an artificial hill to save them from tidal surges. Normally, Joshua would have had enough vigor to run up and down the steps with energy to spare, but his earlier struggles in the stream had zapped his reserves.
While waiting for his strength to return, he saw the lights of the car on the hill move forward. Whoever was behind the wheel of that car, they’d been allowed to pass through the gates.
Joshua stretched his neck, shook his arms, and decided he was ready to climb down. It was getting more difficult to see as the last of the daylight faded and darkness settled over the city of San Padre.
It had been Naya driving the car Joshua had seen up on the hill. She had made certain that her people had set fire to the structures in the slum and then slipped away without being seen.
She had done her job well. Naya had turned the idealism and desire for equality of her followers into a thirst for vengeance that blinded them to logic and made them eager to lash out and destroy. They’d certainly done that. By morning, the buildings in the slums would be little more than a pile of ashes, while the land they were on would be up for grabs at a bargain price and be scooped up by the people who were paying her.
Naya felt bad about the residents of the slum having lost their homes, but really, it would end up being for the best. The city or the state would be forced to put them up somewhere, perhaps in motels, and eventually they would build new low-cost housing that would be better than what the people had been living in.
Naya smiled. Her boss and lover, Morgan Miller, told her that their employers would profit in more ways than one. After buying the land where the slum had been, Hexalcorp would build on it and make money by putting the area to greater use. As for where to relocate all the displaced residents of the slum, they had a plan for that as well.
Hexalcorp would approach the riot-devastated city with a deal that would be too good to pass up. They would offer to repurpose another property that they owned, which was an old town dump. Hexalcorp would propose that they clean up that land and build low-cost housing for the poor on it. Of course, the project would be partially funded by taxpayer dollars. Also, given the environmentally friendly nature of the project, there would be substantial tax incentives from the federal government as well.
The old town dump was down by the bay and covered sixty-three acres. Not all of the land would be used for the small apartments in the buildings that would house the poor. No, the best section of the land—that overlooking the bay—would be where upscale apartments would be built. It was estimated that Hexalcorp would recoup all costs in less than eight years; after that, it would be pure profit. At the same time, Hexalcorp would receive good press by being willing to help the poor and clean up what will be labeled as a toxic waste site. As for the residents in the new low-income housing. They won’t have a view of the bay and its blue water. No, all they’ll see from their windows is the rear of two towering, brick apartment buildings.
Naya pulled into the driveway of the beach house Miller had rented. She was looking forward to having a shower and getting the smell of smoke out of her hair. She’d worn a mask over her face, but the smoke still clung to her hair. She had set fire to one of the buildings as she encouraged her people to do the same. They had been careful and made sure that no one was inside before setting a building ablaze.
There had been a few people who had to be forced out of their homes, with few exceptions they’d been the elderly, infirmed, and several children. Most of the able-bodied residents of the slums had been downtown looting. It made Naya smile to think of them returning home with a looted TV only to realize they no longer had a wall to hang it on.
Miller met her at the door and leaned in for a kiss. When they separated, he pointed toward the area where the slums were burning.
“They’re reporting on the news that Flat Town is a total loss. That means you’ve earned another bonus.”
“Sweet.”
“We won’t be bothered by the mob you were leading, will we?”
“No. When they heard that the National Guard was at the courthouse protecting Kyle Anderson, they headed that way. If enough of them show up, they might drag Anderson out of the courthouse and hang him.”
“We did have a little trouble at the gates earlier, but the guards handled it.”
“That would have been a fool named Joshua. He was against burning down the slums and a few of the others agreed with him.”
“He might be dead. The guards said they were forced to open fire on them.”
Naya shrugged. “Who cares? All I want right now is a shower and a drink.”
“I have champagne.”
Naya kissed Miller. “And we’ve something to celebrate.”
Joshua’s left foot slipped out of the crevice in the wall he’d been using to support his weight. The sudden shift in his balance made his hands lose their grip and he fell eight feet to land on his back. Luckily for him, the surface he landed on was made of loose sand. Joshua had the wind knocked out of him, but he had avoided breaking any bones or twisting an ankle.
After he recovered his breath, he looked up at the line of luxury homes and decided to change his plans. It occurred to him that the houses where no one was home would be locked up tight and have their alarm systems active. He was no burglar and didn’t have the skill or equipment to defeat an alarm system. However, he could be sneaky and slip inside one of the few homes where the lights were on.
The homes faced the sea and the only road in was guarded by armed security. It was likely that the residents weren’t obsessive about locking every door and window. They would also have their alarm systems off since they were at home and moving about. If he could find a way inside one of the beach houses, he could use their phone to call for help and then slip away.
He started down the beach and saw a flash of lightning out over the water. The storm was getting closer. When he saw the tire tracks in the sand, he realized that the guards must patrol the beach in a vehicle at some point. That didn’t worry him. He would hear the engine sound of whatever they were driving and have time to duck out of sight.
A thought then occurred to him that gave him pause. He was walking in sand and leaving behind impressions of the sneakers he wore. If a guard spotted them, he would know that someone was on the beach. If they then followed the tracks back to the wall, they would know they had an intruder. Joshua decided to move closer to the homes and away from where the vehicle’s tire tracks were. That way, a guard would only see his sneaker prints if they themselves were walking near the houses on foot.
The first three homes he passed looked dark and unoccupied. One of them was the huge white house owned by Dr. Anderson. Joshua had ventured up the hill in the first place because he was enraged by the perceived injustice in the world, and with the desire to burn the homes to the ground. That feeling of rage was gone. He now had no wish to do such a thing. All he wanted was to get help for Haley and leave San Padre behind them.
He still believed it was decadent and immoral to live in such luxury
when others around you were barely scraping by, but he also knew that there would always be those who had more than others. He turned and looked back at the glow of fire above the city’s center. The riot would change nothing. If he burnt the doctor’s home to the ground, the man would cash an insurance check and build just as grand a home to take its place. As for the poor who had lost their apartments, they would be dependent on charity, government aid, and the mercy of whatever god they believed in.
Joshua came upon the home belonging to Morgan Miller and was glad to see that its interior was brightly lit. Moving as quietly as he could, he made his way up the steps leading to an elevated deck. There were curtains drawn closed on the other side of a sliding glass patio door, but a gap allowed Joshua a view of the interior. What he saw made his eyes go wide.
Naya was seated on a white sofa with a dark-haired man Joshua had never seen before. The two were sipping on champagne and smiling at each other. The man was dressed in jeans and a white polo shirt, but Naya was wearing a red negligee. Joshua’s eyes roamed over her, taking in the swell of her breasts and her sexy legs. He could make out details of her body because the nightgown was diaphanous and easily seen through.
Joshua wrinkled his brow in confusion. Why was Naya in a seaside mansion on the hill? And who was the man she was with? The answers came to Joshua even as he was asking himself the questions. Die Fistulous’s funding had come from someone wealthy. The man seated on the sofa with Naya must be that person and the house must belong to him. But then, if that were true, why did Naya state that she wanted to burn the houses on the hill to the ground and make their owners suffer? For that matter, where were all the members of the group that had followed her to the slum area?
No, Joshua thought. Something wasn’t right.
When Naya and the man with her placed their champagne flutes on a coffee table they began kissing, and the man’s hand slipped beneath the gown and cupped one of Naya’s breasts. Joshua felt a jolt of envy viewing that. He watched as the kissing grew more passionate and wondered if he were about to see them make love.
Instead, Naya stood and took the man’s hand, to lead him toward a curved wooden staircase that Joshua was certain led up to where the bedrooms were located. Before leaving the living room, the man had snagged the bottle of champagne off the coffee table. He offered it to Naya as they paused at the foot of the stairs, and she took a deep pull on the bottle. Then, they went upstairs together with their arms around each other’s waist.
When Joshua could no longer see them, he tried sliding open the patio door. It was locked. The deck he was on wrapped around both sides of the rear of the house. The windows on the right side were locked, but one on the left side wasn’t. Joshua slid the window up, removed a screen, and climbed inside. He was in a powder room that had been decorated with a seashore theme. The tiled floor had images of seashells and starfish on them, and the wallpaper showed beach scenes.
Realizing he had to pee, Joshua used the toilet. He nearly flushed out of habit but stopped himself in time. The sound of the flushing toilet might alert the two lovers upstairs to his presence.
After washing his hands, another habitual act, he left the bathroom and went looking for a landline phone. He figured he might find one inside the kitchen but was disappointed. Realizing he was hungry, he checked out the refrigerator and found it to be nearly empty. There were bottles of water and soda and a container of Chinese food. Joshua looked at the food and thought it looked as if it had been in there for a while.
When he spotted a wicker basket on the kitchen counter that held bags of potato chips and bars of chocolate, he stuffed some of the candy into one of the many pockets on his cargo pants. Haley loved chocolate and would probably be hungry by the time he returned to her. Knowing Haley would also be thirsty, Joshua stuck a bottle of water in a pocket and opened one for himself.
He drank water and ate potato chips as he crept through the other rooms looking for a phone. He wasn’t worried about Naya or the man she was with catching him. He was being quiet, so they should have no reason to suspect they weren’t alone. And if he was with a woman like Naya, he knew he’d be in no hurry to leave the bed.
It occurred to him that he could call up the stairs and let them know that he was there. Naya would recognize him and should be willing to help him and Haley. Somehow, Joshua knew that would be a bad idea, but he couldn’t say why.
Joshua didn’t find a phone; however, he did find something useful in the home’s study. There was a shoulder holster hanging on the back of a door and it had a gun in it. Joshua assumed it belonged to the man he’d seen with Naya. He decided to keep the weapon and leave the holster behind. He knew nothing about guns, but the Glock looked as if he could simply point and pull the trigger. He hoped he wouldn’t need it but liked having it. It would come in handy if he ran into any of the trigger-happy guards he’d seen earlier. When the weapon was missed, it would be assumed that a burglar had broken in. To give that story more credence, Joshua took a small computer tablet off the desk. He normally wasn’t a thief, but Naya’s lover was obviously rich. Joshua reasoned that he could easily replace the items he took without it being a hardship. Besides, it felt comforting to have the gun with a riot going on nearby.
Joshua finished his search for a landline phone by checking the living room. He didn’t find what he’d been looking for, but he did stumble across forbidden knowledge. Near the fireplace was the whiteboard that Miller had used during the meeting he’d held at the house days earlier. He had yet to wipe it clean of the last thing he’d written on it.
DIE FISTULOUS.
And below the name of the group were two other words, their letters were connected to the ones above them by drawn lines. They spelled out the truth using the same letters that formed the group’s name. USEFUL IDIOTS.
Joshua stared at the whiteboard for long moments. As he did so, the rage he’d felt earlier returned.
12
Follow The Arrows
Tanner arrived at the real estate office and his anxiety over Franny’s safety escalated to a new level as he watched the flames consume the building.
With lawlessness rampant, the fire department was unable to respond to any of the numerous fires raging. Firemen had rushed to a scene earlier and were shot at from a window. One man was wounded in the arm, and they returned to the firehouse to wait until they could get a police escort.
The blaze in the real estate office had spread to the building beside it that was the office of an accountant. In time, it would consume more than a dozen storefronts.
Tanner was wondering what his next move should be when he spotted the message Franny had left behind on the sidewalk. He grinned. The woman was smart and resourceful. If he hadn’t come to help her, he would have bet that she would be all right without him.
He took off in the direction indicated by the arrow Franny had drawn, then found the next arrow on the corner. As lightning flashed across the sky and the wind picked up, Tanner began moving at a jog and looked for more arrows. Franny was leading him right to her.
After painting another arrow, Franny and Wendy had rounded a corner a dozen blocks away and saw a figure appear from out of the shadows. The man had no weapon, but he was tall, had a hefty build, and towered over them.
“Give me your wallets and phones.”
“We don’t have wallets or phones,” Franny said. “All I have is this can of spray paint.”
The man looked them over and appeared confused when he saw they were telling the truth. Franny still had the gun, but it was tucked away in the waistband at her back; it was also unloaded.
“What happened to your purses and phones?”
“Um, we were robbed earlier,” Wendy said. “There are a lot of thieves and crazies out tonight.”
The man sighed. “You must have some money. Empty your pockets.”
The man moved closer. Franny brought up the paint can and sprayed the guy in the face, then her hand went to her back and gripp
ed the gun. She had used her left hand to grab the weapon and was holding it awkwardly. The man charged at her, and because the weapon was empty, instead of firing it, she used it like a club and opened a cut across his forehead.
The guy had had enough. He couldn’t see well because paint had gotten into his right eye and was stinging like mad, while the cut he’d received was sending blood dripping into his good eye. He lumbered away while cursing Franny and calling her names.
Wendy began laughing and pointed at the can of spray paint. “I should have grabbed one of those; they make for a great weapon.”
Franny laughed along with her and felt some of the tightness in her shoulders go away. When they reached the next corner, Franny left another arrow for Cody to follow.
Devon Sobol, the mercenary Franny had shot in the vest, had arrived at Wendy’s apartment earlier. He’d been there minutes after she and Franny had left, but earlier than Tanner’s arrival. He’d seen the flames and realized that the women must have headed somewhere else. From the ID he’d found in her wallet, he knew that Franny was from out of state. That could mean that she was staying at one of the hotels off the highway.
He went in search of the women while moving at a speed that was slower than his usual pace. The impact from the slugs that struck his vest had caused damage and he was having trouble taking a deep breath. That didn’t matter. The woman had killed his friend, Denny Martinez; Sobol was determined to make her pay.
Despite being armed, he’d run into trouble when a group of five rioters attacked him. They’d been hidden behind a van and jumped out when he walked past them. Sobol had been forced to empty his sidearm, killing two of them, then had the gun knocked out of his hand. It skidded away and he watched it disappear down into a sewer. If he hadn’t been able to bring his rifle around in time, they might have killed him. Instead, he left the scene with three of them dead and two seriously wounded. The exertion had weakened him further and left him gasping for a breath, but he was determined to track down Franny and kill her.
Lit Fuse (A Tanner Novel Book 44) Page 7
