But at least none of them looked like they thought this whole thing was a hoax, so we were doing good there.
Before Carmichael and Alec had a chance to get down to business, the announcer came onto the stage and tapped the main mic a couple of times to get the crowd’s attention. Alec fell silent as the woman’s voice boomed around the theatre, thanking us all for coming, explaining the theatre's mission, and introducing the group that would be performing tonight. As she spoke, the band filed out from behind the curtains one by one and took up their places with their instruments. My eyes hit on Lena again, and I felt bands constrict around my chest, but I took a few deep breaths and slowly smoothed them away. I couldn’t afford any overwhelming emotions right now.
The announcer thanked us for coming, then handed the mic over to the band’s guitar player, who stepped up with a bright grin on his face. He didn’t bother saying anything to us, just launched the band right into their first set, the whirling music whizzing around the room as the beat began to pulse. I knew I’d soon find myself lost in the pattern Lena’s fingers made as they hit the bodhran, so I looked away, watching the few dancers that had started making their way out onto the open patch of floor.
“Do you guys want a drink or anything?” Alec asked. It was a little hard to hear him through the earpiece with all the music pounding out of the speaker, but if I concentrated really hard, I could make out every word.
“We’re fine,” Carmichael said, but when I hazarded a glance at the booth, it looked like O’Connor desperately wanted that drink.
Carmichael cracked his neck on either side and then looked around the theatre, rising out of his seat slightly to get a better vantage point. I immediately turned my body more toward Rayla, waiting ten seconds to make sure he was finished with his search before I faced front again. The group sat quietly for some time, each of them waiting for someone else to make the first move and open up the floor, and I wished Alec could hear me so I could urge him to get a move on.
“Well. You called us here. What’s this proposition of yours?” Carmichael asked. He was stretched out across the booth, one long leg almost reaching the seat opposite, but his back was to me, and I didn’t like not being able to see his face.
“Shall we dance?” I asked Rayla. There were enough people out on the floor that we would be just another two faces in the crowd, especially if we positioned ourselves in just the right spot.
Rayla held out her hand to me, and we left our plastic cups on the floor by our seats as we moved out amongst the dancers. Most of the lights were focused on the stage, leaving the dance floor in shadow, and we took up a spot in the middle of the dance floor, closer to the stage than Alec’s booth. Rayla took both my hands in hers, and we began to bob and sway back and forth, moving in time with the beat. Rayla was definitely far better at this than I was, her movements a lot smoother and more graceful.
“Right,” Alec was saying. “I know you got interrupted when you tried to meet up with Barron, so you’ve still got all that marked cash on you. Have you figured out a new way to get rid of it yet?”
Carmichael was silent for quite some time, and as Rayla and I spun around in our dance, I caught a glimpse of his face. It looked like he’d stuffed an entire lemon in his mouth. He clearly wasn’t pleased about the reminder of his predicament.
As we twirled away, I could help but look up at the stage since this was the closest I’d been to Lena in a long, long time, and I’d wanted to know if she’d seen me yet. But her eyes were closed, and her head was bowed, her concentration on the music complete.
“I haven’t,” Carmichael admitted sourly.
“I can help with that,” Alec said. “Like I told you on the phone, I’ve been expanding my repertoire over the past few years. I’ve got a new contact, a real up-and-coming guy who calls himself the Stag. He’ll swap the bills out for you, but he doesn’t like strangers, so he’ll only work with me. You promise me a cut, and I’ll take the cash to him for you. It doesn’t even have to be an even cut. I’m a reasonable guy. I realise that I’m coming into this on the tail end of things, and you people did all the heavy lifting. What do you say?”
It felt to me like Alec was moving a little too quickly. We still needed him to inquire about the location of the money and possibly even about Crane’s death, but I knew I needed to let him keep hold of the reins on this one. I couldn’t control everything, no matter how much that might irk me, and I had to trust that Alec could handle this.
The first tune ended, and Rayla and I prepared to go back to hide in our seats, but many of the other dancers remained standing, so we stayed with them, clustering up with everyone else so we’d be out of Carmichael’s line of vision. I glanced over my shoulder and met Fletcher’s eyes briefly. She and her date were seated on the same side of the booth, and Fletcher had her arm slung around the other woman’s shoulder. She gave me a nearly invisible nod. It was all still going according to plan.
“How do I know I can trust you?” Carmichael asked cagily, and I had a little trouble splitting my attention between what he was saying and the short spiel the guitar player was giving up on stage, so I did my best to block the musician out completely. It was hard because I knew that Lena’s eyes would be open at this point, and I was standing not fifteen feet from her. Surely she’d seen me. But I wouldn’t check. Mission first. Alec had just reached the dicey part of the lie, after all.
“We did work together,” Alec reminded him. “I know it was a long time ago, but we made a good team, don’t you think? I can’t say I’ve really changed since then. You, on the other hand…” Alec tsked and sucked at his teeth. “Maybe I should be asking if I can trust you. I heard rumours about your last job, you know. That someone got killed.”
The second song started up just in time for Rayla and me to start dancing again so I could get positioned just right to watch for reactions at the mention of Crane’s death. O’Connor immediately stiffened, and I saw Dune kick him under the table while Carmichael slowly drummed his fingers on the wood.
“Yes, that was… unfortunate,” he said, and I could tell he was choosing his words with care. “It was not supposed to happen, but we can’t change the past, so I’m just trying to move forward and get these bills exchanged.”
“You must be pretty desperate at this point,” Alec said. I flinched; his tone had been just a little too sardonic for my taste.
“You could say that,” Carmichael ground out.
“I can help you out,” Alec told him, and he managed to sound like he’d simply offered to go to the supermarket for a friend. “But you’ll have to tell me where the money is.”
I held my breath, and I heard Fletcher catch hers as well through the mic. I’d thought Alec would beat around the bush a little bit, subtly get Carmichael to reveal the money’s location, but no. He’d just gone right for it, and that would either make or break us.
Carmichael kept on drumming his fingers against the tabletop. His expression was closed off and unreadable, and he cracked his gum once as he stared at Alec. Dune and O’Connor sat perfectly still and silent on the other side of the table, watching the exchange with wide eyes.
“It’s safe,” Carmichael said finally. “I’ll take you to it once we strike a deal.”
Alec bobbed his head, and I cursed quietly. It was probably too much to ask to have Carmichael just flat out admit the money’s location.
“How about I take a twenty per cent cut, plus ten per cent for the Stag’s service fee?” Alec suggested, and he managed to sound totally unbothered by the fact that Carmichael had just jumped around his question.
“Seems reasonable,” Carmichael agreed after he took a beat to think about it.
Alec stuck out his hand to seal the deal, but Carmichael didn’t take it right away. He glanced around the theatre again, and I spun Rayla around, putting my back to the table. It was as if I could actually feel the heat of Carmichael’s gaze as it passed across my neck, and I waited to hear him give some excl
amation of surprise or betrayal, but nothing came. I clocked both Fletcher and Dunnel in the time it took for Rayla to complete her turn, and both of them had managed to block their faces from view. Dunnel held his can of sparkling water in front of him. Not that Carmichael knew what he looked like, and Fletcher was busy kissing her date, though she broke it off a few seconds later.
“But I’ve got to ask,” Carmichael continued, and I wished the mic didn't mask some of the inflexion in his voice with its tinny quality. “I’m still not totally clear on how you heard that I even needed help.”
“I was going to use Barron to turn over the goods on my last job,” Alec lied smoothly. “But I got to his place, and it was literally a burnt-out shell. I know a few of his safe houses, so I checked them out, found him, and he told me what had happened and that he’s, unfortunately, going out of business for a while. He gave me your current number, and here we are. Have you spoken with him since, well, the incident?”
“Unfortunately, he’s been avoiding my calls,” Carmichael growled. “No doubt trying to distance himself from me now that the police are on my tail. That doesn’t bother you?”
“That the police are after you?” Alec asked, then laughed. “Please, I couldn't care less.”
Rayla and I did another turn so I could visually clock the table again. Dune and O’Connor seemed to have relaxed some now that they were no longer talking about the murder, but they still weren’t included in the actual conversation. It was like they were just ornamentation or something.
“So, do we have a deal?” Alec prompted. He still had his hand held out to Carmichael, fingers dangling in the air.
“I suppose we do,” Carmichael said, and he closed his hand around Alec’s. I tried to send telepathic waves Alec’s way, urging him to press Carmichael on the information we needed.
“Great,” Alec said as he took his hand back. “Now about the money’s hiding spot…”
But Carmichael wasn’t paying any attention to him. Rayla and I had turned away from the table again, so I didn’t see what it was that had distracted him, but I noticed when Alec trailed off, his voice faltering. I frowned, and when I subtly turned us and peered over Rayla’s shoulder, I saw that Carmichael was staring out across the theatre again, and his gaze seemed focused on Fletcher’s table, though she was carefully facing away from him.
Then his eyes jumped to mine, moving too quickly for me to avert them or hide my features. Shock spread across his face, quickly followed by betrayal, then anger, and his fists clenched by his sides.
“Move it!” I ordered into the mic. “We’re made.”
I stalked toward Alec’s booth, pushing between the other dancers as quickly as I could without also causing panic or a scene.
“Time to go,” Carmichael growled at his team. “It seems we were followed.”
He glanced down at Alec and gritted his teeth, shaking his head in what looked like sheer and utter disappointment, and Alec shrank into the corner of the booth, shrugging apologetically. Dune and O’Connor slipped out of their seats, and the three of them immediately made a beeline for the back of the theatre since I was between them and the main exit.
“Coming your way, Elker,” I said, picking up the pace as I left Rayla behind.
I popped clear of the dancers and broke into a jog, feeling Fletcher’s presence at my shoulder. Carmichael looked back, then picked up the pace, snarling something at his companions that I couldn’t hear now that he was no longer in range of Alec’s mic.
“Stop!” I called to him, but my voice was mostly lost beneath the thrumming music.
Carmichael sneered at me, and I ran faster just as we hit the narrow passage between the risers and the wall. Elker dropped to the ground right in Carmichael’s path, and I flinched for his poor knees, but Carmichael was somehow ready for him, seizing Elker’s shoulders as the man was still trying to get his balance back and heaving him toward Fletcher and me, Dune and O’Connor helping keep Elker off-kilter. The space there wasn’t quite wide enough for me to avoid my teammate, and he crashed right into me, which meant I crashed right into Fletcher, the three of us stalling out in a tangle of limbs while Carmichael’s crew sprinted for the emergency exit.
“Get off!” I grunted, shoving Elker away from me with a little more force than was absolutely necessary. “Guys! They’re headed out the side exit! Someone get there!”
“Headed out the front,” Dunnel replied. “I’m on my way.”
“Us, too,” Reid shouted.
I finally stumbled free of Elker and Fletcher, then grabbed Fletcher’s hand to pull her out of the tangle as well. We got our feet under us, then sprinted for the back exit, which was still in the process of swinging shut after Carmichael. I flung it open again, and we poured out onto the street, heads instantly snapping around to figure out which way our quarry had gone.
Carmichael was smart enough to know not to head to the front of the building, obviously assuming that we’d have people there, so the three of them had taken off in the opposite direction, still grouped together.
“In pursuit!” I called to the others as Fletcher and I sprinted after them, Dunnel pounding along about twenty yards behind us.
I was glad I’d gone with trainers for the night rather than my usual heavy boots because they made it a lot easier to run full-tilt down the pavement, Fletcher right at my shoulder. I kept my eyes locked on Carmichael’s back. I would not lose sight of him, no matter what.
He cut to the side and crossed the street, weaving amongst the cars which screeched to a stop to honk at him, and Fletcher and I followed suit, ignoring the chaos we were causing. There was a car stopped right in front of me, and rather than swerve out of the way and risk crashing into Fletcher, I jumped and slid across the bonnet, an arm held out for balance. I hit the ground running with no time to pause and think about how cool that must have looked.
Carmichael and his friends shot up a narrow alley just off the road, Fletcher and I maybe fifteen feet behind them. Dune grabbed a bin and tipped it over right into our path, stumbling with the effort, but I was ready for it, and I hurdled it with ease, Fletcher’s feet thumping against the ground mere seconds after mine.
“Carmichael, stop!” I yelled, not that it was going to do any such thing.
At the end of the alley, Carmichael skidded to the left, bouncing off the wall to help keep up his momentum. Dune and O'Connor were right behind him, though O’Connor’s turn wasn’t nearly as graceful as the others’.
Then it was Fletcher’s and my turn. I threw out an arm to catch myself, then pushed off the wall as my trainers fought for purchase on the slightly slick cobblestones. I lost a little speed, but I didn’t fall or slip, the distance between Carmichael and me the same as before.
“I’ve got an idea!” Fletcher panted, and without bothering to explain, she peeled off from me, cutting down a different side street as I carried straight on after our prey. We were running down one of the pedestrian-only roads now, and people kept leaping out of our way when they realised we weren’t stopping, eyes wide and shopping bags clutched to their chests.
I hoped Fletcher wasn’t going far. I didn’t exactly fancy catching up with these blokes and fighting them three-on-one. I pumped my arms harder and ordered my legs to churn faster. They listened, but just barely. There wasn’t much more speed that I could eke out of them.
Dune glanced over her shoulder at me and stumbled, and her companions didn’t slow up to make sure she was still on her feet, leaving her to struggle to make up ground and rejoin the pack. Carmichael was drifting to the right, probably so he could get ready to make another turn, and I continued in a straight line, thinking that would help me catch up since their speed was going both forward to the side, and mine was only moving forward.
It seemed to be working. I was gradually gaining ground inch by inch, and Carmichael knew it as he repeatedly glanced my way. As I began to draw level, I suddenly cut to the side, aiming at the fleeing trio, but Carmichael turned at
the same time, sprinting toward the mouth of the alley that had just opened up to his right. I reached out a hand, determined to catch hold of Dune’s jacket as she was at the back of the group, and just as my fist closed around the fabric, a leather-clad arm shot out of the shadows and clotheslined Carmichael right across the neck.
Carmichael choked and flipped backwards, landing with a tremendous thump that forced any remaining air from his lungs. I jerked Dune to a stop, and she cried out in pain as her jacket suddenly pulled on her shoulders, but she reacted pretty quickly despite her surprise, pivoting on one foot and swinging a wild fist at my face. I released her coat and danced back, settling into a fighting stance with my hands raised in front of my face. Behind Dune, O’Connor oscillated between helping her and hauling Carmichael off the ground, but Fletcher made his decision for him as she leapt toward Carmichael, and O’Connor flung himself at her to get in her way. After that, I couldn’t see much of the other scuffle since Dune was crowding right up into my face, blocking my view of anything else in the alley.
She’d collected herself after her initial surprise, and the punches she threw at my face were fast and precise. I checked one and blocked the second with a forearm, crooking my elbow and bringing it up by my ear to stop the hook she sent flying that way. She’d brought herself in too close to me, and I snapped out a hook of my own, the blow short but powerful, and Dune barely got an arm in the way in time, though she blocked it too far out from her head, so I boxed her ear with her own fist, and she stumbled back.
She reset her feet. As she came back at me with the same combo she had used before, I realised that while she had training, she hadn’t spent much time applying those skills to actual fights. She was falling back on patterns to keep herself afloat, and while she was fast, she was also predictable.
Fatal Transaction: A DCI MacBain Scottish Crime Thriller Page 29
