The Replacements Page 12

  I set her down and held on.

  She looked up with her green eyes telling me how much she loved me. “What?” she said. “Did you stop off at the deli to get a turd sandwich? Because your breath smells like it.”

  Her way of saying she was mad for flying thousands of miles to save my ass, but at the same time didn’t want to scold me.

  “Hey,” I said, “I’m the one that should be mad. You were supposed to stay home with the kids and take care of Dad.”

  She socked me in the shoulder and smiled. “Things like these are fluid, you have to roll with it.” Words I’d given her in the past, ricocheting back.

  “I guess I have to quit telling you the details of my old capers and how they worked.”

  “You better not. And the kids are fine, and so is your dad.”

  “When’s the last time you talked to them?”

  “Why? What’s happened?” She’d read my tone.

  “Nothing. Everything’s fine.”

  Wu walked up. “Hey, Leon, how come you’re not out working, chasin’ down leads on the third kid?”

  He must have been out of the information loop. He hadn’t heard about or seen the mall cam video where I grabbed Jonas. Or that the shot-callers in the FBI wanted the blunder kept under wraps. The well-being of the children stood in the balance. Sure, that had to be the reason, or he would have thrown down on me and taken me into custody. This time luck had landed firmly on my side of the fence. I had to be more careful. I should’ve visually cleared the parking lot before going out. I wouldn’t get many more chances. I leaned over Marie and fought the urge to turn around. Without the ball cap and glasses, Wu might recognize me anyway. “Just taking a break to be with my girl,” I said.

  “I can see that,” he said to my back. “What is it, that ‘three-week thing’? You two only been together for three weeks, or something like that? Still in that mushy love phase?”

  “That’s right,” Marie said. She’d caught on to my fear and held me close.

  Wu came closer, only to get a better look at Marie. I spun her around on the outside closest to Wu and headed to the room. Marie had the curves in all the right places, and Wu would be not be looking at me.

  We’d made it to the door when Wu said, “Hey, we’re putting a bag together with a GPS for the drop tomorrow night. There’s a briefing in forty minutes at Montclair PD.”

  I waved my hand over my head and, with the other, I unlocked the door. Wu said, “Make it a quickie, huh? From here, it’s a twenty-minute drive to Montclair.”

  Marie turned. “That leaves us twenty minutes, enough to do it three times.”

  Wu yelled as I closed the door. “For sure, that’s the three-week thing talkin’ right there. You lucky bastard.”

  I got the door open and the both of us inside. I flipped on the light. Marie kissed me again, reached around and flipped the light back off. The threat of a lifetime in prison tended to intensify emotions, particularly love. We tore at each other’s clothes. Once naked we heated up the sheets, took a break, breathing hard, and then heated them up again. We didn’t have the time. Wu might be briefed at any second and say, “Hey, I just saw him going into a motel room.” The FBI could be surrounding the place any minute. Or, they might wait for the outcome of the children, keep my involvement as an ace in the hole, a scapegoat to blame along with all my other alleged crimes.

  I dressed quickly in the dark as the sweat cooled and dried on my skin. I reached over and turned on the bed stand light to see my lovely girl. She stared up at me with adoration, something I couldn’t comprehend. I was nothing special to look at. I didn’t know what I did to deserve her. “I have to get out of here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  I stopped tying my shoe, reached over and put the back of my hand gently against her cheek. “I have something I have to do.”

  She read into my words and sat up, her eyes turning from sated to concerned. “I’m going with you, and you know that.”

  I shook my head and looked away.

  “Bruno, I didn’t come all this way for you to hide me away in some sleazy motel room. I’m here and I’m going to help.” She held her finger up, “And that’s it, end of discussion.”

  “Okay, get dressed.” She jumped up and slid into her clothes almost as fast as she’d taken them off. I watched for the opportunity and stuck the Glock in the back of my waistband when she wasn’t looking.

  She had her back to me as she tucked her breasts into her bra and hooked it in the back. “I saw that. Why do we need a gun?” She turned around to look me in the eyes. No one could tell me women didn’t have eyes in the back of their heads. I took the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s badge off the nightstand and hung it around her neck. The gold star hung down over the cleft of her breasts and came off strangely erotic. I put my hands on her shoulders. “You can’t come with me, but I can’t do this thing without your help.”

  “Oh, no, I am coming with you.”

  She saw the shift in my eyes, held up her finger. “Bruno, no.”

  I leaned down and kissed her naked shoulder. She arched her back. I gently turned her around and unhooked her bra. “Bruno, no.” This time, her “no” lost its finality. We commenced to reheat the sheets. Halfway through, she whispered in my ear, “It must be that three-week thing.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  I cut the electrical cords from the lamps in the room, wound them up and shoved them in my pocket, while Marie asked, “Are you sure this is the only way? This idea is really crazy. I mean, really crazy.”

  I took her in my arms, kissed the top of her head, and hugged her tight. “We have less than twenty-four hours. Can you think of any other way to get a million dollars? No way is Jonas going to fall for that fake bag trick. He’ll be watching for it. He’s been way out ahead of us every step of the way. Our only chance is for me to show him the money, just a taste, and then I trade the children for the money.”

  “I would rather you have the FBI handle it with the fake bag.”

  No she didn’t, not really. She wanted the best chance for the children. I pulled her away and looked into her eyes. She nodded as she fumbled with the sheriff’s star hanging around her neck. I let her go with no illusions, maybe for the last time ever, and went out the door to the parking lot, head down under the ball cap, walking fast.

  I needed a car, one that fit in with the places I needed to go, and I didn’t have time to be picky. From deep in the parking lot I chose a beat-up, midnight-blue minivan, the model without the side windows. In the dark, the banged-up paint looked black. The door wasn’t locked and the ignition had already been punched. The car had been stolen in the past and the owner, believing the van worthless, had not made the repair. Two seats up front. The back, designed for cargo, was littered with fast food wrappers and empty 40-ounce Olde English 800 beer bottles. The motor coughed and sputtered and finally caught. I headed out of the Fontana Suites parking lot and hoped like hell I would be back.

  I drove two long blocks, past an industrial section lit with sodium vapor lights, and turned into another motel parking lot. One built with two stories in an L-configuration. The place used to be part of a major chain and had since fallen into disrepair with a private owner who didn’t believe in maintenance or trash pickup. Every parking stall held a beater car like the one I boosted. The place did a booming business with the speed-freak crowd. I double parked, got out, and walked right to the door I wanted. I stood to the side and checked my watch. Marie and I had synchronized, and the time had started when I kissed her good-bye.

  Right now, Marie, with the sheriff’s badge hanging around her neck, would be knocking on Mary Beth’s motel room door. Two minutes for Mary Beth to answer, another three minutes for Marie to explain that she was there to relieve Mary Beth, two more minutes for Mary Beth to grab her things and jam out of there.

  Time.

  I stepped back and kicked in the door. I ran in. The only light in the dark room spilled in from th
e parking lot. The beached whale of a man on the swayed bed grunted at the noise from the intrusion, took a half second to realize what had occurred, and reached for a weapon between the mattress. The Viking warrior tattoo stared up at me. I jumped on his back and thumped his melon with the butt of the Glock. No reaction. He came out with a long knife. I hit him two more times. The gun butt thunked hard against bone. Karl Drago went limp. I pulled out the lamp cords and tied his large chubby hands together.

  I checked my watch. Thirty seconds. I had allowed three minutes total, just in case Marie had not been able to convince Mary Beth. If Mary Beth had seen me on the screen attacking Karl, she would be here within the three minutes it would take to run out to her car and drive the three blocks.

  “Come on, get up. Get up now.”

  “Who the hell are you? What the fuck you want?”

  I reached over and turned on the lamp. My other adrenaline-shielded senses kicked in. Sour odor of pepperoni and kung pao chicken wafted up from the floor. The room lay to waste, littered with empty pizza and Chinese takeout cartons. Karl Drago lay on the bed more ugly in person than when I had first seen him on the screen in the FBI surveillance room. He squinted, then opened his eyes. “Oh, perfect, I’m being robbed by an Anus Africanus. You made a big mistake, pal, taking down this place. I got nothing. I’m out on parole two weeks now, and I got nothing.”

  “Shut your pie hole and stand up.”

  “Huh, you have about three minutes, asshole, and then twenty FBI agents are going to swarm in here and shoot your sorry black ass.”

  I stopped. He knew about the surveillance. How did he know?

  “No, they’re not. I took care of that. Now stand up, or I’ll shoot you in the foot.”

  “Kiss my white ass.”

  I put the Glock on his foot and looked him in the eyes. “Last chance.”

  “Okay, okay, hold it, don’t shoot. Jesus, whatta testy lil’ prick. I’m moving.” He got up, his tattooed belly hanging over his dirty striped boxers. His fat rolled and shifted as he swung his leg in a roundhouse kick.

  I blocked it, swung the Glock, and caught him across the temple. He staggered, but didn’t go down. I stuck the gun under his chin and shoved hard.

  “Let me make myself clear. I will shoot your sorry ass and leave you for dead if you do not do exactly as I say. Do you understand? Tell me you understand.”

  He nodded. Blood ran down into his eye from the laceration to his temple. My mind leapt to previous training about blood-borne pathogens. He’d been in the prison system for going on two decades. He could have hepatitis C or AIDS. Had I still been on the job, protocol would have dictated containment, paramedics, and the donning of rubber gloves and mask. He’d be treated like a hazardous waste dump. No time to ponder over spilt milk. I scooped up his clothes from the pile in the corner. I froze. Underneath sat a black nylon bag with bright white letters: “FBI.” I pointed at the bag and said, “You didn’t?”

  “What’s that?” he asked. “Oh no, that’s not mine. You put that there. You’re setting me up.”

  “This is the bag boosted from the FBI car.”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about. I want my lawyer.”

  The FBI thought Karl Drago was their prey, when in reality he’d been playing them all along. Mary Beth said that Drago had been waiting in his room, not leaving for three days. He’d snuck over while the FBI supposedly watched him, broke into one of their cars, and took their gear. Not only a bold, in-your-face kind of move, but one well thought out and executed. I had to change my opinion about this guy and proceed with more caution than before.

  I checked my watch. Two minutes, forty seconds had elapsed. We wouldn’t make it to the van and out before the troops arrived if the ruse hadn’t worked. Marie had to have convinced Mary Beth or I was in deep shit. I picked up the heavy FBI bag. “Come on, move your ass.”

  “Let me get dressed.”

  “Later, move.”

  He lumbered out, bumping his gums the whole way. “You’re working for Clay Warfield, aren’t you? Never thought he’d go to hiring a nig—I mean, a black gentleman—for something like this. Hey, whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it. You know I’m good for it. That’s why you’re here, right? You know what time it is, don’t you? Okay, triple, I’ll triple whatever Clay’s paying you.”

  I knew of Clay Warfield like every other cop in Southern California, every cop in all the US, for that matter. He was president of the Sons of Satan, the notorious outlaw motorcycle gang.

  I shoved Drago in the ass with my foot to speed him up. I repelled off his bulk, and he didn’t move any faster. His fat jiggled and rolled as he walked across the parking lot to the minivan, his big arms tied behind his back. As we approached, the van grew smaller and smaller compared to his bulk, when the effect should have been the other way around. Maybe I should’ve boosted a one-ton truck. I opened the back doors. “Get in.”

  “Okay, fuck you, take me to Clay. I’ll talk him out of what he thinks he wants to do, then guess what, pal? He and I will take you apart, piece by piece. Trust me on this. That’s the way it’s going to go down. Maybe I’ll use a blowtorch on you. You know who I am? You do, I know you do. You know I have priors with a blowtorch. You know what I’m sayin’?”

  He never stopped talking, but he climbed in and flopped down on his belly. The wadded-up taco and hamburger wrappers and empty beer bottles splashed to the sides. The sight of him, with all his white skin, made me think that, tonight, I might be more like Captain Ahab.

  I didn’t really have time to tie his feet and, under normal circumstances, I would have waited until after I’d gotten far enough away. Even tired, I realized the potential for violence in the glob of immorality compressing the van’s suspension. I risked the time, took out another cord, and secured his ankles.

  I got in the van, started up, and wished I’d gagged him. The man never shut up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  I had only a couple of minutes to ponder the next problem: stop for Marie or leave her behind? The safe choice was to leave her. She’d be mad, real mad, but she’d get over it. However, without a doubt, I needed help to pull off this caper I’d planned. I would just have to keep her on the sideline as much as possible.

  I pulled over to the curb on Valley Boulevard where we’d agreed to meet and waited. Street people moved in the dark shadows of the sidewalk, self-absorbed in their own skullduggery. Why wasn’t she at the preplanned location? What happened to her? If only her shadow, I’d recognize her anywhere. Had the FBI tumbled to her game and grabbed her?

  Karl Drago worsened my anxiety with his continual complaints. “Hey, dickhead,” he said, “I can’t feel my hands or my feet. Loosen these things up. I lose my hands and my feet, I’ll kill ya with my teeth. You hear me? I’ll tear a chunk outta your neck with my teeth. I got good teeth, courtesy of the California penal system. I’ll rip out your throat and enjoy doing it.”

  “For the last time, shut up. And think about what you just said. How are you going to move around if you don’t have any hands and feet, huh? I’ll just have to listen for your electric wheelchair to know when you’re coming.” That shut him up. As he pondered this new problem, I caught a shadow in the rearview mirror dash across Valley. Marie. My tight breathing eased up a little. She came along the sidewalk. I leaned over and rolled down the window on the passenger side. “Right here.”

  She heard. Ran over, opened the door, and jumped in just as I pulled away from the curb. She peered into the back. “Everything go okay? This van smells like body odor and cat urine.”

  “Sure, we’re cool. I told you it would work. How about you? You okay?”

  “Yeah, I got in just like you said.” She held up the badge that hung from the chain around her neck. “But I feel bad. Mary Beth’s really nice, and she’s going to be in a lot of trouble when her boss finds out I duped her.”

  “I know, but it can’t be helped.”

  We came to the corner
of Valley and Sierra Way, a major intersection. Light from all of the combined streetlights poured into the van. Marie looked back to see our cargo. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God!”

  Her tone startled me. “What?” I looked back, thinking maybe Drago had morphed into some sort of demon, more of one than he already was. He hadn’t moved, and I realized she’d reacted to the fat lump of wasted humanity, tattooed and semi-naked in his striped boxer shorts. I said, “Didn’t you see him on the monitor when I took him out of the motel?”

  “Yes, but, oh my God, Bruno.”

  I waited for the red signal to change so we could enter the San Bernardino Freeway. I looked back again. Drago raised his head and smiled at Marie. “What’s the matter with your slit, hasn’t she ever seen a real man in his underwear?”

  Marie turned back in her seat face forward, reached over, and put her hand on my arm.

  “How sweet, love among the animals,” Drago said. He sniffed the air, made a show of it. “Fact is, I do smell some animal lovin’. You two been goin’ at it? You two have been bumpin’ uglies, right? I can smell it on you. Come on, give, tell me all the hot sweaty details.”

  “He’s a real charmer, isn’t he?” said Marie.

  The signal changed, I proceeded to the freeway. “Now you see why I’m not going to mind what we’re going to have to do to him.” I’d said it more for Drago’s benefit than for Marie’s. He went quiet.

  “Did you bring the garden shears?” Marie said, smooth as butter.

  These words coming from my Marie’s normally innocent mouth shocked even me.

  She wasn’t done. “I’m going to enjoy clipping off his toes one at a time. This little piggy went to market, this little piggy—well, you know the routine.”

  I’d never worked in San Bernardino County and didn’t know the area. I drove to the only familiar place I knew. I got off at Waterman and headed north into the same mountains. Drago started up again: “How much is Warfield paying you? I told you, I’ll double it. How’d you get me away from the FBI? That was no easy trick.”