"We have to find Angie," said Rollie to Tony, urgently. "My
best bet would be the loft."
"I agree," said the policeman. He turned, and called to another officer
outside in the hall. "Bring 'em back to the precinct," he ordered.
"Then bring a team over to 256 Brewery Lane. I'm going there now
with Tyler."
"Tony!" Tony spun around and saw Mira calling him. He came
to her bedside. "Be careful," she said. "Remember, you're not
dealing with your ordinary criminal."
Tony nodded, remembering his last encounter with Loubar, when he had impersonated
Rollie to frame him for the assassination of the Chinese Ambassador.
"I know," he said quietly.
"Good luck," said Mira.
"We'll need it," he added. He turned, and jogged out the door, Rollie
following close behind.
They jogged down the hallway and toward the bank of elevators. One
arrived momentarily, and they hurried in. Once it had arrived in
the parking garage, they exited and Tony led Rollie toward one of the squad
cars. As Rollie went around to the passenger's side, Tony climbed
in behind the wheel. Rollie had barely stepped in by the time Tony
pressed his foot on the accelerator. With a high-pitched squeal,
magnified in the concrete parking garage in the underbelly of the hospital,
the car jerked backward, and then forward onto the street.
The roads were quiet. Rollie and Tony encountered very little traffic.
They made it to the loft in record time, due to the lack of vehicles and
also Tony's high speed driving ability. They screeched to a halt
in front of the stone building that served as the headquarters for Tyler
F/X. Tony withdrew his gun as he and Rollie ran to the entrance.
"The security system is disengaged," Rollie said, noticing the small panel
was not lit.
"Damn," said Tony. He positioned himself behind the door, then kicked
it open. He turned, and entered the dark room.
"Help!" came a yell from the darkness. It was a woman's voice, soon
joined by a man's.
"Jack?" Tony called, thinking the male voice was familiar.
"Blue, lights!" called Rollie. The room was flooded with a combination
of pale, white light from fluorescent bulbs, and warmer, multi-coloured
light from incandescent bulbs.
In the middle of the floor, Tony saw Jack and another woman who he couldn't
recognize, tied back to back with rope. "Jesus, what happened?" he
asked, running forward with Rollie to untie them.
"Victor Loubar," said Kim, her voice filled with hatred and dread.
"He took Angie," Jack said to Tony and Rollie.
"Where?!" exclaimed Rollie. "Dammit, where did he take her?!"
"I don't know," admitted Jack. Tony had finished freeing his hands,
and he rubbed his wrists. "He said he needed her for something.
Needed her expertise."
"Must be something to do with computers," said Rollie.
"Did he say anything else?" Tony asked.
"No," said Jack, shaking his head. "We couldn't do anything.
He wouldn't say anything about where he was taking her."
Rollie looked outside. "He must have taken our truck," he said, referring
to the red pickup Tyler F/X owned.
"Jesus," said Tony. He felt hopeless. What would Mira do?
He wished she was here. He had only recently made detective, and
she had more experience than he at this type of thing.
Well, better start with the obvious. "We have to get an APB on that
truck," said Tony. He went back outside and called in the bulletin,
getting the license number for it from Rollie.
He heard two squad cars pulling up outside by the time he was back inside
the building. "I don't know what else we can do at the moment," he
said, admitting defeat.
Rollie racked his brain. Suddenly an idea hit him. "I may know
a way ... "
"Where are we going?!" exclaimed Angie. Loubar was driving quickly
but carefully down the streets of Manhattan. They'd already had two
near
collisions with other cars. Angie was afraid -- petrified was probably
more like it. It wasn't just Loubar she was afraid of. She
was afraid of being out in the city at this time of night ... on this night.
"A safe place ... for me," said Loubar. "You can do your work there."
"What work?!"
"The job I need you for," said Loubar. "You see, I have a disk.
It contains the computer codes that can be used to break into some of the
world's most secure systems. Stock exchange computers -- CIA and
FBI mainframes -- everything. But, you see, I'm not exactly the programming
wizard you are. I know some of the stuff you're capable of."
Angie stared, open-mouthed. "And where's Rollie?" she said.
"You must have done something with him."
"He's at the hospital," he said. "With Mira. And you."
Angie frowned. "What?!"
"I'm there too. Telling him the exact same story I just told you.
It's true. But, you see, I have a double there. He's keeping
Rollie and Mira occupied by trying to 'find' the disk with the codes.
He's pretending its in the hotel room. It'll keep Tyler occupied
for a long time. And he doesn't even know that who he thinks is Angie
is definitely not Angela Ramirez."
"So you have the disk already, and your and my doubles are just keeping
Rollie 'occupied', as you call it?!" Angie said, incredulously.
"There you go," said Loubar.
They were just about upon an intersection when suddenly, from the crossroad,
a medium-sized car barreled into their path. "Shit!" exclaimed
Loubar, whipping the wheel hard to the left. The pickup he and Angie
were riding in swerved, and smashed into the side of the smaller white
vehicle. There was a shower of sparks, and Angie screamed as her
side of the truck was smashed inward with a loud crunch. She held
her arms over her head as the window shattered into a million pieces, showering
her with little shards of glass.
Loubar tried to regain control of the vehicle. He pulled the wheel
back to the right as hard as he could. The car had chosen that moment
to accelerate hard, and so the nose of the pickup smashed into the back
of the small car, on the driver's side. The truck bounced off the
rear of the car, which spun out, and coming to a rest sideways, near the
curb. As he fought with the wheel, Loubar tried to accelerate.
But although his foot was pressing the gas pedal right down to the floor,
the truck continued to slow down.
The truck crunched to a stop against a lampost. It shone no light
on the cold street. They were back in the area of town without power.
Angie opened her eyes. She felt pain on the right side of her head,
just above her eye. She lifted her hand out of the shattered glass,
and gingerly touched the wound, and felt a stabbing pain. She lowered
her hand, and looked over at Loubar. He had hit his head on the dashboard,
and was out cold. There was the faint smell of gas inside the cab.
After a moment, she realized that this was her chance to get free.
The passenger side door had been torn off in the collision. She unbuckled
her seatbelt, and carefully, avoiding the glass, stepped out of the car.
She felt pain shoot up through her right ankle. She ignored it, and
tried to move as quickly as possible away from the truck.
She glanced over her shoulder. Loubar was still out cold. She
turned back, and continued hobbling out into the street. She moved
toward the other vehicle, and looked in. Immediately, she wished
she hadn't. The driver, a young woman, was certainly dead.
Her face was almost unrecognizable. Her hair was matted with blood.
Angie felt for a pulse. None.
The two vehicles had come to a stop about ten from each other. As
Angie withdrew her hand from the woman's neck, there was a snap, then a
buzzing sound. Spinning around, Angie saw that the power in this
area had been reactivated. She could see sparks emanating from the
area where the truck had hit the post.
A sudden burst of fear hit Angie. She'd smelled gas! She
began to hurry as fast as she could away. Looking back over her shoulder,
she suddenly realized Loubar was still in the truck.
Let him burn, she thought, surprising herself.
The electrical snapping was sounding louder. Suddenly, with Loubar
unconscious inside, the sparks ignited the gas in the truck. There
was a whoosh, and flames suddenly engulfed the truck. Moments later,
the dark streets lit up in a bright orange, as the pickup was swallowed
in a huge fireball. Angie was thrown to the ground in the shockwave.
Loubar had been in the truck, she thought.
The truck had exploded.
Loubar was gone.
He was dead ...