Stillwater
An F/X Fanfic
Part #7
by Cory
Need a refresher?
Here’s the other parts of the story so far: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
1:16 p.m.
Angie and Lucinda were waiting in an empty office when Leo arrived. Both looked shaken up. Colleen had used her lunch hour to stay with the two women, and a counsellor had come down to make sure that Angie and Lucinda had been okay. More than anything, Leo thought, the two looked exhausted. Lucinda’s face was unnaturally pale, and it had a slight shine of sweat. Angie looked a little stronger, but Leo wondered how much of it was a mask, hiding her true emotions.
“Leo,” Lucinda said when she saw him. She stood up and hugged him tightly, almost desperately.
“Thank God you guys are okay!” he said. He glanced at the female counsellor who had been talking to the woman, and she nodded, smiling.
Angie went to hug Leo too. “Don’t you go underestimate us, Leo,” she said.
Leo chuckled, pulling away from Angie’s hug. “So how many shooters were there?”
“Two,” Angie said. “The man’s here, but he’s recovering.” She gave a tired grin. “We were kind of rough. The other one, the woman, is in the interrogation room.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Maybe Francis and I should go talk to her.”
“They’ve already interrogated her once, Leo. There may not be much else you can get out of her.”
“I can always try, can’t I?” Leo took a step toward the door. “I’m glad you guys are okay.”
“We’re fine,” Lucinda said, again. “Just find out what’s happening, okay? For Rollie.”
Leo nodded. He wasn’t sure of what else to say, so he just left the room, moving down the hallway to the interrogation room. He nodded at Tony Rizzo, who was inside one of the offices. Tony darted out. “Leo, I hear Angie and Lucinda almost got hit,” he said, concerned.
Francis had been talking to Tony, and followed in behind the officer. “They’re okay,” Leo said. “I’m on my way to see if I can get something from the woman.”
“Good luck,” Tony said. “From what I’ve heard, Lastman, the Detective in charge, got zip.”
“We’ll get something,” Leo thought. We have to, he added silently. “See you, Tony.”
“Hey, good luck Leo,” Tony said, turning down a hallway.
Detective Shawna Albert was already standing outside the interrogation room when Leo and Francis arrived. She gazed through the one way glass into the room. The woman, one Janet Velasquez, according to Shawna, looked more frustrated than afraid. She was sitting alone.
Shawna nodded as Leo and Francis came and stood beside her. “You can talk to her if you want. Vanduren will be down soon.”
Leo thought about asking Shawna to go inside with him for the interrogation. But he had to be very careful if he wanted to draw information out of the woman. He would prefer to have Francis at his side, someone who knew the routine and was familiar with Leo’s interrogation style. He took a deep breath. “Francis, shall we?”
“I’ll be watching,” Shawna said. It was a gentle reminder that she still had to fulfill her purpose for initially being assigned to the team in the first place.
“Let’s hope it works,” Leo said, before he and Francis entered the room.
As Shawna watched Leo and Francis enter the interrogation room, she heard movement from behind her shoulder. She turned to see Vanduren arriving. “Looks like I’m just in time,” he commented. “How has the case been going?”
“It’s not looking good for their friend Rollie,” Shawna said. She cocked her head to one side. “I’m still surprised you put them on this case in the first place. There’s more than a little bit of conflict of interest.”
“That’s why you’re here,” Vanduren said. “McCarthy and Gatti can be a bit – unorthodox at times. But they’re the best people for the case. So I thought they needed supervision.”
“Leo seems to have his own little style,” Shawna said.
Vanduren nodded. “Gatti too. Makes them one hell of a team.”
“Janet Velasquez,” Leo said, reading a page the investigating officer had printed off. “Nice rap sheet you’ve got here. Car robberies, thefts, assault … quite the life.”
The woman remained still like a statue, watching Leo cautiously as he spoke.
Leo spread his hands. “Obviously you know why we’re here.”
She still said nothing.
“Jeez, she won’t talk, Leo,” Francis said.
Leo shrugged. “That’s too bad. But then again, maybe when her partner wakes up, he’ll be more willing.” He leaned a little closer to the woman. “I’ve seen it happen. It doesn’t get too pretty.”
Francis picked up on the routine. “Come on, Leo, don’t be so damn mean, man. She doesn’t have to talk if she doesn’t want to.”
Leo smiled. “No, she doesn’t.” He turnedto speak to Francis, but he made sure he was loud enough to be heard by everyone else. “Though she would be smart to talk. Maybe, when it comes around to it—” he spun to face Velasquez “–the courts will be a little more lenient.”
The woman glared at Leo.
“But, if you won’t talk, that’s fine with me,” Leo said. “Dig your own grave. See, you’re already involved in one murder. And there is a man in hospital dying. Would you like to be charged with his murder too? I’m sure you had nothing to do with it. Maybe just your simple explanation could clear this whole mess up.”
Janet suddenly spoke. “Drugs.”
“What?” Leo said. He had been sitting, and he jumped to his feet.
“The guy in the hospital. He’s bombed on some shit.”
“How do you know about that?” Francis said.
“I overheard it.”
“From your boss?” Leo asked.
“Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
She sighed.
“You can talk to us, or ….” Leo let the sentence trail off.
“All right, all right! We go to a house to get our instructions. Last time we were there, we were getting our instructions to bump off those chicks.”
Francis scowled. “And?”
“Before we got our orders, we overheard a conversation in the next room.”
“They were talking about the guy in hospital, right? Right?”
“Yes! They were saying something about drugging him with an overdose of some new Colombian drug. Weird shit, if you ask me. Makes you see things.” Her eyes lit up like fire. “But in high doses, it’s like poison.”
Leo bit his lip.
In the observation room, Shawna
squeezed her fist. Keep it strong,
Leo. Keep pushing.
“Is there any way to stop it?” Leo asked.
“There’s some kind of antidote. It neutralizes the drug in the body. That’s what they were talking about. They were talking about where they should put it to keep it safe.”
Leo’s eyes widened. An antidote. “Where is it?” he said, a little more forcefully than he meant to.
She didn’t answer.
Francis jumped up. “The antidote, damn it! Where can we find the antidote?”
“Sit down,” Leo ordered.
“I don’t know,” she said, quietly.
“You don’t know or you won’t tell?” Francis growled.
“I don’t know,” she said again, through clenched teeth.
Leo sighed. Maybe we can get her from another angle. “What was the address of that house you had to show up at?”
“5894 Mexican Avenue,” Janet said, tiredly.
“How did you know when to go?”
“I’d get a call. On my cell phone.”
“Who would call?”
“I don’t know them by name. I just do what I’m told, and I get paid. That’s all I care about. That’s all Buzz and I care about.”
Leo looked at Francis. It didn’t look like they were going to get any other useful information from the woman.
Leo nodded for Francis to follow him to the door, and the two detectives stepped out into the hallway.
Shawna smiled approvingly. She couldn’t have done a much better job. The woman was tough. But still, although they had answered some questions, a bunch still remained, taunting them.
“Captain,” Leo said, noticing Vanduren standing there.
“Detectives,” Vanduren answered in his usual terse manner. “I saw. Nice work.”
“We’re going to need a search warrant A.S.A.P.,” Leo said. “We need to get to that house and turn it upside down before whoever hired those goons finds out we’ve got them.”
“It’ll take a couple of hours for the warrant to go through,” Vanduren said.
Shawna could see Leo’s and Francis’s frustration, and she couldn’t help but feel it too. She, like them, wanted to get to the house right away before someone cleaned the place out. But she had been put on the team specifically to make sure everything was played by the book. They had to wait for the proper papers to go through.
And hope they wouldn’t be too late.
Interlude Six
1:30 p.m.
“And in the stock markets today, the big news today is with Domlin Entertainment, which has been affected by the shocking murder this morning of president and company founder Matthew Domlin. Some shareholders have panicked, and the stock has dropped almost twenty percent today, with further losses possibly on the horizon. One has to wonder what Matthew Domlin would have thought.”
1:46 p.m.
The first signs that something was wrong went completely unnoticed.
Rollie Tyler’s heart rate slowly increased. It was such a gradual increase that it did not trip the alarms. He began to sweat, and his hand began to jitter slightly.
The duty nurse came in minutes later to check on him. She glanced at his vitals on the computers and the shuddering that seemed to be moving up his limbs as it slowly consumed his body. She ran for the doctor.
The doctor arrived and immediately called for more help. He hurriedly began administering treatment.
After what seemed like eternity, but was in actuality more like a few minutes, the convulsions subsided.
The nurse looked at Rollie’s vital signs on the computer. “He’s weakening.”
The doctor looked at the readouts. “Call his friend. McCarthy. Tell him the prognosis isn’t good. He’s running out of time.”
Chapter Ten
2:12 p.m.
A small crowd had gathered around Leo’s desk, made up of Angie, Leo, Colleen, Lucinda, Francis, and Shawna Albert. They listened in silence as the doctor explained the situation via speakerphone.
“Detective McCarthy, I’m sorry. He might not make it.”
“How long?” Leo asked. He felt an ache, like he had something in the back of his throat.
“We’ll be lucky if he’s still alive tomorrow.”
Leo saw Captain Vanduren watching them through the windows of his office. The Captain could tell everything from the look on Leo’s face.
“Thanks Doctor Michaels,” Leo said, hanging up.
“We have until the end of the day,” Angie said. “Assuming the doctor is right.”
Francis’ voice was hoarse. “It’s going to take more time to get that warrant.”
“Vanduren’s doing everything he can, I’m sure,” Leo said. “He knows how urgent the situation is.”
“So what do we do until we get that warrant?” Lucinda said, sourly. “Wait?”
“Maybe you come home with me,” Colleen said to Lucinda and Angie. “I’m taking the rest of the afternoon off. You guys need a break. You’ve been through a lot –”
“I’m fine,” Angie said stubbornly, even though she didn’t feel like it.
“I need to go,” Lucinda said, quietly. “Angie, come on ….”
“I don’t want to go,” Angie growled. “Rollie needs help –”
“And he won’t get it if you butt into their way,” Lucinda said. She took Angie’s hand and pulled her out of her seat.
“Promise us you’ll call if you have news,” Colleen said to Leo.
“I will.”
Leo, Francis, and Shawna watched as the three women left. They sat in silence for a moment. Shawna sensed that the call had put a dampener on the energy of Francis and Leo. Suddenly, they looked exhausted.
“Coffee,” Shawna pronounced.
Leo looked up. “What?”
“Coffee. You look like hell. Both of you. I’m getting some coffee. Then we’re going to sit down and try to sort through this mess, okay?”
She returned with the coffees a minute later, and passed them around. “Now drink.” She sipped her own. “So what have we got?”
Leo drank a mouthful of the hot liquid. “All right. What have we got … we’ve got someone framing Rollie for Domlin’s murder … someone who’s trying to cover it up. This person hired the hitmen to kill Valyne McKinnon.”
Francis seemed to perk up even with the first sip of his coffee. “Why try to kill Angie and Lucinda?”
“They got close to Valyne,” Shawna said. “They talked to her. They knew that Rollie was set up.”
Francis nodded. “But why did he, this hypothetical person, drug Rollie instead of killing him outright once he’d served his purpose?” Francis said.
“Because if they killed him then the frame wouldn’t work nearly so well,” Leo said. “As it was, the only reason we knew right away something was wrong was because we personally knew Rollie well enough to know that he wouldn’t do something like overdose on drugs. By drugging him they, whoever they are, guaranteed he couldn’t recover and talk to the police.”
“So it looks like there are two things we need answered,” Shawna said. “Who and why.”
“Detective Albert?” came a female voice.
Shawna looked up to see a secretary approaching with a printout in her hand. “Yes?”
“This came in for you. From Detective Fischer.” The officer handed Shawna the stack of paper.
“Thanks,” she said. The secretary walked away as she scanned the
document, a fax. She read the note that
Colin Fischer had scribbled on the front page.
“A new wrinkle.”
“These are the bank records we wanted Colin to dig up,” Shawna said, flipping between the pages. Suddenly she froze. “Oh … Leo, I think we just found your who.”
“What does it say?” Francis said, leaning forward.
Shawna set the page down on the table so that all three of them could read. “That deposit that we found odd in Domlin’s personal account … was wired straight from the bank account of Mark Sharize.”
Leo whistled, and leaned back in his chair. “It fits.”
“What does?” Francis said, confused.
“Sharize has been involved with drug smuggling for years,” Leo said. “Latest rumours on the street said he was compiling some major dough.” He paused. “And that he had some new drug coming in, something no one’s seen before. Genetically engineered, my informant said.”
“That would explain where the drugs came from,” Shawna added. “The stuff they pumped Rollie with must be the new drug of Sharize’s.”
Francis nodded. “So Matthew Domlin got money from Sharize. But why?”
“Matthew Domlin must have known Sharize somehow,” Shawna said. “Think about it. Suddenly, running out of money fast. He was already taking money out of his company, trying to stay afloat. So he persuades Sharize to give him a loan.”
“But that was in January.”
“Exactly,” Leo said. “And when Domlin didn’t pay back ….”
Francis understood now. “Sharize decided to bump him off. Bet’s we’re going to find out that house can be traced back to Mark Sharize!”
But Shawna now looked confused. “But it all begs the question. Domlin was losing money fast. Where was it going?”
Leo frowned. “And why did Sharize frame Rollie for the murder, instead of just getting one of his goons to pop him off?”
The cell phone in Leo’s pocket began to chirp, and he whipped it out of his pocket. “McCarthy.”
There was the unmistakeable wailing of sirens and cacophony of voices in the background as the person spoke. “Detective McCarthy, this is Detective Bateman. I think you’d better come down here.”
2:54 p.m.
The traffic backup was two blocks long. Leo had to settle for a parking spot a block away, and they walked the remaining distance to the crime scene.
Fire trucks blocked half of the now
busy street as they hosed down the charred remains of the restaurant. Leo remembered the name now. The Gardenia.
Behind the Gardenia was the cordoned off area where Rollie’s body had been discovered.
“When we arrived and I saw there was a crime scene right next door, I called the precinct to find out who was in charge of it,” said the man who introduced himself as Rory Bateman. Leo had met him a while back, on another case. Leo remembered his to be smart and level-headed. “They gave me your number.”
Leo introduced Francis and Shawna and asked what had happened. “The call came in around two,” Rory said. “Kitchen fire. It spread quickly, and soon the whole building was in flames. Took the whole seedy little place down within minutes, along with the five people inside.”
Although Leo had spent a long time working the streets, the sad reality was that, contrary to popular belief, you never became totally desensitized to death and murder. His stomach knotted.
“Have you identified any of the people inside?” Shawna asked.
“Three were workers,” said Bateman. “The fire was set just before the supper shift crew was to come on.”
“So what shift was this?” Leo asked, dreading the answer.
“The breakfast to lunch shift,” Bateman said. “They’d been here all morning.”
Shawna turned to Leo, registering shock. “Our witness.”
Bateman looked confused.
“One of the workers in the restaurant this morning told us he saw what had happened to our victim,” Leo explained.
“So you think whoever set this fire wanted to silence your witness?”
Leo’s voice was a monotone. “He wouldn’t be the first to be killed.”
“You must have roped yourselves one bastard of a case,” Bateman said, unable to hide his surprise.
“We’d rather not have it,” Francis said, shrugging.
Leo nodded. “Thanks Detective,” he said.
They trudged back to the cruiser. “I feel like all our evidence is slowly eroding away,” Leo muttered. “One by one, everyone … everything is being eliminated.”
Leo’s phone rang once he was inside the police car. It was Colleen.
“Leo. Where’d Ange and Lucinda go?”
“Weren’t they with you?”
“Yeah, they were until five minutes ago. Then they took off, saying that you had some news about Rollie. What happened?”
Leo’s pulse quickened. What was going on? Francis and Shawna looked at him in alarm. “I haven’t seen them … or talked to them.”
“What? Oh God, Leo! What could they be doing?”
“Don’t worry,” Leo said. “We’ll find them.”
He hung up on Colleen and relayed the news to Francis and Shawna. As he did so, he punched Angie’s number in on his cell phone.
It rang twice before Angie picked up. Leo could hear the sound of cars in the background. Angie didn’t even say hello. “Leo, if it’s you, there’s no stopping us now.”
“Angie, what’s going on?” Leo said, alarmed.
“We’re sick of waiting, Leo. We’re going to do what Rollie would do.”
“And that’s what?”
“Take action. Meet us at the corner of Mexican and Brewster in fifteen minutes.”
“But Ange – ”
She hung up before Leo could say anything more.
“What’s going on?” asked Shawna, alarmed.
“Angie and Lucinda have decided they’re going to take action themselves. They want us to meet them at the corner of Mexican and Brewster.”
“Won’t that put us –”
“— Near the house Janet mentioned? Yep.”
Francis’ eyes were wide. “You don’t think ….”
“I bet they’re going to try to break in on their own.”
Interlude Seven
3:00 p.m.
“And now, a Manhattan Five News Break.”
“This is Andy Smithson reporting live in front of the former location of The Gardenia Restaurant on Westfield Avenue. Firefighters responded to the call earlier this afternoon, and found the smoking ruins of the restaurant. Curiously, just over my shoulder, you can see the police tape marking another crime scene just behind The Gardenia. We’re told that this is where the unconscious body of Rollie Tyler, director of the movie Stillwater, was found this morning. Behind me is Detective Rory Bateman of the N.Y.P.D. Mr. Bateman, what can you tell us about this fire and any possible connection to the Tyler/Domlin murder case?”
“As of this moment, I can’t comment. Any possible correlation between the two cases is purely speculation.”
“Have you spoken with detectives in charge of the other investigation?”
“Yes, however we have no comment to offer the press at this time.”
“Is it true that there was a witness working in the restaurant who saw Mr. Tyler’s body being dumped this morning? Didn’t he burn to death in the fire?”
“What? Uh, no comment – excuse me.”
3:17 p.m.
The corner Angie had described was three blocks down from the address Janet had told them. They neighbourhood was once picturesque, but now many of the houses were sagging and run down. Many were for sale. Leo had traded cars, and instead of driving the official police cruiser he was driving an unmarked grey sedan.
“Where are they?” Francis said, looking around. It had started to rain, and the street around them was slick with water. Leo was afraid they were going to get storms soon.
A figure appeared out of the grey. It was Lucinda. She wore a black, hooded raincoat. She tapped on Leo’s driver’s window and silently motioned across the street.
As she ran to the other side of the street Leo stepped out of the police cruise with Francis and Shawna following him across the street. Now he could see the black F/X van, parked behind a large vehicle beneath an overhanging tree. The F/X van had switched signs, and now bore the name of a floral shop.
Lucinda led them inside, where Angie was busy working. “Leo,” Angie acknowledged, continuing to locate things around the van and stuff them into her toolbelt.
They quickly pushed into the van to get out of the rain. “What do you think you’re doing?” Leo said when they were all inside.
“We can’t afford to wait for that search warrant, Leo. We all know that. So Lucinda and I are going to go in on our own – see what we can find.”
“But you can’t do that,” Shawna said. “That’s break and enter.”
“Watch us,” Angie growled. She grabbed a black rain slicker off the shelf and put it on over her clothes. She was wearing a toolbelt underneath. She reached onto a table and grabbed two headsets, passing one to Lucinda.
“You can’t stop us,” Angie said. “But you can help us.”
“You mean … .”
“You can come in too.”
Shawna threw her hands up in the air. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this!”
Leo shook his head. “Angie, I can’t without a warrant.”
“Then I guess it’ll just be Lucinda and I going in,” Angie said.
“But … .” Leo sighed. “All right, I’ll help you.”
“What?” exclaimed Shawna, spinning around to stare at Leo.
“I’ll go if only to keep you from getting yourselves killed.”
Shawna grabbed Leo’s shoulder. “Leo McCarthy, I was put on this team –”
“To make sure everything was done by the book,” Leo said. “Yes, I know. But I also have to think about the safety of these two women. Who knows what’s in there? I can’t send them in without protection. I’ll go in – and I’ll deal with Vanduren, if I have to, later.”
“We can stay in the van and monitor your progress,” Francis added.
Shawna’s glare moved from Leo to Francis, to Angie and Lucinda. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
No one spoke.
“I’m going to have to tell Vanduren,” she said.
“Fine,” Angie said. “In the meantime, we’re going in.” She dug up another rain slicker for Leo, and led the way out the back door of the van.
Before Shawna knew it they were gone.
Chapter Eleven
3:23 p.m.
What the hell was she doing?
Shawna Albert knew what Vanduren was going to think. He’d have her head for letting them go in unauthorized. Damn it, it had been her job to make sure everything was done properly, and what was she doing now? Allowing them to go in alone.
But what else could she do? Obviously Angie and Lucinda had made up their minds, and short of pulling a gun on them there was no way she could stop them. And from Leo’s perspective, he had to go in to protect them. They were going in blind.
She glanced at Francis, who was staying behind in the van with her. He dug in a drawer, and pulled out two headsets. He fitted one to his ear, and then passed one to Shawna. “They’ll be okay,” Francis said.
Shawna wanted to ask him how he could be so sure. Had they ever done something like this before? She thought back to the tools Angie had picked up before she had left. Lock picks, screwdrivers, PDA, and then gadgets she’d never seen before. Angie was completely prepared.
Maybe that’s what Vanduren had meant when he said that Leo’s investigative methods were unorthodox at times.
Francis activated the tiny microphone attached to his ear. “Leo, guys, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” Angie answered. “Is Detective Albert on the air too?”
Shawna flipped a tiny knob on the headset, turning it on. “Yes. Though I’m still not sure why I’m going along with this. I’m not happy. Vanduren’s going to kill us.”
“It’ll be fine,” Leo said, trying to sound reassuring. In reality, he wasn’t so sure.
Leo ducked behind a bush, and Angie and Lucinda followed his lead. He looked up at the side of the house. No one seemed to be inside.
He understood why Shawna was objecting. He was going against Vanduren’s orders by not obtaining a search warrant. But he could not sit still any longer and wait for things to happen. Angie and Lucinda were making things happen, and they wouldn’t be able to do it alone safely.
They followed the bush toward the front of the house, where Angie took the lead as they jogged up the path to the front porch. The wooden porch was old, and a board creaked slightly as Angie stepped on it.
The front door of the house was, not surprisingly, locked. Angie pulled out a set of lock picks from her belt.
“I don’t see those,” Leo said, pretending to look away. Lucinda moved beside Angie, and together she and Leo blocked the view from the street.
“We’re in,” Angie whispered, swinging the door open. She glanced around for any signs of a security system. There was nothing along the doorframe, no signs of anything on the door itself, and no sensors in the ceiling, walls, or floors.
“Looks like we won’t be noticed,” she said, moving into the house.
“You’re sure?” Lucinda whispered.
“I’d have seen any security sensors,” Angie said. Leo nodded. Angie would have spotted any security.
Francis’ voice crackled over the radio. “All’s quiet on the street.”
Leo stayed behind the women. He kept his hand on his gun, which hung from its holster on his hip. Any sign of trouble and within a half a second he could draw the weapon out for protection.
“What should we be looking for?” Lucinda asked.
“Anything,” Leo said. “Drugs, tapes, papers …” He felt a wave of paranoia and glanced behind at the doorway. Nothing. He continued. “… something that can explain what the hell’s happening.”
Would the antidote Rollie needed be too much to ask for as well? he added mentally.
“Look,” Angie said. She’d moved into the front room of the house. It was empty except for a dark shape in the corner. “A computer.”
She booted it up, with Lucinda watching. “I’m going to look around,” Leo whispered.
With Angie and Lucinda working with the computer, Leo did a quick, yet thorough sweep of the rest of the house. It was sparsely furnished, and smelled faintly of cigarette smoke. The bathroom and kitchen were a mess. Leo found no evidence of drugs, anywhere, and it surprised him.
He quickly searched the walls and floors around the house for any of hidden compartments. His searched turned up nothing. Within minutes, he was back at Angie’s side. “Find anything?”
Angie’s fingers flew on the keyboard. “It’s password protected, and I can’t bypass it.”
“Damn … so you can’t get in?”
Angie thought for a second, and her eyes drifted to a cord emanating from the back of the computer. “Then again,” she murmured, removing her PDA from her belt. She activated the PDA, and Leo watched in fascination as she attached the PDA to the computer and executed a program.
“I’m trying to interface with the computer and gain access to the hard drive. There may be a way to get around the passwords.”
It took her two minutes to find the password. She keyed it into the menu on the screen. The hard drive buzzed, and the operating system loaded.
Then Shawna’s voice came over the airwaves.
“Leo, we’ve got company.”
Leo spun around. Angie hurriedly tried to navigate through the computer’s filing system. “Where?”
“They’re … they’re just pulling up in front of the house now! Get out of there!”
Leo suddenly realized he had shut the door when they had come in, but he hadn’t locked it.
“I’m going to try to transfer some files to the PDA’s memory,” Angie whispered as she rushed to complete the task. “I’ll sort through them in the van.”
Leo ran silently to the front door and quietly reattached the lock, giving them a few extra seconds of time. “We have to go, Angie, now!”
Shawna. “Leo, they’re on the front steps!”
“Buy us time!” Angie exclaimed into the mike.
Outside, Francis Gatti jumped out the back door of the F/X van. He ran the two blocks toward the house, splashing through the puddles of water and soaking his jacket. Two dirty-looking men were in the process of unlocking the front door.
“Excuse me!” Francis shouted from the sidewalk.
The men looked up. “What?” one asked, annoyed.
Francis dreamed up the first excuse he could think up. “Uh, your car. I’ll need you to move it.”
“What the hell for?”
Think fast, Francis. “I, ah, live in the house next door. I have a furniture van coming in, and, uh, we need the space.”
The men started to open the door. “In this rain? You gotta be kidding.”
Francis raised his hand to his face, and suddenly realized he was still wearing his miniature headset. One of the men was staring at it, scowling.
“Uh, but they’re going to be here any minute.” Francis motioned to the mike and smiled nervously. “They just told me.”
“Get out of here, or you’ll regret it.”
“But –” Francis took a step back off the sidewalk and onto the road. The men were big, and he wasn’t in a position to fight them, even with the gun hidden on the back of his belt.
Thankfully, Lucinda’s relieved voice came over the airwaves. “Francis, we’re out. We’ll meet you at the van.”
Francis shifted uneasily. “Uh, okay then,” he said. “Have a nice day.”
One of the men grunted, then entered the house.
Francis started to walk away. Moments later, he heard a yell.
“Someone’s been in the computer!”
He tore into a run. He could see the shapes of Leo, Lucinda, and Angie appear out of the rain from one of the nearby backyards. They were running.
“Shawna,” Francis yelled, “get ready to move! Leo, I’ll get the cruiser!”
Francis heard the men reach the front
porch of the house. “Hey!” one
yelled. Francis kept running as there
was a pop, and there was a small explosion on the pavement beside him. Bullets.
Francis reached the unmarked grey police cruiser and ducked behind it. He pulled upon the door and slithered into the front seat, trying to stay low. He could see the others jumping into the F/X van behind him. He jammed the key into the ignition, and the engine growled to life. He hit the accelerator hard and whipped the wheel to the left, spinning the car in a U-turn just as a bullet slammed into the side paneling of the car where the windshield had been seconds before.
Behind him, Francis could see the van making the same U-turn to follow him.
Behind them, the two shooters scrambled for their car.
Leo’s frantic voice crackled over the airwaves. “Francis, they’re coming after us!”
The roads were slippery, and Francis fought to stay on the narrow road at high speed. He wondered how Shawna managed to keep the larger van on the road. “I’m turning around!” Francis said.
The car fishtailed as Francis spun it into the other lane. The F/X van shot by, and Francis could see the other car approaching out of the mist. Gritting his teeth, Francis moved into the other lane, speeding headfirst towards their pursuers.
His heart pounded as they showed no signs of slowing. He hit the button to activate the police siren. Then he braked a pulled the wheel to the left again, skidding to a stop perpendicular to the road. There was a squeal of tires, and Francis realized it wasn’t just his own. The other car had applied the brakes to keep from hitting him. But the slippery road meant it was still hurtling towards him with just an instant before impact.
The nose of the car collided with the cruiser’s left back fender. Francis was thrown over onto the right side of the dashboard. His seatbelt locked, pulling him back against the seat, and the wind was knocked out of him.
The other car bounced onto the curb. Francis saw it become airborne for a second, then smash into a small tree. But a half-second later it plowed into a lamppost, and Francis shuddered at the crunch of metal and glass.
“Francis!” came Leo’s frightened voice from the headphone.
“I’m okay,” Francis said, leaving the police car and running across the wet road. He wiped the water from his eyes. He hurriedly pulled open the car door, and ran to the other car to check on both men.
“They’re still alive, Leo.”
MORE TO COME …