The Premise

by Andy Crossfield

  "Wait," Colleen said, suddenly remembering, "one of them …the skinny one, had a wrist tattoo of a chess piece… a knight I think! Just a line drawing, but, you know what I mean, a knight, like in chess?"

  Willis nodded and had a momentary look of worry cross his face, as if he recognized the tattoo, but he quickly resumed his supportive demeanor.

  "Let me call this in ma’am, we’ll need to start surveillance right away. When are you checking out?"

  "I’m not due to leave until Sunday evening, but I don’t feel safe in this hotel now! I need my things back!" Colleen frantically tried to think of what to do as a feeling of hopelessness enveloped her.

  "You just sit tight, I’ll go down and arrange for a new room. We have to secure this room for the crime scene anyway. I’ll get right on this. Here’s my card so you can reach my cell if you need me or think of something else. I’ll also send Housekeeping up to help you pull your clothes together, but try not to disturb anything else, okay? If I need you for an ID, will you be available?"

  Colleen nodded absently as she assessed her room, trying to decide what to do. She thanked Willis for his help, shut the door, and bolted it when he left.

  Willis called in the report on his radio, then asked Housekeeping to send up a maid and a new key. He also asked them to comp a suite for Dr. Baker and help her move.

  When he got back to his office, Willis began reviewing the video from Colleen’s floor about the time of the incident. The images were slightly blurred but they clearly showed two men in hoodies and sunglasses push past a woman and run to the elevator. He froze the frame and began looking for other cameras at the same time to get their next location.

  The only other camera that picked up the thieves was in the parking garage. It showed a blurry image of a compact car speeding off with two occupants. The tag number was obscured by a post, and not legible. He checked the camera at the exit, then did a search on the timestamp to pull up an image of their parking stub. Their ticket indicated the compact car had arrived forty-seven minutes earlier. Willis pulled the tapes from that time and watched two men wearing hoodies arriving and followed them as they walked through the casino. The better picture quality of the casino cameras allowed Willis to blow up the best still image and get a useful image of their faces.

  He then set the images to run through the casino’s database of suspects and criminals, but facial recognition would take time, and there was no guarantee it would help.

  __________________

  It was past 4 pm by the time Carl and Ted got back to Crimson Desert State Prison, and the second shift was coming on. Kyle was to be held as a suspected accomplice in the escape of thirteen inmates and was taken to the minimum-security wing for confinement.

  His first visitor was Bill Cooley, who pulled up a chair outside his cell and sat there staring at Kyle for what seemed forever. Kyle was growing angry and wanted to lash out, but he kept calm. He knew the man on the other side of the bars was his only chance of getting a fair hearing. If he ever wanted to get out of there, he had to stay calm.

  Warden Cooley started by saying, "You want to tell your side of this, boy?"

  Kyle couldn’t remember Bill ever calling him boy, and it took some of the punch out of what he wanted to say.

  "I shouldn’t be here Warden." Kyle said stiffly, deciding to address him formally and not by name. "I’ve done nothing wrong and was almost killed out there! The fact that you couldn’t find any evidence is not my fault! I’m willing to go back out there and show you exactly where this happened, but you’re making a big mistake if you try to paint mass murder as an escape. It doesn’t do justice to me or the families of the men who died out there… and you know it!"

  Warden Cooley jumped to his feet, his face blood red. He grabbed the bars like he intended to come through them and strangle Kyle.

  "Don’t you dare tell me what I know, boy! You got no idea what I know, or what I’ve already done to keep you from getting hurt bad. Where were you when you said you were trying to hitch a ride in the desert? You think I’m stupid?"

  Kyle got up off the cot and moved to the bars so he could look Bill in the eye.

  "My answer depends on if I can trust you or not, Bill. I’ve been put through the wringer today through no fault of my own, and frankly I don’t give a damn what you know or what you think you know.

  "So I was scared and didn't know who to trust." Except for one justified white lie, I’ve told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And, well, you can see where that got me," Kyle said as he grabbed the bars and gave them a shake. "I guess my question for you is, are you interested in the truth, or is this just a witch hunt?"

  "Look, Kyle," said the warden, visibly trying to calm himself down, "I’ve known you for almost ten years… and no, I’ve never known you to do anything like this. But the facts are son, well… they don’t leave me much choice to think anything else. I’ve got you sayin’ there was a military attack! Hell Kyle, you might as well claim they were abducted by aliens, for God sakes! I’ve got a missing van, and thirteen inmates unaccounted for… shed some light on that for me will you?"

  "That’s all I want to do! Take me out there Bill. Keep me in restraints, put a ball and chain on me if you have to, but take me out there yourself. I’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise."

  "Let me sleep on it" Bill replied. "We’ve lost daylight already anyway. You’ll be safer here than at home I reckon. I’ll check on you first thing in the morning."

  The warden turned and rang for the CO who opened the hall door for him. The sound of it slamming closed reverberated off the walls and gradually died into silence.

  Kyle leaned back on the creaky cot, pulled the blanket over him and tried to get some rest.

  He had just drifted off to sleep when he heard his second visitor of the evening whisper his name.

  "Kyle? Pssst. Kyle, you awake?"

  Kyle couldn’t make out a face, but the silhouette looked like Tiny Posada, a CO who worked the night shift.

  "Is that you, Tiny?" Kyle whispered back…

  "Yeah" Tiny said, surprised Kyle could identify him so easily in the dark.

  "I hear you ran into some trouble in the desert this morning. I might know sumtin’ ‘bout that, you know. Zat somtin of value to ya?"

  "It depends," Kyle said, trying to process this surreal conversation.

  "Pends on what?" Tiny said, looking cautiously in both directions while he spoke as softly as he could.

  "On whether you have evidence, hard evidence to back up my story."

  "Oh, I got that right enough, but it won’t last forever… in a day or two, I'tl all be gone…an there goes your chance to prove yurself innocent. We got to come up with a deal fast!" Tiny said, grinning in the dark.

  "I’m not exactly in any position to pay you, if that’s what you’re getting at," Kyle replied. "But I’d be willing to talk. I’d give you what I can Tiny, you know that. You say you have evidence? Give me a hint." Kyle suggested, "Just to prove what you say is real, then I may be more inclined to stretch my resources. How about it?"

  Kyle was fully awake at this point, his mind was thinking fast. Here was a CO who knew the truth, and said he had proof. He had to learn what he knew even if he did over promise.

  Tiny was quiet for almost a minute, thinking over what he could say to prove he had something but not give it all away. "Check the log for the big Case excavator out in the yard. Word has it they pulled it from the worksite last night for some desert work early this morning. I’m thinking the crew would have an interesting story or two to tell… You didn’t hear it from me, but I want to be compensated for this… say …500 bucks?"

  "Tiny, if this pans out, I’ll pay you before I pay my rent! I promise! Thanks buddy…."

  Kyle started to say something else but realized Tiny was gone. How a man that big moved so quietly was a wonder.

  _______________

  Colleen jumped at the knock on the door. Any little noise s
et her off now, and she hesitated going to check it out. "Who is it?" she asked, still sitting on the bed surrounded by the mess made up of her belongings.

  "Housekeeping…Willis Santiago in Security sent me up to help you," a female voice said through the door.

  With the chain on the door, Colleen opened it slowly, peering out to confirm for herself that this woman could be trusted.

  "I’ve got you another room… compliments of the manager. Can I help you move ma’am? Said the lady in the starched uniform.

  Colleen ushered her inside and closed and latched the door behind her. The maid surveyed the room, and then gave a shrug as if to say, "I’ve seen worse." Then she started picking up Colleen’s clothes and folding them, putting them in her suitcase. In short order Colleen’s bags were set neatly by the door waiting on a bellhop to move her to another room.

  "Are break-ins a common occurrence here at the hotel?" Colleen asked, trying to make conversation.

  "I wouldn’t know ma’am, I’ve only worked here a few weeks… but up the strip, at the El Dorado, it happens all the time! Mostly domestic stuff…. You know, the husband drinks too much and the wife tries to lock him out. He busts in and the wife starts throwing whatever’s handy. I had to pull a TV out of the pool one time, had a stabbing one time; folks just go crazy over money around here. That, or they drink too much and end up doin’ every stupid thing in the book. If you ask me, the worst thing ever happened was that slogan, you know, 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.'" The maid stopped straightening a moment and looked Colleen in the eye. "Try telling THAT to your parole officer!"

  Colleen was getting agitated from the conversation and was relieved when the bellhop knocked at the door.

  "Change of room ma’am? Said a muffled voice through the door.

  The maid let him in and they began to load Colleen’s belongings on the cart. He reached for Mark’s briefcase but Colleen pulled it to her body holding it tight.

  "I’ll carry this," she said, wrapping both arms around the case.

  "I think you’ll like your new room ma’am," said the bellhop as he motioned for Colleen to follow him out into the hall.

  He pushed the button for the fourteenth floor and allowed Colleen to exit first when the doors opened. As the bellhop opened the door to the suite, Jack Colder was leaving his room, which happened to be directly across the hall.

  "Well, I like the looks of this!," Jack said with surprised delight. "The neighborhood is definitely improving…"

  Colleen ignored his comments but caught his attention with a glance that said, "wait here" as she entered the room. She was pleased to see she was assigned a spacious suite. Colleen gave the bellhop a tip, and then hurried him out of the room, thanking him profusely. She then turned to Jack, still waiting in the hall.

  "You have a minute?" Colleen asked in her most convincing nonchalant tone.

  "Well, I was heading…," Jack started to say before noticing her urgent expression. He quickly thought better of it and followed Colleen into her suite.

  He was about to make a joke about her being in the wrong room again but her serious expression made him hold back.

  "What’s wrong, Colleen?" Jack asked with a worried look that matched hers.

  "Jack, I really don’t know where to begin," she said as tears welled in her eyes, changing their color to a deep purple.

  "How about the beginning?"

  Colleen ignored his flippant manner and sat on the couch. He sat across from her on the window seat.

  "Remember I told you I was having dinner with a colleague tonight?"

  "I remember you had plans."

  "Well, …he was killed today Jack! At least I think he was. I really didn’t think it could be true, but Kyle was so convincing! It’s just all too unbelievable! But then my room was ransacked, and I…."

  "Wait, …what? Your room was ransacked?"

  "Yes. Jack, that's why I'm here in this suite, complements of the management. I can’t make any sense of it at all. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. All of a sudden, I seem to be a target and people around me are dying or getting attacked by intruders." Colleen broke down at the thought of Karen.

  "Hold on. Start over. Who’s dead?"

  "Mark. Dr. Mark Moran. My professor from med school. A brilliant man. I was meeting him out here to get his ideas about my research. He’s … he was… the best geneticist I know and I was hoping he could validate my work before I published."

  "How did it happen?" Jack was trying to piece the bits together, but having a hard time of it.

  "Kyle said he was killed by the Air Force. The freakin’ Air Force Jack! Something about drones out in the desert. He…"

  "What? …Wait, who’s Kyle? The Air Force?"

  "Oh, I just met him. He brought me this…" Colleen pulled the scorched briefcase onto her lap. "It’s Mark’s briefcase… he had reviewed my work and was on the way to our meeting. Kyle was heading toward the Air Force base when he saw Mark’s car get hit by a drone and explode… he could have been killed too if he hadn’t stopped to help."

  "Colleen, you aren’t making sense…drones?"

  "See?" Colleen pleaded, her eyes begging Jack for help. "I mean it’s all too fantastic! My lab, in Chicago, Jack… it was ransacked today, my assistant was beaten and my files and computers were stolen! I have to get back there but I can’t afford a last minute flight…."

  Jack's world seemed to have been turned over and shaken violently, and he was just an observer. He couldn’t imagine what this madness would seem like to someone actually living it.

  It took the better part of an hour for Jack to pull the pieces of Colleen's ordeal into a reasonably coherent story. Even then there were large gaps. Chief among them was how the break-in at the lab and her hotel room robbery were connected. And why was her research a target?

  One thing was certain in Jack’s mind. If this had happened to him, he wouldn’t want to be alone in a strange city without friends or anyone to talk to.

  "Tell you what," Jack said in a soothing voice. "Let me rearrange things a bit and we’ll have dinner tonight. I happen to know you’re free," he said, immediately regretting the gallows humor. "We’ll have a chance to talk this whole thing over and make some sense of it, or at the very least, take your mind off things for a while. I have my seminar tomorrow at lunch, and afterward, we’ll fly you to Chicago and help sort it out up there."

  "No," said Colleen, "this doesn’t involve you. I couldn’t possibly accept…."

  He could see Colleen was about to reject his offer, so he played his trump card.

  "If you let me work on yours, I’ll let you help solve my mystery…."

  There was the faintest of smiles that flashed across her face and he knew he had her.

  "Great," he said, assuming the sale and smiling. He took her hand and looked into her eyes, "I’ll walk all the way over here and pick you up at eight, okay?"

  "I guess, …but I don’t think I’ll be very good company." Colleen said as she looked past Jack and out into the darkening sky above the strip.

  "You unpack, enjoy the suite, take a long bath, and we’ll pick it up at dinner. Between us, we’ll come up with a plan." He shrugged, flashed a smile, then got up and put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, and left. It took only a few minutes for Colleen to realize she was glad she didn’t have to face this alone.

  Chapter 14 From Honduras, With Blood

  Promptly at eight, dressed in a dark suit and a bow tie, Jack knocked on Colleen’s door.

  "I thought I’d dispense with the fashionably late thing!’ said Jack, his words trailing off at the sight of Colleen in her evening dress. He offered his arm as Colleen stepped into the hall.

  "Dr. Baker, you look absolutely stunning!" he said as he stepped back to enjoy the view.

  Colleen wore a black sequined slinky floor-length dress that flattered her figure; it was the only eveningwear dress she owned– or needed. She had to admit; in it she could turn heads, even among
the glamorous Las Vegas nightlife crowd.

  The elevator was noisy and already packed with guests going to dinner, shows, or the casino, as Jack and Colleen carefully made their way in. The doors could barely close and caused the guests to pack in closer than they wanted, all but Jack, who enjoyed the ride down, pressed tightly against Colleen.

  They made quite an attractive couple as they strolled through the luxurious hotel lobby on their way to a special restaurant across the huge casino complex. Jack was enjoying the stares. It wasn’t often that he created a scene, and he wondered aloud what it must be like to have the power of a beautiful woman. Colleen blushed, grateful for the distraction on the most stressful day of her life.