Diamond Run

by Michael Croucher

  “It’s so goddamn dark around there, Ernie. They could make a move and we’d miss it.”

  “Right, let’s get our people in place carefully. To get what he wants, Marco might have to get Sue out of there. If he does, this thing will start to roll.”

  We tightened up the surveillance perimeter for Mobile Support again, and got some people out on foot, close to Sue’s place. Her house would be locked in. Nobody should get by without being seen or heard.

  Ernie and I stayed in the laneway, watching from behind the cedars. Frustrated by my confinement, I got out of the car. Standing at the side of the road, I stared back at the target property, willing something to happen.

  In situations like this, patience is the best strategy. But It drove me nuts that I had just been a few yards away from Sue. I wanted to close in, pull out all the stops. Ernie was right. We had to play it smart. If Marco knew the extent of our cover, that we’d moved our surveillance from scouting around to a specific location, that we knew he was in sniffing distance of this place, or if we moved too quickly, this stakeout could become a bloodbath.

  Like Ernie said, we had to wait for the bell.

  Chapter 36

  Sue had slept fitfully. She was jolted awake by the sound of the door opening, and hurried footsteps approaching her cot. Two men were inside the RV. They untied the ropes that anchored her to the cot, and loosened her foot restraints.

  “On your feet.”

  It was the man who’d interrogated her before. She stiffened as his hand pulled her up roughly by the front of her blouse, one finger between her buttons, close to touching the cup of her bra. She pulled back.

  His hand came away. “I said, onto your damned feet. You’re going back to your house.”

  Within moments she was standing on the uneven ground outside the RV, her legs shaking. The blindfold was still on. She felt them tighten it. They also retied her hands, leaving enough slack so that she could move them about eight inches apart. At least she was outside. The night air re-energized her; and so did the realization that whatever was going to happen would be happening soon.

  A knuckle brushed slowly, gently, down the side of her neck. Her body shivered. This man was repulsive.

  “Now, listen to me,” he said. “My friend here is taking you back to your house. I won’t be going along. But I want you to remember something: no stupid games and no cries for help. No talking at all until you are inside your house, and then quietly and only when asked. Don’t screw us around. You know what we’re looking for, so just cooperate with our search.” His fingers lightly, but convincingly, circled her throat.

  “My friend likes cutting people, and he keeps his weapon razor-sharp. One little misstep on your part, and I’ve instructed him to slit your pretty throat. After all, you’ve more or less told me where the items are hidden. You’re just going along to speed things up for us. Do that, and soon you will be free to go. Fuck us around and your blood will be splattered all over your precious house. Just nod if you understand...Do you understand, Sue?”

  Sue moved her head up and down.

  My house—back to something familiar. Phil will be watching. There’s a better chance to help me there.

  The man’s hands moved away from her. She sensed him stepping back. The other man’s hand steered her by the elbow. She recognized the voice; it was the tow truck driver. The biker.

  “You gotta do some walking, lady. We got your gym shoes out of your car. Sit down.”

  He led her a few steps and lowered her onto what felt like a picnic table. Cold hands grabbed her ankles and feet. Her gym shoes were slipped on and tied. The gag was checked.

  “We took the keys from the ignition of your car. Which key opens the back door to your house?”

  “It’s the only brass key on the ring.” Her voice was raspy. “The maker’s name is on it, Dominion, I think.”

  Sue was pulled to her feet. The blindfold checked again, and she was guided away by the elbow.

  FROM THE TOP OF THE stairs, even through the blindfold, she could tell that the house was in total darkness. The biker stood behind her and loosened the gag. He pushed her forward.

  “Your bedroom first,” he said.

  “My bedroom? Why are you taking me there?”

  “You wear nylons, don’t you? A nice thing like you? I’m sure of it...I can just imagine you all decked out in nylons and high heels...impressive.”

  Sue tried to pull away.

  “Relax, lady. I wouldn’t mind a bit of fun, but my boss would cut my bag off if I messed with you that way. Now, in a minute, I’m going to take off your blindfold, because searching in the dark can be tough. We need this done quickly. I want one of your nylons to put over my face. If you get out of this deal in one piece, I don’t need you picking me out of a damned photo lineup, do I?”

  “Last time I saw you, you wore a balaclava, why don’t you wear that?”

  “What are you, my mother? I left it in the truck. Show me your nylon drawer.”

  “The bedroom’s the first door on the left,” she said.

  The bedroom door swung open with a squeak. They moved inside, and Sue edged along the wall to the dresser. She heard a metallic click and froze.

  “You stand completely still, you hear me? Never go more than three feet away from me, or I’ll come at you with this...and the man was right, lady, it’s good and sharp.”

  “They’re—-the nylons—-they’re in the top drawer, over to the right.”

  Sue heard the drawer slide open, and the whisper of fabrics moving against each other. She caught the light scent of lavender as his rummaging disturbed the little sack of it she kept amongst her things. The man sighed disturbingly, obviously relishing the experience.

  “Mmm, nice,” he muttered. “Maybe I should go through the hamper...find something worn.”

  Scumbag

  Moments later, he pushed her to the office and took off her blindfold. “That’s going back on as soon as we find the things we came for.

  “Now...look at me. What do you think?”

  Sue’s eyes had adjusted to the dark room. She heard the flint spin on his cigarette lighter. He held the flame up to his face and sneered. “Is this a good look for me?”

  She looked at his distorted face. His eyes, nose and ears were flattened and stretched inside the stocking, his mouth was a dark, damp hole, looking to devour her. The flickering of the lighter didn’t help. The frightening image of his face wavered in and out of it’s glow. Completely menacing.

  Sue felt woozy, her ears buzzed. For a moment, she worried that her legs would give out. She sat at the desk, desperate to calm herself down, and get busy, pretending to cooperate. She counted to fifteen and took several deep breaths.

  “Get it together, lady,” said the biker. “We’ve got work to do.”

  This man would be pushing her for a quick find. But if she put on a good act, she could add another fifteen or twenty minutes to the process. The longer she stayed in the house, the better the chance of being recued. Even though Sue hadn’t thought much about the index card, the Allen key, and the diagram since Nathan’s arrest, she had a pretty good idea where to look. She would start where she knew she wouldn’t find anything. Sue opened the bottom right-hand drawer first, pulled out each hanging file folder, one at a time, putting on a show of being thorough, but hurried.

  “This is all by feel,” she said. “That Allen key, or whatever you call it, is taped to a heavy-grade index card. I’ll find it, it just might take a bit of time.”

  He came up behind her, and gave her shoulder a shove. “Well, get your ass in gear.”

  “I’m going as fast as I can, just be patient.”

  “Don’t bullshit me, lady, I— “

  A thunderous crash echoed through the dark office. It sounded like it came from across the hall, in her bedroom. There was another crash, and then another.

  The switchblade elevated in the man’s left hand. A gun appeared in his right.

&nb
sp; “What the fuck was that?”

  Sue stood. Her heart dropped. If Phil’s crew was here...she could imagine the carnage.

  The man turned the blade towards her throat. His eyes blazed. “Don’t move away from that desk. I’ll be right back. If you move away, I’ll use this gun, lady, so don’t even think about it.”

  He raced out of the office and into the hallway.

  Sue realized what the noise might be. She moved quickly. This would be her best chance to tip off Phil, to let him know she was here. She opened the window about eight inches—-any more and it would have squeaked loudly. She lifted the bottom of a floor to ceiling drape panel, and slipped out as much fabric as she could through the opening. The end should hang below the outside ledge by just over two feet. She lowered the window and prayed.

  ACROSS THE HALL, JASPER entered Sue’s bedroom. The banging and crashing was worse. He stared through the stocking mask in disbelief, his mouth wet and gaping. The bed shook violently. The headboard followed by the footboard came off the floor about eighteen inches, and slammed down with deafening crashes. They did it again. There was no one else in the room.

  Jasper lunged towards the bed, his blade fanning the air in front of him.

  This can’t be happening...No fucking way.

  A whisper behind him. A man’s voice. Jasper spun back quickly towards the door and froze. A pale, bearded face floated between him and the doorway. He had his gun at the ready, but pointed the blade at the face.

  “Who are you, asshole?”

  The face came closer. A harsh whisper. “Leave her alone. Get out...get out.”

  Jasper slashed wildly at the face and neck. Expecting a spray of blood, he screamed as the image melted away. The blade found nothing but air. The face disappeared, but not the voice. It was right at Jasper’s ear. Icy breath brushed over his neck. An unseen hand shoved him backwards. Desperate, he fired two shots towards where the face had been. He heard the voice again.

  “Leave her. Leave her now... Get out of this house!”

  Jasper slashed the air again. He ran from the room and charged into Sue’s office.

  SUE HAD HEARD THE SHOTS, soft pops from across the hall. She knew they wouldn’t have hurt what was in her bedroom. But now the biker was coming back for her. She stiffened.

  The eyes in the stocking mask flashed around her office wildly. They settled on the hallway.

  “Come on, we’re leaving...Now!”

  He grabbed at the rope between Sue’s hands, pulling her to the stairway, and down to the first floor. In his panic to leave, he didn’t put Sue’s blindfold back on. They moved to the backdoor. On the way, he ripped down some kitchen curtains and grabbed a tablecloth and two dry dishtowels. Outside, he yanked her towards the back of the property, stumbling and muttering as he went, his left fist still clutching the rope between Sue’s hands.

  An empty wheelbarrow leaned against the barn. He dropped the curtains, tablecloth, and dishtowels in, pulled out his lighter, and set them on fire. He gawked back at the house through the mesh of the stocking, his breath coming in anxious bursts that soaked the nylon, leaving a damp and slimy ring around his nose and mouth.

  Sue fought another set of fears. Where was this man taking her now? Would he hurt her, or do something worse? Where was Phil?

  To hell with this guy, to hell with his switchblade, to hell with his gun. I want this to end. I’m not going back to that place.

  She was ready to scream. With her hands now free to move up, but not apart, she started to free herself from the gag. He stopped her by pulling her forward by the wrist ties. She sobbed as he dragged her towards the back of the property.

  Chapter 37

  Our handsets crackled. I heard one of our crew—-he sounded pumped. He was at the observation point closest to Sue’s house. “All units, we have action at Zero. A piece of drapery has just been hung out of an upstairs window...the office window.”

  Ernie put the car into gear. I sat upright and responded. “That unit stay put and keep your eyes on the house. All others proceed to the perimeters of the property. Those already on foot, get as close as you can without being visible from the house or the property to the south...keep the volume low, and your handset at your ear so nothing gets missed. Acknowledge.”

  A stream of chatter as units acknowledged, and then an eerie silence.

  Ernie and I were close. Within two minutes we were standing in the shadows of the barn. Immediately we smelled smoke and saw a flame growing skyward from the other side of it. Two people were moving away from that spot.

  One of them was Sue.

  We ran towards the figures with our weapons drawn. A guy wearing a stocking mask was dragging Sue by the hands. Judging from his clothes, it was Jasper. I came in from the side. Ernie circled to the front.

  “Police! Hold it right where you are. Don’t move,” I yelled.

  The guy stopped. One arm was around Sue’s neck, holding a switchblade at her throat. The other arm circled her waist, the automatic trained forward.

  “Back off, both of you, or she’s dead!”

  I edged closer. “All right, take it easy. Let’s talk about how this could go.”

  Jasper rotated to a position equidistant between Ernie and myself, holding Sue firmly in place as a shield.

  I pulled the hammer on my 38 Smith and Wesson to the firing position. I likely only had one shot to save Sue, and single action was more accurate than double. I was about ten feet away. I assumed a combat stance—legs slightly bent, both hands on the weapon. Deep breaths. Settle down.

  Ernie took the same stance. “Listen, Jasper,” he said. “One wrong move, and no matter what happens, we’re filling you with lead. You probably already have that figured out, right? Have you also figured out that the moment you lit that fire, Marco started hauling his ass out of here, leaving you covered in his shit? Is that worth getting blown away for, kid?”

  “Jasper’s head swiveled towards me. My nerves settling, I took another deep breath. “You let the lady go,” I said. “and we’ll make sure Marco doesn’t get at you. He has a reputation for not leaving clutter. To him, guys he worked with are clutter. He doesn’t give a shit about you, Jasper. Right now, he wants you dead.”

  Ernie spoke again, a tactic to keep Jasper off balance, or for at least a moment, keep his focus off Sue. “You’re not going to get out of this, and even if you did, what do you think Marco would have in store for you? You’re fucked, man. All you can do now is play it smart. Let her be and talk to us...Help yourself out. What do you say, Jasper? Drop the knife and the gun on the ground in front of you, all right?”

  Jasper’s shoulders slumped, and he dropped the knife to the ground. Seconds later, he dropped the gun. Ernie cuffed him. One of our guys came to help him haul Jasper over to the car.

  At that point, I didn’t care about Jasper. I grabbed hold of Sue. She was all that mattered. She started to sob. I felt her legs go out from under her. I supported her weight and fought back my own tears. I wanted to comfort her, tell her it was all right. I couldn’t speak.

  I heard Ernie at the car, speaking into his handset. “Zeph Leader, we have one in custody, Poppa M is still bouncing. Dancer is secure. Our 10-20 is fifty yards badger of Zero. All units BOLO with caution for Poppa M.”

  I moved Sue towards the back door of the house. She was having a hard time getting there. I’m sure she was in shock. Her hands came up and covered her face. Now, she sobbed uncontrollably. Her legs trembled. I picked her up and carried her through the back door and sat with her on the couch in the front room. I pulled her to me.

  We didn’t speak. She stopped sobbing after a few minutes. She was slowly coming around. I knew I had to get back to the business at hand, but I couldn’t leave her yet. She looked up at me.

  “I think we both need a coffee, Phil.”

  I hugged her, kissed her forehead, and went to make some.

  Chapter 38

  Marco Ranez had another vehicle parked, ready to ge
t him out of the area. It was a thirty-minute hike away, on a residential side street in the village of Stoney Creek, below the escarpment. Within moments of seeing the flames Jasper had set, he was moving northeast across the side road and onto the fields opposite Lemon’s place. A few hundred yards along he scrambled down through the thick woods that bordered a mountain access road. He made his way to the street in the village and found his backup car. It was a five-year-old Pontiac he’d taken from the Jiffy used-car lot. It had recently been given a half-assed tune-up, and Jiffy’s standard cheap paint job. It had been placed on the lot yesterday. An ordinary looking car, it would be fine to get him away from the scene. Later on, it could get him some payback, and create a huge distraction during his getaway from Hamilton.

  As he drove towards central Hamilton, he considered the consequences of Jasper’s screw-up. The woman could still be alive. If she was, Jasper had likely been arrested and Marco’s chances of getting at the jeweller’s stash were slim. He wouldn’t learn the full extent of the screw-up until morning. If Jasper had done things according to Marco’s instructions and killed the woman, and then been arrested or killed, it would make the morning news.

  Apart from himself, the jeweler, and Jasper, the woman was the only one who knew about the compartments in the staircase. Marco believed that up until now, she had kept the existence of the stair compartments to herself. Why the hell wouldn’t she? Marco would monitor the newspapers and radio broadcasts before deciding his next move.

  If Jasper had escaped and met up with him, Marco would take him out right away. If he was in custody, the cops would be offering deals and protection for information. In that case, the risks would be too high, and Marco might have to give up the hunt for the jeweler’s stash, and be content with what he already had.

  Today he would empty his own safety deposit boxes, and stay aware of the local news. His own boxes contained enough to keep him comfortable for the rest of his life. The jeweler’s stash would be gravy, and put his life style over the top.