THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH: A Suspenseful Action-Packed Thriller

by Nolan Thomas

No one said a word. The sound of Jackson’s muted voice on the phone in the other room contributed to the rapidly increasing ominous tension.

  In a determined, hushed tone, Billy said, “We can’t just abandon Riley and Casey.”

  “We’re not abandoning them,” Vince countered. “This is way over our heads. There’s nothing we can do. We’ve got to leave this to the Feds.”

  “The Feds don’t give a damn about any of us! All they want is Russian Agent Nika Rolinska—alive. Riley and Casey are as good as dead if we leave this to the Feds,” Billy said. “We’ll probably be okay because we’re here. Who knows? Maybe they put us all together to make nice, juicy bait to lure Rolinska here.”

  “You don’t really think that, do you?” Jeremiah asked.

  “I do. Think about it. If they really cared about protecting our asses they would’ve separated us.”

  Vince and Jeremiah looked at each other and then at Billy.

  “Did it ever occur to you that Casey and Riley can’t be saved?” Vince asked. “They’re in the hands of an assassin who has no intention of letting them live under any circumstances. Maybe the Feds recognize they’re collateral damage and are moving on to the next best option, which is capturing Rolinska.”

  Billy lunged across the table, knocking drinks over and flipping one of the pizza boxes to the floor. He grabbed Vince by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him across the table.

  “You son of a bitch. Collateral damage? Collateral damage? You pretended to care for her, but all you really care about is your own ass!”

  The two men stood face to face at the end of the table. Billy still had Vince’s shirt in his fist.

  “Let go of me,” Vince growled.

  Jackson and two other agents came running into the room, their weapons drawn.

  “What the hell is going on in here?” Jackson demanded.

  “Nothing,” Jeremiah said. He put his arm between Billy and Vince, applying pressure to Billy’s chest in an attempt to get him to let go of Vince and step back.

  Billy let go, but continued to glare at Vince. Vince straightened his shirt and turned to Jackson. “It’s no big deal. That was a hard video for us to watch. Emotions ran a little high. We’re just blowing off some steam.”

  Jackson motioned for his men to lower their weapons and he did the same. “We don’t have time to deal with this kind of bullshit! You guys pull yourselves together and let us do our jobs. We’re trying to keep you safe. We’re not babysitters or referees.”

  The agents walked out of the kitchen leaving Vince, Jeremiah, and Billy alone.

  “Nice work, asshole,” Vince said, smoothing the wrinkles from his shirt.

  Billy walked over to the counter and turned on the TV set. He turned up the volume so they couldn’t be overheard.

  “You do what you need to do, but I’ve got to do what I need to do.” Billy turned and headed for the back door.

  “Billy, stop,” Jeremiah said. “You’re going to get yourself killed. That won’t help Casey and Riley.”

  Billy, his pain palpable, looked at Jeremiah. “If she dies, I might as well be dead, too. At least I wouldn’t have abandoned them, and would have died trying to bring them home.”

  Billy turned and walked into the cool night air.

  78

  BILLY BROKE INTO A SPRINT. He had to get as far away from the safe house as possible before the Feds found out he was gone. Jeremiah and Vince probably wouldn’t rat him out, so he might have a little time before the Feds figured it out.

  It didn’t matter. He wasn’t stopping. They’d have to shoot him if they wanted to stop him. He intended to save Casey and Riley, or die trying. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.

  Putting a lot of distance between himself and the safe house, Billy saw a cab coming down the street towards him. He stepped out onto the curb and flagged it down. The cab pulled over. Billy reached out and opened the back door. He bent forward, stepping into the car, pulling the heavy door closed behind him.

  “Where you headed?” the cabbie asked.

  “I need to get someplace that has a public phone I can use. If you don’t know of any, take me somewhere I can buy a phone fast.”

  “No problemo. There’s a convenience store ‘bout a mile from here. I‘m purdy sure they got a payphone. Mah name’s Lester. What’s yurz?”

  “I don’t have a name. Just get me to the convenience store.”

  “Okay, if you say so, but mah wife, Rita, she got me to take a Dale Carnegie course. And I learnt the best thing you can do ta communicate is ta relate with someone right away. Names is an important part a that. Rita don’t want me ta be a cab driver all mah life, so she’s always signin’ me up for this class or that. Actually, I like bein’ a cabbie. I make pretty good money at it, although gas prices can eat up a lot a mah profits. But Rita thinks I oughta be networkin’. She says you never know when an opportunity will knock so I best be prepared.”

  “If it will make you shut up, my name is Billy.”

  Lester looked in the rearview mirror, caught Billy’s eyes, and smiled. “Nice to meet you Billy.”

  He put the car in gear, but before Lester could pull away from the curb both the front and rear passenger doors opened. Two men jumped in the cab.

  “What the heck are you doin’?” the cabbie demanded. “I don’t have no cash on me. Yur a wastin’ yur time robbin’ me.”

  “Relax,” the man in the front seat said. “We’re not going to rob you. We just wanted to see where Billy here was headed.” He pointed to the backseat.

  “That’s right,” the man in the back seat said. “We’re three wise men on a mission.”

  The cab driver looked in the rearview mirror and caught Billy’s eyes. “Okay with you, Billy?”

  Billy smiled and nodded. “It’s more than okay. Lester, I’d like you to meet Vince. He’s the guy in the front seat. And this is Jeremiah. Guys, meet Lester.”

  “Nice ta meet ya, but I got ta admit you guys sure as heck scared the crap out a me. I been robbed more times than I care ta count.”

  “Sorry about that, Lester,” Jeremiah said. “We didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “I’m glad to see you guys,” Billy said. “Thanks.”

  “It’s no big deal for me, I don’t have anything to lose,” Jeremiah said. “But Vince here will probably lose his job over this road trip.”

  Vince turned and looked at the back seat. “I’m not worried about my job since this is a suicide mission anyway.”

  Lester pulled up to the convenience store. Billy gave him fifty dollars. “If you wait here for us, there’ll be another hundred-dollar tip in it for you on top of whatever the fare is to where we’re going.”

  “Where you goin’?”

  “I don’t know that yet. That’s what the call’s about.”

  Lester took the money. “I’ll wait, but no promises ’til I hear where that destination is.”

  Billy nodded his head. “That’s fair enough, Lester.”

  Billy, Jeremiah, and Vince walked into the convenience store.

  “Boy, not having a cell phone is a major pain in the ass,” Vince said.

  “Yeah,” Jeremiah agreed. “Why’d those Fed assholes take them from us anyway?”

  “I’m sure they thought Dix--, Rolinska, I can’t get used to that name change yet, might try to contact us directly,” Vince responded. “Or we might try to communicate to someone without their knowledge.”

  Jeremiah chuckled. “I don’t know why they thought we couldn’t be trusted.”

  They reached the pay phone by the bathrooms. Billy picked up the receiver and punched in Casey’s cell phone number.

  Rolinska picked up on the second ring. “Yes.”

  “Where?” Billy asked.

  “You don’t ask many questions for a reporter.”

  “Only the ones I need answers to.”

  “Efficiency. I like that.”

  Rolinska gave him directions. “Look for the red-brick farm house o
n the right-hand side of the road. I’ll be waiting. If you’re not here in forty minutes, Casey watches Riley die.”

  79

  IT WAS EIGHT THIRTY-TWO. IMAGES of those glowing-red numerals filled Billy’s head. “Let’s go. She said she’d kill Riley if we weren’t there in forty minutes.”

  As soon as they got into the cab, Billy relayed the directions to Lester. “Do you think you can find it? We’re in a major-league hurry to get there.”

  “It shouldn’t oughta be a problem.”

  Lester threw the taxi in reverse, turned the cab around, and headed for the interstate. “I ain’t exactly sure what you boys are intendin’ ta do but I come from hill folk, and I inherited me a mighty good sense about people. Rita says I oughta be a on-tray-pro-neer—one of them go-getter, start yur own business kind a guys ‘cause I got me a sixth sense when it comes ta people. And mah sense is tellin’ me you boys are tryin’ ta save someone.”

  “What makes you think that?” Billy asked.

  “Well, Vince mentioned a suicide mission. People don’t generally say that ’less it’s mighty important. Not many things in this world worth getting’ kilt over. Fightin’ for this country and savin’ somebody is about the only things I can think of, and you fellas don’t look like military.”

  “You’re a pretty smart guy,” Vince said.

  Jeremiah pulled the four recently purchased burner phones from the convenience store bag.

  “Four?” Vince questioned.

  “Yeah. I thought it might be helpful if Lester had one,” Jeremiah said as he passed the phones to everyone.

  Lester asked, “What’s this fur?”

  “It’s a way to contact you if we need to,” Jeremiah said. “That is if you agree to stay and wait for us.”

  Lester looked at the phone warily, not sure how deeply he wanted to get involved in this. He set it on the seat next to him.

  “I gotta know more before I decide what ta do. Savin’ someone is all well and good, but if anythin’ happened ta me, Rita’d be all alone. I got things ta consider here.”

  “Of course you do,” Billy said. “I won’t give you any bullshit. You’re a stand-up guy and deserve to know the truth. I can’t give you all the background on this for national security reasons, but I will tell you that we’re on a rescue mission to save a woman named Casey and a young girl named Riley. They were kidnapped by an assassin.”

  “Sweet Jesus! Are you fellas pullin’ mah leg?”

  Vince gravely shook his head and pulled out his identification. “Detective Vince Amato, MPD.”

  “Wait a minute. If yur a cop, hows come you guys need a cab?”

  Vince looked at Billy and Jeremiah in the back seat. The look the three exchanged said they needed this guy.

  “We were in FBI protective custody. It’s a long story we don’t have time for right now,” Vince explained.

  “Why would the FBI have a cop in protective custody?” Lester asked, shaking his head. “This ain’t makin’ a whole lotta sense ta me.”

  “I know it sounds crazy. Hell, it sounds crazy to us and we’ve been living it,” Billy said. “All five of us—the three of us and Casey and Riley have seen this woman.”

  “Woman?” Lester gasped.

  “Yeah, the assassin is a woman,” Vince said.

  “Well I’ll be danged. I guess they have come a long way, baby.”

  “Anyway,” Vince continued, “she wants us all dead because we can identify her, so she’s using Casey and Riley as bait to get us out there. The Feds would never have agreed to this, so we skipped out.”

  “I’m not going to bullshit you, Lester,” Billy said. “This woman is extremely dangerous. If you want to take off when you drop us off, we’ll understand. This isn’t your fight.”

  “Well you three guys sure oughta be able ta take one woman,” Lester reassured.

  “It’s not like that,” Billy said. “This woman is a major-league badass whose killed at least six people so far. She’s got the house wired, with Casey and Riley in it.”

  “Wired? You mean like ready ta git blowed up?”

  “That’s exactly what we mean,” Jeremiah said.

  “Sweet Jesus and Holy Mother of God! How are you boys gonna rescue them?”

  “We don’t know” Billy said. “We’re hoping at least one of us will get to Casey and Riley.”

  Lester looked in his rearview mirror—saw the pain on Billy’s face. “You willin’ ta die ta save them?”

  Aware Lester was looking at him in the mirror, Billy nodded his head.

  “This yur wife and daughter?”

  “No.”

  Lester continued to watch Billy in the rearview every chance he got, while still keeping the car on the road and maintaining his speed.

  Lester began to nod his head. “I’d die tryin’ ta save mah Rita.”

  Lester turned to Vince. “I guess you wasn’t kiddin’ when you said this was a dang suicide mission.”

  Lester looked into the rearview mirror again. “I ain’t plannin’ ta get myself kilt tonight, but I’ll wait as long as I can fur you guys.”

  Billy reached up and put his hand on Lester’s shoulder. “Thanks, Lester. You’re one of the good guys.”

  Lester beamed into the rearview mirror. He slowed down as they neared the turn-off.

  “Cut your lights before you turn,” Vince said. “Pull over and let us out about a quarter of a mile or so before we get there.”

  Lester abruptly pulled his cab off the side of the road, throwing his passengers up off their seats as he crossed some brush, and then slightly forward as he hit the brakes.

  “Sorry ’bout that guys. I thought this here clump a trees would give me good cover ta wait fur ya.”

  “Good thinking,” Billy said.

  All three got out of the cab and quietly closed the doors.

  Lester rolled down his window. Billy leaned in as he said, “This is a good spot. You can’t be seen from the road. We’ve got no idea what we’re going to run into in there. You keep your guard up and use your best judgment about getting your ass out of here. Keep that phone on and take care of yourself.”

  Lester watched as the three men disappeared into the trees along the roadway.

  80

  ROLINSKA, SITTING ON THE BED next to Casey, pulled the ringing phone from her pocket. Casey recognized it as her own and immediately knew who the caller must be. Rolinska smirked at her, seeing the glint of recognition in Casey’s eyes.

  Keeping her gaze locked on Casey, Rolinska answered the phone, “Yes.”

  Pause.

  “You don’t ask many questions for a reporter.”

  Casey listened as Dixon gave Billy directions. A wave of sadness rushed through her—she knew Billy would come for her. They would all probably die. The idea of losing Billy was overwhelming.

  “If you’re not here in forty minutes, Casey watches Riley die.”

  Dixon’s words pulled Casey back from the sadness.

  “You’re going to hurt him, aren’t you?” Riley demanded as she jumped off the bed. “Why do you have to hurt people? You told him you’d kill me. You’re a monster!”

  Riley screamed and lunged at Dixon, but Casey stood up and pulled Riley into her arms. The tray of food, with what was left of their meal, crashed to the floor. Cola seeped into the white carpet, spreading like blood. Casey held Riley as she kicked and cried.

  Rolinska stood up and took a key out of her pocket. She walked over to the bedroom door and placed it in the lock and turned the key. Opening the door, she turned back to Casey. “Don’t forget. I have the option to detonate the bomb anytime I want.”

  Rolinska turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. She locked it from the outside.

  Riley whimpered and went limp in Casey’s arms. Casey carried her to the bed and laid her down. She picked up the remote control and turned the TV set on as she lay down next to Riley.

  Snuggling up against Casey, Riley rested her head on Casey
’s shoulder. She took the remote from Casey and turned the volume up. Even though The Voice was on, Riley had other things on her mind.

  She whispered into Casey’s ear. “She’s going to kill Billy and then she’ll kill us, probably with that bomb she told us about.”

  Casey gave her what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze, but Riley continued, “Don’t say anything, because then she’ll know I’m talking. I don’t think she can hear me over the TV noise.”

  The fans cheered wildly for a contestant as he belted out his rendition of a Motown favorite. Riley poured out her idea to Casey. For a moment or two Casey didn’t move, then she turned her head and kissed Riley on the forehead, followed by a big squeeze. Casey’s eyes welled with tears. This smart, brave girl just opened a door, and hope came barreling through.

  Riley sat up in bed and reached for the remote again, turning off the TV set. “It’s too loud. I’m tired. I want to go to sleep. I need to take a shower and put my pajamas on.”

  Casey also sat up and answered, “Why don’t you just lie back down? You don’t need a shower and pajamas tonight.”

  “Yes I do,” Riley insisted. “Aunt Dixie taught me that you sleep better if you’re clean and have clean pajamas. She told me I never learned that because of the way I was raised. I like it and I’ve missed it. I’m just so tired, I just want to go to sleep in my own bed. When I wake up in the morning everything will be okay.”

  Casey looked at Riley and brushed her hair away from her face with her hand. “Okay,” she said. “Go ahead.”

  Riley got down from the bed and headed for the bathroom. She extended her hand to Casey. “Would you stay with me? I don’t want to be alone. You could sit on the toilet again while I shower, like you did at Jeremiah’s house.”

  “Of course,” Casey said.

  She got off the bed and started to take Riley’s hand.

  “Oh, just a minute,” Riley said. She ran over to the dresser. “I need to get some clean pajamas.”

  Casey turned down the covers on the bed while Riley made her selection.

  Riley pulled out a mint green nightgown with tiny pink roses, held it up, and let it unfold. “Do you like this one?”