Cam Derringer Box Set

by Mac Fortner

Then I heard his door slam shut. The phone was picked up again.

  “I’m back Cam. It doesn’t look bad, just a nick,” he said, sounding out of breath.

  “Can you call 911?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I'm okay. I’ll call them and then head over to Diane’s.”

  “Go out the back way and be careful. I’m on the next plane from New York.”

  “No, don’t do that. Let’s think about this. He wants you out of New York because you can identify him. You need to stay there.”

  I thought about it for a minute. Jack’s probably right. Then I remembered the bugs in my apartment.

  “No, I’m on my way,” I said, walking out my door.

  Once outside and out of reach of the bugs I said, “You’re right Jack, but I had to say that. My apartment is bugged, and he can hear me in there. I’ll give the police a description and have them watch the airports here. He’s probably on his way to the airport to come back here already. Call the cops there and have them watching the airport for a six-foot-three Russian with short blond hair and blue eyes.”

  “Will do, and don’t worry about Diane. If he wanted her, he would have already gotten her.”

  “Be careful,” I warned.

  “I will, now that I know what I’m up against. I gotta go. I’ve got a lot to do. Bye,” he said and hung up.

  I called Diane back and filled her in.

  “I’ll have a doctor here waiting for him,” she said.

  “Okay. Keep me informed.”

  “I love you, Cam. I’m sorry.”

  “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. I’m sorry for getting you into this mess.”

  “Don’t worry about us. I’m sure he’s long gone by now. I think he accomplished what he came for.”

  “You’re probably right, but keep an eye out for him and don’t go out.”

  “Alright; I’ll call you if anything happens,” Diane said.

  “Take care of Jack.”

  “I will.”

  We hung up, and my buzzer rang. Robin, I almost forgot. I let her in and met her in the hall.

  “What’s up?” she said when she saw my face.

  I told her about Bloodshot and Jack.

  Chapter 40

  We entered my apartment with a plan in mind. It was time to take advantage of the bugs planted there.

  “I’ll help you pack,” Robin said.

  “I don’t need much. I hope I’m not gone long.”

  We packed a small bag, which I was going to take to Robins, where I would be staying for a few days.”

  I placed the steaks in a plastic bowl for later. I put my gun in its holster on my belt, picked up the wine and we left, locking the door behind us.

  Once in a taxi, I called McNally back and told him about my plan.

  “We’ll put some men on it Cam, but honestly, it looks like a fat chance that we’ll see him. He’s sneaky. He won’t come strolling in LaGuardia with his name on his shirt.”

  “Yeah, I know, but it’s something.”

  “What about Key West? Do you have it covered? It would be a lot easier to spot him there.”

  “It’s covered,” I said.

  “Okay, we’ll keep an eye out,” he said. “I’ll call Robin, so you won’t get in trouble again.”

  “I can hear you,” Robin said.

  “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were there. You set me up Cam,” he said.

  “Sorry ‘bout that. Call me if you see him.”

  “I’ll call Robin. She can call you.”

  “Bye,” Robin said.

  “Goodbye,” McNally said and hung up.

  We arrived at Robin’s apartment in the Avalon Fort Greene building in Brooklyn and dropped off my bag.

  ~***~

  Andrei entered his hotel room and laid his gun sack on the sofa. He made a call from his cell phone and dialed a code number. He listened for a moment and smiled. His plan had worked. Cam was coming to Key West. Now he must get ready for his date with Julie. So many women and so little time. He knew the airports would be buzzing with FBI for the next twenty-four hours. It was better to wait a while before leaving.

  ~***~

  FBI and local law administrations were set up at all nearby airports and bus stations. All they had to go on was an artist rendition of my description. I was satisfied that it was a fair resemblance of Demyan.

  I called Diane again. She said Jack had shown up and she was at the hospital with him now. He was fine, and there was nothing to worry about.

  “Really,” I said, “nothing to worry about?”

  “Yeah, I know,” Diane said, “there’s plenty to worry about, but we’re good for now.

  “Find a safe place to stay for tonight and take care of Jack.”

  “I will,” she said.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Love you.”

  “You too.”

  “Is everything alright?” Robin asked.

  “For now. There isn’t anything we can do until he shows himself.”

  I decided to stay put for the night and check with the police tomorrow. Robin would be alerted if anything turned up from the FBI.

  “Shall we have our wine before we start the steaks?” I said.

  “Sounds good,” Robin said. “We could use the distraction.”

  We sat on the balcony. “So, tell me about your job offer,” I said.

  “I’m sorry Cam. I know I’ve been a real bitch lately, but I’m stressed about what to do. This is the job offer of a lifetime.”

  “If it’s the job offer of a lifetime, it sounds like a no-brainer to me. You have to take it. The job is there, and nowhere else, it can’t move—we can.”

  “We?” Robin said.

  “Well, kind of,” I said. “I’m thinking of moving back to Key West.”

  “You are?”

  “Yeah, this life just isn’t me. I miss the Keys. Now that I know you’re moving to LA, I’ve decided that’s what I have to do. I’m even happy about it. I can fly to LA, and you can fly to Key West. It won’t be the same, but we’ll both be doing what we love.”

  Robin thought about it for a moment and said, “You’re right Cam. We will. I feel a flood of relief already. I’m going to do it.”

  “Good for you Robin. It just makes sense. You can’t live in Key West, and I can’t live anywhere else.”

  I held up my wine glass, and she touched hers to it in a toast.

  ~***~

  I went back inside and took the steaks out of the marinade. I wrapped them in handy wrap and laid them on the cutting board. I went back out to the balcony and lit a fire in Robin’s grill.

  “Another wine?” I asked.

  “Sure,” Robin said.

  I poured two glasses and took them out to her. I looked at the grill. It was already three hundred-fifty degrees, one hundred fifty to go.

  “When will you leave for LA?” I asked.

  “Not until I hang Bloodshot. I have to finish this one.”

  “I’m staying until then also,” I said.

  “Good. We’ll have some time together.”

  “I have another lead for you,” I said. I told her about Eric Meninx.

  “And he was following you?”

  “Yeah, I think so. It looks like he could be the other shooter.”

  “So Bloodshot has used two aliases’ now that we know of. Demyan Minsky, Adrian Boykov and we still don’t know his real name.”

  The grill temperature reached five hundred. I placed the steaks on the grill and closed the lid.

  “You want to put the potatoes in the microwave?” I said.

  “I didn’t know I was going to have do everything,” she teased.

  “Sorry, your highness.”

  By the time the steaks were ready, so was the table. We ate and made small talk–movies and friends. We didn’t want to speak about the case.

  “I’m glad you are staying with me, but I wish the circumstances were different,” Robin said.


  “Me too.”

  “Are you finished eating?”

  “Yes.”

  We adjourned to the bedroom where we got naked and cuddled.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not in the mood tonight,” I said.

  “That makes two of us.”

  “This is good, though.”

  “Yeah.”

  Chapter 41

  Julie knocked on Andrei’s door precisely at eight-thirty.

  Good, he thought, now for a little fun. He would rape her and then leave for Miami. He downed the glass of vodka he had poured and answered the door.

  “Julie, so glad you came to see me,” Andrei said, smiling as he opened the door.

  “Yeah, me too,” Julie said and slid out of her dress, exposing her naked body.

  “I didn’t come here to screw around with niceties. Get your clothes off and fuck me,” she said through gritted teeth.

  This was new to Andrei. This didn’t work into his plan to rape her, not to be raped by her.

  He reached out and pulled her close to him as roughly as possible. He wanted to watch her cry.

  “That’s it you son of a bitch, be tough, take me here on the floor.”

  Andrei was in mild shock. The roles were reversed.

  She reached down and grabbed his cock through his pants.

  “Give it to me now,” she demanded.

  Andrei lost his erection. She was beautiful, but he couldn’t take her, not like this.

  She felt the hardness turn soft in her hand. “Bitch,” she said, and put her hands on his shoulders and using her leverage, pushed him to the floor. She straddled him and started hunching.

  Andrei didn’t feel right. He felt as if he were drugged.

  He pushed her off and got to his feet. Grabbing her dress from the floor, he forced her toward the door. He opened it and threw her dress into the hall and then pushed her out closing the door behind her.

  He leaned on the door breathing hard. “What just happened?” he said aloud.

  Julie pounded on the door. “Let me in, you little pussy. Fuck me.”

  Andrei locked the door and yelled, “Go away you crazy bitch.”

  He heard her yell, “Fuck you,” and then her footsteps fading down the hall.

  He poured a tall glass of vodka from the bottle she had sent to his room. Downing it in one long drink, he breathed a sigh of relief.

  It didn’t feel good to be on the other side of aggression. He didn’t like it. He wanted to be in charge and see the terror in the other’s eyes.

  Andrei packed his bag and picked up his rifle case and left the room. He was going to get as far away from that crazy bitch as he could. He would drive to Miami tonight and on to New York tomorrow. Andrei felt dizzy from the vodka. “Did that stupid bitch drug me?” he thought. He went to the parking garage and opened the trunk of his rental car, threw in the bags and opened the driver’s door.

  “Mother fucker,” he heard behind him.

  He turned just in time to see Julie swing a roundhouse right and catch him in the nose. Before he could regain his senses, she hit him in the throat with a Taser.

  He woke an hour later in the back seat of his car. He was naked and could smell the faint odor of chloroform. He knew the smell because he had used it on a few occasions himself.

  His nose was tender, and he had blood caked on his face. Then he had a terrible thought. He looked down half expecting to see that his cock had been cut off. It had not, but it was bloody. He shivered. On closer examination he saw that it wasn’t blood, it was lipstick.

  Shit, he thought. I’ve been raped.

  He looked around for his clothes, but they weren’t in the car. He looked out the window and saw them lying about twenty yards away in the middle of the garage drive.

  Damn, now I have to walk across the garage naked to get them. He made a mad dash for them, finding he was still dizzy and was having a hard time navigating a straight line.

  Halfway to them he heard a car start behind him. He turned to see the headlights coming toward him. He dove out of the way just as the car squealed to a stop beside him.

  “Thanks for a good time, honey,” Julie said, then laughed and drove away.

  Chapter 42

  Andrei’s cell phone rang. He recognized the number and answered.

  “Where are you?” the voice said.

  “I’m in Key West,” he replied.

  “What the fuck are you doing in Key West?”

  “I’m working on a plan to get Cam out of New York and back here. I don’t need him pointing me out to the FBI.”

  “When are you returning?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “It’s time.”

  The phone went dead. Andrei smiled as he got dressed in the parking lot.

  ~***~

  Alexis drove to her father’s house early the next morning. She entered the front door and walked past the butler without saying a word.

  Bill was on the terrace eating breakfast as usual when she walked out of the house and started yelling at him without even saying hello.

  “Bloodshot? You killed a man and blamed it on Bloodshot.”

  “Good morning sweetie,” Bill said calmly. “Join me for breakfast.”

  “No thank you. My appetite is gone.”

  “It’s time for you to stop yelling and sit down,” Bill said sternly.

  She sat, holding her tongue. She knew when to stop pushing.

  “I did what I had to do. Osborn has been blackmailing me for years. Even though he was just as guilty as me, he’d go to the police and rat us out.”

  “When will it end dad. You promised me you wouldn’t kill anymore.”

  “Now I can stop. Bloodshot came along at the right time, that’s all.”

  She stared at him for a moment. He stared back. It was no use. He was never going to change.

  “What is your sudden interest in protecting Bloodshot?” Bill said.

  “None,” she said. “I just don’t want you killing people.”

  “Would you rather I go to prison?”

  “No, but there had to be another way.”

  “Why do you suppose Bloodshot shot Brady’s brother in the first place?”

  “It wasn’t Bloodshot. It was a copycat,” Alexis said.

  “Yes. Maybe it was, but still,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Alexis thought for a moment. Then it hit her.

  “Someone knows about you and Brady,” she said.

  “Exactly,” Bill said, slapping his open hand on the table. “Someone wanted me to have Brady killed.”

  Kailey stepped out onto the terrace. “Good morning Alexis,” she said and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Good morning Kailey. How do you feel today?”

  “As good as new. My arm burns a little when I change the bandage, but other than that, just great.”

  “Good.”

  Then there was an uneasy silence.

  “Sorry,” Kailey said. “Did I interrupt something?”

  “No, not at all,” Alexis said.

  “Join us for breakfast darling,” Bill said.

  Kailey and Alexis each took a plate and walked to the buffet, half filled their plates and took a seat at the table.

  Bill looked from one to the other and said, “I am a very lucky man to have breakfast with the two women I love more than anything in the world.”

  The girls grinned. “We love you too,” Kailey said.

  “Yes we do,” Alexis said.

  “Did I hear someone say something about Bloodshot when I came out?” Kailey said.

  “We were just talking. Wondering if they would catch him before he shot anyone else,” Bill said.

  “I sure hope so,” Kailey said. “It’s not very pleasant being shot.”

  “No, I suppose it isn’t,” Bill said.

  “I wonder who will be next?” Alexis said.

  “Maybe no one,” Bill said.

  “Has anyone ever been shot twice?” Kailey
asked.

  “Not that I know of,” Alexis said. “I think you are safe now.”

  “Are the two of you afraid? You’re a part of our circle, and it seems he is trying to get us all,” Kailey murmured.

  “Don’t worry about us dear, we’ll be okay. They’ll get him soon,” Bill said.

  Turning to Alexis, Bill asked, “Are you and Chad coming to our soiree tomorrow tonight?”

  “Yes we’ll be here,” Alexis said.

  “Oh good. We’ll have a blast,” Kailey said. “Be sure to bring Cam and Robin.”

  “We will.”

  Alexis finished her breakfast and stood. “I need to get a move on. Chad is expecting me to join him and Cam for lunch today. It seems like all I ever do is eat,” she said and laughed.

  She kissed Kailey on the cheek and then her father. When she bent down, she whispered in his ear, “I’m still mad.”

  ~***~

  Andrei’s phone rang as he passed through Marathon Key.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Your plan didn’t work. Cam is still here in New York.”

  “Oh well, I guess he needs to be eliminated then.”

  “No. I told you he is not to be hurt.”

  “Okay, it’s your call, but if it’s him or me–it’s him.”

  “Be here tomorrow night.”

  “I’m on my way,” Andrei said and turned off his cell phone.

  Chapter 43

  I was in my office when my phone rang at seven-thirty a.m. It was Jack.

  “Hello, Jack. How are you feeling?”

  “Not bad at all, considering.”

  “Any luck at the airport, finding Bloodshot?” I asked, but I knew the answer.

  “No nothing yet, but I have turned up some interesting info on Bill.”

  “Really? What do you have?”

  “Bill and Brady Osborn know each other. As a matter of fact, they were partners along with a man named Brian Wessel. Brian was found murdered in his home twenty years ago. Bill and Brady were questioned and released. The murderer was never found.”

  “Where were they living at the time?” I asked.