Impatience and my own adrenaline forced me to call out, “Who’s there?”
Silence. Could Lori be playing games, teasing me? Maybe she’s testing me, wanting to see how alert I am? Probably not.
I pressed my back against the wall beside the door, ending up behind it when it opened. The knob moved in increments then the door moved, slowly opening. I pasted myself against the torn, yellow-stained wallpaper.
A short, dark haired man cautiously stepped forward. Like an experienced burglar, he immediately looked around the door and right into my eyes. The next instant he pivoted and kicked upward with one foot. Even as I threw my arms up to protect my face I knew I was too late. His heel collided with my chin, slamming my teeth together on a crack I felt to the top of my head. Everything tilted in my stunned brain. My thoughts didn’t connect well enough for me to react as blow after blow pounded my body like a punching bag.
Damn, I wished Lori had taught me martial arts.
My right arm slammed against the wall. In reflex I gripped something harder. The goddamn gun, Norris. The wiry man levered my body upwards as he spun. Briefly air-born, I willed myself to roll, landing on my back in a crash that splintered the table. The now-blurred man positioned himself for some sort of final kick at my head as my arm straightened toward him. I squeezed the Beretta’s trigger and kept squeezing until the shadow disappeared. My ear drums shivered with the echoes of the shots. Somewhere in there I remembered to take a breath that hurt like hell.
At the end of a long tunnel I heard my name being called. Ice burgs floated before me then collided with my head. The voice grew louder. I finally recognized it.
“Lori?”
“Yeah Bob, it’s me. Where do you hurt?”
“All over. Where’s the asshole trying to kill me?”
“You mean the little short, kung fu guy?”
“Did you see him?’
“He’s right here. Ah, I think he’ll be resting awhile. You stay still. I’m feeling for broken bones. Let me put more ice on your head. Harry’ll be here any minute. We’ll get you to a hospital.”
“Shots will bring the cops.”
“Not in this neighborhood. Want them called?”
Pain shot across my shoulders as I tried to sit up. My head took a spin and I floated uncontrollably into thin air.
I forced myself out of the blackness. It had to be the strange voices that pulled me back to reality. I could not understand what they said, but I knew Harry yelled something. An unfamiliar woman responded then Lori screamed out short sentences. Her profanity I understood but everyone else spoke in a garbled foreign language.
My lips scraped over dry seashells and my throat flexed on cotton balls. I pushed my tongue forward to moisten the lips. Even my damn teeth hurt. An effort to swallow failed. I tried to speak, but heard only mumbles.
Lori’s voice spoke softly as if she rubbed herself against my ear. “Bob, it’s me. You’ll be okay, but you need to rest and be quiet.”
A clutter of sounds echoed at the back of my head. I pinched my eyes to focus and managed to whisper, “What happened?”
“You got the shit kicked out of you. We’re at the hospital. The cops are here. They want a statement. I already told them we found you in an alley. What were you doing in an alley? Do you remember the alley, Bob? Think hard. The alley?”
My mind flashed with tiny silver specks. She found me in an alley? Something happened, but I can’t remember an alley. Wait. She emphasized . . . She wants me to lie. After Fox, we agreed on no police . . . for anything. Harpies. We have to find that bitch. Maintain a cover. Lie
Working to think so hard caused another threatening swirl of darkness. I fought it and grabbed a thought. If Moore worked for the drug bitch, other cops could, too. No more risks. No time to separate bad guys from the good. No police. I struggled to lift my burning eyelids. Must lie.
“Mr. Norris, can you tell me what happen?”
Finally, I managed a swallow. “Who are you?” The moment my eyes opened, I squinted against the brightness and moaned. Someone clicked a switch and the overhead light dimmed. A soft hand stroked my forehead. This time I saw Lori’s dark hair and, beyond that, the faces of two unsmiling, uniformed men.
“I’m Officer Norenberg of the Pecatonica Police Department,” the closest guy said. His face wouldn’t stay focused. “We need a statement of what occurred. Do you know where this incident took place?”
I moved my gaze to Lori’s hovering face. So beautiful. She winked slowly. I cleared my throat again. “I don’t know. I─I was walking and someone must have hit me on the head. I don’t . . . remember.”
“Did you carry a wallet?”
“In my back pocket.”
“The hospital staff didn’t find it on you. Do you think the suspect robbed you?”
“I’m in a hospital?”
“You were admitted about two hours ago. Your two friends found you in an alley and rushed you here.”
I frowned and raised one hand to the bandage on my jaw over my beard and the side of my face. “I’m sorry, officer, but I . . . don’t remember.”
“Probably a damn good thing,” Lori said as her fingers returned to stroking my forehead.
Their questioning continued with them scribbling in their notebooks. My full name and address. Lori gave my occupation as artist and investor. Norenberg advised me a detective would follow up, calling the incident a strong-arm robbery.
Brilliant pain shot through my swollen eyes as I watched the men leave the room.
“Don’t you think we handled that well?” Lori asked.
I held in the groan as I turned to look at her. A cute and compact nurse with a clipboard ended our conversation. As a male tech took my vital signs, the nurse explained they were transferring me from the Emergency Department to a third floor room for my mandatory 24-hour observation. I gave her Donald’s name to contact for my financial coverage.
She injected a mild pain killer into the IV catheter in my arm before my cart was moved. My ears rang, but all feeling mellowed. I closed my eyes so the motion wouldn’t make me puke. Only when the cart hit the elevator did I groan. I held it in when I had to lift my sorry ass from the cart to an actual hospital bed. My chest definitely didn’t like that, despite the drugs. I kept my eyes closed to regain control. Lori wiped my sweaty face and gave me a sip of ice water as staff murmured around me. Finally, I heard the door click shut.
When I sighed in relief, Lori said,“You can open your eyes now.”.
This time she immediately came into focus and moving my eyes didn’t hurt or make me dizzy. “Tell me what really happened at the Pullman.”
“Before I got there? I don’t know shit. When I got to the open door, I saw you being thrown onto the table. The short asshole came after you. You shot him full of holes. I had to duck behind the stinking couch to escape your goddamn bullets. I scattered some roaches.”
My hand rose to touch her face. “You’re not injured though?”
She patted my hand and smiled. “No. You did scare the shit out of me when I couldn’t wake you up. I called Harry. As soon as he got there, we carried Kobo out and hid him in a closet in an empty apartment down the hall.”
“You knew the guy?”
“Seen him around. He peddled drugs a few years ago. Mean ass with some skills. I guess he went to work for Harpies.”
My hand settled on the wide elastic binder around my chest. “He used that karate shit on me. I didn’t have a chance.”
She sat on the edge of the bed. In one way I hated the pinched worry in her expression, but in another I liked that she cared so much.
“His moves, Bob? He was the real deal, the trained-to-kill kinda bastard. You’re lucky you shot him. I think he meant to kill you.”
“I feel like he did.”
“The doctor said you have two broken ribs so the rib belt for at least a month, a slight concussion so a headache for a couple of days, and some cracked teeth that a dentist will nee
d to look at.”
Harry stood at the foot of the bed, his good arm supporting his artificial one. “Otherwise, you’re fine. All your important parts are in tact.”
A smile flicked across my dry lips. “Bottom line, we lied to the police downstairs.”
Harry laughed. “Like hell. You were in an alley. I hauled you over my shoulder and carried your fat ass down the fire escape to the alley. Lori took your wallet.”
I slowly raised the head of the bed for a better look at my friends. My mind clamped down to block the threatening pain in my head and chest. I stared into Lori’s eyes. “So, you think Harpies sent this Kobo to kill me and maybe you, too?”
“I know she did. I figure she knows I’m a black belt. She seems to know everything else.”
“How in hell did she find us so fast?”
“You remember what Fox said. Her people have been following his every move. He led the bitch to our hotel.”
“That means I have to get out of this hospital. She’ll know we’re here.”
“You feel up to it?”
Before I could reply, Harry said, “Shit, Lori. He can’t move for another twenty-four hours. You don’t go messing with broken ribs.”
She glared him. “He’s right, though. It’s goddamn dangerous here. If he feels he can move, I think we should get him out of here.”
“And if I refuse, you’ll help him any way. Fuck! Come on, Bob.”
As I pivoted to sit on the edge of the bed, I realized the one-time medication I had been given took the edge off my various aches and pains. Or maybe you’re brain dead, Norris. I barely felt it as Lori pulled out the little capped plastic catheter the nurse had used for the instantaneous pain relief. She pressed a cotton ball over the bleeding then slapped tape over it like a real nurse. As I came to my feet beside the bed, the room blurred. Nausea quickly replaced lightheadedness. I cautiously rested an arm on Harry’s shoulder as Lori pulled up my pants and removed the hospital gown. With a worried look, Harry lowered me to the bed. Lori slipped a polo shirt over my head.
Harry leaned forward to look at my eyes as Lori worked on my sox and shoes. He gave me a weak smile and a half-hearted thumbs up. “How in hell we going to sneak him out of here? He’s pale and shaking like a goddamn leaf in the wind.”
Lori stood up. “We’ll walk on each side of him, close, as if we’re talking private matters. Bob, bend your head toward me and I’ll make arm movements to cover the bandages as we pass the nurses’ station. We head for the elevator then the front door as fast as possible. Downstairs you run for your car in the lot.”
Harry reluctantly peeked into the hall. “Shit, nurses are all over the place. We’ll get stopped.”
“Hey, you two!” They looked at me. “A hospital isn’t a jail. They can’t force me to stay against my will. Harry, find a goddamn wheelchair for me and tell the nurse I’m checking out.”
“But the doctor ordered twenty-four hours.”
“So, I don’t want to be a good patient. I don’t want any more of their services. They can collect what I owe from Donald. I want to leave and I will. Move it.” I took a breath and held onto the door frame. “There’s a chair beside that cart.”
A moment later Lori pushed me toward the elevator with Harry walking alongside. The third floor staff seemed too busy rushing about their duties to even look at us. We could have been visitors, except for the bandages on my head and jaw. I covered those with one hand, my elbow propped on the arm of the wheelchair, my palm supporting my head like I was bored. We reached the elevator without being questioned and waited. The numbers above the door lit up on each and every floor as it came down. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths to control the recurrent lightheadedness. The door dinged and, without warning, my chair flew forward barely missing a dark-clothed man already in the elevator.
Lori expertly pivoted the chair, making my stomach roll. She stepped to my side as Harry rushed in. Something about the stranger seemed off. His dark eyes narrowed as he glanced at me. I bent my legs to plant my feet and started to stand. The man crouched forward blocking me in the chair, his body stiff yet prepared to move. I flashed the memory of Lori and the little guy in a similar martial arts stance. For a telling second, we all froze, watching one another in the confined space. The elevator door closed and we descended. In my side vision I saw Harry’s hand slap the emergency button. A bell rang and we jerked to a stop.
Bodies and limbs moved. I glimpsed the flash of hands as I ignored my screaming ribs and ducked my head between my knees. Harry’s “Goddam!” bellowed over a choking sound. I looked up to find Lori’s loose-panted leg angled passed me, her foot pressed against the stranger’s neck, pinning him in the corner. I could not imagine how she could be suspended above me until I turned painfully to see her body braced against the opposite wall, both hands gripping the handrail. Her wide, angry eyes watched the man’s purpling face and left no room for questioning her intent.
“Ah, Lori. You don’t want to be there, ah, like that when the doors open,” I tried in a placating tone.
She bent her knee and the now limp man dropped to the floor. “What’re we going to do with the bastard?”
“Slap him to wake him up?” I asked hopefully.
Harry bent and pressed two fingers to the guy’s throat. “Ain’t happening. He’s dead. We could call the cops, but I’ve had my fill of them lately. Let’s see if we can get him out the emergency exit overhead.”
Both Lori and I looked upward in disgust. I said, “Yeah, right. How?”
Harry tugged at my arm. “Get out of your chair. Hurry. Security will be checking on the alarm soon.”
Grasping the elevator’s rail, I concentrated on staying upright. Harry stood in the chair’s seat to disconnect the overhead light panel with his one hand. The plastic diffuser dropped and he soon had the trap door raised. Lori had her arms under the body’s arms and around the torso. She pivoted him out of the corner.
“Okay, smart assed, one-armed guy,” she grunted. “how you going to get him through that goddamn door?”
Harry stepped down with a confident grin. “You get on the chair, keep your balance, guide him through, while Bob and I push up.” He looked at me and grimaced. “Okay, while weak-assed Bob props him and I push.”
Lori quickly searched the man’s pockets and came up with a piece of paper.
I stopped my deep-breathing exercise long enough to ask, “What’s that?”
“Something I’ll check later when we have the fucking time. You good to go here?”
I nodded. Years prior, I had taken a college psychology course where we researched and practiced mind over matter. Recalling the principles, I moved beyond the pain in my head and ribs and the nausea that kept bubbling up. My entire body went into automatic pilot mode. I registered only brief flashes of pain on movement. By the time the elevator started to move again, the body had disappeared and Lori was shoving me back into the wheelchair with an order not to pass out.
The doors opened on two frowning security guards. The taller one with shirt buttons on the verge of popping, asked, “Everything okay, folks?”
“Now it is,” Harry piped up cheerfully. “We wanted to get to the lobby, but everything just stopped then the alarm went off.”
“This is the second floor,” the skinner guard said. “Let me help you to another elevator. We’ll turn this one off and get it checked.”
Lori pushed my chair over the elevator entryway ridges. I felt each ripple jarring my ribs and cracked teeth. As we passed the security guys, she said, “This elevator stinks, anyway. I think someone either died or dumped their garbage in it.”
After entering the second elevator, I turned to look at her. “What did you do when we got on that first elevator?”
“You were there.”
“I, ah, had my eyes closed. Dizzy. How did you know to attack that man?”
“He flashed a knife just after I pushed you on. Harry has it in his pocket. You didn’t get hurt you
again, did you?”
“No. Shit, that was all so fast. Another one of Harpies men?”
Lori glanced at Harry. “I think so, but let me see what this piece of paper says.”
As she unfolded it, I asked, “Were you concerned about my life?”
Replacing the paper in her pocket, she replied, “What do you mean?”
“A man with a knife is bending over me in a wheelchair. I could have been killed.”
“Naw. I surprised him before he made his move and knocked it out of his hand.”
“The next time give me some sign you’re going to do something like that. One of those Karate yells.”
“Warns the fucking attacker, too, so I don’t think so. Just try to keep awake next time so you can enjoy the fun.”
“Ha-Ha, not laughing. What’s in the note?”
“A phone number and a message to call a Peg. Remember Moore’s note about a Peg?.”
I nodded. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
The elevator stopped and Harry exited to glance around. His hand waved us forward. My eyes ached, but I kept everyone in the lobby in focus. Through the plate glass of the front entrance I saw a man speaking into the partially open backseat window of a familiar black Lincoln. Keeping his back to us, he slid into the passenger front seat and the fancy vehicle pulled away from the pickup zone.
Chapter 11
Climbing the stairs at the Pullman Hotel, my hospital “good stuff” medication wore off. On the way into our room, Harry decided I needed to be half-carried to the sagging mattress. He didn’t understand that his physical contact and words of encouragement only disrupted my attempt to focus away from the recurrent agony under the rib belt. I didn’t cry out as he lowered me, and even smiled back at him only because he looked so hopeful that he had helped me. I closed my eyes and listened to Lori popping open a couple of beers.
Harry called from the hall and Lori helped him carry in a table to replace the splintered one. I hurt too much to care when he said he stole it from the same room Kobo was in. He laughed when Lori said she didn’t think the oriental bastard would mind. They settled at the new table to drink and talk. I was too exhausted to care about their opinions of Harpies activities swirling around us and finally gave in to the urge to sleep, feeling safe with them on watch.
Searching for Harpies Page 15