Outlaws

by Tim Green

  He threw her pistol as far as he could off into the weeds, then fished through her clothes one piece at a time, checking to make sure she didn't have any weapons. There was a coin in her pants pocket. He didn't look close enough to see that it was gold and let it simply drop to the ground. He found a small cell phone in the inside pocket of her jeans jacket, and he threw it on the road where it smashed against a rock, the pieces scattering in several directions. The last thing he came to was her underwear. They were a pretty, black, see-through lace. The general put them up to his nose and sniffed deeply.

  "I think I'll keep these," he said, laughing to himself and stuffing the panties into his pants pocket.

  The general climbed into the Jeep, did a quick three-point turn, then raced away in a choking haze of dust and burnt fuel. Jenny scrambled from the grass and searched frantically for the pieces of the cell phone on the road. Blood was flowing into her throat from both her mouth and nose. It was hard for her to breathe. She heard the Jeep bounce along the dirt road and then reach the highway where its gears began to whine as the general punched the accelerator, increasing his speed steadily and driving farther away. She was sobbing with rage as she picked up two small pieces of the phone. She found the main body, but the flat battery that attached to the back of the phone was nowhere to be found. She began to tear through the grass. It was hopeless. She had no idea what she would do or what she would say to Striker. Then she found it, the battery.

  She snapped it onto the back of what was left of the cell phone and pushed the power button. Nothing happened. She pushed it again and again. Still, nothing. It was broken. The general was probably almost out of range by now, but the urge for murderous revenge would not allow her to give up. She took the battery off and blew furiously on the contacts before clipping it on again. She pushed the power button again. Nothing. She tried again and, the phone emitted a loud, sour tone. The numbers now glowed. Jenny's fingers trembled as she dialed 666-1234. She frantically pushed the send button. Instantly there was a flash of light from down the highway. The flash seemed to momentarily light the entire northern sky. Jenny felt the warm gust of air from the explosion and heard the roar of the blast. She grinned. If anyone had been there to see her, they would have seen that three of her front teeth were nothing more than jagged stumps of dentine. Jenny didn't even care. She only wished she could have seen his face.

  When Cody drove up to the house he knew instantly something was wrong. The front door was open. He jumped from his truck and raced up the walk where he saw Joe's dead body, then Abby's, and finally Lucia's lying across the threshold, faceup, with a tiny bit of blood trickling into one eye from a small hole just above the bridge of her nose. He didn't waste a second. Cautiously he darted into the house. The adrenaline rushing through his body made him forget about his knee, which began to throb as soon as he started to move. He instinctively made his way to Jo-Jo's bedroom. He didn't know why that was his first thought, maybe it was because that would have been Madison's first concern. He hadn't gotten to the kitchen when he heard Madison's shriek from upstairs. Cody wheeled around and headed for the stairs.

  Quickly, but still quietly, he climbed. Then he heard their talking. He listened, trying to figure what was happening and how best to act. He heard the threat to shoot Jo-Jo in the head. When he heard whoever it was shout at Madison, he assumed she would be killed. He peeked around the corner just as the man he knew must be his wife's boyfriend shook his head and closed his eyes in obvious pain. Cody didn't hesitate. He sprung from his place, took one step, and launched himself through the air.

  He hit Striker in the side of the head with a viciously thrown forearm just as he opened his eyes. The pain was dizzying for the already wounded man, and the two of them tumbled together onto the floor. Cody had Striker's head cradled in one arm while he pounded his face brutally with his free fist. Codv heard the gun spit twice before he knew what the zinging bees that had shot past his ear actually were. He instinctively rolled away from Striker just as the gun went off again.

  Despite his hasty retreat, Cody would have taken the next bullet in the head if it wasn't for Madison. After pulling Jo-Jo off to the other side of the bed, she tore the clock radio off of the night stand and threw it with all her might at the raised hand in which Striker held his gun. The comer of the heavy clock caught his hand perfectly, knocking his shot wide and spilling the gun from his grasp.

  Cody reversed his directing, diving for the free gun and finding it on the floor with Striker already on his back. He felt Striker's hand plastered to the front of his face, the fingers slowly creeping up toward his eyes. Striker got his index finger high enough on Cody's face to punch it into Cody's socket. Cody reached over his shoulder as if he was scrubbing his back in the tub and pulled the trigger of the gun repeatedly. Two of the seven shots that were left in the gun imbedded themselves deeply in Striker's brain.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Cody sat on the same hard chair in the same white room he'd been put in almost two months ago on the morning after Jeff Board's murder. He'd been there since around midnight, and it was now 3 A. M. Zimmer had given Cody several cups of coffee to help him stay awake while he recounted a dozen times what had happened at Madison's house. When Madison came through the door with Zimmer, Cody rose and she rushed to his arms, hugging him tightly.

  "Is he all right?" Cody said, the concern in his eyes real.

  "Yes," she said. 'They operated to remove the bullet, and when he came out I spoke to him for a while before he went to sleep. The doctors gave him a sedative, so he'll sleep until sometime tomorrow afternoon. I can't ... this whole thing is..."

  "Why don't you sit down?" Zimmer said, pulling out a chair for her.

  'Thank you," she said.

  Cody and Zimmer sat down as well. Madison refused to be questioned alone. She told Zimmer that she would recount the incident from her perspective after she'd spoken with Cody. Zimmer knew better than to try to bully her, so he had acquiesced in order to get to the bottom of everything much quicker. Madison sat next to Cody. She unabashedly held tightly onto his hand, which rested on her leg. Madison looked tired, but the relief at having her son safe was as evident as was her gratitude to Cody Grey, who she was sure had saved both their lives.

  "Please tell me from the start everything that happened," Zimmer said.

  Madison recounted her story, beginning with Yusef Williams's story, then how he saw the man in black with Jenny Grey at the trial, through to Cody's arrival and struggle with that same man only a few hours ago.

  "So this person you call The Man in Black,'" Zimmer said, chewing the inside of his cheek thoughtfully, "you're telling me he was the one who killed Jeff Board?"

  "His name is William Moss," Madison explained. "He Had access to Cody's shoes through Jenny Grey. And he could have known from her about Cody's altercation with Board and that it was the perfect opportunity to eliminate Board and have everyone think it was Cody. He was probably the one who arranged for Board to run into Cody at the Green Mesquite." "How do you figure?" Zimmer said.

  "Simple," Madison replied, "he could have just called Jeff Board and told him he was Cody and that he wanted to meet him. Board hadn't heard Cody's voice enough to recognize it. He could have said he wanted to talk about a deal.

  "Moss even fits Cody's description," Madison continued. "He could easily have been the person Hauffler saw coming out of Board's house. I'm still not convinced Hauffler had a clear view of him. Come on, Zimmer, you know as well as I do that that the shoes turning up looks as much like a frame as any murder you've ever seen."

  Zimmer looked at her candidly and said, "Off the record, you're right, but what else could I think? Why would William Moss do it? What reason would he have to kill Board?"

  "I don't know," Madison said. "I don't know why he killed Yusef Williams's friends either, but I know he did it. Maybe there really is some link between Moss and Ricardo Lopez, I don't know. But I would be more willing to bet that the reason
he killed Board had something to do with Jenny."

  Cody looked at Zimmer and explained, "I told Madison that the night Board was killed, he said something at the Green Mesquite about how he'd found Jenny's money. I didn't know about any money she had. It never made sense, until now. I'm not sure if it does even now."

  "Well," Zimmer admitted, "if this guy Moss is the kind of person who's not afraid to sneak around at night killing people with a twenty-two, it would figure that he could also be capable of getting into the Federal building and getting the files on Board's investigation of you and your wife. That always bothered me, that both sets of files were gone. 1 honestly could never figure your motivation to take them."

  "He also probably had the capability to erase the hard drive of Board's computer at his home," Madison added. "Either way, I'm willing to bet we'll know a lot more when you're able to find Jenny."

  "Well," Zimmer said thoughtfully, "one good thing is, that dumb bastard Rawlins will get his ass kicked in Tuesday's election when the press gets wind of this fuckup. I can't say it was his fault really, but I can say that it couldn't have happened to a nicer asshole.

  "But what about Joe Thurwood?" Zimmer said. "Where does he fit into all this?"

  Madison shook her head. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that he was outside the house and got into a fight with Moss. I don't know why he would have, maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

  Madison briefly described for Zimmer the problems she'd been having with Joe over the past few months, adding that it didn't really surprise her that he was lurking around outside her house.

  "Sounds like for you he was at the right place at the right time," Zimmei said. "So, what about Marty Cahn?"

  Madison looked from Zimmer to Cody.

  "Oh, my God," she said, her mouth dropping open, "Marty . .."

  Madison chewed absently on the back of her knuckle, choking back her tears as they raced through the streets of Austin toward 1100 Colorado Avenue. She and Cody were riding in the back of an unmarked car with Zimmer driving and his partner, Bortz, in the front seat beside him.

  Mark Britain couldn't be more bored than he had been with the assignment over the past three months. He knew, though, that it was a part of his job that had to be done and done well. He and his partner, Conrad Maddox, hadn't been the ones who'd lost Striker on the road during the summer. So far, he and Maddox had a perfect record following him, but it wasn't really saying much. It had been easy, almost too easy. Now the two of them sat there in the predawn gloom, fretting, trying to decide what to do. They'd seen Cody Grey go racing into the building and figured some kind of jealous quarrel would ensue. They waited patiently outside, hoping for some real fireworks. The only thing they needed was popcorn.

  Then they had heard Cody's desperate attempts to call someone over their wire tap. It didn't make any sense at all. Striker hadn't come out of the building, and yet Cody Grey had come and gone, even tried to make a phone call from Striker's apartment. The panicked tone of Cody Grey's voice also told them something was very wrong. Still, it wasn't a decision either of them wanted to make. Instead they waited for a call back from either Teitlebaum or Garbosky to see if they should go in. They certainly didn't want to tip Striker off to the fact he was being followed if there was no cause to do so.

  "Call," Maddox said, "ask for someone else, wrong number. See if he's in there."

  Britain nodded and picked up his phone, dialing Striker's number. He let it ring twenty times. There was no answer.

  "You think we lost him?" Maddox said, staring toward the main door. They could see the entrance for the building from where they sat, as well as the garage all the cars had to come out of and the loading dock on the side of the building where deliveries and garbage pickups were made.

  Britain shook his head and said, "I don't know. He could have gone out a window, 1 guess. That's the only other way out."

  Suddenly their phone rang. It was Teitelbaum. Maddox explained the situation.

  "Co in," the boss said. "Something's wrong. Don't make any noise about it. Just check it out, then call me. I'll stay by the phone."

  Together the agents got out of their burgundy New Yorker and pulled their suit coats on over their firearms before walking briskly across the street. The two of them were tall and muscularly built, with blonde, closely cropped hair. Despite the similarities, their faces looked nothing alike. While Britain had the looks of a Nordic god, Maddox was just plain homely. They showed their badges to the doorman, who raised his eyebrows with concern and let them pass. They took the elevator up to the eighteenth floor and gently pushed open Striker's broken door, entering the apartment with their guns drawn.

  "Jesus and Mary, mother of God," Britain said, crossing himself when they saw Marty's pale dead body lying on the empty bed.

  "Awww," Maddox said in horror and disgust, picking up the loose wire that still hung from the battery. "Look at this. This guy was tortured. You ever seen anything like this?"

  Britain nodded his head, "Yeah, in Beirut one time. The Syrians got a Lebanese guy like this. They say it's the worst fucking way to get it. Beyond fucking medieval."

  "Striker?"

  Britain and Maddox spun around with their guns leveled at the woman who had just entered the apartment and was standing at the opposite end of the wide hall that opened from the entryway into the living room.

  "Don't move!" Britain commanded. It took a full minute before he recognized Striker's slam-piece. He knew she was a married woman, and he had no respect for her. Britain had a wife of his own at home, and watching Jenny Grey carry on over the past few months had filled him with loathing She looked like she had gotten a little medicine, though. There was a large purple goose egg over her left eye, which had swollen almost completely closed. Her face was bruised, and her lips were swollen and freshly scabbed over. When she spoke, he could see her broken teeth. She wore no makeup, and she looked like hell warmed over.

  "Who are you?" she said. She was carrying a metallic case, the kind Britain knew you put camera equipment in.

  "Just set that case down and raise your hands nice and slowly," he said.

  "Looks like Striker got her too," Maddox said. "Why don't you tell us what's going on here, Mrs. Grey. Do you know this man in here?"

  Jenny walked slowly toward the bedroom with her arms raised, leaving the case behind her.

  "No," she lied, glancing only briefly at Marty's twisted angular body.

  Maddox turned to his partner and whispered, "Lets take her back to the office and find out what the hell she knows. Striker's gone, and he's not coming back. I think it would be easier to squeeze her there than in the middle of all this mess."

  Britain shrugged and nodded his head. The agency had rented them some offices to use as a base of operations while they were in Austin. It would be better for the agency if they did their own interrogation before the locals got to her with a lawyer. If Striker was on the tun, Jenny would be their best bet of finding him.

  Maddox gave Jenny a cursory frisk, even though there was no reason to believe she would be carrying a weapon. They knew she was a civilian, and it wasn't part of her profile.

  "Mrs. Grey, we're with the Central Intelligence Agency," Maddox said to her, showing his badge. "I think you better come with us. We have a few questions we want to ask you."

  "All right," Jenny said quietly, obviously in shock from what had already happened to her and what she had seen.

  "What's in the case?" Maddox said as he hefted it off the floor.

  "Just some video equipment," she said. If they looked she already knew she'd plead ignorance, but they didn't. They simply led her down the elevator and into the back of the New Yorker. Maddox put the case into the trunk and slammed it shut before getting into the passenger seat beside his partner. Neither of them spoke to her. They would let her sweat a little and save their questions for the office. Britain started the car and pulled away from the curb.

  A
patrol car suddenly appeared, racing around the comer with its wheels squealing and its lights flashing. Two more came from the other direction, followed by an unmarked car. They all screeched to a halt helter-skelter in front of the apartment building. The police hustled inside.

  Maddox and Britain looked at each other simultaneously.

  "Shit," Britain said.

  "What are we going to do?" Maddox said as his partner slowed down the car and pulled over to the curb.

  "I'll go talk to them," Britain said. "You stay here with her."

  "Are you going to tell them about her?" Maddox asked.

  "I'll see what they know," Britain replied. "If we can get her alone for a while, I'd prefer that, but if they ask me about her... Well, I don't want to stir up too much shit."

  Britain shut the car door behind him and Maddox watched him go. He turned around and looked at Jenny Grey. Unlike Britain, he had been fascinated with her over the past few months. He was single, and he envied Striker's conquest of a woman he would have bedded down in a moment's notice, married or not. Some things were too good to pass up. Maddox smiled at her despite the agency's unwritten code of stone-faced indifference. Jenny smiled weakly at him and looked sadly out the window at the apartment building and all the commotion. Maddox felt a little bad for her. She sure was beaten up pretty badly.

  Madison was wailing uncontrollably, and Cody, with the help of Bortz, had to pull her off of Marty's body. Cody had a sickening knot in the pit of his stomach. Madison began to wretch, and he led her out into the living room, giving her a wastebasket to throw up in.

  "No! No! No!" she moaned between sobs.

  Cody held her closely and gently stroked her hair.

  "Shhhh," he whispered in her ear. "Shhh ..."

  "He ... took ... care ... of... me" Madison sobbed. "He ... came . .. here ... for, for me!"

  "Shhhh," Cody whispered quietly, "I'll take care of you, Madison. I'll take care of you."