Adrienne Giordano

by Relentless Pursuit

  Dennis laughed as Billy headed out the door.

  He found Manny waiting for him next to a huge planter in the lobby. Billy offered him a fist bump. “What’s up, pal?”

  “Dude,” the kid said by way of greeting.

  “Follow me. We’re gonna do some reconnaissance. You up for it?”

  Manny bobbed his head.

  “Let’s hit it then.”

  Within minutes, Billy stood at the exact location where the Mercedes had been lifted. The hotel’s fleet of cars—a Bentley, three Town Cars, two Mercedes and a couple of Cadillac stretch limos—were lined up across the aisle. Absent from that uber-expensive showcase were the missing Bentley and Mercedes.

  Yes, my darlings, I will find you. They didn’t call him Mr. Relentless for nothing.

  Phone in hand, he replayed the footage Dennis had sent him, then scanned the area. Camera one. Right there. He swerved his head back to the spot where the Mercedes had been parked, and, using the footage on his phone, traced the path the thief had taken to reach the car.

  A quick survey of the immediate area produced another camera. That one should have picked up where the thief had been hiding.

  Billy dialed Dennis. “Send me the footage for the camera on the northeast edge of the lot.”

  “What are we doing?” Manny called from his spot near the theft site.

  Billy walked to him. “I want you to stand here for a second. We’re trying to figure out where the thief was hiding.”

  “Cool.”

  Billy’s phone beeped the arrival of an email.

  Using the timestamp on the video, he searched for the time of the theft. This camera wouldn’t show the car actually being stolen, but it would indicate where the guy had been hiding. Huh. No thief.

  Billy spun around, looked at camera one for a long moment, shifted to camera two and dropped his gaze to three parking spots on the very edge of the lot. Maybe. He waved to Manny to follow him.

  “Manny, I want you to start here and walk back to where you were. I think this is where the guy was hiding. I have to compare the footage of you to the thief’s approach.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Billy smiled. No wonder Kristen liked this kid.

  A gray Jaguar driven by an old guy with a smoker of a hot blonde sitting in the passenger’s seat entered the lot. Ah, South Beach. He needed to grow old here. But he didn’t picture a hot blonde in the car with him. He pictured Kristen. That kind of long-term thinking was something new. Oddly, he didn’t fight it.

  Billy waved the Jag through and gave Manny a thumbs up.

  Manny walked toward the theft site. “I saw one of those cars at a parking building once. They’re cool.”

  “Stop there for a second.” Billy watched as camera two swiveled, but camera one stayed stationary. Jackpot. “Okay. Go. Yeah, they’re sharp cars. Lots of sharp cars around here.”

  Billy stood in front of a Navigator and waved his arms. One of these cameras had to be grabbing his image. Had to be.

  When Manny reached the car, Billy waved him back. “Good deal, kid. Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

  On their way to the hotel entrance, they passed a large cement storage shed tucked close to the building. One of the steel double doors sat ajar. Billy stared at it a moment. Odd. Those doors should not be unlocked. A light flickering snapped along his forearms.

  And him without a weapon.

  “Wait here,” he told Manny.

  “Why?”

  “Just wait here. Don’t move from this spot. Got it?”

  Manny shrugged.

  Stepping up to the shed, Billy pressed his back against the closed door and listened for movement. The swishing of palm trees in the breeze didn’t constitute a red alert. He nudged the partially open door with his foot. No sounds from inside.

  He snuck a look around the door. A shaft of sunlight illuminated the dark space, revealing a couple of wheelbarrows, buckets, hoses and a smattering of gardening supplies. Nothing seemed amiss. One of the maintenance guys must have forgotten to lock the damned door. The thick steel padlock that usually hung on the handle was gone. He stepped inside the shed to hunt for the missing lock.

  On the inside wall was a light switch. He flipped it on and glanced around. No lock. Behind him, the door squeaked and, thinking he’d find the at-fault employee, Billy turned.

  A big guy, not fat, but wide—strong—pushed through the doorway with two men behind him. The space confined Billy. Made him want to bust out.

  At once, multiple questions—Who are they? What do they want? How painful will it be?—slammed into Billy’s mind. Then there was Manny. The initial flood of brain activity—his fight or flight response—led him to escape options, but the odds of taking out all three of these guys without a weapon? Not good.

  The big guy held his meaty fingers up. “Relax.”

  Billy’s gaze bounced between the big guy and his two cohorts. “Uh, no. Thanks.”

  The second guy drew a nine-millimeter from a waist holster. “Don’t be stupid.”

  “We’re gonna talk for a few minutes,” the big guy said, a faint, lilting accent peppering his speech. Arabic? “Don’t be a hothead or a hero and you don’t get hurt. Be stupid and it won’t go so easy. Your choice.”

  The skin on Billy’s arms vibrated and he counted three breaths as his mind twirled. He could crack the guy in front with an elbow. Who knew if he had a gun handy though. Evading was fruitless with the human wall blocking the door.

  And Manny stood in the parking lot.

  These jagweeds had him cold.

  If anything, Billy could bullshit the best of ‘em. Besides, if these dipsticks wanted him dead, he’d already be marching his way to the pearly gates.

  He shrugged, keeping his hands loose at his sides. “Let’s talk.”

  With the doors closed and a combined nine hundred pounds of humanity in residence, heat engulfed the shed and sweat dripped down the center of his back.

  “Mr. Billy?” Manny called from outside the door.

  He slid his gaze left and right, again measuring the two guys behind the number one beefhead. No chance. He took a long breath and prepped himself for whatever would come next. They’d have to cut off his arms and make him bleed out if they expected to use Manny as bait.

  “Manny, go back to the hotel and wait for me in the lobby.”

  One of the beefheads made a move toward the door.

  “I wouldn’t,” Billy said. “Not unless you want me to go fucking crazy on your ass.”

  Beefhead number one folded his massive arms. “Leave the kid alone. For now.”

  “Manny?” Billy shouted.

  “Yes?”

  Jesus. What the hell was the kid waiting for? He’d have to put some mean into it. “Go back to the hotel. Now! I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Snap, you don’t have to yell.”

  Beefhead number one rolled his eyes, waited a minute for Manny to leave and focused on Billy. “This thing with the cars? You’re done.” He swiped his hands together. “Khalas.”

  Khalas? Interesting.

  Beefhead pointed at him. “You have no idea what you’re into. Back off and we let you stay breathing. In fact, my boss is impressed with your skills. He’d like to compensate you. Maybe bring you on board.”

  Damn, if this didn’t get Billy all kinds of jacked up. These guys had the granite balls to grab him off the street, let him see their faces and offer him cash to let them steal cars. No fear that he would go to the cops. None. Whatever this operation was, it must be fucking huge. Based on the barely there Arabic accent, Billy’s wild guess entailed an international theft ring.

  Juicy.

  He took a step forward. “Your boss is bribing me?”

  Beefhead grunted.

  “My boss is offering you either a one-time payout or the possibility of a job. In exchange, you get out of the way when it comes to cars and the Dante hotel.”

  Billy stood silent, his mind ticking
off the possibilities and reminding him that if they wanted him dead, he’d be there already. They thought he was a wild card. They had checked him out.

  From where he stood, wedged into the back of a stagnant smelling concrete shed with the doors blocked, his only chance at getting out would be to let them think he might be interested. “What kind of cash are we talking about?”

  The lead guy smiled, a slick, oily gotcha kind of smile. “It starts at two-hundred and fifty thousand. Beyond that, we see what opportunities there are and go from there.”

  On his right, beefhead number two shifted. Billy glanced at him and went back to the talker. “Who’s your boss?”

  “Not a chance. If you’re interested, you work through me. No negotiation.”

  “I don’t know.”

  The guy nodded. “You think about it. You got until the end of the day today.”

  Billster, you might just get out of this. “End of day works. How do I contact you?”

  “I’ll find you.” He gave Billy a one-handed shove. “Do what you’re told and Kristen Dante’s only problem is a few missing cars. Disappoint me and we’ll talk again.”

  Billy remained still, forcing himself not to react, but—holy crap—he wanted to pop this douche bag. If Kristen so much as tripped in her office, he’d hunt this crew down and make sure the bodies wouldn’t be found.

  But he kept quiet while the big guy waved his buddies out of the shed. Manny better have gone up to the hotel.

  He followed them into the fresh air. No sign of the kid. Billy shook his head. Relief mixed with a good dose of bewilderment. He breathed in, filling his lungs and clearing his mind. The three men walked toward the street to a black Escalade.

  Billy waited until guy number three got into the car and shut the door. The front passenger window lowered, but Billy stayed back.

  “I’ll find you later,” the big guy called.

  “Don’t bother. Tell your boss to shove it.”

  * * *

  His body still buzzing, Billy grabbed Manny from the lobby and they returned to the security office to find Dennis scanning the parking lot images. Based on the camera locations, all the video would show is the beefheads walking along the path toward the shed. It wouldn’t show them entering. Apparently Manny hadn’t seen them walk in, because Mr. Chatterbox seemed to believe Billy had been cleaning up a fertilizer spill.

  Whatever. As long as the kid was safe.

  Billy stood behind Dennis. “Can you get me the footage of my able assistant on these monitors? I need to see both cameras side by side.”

  Manny grabbed the seat beside Dennis as he poked the keyboard. Images from camera one popped up on the wall-mounted monitor. Camera two footage appeared next to it. “Are you able to synchronize the times?”

  “Sure.”

  More pecking at the keyboard and the footage rolled from camera one showing Manny’s approach to the theft site. Camera two showed the Jag driving past. Nothing from the side edge of the lot. No sign of Billy waving his arms.

  “Bring up the night of the theft from both cameras and synchronize them.”

  Images appeared on the next two monitors. “Cue Manny’s footage and roll all four.”

  A minute later, Billy watched as Manny and the thief traveled an identical route in the Dante parking lot.

  “Dammit.”

  “What?” But Dennis’s radio chirped that he was needed at the pool. “I have to go.”

  After showing Billy and Manny how to run the footage on the wall monitors, Dennis hauled ass.

  “Your Body is a Wonderland” blasted from Billy’s phone. Crap. He’d forgotten to turn it to vibrate. “M.H., good timing. Can you come to the security office?”

  Where I won’t tell you I was bribed by three men. She didn’t need to know that right now. Maybe it was a lie by omission, but he couldn’t come up with a single good reason to tell her.

  Other than it was her hotel.

  “M.H.?” she said. “It’s Kristen.”

  “Uh, right.” Almost blew that one. “Can you come down here? Manny and I want to show you something.” Manny grinned up at him. Great kid, this one.

  “Sure. Be there in a sec.”

  Madame Hotness strolled through the office door wearing a midthigh powder blue skirt—nice—but she trashed it with one of those buttoned up baggy cardigans. Her hair had been tied into a low ponytail draped over one shoulder, and his fingers twitched with the urge to touch. Even more slaying was the glossy peach lipstick that set her fair skin glowing.

  Holy shiznet.

  “Hi, Miss Kristen!” Manny practically bowed to his queen.

  “Hi, bud. Ready for lunch?”

  Manny leaped from his chair and Billy held up a hand. “Sit tight, Boy Wonder.” He pointed at the monitors. “Check this out. These two on the left are Manny from this morning. The two on the right are the night of the theft. Manny, roll video from the night of the theft.”

  Manny did his thing and Kristen grinned at his acumen with the footage. She stepped closer to the monitors, absently flicked her ponytail over her shoulder and there it was, that long, thick hair just in front of Billy. So close. But he’d been told hands off.

  Screw that. He’d had a rough morning and deserved to go off leash.

  He lightly skimmed her hair, his touch so soft she didn’t even notice.

  M.H. spun back to him and he dropped his hand. “Okay, I saw it.”

  Unsure exactly what she meant—had she busted him?—Billy waited.

  She held her hands to the monitors. “The footage?”

  “Right.” Whew. “Now, watch the footage of my assistant here. Hit it, Manny.”

  When the segment ended, Kristen nodded. “All right, what does it all mean?”

  “See how we replicated the thief’s approach to the car?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, what you’re not seeing is me standing in front of a honking big Navigator waving my arms like a dumb as—ashtray.” He had to work on a replacement word for ass.

  Kristen laughed. “So, no Billy in front of the Navigator. What does that mean?”

  “The cameras didn’t catch me. I was trying to narrow where the thief was hiding in case we could get a close-up. I couldn’t do that.”

  “Okay…” Her voice carried that doubtful where-are-you-going-with-this tone Billy had heard so often.

  “Boy Wonder, roll the night of the theft again. Kris, watch the thief when he gets to the car.”

  She watched, but shook her head. “All I see is him getting into the car.”

  “Exactly.”

  * * *

  Kristen sighed. She had a ton of work to do, still needed to treat Manny to lunch and Billy wanted to play crime stoppers. “What’s your point?”

  He folded his arms. “The way I see it, Ms. Dante, you’ve got two problems.”

  She glanced at Manny and squeezed Billy’s forearm. The feel of his skin against her hand tingled right up her arm.

  “Manny, would you please run to my office for a couple of water bottles? They’re in the fridge.”

  He bobbed his head and stood. “Can I get a Coke?”

  “You know the answer to that.”

  He shrugged. “I tried.”

  “Yes, you did, but your mom doesn’t want you to have the caffeine.”

  “Be right back.”

  The door closed and she turned back to Billy. “Sometimes I forget his mother is an employee. Little kids have big mouths.”

  “Gotcha. Good call.”

  “Tell me about my problems.” Other than I find you very attractive.

  “First, you have a blind spot.”

  A not-so-nice tingle much different than the one she’d just felt made her hands itch. “You’re saying the thief could be one of my employees who knew about the blind spot?”

  “No. I’m saying the thief may have had knowledge of the blind spot. How he got that knowledge I don’t know. Yet. Of your employees, who knows about it?”r />
  Wasn’t that the million-dollar question? “I didn’t know. How would I be able to tell you who does? And I’m embarrassed by that.”

  “Don’t be. It’s an oversight, but either the thief got seriously lucky and picked a good hiding place or someone in this hotel knows about that blind spot.”

  Kristen absorbed his comments, analyzed the individual parts. Then she’d draw a conclusion based on the whole.

  “What’s the other thing?”

  “The thief walked right up to the car and got in. Which means he must have had a key.”

  “How would he have gotten one?”

  “I don’t know. Had the guest valet parked since he checked in the other night?”

  “You think one of my valets copied his key?”

  “Kris, I don’t know. I’m tossing options. We work through the options and see where we wind up.”

  She pressed her fingers to her forehead and pinched the skin there. “Every car is logged into the system. If he valet parked, it’ll be on his bill.” She spun to the computer on the desk behind her and retrieved the guest’s folio. Yes, she’d remembered his name after he threatened to sue her. “There’s nothing on his folio. He checked in on Wednesday and must have parked it himself.”

  “Well, that settles that.”

  “What are our next steps? What do I need?”

  “We’re going to get rid of that blind spot and not tell anyone. Only you and I will know. We’ll have the cameras adjusted and keep an eye on it.”

  “You think the thief will come back?”

  “They think you’re vulnerable, so it’s a possibility. Meantime, I’m going to start interviewing your employees and see if I can figure out who knows about the blind spot. You have a problem with that?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’ve alerted the managers you’ll be wandering around.”

  “Good.”

  “Will you take care of the camera issue for me?”

  “Yeah. I’ll call Vic. He’ll know someone we can trust in this area.”

  The office door opened and Manny squeezed through carrying two water bottles in each hand and one tucked under his armpit.

  Billy pointed to the under arm one. “I’m not drinking that.”

  Such an infant. Still, he entertained her and nothing about that gave her comfort. Not when he reminded her so much of Jess and her flighty ways. This man, with his quirky humor and relentless curiosity, would pulverize her.