by Stone, M. T.
“You just got paranoid, didn’t you?” Trey asks him with a hint of sarcasm.
“If you had ever seen any of the man’s work, you would be more than just paranoid,” Anthony replies with a stoic expression. “The guy would string up his own mother and not think twice about it.” He stares back at us for another couple of seconds before focusing his attention back on the road.
A chill runs through me as his words soak in. I’m suddenly glad that Trey bought a bulletproof SUV and we have a decorated Navy Seal Sniper as our chauffer. I think back to the harrowing ride we had the night we met him. We survived that night on sheer luck and the grace of God.
I click to the messages on my phone and send Dad a quick text letting him know that everything is good and that we are going to meet with an SEC investigator. After sending it, I can’t help thinking about the way that Silvia was flirting with Crusher. I don’t think Dad would appreciate it if he saw how she was acting. I have kind of been hoping that those two would end up together. I think they would be good for each other.
Trey
My stomach turns over a bit as we approach a sign that says: SEC Regional Office. It’s weird to think that not long ago Mandy could’ve been coming here to dig up dirt on me. I’m glad things have turned out this way. She has a lot of tenacity; I wouldn’t want her on the opposing side of the table.
“I’m going to park here,” Anthony tells us, pulling into a one-hour parking spot close to the door. “You aren’t going to need more than an hour are you?”
“No,” Mandy tells him. “We will be in and out… twenty minutes tops.”
“Okay, I’ll wait here for you.” He opens the center console and pulls out a black plastic case. “I need to take care of a couple things.”
“Alright,” I respond. “We’ll be back in a bit.” I open the door and step down from the vehicle, reaching back for Mandy’s hand.
“You really are becoming a gentleman,” Mandy says, apparently impressed by my gesture.
“You suck up,” Anthony gives me shit as I close the door. I return an unapologetic look that says, I don’t want to be single for life, like you guys.
Mandy picks up the pace as she struts to the entrance and maintains her stride moving through the revolving door. She turns and heads straight to the elevator that will take us to her colleague.
“Have you been here before?” I ask, as the elevator doors close and the elevator hesitates for a couple seconds before slowly beginning its labored climb.
“Yes, I spent a couple days working here before going with you to Geneva,” she confirms, glancing down at her phone and reading a text message. “It’s Dad, I sent him a quick text earlier.”
“Did you warn him that he now has competition?” I ask her kiddingly.
“No. I don’t want to rile him up or he’ll show up at the door. He’s already chomping at the bit.” She laughs, shaking her head from side to side. “Silvia and Crusher still kill me. It’s about as likely as the Incredible Hulk dating Meryl Streep.”
“I’m not sure if Mom would be flattered or angry by you comparing her to Meryl Streep. I think she’s about fifteen years older,” I tease as the elevator stops and the doors open.
“I’m not saying she looks like her, oh forget it.” She hits me in the arm before exiting the elevator and heading straight to a woman sitting behind a large counter staring at a computer monitor. “I’m here to pick up a package that Vicky Sterling put together for me.”
“May I see your ID?” the woman asks curtly, staring at us over the top of her glasses.
“Sure, I’m Amanda Greyson,” she says, pulling her ID card from her wallet and handing it to the woman. “I’ve been here before. I normally work out of the San Francisco office.”
“Yeah, I thought you looked familiar,” the woman groans, struggling to rise from her chair. “Vicky is in a meeting, but she left this for you.” She plops a large manila envelope onto the desk with a thud. “There is a whole lotta stuff in there.”
“Thank you,” Mandy tells her. “And thank Vicky, too. Tell her I’ll be in touch.” She picks up the envelope and we proceed back out to the hallway. After pressing the elevator button, she unlatches the metal clasp and opens the flap of the envelope, peering inside. “Vicky feels there is a strong case against Tommy,” Mandy mutters after reading the first few lines of the enclosed cover letter.
“That’s actually what I was hoping you would find,” I reply, feeling a bit elated by the idea of taking Tommy to the woodshed. “It will make things much easier for the board of directors.”
“Vicky has all of the proposal documents which contain the falsified accounting. Apparently Bill dropped off a copy of them the day he died.” She looks up and gives me a pensive look. “So much for Tommy thinking that he shredded all of the evidence.”
“Alright, I’m going to give Detective Kelly a call and see if we can get together with he and Agent Mitchell,” I tell her as we begin our decent back to the lobby. “If Tommy found out that Bill was providing documentation to the SEC, that would’ve given him a direct motive to take him out.”
I click Detective Kelly’s number, but it goes right to voicemail. I hang up and wait for a few seconds before trying it again. Once again it clicks right to voicemail, so I decide to try Agent Mitchell instead of leaving a message.
“No answer?” Mandy asks as the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open into the lobby.
“No, I’m going to try Agent Mitchell,” I reply, punching his number.
“Agent Mitchell,” he says, answering on the first ring.
“This is Trey Addison,” I tell him, pushing the lobby door open and allowing Mandy to exit the building ahead of me. “We are just leaving the SEC office and I would like to get together with you and Detective Kelly. Mandy has a huge case file that’s very damaging to Tommy and…” Suddenly, a sharp searing pain shoots through the back of my neck as someone grabs me from behind. I hear Mandy scream, but when I try to turn my head I’m hit by another blast of searing pain.
“She didn’t want to hurt you or your brother, but neither of you can take a fucking hint,” someone with a strong Russian accent hisses in my ear. “Now I have to scramble your brains, too.”
“No!” Mandy screams. I can see out of the corner of my eye that someone is holding her hostage as well. God dammit, I can’t do a fucking thing about it. Where the hell is Anthony?
“Slide the file over to me!” the man behind me demands. “Now or he’s dead!” I feel another sharp pinch in the back of my neck.
I hear the file hit the concrete and a second later is the sound of it sliding toward us. He turns me toward Mandy, so now I can see a man behind her holding a gun between her shoulder blades.
“Let her go,” I tell the man. “I’m the one who has been pushing her to go after Tommy.”
“I do not know this Tommy,” my captor says. “But you both need to be erased, he says as his hand shifts and I once again feel a surge of pain in the back of my neck. A split second later, there is a thud and a warm spray of blood splats across the right side of my head.
“Uuugh!” the man behind me screams out, just as there is a second thud. I reach back pulling a syringe from my neck, just as the other man’s head explodes like a pumpkin that has been shot with a shotgun.
“My God!” Mandy screams, dropping to her knees and covering her head with her hands. I scramble over to her with the syringe still in my hand. Anthony and I both reach her at the same exact time.
“You’re okay,” Anthony tells her after giving the back of her head a quick once over. “How about you?” he asks, turning to me. He grabs my head, pushing my eyelids up and looking into my eyes. “I think you’re okay,” he says, before scurrying back to his feet and taking off after the guy who had attacked me.
I turn to see that my captor has disappeared, along with the manila envelope. An engine revs and the sound of squealing tires fills the air. I immediately know that he has gotten away and taken the case file
with him. I turn to Mandy, putting my arms around her and squeezing her tightly. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“I’m glad you’re okay too,” she replies with tears rolling down her cheeks. “Trey, are you all right?” she asks as spots begin to fill my eyes and everything begins to go dark.
Mandy
“Trey! Trey! There is something wrong with him,” I yell to Anthony as he comes jogging back toward us.
“I was afraid of that,” he replies, but I wanted to see if I could catch that fucker. “I wanted to take him alive,” he says, glancing over at the other man who is missing a chunk of his head.
“Trey, can you hear me?” he asks loudly, slapping the side of Trey’s face. “Call 9-1-1 he instructs me. We aren’t close enough to anything, so we’re better off waiting for an ambulance.” He pulls the syringe from Trey’s hand and continues to try to get a response from him. “It’s either the toxin or else the needle itself did some damage,” he adds, wiping away the blood in an attempt to examine his neck.
“Holy fuck,” Trey moans, while his eyes begin to flutter rapidly.
“The ambulance is on the way,” I tell them, dropping the phone and taking Trey’s head in my hands. “You’re okay, just open your eyes,” I tell him, looking directly into them.
“Uugh, I don’t feel good,” he says turning to the side and expelling the contents of his stomach onto the concrete. “Oh, fuck, I feel weird.” He sits up and drops his face into his hands.
“I’ll make sure they do a tox screen and take you in for a ct scan to make sure nothing is bleeding back there,” Anthony tells him, looking around to make sure the area is still secure.
“How did you know this was going to happen?” I ask him, amazed by the fact that he seemed to be ready for them.
“I noticed a gray CR-V a few times on the way here,” he tells me, still trying to wipe the blood from the back of Trey’s neck. “It pulled into a parking spot, right over there, after you two went inside,” he says, pointing across the street. “So I snuck out of the vehicle and picked out the best vantage point.”
“Well, thank God you did or we both would have had scrambled brains right now,” I reply, still not believing what just transpired. “I’ll never forget the feeling of having that gun jammed in my back.”
“Yeah, sorry I left you hanging for a bit, but until he turned Trey around I couldn’t get a clean shot at both of them,” he explains. “I wanted to take The Ghost alive, but I guess I should’ve just taken him out. I got greedy.”
“Well, I don’t think he will make it too far,” I reply, looking at the huge pool of blood on the floor. “Where did you hit him?”
“Right in the wrist,” Anthony says showing me the inside of his wrist. “I damn near blew his hand right off.”
“Okay, now I’m starting to feel nauseous.” I stand up and try to walk it off. “Noticing that Trey’s phone is still laying on the ground, I pick it up. “Hello?” I say, seeing if Agent Mitchell happens to still be on the other end.
“Mandy?” he replies, sounding distant. “I had you on speaker phone. I’ll be there in just a few minutes, so you guys stay put.”
“We aren’t going anywhere for now,” I inform him. “We are waiting for an ambulance, Trey isn’t feeling well.”
“Alright. I’ll be right there.” I hear a click as he ends the call. At least he heard how everything went down; there will be no ambiguity as to what happened here.
Chapter 17
Trey
Agent Mitchell and the ambulance show up at the same exact time. Both come rushing toward us, with completely different agendas in mind. I am starting to feel better, but I agree that a quick CT scan would be a good idea. The last thing I want is to go back to the hotel and bleed out in my sleep.
“Who’s this guy?” Agent Mitchell asks Anthony after briefly checking on me.
“An accomplice apparently, I’ve never seen him before,” Anthony replies, looking back at the guy over his shoulder. “He definitely looks Russian.”
Agent Mitchell walks over to the man and begins to search his pockets. After a few seconds he stands up with a wallet in hand and begins going through it. “Oh shit, this guy is a foreign diplomat,” he tells Anthony, holding up a visa.
“Fuck, I guess I should’ve just shot him in the leg or something, but he had a gun in Mandy’s back,” Anthony explains. “He left me no choice.”
“You’ll have to work with us, Sir,” a paramedic scolds me for not paying attention to him. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Four,” I reply, stating the obvious.
“The correct answer was three,” he replies. “Let’s get him on a stretcher.” Two paramedics carefully lift me onto the stretcher as the other shares the plan with the others. “We’ll be taking him over to the Mount Sinai in Chinatown. It’s the closest place where he can get a quick scan. If there are any signs of hemorrhage or other issues, we will transfer him to the main hospital downtown.”
“Okay. This is what was jammed in the back of his neck,” Anthony replies, showing him the syringe. “You might want to have them test the solution.”
“You can take a sample of the contents, but I want the syringe,” Agent Mitchell scoffs. “If it was The Ghost, I want to get his finger prints on file.”
“It was definitely him,” Anthony confirms. “I should’ve taken him out instead of this guy.” He nods toward the dead man.
“You guys need to protect Vicky, she’s in a meeting upstairs,” Mandy tells Agent Mitchell. “I need to talk to her about rebuilding the case file.”
“I’ll have Bolt come down and keep an eye on her,” Anthony says, pulling out his phone and sending him a text message. “Crusher can handle Trump Tower alone.”
“I’ll stick around in the meantime. You all get out of here now and let me clean up this mess,” is the last thing I hear Agent Mitchell say as they load me into the ambulance and close the doors.
Mandy
I get a sickening feeling as they close the rear doors of the ambulance and it pulls away from the curb. I probably should have ridden in the back with him, but I was a little distracted by the thought that Vicky might be in danger. Anthony and I get back into the SUV and I feel my hair crunch against the headrest. I suddenly realize that Trey wasn’t the only one covered in blood.
“Gross! I can’t believe no one said anything!” I tug at the shoulder of my blouse trying to see how much blood is on the back of it.
“It could’ve been a lot worse. At least it’s his blood and not yours.” Anthony counters, glancing over at me. “Besides, it really doesn’t stand out against your black jacket and dark hair.”
“That’s true, but it’s pretty disgusting to have a stranger’s blood sprayed across your back,” I reply in my defense, feeling nauseated once again.
Anthony’s phone begins to ring just as we turn onto Centre Street and head toward the hospital. He pops his Bluetooth headset back on and clicks to answer. “What’s up Romeo?” he asks, his expression immediately turning back to a scowl. “I see… hmm, that’s not good.” He rubs his chin between his index finger and thumb apparently contemplating what Romeo is telling him. “I would go in,” he says after several more seconds of pondering. “If that’s what the neighbor saw, I think you have to go in and take a look.” He leans back and switches to rubbing his neck, still listening to what Romeo has to say. “I’m onboard with that. Hit me back, asap.” He clicks to end the call and lets out an extended breath. “Carly might also be dead,” he says bluntly, glancing over at me. “The boys are going in to check on her.”
“Dead, why would she be dead?” I ask, vocalizing my initial thought.
“She’s in a third world country and she left the bank with a million and a half in cash,” he looks at me over his shades. “Remember the guy on the bench by the bank? He was scared to hang onto five grand, because he knew he would get rolled if anyone found out.” He turns back to focus on following the ambulance. �
�We’ll know for sure, shortly.”
I think back to what The Ghost had said to Trey. Even though I was scared shitless, I distinctly remember him saying, she didn’t want to hurt you or your brother. When Trey and I met Carly at the funeral, she seemed like a very confident, professional woman. I never would’ve taken her for a criminal, especially one who was capable of murder. Although, looking back, she never did display the slightest bit of emotion. Silvia and Nana were both much more emotional than she was. I guess you never know whom you are dealing with when you meet someone for the first time.
An Hour Later
Trey
“You’re one lucky man,” the ER doctor tells me as I am rolled down the corridor toward the waiting room. “Nothing vital was punctured and we were able to neutralize the fluid that had leaked from the syringe. You won’t have any lasting effects.”
“That’s good” I reply, looking up at him. “But my head is still pretty fuzzy.”
“That might take a day or two to clear up, but as long as you take it easy there shouldn’t be any further complications,” he assures me, swinging open the door to the waiting area.
“Trey, is everything okay?” Mandy asks, shooting up from her chair and racing to my side.
“Who are you?” I ask, punctuating it with a convincing blank stare.
“What happened? He seemed fine,” she asks the doctor with a pleading look in her eyes.
“I don’t know, apparently the trauma affected his sense of humor.” The doctor sighs. “He’s fine, other than this distasteful joke.”
“Seriously?” she squeals, holding up her hands as if she wants to grab me by the neck. “You’re lucky your neck is injured.” She shakes it off and a smile comes to her face. “I’m really glad you are okay.” She runs her fingertips along my cheek, looking down at me.
“I’m glad we’re both alright,” I tell her, feeling closer to her than ever. “Let’s go back to the hotel and get something to eat.”