"You have to do what you have to do for your head," Billy said. "I don't care what they say about me. I know what I did and what I didn't do."
April nodded.
"But it's not about me. Do what you feel you should do, baby. I'll understand."
Mobile
Sammy and Don
They were on I 10 just coming into Mobile from Pascagoula. Don's phone rang and he put it to his ear. "Yeah?" he asked.
He listened and his hand clenched tight on the steering wheel.
"Okay... Okay... Thank you, Jen. We're Okay... No... That was a bust. Maybe they were there, but they're long gone now. Did you notify Alabama? ... Well we were a little unappreciated. It was me who proved to them that they were watching an empty motel room. Embarrassed them. They didn't take it so well... Hold On... I'll head there... Hang on..." He pulled his small note pad from his pocket and wrote directions. "Okay... Okay... Yeah... Bye, Jen." He hung up.
"Ronnie Lee. That's Richard Dean's, was Richard Dean's man down here. Fairly high level dealer. Owns a guitar shop. Really just sells out of it. All large amounts. He might actually be able to handle what these kids got. This could be where they're headed," Don said. He signaled, changed lanes and then took a right, glancing at his directions as he did. "Not far," he said.
They drove in silence and when they reached the strip mall it was cordoned off. A small crowd and an ambulance sat in front of the guitar shop. A few cops were scattered through the crowd.
Don rolled down his window, flashed his badge and asked who was in charge. A young cop let them through and pointed out a tall black man standing on the sidewalk out in front of the open doorway. As Don and Sammy parked, the ambulance left the parking lot.
Don walked over and introduced himself explaining who he was.
"So we're hoping you can tell us something. We have reason to believe this guy we're looking for could be involved." Don said.
Jack Pardee listened to them politely and nodded. "I have a unit out to Chickasaw Bogue. Been there a few hours. Fished out a body. Wallet says he's Ronnie Lee Sipos. Owned the shop. The man you're looking for, I guess?"
Don nodded.
"He's been dead for more than 24 hours though, it couldn't have been him who done what's been done here. I got a young girl dead inside. Two bullets to the head. Her friend said he just laughed and then he killed her. She herself was strangled. Guy probably thought he killed her," he paused.
"The crowd almost killed him, would have if they could have held him." He pointed to a man big enough to be two men. "He tackled him. And he's pretty sure he hurt him bad, but the guy pulled a gun and got away. We got the license number. Rental car, Ford Taurus. I'll know soon who it was rented to. We'll get him. He can't get far. Every car in the area is looking for him... Tall Caucasian male. Short cropped black hair, gray at the temples.”
“Fuck,” Sammy interjected.
“Wearing a sweater of some kind in this heat. You think this has something to do with your situation?” Pardee asked.
"If it does it's not good,” Don answered. He shot a look to Sammy. “We have another somebody involved who has killed six people that we know of so far, trying to get to these kids. If this is that guy this is the nearest we've come to him," Don said.
"If I can help you further let me know. Same goes this way, if you do learn something I'd appreciate it if you would call me here.” He handed them a business card with a work and cell number listed.
“Will do,” Don agreed. "This is mine,” he told him as he handed the man his own card. Pardee shook their hands, turned and went back inside.
They got back in the car and Don stared out at the passing traffic.
“Gotta be that fucker,” Sammy muttered. “Gotta be.”
Don nodded, but said nothing. The guy could be anywhere... Any one of those passing cars could be him... He started the motor and pulled out of the parking place. His phone rang.
Monday morning
Across from the Burger Joint
Ben Neo
Ben Neo sat and waited. He knew nearly everything that he needed to know now. It had been hard finding them, but not impossible: Once he had found them the rest had been easy. It was almost like she had left a trail of crumbs. And he was hoping that, that was exactly what she had done. He had followed that trail straight to Mobile, and here she was.
Everything that he had planned had turned out wrong including the girl. His girl. And he didn't even know why she had turned, or even if she really had.
He had not seen or heard from her since she had led him to the car. He had made his getaway and she had stayed to make sure the mess got cleaned up. He hadn't heard from her since. Not a word. It made no sense at all.
The cop had not been set up. He was still walking around above ground. In fact he was on the same trail that Ben himself was on. And twice now on the long drive down he had gotten the idea that he was being followed. Nothing concrete, no suspicious car, just a suspicious head. A feeling, and he liked to follow his feelings, he just hadn't been able to put anything concrete to that feeling yet.
By now Tommy Murphy had to know he had turned. There was probably a huge price tag on his head. Jimmy West was down here somewhere, on the trail of Nikki and Jingo, and probably knew about him. Maybe even had the contract to take care of him. It had all gone wrong. All of it. And he had no idea why.
He was parked across the road from the Burger Joint. He had seen the Camaro pull in. Was it April or was it Nikki? Nikki was so good with makeup that he couldn't tell. He just didn't know. Maybe it really was April and so she didn't have to be good with the makeup at all. It had all happened so fast that he couldn't be sure. Back on Lott road when she had been there, where she was supposed to be, he had been positive it had been Nikki: Since then he had not been sure. The longer things had gone on without hearing from her, the more convinced he had become that she was April. Maybe a smarter girl than he had thought. Tougher than Nikki had thought too: She would have had to been to get the drop on Nikki.
April or Nikki... And if it was Nikki, why hadn't she called? The only thing she had, had to do was make sure that Tommy got his money back and Jefferson his drugs. That could have been as simple as putting a bullet in Jingo's head. She hadn't done that. Instead, she and Jingo had dragged all of it, drugs and money, halfway across the country. Jimmy west was on their trail. The cop and his partner. Who else? Certainly the local cops, and probably any number of contacts Tommy Murphy and Jefferson Prescott had down here. The Military? Did they have people that investigated this sort of stuff? Did they even know that there was anything to investigate? No way this could end well. She was lucky he had found her first. He would have to move fast, but they could still work it out. Still get away if she was who she was supposed to be. If not, all bets were off. He supposed he would have to kill her.
Whether she was Nikki or April she did not know what he was really after: What he had really been after all along. He hadn't told Nikki what was inside the bales of pot: Tommy had barely trusted him with it, and then only in hurried whispers: A pill that prolonged life, maybe even cheated death? Nonsense whispered from a man on the edge of his own death... It was no secret that Tommy Murphy was dying from the complications of AIDS. Grasping at straws? Ben had thought so at first, but he had taken his own investigative skills and worked backwards. A little money in the right hands had put him into contact with the guy that had handed the deal to Tommy in the first place. A young guy that worked at the new base: Kohlson. A young guy with a bad gambling habit.
His story had been a little more involved, and over a few beers Ben had sat and listened while the kid had told him all about Bluechip and the dozens of test subjects he had seen come through the facility. He had talked about weeks of deprivation: No food. No water. Severe wounds, yet the tests subjects had lived on in seemingly good health. He had not been privileged enough to see any of the end results, but he had heard the rumors, and twice he had seen things that pointed to t
he truth: A top secret virus that could prolong life. A long term military project that had come to fruition. Kohlson swore it could make a person immortal. Swore he had seen it work: And who wouldn't want to live forever?
Tommy planned to use it to control his empire forever. No changing the helm ever. No dying from the virus that was eating away more of his life on a daily basis. Imagine it, Tommy had told him in private. Just the fact that it could be done would put the fear of God into his enemies. And the first time someone did try to kill him and it failed? That would seal it. Tommy and Prescott had already taken their own dose of the stuff. He was waiting for the arrival of the bales of pot as a back-up. Ben wasn't sure what he believed. Could it be true? Maybe it could be. He intended to keep it for himself. He would be the first to try it... Nikki too, if she was Nikki, and it all came back to that.
The cops had nothing at all. Drugs, money, the virus. None of it. She and Jingo still had it, so it was a matter of whether they knew what they had; whether she knew what she had, he corrected. He didn't want to think she might actually be involved with Jingo.
Tommy Murphy had been HIV positive for quite some time. And still he couldn't leave the risky stuff alone. About two years ago he had become active with a second strain and it had steadily eaten him alive. He had maybe another six months, a year if he was very careful. All of his money couldn't buy him any more time than that: Except now it could.
If Ben had been absolutely sure he could stay on the run and hide from Tommy for that long, he would've taken it all himself. But he wasn't sure. He just wasn't positive. And what he really had wanted to do was to turn Tommy and Jefferson against each other. Leave all the money and drugs. Let Tommy believe that whoever had been working for Jefferson, had grabbed the virus. By leaving the money it would seem like the virus had been the goal all along and who would know except Jefferson? Once Tommy's suspicions were up he would go after Prescott. It was a good plan: It was a simple plan.
He had kept it simple so it would work. He knew them both, he knew how it would look and he knew how it would go down. He hadn't been sure who would make the first move, whether Jefferson would try to take out Tommy or Tommy would try to take out Jefferson. But he had known they would go after each other. Tommy would take out Jefferson because he would be sure Jefferson took the virus. Who else would have the means? The opportunity? And Jefferson would try to take out Tommy because he knew Tommy well enough to know what he was thinking. He would know he suspected him and would come for him, he would want to take Tommy out first. It only made sense.
It had backfired somehow. First the cop had not followed him, or if he had, he had lost him. Then the girl who was supposed to clean it all up: Make sure the money and drugs got into the cops hands so he would still go down; didn't do her part either. Instead, she had teamed up with Jingo who had decided spur of the moment to steal it all. It could not have become more fucked up if he had purposely tried to fuck it up himself.
There wasn't supposed to be a chase quite like the one that they had had. It wasn't supposed to be that risky. He had intended to take everything in his own car. Kill both of the dip shits that Carlos had hired. And the cop was supposed to fall right in line, follow him as he fled. Ben would crash the car and abandon it with Reiser's body in the driver's seat: Take off to meet Nikki in the woods. In the end the cop would get his mitts on the money and drugs both that Tommy had provided. And then Neo himself would put the word out on the cop so that he would get caught as he was supposed to. Jefferson would buy it, the bare bones would be there. And they could question the cop if they wanted to, he wouldn't know anything, but the cop had decided on his own to break right into the middle of things. And the two dip shits had stolen a few million worth of drugs. And they were lucky they hadn't killed themselves. The stuff was 100% pure. It had not been cut. That caused them to miss the deal, and Ben had been tempted to take the cash and go, but the virus compared to fourteen and a half million in cash was not something he could walk away from. Then, when it had all gone bad they had shot him. Tried to kill him. And as it turned out: As it was now; he had neither the drugs, the virus nor the money and a hole in his shoulder that was going to need a doctor eventually. The girl had the drugs, money and the virus. The girl who was maybe Nikki Moore, maybe April Evans.
Nothing had gone right, but despite that it had turned out okay. He had worked with what he had to work with. Everybody was still walking around breathing and that meant things could be changed. Could still turn out the way that he had supposed they would in the first place.
He had managed to make Ed's death seem believable. Jilly had done her job. There was no reason for Tommy or Jefferson to dig too deep and make sure the body really was his. As long as they got their shit back, that is and Jingo was dead.
She had made Jingo up to look enough like him that he purchased a vehicle in his old name. And that had maybe fucked things up with Tommy. At the least it would make him suspicious. He would wonder whether Ben really was dead after all. Could April Evans do that? He didn't know, but he did know that Nikki Moore could do that: Nikki Moore was good at that. Nikki had gone to school for it, he himself had paid for it. She could change herself so completely, and had a few times, that she could fool anyone, including him.
The few glimpses he had gotten as he followed them couldn't tell him. He had only a few online school photos of April Evans. They were built the same. About the same height, April had black hair, Nikki dark brown. April had pale green eyes, Nikki gray-blue. Contacts could take care of that, but could she have gotten contacts already? Colored contacts? The hair was easy enough to dye. And did it even matter? Did Billy Jingo know April Evans well enough to know what color her eyes were?
Their faces were similar, but she was so good with the makeup he couldn't tell. He'd have to be closer. Much closer, and the way she looked now told him nothing. She looked nothing at all like herself.
He didn't know who they were meeting. Someone they didn't want to be seen with. He knew Jimmy was running around down here somewhere. He would love to put a bullet into that psychos head. One less thing to worry about. He thought of what he knew about Nikki. She was an open book. At least he had thought she was. She had been on the streets three years ago, sixteen, a runaway. Turned out and just beginning a crack addiction that Jamal Hayes had got her hooked on to keep her working the streets for him.
Jamaal was strictly small time. He'd taken him out of the picture and taken her home. Something in her had touched him. He had to have her. Had to.
He had dried her out. Put her in a private school and then the specialized stuff when he thought of this whole idea. He'd simply been waiting for the right opportunity.
"Why not just walk away?" she had asked, and he had told her that Tommy Murphy would not allow it: Ben simply knew too much. You did not allow someone like that to quit. At least not on their own terms. Tommy had his own retirement plan, Jimmy West. And Jimmy's retirement plan would probably be some other hired gun. It didn't matter who did it. There would be guys standing in line who would love to fill their shoes, it only mattered that they wound up in a hole in the ground.
She had been the one person he truly trusted. The one person he truly loved. And she had turned, or... Or, he didn't know. Could April Evans have somehow turned the tables on her? Nikki? He himself had taught Nikki how to use a knife. A gun. Her hands. He just couldn't believe some white trash trailer park girl would stand a chance of any kind against her.
A car slowed, cruised by the lot checking it out, and then drove on by. It had only been a glimpse, but he had seen who it was. Jimmy West. Tommy had sent Jimmy to take care of things and here he was. About to finish the job. About to clean it all up.
Now he had a choice to make. Step in now or later. He might be able to get all three if he stepped into it now, or he might end up with only one, if they split up he could not follow all of them.
Jimmy was good. He might, if Ben left him alone, take care of both of them. Then
Ben could simply come along, relieve him of the virus and disappear him. If Tommy looked for anyone after that it would be Jimmy, not Ben. It might even be a better plan all the way around. But could he let go of her that easily? If it was Nikki?
The car came back. Slowed. Pulled into the driveway and drove out back. He'd have to decide now, he told himself.
Sammy and Don
Don listened.
"Don't hang up," he said at last. "I want to tell you something first. I can fix this for you, April. I can do that. I never believed that Billy or you were truly involved in this of your own will. It was circumstances, April, I know that. I can even get the news to stop saying negative things about you. I can make that happen, but before that happens you have to know something. Ronnie Lee Sipos is dead. I just talked to a cop who spent his morning pulling his body out of a swamp. Will you please hear me out, April? Let me say all of this and if you want to hang up go ahead, but I want to give you some important information to keep you alive. I'm the guy that can do that for you. Will you listen? Promise me, April, will you?" Don asked.
Sammy had perked up as soon as he'd heard the name April. He knew who Don was on the phone with. He had no idea how Don had pulled that off, but he had.
"Okay. I'm not saying I'll buy it, but I'll listen," April said.
Ben Neo
'In for a penny in for a pound,' Ben thought. He'd scoped out the area back behind the Burger Joint. It backed up to the loading docks for a huge computer discount place called Data Terminal. It was really only a 6 foot high board fence that separated the two places. But to drive from the Burger Joint to the Data Terminal would take 10 to 20 minutes depending on the traffic. He looked at the fence and he was positive he could scale it in back of the dumpsters where the raised lid would keep him from view: Drop down, do what he had to do and liberate the money and the virus. Leave the drugs for the cops to find. He had a briefcase with him that would hold the virus. Jimmy could get dead easy enough and the whole thing, all the suspicion that might have fallen to him, would fall on Jimmy instead. He could leave the rest of the mess for the cops to clean up.
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 161