Double Espresso (A Loretta Kovacs thriller)

by Anthony Bruno

  Holding on to the fence, she slowly got to her feet. When she turned her head to look down, the gun shifted in her mouth, pivoting on her eye teeth, and she quickly had to close her lips around it to keep from losing it. She winced, wishing she could spit.

  Carefully she sidestepped along the ledge. It was wider than her foot, and walking it wasn’t as scary as she’d feared. But then she came to the wall. There was no cyclone fence to hold on to, and the ledge wasn’t as wide here. She stopped and took measured breaths, trying to psyche herself. The distance was a little more than two full arm lengths, she estimated. If she hugged the wall and stayed as flat as she could, it shouldn’t be a problem. But when she took her first step and realized that there was only enough room for the ball of her foot, she changed her mind about that. There was a problem. A big problem. She could fall.

  But the click of rapid footsteps inside the garage was like a straight pin to the butt. Loretta held her breath and stuck her foot out, testing her footing before she let go of the fence. She heard the footsteps again, and her thumping heartbeat threatened to knock her off the ledge. Reluctantly she let go of the fence and moved farther out, her face so close to the wall her gun was scraping against the concrete, forcing her to tip her head back.

  A sudden stiff breeze blew through her ears, and she imagined herself being blown right off. It died down as quickly as it came, and Loretta took another step, anxious to get this over with. Crusty guano crunched under her sneakers as she reached out and wiggled her fingers, desperate to find the edge. She wasn’t quite there yet, but she figured another small slide step would do it. She moved slowly, inch by inch. When her fingertips finally touched the cyclone fence, she started to breathe again. She got a good grip on the fence and moved a little faster. When she finally cleared the wall and was able to put her whole foot down on something solid, it felt as if she were standing on a football field compared to where she’d been.

  Unfortunately this stretch of the ledge was better lit than the last part, and whoever was inside could probably see her. She took the gun out of her mouth just in case she’d need it fast and sidestepped quickly across the ledge until she got to the next wall. But her hands started to shake at the prospect of having to cross another wall. Her heart fluttered. She suddenly had a headache like a steel rod going through her skull. She needed a coffee badly.

  Putting the gun back in her teeth, she hugged the wall and started across the narrow part of the ledge. She listened for footsteps, but she could only hear the breeze in her ears, and suddenly she panicked. She was convinced that whoever was out there knew she was here and was staring at her right now. She turned her head abruptly to look back, thinking he could be on the ledge, but the gun got in the way, scraping against the wall and unsettling her balance. Her heart leaped as she started to tip backward. She dug her fingers into the hard concrete, but there was no purchase, so she quickly dropped her chin and for the moment that seemed to help. She stood there with her forehead against the bricks, breathing hard. Her heart was doing a drum solo, and her legs were shaking like dogs on their way to the vet. She was petrified, afraid to move an inch.

  Come on, Loretta, she told herself. Go. You made it across the last one. You can do it again.

  She took as deep a breath as she dared, then forced herself to go on. Her foot was shaking as she slid it forward, dislodging more crusty gunk from the ledge, but she kept going, telling herself that there was no alternative. Either she kept going or she stayed put, and if she stayed put, she’d either get caught or she’d fall. Stretching her arm across the rough surface of the wall, she prayed for the edge, forcing her legs to obey until finally she felt it with the tip of her middle finger. Thank God, she thought.

  Her fingers found the cyclone fence. She grabbed hold and moved a little faster. When she was able to take the gun out of her mouth, she let out a long breath. She felt safer here. Not only was she shielded by a parked car, but there was another hole in the fence a few feet away. In the dim light, she could see a corner that was pushed out. She wouldn’t have to go back across the ledge to get back in. Thank you, God.

  Forgetting about the stalker for a moment, she gripped the fence and sidestepped quickly toward the hole. She glanced over her shoulder at the dark alley down below. All she wanted was to get off that ledge. She’d worry about the damn stalker when she got back inside.

  But then she looked down the length of the parked car, and she noticed something that made her freeze. Crouched down in the car’s shadow was a man. He had his back to her, and apparently he hadn’t noticed her. In the dim light she couldn’t make out what he was wearing or what he looked like. She hung on to the fence, not daring to move for fear of making a noise. She glanced down at the hole in the fence and thought about diving through, but he’d surely hear her before she could make it. But what she did have was the element of surprise. She decided she had to take advantage of that and do something before he did.

  She quietly stuck the barrel of her gun through the fence, peering down the sights and drawing a bead on his back. The first aggressive move he made, she’d shoot him. In the position she was in, she had no choice. If he had a gun and shot first, she’d be dead. Even if the wound weren’t fatal, the fall would be. It was either him or her.

  She sucked in a deep breath. “Freeze!” she shouted, her finger already pressing on the trigger, ready to get off the first shot. “Don’t move or you’re dead.”

  The dark figure flinched but didn’t turn around. Then his head turned slowly and half of his face went into the light. “Loretta!” he said. “Don’t shoot! It’s me.”

  Marvelli! she thought, and suddenly her heart really went wild. She’d almost shot Marvelli.

  “Loretta, what the hell’re you doing out there?” he said, sounding annoyed. “I told you to just wait for me.”

  “I thought you were a—never mind,” she said. It was too hard to explain.

  She made her way to the hole in the fence as Marvelli came over to help her. He held the broken flap of the fence open as she carefully got down on her knees and crawled through. Her nerves were jangling, and her hands were trembling as she stood up and brushed herself off. She wanted to throw her arms around him. She needed a hug. But the ticked-off look on his face stopped her.

  “Are you nuts, Loretta? You could’ve gotten killed out there.”

  “You could get killed in here, too,” she snapped back. She was stung by his attitude. “Where the hell were you? You said you’d be here.”

  “What’re you barking at me for?” he said. “I’ve been here for fifteen minutes. Looking for you.”

  “Then you’re the one I heard?”

  “Well, who did you think it was? You expecting someone else?”

  “Only your friend,” she said, glowering at him. She was embarrassed that she’d overreacted. “I thought we were supposed to meet him here,” she said.

  “He’s late. He told me he might be. Is that a problem?”

  “No,” she muttered, and turned her back on him.

  Silence came between them like an air bag full of resentment.

  “I’m sorry,” he said after a moment, softening his tone. “Maybe I shouldn’t have called you. This isn’t your case. I just thought …” He let his words trail off.

  She turned around to face him, and the pathetic back slant of his puppy-dog eyes melted her like a scoop of ice cream sliding down the hood of a car in the sun.

  “Marvelli?” she said. She coughed to clear her throat. “Marvelli, we have to talk.”

  “About what?”

  Her heart was pounding. “Let’s go to my car,” she said. She was stalling, wondering if this was the right time, the right place, wondering if bringing up her feelings was a good idea at all.

  She walked toward her car in silence, thoughts racing through her head. What was she going to say to him? How would she start? She was going to sound like an ass. He’d think she was a nut. He’d never speak to her again.

/>   Maybe just change the subject, she thought. Talk about something else.

  But she couldn’t avoid her feelings any longer. She was very attracted to him, and it was driving her crazy.

  “Marvelli,” she said as they came up to her car, “I don’t know how to say this, but—”

  “Wait!” He suddenly stepped in front of her. “Get down!” He dropped to a crouch and tried to pull her down with him.

  At first she was confused, but then she realized that he must have seen her inflatable friend in the driver’s seat. She was surprised that it had fooled him.

  “It’s okay,” she said, standing up. “It’s only a dummy.”

  But when she peered through the windshield, the placid orangy plastic face she’d expected wasn’t staring back at her. This dummy was flesh and blood, and he didn’t look like anyone’s idea of a friendly businessman because he was holding a big black automatic, pointing it right at Loretta.

  7

  Loretta slowly raised her hands above her shoulders, shifting her gaze back and forth between the heavy-browed man sitting behind the wheel of her car and the big black 9-mm in his hand. He had thin dark hair combed straight back over a piston-shaped head. His lips were meaty, and his eyes slanted up as if his scalp was too tight. The gun was in his left hand, propped on the side mirror, staring at her like a big black one-eyed crow.

  “Easy,” she said to the man. “Just tell us what you want.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what you want?” he said. He sounded grumpy.

  Loretta was confused, but at least he wasn’t shooting.

  “What’s with the gun?” Marvelli said as he approached the driver’s side.

  “What’re you doing?” Loretta blurted, afraid that he was going to get himself shot.

  “Don’t worry,” Marvelli said. “This guy can’t shoot his way out of a paper bag. He’s a fed.” Marvelli extended his hand toward the man and grinned. “I didn’t recognize you there for a minute, pardner.”

  “You either,” the man said, retracting the gun and shaking Marvelli’s hand.

  Loretta was scowling at the two of them. “Do I get an introduction?”

  “Get in first,” the man said. He nodded toward the passenger door.

  Loretta resented being invited into her own car, but she got in anyway.

  Marvelli climbed into the backseat. “Loretta, this is Mike Tarantella. He’s a feebie.”

  Loretta raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You never told me you had any friends at the FBI.”

  “No one has ‘friends’ at the Bureau,” Marvelli said as he watched Tarantella’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Mike just happens to owe me a few favors.”

  “You’re hurting my feelings, Marvelli,” the agent said. “I thought we were paesans.” There was a pungent note of insincerity in almost everything Tarantella said.

  “Sure, we’re paesans,” Marvelli said. “That’s why I called you.”

  “So what can I do for you? Ask me anything.”

  “Okay. Where’s My Blue Heaven?”

  Tarantella started to laugh. It sounded like gravel in a coffee can. He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his nose, hissing like a radiator.

  “What’s so funny?” Loretta asked. She wanted him out of her seat.

  “Are you two kidding or what? I don’t know where My Blue Heaven is. Nobody knows except for the marshals who work in Witness Protection.”

  “I’ll bet Veronica Springer knows,” Marvelli said.

  Tarantella abruptly stopped laughing. “How do you know her?”

  “We just met. I got in touch to let her know that we’ve got a jumper who’s been hired to whack Gus Rispoli.”

  Tarantella nodded, mulling this over. “And let me guess. Agent Springer was very cooperative.”

  “Well, she wasn’t uncooperative,” Marvelli said.

  “What the hell’re you talking about?” Loretta said, frowning at Marvelli over the seat back. “She blew us off. In a nice way maybe, but she didn’t give us the time of day.”

  Marvelli frowned back at her. “We agreed to keep each other informed.”

  “I’ll bet you believe in the Tooth Fairy, too, Marvelli,” Tarantella said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, let’s just say I’ve heard some stories about her, and the words ‘ruthless’ and ‘ambitious’ do tend to come up a lot when people describe her. So do the words ‘sneaky’ and ‘underhanded.’ But I don’t really know the woman, so I couldn’t say for sure.”

  “Sounds like you know plenty,” Loretta said.

  Tarantella shrugged and flashed a sly grin. “You know how we feds are. We got hidden agendas up the wazoo. Can’t depend on anything we say.”

  She grinned back at him. She was beginning to like this guy.

  “I did some work with her on a few cases, but that was years ago,” Tarantella said, “before she lost all the weight. She was actually sort of nice back then.”

  “She used to have a weight problem?” Marvelli asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Tarantella said. “She almost lost her job she was so big. Field agents have to stay within certain weight requirements. But she managed to take it off. And she did it pretty fast.”

  “Really,” Marvelli said. “How big was she?”

  Tarantella shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.”

  “Hard to believe Springer used to be heavy,” Marvelli said. “She doesn’t look it.”

  Loretta wanted to smack him. He was acting as if Tarantella had just told him Springer used to be a man. So what if she used to be fat? Was she tainted because she wasn’t always a perfect size 6? Or was he afraid that if he got involved with her, she might suddenly blow up one night and turn into a blimp?

  “So getting back to the original question,” Loretta said to Tarantella, ignoring Marvelli, “do you have any idea where My Blue Heaven is?”

  The agent shrugged and shook his head. “All I’ve heard are rumors. I’ve talked to people who’ve been there, and they don’t even have a clue. To get there, you have to fly to Chicago, then the Marshals Service puts you on a plane with the windows blacked out. You land on some tiny airstrip in the middle of nowhere, and they put you on a bus, also with windows blacked out. You never get to see anything until you’re actually inside the compound.”

  Loretta shook her head and sighed. “Great. This is very helpful. I’m so glad I’m losing sleep for this.”

  “Come on, Mike,” Marvelli said. “You must know more than that. You’re just not saying.”

  “I swear to God, Marvelli. That’s all I know.”

  “Mikey, please. I’ve known you a long time. I know you know more. You must.”

  “I’m telling you, Marvelli. Paesan to paesan. That’s all I know.”

  “Okay, fine. If you want to be that way about it … But next time you need a favor from me, don’t even bother making the call.”

  Tarantella smiled sweetly in the rearview mirror. “Come on, Marvelli. I’m being straight with you. Why won’t you believe me?”

  Marvelli shook his finger at Tarantella’s reflection. “Next time you want some mook picked up on a parole violation so you can smoke him, don’t ask me to put the guy’s file on top of my pile. I’m gonna be too busy.”

  “Marvelli, please. We go back a long way—”

  “I’m gonna be busy, Mike. I’m telling you right now.”

  Tarantella’s face compressed. He sneered and bared his teeth. “All right, all right,” he said. “This is all I know. I swear. And this is only what I’ve heard, so I can’t confirm any of it. My Blue Heaven is supposedly somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. That’s all I know.”

  “What else?” Marvelli insisted.

  “What do you mean, ‘what else’? I told you. That’s all I know.”

  “You know more, Mike. I know you do. Spill it or take my name out of your Rolodex. I’m serious.”

  Tarantella turned around and glared at Marvelli face-to-face.
“The place is on the water. Now, that’s all I know.”

  “Salt water or fresh?”

  “The ocean,” Tarantella snarled. “Now, don’t ask me another friggin’ thing because I don’t know anything else. Okay?”

  “Right,” Marvelli said sarcastically. “But this’ll do for now … paesan.”

  “This isn’t gonna do you any good,” Tarantella said. “You’re never gonna find the place, and neither is your jumper. If I were you, I’d start working another angle.”

  “We’ll see,” Marvelli said. He was wearing a funny little grin, like a cat hiding a canary in its mouth. Loretta noticed and so did Tarantella because they were both staring at him, waiting for him to share his thoughts. But he didn’t say a word.

  “Anything else I can do for you, Marvelli?” Tarantella asked.

  “Nope.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yup.”

  “Well, I’m gonna get going then.” But he didn’t make any moves to go. “If you need anything else, you know where to find me, right?”

  “Yup.”

  “Okay then.”

  “See ya around,” Marvelli said.

  “Nice meeting you, Loretta,” Tarantella said.

  “Yeah, you too,” Loretta said.

  Tarantella paused with his hand on the door handle. Finally he opened the door and let himself out, staring poker-faced at Marvelli through the window as he closed the door. He walked across the empty garage, his heels clicking on the concrete all the way to the elevators. Loretta didn’t say anything until he was out of sight.