by G. K. Parks
Renner looked through the open door at the growing blaze. “He has barrels of that shit just waiting to go up. There’s no reason we both need to cook. Get out of here, Parker.”
I looked up, realizing we were in a supply room. “Shit.” I tried lifting the shelf while Renner attempted to pull himself free, but from the screams that escaped his lips, I knew this wouldn’t work. It was solidly constructed, at least ten feet high. Each shelf could probably hold hundreds of pounds. “I need a lever and fulcrum to get this off of you.” I looked around the room, but the only things close by were more heavy shelves bolted to the walls. “How did you end up here?”
“I called Haskell. His office purchased large quantities of the chemicals used to make the compound. When you didn’t find anything at Payne’s apartment, I checked the purchase history of chemical suppliers, but Payne never bought any chemicals. So I asked Haskell if he knew of other suppliers since he had purchased tons of the stuff. I guess that tipped him off. He told me he knew of some abandoned factories that still had chemicals on the premises and thought it might help us identify the arsonist.” Renner coughed, his eyes going wide. “Parker, you have to go. Now.”
“I won’t leave you.” I tossed him my phone. “Call for help. Keep trying until you get a connection.” The hallway was now a tunnel of fire, the flames licking the ceiling. I didn’t spot anything I could use to help me move the shelf. Needing to buy time, I dragged the drums containing the fire-feeding chemical compound as far from the door as possible. “That should buy us a few minutes.”
“Parker. Go.”
“How’s the dialing coming along? Did you try sending a text?”
“It’s spinning.”
“Fuck.” I braced myself on the floor beside Renner, getting low enough to get my hands beneath the edge of the shelf like I was about to do a bench press. “On the count of three. I push, you pull.”
When that failed, Renner glared at me, coughing as the smoke grew thicker. “Do you have any idea what Cross will do to me if you die on the job?”
“I hate to break it to you, but we’ll both be dead, so it won’t matter.”
I flipped around to the other side, pushing against the shelf and hoping to knock it off Renner. Since only one of his legs was partially pinned, I thought maybe I could make it teeter, but that didn’t work.
Renner let out another sharp gasp. “You know, maybe it won’t be so bad. The smoke will probably get us first.”
“Not with the way that fire’s moving.” I looked around the room, but there were no windows. I couldn’t tell how deep into the building we were. “Easton’s pissed you didn’t go to his launch. You better have a great excuse.”
“Don’t you think this counts?”
“He won’t have much sympathy. He’s still angry about Sizzle.”
“Well, it’s his second launch. I was at the first one. That should count.”
“Right, you nearly scared him to death.” We couldn’t keep up the banter as we grew more frantic. Renner begged me to go. “I won’t leave you.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
For a moment, I thought I heard Martin’s voice. Every near death experience always resulted in a hallucination of him. Maybe that’s how you defined true love or justified moving into a padded cell.
“Did you hear that?” Renner asked.
“God, you’re hallucinating too? It must be the smoke.”
“No.” Renner jerked his head at the hallway and yelled, “Help. We’re back here.”
A minute later, a man I never expected to see burst through the door. “Martin? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Hey, sweetheart.” Martin knelt beside me as I struggled to lift the shelf off Renner. “You know you made me a promise. I’m having doubts about your commitment to keeping it.”
“I have every intention of keeping it,” I shoved against the shelf, hearing Renner bite back a whimper, “just as soon as I get this off of him.”
Martin tried to help me lift it, but it was too heavy. He took a step back, taking a moment to assess the situation. “Can you feel your leg?” Martin asked.
“Yeah, it hurts like hell,” Renner said. He moved his foot ever so slightly, but the weight of the shelf was too much for him to be able to wriggle his way out. Renner looked back at the door. “You two need to get the hell out of here. There’s no reason we should all die.”
“I called the fire department,” Martin said. “They’re on the way. We’ll be fine.” But he crouched down, eyeing me. “I’ll lift up. You push from that side.” He looked down at Renner. “You try to slide out.” Martin’s hands slipped. “Fuck.”
“It’s too heavy. We can’t move it,” I said. “Martin, go. Wait for help to arrive.”
“We’re already here,” Cross said from the doorway. He and two members of his security team positioned themselves at the corner of the shelf while Martin pushed from the side. I crouched down, grabbing Renner beneath the arms. On the count of three they lifted and pushed, and I yanked backward, pulling Renner free. The shelf crashed to the floor, covering the bloody smear left by Renner’s hip.
Two more members of Cross’s security team remained in the hallway, clearing a path with fire extinguishers. “We have to get out of here. Parker, Martin, go. We’re right behind you,” Cross said. Cross and one of the men lifted Renner between the two of them, and they carried him out of the burning building.
By the time we got outside, Haskell was long gone. Renner and I briefed Cross and the security team, who notified the police to be on the lookout.
Sirens sounded in the distance, and Cross’s mobile medical units pulled into the parking lot. I put my hands on my knees and bent over, coughing while I watched burning embers drift through the air. Once Renner was secured in the back of Cross’s private ambulance, Martin returned to my side.
“What are you doing here?” I always knew Martin would walk through fire for me, but this was ridiculous.
He hugged me, squeezing tight. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you’re okay.”
I clung to him, feeling him shudder. “How’d you find me? How’d you know I was in trouble?”
“Lucien called when you didn’t pick up. He thought you might be in danger.”
“Why did he call you?” I pushed away from him, glancing at my boss who busied himself with instructing the security team to get back to the fairgrounds and be on the lookout for Dil Haskell. “Answer me, Martin.”
“He said he couldn’t get a current location on your phone. He said the signals were jammed. He wanted to verify your last known location before the signal cut out. He didn’t want to waste time, if you were no longer in the vicinity.”
“That doesn’t explain why he called you.”
Shame was written all over Martin’s face. “I asked Lucien to get me a tracker to put inside the charm on your necklace.”
I stepped back. “You what?” Suddenly, he felt like a stranger. “When?”
“In Vegas. I know it was wrong. I abused your trust. I just needed peace of mind. It was driving me crazy not knowing where you were.”
I slapped him. “You had no right.” I coughed again, the world spinning. Even as the words left my mouth, I knew his betrayal was the only reason Renner was alive, which made the issue complicated because, at the end of the day, I couldn’t fault him for taking actions that saved a life, no matter how fucked up and wrong they were. His heart was in the right place even though his brain must have relocated to a paranoid, controlling black hole somewhere up his own ass. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Martin reached for me and pulled me into his chest. I wheezed, and he released me. “You need to get checked out.”
“So do you.”
Cross’s medics helped me into the second mobile unit. They unbuttoned the first two buttons on my blouse and listened to my lungs. While they were doing that, Cross stepped inside. “Bennett’s on the way to the hospital. He’ll need x-ra
ys, but it looks like his titanium hip and the metal plate and pins in his leg kept him from getting crushed under that shelf.” Cross’s gaze dropped to the rings dangling from the chain around my neck and the tiny heart containing the hidden tracker, but he didn’t comment. “Any idea why Haskell did this?”
“He’s dying. He blames the city for failing him and Easton for fucking up his granddaughter’s life. We have to stop him before it’s too late.”
Forty-one
By the time we arrived at the fairgrounds, Detective Voletek, several uniformed officers, and Cross Security personnel had surrounded Dilbert Haskell, who remained inside his 4x4. The window was cracked open, and several cops had a bead on Haskell.
“Shit.” I sprang forward, but Lucien grabbed my arm.
“What are you going to do?”
Honestly, I didn’t know. “Talk him down. I need you to make sure Easton’s clear. Keep eyes on him. With the way things have been going, more nutjobs are probably waiting to crawl out of the woodwork and kill the chef.”
Cross keyed the radio, dispatching another team to guard Easton. I skirted around the edges until I got close enough to Voletek. The detective nodded, and uniforms stepped out of my way as I took up a spot beside him.
“He said he has enough kerosene and propane in the back of his truck to blow us all to kingdom come. The only way he’s going to back down is if we bring Easton out. Sharpshooters and the bomb squad are on the way. He won’t let us get close enough to see if he’s serious.”
“He’s serious.”
“I thought he might be. I called in the negotiator.”
“It won’t help. Haskell’s dying. At most, he has four months.” I watched the firebug twitch. He held something in his hand the police believed to be a dead man’s switch. “You should evacuate the area.”
“Already on it.” Voletek gestured, and a few of the officers backed up. He shouted at one of them. “Tell Cross to get his people out of here. That includes you, Alex.”
“Here’s the difference between what you do and what I do, Detective.” I holstered my weapon and stepped closer to the jeep. “I don’t have to follow orders.” I held my palms up and slowly moved forward. “Dil,” I bellowed, “when I was watching my life flash before my eyes, I gained some clarity. I understand. I do.”
Haskell didn’t believe me. “Stay back.”
“Okay. No problem.” I took a step back. “You don’t want to kill me. As you can see, I’m okay. In fact, you made me realize I don’t want to die for some loser prick like Easton Lango. Cross is getting him now. We don’t need the headache of protecting him. Do you have any idea how many people want to destroy this guy? That’s why it took us so long to figure out it was you.”
“I don’t blame them.”
“Me neither. I’m sorry about your granddaughter.”
Haskell didn’t respond.
“Liza, right? That’s her name.” On the way here, Cross had the techs run a profile and brief us. “She’s twenty-two. Her entire life is ahead of her. If she’s anything like her grandpa, I bet she’ll find a way to bounce back. But doing this,” I spread my arms wide, encompassing our surroundings, “she won’t bounce back from this. No matter where she goes or what she does, this will follow her around forever. She’ll always be the girl whose grandpa went nuts and bombed the fair. You’ll be labeled a terrorist, and the stupid, ignorant people out there, they won’t understand why you did it. Hell, the really bad ones, they’ll try to hurt her because they can’t take their revenge out on you. Easton Lango ruined her life. But if you blow up your truck, a lot of innocent people are going to get hurt. You’re going to ruin their lives and their loved ones’ lives. Are you sure you’re prepared to do that? It’ll only hurt Liza. I know you don’t want that.”
“It’s already too late.”
“No, it’s not.” I hoped that was true. For all I knew, he might have rigged some kind of timer, and we were about to go boom. Damn, I wish I had told Martin I loved him. “Right now, you still have a legacy. People will understand your actions were meant to protect them. They’ll understand what the fires were about. They’ll remember you as the hero you are.” I took another step closer. I had to see what was in his hand.
“Parker,” Voletek warned. In the periphery, I saw the police tactical unit surround the area. Uniformed officers worked to clear the crowd as quickly as possible. Snipers were in position. “Step away.”
Haskell rubbed his thumb against the item in his hand, and I recognized it as one of the miniature buildings from Payne’s display. He didn’t have a dead man’s switch or a detonator. Though, I had no way of knowing if his vehicle was loaded down with gas or accelerant.
I spun around. “It’s not a detonator.” I didn’t even get the word out before the crack of the rifle sounded. Voletek raced toward me, shoving me away from the car and ushering me to safety in case the vehicle blew. But it didn’t.
Eventually, the bomb squad arrived, checked for booby-traps, and opened the jeep. In the back, they found several highly flammable substances. It wasn’t a bomb in the traditional sense. Based on the amount of fuel, it probably wasn’t meant to destroy anything except Easton and his food truck. Given what we knew about Dil Haskell, he must have thought he’d be able to drive into the food truck and blow them both up in a blaze of righteous glory.
Based on the line surrounding the food truck when it first opened for business, I didn’t want to think about the potential number of civilian casualties. I just wanted to go home.
“Are you fucking insane?” Voletek asked. “Were you a professional negotiator?”
“Obviously, you weren’t paying attention to our exchange.” I felt hollow and exhausted. I pushed through the crowd until I found Cross and Easton. “Cops are probably going to have questions,” I said.
“I’ll take care of it,” Cross said.
Easton swallowed. “I don’t know Dilbert Haskell. Why would he want to hurt me?”
“You were almost a dad,” I said. “Liza miscarried, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“Liza? My Liza?”
“She’s not yours, Easton. She was Dilbert’s granddaughter first. Your screwing around cost you your marriage, nearly cost a twenty-year-old kid her life, and nearly cost you yours. Think about that the next time you decide to fuck around.”
Cross probably wanted to berate me for speaking to a client like that, but he didn’t. “Go home, Ms. Parker. If the police have questions, I’ll have them schedule an appointment.”
I nodded, turning and bumping into Voletek, who hadn’t left my side. He heard the whole thing, though he simply fell into step beside me and made sure I was allowed out of the perimeter. “Guess I torpedoed your chances of a privately catered reward.”
“I ordered the special tonight. Easton’s not that impressive, but you are.”
“I’m taken.” I spotted Martin’s town car parked across the street, just outside the evacuation area. “Let me know what happens with Lt. Payne because I’m not even sure which way is up anymore. He might have been helping Haskell or he suspected what his mentor was up to.”
“Ah, actual police work. It’s about damn time I get back to that.” He wiped some soot off my face. “You can rest easy tonight, Alex. The city’s safe.”
* * *
“Are you sure you don’t want to get a tracking chip implanted in my shoulder, like a dog?”
“Sweetheart,” Martin said, “I have anxiety issues.”
“It’s a good thing you’re seeing someone about that.” I looked at the tiny heart-shaped charm. It didn’t look like much. I thought Martin got it to be sweet since he knew I wouldn’t wear the rings on my finger because they ruined my left jab and he wanted to dress up the necklace a little. Instead, he gave me the charm to keep tabs on me. “Why didn’t you just ask?”
“I was afraid you’d think I was acting irrationally.”
“You are, but you failed to consider one
thing.”
“What’s that?” His fingers traced the tendons in the back of my hand.
“Knowing what you’ve been going through, I would have said yes.”
“Is that why you said yes to the commitment ceremony?”
“Don’t make that about this.” I put the necklace back on and tucked it into my shirt. “For the record, this is grounds for an annulment.”
“We can’t get an annulment.”
I grinned evilly. “Do you want to bet?” I held out my hand. “Give me your watch.”
He took it off his wrist and laid it on the desk. Carefully, I cracked open the back and stuck a tracking chip inside. To be fair, I had considered doing this years ago, but the fear of someone hacking his location overpowered my desire to keep tabs on him. Though he didn’t know that and never would. We both had anxiety issues, but I was better at hiding the crazy. At least, that’s what I told myself.
“There. Whenever you get rid of yours, I’ll get rid of mine. And until then, this,” I waved my hand between us, “isn’t a healthy relationship.”
“You’re right. However,” the cocky smirk erupted on Martin’s face, “one might argue this isn’t about cheating or control. It’s about safety. I’m not afraid of you stepping out on me. I’m afraid of what might happen if people can’t get to you in time.”
“Like today?”
He swallowed, cocking his head to the side.
“Renner wouldn’t have made it, if it wasn’t for you,” I said quietly. “So I’m only saying this once and you will forget it immediately, but thank you for being overprotective.”
“You’re welcome.”
I entered the serial number on the connected app, which Cross promised was more secure than the NSA’s computer network, and made sure the tracker was active. “You might trust me not to step out on you, but I don’t have a history with runway models and actresses. I’ll expect you to account for your whereabouts at all times of the day and night. When this says you’re at a club at midnight, I’ll need to know why.”
“That’s where the unhealthy part comes in,” Martin said, knowing I was teasing him. “Now can we please go home?”