Extreme Heat Warning: A Shallow End Gals Trilogy, Book Two

Home > Other > Extreme Heat Warning: A Shallow End Gals Trilogy, Book Two > Page 18
Extreme Heat Warning: A Shallow End Gals Trilogy, Book Two Page 18

by Graybosch, Vicki


  Paul could hear Frank asking Roger, “What the hell are you guys doin’ out there?”

  Roger was shaking his head. He finally answered, “It’s a long story, Frank. I need you to think of something and call me. I have a situation out there. I could use some help, fast. Also put together a forensic team, we’ve got human bones.”

  About five minutes later Mass called Roger back, “I found a guy with a boat who is willing to go to Mambo’s. Should I send him?”

  Roger asked, “Send my guys with him. Do you know this guy?”

  Agent Mass answered, “Got a couple of busts for poaching and weed is all.”

  Roger said, “Okay. I guess I don’t have a choice. Tell my guys to bring extra ammo, the snakes are bad today.”

  Roger called Thor and told him a second boat with Nelson and Manigat would meet them at Mambo’s. Thor said, “Thanks,” and hung up.

  Agents Nelson and Manigat were riding with one of the local agents to get some guy’s boat and go to Mambo’s. They had barely started working on the computers at the center, looking for data on Mathew Core, when Roger had called. The local agent asked them, “What kind of case are you guys on anyway?”

  Todd and Pablo looked at each other, and Todd said, “We’re looking for an escaped serial killer.”

  The young New Orleans agent driving asked, “At Mambo’s?”

  Funny thing happened on the way to the swamp. Ellen told us to take a short cut through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Headquarters in D.C. and visit the Director’s office for exactly twenty minutes. We would record everything that happened in that office, then get to the Virginia federal prison where Jason Sims, the computer lab guy, was being held, and record what happened there for exactly ten minutes. Then get to the swamp as fast as we could.

  By no stretch of the imagination was going to Washington D.C. a short cut to a Louisiana swamp. We also discovered the only thing our watches didn’t do was keep time! Mary did the one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi thing for both visits. She was actually hoarse. When we were ready to leave, Linda noticed a desk clock near a computer and turned it around. No sense getting Mary mad. By the time we actually made it to the swamp we were all exhausted.

  Amy was crawling behind Rebecca and pushing her butt forward every other step. Rebecca kept collapsing, and Amy was cheering her forward. “Keep going Becca. I can see the edge of the alley. Hurry! Try harder!” Amy was sure Devon was going to notice them gone any minute. He was definitely home. His SUV was in the garage, and she had heard the phone ringing. It was morning, but the air was already thick with humidity. There was a very strong breeze, and Amy could tell there was a bad storm coming. All she wanted to do was get to some street where someone could pick them up and take them to the police station.

  They had made it to the edge of the alley. Amy pulled herself up and was leaning against the side of a utility pole. Rebecca was trying to stand with her. Amy saw an SUV pull into the Alley. “Becca! STAND UP! A car’s coming!” Rebecca pulled from strength she didn’t know she had and was standing, hugging the utility pole as Amy stumbled straight into the path of the SUV.

  Thank God it stopped! A man got out and shouted, “My God what is wrong with you girls?” He put his arm around Amy and helped her stand. Rebecca slid down the pole and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

  Amy grabbed the man’s arm and pleaded, “Help us, please. We were kidnapped by the man in that house! We need to get to the police.” Amy heard the man tell her he would take them to the police, and he helped her into the back seat of his SUV. He told her to try and slide over he was going to get her friend. Minutes later Rebecca was sitting next to her.

  The air conditioning felt wonderful and the last thing Amy remembered was the man saying, “You poor, poor girls. Oh my God. You just rest a minute.”

  William Patterson looked into the rear view mirror of his SUV at the two drugged out girls. WHAT THE HELL? Devon is going to get us both killed! Where the hell is he? Now he has women escaping in broad daylight? William had driven past Devon’s office and his favorite breakfast café looking for him. He had decided to check out Devon’s house. Now this? He drove to a main intersection and turned the SUV to head out of town.

  Amy mumbled from the back seat, “I think you missed your turn.” Then she fell asleep again.

  Spicey and Jerome climbed the marble stairs toward the huge front door of the police station. Spicey could tell Jerome had never been here before. Jerome stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at Spicey, “You know, I ought to tell them you stole sixty dollars from me! I thought now that we’re friends and all, you would give it back.”

  Spicey looked at him and said, “What does us being friends now have to do with it? Someone steals from you it causes you pain. You learn that from feelin’ the pain! Not from me giving it back. A man would consider this a life lesson. Now, if you decided that you should feel the pain, I might consider giving it back to you, so you could donate it to somebody needs it. Not just wants it.”

  Jerome looked at her, “You want me to miss it, so I don’t never do that to someone else. But you give it back to me if I give it away?”

  Spicey said, “It don’t really belong to me does it?”

  Jerome said “No.”

  Spicey said, “One way or another you are going to learn that in this life, you do something wrong, you are going to pay. This here is a cheap lesson if you choose to learn it.”

  She was hoping this would be a positive experience for him. John Barry had just arrived and was talking to the desk sergeant when Spicey and Jerome entered the main hall. They walked up to the desk, and Spicey looked at Jerome. Jerome said, “I would like to report that my momma is missin’.”

  The desk sergeant started to hand the clipboard to Jerome, but John grabbed it. He said, “Let me take this for you.” John motioned for Spicey and Jerome to follow him into a small interview room.

  John Barry took a very complete statement from Jerome and Spicey. He learned that Jerome’s mother’s name was Adele Brown, and she had a small tailor shop in the Quarter. Occasionally she delivered her finished work to her customers. Adele’s story didn’t sound like a mother who would abandon her son. John was worried there might be a sinister element. He couldn’t quit thinking about Devon and hoped to God this young man’s mother had not met up with him. John had noticed how intently Jerome was staring at him and asked, “Jerome, I imagine you have questions you want to ask me. Go ahead.”

  Jerome said, “You say you are really going to look for my momma. But you don’t know us, and momma said the police don’t have time for the likes of us. Spicey says we have to let the police have a chance to do good. I already looked everywhere my momma would go. She’s just gone!”

  John stood, put his arm on Jerome’s shoulder, and said, “You have just defined what it really means to be a law enforcement officer, Jerome. The police have more resources for finding people than you do. Give me a chance to find your mom. After I do, you will understand why we do this job. This is a very proud profession. A lot of us who are policemen now, became policemen because we were helped by one. You might even think about joining the police or the FBI when you get older.”

  Jerome’s eyes got big, “How do I do that?”

  John laughed at his expression and said, “Do you want me to start sending you material about these jobs, so you can study the right things?”

  Jerome whispered, “Yeah.”

  John smiled and said, “It’s yes, not yeah.”

  Jerome said “Yes.”

  Spicey told Jerome they would have to walk a couple of blocks before they could catch a cab. She expected him to give her trouble about going to school today. He didn’t. When they got in the cab, she gave directions to the cabby for Jerome’s school. She told Jerome to come to her place after school, and hopefully she would have some news for him. He agreed, and when the cab stopped, he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

  Spicey giggled, “You be kissin
’ your momma’s cheek pretty soon.”

  Jerome’s eyes glistened, “Until then I’ll kiss you.”

  Spicey said, “Yeah”

  Jerome raised his eyebrows, “You mean yes, not yeah.”

  Spicey slugged him. “You best get to class Mr. POliceman!”

  Tourey busily searched his data bases looking for anything connected to Mathew Core. He found two CIA documents that referred to a Core as being an independent contractor. He found another link that Core was used by the FBI a few months ago in New Orleans to verify the identity of a suspected human trafficking ring. It also looked like he had been contracted to provide intelligence on a weapons bust. Contracts went back ten years on Core. Everything Tourey was reading sounded like Core was one of the good guys. This didn’t make sense. Tourey wondered how he hadn’t crossed paths with this guy before. Tourey hit print on his computer and watched the pages print out. He went back to the CIA report to see if he could get any other names associated with that assignment. His screen went black.

  Tourey walked around his house testing his power and came back to his library. His computer had been shut down, maybe fried. He sat staring at the black screen and decided to try his laptop. As soon as he logged in to the CIA site, he was met with a big black screen that said, Access Denied. Tourey left his house and walked to a payphone down the street. This was the only payphone in the Quarter that worked. It was his. He dialed his supervisor. “You have a reason I can’t log in?” He was met with silence.

  After a brief pause his supervisor said, “I can’t log in right now either. I don’t know what is going on.”

  Roger and Paul found the Mailbox Office and had to threaten a warrant and seizure to get cooperation. Nawlens wasn’t used to law enforcement. Unfortunately the clerk on duty had the same level of computer skills as the bank manager, and it was thirty minutes after arriving before Roger had an address. Ray called to tell Roger to look at the GPS map in his car. Ray had found one of the phones. Ray could get them within a two block area with a ping booster, but then they were on their own. Roger had to tie the girl’s phone to Devon’s alias, Parker, before he could get a warrant for that address.

  Paul said, “How are we going to find a cell phone in a two block area?”

  Roger said, “We can at least try.” They followed the map and ended up in a business district of sorts with a couple of office strip malls.

  Paul said, “This is impossible.”

  Just then Roger said, “Look at the corner of that building there.”

  Paul saw a black cat standing on its hind legs waving. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Roger pulled their car to where Ellen had been and followed her around the back of the mall. She was sitting on a dumpster licking her paws.

  Roger and Paul jumped out of the car and ran for the dumpster. They knew they had to read the messages before the batteries went dead, or they would have to wait for Ray to restore everything. Roger jumped in the dumpster and started digging. Paul was ready to get in but Roger said, “Wait, I see a couple of purses.” Roger used a piece of two by four that was in the dumpster to raise the purses out. They put on their gloves and carefully opened the purses. They only found one phone. Rebecca’s. Paul was much more tech savvy than Roger, so he looked back through the messages.

  Paul said, “Here! Rebecca sent this to Amy: Can’t shop with you…ran into Mike…Atty. Parker…he is taking me shopping and to dinner!” Paul kept reading, “A bunch of nothing after that.”

  Roger said, “Let’s get this phone to Ray before the batteries die and coordinate the raid of Devon’s place. I’ll order the warrant through the field office. Why don’t you call John Barry and see how many guys Frank Mass can lend us. While you do that, I will take a quick shower at the Star Ship.”

  Paul said, “Good idea there buddy. You stink.”

  Devon woke with a headache. He thought he heard noises. He turned on the security screen and couldn’t see the girls in the room. Maybe they’re in the bathroom, he thought. He sat there a minute or so longer. Man, he was tired. He couldn’t believe the clock said 11:00 am. He glanced out the bedroom window. It looks like a storm coming. His room was hot. He walked over to the thermostat and saw the air conditioning had been turned off. When did he do that?

  He glanced at the security screen again. Still no girls. He threw some sweat pants on and grabbed the key to his secured room. He sure didn’t feel like sex, but he wouldn’t mind looking at them. He turned the corner to the basement staircase and saw the door was open! “What the Hell?” He stormed down the stairs and started screaming. He looked in the bathroom and in his garage. He ran to the end of his driveway and looked down the alley. HOLY SHIT! He didn’t know what to do. He ran back in the house, ran upstairs, and found his phone. He saw Patterson had tried to call him seven times. He couldn’t imagine what was going on. Patterson almost never called him!

  Devon dialed Patterson. “Where in the hell have you been? I have been trying to reach you all morning!” Patterson sounded exasperated.

  Devon answered, “I haven’t left home. I have a problem.”

  Patterson screamed, “You sure as hell do! And now I have one too! I took care of your two girls. I found them staggering around in your alley! In broad daylight! Do you know it’s your fault the FBI has a whole team here, in Nawlens? Just for us?”

  “What?”

  Patterson said, “You better figure out some place we can talk.”

  Devon said, “I’ll come to your place.”

  Patterson screamed, “You will not! Meet me at that stupid little place over by Jackson Square. No wait! Let’s go to that place called Mickey’s. A lot of tourists go there, not many locals. Meet you in thirty minutes.” Patterson hung up and shook his head. Devon was going to get them killed.

  Devon looked around his room. His head was throbbing. How did they escape? They both knew his alias. Oh no, his money! He called the bank and had them wire all but one thousand to his offshore account. Thank god he had thought of that. How much cash did he have on him? He looked in his wallet. About a thousand. After he met with Patterson he would take those earrings back and get those nine hundred dollars back. Devon grabbed a towel and went in to shower. This day already sucked.

  Amy and Rebecca had fallen asleep in Patterson’s SUV. The drugs and the air conditioning lured them under again. They were awakened by Patterson yelling at them and pointing a gun at their heads. He had fired the gun in the air and screamed, “Do you want to die now? Move it!”

  Amy was trying to focus. What had happened? Wasn’t this the man who had saved them? Why was he pointing a gun at them? She reached over and shook Rebecca. “Becca! Wake up!” Patterson told them to get out of the truck and start walking. The wind gusts were up to about fifty miles per hour now, the storm was nearly there. Rebecca was hanging on to Amy as they staggered down the dirt path toward the edge of the swamp. Amy yelled back to Patterson who was following them, “We can’t walk any farther because of the swamp!”

  Patterson yelled back at her, “Your choice. You walk into that swamp and keep going, maybe you hit the island or the other side. Or you just stand still, and I shoot you here.”

  Amy whipped around nearly dropping Rebecca, “Why are you doing this?”

  Patterson smiled, “It’s you or me little girl, and I have the gun. Now move it! I don’t have all day. If it takes you too long to get out of my sight, I might just shoot you anyway! And I have binoculars. I can see you far longer than you can see me!”

  Amy and Rebecca were both crying. Amy could feel the soft sludge at the bottom of the marsh envelope her legs and creep up toward her waist. The bottom wasn’t even, and they kept tripping and falling and sinking. Rebecca saw an alligator in the distance and began screaming uncontrollably. Amy grabbed her shoulders and said, “This asshole isn’t going to win this. Alligators will not hurt you unless you threaten them.” Amy was thinking, usually. Rebecca quieted down some. They walked for some distance, and Amy turned around
. She couldn’t see Patterson anymore and decided they should try to just walk back. Just then two shots rang out from the shore, and she thought she heard him yell something. They quickly turned and continued walking into the deep waters of the swamp.

  Rebecca was getting some strength back and told Amy she could walk on her own. They saw an area where the land mass looked higher. There was a clump of giant cypress trees in the center. Rebecca pointed and said, “Let’s get out of the water over there for a while.” Amy thought that sounded good, and they crawled up the bank to the center of the tree trunks. One beam of sunlight had escaped through the black clouds. Probably the last one.

  Amy said, “We have a bad storm coming.”

  Rebecca sighed, “Of course.”

  Dusty had been blasted awake by the cell phone lying on his neck. His head pounded from last night’s drinks with his friendly bartender, Scotty. The caller was Agent Frank Mass requesting that Dusty borrow his brother’s boat to take two FBI Agents to Mambo’s place. Dusty told Frank to go screw himself. Frank told him there was a thousand dollars waiting at the end of the trip.

  Dusty tried to blink his vision into focus, “What time does this tour boat leave?”

  Frank answered “Now. I’m having them delivered to you as we speak.”

  When agents Nelson and Manigat arrived at the boat landing, Pablo asked, “Aren’t you the artist who did the sketches last night?”

  Dusty yawned, “That would be me. Artist by night, Mambo tours by day. You guys know we have a bad storm almost here?” Just then a large branch crashed from a nearby tree to the ground. Dusty jumped. The gusts were bending some of the trees and the marsh grasses were wildly swirling. The sky was an ugly black blue. Lightning could be seen in the distance.

 

‹ Prev