Justice

by Blake, Russell

  “I kind of figured. Of course I will. But you owe me big time for that.”

  Jet smiled for the first time in hours. “I’ll see if I can figure out some way to reward you for your chivalry.”

  “I have a list.”

  “Sounds interesting. But we need to get at least a little sleep tonight.”

  “Sleep’s for wimps.”

  “That’s my big, strong, red-blooded American he-man.”

  “Give me a call when you’re headed home and I’ll slip into something more comfortable.”

  Jet hung up and dropped the phone back into her pocket, noting with relief that Sofia had stopped crying. Part of the problem they faced was that the woman wasn’t equipped to deal with this situation, which was why Jet didn’t feel comfortable leaving her. If the kidnappers contacted her again…there was no way she’d stand any more of a chance than her husband had.

  Jet slowed to a stop at a red light and looked over at Sofia. “Don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can to help you. You’re not going to have to do this alone.”

  “If they don’t call…I’ll never forgive myself for not contacting the police…”

  Sofia was obviously having second thoughts about handling the affair now that she realized she was on her own, with Tomás out of the picture. Jet wanted to chide her and point out that she’d seen it coming, but elected to leave Sofia to her thoughts. There was no need to rub anything in. She was suffering enough.

  Still, Jet figured she’d try one last time. “Water under the bridge, although it’s never too late…”

  Sofia didn’t say anything, preferring to stare through the window at Mendoza flashing by as they made their way back to her house, the inviting city now anything but, every shadow containing a threat, every doorway an enemy. Jet recalled when Arthur had blackmailed her into going after Matt, holding Hannah as leverage, so she more than knew what Sofia was going through. There was nothing she could say to improve the situation, so instead she concentrated on avoiding colliding with the slaloming cars on the road, all moving at double any sane speed, her heart breaking for Sofia and the ordeal she was going through.

  Chapter 14

  Tara and Ken swayed drunkenly up the sidewalk, laughing easily as they approached Matt’s building entrance. The doorman looked up as they knocked on the glass. Tara held up a bottle of Malbec with a smile, Ken’s arm around her as he nuzzled her neck. The doorman buzzed them in and they approached the reception counter where he was seated.

  “We’re here for the party,” Tara said, offering a dazzling display of gleaming white dentistry.

  “The Renaciers?” the doorman asked, eyeing Tara after a brief glance at Ken.

  “Who else?”

  The doorman pointed to an olive metal door. “Through that door, straight to the one at the end of the hall. Out by the pool. Can’t miss it.”

  The sound-suppressed .22-caliber pistol in Tara’s hand was so quiet that the only noises it made were a muffled crack and the clacking of the slide as the weapon ejected first one shell and then another. The initial shot caught the hapless doorman in the right eye, the lead slug tumbling through his brain, instantly ending his life. The second was to ensure he was dead even as he slumped forward.

  Ken rounded the counter and lowered the corpse below the desk level so his body would be out of sight, while Tara cleaned the blood off the tabletop with a rag she’d brought for that purpose.

  She slipped the gun back into her purse as he returned to her side. Ken glanced at her and they both eyed the ceiling area for a camera.

  Nothing.

  Executing the doorman had been a risk, but they weren’t planning on being in the building for very long and the likelihood that he would be discovered while they were still there was low, considering the late hour and the fact that most would assume the man had gone to use the bathroom and would return shortly. Luis had been able to source a syringe of animal tranquilizer that would knock Matt out in seconds and the plan was to carry him out, explaining that he was drunk if they were stopped, and if that didn’t work, shooting whoever asked.

  Tara pointed to the door. Ken darted to it and did a quick reconnoiter of the area. When he returned, he whispered to Tara.

  “Big group. A barbeque. Loud. They’ll be there for a while.”

  “Good. Hopefully that will cover any noise we make.” She glanced at the stairs leading up. “Let’s go.”

  At the fifth floor Tara extracted a lock-picking kit and went to work on the keyhole, brushing the curved pick while twisting with moderate pressure on the flat one. After half a minute the mechanism clicked and she turned the knob, opening the door. Ken withdrew his suppressed Beretta and leaned against the jamb as Tara eased the door open.

  It stopped abruptly, a brass security chain in place, leaving a three-inch gap to tantalize them. Tara cursed under her breath and glanced at Ken before stepping away from the door, a look of cold determination on her face.

  Matt stirred the macaroni and cheese, confident that it was now the consistency Hannah favored, the patently artificial orange-yellow of the cheese like nothing found in nature. Satisfied that it would meet with her approval, he unwrapped a loaf of coarse Italian peasant bread and cut a chunk off with a long-bladed serrated knife as the echo of laughter drifted up from the party five stories below. His neighbors sounded like they were having a hell of a time and he hoped that Hannah’s room would be quiet enough for her to sleep. He glanced down the hall at the bathroom, where Hannah was still attending to her necessities, and called out.

  “Honey? Dinner’s ready. Come and get–”

  The front door blew in with a crash and a gunman entered, his weapon clutched in front of him in a two-handed grip. Matt instinctively ducked behind the kitchen island as the intruder swung the pistol’s ugly snout toward him.

  “Matt. It’s no good. We know you’re in here. Come out and we won’t hurt the girl,” the man said, his voice quiet and evenly modulated.

  Matt realized he’d been fast enough and the man hadn’t spotted him. He slowly felt along the knife edge until he’d reversed his grip and was holding it by the blade. He listened as the man’s footsteps neared and, after taking a deep breath, tensed every muscle in his body and threw himself from behind the island and flung the knife at the man’s crouched form.

  The blade hurtled at the gunman and caught him in the chest as he tried to draw a bead on Matt, who had never stopped moving, ducking into a roll before leaping to his feet. The attacker squeezed off a shot that narrowly missed, then Matt rushed the intruder, eliminating any advantage he had with the gun.

  Matt slammed into him, driving the knife deeper into the man’s body, and delivered a series of brutal blows to his eyes and face with his right hand while he grappled with the gun with his left. The gunman grunted in pain and dropped the pistol, then a woman’s voice called out.

  “Matt. It’s over. Stop this, or I’ll shoot.”

  Matt instantly recognized the voice, and that recognition threw him for a critical instant – just long enough for his attacker to rally and push him backward. Matt clutched him, knowing his only chance was to use him as a human shield, and pulled the bloody knife out of his chest before stabbing into the side of his abdomen again and again as they stumbled like drunken dancers toward the open balcony doors.

  “I’ll shoot,” the woman screamed as the two men wrestled like grizzlies. And then they both tumbled over the terrace railing, carried by their momentum, as Tara watched her quarry drop out of sight.

  Matt’s body hit the surface of the pool a split second before Ken’s. The impact of his back slamming against the water followed by Ken’s body landing on top of him knocked him out. If it hadn’t, he would have been blinded by pain when his arm snapped like a twig from Ken’s bulk striking him a glancing blow, most of the force of the fall absorbed by Ken’s head and shoulder striking the pool steps, which Matt had missed by scant inches.

  A geyser of water shot into the air and
drenched the bystanders. A woman screamed as the pool turned crimson from Ken’s blood. A quick-thinking former soldier dove in to save Matt, who was slowly sinking, face up, as though asleep beneath the garnet water.

  Tara gazed down at the scene, considering her next step.

  She spun at the sound of the bathroom door opening, her gun in her hand. At the end of the hallway a figure stood, so small she could barely reach the doorknob, long hair lending her the appearance of an angel in the shadows. Her eyes locked on Tara’s for a long second, then Tara slipped the gun into the waist of her jeans and slowly stepped forward, avoiding the blood on the floor as she crossed the living room.

  Tara stopped at a bookcase where a recent photo of Matt, Jet, and Hannah, standing in front of a fountain, was framed. She slid the photo from behind the glass and slipped it into her pocket. After glancing around the room, she approached the coffee table. Matt’s cell was sitting next to a Spanish-language television magazine. She scooped up the phone before smiling at Hannah with as friendly an expression as she could muster.

  “Honey, don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay from now on.”

  Hannah tried to back away, but the bathroom door blocked her escape route.

  Tara took measured steps toward the toddler and extended her hand. “I need you to be a good girl and come with me, okay?”

  Hannah shook her head. “Maa…”

  “Matt had to leave, honey. But your mommy sent me to take care of you.”

  “Hungry.”

  “Of course you are. We’ll get you something as soon as we can, okay? Come on. Let’s go.”

  Hannah drew back, trying to make herself even smaller as Tara moved to her and took her arm. “I don’t have time to argue with you. You need to do as I say, all right?”

  Hannah started crying, large tears flowing down her cheeks as Tara led her out of the apartment, the girl near panic as a woman she didn’t know led her from the safety of her home into an uncertain future.

  Chapter 15

  The streets in the Quinte district were dark as Jet and Sofia rounded the corner of her block and rolled into her driveway. She depressed the garage door opener button and they sat in silence waiting for the wooden barrier to raise, the longest day of Sofia’s life threatening to stretch on indefinitely. Once inside, Isabella met them in the kitchen with a worried face.

  “Señora, someone has been calling every twenty minutes. A man. He asks for you and, when I tell him you haven’t made it home yet, hangs up,” she said.

  Sofia and Jet exchanged a look. “Thank you, Isabella. Don’t worry about anything. I’m home now, so I can take the call the next time.”

  “Very good, señora. I made some empanadas and tea. If you’re hungry.”

  “Thank you, Isabella. We’ll have them in a minute in the dining room.”

  “I’ll see to it.”

  Sofia waited until Isabella was out of earshot and turned to Jet. “That has to be them.”

  “Probably. That is a good sign.”

  Sofia sighed and smoothed her hair with a trembling hand. “Will you excuse me? I want to use the facilities. And anything you want, you have but to ask. Isabella is a wonderful cook and can whip up whatever you like…”

  “I’m sure the empanadas will be fine, Sofia. Go do what you need to do. I’ll be here waiting.”

  The phone rang, startling them both. Isabella picked up and, after a few murmured words, appeared at the kitchen door holding a wireless handset. “Señora, it’s…him.”

  Sofia took the phone from her. “Thank you, Isabella. That will be all.” Sofia waited until Isabella had ducked back into the kitchen before raising the handset to her ear. “Hello.”

  “Finally. I don’t need to tell you who this is.”

  “No.”

  “Your husband is a very foolish man. This was a simple exchange. You’re lucky I’m patient. But that patience only goes so far. Listen carefully. I want you to go to La Gaviota Park at ten o’clock – in one hour. At the northern side of the park there’s a statue of a general. Bring the money. We’ll bring the girl. Do you understand?”

  “I understand…but how do I know you won’t shoot me, like you did my husband?”

  “I don’t know what happened there, but I can assure you that we didn’t shoot first. Your husband is an idiot. He had a gun and brought a stranger with a gun. That wasn’t the arrangement.”

  “But I–”

  “No more discussion. Be at the statue in an hour. Under no circumstances tell anyone, or your daughter dies. There will be no further chances. Do as I say and you’ll have her back in an hour. Try to screw me and they’ll be finding pieces of her around the valley for weeks.”

  The line went dead. Sofia stared at the phone like it was a live snake, then collapsed onto one of the dining room chairs like her bones had liquefied.

  “What is it?”

  “They want me to bring them the money in one hour. At a park in the town center.” Sofia told her the details.

  Jet considered their options, disliking all of them. “You’re in no shape to do this, Sofia.”

  “I have to.”

  Jet shook her head, having arrived at a decision. “No. No, you don’t. I’ll go instead.”

  Sofia’s eyes widened. “I can’t ask you to do that…”

  “Sofia, I can do it.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  Jet sat across from Sofia and took her hands in hers. “Listen to me, Sofia. Before I moved to Argentina, I was in law enforcement. I have experience with this sort of thing. Believe me when I tell you there’s nobody more qualified to do this than me.”

  “You were?”

  “Yes. Which is why I was trying to convince your husband to bring the police into this earlier. The way you’ve gone about handling this is…it’s not good, Sofia. It’s way more dangerous for all concerned to let the kidnappers dictate terms.”

  “I…I can’t take chances with Catalina’s life. You don’t know the police here…”

  “I know. You already told me, and I understand. But that doesn’t change things.”

  “Then what should we do?”

  “Two things. First, you need to go somewhere safe. This house may not be. They knew you were at the park, so it’s likely they know where you live, too. I don’t like that one bit. Until this is resolved, you need to stay somewhere else. Do you have any place like that where you can go? Maybe a summer home or a weekend cottage?”

  “No. The only place I could go is my parents’ house. It’s about twenty minutes out of town – they own a number of wineries and they live on a compound on the grounds of one of them.”

  “Is it secure?”

  “Oh, yes. I mean, it’s a big place and they have a caretaker and a guard. They aren’t in town right now – they’re in San Andres visiting friends, but they should be back tonight or early tomorrow.”

  “Is there any problem spending a few days there, just in case?”

  “Of course not. But…do you think that’s really necessary?”

  “There have been enough foolish chances taken today. Let’s start playing it safe. Making sure you’re where they can’t get to you if there’s another unexpected twist seems like an excellent idea.”

  “What about Isabella?”

  “I can’t see anyone wanting your housekeeper, unless she keeps a half million dollars under her mattress. But if she has a friend, she should have him come over. Again, just in case. Criminals don’t like crowds. Tell her to call the police if she sees anything suspicious. This house is built like a fortress, with the bars on all the windows, so nobody’s going to get in easily. Do you have an alarm?”

  “Yes. The most expensive they make. It’s wired in to an operator with a guarantee the police will be here within five minutes of it triggering.”

  “Then I wouldn’t be too worried. But until we know more about what happened with your husband, you should make yourself scarce. I don’t like surprises and a sh
ootout at a casino with armed men is about as big as they come.”

  Sofia nodded. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not your problem…”

  “I adore Catalina. I want her back with her mom, where she belongs.”

  “Oh, Rebecca, I don’t know how I can ever thank you.”

  “You don’t have to. Wait until we have Catalina and then we can break out the champagne.”

  Sofia paused, looking off into empty space. “Do you think we’ll get her back?”

  “Realistically, they have no reason to keep her. But having said that, people who kidnap children are the scum of the earth. There are few things lower in my book. So we can’t get our hopes up too high. I wouldn’t trust a word they say. Especially after the casino.”

  “Then what do you intend to do?”

  “There’s not a lot I can do, Sofia. But one of the things is to get to the park early and scope it out. Make sure that it’s not a setup. I’m leery of believing they’re going to take the money and hand her over. Don’t get me wrong – I have no reason not to believe it, other than the entire situation. Frankly, the one thing working in your favor is that even though five hundred thousand dollars seems like a lot of money, in the scheme of things, it’s amateurish. Which is both good and bad. Amateurs can behave unpredictably. They could be drug addicts. That wouldn’t be a first. What I’m saying is that there’s no telling what their true intentions are.”

  “How will you protect yourself?”

  Jet hesitated. “Do you have a gun?”

  “No. There’s never been any need for one.”

  “No matter.” Jet checked the time. “I want to get going. We’ve already burned ten minutes. With travel time, I’ve only got a half hour or so to familiarize myself with the layout. Which reminds me… You have a computer?”

  “Of course. Why?”

  “I want to see a satellite image of the park so I understand what I’m walking into. Where is it?”

  “In our office. Come on.”

  After five minutes studying the park’s orientation, Jet was ready to leave. She had Sofia go to her bedroom and pack a bag, then led her to the car, where she explained what she intended to do.