Kramer’s face was covered with dirt and sweat, but that didn’t prevent Travis from seeing the cold sneer that crossed his face. “I don’t believe you.”
Travis gritted his teeth and wrapped his finger around the trigger. Pull it, damn it! He knew he only had seconds at best before Kramer came at him again, but in the space of a single second every horrible memory raced through his head. Jack. Angela. Her face on the bloodstained pavement.
This was totally different, he told himself. This was a man who had tried to kill him. This was a life-and-death situation! He had to pull the damn trigger.
But he couldn’t do it.
Kramer knocked the gun out of Travis’s hands. Before Travis could move away, Kramer kicked up his feet and caught Travis in the abdomen. Travis sprawled onto the ground. He felt as if his chest were on fire. Before he could think what to do next, another kick landed in the same spot. He clutched his chest, writhing in agony.
Travis rolled onto his side, trying to squirm away, propping himself up with one arm. His ribs ached; he felt certain at least one was broken, maybe more.
Kramer reared back with his foot and kicked Travis once more in the gut. Travis screamed. His eyes were watering. The pain was so intense he couldn’t think. Every time he tried to move, Kramer kicked him again.
Kramer shoved him over, then kicked him in the side. “Fuckin’ piece of shit,” he muttered. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill you. I’m gonna hurt you. Then I’m gonna burn you. Yeah—Byrne burns.” He laughed. “Then I’ll kill you.”
Kramer removed his lighter from his pocket and lit it. He held it against Travis’s face.
Travis cried out. Even after he moved his face away, he could feel the flame burning his flesh. Kramer moved the lighter to the other side of Travis’s face. Travis screamed again. There was nothing else he could do. He couldn’t run, could barely breathe.
Kramer lowered the lighter to the edge of Travis’s jacket and watched as the windbreaker caught fire. “Welcome to hell, Byrne,” he said. His eyes glowed with excitement.
Then, as he watched the flames catch on, he pulled out his gun, cocked the hammer, and aimed at Travis’s kneecap.
Travis heard the shot. He winced involuntarily, bracing himself. It took him several moments to realize … he wasn’t wounded. Before he could react, he felt about a hundred and fifty pounds slam down on his stomach.
After he regained his breath, Travis cleared the tears from his eyes and tried to figure out what had happened. He was still alive. His kneecaps were intact. And Kramer’s body was sprawled across his lap.
And his jacket was on fire.
“Aren’t you going to thank me?” Cavanaugh ran forward and beat the flames out with her coat. “Another second and you would’ve been about two feet shorter.”
“Mucho gracious,” Travis mumbled. It hurt to talk. “Where’s Curran?”
“Taking care of Moroconi. How are you?”
“I’ve been better. Can you get this big lug off me?”
Cavanaugh bent down and rolled Kramer off Travis’s stomach. Travis tried to help, but the strain was too much. He fell back to the ground, groaning.
“Oh God, Travis. You’re really hurt, aren’t you?” She put her hand behind his neck. “Are you going to be all right? Are you bleeding?”
“I don’t think so. Except maybe internally. I think he cracked a rib.”
“God. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
Travis grunted, doing his best to speak coherently. “Not your fault.”
She took his hands and held them against her cheek. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, Travis.”
He tried to smile. “Neither do I.” After a moment he added, “I don’t want anything to happen to you, either. Laverne.”
She began kissing his face, then his neck, at first lightly, then less so. Despite the fire burning in his chest, he found it quite enjoyable.
75
11:55 P.M.
HENDERSON—THE REAL ONE—finished wrapping a tight bandage around Travis’s chest. Not an easy feat in the backseat of Henderson’s sedan—while it was moving fast. Very fast.
“I think you should go to the hospital.”
“Later,” Travis said, wincing. “After I’ve found Staci.”
“You should’ve ridden in the ambulance with Kramer and Janicek,” Cavanaugh said, wringing her hands. “That would be a hell of a result—Kramer lives and you die.”
“I’m not hurt that much,” Travis said, hoping someone would believe him. He certainly didn’t. “And it shouldn’t take too long.”
“At least let me go with you,” Henderson insisted.
“No. He’ll kill her if he sees you.”
“Believe me, I know how to keep a low profile. I followed Janicek here, once I got Simpson to spill his guts. He never had the slightest idea I was following him.”
“Thanks for the offer, but no. I won’t risk Staci’s life. I’ll check in with you as soon as I’m done.”
“Don’t check in with me. Check in with the hospital. I’m not at all sure your ribs are going to survive this.”
Travis ignored him. “I’ll be okay. It won’t take long.”
“I still don’t understand why you aren’t going to Moroconi’s old motel room,” Cavanaugh asked.
“That’s where the goons hired to kill me will be, but that’s not where Staci is.”
Cavanaugh nodded, then held out his gun. “Don’t forget this. You might need it.”
Travis took it from her wordlessly. Yeah, he thought, I might need it. But will I be able to use it?
A few seconds before midnight Travis stood on the front steps of an elegant Tudor-style home in the fashionable part of Plano. He rang the bell, but no one answered. Of course, he mused, given the size of the house, it might take ten minutes for someone to make it to the door.
But he couldn’t wait. He felt exposed, standing out in the open like this. When no one came to the door, he tried the doorknob. It was unlocked.
He entered the foyer. The decor was impeccable. Heavy on the burgundies and mahoganies. Suits of armor, Victorian-era antiques. A man’s house, decorated to a man’s taste.
As Travis should know. He’d been here several times before. For dinner.
Travis heard footsteps approaching from the living room. He entered the room and waited. A few moments later a rear door opened and Dan Holyfield walked in.
“Travis! My God, it’s you!” His face was the picture of concern. “What are you doing here? Are you still in danger? Why didn’t you come to the office?”
“The office is being watched. Or was, anyway. Not to mention bugged.”
Dan appeared horrified. “Are you certain?”
Travis nodded.
“At least you managed to get here safely. You can relax now, Travis. I’ll take care of everything. I still think you should turn yourself in, but don’t worry. I’ll be behind you all the way, with every penny at my disposal. I won’t rest until you’re cleared of all charges.”
Travis smiled thinly. “Don’t bother, Dan. I have a new friend at the FBI who has already begun the process of clearing my name and getting the charges dropped. I imagine it’ll be a lot easier for him than it would be for you.”
Dan appeared relieved. “Well, that’s great, Travis. Splendid. Come into the office Monday morning and we’ll talk over this whole situation. We need to sit down and plan out your future. See where you go from here. Frankly, I think it’s about time I made you a partner in the firm. Just come in Monday and we’ll thrash out all the details.”
Travis shook his head. “The office is too public for what I want to do.”
“I don’t understand. What is it you want to do?”
Travis seated himself in a comfortable upright armchair. “Give it up, Dan. I know almost everything. And I think I can deduce the rest.”
“Deduce …? I’m sorry, Travis, but you’ve absolutely lost me.”
“What d
o you take me for?” A trace of anger tinged Travis’s voice. “Did you think I would never figure it out? Hell, you just reminded me yourself the other day.”
“Reminded you of what?”
“Of your small family corporation. The one to which you now devote the majority of your time. The corporation founded by your parents, Elsie and Conrad. Hence the name—Elcon.”
The pleasant expression drained away from Dan’s face. “What do you know about Elcon?”
“I know you were bought out by the mob. Excuse me, I guess technically it was a merger. Forgive me if I don’t get all the legal nuances just right. I’m not a corporate lawyer.”
Dan’s eyes lowered. “You have to understand what happened, Travis. I had no idea those men were connected to the Gattuso mob. They met me in business suits, ties—they looked just like the men you and I work with every day of the week. I had no reason to be suspicious.”
“Did you check up on them? Complete a due diligence?”
Dan sighed. “Perhaps I jumped too quickly. The deal they offered me—it was everything I’d hoped for. I wanted to slow down, to get out of the grind of practicing law day in and day out. I’m almost sixty years old, and when a man reaches that age, he starts to think about retirement. And how he’s going to pay the bills during his retirement.”
“Pity you didn’t stick with Social Security.”
Dan made a snorting sound. “Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t want to live in squalor and poverty.” He gestured about the room. “Look at this place. Do you have any idea what it takes to maintain it? Do you have any idea what it takes to run it for a year? Social Security wouldn’t pay for that chair you’re sitting in.”
“So you decided to sell out to a bunch of mobsters looking for a place to launder their loot.”
Dan drew himself erect. “I told you, I had no idea they were connected with the Gattuso mob.” His voice grew quieter. “At first. After a while … well, strange things began to happen. Inexplicably large amounts of money started pouring into the corporate coffers, money that wasn’t tied to any of Elcon’s business activities. And when I asked them about it, they told me to sit back and enjoy the ride. That’s when I began to suspect that … they were something other than legitimate businessmen.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I thought about it, Travis. I really did. But somehow … I don’t know.” He folded his hands in his lap. “Perhaps I’m just not as strong as I’d like to be. Somehow, I never made the call.”
“They bought you off,” Travis said. “And now they own you.”
Dan didn’t bother with a denial. “It would be difficult now … after all these years … to claim that I didn’t know what was going on …”
Travis looked away. His eyes were beginning to sting. “Even if you let yourself be bought off, why the hell did you drag me into it?”
Dan’s head tilted to one side. “Of course, the mob is the reason I gave you your job in the first place. I felt … responsible.”
“Responsible?” Travis brushed the dampness from his eyes. “For what?”
Dan seemed genuinely surprised. “Haven’t you guessed? That robbery you interrupted four years ago. The disturbance created by Jack Gable. That was a mob operation. They were robbing a building—I owned—for a reason. They had to create a cover story for the disappearance of some key corporate documents. To protect the integrity of the merger.
“You see, the IRS was after Elcon. They didn’t know about the mob ties—but they knew there was something suspicious about the merger, and if they plowed around in the records long enough, they would’ve figured it out. We couldn’t allow that to happen. So we created a robbery, to excuse our failure to produce the requested corporate documents. We told them they were all stolen. It worked.”
Travis stared back at him, his head trembling. “Angela died … so your goddamn corporation could duck a tax audit!”
“Believe me, Travis, I had no idea you and Angela would be there that day. It was just a simple robbery. No one was supposed to get hurt. When it all went bad, I felt awful. Don’t you see? That’s why I put you through law school. That’s why I gave you a job. I owed you.”
Travis didn’t know what to say. His heart felt as if it might pound its way out of his chest. “Did you know,” he finally managed, “that your … partners were trying to kill me?”
“I found out. After you disappeared. From Mario Catuara, the acting head of the corporate entity. He was president, I was the CEO. That’s how we set it up.”
“You could have told me!” Travis shouted. “When I called you, you could have told me what was going on! You could have told me who was trying to kill me!”
“That would have been very difficult for me, Travis. Very difficult.”
“No wonder you kept trying to get me to drop the Moroconi case. You knew all along.”
Dan looked away.
Travis’s teeth set on edge. “I’m turning you in, Dan.”
“I … don’t think you mean that, Travis.”
“I do. I’m telling the FBI everything about you and Elcon.”
“No.” Dan rose suddenly from his chair. “No, you’re not. Let me show you something.” He walked to the rear door from which he had entered.
Travis saw a light click on. He pushed himself out of the chair and slowly walked to the other room. Before he entered, he removed his gun from his shoulder.
When he entered the library, his eyes were immediately focused on two persons just to the side of a large oak desk. The first was Staci. She was tied to an armchair; a gag was taped across her mouth. The second was Dan. He was pointing a small revolver at her head.
“You couldn’t possibly fire before I put a bullet in this little girl’s head,” Dan said. “I want you to drop the gun, Travis. Now.”
Travis hesitated. Police training told him never, under any circumstances, to relinquish his weapon.
“I’m serious, Travis!” Dan’s hands were shaking. His finger was curled ominously around the trigger. “I want you to drop the gun!”
Travis bent down and placed the gun on the carpet.
“Thank you.” He wiped the perspiration from his brow. “You can’t imagine how sorry I am about this, Travis. I never wanted this poor girl to be taken. It was all that sadist Kramer’s idea.”
Travis took a careful step toward them. “Let her go, Dan. You don’t need her now. You have me.”
“I’m afraid I disagree. My life here in Dallas is shot. Just at the time when I was planning to settle down, I’m going to have to uproot myself. But I’m not going to be penniless. I—” His voice became high-pitched and strained. “I’ve worked too hard for that. I’m going to take all the money out of my personal bank accounts—and the Elcon corporate accounts—and disappear. But I can’t do that until the banks open Monday morning. That means I have to prevent you from going to the police between now and then.”
Travis bit down on his lower lip. “And how do you plan to do that?”
“This is so hard,” Dan said. “So, so hard. You do see the dilemma I’m in, don’t you, Travis? I don’t want to hurt anyone. But I can’t stand by and watch my life fall apart at the seams.”
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you, Dan?”
“I—don’t see that I have much choice.”
Travis nodded. The two men stared at one another from opposite sides of the room. There seemed to be very little left to say.
“At least let Staci talk to me for a minute before you kill me,” Travis said finally.
“I—I’m sorry, no. I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”
“Then let me talk to her. Let me kiss her goodbye.”
“I—I don’t know—”
“I won’t even remove her gag. All I’m asking for is one minute. Surely you owe me that.”
Travis could see the confusion and despair in Dan’s face. He was tearing himself apart, unable to decide what to do. “All r
ight,” he said finally. “One minute.”
Travis approached Staci in calm, measured steps. “Hi, sweetheart,” he said. He could see her eyes tearing, her hands shaking. She was scared to death.
“Sure I can’t loosen her gag?” he asked Dan.
“I guess—I don’t—” He swallowed. “No, I don’t think I should let you do that.”
“Suit yourself.” Travis moved closer to Staci and crouched down to her level. “Don’t worry about a thing,” he said to her quietly. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
Staci rocked back and forth. Hard as she tried, she couldn’t get free.
“When you get out of here, Staci, I want you to look up a friend of mine. Her name is—well, Cavanaugh. That’s her last name. She knows who you are, and she’ll make sure you’re taken care of. I think you’ve been with Aunt Marnie long enough. Cavanaugh will help you make other arrangements. I don’t think Marnie will protest much.”
Tears spilled over the rims of Staci’s eyes and trickled down onto her gag.
“You’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Really.”
“Thirty seconds,” Dan said.
“All right, all right.” Travis winked at Staci. “How about one last trick, just for old times’ sake?” He reached into his pocket. “Don’t panic, Dan. These are just marbles.” He slowly removed the marbles from his pocket, then opened his palm so that Dan could see that was all he had. “Two harmless oversize aggies. That’s all.”
He placed the marbles in his left hand, then held out his hands before Staci, knuckles up. “All right now. Watch closely.” Travis’s hands were a blur. They crossed, crisscrossed, turned upside down and right side up, one palm over the other, faster than the eye could follow.
“All right, Staci. Which hand are the marbles in?”
She shrugged. Travis knew her eyes were so blurred with tears she could barely see.
“What about you, Dan? Which hand do you think the marbles are in?”
“The left,” he said, his voice squeaking. “They never moved.”
“Well, let’s just see.” Travis extended his left hand to its farthest point and slowly unfurled his fingers, one by one.
Double Jeopardy Page 28