by Dale Mayer
The man shifted his gaze to him. “So, what are you guys? The bone breakers when people say no to the boss man?”
“Not at all. We’re the good guys. It’s our families who are all being wiped out by the boss man’s murderous acts.”
The second man’s eyes widened, and there was a hint of terror in them. He held up his hands and backed away. “Hey, I seriously had nothing to do with any of that.”
“If that is the truth, then why are you holding off on telling us what this was all about today?”
“You know what he’ll do to me if he finds out I talked to you?”
“You know what we’ll do to you if you don’t talk to us?” Laszlo’s voice was hard. “Seven of us were blasted to hell, and one of our unit died. And since then we’ve been slowly losing family members.”
The man’s jaw worked to swallow convulsively. Then he sagged to the floor.
Cade stepped forward, one foot already on the guy’s outstretched right arm as he reached under the bed.
The guy held up his other hand, nodding toward his briefcase, visible underneath the bed. “Look. I’m just pulling out folders. I don’t have a gun.”
Cade wasn’t sure he believed him. “Use your left hand and move slowly.” He kept a close eye on the man as he pulled out his briefcase, then disengaged his foot from his other arm.
“This is all I know.” He flipped open the briefcase on the bed for Cade to see and then grabbed a folder and handed it over.
Cade snatched it away, noting the man’s name was Warren Watson. He turned the folder so Laszlo could see. “Is that the name he registered under?”
Laszlo nodded. “It is.”
“Hope you’re not planning on staying in this business as a pro,” Cade said. “I’m not sure you have the skills for it.”
The man snorted. “I don’t need to have the skills. I wasn’t expecting to get into something like this. He wanted me to move some money. I swear that’s all.”
“Courier?” Cade motioned with his head toward Warren’s briefcase that had a locking wrist cuff on it. “Is that what you do?”
“I do, but normally it’s within the city. I don’t travel across county lines.”
“Good thing. It’s pretty hard to hide.”
“I know. But he told me that it was a special job, that I’d get well paid, and that I just needed a couple days in town. I assumed, at the time, because of the work I do, that he wanted me to courier money around town for him for two days. And, yes, that does happen in big-business deals. I’ve been kept in a city for five days while money exchanged hands on a continuous basis.”
“Interesting job.”
“And yet it comes with a hell of a lot of risk,” Warren said. He pointed at the folder in Cade’s hand. “If you check that out, you’ll see it’s just a series of emails back and forth. Take them. I don’t want them.”
“You have the originals on your laptop?”
Warren nodded. “I do.”
“When is your flight?”
“Tomorrow,” Warren said.
“Get an earlier flight.”
Warren stared at him in surprise. “Why?”
“Because if we identified who you are and found you, then he can too. He’s doing a hell of a job cleaning up any loose threads,” Cade said in a serious tone. “For your own safety, I highly suggest you leave. Does he have any idea who you are or how to contact you?”
The man shook his head. “No, we went through a contact.”
“We would like the contact’s name,” Laszlo said in no uncertain terms.
Warren motioned at the folder. “His email address is on them.” He glanced around nervously, obviously shaken by their warning. He stopped and looked at them. “Are you serious?”
“He’s either killed people himself or had all those people I mentioned earlier killed on his request. So, yes, we’re damn serious.”
“Shit.” He grabbed his phone and started making calls.
Laszlo looked at Cade. “Do you need anything else?”
“Yeah,” Laszlo turned to Warren. “A description of our bearded man. And did he say anything about the job?”
“No. I already told you. He wanted me to move money across borders. I don’t do that. I’m not a smuggler. I’m a courier.”
“A fine line for some people.”
Warren snorted. “A fine line for a lot of people but not me. I thought it was a straight-up deal. I’ve always trusted my contact. So now I don’t know what the hell to do.”
“You might want to warn your contact too,” Laszlo said. “Because this is a bad deal. All around.”
On that note a hard knock came on the hotel room door. Laszlo glanced at Warren.
He stared at the door with a wide-eyed looked. In a low voice he said, “I didn’t contact anyone.”
The knock came again.
Laszlo and Cade slipped around the corner into the bathroom. Cade waved at Warren. “If you want to open the door, check the peephole first.”
He walked over nervously and stared through the peephole. “Hello?”
“I have a delivery for you,” the man on the other side of the door said.
Warren frowned. “I didn’t order anything.”
“Open the door, please, sir, so I can give it to you.”
Something spiked at the back of Cade’s neck. That instinctive warning that said something was about to blow up in his face. He grabbed Warren and pulled him into the bathroom just as he heard gunshots, and the door exploded in front of him. Echoing outside was the sound of running footsteps.
As the man took off, Laszlo was out the door, running fast after him.
Cade looked at Warren. “Yeah, we’re serious. Get the hell out of here now.”
Warren nodded, his whole body shaking. “Thank you for the warning.”
“You’d be in even worse shape if we found it was more than a warning you needed.” Cade spoke in a hard voice. “But enough people have died. Make sure you’re not the next one.” And Cade took off after Laszlo.
Laszlo went left; Cade took the elevator. He hit the bottom for the lobby floor and stepped in. In no time, he was stepping out again. He walked over to the front desk. “A man just shot up guest room 804. He’s taken off down the stair exit. A friend of ours is after him, but I suggest you call security and see if you can find any sign of him. Oh, and that room door will need to be fixed.”
Cade took off out the front door, looking for Laszlo. He found him standing in the parking lot, his hands on his hips, staring down the highway. Cade raced up to him. “Any sign of him?”
“He wasn’t alone. He had a getaway vehicle.”
“Please don’t tell me it was a Lexus?”
Laszlo shook his head. “No. It wasn’t. It was just a small hatchback. But they’re gone.”
“Did you get a chance to see the license plate?”
Laszlo shook his head. “No. For all I know, he called an Uber to wait for him.”
“At least we saved one life today,” Cade said quietly. “Let the police handle the rest of this one. But considering what we just went through, I don’t want to leave Faith alone.”
Laszlo shook his head. “No, we won’t do that. Let’s get her under protection right now.”
Chapter 11
When the doorbell rang, she frowned as she walked toward it. “The least you could do is call and let me know you were coming,” she called out.
She threw the door open. And froze. It wasn’t Cade. It was a stranger with a hard look to his gaze.
“Hello,” the man said, standing outside her door. “My name is Erick. I’m a friend of Cade’s.”
“What are you doing here?” she said, fear entering her voice. “And why should I believe you?”
He pulled up his phone and held it for her to see. She read Erick, go to Faith’s house immediately until I get there.
She gasped. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”
“We think there was an attemp
t on the life of the second man from the coffee house this morning,” he said quietly.
She watched as he looked from one side to the other. “But I would feel better talking about this inside, not out here in the hall.”
“And I’d feel a lot better if Cade had called me and told me that you were coming.”
“I’m sure he did. Have you checked your phone lately?”
She frowned. She’d put her phone on Silent while she did her yoga routine. “Just a minute.” She shut and locked her door, then raced to grab her phone off the living room coffee table and, sure enough, found a text from Cade. Sending Erick to watch over you until I get there. Let him in. He’s a good guy.
She walked back to the door, as she clicked on another text to see an image come up. It was a picture of Erick. She unlocked the door and let him in. “It’s a good thing Cade sent a photo ID.”
“It’s standard protocol when we’re not sure who’ll be on the other side of the door.”
“Now tell me what happened,” she demanded, leading the way into the living room.
He explained what he knew. “And that’s the last Laszlo said. I know Cade is on his way, but it’s rush hour.”
“And Laszlo?”
“He’s headed to the hospital to check on Badger, a friend of ours who’s just had surgery. We’re short on men, so Laszlo is doing a quick check to make sure everybody’s okay.”
“Either you need to hire more men or you need to collect everyone into one spot,” she said, only half joking. “I’m tempted to grab some extra flights and work these next couple days.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” he said quietly. He did a quick walk-through of the small apartment and frowned at the door.
As he opened his mouth, she held up her hand. “Cade already told me the security is crap.”
He nodded. “It doesn’t matter how good the security is. If someone is intent on getting in, they’ll get in.”
She sat down, her face paling. “I can’t believe this is all happening.”
“You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“If it hadn’t been for the parking lot incident today, I would have said you were all nuts,” she admitted. “I saw Cade in Norway over a couple days, but that’s it.”
“And you had coffee with him this morning at the coffee shop?”
“Sure, and? What about it? Unless this guy has hacked Cade’s phone, how would he know anything about me?”
Erick looked at her thoughtfully. “That’s an interesting thought. I’m not sure what it would take for somebody who’s not in the industry or in law enforcement to get a copy of them.”
“You mean, copies of Cade’s phone records to see that he contacted my cell phone?”
Erick nodded. “We have some information coming through and need hackers to give us a hand on that. So maybe they can check our phones as well.”
“What do you mean, information coming?” she asked.
“I mean, the man almost killed today had a folder with copies of communications he had with a middleman who’d set up this job for him. We are hoping, if we can follow that up, we’ll get somewhere.”
“So you can catch the man who ran down Laszlo’s father? Or is this someone who was hired to do all these murders?”
“That I can’t tell you.” He smiled and changed the topic. “Cade said something about Chinese?”
She snorted at his quick change of subjects. “Like I can think about food right now.”
“You need to. Because at any point you might need to run.”
She stopped and stared at him. “Run?” she asked in shock. “You don’t mean that literally, do you?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.” He thought about it, then nodded. “I definitely do. I suggest you pack a bag. Make it enough for a couple days. You shouldn’t stay here. This guy knows you live in this apartment building. I’m sure Cade is considering options right now.”
“I can’t just pack up my life and move,” she protested, but already she was standing, walking to her bedroom. “I can pack an overnight bag, but it has to be temporary. I’ve got to go to work in a couple days.”
“Going to work is one thing. I can see why that might be what you want to do, but we’ll have to take a pause and consider if that’s the best thing to do.”
“Are you considering I might be in danger from my coworkers?”
“Not necessarily but you are connected to a lot of people in your work. And what we don’t want to do is put other people in danger because of you.”
She stared at him wordlessly and entered her bedroom. There she took out her regular flight bag and packed for a few days. Her mind was almost numb, her fingers working automatically, doing something she’d done many times before. Thank heavens. Because if she required her brain to get into gear right now, nothing would get done.
When she had her bag packed, she carried it out to the living room to find Erick had a Chinese food take-out menu in his hand.
“Where did you find that?” she asked suspiciously.
Looking apologetic, he pointed to the mail she’d dropped on the coffee table. “From there.”
She nodded. “Oh.”
He chuckled. “Honest, I’m one of the good guys.”
She rubbed her tired face. “I don’t know who or what you are, and I don’t know who or what Cade is. All I know is, I went to Norway to be at my best friend’s bedside and ended up in hell.” She glanced at him. “Maybe you could call the hospital for me while you’re here?”
Agreeably he nodded, pulled out his phone and sent a text. Then sat down and looked at the take-out menu. His phone rang moments later.
She sat down beside him and asked, “How do you know the hospital number by heart?”
“I don’t. I’m talking to Laszlo. Seeing if he has an update.”
The conversation was a whole lot longer than she thought it would be. But there was very little change in the inflection of Erick’s voice. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She waited quietly until he was done; then she said, “And?”
“Her condition has been upgraded slightly, as in she’s responding to stimulus, like moving her feet, moving her hand. They are hoping they can reduce the drug dosage again over the next couple days.”
She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she cried.
He hugged her back and laughed.
She sat back in the chair with her hand over her mouth. “Oh, my gosh! I’m so happy to hear that.” She settled back. “Of course Mary never said anything to me.”
“Do you trust Mary?”
She shrugged. “No. I can’t say I do. As much as I want to, her behavior over Elizabeth’s accident is very troubling. But I don’t know if it’s religious, simple negativity, or if she really did do something to hurt Elizabeth.”
“There is a big difference between actively killing somebody and doing something to cause their death. The latter could be as simple as recognizing an opportunity,” he said quietly. “As far as I understand, the hospital’s been given no instructions to withhold care.”
She smiled. “I have to admit it worries me. I’m afraid, if Elizabeth wakes up and goes into some kind of trauma, they won’t bring her back again.”
“Let’s just say, from what the detective has told us, there’s nothing like that in her file. Doesn’t mean Mary can’t change it, but, with Elizabeth’s steady progress, the doctors would get suspicious.”
“Right, and, of course, Mary is very private and doesn’t like any kind of intrusions.”
“That also doesn’t mean she wants her sister to live. Sending you away was within her rights, but it’s up to the doctors to keep Elizabeth alive the best they can.”
She nodded. “Right.”
Just then there was a knock on the door. Erick bolted to his feet and motioned for her to go to the bedroom. He walked to the front door and chuckled, calling out, “Faith, it’s Ca
de.” He opened the door, and Cade walked in, his arms full.
“I guess that’s why you didn’t text to say you were coming up?” Erick asked as he took the bags from him and headed to the kitchen.
Cade walked around the living room, took one look at Faith and smiled. “There you are.”
She raced into his arms, and he closed them around her gently.
“Honest, we’ll keep you safe.”
She squeezed him even tighter, then whispered, “Thank you.”
He gently disengaged himself. “Thank you for what? For sending Erick over or for bringing the Chinese food?”
She chuckled, took one look at the size of the bags, and her jaw dropped. “Are you serious? How many are we feeding?”
He gave her an injured look. “Well, Erick and I need to eat, unless you were planning on eating it all.”
She snorted, heading to the kitchen, Cade behind her. “I can’t begin to eat all this.”
“We never know. We might end up with company.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Who would that be?”
“Not necessarily anybody, but Talon is on his way back.”
“You heard from him?” Erick asked.
Cade nodded. “He called you but got voice mail. He left a message for me, saying he was coming back.”
“Any idea why?”
Cade nodded. “The tracker ended up at a truck stop. That’s when Talon realized it had been switched to a truck with an old lady driving.”
Erick whispered, “Shit. Of course it was.”
“How long ’til he gets in?”
“Probably another forty-five minutes.”
“Yeah, so he’ll definitely want food.”
“Not sure he’ll come here though.”
Feeling better, and knowing Cade was safe too, Faith wondered if that wasn’t partly the reason behind her reaction earlier. She got up and put on a new pot of coffee. She didn’t need any caffeine, as she was jittery enough, but she figured the men would like it.
When she turned around with plates in her hand, she found the men pulling out at least a half-dozen Chinese dishes from the to-go bags Cade had brought in. Something about smelling the aroma filling the kitchen woke up her hunger. “Five minutes ago I was sure I wouldn’t be able to eat. But now I smell all this and, like, … wow.”