Nick wiped his stiletto blade on Calhoun’s jacket. He crouched next to his victim. “Hi Dom. In one way this is your lucky day. You only came after me instead of my wife and daughter. Secondly, I wasn’t called in by one of your girls because you retaliated against them. Either of those acts would have earned you the repulsive reward of having your dick cut off and shoved down your throat while you were still alive. The unlucky part of your day is you did come after me instead of simply resuming your pimp duties. First off. How did you know where to find me?”
Calhoun twisted pleadingly toward Nick. “I’m sorry! I…I made a mistake. Don’t do this! I have money! You can have it all! I overheard that bitch from the FBI griping about you living the high life at the Wolf Lodge at Grand Mound loud enough for the whole precinct to hear. It was like she wanted me to know. Did she set me up for this?”
He groaned, hugging himself tighter as his pleas caused sharper pains.
“Nope. She set me up for this,” Nick replied. “Give me your account numbers, and I’ll check what you have on line.”
“Sure!” Calhoun turned slightly with hope. “Get me to a hospital. I…I’ll give you everything.”
“Gee, Dom, I thought you were smarter than that. See, the way this works is you give me access to your accounts so I can transfer all your money into my accounts, or I do this until you bleed out.”
Nick stabbed the stiletto into Calhoun’s upper arm, watching and listening to the resulting horrified movements and cries. “I figure I can probably stab you hundreds of times before you bleed out, but that’s up to you for now. See, I figure I should be compensated for having to drag you and your dead buddies deeper into the bush for a shallow burial. I’d give it to your girls, but I’m not inclined to reward bad behavior.”
When Calhoun continued to sob and cry while writhing around trying to find a position without pain, Nick plunged the stiletto in again through Calhoun’s calf. That was enough prompting to get Calhoun’s complete cooperation. As he stated, Nick checked accessibility to Calhoun’s accounts, both locally and abroad. When he was certain he had the correct passwords, and account numbers, Nick slit Calhoun’s throat. He then jogged along the tracks until he could retrieve his pack. After putting on his rain slicker and tying the hood in place, Nick put on his pack, and returned to his victims.
He dragged each one deeper into the woods on the left to a densely wooded spot with soft and loose ground surrounding the trees. With his folding shovel, Nick dug three shallow graves, stripped his would be attackers of everything on their person except clothing, and planted them in the graves. With the bodies covered completely, Nick concentrated on finding rocks and dead wood to cover the ground over the graves, lastly adding leafed branches. The rain pounded down as Nick finished his task, and shouldered his pack with Uzis and personal effects.
Gus answered on the first ring. “Payaso the pawn, how may I help you?”
“Drive to the spot. I’ll be there shortly after you arrive. Bring some towels to cover the seat in. Did my absence draw much attention?”
“Just the usual complaints from the Bump and Dagger show. I bet you’d like to get dry, get comfy, write, and drink until nightfall wouldn’t you?”
“I assume that isn’t in the cards or you wouldn’t be tantalizing me with it, you prick.”
“Heh…heh,” Gus replied. “It looks like the indoor water park for Muerto today. No rest for the wicked.”
“There will have to be a slight delay in the water park mission. After I get dry clothes on we’ll drive the bad guys’ vehicles into Centralia and park them on the other side of town where there’s no street cams. Rachel will have to drive us back to the Lodge. You can leave with Calhoun’s car right away, drive across town, and park it a couple miles out of town toward Olympia. I’ll pick you up, and we’ll drive a couple miles further on. Rachel can swing by then, and pick us both up.”
“Who gets to tell the Bump about your car disposal plan?”
“I do. I’ll have to return the GMC to her before walking back out to get the minions’ mobile for my drive through Centralia. Don’t forget a garbage bag for my clothes, and our wipes and gloves for cleanup on the vehicles.”
“Get moving. I’ll be there soon.”
Forty-five minutes later. Rachel and Jean stopped to get Nick and Gus. “Oh look, Jean. It’s the infamous El Muerto and his sidekick Payaso. Whatever are they doing out here?”
Nick hung his head while allowing Deke to jump all over him as he got in the backseat with Gus. “No tongue, Deke. I already apologized for this late in the day operation. Gus and I were one minion short.”
“The Momster’s only kidding, Dad.” Jean peeked around the front seat where she and Rachel were the ones most noticeable in the GMC as per Nick’s direction. “So, where are all the bodies buried?”
“If you want me to ride the water park slides with you today, I advise caution on your choice of topics. I see what you mean about the Bump and Dagger show, Gus. Good description.”
Jean giggled. “The Bump and Dagger show. I like that, Uncle Gus.”
“You would,” Rachel said. “Does this end our Muerto hijinks for this vacation?”
Silence.
“Gus?”
“We haven’t discussed the FBI task force woman who told the pimp Calhoun where we were all staying,” Gus answered. “I’m sure Muerto is mulling her over in his mind since we still have signings to do in Seattle, and Great Kate will be in the city for a few more days winding down the task force loose ends.”
“Muerto! You can’t kill an FBI agent.”
Silence.
“Muerto!”
“You wouldn’t be so forgiving if our visitors had tried to kill you and Jean while Gus and I were in Seattle,” Nick muttered finally.
“Let’s go with that logic since this is about Jean and I. We’ll take votes from the two of most concern to you. The Momster votes no. Jean?”
Silence.
“Jean!”
Jean folded her arms over chest while staring straight ahead. “She’s an FBI agent, Mom. She’s supposed to protect people. Because she’s stupid, and Dad had to get her replaced with Grace and Tim, she told killers where to find us. I’m not voting. Let Dad decide. He knows stuff we don’t.”
“Jean’s right, Rachel,” Gus added. “Give Muerto a chance to consider this on his own. He knew to be watching for those cretins in case that FBI broad was as vindictive as he figured she was. He can’t help it he’s right all the time in the wrong way.”
“It’s my curse,” Nick pouted comically with hands hiding his face while Deke growled and pried under them with his nose. “I am doomed to see the worst in people and have them prove their low character true.”
“Cut the comedy act,” Rachel directed. “You win. Let’s enjoy the rest of our day and night. I feel like I’m about ready to pop. If my intuition is right, Quinn will be arriving pretty quickly after we get home. I’m going in the pool and float around like a beached whale, belly up.”
“Oh great… I’ll have to go into therapy for a year to get that word picture out of my mind.” Jean fended off the Momster’s grab for her ear with a yelp. “Hey… no pinching the ear. I’m going to look like Dumbo the Elephant by the time I’m twelve.”
* * *
Gus and Nick sipped their drinks in the cabana while Rachel and Tina swam in the pool. Jean had dumped Nick for the company of two girls near her own age.
“You’ve considered Calhoun and his buddies will be missed, and someone will be around to ask you questions, especially when their vehicles are found outside of Centralia, right?”
“I couldn’t do anything about the vehicles’ GPS systems, but hopefully law enforcement won’t be trying to track their travels as an afterthought. I stripped their phones, and busted them to pieces. I sent scans of their ID’s to Paul so he can be kept in the loop. He knows what Great Kate did. I’ll probably let him handle her behind the scenes. Without confessing to murdering
three thugs in cold blood, I can’t very well do anything in the open about Kate. I’ll let Grace and Tim know what she did, so they can steer clear of her in the future. We’ll leave it to the ‘regular federal authorities’ for now.”
“Good thinking,” Gus replied. “You can always tie that loose end later. She doesn’t pose a threat, does she?”
“I don’t know, Gus,” Nick admitted. “Although I suspected her to be that petty, even I was surprised when Calhoun and his boys showed. I made sure it was her that tipped him off before he died. We have a couple hundred grand more to play with too, but I’ll have to wait until I can transfer the money from his accounts to a neutral account somewhere. We’ll have time, but I’ll get it done in the next couple weeks. I doubt they’ll find those three any time soon though.”
“When we get home, I’m looking forward to the Muerto Matchmaker gig. I thought it was nuts to tangle with the Kaders again, but when I saw John’s face after you mentioned hooking him up with Cala, I figure it will be worth it. How many of those assholes do you think we’ll have to kill before they stop messing with her?”
“Who knows? Maybe two or three. I plan on staging this so John can be heroic, and maybe scare the crap out of the Kaders that do make trouble. Avoiding dead bodies with those psychos is anyone’s guess though. Man, this is nice, Gus. Since Dom came early, we should be able to do the remaining signings without any after action problems.”
“You do realize you just doomed us, right?”
“Payaso. You are the most negative creature on earth.”
“No, but I’m partnered with him.”
Chapter Fifteen
Death and Life
Cassie Sedwick met Nick and Gus’s limo. “Hi guys. Ready for another rollicking good time meeting with the public? I see you couldn’t talk Rachel, Jean, Tina, or even Deke the dog into coming along for this final chapter of Nick in the North.”
“Seattle’s a nice place to visit, but I believe we’ve been away from our home base long enough,” Nick replied after waving for the limo driver to go on. “We dropped our humans off for the Seattle tour, including the Argosy harbor tour. That’s about the only thing they haven’t done. As to my canine pal, he and I jogged miles into the woods early this morning. Deke was snoring with a beef bone next to him when we left, the slacker. You seem happy this morning, Cass.”
“That’s the trouble with you, Nick. You don’t stop to smell the roses. If you had, you’d know Assassin’s Folly is the number one book in the nation. The news you consulted on the Ripper case here in Seattle made headlines all over the world. Need I mention what such a bump does for your other novels?”
Heh…heh, Gus and I were a little busy tracking all inquiries made in regard to my three thug manure deposit in the Lodge woods, dear lady. “That is wonderful, Cass. You know me. I’m writing when I’m not running with Deke or entertaining Rachel and Jean while they whine about everything. Dark Interlude is progressing marvelously well with Diego and Jed completing a mission off the coast of Barbados with the lovely Fatima trying to sabotage their every move.”
“Don’t you dare kill Fatima!”
Nick sighed. “See Gus. This is what happens when you give agents manuscript updates. They begin thinking they’re writing the novel.”
“Please Nick?” Cassie made comical praying motions with clasped hands to Gus’s amusement while Nick turned away with arms folded across chest. “She’s made Diego more human than he has ever been. Fatima can join the crew. Make Diego win her over.”
“Please restrain yourself, my dear literary agent. These pleas are beneath you. Of course Fatima must die. Are you insane? She’s dueling with a cold blooded assassin without conscience. She will be used, abused, and tossed aside in a landfill.”
Cassie gasped, stunned for a moment. Then her brow furrowed. “I hate you.”
“I’ve been getting a lot of that lately.”
“I’m calling Rachel. She and I talked for an hour. Rachel loves what you’ve done with Fatima and Diego. It’s the first time she’s ever been excited about your writing. That means I’m not the only woman enthralled with the addition of Fatima. Women read. Although you have a nice percentage of women readers, the hint of a duplicitous female foil like Fatima, in a love/hate, no holds barred, passionate affair with Diego in Dark Interlude will triple your female fans. When Rachel hears you’re killing off Fatima, she’ll beat you within an inch of your Stephen King wannabe life. Just because the King kills off every damn character fans become attached to doesn’t mean you have to follow his sadistic ways.”
By that time in the rant, both Nick and Gus were expressing loud amused appreciation of Cassie’s upbraiding of Nick, especially the Rachel threat.
Damn, there goes my agent sparring. “You shouldn’t be speaking to my wife anyway. I’ll consider your input, but I better not be getting any more wife involvement threats. You know what happened to the wife in ‘The Shining’ when she messed with King’s writer character.”
“Okay, but I’m going to be very disappointed if you take the writer coward’s way out by using the shock card to stir reader emotions,” Cassie stated.
“Writer coward?” Nick put his arm around Cassie’s shoulders, guiding her toward the entrance. “I’ll think about letting Fatima live. You need to get a life though, Cass. You’re getting caught in the web of fantasy. I love this downtown corner store location. Was that why you had us get here so early? It worked out well for dropping the tour attendees off, but usually you want us to hang with the readers out here on the street.”
“I am addicted to Diego,” Cassie admitted. Hearing Gus snickering behind her, Cassie spun to face him, jabbing her finger in Gus’s chest. “Don’t be laughin’ at me, Gus Nason. I heard you sold your soul to the devil to keep your character Jed alive and straight in a recurring Diego role. You have no room to talk or laugh at all, buster!”
“Damn that Rachel! Can’t you shut off communication between the Bump and your professional life?”
“Sorry, Gus, but you already know I have no control over the Bump. Hey, Cass, did Rachel tell you Gus tagged her and Jean as the Bump and Dagger show?”
“Yes. Disgraceful.” Cassie tried to maintain a straight face and failed. “Come on. The crowd will be here soon. The early hour had to do with the store manager’s request. The weather’s in doubt for the day. He wants to begin the moment any line forms if that’s okay with you so we can keep the fans out of the rain.”
“Fine with us,” Nick replied, following Cassie into the store. “After all, this is our final signing date, so we’re set to have a good time. We better have coffee to help get this show on the road though.”
“Of course there is.” Cassie didn’t see Gus and Nick smiling at each other while flashing their flasks like two kids sneaking smokes in the school bathroom.
“Nick!”
Turning toward the sound, Nick saw Grace and Tim showing their ID badges to the store employee. “Gus, can you help Cass get everything in place while I talk with Wyatt and Calamity?”
“Sure. If you’re talking any longer than five minutes I’ll bring you your coffee loaded.”
“Thanks, brother. Hi kids. Gee, that’s swell of you two attending my book signing. Slow times in the US Marshals Office, huh?”
“Funny boy,” Grace said. “Tim and I wanted you to know if we’d heard about that dimwit Kate spewing your location we would have arrested her on the spot. I would have put that bitch in handcuffs and frog marched her ass to the nearest plane for extradition to DC. Mr. Gilbrech explained what happened and why we need to keep quiet about it.”
“I know you and Tim would have told me, especially after following orders not to clue me in on Didricson and Sadun.”
“I knew you weren’t going to let our Didricson screw-up go any time soon, but we hoped you wouldn’t think of us in the same light as Great Kate’s nearly painting a target on you inside a police station,” Tim replied.
“No, I don’t
which is why what she did will have to be filed away for future reference. How’s the law enforcement news on our three missing bad guys?”
“They’ve located the cars. The authorities suspect foul play,” Tim deadpanned for Nick’s amusement. “Nothing other than that though. You know how concerned normal people and police get when pimps and thugs disappear. One of his girls was asking about Calhoun named Ellen Santos. She claimed you kicked around Dominic, and she thought you were going to kill him. Since we do have records of Calhoun and his buddy Lansing staying in our care for a few days before being released, her allegations are falling on deaf ears.”
“We would have felt better though if Kate had already boarded a plane back to DC with the task force. I don’t know what’s holding them here. My task force contact said it’s procedural, but that makes no sense. The FBI wouldn’t want the expense of those suckers staying around this area for the hell of it,” Grace added. “I alerted your boss so in case there is something brewing we don’t know about, he can get in front of it.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that. I can take the heat though. Those three will remain missing for a long time I believe. If you can keep tabs on Great Kate that would help.”
“We will,” Tim said. “I’m glad you’re leaving for California. The pimp deal will drop over the cliff without you here. I hope your last signing is a blast, Nick. We’ll stop in and see you when we finally get home.”
“Good, because I want people I trust watching out for the woman and her kids in Santa Cruz until I can end that threat.”
“Count on it,” Grace stated. “Bye, Nick.”
Nick shook hands with them, imagining the matchmaking and killings he had ahead of him back home. Nick, old lad, you are one sick puppy.
* * *
“Thank God we had some Irish through the day, brother. I think we paced ourselves perfectly.” Gus put away his tablet, checking for anything he forgot when they moved to the backroom after the signing ended.
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