Kasey’s gonna flip, he thought. He decided to leave it up to Mac to explain it to her later.
At Manny’s they managed to get Kites cleaned up enough, and Manny told him in no uncertain terms that if he pitched a bitch when the cops got there, he could never expect any consideration again.
“Plus,” Wolf said, holding up Kites’s tablet. “They’re going to be very interested in your little two credit card and an ID procedure. Is that how you’re getting all those numbers and security codes?”
“I ain’t saying another word.” Kites clammed up and settled back into the chair and let Freddie clean the residual blood from his nose.
He was true to his word when the marked unit arrived and the officer seemed very interested in the Cobra. Unfortunately, the injury to the suspect’s nose necessitated a call for a supervisor. A brief conversation ensued with Manny stepping out and smoothing things over with the cops. That guy seemed to know everybody and after a few minutes of discussion and cajoling, both Kites and Coats being re-handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car.
Manny handed Wolf back the cuffs and smiled. “Ya done good, Wolfman. I’ll have Sherman write you out a check.”
That was welcome news, although Wolf knew he couldn’t bask in his glories. He felt the pressure building to tie up any loose ends, like cleaning up Reno’s Hummer and figuring out how he was going to return it. The loaner car that the body shop had given them was still sitting in the parking lot as well, and Reno’s gym was too far for a long of a jog back here to get it once he’d dropped the Hummer off. He could hardly impose upon Reno to give him a ride back.
Looks like I’ll get that road work in after all, Wolf thought.
He decided to give Reno a heads-up about the return and dialed the cell number he’d given him. Reno answered on the first ring.
“What’s up?”
Wolf explained about the situation and Reno surprised him with his concern.
“Mac’s hurt? Is it serious?”
“Hard to say,” Wolf said. “Didn’t look too serious, but he’s going to need some stitches. I dropped him off at the ER so I need to figure how I can get your Hummer back to you.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Reno said. “Just drop it on by tomorrow at my gym. And you’re welcome to stop in for a workout, too, if you want.”
Wolf was amazed at how accommodating Reno was being.
Just a few weeks ago he was pointing a gun at us and trying to bully us in a casino, he thought.
But Wolf wasn’t about to look gift horse in the mouth, thanking Reno and saying that he’d see him tomorrow. It had not only bought him some time tonight, eliminating the need to find a full-service carwash that was open late but it was also a money-saver. This way he could wash the Hummer at Mac’s tomorrow himself.
Wolf was feeling satisfied at the day’s accomplishments when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the number and suddenly knew his run of luck had come to an end.
“Hey, Kase,” he said, answering it.
“I thought I told you not to call me that?” she said. Without giving him a chance to respond, she asked another question: “Where’s dad? I’ve been trying to call his cell for the past forty minutes and he’s not answering. Is he with you?”
Wolf reflected on the number of questions and the accusatory tone while he formulated the best way to explain the situation.
Break it to her gently, he thought. If I can.
“Well,” he said. “We made two arrests—”
She cut him off: “You had problems? Is that why he wanted me to run that gun? Where is he? Is he hurt?”
So much for gentility, he thought and went for a more direct approach. “Yes, we had some problems and it did involve that gun and Mac’s at the ER getting some stitches.”
“Stitches!” Her voice sounded like it was one decibel below a shriek. “I told him to stay in the car. And you were supposed to keep him from getting hurt. You were supposed to watch over him. This is all your fault.”
Wolf thought about saying, Tell me how you really feel, but decided it was better not to say anything and to let her vent. She demanded to know what hospital Mac was at, and Wolf told her.
She hung up.
Guess I’d better head over to the ER myself, he thought.
The Elegant Suites Hotel
Phoenix, Arizona
They stood side-by-side in the parking lot and Cummins watched as Zerbe flew the drone around the perimeter of the building again and again, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He was intently focused on the monitor and operated the controls with deft precision. He’d purchased the drone at the electronics shop and he’d been practicing for the better part of an hour after taking the aircraft out of the boxes. And he’d insisted that Cummins accompany him and at least familiarize himself with the basic controls but so far all he had him doing was acting as a timekeeper, recording the exact length of battery life flying time.
“Aren’t you getting tired of flying that stupid thing around in circles?” Cummins asked.
“Practice makes perfect,” Zerbe said. “Besides, once we get these set up, we can follow them at a distance. You won’t have to worry about taxing your nervous stomach or weak bladder.”
He emitted one of those irritating little laughs that Cummins had come to despise.
Cummins frowned. It was pretty low to be making light of another person’s afflictions. He thought about telling the sleaze bag about dyspepsia, the condition that caused his unexpected and sometimes excessive vomiting but decided not to say anything. It would be wasted on a smelly, sleazy creep like Zerbe, and he’d just use the knowledge for more inappropriate comments. It had almost been easier working with Eagan and his Viper team. At least they pretty much left him alone. Zerbe was always making little digs that got under Cummins’s skin.
The drone circled the lot one more time and then disappeared around the side of the building.
“Aren’t you supposed to be keeping that in sight?” Cummins asked. “Plus, it’s getting dark out. You could ram into something.”
“That’s why I have an infrared feature on the camera.” Zerbe held up the monitor and Cummins saw the clear image, just like he was looking through a pair of night-vision goggles.
It’s a wonder he can see anything wearing those dumb sunglasses, Cummins thought. But he’d never seen Zerbe without them, even in the helicopter that night as they flew away from the last fire fight.
“What’s the time?” Zerbe said. “How long we been flying?”
“Twenty-four minutes,” Cummins said, and thought, We haven’t been flying anywhere.
Zerbe smiled. “Watch this.”
He took his thumbs off the two miniature joy sticks then held up the monitor and Cummins saw the image flutter a bit and then the incessant buzzing became more audible once again as the drone descended, appearing from around the corner, hovering in the darkening sky like an oversized mosquito, and then zoomed right toward them. Cummins was worried it might fly into them but it sloped downward and hovered a few feet above the asphalt before dropping to the ground.
“It’s got an auto-return feature,” Zerbe said, the ashes from his cigarette fluttering down onto the controls. “Once the battery becomes depleted, it comes back automatically.”
“Big deal. I’m not impressed.”
“You don’t have to be. Just go pick it up. And be gentle about it.”
Cummins snorted in derision. “What for? It’s not like you paid your money for the damn thing.”
“No, but I don’t want to waste any more time having to go back and get another one to break in.” His smile stretched into a grin. “Now go fetch, boy.”
Cummins pursed his lips and glared the other man for a moment before heading over toward the downed drone.
“Why do I gotta do all the dirty work?” he muttered.
“You haven’t even seen dirty work.” Zerbe smiled. His smile broadened. “Besides, like I said before, you can use t
he exercise.”
St. Regis Hospital
Phoenix, Arizona
The Emergency Room waiting room was crowded but Wolf saw no signs of Kasey, which he took as a good sign. At least he wouldn’t have to endure any of her reproachful looks until later. The rows of chairs were arranged back-to-back and several television sets had been mounted on brackets descending from the ceiling. He went to the main desk where a pair of young Hispanic girls in blue and white uniforms sat behind an array of computer monitors.
“Do you have a patient named James McNamara in here?” he asked.
The younger of the two perked up and tapped some keys on the keyboard in front of her.
“How’s that spelled?” she asked.
Wolf recounted the letters and the girl’s fingers fluttered over the keys once more.
“Yes,” she said, “but he’s in back being treated right now.”
“I need to see him.”
The girl’s voice became strengthened with a tone of authority. “Are you family?”
Wolf was getting tired of this game and didn’t feel like playing twenty questions. But there was no sense becoming argumentative and getting tossed out by hospital security. Instead, he pulled the Bail Enforcement Officer’s badge off of his belt and held it up.
“Official business,” he said. “Mr. McNamara was the victim of a crime.”
He dropped his hand with the badge and clipped it back on his belt. Usually, people react to the sight of a badge without questioning its authenticity or even reading the printing on it. This girl was no exception.
“Right through those doors, officer,” she said, pointing to a set of sliding glass doors on the left side of the room. “The nurses will be able to direct you to his cuticle.”
Wolf nodded a thanks and went through the doors.
Inside the area expanded to a huge, circular room with a huge oval-shaped counter in the center of the room. The oval was ringed by a series of open, three-sided rooms, each with a floor to ceiling curtain where the fourth wall should have been. Most of them were standing open, but several of them were pulled closed. Wolf walked up to the nurse’s station and was about to inquire as to which room Mac was in when he saw Rodney Shemp stick his head out of the curtain of room number eight.
“May I help you, sir?” the nurse asked.
Wolf shook his head and held up the badge again, figuring there was enough distance between him and the nurse that she wouldn’t be able to read it anyway.
“Official business,” he said. “I’m here to see Mr. McNamara.”
The nurse’s eyebrows raised and she picked up the phone. Wolf continued on his way and Shemp stepped out into the corridor offering his hand. He was wearing a gray suit and blue tie. The handkerchief decorating the breast pocket of the jacket matched the tie.
“Hi, Rod,” Wolf said. “How’d you get here?”
“Kasey and I had dinner reservations.” A quick, nervous smile twitched his lips. “We were on the way when she, ah, called you about not being able to get hold of her dad.”
“Where’s she at?”
The curtain ripped open and Kasey stood there glaring at him. “She’s right here.”
She was dressed in a rather elegant black low-cut evening dress that exposed her bare shoulders and some of her cleavage. Her makeup looked flawless. Wolf had never seen her dressed up to this degree and was struck at how pretty she looked. Not wanting to stare, he smiled and nodded as politely as he could.
“How’s your dad doing?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” McNamara’s voice bellowed from within the cubicle.
He lay on a bed on rollers. It was elevated to an oblique angle and a green cloth was partially concealing Mac’s face. The cloth had a large hole in the center and a heavyset black woman stood on the right side of the bed up by his head and was working with a pair of shiny, stainless steel tweezers and a hook-like tool. A nurse who barely looked out of her teens stood on the other side of the bed holding some gauze.
“Hold still, please,” the black woman said.
McNamara grunted something and added in a normal voice, “Well step on in here, Steve. You can watch while this pretty gal stitches me up.”
There was a tray next to them with a hypodermic syringe, several bloody cotton balls, scissors, and a spool of what appeared to be black thread.
“Mr. McNamara,” the woman said. “You’re going to have to hold still.” She looked around. “I’m afraid we’re getting too many people in here.”
“Yes, doctor,” the nurse said. “Want me to get security?”
“Don’t bother,” Kasey said. “One of us will be leaving.” She glared at Wolf. “You go wait in the waiting room.”
Wolf took a breath and started to turn to go when McNamara yelled again. “Hey, Steve, don’t go. We gotta talk.”
“Sir, please don’t move,” the doctor said.
The nurse’s neck tightened and she glanced at the doctor.
“Out,” Kasey said. “He shouldn’t have to look at the person responsible for him being here.”
“He ain’t responsible for me getting—Being here,” McNamara said.
“You told me you were going to stay in the damn car,” Kasey said, turning back toward her father. “I’m sure you had to jump out to help him.”
“That ain’t so,” McNamara said. “It’s just the price of doing business.”
“I hope you realize you’re going to have an ugly scar,” she said.
“Badge of honor,” McNamara said. “Besides, I already got a ton of ’em to go along with this new one.”
“You never used to get hurt,” Kasey said. “Not until he joined us.”
“I told you,” McNamara said. “The price of doing business. And hell, I used to have to pull my gun out a helluva a lot more before I had Steve backing me up.”
“All right,” the doctor said, stepping back a bit and staring at both Wolf and Kasey. “Am I going to have to call security here? You both need to leave.”
Shemp abruptly pushed through the curtain and placed a tentative hand on Kasey’s bare shoulder.
She’d been looking at her father and recoiled at the contact, apparently thinking it had been Wolf who’d touched her.
“Kase,” Shemp said. “Why don’t we step out and get some air?”
She took a deep breath and glared at him.
Shemp dropped his hand from her shoulder and stood mute.
No question as to who’s going to get the top position in that relationship, Wolf thought.
He felt like smirking but didn’t. The fact of the matter was that he kind of liked Rod, or Shemp, as Mac always called him. The guy had always been nice to Wolf and had even looked into his arrest and conviction at Mac’s behest. He knew for a fact that McNamara had never paid Shemp for that, either.
“I’ll have you know that you ruined our dinner date,” Kasey said over her shoulder toward her father. “I hope you’re happy.”
That probably made his night, Wolf thought.
He kept silent, not wanting to voice how much Mac disapproved of his daughter’s beau, but McNamara said it for him.
“You talking to me?” McNamara asked.
“Yes, I am,” Kasey said.
“Well, hell,” he said, chuckling. “Looks I accomplished something good tonight, after all.”
“Sir,” the doctor said. “If you’re not going to hold still I’ll have a couple of nurses come in and hold you down.”
“Make sure they’re as pretty as this one,” McNamara said, gesturing toward the forlorn nurse by his side.
She glanced at the doctor, who said, “Oh, they’ll be pretty, all right. Pretty big and pretty burly. Now will you please settle down?”
“He’ll settle down, all right,” Kasey said. “Because we’re leaving. We had reservations at Charlie’s Steakhouse which I’m sure have been cancelled by now.”
“Charlie’s,” McNamara said. “I love that place. Maybe we’ll join you after
I get outta here.”
“Don’t you dare show up there,” Kasey said.
Shemp tentatively reached out and touched her upper arm. She shook him off.
“Hey, who’s watching Chad?” McNamara asked.
“I got a sitter,” Kasey said. “You certainly weren’t available.” Turning, she shot Wolf a final mean glance and then brushed past him, her high heels clicking on the tiled floor. “Steve can give you a ride home.”
Shemp stood there looking from Mac to Wolf and back again. “Sorry, Mr. McNamara. I hope you—”
“Come on,” Kasey practically shouted. “Let’s see if we can get our reservations switched to tomorrow night.”
Shemp’s mouth settled somewhere between a smile and a neutral expression before he nodded to Wolf and hurried out of the cubicle.
McNamara shook his head and snorted. “Maybe it they’re still together next Christmas, I’ll look into buying him a pair of damn balls.”
For a moment all was quiet and then Wolf looked at the doctor and said, “I’d like to stay, if it’s all right.”
The doctor rolled her eyes and turned back toward McNamara.
“If you can just lie still for a few more minutes,” she said. “I should be finished and you can both leave.”
“I promise, ma’am,” McNamara said, motioning for Wolf to step around to the other side of the bed. When he spoke again his voice was hardly above a whisper.
“And I’m real sorry about the way she acted, doctor,” McNamara said. “She’s my daughter, and, well, you know how it is. You got kids?”
“That’s all right, sir.” Her face seemed intent on the task.
“Apologies to you, too,” McNamara said to the nurse and then to Wolf: “In fact, apologies all around. Sorry Steve.”
“No problem,” Wolf said.
“Just how in the hell did she find out I was in here?”
Wolf didn’t want to say that it was he who’d told her, but the answer was too obvious. Instead, he figured a wisecrack might break the tension a little.
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