Next Exit, Quarter Mile

by CW Browning

  “Dutch was working for Dominic,” Viper finally said.

  “Dominic!” Lani exclaimed.

  “Dominic uses high-speed, precision drivers to move products up and down the Eastern seaboard,” Viper continued slowly. “I believe Dutch overheard something, or maybe saw something, that made him question exactly what it was that he was transporting.”

  Lani stared at her.

  “What was it?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper.

  “Bomb parts,” Viper answered, uncrossing her arms and straightening up.

  Lani's mouth dropped open.

  “Bomb parts?!”

  “Yes.” Viper turned and began walking again through the sea of rotting metal and fiberglass. Lani fell into step beside her automatically, stunned. “Dominic is working with a Mexican Cartel, smuggling products. For the past few months, those products have included bomb parts.”

  “For what?”

  Viper glanced at Lani and Lani shuddered.

  “Oh my God,” she breathed. “Dutch would have been furious.”

  “So furious that he took the last one he was supposed to deliver,” Viper told her. “Whether or not he knew exactly what it was, I don't know.”

  “What is it, exactly?” Lani demanded, stopping and facing her.

  “A trigger, the most important part of the bomb. They're desperate to get it back.”

  Lani stared at her, her lips pressed together in a grim line, trying to process the information.

  “Why did they kill Dutch?” she finally asked. “They had to have known he was the only one who could lead them to it.”

  “I don't think they knew he had it,” Viper answered. “His usefulness was over. No loose ends.”

  “His...usefulness?” Lani exploded. “You mean to tell me, Dominic and Tito killed my brother because they were finished using him?”

  “Yes.”

  “What kind of monsters are they?!” Lani cried, tears shimmering in her eyes.

  “The kind that do business with cartels and move bomb components around the country,” Viper said dryly. “The kind that ransack your house looking for the piece they lost.”

  “Wait...ransack my house?!” Lani's voice hit a pitch that made Viper inwardly wince.

  “Yes. I was there before I came up here. Your house is trashed.”

  “Bastards! I'm going to kill them!”

  “No, you're not,” Viper said firmly. “You're going to help me find the trigger Dutch took from them, and then you'll leave them to me.”

  “Like hell I will!” Lani shot back. “They killed my family!”

  “And I will make them pay,” Viper responded coldly, “not you.”

  Something in her tone seemed to cut through Lani's anger and she stopped suddenly, staring hard at Alina.

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  When Viper didn't answer, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair absently.

  “I can't believe this is happening,” she muttered. “This is a nightmare. I don't know what to do, or where to go. I don't know who I can trust.”

  “Me.”

  “You?”

  Viper's lips curved faintly into a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

  “Yes, me,” she said. “I'm the best weapon you've got, trust me.”

  “Why do you call yourself a weapon?”

  “Because I am,” Viper replied. “John knows. It's why he told you to trust me. Now I'm telling you. You're out of options. You have to let me handle it.”

  Lani stared at her for a beat, then turned and began pacing impatiently, muttering to herself while Viper watched dispassionately.

  “What are you going to do with this...trigger, or whatever it is,” Lani asked, pausing to look at her.

  “Neutralize it, then use it to get to the person or persons in charge.”

  “You don't think those people are Dominic and Tito?”

  “No. This is far too complicated for them. Someone else is in charge.”

  Lani resumed her pacing and Viper lapsed back into silence, watching.

  “What happens if they find out I have it?” Lani stopped again a few moments later.

  “They'll kill you.”

  Lani muttered a few choice words that made Viper's lips twitch despite herself, and then looked at Alina.

  “You don't work with the FBI,” she told her bluntly. “There's no way you work with law enforcement. Dutch hated cops. He could spot one a thousand yards away. So who the hell are you?”

  Viper stared back at her, her mask concealing her thoughts. She didn't answer for a long moment, considering her words carefully.

  “A friend,” she finally answered slowly, “a friend who can make this go away for you.”

  “Why?” Lani asked. “Why do you care?”

  “Because I can't allow them to win.”

  Lani continued staring at her for a long moment before finally giving in.

  “There's only one place Dutch knew I would look,” she said, turning to cut through the row of decaying cars to the right. “If it's here, it's in the 442.”

  Viper turned to follow her, her chest tightening.

  “442?” she repeated.

  “The Cutlass 442,” Lani said over her shoulder. “I've always wanted one. Dutch promised...” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “Well, it doesn't matter now.”

  “I remember,” Alina murmured.

  They walked through the junkyard in silence after that, Lani leading the way through the maze of cars until they stopped before the shell of a Cutlass 442. The windshield and windows were long gone, and the tires had sunk into the ground until the wheel wells were only a couple inches above dirt.

  “I used to beg Dutch to restore this for me,” Lani told her, leaning down and glancing inside, “but it was rotten when we first found it. It didn't stop me from spending hours playing in it, though.”

  Viper eyed the carcass doubtfully, taking in the decay, and shook her head.

  “Damn shame,” she murmured, moving around to the trunk. It was sealed closed with years of rust and there was no sign of someone having tried to open it recently. She circled around to the other side and looked at Lani over the roof. “Any thoughts as to where he might have stashed it?” she asked conversationally.

  Lani grimaced.

  “None,” she answered, leaning down and looking into the window again. “The door on this side is rusted shut and won't open. How about your side?”

  “Same,” Viper said, leaning into the windowless hole in the passenger side.

  A putrid odor of mold and mud assaulted her and she wrinkled her nose in reaction. Reaching out, she banged on the dash above the glove compartment and the door popped open. It was empty inside, barring layers of grime and what looked like a rat’s tail. Closer inspection revealed an earthworm and she watched as it wriggled through a rusted hole in the back, disappearing into the shell. Nature was reclaiming its space.

  “We're gonna have to get dirty, aren't we?” Lani sighed, sticking her torso into the driver side and glancing into the open glove box. She looked into the backseat and visibly shuddered. “Ugh.”

  Viper ran her eyes over the dash and the standard transmission box on the floor. The shifter was gone, a jagged hole where it once attached.

  “I'll take the shifter box,” she told Lani, reaching into a side pocket of her black cargo pants and pulling out the pair of black leather gloves she always carried. “Start with the driver seat. Maybe we'll get lucky and it will be in the front.”

  “I can't imagine Dutch would have climbed into the back,” Lani said, reaching down and tugging on the seat. “At least, I hope he didn't, because I'm not getting back there.”

  “Let's hope we don't have to,” Viper murmured, pulling on her gloves.

  She watched as Lani slid one hand under the front of the seat and gripped the back of the cracked and torn leather seat with the other hand. She braced herself and gave a mighty tug. The seat held for a second
before there was a ripping sound and the Cutlass shell shuddered. The seat tore away from the floor and Lani pushed it onto its back, exposing the underneath of the seat. Impressed, Viper ducked her torso into the car and reached out to slide a hand into the shifter box while Lani poked around in the hollowed out seat. After a few minutes, they looked at each other and came up empty-headed.

  “What if I'm wrong and he didn't put it here?” Lani asked over the roof, a black streak across her forehead.

  “Let's make sure he didn't before we worry about that,” Alina replied, glancing around the deserted sea of cars out of habit. As far as she could tell, they were still alone in the graveyard of forgotten cars.

  “I really don't want to climb in there,” Lani said, shaking her head. “Come on, Dutch. Show me where you put the damn thing,” she added, tilting her head toward the sky. “A little help down here, please.”

  Viper resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead turned her attention back to the Cutlass. She considered it thoughtfully for a long moment. Where would she put a package she didn't want found on this rotting wreck? She tilted her head and ran her eyes over the old car, starting at the front bumper and moving over the hood to front wheel. There, she paused. Reaching into her inside jacket pocket, Viper pulled out her Maglite. She bent down and shone the bright light into the wheel well above the tire. She started as something moved deep in the well, slithering out of the light and down the inside of the old tire. Viper examined inside the wheel well, saw that beyond the snake it was empty, and straightened back up.

  Lani had inserted her torso back into the car and was poking around under the steering wheel. Viper moved to the back tire on her side and bent down to shine the light into that wheel well.

  “Got it!” she announced as her light illuminated a black plastic bag tucked above the tire.

  “Ooof!” followed a thud from inside the car as Lani bumped her head on the steering wheel.

  “What? Where?” Lani extricated herself from the Cutlass and looked at Alina over the roof.

  “Here.”

  Lani circled the trunk and watched as she pulled the plastic bag out of the wheel well. Viper felt an oblong box through the plastic. It was fairly light, but the box was hard, as if it was made from wood. She carefully moved to set it on the trunk and opened the bag. Inside the plastic lay a wooden box. It was about six inches long and had a cheap brass clasp holding it closed.

  “Are you going to take it out?” Lani whispered, looking over her shoulder into the bag.

  “Why are you whispering?” Viper whispered back.

  “Because it's a bomb trigger.”

  Viper chuckled despite herself.

  “It's stable,” she told her, reaching into the bag and pulling out the box. “They couldn't have transported it otherwise.”

  She set the box on the rusted old trunk of the 442 and sent a sharp look around the junkyard. Seeing nothing but a sea of cars, Viper reached out and undid the clasp, opening the box.

  Both women stared at the two glass vials nestled inside on a deep red velvet lining. The liquid inside one was clear while the other had a green tinge to it.

  “What is it?” Lani asked, staring at them.

  Viper's lips pressed together briefly before she closed the box with snap and redid the clasp.

  “A chemical trigger,” she said shortly.

  “A chemical....” Lani stared at her. “You mean, chemical like...biochemical? Like Agent Orange chemical?”

  “Something like that,” Viper murmured, picking up the box and zipping it into the outside pocket of her jacket.

  “Oh my GOD!” Lani fell back a step, the blood draining from her face. “You mean the bomb is a chemical weapon?”

  “I'm not sure yet. I don't know if this is for the bomb or something else. Either way, it's not good.”

  Lani stared at her, processing the information as the breeze lifted the black plastic bag off the trunk and carried it a few feet away before letting it fall to the ground.

  “That's what this is all about?” she asked, dazed. “It was bad enough when I thought you meant a normal bomb, like the ones terrorists use in train stations in Europe, but this is a thousand times worse!”

  “Yes.”

  Viper took Lani's arm and turned, guiding her away from the Cutlass and back towards their Jeeps in the distance.

  “But...but how?” Lani demanded. “How did they get here? And why here? And why Dutch?”

  “All questions I will find the answers to,” Viper promised grimly, “but in the meantime, you can't mention this to anyone. Understand?”

  “What? Oh! Yes. Yes, of course,” Lani said, nodding. “I get it now, why they'll come after me. My God, Dutch, what did you do?”

  Alina hesitated for a split second, then stopped and turned to face Lani.

  “He tried to stop it,” she told her firmly. “He tried to make a difference. No matter what happens, you hold on to that.”

  Lani stared at her mutely for a long moment, then nodded.

  “He did,” she agreed.

  They began walking again and suddenly Lani gave a short little laugh.

  “Leave it to my brother to find a way to royally screw up their plan and then die, leaving them no idea what he did,” she muttered.

  Viper's lips twitched.

  “He certainly did that,” she conceded. “But it won't take them long to piece it all together. It was easy enough for me to do it. Do you have somewhere you can go? Somewhere out of state?”

  Lani glanced at her.

  “I have an aunt who lives in Vermont,” she said after a moment. “She couldn't come down for the funeral because she runs a General Store and two of her employees were on vacation. She called and said to come visit if I needed a change of scenery.”

  “Go,” Viper instructed. “Go straight there. Don't tell her anything, and don't tell anyone where you went. When this is all over, you can tell people you just needed to get away and be with family.”

  “I don't run away from fights,” Lani objected with a scowl.

  “You will from this one,” Viper said, unperturbed. “You can't win it, but I can.”

  Lani stopped next to her Jeep and looked at her.

  “Did they really trash my house?” she asked. Alina nodded and she scowled again. “I can't just leave. I have to get some clothes, take care of the house and lock it up. Hell, I have to let work know I'm going out of town...”

  “Call them from the road,” Alina interrupted. “Stop and get clothes on the way there. You can't go back to that house right now. Do you have a spare key? I'll take care of locking it up for you.”

  “How come you can go there and I can't?” Lani demanded.

  “Because I'll be ready for them if they're waiting,” Viper muttered.

  Lani repressed a sudden shudder at the look in the other woman's eyes. She turned and opened the door of her Jeep quickly.

  “I'll give you my key,” she said, reaching into the glove box and pulling out her keys. She detached a house key from the ring. “I can get it back from you when you say it’s safe to come back.”

  Alina nodded and accepted the key from her.

  “Remember, leave here and go straight to your aunt,” she said. “No detours. When you call work, don't tell them where you're going. Just tell them you won't be in for a few days.”

  Lani nodded and climbed into the Jeep. She paused with her hand on the door, looking at Alina.

  “Why are you helping me?” she asked.

  Alina studied her for a moment, her lips twisted faintly.

  “Because John asked me to before his accident and I refused,” she replied softly. “He wanted to take care of you. I'm doing it for him.”

  “Any change yet?” Lani asked.

  “He woke up this morning,” Alina said, watching as Lani's face broke into a huge smile.

  “That's wonderful!” she exclaimed. “He's going to be alright!”

  “There's still a long r
oad ahead, but it's looking good.” Viper pushed the Jeep door closed and looked at Lani through the open window. “Now, go! Let me handle this.”

  Lani nodded and started the engine. She put it in gear, then hit the brake, sticking her head out the window.

  “Wait! You need to know how to reach me!”

  Viper paused and turned her head, a strange, faint smile on her lips.

  “Don't worry. I'll find you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Stephanie glanced at her watch, then rubbed her eyes with a yawn. It was five in the evening and she had just finished going through all the files Blake emailed her. It took her all afternoon and, even now, she was still unsure of what, exactly, they were dealing with. That was through no fault of his; Blake's notes were very thorough. Between the FBI and the DEA's resources, they were able to uncover a confirmed network running from Miami all the way to Boston. The Casa Reino Cartel had been running product up the Eastern seaboard since last fall, when they attempted to set up shop in New Jersey. Although it was all unofficial and nothing had been mentioned to her, Stephanie was well aware that Alina and/or Damon were responsible for strongly discouraging the Mexican Cartel. She was vague on the details, but then she had never tried to discover more than she was told at the time. She wasn't sure she wanted to know how they spooked a Cartel as vicious and ruthless as the Casa Reinos into changing their minds about planting roots in New Jersey.

  Stephanie yawned again and got up from her seat at the dining room table to pad barefoot into the kitchen. Opening the freezer, she pulled out a pizza and set it on the counter. She smiled faintly as she turned on the oven. Alina would have a coronary if she saw the ingredient list on the side of the box containing Stephanie's dinner. If she admitted nothing else about her best friend's new life-style, she at least acknowledged that Alina took very good care of herself. Her body was healthier now than it ever was when they were younger.

  The smile faded from her face and Stephanie turned to go back into the dining room, picking up her forgotten glass of soda as she stared down at her open laptop and the array of hand-drawn maps she made as she went through the information Blake sent her. If he was right, and there was no reason to doubt that he was, the Cartel was running product up and down the coast with very fast, precision drivers. According to the reports, they couldn't get eyes on any of them. By the time the radar went off, the drivers were long gone. They moved at night, with no lights and no fear. They had, however, left trails behind.