Blood Money (22 page)

Nicholas again opened his pad of
yellow-ruled paper and pulled a pen from his jacket pocket. “First,
we need to know how you contact Walter.”

“I call his cell phone.”

“From where?” Nicholas asked.

“Whatever phone I can get my hands on.”

“Did he not provide you with a cell?”

“He did,” Kelton said. “But I ditched it
last night, before we went on the run, fearing that you may have
been able to hear our conversations, or use it to track us.”

Nicholas scribbled this down. Kelton tried
to read his face as to whether this was a valid concern on his
part, but it was like reading a marble statue.

“So he has no way of contacting you?”
Nicholas said.

“Not anymore.”

“And the cell is the only number you have
for him.”

Kelton nodded.

Nicholas wrote this down. “And when was the
last time you contacted him.”

“Yesterday morning, from the bathroom of a
Chinese restaurant in Riverside.”

“Before you found the transmitter?”

“Yes.”

“When did you tell him you would call him
back?” Nicholas asked.

“As soon as I was certain we’d lost
you.”

“Did you have a deadline?”

“No.”

Nicholas again wrote on his paper. “And what
was the plan after you had lost us?”

“We would set up another transfer point and
I would deliver Jessica to him,” Kelton said.

“Did you have a specific meeting place?”

“No,” Kelton said. “We would have come up
with one at the time of our conversation.”

Nicholas set his pen down and caught
Kelton’s eyes. “Am I to assume that he does not know about your
little rendezvous with us, or have any other knowledge whatsoever
pertaining to where you might be right now? Nor does he know which
direction you were heading from Riverside, or any other specific
details from that point forward?”

Kelton shook his head. “Walter knows
nothing. He is completely in the dark right now.”

“Very well then,” Nicholas said. “You will
simply call Walter from here and tell him that you have lost your
tail. Let him know you are on your way to Las Vegas and that you
will call him again as soon as you get there to set up the
rendezvous point.”

Kelton was shaking his head.

“What?” Nicholas said.

“I can’t call from here.”

“Why not?”

“Because Walter will know something’s
amiss,” Kelton said. “I told him the next time I called him, it
would be from a pay phone, and I’m reasonably certain he’s got some
kind of number recognition device on his cell. He’ll see the number
I’m calling from. And I’m assuming your number wouldn’t show up,
while a pay phone would. He’d be suspicious.”

Nicholas looked pleased, as if Kelton had
just passed some test. “Those are all valid points, and I am glad
you brought them up.”

“Yeah, well I wouldn’t want some stupid
mistake getting us killed.”

“Nor would I,” Nicholas said. “What we will
do is take you to Baker and have you call Walter from there. After
we place a listening device on the line, of course, so we can hear
what you two are saying.”

“What about tracking the call?” Kelton said.
“Can’t you get a location on his cell when I call him?”

Nicholas shook his head. “We have tried
numerous times but have not had any success. Whatever setup he is
using is beyond our current ability to track, or monitor in any
way.”

“Really?”

“Certainly you were aware of this.”

Kelton shrugged. “Walter kept telling me
that, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. I always figured any cell
phone could be monitored in this day and age”

“Life for us would be ever so much easier if
that were the case,” Nicholas said. “But alas, it is not. Now, if
you do not have any other questions . . .”

Kelton shook his head. Jessica did the
same.

“Very well then,” Nicholas said. He pushed
his chair back and stood up. “Let us get started.”

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Kelton stood next to a pay phone outside of
The Mad Greek Cafe in Baker, California, waiting for the okay to
call Walter. Located 90 miles south of Las Vegas just off
Interstate 15, Baker claimed to have the largest thermometer in the
world. At 134 feet high, the thermometer was visible for miles in
any direction, and right now it read 107 degrees.

To Kelton, it felt more like 150. He was
practically sweating through his T-shirt, and not only from the
heat. He knew Nicholas would be listening to the impending
conversation, which meant that his and Jessica’s futures hung in
the balance of this single phone call.

Kelton looked at his watch and saw that it
was almost two o‘clock. He glanced at the Ford Taurus to his right
and saw Nicholas give him a thumbs-up through the partially-open
passenger’s window. Kelton nodded once, took a single deep breath,
then turned back to face the phone. He picked up the receiver and
dialed Walter’s cell phone.

The line was picked up on the second ring
and Walter said, “Hello?”

“It’s me. Kelton.”

“How are you doing, my friend?”

“Not too bad,” Kelton said. “What about
you?”

Walter paused for just a moment, then said,
“I can’t complain. Well, I could, but it wouldn’t do me any
good.”

“I hear you there.”

“I’m glad you finally had a chance to get in
touch,” Walter said. “I was starting to get a little worried.”

“Yeah, sorry it took so long,” Kelton said.
“I wanted to be certain we were alone before I made the call.”

“So, am I to assume that you lost your
tail?”

“Yes we did.”

“Very good,” Walter said. “And you’re sure
they have no idea where you are?”

“Positive. We had multiple sets of eyes
guaranteeing our freedom, and we’ve received a clean bill of health
from all parties involved.”

“That’s wonderful. Where are you heading
now?”

“I was thinking Vegas,” Kelton said. “We’ll
get a room, make sure everything still feels right, then give you a
call to set up a meeting.”

“Sounds good. I haven’t been to Sin City in
a few years. I wouldn’t mind checking it out again. Where are you
planning on staying?”

“I don’t know yet,” Kelton said. “We’ll
figure it out after we get there.”

“I’ll head down there as well,” Walter said.
“Get yourselves settled in, and give me a call at five o’clock
tonight. We’ll work out the details for the meet then.”

“All right,” Kelton said. “Talk to you
soon.” He hung up the phone, closed his eyes, took a relieved
breath, then started walking back towards the Taurus.

A tall, wiry man opened the driver’s door,
stepped out, and gestured for Kelton to take his place behind the
wheel.

Kelton flashed a smile to Jessica as he
climbed into the driver’s seat, then turned around to face the
small man in the back seat. The engine was running and the
air-conditioner was on the maximum setting but the heat was still
stifling.

Nicholas pulled a earpiece out of his right
ear and set it on his lap. “It sounded to me like everything went
all right. What did you think?”

“I think it went fine,” Kelton said.

“That is good to hear.”

Kelton nodded, satisfied. “So what now?”

“You have a room reserved for you at the
Round Table Hotel, under the name Philip Crawford.”

“What if they ask for identification?”

“Do not worry about that,” Nicholas said.
“Everything is already taken care of. Just check in and we will go
from there.”

“The room is bugged, I assume,” Kelton
said.

“Of course.”

“As is this vehicle?”

“It is equipped with sight, sound, and a
location transmitter,” Nicholas said.

“Plus I’m guessing you’ll have constant
surveillance on us, right?”

Nicholas nodded.

Kelton glanced at Jessica before returning
his gaze to Nicholas. This was all for her benefit, to make sure
she understood exactly what they were getting into.

“And here I thought we were friends,” Kelton
said. “But with all these surveillance measures, it almost makes me
think you don’t trust me.”

“Of course I trust you,” Nicholas said. “The
measures are simply precautionary. We just want to make sure that
we know every little detail of your conversations. It is for your
own protection, more than anything.”

Kelton laughed under his breath. He knew
that Nicholas was lying. And Nicholas knew that Kelton knew he was
lying. It was all part of the game. “Our protection, huh?”

“Yes,” Nicholas said. “That way, if
something goes wrong, we will know it was Walter’s doing, and not
yours.” He shot a glance at Jessica. “Now, if you do not mind, I am
going to leave you two alone.”

“Ah, come on, Nick,” Jessica said with a
smile. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us? It’s always been a
fantasy of mine to have a threesome with a government agent.”

Kelton barked out a laugh.

Nicholas looked at her impassively. “I
assume that is supposed to be a joke.”

Jessica just smiled at him.

“Yes,” Nicholas said, turning back to
Kelton. “Well, I will see you in Las Vegas. And try not to do
anything stupid between here and there.”

“We’ll try,” Jessica said. “But we can’t
promise anything.”

Nicholas ignored this and stepped out of the
car.

Kelton turned to Jessica. His smile was
threatening to split his face in two. “A threesome with a
government agent? That was classic.”

“I thought so too,” Jessica said, returning
his smile. “But I don’t think our friend Nick found it very
amusing.”

Kelton slipped the transmission into drive
and pulled out into the street. “Ah well, screw him if he can’t
take a joke.”

They drove in complete silence for the first
fifteen minutes until Jessica finally said, “This is stupid.”

“What is?”

“Us not talking,” Jessica said. “Just
because the car’s bugged doesn’t mean we should be acting like
we’re at a funeral.”

“Okay then, what do you want to talk
about?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jessica said.
“Anything.”

“Pick something.”

Jessica turned, looked at him with raised
eyebrows.

Kelton only saw her in his peripheral
vision, but he knew what she was thinking. “You want to talk about
my previous life, don’t you?”

“That depends,” Jessica said. “Are we really
going to give this a shot?”

“You mean us?”

Jessica nodded.

“I’d like to,” Kelton said.

“So would I.”

“Then I guess we are.”

“Well then, I think it’s something we need
to talk about,” Jessica said. “I don’t want any issues lingering
around, just waiting for an inopportune time to strike.”

“I agree,” Kelton said. “It should be in the
open. But right now, with all these ears listening in? I don’t know
if I’m comfortable with that.”

“Come on,” Jessica said. “You think those
guys give a rat’s ass about your personal life? They’re just
listening in to make sure we aren’t planning to betray them or
anything.” She looked at him and winked. “We aren’t, right?”

“Don’t even joke around about stuff like
that.” Kelton tried to inject some anger into his voice but was
miserably unsuccessful.

“Forget that,” Jessica said. “If we were
going to turn on them, we sure as hell wouldn’t be talking about it
when we know they’re listening. At least, not if we had any desire
to actually get away with it.”

“We’re not going to betray them,” Kelton
said. “We’re going to do exactly what they said.”

“Okay, just making sure,” Jessica said. She
cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “You hear that all
right, guys? We’re not planning on screwing you over. So just don’t
pay any attention to what Kelton has to say for the next few
minutes.”

She smiled, glanced over at him.

He sent a fake smile back her way.

“Happy now?” Jessica said.

“Not at all,” Kelton replied.

“Yeah right,” she shot back. “Now come on,
man, spill your guts. Convince me that you’ll be able to put your
past life behind you if we give this thing a shot.”

“I already told you, it’s behind me,” Kelton
said. “I hadn’t thought about it for years before you dragged it
out of me. I was completely over it.”

“You weren’t over it,” Jessica said. “You
just ignored it, that’s all. And the moment the feelings came back
around, you freaked out. Remember, on the bed?”

He nodded. Of course he remembered; how
could he forget?

“That’s what we need to talk about,” Jessica
said. “If you’re going to freak out every time we start getting
physical, then we might as well end this thing before it starts and
save us the trouble. Because it sure as hell isn’t going to
work.”

Kelton looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“How long have you been rehearsing that little statement?”

“Don’t change the subject, Kelton.”

“I wasn’t,” he said. “I was just stalling,
trying to figure out how to put my thoughts into words.”

Jessica laughed. “Well, no need for that.
Take your time, think it through. But I’m not going to let you off
the hook with this one. We need to talk about it before we get to
Vegas. I have a feeling we’re going to be busy once we’re
there.”

Kelton took a deep breath and stared at the
road ahead. After a couple miles of pavement had passed under their
wheels, he said, “You’re right. Earlier, I thought I had put it
behind me, but I really hadn’t. But now, I think I have.”

“What makes you say that?”

“It doesn’t hurt the way it used to,” Kelton
said, choosing his words carefully. “When I think back to that day
there’s no real emotional attachment. It doesn’t feel like it was
me that suffered through the experience, it feels like it happened
to someone else; some character in a movie I saw years ago. I don’t
know if enough time has passed that I can see things more
objectively now, or if I’ve just repressed the memories for so long
that I’ve fooled myself into thinking it truly didn’t happen to me,
but something has changed. I just didn’t realize it until I let it
out into the open.”