10 Ten Big Ones (14 page)

Teali, ' he said. 'Do I know you?'

'Stephanie Plum, ' I said. 'I'm a recovery agent for Vincent Plum

Bail Bonds. ' And click, the cuff was on his wrist.

'Hey. ' he said. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'

'You failed to show for a court hearing. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you in to get rescheduled. '

`I'm working. '

'You're leaving an hour early today, ' I told him.

'I gotta tell my boss. '

I snapped the second bracelet on him and gave him a nudge toward the door. 'We'll make sure your boss knows. '

'No, wait a minute. On second thought, I don't want anyone to know. This is embarrassing. Jeez, is everyone looking?'

'Not everyone, ' Lula said. 'I think there's a guy over by the popcorn counter who's not looking. '

'It's all a big mistake, anyway. I'm not the one who killed her rosebush. '

'I suppose it was the phantom leaker, ' Lula said.

'It was Grizwaldi's dog. He lifts his leg on that bush every day.

This is discrimination. I don't see Grizwaldi's dog getting hauled into court. Everybody knows he pisses on everything, but it's okay because he's a dog. It's not fair. '

`I see your point, ' Lula said. 'Not that it makes any difference.

We're still gonna cart your chunky ass off to jail. '

Pancek dug his heels in. 'No way. I'm not going to jail. '

'You're making a scene, ' I told him.

The mutants would never have stood for this, ' Lula said. Those mutants didn't put up with anything. '

I gave Pancek a yank forward and maneuvered him through the lobby, up to the exit door. I was talking to him all the way, trying to get him to cooperate. 'It's not like you're going to get locked away, '

I said. 'We have to bring you to the station to reschedule. That's just the way it's done. We'll get you bonded out again as soon as possible. '

I held the door open and nudged Pancek out the door, into the lot. Cars were at least ten rows deep, parked under the glare of the overhead security lights. I was parked five rows back.

Lula and I led Pancek through three rows of cars and stopped.

An SUV was idling in the aisle between parked cars. A silver compact was nose-to-nose with the SUV. A black guy in a silky white oversized warm-up suit was standing beside the SUV, talking to a white male dressed head to toe in Abercrombie & Fitch. Both men were late teens. From what I could see of the silver car, there was a couple in the back seat and a girl in the passenger-side front seat.

'We don't want to be seeing this, ' Lula said. 'Used to be you had to go looking for the dope, and now the dope comes to you. '

I called the Hamilton Police and told them they had a problem in the multiplex lot. Then I called the theater and told them to send security into the lot.

The guy in the silky suit and the kid kept talking. The silky suit was stoic and the white kid was agitated. The girl in the front passenger seat got out of the car. Impatient.

This isn't good, ' Lula said. 'She should never have got out of the car. These are gang guys. They got a philosophy about women makes Eminem sound like he's writing nursery rhymes. '

Three big guys in homey clothes, all wearing red scarves flying from pants pockets, got out of the SUV and did their I'm a big had gang member shuffle over to the negotiation. One of the big guys jabbed a finger into the Abercrombie & Fitch lad's chest and got into his face. The kid pushed back. The gang guy took out a gun and held it to the lad's head.

'Crap, ' Lula said on a sigh.

I looked over my shoulder, wondering what was taking security so long. Probably this happened all the time and no one wanted to come into the lot until the police arrived.

The girl's eyes were wide. Deer caught in the headlights. The remaining gang members turned on her, walking her backward, trapping her against Ranger's truck. Another gun was drawn. A knife appeared.

I pressed the panic button on the trucks remote and the truck alarm went off.

Everyone jumped.

The SUV guys piled into their car, backed up, and left the lot, burning rubber.

I did a double hit on the panic button, and the alarm went silent.

I turned to Lula and realized Pancek was missing. We'd forgotten to keep watch over Pancek. Worse than losing Pancek, he'd taken off wearing a sixty-dollar pair of cuffs.

'He can't have gone far. You take one side of the lot and I'll take the other, and we'll meet in the theater. '

There was the sound of a car engine coming to life in the second row. A car was gunned out of its parking space, and the car roared off toward the exit. I caught a glimpse of yellow hair on the guy behind the wheel.

'Guess we don't have to search the lot no more, ' Lula said. 'Bet it's hard to drive with those cuffs on. Think you should have cuffed him behind his back like the book says. '

'He didn't seem dangerous. I was trying to be nice to him. '

'See where that gets you. Never be nice to people. '

I unlocked the truck and climbed in. 'Maybe he's dumb enough to go home, ' I said to Lula. 'We'll check out his house. '

We pulled out of the lot, and I saw two Hamilton Township PD cars angled into the curb, lights flashing, half a block down. One was a squad car and the other was unmarked. The SUV was in front of the squad car. The occupants of the SUV were palms down on the SUV hood, getting searched.

I eased past the police cars and recognized Gus Chianni. He was standing back, letting the uniforms do their job. Most of the

Hamilton cops were strangers to me. I knew Chianni because he was one of Morelli's longtime drinking buddies.

I stopped and powered my window down. 'What's going on?' I asked Chianni.

'Speeding, ' he said, smiling. 'We were answering your call and ran across this SUV doing eighty in a twenty. '

'It's the car I called in. '

His smile widened. 'I figured. ' He took a step back and looked at Ranger's truck. 'You steal this?'

'Borrowed. '

'Bet Joe's happy about that. '

All the cops knew Rangers truck.

'Gotta go, ' I said. If Chianni was here, Morelli wasn't far behind.

The guy in the white silk warm-up suit turned his head sideways and stared at me. His face held no expression, but his eyes were like still pools in the river Styx. Black and bottomless and terrifying.

He gave a slight nod, as if to say he knew who I was. His right hand lifted off the SUV hood and he made the sign of a gun, thumb up, index finger extended. He mouthed the word bang at me.

I went out to the highway and drove in the opposite direction to what I would ordinarily take to get to the Burg.

This is bad, ' Lula said when we were on the highway. That guy recognized you. He knew who you were. And it wasn't because he saw you in the lot just now, either. None of them saw us in the lot.

That guy was no-shit evil, and he knew who you were. '

I pushed it aside and concentrated on driving. I didn't want the fear to grab hold of me. Careful was good. Scared was counterproductive. I went a couple miles out of my way, but I was able to reach Pancek's house without running into Morelli.

Pancek's house was dark, and his car wasn't in sight. I slowly drove around several blocks looking for the car. Big zero. He could have stashed the car in a friend's garage, and he could be hiding in his dark house, but I didn't think that was the case. I suspected he'd gone to someone he trusted and was trying to get out of the cuffs.

I took Lula home, and then I went back to Ranger's apartment on Haywood Street. I parked the truck on a side street and walked the distance to the underground garage. I looked up at the building. Again, floors five and six were lit. I remoted myself through the security gate and scurried across the garage to the elevator. Ranger's Turbo and the Porsche Cayenne were still in place. A black Ford Explorer was parked on the side wall, plus a black GMC Sonoma was parked next to the SUV.

I stepped into the elevator, remoted myself up to the seventh floor, and held my breath. The elevator doors opened to the austere foyer, and I jumped out.

I listened at the door to Ranger's apartment, didn't hear anything, held my breath, and let myself in. Everything seemed just as I'd left it. Very calm. Temperature a little on the cool side.

Dark like

Ranger. I flipped the lights on as I walked through the apartment. I said hello to Rex in the kitchen and set the grocery bags on the counter. I plugged my cell phone in to recharge, and I put the food away.

I wondered about floors five and six. For two nights now, they'd been lit. A variety of black cars were coming and going in the garage. So I was guessing floors five and six were offices. Although

I suppose they could also be apartments. Either way I needed to be careful where I parked the truck and careful when I moved about the building.

I made a peanut and olive sandwich and washed it down with one of Ranger's Coronas. I shuffled off to the bedroom, dropped most of my clothes on the floor, went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and smell Rangers soap, and then I crawled into bed.

It had been a really weird day. Not that I haven't had weird days before. Weird days were getting to feel normal. The disturbing part about this weird day was that there'd been steadily escalating indicators of personal danger. I'd done my best to stay sane, to keep my fear in check, but the fear was actually riding very close to the surface. I'd been involved in some scary situations in the past. This was the first time a contract to kill me had been put into motion.

eight

I opened my eyes and had a moment of panicky confusion. The room was dark and felt unfamiliar. The sheets were smooth and smelled like Ranger. And then it all clicked into focus. Again, I was the one who smelled like Ranger. I'd washed my hands and face before bed and the scent had lingered.

I switched the bedside light on and checked the time. It was almost eight a. M. My day hadn't even started, and already I was late. It was the bed, I decided. It was the best bed I'd ever slept in.

And, while I worried about Ranger returning, when I was in the apartment I felt safe from everything else. Ranger's apartment felt serene and secure.

I rolled out of bed and padded into the bathroom. It was Friday.

Saturday. Vinnie worked when he didn't have anything better to do.

We weren't sure when Lula worked. And I worked all the time.

Okay, so it wasn't always nine-to-five working. But it was always looking. Opportunities for capture popped up where you least expected at supermarkets, airports, shopping malls, and movie theaters.

And while on the subject of movie theaters, if I was a better bounty hunter I could probably take weekends off. When you botch a capture, like I did last night, you have to work twice as hard to make repairs. Pancek knew what I looked like now. And he knew

I was after him.

I'd had plenty of opportunity to buy shower gel yesterday, but

I'd conveniently forgotten. So now I had to once again use Rangers shower gel. What a hardship, eh? And then I had to dry off with one of his thick, superabsorbent towels. Another hardship I forced myself to endure. All right, I admit it, I was liking Rangers lifestyle.

And even more difficult to admit, I was liking the stolen intimacy.

I was going to have to say a lot of Hail Marys for that one.

And I was going to pay a price when Ranger returned. Even if I was long gone by the time he walked through his front door, even if I washed and ironed his sheets and replaced his shower gel, Ranger would know his home had been violated. The guy was a security expert. Probably there were cameras everywhere. Not in his apartment, I was guessing. But chances were good that there were cameras in the garage, the elevator, and his outer foyer. No one had come up to bust me, so I had to assume that either the cameras weren't monitored or else Ranger had been contacted and was allowing me to stay.

I got dressed in sneakers and jeans and a stretchy white scoop-neck

T-shirt. I swiped some mascara on my lashes, and I headed for the kitchen. I dropped a handful of Frosted Flakes into Rex's food dish, and I poured out a bowl for myself. I was late so I didn't take time to make coffee. I needed to stop at the office first thing. I'd get coffee there.

I unplugged my phone, grabbed my short denim jacket and shoulder bag, and locked up behind myself. I took the elevator to the garage, suffering through the moment of fear when the elevator doors parted and I was exposed. Even if I'd been discovered on camera, I wanted to delay confrontation as long as possible. No sense pushing the issue and jeopardizing my tenancy.

I needed a place to stay, and I was already in trouble with Ranger.

Might as well get the most out of it, right?

I looked out and saw no one. I stepped out, the doors closed behind me, and I heard voices in the stairwell.

Ranger's two cars were directly in front of me. There were three black SUVs to my right. And there was a blue Subaru SUV and a silver Audi sedan to my left. I made an instinctive choice and jumped behind the Subaru, crouching low, hoping I was out of sight. I didn't know who had access to the garage, but I figured

Rangers men would belong to the black SUVs.

The door to the stairwell opened, and Tank and two other men came out. All three got into one of the black SUVs and left the garage. I waited a couple beats before I scuttled across the floor, remoted the gate open, and made my escape.

I entered the office through the back door... Just in case Morelli was on the prowl. I was in a mood to avoid the unpleasant.

'Uh oh, ' Lula said when she saw me. 'It's never good when you gotta sneak in through the back. '

I went straight for the coffeepot. I'm being careful. '

'I can appreciate that, ' Lula said. 'What's the plan for the day?' I need a different car. I can't blend in when I drive Ranger's truck. ' To be more specific, I can't blend in when I park the truck for the night. Rangers men were constantly traveling the streets around the Bat Garage. I didn't want to take a chance on one of them spotting the truck. I was hoping you could follow me to my parents' house. I'm going to leave the truck in their garage. And then we can go car shopping. '

'Car shopping! I love car shopping. '

I added creamer and sipped some coffee. 'You're not going to love this land of car shopping. I have no money. I'm looking for a wreck. ' I turned to Connie. 'And while we're on the subject of no money, as I'm sure you already know... Pancek ran off with my only cuffs. '

'Lula told me. Take a pair from the S and M box in the back when you leave. '

There used to be a thriving sex shop on Carmen Street. Rumor had it they were the biggest supplier of dildos, whips, and body chains for the tristate area. Nine months ago, the owner decided he was tired of paying his insurance premium to the mob and told his collection agent to take a hike. Shortly after that, the store mysteriously burned to the ground. An entire crate of cuffs came out of the fire almost completely unscathed, and Vinnie bought the crate on the cheap.

'How come you're going to leave the truck at your parents' house?1 Lula wanted to know. 'Why don't you just give it back?'

'I thought I'd keep it a while longer, just in case. You never know when you might need a truck. ' And I can't get into Ranger's apartment if I hand the keys back to Tank.

'A couple new skips came in this morning, ' Connie said. `I'll get the paperwork together later today, and you can pick the files up tomorrow. '

'I suppose after you get your new car you're going to want to go looking for Harold Pancek, ' Lula said.

1 suppose I am. '

'And I suppose I should go with you since he's so slippery. '

I looked at the stack of files on the filing cabinet. At least a month's worth. 'What about the filing?'

'I can do the filing any old time. It's not like filings a matter of life or death. I got good priorities. I take our friendship seriously.

When you're going out on these dangerous manhunts I feel an obligation to ride along and protect your skinny ass. Just 'cause a man looks like SpongeBob doesn't mean he can't turn violent. '

'You're pathetic, ' Connie said to Lula. 'You'll do anything to get out of filing. '

'Not anything, ' Lula said.