Black Onyx Duology (9 page)

20

Dillon landed on top of his house and then jumped into the backyard. He walked inside and the suit clanked loudly on the floor as he made his way into the garage and slipped out of it. He took the gym bag and went inside to find James on the couch watching television. Without a word, Dillon came and sat next to him, placing the gym bag on the coffee table.

“What’s that?”
James said.

Dillon unzipped it.
James was silent a long time.

“With the diamonds I already have,” Dill
on said, “I’m guessing about twelve million. That should be enough that we’re all rich.”

James
reached into the bag, coming up with a handful of sapphires. “Where did you get these?”

“I have to go.”

“Dillon, we need to discuss this.”

“Not right now. I need to shower and then I have a date.”

“A date with whom?”

“Jaime.”

He ran upstairs, showered, changed into a T-shirt and jeans and then went over to Jaime’s house. She was sitting on the couch surrounded by family as he watched through the sliding glass doors on the patio. One of her legs was thrown over the other and she was smiling her cute smile with a drink in her hand. He didn’t move: he wanted to remember her exactly like this.

Dillon knocked and she saw him and waved and came over.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey. You ready to go?”

“Yeah. Listen my mom and dad took off to a restaurant so you’ll have to meet them when they get back.”

“No prob.”

“So where we going?”

“I’ll show you.”

They walked to his garage. He opened the door and they walked to the suit. She stood there a moment and looked at it.

“Is it a statue?”

“Do you trust me?” he said.

“Ah, yeah, of course I trust you.”

“Close your eyes…go on, close ’em.”

She closed them and he slipped into the suit. He picked her up and she made a surprised yelp as he ran out of the garage and darted into the air. She opened her eyes and looked down and screamed, holding him tighter. He laughed.

“Relax, it’s fine.”

“Dillon!”

“Hey, it’s fine. I promise. You said you trust me.”

“You’re flying!”

“I know. Just try and relax, I’m not going to drop you.”

She struck the suit with the back of her fist. “How am I supposed to relax you’re freaking flying!”

“Maybe this’ll be better.”

He propelled them directly up into the air as she screamed. The air grew colder and he press
ed her closer to the suit, to feel its warmth. In a single moment, they were covered with darkness as they passed through a cloud, and came up over it. They were high enough that you couldn’t hear the city below. You couldn’t see it either and she calmed a little.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s a little toy I picked up in Antarctica. Wrap your arms around my neck…now put your legs around my waist…holding on tight?”

“Yeah,” she said, fear still in her voice.

“Okay, hold on. Just close your eyes if you want.”

He rushed forward like a gunshot, the world turning to blurred images around him. She was screaming again but Dillon held her tightly with one ha
nd as they sped over the Pacific and into Asia and over Europe.

Within minutes,
Jaime having kept her eyes closed the entire flight, they were in Paris. Dillon set down on the least crowded side of the great lighted pyramid of the Louvre. When they were on solid ground, he gently removed her legs and arms and set her down, holding her up with one hand to make sure she didn’t faint.

“Where are we?”

“The Louvre. I know you always wanted to go. Come on. We have other places to be after.”

21

Dana Gladstone stepped off the plane at Honolulu International and went to the luggage claim. She had only brought one bag with her and she loaded it onto her lap and wheeled out of the terminal. A black Chrysler 300 waited at the curb. The driver saw her and stepped ou
t and took her bag.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Agent Cortez. I’ll be driving you to meet with the ASAC.”

“Thanks.”

“Um…I wasn’t told to bring a…”

“It’s all right, we don’t need a special van. Just help me get into the passenger seat and then load the wheelchair into the trunk.”

Cortez did as he was asked and Dana sat in the passenger seat as he folded her wheelchair up and placed it in the trunk with her bag. He got in and they began driving. She had been to Hawaii once before, and she remembered long hikes and swims with her then husband Richard. They had made plans to come back in the next few years, but circumstance
s hadn’t allowed for it. She wondered where Richard was now.

“
You been to Hawaii before?”

“Once, with my ex husband. I really love the malasadas.”

“I know the best place for malasadas on the island. An elderly lady who makes them at her house every Saturday. That’s the only day you can get ’em. I’ll take you there on Saturday if you’re still around.”

“I appreciate it
, but hopefully I’ll be out of here by Friday.”

“Hopefully? You’re the first person I’ve heard say that about an all expenses paid trip to Honolulu.”

They drove in silence until reaching the DEA field office. Cortez got the wheelchair out and tried to help her in. She pulled herself out and climbed into the chair and began wheeling into the building.

It was a white office building with seven floors and she went up to the DEA’s floor, the fifth
, and got off the elevator. Two men—one Asian, one white—were talking at a desk over some files. The Asian man said, “Be back in a sec,” and walked over.

“Dana,” he said, shaking her hand. “Got your message. Where’s Michael?”

“Taking a later flight. Did you get the file I sent over?”

“Yeah, we were actually just discussing it. It checks out. A container is coming in from Kiev tonight. Should be on the docks about eight o’clock.”

“How many men can you give me?”

“We’ve only got six agents here, Dana. Two of ’em are off tonight. I can give you two and
one surveillance unit. What do you think it is they’re shipping exactly? Michael didn’t say.”

“I don’t know, but I got a bad feeling about it.”

“Well,” he said, exhaling and placing his hands on his hips, “we’ll get everything set up for now. If you think this is gonna turn ugly maybe I should hit up the HPD and get some men down there for you?”

“
I don’t know how it’s gonna turn, my CI won’t answer my calls.”

“I’ll get a few guys there, just in case.” He paused. “Um, Dana, if this gets bad, I don’t want you near it.”

“What’re you my father? I can take care of myself.”

He nodded. “You know it’s okay to accept help sometimes. I’m just saying.”

“Thanks, Vu, but I’m fine. Just get me as many guys as you can.”

He shrugged. “It’s your party.”

22

Dillon sat on the edge of the
Grand Canyon as the sunlight broke over the horizon. The suit was behind him, towering over him like a giant. Jaime lay next to him, a blanket pulled over her. She was sleeping and he lightly touched her hair, feeling each individual strand. She stirred as the sun came up, illuminating her face.

Last night had been a blur. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben,
a midnight meal in Barcelona, watching the lights at the docks in Lisbon, then drinks at a nightclub in Manhattan. Jaime smiled as she woke and he smiled back. She sat up and scooted close to him. They looked at each other a moment before he leaned in and kissed her.

Her eyes were closed, her head tilted just perfectly to the side. It was exactly as he had imagined a thousand times in his head.

“What a night,” she whispered, pulling away with one more peck on his lips.

He looked out over the horizon. The sun was painting the sky purple and pink, golden rays of orange
scorching the clouds. “I have everything I could want,” he said. “I never thought I would. I thought I would have to fight my whole life. Claw for everything.”

She paused. “
James told me about your past. About your dad and how you lived on the streets most of your life. It had to be awful.”

“It wasn’t all bad. You learn things on the street you can never learn in school or textbooks. You learn people, how to read them. What they want. But mostly you learn what horrors they lock up from the rest of the world. They hide who they really are and it only comes out behind closed doors.”

“I’ve always believed people can be what they choose to be. They can change from bad to good or good to bad.”

He shook his head. “Not from what I’ve seen.”

She lay her head on his shoulder. “What’re you gonna do now?”

“I think I’m going to buy a house. I’ve always wanted my own house.
On the beach, probably in Honolulu. And then I’m buying a Rolls Royce Phantom, the most expensive I can find, and I’m going to drive you around and show you off.”

She chuckled. “How bout first you come to a barbeque and meet my parents?”

“That too.”

“What’s
James gonna do without you?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s getting older and he’s sick of running around the world. I always pictured him retiring on a yacht and sailing, but I think he just wants a quiet little place where he and Niles can be alone.”

“He loves you a lot. I don’t think he would ever say it, it’s not how people from his generation are, but I can see it in his eyes when he looks at you. You’re his son in every meaningful way you can be.”

He nodded. “I owe him everything. I’ve always been curious what he saw in me. I was just a little street punk who broke into his house. I don’t know why he thought he should waste his time with me.”

She took his chin and pulled his head around toward her. “Because he sees in you what I see in you. A good person who thinks he’s a bad person.”

She leaned in and kissed him, and the world disappeared.

23

El Sacerdote sat in the back of the rented Cadillac in a white suit and watched the Hawaiian countryside. Lush greens and reds and yellows broken with the fragmented red rocks and pineapple fields. He cared nothing for it. Any beauty in nature was lost on him.

Miguel sat in the passenger seat as Ramon drove. Another car of four men was behind them as they drove up the winding streets, the road enclosed with palm trees. Few other cars were out this evening as the sun was setting and they headed toward the docks. He could see ships coming and going and he watched them passively.

“El Padrino,” Ramon said, “maybe you should stay in the hotel? It’s not too late.”

“No, I want to be here. I’ve known Nicolas for twenty years. He won’t do business with anyone else.”

“I don’t like this,” Ramon said. “You’re out in the open.”

He shrugged. “So what? What can they do Ramon? Arrest me? Do you know how much we pay for the judges and prosecutors? Evidence will be lost, my lawyers will win motions they shouldn’t…I have no fear. The hypocrisy of the system guarantees it.”

The docks weren’t crowded. They passed the yachts and pleasure boats and got to the pier. The ship, a mid-sized cargo vessel, was already there. El Sacerdote waited until his door was opened before stepping outside. He walked to the front of the car and put his hands behind his back and waited.

Miguel was behind him, looking around nervously, and Ramon was on the other side, his fingers on the handle of his weapon.

“You seem nervous, Miguel,” El Sacerdote said.

“No, El
Padrino. I’m just nervous for you. I don’t like you risking yourself like this.”

“Nicolas
would never betray me. We have an understanding.”

It was only a few moments before they could see the black Mercedes coming up the road and parking in front of them. A man in a black suit and shirt got out of the back, two other men with him. El Sacerdote walked to him and they embraced.

“It’s been too long, Sebastian,” the man said. “How have you been?”

“I have the world by the balls and it doesn’t know it.”

Nicolas smiled. “The shipment’s here. Do you want to see the sample?”

“Yes.”

They walked to the trunk of the black Mercedes. Nicolas opened it. Inside were a plethora of firearms. Handguns, assault rifles, shotguns, laser scopes, infrared and hollow point ammunition.

“Hard plastic shell,” Nicolas said, lifting one of the assault rifles and tapping it. “Won’t set off even the most sensitive metal detectors.”

“What about the ammunition?”

“Made from a Kevlar and glass mesh. The tips have a small sliver of razor, not enough to set off the detectors. The round slides into the body and the mesh shatters into pieces. Not quite the impact of a traditional round, but I’d say probably more deadly if you hit in the center of the body.”

“Amazing. You’ve outdone yourself.”

“I’m glad you’re pleased. I have the order on the packing slip, you can look it over if you like.”

“No, I trust you. My men should be here with the ships in the next few hours. They’ll transfer everything to the mainland.”

“California?”

He nodded.

“You have someone picking them up there?”

“Yes, a shipping company we’ve secured. From there they’re going to Canada.”

“Really? I didn’t think there was much of a market for it there.”

“The difference between a millionaire and a billionaire, Nicolas, is that the millionaire finds a market while the billionaire creates one. I’ll sell everything in Canada and they will begin to trickle into the United States. When the demand begins to rise, we’ll begin with more shipments here.”

“Not enough profit in narcotics?”

“Plenty of profit, but that’s not what this is.” He picked up one of the assault rifles. “More people die from small arms than all of the nuclear and chemical and biological bombs in history. This,” he said, holding up the weapon, “this is the weapon of mass destruction. And I will put them in the hands of every crazy thug that has a few dollars. If you want chaos, you do it in small steps. Revolutions are done gradually over time.”

Nicolas shook his head. “Once you buy it, you do what you want with it. But I would recommend—”

“Shh,” he said, holding up his finger.

“
What is it?”

“Quiet…we’re being watched.”

Nicolas looked around. He could hear it now. The sound of boots in the distance, surrounding them.

El Sacerdote grabbed a box of ammunition and began loading the
plastic TAR 21, one of the deadliest assault rifles in the world. Of Israeli design, now that it was made of a hard plastic shell, it felt as light as a toy in his hands. Nicolas began loading them as well and passing them to his men. He threw several of them over to Miguel and Ramon and the men from the other car that were running over.

“
Make sure your weapons are ready. They haven’t been fired before,” El Sacerdote said.

“What’s happened?” Ramon said.

“Someone has betrayed me.” His eyes scanned his men. They were staring at him in confusion, gripping the TAR 21’s tightly. All except Miguel who was looking at the ground, a sheen of sweat on his brow. El Sacerdote walked to him and placed the barrel of the TAR 21 against his head.

“El
Padrino, please. I have children.”

“What did they give you, Miguel? What did they give you to betray the man
who took you into his home, who gave you money to feed your family, who flew your children to the best hospitals when they were sick. What did they give you?”

Miguel was crying now. “I didn’t tell them
nothing, Padrino. Nothing.”

“How long have you been talking with them?”

He was crying so badly now he was unresponsive. “Please, please…”

El Sacerdote lowered his weapon. “I’m not going to kill you, Miguel.”

He looked up, wiping his eyes. “No?”

“No.”

“I never give them nothing, Padrino. Nothing. I work hard for you. I work without pay. You are a saint. You are a saint, Padrino.”

“Ramon, I’m not going to kill him. But you can shoot him in the face if you like.”

Miguel screamed as Ramon aimed the assault rifle at his head. Before he could pull the trigger, men were shouting around them.

“Don’t move!”

Uproar and screaming orders filled the space around them as police and DEA agents swarmed onto them. Miguel ran off in the confusion.

El Sacerdote smiled and said, “
I’ll get him later.” He looked to the officers surrounding them. “None live.”

The men raised their weapons as the officers closed in, and the docks erupted in gunfire.