Deadly Treatment (15 page)

‘Oh this,’ he said smiling as he touched his face and head. ‘It’s just a sheet and some face paint for the job tonight — I guess the disguise works.’

Joshua visibly relaxed.

‘You’ve been in here all day, and I kinda feel bad about it. I have a question to ask you.’.

Joshua sat up.

‘What do you want to know?’

‘I want you to take a moment before you answer. This is not like the other time. This time it’s your choice. With what you did for us last time, I think you’re man enough to make your own choices. You can stay locked up in here playing your games, or you can choose to come with us, see a bit of the outside, and maybe grab a burger on the way back. What do you think?’

Scott knew his and Joshua’s friendship was growing. He watched Joshua’s confidence grow as he spoke, especially when he called him a man.

Joshua stood up. ‘I want to come with you.’

‘Good lad.’

They left the room and met up with Vince in the garage. Joshua was startled again by the new appearance of Vince who had opted for a long-haired wig and beard.

‘What’s going on?’ Vince asked looking at the boy.

‘Joshua has decided he’d like to come with us on this job.’

His partner was about to speak when Scott pulled him to the side.

‘Think
about it, if someone spots us, there’s no way they’re gonna suspect a boy and his dad being dropped off by a cab.’

Vince thought about it for a moment, and then nodded.

‘You really do have some great ideas,’ he remarked.

‘I have one more up my sleeve, too. Take the kid to the car; I need to make a call.’

Vince and the kid were waiting in the cab when Scott joined them.‘All set,’ he said as he slipped into the driver’s seat.

‘What was that all about?’ Vince asked.

‘I’ll tell you later,’ he said smiling before he added, ‘Now, Joshua, we need you to duck down for a moment.’

Vince and Joshua both ducked down as Scott hit the door remote and backed the cab out of the driveway and drove off down the street.

Victimizing criminals was always a pleasurable experience for Elwood. Not expecting to be followed was a common trait among humans generally, but criminals — since they were the hunters — rarely thought anyone would have the audacity to turn them into the prey. They often made simple mistakes; and best of all, they generally kept unusual hours. His contractor’s
torches
, Scott and Vince, were a perfect example. They were small-time arsonists, perfect for the jobs he’d supplied to Tims, but small-time nonetheless. Completely undetected, he’d been able to trail them back to their home and watch them come and go, something a man of Elwood’s caliber would never let happen.

There seemed to be no sign of the dwarf they’d used in the LA office job, which was a still a bit of a mystery to Elwood, maybe he was a contractor they’d used specifically for that job. It meant finding him would complicate matters a little, but nonetheless, if he was correct, they’d somehow picked up the flash drive. He was sure of it, but it was something he would confirm the next time they went out. Unfortunately, Elwood thought, they were now involved in something that was way out of their league — something that could only end badly for them.

The garage door beside the torches’ house began to raise, Elwood slipped down a little in his seat, but he knew from experience he could have just as well have been standing on his roof waving a bright pink flag for all the notice they would give him. Elwood watched as the cab drove past; seeing only the driver, he initially thought only one of them was on the move, but as the cab neared the end of the street, he saw a head pop up in the back seat. Elwood was amused at the prospect that they were off to cause some grief to someone else’s life — unaware that if Elwood was correct about them having the flash drive, they were about to find out what the meaning of grief really was.

Elwood waited seven minutes; it was a lucky number for him. In his experience, most people knew within the first few minutes if they had forgotten something or left something like a stove or an iron on that they needed to return to. So, allowing for U-turns and the return journey, seven minutes was ample time to wait. He slipped quietly out of his SUV and across the street to the house, choosing to enter from the rear. The lock on the patio door put up little resistance, and he tutted to himself as the ranch slider ran uninhibited on its rail allowing him access to the house; wasn’t it security 101 that a broom stick wedged in the rails was a simple burglar deterrent, and of course, there was no alarm system.

The computer took pride of place in the living room cum office area. Elwood switched it on and wandered around the room while it went through the motions of booting up.
Not exactly lavish surroundings, especially for the money they charge for their work
, he thought to himself, the big-screen Sony plasma being the most expensive item in the room. No photos or knick-knacks, it was a typical bachelor pad. He moved to the kitchen and picked up the mail that lay on the benchtop. Some were addressed to Vince and some to Scott. ‘So, I now have a name for two of the faces, but who and where is the dwarf?’ Elwood said to himself.

He looked over at the computer and saw that it was ready for use, not even password protected — shoddy — he felt slightly cheated. Sitting in front of the screen, he used the mouse to navigate through the system to its application log. Sure enough there was evidence of an external drive being added, a few more clicks and he was into the program log — it told him all he needed to know — they had the stolen records.

Deciding to leave the computer on for a bit of fun, a sort of calling card to let them know someone had been there — or at least start an argument as to which of them left it on. Elwood exited the house and returned to his SUV leaving the slider unlocked.

As always, he sent his BCC’d report back to his boss.

T
he journey to the bottom of Mulholland Drive took about twenty minutes. They chose a mixture of sidestreets and freeways to get there, heading north along Alameda, joining the Hollywood Freeway, and taking the Santa Monica Boulevard to Mulholland Drive.

Traffic on Mulholland was light, much lighter than the previous times they’d been there. The handful of cars they passed on the way up the hill looked like tourists in rental cars; virtually none of them paid the least bit of attention to the cab

They arrived at the job at the top of the hill. The gates were open, apparently broken some months back and not repaired, so Scott drove the cab straight in and pulled up by the front door. The cab passed three surveillance cameras on the way in, but they knew that although the devices were operational, they were not set to record; plus, it didn’t really matter; any recording device wouldn’t be around for much longer anyway. Scott let the car idle for a moment, waiting to see if any house lights came on, or if the front door opened, but nothing happened.

Scott, the turbaned faux Indian, got out and went straight to the trunk. He carefully lifted out the bags and cases, and placed them gently on the ground. He then slipped two large gas cans between the suitcases. Both Vince and Joshua — the passengers — got out, walked to the front door, and rang the bell. The house remained still, but Vince rang it again to make sure. Satisfied that the house was vacant, they returned to Scott and the cases at the rear of the cab.

Suddenly, the three of them were bathed in light. A car had swung into the driveway and was coming towards them with its high beams on. It was a fight or flight moment for all of them. Almost in unison, they raised their hands to their faces to block some of the light, and almost immediately the car headlights were dipped.

‘Sorry
about
that,’
the driver yelled out of his open window as he pulled up beside them. ‘Forgot my lights were on full.’

As their eyes readjusted to the darkness, they were presented with the smiling face of a grossly overweight guy in a Universal Studios baseball cap.

‘Me and the little wifey here have gotten a might bit lost. We spotted the cab, and thought who better to ask for help than a cabbie.’

From the passenger seat, an equally substantial face leaned across and smiled. Both the driver and his wife were ignoring the cab driver and quizzically eyeing the passenger and the boy up and down. Scott, the cab driver, thought this was all a bit strange until he realized they weren’t lost at all, they were just tourists hoping to get a face-to-face with a celeb; if they were lucky, they’d get a photo; if not, a good story to tell the folks back home — Remember when we met blah blah blah on Mulholland…

As the tourist spoke, a new threat crossed Vince’s mind, would Joshua scream abduction. He casually slipped his hand around the back of the boy’s neck, virtually impossible to see in the dark, but he knew that Joshua would get the message. Joshua took out his PSP and started to play.

Scott turned his attention to the two tourists. ‘Where were you looking for?’ he asked.

‘Uh? Oh, we were looking to find our way to Hollywood Boulevard,’ the man said obviously realizing that the passengers standing there were not celebs — or certainly not A-listers anyway.

‘You’re some ways away. Best thing to do is go back down the hill and grab directions from there,’ Scott suggested.

‘Yeah, good idea, thanks. Sorry to have troubled you. Y’all have a good night now,’ the man said as both he and his wife eyed the three one last time and drove off.

As the car drove through gate, Vince released his grip on Joshua, and a huge sigh of relief passed between the two partners.

‘That was different,’ Scott said with a slightly nervous laugh. ‘Best we get this over and done with quickly.’

The cab driver and passenger made an exchange that to anyone in the outside world would look like a fare being paid, then the driver got back in the cab and drove away leaving Vince and Joshua there alone. 

‘Look at me Joshua.’ Vince bent down to talk to the boy.

‘Pick up those gas cans, follow me around, and pour gas where I tell you to. That way, I can keep an eye on you and we can get away from here quickly and get something to eat,’ he said gruffly

Without responding, Joshua put his PSP into his pocket, then leaned over and picked up the gas can.

Vince made quick work of strategically placing the bags and cases in areas he felt would cause the most damage, carefully reaching in and setting the timers as he went. Following closely behind him, Joshua liberally poured gas where directed and added some to his own areas for good measure. He was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn’t notice the nail sticking out of one of the pillars, it caught on the leg of his pants, ripping the fabric at the base of the pocket. He carried on following Vince around the house, completely oblivious to the fact that his PSP had quietly slipped out of the hole.

With all the charges set, they made their way back to the gate to wait in the shadows for the cab. Exactly fifteen minutes after being dropped off, Scott reappeared in the cab. With everyone on board, they set off down the hill to the next destination, a Burger King drive through, then on to a vantage point in Runyon Canyon Park.

The three of them exited the cab and Scott lifted the kid onto the hood as they all stood there and tucked into their burgers as they looked in the direction of Mulholland Drive. Scott checked his watch, and then began the countdown from ten. They all joined in with seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…

Like a spectacular firework display, the side of Mulholland Drive lit up the night sky. The explosion was much bigger than Joshua was expecting and huge balls of fire filled his view, immediately followed by a teeth-rattling boom. All across the hillside, house and car alarms sang out like a chorus of horny cicadas. Soon, fire truck sirens joined the cacophony, adding their own unique pitch as fire raged from the site that was once an iconic house. The fire trucks’ flashing blue and red lights bounced around
the
buildings as they made their way up the hill.

‘How many trucks can you see?’ Scott asked Joshua. He counted six.

‘I can’t wait to tell Tims how we pulled this one off!’ Vince beamed.

Pleased that it was a job well done, the three of them packed up their empty burger boxes and drinks and got back into the cab.

‘We’re gonna make a small detour on the way back?’ Scott said to his passengers on the backseat.

‘Where are we going?’ Vince asked inquisitively.

He leaned forward and Scott craned his neck as he whispered the address in his ear.

‘Really?’ he asked. ‘Really.’ Came the reply.

Scott typed a quick text message and pressed send, then started the engine. The journey took a little longer than normal because Scott elected to take side streets rather than the more direct route. As they
drew
nearer their destination Joshua sat up.

‘Hey, this is my neighborhood,’ he announced.

‘I know, Joshua, there’s something I need you to see.’ Scott said.

‘You remember I told you that your mother was … um … less than concerned about your well-being?’

Joshua’s attention flicked between what Scott was saying and his upcoming home. Scott continued to speak.

‘Well I think that here is the reason why.’

The three of them looked out of the window as the cab rolled past Joshua’s house. A man was walking away from the house toward a bright red Corvette.

‘That’s the guy she’s dating,’ Scott said.

Joshua was speechless as he stared at the man leaving his home. Tears began to form in his eyes as the cab drove on by.

‘Sorry you had to see that, Joshua, but I thought you were man enough to know the truth.’

Scott looked in the rear view mirror at his partner, who was smiling; he knew who Scott had called to set up the fake scene — it was the panel beater.