Fort Lupton (41 page)

Behind the girl, the dark-haired man saw the
dimmest outline of a skeletal man wearing a tattered army jacket.
The dark-haired man screamed and ran the other way down the
alley.

“
Wait! Wait!” the young
girl screamed after him. “I need a witness!”

The dark-haired man kept running until he
reached the first big street, a mile away. Trying to get his
bearings, he looked up at the street sign.

“
Martin Luther King,” he
said.

Somehow, the name of this great man was like
a shot of electricity to his brain. He looked down at the handgun
in his hand.

“
Whatcha doin’?” a voice
came from behind him.

He spun around. A uniformed police officer
was standing behind him. The officer had his hand on his
weapon.

“
I got a call that a man
was running through the neighborhood with a weapon in his hand,”
the police officer said. “So I’ll ask you again, whatcha
doin’?”

“
I came here to kill a
young boy.”

The police officer raised his handgun, and
the dark-haired man raised his hands.

“
Why would you do such an
evil thing?” the police officer asked.

“
It’s my job.”

The dark-haired man felt something over his
right shoulder. He glanced up and saw the street sign that said
“Martin Luther King.” He felt like the great man was standing on
his right shoulder making sure he did the right thing.

“
Did you kill the boy?”
the police officer asked.

“
No, sir,” the dark-haired
man said. “I realized he was living with
. . .”

“
Magic O’Malley,” the
police officer and the dark-haired man said in unison.

“
This wouldn’t have
anything to do with the young man who was killed just a few minutes
ago,” the police officer said.

“
My partner was run over,”
the dark-haired man said.

“
You push him?”

“
No, sir,” the dark-haired
man said. “And I . . .”

The dark-haired man laid the handgun on the
sidewalk and lay facedown. The police officer stepped forward and
cuffed the dark-haired man’s hands behind his back.

“
You were saying
something,” the police officer said.

“
I’m done,” the
dark-haired man said.

“
What?”

“
Martin Luther King,” the
dark-haired man said. “I’m done.”

“
Good to know,” the police
officer said.

The police officer picked up the handgun and
tucked it in his pocket. He led the dark-haired man to the back of
his police cruiser.

“
You should call
somebody,” the dark-haired man said.

“
About what?” the police
officer asked.

“
I can tell you everything
you want to know about . . . a lot of bad people,” the
dark-haired man said.

“
Bad people? You mean,
like you?”

“
Rape, pornography, that
rape case going on,” the dark-haired man said. “The Delgado
kids.”

“
Mitch Delgado’s kids?”
The police officer’s voice noticeably hardened.

“
Them,” the dark-haired
man said. “Charlie Delgado was my target. The younger one, the
girl, was supposed to be hit in New York.”

“
You’re saying I should
call the FBI?” the police officer asked.

“
Yeah,” the dark-haired
man said.

“
So you can get off
easy?”

“
No, sir,” the dark-haired
man said. “So justice is done.”

“
Justice?”

The dark-haired man nodded. The police
officer shook his head and started his police cruiser. They took
the short trip to the police station just a few blocks away. The
police officer escorted the dark-haired man into the station.

“
Hey Marty,” the police
officer said. “You’re close with O’Malley.”

“
He’s in New York,” the
desk sergeant said. “Why?”

“
Any chance Delgado’s
daughter was killed today?” the police officer asked.

“
She was attacked,” the
desk sergeant said. “But she’s okay. Her ballet teacher is ex-KGB.
Beat up the guy pretty bad. Why?”

The police officer gestured to the
dark-haired man with his chin.

“
He came here to get
Charlie,” the police officer said. “Said that kid under the truck
was here to do the job too.”

“
I’ll call the FBI,” the
desk sergeant said.

“
Good idea,” the
dark-haired man said.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday evening — 6:25 p.m.

Denver, Colorado

“
Heather?” Schmidty panted
and yelled into Heather’s earpiece.

“
I’m driving,” Heather
said. “I only picked up because it was you. Can I call you
back?”

“
Where’s Tink?” Schmidty
asked.

“
Sitting next to me. Ivy’s
in the back,” Heather said. She pulled into a parking spot on
Colfax. “We just got back from seeing Blane. Why?”

“
You’re not at the house?”
Schmidty said. “Oh, thank God.”

Schmidty was breathing hard.

“
You’re panting in my
ear,” Heather said.

“
Oh, sorry,” Schmidty
said.

“
What happened?” Heather
asked.

“
The silent alarm was
tripped,” Schmidty said. “When the police arrived, there were two
guys setting the place on fire.”

“
And?”

“
They thought you were
dead inside,” Schmidty said.

“
Why didn’t they just
check?” Heather said.

“
Whole place burned down,”
Schmidty said. “The fire was so hot it would have hidden human
remains.”

“
Oh, Schmidty, I’m so
sorry,” Heather said.

“
Yeah,” Schmidty said.
“That’s what insurance is for.”

“
Sucks.”

“
The police caught the
guys,” Schmidty said. “Turns out they were contract killers!
They’re not talking, but they caught a guy outside Seth’s house
who’s a chatterbox.”

“
Charlie,” Heather said
under her breath.

“
Charlie, Maresol, Dale,”
Schmidty said. “Anyway, his partner got run over by a texting
teen.”

“
How cliché,” Heather
said.

“
Effective,” Schmidty
said. “The truck slid with him under its wheels.”

“
Ew,” Heather
said.

“
The guy says he saw the
ghost of Seth’s older brother, Saul,” Schmidty said. “Scared him
straight.”

“
Or into the psych ward,”
Heather said.

“
They think he’s pretty
legit,” Schmidty said. “The guy said that two men were sent to kill
the girls and burn down the house.”

“
Tink and Ivy?” Heather
asked.

“
You know about Wanda,
right?” Schmidty asked.

“
Sandy told me,” Heather
said.

“
Both Noelle and Sissy
were attacked today too,” Schmidty said.

“
Are they okay?” Heather’s
voice changed in such a way that Tink stopped talking to Ivy and
turned to look at her.

“
What happened?” Tink
asked.

“
Sissy and Noelle were
attacked,” Heather said to Tink.

“
Oh my God!” Tink
said.

“
What happened?” Ivy asked
from the backseat.

Tink told her in a low voice. The girls
spoke quietly to each other. Heather turned her attention to
Schmidty, who’d been talking the whole time.

“
I’m sorry, I missed
that,” Heather said.

“
Ivan was in the KGB,”
Schmidty said.

“
He was?” Heather asked.
“I thought he was a world-famous ballet dancer and instructor from
the Bolshoi.”

“
He was,” Schmidty said.
“He was a KGB plant. The story I heard was that his brother is
developmentally delayed. They said if he didn’t spy for them,
they’d torture his brother. That’s how Seth found him. When the
Soviet Union fell apart, Ivan was in because of what he knew about
the KGB and in trouble with the Bolshoi for being with the KGB.
Seth brought him and his brother to Denver. Anyway, he kicked the
guy’s ass.”

“
And Noelle?” Heather
asked.

“
MJ’s with her,” Schmidty
said.

“
Sandy didn’t say
anything,” Heather said.

“
She’s not supposed to
know,” Schmidty said. “New York wanted to keep a lid on it, but
that was before they caught the guy at Seth’s and my house burned
down.”

“
Sorry about your house,”
Heather said.

“
All of your stuff,”
Schmidty said.

“
It’s just stuff,” Heather
said. “The girls carry with them anything that matters to them.
It’s a habit from being homeless.”

“
I’ve arranged for you to
stay downtown,” Schmidty said.

“
Oh, that’s okay,
Schmidty,” Heather said. “We can go the Castle.”

“
You’re in protective
custody until the case is resolved,” Schmidty said. “No one can
protect you at the Castle.”

“
Like it’s helped any of
us,” Heather said.

“
Sissy and Noelle would be
dead,” Schmidty said.

“
You’re right,” Heather
said. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m frustrated. How could
anyone have known where we are?”

“
No idea,” Schmidty
said.

Schmidty didn’t say anything else for a
moment.

“
We’ll go to Sandy’s
condo,” Heather said.

“
I’ll hire guards,”
Schmidty said.

“
Okay,” Heather said.
“Thanks.”

“
Give me an hour and I’ll
have food service for you,” Schmidty said.

“
You don’t have to,”
Heather said.

“
I’m happy to,” Schmidty
said.

“
You don’t think they told
the bad guys where we were staying?” Heather asked.

“
I don’t,” Schmidty
said.

“
Why?”

“
It’s the same service the
CIA uses,” Schmidty said.

“
Oh.”

“
What about essentials?”
Schmidty asked.

“
I’ll call my
girlfriends,” Heather said. “We’ll figure out how to make it
happen.”

“
Can you drive around
until we set something up?” Schmidty asked.

“
I . . .”
Heather turned her back on Tink. In a low voice, she said, “The
kids are scared. Me, too.”

“
How about having dinner
at Seth’s?” Schmidty asked.

“
Maresol won’t mind?”
Heather asked.

“
I’ll call Seth,” Schmidty
said. “She won’t mind if Seth calls.”

“
Okay,” Heather
said.

“
Stay there until we have
everything set up,” Schmidty said.

Heather looked at Tink.

“
Don’t worry, Heather,”
Schmidty said. “They could have killed all of them
today.”

“
But they didn’t,” Heather
said. “What do you make of that?”

“
Ghost of Seth’s
brother?”

Heather laughed.

“
I’ll call when it’s
ready,” Schmidty said.

“
We’ll head to Seth’s,”
Heather said.

“
Talk to you soon,”
Schmidty said and hung up.

Heather put her phone down. She looked at
Tink and then at Ivy.

“
Schmidty’s house burned
down,” Heather said.

“
What?” Tink and Ivy asked
together.

“
It’s true.” Heather
nodded. “We’ve been invited to dinner at Seth’s house.”

“
With Charlie?” Tink’s
voice rose with panic. “I look like crap! We can’t
. . .”

“
He’s seen you like this
before,” Heather said with a smile.

“
Look at my hair!” Tink
said.

“
Okay,” Heather said. “Why
don’t we stop by Sandy’s and see if she can’t tame the hair beast
before we go?”

The girls nodded.

“
We’re going to get
through this,” Heather said.

Even though the girls nodded, Heather saw
that they had retreated into themselves. She gave them a sad smile
and started up Colfax to Sandy’s salon.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday evening — 6:25 p.m.

“
Mom?” Jill called from
the front door of her mother’s condo.

“
I’m in here,” Anjelika
called.

Jill walked through the condo toward the
kitchen, where her mother was making dinner.

“
Hey,” Candy, Jill’s older
sister, said as she walked by.

“
Lunch Thursday?” Jill
asked.

“
I’ll be there,” Candy
said.

Jill smiled and continued to the kitchen.
Anjelika was chopping green onions on the butcher block median

“
Hello, my dear,” Anjelika
said. She hugged and kissed Jill in greeting. “Where are my
babies?”