Out of the Black (6 page)

Something about it made me feel better, less alone.

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I’d have to talk to her tomorrow, tell her I picked up a weekend shift and ask her to watch Anna. I hated to lie to her, but I didn’t see any other way.

When all of this was over, when I’d squared up with Murphy and moved away from Jerry and Dorothy, when Anna was safe and happy, then maybe I’d tell Carrie the truth. I’d explain what I did, and thatuse I couldn’t see any other way out.

She’d be mad, but she’d understand.

I hoped.

end up dead in an alleyinas came to me

The phone rang at exactly three o’clock.

Jay picked it up, listened, said, “Okay.” Then he flipped the phone shut and reached for the black gym bag on the floor by his feet. “She’s there.”

“How much time do we have?”

“About an hour.” He unzipped the bag and started filling it with the items from the coffee table: black pillowcase, ski masks, duct tape, handcuffs. “We’ll head over now and wait.”

I nodded and tried to seem calm, but inside I could feel the tension building. I used to feel the same way before night patrols, but back then I welcomed the feeling. I saw it as a reminder to be careful, to be sharp, and to be safe. But this was different.

This time, it felt like a warning.

I leaned forward and looked down at my wedding ring. It felt loose on my finger, and I spun it around two or three times, silently reminding myself why I was here.

“You still with me, Matt?” Jay looked at me, smiled. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“Of course I am.”

“In a few hours it’ll all be over,” Jay said. “This is the easy part.”

“The easy part?”

“All we have to do is stay focused and stick to the plan. If we do that, all the little pieces will fall into place, and you’ll be back home to that little girl before she wakes up in the morning.”

I looked away and didn’t say anything.

“Come on.” Jay stood and slid the gym bag over his shoulder. “Let’s get it over with.”

I glanced at my ring and spun it one more time, then I got up and followed Jay out of the apartment and down the stairs toward the street and whatever came next.

When we got to the salon, Jay and I circled the block twice, looking for anything that seemed out of place. Then we parked down the street where we had a clear view of the front, and we waited.

The sky was thin and gray, and the wind was sharp. The few shoppers we saw on the street all walked by with their heads down, shielding themselves from the wind.

It all looked exactly how Jay said it would.

I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel and scanned the road. There was a black Town Car parked in the lot across the street, and I pointed it out.

“Do you think that’s hers?”

Jay looked up, nodded. “Has to be.”

There was an older man sitting in the driver’s seat. He had a newspaper open over the steering wheel in front of him.

“Someone through the door into the back room.t? y’s inside,” I said.

Jay squinted. “She must have a driver.”

“You didn’t say anything about a driver.”

“Does it matter?”

“Does it matter?” I bit down hard and tried to keep my voice calm. “He’s unaccounted for, so, yes, it matters.”

Jay shook his head. “We’ll be gone before he notices. Don’t worry.”

“He’s a witness,” I said. “It doesn’t matter how fast we move. Eventually he’s going to notice she’s gone, and he’ll go to the cops.”

Jay leaned back and stared at me. “Do you want to back out, Matt? Is that what this is?”

I thought about it. I could even feel the words form in my throat, but they wouldn’t come. If I called it off, we’d have to wait another two weeks before we could try again, and even then, we’d still have to deal with the driver.

Besides, a lot could happen in two weeks.

Jerry and Dorothy wouldn’t be a problem. I could hold them and their attorney off for a while, but Murphy would be different. I’d known him for a long time, and he was only patient up to a point. Sooner or later, he was going to get angry, and when he did, things would turn bad in a hurry. I’d seen it happen too many times not to let it worry me.

“What’s it going to be?”

“We’ll stick to the plan,” I said. “But it has to be quick. No fucking around.”

“You got it.”

“I mean it, Jay. I want to be gone before he knows anything is happening.”

“I’ll be a blur,” Jay said. “You’ll see.”

Jay smiled, and I turned away.

He was trying to lighten the mood, but seeing that wide grin of his made me want to put my fist through it. I didn’t know if that would make me feel better or not, but I had a feeling it might.

Neither of us said anything else, and time passed.

After a while, I started to get nervous.

I looked at my watch. “It’s been over an hour.”

“She’ll be out when she’s out.” Jay reached into his pocket and took out the cell phone and set it on the dashboard. “Roach will call when it’s time, so relax.”

Relax?

There were a lot of things I could’ve said, but it wasn’t worth the hassle, so I kept my mouth shut. A minute later, the cell phone rang, vibrating loud against the dashboard.

We both sat up fast.

Jay grabbed the phone. He checked the number, flipped it open, and put it to his ear. He listened without saying a word then hung up and said, “It’s time.”

I started the engine.

Jay climbed into the back and unzipped the gym bag. He took out the ski masks, handed one to me, and we slipped them over our heads.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”

I checked my mirror then pulled out onto the street. Jay moved over and crouched next to the sliding side door, one hand on the handle the lighthos out of , ready to move.

I drove slow, watching the front of the salon the entire time. Once the door opened, I sped up and stopped hard out front.

The woman who walked out looked to be in her fifties, younger than I’d expected. She had dyed black hair covered by a gold scarf, and she wore a long red coat with a fur collar turned up against the wind.

She crossed the sidewalk toward the street and didn’t seem to notice the van until Jay opened the door and jumped out.

Then I heard her yell.

I looked over at the Town Car parked across the street. The driver was still inside, and the newspaper was still open in front of him, but he wasn’t reading it anymore. He was watching us.

When he noticed the mask, I saw the understanding pass over his face like a shadow. He fumbled with the paper, tossing it aside, and opened the door.

“We’ve got to go,” I said.

I looked over at Jay. He had the woman by one arm, pulling her toward the van. She didn’t scream or call for help. Instead, she reached into her purse and took out a red tube of pepper spray.

I started to warn him, but Jay saw it in time. He grabbed her arm before she could use it.

Across the street, the driver was out of the car.

“Now,” I said. “We have to move now.”

Jay took the pepper spray from the woman and dragged her off the curb, toward the van. This time, she turned with the momentum and swung her purse, hard. It connected with the side of Jay’s head, and I saw his knees buckle under him.

For an instant, I thought he was going to go down, but it didn’t happen. Somehow, he steadied himself. He let go of the woman’s coat, bent down, and grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off her feet and throwing her into the van.

She landed hard.

Jay climbed in after her. “Go!”

As we pulled away, the driver ran after us, reaching out, screaming for us to stop. I watched him in the mirror, standing alone in the street with his hands on top of his head, watching us go.

The highway was only a few blocks away. I could feel the adrenaline buzzing through me, and I had to force myself to drive the speed limit. I didn’t see any cops, and I didn’t think anyone was following us, but my heart was beating so hard that my chest ached.

I tried to focus on my breathing, deep and slow, and did my best to stay calm.

It helped a little.

Behind me, I heard the familiar click of handcuffs, and I looked back. The woman was sitting on the floor of the van with her head down. Her coat was bunched up around her waist, and there was a wide tear across one shoulder.

One of her shoes was missing.

Whatever fight she’d had in her outside the salon, it was gone now. Seeing her broken like that touched something raw and painful inside me, and I didn’t like it.

“Don’t be scared,” I said. “We’re not going to—”

“Hey!” Jay hit the back of my seat. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I was just—” the lightI told himasi b

“Don’t talk to her.”

I started to say something else, but I stopped before I got started. Jay was right. I didn’t like it, but it was probably better for all of us if we didn’t talk to her.

I glanced down at the speedometer and concentrated on my drivTD/xhtml11.dtd

Twenty minutes later, we passed through the gates and drove down the long dirt road leading to the storage docks by the river. I pulled in alongside the building and shut off the engine.

“We’re here.”

I looked back at Jay. He was sitting across from the woman, leaning against the side of the van with his head back and his eyes closed. There was sweat on his face, and his skin looked pale and rough.

“You ready?”

Jay pushed himself over to the sliding door and reached for the handle. There was a dark bruise forming on the side of his head, and I asked if he was okay.

Jay ignored the question and pulled the door open. I walked around to the side of the van to meet him, and we each took one of the woman’s arms and helped her out.

She didn’t struggle, and she didn’t speak.

Jay led us across the parking lot to a thick metal door on the side of the far storage dock. He pulled a key from his
pocket, but his hands were shaking, and it took a minute before he was able to slide it into the lock and open the door.

Inside was a long, dark hallway lined with broken bricks and exposed pipes, all covered in a thick layer of dirt. The air was damp and smelled like turpentine and rotted wood.

After I’d agreed to do the job, I’d made several practice runs, driving from the salon to the warehouse, but I never saw the inside. Now I wished I had.

Jay must’ve seen it on my face, because he held up one hand and said, “Don’t worry, it gets better.”

I nodded and held the woman’s arm as I hel the lightouo“How do you know that?”ped her through the door. A few steps in, her foot hit one of the loose bricks, and she stumbled.

I caught her before she fell. “I’ve got you.”

The woman turned to the sound of my voice, and I could hear her breathing through the pillowcase. Once again, I felt the urge to tell her that everything was fine, and that no one was going to hurt her, but this time I kept quiet and led her down the hall toward another door where Jay was waiting.

He unlocked the second door, and we followed him inside.

The main room was nicer than the hallway, but not by much. There were stacks of plywood along the wall, and a metal desk in the corner. The floor was covered with dust and heavy splashes of paint and wood stain. Along the top of the walls, just below the ceiling, was a row of small square windows. The glass was caked with dirt, and the light slanting through into the room was the color of rust.

Jay pointed to a red metal chair in the far corner next to an exposed pipe. “Put her over there.”

I led the woman to the chair and helped her sit. Jay knelt behind her and unlocked one of her wrists. He took the open cuff and secured it to the pipe.

“Did you get her purse?” he asked.

“Still in the van, I think.”

Jay pushed himself up, slow. He walked outside and came back a minute later with her purse. He set it on the desk and opened it.

I stood next to him. “Are you doing okay?”

“That bitch almost killed me.”

“No, she didn’t,” I said. “Besides, we made it.”

“Yeah.” He started digging through her purse. “But I still need a fucking drink.”