Reckless (Wrecked) (39 page)

“You called me and told me you had something to discuss.  I’m all ears.”

“Whatever we say … can it be used against us?” asked Jonathan.  “Like in a court of law?”

“Technically, if I ask you a question right now and you answer it, no.  I haven’t read you your Miranda rights.  If you just volunteer information, then yes, it could be.”

“Okay, then, you ask us a question and we’ll answer it,” said Jonathan, nodding at Kevin and Candi.

Kevin nodded back.  Candi looked between the two of them before answering the obvious question.  “How do we know you’re telling us the truth?”

The officer blinked once before answering.  “I guess you don’t.  The police dramas on TV get the process wrong a lot of the time, so you’ve probably seen it done differently.  But on my honor as a police officer, I am telling you that’s the truth and I have no intention of arresting you.  At least not at this point.  And if I change my mind about that, I will read you your Miranda rights and you will be entitled to an attorney before answering any other questions.”

Candi nodded.  Something about him was trustworthy, maybe because he could have just arrested Kevin out in the hallway and he hadn’t.  Kevin was right; this guy seemed genuinely caring.

“I’ll ask the first question, and any of you can respond.  First, why are you here in the hospital?”

“My sister was shot by a man with a gun.  A man who wanted to kill all of us,” said Kevin.

Candi measured the police officer’s response by his expression and body language.  He remained impassive, nonjudgmental.

“And why did this man want to kill you?  Was he robbing you?”

“No.  He was hired to kill all of us.  By a Russian guy named Boskerov.”

“Baskov,” corrected Jonathan.  “His name is Baskov, and he’s responsible for a lot of organized crime in the area we’re from.”

“And where are you from?”

“South of here.  And East,” said Candi in a hurry, cutting off answers from the guys.  She wasn’t sure she was ready to divulge that information yet.

The officer stared at her for a second before nodding once.  “Okay, and why would an alleged crime boss want to kill four teenagers who look … well-mannered and taken care of?”

“We witnessed something we shouldn’t have while we were … out of town.  And we were being approached by the FBI to testify against him.  The same day, before we could meet with them, someone tried to kill one of us,” said Kevin.  “Me, specifically.”

“And what happened?”

“They shot a friend of mine who looked like me.”

“How did he look like you?”

“He was wearing my tophat.”

“You were wearing a tophat?”  The officer looked confused.  “Why would you do that?”

“I asked him the same thing,” said Jonathan.

“Me too,” said Candi, sneaking a glance at her boyfriend and giving him a little smile.  It had seemed so fun and carefree at the time - such a big change from right now.  She’d give anything for that stupid tophat to be the biggest worry in her life.

The officer sighed deeply, leaning forward in his chair, his hands folded together.  “Explain, please.”

“We were at the prom.  I wore the tophat because it was cool as hell.  And then my friend stole it and went outside and got shot.  Later that night in the hospital we were approached by the FBI and put in a safehouse.  They told us some guy said the shooter was looking for a guy in a tophat.  That night while we were supposed to be sleeping, a guy came in and killed everyone.”

“A guy.”  The officer sounded like he didn’t believe Kevin.

“Yes.  A guy.  He had greasy black hair, and he used a big friggin knife.”

“And how do you know who did it?  And you said he killed everyone?  Who did he kill?”

Candi jumped in.  “We know because he came for us after he killed the FBI agents, and we jumped him.”

“How did you manage to survive when trained FBI agents didn’t?”  His tone was clear.  He didn’t believe them at all.

“We’re trained too,” said Candi proudly.  “Maybe not in the traditional sense, but we’re a lot more physically fit than your average teen.”

The officer raised an eyebrow again.  “Explain?”

Jonathan sighed.  “Sir, we really don’t have time to tell you everything.  Honestly, there are people looking for us, and we have to do what we can to stay hidden.  Our lives depend on it.”

Officer Baker put his hands flat on the table, looking at each of them with a very serious expression.  “I can help you if you have good reason to stay hidden and you haven’t broken the law.”

Candi shifted in her seat, knowing that was going to be a problem.  She opened her mouth to speak, but Kevin beat her to it.

“Short version:  This past Spring, we were on a cruise together.  We ended up on a lifeboat and then out on a deserted island.  Or so we thought.  After a month or whatever, we found a whole drug operation going on there, and ended up escaping using one of the drug-runner’s boats.  The FBI needs us to testify to what we saw there and identify the men who were involved.”

Officer Baker sat back in his chair suddenly, a look of shock passing across his features.  “Wait a minute … you’re … you’re those kids who were on that cruise from Miami!”

All three of them nodded.

“I read about you online, on the news!”

“Yes.  That’s us.  And now we’re running for our lives.  We did steal a car to get away, we admit that,” said Kevin.

“But that was to save our lives, so I’m pretty sure there’s some sort of … rule that we can’t be in too much trouble,” added Jonathan.

The officer was shaking his head.  “I can’t believe it.  This is all so fantastic.”

“I don’t think it’s very fantastic,” said Candi, frowning at his casual response.  “I think it’s pretty sucky, actually.”

“No, not fantastic as in great … fantastic as in unbelievable.  Literally, not to be believed.”

“I can see as how you’d feel that way, sir, but it’s true,” said Jonathan.  “All of it, one hundred percent.”

“Why didn’t you just go to the police?” the officer asked, his voice full of professional passion.  “That’s what we’re here for!  We could have helped you avoid all this.”  He leaned in towards them again, gesturing with his hands.  “You kids have really stressed yourselves out trying to go it alone.  It’s completely reckless, what you’ve done.”

“You haven’t heard the worst part yet,” said Kevin.

The man sat back.  “I have a hard time believing that.  Tell me.  What’s the worst part?”

“When we went downstairs in the safehouse to see if the FBI agents were okay, we found one of their duffle bags filled with cash.  It had to be a payoff.  How else would the killer have found us?”

Jonathan added a fact Candi hadn’t heard before.  “And I saw one of the guys who came after us today in the hospital when we were there after the prom.  Someone’s following us, and someone in the FBI is tipping them off about us.”

“If someone’s following you, they wouldn’t need someone in the FBI tipping them off,” said the officer.

“Yes, but how did they know about us being witnesses?” asked Candi.

“She’s right,” agreed Jonathan.  “We hadn’t yet met with the FBI about our role as witnesses.  They called our house the afternoon of the prom and made arrangements to meet us the next day.  But that night someone shot at Kevin … or the person who they
thought
was Kevin.  The only person who could have told them about us as witnesses was someone in the FBI.”

“And we know that if we go to the cops, they’ll just turn us over to the FBI, so we’re screwed,” said Kevin.

The officer was nodding, staring down at the table.  Everyone remained quiet as he considered what they’d told him.

“So you were looking at law enforcement as people who would eventually get you killed,” he finally said.

“Exactly!” said Kevin, sounding very relieved.  “You totally get it.  So now you know why we can’t go with you or get arrested or do anything else that would lead these guys back to us.”

“But your sister is in danger.  She’s going to be here for a week or so, completely unprotected.”

“We’ll protect her,” said Candi, feeling very bold and sure of herself.  When she was determined, she could do anything.

The officer shook his head.  “I know this hospital very well.  They don’t allow overnight guests.  She’ll be alone every evening.  If I were someone tasked with killing her by this Baskerov person, I could slip in and out without being seen without too much trouble.”

Candi’s blood chilled.  “Why would you say such a thing?”

He threw up his hands.  “To get you to see reason!  You can’t protect her or yourselves.  Today should have proven that to you.  You need help from law enforcement.”

“We appreciate your enthusiasm, sir, but you can understand why we would choose to decline that offer,” said Jonathan, sounding sad.

“I think there’s something you’re not understanding, though; and I’d be remiss in not giving you this information before you made your decision.”

“What’s that?” asked Candi, no longer trusting him so much.

“The FBI has regional offices - different ones in each city.  Just because the staff in your area is questionable, it doesn’t mean every office is under the influence of this Baskerov person.  If we bring you to the FBI office here, and inform them of the facts that you’ve given me, you’ll be protected by a different team altogether.  And the ones on the original team will be placed into custody.  The FBI doesn’t mess around when it comes to that kind of thing.  They don’t tolerate turncoats or traitors.”

Candi looked at her brother and Kevin.  She wasn’t sure about them, but she knew for a fact that she’d never considered that idea in just that way.  She just saw the FBI as one big mass of people in black suits, all connected, all under the same orders and influences.

“I’d like to talk to my family,” said Jonathan.  “In private.”

Officer Baker stood.  “Be my guest.  I’ll be right outside.”

“No,” said Kevin, also standing.  “You stay in here. 
We’ll
step outside.”

Candi nodded, moving towards the door, happy that Kevin had made sure to keep them from being trapped inside.  She was feeling nervous enough as it was.  Maybe Kevin’s plan was to just run; she wasn’t going to argue if it was.  She was totally ready to take off.

They stepped outside the door.  Candi started to shut it, but Kevin stopped her.

“Leave it cracked.  I want to hear if he’s calling anyone on his cell.”

Candi nodded, taking her hand off the door.  “So what do you guys think?” she asked.

“I think he’s being honest,” said Jonathan.

“I do too,” said Kevin.  “But he may be underestimating the reach of Baskov.  What if he’s up here too?”

“Don’t you think he would have heard the name?” asked Candi.  “He didn’t seem to know it.”

“What if he’s on Baskov’s payroll?” asked Jonathan.  “How would we know?  Maybe he flubbed up the name on purpose to throw us off.”

“Paranoid much?” asked Kevin.  “Come on, man … this guy could have turned us in or arrested us ten times by now.  We’ve been locked up in the room with him for a while now, and no one’s come to arrest us.  He hasn’t made a single call.”

“Maybe he’s texting someone,” said Candi, lamely.  She knew Kevin was probably right, but she shared Jonathan’s paranoia.  She’d be much happier walking back to the cabin and setting up a fortress to wait for that killer who got away than sitting here waiting to be arrested.  They could wait for Sarah to get out, steal another car, and go to California for real.  Or Alaska, even … start a whole new life.

“I know that look, Candi,” said Kevin, pulling her in for side-hug.  “You’re thinking of going all reckless on us, like Baker said.  I think we need to stop running.  Sarah being hurt gives us no choice.  That guy was right.  She’s just lying there, too easy to kill.  It could even just be a fake nurse who comes in and injects her with something like in the movies.  We’ll never be able to protect her in here.”

Jonathan nodded.  “I hate to say it, but I’m afraid we don’t have any choice.  We have to put our trust in those who’ve sworn to uphold the law.  There have to be some good ones out there who will believe us and protect us.  We haven’t done anything too wrong.  I’m certain we’ll find people who will want to help us do the right thing.”

“But what happens if we do testify?  What’s to stop Baskov from coming after us to punish us?  To prove to anyone else they should never go against him?” asked Candi.

“He’ll be put in jail, and we’ll be leaving for college next year,” said Jonathan.  “By the time he gets out, if he ever does, we’ll be adults with families living somewhere else.  We can change our names if we want.  I’m not going to run for the rest of my life, Candi.  I can’t live like that, and neither can you.  We just need to do the right thing and hope the universal laws protect us.”

“I don’t even know what those laws are, but I’m inspired,” said Kevin, punching Jonathan lightly in the arm.  “Come on, Gumdrop.  Let’s do this.  I’ll do everything I can to watch your back, I swear.”

She smiled without much enthusiasm.  “I know you will.  And I’ll do the same for you guys.  Just promise me … if the good guys go bad, you’ll run and never look back.”

“I promise,” said Kevin, putting his hand out.

“I promise, too,” said Jonathan, putting his hand on top of Kevin’s.

Candi placed hers on the top of the stack.  “I promise too.  Let’s go.  One-two-three-break!”

They pumped their hands in time with her counting and then lifted them up on the last part.  Smiling, they all entered the room.  Officer Baker was standing in the middle of the space, sending someone a text message.

***

Sarah moaned.  The pain in her shoulder and abdomen was excruciating.  She smacked her lips a few times, grossing out over the gooey, sticky sensation in her mouth.  She tasted medicine and plain old stink breath.

“She just tried to say something!” said Candi’s voice.  It was coming from down on the ground.

Ground?  Wait … I’m not standing.  I’m on my back.  Candi’s at my feet.  Where am I? 
Sarah tried to open her eyes, but the effort required was too great for her right now.