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He waited a few minutes and rapped again.

‘Who’s there?’ asked a small voice from behind the door.

‘Ken, it’s Sam. Open up.’

There was a rattling of keys before the door opened a crack and Ken peered out.

‘Hi, Sam,’ he said guardedly. ‘I thought you were taking a few days off.’

Sam beamed him a friendly smile. ‘I am, Ken.’ He held up the briefcase. ‘Just need to pick up a few things.’

‘At this time?’

Sam chuckled. ‘Well, I wanted to see you, too, didn’t I?’

Ken grinned and opened the door wider to let
him enter. ‘It’s not as good, patrolling without you, Sam.’

‘Who did they partner you with?’

Ken rolled his eyes. ‘Harry. He volunteered to do a double, but I haven’t seen him all shift.’

‘He in the locker room?’

Ken nodded. ‘I had to switch off the radio. He started to bloody sing.’

Sam laughed and clapped a hand on Ken’s shoulder. ‘Let’s go find him and make sure he’s still conscious.’

Sam’s smile faded as he led the way down the dark corridor.

When Sam opened the locker-room door, Harry was slumped on the floor, his chin on his chest, snoring loudly. An empty bottle of bourbon rested beside his hand. The sleeping giant wore only a white undershirt, blue boxers and an unusual pair of elastic garters. His uniform pants, dress shirt, holster and jacket were draped over the wooden bench.

Ken peered over Sam’s shoulder. ‘Th-th-that’s not allowed,’ he stammered. ‘He could be fired.’

Sam bent to the bench and retrieved Harry’s holster and his ring of keys. Then, with a heavy sigh, he turned to his partner. ‘I’ll need your gun and keys, too, Ken.’

‘W-what? Why?’

‘It’s too difficult to explain. Just hand them over.’

Ken stiffened and pulled back his shoulders. ‘I
won’t. You taught me never to turn over my gun.’

‘I also taught you not to do anything foolish. Now trust me and hand them over.’

Ken’s eyes flicked left and right and his lower lip trembled. ‘I can’t, Sam. It’s my job to—’

Sam casually pulled his gun out of his pocket and placed it against Ken’s forehead. The young guard flinched as steel kissed flesh.

‘I’m sorry, Ken, but I need to do this.’

‘G-geez, Sam,’ Ken stuttered. ‘We . . . we’re friends.’

‘That’s why I’m asking nicely, Ken. I want to make sure you survive this.’

Ken gulped. ‘Survive?’

‘I need you to stay here with Harry and not move or try to raise the alarm until the morning shift arrives. Do you understand?’

Ken shook his head.

‘Yes, you do, Ken. Just relax and take a few deep breaths. Find something to read or have a snooze. It may not look like it right now, but I am being your friend.’

Ken sniffled. ‘I trusted you, Sam.’

‘Keep trusting and you’ll walk out of here alive.’

Ken’s shoulders slumped as he unbuckled his holster and handed it over along with his ring of keys and magnetic security card.

‘They’ll fire me for this.’

‘That might not be a bad thing,’ Sam said. ‘It’ll give you a chance to find something you love.’

‘That doesn’t always work out though, does it?’ Ken muttered meaningfully.

Sam didn’t hear him as he exited the room and locked the door.

73

Sam quickly made his way up the rear stairs to the second-floor security booth. During the day shift, three guards patrolled the bustling mall on foot and a rotating fourth guard monitored the close-circuit TVs from the booth. At night, with all the stores closed, it stood empty.

Sam opened the booth with Ken’s keys and quickly shut down all external and internal cameras and alarms. It took five minutes to make sure he had covered everything before he left the booth and headed back downstairs.

When he swung open the doors to the loading dock, two semi-trailers had already backed into place with their rear doors open. A muscular black man approached.

‘You Sam?’ His voice was like gravel falling onto tin.

Sam nodded.

‘We tha’ first crew,’ he said. ‘You got keys?’

Sam held up an electronic pass card. ‘This
will open every store. It’s a master security card.’

The man plucked it out of Sam’s hand. ‘Tha’s cool. Everyt’ing else set?’

‘All cameras are off, the alarms have been disabled and the guards dealt with. You’ve got six hours before the day shift arrives.’

The man grinned. ‘Plenty o’ time. Anyt’ing you want as souvenir, help you’self. Nice TV, maybe? Decent suit?’

Sam patted his briefcase. ‘I got what I came for.’

The man turned to the trucks and waved his arm. Ten behemoths in muscle shirts and loose pants walked from the shadows and vanished into the mall.

74

Sam entered the motel room quietly. Zack had fallen asleep on top of the covers, arms folded on his stomach. He was still dressed, his breathing so shallow that his chest barely moved, and in sleep he looked as fragile as a sparrow.

Sam moved to wake him, but Zack’s eyes were already opening. He stared at Sam and blinked as if not recognizing him.

‘Every time I close my eyes,’ he said, his voice eerily distant, ‘I see Jasmine and Kalli.’

Sam didn’t know what to say.

Zack rubbed his face with the palms of his hands as he sat up and swung his feet to the floor. He cleared his throat. ‘How did it go at the mall?’

Sam held up the briefcase. ‘I got the money. They got the mall.’

‘And your partner?’

‘Ken should be fine if he does what I told him.’

‘That’s good. See. You’re still a good man.’ He
patted Sam’s arm and stood up. ‘Where we off to?’

‘Back to the bridge. Davey should be waiting.’

In the motel parking lot, Zack popped the trunk to the Mercedes. Inside were two large red duffel bags.

‘Have a look if you want,’ Zack said.

Sam unzipped one of the bags and stared down at close to half a million dollars in US currency.

‘It doesn’t seem real,’ he said. ‘It’s too perfect.’

Zack nodded. ‘I’m used to having bills stuffed in my pockets, or a few crisp ones in my wallet, but when I see them like this, fresh from the printer, I realize it’s just paper and ink.’ He paused. ‘All this pain for something so . . . worthless.’

Sam closed the first duffel and unzipped the second, which had more room. He unlocked the briefcase and added its stacks of bills to the duffel. He didn’t see the point in counting it. If Vadik had shorted him, what could he do?

75

The underbelly of Burnside Bridge was noisier than usual when Zack and Sam approached. Groups of people were huddled in large, protective circles: others wandered aimlessly from burning barrel to burning barrel.

Sam was disturbed to see several people wailing and babbling nonsensically as they pounded fists into the dirt until their hands were raw. A baby’s cry cut through the din like a siren. It was joined by the frantic humming of a lullaby on speed.

The gatekeeper approached, his face tense.

‘What’s going on?’ Sam asked.

‘Jus’ a bit busy,’ the hobbit growled. ‘Cops busted a few west-side camps tonight, so we have overflow. Regulars return to find their spot taken an’ it don’t go over well.’

‘Is Davey here?’

Just as the hobbit nodded, a fight erupted behind him. Two snarling men, all teeth and claws, tore at each other’s clothes and skin. Sam
stepped back, stunned by their volcanic rage. One of the men fell onto his back and the other pounced. His fingers were curled into hooks. He landed on the fallen man’s chest, digging fingers into his hair and slamming his head against the ground until he stopped moving.

The victor spat into the unconscious man’s face and retreated to a corner where the tattered remains of a blue sleeping bag lay. No one else challenged him as he curled up on the bag and closed his eyes.

Sam glanced at Zack. His shoulders were stiff, but there was no sign of fear. Sam remembered how he had felt when he was sure his family was dead, how he was so certain there was nothing in this world that could scare him because he had nothing left to lose. Kalli’s death had sent Zack to that place, and Sam sensed he could be even more dangerous than the desperate people around them.

The hobbit shrugged as he turned away from the unconscious man.

‘It’s the same out there.’ He pointed indiscriminately across the river. ‘Only in that world, you don’t see it coming.’

Davey stood by the burning barrel, his upper body trembling as he muttered to himself. When Sam stepped into the circle of light, Davey glanced up and then quickly away.

‘Did he send you back?’ Davey asked.

‘Who?’

‘The one who wanted me to burn?’

Sam shook his head. ‘He thinks you’re dead. You’re safe.’

‘Never safe. Never.’ Davey’s eyes suddenly went wide with fear. ‘Was it the father?’

‘The father?’

Davey nodded rapidly. ‘The father of the boy. He cried all the time. I could hear him behind me. Crying. They asked him to leave once, but he came back. I could feel his eyes on me, burning into me. I still have the marks.’

Davey spun around and lifted his hair to show Sam his neck. Apart from a layer of dirt, it was unscarred.

‘He wants me to burn,’ Davey continued, ‘burn in hell.’

‘I don’t know who wanted to hurt you, Davey,’ Sam said. ‘That’s why I need your help.’

Davey shook his head vigorously and spittle flew from his mouth. ‘You’re a liar! You were a god, but now you’re a goddamn liar.’

‘I was never a god, Davey,’ Sam snapped. ‘I was a punk kid with a big ego that hadn’t been crushed to fucking pulp yet. High school is a launch pad for dreamers, but in the real world, most of us crash and burn before we get off the ground. That’s not worth worshipping.’

Sam bit back his anger and reached under his vest to produce the yearbook. He held it out, the silver and gold foil letters catching the firelight.

Davey licked his lips nervously before striding
forward and grabbing the book. He retreated to his place beside the blazing barrel and carefully turned the pages. His fingers caressed the photos inside.

‘My signatures are gone,’ Davey said.

‘Sorry, do you have others?’

‘Yeah. Lots.’

Sam stepped closer. ‘Are the other signatures on programmes, Davey?’

‘Sure.’ Davey’s voice lifted. ‘You remember those cast parties? Man, did they get wild. Everybody singing
Rocky Horror Picture Show
and doing the Worm at the end of “Time Warp”? I felt up my first boob at one of those. Had a boner for a week.’

Sam’s own memories flickered through his brain: a legion of long-forgotten faces.

Zack stepped into the circle of light. ‘Do you still have them? The programmes.’

Davey’s smile faded. ‘Who’s this?’

‘A friend,’ Sam said. ‘He’s helping me find my family.’

‘Your family?’

‘The man who wanted to burn you has kidnapped them. We think he’s someone we knew.’

‘From school?’

‘Someone in your lighting crew, maybe,’ Zack interjected.

Davey narrowed his eyes.

‘We just need to see the programmes, Davey?’

Sam pressed. ‘Can you help us?’

‘Not tonight,’ Davey said. ‘I put them in a safe place after . . .’ He flicked his eyes at Sam.

‘Could we go there?’ Zack asked. ‘To your safe place.’

Davey shook his head. ‘Nobody goes there, man. Nobody but me. It’s protected.’

‘We can wait here for you,’ Sam said. ‘It’s important.’

Davey shook his head again. ‘Come back tomorrow. I’ll have them then.’ He returned to his yearbook.

Sam sighed and held up his hands in surrender. ‘OK, Davey, we’ll do that, but don’t let me down.’

‘I never did, Sam,’ Davey said quietly. ‘I never ever did.’

76

Detective Preston looked around the ransacked mall, tipped back his hat with the rim of a paper coffee cup, and whistled.

‘They hit every store.’ Hogan stretched out his arms and walked to the middle of the deserted concourse. ‘Every single one.’

‘It must have taken some crew to pull it off.’

‘An organized crew
and
one familiar security guard.’

‘Not the actor?’

Hogan nodded. ‘We have an eye witness. White locked the night guards in a room, disabled the alarms and cameras, and let the crew inside.’

‘That crazy son of a bitch,’ Preston muttered. ‘Did he hurt the guards?’

‘Nope. In fact, he made sure they were tucked out of harm’s way. Our witness is White’s regular partner. He said White was very calm about it, very reassuring that everything would be OK if he just stayed quiet.’

Preston scratched his nose. ‘This guy doesn’t make sense. He’s starting to piss me off. How do you kill one guy for a bleepin’ cellphone, but then be all Mr Friendly when you’re robbing an entire mall? How many stores are in here? Eighty? A hundred? The haul’s worth millions.’

‘If you know how to fence it,’ Hogan interjected. ‘And how would a security guard know that? I talked to robbery and they’re saying this stuff was probably loaded directly on to a ship to Russia. There’s a good market for American goods over there.’

‘And the only face we have—’

‘Is Mr White.’

Preston narrowed his eyes. ‘So what are you thinking, partner?’

‘Maybe there really is something to his story about his family being kidnapped.’

‘And somebody is making him do this crazy shit?’

‘It makes more sense than the alternative,’ Hogan said. ‘I can’t buy that White woke up one morning and decided to go on a random killing spree, and then become a criminal mastermind.’

Preston sighed. ‘Yeah, actors aren’t that clever.’

Hogan grinned. ‘Exactly. And if he wanted to get away with it, he wouldn’t be leaving all these witnesses.’

‘Which means whoever is really behind it—’

‘Can’t leave White alive,’ Hogan finished.

77

Sam sat on the bed, eyes dry and sore, while Zack kept watch out of the window on the one thing he had failed to deliver to the kidnapper: $1,000,000.

They had both stripped to their boxers in contemplation of sleep, but it hadn’t come. Zack had paced the room before taking up his station at the window, while Sam continued to replay his conversation with Davey, wondering if he should have pushed harder for the programmes.