The Carrier (8 page)

“
It’s just romance,” she
said.

“
Don’t
ever
be ashamed of romance,” Danny
said.

“
We need a room, ma’am,”
Marcus said.

“
Just one room?”

“
Yes. And can we have a room
that faces west?” Danny asked. “We won’t get the sun in our face
tomorrow morning.”

“
Let me see. Okay. Which way
is north?”

Danny pointed due north.

“
I always know where north
is,” he said. “It’s the Eagle Scout in me.”

Marcus wondered how smart it was for
Danny to be showboating like this. Was it for the benefit of the
chubby desk girl?

“
Okay, so, like, west would
be facing out to the parking lot?” she said.

“
You got it.”

Marcus tried to look at the login
book, but he didn’t get a perfect view. He thought the last guest
to check in had a first name that started with C.

“
A lot of open rooms—12, 15,
16.”

“
We’ll take 15,” Danny said.
“That’s the age I learned to whistle.”

The girl giggled; she was
into it now. She walked them up to their room. Danny, of course,
had started to whistle—
Crazy in
Love
.

“
What was that about?”
Marcus asked when they were inside.

“
What?”

“
The eagle scout? The
whistling?”

“
Just making
conversation.”

“
Be a little less memorable,
maybe.”

“
So you want it to be two
shady-looking guys come in, don’t say a word, throw down cash and
slink off to their room?”

“
No.”

“
Because that’s some
Al-Qaeda shit right there.”

“
No one is going to think
we’re Al-Qaeda.”

“
I’m just saying you have to
give a little chatter, otherwise you look like you’re up to no
good.”

“
How about we just say—Hi, I
can have a room? Thank you for the room. Goodnight.”

“
She didn’t seem to
mind.”

For the first time Marcus considered
the drawbacks to working with a sex criminal. He also saw just one
double bed in the room.

“
She put us in a couple’s
room? Just without any question that’s what she thought we
wanted?”

“
We might not stay the
night. If we do—I’ll sleep in the chair. No funny
stuff.”

Marcus sat and watched the parking
lot. It was the most boring lot he’d ever seen. Danny sat on the
bed and gave it a few exploratory bounces.

“
Who does that—just gives
two dudes a room with a single bed?” Marcus asked.

“
The most important part
about this room is it looks out onto the parking lot, and it’s
right next door to his.”

“
You’re sure it’s
his?”

“
Pretty sure. He might be in
there now, for all we know. I’m going to get a soda.”

Marcus turned on the TV and
watched a show about piranhas. They cut from a feeding frenzy in
the Amazon to a suburban family, happily caring for pet piranhas in
their living room. The mom let the youngest child dangle meat into
the tank. Sure, bring a piranha into your home. Why not?
Marcus turned off the TV. Where was Danny? He’d
been gone twenty minutes now, probably chatting up the girl at the
desk. Marcus was about to call when Danny appeared, carrying two
big bottles of Coca-Cola.

“
What took you so
long?”

“
His name is Cyril, Cyril
Smrekar.”

“
Who?”

“
The man we’re looking for.
He’s in his twenties, brown hair, about average height.”

“
She told you all
that?”

“
She told me some of that.
Some of it I read off the login book. He’s in 14. I was right about
that. He went out a little before we showed up.”

“
When is he coming
back?”

“
That she didn’t know. But
do you see how it pays to be a little charming?”

“
You think he used his real
name?”

“
I think he did. I bet he
uses real ID, real credit card, everything above board. I looked
him up. There was a minor Czechoslovakian dissident named Cyril
Smrekar, but he died in 1974. There’s also a Cyril Smrekar who does
web design for a small marketing firm. No picture, but he graduated
college five years ago.”

“
Can’t be the same
guy.”

“
Why not? He’s actually a
real person with a real job, just does this on the side to buy jet
skis and champagne. He’s not dangerous at all. But I think he might
be handsome.”

“
Who cares?”

“
I got a little jealous.
Then Leona tried to make it up to me, and I ended up with the key
to 14.”

Danny tossed the wooden block with the
silver key up into the air.

“
She gave you
that?”

“
I have it,” Danny said as
he walked out the door. “Be on lookout.”

***

Danny knocked twice on 14 and then
entered. The room seemed unoccupied other than one nearly empty
backpack. There was nothing stashed away under the bed or in the
bathtub. He sat on the mattress and bounced it a few times for
comparison. This one was a little squeakier.

He went back to room 15.

“
Anything?” Marcus
asked.

“
No. He hasn’t made the
pickup yet.”

“
Could he be doing it
now?”

“
Probably not. But if he is,
we’re in the best possible place to grab it.”

“
So we just
wait?”

“
I said there would be
boring parts.”

They sat in silence for a minute. It
was when Marcus sat still thinking that he looked most brainless.
His mouth hung slightly open and his head drooped
forward.

“
You’re sure he doesn’t have
the money in his car?” Marcus asked finally.

“
You want to break into his
car?”

“
I’m just
thinking.”

“
I get it. You just want to
be doing something, right?”

“
Yeah.”

“
We’ve had him on the
tracker the whole time. He didn’t have a chance to make a
pickup.”

“
What if he did it in the
parking lot before we got here?”

“
So a guy was here waiting
for him, Cyril puts the money in his trunk, then goes out on
foot?”

“
Okay, you’re right. It
doesn’t make sense.”

“
Hey, I’m glad you’re
thinking, dog. I respect your intellect. You want to play
hangman?”

“
No.”

“
It’s kind of fun to play
with people who can’t spell. It passes the time.”

“
I can spell.”

“
I know, I know. Inside,
some of those guys were straight up illiterate. Luis couldn’t read
a newspaper. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t smart. Any time you meet
someone successful who can’t read, that’s a smart
individual.”

“
Yeah?”

“
You’re going to run a
serious operation, keep all that going, without knowing how to
read—means you have it together up here,” Danny said, tapping his
skull.

At around eight o’clock, a single man
pulled into the Firstway Inn, middle-aged in a bad, gray
suit.

“
That’s not him,” Danny
said, peeking through the blinds.

“
Could it be the guy with
the money?”

The man in gray went to a room on the
other side of the motel. Marcus and Danny waited another hour
before anyone else came. Just after midnight, a young couple showed
up.

“
That can’t be him,” Marcus
said.

But they walked right to 14, not quite
touching, but giving every indication that they were about
to.

“
So she’s giving him the
money?” Marcus asked.

“
I think she’s giving him
the honey.”

“
Okay, but is she also
giving him the money?”

“
I don’t think
so.”

“
Why not?”

“
She’s not carrying
anything.”

“
Maybe she has it
in—”

“
Where? Unless she’s got it
in hundred thousand dollar bills, the money is not on
her.”

Marcus and Danny didn’t talk for a few
minutes. The silence was broken by a steady squeak coming from the
next room.

“
They . . . are doing it,”
Danny said, listening at the wall. “They are getting it on, my
friend. Web designer, drug mule, ladies’ man. He’s got it
all.”

“
Maybe she’s a
hooker.”

“
She’s not a
hooker.”

“
How do you
know?”

“
She might be a
hooker.”

The squeaking grew louder and
faster.

“
Give it to her, Cyril,”
Danny said. “Drop the hammer hard. I got to tell you the truth:
this is getting me aroused. Do you mind if I pleasure
myself?”

“
Jesus, no,” Marcus
snapped.

“
You
don’t
mind. Great—”

“
No, I do mind. Do not—I
mean, keep your hands away—”

“
I was kidding, dog. Relax,”
Danny laughed. “Though I will tell you something—if you ever do
time, you will appreciate a roommate giving you warning before
slapping it.”

“
Okay, but we’re not in
prison, and besides—”

“
Quiet. We should keep
listening, maybe in the throes of passion, she’ll yell out
something important.”

The bed started to thump against the
wall and soon there was a building moan.

“
Here we go,” Danny said.
“Bishop to queen four.”

Just when it sounded as if the act was
complete, there were three quick yelps. It wasn’t clear if it was
the man or the woman who’d made them.

“
Someone finished the job
right,” Danny said.

“
Now what?”

“
Either he pays her and she
leaves, or they try again in half an hour.”

Soon they could hear murmuring, and a
few louder sounds. Shortly after that the man and woman came out of
their room—the man walking out ahead, the woman following a few
strides back.

“
And here comes the happy
couple,” Danny said.

“
They’re going to make the
pickup?”

“
You think he’d bring a
hooker to the pickup?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Don’t get me wrong—I’ve got
nothing but deep respect for the professional lady, but you do not
bring her to a drug deal.”

“
Why is he
barefoot?”

“
That—I do not
know.”

“
It’s forty-five degrees.
He’s walking around barefoot.”

The man sat down near the car, and
Danny adjusted his binoculars.

“
Now what is that? Why did
he just sit down on the asphalt?” Marcus asked.

“
Oh, no. Come
on.”

“
What?”

“
Oh, just fuck me. Fuck me
with a walrus.”

“
What is it? What do you
see?”

“
She’s got a
gun.”

“
She
does?”

“
Look in her left
hand.”

“
That’s a gun?”

“
Yeah.”

“
So. She’s jacking
him?”

“
It looks that
way.”

“
First she bangs him, then
she robs him?”

“
You don’t know girls like
that?”

“
Does she even know who he
is?”

“
It would appear that she
does.”

“
Does she know he hasn’t
made the pickup yet?”

“
It would appear that she
doesn’t.”

The woman seemed to be checking the
inside of the car. They watched her search. The nose of a small
handgun occasionally peeked out from under her sleeve. Marcus had
been promised no guns, and now here was a gun.

“
She’s a girl—okay,” Danny
said.

“
I see that.”

“
What I mean is—if you hit
her from behind, she’s not going to hold on to the gun.”

“
I’ve never hit a
woman.”

“
No, of course not. You’re a
gentleman.”

“
I’m only saying
that—”

“
You think I go around
slapping women? That’s what I do?”

“
I don’t know. You’ve got a
history.”

“
Of caresses. What is on
record is that I touched a lady in an affectionate way. Are you
seriously telling me that you won’t grab a woman who’s
holding
a gun
?”