The Outsider (James Bishop 4) (14 page)

‘We try and look friendly,’ he said.

‘Can’t tell you how much we appreciate this,’ Bishop said. ‘It was just our luck to get a busted axle in the middle of nowhere, and with no credit left on my cell phone, either. You guys really saved our hides.’

Roger Souza gazed at him in his rear-view and said, ‘Well, we couldn’t exactly leave two poor souls hanging in the middle of desert country, could we?’

‘Not on your life,’ said his sprightly grey-haired wife, Eleanor, sitting opposite Bishop at the dining table in the RV’s main living area. ‘Besides, after eight weeks on the road it’s good to have some outside company for a change.’

It had been a real stroke of fortune when the recreational vehicle had pulled up and the sixty-something driver asked if they needed a ride. Fortunately, the couple hadn’t spotted the wreckage of the patrol car at the bottom of the incline or they might not have been so welcoming, although they
had
spotted the SUV a few miles back. Roger and Eleanor had said they were headed for Pahrump, a medium-sized town about sixty miles west of Vegas, where they planned to spend a few hours with Roger’s infirm mother, who was staying in a care home. After introducing himself as Scott Lawson, and Strickland as his brother, Carl, Bishop had said that was perfect since they were also headed there.

Bishop had actually been to Pahrump many years before with a client who’d wanted to check up on a flight school he owned out there. He figured the town was as good a place as any to take stock and figure out their next move.

‘Sure you don’t want us to drop you in Vegas?’ Roger asked. ‘I mean, you’ll want to contact a breakdown service to bring your SUV back, right? You don’t want to leave it out there too long.’

‘It can wait until we get to Pahrump,’ Bishop said, improvising quickly. ‘I know a good mechanic there who’ll haul it back at a fraction of the price those outfits in Vegas charge.’

‘Fair enough. Pahrump it is, then.’

It also meant Roger could avoid Vegas altogether by taking the Beltway route and then joining up with State Route 159. That would eventually connect up with SR 160, which would then take them west to Pahrump, fifty miles away. He looked out the front at the road ahead. They were currently doing a steady seventy down I-15. He saw a sign telling drivers the Beltway turn-off was only a mile away.

Eleanor turned to Strickland, sitting on the couch on the other side, and said, ‘You okay over there, Carl? You haven’t said much.’

‘Sorry.’ Strickland gave her a wan smile. ‘Got things on my mind.’

‘Woman trouble,’ Bishop said under his breath.

‘Ah,’ she said.

She looked about to add something else, so Bishop quickly changed the subject and said, ‘This is a real nice RV you got here, Eleanor. Very stylish.’

Eleanor smiled at the compliment. ‘Well, we simply figured that since we planned to spend a large portion of our twilight years travelling all over this great country, we might as well do it in comfort. After all, it’s only money, right?’

‘That’s right.’

Even to Bishop’s untrained eye, the RV was clearly one of the high-end luxury models. It certainly had all the mod cons. Oak panelling, a fully stocked kitchenette, a Sony sound system, a 40-inch Panasonic flatscreen TV, and more. From the surround speakers, a subdued Frank Sinatra was assuring everybody that the moon was yellow and the night was young.

But Bishop was mostly thinking about the overturned cruiser they’d just left. He was sure somebody must have spotted it by now and reported it in, which meant the cops would be erecting roadblocks pretty soon, if they hadn’t already. For sure though, things were going to get very precarious very soon.

He was proven right twenty minutes later.

Eleanor had just finished recounting their recent tour of Utah’s Monument Valley, when Bishop looked out the front and saw they were coming to the crossroads that joined them with SR 160. There was a large gas station directly in front of them, and no other building in either direction. Roger stopped at the intersection, then flicked his right indicator and turned onto SR 160. At which point Bishop spotted two Highway Patrol vehicles blocking part of the westbound lane up ahead. They were about a hundred yards away. Two troopers were standing by their vehicle, hands on their belt holsters, as a third questioned the driver of the car at the front of the line. It was a small line. The eastbound lane was being left alone. There wasn’t a whole lot of traffic going in either direction.

‘Oh, great,’ Roger said. ‘What now?’

Bishop looked over at Strickland and noticed an Air Force baseball cap lying next to one of the cushions at the other end of the couch. He made a vague head movement until Strickland saw where he was looking. Then he understood. He reached over, picked up the cap and placed it on his head. Eleanor was watching him with a faintly puzzled expression.

‘We’re going to need your help here, Eleanor,’ Bishop said, taking off his suit jacket and placing it on the seat next to him. He pulled the Glock from the side pocket and rested it on the table, not pointing at anything in particular.

‘What – ?’ Eleanor said, her eyes wide as she stared at the gun. ‘What
is
this?’

‘I’m afraid I wasn’t being entirely honest with you before, Eleanor,’ Bishop said. ‘Now we’re in a real bind here and we need to get out of the area fast, which means you and Roger are going to have to help us get past this roadblock.’

‘Oh, God,’ she said. Her voice sounded unsteady, but Bishop was just grateful she wasn’t screaming.

‘Honey?’ Roger was watching them in the rear-view. ‘You all right back there? What’s wrong?’

‘We just need you to stay cool, Roger,’ Bishop said, ‘and get us past this roadblock without any fuss. Can you do that?’

‘Please just do what he says, Rog,’ Eleanor said. ‘He’s got a gun.’

‘A gun?’ Roger turned in his seat and glared at Bishop. ‘Mister, if you hurt her—’

‘Nobody’s getting hurt, Roger,’ Bishop said calmly. ‘Not if you get us past these cops, like I asked. The car in front just moved up a spot.’

Roger stepped on the gas and closed the gap. The trooper was now questioning the driver of the car in front. They were next. In the background, Frank was now singing about having one more for the road.

‘Okay,’ Roger said. ‘Okay, what do you want me to say?’

‘Just be natural and say what you’d normally say in these circumstances. If they ask about us two tell them we’re family, but only if they ask. Don’t make a big deal out of it. And no secret signals, Roger. That would be a very bad move. I can’t emphasize that enough.’

‘I’m not stupid,’ Roger said.

‘I know you’re not,’ Bishop said.

Then the car in front moved off and the trooper was waving for them to come forward and stop. Roger obeyed and pulled up beside the trooper. He lowered his window and said, ‘What’s the trouble, Officer?’

The trooper leaned an arm on the window frame without answering. He wasn’t smiling. He looked in the back of the RV and saw Bishop and Eleanor sitting at the table. Then he glanced at Strickland on the couch.

He turned back to Roger. ‘Where you folks coming from?’

‘Utah,’ Roger said. ‘We been touring the national parks, and let me tell you it’s some beautiful country up there.’ His voice sounded very natural to Bishop.

‘Uh-huh,’ the trooper said. ‘You folks all travelling together?’

‘That’s right, Officer,’ Eleanor called out. ‘What happened, did somebody finally rob one of the big casinos on the Strip or something?’

The trooper’s face softened just a little. ‘No, ma’am, nothing like that.’ He turned back to Roger. ‘Where you all headed?’

‘Pahrump,’ Roger said. ‘Then we plan on heading on over to Arizona and spending a few days exploring the Grand Canyon.’

‘Grand Canyon, huh?’ The trooper looked at the road behind them and said, ‘Okay, well, you can move along now.’

‘Right, Officer.’ Roger carefully put the vehicle into Drive, stepped on the gas and drove on through the gap.

As they picked up speed, Bishop breathed out again.

‘So what happens now?’ Eleanor asked.

‘Now you take us to Pahrump and drop us off in town, as agreed. Then you’ll continue on your way and forget you ever saw us. Deal?’

Eleanor swallowed and attempted a smile. ‘Deal,’ she said.

Just over an hour later, Roger Souza pulled up next to the sidewalk in the main part of town. They’d already passed a number of small casinos along the way, but thankfully no more roadblocks. On the other side of the street was the Pahrump Shopping Center with an Albertson’s store serving as the anchor.

‘Here okay?’ Roger said.

‘Perfect,’ Bishop said, standing by the side door with Strickland. During the drive Bishop had explained their current predicament in fairly vague terms without mentioning Barney at all, so things weren’t anywhere near as tense as before, but he knew the Souzas wouldn’t be sorry to see the back of them. ‘Thanks for the ride, folks. And I’m real sorry about the gun, but you wouldn’t have taken me seriously otherwise. Now my advice is to continue with your lives as before and just forget we ever existed.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Eleanor said at the table, ‘we won’t say anything.’

Bishop nodded his thanks and opened the door and pushed the still-withdrawn Strickland through and followed him down the step onto the sidewalk. He raised one hand to Eleanor. She gave a brief wave back, then he closed the door and Roger pulled away and off they went to their own lives. Bishop almost envied them.

‘It’s been over an hour now,’ Strickland said, ‘and still nothing. What’s taking them so long?’

‘They’re just making you sweat is all. They’ll call. Don’t worry.’

‘
Don’t worry
. Easy for you to say. Barney’s not your son.’

Bishop looked both ways. Traffic was very light. As they crossed the road, he said, ‘Believe it or not, I want Barney back just as badly as you.’

Strickland gave a snort. ‘Yeah, right.’

‘Okay, maybe not as badly as you, but if those two morons back at the car wreck had wanted to make a trade there and then I would have still handed you over in a heartbeat.’

Strickland turned to him. ‘No shit?’

‘No shit.’

‘So what makes Barn so important to you all of a sudden?’

‘Aside from the fact that I like him, I also gave my word I’d keep him safe. And you too, for that matter. But Barney’s still a kid, which means he takes top priority.’

‘At least we agree on something then,’ Strickland said.

They reached the opposite sidewalk and Bishop began walking across the vast parking lot towards the Starbucks he’d seen on the right. They needed to camp somewhere while they waited for the phone call, and the coffee shop would do as well as anywhere else.

‘So who’d you give your word to?’ Strickland asked, keeping pace alongside.

‘To Delaney. During her last few moments.’

‘Oh,’ Strickland said. ‘Okay.’

They kept walking until they reached Starbucks. There were also a couple of empty wooden benches along the walkway in front of the store. Bishop was motioning for Strickland to take a seat on one when the cell phone in his pocket began chiming. He pulled it out.
Unknown Caller
was displayed on the screen.

This was it. The worst-case scenario in actuality. Now he was doubly glad they’d gone through that role-play exercise the night before.

‘Is it them?’ Strickland asked, his face a mass of worry lines.

‘It has to be,’ Bishop said, and sat on the nearest bench. He looked around. Other than a couple of female shoppers exiting the Albertsons store fifty feet away, he and Strickland were all alone.

‘It’s you they’ll want to talk to,’ Bishop said, passing the phone to Strickland. ‘And don’t forget to put it on speaker. Okay?’

Strickland sat down next to Bishop and stared at the cell phone for a moment as though it were an alien object, then he pressed the green button and the ringing stopped. He pressed another button and from the small speaker a tinny, amplified voice said, ‘Who am I talking to? No names.’

‘The father,’ Strickland said. ‘Let me talk to my boy.’

‘Maybe later, now’s not convenient. He’s in transit. But you know he’s with us, right? And you also know we’re not amateurs at this, and that he’ll stay unharmed. For now.’

Strickland let out a breath. ‘I know.’

‘And you know what we want in exchange, don’t you?’

‘I can take a guess. Your, uh … your voice sounds familiar.’

‘Thought it might. So if you know the voice, that’ll save us unnecessary time-wasting. And since we don’t want to risk attracting the attention of certain third parties who are probably already monitoring the airwaves, no names to be used from now on. Now I think we should keep things as simple as possible, so what’ll happen is I’ll give you the address of one of our people out there. You’ll hand yourself over to him and then we’ll release—’

Bishop watched as Strickland extended his index finger and pressed the red button, instantly ending the call.

Bishop raised an eyebrow as Strickland carefully placed the cell phone on the bench between them. His hand was shaking. Which wasn’t too surprising, considering.

Bishop just looked at him, waiting. Things were starting to fall into place now.

‘This is the only way to prove I’m serious,’ Strickland said finally. ‘He’ll call back.’

‘I know he will. I just wasn’t sure if
you
did.’

In fact Bishop was certain this guy would call back, but that didn’t stop him from being impressed with Strickland’s handling of the situation. With his boy’s life at stake he wasn’t letting his emotions get in the way. But then, he probably knew better than anybody the kind of people he was dealing with.

‘You’re not quite the honest man-off-the-street Delaney made you out to be, are you, Strickland?’

‘Huh? What are you talking about?’