40 Souls to Keep, page 12
“Christ on a cracker, Jacobson. What’s going to happen to her here?”
Maybe it had been his run of bad luck so far that night, but Jase didn’t want to tempt fate. Seven years as her bitch might have had something do to with that. “I really think she should stay with us,” he said to Swift.
He expected capitulation and got it—Swift acquiesced with a nod—but Martinez threw a wrench into the works. “There’s a TV next door,” she said, squatting down to Macy’s level. “It gets the Disney Channel.”
Macy’s eyes lit, and Jase resisted the urge to strangle Martinez. He darted a glance to the side to find Lucas glaring as well. They were simpatico on this one. Neither one of them wanted Macy out of their sight.
Disney won. Why most kids went Pavlovian at the sight of the mouse ears mystified Jase, but Macy dropped Lucas’s hand like it was on fire and skipped out of the room with Martinez. Jase frowned after her.
Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention—Lucas’s reflection in the two-way mirror, staring after Macy with an unhappy expression. And next to him, Swift, hands deep in his pockets. He was staring at Jase.
“Let’s get down to it,” the detective said, breaking the spell. He threw the door shut, then pulled a chair out from the table and lowered his bulk into it. Lucas chose a seat opposite, and Jase took the one beside him. The irony of their positions wasn’t lost on him—there was a battle coming. He wondered if Lucas had picked up on the dynamic, or if he’d noticed that Swift was a confused jumble of cooperative and antagonistic.
“You wanted information, so here it is,” Swift began. “Evidence at the murder scene has us leaning toward a drug deal gone bad.”
Ignorant to the events earlier, Jase took his lead from Lucas, whose skepticism did a good job of souring what had barely begun. “Drugs?” Lucas blurted. “You saw that place. They could barely afford food!”
Swift pursed his lips. “Powerful incentive to make a little extra cash, don’t you think?”
“I think fourth graders dealing on the playground make enough money to get three square meals a day. If Macy’s father was involved in the scene to the extent you’re insinuating, I don’t think they would have been living in an abandoned house fifteen miles out of town eating cold soup out of a can.”
Swift worked his jaw side to side. Despite his thoughtful nod, Jase got the feeling the man wanted to gnaw Lucas’s head off. “I’m not dismissing your opinion, Jacobson, but it’s all we’ve got at the moment.”
Judging by Lucas’s pinched expression, the statement didn’t sit well. “What evidence did you find?” he asked.
“That information doesn’t concern you. Your job is to deal with the girl. Listen, I’m sorry. I know you want to help her, but you’ve got to let me do my part. I don’t know shit about kids. I’ll admit that. But I know how to run a murder investigation, so back off and let me do it.”
The statement took the air out of Lucas’s sails. Jase didn’t like it either, but Swift had a point.
“Has she said anything about the murders?” Swift asked. “Did she see who did it? Even if she caught a glimpse, it would be helpful. We’ve got books full of these losers’ pictures, if you think she’s up to looking.”
“I don’t know what she saw, if anything,” Lucas admitted. “She’s still in shock and she’s been asleep most of the time since we left NSUC. Speaking of which—” He leaned across the table. “I see Officer Martinez is alive and well. What about Dr. Ford and the on-duty nurses?”
Tone tempered, Swift said, “Everyone is fine. Scared, but alive.” He threw Lucas a grudging smile. “I heard what you did back there. The doc told me. It was good work. Stupid and careless, but good work.” He looked ready to drop the subject, but Lucas didn’t let him.
“Gee, thanks, Detective. Maybe you can write something up to go in my file.”
“Don’t push it.”
Lucas didn’t, but he did press for more information on Macy. “These people who came after her at the hospital...how did they know where we were?”
Swift tilted his chair back and laced his fingers over his stomach, drawing Jase’s eyes to the pink dolphin before the detective’s beefy hands covered it. “They followed you.”
“That seems a pretty convenient explanation.”
“Many crimes are simpler than they seem.” Swift’s chair clunked back to the floor. “Most criminals aren’t rocket scientists.”
Jase’s frustration level climbed steadily. They weren’t getting any closer to the answers he needed. Which direction would the danger come from?
“I know you have a passing familiarity with the scene around here,” Swift said, addressing Lucas, but not Jase. In fact, Swift had done his best to cut him out of the conversation altogether. Why did that bother him so much? It wasn’t as though he craved Swift’s attention.
“Your department sees its fair share of this crap,” Swift continued. “So you know these fuckers don’t mess around.” He scowled. “Best we can tell, Pearl was coordinating some Key West to Naples runs. Seems he had a background in numbers. Accounting. In fact, he lost his last job because of some funny business with the balance sheets.”
Maybe, but that could also be nothing more than hearsay. Jase filed the information away and didn’t let it sully his opinion of Macy’s lost father.
Lucas grunted. Tapping his chin, he turned to Jase. “It’s not uncommon for dealers to run cocaine from the Keys to Naples.”
“I didn’t realize,” Jase admitted.
“Mostly on the tour boats, believe it or not. Not in the quantity you see coming into Miami, but a respectable haul.”
Drugs. Jase’s night was getting better and better. “I think it’s a safe assumption that since they came after Macy at the hospital, she saw more than she should have.”
Swift’s attention turned his way. Finally. “Exactly. So we’ll be taking her into protective custody tonight.” He stood, giving his shorts their token tug.
The implication was so blatant that at first Jase was too shocked to act. It wasn’t that he was worried about losing control of Macy. He only had to say he was taking her, and people would clear a path. No, it was the idea that Swift would remove the child from Lucas’s care—an adult she’d bonded to—when she’d lost her parents only hours before.
“No,” he said, shocking himself at how ferocious he sounded. He came to his feet as well. “She needs to stay with Lucas.”
Swift blinked, opened his mouth to speak, but a scream interrupted him. Macy’s scream. Before Jase or Swift could move, Lucas had shot out of his chair and across the room. “Macy!” he yelled, yanking the door open and bolting through.
It was the gunshot that got Jase’s feet moving. Ignoring Swift’s colorful curses, he charged through the door behind Lucas.
Straight into chaos.
White smoke billowed into the corridor from the end of the hall near the entrance, and as Jase stood rooted to the spot, scanning for Lucas or Macy, the fire alarm activated. In the ceiling, red strobe lights began to spin and sprinkler heads came to life, spitting water in powerful bursts. Jase swept a hand over his dripping face and squinted into the confusion. He jumped at the crack of a second gunshot, and then Swift was pushing past him, red-faced and struggling to free his sidearm from his shoulder holster.
Jase watched him go, then turned, trying to orient himself. The chaos was making it difficult to focus. Martinez had taken Macy “next door,” she’d said, but that could’ve meant anything. Regardless, it gave him somewhere to start. He ignored the shouts and screams that were increasing in volume every second and turned right, trying the handle of the next door he saw.
It turned easily, and he pushed inside, shocked to find he’d guessed correctly. A television perched on a low table was tuned to some children’s channel. The show was colorful and loud, anyway. Macy’s cup of Sprite sat on the table in a puddle of condensation.
There was no sign of Lucas or Macy, and Jase gave in to his panic. “Macy!” he yelled, dashing back into the hallway. It was rapidly turning into a swamp. “Lucas!”
He thought it couldn’t get any worse, but once again fate proved him wrong. The lights went out, marking the second time that night he’d been stuck in a dark building with people screaming. The sprinklers cut off too, but it was a small blessing. Without the water to beat it down, another wave of smoke rolled down the hall and overcame him. Jase dropped to his knees, coughing.
When a hand landed on his shoulder, he reared up to throw it off.
“Jase,” Lucas said, coughing himself.
Jase squinted, barely catching the outline of a man and...yes, a child. Macy—cuddled close in Lucas’s arms.
“What the hell is happening?” Jase wheezed, and Lucas shook his head.
“No idea, but we’re getting out of here. Come on.”
Jase followed him on faith, hoping it wasn’t misplaced. Lucas moved forward cautiously, but with enough certainty that Jase realized he knew where he was going.
They came to an intersection of halls, and Lucas edged around the corner to the right, then stopped dead and sank to the floor when a voice rang through the dark.
“Find the goddamn girl!”
“Change of plans,” Lucas said, just loud enough for Jase to catch. “Go back.”
They scuttled back down the hall, staying low and hopefully out of sight. Lucas ducked through a doorway into a large room, and Jase followed.
“Can you take her for a while?” Lucas asked.
“Of course.” Jase held out his arms, wondering if convincing Macy would be a problem, but she let herself be transferred without complaint and fixed her arms in a viselike grip around his neck. “Where are you taking us?”
“The rear exit at the east end of the building. All the action seems to be back that way.” Lucas made a gesture. In the dark it was hard to tell, but Jase thought he was pointing toward the main entrance. “So we’re going this way.”
As plans went, Jase had heard worse. “Okay.”
Jase cradled Macy to his chest while Lucas led them through the dark. They all flinched when the building’s fire alarm started up anew, this time without the sprinklers. Confusion reigned. People ran by, nearly invisible in the dark, and the screaming was growing louder and more constant. The red emergency lights tucked close to the ceiling continued to spin until Jase felt dizzy. Another gunshot ripped through the building, and he gripped Macy closer. He wasn’t one to panic, but it felt as if they’d fallen into hell.
They crawled along a wall through the thickening smoke until Lucas stopped and slung his arm around Jase’s shoulder. He had to lean in close for his words to be heard over the fire alarm. “Are you okay?” His lips brushed Jase’s ear.
“Fine,” he said, but that one word brought on a coughing fit. He tried to muffle it as much as he could as he wiped his eyes.
“That exit’s got to be around here somewhere.” Lucas started off again, tugging Jase by his sleeve.
Jase believed in Lucas, and they did need to get out of the building, but was bursting out into the night without any idea of what waited for them a good idea? And, an even bigger question, was this the sequence of events that would lead to Macy’s injury? With guns going off all around them, it seemed likely. But God, how much more could the kid take?
Lucas rose to a crouch. Following suit, Jase looked to where he pointed.
“I think the door is at the end of this hall.” Lucas coughed into his sleeve, staring at Jase with anxious, bloodshot eyes.
Yes, I know. We could be walking into something much worse.
It was still the better of the two options. Jase nodded, and, after one last glance at Macy, Lucas turned and scuttled off. Jase followed. Two doors from the end of the corridor, a figure stepped out in front of them. Lucas spun, kicking out with his feet, and the person went down hard on their back. A feminine cry reached Jase’s ears.
Lucas crawled to hover over the groaning figure. “Martinez?”
“Nice shot,” she wheezed.
“Christ, I’m sorry,” Lucas said, helping her into a seated position against the wall. Another series of gunshots rang through the building. Even several rooms away, they made Jase’s heart jump. Martinez waited for the echo to fade. “Get her out of here. Exit’s around the corner. No one’s waiting outside, as far as I could tell.”
Lucas swiped a soot-stained hand over his mouth, leaving a black streak behind. “You’re sure?”
“I was just out there. This door dumps you on the east side of the building.”
Lucas shook his head frantically. “We’re parked on the other side, behind the cruisers.”
“Shit.” Martinez shifted, winced, and Jase saw the blood staining her shirt for the first time. He reached out, but she batted his hand away, glaring. “Here,” she said, digging in her pocket and coming up with a set of keys, complete with a Naples is Paradise key ring. “Take mine. Silver Camry. Out the door, on the left. Two cars down.”
He saw the gentleman in Lucas about to refuse. “Take the damn keys,” Jase said. Roughly, he yanked Lucas close and thrust his hand into the left front pocket of his jeans. When he emerged with the Jetta’s keys, he handed them to Martinez. “Thank you.”
“Stay in touch with Swift,” she said. Even in the half-light of the corridor, she read the doubt in his eyes. “He’s on our side,” she insisted. “Keep Macy safe.”
That was all he had left. Keeping Macy safe.
In the end he was the one who had to pull Lucas to his feet and get him moving. The man hadn’t said a word since Martinez had handed him her keys. Eyes unfocused, he went two steps before stopping to sag against the wall and stare at the blood on his hands.
They didn’t have time for this. Jase lifted Macy onto his shoulder, took a firm hold of Lucas’s arm, and swung him against the wall. It was a risky move, because Lucas obviously knew some fancy self-defense.
As Jase suspected, Lucas came around swinging. Jase turned his shoulder into the blow, but it still hurt.
“What the fuck?” Breathing heavily, Lucas hovered over him, fists squared.
“Snap out of it.” Jase jerked his chin at the exit door a few feet away, then passed Macy over. “Give me the keys.”
Confusion replaced the anger on Lucas’s face, but he obeyed, tossing Jase Martinez’s keys and hoisting Macy in his arms. Jase found the one for the Camry among the set. “You ready?” he asked, crowding Lucas, getting up close and personal. With their faces only inches apart, he could see the pain and fear in his eyes, and his heart twisted. “I need you, Lucas. Hold it together.”
“Yeah, okay,” Lucas said, eyes locked on Jase’s. “Ready.” And after a deep breath, more confidently, “Ready.”
Jase kicked the exit door open and they ran.
In the end, it was the most anticlimactic part. They split at the back of the car, Jase circling to the driver’s side and Lucas to the other. He didn’t bother with the backseat, but pulled Macy into his lap and slammed the door. Jase threw the car into gear and roared backward out of the parking space. Two speed bumps later, they reached the Trail.
“Go right,” Lucas ordered, and Jase made the turn. In the rearview mirror, the Seventh Avenue station glowed from the inside, a bright orange flicker. A fire truck was already swerving to a stop in front of the building. Jase gave a split second’s thought to the people who’d been inside, then put it behind him. They weren’t safe themselves yet.
Another yellow ladder truck passed them, sirens wailing, but other than that, the road was empty. Even the stoplights had reverted to a flashing yellow. Jase pushed the Camry to seventy-five. There wasn’t a cop in a fifty-mile radius who was more interested in him than the shootout at the police station.
“Where to?” he asked.
Lucas swallowed twice, then croaked out an answer. “Stay on the Trail. On Route 41,” he clarified. “It makes a sharp turn to the left up here in about a half a mile.”
“Opposite the way we went earlier,” Jase remembered, and Lucas nodded, saving his voice. He reached for the seat belt, folding it over both him and Macy, and clicked it into place. Jase spared a hand to push the hair out of her face, then wished he hadn’t. Blank eyes stared back at him. She was sucking her thumb again.
“How the hell did they know where we were?” Lucas asked it softly, but Jase heard and understood the frustration in his voice.
“No idea.”
The earlier heat of the day lingered in the car, and it wasn’t doing Jase’s stomach any good. The adrenaline drain had left him nauseated. He dropped his window a few inches, and cool, fresh air rushed in, scented with damp vegetation.
“Ah,” Lucas muttered. “The smell of paradise.” Before Jase thought of a reply, Lucas hit the button for his own window and dropped his cell phone through the crack. In the glow of the taillights, Jase watched it hit the pavement and shatter.
“You think that’s going to make a difference?”
Lucas avoided his eyes. “It makes me feel better.”
They came up on the turn sooner than Jase was expecting, and he squealed through the cloverleaf. “Easy, Evel Knievel,” Lucas said, rolling his window down a few more inches.
Macy said nothing.
The city lights faded faster than Jase would have believed possible. Remnants of civilization remained—an Olive Garden, a marina—then nothing but run-down strip malls, looking all the same with their low, slanted roofs and pink stucco.
“What’s after Naples?” Jase asked as they passed the Now Leaving Naples, We Hope You Enjoyed Your Stay sign. Fifty yards farther on, a much smaller sign, paint cracked and fading, announced that they’d entered East Naples.
“After Naples,” Lucas mused, but at least the dreamy quality of his voice had disappeared. Now all Jase heard was fatigue. “Marco Island, then Everglades City.”
