Pride, page 16
“What’s going on?” The words got their attention. I hoped the interruption to their building testosterone would deescalate the tension enough for my brain to kick back in.
“Who are you?” Gupta asked.
“How did you get in here?” Alan asked at the same time.
“The door was open,” I said. “I heard you yelling.”
The questions seemed to calm the situation. I guess it’s hard to escalate an argument if something distracts you. I wasn’t happy the interruption seemed to bond them against a common threat — me. And I’d stupidly turned off my phone before charging in, so I wasn’t recording anything.
Alan stepped to join Manjeet blocking my access into the rest of the house. “It’s not even three a.m. You usually hang out on residential streets at this time of day?”
“When I’m worried about someone, I don’t sleep.” I didn’t want to get into why Alan was here and how he got into the house yet. I only needed to hold their attention for a few minutes. David would be here with me even if Andy had to ask for permission to enter.
“You can go now,” Gupta said. “This is fine, all under control. A little disagreement between friends. Come back tomorrow and talk to the wife.”
“I’d like to make sure Nora is safe,” I said. “And the other kids.”
Alan took a step toward me. “She isn’t alone. Isn’t that right? You are working with the cops. Those ones in the van.”
Manjeet grabbed Alan’s arm. “What van?”
I kept my mouth shut.
“The feds have been watching the house for days. I took care of them an hour ago. They should have been looking out the back, not just at your door.”
“You killed them?” Gupta asked. “The boss said no cops unless he gave the order.”
“I know what he said.” Alan pulled out of Manjeet’s grip. “I only immobilized them. By the time they get free, we’ll be gone.”
Gone? If they were planning on disappearing, what was the fight about?
“No,” Manjeet said. “We can’t simply walk away. It will take time to get our hands on the money and the files.”
“You came here for your escape fund?” I asked. All the data must not be in the cloud. That would only take a few minutes to copy and delete. Paper files? And the money? Surely Alan had access to hidden accounts.
“You wanted to see Nora?” Prem’s voice made me turn to the other door in the room. She held an almost sleeping Nora by the hand. “Here she is.”
Suddenly, priorities changed. It was up to the real cops to find information. I needed Nora. All the kids of course, but Nora was here. “Come over here, Nora.” I reached out my hand.
She started moving, then Prem grabbed her back and pulled another kid forward, a boy.
“If you go, they will be okay,” she said. “We’ll be gone, and you can do what you want with them.”
I couldn’t take her word I’d find the children alive if I walked away now. “Let me take all the kids now. I’ll go and you can just pack up and leave.”
Alan ran to the front door and locked it. “No. She stays with us. Easier to use as a hostage than the brats.”
Oh, great work Charity, being a hostage is much better than being the person who solves the case.
“Look, you don’t need the kind of trouble we’ll make,” I said, holding my hands out to the kids. “Let me take all the children. No one to slow you down. You get away and the children are safe. They don’t know anything. They are too young to be used against you. I don’t have anything the cops can use. You are in the clear right now. Don’t mess that up.”
47
“No!” Alan screamed. He wasn’t thinking straight any longer. That sound carried fear along with the rage, and it was all pointed at me. “The kids stay. You stay. The cops will be here any minute, right?”
“What do you mean?” Prem asked. “Why would they come?”
“She called them,” Manjeet said, “before she broke in.”
Letting them talk it out wasn’t lowering the tension as I’d hoped. If I couldn’t get the potential hostages, including me, away, I needed to remove the kids from the direct action.
“Even if she was stupid enough to come in without backup,” Alan said, “those guys in the van should be reporting in on a regular schedule. I intended to be long gone before they were missed. At least they aren’t behind her.”
“You knew they were there?” I asked. Not the most insightful question given the team was tied up or something, but I needed back in the conversation. “How long?”
Alan grinned. “You all thought you were so smart. Since day one. The boss told us to leave them. No one was in danger if they kept looking here.”
“He left us as goats?” Prem screamed. “He told us we would be taken care of if everything went to shit.”
Nora started whimpering as I worked my way through what she’d said.
“If your husband had followed orders, you would be fine. But he had to try to be the big man. Had to ask for more money.” Alan took a step toward Prem.
She backed away. “Can you shut her up?” She nodded in my direction.
No guns in sight. Still, three against one and a couple of scared children meant I needed a weapon. No handy candlestick to use as a bat, no heavy ornaments to throw. I liked my chances better with Prem. She might be easier to take down, and I’d be close to the kids if I succeeded. Where the hell was the cavalry?
I took a step between her and Alan. If she thought I was protecting her, I might get an edge.
“Look, this isn’t going to end well at all. I didn’t call the cops, and maybe the people in the van weren’t supposed to check in for a while yet. If you keep yelling, a neighbor is going to phone in a noise complaint.”
“I don’t care,” Alan said. “I have a job to do, and then I’m gone.”
He was the money guy, not an assassin. Unless he was being tested. Or thrown away. Kuznetsov might just be cleaning house. Send Alan to get rid of the Guptas, and take Alan out right after.
Prem pushed Nora toward Alan, but the kid tried to come to me. “Take her. Then you can go. Hurry, before the police come.”
He recoiled. “I don’t want her. I want the money I left here. The cash.”
His running stash? Why would he put it here?
“Send them back to bed,” I said. “The kids are just going to be in the way.” If it was only adults, I could take more risks.
Alan glared at me. “I decide who goes where.” He looked over at Nora, and then the boy. Nora was crying, the boy looked like he was about to hit someone. “Get them out of my sight.”
“Go back to bed,” Prem said. “I’ll be along in a bit to tuck you in.”
The boy took Nora’s hand and headed back down the hall. So, only us adults. Yes, it gave me more leeway, but still no weapons. Maybe not such a bad thing.
“Where’s the money?” I asked. “I guess this was a safe place to keep it until the surveillance?”
Manjeet flicked a glance to the kitchen. In the freezer? No, somewhere out back. No one answered either question.
“Is Kuznetsov leaving town?” If I kept talking, maybe the situation wouldn’t escalate. “Is that why you need cash?”
Alan turned his attention from Prem to me. I struggled to keep track of everyone and not just focus on him. Manjeet stepped back toward the kitchen but stopped when he noticed me watching. The only person I couldn’t see was Prem, and there was nothing I could do to bring her into my line of sight.
“You don’t need to know that,” Alan said. “Are you sure you really want me to tell you? Right now, you have nothing on us, and maybe you can live.”
I slid my hand in my pocket like I was too calm to worry and shrugged. I didn’t have a lot of room in there but enough for my phone, my key ring, and a mini recorder. I bought it when I realized the phone voice recorder app couldn’t be turned on secretly. I hit the button to record and said a little prayer to the universe that the thing was charged.
“You’re probably going to try to kill me anyway,” I said. “It would be nice to know.”
Before Alan answered, Prem rushed toward him. “You were going to leave us here? There’s a plan, remember. We get out and bring the money to you.” She raised her hand to push Alan, but he swatted her away. She stumbled but managed to keep her feet. He pushed her toward the couch.
“Shut up, bitch.” Alan pushed her again. This time only to make her sit.
Great. I had all of them in my line of sight, but things were teetering toward out of control again.
“A new plan?” Prem asked. “Why do you need cash? You have millions tucked away in an account somewhere.”
Alan cocked his head. I hoped that it was because he heard tires screeching to a halt. But no, he simply laughed. “You should be able to figure it out.”
So, not something complicated. I’d pretty much reached my capacity for planning an escape that included me and the children leaving this house alive. Prem was quiet now; physical violence seemed to have been enough to subdue her, or she was thinking about her next step.
Manjeet had snuck a little closer to the kitchen. Maybe going for a gun, but it would need to be well hidden because Child Services would be inspecting on a regular basis. The same for the money. A bag of bills was hard to disguise as something harmless. In fact, maybe the problem was that they’d spent it.
No. You’d need millions to move an organization. No self-respecting gangster would rely on such a weak exit strategy.
“The money is for Alan, not you,” I said to Prem. “A few million to set yourself up somewhere out of Kuznetsov’s range.”
48
“You told us it was for the boss, and us,” Manjeet said.
Unless he was a very good actor, he was taken by surprise. Alan hadn’t denied my allegation, but I needed him to say something totally incriminating otherwise the cops wouldn’t be able to hold him. His only hope for living right now sat with the authorities. Kuznetsov would have a contract out on him two seconds after he heard. And he was naive to think there was anywhere in the world he could hide without official help.
“I was right.” I took a step toward Alan, so the recorder was likely to get his words clearly. Prem was sulking but I knew better than to write her off. Manjeet focused so tightly on Alan that I don’t think he remembered I was there. Another thing I wouldn’t take for granted, but I had two goals: to gather incriminating testimony from any one of them, and to keep the kids safe. Getting information on the location of the stash would be a bonus. An even bigger win would be the names of the people inside Child Protection Services who helped them get away with being a foster family. But that wasn’t my current top priority.
“More than a few mil,” Alan said. “I’ve been planning this from the minute I started shifting money around.”
“Why here?” I took another step, willing Alan to brag about his plans. “Or is this just the closest stash?”
“I have more, but these two were easy to scare into not stealing.”
“We would never be that stupid,” Prem said. “You think you are smart? No. We are. We stay on the right side of the boss. No way that money is yours legit.”
“He expects people to take a little off the top,” Alan said. “I never took so much that he would notice. It’s a deep pool.”
Enough to give the RCMP the right to interrogate them. Now I wanted him to say Kuznetsov’s name. Or even Viktor would be a bonus. I only had minutes until Andy arrived and took over — or made this worse. “Everything I know about mob bosses tells me he knows to the penny what everyone is skimming. And their definition of too much is flexible — is your boss different?”
Prem stood and joined her husband. If they acted together, I was in trouble. No weapons; a blessing and a curse. Two desperate people would always win against one. And I figured Alan wouldn’t team up with me any more than I would with him. Whoever they attacked would be on their own, the other would be out the door.
“So where is this stash? More than a few mil is going to be a pretty big package. One you want to grab fast, so not buried in the backyard.” I left a little gap in case anyone wanted to blurt out the secret. “Not in the house. Child Services check in too often for that to be safe.” Manjeet flicked a gaze through to the kitchen again.
No one had moved while I worked it out. I realized now that Manjeet and Prem were blocking the path to the back door. I was between Alan and the front door. But I was sure Andy and David would be out there soon. If he wanted to take that escape route, I’d let him.
“The shed seems a bit obvious, and not secure enough.” It could be hiding in a shallow basement. Pull up a trap door, grab the package and go. No digging required.
“I’m not telling you anything,” Prem said. “Manjeet, go get it. I want them out of here before we’re dragged in with him.”
So, she was the boss in this house.
“Don’t move,” Alan said.
“You don’t trust him to come back?” Prem asked. “He wouldn’t leave me alone. He isn’t the kind of guy who would beat his wife, abandon his kid and run away.”
Ballsy. What was she trying to achieve?
“If I give the stuff to you, you go, right?” Manjeet said. “It will only take a minute. Like Prem said, I don’t run from my family.”
One more try to get a name and then I’d encourage Alan to take the offer. Every second that passed could turn into a nightmare or a rescue.
“There’s another thing I know about gangsters,” I said. “They have their people under surveillance. I guess the life of a major criminal doesn’t leave room for trust. The boss must be aware something is going on. How else would Nora end up in this foster home of all the others available?”
Alan glared at me. I hit some target with that comment. “He got her from these two,” Alan said. “Viktor and these fucking idiots run the people trafficking. Of course, he’d make sure she came back. Make more on the same asset. Just like Ivan to be greedy.”
Bingo.
And then it sunk in. If they sold people for a gang, they weren’t stupid. The money wasn’t here. Probably given back to Kuznetsov the same day Alan stashed it. And the ‘it’ Prem meant Manjeet to bring her was a gun. And people traffickers didn’t see a kid when they looked at Nora. They saw a payday or a loose end.
Alan still didn’t make the connection. He nodded to Manjeet. “Go get it. I’m out of here.”
Manjeet stepped into the kitchen, and I moved toward the hall where the kids slept.
“Don’t take another step,” Prem said. “Empty your pockets.”
I considered running, but if Manjeet brought a gun, I wouldn’t make it past the front gate. I took out my phone and held it up to show it was off.
“Turn them out.”
Fine. If I survived, I would definitely consider everyone a risk in the future, not just the person I was trying to catch. I pulled out the recorder, flicking it off as I did. I regretted not spending the extra for one that would upload my recordings automatically.
Prem reached for the device and tossed it on the floor. Then she stomped on the poor thing until it turned into a scattering of tiny plastic shards.
Manjeet came back and handed his wife a gun.
49
I should never have come inside.
The words kept repeating in my head, blocking out any attempt to change plans. I still needed to get the kids away. I also had to work out a way to gather some kind of damning evidence to replace what Prem destroyed. In addition, I had to avoid getting shot. I suppose I should say try to avoid anyone getting shot, but I didn’t feel much sympathy for anyone other than the kids and me.
“No need for that,” I said, while I tried to push through the rising panic to a place where I could think. “I’m sure you don’t want to leave a mess. It would be better if you disappeared than if you are hunted for murder.”
Prem pointed the gun at me, and then back at Alan. I guess the bright side is that they only had one weapon. “We’re screwed anyway if the cops come,” she said.
I had my phone in my hand, but there was no way I could do anything with it unnoticed. I wished I knew how deep the surveillance went. Did they manage to bug the house? I put my phone back in my pocket just in case Prem decided to do the same as she’d done with my recorder. “They aren’t here right now.”
“You don’t have the authorization to shoot me,” Alan said. “I’m protected. If you kill me, Ivan will make sure you regret it.”
Why can’t he keep his stupid mouth shut? Saying Ivan’s name now was no help at all.
“We aren’t the ones about to run on him.” Manjeet moved from beside Prem to block the front door. “Maybe he doesn’t want you shot, but I’m guessing he plans to kill you soon.”
“Call him,” Alan said. “Find out who he wants dead.”
“Let’s think a bit,” I said. I kept my hands low but turned out, showing I was no threat. “At this moment, it’s only us and the kids. The cops will be here soon. I don’t think the boss wants to be connected to whatever happens after that.”
“Yeah, we don’t have much time,” Manjeet said. “The brats won’t stay under long. We should grab the money and go. Let Alan deal with the boss. We know where to hide. We’ve done it before.”
Interesting. Andy would like that bit of information. I was going to survive this if only so I could pass it on. Giving him a lead was almost as good as clear evidence of Kuznetsov’s involvement, but suddenly I wanted the RCMP to take over.
“Probably a good idea,” I said. “What did you give the kids? I’ll make sure they are fine.”
“Not enough to kill them,” Prem said. “Maybe I should have done that. Going to sleep permanently is a good death.”
