In Your Name, page 16
‘She’s put the pressure back on us. We either roll over or more people die,’ said Lucas.
‘So it’s kind of, like, we took Jo, so we need to return her.’ Harper was finally getting it.
‘Exactly,’ said Lucas.
‘What’s our next move?’ asked Bassano.
‘She’s gambling heavily on us not hurting Jo,’ said Harper. ‘So I guess we need to up our game, increase the pressure. I don’t think she’ll kill again. I reckon this is a one-off. It’s a frightener to scare us.’
‘She’s done a pretty good fucking job.’ Bassano turned from the window and sat on the bed.
‘We can’t allow ourselves to get diverted,’ Harper continued. ‘We have to press ahead with our plans for the exchange and extract some leverage from Jo. We took her for a reason, we need to use it.’
‘I don’t like it,’ said Lucas. ‘I’m telling you Mechanic will kill again and keep killing until we return her sister.’
‘You don’t know that for sure. Mechanic will be expecting us to run for the hills. We need to stay strong. We need to stick to the plan.’ Harper was on his feet.
The phone on the side table rang.
Harper picked up. ‘Yes.’
The voice on the other end was brief and he replaced the receiver.
‘The police want to speak to everyone at the hotel. Looks like they’re starting with you.’ He nodded towards Lucas.
‘Shit, that’s all we need.’
‘Look, man, it’s standard procedure you know that.’ Harper was trying to be reassuring.
‘I know but we got a ton of things to do.’
‘Go see them and get it over with. We have our cover story and it will be my turn at some point. Me and Bassano will get things moving on the exchange. We need to stay focused and keep our eyes on the prize.’
He got up and patted his friend on the shoulder.
‘This is a typical Mechanic tactic, believe me. We need to stick to the plan.’
Lucas headed for reception not at all sure that’s what they should do.
39
‘I swear they get them straight out of high school these days.’ Harper had been interviewed by Detective Moran and was less than impressed. ‘She looked about twelve years of age.’
Lucas was quiet.
‘She kept asking the same things over and over,’ Harper continued as he threw himself onto the bed. ‘It was a joke, man, a sorry waste of time.’
Both men had experienced a particularly painful day. Moran had interviewed everyone in turn, with the uniform guys doing the paperwork. The problem was it took for ever. Lucas was one of the first to go and Harper one of the last. Bassano thought it best not to hang around and retreated back to his hotel to plan the exchange.
‘Isn’t that what she’s supposed to do?’ Lucas replied.
‘Yes, but I mean, where do they get these kids from?’ Harper was letting his prejudice show.
‘I didn’t like it. She’s trouble that one.’
‘Trouble? She’s just out of pigtails. Come on, man, get a grip.’
‘I’m telling you, Harper, she’s trouble.’
‘Get over yourself.’ Harper slammed his hand down hard on the bedside table. ‘She’s pedalling around on her pink LVPD bike with the trainer wheels still on. Get real.’
There was a knock on the door. Lucas opened it expecting Bassano, instead it was Moran.
‘Hello again, Mr Lucas, can I come in?’
‘Yes, of course.’ He flashed a sideways glance at Harper. ‘How can I help?’
Moran stepped inside. ‘Ah, Mr Harper, good to see you again. I’m glad I have you both together, I have a couple of follow-up questions, that’s all.’
Harper snorted and picked up the morning paper.
‘Yep, fire away.’ Lucas was working hard to hide his anxiety. Harper was working hard to show his disdain.
‘Mr Lucas, when we spoke this morning why didn’t you tell me you were a serving police officer? A lieutenant out of FPD.’
If Lucas had been eating something he’d have choked. ‘I didn’t think it relevant. You wanted to know my whereabouts around the time the couple were murdered. That was all.’
‘He answered your questions, Detective. If you didn’t ask the right ones, then …’ Harper smouldered behind his paper.
Moran ignored him. ‘You also didn’t tell me that you are currently suspended from duty. No doubt that wasn’t relevant either.’
‘I was keen to tell you where I was when the killings took place. That’s all.’
‘Mr Harper, you also didn’t think it relevant to mention that you were a ranked police officer, now retired. That is the case isn’t it?’
Harper put down his paper and fixed Moran with his best intimidating stare.
‘You seem to have all the answers, Detective, so I must have.’
Moran held his gaze, Harper’s stare wasn’t working.
Lucas said nothing.
Moran tapped the side of her head. ‘You see, I asked you where you were at the time of the killings. I also asked you a set of background questions. If it were me, and forgive me for being frank here, I would have said I was a cop, or in your case, Mr Harper, an ex-cop. Because I think it is relevant.’
‘I’m here with Harper to forget the fact I’m a damn cop. I’m currently being investigated and that’s doesn’t feel good. So we will have to differ on the point of relevance.’ Lucas marched across the room to the door.
‘Okay, gentlemen, I wanted to clear that up.’
‘So if that’s it, Detective?’ Lucas opened the door to show her out.
‘Yup I suppose so.’ Moran got up to leave. ‘Let’s be clear, sir. I realise you are a shitload of ranks higher than me, but on the point of relevance it’s me who says what’s relevant and what’s not. Have a good day both of you.’
Lucas banged the door shut and turned to face Harper.
‘I said she was trouble.’
‘Why the hell did you say you were being investigated?’
‘I wanted to get her off our backs.’
‘Okay what’s done is done. We gotta stick to the plan and keep our eyes on the prize. Moran’s a mild irritant and nothing more.’
‘We need to watch her, I’m telling you.’
‘Then you should go to the mall and watch her buy fucking Barbie gear. We got work to do.’
Lucas felt sick.
40
Bassano had been a busy boy. While Lucas and Harper were doing their level best to piss off a certain detective, he’d been putting the final touches to the exchange plan.
The venue of choice was Centennial Hills Park. It was much like many other municipal green space in Vegas but with one significant difference, it had an amphitheatre with grass seating for three thousand people.
All three sat in the bar stuffing their faces with tacos and beer. Bassano cleared the table and laid out an assortment of condiments.
‘It’s critical we take Mechanic when she’s out in the open. She needs to be isolated and accessible. This …’ he said placing his napkin in the centre of the table, ‘… is the performance area. It’s surrounded on three sides by grassy hills where the spectators sit. Lucas, you’re here at the top on lookout. There’s a tree line which will provide you with cover.’ Bassano positioned a saltshaker on the table. ‘Harper, you’re here. There’s a wooden bench where you have a clear line of sight to the centre of the amphitheatre.’ He stabbed a finger into the table and marked it with a vinegar bottle.
‘That’s good,’ said Harper. ‘We have high ground and three-sixty-degree vision.’
Lucas liked it so far.
‘I’m in the van parked here in a small car park.’ Bassano placed another marker on the table. ‘It’s about one hundred and fifty yards away. I’ll be waiting for your signal. When I get the go-ahead, I’ll drive to the pickup point, here.’ He marked the middle of the napkin with a sachet of sauce.
‘I got three-way walkie-talkies with earpieces and enough range. We’ll be in constant contact with each other, no problem. When she reaches the van we need to immobilise her. Not sure the best way to do that. It means getting close and we all know what happens when we get too close.’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ Harper said. ‘I’ve kitted us out. There’s a holdall in the car with three handguns and a selection of cuffs, ropes, a hood and a baseball bat. The van we hired has eye bolts in the floor for transporting pallets, we can secure her to those. When we get to that point, she’s all mine.’
‘What happens after we take her?’ asked Lucas.
‘We drive to the Mojave Desert, or to be more precise Red Rock Canyon. It’s twenty miles west of the Strip. Eight miles into the canyon there’s a dirt road leading to an outcrop of rocks about a mile off the main drag. That’s where I’ve dug a hole, that’s big enough for the bitch to flop right into.’ Bassano had looked forward to this for so long, even the hardship of digging the arid ground with one arm had been worth every aching muscle.
‘Sounds good,’ said Harper touching the items on the table. ‘When do we do it?’
Lucas picked up the napkin and wiped his mouth. ‘I’ll place the advert tomorrow, she reads it the next day and we go the day after that. I would have liked it sooner but these damn interviews today screwed with our timings.’
‘No worries, keep your eyes on the prize. That gives us two clear days to make the plan really slick.’ Harper was raring to go.
‘What time of day?’ asked Lucas.
‘I figure 7am sharp. The park will only have joggers and dog walkers at that time, so less opportunity for any passer-by disruption.’ Bassano had obviously been thinking as well as digging.
‘Then we’re good to go, guys,’ Lucas said. ‘Explain to me again why we don’t simply shoot her when she turns up in the park?’
Bassano moved in close.
‘Because she gave me this,’ he said holding up his metal hook. ‘And I want her to feel it before she dies.’
41
The next two days were like waiting for Christmas to arrive. They had plenty to do but it felt as if they were marking time until the main event. Lucas placed the advert in the paper. It read:
MECHANIC TO ATTEND CENTENNIAL PARK AMPHITHEATRE
THURSDAY, 7AM SHARP
PRECIOUS POSSESSION IS SAFE
COMPLY TO AVOID DAMAGE
There had been no further contact with Mechanic. At every opportunity Harper made the case that the killings at the hotel were a one-off tactic designed to knock them off balance. The more he said it, the more convincing it became.
Keeping their eyes on the prize was their operational mantra. They would take Mechanic down the following day.
Lucas was keen to utilise the time productively and keep everyone busy. They ran through the plan until it was second nature. The amphitheatre had never been so popular out of season, as the three of them practised over and over. They assumed their positions, relayed instructions to each other via the walkie-talkies, rehearsed getting into the van and driving to Red Rock, only to reappear an hour later and repeat the whole thing over again.
Harper was right at home, it felt like Korea.
It was late evening. Lucas lay on his bed running through the sequence of events in his head but all he could think about was Darlene. It was the time of night he hated most. He knew he shouldn’t but he picked up the phone anyway.
‘Hello.’ It was the attack dog.
‘Hi Heather, can I speak to Darlene.’
He heard a hand cup the mouthpiece and the sound of raised voices.
‘She said no.’ The line went dead.
Lucas shoved the phone off the side table and it clattered to the floor. Not the best preparation when you want a good night’s sleep.
The morning came and all three had slept badly. They were wide awake and ready to go by 5am. Harper tucked into a cold cheeseburger from a vending machine and encouraged the others to do the same.
‘You need to keep your energy levels up,’ he said taking a huge bite from the soggy mess.
‘I know,’ replied Bassano sipping black coffee. ‘But I don’t think I can keep anything down.’
There was a nervous sense of high expectation, each one awash with adrenaline.
Lucas drained his cup. ‘Let’s make a move. We’re better off waiting at Centennial than sitting here looking at each other.’
‘Agreed, are we ready?’ said Harper.
‘Let’s go.’
The time for rehearsal was over.
Centennial Park was as Bassano had predicted, the occasional jogger and dog walker, but other than that deserted.
Lucas stood a yard inside the tree line at the top of the amphitheatre. He scanned the park through a small pair of red-lensed binoculars and could see Harper sitting on the bench about two hundred yards to his left. Bassano was in the van. The time was 6.05am.
As the time ticked towards the hour the anxiety grew. Bassano was the worst. He was stuck in the vehicle unable to walk about, at least Lucas and Harper could move around and change position. He was hunkered down below the window ledge in case Mechanic arrived in the car park.
Lucas and Harper were in constant communication, vetting anyone who passed by. They had no idea what Mechanic would look like, so everyone entering the park had to be considered a potential sighting.
Harper held a newspaper in front of him and wore a baseball cap pulled so far down that he could barely see out.
‘Dog walker approaching from the left, one hundred yards and closing. Looks male,’ Lucas said into his handset.
‘I see him, he’s turned away and headed to the car park.’
‘Stand by. Lone woman approaching from your right. Wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase.’
‘Yup, got her. Nothing doing, she walked straight by.’
It was 6.40am.
The running commentary continued with every visitor. And with every visitor the tension went up a notch. It was unbearable.
Lucas could hear his heart thumping away the seconds while Bassano squirmed in his seat trying to make himself comfortable. Harper kept a cool eye on the expanse of green in front of him, every few minutes checking the gun which was tucked into the back of his belt. He glanced at his watch. The digits flicked over to 7.00am.
Across the park a figure in a long dark trench coat and wide-brimmed hat came into view. A black rucksack was slung over one shoulder.
Lucas nearly dropped his walkie-talkie.
‘Person coming from your left, about eighty yards out, heading straight towards you. Can’t tell if it’s male or female.’
Harper turned slightly, peered over his paper and clocked the figure – even from this distance it was a terrifying sight. The person was medium height, lean and walked with a purposeful stride. Head down, the wide-brimmed hat covering the face, long black coat flapping open in the early morning breeze.
Harper breathed deeply to steady himself and put his right hand at the back of his waistband to grip his gun. Lucas and Bassano were simultaneously doing the same.
‘Steady,’ said Lucas. ‘Target heading for the amphitheatre.’
‘Shit,’ Bassano joined in blindly, sitting bolt upright.
The person in the billowing coat passed Harper without looking up. Harper whispered into the mouthpiece.
‘Confirm female, repeat, confirm female.’
‘Is it her?’ Bassano asked.
‘Can’t see her face.’ Replied Harper.
Lucas moved out from the cover of the trees, his hand tucked under his jacket, gripping his gun for dear life.
The woman reached the centre of the amphitheatre and dropped the rucksack on the ground. Harper turned to face her and waited for Lucas to get closer.
‘Can you confirm target.’ Lucas was already out of breath.
‘Negative.’
She bent down and unzipped the bag.
Lucas’s heart leapt into his mouth.
Harper jumped up, removed his gun and walked towards her.
‘Close in,’ he whispered.
‘Is it her?’ Bassano asked again.
Lucas hobbled down the grass bank and positioned himself about fifteen feet from the woman. Harper approached from the other side.
‘Negative, her face is covered,’
Lucas could see Harper’s gun.
The woman bent down, fished around in the bag and brought out a long, black metal barrel.
Harper sprang into action.
‘Drop it!’ he shouted levelling his pistol. ‘Drop the weapon. Do it now!’
The woman shrieked and threw the metal object to the ground.
‘Step away!’ Lucas shouted. ‘Bassano, we have contact.’
The woman held her hands in the air and screamed, spinning on the spot, looking first at Harper then Lucas.
‘What are you doing?’ she yelled.
‘On your knees. Hands behind your head.’ Harper reached the woman and twisted her arm behind her back.
‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot.’ She dropped to her knees.
Harper’s right boot hit her between the shoulder blades sending her sprawling onto the grass, her hat went flying.
He kicked away the bag.
Lucas watched it skid across the ground scattering paints and brushes onto the grass.
Harper knelt on the woman’s back and clicked the cuffs in place.
Lucas stared at the metal object on the floor, it was a telescopic easel.
Harper was roughly patting her over when Lucas reached down and turned her face towards him.
The terrified woman stared back with eyes the size of dinner plates.
‘Take my money. There’s money in the bag. Take it.’
The sound of an over-revved engine hurtled towards them. She snapped her head sideways away from his grip and stared in horror at the van. ‘No don’t. Take my money. Don’t kill me.’ She was pleading, tears running down her face.
Lucas cursed through gritted teeth. ‘Shit, it’s not her.’
He pulled Harper away from the woman.
