Adrenaline (21 page)

He turned to the pimp. “But for you, Jammer, you know me. And you disregarded me. You think I’ve gotten soft? I’ve been traveling for weeks now. If you think I was just letting go of what happened, you are sadly mistaken.”

“What happened?” Jammer looked confused. “What?”

“Oh, shut up.” Raul took on a plaintive tone that Geoff didn’t believe. Geoff wondered how the man had ever survived in such a position. His whole manner had a theatrical quality, as if he were acting the way a drug lord was supposed to act. “What use to me is a man who can’t follow instructions?”

“No use, man, no use.” Strike winked at Jammer.

Raul looked over his shoulder at Strike and slapped him lightly in the belly with the back of his hand. “Stop clowning around behind me. Tell me, what good is a man who can’t follow instructions?”

“God damned if I know.” Strike shook his head, mock-solemn.

Jammer kept his mouth shut while Raul stared at him.

Finally, Raul said, “I let Strike wink and grin because he’s a good boy and he does what he’s told. I’m a reasonable man and I understand different people have different talents. Now maybe you’ll understand whores if you can’t understand the drug business. Whores are your business. I’m talking about the caliber of the woman I’m getting these days.”

Jammer gestured toward the stern. “I didn’t send those two!”

“I
know
you didn’t.” Raul exploded suddenly and cracked Jammer across the face and backhanded Geoff. Jammer sat back, rigid with fear.

Geoff could have stopped the blow, but he had decided to wait. The man’s ring had cut his cheek, and he let the blood trickle down to his collar.
That’s two,
Geoff thought.
First Carly, now me.

Raul continued to rage. “The
stupidity
I have to deal with every day! If you had sent those two, I would have had you drowned right now!”

“Do it, man!” Strike laughed and Lee chuckled along.

“Limp bags of flesh, not a bit of life in them. They cower and shiver like dogs in the rain. I’m telling you that I’m not a happy customer, and if you want to come crawling in with your little bag of money, if you want that territory, then you have one skill and you better make me happy with that one little thing you can get right. Are you listening?”

“I’m listening.” Jammer’s voice shook.

Raul looked at Geoff briefly.

“You’ve got my full attention,” Geoff said, mildly.

Raul tossed the backpack to Strike. “Put this away.”

Strike pulled a big aluminum suitcase from a side locker and opened it. It was filled with cash, mostly hundreds. Strike began stacking the contents of the backpack.

“See that?” Raul said. “There’s over eight hundred thousand in there. That’s walking-around money for me. That’s my equal to your little jar of pennies you keep at home.” He gestured to Lee, and the big man hit Jammer in the ear with the back of his hand. “Coming here so far short with this ‘partner’ means you must not respect me. It means you think you’ve got something on me.”

He gestured again, and this time Lee came around in front of Jammer, set his considerable weight, and threw a hook deep into the pimp’s belly.

The blow lifted Jammer out of the chair. He fell against Geoff, gasping for breath. Geoff pushed him back into his chair. While the pimp was doubled over, Raul said to Geoff, “I hope you’re paying attention. Maybe you can learn from his mistakes.”

“I’m learning.” And he was. He now understood how Raul had earned his position. His manner wasn’t just a posture; the man was a genuine sadist. His eyes practically sparkled.

“Notice how your partner can’t breathe, how he’s turning bright red?” Raul said conversationally to Geoff. “A good blow to the stomach will do that. It’s awful. You must have had the breath knocked out of you before? You feel like you’re dying, but you’re alive to watch it. See how he’s getting his breath in now, he just sipped a little in? Lee, do it again, same way.”

Lee followed through, swinging his big fist into Jammer’s stomach like a sledgehammer.

“All right, you think I’ve got his attention?” Raul asked.

“You know it,” Strike said.

Raul rested his elbows on his knees and said into Jammer’s ear, “I’ve had one woman in the past who has given me a fight, the potential for the type of action my viewers expect. A woman who will put a little enjoyment in my day filled with small, scared men like you. That Carly of yours. Maybe you thought I had turned soft. Maybe you thought I was forgetting.” He began rolling up his sleeve, putting his arm right under Jammer’s eyes. He revealed an ugly scar the length of his forearm. “Maybe you thought, ‘If Carly can get away with this, use that straight razor of hers, then maybe I can pay Raul fifty instead of two hundred thousand.’ ”

Jammer began shaking his head. A trail of saliva fell from his lips. He got his voice. “I didn’t know.”

Raul continued. “But it was far simpler than that. I’ve simply been traveling for the past few weeks. And while I surely could have sent Strike and Lee to kill her, you, and everyone you know, I thought I’d rather feature her in one of my special shows. So I’m going to buy her from you and give her an excellent role.”

“You should have told me,” Jammer croaked.

Raul patted his head in a friendly way. “Not to worry. I’m convinced now that you didn’t know. I’ll be leaving for L.A. tomorrow and I’ll be back by the end of the week, so you have her here by Saturday, midnight. You give her to me, and the remaining balance, and I will forgive this intrusion on my time and you will have your territory and be behind the scale with your partner.” His lips curled on the last word. “Naturally, if she’s not here, I will have you both brought here and I will go to work on you. I’m not as interested, personally, but there’s a market for shows with boys. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jammer wiped his mouth as he looked over at Geoff. “She’s with him now.”

Raul turned to Geoff. “In that case, do you understand?” he asked, softly.

“She’ll be here,” Geoff lied. He looked Raul in the eye and even managed to look scared. All part of his boardroom repertoire.

But perhaps Raul was a sharper judge of such things than Geoff’s former competitors. Raul looked at him skeptically, then snapped his fingers. “Lee, I need to make an impression on this man.”

Geoff lunged off toward the galley, reaching for the knife he had seen earlier on the cutting board. He heard the big man behind him. Geoff grasped the knife and swung back with it, pivoting on the ball of his foot.

“Shit, shit,” Jammer was screaming.

Lee blocked the knife just in time and held on to Geoff’s hand.

Geoff didn’t try to overpower the big man. Instead, he let himself be pulled forward and then kneed Lee in the balls. That still didn’t put him down.

Strike appeared at Geoff’s shoulder and jammed a little gun right under his chin. “I’m gonna spread your brains.”

Geoff stopped.

“Not in the boat,” Raul said, casually. “Sit him down.”

Lee used his fist on Geoff like he had on Jammer, then slung him into a chair. “Motherfucker,” Lee said and hit him in the face. Strike kept the gun on Geoff and said, “Don’t do him yet, Lee, the man still wants to talk to him, hear?”

“I hear.” Lee stepped back around the chair to wrap a massive arm around Geoff’s neck.

Jammer was babbling apologies. “I didn’t know, I didn’t know he was going to do this shit, Raul, you’ve got to believe me.”

“You should’ve known.” Raul’s voice was silky. He stood over Geoff and drew on his cigar, making the tip glow. He blew smoke into Geoff’s face. “You’ll have her here, Saturday, by midnight. Or else I go to work on you. This is to let you know that I’m sincere.”

He pressed the burning embers against Geoff’s temple.

Chapter 22

Steve could scarcely breathe when the phone rang. It was around noontime and he had been waiting at the boat all morning.

He picked up the receiver and said hello.

“You and Lisa must not be as close as I thought,” Geoff said. “The money isn’t in the accounts.”

“I’ve got it,” Steve said. “With me, in cash.”

Silence.

Geoff’s voice was flat when he finally spoke. “That’s not what I told you.”

“The only way I can count on getting Lisa back safely is to make an even swap with you.”

“You can’t even count on that.”

“Let me speak to her.”

“I’m in a phone booth. She’s not with me.”

“How do I know she’s still alive?”

“You don’t.”

Geoff hung up.

Steve sat down heavily in front of the nav station. He saw the picture of Ray, dead all these years. He told himself that, at the very least, Geoff’s ego would allow nothing less than making Steve sweat it out a little while for changing the rules.

But that logic didn’t stop Steve’s hands from shaking. For a moment, he was swept with nausea, knowing Geoff could just as easily go back and take his revenge out upon Lisa directly.

Steve forced himself to calm down, once again telling himself that his guilt was something neither he nor Lisa could afford until she was back safe.

He checked the time. Alex was due. Steve went up into the cockpit and swept the parking lot with his binoculars. Alex’s truck rolled in, right on time. Steve released a sigh of relief when Alex flashed his lights.

Steve met Alex at his truck and told him about the phone call.

“Jesus,” Alex said, rubbing his face. He was still sitting behind the wheel, a revolver lying on the seat beside him. “I’ll do whatever you say. But it seems to me, the best we can do is move ahead. I’ve got to believe he wouldn’t kill her until he has the money—and there it is.”

Alex gestured to a small suitcase on the floor, a little bigger than a briefcase. “Got it all in hundreds. The folks at the bank spent a little time trying to talk me out of taking cash, but it’s all here.” Alex handed him the bag. “Here, you do the heavy lifting.” Alex took out a long ski bag, which presumably carried the rifle. He slipped the revolver into his belt holster and pulled out his shirt so it was covered. “I’d hate to be robbed on the way to your boat.”

In
The Sea Tern,
Steve set aside ten thousand dollars from the forty thousand of cash that he had been able to liquidate from selling their remaining stocks and savings account. He added the remaining thirty thousand to the case. “There. Come and get it, Geoff.”

Meanwhile, Alex laid out the contents of the ski bag: the rifle and scope, ammunition, a pair of walkie-talkies, night binoculars. Steve threw a coil of climbing rope onto the table.

“What’s that for?”

“I’ll get to that,” Steve said. “Let’s figure this out fast and get into position. Ideally, he brings her and we give him the money, and that’s the end of it. I’ll find a way to pay back the company and let the police chase Geoff.”

“You got to figure he’s going to try to kill you, though. He’s showed his face all along.”

Steve nodded. “The question is, will he come here at all? It seems to me, there’s at least three options: The first one, he brings her here. The second, he runs me all over town to pay phones until we get to some spot where we can exchange her.”

Alex grunted. “So I still need to follow you. Because he might just run you around and kill you.”

“The third option is that he just shows up here by himself. Tries to take the money and tells me Lisa will be released later.”

“And you don’t think a bullet in his leg would make him talk?”

Steve shook his head. “He’s convinced me.”

He spread out a Boston street map. “I’ve rented a car in case we need to follow him back to his place. You should plan on taking your truck, so we can switch off. We’re in a spot where he could come and go from about five directions: north on the expressway, or drive into Charlestown, or he could cross over the bridge and go into the North End. He could go into Boston proper, or just continue on and pick up the entrance ramp to go south on the expressway. When he drove away last time, I saw him go over the bridge in an old van. So you should move your truck over the bridge.”

“Over the bridge? How will I get to it in time?”

Steve smiled faintly. “You haven’t acquired a fear of heights any time recently, have you?”

Chapter 23

Jammer checked his watch. He was sitting in the kitchen of the little house, watching Geoff make his preparations. Carly was in the bedroom scrubbing the place down. It was almost midnight.

Jammer couldn’t remember when his judgment had been so bad. He should have let Geoff beat him into the pavement sooner than take him in to meet Raul.

The guy just didn’t know what was what.

Geoff didn’t know his
limitations.
Jammer liked the way that sounded, something he’d heard on a television talk show once.

And what truly amazed Jammer was that he suspected Geoff was foxed by
Carly.
That some of the attitude Geoff was showing Raul was because Raul had smacked her around a little. To Jammer, risking your life for a woman was like risking your life for a favorite flavor of ice cream.