Cold Blooded III: Sins and Sanctions (Nick McCarty Assassin Series Book 3) (16 page)

“We’re in, Mom!”

Rachel backed to the rear passenger side door nearest Blackbeard’s house. She opened the window with Mona having already started the car. After propping the twelve gauge on the window sill, she nodded at Jean in the front seat next to her Grandma.

“Let’s go, Grandma!”

Mona backed out of her driveway in a squeal of tires. She switched gears and left tire treads accelerating away from her house. Jean yelped in delight as they sped away.

“That was so cool! They didn’t dare show their faces.”

Rachel shook her head, collapsing against the seat. “Too easy, kid. Remember how Blackbeard took out the witnesses. I’d bet money he has a similar deathtrap waiting for us.”

“What the hell do we do then?”

“Drive carefully toward the Belmond Charleston Place hotel, Mona,” Rachel said glancing at her iPhone screen. “Do you need directions?”

“Nope. I know where that place is. You don’t think they’d try and ram us in this short of time, do you?”

“I don’t know, Mona. It doesn’t have to be a sixteen wheeler. It could… look out!” Rachel shot forward from the rear, grabbed the steering wheel, and yanked it into a hard right at the Meeting Street intersection. “Hit the brakes!”

Mona slammed on the brake pedal with both feet, causing the Buick to slide sideways, narrowly missing an F250 Ford pickup truck running the red light. Rachel saw the driver hit the brakes and head full speed toward them. She leveled the Remington out the window and fired at the driver’s side tire. It exploded, pitching the truck into first a tailspin, and then a flip onto its back. Rachel waited, taking careful aim at the truck in case she could get a clear shot at the driver, but the truck slid slightly blocking her view of the cab.

“Hit it, Mona! He may have sent more than one. Are you okay, Jean?”

“I’m fine. That was awesome!”

“You two are nuts,” Mona muttered under her breath. She got the Buick straightened and moving toward the Belmond as fast as she dared. She could see cars stopping by the pickup truck in her rearview mirror. “This is like one of those ‘Die Hard’ movies. I hope no one saw my license number.”

“You’ll feel better once we’re in a suite at the hotel. Your car will be in their care. Jean, you remember that brown clothes hanger bag I brought?”

“Sure. It’s in the smaller suitcase. Why?”

“I’m going to put some clothes in it along with the shotgun. I’ll carry it up to our hotel room without anyone knowing what I have. Park on the roadside about a mile away from the hotel, and I’ll fix up the clothes bag with some clothes to camouflage your shotgun with for check-in.”

Mona’s hands squeezed the steering wheel in a death grip. “That was bad. Blackbeard actually sent someone to ram us!”

Jean patted her shoulder. “Don’t be afraid, Grandma. Mom and I have been through a lot worse with people trying to kill us. We were tied up and gagged in the back of a van once by men who planned to torture information from Mom. They wanted a computer drive from a safety deposit box.”

“And… and this Nick the novelist saved you?”

“He sure did,” Jean answered. “By the time we have to leave, Dad will settle with Blackbeard. I bet you’ll be able to go home without worrying.”

“Maybe… if he doesn’t blow my house up while we’re gone.”

“It’s better than him blowing it up with us in it, Mona,” Rachel reminded her.

“Amen to that.”

* * *

Nearly six hours later, the door to Rachel and Jean’s suite opened. In leaped the delirious Deke, nearly flying over the furniture to tackle Jean. In moments Deke pinned her into a lick fest, his tail whipping everything within its reach. Rachel knelt down to hug their canine friend while glancing at Mona with a big smile as Nick, Gus, and Tina followed Deke in with their bags.

“This is our other partner in adventure, Deke the dog.”

Deke held up a paw to Mona while sitting across a groaning Jean’s chest. Mona shook it solemnly. “Pleased to meet you, Deke. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Rachel moved into Nick’s arms. “Good Lord I’m glad to see you.”

“I don’t know, Rach. Another day, and you would have probably exterminated the pest problem at the rate you were going today.” Nick held her while gesturing at Gus and Tina. “Hi, Mona. I’m Nick McCarty. This is my partner, Gus Nason, and his lovely wife Tina.”

Mona shook hands with Gus and Tina. “I feel better having you all here after what happened today.”

Tina walked over after shaking hands with Mona to embrace Rachel. “Damn, girl, you sure got your Rambo on today.”

Rachel nodded. “I may have run off at the mouth a bit more than planned. I admit it. I provoked him.”

Jean crawled out from under Deke, but stayed next to him with an arm around his neck. “You should have seen that big ape when he ran into Mom’s Vipertek. He went down like someone shot him with a cannon. Mom did just like you taught us, Dad. She zapped him until smoke came out of his ears.”

“Did not.” Rachel waited for the enjoyment of Jean’s incident report to die down. “That guy is huge. They’re running a drug operation in broad daylight out of his house. I’m not sure how many precincts there are in the city, but the one that has Mona’s area can’t be very diligent, if you know what I mean.”

“They come when I call,” Mona said. “It’s just that they never catch them doing anything. After the killings, my neighbors are too afraid to say anything. They have to work during the day. They don’t want to come home to find their house burned to the ground by a mysterious fire. I’m hoping mine will still be standing when I get back to it.”

“When Nick first told me you had neighbor problems, I don’t think he mentioned killings,” Gus said. “He promised we’d sip a few together, while we heard the whole story. Do you like your suite, Mona?”

“It’s wonderful! I do love my place though. I wouldn’t mind having a couple belts with you. I’ll tell you all I know about the situation. I don’t know what the heck you can do about it though.”

Gus guided her to a chair at the huge suite table. “Sit right down while we gather refreshments. I’m certain we can find a solution to this.”

Five minutes later, they were all seated with refreshments, and Deke a huge soup bone. Nick raised his glass. “To family, and being here with people I care about.”

“Amen,” Rachel said, as they clinked glasses together. “When do you have your first book signing, Nick?”

“Two days from now. I contacted Cassie, and everything is in place and ready. All I have to do is show up with the Ancient Mariner, and we’re golden.”

“Why you… no good… he’s just mad because I’m getting more popular at the signings than he is,” Gus retorted. “I have to carry the whole signing now with insights into Jed’s partnership with Diego in the novels. Readers like having the real life illustration of what a fictional character is based on.”

“Gus is right. The book signings have taken on an entirely different flavor since the write-up about Gus being my model for Jed in the novels. It’s a hell of a lot more entertaining with the real deal next to me.”

“Yeah, but you’re the real…” Jean shut-up as Rachel grabbed her wrist. “I mean… the novels are so much more now with readers knowing Gus. That write up in the New York Herald Tribune with all the details really made it work. Mom showed it to me. The picture with the article was a good one of you, Gus.”

Mona sipped her drink, knowing she was on the outside of something important concerning Nick. She suspected knowing the truth would somehow put her in danger. “I don’t want my troubles to become your troubles. I know those book signings are important. Thank you for coming to visit. Even if Blackbeard wins this round, I appreciate having this time with all of you.”

Nick smiled while reaching across the table to cover Mona’s hand with his own. “I have a plan, Mona. It will get a little tricky in parts, but I believe everything will work out in the neighborhood so that people there will be able to have a bit of peace for a change.”

Mona laughed in uncomfortable acceptance of what she considered her reality. “I’m grateful, Nick, but I doubt you can do anything about Blackbeard. We ignored the problem until it became too big. Eventually, the police will not be able to ignore him. Rachel’s had the news on since we checked in. There’s no mention of the truck she shot at or the crash. That’s weird. I thought the police would be hunting for us by now, but it’s like it never happened.”

“I was surprised when even the local traffic reports didn’t mention the crash,” Rachel added. “There wasn’t any traffic at the time. I’m wondering if the driver called it in as an accident. What else could he say? He couldn’t admit he missed ramming us, and had his tire shot when he tried a second time.”

“I’m glad this Blackbeard guy didn’t have enough time to send a sixteen wheeler after you,” Nick said. “Excuse me. I need to make a call.”

Nick walked into the bedroom. Paul Gilbrech answered his call right away. “How’s my trail from Boston?”

“Clear so far. The media is going nuts, calling it a serial killing spree. They’re not letting anything get in the way of loving terrorists. The people are ready to vote El Muerto and Payaso onto the Presidential ticket though if man on the street interviews mean anything. The talking heads on the news shows I’ve heard are making fools of themselves with terrorist love. I’ve filtered the truth to our other outlets with the reality of averted danger, so things will settle down. Is everything okay in Charleston?”

Nick explained the circumstances, including the attempt to have Mona’s car rammed. “If not for Rachel having a twelve gauge shotgun in the car with them, they’d be dead. I have a plan, Paul. There will be no survivors, but except for Blackbeard who will be disappearing, the other deaths will be non-violent. Do you have anyone in the know that has any information on the police department in Charleston? I did a quick check. They separate the parts of Charleston to patrol teams. Patrol Team One has the area from Calhoun Street north to the North Charleston city line. Can you find out if there’s anything suspicious going on with any of the Patrol Teams?”

“Sure Nick. I’ll work it and get back to you. Great work on the border. We are flush with new leads and threads thanks to what we took out of the Isis dispersal house. Abaza mentioned you confiscated the house money from the safe.”

“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Nick replied.

Paul chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what I figured. I’ll call you shortly.”

Nick returned to the table. “I have my friend looking into the status with the police in your area, Mona. Gus and I will drive over there early tomorrow morning. We’ll look over your house and grounds. If everything looks okay, we’ll stick around and observe your neighbors first hand. Maybe I can spot something we can use officially.”

Mona’s eyes widened. “If Blackbeard sees you, he’ll kill anyone at my house. I don’t want anything to happen to you guys.”

“We’ll be careful,” Gus said. “We have to start somewhere. Besides, we’ll go over there real early before the punks get up.”

“Can I go with you, Dad?”

“Sure… if you want your Mom to kill me in my sleep.”

“Anymore jokes like that, and you’ll be twenty-one before you get out of your room,” Rachel added.

* * *

Cloudy, muggy, and nearly sixty degrees, the early dawn smelled musty with an overture of rain. Nick and Gus road together toward Mona’s house in their rented Dodge Caravan. At five in the morning, only a slight hint of daylight glowed redly against the horizon. Echo Avenue, devoid of traffic, was lined with a wide variety of structures with varying distances between them. Gus drove while Nick studied the odd ramshackle places in spots, mixed in with neatly kept homes.

“You’ve been quiet,” Gus remarked. “I hope it’s because you really do have a plan. I’ve been trying like hell to think of a way this doesn’t become a loud bloodbath, but I’m nowhere near an idea. You have that look on your face like when you’re writing a scene. How long did you write last night?”

“From seven when we ended our sipping conference. I wanted to put Diego into something similar to our San Francisco caper with Al Mady’s yacht, Shalimar. Jed pilots the craft as we did to get Al Mady. Since no one knows what happened, I can write the scene very much as it happened with the usual Diego and Jed interaction – with Jed whining nearly every moment while Diego tries to calm him down.”

“Funny… you prick. How many words?”

“A couple thousand last night. I’m nearly at the fifty thousand word mark now in spite of all our extracurricular activities. Guess who else left me a text at our on-line drop.”

“Fifty thousand, huh? Damn, Nick, you’re really moving on this one. Okay, I’ll play. Who decided to risk their sanity to contact you?”

“Grace.”

“Uh oh. The last time Grace and Tim messed around with you, Grace said she never wanted to see you again, except in a picture on the back of your new novel.” Gus flashed on recent history when their US Marshal contacts, Grace Stanwick and Tim Reinhold, lost a partner along with their boss in brutal fashion to enemies trying to get a dangerous ‘Hack Chip’ Nick held in his possession.

“She wasn’t very appreciative of my actions on her behalf. It so happens our collaborative action landed them in charge of the US Marshal’s Office for the Western USA or something. See, Gus, that’s the problem with doing good deeds – they’re either ignored or they come back to haunt us. I unearthed the traitor in the DOJ, and what happens? The Attorney General couldn’t do anything to her but fire the bitch. Even with the testimony from those two accomplices, Faulkner and Sadun, I put in their arms, Pettinger’s lawyer claimed it was a whistle blower setup to keep her from talking to the media, and the Grand Jury wouldn’t indict.”