Good Chemistry (21 page)

“Are you in any immediate danger?”

“Well, actually I am. I was involved in a shoot-out the other day where a cop got shot. Meacham shot him right between the eyes because he saw Meacham shooting at me. But here’s the kicker, it was my gun Meacham used to shoot him.”

“What?”

“It’s a long story, but the upshot is that they think I’m in on it with a suspect in the Doc Robber case because the creep keeps contacting me.” Franklin’s eyebrows narrowed.

“Is he the guy?”

Debra choked on her tongue a little. She wasn’t prepared to have Franklin even ask a question like that.

“Of course he’s not the guy.”

“So they just shot this cop for nothing?”

“What can I tell you? I don’t know what goes on inside the mind of an idiot.”

“And you want me to . . . what?”

“Just make a tape of the whole meeting. I’m going to get them to admit to shooting Officer Williams.”

Franklin agreed to help. He called up two other agents and together they all went to the warehouse Kane had picked for the exchange. After fitting Debra with a microphone, Franklin stayed outside in the van to record the whole scene.

The other two agents went inside and hid where they would be in position to cover Debra. She began to pace back and forth. The deadline came and went. No one was showing up. Debra visibly jumped when her phone rang.

“Hello . . . that’s not what we agreed on. I—” Debra clipped her words as the phone went dead in her ear.

“They said forget it. They’re not coming inside. If I want to do the trade I have to walk out of there and head off in the direction of the woods.”

“Daley has a huge scope on his rifle. We can still keep you covered.”

Debra didn’t think twice about it. “Let’s do it.”

Franklin radioed to his sharp shooter to keep a fix on her at all times. She pushed open the heavy door on wheels at the back of the warehouse. Slowly Debra started walking out into the tall grass. After about two hundred yards, she was just far enough for the sharp shooter to lose her in the grass.

Debra paused and studied the tree line in the distance. Off to her left, she heard a twig snap. Debra turned just in time to see a shadowy figure raising a gun barrel even with her chest. Before it could even register, the trigger was pulled. A flash of orange sparks was the last thing Debra saw as the projectile plowed into her chest.

It sent her crumpling to the ground unconscious before the FBI agents even understood what was happening. As they puzzled it out, a van came tearing out of nowhere. Stopping right alongside of where Debra lay. The side door popped open and Debra was tossed by her hands and feet into the van, which then sped away before the FBI could mount a response.

Chapter 22

When Debra came to, she found herself slung on her side lying across a few objects on the floor of a van as it bounced along. She managed to shift her upper body enough to dislodge a chunk of redwood two-by-four that was poking her in the ribs.

Kane was driving while Meacham rode shotgun. He kept his weapon trained on Debra the whole time. Debra could only watch helplessly as the gun bounced up and down in dimwit Meacham’s hands every time they hit a pothole in the rotting gravel road.

Soon it turned into trees on both sides. They were on the edge of the vast Everglades and about to disappear into the heart of them, where they would be all but impossible to find. Debra was silent as they rolled along. She was listening for any distant sounds that might tell her where she was.

She’d gone down more than a few of these back roads through the years, usually in response to a body dump. Debra wondered if it was her turn to be the next body found out in the middle the swamp. She shook her head at Kane. What an idiot. Granted he wasn’t a homicide detective, but still. He should know better than the average douche-bag that alligators rarely finish a human body. The crunchy sound of grave finally gave way.

They were driving on just dirt now. It wouldn’t be long before they would stop. They’d run out of road before too long. Debra felt around behind her for anything she could use to cut her hands free. It felt like rope. Another idiotic mistake.

Plastic or something with a metal core would be almost impossible to cut or grind through. But it didn’t matter. Debra didn’t feel anything that was of any use.

“She’s awake,” Kane said flatly.

Debra froze but it didn’t matter. Kane had seen her eyes moving.

“Your boyfriend is pretty lucky. He had the good sense to cut you loose and head for the hills. Still, it was awfully nice of him to give us these.” Kane patted the spot over his inside pocket, not realizing he found the gems Alex wanted him to come into possession of.

Debra rubbed the spot where they shot her with the beanbag shotgun.

It was turning red, but they made another miscalculation. She hadn’t been immobilized by the shot like most perps. Her dad had her playing catch the beanbag by the age of nine.

Kane leered down at Debra. From his angle, he could look straight down Debra’s shirt at her cleavage. Debra’s eyes narrowed down to hot slits. Her with her hands tied behind her back versus these two over-weight idiot cops. Debra liked her odds.

As expected, the van quietly rolled to a stop in the swamp mud. Kane and Meacham both hopped out. There was immediate grumbling from Kane. Something about ruining his shoes. Then the side door to the van was yanked open. Kane stood a few paces back while Meacham grabbed Debra by the ankles and dragged her out of the van.

Yanking her up on her feet, he shoved her with a stiff-arm to the back. They were marching her out into the middle of the swamp to execute her. Debra’s thoughts couldn’t shield her from what was coming. She had retraced someone’s final steps too many times. Out here in the middle of nowhere was where secrets were brought to die.

They all marched on single file. The faint outline of a path kept appearing before her. They kept following it. Another rookie mistake. They were taking her right were people go. No matter how infrequently it was used, this was the path to someone’s spot.

Sure enough, after a few more yards the dense brush opened up into a small clearing. There were a few cans and bottles scattered around. Old cigarette butts mixed in the loose dirt.

“This is far enough.”

Debra stopped.

Kane and Meacham both stepped in front of her in the clearing. Meacham was looking around.

Debra was looking around, too. Only she was searching the area immediately around her for something useful. A slight look of recognition played across her face as she spotted her chance.

Seeing that Kane was watching Meacham as Meacham searched the woods, Debra took one step forward and plowed her hunched over shoulder into the center of Meacham’s back. He lunged forward flailing for anything to catch his balance on.

He toppled awkwardly and let out a terrified scream as a water moccasin struck him in the face. The two fangs caught the top of his cheek. One went in about half an inch shy of his eyeball. The snake disappeared back into the swamp before Meacham was done with his first girly scream.

Debra darted behind a tree and started running for her life deeper into the heart of the thick, dark swamp. Meacham rolled up on his knees. His left hand clutched his face where the bite still seared with pain. A tingling numbness began to run down his arms. His breath was slightly labored. The venom was beginning to take effect.

“You’ve got to get her. Kill her. Go. I’ll get myself to the hospital.”

“Okay.” Kane blundered off into the swamp following the clear trail of broken vegetation. Kane had the look of a lost overwhelmed child going for help after an accident. Except in this case, he was the help.

Meacham staggered down the path clutching his cheek. It had swollen into something unrecognizable. Meacham staggered off the trail in a thin spot in the brush. He soon found himself deeper and deeper with each mindless terrified step. There was finally a solid wall off vegetation before him.

Huge beads of sweat began to pour off him, leaving trails through the grit. His breathing grew erratic. Meacham collapsed down to his knees. Finally, he fell face-first into the hot fuzzy stalks of underbrush. He was oblivious to the itching on his face. His last breaths were grating. His windpipe swelled the rest of the way shut.

Within a few more seconds, Meacham lay perfectly still. His hands were gnarled shut except for one finger. He appeared to be pointing at something with his dying breath. But he wasn’t. He was just dying.

Debra was moving as fast as she could. From the corner of her eye, she saw something that stood out from the green wall that carpeted the background. An old rusted diesel engine sat rotting away in the sun. Debra ran up to it. Her eyes scanned back and forth as quickly as she could.

A small piece of metal tubing was snapped off from underneath. Debra put her hands over it and raked the ropes back and forth over the crude cutting instrument. Every few seconds, Debra would scan around in all directions. Especially in the direction she came from.

Kane would be popping through the tree line any second now.

“God damn it,” Debra fumed, as the piece of pipe finally crumbled away at its connection point to the engine. The ropes were only cut halfway. The sound of Kane, as he came crashing through the brush sounded like a bull. It could be heard for miles.

Panic flashed through Debra’s eyes. Giving the rope one final pull over the rusted flat edge of the engine, she finally darted away into the woods at the last possible second. Kane tumbled through the vines and brush into the other side of the small clearing where the rusted engine sat.

“Hey Mike, you might as well stop running. You know you can’t escape.” Kane was talking more for his own reassurance than to scare Debra. Within seconds, he spotted the bush she’d stepped on as she beat a hasty retreat. He could make out the faint path Debra took as she made her way through the swamp.

She wasn’t far away and Kane knew it. He could feel her nearby. The sunlight was almost completely blocked, except in a few select spots where it showed through like a flashlight beam cutting into the darkness. A hush fell over the woods. All of the creatures went quiet as they watched the two human invaders hunt in their territory.

Kane took a step. Old cane stalks crunched under his feet. He froze. He strained to focus his hearing on the tree line that trailed off into impenetrable shadows. Kane settled in and watched. He waited for the slightest movement like a gator waiting beneath the surface. There. A shift in one of the shadows.

Kane whipped around and fired off a round in that direction. Another shot rang out about thirty feet away. Debra saw the muzzle flash.

Kane slid down to his knees. A look of disbelief crimped his face. He slowly fell forward, stiffly, like a freshly cut tree. Kane was dead. The hole in his chest went straight out through his heart.

“Debra, are you all right?” Alex called out as he stepped into the clearing.

Debra came bolting out of the woods and threw her arms around Alex’s neck. “Oh, thank God. How in the world did you ever find me?” Debra searched Alex’s face. He seemed like a magician to her.

“With this.” Alex reached over and unclasped a small object on her necklace.

“See.” Alex held up a tiny black gizmo for her inspection.

“It has GPS and a microphone. We have a recording of everything that was said. The part where Meacham said 'it was your fault he had to shoot that cop’; we got that loud and clear. The FBI microphone went out of range but we still have him. You’ll just have to figure out a way to work our tape in.

So that’s it, right? I mean, you don’t have anything else keeping you here?” Alex gripped Debra by each arm as he looked deeply into her eyes. He wanted her with him. A fierce determination flickered across his face.

Debra thought for a moment that he was about to snatch her up and sling her over his shoulder. A smile played across her face at the thought of it.

“I have a few things left to sort out and then we’ll be on our way.” But for now, they weren’t going anywhere. Debra put her hand behind Alex’s head and pulled him into her. He was hers now. She knew. She kissed him deeply. She was more relaxed. She wasn’t in a hurry anymore.

She’d found the man with whom she would spend her life. They had each other to enjoy and make happy for the rest of their days. Debra pulled Alex down on top of her in the cool swamp grass. Her eyes simmered as she plucked at each button on his shirt. She ran her hands over his rock solid chest. The line separating the two halves of his chest muscle quivered as Debra ran her fingers along the warm fleshy groove.

With a final firm yank, Debra pulled his pants off. Pinning him to the ground, Debra lowered herself down onto Alex. His pulsing member found a warm, wet reception.

Debra’s breaths grew sharper and sharper with each thrust. Finally, her breathing became ragged and halting as Debra’s orgasm swept through her body.

“So where exactly in Belize are we going to live?” Debra asked some time later as she smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. After they dressed, she got on the phone to the State Police. Alex had vanished once more. Debra knew exactly where to find him when she finished up with things here in Florida.

When Debra checked the scene, she sent Kane’s gun away with Alex. The gun Alex used to kill Kane, Debra kept and said was the gun Kane had trained on her until she got her hands free, got the drop on Kane, and had to kill him with his own weapon.

A bullet through the back took some explaining, but Debra found a piece of re-bar nearby and put it just out of reach of Kane’s hand. Making it believable when Debra said he was turning to grab the re-bar after she knocked the gun from his hands.

Everyone at headquarters might have disliked Debra to one degree or other, but deep down they knew she was a solid cop. Her getting the drop on, and managing to kill two fat, mediocre robbery detectives, really wasn’t that hard for any of them to believe. Plus, after a few days they found the blue diamond while cleaning out Kane’s desk. That pretty well sealed the deal.

When the tape of Kane and Meacham talking about murdering the cop found its way to the top brass, along with a few more of the missing diamonds turning up in Kane’s sock drawer, the department was only too happy to accept Debra’s version of events. They just wanted to put the matter quietly behind them.

There would never be any great fanfare over the fact that the Doc Robber case had been solved. Everyone just hoped people would forget about it and move on. Debra took an early retirement from the force.

However, before she left, she had one piece of unfinished business left. She had a gut hunch and she just couldn’t leave without following it up. Debra made the drive over to the O’Malley residence.

Debra knocked and paced around the small cement landing. The door creaked and slowly pulled open. Judy looked surprised at seeing the detective again.

“Oh, Detective. . .”

“Manning.” Debra finished for her. “I was wondering if we might have a word?”

Debra pulled the screen door open and they made their way to the living room and sat on the couch. Judy was actually trembling worse this time. That was why Debra had to come back. That fear. She had to know where it was coming from.

Debra looked at Judy with her hardest cop expression.

“All right! All right! I was in on it. I’ll take you to them.” The pressure was just too much for Judy to bear. She couldn’t keep the secret anymore. They took Debra’s car. Judy pointed the way. They drove on silently until they were far west of the city. Judy led them down a series of back roads and finally to a row of lakeside cabins. She pointed to Number Six.

“They’re in there.” Judy just sat statue-like as Detective Manning marched up to the door and started knocking. She couldn’t wait for backup and take a chance on them getting away. Debra had her gun out and at the ready as the front door slowly swung open. She’d at least capture whichever one opened the door. The recovery unit could track down anyone who got away.

Much to Debra’s surprise, when the door opened, there stood Bernie. Alive and as beautiful as ever. The terror on her face was obvious.

“Oh my God. You’re alive. What about Andrew? Is he alive?” Debra was overjoyed at the curveball life had thrown her on her last case.