Running on Empty (42 page)

‘What happened with you girls, how did you fare out tailing Fielding?’ asked Pat.

‘Fielding’s dead’ replied Grainne.

‘What?’ a number of voices exclaimed in unison.

‘He’s dead’ she repeated, ‘he was shot in the head by his own understudy, a fellow by the name of Carter. Shot him straight through the head, from point blank range, on the road to Crawford. I have it all captured on camera. We know where he buried the body too’.

All the males present looked stunned, except for Joey, who was preoccupied with fighting his own demons.

‘But…I don’t understand’ exclaimed Tom.

‘Well basically, Carter killed Fielding on the instructions of Harmon’ added Sally, ‘who wants to take over the running of the drugs operation’.

‘Harmon’s in on this?’ asked Tom, shocked.

‘I’m afraid he is’ answered Grainne.

‘How do you know all this? asked Pat, ‘what the hell were you two up to?’

‘Well basically, we sort of, got hold of Carter, and, he sort of, gave us the information’ answered Sally.

‘Jesus Christ’ exclaimed Pat, ‘I tell the pair of you to be careful, and not take any risks, and what happens? You start capturing murderers and interrogating them, the two of you, on your own, like two fucking hard-nosed operatives, Jesus fucking Christ. You’re like your father Grainne, you forget about your own safety and just go headlong into trouble. And you’ he turned to Sally, ‘you were almost killed by these people already. You’d think you would have a bit more cop on, but no, not a hope’.

‘Calm down Pat, it’s ok, we’re safe’ said Grainne.

‘And, where’s this Carter guy now?’ asked Brad.

‘Well, he’s sort of, tied to a chair in a motel down the road’ she answered.

Pat threw his eyes up to heaven, while Brad couldn’t resist a smile.

‘You mean that there’s two people, both tied to chairs, in two motels in the Dawes region of Nebraska at the same time? Jesus, that won’t do much for the tourist industry hereabouts, will it?, said Brad’

‘Well, we’re in a bit of a pickle here’ he continued, ‘we have a lot to sort out in a very short timeframe, those two guys tied to their respective chairs for a start. We can’t let them go, or Carter would contact Harmon, and Jones would contact this other guy, Gorgeous. We can’t kill them obviously, because we’re not cold blooded killers’. He glanced at Pat before continuing, ‘Even though they’d probably kill us without a moment’s hesitation if the roles were reversed. But, if we leave them tied up for too long, they’ll die of dehydration anyway, which is tantamount to murdering them in my book. I reckon they’d have maybe two days, three days tops, before we have two corpses. We have another problem, with Joey here and his drugs delivery, otherwise this girl Melody is history too. So, anyone got any suggestions?’

Everyone remained quiet for a few moments, each trying to conjure up a plan, to make sense of the mayhem.

‘Right’ said Pat finally, ‘here’s what I suggest’.

Joey tossed and turned in a single bed in the twin room, as Tom lay awake in the other, wondering how this was all going to end. It had been Grainne’s suggestion that he move in with Joey, to keep a watch on him. Grainne and Sally were now bunking together.
Strange bedfellows,
thought Tom
, but then again, what wasn’t strange about this situation?
He looked over to his kid brother in the other bed, fighting the demons in his sleep.
What happened to you Joey, how did it come to this?

Tom tried to think back, searching for the catalyst that sparked his brother’s current plight. Joey had always been a bit wild, a bit impulsive, but there was nothing that Tom could think of, no pointers he could put a finger on, shedding light on how he had ended up the sorry sight he had become as he lay there.
Then again,
thought Tom,
maybe I wasn’t looking. Maybe the signs were there, but I was too wrapped up in my own existence
to notice?
A feeling of guilt enveloped him like a shroud.
Tom Feeney, the self-centered prick,
he admonished himself, as he lay there in the darkness next to his kid brother.

They arose early the next morning, and after a quick breakfast, the two hired cars were soon on the road to Denver. Pat was amazed when Brad informed him that, yes, firearms could in fact be carried on US internal flights, provided they were securely stowed in the hold, and not carried on as hand luggage.

‘What a crazy country’ he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Joey’s package was stowed in Brad’s luggage, the idea being that in the unlikely event of the heroin being discovered, they were all going to come clean, explaining everything that had happened to the authorities. This option had numerous problems, one being their ability to convince the authorities of their outlandish story. Brad’s position as a serving detective carried some weight, but this paled in comparison to accusing two high ranking Federal agents, both with long, distinguished service history, of being drug lords. It also meant that Joey would invariably end up facing charges of transporting narcotics. The flight to Boston was uneventful. On arrival, Brad and Pat approached the Hertz desk and hired two cars.

Brad headed into Boston suburbia, the other car following closely behind. He pulled up outside a well kept single storey bungalow, and turned to the two girls.

‘Ok ’ he said, ‘you two gals wait here. I’ve a bit of business to do’.

He walked up the gravel path, and knocked.

‘Brad, what the hell you doing here? I thought you were on vacation. Had visions of you sitting atop that crocked out tractor of yours, plowing up some poor unfortunate neighbors lawn’.

‘Yeah well, you know me Charlie, can’t sit still. Sometimes vacations have to wait. Something’s come up, and I need your help’.

‘Sure Brad, what can I do for you?’

‘I need a couple of them two way radios, you know, the cordless ones that fit in the ear, the proper, good quality stuff’.

‘Oh, I donno Brad, they might be a bit tricky to organize. What are you up to anyhow?

‘I can’t say Charlie, not just now. I let you in on everything when it’s possible, but not right now’.

‘When do you need them Brad? Can this not wait ‘till you’re back in work?’

‘’Fraid not Charlie. I need them tonight, or early tomorrow morning at the latest’

‘What? You sure tomorrow’s soon enough? You sure you don’t want them yesterday, like?’

‘Hey Charlie, remember that time your daughter had her twenty first, and you showed up for work the next morning rat-faced? Remember you hit that hydrant, and wrote off our cruiser? Remember who swopped seats with you, and took the rap?’

‘What the fuck, Brad. I knew that’d come back to haunt me some day’.

‘I need them, Charlie. I wouldn’t be drawing in favors if I didn’t have to’.

Well, I’ll see what I can do. You like making things difficult Johnston, you know that?’

‘That’s not all. I need a wire’.

‘What?’

‘Yeah, and I need a decent one Charlie, not one of them crappy Chinese ones you can pick up in Radio Shack. And I need it same time as the two-ways’.

‘Jesus, you shitting me?’

‘No, I’m not, not at all. Don’t let me down here Charlie, there’s lives at stake, and I’m not shitting you’.

‘What the hell you up to Brad?’

‘Like I said, I’ll tell you when I can. Oh, I almost forgot, there’s one other thing’.

‘You’re joking, right?’

‘Sorry Charlie, but I’m deadly serious. I need a name’.

Brad strolled into the bar, rounded the pool table, and approached a solitary young man who sat at the counter, nursing a beer.

‘You old enough to be drinking?’

The youth looked Brad up and down.

‘You young enough to be breathing?’ he answered, smirking at his wise-ass reply.

Brad ignored the jibe.

‘Are you Jimmy Knox?’

‘Who’s askin’

‘Me’ replied Brad, flashing his badge discreetly.

‘Aw, what the fuck man. I’m out on bail pending trial. Why don’t you leave me alone. A man is innocent ‘til proved guilty. Says so in the constitution’.

‘You’re going down for a long stretch Jimmy. This is your third time to be nailed for breaking and entering. Three strikes and you’re out, you know that’.

‘That’s for the Judge to decide, mister policeman guy. Why don’t you leave me alone in peace, let me enjoy my freedom’.

‘Better cherish it while you can, Jimmy boy, ‘cause it won’t last much longer’.

‘Yeah man, whatever’.

Brad eyed the young man, trying to size him up before committing himself further. Eventually, he continued.

‘What if I was to tell you that there might be another way?’

Jimmy turned and looked at Brad.

‘You gonna tell me to find Jesus, or somethin’

‘God can’t keep you out of prison Jimmy, but maybe I can’.

‘How?’

‘Suppose your file went missing? Suppose there was a glitch in the system, and your computer records were erased?’

‘And what the fuck do I have to do for all this to happen, become your toy boy? You into the boys mister policeman?’

‘Tell me, you’ve been caught three times. How many times have you got away with it?’

‘You’re joking, right? You want me to admit to a cop the fact that I’ve committed other crimes and not been caught? Do you think I’m fucking stupid?’

‘Look around you, Jimmy. You see anyone else here? I’m merely trying to ascertain if you’re any damn good, or if you’re a total fucking loser, who gets caught every time you open a window’.

Jimmy looked cautiously all around before continuing.

‘Suppose I knew a guy, who broke into people’s houses. And suppose this guy was caught three times for B&E. If this guy was good, and I mean really good, I’d imagine you could probably multiply the number of times he was caught by a hundred, to get to the times he wasn’t caught at all. Course this is all hypot..hypo.. pretend, right?’

‘So, how come this great cat burglar got his three strikes? He come up against a tricky alarm, or what?’

‘Hell no. This guy we’re talkin’ about, he can deal with any alarm system’.

‘So how come he got caught?’

‘Well, he was younger then. Thought he was invincible. The first time he got nabbed, he was stoned’.

‘And the second time?’

‘The same, didn’t learn from his mistakes, I guess’.

‘And what about the third time? Stoned again, I suppose’.

‘Na, the third time, he wasn’t stoned, he was unfortunate. Got through the alarm system no hassle. The trouble was, he didn’t plan for this great big mother of a Rottweiler that kept him pinned to the wall ‘till the cops arrived. I believe he still has the teeth marks on his leg’ he added, rubbing his calf.

He looked up, a hint of desperation in his eyes.

‘So, you up for it? asked Brad’

‘Yeah man, I’m up for it. What have I gotta do?’

‘Keep tomorrow free, give me your cell number, and be ready, un-stoned, to go to work tomorrow night.

‘So, you think that file could disappear?’

‘You do exactly as you’re asked, and that file will never see the light of day.

The girls went off to book a room for the night, and the boys went cruising. The car motored down Hillcrest at a constant thirty, slow enough to observe, but not so slow that it attracted attention. Brad and Pat wanted to take in as much information as possible in one pass, knowing that the same car making a return journey back up the street could be viewed suspiciously. A twenty something dressed in a black leather jacket stood in the doorway of 118, put there to observe, but taking more interest in the filly he was chatting up. Having seen enough, they left the scene to go shopping, then returned to the girls in the hotel they’d booked. It was time to work out a plan.

Early next morning, Brad headed off to meet up with Charlie.