Sweet Vengeance (37 page)

Allie
followed behind him with Max bringing up the rear.  Jase obviously hadn't been
to the bowling alley, yet.  Where the hell was he?  Something wasn't right, but
she couldn't go looking for him until she searched the locker for the evidence
that would set Jase free.   

Mr.
Wood stopped and put a hand on Joey's old locker.  "I haven't touched his
stuff all these years."

"Why
ever not?"  She was glad he hadn't, but still, it seemed strange.

Brad
stopped at the end of the row and looked at Allie, his own emotions clouding
his features.  "I don't know.  I did try to open it at first, but he had a
lock on it.  I couldn't bring myself to cut it off."  He shook his head. 
"You know, I loved that boy like he was my own."  He glanced at Max
and then back at her.  "I never had any children, you see.  Joey was a wild
one, to be sure, but I've never met a harder worker in all my life.  We'd spend
Saturdays waxing the lanes and talking.  About you, mostly."  The older
man smiled.  "He loved you, you know."

Allie
couldn't swallow.  She'd convinced herself in the years since Joey's death he
couldn't possibly have loved her, but maybe...maybe in his way, he had.  She
nodded, not feeling like she could speak.

"Anyway…" 
The man paused as he lifted the old barrel lock which was still intact.  "I
couldn't bring myself to cut off the lock, like I said.  It just seemed wrong. 
I figured you'd come to claim his ball since you were the only one who knew he
came here, but then you didn't show up at the funeral, and I…"  He
shrugged and gave her a sad smile.

"I
couldn't come then, Mr. Wood.  It was too dangerous."

The
man agreed.  "I wondered."  He glanced at Max.  "Well, I'll
leave you to it.  Do you need the bolt cutters?"

"No,
I think I have the combination."

"Okay,
then."  The man nodded and walked back toward his office.

Allie
pushed aside her memories.  She had an important job to do.  She moistened her
lips as a forceful shiver made its way through her body.  This was it.  She
glanced at Max who'd moved closer and now stood next to her elbow.

"Open
it."

She
lifted the barrel lock, the combination easy to remember.  She turned the dials
in order.  Three, six, something, five, six, nine.  But what was the
"something"?  The unknown?  She used the number one on her first
attempt and pulled.  It didn't open.

"I
thought you knew the combination," Max whispered in her ear.

She
wanted to elbow him in the gut.  "The last number was blown away by a
bullet, okay?"  She did elbow him then, but not as hard as she would have
liked.  "Give me a minute."

She
tried two and then three.  Nothing either time.  Then she tried four and when
the lock released, she gasped.  It had worked.  Jase was right.  Her pulse grew
faster.  It had to be the recording or something equally important.  Otherwise,
Joey wouldn't have tattooed the combination on them.  But why would he put half
of the combination on him and half on her? 

Had
he known he might be killed?  Had he done it for her? 

She
opened the locker and there was Joey's dusty blue bag.  Joey had won it in a
game of poker.  She opened it, sticking her hand down inside, around the ball. 
Her fingers ran across a hard metallic rectangle, and she jerked her gaze
toward Max.  She lifted the recorder from the bag.

"Leave
it in there."

"But—"

Max
shook his head and glanced at the office.  He didn't want Mr. Wood to notice. 
Maybe he was right on that account.  The less people who knew about it, the
better.  Allie closed the bag, tingles skittering through her. 

She'd
found the key to their freedom.

Max
took over, pushing her out of the way.  The weight of the ball inside the bag
straightened Max's arm.  Allie watched as Jase's cohort took a quick look
inside the locker, feeling the edges and pushing against all sides of the metal
box. 

"That's
all.  Let's go."  He jerked his head toward the door, apparently satisfied
he'd retrieved everything they'd come for.  His steps were quick as he headed
for the exit.   

Allie
hurried behind, wondering if he'd actually leave her.  "Goodbye, Mr.
Wood," she called as she reached the doorway.  "I'll come see you
again."  She didn't have time to wait for a reply.

Max
was already in his car with the engine running when she slipped inside.  Joey's
bag sat on the floor in front of her seat, and she had to spread her feet in
order to get comfortable.  "You can't leave without me."  She threw
an irritated look in his direction. 

"I
guess you'd better hurry then."  Any trace of cordiality had left his
voice.  Apparently, once he had what he wanted, he didn't concern himself with
being nice.

Instead
of telling him off like she wanted to do, she remained silent.  Her police
training had taught her when to confront and when to let things go.  Right now,
her instincts told her to lay low.

After
a few minutes, though, it became pretty obvious Max wasn't heading back to
Jase's penthouse.  In that moment, she knew leaving with Max had been a
mistake.  How big of a mistake?  She wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

Rain
pounded harder on the windshield, mimicking her increasing heartbeat.  Max was
up to something, and she needed to remain calm until she figured out what it
was.  She tugged her purse and the hidden gun closer to her.  "Where are
we going?"

Max
snorted, but didn't look at her.  "We're taking this somewhere safe."

Allie
slowly slipped her hand inside her purse.

"I
wouldn't do that."

She
froze in place.  "What?"

"Pull
out your gun."  He glanced at her this time, seeming confident and sure,
enough so that she hesitated.  "Yeah, Cates told me you were a cop."

She
blinked, stunned.  "Cates is a crooked cop?"

"Nah." 
He chuckled.  "I was a source for him.  He just wanted to see what would
happen when he threw you and Jase together.  That's how Jase knew to be at the
party last night." 

She
took out her gun anyway and pointed it at him.  "I don't know what your
plans are, but I do know I'm not going to be a part of them."  The rain
gushed down outside, but that was preferable to being in the car with Max. 
"You need to pull over right now." 

He
kept driving.  "You might want to rethink that if you want to keep Jase
alive."  He turned down a narrow alley.  "You see, he's my guarantee
now you'll do what I ask."

Allie
gasped.  "That's why Jase didn't come back? 
You
have him?" 
Could she have been that naïve?  "Did you set this whole thing up?"

Max
shrugged.  "He might think he's the boss, but this particular scene is
going down
my
way."  Halfway down the back alley, Max stopped in
front of a large garage door and punched in a number on his phone.  "It's
Max.  Tell Benny I've got what he wants, and I'm expecting what he promised
me."  He closed his phone and turned to her with a cunning grin.

"Why
should I believe you have Jase?"  Although, there really was no other
explanation as to why he hadn't come back. 

"What
choice do you have?"

None. 
She couldn't gamble on Jase's life.

"I'll
take your gun now.  You take it in there, and you'll get your head blown
off."

"Like
they're not going to blow it off anyway."  She pulled her Glock out of her
purse and thrust it at him, feeling completely incompetent. 

"I'll
take your phone, too."

How
could she have been so gullible?  She handed over her old Blackberry.  "I
guess that call to Jase's cell phone was a fake, too?"

She
wanted to slap the Cheshire smile off Max's face as he tucked her gun inside
his jacket.  "Sorry, darlin'.  I hate to tell you, but you're right. 
Guess I'm glad you didn't figure that out sooner."  He reached over and
patted her thigh, and she silently wished him dead.

She
swallowed the sickening lump in her throat.  She had no obvious options at the
moment.  She could try to get away now, but what if that cost Jase his life? 
Fact was, it was probably too late for both of them.  She couldn't see any
reason Max would turn them loose.  And she couldn't leave Jase to fend for
himself.  Funny how his overprotective ways had always irritated her.  Now,
here she was, acting the same way.

She'd
have to keep her cool and wait for an opportunity.

And
pray.

The
garage door finally lifted, and Max pulled inside the darkened enclosure.  The
sight of five men with automatic weapons pointed at them instantly brought back
memories of that day, six years earlier, when she'd been under similar
circumstances.  This time, she wasn't a scared young woman.  She was a trained
officer of the law, and she wasn't going down without a fight.

Max
opened his door and the guns seemed to follow his movements.  "Stay here
for a minute while I work out the details."  He shut the door behind him.

What
the hell did that mean?  Did he
not
have all the—

Allie
stopped mid-thought as Tommy "Bones" Trasatti emerged from an office
along the edge of the large warehouse.  Max walked forward to meet him, the
armed men all following along.  Tommy was an impressive figure, dressed in a
black suit, looking like he owned the world.  She shivered, thinking of the few
moments she'd spent dancing with him.  At the party, he'd momentarily seemed
harmless, even attractive, but here, surrounded by a dim warehouse and so many
guns, it was easy to see him for the killer he was.

She
shifted her focus to the blond mobster.  Max had turned on Jase and now worked
for the Trasatti organization?  She had to admit she wasn't extremely
surprised.  And, she wasn't wasting any more time making assessments.  Trasatti
commanded the attention of his men, and since they all had their guns trained
on Max, she assumed the men considered Max more of a threat than she was. 

Big
mistake on their part.

With
her feet, she scooted Joey's bag as close to her seat as possible.  Keeping her
eyes trained on the men who were engrossed in a heated discussion, she leaned
forward in her seat and undid the leather latch.  The bowling ball was cool and
smooth under her hand.  She searched along the edges of the bag as adrenaline
pounded through her body. 

Bingo. 

The
small recorder fit nicely in her hand, and it might provide the leverage she
needed to save Jase's life.  She pulled it out, tucking it in her bra. 
Quickly, she refastened the bag.

Trasatti
and Max were still deep in conversation, with Max gesturing wildly with his
hands.  Apparently, the "details" were not working out as favorably
as Max had expected.  She glanced around the perimeter of the building, looking
for an escape, but unlike Jase's warehouse, none of the racks were very close. 
At least the men were on the opposite side of the car and more than a hundred
feet away. 

If
she could exit the car without being noticed, it might give her a head start, a
slim chance of survival.  That was all she asked for.  She might not be the
smartest cop to ever join the police force, but no one could say she wasn't brave.

She
ditched her heels on the floor of Max's car.  They'd only be a hindrance. 
Quietly, she pulled on the door latch.  It opened silently.  She glanced at the
party of mobsters, but no one seemed to take notice of her.  Max's heated words
provided the cover she needed. 

Allie
pushed the door open just enough to slip out onto the cold concrete floor. 
Grit from the surface covered her palms and knees.  She quietly pushed the door
closed, but not hard enough to latch it.  Her heart raced as she scurried in
the opposite direction toward the racks, as much out of the line of sight as
possible.

"I
don't give a fuck, Trasatti."  Max's voice echoed across the open
building.  "You want it, you pay.  Every last cent.  Today.  If not, I'm
sure Tyler will be more than happy to give me what I want." 

Tommy
Trasatti's voice tempered Max's emotion.  "You know we want it, Max. 
You've done good work for us, and we want to reward you.  But you know I don't
have that kind of cash on hand.  It'll take me one, maybe two days to get
it."

"Bullshit!" 

"Tyler
won't be able to get that amount of money any sooner."  Tommy's voice was
lower, calmer.

"Oh,
fuck that.  I put myself on the line for you.  I should have known.  Fuck you. 
I should have known you were a double-crossing son of a bitch."

Allie
reached the racks and the temporary safety they provided.  Silence had ensued
in the building, and she was tempted to sneak a peek at the men to see what had
happened, but that would be asking for trouble.  She hurried toward the
farthest end of the aisle, hoping there would be some sort of emergency exit.

There
wasn't.

"Give
us the recording, Max."  Tommy no longer seemed as composed, his voice now
raised and angry like Max's.  "You give it to us now, and you'll still get
your money.  If not..."