The CleanSweep Conspiracy (27 page)

CHAPTER 33

Another Close Call

“W
ho’s that?” Clifford wanted to know.

“It’s Carling!” Matt held the phone to his ear and listened.

“No time for ‘Hello’ or ‘How are you?’”

Matt motioned to Cliff that it was safe.

“It’s all over the air and streaming to all police computers,” Carling said. “They have now issued an electronic, direct order to each officer. Police are expected to cooperate with CleanSweep agents, no exceptions. We were reminded of the notice, the initial order to work with them. You, my friend, have made it to the top of the list as Public Enemy Number One. How’s that for a laugh? I think I’m probably committing treason by talking to you now.”

“Am I safe here?”

“Who knows?” said Carling. “Maybe you are for the moment. That’s the best I can say.”

“Those names you gave me at the baseball game. One was Mattie’s. Have you heard about what happened to her?”

When Carling replied in the negative, Matt told him about meeting Stinky and finding his way to the conservatory. He heard a deep breath from Carling when he described Mattie’s final moments.

“Fuck. I was afraid of something like that. What about Cliff?”

“He’s here, with me.”

“If I was able to find out where you live, CleanSweep agents will follow the same paper trail I did. You guys are in danger
—
”

Matt jerked around at the sound of his front door closing. Clifford was gone. An empty beer bottle sat on the coffee table next to where he had been sitting.

“Hold on,” Matt said. He ran to the door and opened it. Cliff was nowhere to be seen. He closed the door, turned, and then saw a note sitting next to the bottle.

“Shit,” Matt said. “Cliff’s just taken off. He left a note, says he’s gone to ground. He says he knows a place they will never find him. Damn. I’m short on friends as it is
—
and I couldn’t even say thanks or good
-
bye.”

“He’s good, but if he gets caught, he will lead them back to you. There’s no time for sentiment now.”

“I don’t have much time, do I?”

“Sit tight,” Carling said. “I’m in my car now, near you. Look out your side window.”

Matt did as he was told.

“Do you see the sign for the bakery, the one in the next block? I’m parked in the alley behind that bakery. There’s a garage with a door open. I’ll back the car in. I should be at your place in a couple of minutes. I’ll make this quick. Keep watching. Before I get there, I’ll case the area to see if anyone is keeping watch on your building. Got it? Is there somewhere you can go now, if you have to make a run for it?”

Matt started to tell him about the basement but didn’t get past the first word before being cut off.

“Not now!” Carling yelled. “Not over the phone. Do you have an escape route?”

“Yes,” Matt said, then described it using the code words Carling had written in his note.

It was enough to let Carling know he would be waiting for the detective in the basement.

“Good. I want you to get the hell out of the apartment, right away,” said Carling, his words disguised by the code. “If they come at you from the front, how will you get out? You can’t. You said nobody uses the back stairs. Take that way down to the basement. Wait there. If you hear steps, it will either be CleanSweep agents
—
or me.” He gave a short laugh. “You can only hope it’s me.”

“What if they come before you get here?”

“Kiss your ass good
-
bye. They want you alive for a reason, and I don’t think it will be for a good purpose.”

Matt stared at the phone in his hand. Carling disconnected without saying anything more. Knowing it was the detective’s typical style, Matt didn’t take it personally.

He picked up his shoulder bag and another larger case. Looking around, he realized it was probably the last time he would see the place where he and Tanner had shared the single malt. That seemed like ages ago.

He didn’t bother locking the door as he dashed to the rear stairwell. Matt didn’t hesitate
—
or look around to see if anybody was there
—
and he almost stumbled in his hurry to get to the basement.

This would be no time for a fall down the stairs.

He was on the main floor and about to open the door to the basement when the front lobby door thumped open. Matt froze with his hand on the doorknob.

“I’m sorry,” a girl said. “I didn’t mean to bang the door like that.”

“Give me some of those bags,” her male companion said as he looked up and saw Matt.

“Sorry, dude. Too many groceries,” he said. They disappeared up the front stairs.

Matt ran to the front and looked out. He didn’t see anyone and returned to the door to the basement stairs.

When will Carling be here?

Matt opened the door and went down. The second door to the safe room was hanging open, and he was surprised at the extent of the damage caused by the acid he had used earlier. A source had told him to use carborane superacid mixed with a dash of triflic acid, promising that it would be a million times stronger than sulfuric acid. Matt saw now what that really meant. It had even dissolved glass and metal. Luckily, he had worn his protective face mask and jumpsuit.

He jumped when he heard heavy footsteps on the floor overhead. The door to the basement opened and slammed shut. Matt let out a long breath when he saw Carling hunched forward and racing down the stairs.

“I don’t think anyone saw me,” Carling said. “I came in the back door. I checked the car I’m driving for a GPS tracker. The department uses them to track all police vehicles, but that car hasn’t been used in ages
—
maybe since before they were even tracking cars. I couldn’t detect one. Who knows?”

“It’s good to see you, too,” Matt said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm, but he knew it was only Carling being Carling.

“Look, skip the tender feelings. There are very few people you can count on right now, and you’re damn lucky I’m one of them. I won’t waste words, especially not on a civilian, so don’t get your knickers in a knot.”

“I’m not ungrateful,” Matt said. “I’m so scared I almost pissed myself just now.”

“We both need to ease off,” the detective said. “I’m sorry. Let’s start over. How the fuck are you?” Carling broke into a grin.

Matt’s shoulders sagged as the tension released. “Do you have any plan at all?”

“I was hoping you did,” said Carling. He stopped. “I’m sorry, I was just jamming your gears.” He starting looking around. “What a fucking mess. To answer your question, yes, I have a plan, but we have to get out of here.”

“It’s all gone,” Matt swept his arm in a circle. “Everything I used to publish my blog and writing. It’s all there in a gooey pile.”

“And the smell!” Carling sniffed. “Whew.”

“How much time do you think we have?”

“We’ll have an answer to that when we hear them. And here we are, trapped in the basement with no way out. It doesn’t look good, eh?”

Carling and Matt heard the first CleanSweep siren approaching.

“We’re screwed. Unless
…
” Carling paused. “If you do have a way out, now is a good time to let me in on it.”

They could hear more sirens, a chorus of howling, all coming to a stop in front of Matt’s building. Muffled voices could be heard shouting commands, followed by the sound of running footsteps. Agents were gathering just outside.

One of Matt’s phones rang. Matt held it to his ear as Carling watched. When he was finished, Matt turned back to him.

“Cyberia couldn’t get the warning to us in time. He says they have dispatched a special bus containing a small army of agents. We only have minutes before they’ll have us totally surrounded.”

Carling didn’t bother to ask who Cyberia was or why someone by that name would even know such things. Instead, he pulled his jacket lapel back and reached behind his back to retrieve a pistol. “I don’t know whether this will do any good,” he said. He shrugged and put it back.

“We have one chance,” Matt said, “I told you. I have a way out
—
maybe. If they haven’t thought to rip the boards off the coal shed outside, we may have a chance. I tried to make it look like it’s been boarded up for years.”

With that, he kicked at the wood panel covering the escape door and gave a nod to Carling. Matt led the way. Spiders had reclaimed the space, and Matt forced aside his fear of them as he brushed the cobwebs out of his way. Carling followed close behind.

“Pull the door shut behind us,” Matt ordered the detective. “It works as a cover and may give us more time. If you pull that string,” he pointed, “the wood panel will fall back in place and hide the door
—
I hope.”

Carling nodded and obeyed. When he was done it was almost completely dark in the tunnel, a thin slat letting in a glimmer of light. Matt led the way, crawling up the sloping wood ramp. It reminded him of the time, as a boy, he’d tried to climb a slide in the park and kept slipping back down. The former coal chute, unused since about 1946, was still full of coal
-
dust residue, and the two men were covered in black by the time they scrambled up and into the interior of the attached shed. They both did their best to brush the dust off, without much success. The shed was located in a narrow alley at street level. Matt hoped his camouflage had really made the shed appear as though it were permanently boarded up.

They could hear voices nearby. “There’s nothing back here, boss.”

“Or here,” said another voice, coming from a different direction
—
toward the back of the building.

“Post someone at the back door. The rest of you, follow me.”

“I just heard on the radio. There’s nobody in the apartment. Now they’re searching the building floor by floor,” one of the agents said.

“Some old lady shit herself when we busted into her place.” Whoever said that seemed to think it was funny.

Matt and Carling held their breath until silence returned. They could hear activity in the front and back of the building, but the side lane stayed quiet.

“I only tested this once,” Matt admitted. He pulled a board away from the front of the shed and motioned for Carling to do the same on the back. They peered out.

“Nobody here,” Carling said.

“Here either.” Matt pulled on an old door. “I fixed it so it would look unusable from the outside, but it should work fine.”

It opened without effort.

Carling seemed to make a decision. “Let’s do it. What do we have to lose? I really hope you have something in mind for getting us away from here? Otherwise, your escape plan really sucks.”

“Follow me.” Matt felt a rush at being in charge. He knew exactly where to go.

In a few quick strides, they were across the narrow lane and standing by a side door to the next building. Matt had covered that door’s lock striker with duct tape so it wouldn’t lock. He easily pulled it open. They were in a different building now, but both found themselves holding their breath again and listening for any threat, still feeling vulnerable. Matt tore the tape away and pushed the door closed. They could hear the satisfying
clunk
as it locked.

“If they try the door and find it locked I’m hoping they won’t think we came this way and bother to check farther.”

“What is this place?”

“Our friendly neighborhood dry cleaner,” Matt said as their vision adjusted to the low light. “Follow me.

They dodged plastic
-
covered packages of clothes hanging on overhanging rails. “The owner divided the space and now subleases that part to a nail salon,” he said, pointing with his chin. “There’s a door between the storefronts. It’s there.” He pointed to a door that had been painted over. It took both of them kicking and lunging to break through, but soon they were standing in the front of the nail salon.

“Stand back,” Carling said. He moved closer to the front window, careful to avoid being seen. “I can see them,” he snorted. “They’re all back by your building. There must be twenty or more standing around.”

“That command
-
team bus will be here soon, and then we won’t even have
this
edge,” Matt said, urging him to hurry.

There was another door on the west wall. “That leads out to the street,” Matt said. “I hope they don’t have this area covered yet. Maybe they are all concentrating on my building.” The far
-
side door was locked from the inside, so all they had to do was turn the locking handle and step out into the adjoining street.

“There’s no time to waste,” Carling whispered. He looked both ways. It was dark, and large trees covered the street like an umbrella. “I don’t see anyone,” he said, leaning close and speaking in a soft voice. “So far
…
”

He didn’t finish.

“It’s going to be dicey getting across the road,” Matt said, pointing back to the streetlights on Queen Street. They walked up to the corner. To Matt, each footstep sounded like the bang of a drum. Carling reclaimed the lead and stopped. He peered around the corner, first to the left and then to the right. He judged the moment.

“This is our chance. When I give the signal, we just run as fast as we can. Ready?
Now!
”

Carling led the way. First, they sprinted two doors to the left and then zigzagged right, crossing the street between parked cars. They ran farther west, to the nearest corner, where they turned right into a side street. It wasn’t far from there to an alley where a quick turn took them away from discovery. Not bothering to be quiet, they ran down the alley and stopped at a garage just ahead and to their left.

Matt saw the grille of the unmarked police car Carling had parked there before coming to the apartment peeking out. They stepped toward the garage door and looked in. They let out a loud breath, in stereo, when they didn’t see anyone waiting to arrest them.

“Throw your stuff in the backseat, and then get in the car and buckle up. I’ll close that garage door as best I can. We aren’t going anywhere yet, but be ready. If we have to try and outrun them, you will be glad you’re wearing that,” Carling said, tugging at Matt’s seat belt.