The Getaway (Sam Archer 2) (27 page)

No one was here.

Inside the main bedroom, to the left of the bed was a door to a bathroom. It was closed. Archer crept forward and listened closely. He couldn’t hear anything the other side. No sound. No activity. He pulled up the corner of his coat to protect against fingerprints and grabbing the handle, gently twisted it. He pushed it open.

And he found Parker.

From where he was stood, Archer could see he was around his own age, mid-twenties, blond hair and tanned arms. He was slumped over the side of the bathtub, his arms and legs outside. Blood and brains were spattered all over the white walls, shower rail and on
one side of the shower curtain.

He could see what had happened.

Someone had pushed him headfirst into the bathtub and shielding themselves with the curtain, shot him once in the back of the head. He could see the entry wound, a small maroon hole in the young man’s blond hair. It had to be a silenced pistol, otherwise the other guests would surely have heard something. He had been executed, his hands and feet duct-taped behind his back, another strip pulled over his mouth. The duct tape was grey. The same colour as the rol
l in the back of Siletti’s car.

The mu
rder had happened recently too.

Blood was still sliding down the white tiles.

Archer heard a sharp intake of breath behind him and turned. Katic was there, her hand over her mouth, tears welling in her eyes as she stared at the lifeless young man. She moved back, sitting on the bed, unable to move her eyes from her dead colleague. Archer pulled the door shut gently with the lapel of his coat and moved over to sit beside her on the bed. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound, he
r brown eyes wide in disbelief.

They sat there in silence for five minutes. Neither moved. Neither spoke. But Archer
broke it eventually. He had to.

‘We need to go,’ he said.

‘We can’t just leave him here,’ Katic said, turning on him, anger in her voice and eyes. She was torn up, full of shock and grief. Archer was a stranger with no history with the guy, so he was thinking with more clarity. He didn’t blame her for what she felt. If it was the other way round and one of his friends, like Chalky, had been murdered, he would have reacted the exact same way.

‘We’ll call the cops from the street and tip them off. C’mon. Let’s get out of here. If anyone from the hotel staff walk in, that could cause us a lot of problems. Let’s go find somewhere, another hotel, hole up and think.’

‘I can’t,’ she said, pulling a tissue from her pocket and wiping her eyes. ‘Not yet.’

‘We can’t stay here.’

‘No, I mean I can’t hole up anywhere yet.’

‘Why?’

‘My daughter.’

‘You have a daughter?’

She nodded.

‘Where is she?’

‘One of the other mom’s from school was looking after her.’ She checked her watch, sniffing, wiping tears from her eyes. ‘Shit, I’m meant to be at home. She was due to get dropped off half an hour ago. I can’t leave her there by herself Archer. She’s only nine.’

‘Does anyone in the Bureau know where you live?’ Archer asked, his eyes wide.

Katic thought about the question, start
ing to re-gather her composure.

‘Of course. It’s on the records.’

Suddenly, she turned to Arch
er.

She realised what he was thinking.

‘You think—’

But she d
idn’t even finish the sentence.

The two of them rose and ran for the door instead.

‘What the hell happened?
’
the voice on the phone asked.

Siletti swore as he stuffed gauze up his nose. He had managed to get help from the street, telling a concerned passer-by he’d just been mugged. The guy saw his nose and realising this wasn’t a bluff, loosened the tie from the steering wheel, releasing the other man’s hands. Siletti had then gone to the trunk and grabbed a first aid kit, slamming the rear shut and walking back to the front seat in a rage.

‘Katic is with him. He realised something was up and he got the drop on me. Asshole broke my nose.’ He swore in pain as he pushed the gauze up his nostril. ‘Farrell called him too. His crew made it out of the Garden and they’re gonna be searching for him. We could give them a call.’

‘Forget him. He’ll never co-operate with us again.’

A silence followed.

‘You’re an idiot,’
the other man said, struggling to control his temper.
‘Eight million people in this city, and you had the two of them actually in your car. Why the hell didn’t you waste them? They could be anywhere by now.’

‘I don’t need a reminder. I thought I had them.’

There was a pause.

‘Where are you?’

‘67
th
. Just north of
Columbus
.’

‘Did you take care of Lock and Parker?’

‘Yeah, they’re gone. They won’t be talking to anyone in D.C. Gave them both one to the back of the head. Used the HK, so it won’t land back on us. I chopped Lock up and dumped the bags in the sea, but I got Parker’s brains all over me when I shot him. Damn shower curtain didn’t work. I had to go and change my clothes with the ones Gerrard was wearing before I met with Katic. I didn’t have time to get home.’

‘Not like he’s going to need the
m anymore,’
the other guy said.

Siletti nodded.

There was a pause.

‘Wait where you are,’
the other man said.
‘I’m headed your way. I think I know where the bitch and the English guy are headed. We’ll do it properly this time. We’ll get them to tell us where the money is, then shoot them and dump them both in the bay.’

Siletti nodded, wincing as he finished splinting his nose.

‘Bring the shotguns,’ he said. ‘I’m gonna take my time with the British asshole. By the time I’m done, there’ll be noth
ing left of him to throw away.’

‘See you in five,’
the other man said.

FIFTEEN

Katic lived in a small place in the
East
Village
, just off
1
st
Avenue
on
13
th
Street
. The journey from
Columbus Circle
took about fifteen minutes, the driver weaving his way skilfully across town, avoiding the traffic in and around
Times Square
. They’d asked the guy to get them there as soon as possible, and so far he
was definitely earning his tip.

On the back seat, Katic pulled her phone and called her home
number.

‘Won’t the other mum be waiting with her?’ Archer asked.

Katic shook her head, holding the phone to her ear. ‘The woman has a key. She lets Jessie back in and locks the door and leaves. I work unpredictable hours and I’m not paying her to babysit.’

Thankfully, someone answered the call. But Archer was surprised. Katic didn’t start talking to her, or warn her, or tell her to hide. She just said one word.

‘Turtle.’

That was it.

One word, loudly and clearly.

And with that, she hung up, sliding her phone back i
nto the pocket of her suit.

‘Turtle? What was that?’ Archer asked.

Katic ignored the question.

‘Can you drive faster, please?’ she asked the driver, as they moved fast down
2
nd
Avenue
and past
20
th
Street
.

‘We’re almost there, miss,’ the guy said politely. He didn’t need anyone to tell him how to do his job but he also d
idn’t want to sabotage his tip.

Katic nodded, her leg jiggling as she released nervous energy. The streets flashed past outside the windows as they moved on downtown.

18
th
.

16
th
.

‘What the hell is going on, Archer?’ she asked him, anxious. The cab driver could hear what they were talking abou
t, but she didn’t seem to care.

‘Siletti. Had to be.’

‘But why?’

‘He’s tying up loose ends. Parker was his partner. Siletti’s covering his tracks. Maybe even the idea that Parker knew something was enough for what happened in the bathroom to happen.’

She looked at him, her face pale. Archer chose to save the rest of the conversation for when they were out of earshot of the driver.

Soon enough, they arrived on East 13
th
. The driver turned left, and headed across towards
1
st
Avenue
. They hit a red at the end of the road, but it didn’t matter. Katic told him to pull up where they were and paid the fare. She and Archer stepped out, shutting the doors, and the taxi sped off, the driver ha
ppy with the tip they gave him.

Katic went to walk forward, but Archer grabbed her arm and held her back. He stepped to the left, into the shadows, with her beside him.

‘Wait,’ he said.

Her maternal instincts were screaming at her to just cross the street and get to her daughter as quickly as possible, but she held back. Just ahead of them,
1
st
Avenue
was busy, people out enjoying the Saturday night. Across the street though, 13
th
looked quiet. Archer had his Sig back in his hand in the pocket of his coat, and Katic had her own pistol in the holster on her hip. The game had just changed. Any rules that were in place had just gone out the window. If they kept trying to play them, Katic knew it could be the two of them next who would be pushed face-down into the bathtub.

Satisfied that no one was about, the pair of them crossed the street quickly and headed down 13
th
. Katic said she lived at Number 20, which was within a stone’s throw from the cross street and on the left side. The street looked pretty empty. Archer scanned the interior of any cars parked in the area, looking for anyone
sitting
inside, or anything that seemed unusual. But it looked clear. Besides, they’d be in and out in a couple of minutes. The sooner they got on with it, the sooner they would be sa
fe and could hole up somewhere.

Katic walked
quickly
up the steps and up to the door as Archer double-checked the street, watching a man walking his dog pass them by. She’d already pulled a key from her jacket and she slotted it into the lock, pushing the door open. Archer turned and ran up the steps, moving inside an
d closing the door behind them.

Inside, out of sight of the street, Katic pulled her pistol from her holster, checking the safety was off. Archer l
ifted his Sig from his pocket.

They both stood there in silence, waiting, listening, looking at each other. The building was old, lots of old wooden floorboards, and the two of them were
standing
ne
xt to the lines of letterboxes.

Archer closed his eyes and listened.

Nothing.

‘Which floor?’ Archer whispered.

‘Third.’

They approached the stairwell and moved up the flights swiftly. Archer let Katic take the lead. Behind her, he was impressed. He’d already seen that she was tough, but the idea of anyone doing harm to her child seemed to have given her an added layer of resolve that made a protective mother the toughest fighter in the world. Her dynamic with Archer had subtly shifted too. She had gone from ordering and commanding him to engaging with him and they were now working as a pair. For the time being, they were partners. She needed his
help as much as he needed hers.

He needed to clear his name.

And she needed to make it through the night alive with her girl.

The stairwell was empty and they moved up the old set of stairs swiftly and silently, arriving on the third floor. Katic still had the wad of keys in her hand, and she grabbed one of the keys, letting the others fall away, holding them so they wouldn’t make any noise. She came to a stop outside Apartment 3D and slid the key silently into the lock, the floorboard under her foot creaking as she stepped on it. In the same instant, Archer pulled her to one side and against the wall in a flash, thinking instinctively. If anyone was inside, they would have heard the noise.

The way he had moved her meant they were close, face-to-face, her back against the wall. He looked at her, putting his finger to his lips, and they both listened, tense. The two of them stared at each other up close for a moment that felt like a minute. Moving aside, Archer nodded and she twisted the key, opening the door. The two of them moved inside quickly, weapons up. The hallway was clear. Archer waited for a little girl to appear, rushing over
to her mother.