Chương 6
“I can’t.”
“Marco.”
“They moved her.”
The room narrowed around his voice.
“Who moved her?”
“Bell’s people. I thought he was a lawyer.”
“He is a lawyer.”
“He said he could clear the judgments and get the license reinstated. He said all I had to do was tell him when the old man came back.”
Clara looked at the paused video of Marco in the alley.
“You knew Aleksandr was coming?”
“I knew someone was supposed to meet him. I didn’t know there would be blood.”
“What did you give Ivan?”
“A copy of the diner schedule.”
“Why?”
“Bell said he was investigating cash theft. He said Manny hired him.”
“You believed that?”
“I needed the money.”
“How much?”
Silence.
“Marco.”
“Eight hundred.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Their mother’s medication copay had been six hundred and twelve dollars last month. Marco had contributed nothing, claiming the warehouse had cut his shifts.
“Where is the money?”
“I paid Luis Moreno.”
“The bookmaker?”
“He was going to come to the apartment.”
“You told me you stopped betting.”
“I did.”
“For how long?”
“Clara, this isn’t—”
“How long?”
“A week.”
The answer nearly made her laugh again.
Viktor held out his hand for the phone. Clara ignored him.
“What did you pick up behind the dumpster?”
“A phone.”
“Where is it?”
“Bell took it.”
“What was on it?”
“I don’t know. It was locked.”
“Did you take the second suitcase this morning?”
Marco began crying, but quietly, angrily, as if ashamed of the sound.
“They told me to.”
Clara gripped the edge of the examination table.
“Mom was with you.”
“They called while we were driving. They said they had people outside the dialysis center, outside the apartment, everywhere. They said if I didn’t take the case when the shooting started, they would grab her.”
“So you drove her into it.”
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
“You could have called me.”
“They said they were listening.”
“You could have called the police.”
“They had pictures of a detective taking money from Bell. I didn’t know who was safe.”
“Where are you now?”
“A maintenance room. I got away from one of them, but the door locks from the outside. There’s a vent. I can hear trains.”
Viktor mouthed, Ask details.
Clara turned away from him.
“What kind of trains?”
“Not subway. Freight, maybe. There’s a bell before they move.”
“Smells?”
“What?”
“Tell me what you smell.”
“Oil. Wet concrete. Something sweet. Like burned sugar.”
Sergei was already searching a map.
“Any signs?”
“There’s yellow paint on the pipes. Numbers. Fourteen-B.”
“Windows?”
“One, high up. Painted over.”
“Can you hear traffic?”
“Not much.”
The line crackled.
Marco lowered his voice. “Clara, the suitcase isn’t here anymore. Bell took it to the laundry.”
“The municipal laundry?”
“I think so.”
“Where’s Mom?”
“I heard them say Saint Anne’s.”
Clara’s heart lurched.
Saint Anne’s Hospital had closed eight years earlier. The building remained abandoned behind chain-link fencing two miles from the river.
Viktor wrote the name on his phone and showed it to Oleg.
Marco whispered, “They’re coming.”
“Listen to me. Don’t try to be brave.”
“That’s rich.”
“Marco.”
“I’m sorry.”
The call ended.
Sergei turned his screen toward Viktor. “Freight spur near the old sugar refinery. Three maintenance structures. Building fourteen is adjacent to Saint Anne’s service tunnel.”
“Bell may be holding them separately,” Oleg said.
“Or Marco was allowed to call,” Viktor replied.
Clara looked at him. “You think it’s a trap.”
“It is a trap.”
“My brother is still in it.”
Viktor gave instructions rapidly. Oleg and Sergei would take two vehicles toward the refinery. Tomas, despite his wounded arm, would coordinate from the medical suite. Viktor would take Clara elsewhere.
She heard the last part.
“No.”
“You are the target with the key.”
“My family is the target because of the key.”
“Which is why you cannot arrive where they expect.”
“Bell told me to bring it to the laundry.”
“At noon.”
“It’s nine twenty.”
“He expects us to attempt a rescue first.”
“Then let’s disappoint him.”
Viktor looked at her for a long moment.
“What are you proposing?”
Clara picked up the black key.
“We get the suitcase before noon.”
“He has it.”
“Marco said Bell took it to the laundry. He didn’t say it was opened.”
“The laundry will be secured.”
“So will Saint Anne’s. You only have four men, and one of them was shot.”
“We have more resources.”
“But you don’t know who is leaking information.”
That stopped him.
Clara continued. “Aleksandr said someone close to him is feeding Mikhail. Bell knew where the convoy would go. He knew which SUV held the second case. Every time you make a plan, someone knows it.”
Oleg glanced at Sergei.
Sergei’s controlled expression tightened.
Viktor said, “You suspect one of us.”
“I suspect everyone who already knew more about my life than I did.”
Tomas shifted on the examination table. “Fair.”
They all looked at him.
He gave a small shrug and winced.
Clara said, “Bell thinks I’ll come alone because he thinks fear makes people stupid. Maybe he’s right. But he also thinks the key is the only thing he needs. We let him keep thinking that.”
Viktor folded his arms. “Continue.”
“We make copies.”
“Of the key?”
“Yes.”
“We do not know the lock.”
“We know it’s in the second suitcase.”
“Without dimensions, a copy may fail.”
Clara turned the key under the light. It was small, flat, with four angled cuts and no manufacturer’s mark.
“My uncle had a hardware store. I worked there after school. A locksmith can copy this.”
“Not without asking questions.”
“Mr. Han won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s been making keys for half the neighborhood since before I was born, and because he once helped my mother break into her own car while she was wearing slippers. He’ll ask questions. He just won’t require answers.”
Viktor considered it.
May you like
Oleg said, “If Bell tests the copy before releasing anyone, we lose leverage.”
“We give him the real key,” Clara said.
