answered right away. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Sorry to take so long to get back to you.”
Laura took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Damn you,” she muttered.
“I know you’ve been calling, but I was too busy to pick up. The two guys here tried to kill us. I’m okay, but things didn’t turn out so well for Clive.”
“In what way?”
“The dead way. But everything’s under control now, so relax. Both guys are hog-tied and kissing the concrete.” He gave Bojan a nudge in the ribs with his foot. “Their stash is around here someplace. I’ve got a band saw, and if they don’t tell me where it is, I’m going to use it. Once I find out where I am, I’ll need you to come over here with some heavy duty garbage bags.”
Laura understood that Jack was in earshot of the men who were trussed up, but her stress over the situation was still running high. A situation Jack knew nothing about.
“We’ll need to talk,” Jack continued.
“No shit we need to talk!”
Jack realized how stressed she still was. “Did something happen there?”
“Not here, but … I’m with Brandy and driving out of the hotel parking lot. I’ll drop her off in a moment and call you back.”
“What’s going on, Laura?”
Laura felt sick. “Oh, man … call Rose immediately, then call me back. I’ll be clear by then.”
“Rose?” Jack questioned. What the hell does she want at this hour?
“She called because of what you’re doing. That’s all I can say at the moment … except call her!”
Jack hung up, but hesitated before calling Rose. How did she find out? He looked at Anton and Bojan and then over at Clive’s body in the main part of the shop. Okay, so I’ve got a body … and two bad guys hog-tied. Everything is under control.
* * *
Halfway around the world Maurice Leblanc stared at the lifeless body of his partner on the floor of the public washroom. Kerin was sprawled on his back with his eyes staring at the ceiling. A man’s gold-and-silver watch and a .32 Beretta pistol lay alongside his head. Maurice felt like his chest was being crushed in a vice. Two years ago I was best man at his wedding. Gabrielle is pregnant. How do I tell her she no longer has a husband?
Chapter Twelve
“Thank God! Are you okay?” Rose asked when Jack called.
“Of course I’m okay,” he replied. “Why wouldn’t I be?” He tried to sound casual.
“Are you with someone?”
“Yes. Give me a sec.” He walked to the front of the workshop so he could talk while still watching his captives. “Okay, Rose Alice Wood, I’m clear.”
“Your life is in danger,” she said. “I received word that the guys you’re with are going to kill you.”
“You received word?”
“I don’t know if I have time to explain. What’s your situation?”
“The situation you are no doubt referring to has been rectified,” Jack said.
“Rectified? How? What the hell is going on?”
“Rose, how did you —”
“I’ll explain, but first tell me what you’re doing.”
“Well, uh, I’m with three bad guys, but one has a bullet in his head and I’ve hog-tied the other two.”
“You killed one them?” Rose asked.
“No, let me start at the beginning.” Jack paused a moment, wondering what the staff-sergeant could possibly know and whether it included his antics in the hotel room.
“I’m listening,” she prodded.
“An informant called me tonight. She needed help after meeting with a client I had asked her to report on.”
“A client?”
“The informant’s a hooker.”
“Was this client, by chance, Clive Dempsey?”
“Yes.” Jack felt a little nervous that Rose knew.
“Keep talking,” Rose said.
“Dempsey and two others, Klaus and Liam, had her in a hotel room and were torturing her. Laura and I intervened. I pretended I was her pimp to protect her as an informant.”
“Go on.”
“Well, when we went in, her eye was swollen shut and I saw that Klaus had been burning her butt with a cigarette.” He let the anger show in his voice.
“Damn it, Jack, is it Klaus who has a bullet in his head?”
“No. Why are you angry with me?”
“Because I know how protective you are of your informants and how you feel about men who abuse women.”
“Sure, I would’ve loved to put a bullet in him, but I didn’t.”
“So they did kill Clive Dempsey.” The staff-sergeant sounded matter-of-fact.
“You already knew he was going to be whacked?”
“Yes.”
“How —”
“I’ll get back to that. What did you do to Klaus? I know you would have done something.”
“I, uh … he may be roughed up a little, but I didn’t kill him and —”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yeah, well … and as far as Dempsey goes, he was shot by one of the guys I have hog-tied.”
“Okay, starting from when you roughed up Klaus a little, what happened?”
“Dempsey volunteered to compensate me with a pound of coke. I left Laura and our informant to guard Klaus and Liam. Dempsey then drove me to where I am, and I met two guys called Anton and Bojan. After Anton spoke on the phone a couple of times, he gave me the coke and I had Laura cut Klaus and Liam free. Then Anton shot Dempsey. I got the drop on them and tied them up. That’s when I called Laura and she said to call you. I don’t want to report Dempsey’s murder because it’ll burn my informant.”
“Christ, you want to hide a murder?”
“These guys killed Dempsey just for bringing me here. Imagine what they’d do to my informant.” When Rose
