Smoked

  But that boat gave him an idea.?

  ?

  * * *

  ?

  Smoke couldn't look in the direction where Cruz was dragging him.?

  He tried not to think about it - the height, the distance to the water, that feeling of falling - never in real life, but in a thousand dreams.? Those fucking kids hanging him off that building.? His whole body was already shaking.?

  So he looked back the way they came.?

  And saw the three guys had already climbed out of their cars and were walking this way, moving fast.? They had their guns out.? In the distance the cops had reached the base of the bridge.?

  Cruz dragged him all the way to the edge.? He felt the guardrail behind him.? It was higher than he thought.? He used to think it barely reached his waist.? Actually, it was nipple high.? He couldn't imagine it would ever keep a car from going over.? He looked down.? There was a ship down there.? The world spun.?

  "Step up on the first rung," Cruz said.

  If he stepped up on the first rung, then leaned back and pushed with his feet?

  Never mind.???

  "Cruz.? We got company."

  "I know.? Get up on that rung."

  What Smoke didn't like, beside the height, beside the massive ship down there, beside the looming near certainty of death, was this bossy tone all of a sudden from Cruz.? Who the fuck did he think he was?? This little partnership was ten minutes old, and already Cruz was giving orders.

  "Hey Cruz?? I'm a big boy, you know?? I've been doing this shit since long before you came around."

  Cruz turned and looked at him.? He seemed puzzled.? "What?"

  Smoke held his ground.? "You're not the boss here."???

  Light dawned in Cruz's eyes.? "Oh.? Yeah.? Okay, do me a favor then, will you?? Please get up on that rung."? He gestured with his hand, inviting Smoke to step up there.

  Smoke did.? He gripped the rail with both hands.

  The three men walked up and stopped about ten feet away.? The leader was a skinny guy in a leather jacket with a hat pulled down over his eyes.? He flashed white teeth at them.? Smoke marveled at these guys, as he always had.? The guy was enjoying himself.?

  "Cruz?" the guy said.?

  Cruz raised a hand.? "Me."

  The guy nodded.? "Yeah.? That's right.? The scar."

  "That's right," Cruz said.?

  "You know who I am?"

  "Can't say that I do."

  "Ever hear of a guy they call Sticks?"

  Cruz nodded.

  "Know why they call him that?"? The little guy glanced at the other guys with him.? They giggled like kids.? They were barely out of their childhood, the two of them.? "No?? I'll tell you.? Because he sticks sharp objects in your eyes.? That's what he likes to do."

  The first police car pulled up, that powerful sound, that police car engine revving close.? Doors opened.? "Freeze, assholes!? Freeze!? Raise those hands!? Drop those fucking weapons right now."?

  More cars screamed up.? More doors opened.?

  "If we live, are you still going to honor our agreement?"

  Smoke held the railing even tighter.? "Half?? I'll honor it."

  "Don't worry," Sticks said.? "You ain't gonna live."

  Still smiling, Sticks raised his arms in the air, gun still in hand.?

  His boys did the same.

  "Drop the weapons!"

  "I guess you're not going to kill us tonight," Cruz said.?

  Sticks shrugged, teeth flashing.? He had a certain charm, this guy.

  "Not tonight.? In the joint, maybe.? Or after that."

  He let the gun fall from his hand.? He turned his head slightly sideways.? "Officer," he said.? "I'm a private bodyguard.? I have a license to carry that firearm in the State of New York.? So do these men with me."

  "This look like New York to you, asshole?"

  Smoke glanced at Cruz.? From the corner of his eye, far below and to the right, Smoke could see the massive ship passing beneath the bridge.? The dark water foamed along its side.? Directly below them, a long way down, all was inky blackness.? Smoke's knees were knocking together.

  Cruz smiled.? "It's time to go," he said.?

  He grabbed Smoke roughly by the jacket.? He leapt backward, his ass landing on the railing, his momentum carrying him backwards and over the side.? His grip was like iron, like the talons of an eagle.? Smoke felt himself going over.

  "No," he said.? "No."? His grip on the railing slipped.?

  "No."

  He went head over heels.? The world turned upside down.? For no more than a second, he caught a glimpse of the man Sticks on his knees, cops around him.? Then the light was gone and Smoke fell through the darkness.? He closed his eyes and fell for what seemed a long time, a scream just behind his lips, but never quite coming to the surface.? The ship was a shadow, a massive presence to his right.

  Then he hit the cold black water and knew no more.?

  ?

  * * *?

  ?

  Moss pulled up slowly at the bottom of a dead end street.?

  In the back seat of the little Ford Focus, Lola squirmed and made a soft noise.? He glanced back at her.? Still out, but coming around a little bit.? No matter.? Her hands were cuffed behind her, her mouth was gagged, and she had been knocked silly by all that banging around in the trunk.? Her whole face was smeared in dried blood.? If she gave him any trouble, maybe he'd just give her a glimpse in the mirror.? All that blood, she'd probably pass out again.

  He smiled at the thought.

  Across the wide-open park at the end of this street, he had an uninterrupted view across to the bridge.? Uninterrupted except for the fog, which in any case wasn't as bad as before.? The wind had picked up over here, and it blew the fog around in wisps.? It still obscured things, but he could see well enough.?

  Perhaps four hundred yards from where he sat, the bridge was up like some kind of ancient megalith.? There were swarms of cop cars out there, lights flashing, at the base of the thing.

  It looked like they had some people in custody out there.? With any luck, they had everybody.? Wouldn't that be something?? Cruz and Dugan spending the night trapped in the holding cell with Sticks and his boys.? He could picture Sticks, quietly giving them the story about all the shit he was gonna do to them one day.? Cruz and Dugan, knowing full well that it didn't matter what happened with the cops.? If they let them go, we'd be there to get them.? If they sent them up, we'd still be there to get them.?

  How's that feel, assholes?

  Moss would probably get the whole story tomorrow.? In a day or two at the very least.? In the meantime, he had some business to attend to.

  Behind him, Lola groaned.? It was kind of a sexy sound.

  "Whaddya say there, Lola?? Let's go see, Pamela, eh?"

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Smoke was alive.?

  He didn't know how or why.? He only knew that he was sitting on a chair, naked, except he was wrapped in a thick blanket.? His entire body shivered uncontrollably.? A dark room was close around him, and the room was gently rising and falling.? There came the creaking sound he associated with a boat straining against its tie lines.? Sure, he must be on a boat.? He noticed he had a mug between his hands, and the mug was warm but not hot.? There was a beverage in the mug.? He sipped it.? Warm apple juice.?

  Hmmm.? That was good.

  "Drink it slow," a voice said.

  Smoke looked up and across from him in the darkness sat Cruz.? He was also wrapped in a blanket.? His piercing eyes blazed away over there.? A red light shone at the end of his cigarette.??

  "Where are we?" Smoke said.

  "Somebody's yacht.? Little boat club across the water from where we went in.? It was a long swim.? You were passed out, so I dragged you with me.? Did the little lifeguard carry, grabbed you around the neck.? Learned it in the youth center when I was a kid.? Never forgot it."

  The shivering abated a little as the warm juice entered Smoke's system.?

&n
bsp; "Where'd you get the juice?"

  "They have a refrigerator in this thing.? Nuked it up in the microwave.? Not too hot.? Didn't want to drag you all the way over here just to kill you with a hot beverage."

  "Radical temperature change," Smoke said.?

  "That's right."

  They sat for a little while in the darkness.? Cruz smoked the cigarette he had scrounged from somewhere.? Smoke settled into the lazy rise and fall of the boat.? He felt like he could sit here forever.? He felt like he could fall asleep.

  "You and Pamela an item now?? Is that it?"

  Cruz hesitated.? "Something like that."

  "Life is funny," Smoke said.?

  "Yeah."

  More silence.? Cruz blew a smoke ring that hovered in the air.???

  "You know how to drive one of these things?" Cruz said.?

  "Sure."

  "For real?"

  "For real," Smoke said.? "I bought my first boat right after I made my first big heist."

  Cruz smiled.? "Yeah?? Which one was that?"

  "1963," Smoke said.? "You were probably in diapers.? It was a food store, one that did a lot of business, and didn't bank its receipts until each Friday.? This was a common thing back then.? It made Thursday night a vulnerable night.? Schulman's, the place was called.? We had an inside guy, a guy who worked there but didn't know the combination.? He described the safe to me.? As soon as he started talking, I knew it was a good job.? You know why?? He was describing a fireproof safe.? The safe was designed to withstand a fire, but not a crook.? I knew I could beat it.? We went in there and took out twenty four grand in 1963 dollars.? Split it four ways.? The other guys were talking about cars.? Me, I always wanted a boat."

  Cruz laughed.? Smoke hadn't heard him laugh before.?

  It was the life.? The life brought smiles to people's faces.

  "Where did you put the money?" Cruz said.

  "Roselli's money?"?

  Cruz nodded.?

  "Remember you asked me if I had a dog?? I said no, it was the dog of the previous tenants buried there?? I didn't have the heart to dig it up.? Well, the previous tenants didn't have a dog.? At least, not one that's buried back there."

  "Feel like getting that money right now?" Cruz said.?

  Smoke shrugged.? "Sure, why not?? If Lola hasn't beaten us to it."

  ?

  * * *??

  ?

  Moss parked in the lot at the Ocean House Hotel, close to the building, but at the corner most distant from the front entrance, and very close to a high hedge.? Why do a lot of walking, especially with Lola in her current condition??

  The lot was mostly empty.? A stiff breeze blew in from the water, rustling the sea grasses and making the hedge lean back and forth.? Moss found himself wondering whether the cops ever did sweeps of this parking lot.? It being private, they probably wouldn't unless someone called.?

  That was good.? This car was hotter than hell.? There might even be a description out on the TV and radio about him from the kids he had carjacked.? If he had had it to do over, he might have just blown them all away.

  In any case, better not to be seen.

  He scanned the lot.? He might just have to pull another carjacking later tonight to get out of this place.? He was a lousy car thief.

  He pulled Lola from the back seat and put her over his shoulder again.? Then he walked around the building and out to the beach.? It was dark back here, but the winds had blown away the remnants of the fog.? The grass on the sand dunes waved crazily, like each blade of grass was a long skinny arm frantically waving goodbye.? He dropped Lola onto one of the dunes.

  He kneeled down by her and looked at her face.?

  He shook her.? Her eyelids fluttered.? Nothing more.?

  "Lola!? Hey, cunt!"

  Nothing.?

  He slapped her.?

  Her eyes opened wide, then rolled back into her head.? Hell, she might have gotten fucked up back there for real.? She didn't seem to have seen him at all.? Well, we'd see in a little while.? For now, though, she seemed like she'd be okay right here, hands cuffed behind her back, mouth gagged, out cold.?

  You know?? Maybe one more bind would do the trick.?

  He shrugged out of his leather jacket.? He had a dress shirt on, and under that, a t-shirt.? He took off both shirts.? Bare chested, he could feel his skin tighten against the cold wind.? He looked down at his erect nipples, proud of his massive chest and arms.? He looked forward to capping off his night with these two ladies.?

  Was this gonna be something?? What were those chumps gonna think when the staff found these two young ladies, naked, penetrated and dead together on a bed in this fine hotel?? Man, how's that for a message?? The very thought of it excited him.?

  He ripped his T-shirt down the middle, then put his dress shirt and jacket back on.? He kneeled and tied the T-shirt around Lola's ankles, pulling it tight and knotting it.

  Okay.? Only worry here was if somebody finds her.

  He glanced around.? After midnight.? Pitch darkness out here.? Cold wind whistling and blowing.? Ain't nobody gonna come out here and find her.

  In any event, he wouldn't be gone too long.

  "I'll be back for you in a minute, darling.? Don't go nowhere."

  He stood and marched back across the sand toward the hotel.? Now I'm gonna take a guess here, he thought.? I don't want to go into the building because I don't want anybody to see me.? I want to go straight in through the balcony.? They got balconies on the bottom floor, and that would be easy.? But Cruz is gonna pick a room on the upper floor so that I can't come in through the balcony.? Okay.? But little Pamela's gonna be there all by herself.? She's gonna leave the light on all night, maybe all the lights in the room.? So look for a room on the top floor with a lot of lights on - that ought to narrow it down.

  And narrow it down it did.? He scanned the length of the building and found only two rooms that fit his description.? One of them was close to this end of the building.? The other was more in the center of the building.

  "If I was Room 215, which one would I be?"

  Easy enough.? The one closest to the end.? He gazed at that one.? It was less bright than the one further down, which didn't necessarily fit his idea of how it would go.? But it didn't necessarily contradict it, either.? A TV set flickered inside the room.? He had no opinion on that one way or the other.???

  It would serve as a guess to work from, anyway.? He'd go for that room.? All that was left was figuring some way to get on up there.

  All the way to the left was some kind of dinner patio on the ground floor.? There was a decorative trestle over there.? It looked flimsy from here, but if it was sturdy, he could go up the trestle like it was a ladder.? At the top, the roof crossed back across the entire hotel.? The roof sloped downward at a mild angle, and it stopped every ten yards or so at another room balcony.?

  It would be a cinch for him to move across that roof.???

  But how would he get Lola up there?

  Don't worry.? Verify first, then figure it out.? Move forward.?

  He walked over to the patio.? He stood at the bottom of the trestle and looked up at how it went straight up to the roof.? The trestle was strong enough to hold his weight.?

  Well, well, well.

  Moss started climbing.?

  ?

  * * *???

  ??

  Lola waited until she was sure he was gone before she opened her eyes again.

  When she did, she saw that he had left her, bound and gagged, on a sand dune somewhere.

  Jesus, what a pig.?

  She tried to put him out of her mind for the moment.? She was cold, her head hurt, both a sharp pain where she had banged it while inside the trunk, and a dull ache that seemed to come from deep inside.? She felt sick to her stomach.? The ocean was right nearby - she could hear the waves crashing and smell the salt.? Behind her, there seemed to be lights.? She squirmed around and craned her neck.? She saw the lights of hotel rooms
maybe fifty yards away.

  At some point, there must have been a car crash, but she didn't remember it.? All she knew was she had been in the trunk of the big car.? They had driven the damn thing like maniacs, and she had been tossed around like a doll.? Then at some point later on, she was in the backseat of a smaller car, parked somewhere.? And Moss had said, "Come on Lola, let's go see Pamela."

  Now here she was.?

  Maybe Pamela was in that hotel.

  In any case, Lola needed to get out of here before Moss came back.?

  All right.? Her hands were cuffed behind her back.? Her legs were tied.? Her mouth was gagged.

  It couldn't be as bad as it seemed.

  The legs seemed easiest, so she tried to kick them free.? No luck.? He had tied it tight.? She just made herself dizzy through the effort.? She thought about her hands.? The thing about it was years of training made her flexible.? Try it.? She sat on her hands at first, then bent from the waist and wriggled them down until they rested under her legs.? Man, was she stiff from that trunk.? Now came the challenging part.? She bent all the way down, until her forehead touched her knees.? She scooted her hands along until her wrists were at her ankles, then she pulled them over her feet and free.?

  Now her cuffed hands were in front of her body, a vastly improved situation to be in.? Out of reflex more than anything, she brought her hands to her mouth and worked at the gag.? It was knotted tight.? It took a moment to pull the knot loose and get it out.? She threw the gag to the wind and worked the muscle tightness in her jaw and neck.

  One last job - she bent and untied her legs.?

  She stood, and immediately became dizzy again.? She lost her balance and fell back onto the dune.??

  Okay.? That was too fast.?

  Moving slowly, she stood up and started walking.?

  Up ahead, there was the big figure of Moss, framed by the glow of light from the hotel.? Lola dove to the sand, then crawled up to the top of the next dune and watched.? He seemed to be staring up at the building, thinking about something.

  "Don't burn your wires," she muttered.

  Then he decided.? He walked off toward the left side of the building.? Lola kept low, moving parallel to him, crawling, keeping the same distance between them, but also keeping him in sight.? She didn't want to get too close.?

  She watched him go up a trestle to the sloping roof of the second floor.? A moment later, she saw him scooting along the roof from balcony to balcony.?

  ?

  * * *???

  ??

  "Well, hello darling," Moss said as he strolled in from the balcony.?