Spark: A Novel

  A second trailer with a flat roof had been set up at the end of the building. The windows were covered on the inside with sheets of yellowed newspaper. In the cold, shadowy building, the trailer looked like a little home. A hand-lettered sign taped to the door read, THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC TOILET! PEOPLE LIVE HERE! USE THE PORTABLES OUTSIDE! I touched the doorknob and twisted it slightly. It wasn’t locked—so I walked in.

  Sean stood beside a table cooking a grilled-cheese sandwich in a frying pan placed on a hot plate. An unmade bed with a cartoon quilt was at one end of the room. At the other end was a desk holding three computer monitors that showed surveillance camera images of U-Find-It.

  When Sean saw me, he dropped his spatula and picked up a bread knife. “Where’s Emily?”

  “Thomas Slater is dead. He and the rest of his team were murdered last night. The killers set fire to the bodies.”

  “What about Emily?”

  “She was captured by a man named Lorcan. But I can trade her life for the information on the flash drive.”

  “I’m going to call the police.”

  “Don’t. Emily will be killed the moment you go public with this.”

  Sean waved the bread knife. “I don’t believe you.”

  I sat on the office chair and glanced at the surveillance monitors. In exchange for a rent-free home, Sean kept people from stealing machine parts. Each screen was divided into a grid so that you could see four camera images at the same time.

  “Put down the knife and listen. It’s your decision if you want to help me.”

  “Why would they kill Thomas Slater? Is some rich guy’s tax fraud really that important?”

  I swiveled the chair toward him. “There was a secret in the stolen files, and it had nothing to do with taxes. Alexander Serby, the head of BDG, met Danny Marchand and sent him money that was laundered through Indian banks. One of the coded files is a video of the two of them together. It looks like Serby financed the Day of Rage.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “You and your growler friends have spent your lives coming up with conspiracy theories. Most of them are just fictions that make the craziness of the world seem logical. But what I just told you isn’t a story … it’s a fact that can cause Emily’s death.”

  The energy that had pushed Sean through the world seemed to dribble out of him. He sighed and placed the knife on the table. “So what do we do?”

  “Make the trade.”

  “And how do we do that?”

  “When does this place close?”

  “Six o’clock.”

  “Is there a security guard?”

  “No. Just me and the cameras.”

  I stared at the images on the screen. An old man wearing a black overcoat was buying a mechanical clown that could blow up party balloons.

  “I’ll call Lorcan and tell him to bring Emily here tonight.”

  “And then what?”

  “Once Lorcan gets the flash drive, he’ll try to kill everyone in the building.”

  Around nine o’clock in the evening, Sean and I climbed onto the tar-paper roof of the U-Find-It building. On one side of the roof someone had dumped a pile of copper pipes and plumbing fixtures that had been ripped out of abandoned buildings. It looked like a giant puzzle that only angels could untangle.

  “We can watch the entrance from here.” Sean led me over to a low wall and we looked down at the loading dock. “So why didn’t you give them an address?”

  “Because Lorcan would have spent the last six hours gathering information about this building. If you have the money, you can rent surveillance drones from a company on Long Island.”

  “How do you know this guy? Have you worked with him?”

  “After I was hired by Miss Holquist I was sent to a training school down in North Carolina. It wasn’t a real school … just a few old buildings that used to be a hunting camp. I stayed there for three months with Lorcan and the instructors.”

  “What did you do at this school?”

  “An Englishman who used to work for the British intelligence service was in charge of the program. Every two weeks he would bring in a new instructor who had a particular specialty. We learned how to fire different kinds of guns and disassemble them, how to conceal our actions from the EYE programs, and how to find people who were living off the grid. Toward the end of our time there, Lorcan and I had a confrontation.”

  “Do you think Emily is safe with him?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe he’s already killed her.”

  “Lorcan will obey Miss Holquist. But he’ll also try to follow his own plan.”

  “What does he want to do?”

  “If he has the time, he’ll torture Emily with a knife or a razor.”

  Sean looked as if someone had just slapped him. “We should have called the police.”

  “I know these people, Sean. This is the only way to save Emily. Stay up here on the roof and you’ll be safe. Do you have the flares?”

  “Yeah. I’m ready.” Sean reached into his canvas shoulder bag and pulled out three road flares and a cigarette lighter.

  “Good. If we’re on the phone and I put you on hold, it’s because I’m talking to Lorcan.”

  I left the edge of the roof and walked over to the open hatchway. “There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Sean said. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I’m protecting Emily.”

  “You don’t even know her.”

  “Sometimes I hammer a nail into the floor of my loft and then I attach a cord to the nail and walk around it in a circle. Emily is a nail and a cord for me. Thinking about her makes me feel like I’m not going to fly away and dissolve into random particles.”

  “You’re as crazy as Lorcan.”

  “Just follow the plan, and don’t get in my way.”

  I stepped through the hatchway and climbed down a metal staircase to the ground floor. All the lights were on in the building and the harsh energy from the fluorescent bulbs was reflected off the surface of the broken machinery. At the sixth aisle from the entrance, I turned and walked between the shelves. The right side of this aisle was dedicated to washing-machine parts. The left side displayed golf carts and motorized wheelchairs.

  Someone had attached a toy hula girl to the dashboard of a blue golf cart. I pushed her head with my finger and her body swayed back and forth. Opening up a glove compartment, I tossed out some trash and deposited the flash drive that contained the three coded files. That would be the payment for Emily’s life.

  I returned to the end of the aisle and continued walking toward the trailer that contained the surveillance monitors. The U-Find-It building smelled of mold and rusty water. Everything in the building was mechanical and dead, but random sounds came from different parts of the room. I heard occasional ticking sounds and, somewhere in the distance, a scraping noise—as if two machines had come to life and decided to rub up against each other.

  Sean had asked why I wanted to help Emily, and I couldn’t come up with a logical reason. Human beings were simply objects in space—like a rock or a pigeon or an octagonal stop sign. But the razor that cut her cheek seemed to touch my skin as well.

  I climbed the steps and entered the trailer at the end of the building. All the surveillance cameras were working, including one camera that was pointed at the entrance. I checked the monitors and made sure that no one else was in the building, then I pulled on my phone headset and called Lorcan’s number.

  He answered immediately. “So where am I supposed to go?”

  “Are you parked on Randolph Street?”

  “That’s where you told me to wait.”

  “Let me talk to Emily.”

  “Why? You think she’s dead?” Lorcan held up his cell phone. “Talk to your little friend,” he told Emily. “Show him that you’re still alive.”

  “Can you hear me?” I asked. “Is everything all right?”

  “I’m okay.” Emily’s voice was drained of en
ergy. “Just tired … that’s all.”

  “So what’s the address?” Lorcan asked.

  “You don’t need an address. Drive five blocks east to Skillman Street and turn left. You’ll see a flare burning in front of a building. Get out of your car and walk inside with Emily. I’ll give you instructions from there.”

  I put him on hold and called Sean. “See anything?”

  “A white delivery van is coming down the street.”

  “Throw the flare and stay where you are.”

  I switched over to the camera pointed at the loading dock and saw a burning flare hit the driveway and roll into the street. A few seconds later, Lorcan pulled up in the van. Emily was sitting in the front passenger seat.

  “A blue pickup truck just turned the corner,” Sean said. “It’s a block away.”

  A few seconds later, the pickup appeared on the monitor screen. Koji was driving and the bearded man was sitting beside him. They pulled up beside the van and Koji passed a black shoulder bag to Lorcan.

  “What are we going to do?” Sean asked.

  “Stay on the roof. Let me handle this.” I switched over to Lorcan. “I want you and Emily to walk into the building. If anyone else is with you, then the deal is off.”

  “If the deal is off, then I get to kill your girlfriend.”

  Lorcan got out of the car with the bag slung over his shoulder. He yanked open the passenger door and pulled Emily out of the van. She had bandages on her face where Lorcan had cut her and her wrists were cuffed behind her back. Lorcan slammed the door shut, grabbed Emily’s upper arm, and pulled her up the driveway. As they approached the loading dock, I could see that Lorcan was wearing a phone headset.

  They climbed up the steps to the open doorway and stopped. Lorcan’s head went back and forth as he evaluated the tall shelves stacked with machine parts.

  “There are security cameras everywhere. I can see you and Emily and anyone else who enters this building. Do you understand?”

  “Yeah. I hear you. Now what?”

  I raised the microphone and used the building’s speaker system. Although I was still in the trailer, I could hear my voice echo in the huge room. “Turn left and walk to the end of the shelves. You should see a little sign that says ‘Westside.’ ”

  Lorcan followed my instructions, dragging Emily with him. As they reached the beginning of an aisle, I heard Sean’s voice coming from my headset. “The two men are getting out of the truck. The Asian is carrying a handgun and a crowbar. The guy with the beard has a rifle with an ammunition clip.”

  I switched the microphone back on. If I made the trade fast enough, Emily and I could get out the back entrance.

  “I’m watching you, Lorcan. Walk down Westside Avenue to the aisle labeled ‘Sixth Street.’ You’ll see washing machines and golf carts.”

  Lorcan moved slowly, stopping at the end of each row. At Second Street, his right hand briefly slipped inside his jacket, but he didn’t pull out a weapon.

  “The two men are circling the building,” Sean said. “But they’re not going inside.”

  On the monitor screen, Lorcan kept pulling Emily forward. Fourth Street. Fifth Street. At Sixth Street, he paused and glanced over his shoulder.

  “I’m still watching you,” I said. “Now walk to the middle of the aisle and stop.”

  Lorcan pushed Emily in front of him and she shuffled forward. He followed after her, a few steps back, then reached out and grabbed her hair. Muttering something, he forced her to his knees, stood over her body, and shouted, “All right! We’re here!”

  “They’ve reached the building’s circuit box,” Sean said. “The man with the crowbar is forcing it open.”

  A few seconds later, the lights at the front of the building went out, and then the lights on Eastside Avenue. Sector by sector, the building was absorbed by darkness. At the last moment, Lorcan thrust his hand into the shoulder bag and grabbed some night-vision goggles. He pulled on the headgear, and then flipped the goggles down over his eyes.

  Outside the building, the final set of circuit breakers were pushed down. The monitors went dead, and the lights were shut off. Now Lorcan could see—and I was blind.

  “Can you hear me, Underwood? I know you can hear me!”

  I stepped into the trailer’s open doorway. “Yes. I hear you.”

  “I got the razor with me! You remember that, don’t you? In ten seconds I’m going to start cutting Emily … unless you come here and face me!”

  “What’s going on?” Sean’s voice was coming from my headset. “What’s—”

  I switched off the phone and tried to focus on the problem. At the training camp I had used the night-vision goggles in a variety of settings. The equipment allowed you to see in the dark—with a few crucial limitations. Feeling my way around the trailer, I found what I was looking for in Sean’s toolbox, and then stumbled out of the trailer.

  “One, two, three …”

  “I’m coming, Lorcan.”

  “Four, five, six …”

  Moving slowly in the dark room, I touched the shelves with my hand until I reached Seventh Street. “Almost there!” I shouted.

  “Seven, eight, nine …”

  I lit a butane lighter and held the flame beneath the tip of a road flare. A spark. And then a burst of white flame appeared in my left hand. I drew the nine-millimeter automatic with my right hand and ran down Sixth Street. The night-vision goggles couldn’t process the burst of light and Lorcan was blinded for an instant. He reached up and tried to rip off the headgear, but I raised my weapon and shot him twice in the head.

  Lorcan collapsed onto Emily, but she screamed and pushed the body to the floor. I dropped the flare and it continued burning as I helped her stand up. “Two men are still outside,” I said. “Where’s the key to the handcuffs?”

  “Inside his jacket.”

  I knelt down and rolled Lorcan onto his back. The goggles were destroyed—shattered by one of the bullets. Trying not to get blood on my hands, I found the key and unlocked the cuffs. Then I guided Emily to the end of the aisle. “Sean is up on the roof. Climb the stairs and join him.”

  “Jake, be careful. Please …” She almost touched me, then pulled her hand back and began climbing the stairs.

  Light continued to sputter from the flare next to Lorcan’s body as I headed toward the front of the building. Were the men still outside? Did I need to walk out and find them? I heard voices and stepped back into the shadows as Koji and the bearded man appeared on the loading dock. The bearded man carried an assault rifle and he moved like a soldier—stopping, crouching, and looking for cover. He entered the building and went right. Koji went left, holding his automatic pistol with two hands.

  I waited until the bearded man got closer, and then stepped out and fired—hitting him in the chest. Then I pivoted and ran down the aisle to Westside Avenue.

  Stop. Wait. I peered around a discarded water heater and saw Koji pointing his weapon at my previous position. A laser was attached to the barrel of his automatic and the little red dot of light glided across the shelves.

  In some corner of his mind, Koji was calculating the probabilities of his situation. Lorcan and the other enforcer were dead. He was alone and a man with a gun was hunting him. The laser dot began to tremble like a Spark inside a Shell. Then fear washed over Koji like a wave and he sprinted toward the exit.

  I stepped out into the aisle and raised the automatic as if I was pointing my finger to emphasize a statement. The gun’s firing pin struck a cartridge and the primer exploded, igniting the propellant and releasing a burst of gas that forced a bullet out of a barrel etched with spiraling grooves. This small chunk of metal flew through space like a small, precise machine until it hit Koji in the back. At that instant, the clean geometry of its movement was transformed by flesh as the bullet cut and tumbled and destroyed a human body.

  I grabbed Koji by his ankles and dragged him into the darkness, then I went back to get the other body. The bearded ma
n was much heavier. His mouth moved as if he was talking while his head bumped across the floor. Now the two empty Shells lay next to each other like an old married couple with their eyes open and their arms touching.

  I stepped away from them and switched on the phone. “It’s safe now,” I told Sean. “Come downstairs.”

  “What about the other two men?”

  “They’re dead. Everyone’s dead.”

  The road flare was still burning when I returned to Lorcan. It looked as if his Spark was glowing and sputtering on the dirty floor. I leaned over the golf cart, opened up the compartment near the hula girl, and retrieved the flash drive.

  It sounded like two people were tapping on a drum as Emily and Sean climbed down the metal staircase. When I returned to the entrance, I found them staring at the smeared lines of blood that disappeared down Westside Avenue.

  “Where are the bodies?” Sean asked.

  “They’re on a side aisle, so they won’t be visible from the loading dock.”

  Emily approached me. “What happens now?”

  “It depends on what you plan to do with this.…” I held up the flash drive. “If you release this information, it will make a lot of powerful people angry. If you want to be safe, throw the secret away.”

  “I’m not throwing anything away.” Emily took the flash drive and stuffed it into her pocket. “A lot of people died because Alexander Serby had a conversation with Danny Marchand. I’ll send this out to a hundred different Web sites. People need to know what really happened.”

  “They won’t believe you,” Sean said. “They’ll say that the bank transactions were faked and the video was created on a computer.”

  Emily spun around. “You put the truth out there. That’s all you can do. The truth can’t be destroyed. It might be ignored or hidden, but it’s still there.”

  “Underwood is right. They’ll try to kill us.”

  “I’ve made my decision, Sean.”

  “You’ve got a couple of days before they’ll start looking for you,” I said. “Try to get across the border to Canada, then fly to another country.”