Nothing Is Negotiable (33 page)

The three men worked well together and after a few months, Sonny told Paul and Pete they could get a bigger cut if they helped him distribute the drugs. They agreed. With Paul’s contacts from his years in the security business in Calgary, he brought in more clients to their discreet customer base.

Business was good and profitable, since they were dealing with only white-collar clientele. But none of them liked the drug business and knew it was a matter of time before their luck ran out. What they wanted was one big score so they could get out before that day came.

The idea came when Sonny’s girlfriend, Rita, was on vacation in Texas and saw Bonnie Wakefield selling her photographs at an arts and crafts festival. Bonnie looked exactly like a doctor Rita worked with back in Montana. She returned home and they dug into the background of both women. After days of discussion, an elaborate, well-thought-out plan was laid out for the kidnapping of Olivia Townsend.

Sonny glanced at Paul. “Did you bring me a gun?”

Paul opened the canvas bag he was carrying and slid out a black pistol and handed it to Sonny.

“Nice,” Sonny said, taking the weapon.

“Nine millimeter Beretta with a fifteen round clip. Loaded.”

He palmed it and switched it from one hand to the other.

“And take this, too,” Paul said, handing him a silencer.”

Sonny took it and pushed it in his back pocket.”

“So, how do you want to play this?” Paul asked.

“Call Luke. Tell him the Deputy Chief is anxious to meet with them,” Sonny said. He closed one eye as he aimed at an imaginary target across the room. “This is working out better than we could have planned it.”

“When we decided on the church, our plan was to drop off Olivia and get the hell out of there. Now, with Bonnie and Luke coming to Calgary, are you sure this is the best place to do this?” Paul asked Sonny.

“Why not?”

Paul shook his head. “The church is huge. There’s bound to be a thousand members of this church. What if someone shows up?”

“They won’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“When I was looking for a church to use, I called several and told them I was an exterminator and it was time to fumigate their buildings. I told them no one could enter any of the church buildings for twenty-four hours. Most of them said they had things scheduled three to six months in advance. But the secretary of this one, Mrs. Flannigan, said there was nothing on the calendar and she’d make sure there was nothing scheduled. She said the only people who will be there will be her and the preacher, and they’ll be in the office, which is in a smaller building behind the church.”

“I guess this is as good as anywhere, so where do you want me to tell Luke to go?”

“Tell them to park on the street in front and go into the sanctuary to wait. When this is all over, that’s where I want the cops to find their bodies.”

Paul pulled out his phone, scrolled down the list of his recent calls, found Luke’s number and pressed the redial button.

“The Chief is anxious to meet with you. He’s in a meeting with some local church leaders, but will leave as soon as you get there. He’s at Trinity Baptist Church on 23rd.”

Sonny listened as Paul gave Luke directions. When Paul ended the call, he said, “They’re on their way. Just went through Stavely.”

Sonny knew the little town of Stavely was about an hour and a half from Calgary. He looked at his watch. “We need to get moving pretty quick. I’ll tell Rita and Rosemary.”

As Sonny walked to the back bedroom, he felt much better than he had the night before. They finally had a plan to get rid of Bonnie and Luke. Their biggest problem would be solved.

When he opened the bedroom door, Rita and Rosemary were sitting on the floor watching Olivia play with some building blocks.

“We need to leave in twenty minutes. Give Olivia what you need to so she’ll go to sleep,” Sonny said.

***

Thirty minutes later Olivia was nodding off in the car seat between Rita and Rosemary as they drove toward downtown. Rosemary reached across the front seat and handed Paul and Sonny a pair of latex gloves.

She looked through the windshield. “Is that the church?”

In the next block, Sonny saw the tall gray steeple of the gothic structure soaring high into the cloudless sky. “That’s it,” he said.

A row of arched, leaded glass windows came into view down the side of the huge building. They were all dark, showing no color; only the bold lines between the glasswork were apparent. The medieval architecture and mildewed limestone blocks gave it the eerie look of an old English cathedral. As they slowly passed the front of the sanctuary they saw a sign on the front door that said,
Church Closed Today for Fumigation
. Sonny was relieved. Mrs. Flannigan had done what she had promised.

Paul turned at the next corner, drove around to the back of the church and followed an arrow that pointed to the office.

After they parked, Sonny said to Paul, “As soon as you and Rita get inside the office, I’ll take Rosemary and Olivia to the nursery.”

Paul nodded and looked over his shoulder at Rita.

“Ready?”

She gave a breathless, “Yes,” and grabbed a paper sack off the floor.

They walked up to the building and stopped at the door. Rita pulled two masks out of the bag and handed one to Paul. After they pulled them over their heads, Paul pulled a gun out from under his jacket and held it to his side. He pulled open the door and they stepped inside.

***

As soon as they were out of sight, Sonny got out and slid open the back door of the minivan. While Rosemary lifted the sleeping child from the car seat, he pulled out a black computer case and slung the strap over his shoulder. Rosemary followed him to a wing that connected to the back of the church and entered through an unlocked door. At the end of a long hallway they entered the nursery where Rosemary found a crib where she laid Olivia.

“How long will she be out?” Sonny asked as he set the laptop on a table near the door.

“The dosage I gave her should make her sleep for at least four hours,” Rosemary said. She tucked a blanket around Olivia.

“Good. Get online. Keep an eye on Kim’s blog and the e-mail. Text me if anything comes in. We’ll call you when we’re done.”

Sonny went back to the parking lot and got into the driver’s seat of the minivan. A few minutes later, the office door opened and Rita came out carrying the paper sack.

As she approached Sonny got out and she took his place.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“Perfect,” Rita said, tossing the sack into the backseat. “When we stepped inside, Mrs. Flannigan saw our masks and thought it was some kind of joke. But when Paul pulled out the gun, she screamed. He tasered her and when she fell, she knocked over a vase of flowers that made a hell of a racket. That brought the preacher and Paul got him as soon as he stepped into the room.”

“Where are they?”

“Mrs. Flannigan is tied up on the toilet in the bathroom. The preacher freaked out, but Paul’s got him under control now.”

Sonny stepped away from the car as it started backing out of the parking space. “Once we’re inside the church we won’t be able to see anything so if you see anyone in any of the parking lots or going to the front door, call me. Bonnie and Luke are in a white Suburban and are supposed to park out front. Call me as soon as you see them. We’ll let you know when we’re finished.”

“Okay.” She gave him a nervous smile and left.

Sonny ran into the office and locked the deadbolt behind him. He saw Paul dragging a heavyset man in gray slacks and a white short-sleeve shirt down the hallway. The man’s hands and legs were wrapped with silver duct tape and there was a pillowcase over his head. Duct tape encircling the pillow case about where the man’s mouth would be. Paul disappeared through an open door and Sonny ran in behind him.

They were in a large supply closet. The man was tossing his head from side to side and making muffled noises. Paul propped him up against a metal pole in the middle of the room. He grabbed the man’s jaw through the pillowcase and squeezed it, pushing his head back against the pole. The man stiffened.

Paul leaned down to his ear and spoke in a voice just above a whisper. “I am not going to hurt you unless you don’t settle down.” The man became still, his chest heaving as he took in deep breaths. “That’s better. We have Mrs. Flannigan tied up, too. She’s okay, but if you try to escape, we’ll kill her first, then you. Do you understand?”

He gave a several exaggerated nods making it clear he would cooperate. Paul grabbed the roll of tape and started to wrap it around the preacher and the metal pole. “Someone will come let you lose in about an hour. Until then, just sit here and be quiet. If you try to escape, I will hurt you, do you understand?”

Again he nodded vigorously.

Sonny grabbed Paul’s arm and mouthed the words, “Get his keys.”

Paul patted the preacher’s pockets and came up with a key ring with about eight keys on it and tossed them to Sonny.

They left the supply room and ran down the hall to the bathroom. Inside Sonny saw a fully clothed woman sitting on the toilet. She had a pillowcase over her head and duct tape encircled her just above the waist and the toilet. Her skin looked soft and wrinkled and her clothes appeared to be that of a woman in her late seventies.

He leaned close to her and spoke softly in her ear. “Are you okay Mrs. Flannigan?”

Startled, she jerked away and her breathing quivered. She nodded with rapid head movements.

“Good. We aren’t going to hurt you, okay?” he hissed. Again, she nodded and took rapid breathes. “But, remember—if you try to escape, we’ll have to kill Reverend Chenault. You don’t want us to do that, do you?”

She shook her head from side to side.

“Good. We don’t want anyone to get hurt. Someone will cut you lose in about an hour,” Paul said and patted her on the shoulder.

They stepped out and closed the bathroom door. Sonny and Paul left the office and walked through the parking lot to the back door of the church and stepped inside.

They were in a wide hallway that went left and right. Neither had been inside the church so Sonny made a random guess and went to the right. Around the corner, they came to a short flight of stairs. He took them two at a time and at the top they had a choice to go straight or to the left. They went straight and came to a door with a sign that said
Choir Room
. Past it another door said
Choir Loft
. It was probably the way to get inside the sanctuary. But when he tried it, he found it locked. For a second he considered finding the key on the key ring, but decided that’s not where they wanted to be. They turned around and went back to the
Choir Room.
It was locked, too.

They retraced their route back to the door where they came in and went the other way. After passing a couple of offices and a storeroom, the hallway turned and they went up another short flight of stairs. They came to a room with a sign over the door identifying it as the
Pastor’s Study
and beyond it a closed door. Sonny twisted the knob and this time the door was unlocked. Slowly, he pulled it open and stepped inside. They were now at the back of the massive sanctuary.

It was dimly lit by sunlight coming in through the row of stained glass windows along both sides. A couple of spotlights shone on a cross that hung on the back wall. He couldn’t help but look up at the arched ceilings that had to be at least forty feet at the peak.

It was cavernous and creepy. It reminded Sonny of the last time he had been in a church. His mother made him go to his grandfather’s funeral when he was about six years old. It was in a huge Catholic church and the memory of seeing a dead person for the first time was something he couldn’t get out of his mind for years. During the entire service all they talked about was the Ghost, the Holy Ghost. It gave him nightmares for months. His lasting memory of that day was that ghosts haunted all churches.

Sonny and Paul padded across the altar and down the steps to the center aisle that ran between the rows of polished mahogany pews. Sonny’s eyes were drawn to the intricately sculpted stained glass windows that, from inside, glowed brightly with Biblical scenes. In one, Christ’s mournful eyes watched him as he walked toward the back door. Chills ran down his spine and he started to run.

When he burst into the foyer he realized he had been holding his breath. He breathed deeply as Paul came up beside him. Sonny found the key to the front doors and unlocked them. They glanced at each other, knowing that now all they had to do was wait.

Sonny went over and stood by tall narrow windows that looked out on the street in front of the church. Traffic was light and in front of the church all of the parking spaces were empty. That was good. It would make it easy to see the Suburban when they arrived.

Sonny reached under his windbreaker and pulled out his handgun. For the second time today he ejected the clip to confirm it was full. He pushed it back into the butt of the gun and chambered a round. From his back pocket he pulled out the silencer. As he started to screw it on the barrel he could feel Paul’s eyes watching him. He shot him a sideways glance and for a second they locked eyes.

“Before we do anything to them, we need to make sure we have the laptop and Pete’s gun,” Paul instructed.

“I know what I’m doing.” Sonny didn’t like Paul’s condescending tone.

“Good, we can’t afford another fuckup.”

Sonny looked away. Paul had become more difficult to get along with over the last few weeks. Paul was really pissed after Bonnie killed Pete, but Paul hadn’t been there. He wasn’t the one who had to make split second decisions. Bonnie and Luke had turned out to be much more difficult than anyone expected.

Sonny’s phone buzzed. It was Rosemary. She could hardly hold back her excitement. “We just got five e-mails from the bank in the Caymans. They are confirmations of deposits in five different accounts, each in the amount of eight million dollars.”

At first Sonny didn’t know what to say.

“Sonny? Did you hear me? We got the money.”

“Yeah. I heard you. That’s... good.” He ended the call and looked at Paul. He said, “We got it. Forty million. She transferred it to our accounts.”

Slowly, he let a smile creep across his face.

A minute later, Sonny’s phone buzzed again. This time it was Rita.

“They’re here. The Suburban just drove past me.”

Sonny looked out the window and saw it pulling up in front of the church.