Red-Hot Vengeance (6 page)

Finally he heard the well-known sound of sirens outside. As firemen ran in to get people out of this furnace, Williams crawled to the place where he had last seen López. He jumped over the burning bar. López was covered in blood. He groaned some unintelligible words. He was alive. Williams grasped his shoulders and pulled him away from the fire.

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López being in the phone book, it wasn’t hard for Vaughn to find his place. She went there with a couple of henchmen to help her look for anything concerning Carter. Vaughn didn’t bother to pick the lock, she just broke in. She preferred efficient brutality to discreet precision.

As soon as she was inside, Vaughn spotted a small desk with several drawers. She threw the drawers to the floor one after the other. She delegated the searching task to her subordinates, and turned back to the desk. After a minute, Pete and the others started giggling like teenagers. Vaughn granted them a deadly gaze and they stopped immediately.

“Get back to work,” she barked, snatching the pictures from their hands.

“There’s nothing here, ma’am,” Pete said. “Only unpaid bills, and homemade porn.”

“That’s because you’re not searching properly, you useless idiots,” Vaughn spat bitterly.

She turned back to the desk with a despising sigh. She moved a few papers to find a little book. Intrigued, she peered into it and discovered a list of addresses in alphabetical order. With a smile of satisfaction on her face, Vaughn tore off a page.

“Let’s go,” she said in a commanding tone.

**

Carter had learned the sad news of the destruction of his favorite pub. He went to the hospital to visit his friend, hoping that his injuries weren’t as bad as people had told him. Carter felt bad. He knew he was responsible for Vaughn’s destructive action. He was also starting to think she was a serious enemy.

Carter arrived at the hospital in the morning. He didn’t even know if he’d be allowed to see López. He entered the bright white hall and walked toward the reception.

“Good morning, sir,” the receptionist said. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to see a friend,” Carter answered in a low voice. “His name is Rafael López.” He was given a room number and went to the elevator.

Despite the early hour, there were numerous nurses walking in every direction. Carter tried not to pay too much attention to them; he didn’t like hospitals and the nurses made him nervous. He made his way straight to the room which he found in no time.

Carter entered the room and was shocked to see López in such a bad shape. Bandages covered his burnt hands. There were several small plasters on his face and neck. Worst of all, López couldn’t breathe by himself. He was kept alive by the machine next to his bed.

Carter closed his eyes. He breathed in slowly. He opened his wet eyes and walked toward the bed. He couldn’t even take his friend’s hand into his because of the bandages. So he just looked at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He wiped the tear before it even appeared, and left the room.

**

When Williams and Cowley arrived at López’s place, the door was ajar. They both took out their guns and prepared to defend themselves. They entered the flat pointing their weapons in front of them. But there was no one.

“Wow, look at this mess,” Cowley said, putting her gun away.

“Yep. I wonder what they were looking for,” Williams answered.

The place had been completely ransacked. Every drawer had been thrown to the floor and emptied of its contents. Williams knelt to look at the papers on the carpet. There were phone bills, some postcards from Spain, and a few pictures of López with a woman which Williams would have preferred not to see.

“Did you find anything?” he asked Cowley.

“A lot of things, but I don’t think these are what whoever did this was looking for.” She handed him a reservation for plane tickets. “Looks like he was going on holiday.”

“Yep. He was gonna visit his parents in Spain with his sister.”

Williams gave the paper back to Cowley, and approached the desk. He looked into the scattered papers, most of which were cocktail recipes downloaded from various websites. Williams then saw a little red book.

“What’s this?” he wondered aloud.

He picked up the booklet and went through it. An address book. Most of the entries contained name, phone number, and email address; some also presented a street name. One page was missing. Williams soon noticed that what was gone was letter C. Then he remembered his chat with López at the pub.

“I think I know what those people were after,” he said. “Or rather who: Reese Carter.”

**

Carter was unfortunate enough to arrive at López’s flat after the police. There was no way now that he could go look around the place. And he couldn’t even impersonate a cop because they all knew who he was. He walked back and forth in front of the building, watching the officers’ moves. Something was wrong. There were too many of them, and they all carried boxes on their way out.

Carter had to find a way in. He didn’t exactly know for sure that Vaughn was implicated, but she had already destroyed the pub and put López in a hospital bed, so he could guess. First, she’d tried to kill him, then she’d almost managed to kill his best friend, and now López’s place was being searched by the police. Those couldn’t be coincidences.

Worried he might get caught while pacing in front of the building, Carter walked away. He leaned on a public phone from where he could still keep watch of the entrance. He suddenly spotted a familiar face not far. He took a few quick steps and intercepted her before she could reach the line of police officers.

“Hey, let me go,” she complained when he grasped her arm.

“Calm down, Mariela, it’s just me,” Carter said.

“Reese?” She looked genuinely surprised to see him. “What do you want?” she asked, this time with an angry note in her voice.

“I just wanna understand what’s going on,” Carter said, letting go of her arm.

“It’s
your
fault Rafa is in the state he is,” she raged on. “I knew you’d be trouble in the end. I warned him, but he would never listen. And now he’s half dead, and…” Mariela’s growing sobs prevented her from continuing.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Carter apologized.

“Of… course… you did… didn’t,” she replied through bitter tears.

Carter looked away. He wasn’t used to comforting people. Pats on the shoulder and hugs were not part of his behavior. So he just waited for Mariela to calm down on her own.

“Do you know why there are so many policemen in his flat?” he asked when her sobs had somewhat stopped.

“The place was ransacked,” she informed him. “They won’t tell me who did it or why. I don’t even know what happened at the pub. I knew that job wasn’t good for him.” She started sobbing again.

Carter rolled his eyes. Women, always crying and complaining instead of looking for answers.

“I bet
you
know,” Mariela said, pointing an accusing finger at him.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea, yeah,” Carter answered, still watching the cops.

Mariela suddenly slapped him. Carter jumped up. He blinked a few times to get back to his senses. She’d aimed for the cheekbone, right under his left eye, and it felt like his eyeball was sent on a roller-coaster.

“Ouch,” he grumbled. “What was that for?”

“My brother is in the hospital because of
you
. How can you act so casual? I thought he was you friend.”

“Is,” Carter corrected. “Rafa’s not dead. And yes, he’s my friend. And yes, I probably have something to do with the whole thing, but—”

“I knew it!” She was about to slap him again, but Carter grasped her wrist firmly.

“Please, don’t do that again,” he said. “I’m willing to help, really.”

Carter was still holding Mariela’s wrist when he caught a glimpse of a reflection of sunlight in black
Ray-Bans
not far from him. He looked at her for a minute. He knew she was staring at him, and he knew she knew he’d noticed. Carter remained calm so that he wouldn’t frighten Mariela and make her angrier at him than she already was.

Carter considered his options. They were sadly not very numerous. He could of course run to save his life and leave Mariela, but Vaughn would probably hurt her like she’d hurt her brother. Or he could give himself up to Vaughn, but he didn’t feel like dealing with a crazy murderous bitch. Carter sighed when he thought about the last option.

“Mariela, sweetheart, I know you won’t like this, but you’re gonna have to trust me,” he told her slowly.

“Why? What’s going on?” she worried.

“Don’t turn around. There’s a woman there who wants me dead and attacked your brother,”

“She’s here?” Mariela panicked, slightly turning.

“Don’t turn around,” Carter repeated, motioning her to look back at him. “Calm down, everything will be fine.”

“Yeah, like everything’s been fine for Rafa,” she said with irony.

“Trust me.” Carter looked into Mariela’s wet eyes and saw fear. “Do you trust me?” he said in a tone he wanted to be reassuring.

“No,” she slightly lied.

Carter smiled. “Good. Take my hand, walk fast, and don’t turn back.”

Mariela reluctantly did as she was told. She offered her hand with a wince.

“Oh come on,” Carter said. “Am I really that bad?”

“Yes.”

Carter took her hand despite her resistance. He started for the police cars parked in front of the building. He knew Vaughn was on his trail, but he didn’t turn back. He zigzagged in between the people on the pavement. The walk toward Williams seemed oppressively long. With each new step, Carter expected to feel Vaughn’s gun between his shoulder blades.

When they eventually arrived, Carter surprised everyone by opening the back door of a police car. He helped Mariela inside before being violently tackled against the car with an arm twisted behind his back. Carter grumbled an insult at Williams, but relaxed when he saw Vaughn suddenly stop her chase and turn around.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Williams yelled in his ear, while clamping his wrists in handcuffs.

“I’m saving this young woman’s life,” Carter said with apparent calm, while he was actually boiling inside.

Without releasing his grip on Carter’s arm, Williams peered into the car. He saw a frightened young woman pressed against the seat.

“You might have met Mariela López,” Carter continued.

“Yes, you’re Rafa’s sister, right?” Williams asked her. She nodded. “What do you mean, saving her life?” Williams said, turning his attention back to Carter.

Carter forced his shoulder back so that Williams would let go of his grip. He turned around to face him. Williams’ eyes were sparkling with anger and frustration.

“As you’re here, I guess you know what happened to Rafa,” Carter said.

“Yes, I know. I was there,” Williams growled, still angry. “He told me some woman wanted you dead.”

“So she talked to him,” Carter deduced.

“Yep. And
you’re
gonna talk to me. Get in.”

“Oh come on! What did I do?” Carter complained.

“Get. In,” Williams repeated on a very authoritarian tone, which made Carter instantly comply.

Carter sat next to Mariela who smiled widely at him.

“What?” he asked.

“
That
was your big plan?” she laughed. “Surrendering to the cops.”

“It worked,” Carter made her notice. “You’ll be safe now.”

Mariela considered him for a while. He was struggling with the handcuffs, and lifting his eyes now and then to watch Williams’ moves.

“It’s good to see you like this for once,” she said.

“Like what?” Carter asked without looking at her.

“Overpowered.”

“Overpowered? Me?” Carter grinned. “Think again, sweetheart.” He handed her the handcuffs. “I hope you’ll be clever enough to stay in the car and trust Williams.”

Carter looked outside. Williams was talking with some colleagues with great gestures. Apparently he wasn’t very happy with them. Carter tried the door. Locked. He groaned. Another look outside informed him that the situation hadn’t changed. As discreetly as he could, he made his way in between the seats and over the parking break to the driver’s seat.

“What are you doing?” Mariela asked in astonishment.

“Running away,” Carter answered factually.

“But you can’t,” she exclaimed.

“Shh,” Carter ordered. “Remember I saved your life.” It was a very soft threat, but it was enough to silence Mariela who wasn’t used to being confronted to police and criminals.

Carter opened the door. He crawled out of the car. He suddenly heard Williams’ voice and footsteps getting closer. Carter held his breath. His heart was bumping loudly in his chest. Rushes of adrenaline made his ears hypersensitive. It sounded as if Williams was only inches from him.