The Amateurs (35 page)

Jenn glanced over, fear spiking hard through her veins. The man stood half a dozen feet back, just far enough that she couldn’t reach him, not far enough that she could make it in and close the door. Not unless she abandoned Ian. “Can you stand?”

Her friend coughed, nodded. She leaned him against the wall, then unslung her purse. Keys, keys, keys, where the fuck were they? Her hands shook as she fumbled, and the purse slipped from her grasp, landing upside down. “Shit.” She bent to pick it up, a clatter of everyday things falling free: sunglasses and Chapstick and a pill bottle and her wallet and mascara and a leaf she had liked the shape of and her cell and her keys. Jenn retrieved them, fit them in the lock, and turned.

The moment the door creaked open, the man lunged forward, shoving her. Suddenly flying, she struggled to get her feet beneath her, barking her shin on the edge of the coffee table, the impact ringing straight up her legs. She staggered, managed to catch herself with a hand on the table. The bottle of nail polish from that morning tipped and fell.

Nail polish. Beside that, several files, and her pair of shiny manicure scissors.

“Join us, Ian.”

Moving before she chickened out, Jenn palmed the scissors, then turned. And found herself staring at the barrel of a pistol. The gun was maybe four inches from her face, so close she couldn’t focus on it.

Her blood felt like ice chips.

Doubled over, Ian lurched into the room. His face was a sallow, yellowish green, and he was gasping. His suit was spotted with vomit. He collapsed on the couch.

“Ian?” She looked at the man with the gun, then slowly moved away from him, keeping her fingers closed around the reassuring steel of the scissors. They were tiny, but they were sharp, and that was something. She knelt beside Ian. “Are you OK?”

He forced a brief nod, his eyes wild. She glanced over her shoulder, saw the man with the gun grimace, then walk over to the door to kick the pile of belongings inside. As her Chapstick rolled across the floor, Jenn put her left hand on Ian’s knee, and flashed her right open, just long enough for him to see what was inside. His eyes widened.

Then she heard the sound of the door closing and found that it took all she had to draw a shuddering breath.

“Now,” the man said. “Have a seat, sweetheart.”

“My name is Jenn.”

“I know.” The man gestured. “Next to your friend.”

Jenn straightened, stood perfectly still.

“Lady, I like your spirit, I do. But you ought to know that I’m a feminist. When it comes to hitting people, I don’t draw gender lines.”

She hesitated. The suddenness of everything had made the last minute a blur, but she was coming back to herself, and anger was infusing the panic. This was
her
apartment, her private sanctuary. And now this man, this stranger with a gun, had invaded it, hit her friend and dragged them back into her own world as prisoners. The last thing she wanted to do was curl up like some useless woman on TV. The scissors weren’t much, but maybe now was the time, while she was standing up.

Then the man raised the gun. Her knees went watery. As slowly as she dared, she eased herself onto the couch.

“Good. Now. Hands under your thighs, palms down. Both of you.”

Ian looked at her, a question in his eyes she didn’t know how to answer. Then he did as the man said, and she did the same.

“Excellent.” He slid the gun behind his back. “Thank you.”

“What are you going to do with us?”

“We’re just going to sit here for a little while.”

“Why?”
Keep him talking. Maybe he’ll relax. Maybe he’ll give you a chance to . . .

What? Launch into a flying spin kick, knock the gun free, do a Jet Li roll for it, and blast him? Kickboxing classes at the gym were as far as her experience with fighting went. Sure, she could do some work on a heavy bag. But heavy bags didn’t hit back.

Who was he? What did he want?

One of those questions was easy to answer. He worked for Victor. The way he carried himself, his easy menace and complete calm. The way he hadn’t hesitated to hit Ian. He was . . . professional.

Something chilly slid down her spine. Another easy question to answer. But it raised a much harder one.

What chance did a stockbroker and a travel agent armed with manicure scissors have against a professional killer?

 

 

MITCH STEPPED FORWARD. There was a figure at the end of the bar, but he couldn’t make out any features. “Alex?”

“He shoots, he scores.” The figure reached for a highball. Took a long sip. In the quiet of the closed bar, Mitch could hear ice clink in the glass. “You want a drink?”

Mitch started forward. On the drive here, he’d imagined all sorts of last-second scenarios, catching Alex just as Victor pulled up, the two of them jumping out a back window. But now that he had made it, he realized he didn’t know what to say. It was partly the situation and partly a strange note in Alex’s voice. Something sad and final and yet oddly menacing. “No, I—”

“Where’s the rest of the crew?”

“On their way to the police station.”

Alex gave a brief and bitter laugh. “If you can’t win, you may as well piss all over everyone else, huh? Drag them down with you.”

“What are you talking about?” He walked closer.

“How many nights do you think we spent here?” Alex leaned back against the bar, thick arms braced on either side. “A hundred? More? The four of us, sitting right here,” he patted the end of the bar. “Our private table.”

Mitch froze. On the bar, the four plastic bottles sat clustered right next to an open fifth of vodka. Jesus
Christ.

“So what’s the deal? You here to talk me out of my diabolical plot?”

“Something like that.”

“Have a drink first.”

“Listen, Alex, that stuff—”

“I said, have a fucking drink.” His tone suddenly hard. “If you don’t want vodka, we’ve got everything.” Alex gestured at the wall behind the bar, the mirrored shelves holding row on row of liquor. “What’ll it be?”

Something was wrong. He’d imagined that Alex might be surprised to see him, angry even. But this was different. He didn’t sound quite together. Not raving, but not exactly centered, either.

“Alex, the bottles—”

“Alex, Alex.” The man mocking him, his voice high. “The bottles, the bottles.”

Mitch paused. Could he just grab the chemicals and run? Skip reasoning with the man? Not likely. Four bottles, and his friend had fifty pounds on him, all of it muscle.

“I’ll have a beer. And a shot.” He strolled over as casually as he could. Whatever was going on, he needed to roll with it. He couldn’t take the bottles from Alex. So he had to convince him, and if that meant playing along, then that’s what he had to do. Even as time ticked agonizingly away.

“Help yourself.” Alex reached for a pack of cigarettes, lit one. “It’s self-service night at Johnny Love’s fabulous dining emporium.”

Mitch nodded, walked around the edge of the bar. His nerves were barbed wire in the wind, singing jangled and raw. He took a pint glass, held it under a tap. “So, about those—”

“I saw Cassie tonight.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep. Her and her mother and her new dad. One big happy.”

“I’m sorry.” He skipped the shot, walked back around to sit. “That must have been hard.”

“You think?” Alex’s smile a little loose. He lifted his glass. “What are we drinking to?”

“Listen—”

“I’ve got it. To the Thursday Night Club. May we all get just
exactly
what we deserve.”

Mitch forced himself to lean forward, clink glasses. “Cheers.” He brought the beer to his lips, took a sip—

And found himself falling, the glass knocked sideways, beer slopping everywhere, the side of his head ringing from the back of Alex’s hand. He flailed wildly, got hold of the edge of the bar, kept himself from going down. Had time to say, “What the fuck?” before Alex was off the stool, his hands shooting down to grab the front of Mitch’s shirt. The big man hoisted him in the air with a grunt, spun, took two steps, and slammed him down on a table. Pain exploded up his spine, and the air blew out of his lungs.

“Here to tell me how it is again?” His friend raised him, then slammed him down against the table again. “Big boss man?”

Mitch brought his pint glass up in a whistling arc against Alex’s head. It shattered, and he felt a burning in his fingers. Alex gasped, let go of him, his hands at his head. Mitch pulled himself off the table. A chair was on the floor at his feet, and he grabbed it as he stepped away.

Alex had regained his footing and braced himself like a boxer, one hand in front of his face, the other by his ear. He was breathing hard, and blood ran down the side of his face. The two of them faced each other. Frozen. Part of Mitch screamed to move now, to step forward and swing the chair and try to knock Alex down, to hit him again while he fell, and then take what he wanted and go. To leave his onetime friend bleeding on the bar floor.

Instead, he straightened. “I’m not going to fight you. I came here to talk.”

“We don’t have anything to say.”

“You’re wrong.” He kept the chair cocked back. “Ian figured out what’s in those bottles. It’s not drugs, man. It’s poison. Nerve gas. Those things have the chemicals that make sarin gas.”

Alex snorted, shook his head. “You’ll say anything, won’t you?”

“I swear to God—”

“You’ve been wanting this for a long time. You think I don’t know? I know how you feel about Jenn. About me. All that time you were the quiet one, the smart one, too shy to live, you think I didn’t see the way you looked at me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think it’s time we dropped the bullshit, don’t you?” Alex circled sideways, rocking gracefully from foot to foot, and Mitch moved in response. “We don’t really like each other much. Haven’t for a long time, have we?”

“That’s not true.” But even as he said the words, he thought back to Alex’s regular condescension, the way he had spoken the night they’d met Johnny. Or his own quickly suppressed joy at the big man’s humiliation and helplessness. The thought of him and Jenn in bed together, muscular, tattooed Alex, the golden boy who always had it easy.

“Bullshit. We’ve been coming to this for a long time. Years. So let’s do it.” He nodded at the chair. “If you’ve got the balls.”

Juvenile, maybe, but the barb hit. Mitch narrowed his eyes. Why not? What did he owe this guy? The supposed friend who had betrayed him over and over. Mitch wasn’t the shy weakling Alex thought. This was the new Mitch, the man who decided who he wanted to be and just did it. Who moved through life with force and purpose.

He took a deep breath and a step back. “You know what? Maybe you’re right. But that’s not what I’m here for. Whether you want to believe it or not, those bottles have the stuff to make chemical weapons. That’s why I’m here.” Slowly, he lowered the chair. Set it down and stepped away. “So you want to hit me, man? Go ahead.”

Without even a pause, Alex stepped forward and slammed a right hook into his side. There was a crack and an explosion of pain and Mitch collapsed, legs folding beneath him. Hit the floor hard, the impact ringing through his whole body. He tried to get up, found he could barely move. It was all he could do to curl himself into a fetal ball and wait for the kicks to start.

Nothing happened.

After a long moment, he opened his eyes. The floor was inches away, old tile with grime beaten into every crack and crevice. He turned his head, saw Alex standing above him. For a moment they just looked at each other.

Then Mitch managed to croak, “Feel better?”

“Yeah.” Alex lowered a hand. Mitch took it. Standing up sent razors spinning through his chest. He paused a moment, drew a shallow breath. “I can’t believe you hit me, you fucker.”

Alex snorted, then rubbed at his face with one hand. “Let me get you another drink.”

Mitch let his friend help him to a stool, sat down stiffly. Took the glass Alex offered, three fingers of Jameson, neat. The burn felt good.

Alex said, “Chemical weapons?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re serious.”

“Yeah.” He straightened, finished the rest of the glass. Set it down. It was stained with blood, and he looked at his hand. Looking at it was enough to make it start throbbing.

It didn’t matter. “Ian and Jenn are talking to the police.”

“So why did you come here?”

“In case they couldn’t make it in time. Victor is on his way?”

Alex nodded.

“We have to get out of here. We’ll be safe with the police.” He started to stand up.

“No.”

“Did you hear me? We can’t let—”

“I called him, Mitch. I called him and I told him that you guys had lied, that I had the stuff, and that I would meet him here with it.”

“Yeah, but we can still—”

“Where do you think his first stop will be when he shows up and I’m not here?”

“We can go there right now. Get Cassie, take her with us.”

“What if he’s already got someone there? What if they’re watching? If it was just me, that’d be one thing. But it’s not. It’s my daughter.”

“Alex, do you understand what I’m saying? This is the main ingredient in sarin gas. A gallon of it. All someone needs to do is mix it with alcohol and it could kill hundreds, thousands of people.”

Abruptly, the big man chuckled.

Mitch stared. “I’m not kidding.”

“No, I just . . . Alcohol.” Alex shook his head. “No wonder you freaked when you saw me drinking.”

Despite himself, Mitch felt his lip twitching upward. The two of them looked at each other across the bar, and then they both started laughing. It didn’t last long—the motion sent shivers of pain through his chest—but for just a second, Mitch felt like he was home.