GUMSHOES

Chapter 13 - Wheels, Appeals, and Deals

Don Parco leaned against the car, ankles crossed, and a cigarette dangling from her manicured fingers. Face down on the trunk of the rental car, her three guardians voiced unmentionable threats to their captors.

"Shaddup!" Gus prodded the closest man in the back of the neck with his gun. "Which of you are Raphael Ortega, and Jesús Amano?"

"None of us, you crazy bastard! We are her escorts across the border."

Walter looked at the woman. "Is that true?"

She blew a cloud of smoke toward the scene and gave a nonchalant, affirmative shrug.

He waited a beat, then signalled for his men to let them up. "I would not like to think you would try to fool me, lady."

"When you learn who I am, you would be careful with idle threats." One last drag, then she dropped the cigarette and toed it out with an elegant shoe.

"You might consider those words yourself when we get where we're going."

"I paid your people for the extraction, and now I am free to do as I please."

"Yeah, well that last bit has changed since your friend DeTega sent a couple of hit men after us."

Her face tightened and she glared over at the three escorts. "I know nothing of that."

"Okay, but until we know that for sure, you are going to be our guest. Get in the car."

"What about these three, Walt?" Lonny called. "Still like Hardy said?"

Walter walked over to the group. "What was it you said, a rubber tire necklace?" The men shuffled their feet nervously, fear etched in their faces. "Too bad we don't have enough spares, eh, fellas?"

"We could do it anyway. Pile 'em like logs in a campfire and light 'em up." Gus grinned at the trembling men.

"Maybe just walk them back into those trees and--"

"Boss! A car."

Walter turned and spotted the vehicle racing toward them.

"What the-?"

The car swerved and gunfire erupted from the passenger window, sending everyone diving for cover. It jerked to a halt, dust blossoming up from the wheels, and the two men jumped from the car, guns blazing.

******

Fletcher tracked the partner's from the business card they had dropped, and he sat in his car surveying the house. There were two cars in the drive, and he wasn't sure enough to just barge in, so he scrunched down and got comfortable while he waited.

An hour passed and there was no activity. Fletcher chewed a nail, thinking time was critical, and taking the bull by the horns he got out of the car and walked up to the house. Audrey opened the door, her face set in an expression of - if you are here for trouble you're going to get it in spades. Fletcher ignored her, waving his big gun in her face and backing her into the house.

"More company, Wendy."

"Fletcher! What are you doing here?"

He moved out of the hall to the living room and saw Donnie, hog tied on the rug, with Jerome holding a small scoop near his head.

"What the hell?"

"I asked you que--"

"Shut up, and sit down. You too." He waved the gun at Jerome. "Suppose you tell me what's going on." He waved Audrey over to the sofa then bent down to see that Donnie was out cold.

Wendell gave a succinct explanation, interrupted only a couple of times with colour commentary from Jerome.

"And who are you in all this?" He asked Audrey.

"We all share this house - not him, of course." She toed Donnie's inert form.

"Are you here to take up where your friend left off?"

Fletcher gave a grim smile. "I hope not. I do want what he was after, but not the way he was after it"

"Why?"

Fletcher considered the faces watching him. I need friends, he thought, and honesty is the quickest route. He put the gun away and sat back, encouraging them to relax, then he explained, without names, his dilemma. When it came out that they knew nothing really serious, aside from how the operation worked, and Max Shine's contribution, Fletcher began to worry all over again.

"We were really just getting started. Our next step was to learn who you and he were. We thought you might the top guys." Wendell said.

"Now you know I'm not - and for what it's worth, I'm sorry about your old man."

"You could tell me who your boss is." Wendell raised an eyebrow.

"How do I know you don't have anything else on us?"

Audrey gave a polite cough. "If I may, Mister Fletcher, these two, while sincere in their efforts, really couldn't find their plate with a fork-"

"Audrey!" The partners chorused.

"More to the point, what do we do now with the two of you?"

******

Benjamin Undergrove listened without interrupting until Fletcher finished speaking, then shifted his phone to his other ear, while he chewed some bacon.

"Dankworth and Weeble. You're telling me those two clowns have stirred up this mess and now you want to take their side against Hardy Menken?"

"Hardy has it in for me. My last couple of projects didn't pan out very well, and this latest one has become another nightmare. What do you say, Benjamin?"

"You know my terms, Gary. Can you meet them? And I don't do instalments or do-overs."

"How about an old time's sake discount - plus I'll owe you one."

"We're talking a very big figure in our circle, Gary, Donnie is his main lieutenant."

"What can I do, Benj? These bozos don't have money or balls for something like this."

There were a lot of yelled objections in the background, and Benjamin shifted the phone back.

"Did I hear a woman, Gary? I don't work with women."

"No, no- she's not part of this." Fletcher was waving an angry hand for silence. "She just lives in the same place. Look, Benj, I'll come up with the fee somehow, but you gotta help me here. Hardy's serious."

"Give me an hour." The call ended.