Big Easy Escapade (29 page)

The Dos Equis truck driver ran out of Le
Petit Théâtre. “Hey, man, you all right?”

“What the hell? You’re blocking the whole
damn road.”

The truck driver stopped. “I have my flashers
on and this is perfectly legal. I heard the tires squealing. You
were coming around the corner too fast.”

Kate tried to open the back door to the limo,
but it was locked.

“Let me try this side,” Lucy said and tugged
on the other door handle. It, too, was locked. “I’ll fix this.” She
reached down and pulled off her Shoe-Be-Do wooden pump. She reared
back, but the limo driver grabbed her arm.

“Don’t even.”

Lucy yanked her arm away. “Don’t touch
me!”

The Dos Equis driver intervened. “Take it
easy, take it easy.” He stepped between them.

“He has a kidnapped girl in there!” Vivian
yelled. “Let her go!”

A small crowd had gathered and the same cop
who had helped apprehend the pickpocket whizzed up to the accident.
“What’s the situation here? Anyone injured?”

The limo
driver started in. “This guy is blocking the whole intersec
—”

Wendy interrupted. “He has a kidnapped woman
in the back of his car! We saw them put her in there! It’s Daisy
Easley, the dancer!”

The goon in the passenger seat of the limo
got out and walked up to Robocop. “Officer, I don’t know what she’s
talking about. We are not holding anyone against her will.”

“They’ve probably got Daisy drugged!” Vivian
yelled. “And they’re making her wear a headscarf so you can’t see
who she is.”

“There’re two other guys in there, too,” Lucy
said. “They’re pretty damn big, you might want to call for
backup.”

Robocop parked his Segway and talked into his
shoulder radio as he brushed past the goon and walked to the limo.
He knocked on a back window. “Everyone out of the car.”

The locks clicked and both back doors swung
open. The other two guys got out of the car, but not the woman.

“Everyone out,” Robocop said again, peeking
into the car.

The goons shared a look, then one of them
reached inside and grabbed the robed woman, who emerged and stood
quietly by the car.

Robocop walked up to her. “Ma’am, are you
being held against your will?”

She shook her head, no.

“They’ve probably threatened her life!” Kate
said.

The purple-clad carriage driver ran up,
huffing and puffing from the run. “Those are the girls who took my
Midnight.”

“Oh geez,” Vivian said, who had started to
walk toward Daisy. She turned around to Purple guy. “We just needed
to borrow him to save Daisy. He did a great job!”

The man nuzzled the horse. “Of course he did
a great job. He’s Midnight the Magnificent. You should have seen
him in his prime.” He turned back to the girls. “But you shouldn’t
have taken him.”

Robocop spoke up. “Milton, are you going to
press any charges?”

Milton petted the horse’s nose. “He seems
okay, so I guess I’ll let it slide. Can I go now? I’ve still got a
fare to pick up.”

“You can go.”

Milton put his purple self into the purple
carriage and clip-clopped down the street. Midnight held his head
high, his ears straight up and alert. He arched his tail and
swished it repeatedly and he raised his front legs a bit more,
almost prancing. He knew he’d saved the day.

Robocop turned back to the accident and
kidnapping. “Ma’am, do you have any identification? In fact,” he
said, turning to the three goons and the two drivers, “let me have
everybody’s.”

A squad car pulled up and Robocop told them
the situation. One of the officers started collecting IDs.

Vivian looked at the woman, trying to make
eye contact, but she stared at the ground. Finally, Vivian couldn’t
take it anymore. “This is bullshit!” She ran over and flung the
woman’s headscarf off.

W
ho the
hell are you?” Vivian asked, looking at the Hispanic woman wearing
the brown robe, but now missing her headscarf.

“Maria Montejano, I work at Hotél
Versailles.”

“What?” Wendy asked. “Where’s Daisy?”

“I do not know a Daisy.”

Robocop stuck his arm between everyone,
making Vivian back up. “Let me ask the questions here. Ms.
Montejano, what are you doing with these men?”

She looked down at the ground. “They paid me
$50 to do this for them. I didn’t know it would cause trouble.”

***

The pistol-toting asshole stayed in the room
with Daisy and wouldn’t let her leave the chair. She wanted to get
the drug out of her system, but he wasn’t going to give her the
chance. By the time she started to feel woozy, another man walked
in. Daisy squinted at him, trying to place him, but her thoughts
wouldn’t come together. The guy with the gun left and Daisy got up
from the chair, only to be pushed down by the familiar face.

A few minutes later, Sonu walked in and
pulled the black burqa out of the closet and tossed it to her.
Daisy made no move to put it on, so he roughly draped it over her
head and put her arms through the sleeves. He pulled her to her
feet and she wobbled, so he led her by the elbow to the elevator
and out a side entrance of the hotel. A tan car waited at the curb,
and he steered her toward it as the familiar-face guy opened the
back door.

It’s now or never.
Daisy lurched to the side, away from Sonu, and ran
to a large planter filled with red flowers. She stuck her fingers
down her throat and heaved up everything she could.

The guy holding the back door grabbed her
around the waist and tossed her into the car.

She had a
sudden moment of clarity.
He’s the other fake Desert Glitter guy.

***

A shrill whistle pierced the air and Vivian
looked down the street to see Adrienne waving her arms
frantically.

Vivian turned to Robocop. “You don’t need us,
right? Since Milton isn’t pressing charges?”

“I’ve got your contact information if I need
you. Go on.”

Vivian and the girls ran down the block to
meet Adrienne.

“What are you doing here?” Kate asked.

“Antonio called me, said something was going
down with Daisy at Hotél Versailles. We hauled ass over there and
the doorman said y’all stole a carriage.”

“We just borrowed it,” Lucy said.

“What happened down there? Did you find
Daisy?”

“No, it was a decoy! Those fuckers tricked
us!” Wendy said.

“But GQ wasn’t with them,” Lucy said. “He
must have Daisy.”

Vivian snapped. “We almost crashed into that
undercover cop we’ve seen all around town. He may have been going
to the hotel.”

“I bet he’s on the take,” Adrienne said.

“GQ must have known we were on to him with
the building inspector charade,” Kate said. “I bet he called the
cop and GQ and Daisy are long gone by now.”

Vivian looked at Adrienne. “If you were
loaded and needed to get out of town quick, what would you do?”

“How loaded?”

“Super-rich loaded.”

“You’d charter a plane and leave out of
Lakefront. Low security, close by. It’s perfect.”

“How do we get there?”

“Al’s parked around the corner. Let’s go.”
Adrienne took off and the girls followed.

They hopped into the SUV, Vivian and Lucy in
the middle seat and Wendy and Kate in the back.

Adrienne told him where to go and Al hauled
ass through the side streets, heading to the small, private
airport. They called Antonio and put him on speaker phone in the
car, filling him in on the decoy and where they thought GQ might be
taking Daisy.

“I’ll send a couple of cars, A, but I can’t
call out the cavalry,” Antonio said. “Not on a wild guess.”

“I just saw your undercover guy. He was
driving by the courthouse and we almost ran into him with the
carriage.”

Antonio groaned.

“Is he the problem in your investigation?”
Adrienne asked.

“It’s certainly starting to look that way.
Dammit!”

Al punched the accelerator. “Our ETA is seven
minutes.”

“
Okay,
I’ll call in some help and will do some checking around.
Dammit
!” Antonio hung
up.

Al raced across town, blowing through red
lights. He drove 90 mph on I-10 before exiting for the airport. He
turned onto Stars and Stripes Boulevard.

“We’re almost there,” Adrienne said. “Shit!
Turn here!” She pointed left.

Al hit the brakes but couldn’t make the turn
and sped by the main entrance.

“It’s okay, just go on down to the service
entrance,” Adrienne said. “We can turn around there.”

They whizzed by palm trees and came up to a
beige cinder block building.

“Hang this left and we can do a U-turn,”
Adrienne pointed.

Al slowed and had to wait for a car before he
could make his left.

Vivian screamed and leaned forward over Al’s
shoulder. “There’s the car that almost creamed us in the carriage!
It’s the undercover cop!”

Kate looked back. “I don’t see anyone else in
the car with him.”

“
He’s
already dropped them off,” Adrienne said. “That asshole. I
hate
dirty cops!” She
slammed her hand on the dashboard. “We’re running out of
time.”

Al turned into the service entrance.

“Wait!” Lucy said. “I think I see them!”

Al slowed down and Lucy pointed to a woman
who was being supported by two men, walking from the main building
to a plane on the tarmac. The woman wore a black burqa and was
completely covered except for the slit at her eyes.

“Those fuckers have drugged her!” Kate said.
“We’ve got to stop that plane!”

Rather than do a U-turn to go back to the
main building, Al headed straight toward the service entry to the
tarmac.

“Al, the gate’s closed!” Adrienne yelled.

“Not for long!” He hit the gas and gripped
the wheel tight. The SUV blew through the gate like it wasn’t
there.

The door to the airplane closed, and the
plane soon started taxiing toward the runway. “How are we going to
stop them?” Kate asked.

“Whatever we do, we’ve got to do it quick,”
Al said. “That’s a G650. It’ll be airborne in no time.”

Adrienne reached into her purse. “Damn, the
sheriff took my gun as evidence! Where’s yours, Al?”

“Shit, lost mine in Gino’s poker game last
night.”

“Al!” Adrienne slapped his knee.

“I’ll win it back tonight!”

She shook her head as Al pulled behind the
plane.

“We need something heavy to throw at the
plane,” Kate said and reached over the back seat into the cargo
area. “What’s in this orange and black bag?”

“Oh, nothing,” Al said.

Kate unzipped it. “Bowling balls?” She tossed
aside tape, scissors and playing cards, along with a pair of
bowling shoes, including a slipcover on one.

“Can we get close enough to the plane and use
those to damage it?” Vivian asked.

Al’s eyes flashed in the rearview mirror.
“Not my bowling balls! Those are custom!”

Kate passed a black and red one with a yellow
flame up to Lucy as Adrienne opened the sunroof to the SUV. “Geez,
how heavy is this?”

“Wait, throw Vapor first, the blue one,” Al
said. “Save my Ultimate Inferno!”

Lucy put Inferno down and took the blue one
from Kate. “Wow! What’s this one weigh?”

“It’s a fifteener,” Al said sadly.

“You’ve got some serious balls, Al!” Wendy
said.

Lucy steadied herself in the sunroof, then
leaned in and said to Al, “Get me close enough to throw this at the
wing. I can damage it or something.”

The plane slowed and turned onto the runway
and Al pulled alongside.

Lucy had blue Vapor at the ready. “You’ve got
to get in front of the wing, Al! Speed up!”

He gunned the SUV.

The plane also sped up, but Al kept pace.
Lucy chunked Vapor, but she overshot. It flew completely over the
wing and crashed to the ground. Blue shards flew everywhere.

“Shit! I missed!”

Vivian handed her the Ultimate Inferno. “This
is your last shot, Kingpin! Don’t miss!”

“Ahhh! The pressure!” Lucy went back out and
steadied the ball.

The plane sped up and the wing almost passed
them. Al redlined the SUV and got back in front.

Lucy reared back and heaved the ball with all
her might. “Geronimo!”

T
he black
and red bowling ball flew through the air, hit the leading edge of
the wing, bounced, then hit the flap and took out a chunk before
crashing onto the tarmac. Red liquid began spewing from a hydraulic
line on the plane’s wing, and Al jerked the SUV to the left and
slowed down.

Lucy, still standing up in the sunroof,
raised her arms in victory. “Strike!”

Vivian tugged on her shirt. “Actually, that’s
a spare. You got a gutter ball the first time.”

“Whatever,” Lucy said. “Mission
accomplished.”

The girls and Al gave high-fives all around
as the plane slowed down. Al followed the plane to the end of the
runway, where it lurched to a stop.

“What do we do now?” Kate asked.

Al looked in the rearview mirror. “We don’t
have to do anything. The reinforcements are here.”

A few moments later, a police cruiser and
airport security, lights and sirens going full force, pulled up
behind them.

A policeman yelled over the loudspeaker,
“Driver of the SUV, move your vehicle away from the plane.”

Al gave a thumbs up out the window, then
circled behind the two cruisers. He rolled the rest of the windows
down, but everyone stayed inside the car.

“Occupants of the plane,” the policeman said
over his loudspeaker, “lower the stairs and deplane.”