Broken Identity (22 page)

“Is that clear?” Ivan pressed.

Drake looked up. “Sounds like you’ve got everything figured out, huh? Completely foolproof. At least, from your standpoint it is.”

Ivan smiled thinly. “It’s only what you make it, Drake. Do it right, and you won’t ever have to worry about those cops following you again.”

It was three thirty-nine P.M. when Drake led Andrew outside blindfolded. Because he followed the path Ivan had instructed him to take to the car, they were seen by no one. Even the buildings they walked between had no windows facing their direction. Drake didn’t know why that really mattered, though. He assumed that most of the people living here were probably tied in with Ivan and his gang in some way, so it wasn’t as if they would report any suspicious activity to the police. Still, Ivan had planned their exit strategically so there would be no problems.

The temperature steadily plunged as the wind picked up speed and the clouds formed into one large, saturated mass of gray across the sky. An occasional raindrop hit Drake on the nose or cheek, sending a rushing chill through his body. It felt more like fall instead of summer. He listened as chimes played an unbroken melody across the street and shot a glimpse at a white-breasted nuthatch scurrying vertically up a black walnut tree. So much excitement, so little time. He cleared his mind and focused only on Ivan’s instructions: Get to the car, get the money, get out, and…well, the last part he could figure out later.

The wind broke out into a gust, rocking the trees and sending a whooshing sound through the leaves. Andrew stopped and tilted his head up, as if wishing to see.

“It’s just the wind,” Drake told him. “Keep moving.”

Andrew walked stiffly beside Drake, keeping a tight clutch on his arm to guide his steps. Once Drake reached the road where Andrew’s car was parked, he helped Andrew lie down in the backseat. He gripped the semiautomatic with a shaky hand, aware that he didn’t need it, but it made him feel safer nevertheless.

“Where are we going?” Andrew said, his throat tight and constricted.

“Tell you later, but don’t worry. You’ll get to see again soon and even get a chance to drive. Just don’t want you to see where you are right now.”

Andrew thought of a thousand things he could try to do to get out of this, yet for some reason he resolved not to take any action. This wasn’t just about him anymore. Something was drastically wrong with Drake. “Have you found what you’re looking for, Drake?”

Drake took a quick glance toward the backseat before averting his eyes back to the road. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m simply asking a question. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Four miles down the road, Drake found a secluded parking lot behind a convenience store and parked the car. “I’m happy here,” he answered finally.

“Are you?”

Drake reached behind him and cut Andrew’s hands free before untying the blindfold over his eyes. “Your turn to drive.” He took the keys from the ignition and stepped out of the car before making Andrew climb to the front. Drake found a comfortable position on the floor and held his gun up just high enough to let Andrew know he was ready if he tried anything. Then he tossed him the keys. “Drive.”

Andrew placed his shaky hands on the steering wheel. It was streaked with sweat. Hmm…so Drake was more afraid than he admitted.

“What are you waiting for? I said drive!”

Andrew tried to balance his thoughts. “Where am I going?”

“The bank,” Drake said, feeling the car slowly lurch forward as Andrew pulled out onto the road. He had never remembered feeling more nervous in all his life.

“The bank,” Andrew repeated to himself. “You don’t have to explain the rest. I think I know.”

“Ivan told me to tell you to take out twenty thousand and put the money in the bag beside you.”

“Old Western style, huh?”

Drake rolled his eyes. “You should know with all those old black-and-white movies you call thrilling.”

“Touché.”

Drake stared at the side of Andrew’s face. “Why are you even talking to me?”

“Well, despite your being armed to the teeth, I don’t feel scared of you in the slightest. Therefore, I talk.”

Drake glanced at the 9mm. “One gun doesn’t qualify for being armed to the teeth.”

Andrew shrugged. “One’s enough for me.”

“You sure are making light of your situation.”

Andrew pursed his lips. “What else am I supposed to do? Get angry and hold an innocent person at gunpoint?”

Drake started to say something, but closed his mouth instead.

Touché.

Andrew arrived at the bank in less than five minutes, but instead of pulling up near the entrance, he drove a little further and parked in a separate parking lot.

Drake sat up higher and lifted his gun. “Hello? You know the orders. The bank closes in less than an hour, so we don’t have much time.”

Andrew checked the time. “We got fifty-two minutes.”

“Don’t try me.”

Andrew stared at the gun and smiled slightly. “Why did you bring that?”

“Safety. Now let’s get going.”

“So you’d be willing to shoot me if I refused?”

“Just get the money and no one gets hurt.” That was strange. For a second there, Drake thought his voice sounded almost identical to Ivan’s.

“You’re wrong, Drake. I’d be hurting you if I did what you told me.”

Drake called him a foul name and swore. “Look, don’t press your luck. I know you don’t think I’d use this thing.”

“Would you?”

“In a heartbeat.”

“Then do it,” Andrew said, unblinking. “There’s no one here to stop you. No one watching.”

Drake didn’t know what to make of this man. He gripped his gun firmly and stared directly into Andrew’s eyes.

“You won’t, will you?” Andrew said after a long moment of silence between them.

“Not until I have what I came to get. I can’t afford getting rid of you yet.”

“It’s all about the money, isn’t it?”

“Yup.”

“And you expect to get a cut of this money?”

“That’s what they told me,” Drake responded, his face as solid as stone.

“And you believe them?”

“I trust them.”

“Trust them? You just met them today.”

“I trust them with my life. That’s more than I can say of most people. Namely, you.”

Andrew drew out a long breath. “Would it be too much if I asked again for an explanation to all this? Am I missing something? I looked for you for hours upon hours yesterday. Then, out of the blue, I get this call from you saying to come down here because you were hurt. Where has all this anger and hatred toward me suddenly come from?”

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Drake said with a smirk. “You’re trying to buy time, but it’s not gonna work. Get the money now, or else.”

“Or else what?”

“I told you what this gun is for.”

“And I already told you, Drake. I’m not giving you the money.” Andrew swept the bag beside him to the ground with his hand as a way of showing him that his decision was final. “So I guess that leaves you with a decision, doesn’t it?”

Drake’s blood was boiling now. How would he explain losing the money to the others and still expect them to hide him? “Are you mad? Don’t think I won’t shoot you.”

“Sorry, but that’s exactly what I think.”

“Then you’re signing your own death sentence.”

“And you’re gonna sit there and pretend like you’re not signing yours?”

“I’m not signing away anything.”

“You signed me and Ronnie away. And for what? To live like this? To shove other people around in the daytime and hide like scared animals at night? Because that’s what you’re joining, I hope you know. A pack of wolves that eventually gets so starved they rip at each other’s throats.”

“And what were you supposed to be? Anything different?”

Andrew shook his head. “If you can’t see the difference…I don’t know what got into your head, Drake, but I’m still willing to offer you my help if you’re willing to accept it. You ought to know that by now.”

Drake stared at him for the longest time, clenching his gun securely with one finger curled back on the trigger.
What’re you doin’, Drake? Have you become nothing more than a murderer now every time you run into a problem? He may have set you up, but you don’t have to kill him.
He gritted his teeth and thrust the gun away furiously. “Just leave me alone,” he said, turning away.

“Drake, what’s wrong?”

“I said leave me alone! Go! Do anything! Just get outta here before I change my mind.” Drake covered his face in his hands, struggling to hold back tears. What a lowlife he had become. Had he stooped so low that he would be willing to kill someone just because he was afraid of getting caught? Andrew may have betrayed him, but he had to remind himself that he deserved it. He had killed his father, and now he felt like a caged lion lashing out at anyone and everyone who threatened his freedom.

“What are you going to do?” Andrew said gently. “Just stay here like this until they come find you?”

“What does it matter?!” Drake screamed, picking up the gun again. He turned it on himself and pressed it against his heart. “My life is over! I’m tired of fighting it!”

Andrew unbuckled and crawled between the front seats into the backseat beside Drake. He laid a hand softly on his back. “Your life is far from over. Don’t fight yourself like this.”

“I told you to leave!” Drake fumed through clenched teeth. “I don’t want to live anymore.”

Andrew pried one of Drake’s hands open and put something hard inside.

Drake looked down and blinked twice. “A magazine?” He stared down at the gun he was holding and realized it wasn’t even loaded. “But it wasn’t like this when they gave it to me,” he said in amazement.

“I know. I unloaded it while you and the others were in the other room.”

Drake gawked at him. “You? But how did you—”

“Let’s just say you didn’t learn how to tie knots from Boy Scouts. I was able to untie myself and reach your gun in less than a minute’s time. I tied myself back up before you came back.”

Drake stared blankly out the window. “You could have killed me when I walked back in the room. Why didn’t you?”

Andrew gazed out the window with him, finding a world almost as dark and lonely as the one inside the car. “Because this was more important to me. Talking to you so we could work out what’s wrong.”

Drake looked at him in disbelief. He had pointed a gun at the man who could have easily pointed the same gun at him only minutes earlier. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because I care. And I believe in you.”

“Stop it! Your words don’t mean nothin’ to me. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. I heard you talking to the cops, and that’s why I took off. Well, you can’t have me, you hear? I’m not goin’ back with you, even if it means loading up this gun again and killing myself!”

Now Andrew was thoroughly perplexed. “What? Is that what this is all about? You thought I was talking to the police about
you?”

“Who else?” Drake retorted.

Andrew shook his head. “Drake, the police called to tell me they found the man who’s been going around at night beating up people’s mailboxes—mainly, my mom’s. It had nothing to do with you. Why would you even think such a thing?”

Drake felt blood rush to his face. “Oh. Well, I just…I don’t know. I guess I figured you got suspicious of me or somethin’ and called the cops,” he said, not even making sense to himself.

“It had nothing to do with you. I reported the mailbox-smasher to the police after Mom told me about her busted-up mailbox, and I made them promise to call me back as soon as they heard anything. The police traced the license plate number and apprehended him yesterday. That’s why they called.”

And that’s where the baseball bat comes in,
Drake thought.
To smash the mailboxes.
The pieces were finally beginning to come together now. “I thought you were telling them about me,” he said, still reeling from the news.

“Why would I tell them about you, Drake? I’ve never suspected you of a single thing.”

Drake turned back to the window, feeling like the biggest idiot alive. Andrew had explained his side of the story, but Drake’s side—that is, what he had told Andrew—didn’t add up at all. Andrew had never once suspected him of anything, yet that was the only excuse Drake could give.
What a loser. What a self-centered, shallow guy I’ve turned out to be. I’ve been so worried about myself and so focused on my own fears that I’ve ignored their concern. What was I thinking getting myself mixed up with Ivan and his gang? All along, I was safe at Andrew’s home, but tonight I put both my life and his in danger.

And in his pathetic attempt to keep away from the cops, he had just given Andrew a reason to take him straight to them. He tore his mind away from his endless stream of stress and turned to Andrew. “So, what are you going to do to me now? Turn me in?”

“For what?”

“For attempted robbery while armed,” Drake said dejectedly.

Andrew climbed up to the front seat and started the car. “You didn’t rob me, and I can’t honestly say you were armed. That would suggest the gun was loaded, and it wasn’t.”