Cold Blooded III: Sins and Sanctions (Nick McCarty Assassin Series Book 3) (30 page)

“I’ll go ride herd on Irene,” Grace agreed, “but don’t overdo the interrogation. We have these people anyway, Nick. I’m certain you have enough to indict all of them without worrying about confessions.”

“Go on. I’ll be careful. We’ll call you from the hospital.”

“How the hell are you going to get any of them to talk?”

Nick smiled. “I’m going to show my chosen informant a movie.”

* * *

While the EMT’s belted in their wounded charges onto gurneys after doing emergency triage on the mens’ ruined knees, Nick cued the movie he took of his Dominic Leka killing. He plugged in headphones, and waited for the now merely groaning men to be loaded. Nick signaled Tim he wanted to go with the driver, after talking the EMT’s into loading the other two men together, leaving the driver by himself.

“This one’s our best chance, Tim. Stay between the EMT and my small pep talk with our bad guy. I won’t do anything to him. I’m only showing him a movie. Let’s get aboard the Peace Train.”

Inside the cramped quarters, Nick waited for the EMT’s to anchor their patient, and get an IV started. One of them then told the driver to head for the hospital. When they were on the road, he motioned the techs away from the patient. Nick crouched alongside his upper body with satellite laptop open. He put the headphones on the man. Pulling aside the right earpiece, Nick bent in closer.

“Bambi… time to wake up. You remember me. I’m the guy who tried to save your knee. C’mon Bambi… Thumper wants to play.”

The man’s eyes blinked open. When he saw who spoke, he looked around wildly, adrenaline dulling the pain shot he had been injected with by the EMT. “Don’t touch me!”

Nick patted his arm, smiling reassuringly. “Relax. I’m going to show you a movie, Bambi.”

“Don’t call me that… you freak.”

Nick lowered his voice to a whisper. “Watch the movie, Bambi. Afterward, I’m going to ask you some questions. Answer them, and nothing that you’ll see in the movie will happen to you. Stonewall me, and I swear to God, I’m going to make my next movie with you as the star.”

Nick put the headset in place again, and started the movie. It was a condensed version showing the brutal evisceration of serial killer Dominic Leka including the pouring of bleach over Leka’s steaming entrails. The strapped down man could not look away, his eyes staring in open mouthed horror, cringing at Leka’s unending screams. When the clip ended, Nick took the headset off the man.

“Any questions, Bambi?”

Bambi shook his head while gagging audibly, trying desperately not to throw up.

“Good. Would you please read Bambi his rights?”

“Sure Nick.” Marshal Reinhold Mirandized the man, and received his verbal acknowledgement signaling his understanding.

“Okay then. Who put you and your other two cupcakes onto me, Bambi?”

The man closed his eyes, his mouth tightening. “Jacob Kerns.”

“Good start,” Nick said. “I want you to tell us every detail about this operation on our way to get you fixed at the hospital. Don’t leave anything out.”

The man wasn’t done talking when they reached the hospital, but he had covered plenty.

“I’ll tag along with him,” Tim said, as the EMT’s worked to get the gurney out. “Go ahead, and take a cab to the station in case they start forgetting you have the whole thing on video. This blows the whole case wide open.”

“Thanks, Tim. I hate hospitals,” Nick said.

“What the hell did you show him?”

“His duty,” Nick replied.

* * *

Grace met him as he entered the station. “Tim sent me the interrogation. It’s incredible. The driver, Douglas Collins, whether he was on pain killers or not, stated he understood his rights. That was a joke anyway. He’s a fuckin’ cop.”

“That’s the way it is these days, Grace. Relax. We have them now. Was there any miscues I don’t know about?”

“No.” Grace grabbed Nick’s forearm. “Don’t make any smartass comments, Nick. They’ll be looking to bury you. You calmly dropping down to take out the knees of each man you faced tonight dumped you into the no compassion category. These idiots think we can capture bad guys, protect our asses, and produce tears of sorrow because the perps are caught. It’s mind blowing!”

“Think of the fallout if I had shot them in the head, which was my first preference.”

“That’s not funny, killer. You can’t believe the mindset of these higher up stooges. They want cops stopping the bad guys. Then they want to wail crocodile tears with the thug’s family, trying to get a payoff, all while making the despicable piece of shit into a Disneyland character.”

“Okay, you got me, Grace. Life isn’t fair. What’s chances of me getting back to the hotel in time for a little midnight delight?”

Grace gasped, incredulous at what Nick was hinting at. “That’s sick! Poor Rachel’s on the verge of having your baby you unfeeling wretch. You should be massaging her feet with your head down, not contemplating sexual perversion!”

After Nick enjoyed Grace’s accusations with enthusiasm, he put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. “Will you please stifle yourself? Rachel loves me, and she’s at a weird time of pregnancy for soon to be mothers, where she also loves my loving nature.”

Grace shook her head in feigned disgust. “Let’s go meet with Lieutenant Shrew before it gets any later. She towed the line for justice, and stayed on track. I came out to meet you because a gentleman arrived with so many credentials, it’s hard to figure out where the hell he came from. He turned off the Lieutenant’s water in an instant.”

“That must have made the Lieutenant happy,” Nick replied, knowing instinctively it could only be Paul Gilbrech. “It’s strange my unknown friend would meet me here. It also narrows the number of persons it could be. It’s been a long day’s journey into night, huh Grace?”

Grace stopped, turning to face Nick with tired eyes. “I’m trying to hold all this together, Nick. You’ve always valued honesty. Here it is. You scare the hell out of me. The name on the guy’s ID is Paul Gilbrech. I’m figuring he’s an important figure with the Company. My only question would be what our present case has to do with CIA business.”

“He and I suspect some of this is related to national security, no matter how trivial the thread. I am surprised he came here. That action is off the usual track. It’s possible he knows something about this cop-killing bunch, but I doubt it. I’m thinking something’s on his horizon concerning my getting out of here. Paul’s been getting a little too assertive on my book tour… but then again… I haven’t helped much with the situations I’ve ended up to my neck in. Let me handle Paul. I’m hoping it doesn’t concern the US Marshal’s Service.”

“That goes double for me,” Grace replied, threading her arm around his. “Oh… we’re off to see the Wizard… the wonderful wizard of-”

Nick snatched her free hand as it waved along with the song. “That’s enough of that. You handle the Lieutenant while I trade info with Paul.”

“What did you do to that Collins guy?”

“I showed him a movie. Now let’s go finish this crap, and move on. You and Tim have a symbiotic relationship with me now. I appreciated the ride out of the danger zone. I will try to keep the US Marshal’s service out of any fallout from this latest McCarty adlib.”

“You’re worrying the hell out of me, Nick. Tim and I thought we were the ones stirring your goofy life like a blender gone wild. Now, we see you in a totally new light, where you’re actually short circuiting the blender on high. You do realize Lieutenant Moragado actually suspects you of killing those guys trying to ambush cops. She has no idea how you could have done it, but she’d pin it on you in a split second if she could. How did you do it anyway?”

“Sorcery.”

“I believe it, you prick. There’s your man in Moragado’s office, smiling and winning her over by the minute. Why can’t you be more like him?”

“I doubt anything I could say other than a confession would make the Lieutenant smile,” Nick replied as they crossed the threshold into Moragado’s office.

Gilbrech reached out a hand to Nick, who shook it with a wry smile spreading on his features. “Good to see you, Nick. I’ve heard a rather disturbing rendition of your assistance in finding a damaging leak in the department. Lieutenant Moragado became curious about you. She tried to access your government files, which is of course above her pay grade. I needed to discuss another matter with you personally, so I thought it better to explain your rather unique consulting role face to face.”

“I understand now you also do consulting with the CIA, as well as other agencies,” Moragado said. “It explains your formidable contacts and resources. Mr. Gilbrech assured me you don’t work directly for the CIA, which would make it illegal for you to work inside the United States, even under the new Homeland Security measures. I’m sorry we got off to such a poor start. You produced remarkable results in a very short amount of time. Jacob Kerns has already been taken into custody at his home.

“I’m glad things worked out, Lieutenant. I promise to be out of your hair shortly. If I do another book signing in Charleston I’ll drop by the station to say hello. You could meet my family. My wife Rachel thinks I’m annoying too.”

Moragado laughed. “I’ll bet she does.”

“I need to talk with Nick before my next flight. Are you finished with the annoying one for now, Lieutenant?”

“I believe so. Marshal Stanwick and I can review the interrogation again while they bring Kerns in.”

“Let’s take a walk outside,” Gilbrech suggested.

* * *

Outside, the men walked in the same direction Nick did earlier in the evening. “I was surprised to see you in Charleston, Paul. I didn’t think a police corruption case would blow any skirts up at the Company.”

“Do I want to know how you became involved in all this? I know by the description I read describing six cop-killers going psycho and killing each other, that it was one of your favorite scene setups.”

“You’re right. It’s probably not a good idea mulling those pesky details over too closely,” Nick replied. “It was a good deed that went a bit sideways. Charleston has proven to be anything but relaxing, Paul. I think I need a vacation from my vacation. Rachel and Jean had a good visit though with Jean’s Grandma Mona. How’s the fallout from my impromptu consulting job with the local PD.”

“Very good. You earned big points for our US Marshal Service connection. The AG called me directly to thank me for allowing you to work this case with the Marshals. He doesn’t understand how you get into all these tangled webs, but he really likes the results. Aside from all that, I didn’t want anything happening to El Muerto. I wanted to give you a warning. Your new recruit called me from your place. It seems John went to the mosque in Seaside nearby, and was approached.”

“Gee… there’s some good news.” Paul had Nick’s full attention in an instant. “Did he say why he didn’t call me?”

“He knew you’d be in the middle of any number of things, so he called me first. I told him I’d brief you on what was happening. John recognized one of the men at the mosque who talked with him. His name’s Ansar Pasha. He’s an Egyptian. Pasha came here on a green card, worked and went to school for a short time in New York City, and then disappeared last year. He’s one of many we’ve lost track of.”

“And yet we’re still handing out visas. What a world. How’d John handle it?”

“He’s working it. I told him to keep going to the mosque, and not to avoid them or act overly friendly. John thinks they approached because his picture has probably been circulated. I suggested staying standoffish until these guys actually show their hand. If they do, I gave John permission to tell them the truth about what happened, and that he barely escaped with his life. He can tell them all about El Muerto, and how he nearly died, but managed to get away before the police arrived on scene. After all, there is an El Muerto video out there proving it.”

“Good cover. I don’t want John killed before I get a chance to train him a bit, and I don’t like him doing this without backup.” Nick began running scenarios in his mind at rapid speed, imagining all the negatives and positives, including the nearness to his home.
I guess I should have thought about all that before I did something as public as wounding three bad cops. Jesus… I need to talk to Payaso. I think Muerto has finally rounded the bend, taking my reality with him.

Paul did a double take at what he thought crossed Nick’s features. “I didn’t like that look you just flashed. If I’m shooting too much at you, say the word, and I’ll back off. We can put John in hiding until things cool off. I’m with you on the importance of a freelance asset like John. On top of that, I’ve never had a contract killer asset so attuned to right and wrong like you. It’s made a difference in the way I think, Nick. Your quirky side has admittedly brought us closer to exposure than we can afford. On the other hand, you’re doing what’s actually right while taking care of national security. I’ve made my choice. I’m backing you all the way down the coal chute. Your results are gathering a real following.”

Nick met Paul’s unwavering look with an acknowledging nod of the head. “Okay then… you have me on the pad, pal. I see something between us psychos besides professional courtesy. I won’t abuse it. I’m happy to get the hell out of Charleston. I want to sit on my favorite beach in Pacific Grove, and sip a coffee with Payaso laced with the Irish. I’ll work on ending this threat with John ASAP. Threats so close to my home make me queasy. I tend to kill with abandon when I get queasy.”