In Plain Sight (24 page)

When he was finished, he looked at the long narrative. His finger hovered over the
SEND
key. Instead, he moved his fingers, selected the final entry, and hit the
DELETE
button. “You’re off the hook, Gabe,” he murmured to himself as he hit the
SEND
key, turned off the computer, and took it apart. Carrying the computer hard drive and the rest of the guts of the computer in a plastic bag, he made his way out to the yard, where just days ago he had been mixing cement for his new flower beds.

He worked like a beaver, sweating out all the toxins in his body as he mixed fresh cement and poured it into the molds he’d made weeks ago. The computer parts were at the bottom of the cement, where no one would ever find them. When everything was set to his liking, he proceeded to break up the chunks of cement he’d let dry the day the
Post
reporters had come to call. He loaded the cement into a wheelbarrow and trundled them off to a rock pile behind a small fence where the gardeners kept a compost pile. Let them cart it away.

He should have killed Amalie and buried her under the concrete the way he’d just buried his computer’s guts. If he’d done that, none of this would be happening. Well, that was all water under the bridge now. Now he had to get ready to leave this place and the life he had created for himself in Washington, D.C.

Once more, he trudged into the house. And this time took the steps to the second floor instead of the elevator, where he hit the shower full blast. When he emerged, he was ready to give himself a clean shave and dress the way he normally did. He headed back to his office, where he opened his locked desk drawer again and withdrew a burner phone. He called the airlines and, using one of his aliases, tried to book a late-afternoon or early-evening flight for Argentina. He was told the earliest he could get a flight was 7:00
A.M
. the following morning. They were booked solid. He then tried three other airlines with the same result. He finally booked a red-eye out of Dulles for midnight tonight.

Time to put his house in order, so that whoever came to go through his things would find nothing. In the end, they’d say the man just walked out of the house and never returned. He felt so smug he decided to go downstairs and make himself a soft-boiled egg. Like Gabriel Knight, he knew how to cook; he just didn’t like doing it.

While he was puttering around in his kitchen, Moss thought about his staff and how loyal they’d all been to him. He hated that he was going to leave them high and dry, but if he paid them a bonus or left money, then the scenario that he just walked out the door and never came back wouldn’t work. He finally solved the problem by telling himself he would take all their names and addresses and in a few months he’d send money orders to their homes or envelopes full of cash by overnight mail.

It was all doable. All of it.

Chapter 23

I
t was just a few minutes before full dusk when Maggie Spritzer sent Lincoln Moss a text asking if she and her crew could stop by even though the hour was late. There was no response. As she explained it to the crew, it was just to confirm Avery Snowden’s earlier text advising them that Lincoln Moss had not left the premises in two whole days. Unless he was dead, he was inside the house healthy and whole.

Little did they know.

It was barely dark when they all piled into the
Post
van and Espinosa’s new Hummer, which he doted on and which still smelled brand-new. The third vehicle was driven by Dennis and was a Jeep whose cargo hold was full of their gear. The last vehicle belonged to Myra’s gardener and was driven by Annie. Occupancy in all four vehicles was crowded, but no one complained.

It was totally dark and getting darker by the minute when the caravan reached Lincoln Moss’s home. The air was hot and humid, and the threat of still more rain was in the air. The lead vehicle didn’t stop but slowed, so that Yoko and Harry could drop out and scale the fence. Down the road, a block and a half away, all the vehicles came to a halt. Cell phones were an open line so that Yoko and Harry could communicate.

First order of business was to take out the two guards, or as Harry put it, put them to sleep, nothing more. They were just doing their jobs and didn’t deserve to be caught up in Moss’s mess.

Inside the gates, Yoko went one way and Harry the other. Within ten minutes, both guards were leaning against a tree and sound asleep.

“You do good work, silent work, my husband,” Yoko said, blowing Harry a kiss.

“And so do you, my little lotus flower,” Harry said, blowing a kiss in return. Yoko giggled, and Harry laughed out loud. He just loved, loved it when he could make his wife laugh or smile, and a giggle was the best.

“I’ll open the gate. You alert the gang to come on through.” Yoko sprinted off to open the gate. She looked around with the aid of a small penlight for the manual switch that was at the bottom of the left side of the gate. She switched it off. Now the gates would stay open, with or without power. She was back at Harry’s side within moments and headed for the rear of the house, where they planned to enter through the kitchen door.

“It’s Annie’s job to pick the lock, so we have to wait till she gets here,” Yoko said. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Annie appeared at her side, lockpick in hand. Five seconds, and the kitchen door opened on its well-oiled hinges.

Harry looked around and winced. They were a scary-looking lot. He hoped Lincoln Moss had a strong heart. The second everyone was standing in the kitchen, Harry held up his hand for silence as he waited for Abner, who was monitoring Moss’s whereabouts inside the house with a heat sensor.

The one thing they didn’t want to do was give Moss even a second to hit 911 on his speed dial. Quick, fast, and dirty, was the way Annie put it.

Harry held up his hand, and whispered, “He’s in the family room watching television. His phone is on the table next to where he’s sitting. He almost looks like he’s asleep. Quiet now. Yoko, you go first, come up behind his chair, and snatch the phone. Jack, you follow Yoko and grab him by his neck. We are then good to go.”

And it worked out just the way Harry said it would. Yoko slid Moss’s phone into her pocket just as Jack cut off his air supply. In the back of the room, Myra turned on the overhead lighting, and the opulent room came to life.

Moss’s eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw all the black-clad figures standing in his family room. Jack released the hold he had on Moss’s neck and stepped back.

Moss sputtered and gagged as he struggled to figure out what was going on. He finally blurted, “If this is a home invasion, be aware that I have security outside.” He started to cough and gag from the pressure Jack had applied to his throat.

“Not anymore you don’t. Ain’t no one here but us badasses,” Jack said.

“What . . . what do you want?” Moss gasped. “Who sent you here?”

“That’s two questions,” Ted said. “We want you and your money. Your wife sent us. How’s that for a payback, Mr. Moss?”

The group had separated on entering. They now started to report their findings.

“No computer or laptop. The wires are still on the desk in his upstairs office. He must have gotten rid of it,” Nikki said.

“He’s going on a trip. Look at this,” Kathryn said, as she held up a canvas tote. “No clothes, but there is a razor and a toothbrush. Memory sticks, checks, bank statements, brokerage statements, and some papers that look like they belong to his cosmetic company, something about a wrinkle filler. You know, like Botox. Guess it’s important, or he wouldn’t have it in the bag. And by the way he is . . . excuse me, was, headed for the airport to take a flight to Argentina under the name of Lynus Placid. Says he is a software developer. No imagination there.”

Moss sucked in his breath, knowing he wasn’t going anywhere. At least for now. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to help these creeps figure it out. Well, he did have one ace in the hole. Everything on the memory sticks was password-protected and installed by the best spooks in the business, the CIA. Let them kill themselves trying to figure it all out. He was glad now that he had transferred monies to different parts of the world, so when he showed up, he would be able to simply pick up on his life. Still, he had well over a billion dollars locked up tight and spread all over the globe.

“His backyard is not going to work, people,” Annie said. “We need to load him up and go to Plan B. While the trees are in full leaf, they’re spindly at the top. Light shows through. His neighbors just might be the nosy types who can’t sleep, and one of us might make a noise that isn’t familiar to them.”

The gang moved with their usual efficiency and had Moss flexicuffed with his mouth taped shut. Espinosa threw him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and hustled out to the parking area outside the kitchen. He dumped him in the backseat and told Dennis to watch him. Dennis paled and was about to discuss the point, but one look at Harry and he changed his mind. He felt important when he said, “You got it.”

Isabelle was the last to leave Moss’s house. It was her job to turn off all the lights and the TV and to make sure the kitchen door was locked when she closed the door.

Plan B was now in effect. Plan B required a trip to Nikki and Jack’s farmhouse. Located across the fields from Pinewood, it was also known as the mud pit with the half-finished swimming pool that was full of muddy water.

A light rain was falling when the caravan arrived in Nikki and Jack’s driveway. Jack took charge of Moss while the others unloaded the Jeep. It was totally dark, the only light coming from small Maglites the group held low to the ground. The only sound that could be heard was the sucking sound when they lifted their feet out of the thick, smelly mud.

When the group reached the rim of the pool that was still under construction, Jack ripped off the tape on Moss’s mouth. He was rewarded with curses he’d never heard before. He casually backhanded Moss with a swat across the face. “The only thing we want to hear out of your mouth are your passwords and why you beat the living hell out of your wife. We aren’t going to make nice either, so be forewarned.”

“Screw you, whoever you are. What dark alley did my wife find you in? You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do. And I am not giving up my pass codes to you or anyone else.” That said, Moss lashed out with his foot and connected with Dennis, who yelped in pain.

Dennis’s brain went into overdrive, and suddenly everything Harry had taught him about self-defense rose to the fore. He didn’t stop to think, he just went into action, and in the blink of an eye, Moss was facedown in the thick, gooey mud that smelled like vomit.

“Nice going, kid,” Harry said, clapping Dennis on the back. Dennis beamed his pleasure. Life didn’t get any better than a compliment from his idol, Harry Wong.

“Now, here’s what we’re going to do, Mr. Moss. As you can see, the rain looks to be picking up, and none of us really wants to catch a summer cold. You, we don’t care about, but none of us wants to get sick. Now, having said that, this is what you’re looking at. You’re going in that hole, which will hopefully someday be my swimming pool. It’s full of mud, water, and a few dead animals that drowned during that horrendous rain this past week. You won’t be able to climb out once you’re in there. Did I mention that the pool, this monster hole in the ground, is fourteen feet deep all around?

“If you don’t answer us, we’re going to push you in the pool. And then we’re going to give you some company.”

Nikki turned to Kathryn and told her to bring the special bins to the side of the pool. The girls hustled to give Kathryn a hand.

“Do you want to see what’s in the bins, Mr. Moss?”

Moss raised his head and wiped the mud out of his eyes and mouth. His heart rate ratcheted up. He struggled to appear uncaring but knew he wasn’t pulling it off. “Not particularly. Probably something insane because you are all insane to kidnap someone like me. I’m a public figure.”

“No you are not. At this point in time, you are a public joke. This whole town now knows the story of your wife. What kind of man beats a woman and holds her prisoner? Only a sick, demented person like you, you filthy son of a bitch. You are a power-hungry mongrel,” Annie said loud enough to be heard above the rain, which was coming down even harder. “Go easy on yourself and tell us the passwords.”

“Go to hell,” Moss bellowed.

Annie threw her hands in the air. “Well, we tried to be nice. Show him what’s in the bins, girls! Be careful now,” she warned.

The girls advanced close to the pool and undid the heavy-duty lids of the hard plastic bins. But they didn’t remove them. They waited expectantly.

Myra stepped forward. “Bin One is full of water moccasins. Bin Two is full of rattlesnakes, and Bin Three is full of copperhead snakes. We weren’t sure if cottonmouths were the same as water moccasins, so we got some of those, too, because they do look different. They are in Bin Four. There are twelve of the pesky little devils in each bin. They go in the pool with you. Do you want to rethink your attitude and cooperate or not?”

Jesus Christ,
Moss asked himself,
who are these looney tune people?
Moss could feel his insides start to crumble. He could hear the rattlesnakes rattling inside the bin.

“Time’s up,” Harry said as he shoved Moss into the muddy water.

Moss bellowed and cursed as he flailed about in the smelly muck. “Beg, Moss, like your wife begged you to stop beating her. I want to hear you. I want you to feel the fear she felt. Throw in the water moccasins,” Annie said.

“Jesus God, no,” Moss said as he struggled to get away from where the moccasins hit the water. He had never experienced such panic in his life. He felt something brush against his leg. “Oh, Christ, what was that?”

“They swim fast, just so you know,” Annie called down. “Just say the word, and we can scoop you right out of there with the pool pole. Your call.”

“Throw the rattlers in,” Annie ordered.

They all watched as Moss tried to climb up the muddy side of the pool, only to flop back into the water. He was hoarse from bellowing.

“Tell us, is what you’re feeling now what Amalie felt when you came up to her with your clenched fists? Do you feel the fear?” Myra shouted.

Goddamn right he felt the fear. “Get me out of here. You win.”

Jack leaned over and shined his light down into the muddy water. “You know what, who cares? We’ll get our people to figure out the passwords. You aren’t worth standing out here catching cold. Dump the cottonmouths and the copperheads, and let’s go dry out. I know this all-night pizza place. Close up shop, people.”

Moss let out a scream that could be heard in the next county. He begged, he pleaded, he promised a full confession, and if he had had children, he would have given up his firstborn.

“The passwords. Now,” Jack ordered. Moss rattled them off. Ted recorded each and every number.

“Someone call Snowden,” Jack said. Maggie obliged.

“Get me out of here,” Moss bellowed. “You promised.”

“Yeah, well I lied,” Jack said happily. “See ya on the other side someday, Moss.”

The gang trooped off and didn’t speak until they were at their designated vehicles, and that’s when they started to laugh. “Too bad he doesn’t know all those critters we tossed in that pool are
mechanical,
” Annie said, laughing. “He’ll be a raving maniac by the time Avery and his people pull him out of there.”

“We did good, people,” Myra said.

“You know, I wasn’t kidding about that pizza place down the road. What say we hit it?” Jack said.

“Last one there pays,” Harry said, climbing into the car with his wife.

Annie and Myra were the last to leave the area.

“We do good work,” Annie said.

“Can’t argue with you there, my friend. When you’re right, you’re right.”

“And everyone is going to live happily ever after.”

“Not till tomorrow, when Abner starts doling out all of Moss’s money to worthy causes. That’s when everyone will be happy.”

“Like I said, when you’re right, you’re right.” Myra laughed.