Linda Kay Silva - Delta Stevens 3 - Weathering the Storm (23 page)

“We’re going right to the source. I thought we’d pick up the Camaro and give you a chance to meet Sal.”

“Where did you say you know this Sal person from?”

Connie shrugged. “Here and there. Mostly from my pals in the military.”

“The military?”

Connie nodded. “I worked with some people from the Marines when I was at MIT.”

“The Marines? Your friend Sal is in the Marines?”

Pulling into a driveway of a house that looked like it belonged on the front page of
Better Homes and Gardens
Connie turned the motor off. “Sal wasn’t in the Marines. Her father was.”

In a flash, a small, wirey little boy peeked out from behind the six-foot gate, wearing a camouflaged baseball cap with matching fatigues.

“Sal!” Connie cried, sweeping the little boy off his feet. Upon closer inspection, Delta realized that this little boy with the short brown hair poking out from underneath the cap was, in fact, a woman.

“Sal, I want you to meet—”

“Storm,” Sal said, reaching her hand out and grasping Delta’s firmly in it. “Connie’s told me so much about you. It’s great to finally meet you in person.”

“Same here.” Bowing her head, Delta surveyed the petite woman who was wearing lace up black army boots. She stood a shadow over five feet tall and kept tucking her hair behind her ears. She looked like a little boy wearing his father’s clothes.

“No call yet, huh?” Delta asked.

Sal shook her head. “Nope. I’m sure they’re checking you out.”

“What about the real woman who belongs to that membership card?” Sal smiled and her freckles seemed to jump around on her face. “Not to worry. Everything will check out just fine.”

“How about the transmitter?” Connie asked.

Sal jerked her head toward the garage. “Slipped her in like a glove. You have a ten mile radius, it will flash when the vehicle is moving and stay on when the vehicle comes to a stop.” Sal pulled something from her pocket and handed it to Connie, who showed it to Delta. “Keep this with you. It will beep when the vehicle starts moving. After that beep, it will flash until the vehicle comes to a stop. It will beep once again when the vehicle starts again.”

“So it beeps after the car starts from a stop light or something?”

Sal nodded. Delta noticed a pack of freckles living on her nose and two very thin lips resting beneath a cute button nose. Right away, Delta liked this midget of a woman.

“Your receiver will show you where you are in relation to the flashing green light. Each quadrant of the grid is half a mile, so you can gauge where you are accordingly. Any questions?”

Connie nodded. “Were you able to make any other connections for us?”

Sal grinned. Her two front teeth crossed over each other and a single dimple showed in her right cheek. “We hit the jackpot. I contacted Josh to see what he could come up with. We landed four more.”

“Red ones?”

Sal nodded vigorously. “Red ones.”

Connie turned to Delta to explain. “I didn’t think one car was enough to lure our perp from his hiding place. So Sal located four more red Camaros.”

“With transmitters?”

Sal nodded. “Of course.”

Delta thought about the logistics of having five cars tapped and waiting to be stolen. “Where are these cars now?”

Sal shot a questioning glance over to Connie, who shook her head. “You haven’t told her?”

“Not yet.”

“Told me what?”

“Sal has arranged to have the Camaros placed in certain high crime locations.”

Delta’s eyebrow rose again. “What do you mean, `placed?’”

Sal strode forward and looked up into Delta’s face. “You want to catch a mouse, you should probably set more than one mousetrap, right? Well, I sent the boys out with the cars and had a van round them all up. Simple.”

Simple? While she was muddling around with her relationship woes, Connie had clearly been doing all the hard work. “What `boys?’”

“Sal has some Vietnam Vet friends who do some work for her occassionally.”

Delta cocked her head in question. “Work? What sort of work do you do?”

Sal shrugged and grinned mischieviously. “Alittle of this, a little of that. The boys are my...partners. And they sure came in handy.” Moving away from Delta, Sal adjusted her cap and started for the garage door. “We didn’t move it, just like you asked, Connie.” Lifting the door, Sal unveiled one of the most beautiful cars Delta had ever seen. It was a cherry red Camaro with the license plate FAST on it. It shone like it was wet, and there was enough chrome on it to make it look like it was wearing jewelry.

“It’s a beaut, isn’t it?”

Delta nodded as she stared at her own reflection in the chrome bumper. “If this car doesn’t interest a thief, I don’t know what will.”

“I’ll bet she purrs when her motor’s running.”

“I’d take that bet.” Tossing Connie the keys, Sal reached in the car and pointed to where the transmitter was. “I put her inside so we don’t have to worry about water or bad weather, or anything like that.”

“Good.” Connie took her keys from her pocket and tossed them to Delta. “I’ll follow you. I think we should take it to the Latino part of town. Maybe leave it at Kennedy Park.”

Delta nodded. “If they’re after darker kids, that’s the best place for it.” Looking down at Connie’s keys, Delta sighed. “I won’t even ask why you get to drive the cool car.”

Connie’s teeth sparkled as she grinned. “You do great work, Sal. Remind me of that when I return the favor.”

Adjusting her cap once more, Sal nodded. “You’ll get my bill soon enough.” Turning back to the gate, Sal nodded in Delta’s direction. “Some day, I’d really like to sit down and have a beer and trade war stories with you, Delta Stevens.”

Delta grinned. “I’d like that. And thanks.”

“No problema. I’ll call as soon as the phone comes to life. We’ll get those pricks. Don’t you worry. I gotta run now, gals, I’m waiting for some of my other irons in the fire to start glowing.” Winking at Connie, Sal disappeared behind the gate.

“She’s an interesting duck,” Delta whispered to Connie.

“Yes, yes she is.”

“You’ve never spoken about her. How come?”

“Sal’s a very private person. I respect her privacy.”

Delta put her arm around Connie and patted her shoulder. “You’re a great friend.”

“Yes, I am. Now let’s get this car out so our sicko snatcher can fall in love with her.”

“Con?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s about the other cars. That was a great idea.”

Shrugging, Connie gingerly sat in the Camaro. “One of the vets owns a car dealership. These guys are more than willing to help Sal out.”

“Can I ask why?”

Staring the engine and listening to it hum, Connie nodded before closing the door and rolling the window down. “Her father saved their lives in Da Nang.”

“What happened to him?”

“After he had saved the four guys, he went back for one more and had his throat slit by one of the booby traps the Congs had set.” Delta clutched her chest. “How awful.”

“No, Del, the awful part was that the Cong jumped all over him, cut his head off and waved it in the air. Those four young men watched their hero destroyed right in front of their eyes. According to Sal, that was when they decided that no matter what happened, if they got out of there alive, they would see to it that Sal and her brothers were taken care of. They’ve been taking care of her ever since.”

Delta slowly shook her head. “What a story.”

“Isn’t it, though? It’s one of those Vietnam stories that should have made it to TV. It really shows how deep that kind of love and respect goes.”

“I like her.”

Connie grinned. “I know. Sal’s not hard to like.” Slowly backing the Camaro out of the garage, Connie held her hand out for Delta. “All our pieces are in place, Del. Now, it’s their move.”

Nodding, Delta headed for Connie’s car. If they could pull this off—if they could get into that meeting or come up with the man who was abducting the kids—no one would touch them.

No one. Not Captain John Henry. Not the chief. Not even the feds.

Smiling, Delta drove off.

It was 9:30 that night when Delta’s phone finally rang. She jumped to it and grabbed it off the cradle before it could completely finish its first ring.

“Yeah?”

“It’s Sal. They took the bait.”

Delta’s heart raced. “What’s the line?”

“
That
part isn’t so good. The guy who left the message wants you to go to a phone booth on first and Hamilton and bring the money with you.”

Delta didn’t like the sound of that. Carrying a lot of money could be asking for trouble. “When?”

“Midnight.”

“Tonight?”

“Yep.”

“Anything else?”

“He said to wait for a call in the phone booth and he’d give you more instructions then.”

Delta nodded and reached over to click the television off. “Got it.”

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Delta?”

“You’ve been a real gem, Sal, but now it’s up to me and Con. Thanks.”

“Roger. Good luck, Delta.”

Depressing the button, Delta dialed Connie and told her it was going down.

“They obviously checked you out first,” Connie said flatly. “Will we wire you up?”

Delta shook her head. “That’s too risky. If they’re this cautious, you know they’ll pat me down. They might even run a metal detector across me.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, but Con, we’re this close. If I get in there, we have a good chance of stopping these guys. This is the break we’ve been waiting for.”

Connie sighed loudly into the phone. “I know that Del, but it does-n’t mean I have to like it.”

“Relax. I’ll take one of the transmitters and use your car. That way, you’ll at least be able to follow.”

“Great idea. I’d feel much more comfortable doing that. What about back-up?”

“I’ll call Carducci.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. Why him?”

“He wants in on it. He’s willing to put it on the line to make the collar. Besides, we might need him. He’s a sharpshooter, remember? If anything slides sideways, Carducci can start blowing people to smithereens.”

“Good point.”

“I’ll need the rest of the money and an athletic bag.”

“Don’t you want a briefcase?”

“Nope. Too formal. Too suggestive of a setup.” Delta doodled dollar signs on a piece of paper.

“Anything else? Is there anything we’re missing?”

Delta thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t think so. We have about two hours before showtime, so if you think of anything we need, just yell.”

“Delta—”

“Don’t worry so much, Con. I’ll have you and the transmitter, and Carducci and his rifle, and me and my wits. Everything will be fine. See you in an hour.” Hanging up the phone, Delta went over to her closet and fished out one of Megan’s dresses.

This is it, Delta thought as she hastily threw on the uncomfortable dress. This was what she had been waiting for.

At two minutes to midnight, Delta drove right up to the phone booth and got out, taking the maroon athletic bag with her. Once in the phone booth, she had only a ten second wait before the phone rang.

Obviously, they were watching her.

“Yes?” She said, placing the phone to her ear.

“I’m sure you understand the need for us to be cautious, Ms. Anderson. We’re in a very risky business and we must be careful.”

“Of course. I understand completely.”

“Good. I see you brought the money.”

Delta did not look around, but it was clear why they had chosen this particular phone booth. There were high rises on all four corners, allowing the caller complete anonymity as well as a perfect aerial view of the phone booth.

These guys were better than she thought. She would not underestimate them again.

“This is only half of what I’d like to invest. As you can imagine,” Delta said, using a voice she never knew she had, “people in my positon cannot be too cautious, either.”

“I appreciate your discretion, Ms. Anderson, and I certainly do understand.”

“You’ll receive the other half once I am convinced that this is a first class operation. I will not invest my money with amateurs.”

The man chuckled. “Amateurs get caught. You can rest assured that this is a five-star organization. We do quality work and we already have more than 1,000 orders for the next video. At one hundred dollars a pop, you don’t need a calculator to figure out how much advance money pre-sales have brought us.”

Delta nodded. “Very lucrative.”

“Quite. Now, you should see a blue Honda Accord pulling up to the curb. The driver will bring you to an undisclosed destination where you’ll have a chance to preview our film and to work out the necessary arrangements.”