The Desert Lion's True Colours (29 page)

The lady stepped back startled.

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ she said.

Leon could tell she was more embarrassed than scared. Probably lived in New-York her whole life and had seen all kinds of things. Her curiosity was piqued; it was obvious she was not going to move so Leon watched her as she stood up next to the front driver’s door, tightly holding onto her dog’s leash. Leon stared at her for a moment longer then said, ‘Ma’am. Can I help you?’

Pointing up towards the tinted driver’s side window the lady replied ‘Is that young man going to be ok? He looks like he’s bleeding.’

‘Yeah he’s fine. We had a little accident in the park but he’ll be ok. We’re going to head over to the hospital now.’

Immediately the woman responded ‘What hospital?’

Leon decided not to answer because she clearly did not believe him. So after giving her another smile, he said ‘Is there anything else?’

The old lady looked at Leon defiantly before staring at her reflection in the glass of the driver’s side door.

‘Are you ok in there?’ she said.

When nothing happened she tapped on the glass. Leon quickly brought his head back in, tapped the drivers shoulder with his gun and calmly said, ‘Deal with it. Quickly.’

Leon put his head back outside the open window and said ‘Ma’am I assure you, he will be ok. He’s a tuff guy.’

‘Really… ?’ The lady interrupted. ‘. . . Well I would like to hear it from him. Or I’m going to call the police and tell them you’re trying to steal this poor man’s car.’

There and then the driver buzzed his window down, revealing just his face. Due to her lack of height and the high stance of the Range Rover she had to step away and bend her head back to look up at the driver. He did well to keep his head at an angle, stopping her from seeing the cut to his head. She looked up at him for a moment then said, ‘You ok?’

The guy forced a convincing smile and replied. ‘Yes, I’m fine thank you.’

Before the old lady could reply he said ‘Have a nice day.’ And wound the window back up.

Feeling a little self-conscious the old lady went red in the face and after a moment or two shook her head and decided to leave the guy to his own fate. Leon watched her as she walked past the Range Rover mumbling under her breath. Winding his window up Leon moved into the position he was in before the lady walked up to the car and said. ‘Look, time is running out. So what’s it going to be?’

Jay pressed his gun into the thigh of the driver. The guy started to breathe heavily and gritted his teeth in expectation of a bullet going straight through.

In a calm voice Leon asked him ‘Are they taking the bags to Karim?’

Not wanting to be shot the guy answered by nodding his head.

‘Good answer.’ Jay said.

‘What else is in the bags?’

The driver did not answer straight away which caused Jay to poke his gun harder into the guy’s leg.

‘Don’t let me ask you again.’ Leon shouted.

A few seconds went by and the guy finally said, ‘Each bag has papers hidden in the base.’

‘Papers’? So what about the money? Jay asked.

‘The money is important yes, but the papers are what Karim wants.’

‘And what are these papers?’ Leon enquired.

The guy was about to reply but his phone which was now on the floor started ringing.

‘Oh no!’ The guy exclaimed. ‘They’re going to kill me for telling you these things.’

‘No they won’t.’ Leon replied.

The guy looked confused.

‘Yes they will.’ He said.

Leon moved back, reached over the rear seat and picked up his sports bag. Unsure if anything had been added to his luggage he took his time to unzip it. Everything seemed to be ok and after searching around for a moment Leon pulled out his phone the guy from the airport had taken from him earlier and a little nylon pouch.

Wanting to see what Leon was doing in the back the driver started to turn in his seat but Jay quickly motioned him to sit properly and face forwards. Leon waited a few seconds for a couple people to walk by and then without warning plunged the needle end of a syringe into the drivers’ neck. His whole body jerked and tensed. He tried to grab onto Leon’s hand but within seconds his eyes closed and his body fell limp.

‘He should be out for a few hours.’ Leon said.

He had injected him with a knock out cerium that not only sends the body to sleep but leaves the patient in a death like state. If undisturbed it was possible for the guy to remain that way for at least 48 hrs.

‘What now?’ Jay said.

‘We take our shit and go get those bags.’ Leon replied.

Before reaching into the back for Jays luggage Leon positioned the driver in his seat so he was sitting relatively straight-up, while Jay reached down underneath the steering column for the guy’s mobile.

‘Just call me the phone guy.’ Jay said smiling. Including the one he just picked up, Jay was now carrying four phones, three of them belonging to dead men and one belonging to a guy who looked like he was dead.

Another minute passed and Na’talia watched Jay and Leon exit the white Range Rover and cross back over the street. Her attention had been distracted for a minute by an email she had received on her phone however she noted Leon was in the back of the vehicle for a little over 15 minutes. She saw when the guy exited the SUV and got back in the rear seat, she observed Jay get into the front passenger side door, she was pretty sure at one point the Range Rover was rocking from side to side and she intently watched the old lady when she stopped and spoke to Leon. She was sure once the lady walked away police would be called to check them out, but thankfully nobody took the time to pay any attention. Na’talia had a lot of questions, not just for Leon but for herself. However as soon as Leon and Jay entered the Yukon truck, Leon immediately turned to Na’talia and said ‘Drive, let’s go follow that money.’

‘Now you want to go follow the money?’ Na’talia replied.

‘Yes…’ Jay interjected. ‘. . . Now that we have our shit, we’re ready. Is that a problem?’

Without saying a word, Na’talia just kissed her teeth and indicated left to show fellow drivers she wanted to enter the flow of traffic. It took them ten minutes to change lanes, cut across the park via 79
th
street and get back onto 5
th
Avenue heading north.

‘Where do you think they’re going?’ Jay asked.

‘Who knows?’ Leon replied.

One of the four phones Jay had now placed on the seat beside him started to ring again. Na’talia let out a sigh while Jay tapped the red phone insignia to end the call.

Leon could tell Na’talia was concerned about something so he asked her ‘What is it?’

Slightly turning her head to the right but keeping her eyes on the road she replied ‘We need to start getting real.’

‘What does that mean?’ Jay interrupted.

‘Well think about it. These guys obviously know something is up. The men at the hotel are out of commission and I get the feeling the two guys in the Range Rover won’t be answering any mobiles anytime soon.’

‘Get to the point!’ Jay blurted out.

‘My point is, whatever plan they had in place must have changed by now, and what about Black? I bet he has already been contacted and made aware you guys are missing.’

‘Fuck Black.’ Jay said coarsely.

‘Okay,’ Na’talia replied. ‘Well what about the Assistant Director? If Black knows you’re still alive, you can bet your life
HE
knows…’ She paused for a second and then said ‘. . . and if the Superior knows,
Camistock
know
!’

Annoyed, Jay kissed his teeth and then said ‘Fuck Black. Fuck the Superior and Fuck Camistock.’ Reaching forward Jay tapped Leon on the shoulder and said ‘Do you see what’s going on here dawg? This is bullshit. Let’s just be out and stick to
OUR
plan.’

‘What? What are you on about?’ Na’talia replied. ‘I thought
the
plan
was to continue playing the game?’

‘And why would we do that?’ Jay replied.

Rolling her eyes Na’talia stopped talking. She was not going to get into it with Jay and decided to pay more attention to her driving and the flashing red dots on the phones screen.

Leon cleared his throat and said ‘We found out the bags are carrying more than money.’

Surprised, Na’talia replied ‘what!? I checked them myself.’

Leon shook his head in disappointment. ‘Wrong… ! It turns out, hidden in the base of the bags were some papers.’

‘Papers?’ Na’talia repeated.

‘Yeah, papers, documents. Don’t know what they are, but it turns out that’s what Karim wants. The money is just an added factor.’

Leon noticed Na’talia was going over the information. He could not say for sure, but his gut feeling was telling him Na’talia was keeping something away from them. He needed clarification, but decided it was not the right time. For the next 20 minutes the three of them weaved in and out of the New-York traffic in silents. From the back Jay watched Na’talia use the phone to trace the movements of their target and decide which back roads to take in order to make up the time and distance. She knew the streets of New-York like the back of her hand and in record time they were on the freeway heading north. Jay smiled to himself. ‘
She
is
nice’
, he thought.

Leon however was wrapped up in his own thoughts, trying to piece together a puzzle that seemed to have nothing but odd shapes and missing parts. That uncomfortable feeling in his stomach returned, causing him to come to the conclusion someone was playing them for fools. Leon did not want to think it, but he could not shake the feeling his father was behind it all.

CHAPTER 17
 

T
hey were travelling North on Harlem River Drive and according to the GPS map on the phone, the five flashing dots were now to the East on the other side of the River. Na’talia took exit 14' onto Cross Bronx Expressway and the Map said the bags were directly in front of them, less than a mile away.

Knowing they would have a visual of the cargo soon, Na’talia wanted to verify their plan before they got any closer.

‘We’re just going to follow them right?’

Jay started to shake his head, upset she even asked the question. However Leon turned to her and said. ‘Yeah, where going to follow them.’

‘And get back those papers.’ Jay interrupted.

‘What? No!’ Na’talia exclaimed. ‘What is wrong with you two? Don’t you listen to anyone?’

Leon chuckled sarcastically, ‘Not when I’m being lied to.’ He said.

Na’talia picked up on the coarseness in his tone.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Leon tried to read her eyes and facial reactions and what he saw was a woman who had been hurt and abandoned. She needed to belong, have a sense of purpose, but now she was scared shitless. Afraid the nagging doubts she had in the back of her mind could be brought to light by Leon’s actions.

‘Well?’ Na’talia insisted. ‘Are you going to tell me what you mean?’

Leon looked at her for a moment longer. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He said, ‘Let’s just see where they lead us.’

No sooner was that said, Na’talia’s phone started to chime loudly. Leon looked down at the screen and noticed the map on display had magnified on its own and across the middle appeared the words ‘SUBJECT FOUND’.

Motioning to Leon Na’talia said ‘Handle that please.’

Removing the phone from its hands-free cradle, Leon tapped on the phones screen with his thumb putting an end to the unnecessarily loud alarm. He tapped the phones screen again and the map returned to its regular size. Leon looked up through the windshield and back down to the phone to assess the distance between them and their target.

‘There, that’s our ride.’ He said.

Leon was looking at the back of a Black Nissan Maxima that had just moved into their line of traffic. Leon took a mental note of the cars registration then said, ‘Fall back. You’re too close.’

Following Leon’s order Na’talia eased off the accelerator and the three of them watched as the Nissan continued eastward. Whoever was behind the wheel, made sure they stayed well within the speed limit and unlike the white Range Rovers with their 22' inch rims, the Nissan’s unassuming shape brought little attention to itself.

Jay reached forward and gently tapped Leon on the shoulder. ‘This doesn’t feel right.’ He said.

Leon nodded in agreement. He was about to say something to Na’talia but his personal phone started to ring.

‘Who is it?’ Jay blurted out.

Leon looked down at the screen and said ‘Don’t know. It says unknown number.’

Keeping a close eye on the Maxima ahead of them Leon took a deep breath, hit the call button on the phone and said ‘Hello.’

Nobody answered. The line was completely silent. Leon checked the screen to verify the call was still active. It said ‘
Connected
’.

Placing the phone back to his ear Leon said, ‘Yo! This is a private number. Who is this?’

Finally a soft, quiet voice replied ‘Nathan,’

Leon recognised the feminine tone immediately.