They (37 page)

The desk clerk was a young guy in his early twenties. He checked the computer. “We had one cancellation. Are you with the convention?”

“Yes,” Mike said. “Our company sent us out at the last minute and—”

“Convention rate is one hundred and twenty dollars a night,” the desk clerk said, typing away at the keyboard. “Will there be three of you in the room?”

“Yes.”

Mike paid for the room with a credit card bearing his real name. When they got into the elevator, Vince asked, “Why are we using our real names now?”

“Just in case the police in Lancaster County run checks on motels in the area,” Mike said. “We don’t want them to track us with the pseudonym I used in Ephrata.”

Once they were in the room, Vince put his bag down on one of the two queen sized beds. “What do we do now?” he asked, flopping down on the bed.

Frank found the hotel directory. “Now I get this fucked up haircut fixed up.”

“And you and I get a new look as well,” Mike said.

There was a hair salon on the main floor of the hotel. Frank called and managed to secure three appointments. They headed downstairs for their respective haircuts and spent the next hour at the salon. Frank got his hair cut in a more traditional style. Mike’s hair, which he had allowed to grow a little long at the top and sides, was cropped short. Vince’s hair, which had been cut in a very short and conservative business style, was cut in a style similar to Frank’s. When they were finished they looked very different from the men that had been at the Family Cupboard in Lititz. Especially Frank. “It might be a good idea for us to dress rather conservatively until we get back to California,” Mike said as they rode up in the elevator. “And I’ll start growing a mustache. Shouldn’t take long at all.”

Once they returned to their room, Vince checked his watch and was surprised to see that it was almost two-thirty. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“We need to talk,” Frank said, heading to the desk. “We should probably
get something to eat, too.”

“Let’s get something from room service,” Mike suggested.

Frank ordered angel hair pasta and a salad for himself, a hamburger and French fries for Mike, and a Turkey sandwich and potato salad for Vince. He also ordered three bottles of Evian water and a Pepsi. Mike and Frank took off their jackets and draped them over one of the beds. Vince kept his sport coat on. When the room service bellhop arrived with the tray, Mike gave him a five-dollar tip. Then they gathered up their respective lunches and gathered around the room, Frank reclaiming his spot at the desk.

“We need to find Mary Ann,” Mike said.

Vince shook his head. “No way. I’m not going back to Lititz. Not after the shit that went down. I don’t think you guys should go, either.”

“Mike has a point,” Frank said, twirling pasta around on his fork. “We gotta get her. I’m pretty sure we can get her to talk to us if we can find her.”

“Tom Hoffman said she hangs out at a place called Nino’s,” Mike said, nodding to Vince. “Where’s that?”

“It’s on Main Street in Lititz. Across the street from the post office.”

“How far is the police station from Nino’s?” Frank asked.

“Around the block.” Vince frowned at them. “It’s a stupid idea. There’s gonna be cops crawling all over Lititz, not to mention Lancaster County. What happened back there is going to be talked about for the next twenty years. It was like something out of a Quentin Tarantino movie.”

“Or John Woo,” Frank added, eating pasta.

“Who the hell is John Woo?” Vince asked.

“Don’t you ever watch movies?
The Killer
,
Hardboiled
,
A Better Tomorrow
?”

Vince had no idea what Frank was talking about. Frank sighed and rolled his eyes. “Chow Yun Fat?
Face Off
with Travolta and Nick Cage?”

“I remember that one,” Vince said.

“Did you ever see
The Replacement Killers
with Mira Sorvino? That one had Chow Yun Fat in it.”

Vince shook his head and took a bite of his sandwich. “No, I didn’t.”

Frank looked disgusted. “Dude, when this shit is over, you and I are going to sit down in your house and we’re going to do some serious movie watching! Even my daughter knows who John Woo is!”

Mike attempted to change the subject as he chewed his hamburger. “We can drive down to Lititz this afternoon. We’ll go down there dressed the way we are now. It’s a workday so we won’t look too out of place. I have a fake badge somewhere in my bag. I can use it to try to coerce the kids we run into at Nino’s to lead us to Mary Ann.”

“Impersonating a police officer is a federal offense,” Vince said, a trickle of sarcasm creeping into his voice.

“Yeah, and if we don’t find Mary Ann we’re left right where we started,” Mike said.

“Suppose she doesn’t know anything, though?” Frank asked, spooning pasta onto his fork. “Seriously. I think we should find her, but what if she doesn’t know shit?”

“We’ll have to take that chance,” Mike said. “She obviously knows enough to have scared Tom Hoffman so bad that he was afraid to tell us what she revealed to him. Maybe she found out something about this Mark Lancaster fellow and his friend.”

“Like what?” Vince asked.

“Like what group they belonged to,” Mike said. He took a bite of his hamburger and chewed, frowning. “I think Clint told Mary Ann more than Tom let on. It’s obvious from his story that Clint spent more time with these guys than Mary Ann did. I’m guessing they don’t know about her. Or if they do, they don’t consider her a threat.”

“What makes you think she’ll talk to us providing you do locate her?” Vince asked.

“She’ll talk to us,” Frank said. He was almost finished with his pasta. “She’ll be freaked out over what happened at the Family Cupboard. Especially when she finds out that Tom Hoffman was shot.”

Mike nodded. “If the police haven’t picked her up yet, she may be willing to talk to us. I think it’s worth a chance.”

“And what if we get caught?” Vince asked. This was the forefront question on his mind. If they got caught, they were screwed. “Why can’t we just go to your friend Billy with what we have now?”

“Because if we can find Mary Ann and get her to cooperate, we’ll have somebody that is removed from us who can verify everything,” Mike said. “As for getting caught, that’s a chance we’re going to have to take.” He glanced at Frank, then back to Vince. “Plus, I think we’re going to have to do something equally as risky.”

“And what’s that?”

“Leave you here.”

Vince almost laughed. “Oh. So you guys are paranoid that I’ll get you shot at again, huh? You’d rather leave me alone and let the assassins get me while you’re not around, right?”

“Not at all,” Mike said. He turned around so he was facing Vince. He was almost finished with his burger but he made no attempt to eat. “Frank and I know what we’re looking for, we know what questions to ask. Besides, somebody at the Family Cupboard might have recognized you, too. You were once a local boy, you know.”

“Yeah, and I haven’t been back here in fifteen years.”

“Doesn’t matter. There might have been an old teacher or neighbor back at the Family Cupboard that you forgot about. We can’t take that chance. If somebody recognized you, the police will know about it. They’ll be able to go to the local high school and pull your old class photo out and have it in every squad car by now. If you show up with us, you might be spotted. There’s less chance of Frank and me being recognized the way we look now. We’ll drive over and we’ll be quick about it. It should take no more than a few hours.”

“And what if they recognize the car?” Vince asked.

“We’ll rent a car here in town,” Mike said. He looked at Frank, who nodded. “We’ll leave the other vehicle here. Frank and I will drive to Lancaster County in a new vehicle. We’ll make an attempt at finding Mary Ann. If we find her, we’ll get her to come with us and talk. We won’t go armed, and we’ll go under our real names. We’ll be less likely to run into trouble in Lititz should we get picked up by the police.”

“I don’t think we will, though,” Frank said. He finished his pasta and began attacking his salad.

“No, I don’t either,” Mike added.

“And what am I supposed to do?” Vince asked.

“Stay here,” Mike finished his hamburger and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Seriously. Lay low. Watch TV. Whatever you do, don’t leave this room.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bad idea?” Vince asked. He felt nervous about the prospect of being alone. “I mean, splitting up like this?”

Mike shrugged. He rose to his feet and set his plate aside. “I don’t know what else to do. It shouldn’t take too long for Frank and me to go to Lititz and do some poking around.”

“We could try to bring Mary Ann back with us,” Frank suggested.

Mike opened his wallet and began rifling through it, purging it of all the documents that contained his alias. “We could,” he said. “We’ll have to play it by ear, though.”

“What if those guys come here and try to kill me again?” Vince asked. This is what Vince feared the most. He’d been thinking about the routes they’d taken in Lancaster County, and he didn’t recall seeing anybody tailing them to the Family Cupboard. It was almost as if the men that shot at him had known he was going to be walking out of the Family Cupboard and they’d positioned themselves accordingly. He mentioned this to Mike and Frank. “Think about it,” he said. “They were waiting for me. They came right at me.
I
was their target, not Tom Hoffman, not Reverend Powell, not you. They were after
me
.”

“I know, but I don’t think they’ll make a third attempt so soon,” Mike said, replacing his wallet. He put his sport coat on. “We managed to kill the men who attacked us today, Vince. That had to have been a tremendous set-back for them.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they weren’t expecting it,” Frank said. He hadn’t fi
nished his salad yet, but he began setting his plate aside. “Did you recognize any of those guys today?”

“No.” Vince shook his head. Their faces flashed in his mind, and he felt a twinge of guilt. He hadn’t wanted to kill anybody but he had, and he felt sick about it.

“The guy that shot at you in Irvine wasn’t one of the three today?” Mike asked.

“No,” Vince said, trying to remember. “The guy in Irvine was older. He had darker hair, was a little taller.”

“These guys looked young.” Frank put his coat on.

“They did,” Mike agreed. He reached into his bag and brought out his Glock. He looked at Vince. “Just in case.” The implication was obvious.

Vince nodded. Mike set the gun on the nightstand by the bed.

“We’ll find our way back to Lititz,” Mike said. He pocketed a room key and stood with Frank. “Give us until nine p.m. I have my cell phone with me. If we’re going to be late, I’ll call you. You’ll be fine. Frank and I won’t take any unnecessary risks. We’ll be in and out of there as quickly as possible.”

“And what if you aren’t back by nine and I haven’t heard from you?” Vince asked.

“Take the first flight back to Irvine,” Mike said. “Leave tonight. Don’t even check out, just leave.”

“You have enough cash?” Frank asked.

Vince nodded. “Yeah.”

Mike buttoned his coat. “Get back to Irvine and wait. Take our stuff with you. If you haven’t heard from us in three days, call my wife.” He rattled off the number. “Tell Carol about the safe deposit box.”

“Then what?”

Mike’s features turned grim. “Then, we wait to see what happens.”

VINCE DOUBLE LOCKED the door when Mike and Frank left. Then he changed out of the suit into a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

He flopped down on the bed and turned the TV on. He channel-surfed idly for twenty minutes. Daytime TV was all soap operas and talk shows. Vince grew bored with it after awhile and turned the TV off.

I need a shower
, he thought. He rose to his feet and headed to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later he felt refreshed. As he finger-combed his hair, his mind recapped the confrontation at the Family Cupboard parking lot. He’d been going over the events in his mind since it all happened, and he still didn’t know how they’d been tracked down. It was obvious
the way those guys had suddenly come out of nowhere and began ca
sually walking toward them that they’d been watching the place for a while.
We were probably followed there
.
I wonder if that means they watched us last night at Reverend Powell’s.
It was a distinct possibility. If that was the case, why hadn’t they stormed Hank’s house last night?
Maybe they knew we were armed
.

That didn’t make sense, though. If they knew that Frank and Mike and Hank were armed, why did they bother with the attack at the Family Cupboard? The more Vince thought about it, the more confused and scared he got. It was as if they’d just sprung out of the ground, guns in hand, bent on killing. Thank God Frank had been aware of what was happening. He must have noticed something was going amiss. Vince hadn’t been aware of anything until Frank’s body slammed the first assassin.

As Vince exited the bathroom the fight replayed in his mind. He hoped they hadn’t been recognized. The shootout at the Family Cupboard had happened so fast that the few people that witnessed it were
probably too scared to remember faces. He hoped Tom Hoffman and Re
verend Powell were all right.

He also wondered if they would talk.

They won’t say anything
, Vince thought, sitting on the bed, his back against the headboard.
Especially Reverend Powell. He sees this as a spiritual crusade. He might have been able to convince Tom Hoffman to be quiet, but suppose he wasn’t? Tom might talk. If he does, the police will be looking for us. And if that’s the case, they might eventually find us here
.

Vince felt his throat grow sore. It felt as if he’d swallowed a medicine ball that had lodged in his throat. He always felt like this when he was scared. He remembered feeling this way Sunday afternoon at the Irvine Airport when that guy shot at him and Tracy. His stomach felt leaden; his head woozy. They could be here any minute. He debated staying put or leaving altogether. If he left, he might be able to put some distance between himself and police but they would catch him eventually, wouldn’t they? He wouldn’t know what to do in flight. They’d be on to him quickly.