Tiger Threat (8 page)

It hadn't been obvious to me. Not until I'd remembered my talk with Coach Thomas in his office that morning, when Coach Thomas had told me he knew about my dental situation because of the report from Dr. Dempster.

“There was something strange about Vlad's X-ray,” I said. “You made a note about it.”

“So your guess is right,” Dr. Dempster said. “But Russian mafia? That can't be.”

“I think,” I said, “that someone in the Tigers' organization has been paid to spy on Vlad. Because whatever you put on the dental record you sent to the Tigers' office reached someone in Russia. Who got here a few days later to look for what was shown in the X-ray.”

I turned to Vlad. “Tell him.”

“This man,” Vlad said. “He came to me and told me that everyone on the team would die unless I gave him what he wanted.”

“Hang on!” Dr. Dempster said. “Vlad speaks English.”

“He speaks English,” I said.

I could see Dr. Dempster thinking. I knew what he was thinking.

“Me too,” I said. “When I learned he spoke English, I tried to remember if I had said anything in front of him. But there's a good reason he doesn't trust anyone.”

“Russian mafia,” Mr. Jewel whispered. Like this was an adventure for him.

“Dr. Dempster,” Vlad said, “you are a good man. You always said nice things about me.”

“Still,” Dr. Dempster said, “that's a sneaky thing to do.”

“If you were worried about Russian mafia, you would keep secrets too?” Vlad asked.

“Yes,” Dr. Dempster said. “I would do the same thing.”

Vlad nodded. “This man came to me and asked me for something that I did not have. He did not believe me. He promised to show me how easy he could hurt people around me.”

“The fire in the rink,” I said to Dr. Dempster. “You heard about it, right? But not the other part.”

I told him what had not made the newspaper. The fact that Pookie had been found hanging from the ceiling.

“Yes,” Vlad said. “This man from Russia made a good threat. But I did not believe I have what he wanted. He say to me, get codes from capsules. I say back to him, what codes and what capsules. He show me copy of X-ray that brought him here from Russia and ask me where missing tooth was. Then Ray gives me tooth from his pocket. So I call Big Frank to give him one capsule.”

The night I'd given Vlad the tooth, Vlad had had that midnight meeting with the stranger outside the Moores' house. Handing him the capsule that I'd found in his tooth.

“Big Frank wanted other capsule,” Vlad said. “I tell him if I go to dentist to have other tooth pulled, too many questions for everyone. Don't want people to get hurt because of questions. So I promise to let Big Frank pull it after next game.”

I still found this hard to understand. That Vlad had been willing to let Big Frank pull the tooth with a pair of pliers because Vlad was afraid other people might get hurt if they knew about it.

“Then Ray stopped Big Frank,” Vlad said. “I ran away with Ray so that Big Frank wouldn't hurt Ray. Now we have to solve problem in different way.”

Mr. Jewel was moving from side to side, barely holding his excitement. He looked like a little boy who needed to go to the bathroom. “The capsule,” Mr. Jewel said to me. “Tell Dr. Dempster about what was inside the capsule.”

“Half of a code,” I said, watching Dr. Dempster. “And you saw the X-ray. So you know where the other half of the code is.”

Dr. Dempster didn't reply. He stepped to the wall. He hit the light switch and put us in darkness.

“If you're right,” he said. “There's no sense advertising to the world all of us are here.”

He paused and spoke from the shadows. “Especially if it involves the Russian mafia.”

Fifteen minutes after Dr. Dempster first injected freezing into Vlad's lower gum, Vlad nodded. He was ready for the dentist's drill.

Dr. Dempster nodded back and began to work. The sound of the drill seemed very loud this late at night.

It took another fifteen minutes for Dr. Dempster to work the crown loose. He used tweezers to lift it from Vlad's lower jaw. He set the crown on a tray.

“Very good work,” Dr. Dempster told Mr. Jewel and me from beneath his surgical mask. “That should have told me to suspect something.”

“What do you mean?” Mr. Jewel asked.

“The rest of the dental work in Vlad's mouth is horrible,” Dr. Dempster said. “But this crown and the other one were excellent. A lot of money was spent to make sure both crowns would last a long time.”

Dr. Dempster used his tweezers to reach into Vlad's mouth again. He pulled out a tiny capsule, identical to the other one that I had found. He did not drop it on the tray, however. He placed it in a small paper cup and handed the cup to Mr. Jewel.

Mr. Jewel winked at us.

“My turn,” he said. “With luck, I should be less than five minutes.”

Vlad stayed in the dentist chair. He was lying back. His eyes were closed.

“The code in the capsule must be worth a lot,” Dr. Dempster said to me. “Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide it. And if someone was sent from Russia as soon as
they learned about the capsules from the X-rays...”

“Yes.” I didn't add to my answer.

“So you know, then, what Mr. Jewel will find in the capsule?”

“I have a good guess,” I said. Mr. Jewel had brought his watch-repair tools with him tonight to open the second capsule as he had opened the first the day before. Although Vlad had explained a lot to me, I decided not to say any more.

Dr. Dempster sighed. “Are you going to tell me about the code?”

“I would rather not,” I said.

“Do you have any idea how curious I am?” Dr. Dempster said. “I really, really wanted to ask Vlad about what was inside his crowns when I first saw his X-rays. I made sure he had the tooth to take home so that he would find the capsule. I wanted him to come back and ask me about it.”

“But you didn't ask him directly,” I said.

“It wasn't my business.” Dr. Dempster pulled his surgical mask down. “However,
it seems you have made it my business. So I don't mind asking now.”

Vlad grunted and shook his head from side to side. Difficult to do anything else in the dentist chair.

“I can translate,” I said.

“Let me guess,” Dr. Dempster said. “Vlad doesn't want me to know.”

“He thinks you would be safer if you didn't know.”

Vlad grunted again.

“And,” I said, “I think he is also trying to say that the guys on the team will be a lot safer if you don't know.”

Dr. Dempster began to pace back and forth. He stopped after a few steps. Maybe realizing what I had just said.

“So you're going to let someone in the Russian mafia take it from him?” Dr. Dempster said.

“Yes,” I said. “This is where Vlad is going to need a little more help.”

“From me.”

“From you,” I said.

“Even though you won't tell me what's in the capsule or why I'm doing this.”

“The guy came over from Russia and threatened to kill the guys on the team one by one if he didn't get what he wanted,” I said. “The fewer people who know about it, the better.”

Dr. Dempster thought about it as he stared at me.

He spoke. “Then what do you and Vlad need?”

“For you to hide the capsule by putting it back inside the crown after Mr. Jewel is finished with it,” I said. I was doing all the talking because Vlad, of course, could not. “Then put the crown back on so that it doesn't look like it had ever been removed.”

“But if the Russian mafia wants the capsule, this guy will have to remove the crown again!”

“Exactly,” I said. I thought of the monster-sized guy standing over Vlad with a pair of pliers. “That's why we have one last favor to ask.”

“I'm in this far,” Dr. Dempster said. “No point turning back now.”

“Could you put a lot more freezing in Vlad's jaw?” I asked. “That way he won't feel it when the Russian goon uses pliers on him later tonight.”

“You're kidding me, right?”

“No,” I said. “If you knew the rest of the story, you'd know I wish I could be kidding.”

“Then involve the police,” Dr. Dempster said.

Vlad sat up. He shook his head hard and tried talking loudly. I put a hand on his shoulder.

“If you knew all of it,” I said, “you'd know that's not an option. If they get the capsule, they'll be happy. But they have to believe Vlad has no idea what was in it. And the only way to fool them is to let them find it where they expect it. Beneath the crown.”

“More freezing,” Dr. Dempster said.

“Yes,” I said. “A lot more freezing. I don't think the guy who wants to yank the crown from Vlad's mouth is much of a dentist.”

A killer
, I thought,
but definitely not a dentist.

Although it was well past midnight, all the lights were on at Abe's house. He lived in a nice neighborhood. Lots of big old houses. Cars were parked on both sides of the street. Music seemed to leak from the walls of the house.

As I drove down the street, I saw the white van parked five cars back from my Jeep TJ. The Russian obviously thought that Vlad and I were already in Abe's house. So far, so good.

I wasn't too worried about being seen as we approached Abe's house because I had traded vehicles with Mr. Jewel. We had left him Amanda's car and were driving his old Dodge Caravan. Definitely not a cool vehicle. Definitely not a vehicle you wanted to be seen in by any of your friends. Which made it perfect. Who would think we were in it?

On the passenger side, Vlad ducked down so that, as we passed the white van, it looked like there was only one person in our van. I kept driving and went around the corner. I drove down the alley behind Abe's house.

Vlad and I dashed through the backyard, up the steps and into the kitchen.

Abe's parents were standing at the kitchen counter, slicing cheese and sausages. Louise and William. They were middle-aged. She had bleached blond hair and a deep tan. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt. They worked hard at looking young and cool. In a way, this made them as geeky as Abe. Parents that age should have dressed the way Abe did, and Abe should have dressed the way they did.

“Hey, Ray,” William said, giving me a salute that he probably thought was cool too. “Thanks for setting up this party tonight, even if it was on short notice. Abe is pretty happy to be the center of attention for a change.”

I nodded. I think what he really meant was that they were happy to be the center of attention. Abe liked the quiet of his computer room. I'd had to beg him to allow people to come over.

Vlad followed me into the living room.

Some of the kids there waved at us. Most didn't. The music was loud. Talking wasn't talking. It was shouting.

Two guys stood in the corner. One tall, like Vlad. One my size. I walked over.

“Thanks, Jimmy!” I yelled. “Thanks, Sam!”

Jimmy and Sam were the two guys who had gone to Amanda's house, going through the alley and backyard to her back door so that the Russian mafia guy couldn't see them. Vlad and I had given them our jackets and hats. Jimmy and Sam had gone out the front and driven my Jeep TJ here so that the Russian
mafia guy would follow them. I'd made some other calls to friends on their cell phones to tell them to come here for a party. I'd figured that with enough music and lights in the house, Mr. Russian Mafia wouldn't come inside and try anything.

“You ever going to tell us what this is about?” Sam yelled back. He was the tall one, Vlad's height.

“No!” I yelled. “I'll just owe you both a favor, all right?”

They nodded.

“Hey,” I said. “We need our jackets and hats back.”

Too soon, Vlad and I would be going outside again. To the Jeep. Knowing that the Russian mafia monster would follow us to a place where he thought we wouldn't be safe.

As I'd predicted, Abe was in his computer room. He was wearing headphones. His back was toward us. He was facing his computer screen.

I walked into the room. Vlad was behind me. I locked the door. Abe didn't move.

I tapped Abe on the shoulder.

He jumped halfway out of his chair. He landed. He took off his headphones.

“What were you listening to?” I asked.

“Silence,” Abe said. He gave his head a shake. “Too much noise in the house. I mean, do people actually enjoy parties?”

“Your parents,” I said.

He snorted. “Yeah.”

I pointed at the screen. “Do you think you have it set up?”

“I'm afraid to say it,” he said, “but yes. I'm using an IP address that I'm running through a server that I've hacked into that belongs to a college in England. Through there, I've found a way behind a firewall of a newspaper computer in Alabama, using a Trojan horse that is impossible to detect. From that computer, I'm relaying through a mainframe in Argentina and—”

“Abe,” I said, “I just need to know there's no way in the world to track us to this computer in this house.”

“Um, basically.”

“Basically?” I said. “We need a hundred percent guarantee here. Basically isn't good enough.”

“How's this?” he answered. “If we stay online for less than ten minutes, there's not a
security expert in the world who could follow the trail back here.”

“That's what I wanted to hear,” I said.

“Then we're ready.”

“To go where?”

“Kuwait,” I answered.

“Kuwait,” he repeated.

“More specifically, a bank in Kuwait,” I said. “Trust me.”

Abe glanced at Vlad, then back at me.

“How do you know?”