Джанет Иванович - Fortune and Glory

“I know. I’m sorry but we need to discuss this later.”

“In the trunk of a car!”

“Not now, Mom. We need to get out of here.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the tree line. We were halfway across the hardscrabble yard when one of the men walked around the side of the house. He shouted to his partner and fired a shot over our heads.

Gabriela turned and fired two shots, hitting the gunman on the second. He went down to the ground, and we ran into the woods. Gabriela caught up to us and turned us in another direction.

“We want to circle around the house and go toward the road,” she said. “Slow down and try not to make noise. There’s a rusted-out Airstream camper just past the house. We can use it for cover, and I can try to pick them off one by one.”

We bushwhacked through the undergrowth, listening to the men shouting to each other back at the house and in the woods behind us. Gabriela was leading the way. She looked like she knew what she was doing, and she was dressed for the job. Camo cargo pants, a formfitting V-neck olive drab T-shirt, and thick-soled, spike-studded boots. Small camo backpack. Olive drab utility gun belt sized for a woman.

Gabriela held her hand up and we all stopped and listened. Someone was stalking us. Dried leaves and twigs were crackling under his footstep. I could see a sliver of silver peeking out of the thick vegetation in front of us. It was the Airstream.

Gabriela motioned for us to go. We covered half the distance to the camper and a man burst out of the woods in front of us, holding us at gunpoint. Without a moment of hesitation, I pulled a Potts. I staggered sideways a little, rolled my eyes back in my head, and did an Academy Award–winning faint, grabbing hold of my mom and pulling her down with me.

The instant we hit the ground, Gabriela went airborne, looking like G.I. Ninja. She planted her boot to the man’s chest, he let out a whoosh of air, and the gun dropped out of his hand. Gabriela kicked him hard in the crotch with her toe spikes. He went to his knees and rolled into a fetal position.

“He was the one who locked me in the trunk,” my mom said, getting to her feet. “Asshole,” she yelled at the guy, and she kicked him in the vicinity of a kidney.

Another thug came out of the woods and went for Gabriela. I rushed over and yelled “Hey!” He turned to look at me, and I smashed him in the face with my gun butt. Blood gushed out of his nose and I hit him again.

“Ow,” Gabriela said. “Nicely done.”

A police chopper flew low over the yellow ranch house. Red and blue lights flashed on the driveway. We could see parts of the house through the trees. It was surrounded by men in black SWAT gear. I recognized them as Rangemen. We walked out of the woods, and by the time we reached the house the yard was filled with cars. Local cop cars, Rangeman SUVs, and two EMTs. The last car down the driveway was Lula with Potts and Grandma.

Lula, Grandma, and Potts parked and hurried over to us. Grandma grabbed my mom and hugged her close. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” my mom said. “I think so. I was really scared. They locked me in the truck of a car. And they put duct tape across my mouth.”

“They did that to me, too,” Potts said. “It was uncomfortable. I don’t want to have that happen anymore.”

My mom turned to me. “Thank you for rescuing me, but you could have been killed. I saw your face in the window and I had such a mix of emotions. Relief that I might be able to escape and horror that you might be captured or worse. Those men were terrible. No respect for anything. And then Charlie Shine showed up. I never liked him. All those gaudy pinkie rings. And everyone knew he abused women.”

“It looks like we missed all the good stuff,” Lula said. “And I see Gabriela standing over there all by herself. What’s she doing here?”

“She followed me,” I said. “And she helped with the rescue.”

“She shot someone,” my mom said to Lula. “And she flew through the air and wiped out one of the bad guys like you see on television. And then Stephanie smashed her gun into another bad guy’s face.”

“And you kicked one of them,” I said. “It was a good kick, too. Right in the kidney.”

“I got carried away,” my mom said. She looked around. “There are a lot of people here.”

“I called Joe Morelli and Ranger,” Potts said. “They were already on their way. Ranger was right behind us. I think Morelli must have notified the local police.” He looked at me. “Lula and your Grandma were waiting in Egg Harbor and I told them to come here. I hope that was okay.”

He had my messenger bag hung cross-body. I took the bag from him and told him he did great.

“It’s like I’m in a video game,” he said, grinning. “Freaking awesome… now that it’s over.”

Ranger walked over, raised the flap on my messenger bag, and dropped the two safe keys into the bag. “I found these on Shine when we went inside ahead of the police. Don’t let them get away from you. I need to send some of my men back to Trenton. I’ll catch up with you later.”

A police transport truck and a third ambulance parked in the front yard. Morelli drove in and went to the transport truck. He turned midway, stopped, and looked at me for a long moment. I gave him a thumbs-up, he nodded acknowledgment and continued on to the truck.

“It’s almost here,” Grandma said. “Treasure time. We just need to go get it.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

It was close to four o’clock when we assembled at the storage facility. Grandma, Lula, Potts, my mom, Morelli, Ranger, and Ramone, Ranger’s safecracking specialist. Gabriela was there as well, keeping to herself.

Ranger unlocked the door to the storage unit, rolled the door up, and we all peeked inside. The unit was the size of a single-car garage. It was concrete block on the inside just like it was concrete block on the outside. It was lit by two fluorescent ceiling fixtures. The unit contained a brown leather, slightly used La-Z-Boy recliner, and a large safe. The garage door was the only exit.

Ramone stepped forward with a backpack. “I know this style safe,” he said. “This should not be a problem.”

“Did you tell him about Hiroshima?” I asked Ranger.

“Yes,” Ranger said. “He knows about Hiroshima.”

I gave the two keys and the two wedding bands to Ramone, he walked to the safe, and set his backpack on the floor. Everyone moved away from the unit.

“How long will this take?” I asked Ranger.

“Not long,” he said. “One way or the other.”

“Do you think we’re far enough away?” Lula asked. “Hiroshima is big.”

Potts moved behind Lula, as if that would protect him from nuclear disaster. Morelli wasn’t saying anything. He was looking on with his cop face in place. Gabriela was silent. Grandma was leaning forward in anticipation, her eyes focused like lasers on the safe.

I was a half step behind Grandma. We’d been through a lot to reach this point, and now that the nightmare of worrying about everyone’s safety was over, I was getting excited about the treasure. My excitement had less to do with how I was going to spend it, as what exactly was this treasure? Bars of gold? A priceless relic? What had we been chasing?

The minutes ticked on. It seemed like a lifetime, but it was only four minutes on my watch when Ramone finally stepped away from the safe. The door was open, and there was a collective sigh of relief that we hadn’t all been blown to bits.

We rushed into the storage unit and stared at the inside of the safe. It was as if all of the air had been sucked out of the room and no one moved. Everyone was frozen in stunned silence.