David Putnam - The Replacements

People in the food court gravitated away from him. Moms pulled their children in close when they passed by him.

Jonas left half his enchiladas on the table, got up, and walked away, as if some unknown source had given him directions to do so. He moved in and out of the folks pushing strollers and carrying shopping bags, oblivious to the federal agents all around him. What was he doing? Playing a normal person in a mall when he had three children hidden away somewhere? Anger rose inside me. I tamped it down.

He stopped at a home decoration store and looked in the window, feigning interest. From a decorative mirror in the window display, he watched the people pass behind and farther out in the mall.

Jonas knew about the surveillance. He stood there cool as you please. This guy was more dangerous than I had thought .

I sat down on a bench next to an indoor fountain, leaned over, feigning tying a shoe, and used Mack’s radio call sign. “Zebra-eight, he’s made the tail. He’s watching you guys. Back off, I got the eye.”

Wu came up on the radio. “Mack, he’s made us? You sure? If he’s made us, we need to take him down right now.”

I lied. “He hasn’t made us yet, but he’s going to, if you guys don’t give him some breathing room.”

“Okay, you got the eye, we’re backing off.”

The real Mack came up on the radio, his voice rushed, “Leon, where are you?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have much time left.

Jonas went on the move.

“Okay, he’s moving, I got him,” I said.

Jonas went along the shops until he came to one with a sales rack out front slashed to fifty percent off and strolled in. He moved through the store and stopped at a rack with western long-sleeve shirts. But he wasn’t interested in western shirts. Not now, not ever.

I stepped just inside the store out of view from the mall and keyed up the radio. “Chicken Hawk bolted. He’s on the run. He’s going out the back. All units deploy to the east side, take up positions outside the mall on the east side. I got him. I got him from here.”

Jonas stood casually, going from shirt to shirt.

Mack came up on the frequency. “Leon, talk to me. Where are you?” He’d figured out my game, but couldn’t put it out on the radio without burning down my operation.

“Chicken Hawk’s out,” I said. “He’s outside cutting across the parking lot. He came out on the east side through an employee access. Anybody out here with us? Anybody out here to help?”

Wu said, “He’s made us. He’s made us. Take him down. Mack, don’t let him get away, take him down, now!”

“He’s running east on Third,” I said. “Get your cars and get on him. Get a bird in the air.” I turned the radio down low and moved deeper into the store, right up next to Jonas. Jonas looked up, his blue-gray eyes vacant. “Hello, Bruno, long time no see. I almost didn’t recognize you with that ball cap and glasses.”

No way could he possibly remember me .

He smiled, showing he lacked two upper teeth right in front, making a black hole that whistled a little when he spoke. The radio in my hand went crazy with agents and detectives scrambling to get in their cars to cover streets, their voices small now. I turned the volume down even more. I said to Jonas, “You’ve been waiting for me?”

“Yes.”

“How did you recognize me?”

“Oh, you’ve been the topic of many conversations between me and my mom.”

He lied. Convicted felons were not allowed to visit in prisons, and he’d have felon written all over him. And Bella would never get out.

“I have your money, that’s why I’m here,” I said. “It’s out in the car.” I held my hand out, guiding the way.

“No, it’s not,” he said. “No way do you have the money. But I’ll play your stupid little game, just because I know we have to in order to get past this part, so we can move on.”

He came along quietly. His unruffled demeanor set off warning signals. My instinct said to move with extreme caution. In all my years of chasing heavyweight predators, I had never come across one about to go to prison, as quiet and calm as Jonas. Something was up.

Mack would have heard on the radio traffic that I had directed everyone to the east side of the mall, and he would have known for sure I wouldn’t be on that side. He had to choose from three other directions to catch me. I had a one-out-of-three chance to avoid him. I led Jonas to the right toward the south side. If I were Mack, I would figure I would take the side farthest away from the east. Mack should be going to the west side.

I stayed an arm’s length away from Jonas. I hadn’t patted him down for weapons, and I was still too close if he wanted to pull a knife. I’d be gutted and left writhing on the floor before I had time to react. But I didn’t want him too far away in case he bolted. Too much depended on me doing this right. The lives of two little girls and probably a boy.

On his front hairline above his forehead, going back on his shaved scalp, Jonas had tattooed devil horns. Combined with his blue-gray eyes, he portrayed an aura of evil. How had Jonas devolved to such a monster? My thoughts naturally fled to our kids back home in Costa Rica. I wanted to run to the nearest plane, fly back, take them in my arms, and never let them go. The social welfare system had failed Jonas Mabry. I would not fail my kids.

The handheld FBI radio traffic intensified as the task force officers failed to pick up their target. When I wouldn’t acknowledge their requests for updates, they became more frantic with the prospect of an officer down. I had little time left.

Jonas stepped through the doors first, with me close behind. I expected to see Mack leaning against Mary Beth’s car, arms crossed with an angry, smug expression. I didn’t see anyone who’d give us trouble. I guided us over to Mack’s Thunderbird, stuck my hand under my shirt, took a couple of steps back, and tossed Jonas the keys. “Open the trunk and get in it or I will shoot you down like a dog.”

A smile slowly crept across his face, his lips parting to darkness where his teeth should have been. “You wouldn’t shoot me, Bruno. You saved my life. You wouldn’t take a life you’ve saved. That would be foolish. I owe you a life and I’m here to pay it back. That’s what this is all about. Well, a small part of it, anyway.”

I thought I had figured out his game, and yet his words, when brought out into the world, shook me to the core. My mouth went dry. I struggled for the right words. “I know…I know all about the kids, the type of kids. They’re replacements, aren’t they? Get your ass in the trunk. Do it right now, or I’ll shoot you in the knee and put you in there myself. Because you are going in the trunk one way or the other.” I held those strange eyes and couldn’t look away if I’d wanted to.

He kept his smile. “That’s right, me and Bella took those kids so you’d figure it out and come running. Bella thought of it. She wants to talk to you one last time. She was right, you’re so predictable, Deputy Johnson.” He bent over and picked up the keys. “I’ll get in the trunk. But this part is a waste of time. You will eventually do what we want you do to do.” He unlocked the trunk, left the keys in the lock, and got in, his movements more robotic than human. Drugs. He had to be taking some sort of downer, maybe even angel dust, PCP. I slammed the trunk deck and, for the first time, looked around. Luck still hung with me. Or had it? I now had the devil locked in my trunk and would eventually have to let him out.

I had not thought any further than grabbing Jonas. Maybe I didn’t think I’d get that far. Now I needed a quiet, secluded place to chat with him. Only I couldn’t think straight. What Jonas had said rolled through my thoughts, over and over. Had coming back to the States and grabbing him really been a part of his plan? He’d asked for me in his note. He was obviously deranged and delusional talking about Bella, so the rest of what he said could be discounted as well.