J. Jance: Fatal Error

They both laughed aloud at that, and the laughter noticeably reduced the tension. It seemed odd for Ali to realize that although they had known each another for less than twelve hours, they were both operating on the same page. How was that possible?

She worried that the bike-riding security guard would come around again, but he didn’t. Then, just when Ali was beginning to think she might need to go find a bush somewhere, the headlights of a vehicle came sliding slowly down the street. First the turn lights came on. Then, activated by a remote control, the rolling door in the loading bay part of the building went up. A silver Cadillac drove inside and stopped, then the door came back down behind it, closing it from sight.

“Okay,” Gil said. “Here’s the way I see it. There are two of us and, from what I can see, only one of her; two vehicles; and five doors altogether. I’ll take the back two, you take these. If she tries to come out. .”

Without a word, Ali restarted the Mercury’s engine and put it in gear. “You need to get out,” she said.

“Why?” Gil asked. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to block the driveway,” Ali said, jarring the Marquis’s wheels up over the sidewalk. She waited long enough for Gil to scramble out the passenger door, then she parked so his side of the vehicle was within inches of the rolling door.

She rolled down her window as he came around to the driver’s side.

“Looks like that’ll work,” he said.

Ali nodded. “I call it athwart parking rather than parallel parking. My Hertz profile says I take every insurance they offer. If Ermina tries to drive out of the garage, she’ll have to go through this thing or over it.”

“Good thinking,” Gil said. “By my count that leaves only four doors to cover, and we outnumber her two to one.”

“Do we wait for her to come out on her own?” Ali asked. “Or do we try to bring her out?”

“Let’s try to maintain the element of surprise,” Gil said. “I’ll call you once I’m in position in the alley. Then as far as I’m concerned, I think we should sit tight. Ermina came here for one of two reasons-to pick something up or to drop something off. I doubt she’s planning on staying here all night.”

Gil had just disappeared from sight behind the end of the building when the security guard reappeared. Knowing he would most likely demand that she leave, Ali grabbed the car keys and shoved them out of sight into the crack between the two front seats. Then she punched her cell phone so it would dial Gil’s number.

“Where’s your friend?” the rent-a-cop asked.

“A call of nature,” Ali said, nodding in the opposite direction from the one where Gil had disappeared.

“He can’t do that. This is private property. You need to move your vehicle now. It’s blocking the driveway.”

“I’m sorry,” Ali said. “He took the keys. He’ll be back in a minute.”

“You don’t have a minute,” the guard said. “Your presence here is impeding a federal investigation.” He leaned toward the window holding an ID wallet. The badge inside said, very clearly, FBI. “Either you leave right now, or I’m placing you under arrest.”

“I guess you’ll have to arrest me then,” Ali told him. “Because I’m not leaving.”

“Step out of the vehicle,” he said. “Place your hands on your head.”

Clairemont Mesa Business Park, San Diego, California

After endless hours of utter darkness, when the lights came on overhead, their brilliance exploded in Brenda’s head, temporarily blinding her. She heard rather than saw the key turn in the lock. When she could see again, a woman-the woman Brenda knew as Ermina Blaylock-was approaching the chair where Brenda was imprisoned. Her face was screwed up in a strange grimace, as though the stench of the place was beyond bearing.

Brenda had moved far beyond that. She had become so accustomed to the foul odors lingering around her that she could no longer smell anything at all. But then Brenda saw the bottle. Ermina was carrying a bottle of water-a large bottle of water.

“I’ll bet you’re thirsty,” she said, forcing a smile. “I brought you something to drink.”

Brenda stared at the bottle. She wanted the water inside it more than she had ever wanted anything in her life. But then she remembered Friday. Or, at least, she remembered parts of Friday, how during lunch she had suddenly begun losing track of who she was and what she was doing.

She wanted the water, yes. But what if Ermina had slipped something into it? In her terribly weakened condition, even a little bit of something extra might be too much. Something that might have induced unconsciousness on Friday might well prove fatal now.

Ermina twisted the cap off the bottle and held it up to Brenda’s lips. “Here,” she said. “Have a drink.”

Brenda leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. Once again, through the trailing ethers of memory, she heard Uncle Joe’s voice. “Choose to live.”

Yes, she would die of thirst, but she would not willingly swallow whatever poison Ermina was offering her. She waited. Only when the open end of the bottle touched her lips did she bring her head forward, swinging it from side to side. Ermina had expected compliance, and she was caught unawares. Brenda smacked the bottle with the side of her cheek and sent it flying out of Ermina’s hand. It rolled across the floor, spilling precious water as it went. Finally it came to rest against the bottom of a chain-link fence.

“You stupid bitch!” Ermina exclaimed. “Why did you do that?”

She reached out and slapped Brenda’s face with an open-handed blow that left Brenda seeing stars, but the pain of it was enough to jar Brenda fully out of her stupor. And even as Ermina readied another blow, Brenda realized that Uncle Joe would have been proud of her. For once in her life Brenda Riley had measured up.

Then suddenly the chair she was imprisoned in was moving. With Brenda still in it, the chair rolled out through the open gate in the chain-link fence, across the tiled floor to yet another door. She sped through the second door and into another interconnected section of the building. There was a car inside. Ermina wheeled Brenda past a tall stack of cardboard boxes and stopped next to the trunk of the car.

Without a word, Ermina opened the trunk. Then, after donning a pair of latex gloves, she reached inside and pulled out a plastic-wrapped package. Using a box cutter, she tore though the packaging and then shook out the contents. Brenda watched as a narrow bedroll unrolled. For some reason it reminded her of an uncoiling snake.

Ermina unzipped the bedroll and then she cut through the tape that had bound Brenda’s legs. “Stand up,” she said.

Brenda looked down at her feet. After being forced to sit for days on end, her limbs were severely swollen, distended. She understood without being told that if she ever got inside that bedroll, there would be no coming out. And she also understood that there was no point in screaming. She had already tried that once, to no avail. Besides, she didn’t have the strength.

“I can’t,” she said.

“You can and you will,” Ermina replied.

She held the opening of the bedroll over Brenda’s head and slipped it down. As the thick material shut out the light-as darkness descended again-Brenda tried to struggle against it, but it was no use. She felt herself propelled up and out of the chair, which skittered away from her and banged up against a wall somewhere behind her. She landed hard inside the trunk as her head came to rest against the upright wall at the far end of the trunk. And then, although she struggled hard against it, she heard the zipper closing inevitably, shutting her in.