Lisa Unger - Smoke

Underwood jumped at the sound of his name, struggled to sit up and couldn’t. Another low groan accompanied by a gurgling sound in his chest.

“You’re thinking if you tell them what you know then they’re going to kill you. And you might be right. But if you cooperate with me, I’ll do my best to see that doesn’t happen.”

Manny turned to look at Jeffrey, moving his head slowly to the side. His face was purple and swollen and Jeffrey doubted that he’d recognize the man before the beating he’d received.

“Did Trevor Rhames hire you to steal those diamonds?”

He jumped at the sound of Rhames’s name but didn’t say anything. Jeffrey waited a minute for him to speak.

“We found a pink diamond in an abandoned house in Riverdale that we know is connected to The New Day. We believe that diamond was in the cache stolen from the dealer who was killed at the JFK airport. Who hired you to do that job?”

Still nothing from Underwood. Jeffrey waited a beat and then released a low sigh.

“Okay, this is what we’re thinking, Mr. Underwood. We’re thinking that Rhames had an issue with Tim Samuels, your former employer. That he bought Body Armor when Samuels put it up for sale and has been using it as a front to launder stolen money and gems. We think that you went to work for Rhames when he bought the company, just like the mercenary that you are and shifted easily from doing legitimate bodyguard work to being a thug for hire. You were unlucky enough to get caught by the people whose diamonds you helped to nab; now you’re stuck. No one’s going to help you because you’re a mercenary. If you give up your employer, you’re going to die. If you don’t, you’re going to die. So what are you doing-just buying time?”

Underwood started to shake a bit and made a low, horrible noise. “You don’t understand,” he said.

“Make me understand,” said Jeffrey

More shaking from Underwood. It was disturbing, making Jeff uncomfortable. He looked over at Lydia who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed on Underwood.

“He gets in you. Whatever they do to me here can’t compare to what he can do.”

Jeffrey heard Lydia draw in a breath and release it slowly.

“Rhames?” he asked.

Underwood nodded. Jeffrey noticed that a pool of blood was collecting beneath him, thick and black in the dim light.

“Manny, he can’t do anything more to you.”

“You saw what he did to Samuels and his family. And they were friends once. Imagine what he’d do to my kids.”

Jeffrey watched as tears mingled with blood and traveled down Manny’s face. He reached for Jeffrey’s arm and gripped his wrist hard. “He knows everything. They’ll never be free. No matter where they go or how they try to hide. And he’ll wait until they think they’re safe, until they think he’s forgotten them or that he’s dead. And then he’ll move in and lay waste to their lives. That’s what he does.”

Jeffrey looked at Underwood’s eyes and saw that he was starting to get a dazed look. He wasn’t sure what to ask next.

“How did they know each other?”

“I don’t know. It was a long time ago; that was the rumor anyway. There was bad blood. No one knew what.” He was using all his strength to force the words out; it was painful to hear the horrible croaking of his voice.

“They worked together at Sandline?” asked Lydia.

Underwood didn’t say anything. He turned his eyes back to Jeff; his face was too ruined to read his expression.

“Do yourself a favor,” he said softly. “Stay out of it.”

Jeff nodded. Underwood’s eyes went blank then and he didn’t say anything else. Ever.

They brought the Kompressor to a stop in front of Lily Samuels’ apartment building and idled.

“We shouldn’t be here. What if we’re wrong?” said Lydia anxiously.

“Well, then. We’re wrong.”

“We need more evidence before we bring this to them. Right now we just have our hunches, the damaged memory of an injured police officer and the word of a man who was being slowly tortured to death,” said Lydia. “Lily’s fragile, just barely able to accept that her brother is gone. If we bring this to her and then it turns out that we’ve made another wrong assumption, we’ll be hurting someone who doesn’t need any more hurt in her life.”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“Let’s go home, regroup, and try to corroborate some of this info.”

“How?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh.

“Why would Underwood lie? He knew he was dying; that’s why he told us as much as he did.”

“Why does anyone lie, Jeffrey? Because they can.”

“Awfully cynical.”

“Just drive. Please.”

Before the elevator doors opened into their loft, they heard the television on inside. Jeffrey reached for his gun and Lydia quickly put her hand on his.

“Dax has a key, remember?”

Jeffrey rested his hand on the Glock at his waist but didn’t draw the weapon. He’d given Dax a key when he was charged with protecting Lydia from Jed McIntyre and never asked for it back. Dax hadn’t been up and around without their help much in the last year so he hadn’t had the need to let himself in recently. Still, it wasn’t good to make assumptions.

The doors opened but the apartment was dark except for the large flat-screen television in the living room. A huge dark form sat on the edge of the couch, feet up on the coffee table. An episode of South Park was turned up too loud. An arm the size of a jackhammer reached out and the light on the end table came up. Dax turned to look at them.

“What are you two looking so tense about? You said it was urgent, yeah?”

Lydia started to breathe again and wondered when she’d become so jumpy.

“Yeah,” she said, dropping her leather coat over one of the chairs and stepping down into the sunken living room. “It’s urgent.”

“Great,” he said. “Can we talk over pizza? I’m starved.”

She sat on the coffee table and looked at him, reached for the remote, and flipped the television off.

“This is what I’m thinking. I’m thinking all of this started a long time ago. I’m thinking Rhames and Samuels both worked for Sandline.”

The smile dropped from Dax’s face and he got that granite look, those flat eyes he got when she pushed too hard into his past.

“I think Rhames and not The New Day was trying to ruin Tim Samuels’ life. And I think he convinced Mickey to help him.”

Dax sat silent and Jeffrey came up behind him.

“What I don’t understand is what Tim Samuels did that could cause Rhames to hate him so much for so long, what could cause Mickey Samuels, the boy Tim raised like his own, to join forces with a psychopath and do all the awful things he’s done.”

“And you think I know the answer to that?”

“I think you know something about Sandline. And if you do, maybe you know something about what might have happened between those two.”

Dax got up and walked toward the window on the other side of the television. He drew in and released a breath.

“If I knew something that would help you, do you think I would keep it from you?”

“If you had to or thought you had to, yes,” she said to his back. “There are huge parts of your life we know nothing about.”

He nodded but kept his back to her. “And that’s probably not going to change. But I’m telling you the truth when I say that I don’t know anything about this situation.”

Lydia sighed and leaned back on the couch. She looked at the familiar form of their friend and thought he seemed like a stranger. She didn’t think he would lie to her but she realized she didn’t know for sure. And she wondered what that meant about their relationship. Can you trust someone who chooses what he reveals about himself? Can there be a true friendship with someone who hides huge parts of his life? Lydia didn’t know. She felt a strange sadness, an odd distance from him as he came to sit across from her on the low, stout cocktail table.