Robert Crais - The First Rule

“Why, hell, George Smith ain’t some Bosnian refugee. If they come around, I’ll tell’m you wanted a lamp. I’ll bet I can sell them a nice little sconce. Might even give them a discount.”

George laughed again, and now Rina came around the couch and was heading for the deck. Pike would have to go, but he needed a favor from George.

“One more thing.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m going to hit Darko’s business, and I want him to know it’s me. Maybe some people at Odessa can drop my name in the Eastern Bloc neighborhoods.”

“This would put a target on your chest.”

“Yes.”

George made a little sigh.

“Well, we do what we do.”

George hung up as Rina opened the door. She stepped out onto the deck as Pike put away his phone.

She said, “It’s dark out here. Why do you stand in the dark?”

Pike hesitated, wondering whether he should tell her what he had found in Willowbrook, and finally decided he should. He had been feeling the bib in his pocket as if it were a living thing, alive and pulsing, and wanting to come out.

“Darko’s crew is dead.”

She visibly stiffened, then joined him at the rail.

“You found them?”

“Yes. Men named Jamal Johnson and Moon Williams. Have you heard of them?”

She shook her head.

“Samuel Renfro?”

She shook her head again.

“They were killed the same night they took your son and murdered my friends.”

Her mouth shrunk to a tight knot, and her eyes turned watchful.

“Were Michael or my boy with them?”

“No. But I found this.”

Pike took the bib from his pocket, and once more marveled at its softness. As soon as he opened it, he smelled the apricots, even in the rich night air.

Rina took it, and seemed to marvel at it just as Pike had marveled at it.

“But nothing to say where’s the baby?”

“No. I’m sorry, but no.”

Her face folded into a frown, and she turned to face the canyon. Pike decided to feel her out about Jakovich.

“I found another line I can follow-a man named Milos Jakovich. Do you know who he is?”

She stared into the dark for a moment, then shrugged.

“The old one. Michael, he work for him.”

“Do they have business together?”

“I do not know. The blood is not good.”

“They don’t like each other?”

“I don’t think so. Michael never tell me these things, but I hear. Like with his business. I am just whore.”

She turned back toward the canyon, and Pike felt uncomfortable.

“Maybe Jakovich or someone who works for Jakovich knows how to find Michael.”

“I don’t know those people.”

“Is there someone you could ask?”

She worried the inside of her cheek, then shrugged again.

“It is like a different family. I would be scared, I think.”

Pike let it go, thinking she was probably right in being scared. If Jakovich and Darko were in some kind of war, she might find herself in jeopardy from both sides.

Pike said, “It’s okay. Forget it.”

“I will do it if you wish.”

“Forget it.”

They stood in silence, then she leaned over the rail to peer down into the black canyon.

She said, “It is so dark.”

Pike didn’t answer.

“Do you have children?”

Pike shook his head.

“You should have children. You should make plenty of babies, and be a strong father.”

Pike didn’t answer again.

Rina held the bib to her nose, and Pike could feel her draw in the deep apricot smell and the scent of her child. She touched her belly where the knife wounds had scarred, as if the pain she felt then and now were linked, and he wanted to touch that place, too, but didn’t.

Pike said, “We’ll find him.”

“Yes. I know we will find him.”

Rina leaned into him, and gazed up with shadowed eyes that seemed to be searching.

“I would be with you. It is okay.”

“You don’t have to be with me.”

“Whatever you like, I will do.”

Pike turned away.

“Get your bag. I have a place where the two of you can stay.”

Pike went out without eating, and took them away.

The next morning, Pike had Cole take him to check out the building in Sherman Oaks. It was a modern, three-story structure a few blocks south of Ventura Boulevard, across from a gourmet food store.

Pike said, “How many prostitutes does he have in there?”

“She says he had four, two on the top floor and two on the second, but that could have changed.”

“The pickup happens between four and six?”

“Yeah, but that’s only approximate. These people aren’t running an airline. We should set up early, plan on staying late, and be ready to wait a few days.”

Pike expected no less.

“It’s hunting.”

“Yes. It’s hunting.”

They circled the building to see the surrounding residential streets, and finished their tour in the food store’s parking lot. Pike noted the proximity to entrance and exit ramps for both the San Diego and Ventura Freeways. The location had been chosen so customers could be given easy directions. The prostitutes who worked here saw customers who came to them, and were known as in-call girls. Safer for the girls, and with a lower overhead for Darko. Out-call girls needed drivers and bodyguards.

Pike said, “How many stops does he make before here?”

“Three. Darko has buildings in Glendale, Valley Village, and this one. This was always the last stop.”

“So he should be carrying the full day’s take.”

“Should be. If this is still the last stop.”

Pike was going to steal the money. That was the plan. He was going to steal Darko’s money, and leave the pickup man so scared he would run straight to his bosses. Then Pike would take whatever his bosses had, too.

Pike said, “I’ve seen enough. Let’s go.”

They would need Rina to identify the bag man, so Pike picked her up a little while later. He had brought them to an empty guesthouse a few blocks south of the Sunset Strip the night before. It was small, but nice, with a lovely courtyard and neighbors who wouldn’t pry. Pike had used it before.

Rina was waiting on the street when he arrived. Yanni’s truck was parked at the curb.

She said, “Yanni want to come.”

Pike looked past her, and saw Yanni in the courtyard.

“No Yanni. Forget it.”

She barked something in Serbian, and Yanni gave Pike the finger.

Pike brought her to Cole’s, where they reviewed the plans and maps of the location with Jon Stone. When Stone first arrived, Rina squinted at him, and tugged at Pike’s arm.

“Who is this?”

“A friend. He was a friend of Frank’s, too.”

“I don’t trust these people I don’t know. I would rather have Yanni.”

“Not for this, you wouldn’t.”

At one-thirty that afternoon, they climbed into their cars and returned to Sherman Oaks, Pike and Rina in his Jeep, Cole in his Corvette, and Stone in his Rover. They looked like a caravan winding their way along the spine of the mountains.

When they reached the market, Pike and Cole turned into the parking lot, but Stone continued past, moving to set up on one of the nearby residential streets. Pike found a parking spot in one of the middle rows facing the apartment building’s entry, and Cole parked three spaces away.

Pike said, “You need to use the bathroom?”

“No, I am fine.”

“The guy who’s coming to pick up the money, does he know you?”

“I don’t know. Probably he would know me, yes.”

“Then let’s get squared away. Get in the backseat. You won’t be as easy to see in back.”

She looked at him as if he was an idiot.