Robert Crais - The Watchman

“Barone said help the guy, we helped. You think we know something like this? You think he said, Here’s my friend, the terrorist? What the fuck?”

The man with the sheet passed it to the next man, and he to the next. Pike remembered the flag outside and the yellow ribbon. Saenz was staring at the picture of the young Marine, and Pike knew Frank Garcia had chosen this house well.

Saenz cleared his throat, then looked at Frank.

“If you could give us a moment, please. I mean no disrespect. Just a moment.”

The bodyguard and the driver helped Frank up, and Pike followed them out. They were only halfway to his car when Saenz caught up and told them where to find Vahnich.

Vahnich was using a small house on a low rise in the elbow where the Glendale Freeway met the L.A. River. Orange orchards had once stretched as far as anyone could see, but the orchards fell to developers, and the low rises and rolling hills of Glassell Park were covered with houses. Withered orange trees still peeked between the older homes; original tenants with gnarled trunks as black as soot. Pike and Bud both knew the area well; it was directly across the river from the police academy.

Pike was still bitching.

“This fucking Hummer stands out like a tank. We might as well be coming up here with a big sign, Here we come.”

Pike said, “Right at the next street, then up the hill. It should be on the left.”

Maroto told them the house sat at the end of a long drive, hidden from the street by scrub oak and olive trees and neighboring homes. Vahnich didn’t live in the house, but had wanted a place to meet with the men from Ecuador. Vahnich had liked the privacy.

Larkin’s father leaned forward, trying to see.

“What if she isn’t here? What if he took her somewhere else?”

Cole said, “Then Maroto is gonna have a bad night. That’s why Saenz and those guys kept him-so he couldn’t warn this guy and to make sure he didn’t lie.”

Bud slowed.

“Coming up. Look to the left.”

The drive curved down and away from the street, following the roll of the hill. Pike saw the near corner of the house and the tail of a blue car, and then they were past.

Cole said, “Saw a blue car, but that’s it. He could have an army in there.”

Pike didn’t mind. If you couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see you.

Bud kept rolling.

“Let’s call the police. We gotta bring in LAPD.”

Pike turned to watch the drive to see if anyone came out to look.

“Let’s make sure she’s here.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Go see. Wait up the street. I’ll call.”

Conner Barkley said, “I want to come.”

“I’m just going to look.”

Pike stepped out at a fast walk, then trotted up the neighboring drive. The homes on this part of the street stepped up the gentle rise, each house a few feet above the one below. Pike followed a low retaining wall alongside the house past plastic garbage cans and old rain gutters and unused bags of fertilizer so old they had erupted. He stopped long enough to make sure the backyard was empty, then crossed the yard between three ancient orange trees and stepped over the edge.

Pike side-hilled the slope through ivy and ice plants and more orange trees until he was below Vahnich’s house, then worked his way up. From his present position, he saw a ranch-style house in need of paint, set on a dead yard littered with rotten oranges. The neighboring house was above it. The drive curved up to a carport at the front of the house. The blue car he glimpsed from the street was blocking the lowrider described by the cousins, and a new Chrysler LeBaron in the carport.

Two men stood at the front of the lowrider, a liquid black 1962 Bel Air that shone like burning coal. The hood was up, and both men were lost in the joys of the engine.

The way the house was cut into the slope, Pike knew a retaining wall and walkway would run along the opposite side of the house along its entire length. He was pretty sure he would find windows, and then he might find Larkin.

Pike started through the skeletal fruit trees toward the near end of the house, but as soon as his sight line changed, he saw her through the sliding glass doors cut into the back of the house. Larkin was sitting on the floor against the far wall in an empty room, facing the sliding doors. A man walked past her moving from left to right, heading for the front of the house. He wasn’t Vahnich. Pike thought it through. At least six men were present-the five remaining Ecuadoreans, plus Vahnich.

Pike studied Larkin and felt an enormous sense of relief. He had lost her, but now had found her. She was sitting with her knees together, and her hands behind her back. Pike couldn’t tell if she was tied, but he wanted to know; if she was bound, her movement would be limited. She didn’t seem uncomfortable or injured. Her head was up, her eyes were open, and she was looking toward the front of the house. The choppy black hair made her look tough and good to go. Pike wondered if she would grow it out again and go back to the red. She was saying something to whoever she was looking at. Pike decided she was angry, which made his mouth twitch. He settled back, thinking, You are one damn fine young woman.

Pike opened his phone to dial Vahnich, and Vahnich answered immediately.

“Yes?”

“He’ll transfer the money. He’s setting it up now.”

“This is a wise man. He has made the right choice.”

“I’m supposed to make sure you didn’t cut off her hand or hurt her. He wants to be sure. Put her on for a second.”

Vahnich didn’t object.

A man entered from the right, squatted beside the girl, and held a phone to her head. It was Vahnich, and now Pike knew Larkin was tied.

Her voice came to his ear.

“Joe?”

“I won’t let him hurt you.”

“He says to tell you he hasn’t hurt me.”

“Stay groovy.”

Vahnich came to the glass with the phone. Pike wasn’t alarmed. Vahnich was simply looking out over the Glendale Freeway toward the Verdugo Mountains. Pike could have killed him, but three other men were still inside with the girl.

Vahnich said, “She is well, you see? I am a man of my word. I will honor our agreement.”

“His business guy says it’s going to take another few minutes to compile this much money for transfer. They have it spread all over hell and back.”

“I understand.”

“I’ll call you again. At that time, her father will want to personally hear her voice. Just to be sure. Then they’ll hit the button.”

“Of course. I have no problem with that.”

“Good. You won’t have any problems.”

A reasonable terrorist. Polite and considerate.

Pike ended the call, then dialed Cole. While he was waiting for the ring, Vahnich turned away from the sliding doors and exited to the left. Pike didn’t like it. Now he had Vahnich somewhere in the back of the house, another man in the front, and two men in unknown locations.

Cole answered.

Pike said, “She’s here. Two men are out front by the cars. The girl is inside in what looks like a family room or den at the back. At least three more men are inside, but I can’t say where.”

“You see Vahnich?”

“That’s affirm.”

“So Vahnich is confirmed in the house.”

“Yes.”

“Bud says he’s calling the police.”

“Whatever. Where are you?”

“We’re across the street.”

“How about you come up from below to watch the front? Bud can coordinate with the police and stay on the drive-stand by-”

A big man Pike hadn’t seen before came from the front of the house and pulled the girl to her feet. He shoved her toward the back. Pike didn’t like the rough way he treated her, but he also didn’t like it that she was being moved. Pike returned to the phone.