Kirk Russell - Dead Game

Torp jerked back hard, trying to get his arm free, diving for the outside of the circle and tripping. He lost his knife. He got to his knees and almost got away before Marquez caught up to him. Part of Marquez’s mind registered Perry lifting the shotgun and Crey pushing the barrel up as he brought the knife down in a hard cutting slice across the back of Torp’s foot. He felt it slow, then go through the Achilles tendon. Torp screamed, twisted, and the blade slid free.

Now Torp curled outside the circle, grabbing his ankle, calling for help as Crey got the shotgun from Perry. He heard him tell Perry, “We’re doing this like we said. We’re doing this fair.” He pushed Torp with his boot. “Get your ass back in there.”

Then there were headlights coming toward them, and Crey stopped prodding Torp, and Perry ignored the lights. He quickly stripped off his shirt, picked up a knife, and moved into the light in front of Marquez. Marquez watched the way he crabbed and moved forward and knew he was in trouble.

“You’re gone,” Perry said and moved sideways, was trying to grab the chain, then tried to step on it. The knife snicked off the hood, and a horn sounded, and Ludovna’s car drove into the clearing. He drove straight at Perry, who dove out of the way. Ludovna hit the brakes and jumped out of the driver’s side with a gun aimed at Crey.

“What did I tell you?” He kept the gun on Crey. “Come here. Unlock him.”

Crey didn’t argue, leaned over near Marquez’s ankle, and freed the cuff.

“You, come here,” Ludovna said to Perry, and, to Marquez’s surprise or maybe because Perry was too far from the shotgun, he came over. He stood near Crey, and Marquez edged away from both. There was something more to happen here. Ludovna had Crey toss the keys to the Blazer to him, and he swung the gun over at Marquez.

“Don’t move any farther.”

The gun swung toward Torp and Perry.

“The fucking detective came to my house today.”

He pointed the gun at Torp’s head, and Marquez knew one of the team had to have followed the Blazer and must have seen Ludovna’s headlights come down here.

“He came to my house asking about Sherri who used to come see me.” He waved the gun toward Torp and Perry again. “These fucks killed her. He’s got murder warrants. They sold her car, and no one told me.” He stared at Crey. “You know what you’re going to do now. You come here. The rest of you lie down.”

Marquez didn’t lie down, knew where this was going and knew it was going to happen fast. Crey had the boat, and he’d borrowed money from Ludovna, so it wasn’t easy to get rid of him. He had a future utility. But not the rest of them, not Torp, Perry, or himself.

“Let me talk to you alone,” Marquez said.

“Get the fuck down.”

He pointed the gun toward Marquez, fired wide, and Marquez didn’t move. Ludovna walked toward him, closing the distance, pointing the gun at his head, Marquez speaking quietly as he got close.

“I’ll do it,” Marquez said. “I know what needs to be done. They were going to kill me so I have no problem with it. Get my gun back and give me the keys to the Blazer, then leave, and I’ll deal with it.”

“Get down! Get the fuck down!”

Marquez pointed at Crey.

“He won’t do it, but I will.” Marquez whispered. “Tell him and see what happens. He’ll make an excuse. He’ll argue with you.”

Ludovna’s eyes narrowed. “Richie, come here.”

Ludovna stepped away with him. They talked, and Ludovna kept the gun aimed at Perry. Then Crey retrieved Marquez’s gun and the shotgun. He handed Ludovna Marquez’s gun and the Blazer keys. He leaned the shotgun against Ludovna’s car. Marquez knew Crey had a handgun as well, but this was the boldness of Ludovna. He had Crey stand next to him, then handed Marquez his gun and pointed at Perry and Torp.

Now, Marquez walked them out at gunpoint toward the darkness of the vines. Torp had to lean into Perry. He could barely walk and left a trail of blood. He whimpered in pain, and any second Marquez expected Perry to shove him away and run. He figured Perry was waiting to get outside the headlights.

“No farther,” Ludovna called.

But Marquez pushed Perry, said very quietly, “Don’t say anything. Do exactly what I say and maybe there’s a way out of this. Lay down.”

He brought the butt of the gun down across the back of Perry’s head and clubbed Torp to his knees, then kicked him in the head and fired a shot into the dirt an inch from Torp’s ear. He blocked Ludovna’s view and brought the gun down hard on Torp’s scalp. He made sure Torp bled enough to look like he’d been shot.

“Making it real,” he whispered to Perry. “You’ve got to look dead,” and brought the gun down as hard as he could against Perry’s skull, fired twice near him.

Behind him Ludovna’s car started. Its headlights shined this direction, suddenly brightening the ground, lighting the bare vines. Marquez turned to Crey walking toward him, carrying the shotgun, coming out to kill me, he thought. He saw Crey start to raise the gun, and Marquez shot him first. Crey’s shotgun discharged and the blast went high as Crey fell. When he did, the Cadillac backed up fast but didn’t leave yet. The passenger window lowered, and Ludovna watched as Marquez walked up to where Crey lay on his back. He leaned over him and fired twice. He stared at Ludovna and yelled at him, waved the gun.

“Get out of here,” he yelled. “I did it, now get out of here.”

And he watched Ludovna drive away. He walked back to Crey, who’d been hit high on the shoulder and already lost a lot of blood. He staunched Crey’s bleeding, found a cell phone in the Blazer, and got a hold of a Sacramento County dispatcher. He held Perry and Torp at gunpoint as Roberts and Cairo made their way to him. They’d been on foot less than half a mile away when the gunfire started. They cut through the vines to where he was, and Marquez told them the new plan.

Sacramento County deputies took charge of the Chevy Blazer, and two ambulances followed police cruisers out the vineyard road. They took Crey out first, loaded Torp into the second ambulance, and Selke confirmed that Ludovna had returned to his house. An unmarked had picked him up as he came through the delta. He showed Selke where the fight had gone down in the clearing and then made his proposal as they drove away.

Down the highway they pulled off on another road, and Marquez waited with Shauf, Roberts, and Cairo. Cairo found him a sweatshirt. They all waited as Selke talked to his captain and ran the idea by him. He was a long time on his phone in his car. Then he walked back to where they were standing.

“You’re insane,” Selke said, “but my captain is willing to go along with your idea. We’ll call the Sac Bee and the TV stations, but there’s no guarantee. They don’t like this kind of stuff because they think it makes them look bad later, and we can’t just lie to them. Also, no one is going to hold the story forever so it’ll all have to go down fast, but everyone agrees it’s worth a try. You really think Ludovna was upset over La Belle?”

“I think so, but I think the real reason was you coming after them with murder warrants. He’s afraid some part of it will reach him. If Crey had killed me I think he would have shot Crey. Right now he’s probably thinking about how to deal with me. What’s going to happen with Crey, Perry, and Torp?”

“Well, it’s interesting. I called the Feds, and they’ve got a way to treat them and keep them away from phones and anybody they can talk to. They’re suddenly very interested in what Ludovna’s doing.”

“Get the TV stations to go along, and I think it has a chance of working. Ludovna has the TV on all the time.”