Joseph Finder - Power Play

She watched me evenly, her face a mask of calm.

Buck shook his head, cocked the revolver. "Russell warned me you might be trouble."

I put my hands up in surrender.

"Jesus, Landry," Ali said. "I thought Russell cut him in."

Remarkable how calm she sounded-annoyed, even.

"Not in front of the others," I said. Her poise steadied me.

"Don't move," Buck said.

I ducked my head, said quietly, "You telling me Russell didn't let you in on our deal?"

"I told you, don't move."

I took a step forward. We were now maybe six or eight feet apart. "Can we take this out in the hall?"

"Maybe Russell wanted to cut him out," Ali said. She winced involuntarily as he squeezed her neck.

I was close enough now to smell his oniony foulness, the wood fire on his clothes. "I really don't want to talk in front of the others."

"The hell you talking about, cut me out?" Buck said.

"Why the hell do you think they even brought me here," I said.

Another step. I looked up. "Because I'm the treasury guy. The operations guy. Hammond Aerospace is a company with billions of dollars in cash, and I'm the only guy who can tap into it. That's why Russell told his brother to cut me loose. He didn't fill you in? Unbelievable."

"Russell-?" That giant steel cannon of a gun was still pointed at the middle of my chest. Buck was listening now, but he was also prepared to shoot at any moment.

I took another step closer.

"I don't know how much they're paying you, Buck, but it's chump change compared to what Russell and his brother are taking."

His expression was guarded, but you couldn't miss the glimmer of interest, of greed.

"It's not just that you're getting the short end of the stick," I said very quietly. "You don't even know how long the stick really is."

"What're they getting?" he asked.

One more step. We were right next to each other now, so close that I could smell his chewing-tobacco breath. "This has got to stay between you and me," I said in a voice that was barely audible. "I mean it." My head was down, my chin on my chest. I noticed the dried mud on the laces and the soles of his boots.

"What kinda money we talking?" Buck demanded. "I want to know."

I dipped my knees slightly, but not so much that he'd notice. My back was rounded, my stomach muscles contracted.

"Why don't you tell me," I whispered.

I didn't care what he said, just so long as he opened his mouth, parted his jaws.

"Tell you-?" he began, and then I uncoiled, exploded upward, the top of my head slamming under his chin with a sudden violent force.

His teeth cracked together so loud it sounded like the snapping of bone. He made a weird uhhh sound as he tumbled backwards, sprawled onto the floor with a loud thud. His Ruger crashed to the floor alongside him.

The impact had sent a jolt of pain through my skull, but it was surely nothing compared to what Buck felt the instant his teeth smashed together.

Ali gasped as she pulled free of his grip. Someone behind me cried out, then a few more. Buck was unconscious. That I hadn't expected: I'd thought I might knock him off-balance long enough to grab his gun. Maybe my skull had struck some bundle of nerves underneath his jaw or in his throat.

"My God, Landry," Ali said. "Where the hell did that come from?" She was looking at me with a peculiar combination of gratitude and respect and, I think, fear.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"But what you did just now-how did you-?"

"I don't know," I said.

But of course I did.

A few weeks after I'd finished serving out my sentence at Glenview, I appeared before the Family Court judge, at the advice of my Legal Aid lawyer, to request that my records be sealed. Otherwise the crime would follow me for the rest of my life.

The Honorable Florence Alton-Williams regarded me over her tortoiseshell half glasses. "Well, young man," she said in her stern contralto. "Your record at Glenview was impeccable. The warden's report on your conduct was simply glowing."

Of course it was. Neither he nor the superintendent wanted trouble from me; they didn't want any more details about Pee Wee's death to see the light of day.

"Looks to me like the right wolf won," she said.

I didn't reply.

Swooping down to retrieve Buck's stainless-steel Ruger, I tucked it into the waistband of my pants. Then I turned around to face the roomful of my fellow hostages. Everyone was awake now.

"You goddamned idiot," Kevin Bross said, even before I could speak. "As soon as Russell sees this, he's going to start picking us off-"

"That's why I need help moving this guy," I said.

Some looked at me blankly; some looked away.

"Come on. Anyone. Upton, you're a strong guy. I'll cut you loose."

"I'm sorry, Jake. Those guys are going to be back any second," Barlow said.

"Come on, Landry, let's go," Ali said. She stood at the edge of the room, held her hands out to me. "Slice these ropes off me."

"No. They'll notice you gone right away. Someone else. Paul, you know the layout of this place better than anyone. You'll know where to stash this guy."

"I'm in no shape," the manager said.

"How about your son? Ryan?"

Ryan shot me a frightened look, but his father spoke up for him: "It's a suicide mission."

"This asshole's going to get us all killed," Bross said.

"How about you, Clive?" I said.

Rylance shook his head. "It's madness, Jake."

"Come on," I said to the rest of the room. "Someone? Anyone? Do I have to do this myself? Any of you guys?"

Silence.

"Damn it," I said, and turned to deal with Buck's body myself.

"You got yourself into this," I heard Bross say. "Try and get yourself out of it. What the hell did you think you were going to do-sneak out of here? Save your ass?"

I turned slowly. "Trying to save all of our asses, Kevin," I said. "Because if you think just sitting here and being good boys and girls is going to save us, you're wrong. We have to get help."

"That's exactly what got Danziger and Grogan killed."

"Wrong. Russell killed them because they'd figured out who he is. Somehow he found that out-they could identify him. And I'll tell you something else: Grogan was the only one who knew our bank account numbers. Which means Russell's not going to get his money. And you want to guess what Russell's going to do when he doesn't get his money, Kevin?"

Bross's crooked mouth hung open in disgust. "Why is anyone even listening to this moron? He's got his head up his ass."

"No," said Cheryl quietly. "He's got guts. Unlike some of us here."

"Jake," Barlow said, "we're totally isolated here. There's no way to reach anyone anyway."

I shook my head. "There's a couple of possibilities. But I really don't have time to explain. I have to get this guy out of here. So all I ask of the rest of you is to cover for me. When they ask what happened to Buck, all you know is that he said something about being freaked out by the shootings, how he didn't want to go to jail for the rest of his life. You don't know anything more. And if they notice I'm gone, too, I said I had to take a piss, and I couldn't wait. That's all you say, okay? Nothing else."

I looked around the room. "But it only takes one of you to say something different, and we're all going to pay the price." I looked directly at Bross. "So even if you think I have my head up my ass, don't screw it up for everyone else. Including yourself, Kevin."

Bodine was nodding. So was just about everyone else, except Bross, who scowled furiously.

"No one's going to screw it up," Hank Bodine said. "Not if I have anything to do with it."

"Thank you."

"No, Jake," he said. "Thank you."