Неизвестный - 6. Justice For All

“I don’t know. Something’s happening, but I’m not sure what it is.” Michael sighed. “Sloan didn’t tell me, but from the way she’s wound up already, it’s something big.”

“Oh boy,” Sandy said.

“Yes.” Michael squeezed Sandy’s hand. “So, Monday at ten?”

Sandy finished her beer, slid down from the stool, and placed the empty bottle on the counter next to the sink. “Okay. You’ll be there, right?”

“I will. You’re welcome to stay here. I have a feeling Sloan won’t be back for a while.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll hit a few places before I head home. Look up some friends.”

Michael slid her arm around Sandy’s shoulder and walked her to the elevator. “You will be careful, won’t you?”

“Sure. I know what I’m doing.” Sandy kissed her on the cheek.

“No worries.”

For the second time that night, Michael listened to the elevator descend before turning back to her empty apartment.

v

“Yeah,” one of Gregor Zamora’s men said as he answered his cell, turning his wrist to check his watch at the same time.11:15. He’d been sitting in the same position behind the wheel in the cramped front seat of the Dodge sedan for so long his ass was numb.

“See the skinny little blonde headed away down the street?”

“The one that just came out of the building? Yeah, I see her.”

“Follow her.”

“You sure? I can’t see her being any kind of trouble.”

• 84 •

Justice for All

“I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

The line went dead.

“Prick,” the man muttered as he pocketed his keys and slid out of the car. Fucking footwork. At least she had a nice ass, which he kept in his sights as he started after her.

v

“Funny how a slicked-back haircut and getting rid of the tits makes such a big difference,” Watts held forth between slurps of coffee.

“Hell, he even walks different than Mitchell. Must be the package he’s carrying between his legs.”

“Sure. That must be it.” Rebecca checked her rearview mirror, then scanned the street in front of them.

Ziggie’s was a strip joint in the middle of a block of abandoned factories, a darkened Mobil station on the corner, and very little in the way of foot traffic. They’d been in position for two hours, and during that time a dozen cars had parked, disgorging passengers, all men, who straggled alone or in groups into the club. The girls who danced in the dank, cavernous space or performed sexual favors in the airless rooms in the back would use the rear entrance. They hadn’t seen Irina.

“The boy better keep his head on straight,” Watts said.

“Mitch can handle it.” Rebecca knew Watts was partly concerned that Mitch would run into trouble and they’d be too far away to help, and partly jealous that Mitch was point man even though he was still green. But they couldn’t do anything to change either thing, so she focused on something they could affect. “If Clark’s people are here somewhere, I can’t see them.”

“Bet your ass they’re around somewhere,” Watts grunted, crushing the paper cup and dropping it on the floor between his legs. “Clark can pretend he doesn’t have enough manpower to run his own operation, but you can bet he’s got enough to fuck things up for us.”

Rebecca tended to agree. Clark’s modus operandi was to let her people do the dangerous or the boring work while he watched from a distance until something shook loose. Then all of a sudden he and his agents were right in the middle of it. She often wondered whether, if she had the power of his position, she would do the same. She didn’t like to think so.

• 85 •

RADclY fFe

“Let’s hope Irina shows, and that Clark is right about her,” Rebecca said.

“She could be playing him, you know,” Watts said. “Hell, if my choice was being shipped back to some gulag or pretending to work for the feds, I’d volunteer to rat out my fellow sleazeballs too. Doesn’t mean that once she’s out from under Clark’s thumb, she’s really going to do it.”

“I know.” Running a double agent was always a risk, because if they were informing on their one-time friends, they could just as easily turn the tables and betray you. If Irina was double-crossing them, she’d need information to convince the Zamoras and the Russians that she was still on their side. And she’d need to get that information from Mitch.

Rebecca didn’t see that they had any choice except to go forward and hope that Mitch would be able to tell if Irina was stringing him along.

As if reading Rebecca’s mind, Watts said, “I don’t mean to put the boy down, but you heard the two of them over the wire. She can seriously twist Mitch around.” He shifted his bulk and sighed. “She could definitely give me a little wood, and once that happens—”

“Not everyone’s brains are smaller than their dicks, Watts.”

Watts laughed. “Probably a good thing Mitch’s rod isn’t hardwired.”

Rebecca didn’t bother to explain how wrong he was about the way things really worked.

v

“Beer?” the bartender asked as Mitch slid onto a stool and dropped his motorcycle jacket onto the one next to him.

“Sounds good.” Mitch swiveled around to face the stage, putting his back to the bar and the husky blond bartender with muscles bulging beneath his tight white T-shirt. Like every other time he’d been here, a mostly naked girl gyrated in the center of the raised platform, one arm draped around a gleaming pole, her legs spread and her hips cocked, her pelvis an open invitation to the hulking figures lurking in the shadows.

He didn’t recognize her, but then the faces changed frequently in places like this. Women were used up quickly when they were bought and sold like commodities. This one, though, seemed too old to be one of

• 86 •

Justice for All

the Russian girls smuggled in through the port. Mitch felt a flash of disappointment. Maybe the Russians had moved on.

“Here you go,” the bartender said, sliding a bottle in Mitch’s direction.

Mitch caught it and took a swallow. The cold rich flavor felt good in his parched throat. Nerves, he thought. As he took another deep slug, arms came around his waist from behind. He felt the pressure of full breasts against his back and warm breath wafted across his ear.

Fingernails played down his chest and over his abdomen.

“Hello, new boy,” Irina whispered, dropping her hand onto the inside of his thigh.

Swinging back around, Mitch parted his legs and pulled her in tight to his body. He kissed her, taking his time. She pressed slowly into his cock.

Mitch cupped her ass and leaned back with an easy smile. “Hello, baby.”

• 87 •

• 88 •

Justice for All

ChAPTER EIghT

Sandy walked east on Market Street, then cut over to Front Street and the footbridge that arched over the four lanes of Delaware Avenue. Once she reached the other side, there was nothing between her and the river except empty parking lots, darkened buildings, and the occasional attempt at a park meant to tempt tourists. At night, those isolated patches of grass served as sleeping grounds for the homeless.

She walked fast, her shoulders back, her eyes vigilant. The silent, shapeless forms of men and women huddled on the benches and in doorways did not frighten her. The men in cars who slowed to track alongside her as she walked did not frighten her either, but they were far more dangerous to her than the drunk and the disenfranchised. Their whispered calls formed a familiar litany.

“Hey baby, need a ride?”

“I’ve got something special for you, sweet thing. Come take a look.”

“Fifty bucks to suck my cock.”