'Ten thousand dollars.'
'Five.'
'Okay, five.'
I didn't for a minute think Petiak wouldn't kill me. I was trying to make him feel more comfortable, maybe not keep me on such a short leash. I had the transmitter pen in my pocket. Ranger would wonder why I was at the salvage yard. He'd call Morelli. Morelli or Ranger would discover the car. If I stalled a little, there was a good chance I might not die a hideous flamethrower death. Plus, Morelli had called the Vic into the station. If I was lucky, the police would also show up. And if I kept thinking like this, I might not pass out and throw up from terror. Just focus, I kept saying to myself. Don't panic. Too late. Inside there was panic. A lot of it.
'Where is this salvage yard?' Petiak wanted to know.
'Its at the far end of Stark Street. Rosolli's Salvage.'
We all piled into a black Beemer. Probably not the same one that was in my parking lot because this one had four doors. Dave's partner and Petiak were in front and I was in back with Dave. The flamethrower was in the trunk.
Dave didn't look happy to be sitting next to me.
'So how's it going?' I said to him.
'Shut up,' Dave said.
'What's with the knee brace?'
'You fucking ran over me with your fucking car.'
'Nothing personal,' I said to him.
'Yeah,' Dave said, 'and it's not gonna be personal when we barbecue you.'
THE SALVAGE YARD was surrounded by nine-foot-high steel-mesh fencing. The entrance was gated and locked. I was guessing this was necessary because so many people wanted to steal cars that were squashed until they were only two feet high and had no working parts.
The Beemer pulled up to the gate and stopped.
'How do we get in?' Petiak asked.
'I don't know,' I said to him. 'I've never tried to get into a salvage yard before.'
'Rudy,' Petiak said to Dave's partner, 'take a look.'
Dave's partner was named Rudy. Grade school must have been hell with a name like that.
Rudy got out and looked through the gate to the other side. 'Hey!' he yelled. He turned back to us and shrugged. 'Don’t see anyone.'
'It's pretty big,' I said. 'Maybe there's another entrance.'
Rudy got back behind the wheel and drove down Stark. He followed a side road that curved around the salvage yard and did a complete loop. We didn't see any other entrances.
'This is perplexing,' Petiak said.
'Maybe you don't need the key,' I said. I knew he needed the key. He'd gotten the codes off Dickie and now he needed the key to electronically transfer the $40 million. If he went to Holland to make a personal pickup, he couldn't pass the retinal and hand scan.
'Are you sure the key is in there?' he asked.
'Yep. This is where they took the car.'
'Can you climb the fence?' Petiak asked Rudy.
'Yeah, but there's three feet of razor wire at the top. I'll get torn to shreds. I'll never get over the razor wire.'
'Go back and try the gate. Maybe its open. Maybe there's a call box.'
Rudy went back and rattled the gate and looked around. He returned to the car. 'I don't see anything. It's locked up tight with a padlock. I could get in if I had bolt cutters.'
'Home Depot,' I said.
Petiak cut his eyes to me. 'You know where there's a Home Depot?'
Thirty-five minutes later, we were in the Home Depot parking lot, and I was imagining an elaborate rescue scenario. Ranger had tracked us down at Home Depot, and he was organizing an army to storm the salvage yard once we returned to break in with our newly purchased bolt cutters. Petiak and Dave and I were in the car, waiting for Rudy. No one was saying anything.
Finally, Rudy appeared, striding back to the car. No bolt cutters.
'Now what?' Petiak said.
'They didn't have any bolt cutters,' Rudy told him, angling himself behind the wheel.
'I know where there's a Lowe's,' I said.
Twenty minutes later, we were at Lowe’s. I was loving this. More setup time for Ranger and Morelli. Probably the entire police department and the National Guard were at the salvage yard by now.
Rudy ran into Lowe's and fifteen minutes later came out. No bolt cutters.
'I'm losing patience,' Petiak said. 'Go back to the salvage yard.'
We were now forty minutes away from the salvage yard, and I was thinking it would be good if we could resolve this hostage thing soon because before long I was going to need a bathroom. I'd had a lot of coffee with the doughnuts.
I concentrated on sending Rudy mental messages. Drive faster. Drive faster. Unfortunately, Rudy was having none of it. Rudy wasn't taking a chance on getting stopped by a cop. Rudy was obeying all the rules. After what seemed like hours, we eased up to the salvage yard gate. Still locked. Still no one in sight.
'Ram it,' Petiak said.
'Excuse me?' Rudy said.
'Ram the fucker,' Petiak said. 'Back up and floor it and ram the gate open.'
'It's pretty sturdy,' Rudy said.
Dave was stoic beside me, but I could smell him sweating. Dave was nervous.
'Maybe we should all get out and let Rudy ram the gate by himself,' I said. 'Then we can walk in if it works.'
'We're in this together,' Petiak said. 'Rudy, ram the gate.'
Rudy backed up and idled for a moment. We all sucked in air and held our breath. And Rudy floored it and rammed the gate.
Bang! The gate flew off its hinges, and the front-seat air bags exploded. Dave hadn't been buckled in and was thrown forward, hitting the front seat with a good solid thud. Rudy and Petiak were fighting the air bags. I unbuckled my seat belt, opened my door, and took off.
I ran into the salvage yard, where I imagined I the Marines were waiting. I didn't see any Marines, so I ran as far and as fast as I could. I passed the crusher machine and took the stairs to a grid of catwalks that led to what looked like a boxcar on stilts. I forced the door and went inside and locked the door behind me. I was in the control room for the crusher machine. I looked out, and I could see Petiak and Dave and Rudy walking my way. Petiak was holding the flamethrower and Rudy and Dave had guns drawn.
My heart was beating so hard, it was knocking against my rib cage. No one was here. There weren't even distant sirens. Somehow, the system hadn't work. The pen wasn't sending a signal. Someone was asleep at the switch at RangeMan. Whatever. I was on my own. I frantically looked for a phone, but I was in the throes of blind fear, and I wasn't seeing much of anything. I was trapped in a box. No way to escape. It was only a matter of time.
They were on the stairs-Petiak first, then Rudy, and Dave bringing up the rear. I was pushing buttons and flipping switches, looking for something that would make noise, call the fire department, jettison me out of harm's way.
I was so scared, my nose was running and my eyes were brimming with tears. It was the flamethrower. I'd seen its work. I could still recall the smell of burned flesh. I could see the horrible charred cadavers.
Petiak was on a catwalk, maybe thirty feet off the ground and level with my boxcar control room. I hit a red button and the hydraulics began moving the crusher walls below me. Rudy and Dave were on the stairs approaching the catwalk, and they stopped dead in their tracks, but Petiak was relentless in his mission. I could see him coming. He reached the control room door and tried the knob. The lock held. He stepped back and gave it a blast from the flamethrower. Nothing. It was a steel fire door. For that matter, the entire control room was steel. I was looking at
