Rene and her two goons didn’t hit the condo first. I’m hoping Deke made enough noise they didn’t want to attract attention. Are you okay, Rach?” Nick took the weapon from her carefully.
“I’m okay.” Rachel hugged Jean to her.
In the condo, Deke was waiting for them in full wild dog mode. He streaked out past them and down the steps to the grass below.
“Apparently Deke is okay.” Nick patted Jean’s shoulder. “You two go on in, and I’ll bring Deke when he finishes his business. I’m going to call and disturb Gus too. He won’t be happy.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Nick used the time waiting for Gus to clean up what he could with bleach and cold water. He played Frisbee with Deke, covering for his outdoor cleanup activities in case someone came by. Gus arrived, armed and ready.
“Look after Jean. I’ll go find out if we need to worry about other unexpected visitors. What do you have?” Nick asked, noticing Gus was clutching something under his loose parka.
“Uzi.”
“That’ll work.” Nick used the remote on Santora’s keys to find out which car was hers. “Send Rachel down, Gus. Deke, go with him.”
Deke followed Nick’s gesture and padded up the steps after Gus, Frisbee in mouth. A couple minutes later, Rachel hurried down the steps to where Nick waited next to the Escalade.
“Are you sober enough to drive?”
“I am now,” she answered. “And I brought my license with me.”
“Follow me in the Escalade with Rene’s Volvo. It’s the black one over there.” He pointed and handed her the keys. “When we get to the warehouse area, turn out your lights. Stay close behind the Cad, but not so close you’ll run into me when I stop. I’ll be going slow.”
“Sorry about all this, Nick.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. Let’s go see if we have anything else to worry about. If not, we’ll correct our error. I wish you didn’t have to go along, but I need Gus to look after Jean, just in case.”
“I know. I’ll be right behind you.”
Forty minutes later, Nick had finished positioning the two dead men in the front seat of the Volvo. He walked around the Volvo to where Rene Santora lay against the driver’s side rear tire. Nick propped her up, taking the stungun from his back pocket. Her eyes widened as she moaned and shook her head vehemently back and forth.
“Here’s a little sample of what happens if I don’t get answers to the questions I have for you, Rene.” He gave her a short jolt. It was enough to make the woman convulse, smashing her head back into the Volvo's rear quarter panel.
He revived her with gentle slaps to the face with his gloved right hand. When she groaned, Nick grabbed her chin, shaking it gently.
“You awake, Rene? Nod your head in my hand if you are.”
She nodded.
“Who thought of the idea to come over and try for the flash drives, Rene?”
Nick peeled the tape off her mouth.
“Mine…honest to God,” she blubbered, her sobs bordering on hysteria. “My boss…he’d kill me if he found out I let your bitch get in and take the drives.”
“Who do you work for?” he asked as a test.
“I…I get paid by two different firms, Tanus Import/Export…and Fletcher Exports.”
“Give me the name from each firm you would call boss.”
“You’ll kill me anyway…you sadistic bastard! I’m -”
Nick gave her a prolonged jolt. Rene ended her convulsions nearly under the Volvo rear wheel, and he sat her up once more. After a few moments, he shook her chin again, focusing the woman’s attention.
“It’s only around one in the morning, Rene. That gives me quite a bit of time to help you remember.”
“Jason…Jason Bidwell runs Tanus now…and…Max Stoddard at Fletcher!” she gasped out as Nick released her in preparation for another jolt.
“Very good. Now, who are the two guys you brought along with you?”
“They…they worked for Tanus. Their names are Overman…and Sweeney.”
“Why didn’t you just dummy up after my first warning?”
“That was you? I couldn’t…Christ…he told me I had someone watching me at work too. They’d have checked the logs. I talked those two into helping me get the drives. Then we could have dealt with -”
“You should have run, Rene,” Nick interrupted. He put the tape back in place, and pinched off her nose.
Rachel had been dozing in the passenger seat. She jumped in a panic as the driver’s side door opened.
“Easy, Rach,” Nick said soothingly. “It would appear we can stay in Sarasota until I get the Marshalls hooked up with the Benoits. I’ll call Grace in the morning. This all had an upside.”
“What?”she asked skeptically.
“It took your mind off Javier.”
“Javier who?”
“Gus!” Jean called out, running over to hold up a stringer with an eighteen inch bass on it. “Look at the fish I caught!”
Gus walked toward Nick, Rachel, and Jean, with Deke running around his legs in circles as he approached the condo lake front. He took the stringer from Jean with the proper amount of respect.
“Now this is a fish, not one of those guppies Nick’s been pulling out and throwing back.”
“Nice to see you too.” Nick looked over at Gus from where he reeled in his latest cast.
“Hi, Gus,” Rachel greeted him with a wave from where she sat on a lounger in the shade.
“Hey, Danger, where’d you get the new groupie?” Gus pointed at a large blue heron going over to check out Nick’s line whenever he reeled it in.
“That’s Charlie,” Jean answered, returning the stringer to the ice chest. “He showed up when Nick pulled a guppy out.”
“Hey!” Nick argued, gesturing at Jean. “That was a nice fish. Charlie here liked him, right Charlie?”
The heron remained silent, but moved closer as Nick cast again.
“Anyway, Charlie’s been hanging with us ever since I fed him Nick’s guppy,” Jean explained. “He doesn’t even care when Deke’s running around.”
“I can’t believe you’ve enticed ‘Mr. Freeze’ out of the air conditioning for the third straight evening fishing expedition. What’s your secret? He complained so much last night, I almost shot him.”
“Here’s the secret.” Rachel held up a clear mug. “It doesn’t let the beer get warm. You put it in the freezer until it’s time to pour your drink. Some liquid freezes inside of it and doesn’t thaw. Jean and I bought them at the store today.”
“It…it’s a miracle.” Nick pretended to be deeply moved, as he held up his frosty mug.
“We bought you one too.” Jean took another frosty mug out of the cooler. She handed it to Gus along with one of the beers.
“Man, that looks good.” Gus sat down next to Rachel. He poured his beer slowly into the mug and took a sip. “Oh yeah.”
Nick jerked on his pole. It bowed under the strain. Jean ran over immediately, with Deke on her heels. Charlie the heron moved out of Deke’s way as Nick handed the pole to Jean, letting her get a grip first. She played the
