“When poor Ritchy got killed, and we found out Razzle Dazzle was involved, Jason knew he was in danger and had to move. Razzle Dazzle has been chasing after Jason for over a year. There are terrorists who would love to get their hands on Jason. And Razzle Dazzle would deliver Jason to them.”
“I’m confused,” Lula said. “Why did this Razzle guy want the photograph? Why didn’t he just go get Jason?”
“Raz only knows Jason by his electronic imprint. I don’t know what that means. Jason says Raz is like a stupid hacker. Eventually, Raz tracks Jason down, but he doesn’t know his human identity or what he looks like. I think Raz thought Ritchy had a picture of Jason. I don’t think he knew about the code. At least, that’s what Jason thinks. So since Jason had to leave Hawaii anyway, he came home for a couple days to help me get my car and to visit with me. He was supposed to fly out tomorrow, but he got kidnapped.”
My heart did a flip in my chest. “Razzle Dazzle?”
“No. My brother has him. Jason and I were eating dinner, and my asshole brother came in with his two thugs and snatched him. I don’t know how he knew Jason was here. Maybe he heard Sammy the Pig had his car stolen and put it together.”
Okay, I could breathe again. “At least your brother won’t hurt Jason.”
“No, but Chester could hold Jason hostage until he agrees to show him how to hack into who knows what. And then Jason could be implicated in a crime. Or if Jason stays here too long, Razzle Dazzle or the FBI might find him. I thought of you because you grab people all the time. I was hoping you’d help me. I figure Chester has Jason at the warehouse.” Brenda squinted at me through the smoke haze. “What happened to your hair? It’s all flat and back in a ponytail.”
“Rain,” I said. “I got caught in the rain.”
“I didn’t see any rain.”
“It must have been a rogue cloud. It drifted over me and
“So are we gonna stage a big rescue?” Lula asked me. “We goin’ in with guns blazin’? I would have worn my Ranger outfit if I’d known.”
Lula had forsaken the black for gold. Gold tank top, hot-pink short spandex skirt, gold spike-heeled shoes. It was a wonder Razzle hadn’t taken her out with one shot. She made a really good target.
“We’ll go in with guns
“Chester might be a little hardened,” Brenda said.
“You hear that?” Lula said to me. “A little hardened. No telling what we can expect. That means we need to take my Firebird, on account of I got extra ammo in my trunk.”
“Extra ammo might be good,” Brenda said. “You can never have too much ammo.”
We piled into Lula’s Firebird, and I called Ranger when we reached Broad.
“Checking in,” I said to him. “I’m off the radar because I’m in Lula’s car, but I wanted you to know I’m making a sort of mercy illegal capture just north of Bordentown. I might need help.”
“Babe, you’re not off the radar. You’re wearing my watch. I know exactly where you are.”
I looked down at the watch. “I forgot.”
“I’ll have someone follow you. Let me know if you want him to go in.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s good to have a Ranger,” Lula said. “He’s like a personal Spidey.”
Lula hesitated when she got to the Billings warehouse lot. There were two cars parked. One was the bashed-in Lincoln. The other car was a Mercedes. Lights were on inside the building in the office area.
“What’s the plan?” Lula wanted to know. “We can’t be sellin’ Girl Scout cookies out here. Girl Scouts are supposed to be in bed by now.”
“Park at the back edge, where the Firebird won’t be so visible,” I told her. “We’ll try the front door. If that doesn’t work, we’ll see if we can get in through the loading dock.”
Lula parked, and we all got out.
“Hold on,” Lula said. “I’ll get my ammo.”
I pulled my Glock out of my bag. “I really don’t think we need extra.”
“Yeah, but this is good,” Lula said, opening her trunk.
I looked inside and stopped breathing for a beat. “That’s a rocket launcher!”
“Yep,” Lula said. “It’s the big boy. I got it at a yard sale in the projects. It’s loaded for bear, too. See that mother stuck onto the end of it? It goes
“No rocket launchers!” I told her. “Absolutely no rocket launchers. This isn’t Afghanistan.”
“We don’t have to use it,” Lula said. “We just knock on their door and show them this bitch. Then they wet their pants and hand over Jason.”
“It could work,” Brenda said. “I almost wet my pants seeing it in the trunk.”
She had a point. I had to admit, I had a moment when I first saw it, too. “I guess it might be okay, as long as we only use it to scare them.”
“Show-and-tell,” Lula said.
Lula shouldered her rocket launcher. I had my hand wrapped around my Glock. And Brenda had her cute little girl gun. We marched up to the front door of Billings Gourmet Food, and I tried the doorknob. Locked. We circled the building and tried the loading-dock gates and the roll-up garage doors. All locked.
“I’m not going home without Jason,” Brenda said. “I’m going in.”
“Me, too,” Lula said. “I’m right behind you.”
“How are you going in?” I asked them.
Brenda set off for the office entrance. “The front door. I’m going to ring the bell and ask for Jason.”
“And if they won’t give him to us, I’ll shoot a rocket up their ass,” Lula said, following her.
I had to run to catch up, and I checked the parking lot on the way. I didn’t see a Rangeman vehicle. Not good, I thought. This smelled like disaster.
Brenda went straight to the door and put her finger to the bell. After a couple minutes, the door opened and Lancer looked out.
“Oh shit,” Lancer said.
He tried to close the door, but I already had my foot in it.
“Where’s Jason?” Brenda asked. “I want my son.”
“I dunno,” Lancer said. “He’s not here.”
Brenda pushed past him into the office. “Of course he’s here. Where else would he be? My sister-in-law wouldn’t put up with him in her house.”
“Hey,” Lancer said. “You can’t come in here. It’s not office hours.”
Lula shoved past him, close on Brenda’s heels. “S’cuse us. Outta our way.”
Lancer eyeballed the rocket lancher and turned white. “I’m going to have to get tough now. I’m going to have to force you to leave.”
“Do you got one of these babies?” Lula asked him, patting the rocket launcher.
“No.”
“Then how you gonna force us to leave?”
“I have a gun,” Lancer said. And he pointed his gun at Lula.
“I don’t like when people point a gun at me,” Lula said. “It makes me nervous, and it’s rude. Do you see me pointing my rocket launcher at you? I don’t think so.”
“It’s rude to break into people’s private property,” Lancer said.
“It’s rude to kidnap my son,” Brenda said.
We were in a small lobby. A hall led off to the right.
“I bet you have him down here,” Brenda said, moving along the hall, little girlie gun held out in front of her.
Lula followed Brenda. Lancer followed Lula. And I followed Lancer.
Brenda opened a door and looked inside. “Warehouse,” she said. And she moved on.
