a nice vacation in Thailand, chasing you down. How you doing?’ His tone was relaxed, friendly. ‘You look beat up.’
Aubrey closed her hand over Luke’s arm.
‘I’m okay,’ Eric answered.
‘Where’s your girlfriend, Mr Lindoe?’ Mouser asked.
‘She’s someplace safe. You don’t need to worry about her. She’ll stay quiet about this mess. But Luke Dantry’s gone.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘There’s an alley exit – for maintenance delivery – on the other side of the basement. He went out the door.’
‘Luke Dantry was here?’
‘Yes.’
‘How long ago?’ Mouser was already turning to run.
‘Five minutes. I doubt you’ll catch him.’
Silence again. Luke’s heartbeat rattled like wind in a chimney.
Mouser said, ‘You have a lot of explaining to do. You have our money.’
‘Yes, but I’ve kept it safe for you.’
‘That’s a piss-poor interpretation of the situation,’ Mouser said.
‘I know where the money’s hidden. I’d like to trade that information.’
‘Fine. Trade it for your continued breathing. Where’s our money?’
Eric made no answer – there was only the creaking of the building, its bones settling and stirring, the outside hum of traffic, the distant murmur of voices. Luke could feel Aubrey’s breath against his shoulder.
‘Let’s make a deal,’ Eric said after a deep breath. ‘If I give you the money, then you let me walk away. Because I’m done with the Night Road. I want out.’
Mouser’s voice devolved into a low hiss. ‘We’re not negotiating. You tell me where the money is. Or you die. Five. Four. Three.’
‘Okay. Here’s the deal. Immunity for me and my girlfriend, from Henry, from the Night Road. All I did was cause a hiccup in the plan, just to get my girlfriend back. I give you the money. We walk away from each other. I just want out, free and clear.’
‘Except I need more than the money.’
‘What?’
‘This British woman, this Jane. She’s the Night Road’s enemy,’ Mouser said. ‘We need to find her, find out how she knows about us. Because that’s the ticket – ain’t nobody supposed to know about us, about what we’re planning, about Hellfire.’
‘I have no idea who she is. All I can give you is the money.’ And then the knife twisted. ‘Luke Dantry knows. He’s figured out you’re the people he found for his stepfather. He won’t stay quiet.’
‘We’ll call Henry, we’ll talk to him on the phone together.’
Between the pipes Luke saw Eric sag in relief.
‘Except.’ The word hung in the air like a sword ready to slash. ‘I would like to know a couple of details.’
‘What?’
‘You and your lady friend were on a flight manifest to Thailand. Now. How the hell did that happen if you didn’t get on the plane?’
Eric was silent.
‘You buy a ticket?’
‘Yes. But we didn’t use the tickets.’
‘But you don’t get on the manifest unless you use the ticket. How did you get on that list?’
‘I don’t know. Clerical error. What does it matter?’ A panicky edge touched Eric’s voice.
‘It matters. Somebody’s trying very hard to protect you, Eric. Somebody with the rather impressive power to alter a flight manifest. Tell me who’s protecting you, Eric.’
The silence from Eric told Luke that Mouser had hit a nerve, had seen the key in Eric’s deceptions. Finally Eric said, hoarse: ‘No one’s trying to protect me.’
‘You cut a deal with someone else. Maybe with someone powerful who’d hide you if you betrayed the Night Road, whispered all our secrets in their ear. Maybe let you keep a chunk of our fifty million.’
‘No.’ But Eric, pushed to the limit, sounded as though he were about to cry.
‘Did that same someone powerful offer a deal to Luke Dantry? Does Luke know where the money is?’
‘No.’
‘I want a name, Eric. Who is protecting you?’
‘No one.’
Luke peered through the pipes and saw Mouser toss an object to Eric. Eric caught it deftly in one hand.
‘What’s this?’ Eric asked.
‘PDA with internet capability. I’m assuming you aren’t hauling around fifty million in tens and twenties. You’ve got the money parked in an account somewhere. Prove it to me that you’ve got it, show me the account balance online, and we can deal. Show me the money, bud.’
Eric held the phone, looked at the screen. ‘I… I…’
‘What are you waiting for?’
‘I’m not going to show it to you.’
‘I need proof that you’ve still got the whole fifty million.’
Eric didn’t look over toward Luke but he raised his head with a slow dignity. A decision made. He tossed the phone back to Mouser, who caught it one-handed. ‘I’ve got it all, but I’m not showing you the accounts. I have no reason to lie.’
The sound of the shot was a hard slap in the close air of the basement. Under his hand, clamping over her mouth, Luke felt Aubrey choke down a scream.
‘Not any more,’ Mouser said as a soft eulogy.
Luke did not risk peering through the pipes. He tried to breathe silently, through his mouth. Mouser had killed Eric. Just ten feet away from them.
He heard footsteps. A clanking of metal – the unused basement door. The cool night crept into the basement.
Aubrey pressed her face into her elbow, curled on the concrete.
The door clanged shut. Mouser was in the alley.
The gun. Eric still had his gun. In his jacket.
Luke moved from the web of pipes and didn’t even glance behind at Aubrey.
Eric lay dead on his back, a Rorschach of blood on his forehead. Slackening astonishment on his face.
Luke glanced at the door. It began to push open again. Too soon to be anyone but Mouser.
Luke ran and shoved the door hard, kicking his heels against the concrete floor.
A bullet tore through the thin metal, ricocheting into the air an inch from Luke’s scalp.
He slammed the door fully shut, slid the deadbolt.
Luke was running now, yelling for Aubrey. She crouched, shivering over Eric’s body, her mouth trembling, her skin pale as moonlight. He knelt, grabbed the gun from the jacket, a sheaf of papers, a key ring and cell phone from the pocket. A miniature basketball on the key ring bounced against his palm. Luke grabbed it all, put the gun under his own coat.
Luke and Aubrey ran up the stairs, into the small crowd in the lobby, out into the cool of the wind-blown street. They took a hard left and ran onto the busy sidewalk. Cars zoomed past, headlights painting them in whites.
It would only be a minute before Mouser was on the street.
People crammed the sidewalks, thronging from the restaurants and stores. Luke and Aubrey ran and he looked ahead and to the left, at the upcoming intersection, and he saw Mouser scanning the street, suddenly raising his hand. Running after them. They dashed out onto Armitage Avenue. Mouser closed fast on them.
In the street they were caught in a wash of lights, a roaring peal of brakes. A Chicago Transit Authority bus honked, veering to avoid Luke and Aubrey. He saw the lighted windows of the bus, commuters standing and sitting,
