Blindside (Michael Bennett 12)

Alice said, “Is this truck safe just sitting here?”

Oscar nodded. “The big sliding door is shut in front of the truck. The trucks usually leave right at eight o’clock in the morning.” He glanced at the shipping document on the casket directly in front of him. “Looks like these are going to a place in Lincoln, Nebraska.”

Janos lifted the lid of a casket. He rubbed his hand along the inside and said, “That’s nice. Silk.” He gestured to Oscar.

Oscar put a hand inside the casket and said, “Nice padding, too.”

Casually Janos pulled the gun from his rear waistband. In a single, smooth motion, he moved it from behind his back and put a bullet into Oscar’s chest. The gunshot echoed in the giant warehouse, booming off the walls.

Oscar stood absolutely motionless. No expression on his face other than a little surprise. The dark stain blossomed on his T-shirt. It spread out and seeped downward. Oscar made one raspy attempt to suck in some air. Then he made a little gurgling sound.

Before Oscar could even flop onto the ground, Janos caught him with his left arm and redirected his weight. He slipped the computer programmer into the casket with hardly a noise.

Oscar was still breathing for a moment inside the casket. A rough rasp that didn’t seem to give him much air. The bullet must have just nicked his heart. Blood was really spreading across his crazy hacker shirt. You couldn’t even read the word democracy through the dark stain.

Blood bubbled up onto Oscar’s lips and suddenly it felt like he understood exactly what was happening. Somehow, through the shock, it had dawned on him that he was inside the casket.

Alice stepped closer. The shot had come so fast that she had been as surprised as Oscar. The noise had barely bothered her as it dispersed across the room. She took a quick look at the floor of the truck to make sure no blood had dripped down.

She also looke

d in the casket and caught the last couple of twitches from Oscar. It was the cleanest shooting she’d ever seen. Even she hadn’t expected it. She was a little disappointed she hadn’t gotten to use her garrote.

On the bright side, it was one more loose end handled. Tomorrow they would go to Brew and see if they could find Jennifer.

The more Alice thought about it, the more she wanted to use her garrote on Jennifer. She didn’t care what Henry thought. Maybe it would teach him to show her some respect.

Besides, it would take away the sting of not being able to use it on Oscar.

Janos carefully closed the casket. Then he took the plastic wrap and ran it around the sides of the four caskets just like on the other pallets.

He looked at Alice as he said, “No one will remember if they wrapped the caskets yet or not. This way, it will be days, maybe weeks, before anyone finds Oscar. By then we’ll be back in Europe collecting a fat paycheck from that asshole Henry.”

Alice liked the sound of that.

CHAPTER 35

IT WAS DARK by the time I got home. But it felt good to shed the stress of the day as I walked through the front door. The place was its usual beehive of activity. I said hello to Mary Catherine and the older kids, who were doing their homework at the dining room table, and it sounded like Ricky was working in the kitchen. No doubt my little chef was making us some kind of Cajun delight. Whatever Emeril Legasse said, Ricky made happen.

Neither Mary Catherine nor I had the guts to tell Ricky we weren’t particularly big fans of spicy Cajun food. But he had a passion, and I intended to support him. Even if it cost me the lining of my stomach as I got older.

I ran over in my head the visit I’d made to Jennifer Chang’s apartment. Something about it still felt odd to me. Indescribable. Just a weird tingling on the back of my neck. Was she trying to avoid me? If that was the case, she wouldn’t have gone back to the apartment above the casket warehouse.

Fiona, Chrissy, Bridget, and Shawna were all huddled around the coffee table in the living room. I walked into the room to a chorus of “Hi, Dad” in unison.

I clapped my hands together as I approached and said, “What have you girls got cooking over here?”

Shawna smiled and said, “Monopoly, and I already have houses on three properties. I also own all four railroads.”

I caressed the cheek of my beautiful daughter. We had no information about her biological parents. When she first came to us, I had assumed both her parents were black. But now, as she got older and her hair fell down in long curls, I suspected she could be half Hispanic. Every one of my kids was as different as could be; even the twins, Fiona and Bridget, had entirely different personalities. It just made our lives that much more interesting and exciting.

I made my way to the computer in the corner of the living room. As usual, Eddie had commandeered it, and we were far enough away from everyone else that no one would hear our conversation.

I tried to sound casual. “What’s going on, buddy?”

“Usual.”

“You follow some of the hackers online, right? I mean, staying up with the trends.”