Metro Girl (Alex Barnaby 1)

This was a flat-out lie. I trusted Salzar less than I trusted Slick. And I had no intention of handing a deadly chemical bomb over to possible terrorists.

“Gonna call your bluff on that, Barney,” Slick said.

“You’re not going to help me?”

“I am helping you. I just can’t do it your way. You need a little patience here. And you really need to turn that item over to me. And I’m also assuming you have the gold?”

I disconnected, immediately left the lot, crossed over the Miami River, and drove west. I didn’t think there was much showing in the photo other than the trunk and the bomb, but I wasn’t risking getting caught becau

se Slick identified a corner of the church.

I found a small bakery parking lot off Seventh and hid between two other cars. I ran into the bakery and got a bag of doughnuts and a large coffee. I ate a doughnut, drank some coffee, and called Judey.

“I think I found Bill and Hooker,” I told Judey. “I’m pretty sure they’re being held in one of those condemned houses in Northwest. I checked it out this morning, and it looks like they’re being guarded by two guys. I can’t see in the house at all because it’s all boarded up, but two guys went in at seven and two guys came out and drove away.”

“Let me guess…you want to rescue Bill and Hooker?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m in. Do you have a plan? Are we gonna do a SWAT thing and kick some ass? What do you need?”

Good thing I watch a lot of television. If it wasn’t for television I wouldn’t have any ideas at all. Sometimes I worried that I didn’t have a single thought in my head that wasn’t already a cliché.

It was almost noon, and I was sitting in a Pizza Time parking lot. Judey and Brian were with me. Judey was holding a small vial. Brian was in attack-dog mode, alert at the back window.

“It would have been much easier if you’d wanted an erection extender,” Judey said. “Everyone’s got that. Fortunately, I happen to know a pharmacist who works out of the trunk of his car. Of course he works at night, so I had to wake him up, but I got just what we need. And he gave me instructions on use. Five drops per piece of pizza will render the diner unconscious in less than five minutes and have him sleeping for over an hour. It’s the date rape drug of choice when you’re in a hurry.”

I dialed the Pizza Time number off the box top I’d gotten out of the Dumpster. “I want to check on a pizza order,” I said. “It’s going to 9118 NW Seaboard.”

“Is that a large pie, peppers, onions, sausage, extra cheese?”

“That’s the one. I want to pick it up instead of having it delivered.”

“You got it. Five minutes.”

A woman walked by the car. She had a mixed breed on a leash, and the dog was walking placidly beside her. Brian was nuts in the backseat, bouncing around, clawing at the window.

“Arf, arf, arf, arf.”

Judey took a spice cookie out of his pocket. “If you’re a good doggie I’ll give you some cookie,” Judey said. “Does ’ou wanna spice cookie? Does ’ou? Does ’ou?”

Brian stopped arfing and sat at attention, ears up, body vibrating, totally focused on the cookie. His eyes were so wide they were surrounded by white and looked like they might roll out of his head.

Judey held the cookie out and Brian lunged for it. Snap! The cookie broke into about twenty pieces, and Brian was nuts again, tracking the cookie pieces.

“He really likes spice cookies,” Judey said.

There were two Pizza Time delivery cars parked in reserved slots by the back door. They were old Ford Escorts that had been painted pink with powder blue palm trees, and PIZZA TIME was written in fluorescent green all over the cars.

“I could use one of those cars,” I said to Judey.

“That shouldn’t be a problem for you,” Judey said. “You and Bill have been stealing cars since you were ten years old.”

“Not stealing. Borrowing. And I only borrowed cars from the garage.”

I turned the key in the rental and pulled it up into the slot next to the Pizza Time car. I left the rental, walked into Pizza Time, and picked up my pizza and soda. I rushed back to Judey, and we very carefully lifted the cheese and added five knockout drops to each piece of pizza.

The driver’s side door to the Escort was unlocked. I got in with my nail file and had the car running in less than two minutes.