Blood Money (14 page)

That was fine with Kelton. As long as she
wasn’t asking questions, he was a happy man.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

They stopped at a tiny hole-in-the-wall
Chinese restaurant a few miles east of Riverside for some lunch.
Kelton had chosen the place simply because of its size; there were
only eight tables in the whole place, making it easy to keep track
of any new customers arriving after they sat down.

After sitting at a table in the back corner
and ordering their food from a Chinese man that resembled Yoda,
Kelton excused himself and headed towards the bathroom.

He’d figured a restaurant this small would
have a single-inhabitant bathroom, but he was mistaken. Inside was
both a urinal and a stall. The door had no lock. Undeterred, he
entered the stall and pulled the cell from his pocket. In order to
keep up appearances, he dropped his pants to his ankles and sat on
the toilet before dialing Walter’s number.

The old man answered on the first ring. They
again ran through the all-clear signal, then Kelton said:

“All right, Walter. What the hell is going
on?”

“You’re being watched.”

“By who?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Walter said. “But
we have to assume it’s the Feds.”

“I thought you said that as of this morning,
they were still looking for us down south?”

“According to my contacts, they were.”

“Then how did they find us up here?”

“Either my source was led astray—which is
not very likely—or the people who are currently following you are
part of a different group, one that is operating outside of the
sphere of influence of my contacts.”

“I thought your connections ran deep,”
Kelton said.

“They do,” Walter replied. “Unfortunately,
they don’t run real wide.”

Kelton closed his eyes, took a deep breath.
“But you’re sure there is someone out there.”

“Positive,” Walter said. “I watched as they
followed you from the mall to the warehouse. Three vehicles,
working in tandem. They set up a perimeter around your location
after you came to ground.”

“Why didn’t they come and pick us up while
we were in the warehouse?” Kelton said. “We were sitting ducks in
there.”

“They were waiting.”

“For what?”

“Me.”

“Why were they waiting for you?”

“Not me specifically,” Walter said. “But the
person you were going to meet at the warehouse.”

“But how did they know that I was meeting
someone?”

“It’s obvious, based on your actions over
the course of the last twelve hours.”

“Maybe,” Kelton said. “Or maybe they’ve been
listening to our phone conversations the whole time.”

“Again with the phone?” Walter said. “I told
you, it’s secure. You have to trust me on this. They cannot hear
what we’re saying to each other.”

“Fine,” Kelton said. “I’ll stop bringing up
the phone. But if it’s so damned secure, then how the hell are
these guys able to keep up with us?”

“The only thing I can figure is that they’ve
been following you since you pulled our friend out of the safe
house.”

Kelton was shaking his head. “That’s
impossible. Even if they did follow us to my house, our little trek
through Balboa Park would have shaken them loose.”

“Unless they planted a bug at some
point.”

“No way,” Kelton said. “The opportunity
hasn’t been there.”

“Yes it has.”

“When?”

“Back at the safe house,” Walter said.
“Before you picked Jessica up.”

Kelton uttered a humorless laugh. This was
starting to get ridiculous.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,”
Walter said.

“Where did they put it?” Kelton said. “We’ve
ditched every piece of clothing she was wearing when I picked her
up. Everything except—” He stopped in mid-sentence, shook his
head.

“Except what?”

“Her goddamned shoes,” Kelton said.

“Fifty bucks says you find a bug in the
sole.”

Kelton closed his eyes, pinched the bridge
of his nose. “So that means this whole situation was a set-up since
the beginning?”

“Since they had her in their custody, yes. I
figure after they picked her up, they realized she’d be perfect
bait to draw out whomever was assisting her. So they bugged her and
leaked her location through the same channels that allowed me to
contact her initially.”

“And you had no idea about any of this when
you sent me to go get her?”

“None whatsoever,” Walter said. “I only grew
suspicious after your little mishap down in San Diego. While
probing around for information, I became aware of the possibility
that something bigger may be going on than I initially had thought.
So I set up this little charade today to determine whether or not
you were, in fact, being followed. Which, as it turns out, you
were.”

Kelton closed his eyes, took a deep breath.
“So what happens now?”

“First, take care of the bug,” Walter said.
“Then lose your followers. After you’re certain you are alone
again, give me a call, and we’ll set up another rendezvous. But
remember, watch what you say at all times. You still have to assume
they can hear you under any normal circumstances.”

“All right,” Kelton said. “But I can’t
guarantee that I’ll be using this cell next time I call you.”

“No problem. Whatever phone you call from,
just use the all-clear and I’ll know it’s safe to talk.”

Kelton pushed the END button on the phone
but didn’t put it away. He stared at the stall door for a few
seconds, trying to decide whether or not he trusted Walter’s
assurances that the cell phone was safe.

He quickly realized that if it wasn’t safe,
the Feds would be shutting him down any moment now; saying anything
more on the phone wouldn’t endanger him any further. So he brought
up an old friend’s number from his mental rolodex and started
dialing the number.

He had punched four of the digits into the
phone when the bathroom door opened.

Kelton froze in mid-dial. He stared at the
little gap between the door of the stall and its partition,
listening as the footsteps of his new co-inhabitant grew closer.
With every step, he grew more certain that the phone wasn’t safe,
that whomever had been following them had heard his conversation
with Walter, and they were going to pull the plug on the whole
charade.

He was preparing himself for this
inevitability when the footsteps stopped. There was a brief pause,
and then came the unmistakable sound of someone urinating.

Kelton realized he’d been holding his
breath, and let it out quietly.

He cast his gaze down and to his right.
There was a space between the bottom edge of the stall and the
floor, and from his angle, Kelton could see the right shoe of the
man peeing next to him. It was a shiny black Rockport.

The man finished up, flushed the urinal,
washed his hands, and left the bathroom.

Kelton waited a moment then finished
dialing. The other line was picked up during the third ring.

“Who the hell is this?” said the deep
baritone voice of Dave Willis.

“Hey Willis. It’s Kelton.”

“Kelton! Good to hear from you. It’s been a
while.”

“Yes it has.”

“Where are you calling from?”

“A friend’s cell phone,” Kelton said.

“You, on a cell? I thought you hated those
things.”

“It wasn’t my choice, believe me.”

“Oh, I do,” Willis said. “So what can I do
for you on this fine afternoon?”

Kelton paused. He was reluctant to discuss
details over the phone, but considering the situation, he couldn’t
think of any viable alternatives. “I need to slip some
surveillance.”

Willis replied without missing a beat.
“Electronic or eyeball?”

“Both.”

“And I assume you need to lose them
simultaneously?”

“Yes,” Kelton said. “Preferably without
letting them know something is going on.”

“I figured that was a given,” Willis said.
“Do you know how many people are involved on their end?”

“Not exactly,” Kelton said. “But I have
reason to believe that the number is relatively small.”

“Small enough to overpower them with sheer
numbers?”

“Most likely.”

“Then we’ll use that to our advantage,”
Willis said. “Do you know how they’re tracking you?”

“Through a transmitter planted in my
partner’s shoe.”

“So you’ll need a new pair when you ditch
the old ones,” Kelton said.

“That’s right.”

“What size?”

“Women’s size 9.”

“I’ll pick some up for your friend,” Willis
said.

“Actually, why don’t you pick up a pair for
me too,” Kelton said. “Men’s 12. And two sets of new clothes, one
for each of us, just to be safe.”

“No problem. I assume you’ll need a new set
of wheels also?”

“Yes we will.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Kelton said.
“Anything else?”

“Not off the top of my head.”

“When do you want to do this thing?”

“Tonight.”

“What time?”

“That’s up to you,” Kelton said. “How soon
can you have it set up?”

“A few hours.”

“All right,” Kelton said. “I’ll call you
back at six o’clock to see how it’s coming.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Kelton flipped the phone shut, then stood,
pulled his pants up, flushed the toilet, washed his hands, and
walked back out into the restaurant.

As he headed towards the table, he noticed
that the restaurant had gained a few customers. When he’d entered
the bathroom, four of the tables had been sitting empty, but now
there was only one unoccupied. Of all the new customers, Kelton
keyed in on one specifically; a bald, 40-year old, well-groomed man
in a polo shirt and khakis, sitting two tables away from
Jessica.

Kelton let his eyes skitter down towards the
man’s feet and saw a pair of shiny black Rockports.

While this certainly didn’t guarantee the
bald man was an agent, it did raise Kelton’s suspicions. While in
the bathroom, he had been contemplating letting Jessica in on what
was going on, but considering the circumstances of the last couple
minutes, the decision was clear. For now at least, Jessica would
have to continue to remain in the dark.

She was glaring at him as he sat down. It
was obvious she thought something was going on behind her back.
“You were in there quite a while. Everything come out all
right?”

“Just fine,” Kelton said. He put the napkin
in his lap, pulled his chopsticks apart, rubbed them together to
knock off any splinters, and shoved a pile of noodles into his
mouth.

Jessica was still looking at him intently.
She wasn’t showing the slightest amount of interest in her food.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Kelton swallowed, washed his food down with
a drink of water. “About what?”

“About what’s going on.”

“I already told you. Nothing’s going on. Now
eat your food before it gets cold.”

Jessica closed her eyes, took a deep breath
and exhaled slowly. Eventually, she started eating.

“So what’s the plan for the rest of the
day?” Jessica said. They were back in the car, heading west on I-91
towards Orange County.

Kelton opened his mouth but Jessica jumped
in before he could say anything.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “Let me guess.
We’re going to go to a hotel and sit around on our asses until you
hear from Walter, after which, you’ll jump up and run to wherever
he tells you, where we’ll sit around some more until he tells you
he’s not coming, and then we’ll leave and go through the entire
scenario again.”

“I take it you’re not happy with the way the
situation is being handled.”

Jessica glared at him. “You think?”

“Do you have an alternate course of action
in mind?”

“No,” Jessica said. “But I do think we need
to take more control of the situation. Not just jump when Walter
says to. Maybe we should decide on a place to meet and wait for him
to show up, not the other way around.”

“That’s a grand idea and all,” Kelton said,
“But he’s the one that got this operation up and running, which
means he’s the one that gets to call the shots.”

“But we’re the ones that are taking the
risks.”

“That’s true,” Kelton said. “But he’s paying
me well to take those risks. I knew what I was getting into before
I agreed to do this job.”

“Maybe you did, but I sure as hell
didn’t.”

“No, but you’re the one that got yourself
picked up and put in federal custody,” Kelton said. “If it wasn’t
for Walter, you’d be sitting in some cell somewhere, begging for
them not to throw you in jail for the next ten years. So I’d stop
complaining about the way things are being handled if I were
you.”

Jessica sighed, dropped her gaze. “You’re
right. I appreciate everything he’s done, I really do. It’s just .
. . I don’t know, I’m just not used to this kind of stress. I think
it’s starting to get to me.”

“That’s understandable,” Kelton said. “And
don’t worry, it’ll be over soon. In the meantime, I think I know
something that will loosen you up a bit.”

“Oh yeah? What?”

“You’ll see.”

“Don’t give me that crap,” Jessica said.
“What do you have in mind?”

Kelton looked at her, flashed a brief grin.
“We’re going to Disneyland.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jessica
said.

They had parked the car on the fourth level
of the massive Disneyland parking structure and were riding the
lengthy escalator down to the tram that would transport them to the
main gate.

“Sure,” Kelton replied. “Why wouldn’t it
be?”

Jessica looked around to make sure nobody
else was within earshot. Apparently satisfied the coast was clear,
she said, “Because half the state is looking for us right now.”