Blood Money (27 page)

Kelton shook his head. “You’re just messing
with me, aren’t you?”

Jessica’s smirk turned into a full-fledged
grin. “Of course.”

“Why, you crafty little bitch.”

“Yeah, so what’s your point?”

“Only that I can’t wait until this thing is
all over so I can have you all to myself.”

“Yourself?” Jessica said. “What makes you
think I’m going to let you have me to yourself?”

“If not, I’ll just pump you full of drugs
and tie you to the bed.”

She smiled. “I thought we had already
established that was a reward instead of a punishment?”

Kelton returned her grin. “We had.”

“In that case, sign me up.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Kelton followed Walter’s instructions and
they arrived at the end of Frobisher Road. There was nothing but
desert in every direction; the closest bit of civilization was more
than three miles behind them. He pulled to the curb but left the
engine running; even though the sun had started to dip below the
horizon, it was still way too hot to sit around without air
conditioning.

“What now?” Jessica said.

Kelton shrugged. “We wait, I guess.”

“For what?”

“I have no clue.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the
sound of a ringing cell phone reverberated throughout the car.

“Where the hell is it coming from?” Kelton
said.

“It’s over by you somewhere,” Jessica said.
“Check under the seat.”

Kelton reached down, felt around beneath
him, eventually found the source of the ringing. He grabbed the
phone, pulled it out from under the seat, opened it up and brought
it to his ear.

“Hello, my friend,” Walter said. “How are
you doing today?”

“Better than you, old man,” Kelton said
without enthusiasm.

“Oh, I beg to differ.”

“Beg all you want, it won’t change
anything.”

“You were right,” Walter said. “It seems
you’re all alone this time.”

“I told you,” Kelton said.

“Yes you did. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d
like to get this thing over with, once and for all.”

“So would I, my friend. Where are you?”

“In front of you.”

“But there’s nothing but desert out
there.”

“Not exactly,” Walter said. “About two miles
away, there’s the remains of an abandoned resort called The Oasis.
A small-time deal from a couple of years ago that never got off the
ground. The developers finally gave up on it early this year. You
need to drive through desert to get here, but if you travel in a
straight line from where you’re parked, you can’t miss it.”

“How will we find you once we’re there?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Walter said. “Just
park in the middle of the lot in front of the main entrance. I’ll
come to you.”

They drove for nearly five minutes before
The Oasis came into view.

The desert was in the process of reclaiming
the main building, a garish, four story structure that appeared to
be modeled after a cartoon version of the Middle East. Sand was
piled up along the northern side, almost fifteen feet high, and 70
percent of the palm trees had fallen to the ground. An unfinished
wing sat alongside the main building, the steel struts sticking up
into the sky like an upraised middle finger towards the heavens. It
looked as though a cyclone fence had once surrounded the property,
but less than 20% of it still stood.

“What could possibly possess someone to
build this monstrosity way the hell out here?” Jessica said.

“I don’t even want to know,” Kelton
replied.

They drove over one of the fallen sections
of the fence and onto what once had been a paved parking lot, now
only recognizable as such by the series of light fixtures set at
regular intervals. Kelton parked the car, again leaving the engine
running and the lights on. It still wasn’t quite dark, but was
getting there quickly.

“Do you see anyone?” Jessica said.

“No. Do you?”

“Not a soul.”

“I’m going to get out and try to get a
better look,” Kelton said. “Care to join me?”

“I’d love to,” Jessica replied.

Kelton grabbed the phone, stuck it in his
front pocket, then picked up the gun they’d taken from the NDC
agent back at the Cleopatra, double-checked the clip, and shoved it
into the waistband of his jeans, against the small of his back. He
looked at Jessica. “Ready?”

“Let’s go.”

They exited the truck and started walking
towards the front entrance of the resort. The wind was blowing
steadily but not howling, sending pebbles of sand up against the
back of their legs with little force. The closer they got to the
building, the more ridiculous it seemed, towering over the barren
landscape like a bad acid trip.

Before they had even reached the steps
leading to the enormous double-doors that served as the entrance,
Kelton could see that they were chained shut. Just to be sure, he
rattled the handles, but nothing budged.

“What the hell?” Jessica said. “Is Walter
just playing with us or something?”

“I don’t know,” Kelton said. “But I sure
don’t like the way the situation is proceeding.”

“Neither do I.”

The wind gusted.

Sand smacked against Kelton’s bare skin,
this time hard enough to sting. He turned his head to avoid getting
a face full of the pebbles, and Jessica did the same.

A few seconds later, the wind died down.

“What do you think?” Jessica said.

“I don’t know, but standing around out here
isn’t doing us any good.”

“I agree,” Jessica said. “Back to the
truck?”

Kelton nodded. “Sounds like a good idea to
me.”

They started back towards the safety of the
car.

“Well, that was pointless,” Kelton said.

“Maybe you should call him after we get back
inside,” Jessica said. “See what’s going on.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

They had just reached the truck when Kelton
heard something. At first, he thought it was just the wind gusting
again, but he soon realized it was something else; the sound was
deeper, more resonant.

Apparently, Jessica heard it too. She looked
at him from across the hood and said, “What is it?”

“It’s a helicopter,” he yelled back,
straining to be heard over the rising din.

“The NDC?” Jessica said, her voice laced
with alarm.

Kelton walked around the back of the truck,
came over to Jessica’s side so he didn’t have to yell. “I don’t
think so. It sounds more like a civilian chopper.” He looked up at
the sky, but dusk had settled in, and it was difficult to see much
of anything up there. “But I’m not positive.”

“Shouldn’t we get in the truck, just in case
it’s the NDC?”

“It won’t do us any good,” Kelton said. “If
it’s them, we’re screwed anyway, out here in the middle of nowhere.
They’ll be able to run us down without any problem.”

“Then we better hope it’s Walter.”

The noise from the helicopter grew
progressively louder, and then it was setting down on the outskirts
of the parking lot, about one hundred yards from them. It was
indeed a civilian chopper, and apparently a rented one, as it had
VEGAS AIR RENTALS and a phone number stenciled on the side.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Kelton
said as the rotors decelerated.

Jessica hesitated a moment, then nodded. Her
eyes were wide, her face pale, her lips pressed together.

“Is everything all right?” Kelton said.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Your body’s all tensed up. Like you’re
nervous, or something.”

“Well of course I’m nervous,” Jessica said.
She uttered an unconvincing laugh. “The moment of truth is finally
here.”

“Are you sure that’s all it is?”

Jessica dropped her eyes, lowered her voice.
“It’s just . . . I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right. I don’t
know why.”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “I can’t explain it, really.
It’s just a bad feeling.”

“Well, I’ve got a good one,” Kelton said.
“Besides, we don’t really have any other choice at this point.”

Jessica took a deep breath, held it, and let
it out slowly. “I guess you’re right. We’re kind of stuck. But can
you do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Just stay in front of me the whole time.
That way, if something happens—”

“I’ll be the one that takes the brunt of
it?” Kelton said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Jessica said, returning his grin
with one of her own. “Something like that.”

“No problem. I’ll take care of
everything.”

Two figures climbed out of the chopper’s
back seat. One Kelton recognized as Walter, even from this
distance. The other was not familiar, but he towered over the old
man, and was half again as wide.

“Which one is Walter?” Jessica said as they
started walking toward the two emergent figures.

“The small one,” Kelton said. “On the
left.”

“And the other guy?”

Kelton shrugged. “A bodyguard, I guess. But
I don’t know for sure. Every time I’ve ever met with Walter he’s
been alone.”

“Do you still think everything’s going to be
all right?”

“I’m sure it will be,” Kelton said, trying
to hide the sliver of doubt creeping up his spine. “But make sure
you stay behind me for a bit, just to be sure.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,”
Jessica said. “I’m not going to show my face until you say it’s
safe.”

They continued creeping forward, cutting the
distance with every step, until finally Kelton could see Walter
clearly.

Any doubts about the situation were assuaged
as Kelton got a close look at the old man. Walter seemed completely
relaxed, his body loose, his trademark smirk painted on his face.
He waved at Kelton and said, “Good to see you, again, my friend. I
was beginning to think this day would never come.”

“Me too,” Kelton said. They were now fifteen
yards apart and coming ever closer. He was just about to turn his
head so he could tell Jessica that it was okay, she could come out
from behind him, when he felt a tug at his rear waistline and then
saw the old man’s eyes suddenly open wide.

Walter had just started to turn his body
towards the helicopter when Kelton felt a nuclear detonation go off
in his skull. The blast was followed immediately by a sharp,
intense pain in the side of his head, just above his right ear. He
reached his hand up toward the pain, and it came down covered in
blood.

Kelton heard himself mumble, “What the
hell?” and then he fell to his hands and knees, his stomach
churning, his vision blurry and unfocused, his mind unable to
comprehend what was going on in front of him.

Jessica yelled, “DON’T DO IT!” in a voice
that Kelton had never heard her use before, and in his confusion,
he wasn’t sure who she was talking to. Then his stomach rebelled
and he vomited onto the desert floor. Suddenly the entire universe
consisted solely of the amplified roar of the helicopter in his
ears and blurred movements that held no meaning for him whatsoever
as he heaved uncontrollably.

There were two loud reports of gunshots that
seemed to get swallowed by the wind, then movement in his
peripheral vision—someone falling to the ground, it looked
like—then another bout of shouting, then another gunshot, then the
helicopter’s whine getting louder, then the chopper taking off into
the sky, and then he must have blacked out, because the next thing
he knew all was quiet, and he was lying on his stomach in the sand,
his head throbbing, the pain located just above his left ear.

Kelton started to climb to his feet, only to
fall back to the desert floor with a groan, vertigo gripping him. A
couple of deep breaths later, he sat up, slowly this time. Jessica
was standing above him, holding the NDC agent’s gun in her right
hand. It was pointed in his general direction but not at him.

“What the hell happened?” he said. “Was that
you that hit me?”

Jessica nodded, her face blank.

“Why?”

“Because I needed you out of the way,” she
said.

Confused, Kelton turned away from her, and
saw Walter lying on the desert floor next to him, unconscious, or
worse. His body was limp, his legs splayed out in an awkward
position. Blood was pooled in the sand beneath him.

“Is he—” Kelton felt a wave of nausea and
closed his mouth before he was able to finish the thought.

“Dead?” Jessica said.

Kelton nodded.

“No. He’s just out cold.”

“But I heard three shots.”

“Two rounds were for the bodyguard,” Jessica
said. “He went for a weapon so I had to put him down. The other
round caught Walter in the back of the leg as he was running for
the chopper. I caught up to him, knocked him out, and brought him
over here. Killing him was the last resort. We’d have taken him any
way we could’ve got him, but he’s more valuable alive than
dead.”

“We?”

“The National Defense Commission,” Jessica
said.

“So you’re with them?”

Jessica nodded.

“Since when?”

“Since before you met me,” she said.

Kelton felt like he was going to throw up
again, but he didn’t know if it was related to his earlier wave of
nausea or from what he was hearing come out of Jessica’s mouth. He
closed his eyes and shook his head, only realizing how bad of an
idea it was after Jessica had picked his head back up off the
desert floor.

“That was dumb,” she said with a tight
smile.

Kelton was having trouble thinking, let
alone putting it all together. He managed to spit out, “Is your
name even Jessica?” before the next set of waves made his head
swim.

“No. It’s Karen.”

“So this whole situation was just a ruse to
draw out Walter?”

“Don’t worry about anything like that right
now,” Karen said. “You’ll get answers later if you want them.”