Enforcer (17 page)

“What’s her name?” Connor asked, looking over at Dana again. She’d come awake, her eyes reflecting the soft glow from his phone’s screen.

“She says her name is Jera,” Dave told him. “She looks pretty fucked up, dude.”

“What do you mean?” Connor asked, getting off the bed and walking to the living room.

“It looks like someone beat the shit out of her. I asked her if she wanted me to call the cops, but she just kept telling me to call you. She’s kind of freaking out.”

“Put her on the phone,” Connor demanded. He could hear the clerk trying to hand her the phone, explaining to her that she needed to talk to Connor.

“Huh—hu—hello,” Jera’s voice came through the phone in hitching sobs. Connor didn’t recognize it without the screeching and insulting that normally accompanied it.

“Jera?” Connor asked.

“Yuh—yes.”

“Are you okay?”

“No!” wailed the girl on the other end of the line.

“Listen to me, Jera,” Connor said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t move, don’t leave, okay?”

When she agreed to stay put, he told her to put the clerk back on the phone.

“Dave, right? Listen Dave. Don’t let her leave, and don’t let anyone see her. Whoever beat her, I don’t want him getting hold of her if he happened to follow her, okay?”

“Listen, man,” the clerk said, “I don’t need any trouble. If some dude is looking to beat on her some more and comes in here, I’m just calling the cops. No offense, but I don’t get paid enough to get between this chick and whoever did this to her.”

“Dave, listen to me carefully,” Connor instructed. “Put her in the office. Give her something to drink and eat if she wants it. If she wants cigarettes, give her that as well. Whatever you do, just keep her safe and out of sight. Trust me, I’ll make sure you are compensated. I’m sure Jake told you this was important.”

“Yeah, he said you’d take care of us,” the clerk said.

“That’s right, I will. So give her whatever she wants, and I’ll pay for it when I get there. And I’ll definitely make sure you and your partner are taken care of for this little bit of trouble you’ve had to endure. Deal?”

“Sure man. She’s missing her shirt though. She’s just got on pants and a bra.”

“Do you have any shirts in the store?” Connor asked him.

“Nah. We usually have some Boise State ones, but we got nothing right now.”

“Do you shower every day, Dave?” Connor asked.

“What?”

“Do you shower every day? Yes or no.”

“Yes.”

“Good man. Give her your shirt.”

“What the fuck, man? I ain’t giving her my shirt.”

“Dave, you have a nice blue Gas-Mart vest. Wear it until I get there. I’ll bring you something better than a shirt, and I’ll bring her a shirt so you can have yours back. Don’t get cold feet on me. Give her your shirt. Do you understand?”

“Shit, man, I don’t get paid enough for this.”

“Is that a yes, Dave?”

“Yeah. Fuck it. I’ll give her my shirt. I don’t think I want it back though. No offense, mister, but she stinks like a trash can and she’s dirty and just nasty.”

“I understand. I’ll bring you a clean white t-shirt and a present. Now assure me you’ll take care of her so I can get the fuck off the phone and on my way so we don’t have to spend all night negotiating.”

“I’ll give her my shirt and anything she wants. Just hurry up. I could get fired for this.”

“You won’t get fired. Trust me.”

Connor pushed the End button on the phone and walked back into the bedroom. He went to the closet and grabbed one of his old Boise Bomber jerseys from a couple of seasons ago. He snatched a San Jose Sharks t-shirt from a hangar as well, and went to the dresser near his bed to remove two white t-shirts. He pulled on his pants and one of the white t-shirts.

“Connor?” Dana asked from the bed.

Connor grabbed his wallet and stuffed it into his pocket. He sat on the bed next to Dana, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“Listen, can I borrow your car for a little bit?”

“What’s the matter? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” she asked, fully awake now.

“Yeah, I’m fine. But someone else is in trouble. A friend of mine. I have to go to Caldwell to get her.”

“Her?”

“Look, it’s this girl. She’s… she’s been in an abusive relationship. I told her to call me if she ever needed me to come get her. I need to go get her. She’s been beaten up pretty badly.”

“Why doesn’t she call the cops?” Dana asked.

“It’s not that simple, and besides, the cops will just show up and take the guy to jail, which is fine, but they might take her to jail too. They do that sometimes with domestic violence. But then the asshole will get out of jail and she’ll still be stuck there.”

“All right. Do you want me to go with you?”

Connor considered it for a moment. He was torn between taking her with him and leaving her at his apartment.

“Dana, can I drop you off at your place?” he asked, going with the third option.

“Why?” she asked, suspicious at this request.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later. Do you trust me?”

“Are you fucking this girl on the side?”

“No. Look, I promise I’ll explain it to you later. I’m not fucking her. I’m fucking you. But she’s going to be really messed up. I don’t want you to have to deal with any of it. I don’t know what the dude has done to her, but I’m sure it isn’t going to be pretty. I see violence all the time, but this is going to be uglier than a hockey fight. And just in case her asshole boyfriend is there, I don’t want to risk you getting hurt.”

“But why can’t I stay here? She might need another female to make her feel comfortable.”

“Dana, please. You aren’t able to help, okay? I’m not trying to be an ass. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important. I swear I’ll explain it when I get her back here safely. Please?”

Dana sat up and began to get dressed, looking unhappy and worried at the same time. Connor wasn’t sure if she was jealous or just scared that he would get a phone call in the dead of night to go pick up a woman who had been beaten up. He wanted her to ride with him, and he even wanted Dana to be here at his apartment to help console Jera when they got back, but he didn’t want to explain how he knew her. More importantly, he didn’t want to chance that Jera would become hysterical and run her mouth about things like meth, Larry, money, or Ojacarcu.

Dana was important to him. Too important to put at risk. All he could think about as he pulled on his socks and shoes was Ilinca and Helen.
Damn Petre and his stories
, he thought. At the same time, he was grateful that Petre had told him. He didn’t want Dana and his other life crossing paths at all.

CHAPTER 15

Connor pulled into the parking space in front of the glass doors of the Gas-Mart. He braced himself for the blast of frigid air that would assault him the instant he opened the car door. He counted to three and pulled the handle, a razor-sharp wind immediately slicing right through his clothes as if he were naked. The ten feet he had to walk before entering the double glass doors felt as if he had been wandering the arctic wastes.

A fat clerk with a chinstrap beard and hipster glasses stood behind the counter, staring at Connor as if he might pull a sawed-off shotgun from under his coat and start blasting. The other clerk, obvious by his bare chest under the bright blue vest, was just coming out of the office. The shirtless man looked like he was in a waking nightmare, glancing nervously at his partner and then to Connor.

“Are you Dave?” Connor asked the shirtless one.

“Yes. Thank God you’re here. She’s going crazy,” Dave said, turning around and opening the office door.

The other clerk gave Connor a hard look as he walked around the end of the counter and into the office. Jera sat in the single rolling office chair, a black t-shirt covering her upper half, a filthy pair of khaki pants covering the rest of her. She had no socks or shoes, and her feet looked like she’d walked a few blocks over sharp, cold rocks. Connor walked up and put his hand on her shoulder, making her flinch in fear.

“Jera,” he said to her. “Jera. Listen to me. I’m going to go back to the car and get you a shirt. Don’t move, okay?”

Jera nodded her head, tears mixing with either makeup or dirt, or both, before rolling off her cheeks and onto her dirty pants. Connor gave Dave a half-smile as he backed out of the office and went out to the car. He grabbed the jersey, the t-shirts, and an extra jacket that he’d pulled from his closet at the last moment. The second clerk gave him another hard look as he entered the store and walked back to the office.

“Put this on.” he told her, handing her the Sharks t-shirt.

She hesitated, looking at Dave then to him. Connor looked away. When Dave didn’t look away from her, Connor nudged him with his elbow and pointed out into the store. Dave understood, and turned his gaze away from the woman. She removed his black t-shirt and put the Sharks shirt on. Connor felt cloth on his arm and turned back to see her handing him the clerk’s shirt.

Connor grabbed it from her, handing her the jacket. He turned to Dave and gave the clerk his black t-shirt back, along with a clean white t-shirt, and the Boise Bombers jersey. Dave’s eyes lit up at the jersey, a smile blooming on his face when he finally recognized Connor.

“Hey, man, it
is
you!” Dave exclaimed.

“Yeah, but do me a favor, Dave,” Connor said. “You never saw me. Neither did your friend out there who keeps giving me a look like he wants to rumble.”

Dave looked down and saw a wad of hundreds in Connor’s hand being extended to him.

“Ryan? Nah, he’s not a badass,” Dave said. “He’s kind of freaked out like me. This is kind of a shit neighborhood. We deal with assholes and dope heads all night. He’s just afraid some jerkoff is going to come strolling in with a shotgun or something and waste all of us over your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Connor said, glancing down at Jera. Her face was turned away from them, her hands rummaging through the empty pockets of the jacket. “She’s just a friend that’s in trouble. Loser boyfriend, you know the type.”

“Yeah. We see ’em all the time. Fuckheads with fists and their idiot girlfriends who apparently are okay with being a punching bag. No offense,” Dave said to Jera who had looked up at him.

Connor put his arm around Dave’s shoulders and led him out of the office. He gave the clerk a slight push away from him, indicating he should stay behind the counter. Connor walked to the other side and faced them both.

“Ryan, Dave. I appreciate you calling me.” He took out another wad of bills and handed it to the fat clerk. Ryan stared at the money for a moment until Dave gave him an elbow. “Now, what do I owe you? Did she ask for anything to eat or drink? Smokes?”

“Nah, it’s cool,” Ryan said, counting the money before stuffing it into his pockets. He looked behind him at the security camera and gave it a frown.

“Don’t sweat that,” Connor assured him. “Jake and I will make sure no one ever sees it. The recorder will have a temporary malfunction. You know how technology is.” Connor smiled at them both to let them know nothing would come back on them.

“I’m sorry if I was a dick on the phone, man,” Dave said, pulling the jersey over his new white t-shirt before putting his arms through the dark blue Gas-Mart vest.

“I understand. Some crazy bitch comes in all beat up at three in the morning, and all you got is this note that says to call some guy. Especially this being a bad neighborhood and all. But there’s two more things I need you to do for me.”

Both clerks nodded at him to go on.

“First thing, like I told you, Dave, is that you never saw me. It was some other guy. If anyone asks you where that jersey came from, tell them you met me after a game and I gave it to you. Here, give me a sharpie and I’ll sign it so it won’t be a hard lie to sell. Ryan, if you want a jersey, just tell Jake, and I’ll get you one too.

“Speaking of Jake, make sure you let him know that you had to call me. Make sure he knows to call me so I can get with him and make sure that security tape has an accident, and to take care of him like I took care of you guys. I’m going to go get her and take her somewhere safe. Got it?”

“Yeah, we got it,” Dave said, still caressing the jersey.

Connor walked back to the office. Jera was staring at the floor, her fingers absently playing with the zipper on the front of the jacket. He coughed lightly to let her know he was there. He finally took a good look at her face in the bright office lights. He was disturbed at the damage Larry or someone else had done to her. He was sure it had been Larry, but he’d put that away until after he got her away from here.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” he said.

She didn’t say anything as she stood up. When she wobbled a bit, Connor reached out to grab her elbow. Jera flinched again, this time so hard she stumbled and almost fell down.

“Okay. I won’t touch you. But let’s go,” he said, as he backed out of the office.

The two clerks watched them walk to the door, saying nothing. The rush of cold air on Connor as he opened the door made him shiver. Jera acted as if she hadn’t noticed it. He escorted her to the passenger door and opened it for her. When she sat down, he shut the door and got in on his side. He shifted into Reverse to back out when she put a hand on his arm.