Surrept (21 page)

She pulls a twenty-two automatic from a holster on her ankle, opens the door to the clubhouse and rushes in. She steps where she has a chance and a clear shot at Reggie. As he lifts the bar, she takes aim. The woman on the treadmill screams at the veiled assailant and falls off the machine due to the distraction.

Reggie hears the scream and looks—as the bar comes down on him—and sees the weapon pointed at him by the scary veiled gunman. He rolls as the flash of the muzzle ignites and he hears the multiple shots hitting the bench and the floor next to him as he rolls from under the bar to avoid being hit.

Adriana pulls the trigger until the weapon is empty. She kicks the door open as she retreats from the clubhouse. The door remains open and Reggie catches a scent that overpowers the gunsmoke that has filled the room.

He gets up and feels a warmth on his back and then down his leg. He reaches and feels the warm blood running down his side of his leg, he realizes,
Shit man, I'm hit
.

He applies pressure as he leaves the clubhouse, while the woman inside is still screaming hysterically. He heads for the house.

Adriana jogs briskly through a maze of apartment complexes as she makes her way down the block through three complexes and finally emerges onto the street where she parked her car.

She walks as she disables the alarm and jumps in out of breath. Her adrenaline is rushing like a freight train through her veins.

She slowly pulls away as she hears sirens whaling and getting closer. Her BMW disappears down the street. She pulls off her cap and veil, then removes her running gloves and places them on the floor behind the passenger seat. She then removes her sweatshirt as she pulls onto the freeway. She maintains the speed limit as she blends into traffic. She knows the small caliber pistol would not cause blood splatter. Now she is unsure if Reggie is critically injured or not, and she has to make sure she completes the task before she leaves for Wyoming. She is angry that she did not get closer to her target. She has blown it.

Adriana exits the freeway and pulls into a parking structure she is familiar with; one which she knows contains no cameras. She pulls to the third level and parks.

Adriana quickly changes her clothes and places everything into a paper bag, including the veil and gloves with the cap. She still has the gun strapped to her ankle. She removes the holster, which she adds to the contents of the bag with the clothes. She disassembles the handgun into parts and removes the barrel. She uses some Vaseline from her purse to wipe the parts clean, then sets them on the floor.

She leaves the parking structure and stops in the alley to discard the bag of clothes in a trash dumpster. She gets out and pushes the bag deeply in the corner of the bin. She soaks the corner of the bin with lighter fluid as she soaks the bag of clothes. She empties the can, and throws it in and ignites the fluid. The dumpster erupts with flames as she drives away. Adriana watches in her rear view mirror to make sure that no one is watching.

She discards the gun parts in several dumpsters over three miles, and she is now satisfied that she will remain unconnected to the clubhouse event. Regardless of accusation, there is no evidence.

Reggie finally arrives at his modest house after deliberating whether he should go to a hospital, and he is feeling the pain of his wound as the shock wears off. The customer's car he is driving has blood on the seat and floor.

He walks in the kitchen entrance and removes a gun from the refrigerator. Reggie clears his house. He enters the bathroom and checks his wound in the mirror. It's an in-and-out hole in his side just above his waist that missed his vital organs. He pours alcohol over the entry and exit points then bandages the wound. He goes into the kitchen and opens a chilled bottle of Hennessey, taking a long swig and eyeing the wall clock before punching numbers on his cell phone, hoping to reach his lawyer.

Matt Cohen has just left his office and zips down I-25 in his Porsche, heading for his home in Lakewood. His phone rings, he puts on his Bluetooth and answers, "This is Matt Cohen."

Reggie is glad to hear his lawyer's voice. "Hey, Mr. C., you're there. I was going to leave you a voice mail."

"Reggie, what's up, is everything all right?"

"Everything ain't all right. I need to see you as early as possible in the morning, if that's cool."

Matt responds, "How about eight, I have a nine-thirty and a ten-thirty already."

"I'll be there at eight bells sharp, Mr. C."

Matt Cohen hangs up and wonders what is on his client's mind; he hopes that he has stayed out of trouble.

Matt arrives at his offices early and checks his e-mail. There is a message from Ray Velazquez from the Denver DA's office. He opens the message:

Matt,

Here is the info you requested. This one interests us as well. Please call me as soon as you have evaluated the details.

Sincerely,

Ray Velazquez

Lead Investigator

Denver District Attorney's Office.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A
DRIANA
P
UCCI:
F
EMALE
B
ORN:
B
AGHDAD
I
RAQ 1981
A
GE: 29
HT
. 5'7"
WT
: 119
EYE
'
S
/
HAIR
BLK
/
BRN
M
OTHER:
S
ULLA
K
ARROOS –
B
ORN,
K
ABUL
A
FGHANISTAN.
F
ATHER:
H
AURAKI
S
ADDAM
T
ARSIQ: BORN
I
RAQ: CITY UNKNOWN:
E
NGINEER:
K
ILLED:
M
ARCH 7, 1981,
I
SRAELI BOMBING OF NUCLEAR REACTOR, NEAR
B
AGHDAD
I
RAQ.
S
UBJECT WAS ADOPTED:
J
ULY 1984 BY
V
ITTORIO AND
D
ORA
P
UCCI/
D
EVELOPER:
M
IDDLE
E
AST INFRASTRUCTURE
U
NITED
S
TATES
C
ONTRACTOR
W
/
I
NTERNATIONAL
L
ICENSING.
S
UBJECT
G
RADUATE
B
OULDER
U
NIVERSITY:
W
/
H
ONORS:
B
ACHELOR
S
CIENCE IN
L
INGUISTICS AND
B
USINESS.
G
RADUATE:
C
HERRY
H
ILLS
H
IGH
S
CHOOL WITH FULL SCHOLARSHIP.
ARRESTS
JUVENILE
:
NONE
KNOWN
.
ARREST
: 11/09/2001.
LOS
ANGELES
CA
.
LAPD
:
MISDEMEANOR
PROTEST
VIOLATION
AND
RESISTING
ARREST
:
PALESTINIAN
CONFLICT
PROTEST
.
DISP
:
FINE
$200.00 /
TIME
SERVED
TWO
DAYS
ARREST
:
O
5/22/2000 /
SEATTLE
WASHINGTON
:
SPD
MISDEMEANOR
:
DISTURBING
THE
PEACE
/
LOITERING
/
MENACING
IN
PROTEST
.
DISP
:
CHARGES
DISMISSED
NTS
:
CUSTODY
DETAINMENT
AND
RELEASE
ONLY
.
EMPLOYMENT
:
PBS
TELEVISION
/
DENVER
COLORADO
80019

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Matt sends a thank you reply. He now has a good idea how Adriana Pucci came to be in Denver, but he cannot connect her to David and his company. Was there a connection he was missing? Why was Dana so interested in her? He decided to check with Joe and see if he had found anything out about David Bloomfield. Matt wanted some coffee before Reggie arrived.

***

The wind blows cold up on Lookout Mountain as Dana looks down at Denver in the morning. She could not sleep and found herself standing where she used to come with her girlfriends to figure things out and talk shit about their problems. She is ill over David being in custody of the government. She misses him so much. She questions herself, wondering if she knew everything, had she been stupid all along? Was David into illegal shit, which she knew nothing about?

She fights back tears and hugs herself in her ski parka as her hair blows in the biting wind. She decides to go see Matt and just barge in. It is too cold up here for her to think and she's not sixteen anymore.