Sweetie's Diamonds (45 page)

As if on cue, the third guard tossed his empty milkshake cup into the incinerator.
 
The flames expanded as the furnace bellowed with hunger.

“I'm going to tell you something, Eric, and it's the truth,” Valentine said.
 
“You think I had something to do with your sister's disappearance, don't you.
 
You think I had her killed.
 
You believe I had Emo here throw her into the incinerator.
 
You believe that, don't you?
 
Answer me!”

Gilliam nodded his head.
 

“I'll tell you what I think happened to your sister.
 
She and Eduardo weren't getting along.
 
You remember my little brother, Eduardo?
 
He didn't like the fact that Angela lived with Dana Barnett and had a lesbian relationship with her.
 
They often fought about it.
 
This is what I think.
 
The night my brother was shot to death by that Nigerian gang, he brought your sister here to talk some sense into her.
 
Things probably got out of hand and she ended up in… well, you know…”
 
He gestured with his head toward the incinerator.
 
“And I believe Dana was here that night as well.
 
She waited until the shooting was over between my men and the Nigerians.
 
When everyone was dead, Dana came out of hiding and stole my diamonds.
 
And that's why I want to catch her.
 
She ripped me off and tried to get away with it.
 
Maybe she had something to do with Eduardo's death, I don't know.
 
All I know is Dana Barnett was here when my little brother died and I hold her responsible.
 
I could be wrong, but you see, things never went very smoothly when she was around.
 
The girl was schizophrenic.
 
You worked with her.
 
You saw her during the shoots.
 
She was a whacko, wasn't she?
 
Sometimes she was so drugged out she didn't know who she was.
 
Once when she had a starring role, she reported to the set so wasted that she insisted she wasn't Dana Barnett.
 
She claimed that her ‘uncle' would kill her if he knew what she was doing.

“You want to know what I think, Eric?” Valentine continued.
 
“I think Dana was jealous of Angela's relationship with Eduardo.
 
I think
she
killed Angela.”

“Not true…” Gilliam managed to say.
 
He spit blood and tissue onto the concrete floor.
 

“Are you sure you won't tell me what I want to know?” Valentine asked with menace in his voice.
 
“Last chance.”

Gilliam did his best to have the last word.
 
“F—f—f…uuu.. ck y—y—ou…”

Valentine turned to Tuff and held up his hands, as if to say, “I give up.”
 
He nodded and then walked toward the administration office so he wouldn't have to watch Tuff and the three guards drag Gilliam toward the incinerator.

A
fter helping Diane climb through the window, Nick Belgrad moved back to the rear of the building, crouched low, and made his way to the loading dock.
 
Positioning himself at eye level with the warehouse floor, he could see through the opening in the door and observe what was going on inside—the men held Eric Gilliam, Valentine interrogated him, and the killer Emo Tuff beat the victim senseless.
 

Belgrad waited until all eyes were turned away and then slipped onto the loading dock platform and darted underneath the partly open door.
 
He moved quickly to the side and squatted behind a stack of cartons.
 
He looked for the storage room where Diane would be but the section was blocked by rows of boxes waiting to be shipped to retailers.
 
Directing his attention back to Gilliam and the men, Belgrad watched and listened as Valentine gave the victim a final chance to talk.
 
Belgrad was well aware that Gilliam couldn't take much more and if there was a time to make a move, it was now.
 

The men began to drag Gilliam toward the incinerator as Valentine walked away.
 
Belgrad took one of the Molotov cocktails out of his trouser pocket, set the second one on the floor beside him, and removed a cigarette lighter from his jacket.
 
He flicked the lighter and held the flame to the rag in the bottle.
 
Belgrad stood, drew his arm back, and prepared to throw the hand-made firebomb.
 

But as the men got within five feet of the incinerator, Emo Tuff surprised everyone by turning quickly and flashing a stiletto at Gilliam's throat.
 
The maneuver was so fast that he looked like a painter making three dynamic brush strokes on canvas. The paint, however, became blood as it gushed from Gilliam's neck like water from a spigot.
 

“Nooooo!”

It was Diane.
 
She had screamed from her hiding place and emerged from behind the boxes.
 
Tuff shouted an order and pointed.
 
The men dropped Gilliam, drew their guns and turned to face the woman.
 

Belgrad threw the Molotov cocktail so that it burst on the floor between Diane and the men.
 
The gasoline spread over the concrete and created a wall of fire that prevented the gangsters from moving closer to the woman.
 

“Diane!” Belgrad shouted.
 
“Get out!
 
Go back the way you came!”

Diane looked up and attempted to locate him through the thick smoke that filled the warehouse at an alarming pace.
 
Belgrad waved and shouted again but it was too late—he saw the massive shape of Valentine behind her.
 
The big man grabbed her and put a guard's Heckler & Koch to her head.
 

The men, aware of Belgrad's presence, directed their guns at him.
 
Belgrad took cover behind the boxes again as bullets zipped past him with deadly precision.
 
He picked up the second Molotov cocktail, ignited the rag, and stepped out on the other side of the boxes.
 
He scanned the right side of the warehouse for Diane and Valentine and spotted them moving back to the storage room.

Belgrad took aim and threw the cocktail so that it burst on the stacks of boxes directly behind Valentine and Diane.
 
The cartons of videotapes and DVDs exploded into flame, quickly and sufficiently blocking their escape.
 

He then drew the Browning and dropped to the floor.
 
Peering around the boxes, he saw two of the thugs moving closer.
 
The smoke obviously burned their eyes and hindered visibility.
 
Picking them off was easy.
 
Belgrad squeezed the trigger twice and the two men flew backwards as if an invisible force gave them sucker punches.
 

Now Belgrad had trouble seeing through the black smoke.
 
The flames were spreading faster than he expected.
 
He estimated that they had no more than a couple of minutes to get out or they would be overcome.
 

Where were Emo Tuff and the third guard?
 
Belgrad crouched as low as possible but he couldn't see any movement.
 
Fine, he thought.
 
Concentrate on getting Diane out.
 

He moved to the other side and saw that Valentine had Diane in front of him, using her as a human shield.
 

“I'm coming out!” Valentine shouted.
 
“Don't try anything or she's dead!”

A bullet tore past Belgrad's face, searing his nose and ricocheting off the concrete beside him.
 
A piece of the floor went into his right eye and sent a burning hell through the nerves in his head.
 
Belgrad rolled back behind cover and clutched his face, writhing in agony.
 
It must have been Tuff or the third guard.
 
He had to take care of them before he could deal with Valentine, if he could.

Belgrad rolled to the other side of the boxes and scanned the room with his one good eye and found that the third guard was not quite ten feet away and was indeed moving closer.
 
Belgrad pointed the Browning just as the man spotted him.
 
Both guns went off at the same time.

The guard's bullet perforated the carton near Belgrad's head.
 
The Browning's round pierced the guard's chest, whirling him around once and then dropping him to the burning floor.
 

Belgrad went back to the other side of his cover, his right eye still shut, and saw that Valentine still had Diane.
 
They were fifteen feet away from freedom.
 

“Stand up and throw down your weapon!” Valentine shouted.
 
“Do as I say or she's dead!”

Belgrad slowly stood and held up his hands, the Browning's trigger guard still around his index finger.

“Drop it, I said,” Valentine commanded.
 

Diane's eyes met Belgrad's.
 
She suddenly reached for Valentine's gun arm and used it as a lever.
 
She expertly flipped Valentine over her shoulder and he crashed into a pile of boxes.
 
She then turned to kick the man in the face but Belgrad yelled, “Leave him!
 
Come on!”

She wouldn't do it.
 
Instead she leaped at the man, feet first, flawlessly using the skill that she had taught Lincoln High School girls for years.
 
Valentine's body jerked as the kick broke his ribcage.
 
The King of Porn collapsed over the spilled boxes, his massive body unevenly supported like a whale on scales.
 

Diane spent a few more seconds examining the man to make sure he was incapacitated and then, satisfied, she ran toward Belgrad.
 
The fire raged behind her and had by now engulfed more than half the interior.
 

Belgrad caught her and they embraced.
 
He kissed her once on the mouth and then shouted, “Come on!”

He took her hand and led her under the loading dock door and out into the fresh air.
 

“Your eye is hurt,” she said.
 

“Only if I open it,” he replied.
 
They heard a siren in the distance and reacted quickly.
 
Not wanting to be seen by the authorities, they jumped off the dock, ran down the street toward the Lexus, and got in the car just as a fire truck turned the corner and roared past them.
 
Belgrad waited until the firemen got busy at their jobs before starting the car and slowly pulling away from the disaster.

I
t was nearly dawn when they walked into Belgrad's hotel room in Hollywood.
 
Belgrad was exhausted but Diane was curiously euphoric.
 

“This was just an amazing night!” she said for the fourth time.
 
“It's over!
 
It's finally
over
!
 
I don't have to worry about them anymore.”

He turned on the lights and was grateful that the room had been made up and cleaned.
 
“Make yourself comfortable,” Belgrad said.
 
“I'm going to do something about my eye.”
 
He went into the bathroom and ran water in the sink until it was warm.
 

“Can I help you?” she asked.
 

“Actually, you probably can.
 
You might be able to see what's in it better than I can.”
 

She joined him, washed her hands, and turned his face toward the light.
 
“Try to open your eye,” she said.
 
Belgrad attempted it but his eyelids kept closing reflexively.
 
Diane used her fingers to hold them open and saw that the eye was bloodshot and teary.