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  “My premium is going to go sky high.”

  They looked around as Lock’s Audi pulled into the space next to them. Lock got out with Carmen.

  “You okay?” she asked Ty and Galante.

  Lock took a long appraising look at Galante’s car. He’d seen worse. Not much worse, but definitely worse. Then again, the worse he’d seen were vehicles that had been hit by IEDs or suicide bombers. Those tended to melt tires as well as cause body damage.

  “Don’t tell me. You let Ty drive,” he said, knocking a booted toe against the rear of the Honda. Something else clanged to the ground. “Sorry, dude.”

  Galante bent down to see what it was but stood up again, finally overwhelmed by the whole scene. “Damn it,” he said, straightening. “My insurance company is gonna go nuts,” he repeated.

  “I can help you deal with them if they get squirrely about paying for the damage,” said Carmen, trying to be helpful.

  Lock stepped back towards the Audi. He retrieved the attaché case and handed it to Galante.

  “What’s this?” said Galante.

  “It’ll cover the cost.”

  “I thought that was to pay potential informants,” said Carmen.

  “It is,” said Lock.

  She looked at him, puzzled.

  “I’ll explain inside,” said Lock, nodding towards the diner. “Anyone else hungry?”

  “Damn straight,” said Ty.

  “There’s a shock.”

  The four headed towards the diner entrance. Galante threw a baleful look back over his shoulder at his shot-to-shit vehicle.

  28

  Pony finished the call. He opened the back of the cell phone, used his nail to prod the SIM card free, and handed it to Joker. Joker walked over to the coffee-table, picked up a hammer that was lying there and pounded the SIM into tiny plastic and silicon fragments.

  Princess walked out of the bedroom. “Put it in the trash disposal, asshole, like a regular person.”

  Joker lifted the hammer and swung it theatrically, smiling. “Maybe I’ll pound you.”

  “I’d like to see you try.”

  “She don’t like guys pounding her,” said Pony, removing the battery from the cell phone, and slotting in a fresh SIM card with a brand-new number.

  “Oh, yeah,” said Joker, grabbing at his crotch. “Maybe she just hasn’t met the right guy.”

  Arms folded in front of her, Princess made a clucking sound and waggled her pinky finger. “Like the little thing you have would impress me.”

  “Okay,” said Pony, fitting the cover back on the cell phone. “That was Shotcaller.”

  Princess and Joker looked at him. They had been waiting for this call. It was Shotcaller who had the final say over what happened to Emily and Charlie. Princess had been lobbying hard for keeping Emily. Slow and steady money, an additional revenue stream.

  Joker and Pony wanted to explore new territory. See if they could sell them back. Take a ransom. Make a big score. Most of it would have to be kicked up to Shotcaller and those above him, but it would change everything for their little crew. It came with a big risk, but it was a big reward too.

  “What he say?” Princess asked, no longer able to contain herself.

  “You won’t like it,” said Pony. He couldn’t show it, but he was scared about breaking the news to Princess. She was volatile and, as befitted her name, she didn’t like it when things didn’t go her way. She had it bad for the Asian chick too. Everyone could see it. Pony figured that was part of the reason why Shotcaller had made the decision he had. This had to be business, not personal.

  Princess kicked out at the back of the couch. “Mother. . .”

  She started towards him, eyes ablaze. “What you say to him? You been talking shit behind my back, huh, Pony?”

  Pony’s hand slid back, reaching for his pistol. If he had to, he’d put a cap in her ass. “I didn’t say nothing,” he told her, standing his ground.

  She was up in his face. She jabbed a red-nailed finger at him. “You’re a liar. I should have spoken to Shotcaller. Not you.”

  Joker stepped between them. “Hey, it wasn’t our decision. We knew that.”

  “If it makes it any better, he’s not going with what we wanted either.”

  Now it was Joker’s turn to get agitated. “What? We can get seven for them. That’s a big score.”

  Pony grimaced. “It’s a big score, but it’s not going to be our score.”

  Both Joker and Princess looked puzzled.

  “Someone else is taking them. They’re going to run the ransom.”

  “Who?” said Princess. “She’s mine. I took her. So did you. We took the risk getting them back here. And the whips.”

  “And we’re going to see some money,” said Pony.

  “So who is it? Who’s taking them?” Princess pushed.

  Pony was getting irritated. Princess had been around long enough to know that there were some questions you didn’t ask, and that was one of them. You could ask about what happened down the chain, but not what was going on in the executive suite. Those kinds of questions could get her killed. Not just her either. Him too. And Joker.

  “Who do you think?” said Pony. The actual words weren’t going to leave his mouth, no way, no how.

  If he was asked whether he’d told her that the two people they’d kidnapped were being handed to La Eme, the Mexican Mafia, he wanted to be able to deny ever having said those words.

  “Screw that shit,” said Princess. “Screw them. We’re Salvador. Screw those wetback bitches.”

  Pony’s hand closed around his pistol. He brought it forward, straight into the side of Princess’s face, opening up a cut above her eye. “Shut the hell up.”

  She went down onto one knee. He followed up with another blow to the top of her head. Her scalp split, blood pouring into her thick tangle of black hair.

  He hunkered down so he was at eye level with her. “You want to get us killed? Because that’s what will happen. Say they already sent someone. Say they’re out on the stoop, and they hear you saying that. What you think they’ll do? Say, ‘Oh, that’s just Princess, she don’t mean it’?”

  She looked up at him, her eyes still full of righteous anger.

  “You know the game,” said Joker, handing her a towel that had been lying over the back of the couch.

  She took it and pressed it to her head, wincing with the pain.

  “How much we getting?” said Joker.

  “A taste. That’s all I know.”

  Disappointment hung in the air, like the stench of rotting garbage.

  Joker sank down onto the couch. “We could have had real money.”

  Pony held up the gun, butt first. He wasn’t happy about it either. But that was how it worked. “You want a taste of this?” he said to Joker. Their bitching about it was making him even angrier.

  Joker didn’t say anything.

  “Or maybe you want to go tell them yourself?” Neither of them answered him. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  “They coming to collect?” said Princess. “Or are we delivering?”

  “What you think?” said Pony.

  “Why you think I’m asking?” said Princess.

  She was something else, thought Pony. He’d just given her two good ones and she was still talking back.

  “They’re not going to come here. We’ll have to take them.”

  “I’ll do it,” said Princess.

  That was okay with Pony. He didn’t like being around La Eme. He would never admit it, but they scared him. They were old school. They’d seen more blood and death than anyone. They were cold. They looked at you with those dead eyes.

  “Okay,” said Pony.

  “I ain’t going,” said Joker.

  “She can’t go on her own,” said Pony.

  “Then you go,” said Joker.

  “I have to move the car,” said Pony. They’d disabled the tracking devices and stashed them. Today they’d delivered them t
o the yonque.

  “I can do that,” said Joker.

  Pony stared at him. He turned the pistol around, spinning it on his finger so that the barrel was facing Joker.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll go with Princess.”

  Princess got up and started for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Pony asked her.

  She looked at him, the dirty towel still pressed to her head, blood pouring down her face. “I need to get this looked at.”

  “What you gonna tell them?”

  She smirked. “That my boyfriend did it. What the hell you care what I tell them?”

  “Go clean up first. Joker, you take her.”

  “Fine,” said Princess.

  With a towel wrapped around her head, Princess climbed into the passenger seat next to Joker. He pulled out onto the street.

  “You okay?” Joker asked her.

  “I have a headache.”

  She rested her face against the window and closed her eyes.

  “Don’t tell them I’m your boyfriend, okay?”

  She opened her eyes. “If I was straight, I’d have better taste.”

  Joker smiled and made a turn onto a cross street. “Screw you.” He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “This is messed up. We do all the hard work and they take all the money.”

  She shrugged. “Always been the same for people like us.”

  They lapsed back into silence.

  “My papa used to hit my mom,” said Joker.

  Princess didn’t say anything to that.

  “That’s why I don’t want anyone thinking I’d do something like that.”

  “I won’t say anything. Don’t worry.”

  He made another turn. Princess sat up straight. She rolled down the window and leaned out, checking the street sign. “This ain’t the way to the emergency room.”

  “I know,” said Joker.

  She backhanded him in the chest. “What the hell? I need to get this stitched before I bleed to death.”

  Joker slowed. He reached down into his pocket, feeling for something. The car wobbled and drifted over the center line. A vehicle coming in the opposite direction honked at him. He threw them the finger and cussed out the other driver. Then he tossed a wallet over the seat and onto Princess’s lap. She picked it up. “Homeboy’s wallet with all his cards. I got his pin number too. Made him tell me. Dumb asshole uses the same number for everything.”

  Wide-eyed, Princess began to rifle through the wallet. There were a lot of cards. Bank cards. Credit cards.

  Joker turned into a lot. There was a Bank of America dead ahead.

  “Pony would lose his shit if he knows we’re doing this,” said Princess.

  “How’s he going to find out? How’s anyone going to?”

  “You know they can track these cards if we use them, right?” Princess was still nervous. They could make some money, and she liked that idea, but it was risky.

  “So, what do we care?” said Joker. “You heard Pony, right? They’re not staying with us after today. Even if the Five-O track us down, what are they going to find? Nothing. The cars will be gone.”

  He reached back and pulled up the hood he was wearing. He lowered the sunglasses that had been resting on top of his head. “Wasn’t me, Officer.”

  Princess laughed. “You got it all figured out.”

  “Come on, let’s go get ourselves a taste. Least we’ll have something to show for all this work.”

  Princess stood next to the car as Joker walked up to the ATM. It was quiet, no one else waiting to use the machine. He cycled through all the cards he could, trying for a thousand dollars and working his way down until he found the maximum amount he could withdraw.

  A little old white man parked nearby and waited behind Joker. He started to grow impatient. “Are you going to be long?” Princess heard him ask.

  It pissed her off. She walked right up on him. “Screw you, Grandpa. You don’t want to wait, go use another machine.”

  He looked at her, the black eye, her bloodied scalp, and walked back to his car.

  She moved in closer to Joker. “How much you get?” she asked.

  “Keep your head down, dummy. They got a camera up there.”

  In the excitement of seeing the machine spit out all those dollars, she had forgotten. She retreated a few steps. “How much?” she repeated.

  He fanned out a whole bunch of twenties. “Once we get your head fixed, we should go shopping.”

  Princess beamed. She had felt bad about losing Emily. This took the edge off.

  29

  Lock and Carl Galante watched Ty consume a meal that could easily have fed an entire family. Occasionally, Galante threw a glance back over his shoulder at the parking lot.

  Every time a new customer pulled up they would give the Honda a long look before walking in. A young couple who seemed like they’d just finished a night of partying took a tour around it, the young man almost admiringly pointing out the bullet holes in the bodywork to his female companion.

  Galante, Lock figured, was almost certainly looking at replacing his car rather than having it repaired. Lock’s experience with vehicles that had come under hostile fire was that, much like people, they were never the same afterwards. In the meantime, though, Galante’s bullet-ridden whip would be a useful prop for at least one part of their investigation.

  “So, what do we think?” said Lock.

  Ty held up a fork speared with a piece of sausage and a corner of waffle. “Pretty good. I’d hit this place up again,” he said approvingly. “Breakfast definitely. Not sure it’s a lunch spot.”

  “Good to know,” said Lock. “But I was talking about the reception you and Carl got back there in the ’hood.”

  Ty smiled. “I know what you meant. I was just attempting to lighten the mood.”

  “Consider it lightened. Now, what do you think?” said Lock.

  “Regular neighborhood static, or someone who thought we were too close?” said Galante, reframing the question.

  Carmen’s phone chimed. She picked it up. Lock turned to her to see if it was anything case-related. She waved him off. “Go on with what you’re talking about,” she said, getting up from the table, and walking towards the entrance to make a call.

  Lock watched her go with a sudden jab of anxiety. He’d swept her into this without thinking. Now he regretted it. If their relationship was to stand a chance, especially if they were going to be living together, it was better they kept their work lives separate. Too late for that with this, but it was something he needed to be mindful of in future.

  “Ty?” said Lock. “What’s your take?”

  Ty shrugged. “Hard to tell. But if I had to make a call, I’d say we were getting close.”

  Lock shifted his attention to Galante. “Carl?”

  “Same,” said Galante. “They took a good long look at us before they made a move. Made sure we knew they were there. Waited to see if we’d leave.”

  Ty nodded his agreement as he mopped up some maple syrup from the corner of his plate with a piece of waffle. “Exactly. You drive on the block and some cat’s going to object to you being there. That shit goes off from the jump usually. Car rolls up behind you, takes its time about it, that’s a decision being made.”

  “So at least we know we’re fishing in the right pond,” said Lock.

  Galante nodded. “I’d say those two kids are within a ten-block radius.”

  It narrowed it down, but not nearly enough for Lock’s liking. A ten-block radius could encompass hundreds of houses. They needed to narrow it down further, and fast. Assuming that the kidnappers hadn’t already been spooked, and decided on a move, there was still too much ground to cover.

  “So what do we think? Door to door? See if anything pops?” said Ty.

  Lock shook his head. “Too risky.”

  A door wouldn’t even need to open. Someone could be waiting for them and fire straight through without even opening it.

  “I a
gree,” said Galante. “It’s too big an area. It’s not like people are going to invite you inside their home so you can check they don’t have a couple of Chinese kids tied up in the basement.”

  Galante was right. To search the area effectively, they’d need warrants. They weren’t official law enforcement, so that wasn’t going to happen. And even if they’d been cops, they’d still require probable cause for a warrant. All they could do now was poke another stick into the hornets’ nest and see if anything broke. Maybe throw some of the cash that Li had given Lock into the mix for good measure.

  “So what do we do?” asked Ty. “Keep riding the car angle?”

  Before Lock could respond, Carmen walked back to their table, and scooted in next to Lock. “I got a steer on what was being discussed on that clip you gave me.”

  Lock had almost forgotten about the footage Ty had shot of Li on the phone with his boss, Emily’s father, and the heated conversation they’d had in Mandarin. “Anything good?”

  Carmen tapped her smartphone and passed it to Lock. An email from the translator gave a rough breakdown of the conversation that had taken place. Or, at least, Li’s side of it.

  Lock read it over.

  “She said that’s a rough translation into English. She can be a little more precise if she has more time to go over it, but I’d told her it was priority and that I didn’t need the exact wording of everything that was said.”

  Lock nodded. He read the email again. It would have been useful to have both sides of the conversation, but there was enough from what Li said to give him a handle.

  Ty and Galante were staring at him across the table.

  “Well?”

  “What does it say?”

  Lock shrugged. “It seems like they knew something bad was coming but they didn’t think it was this.”

  “What does that mean?” said Ty.

  Lock looked at Carmen, then handed the phone to Ty.

  “Go ahead,” she said.

  Ty began to read the email.

  The cell rang with an incoming call. He handed it back to Carmen.

  A split second later Galante’s phone rang. He snatched it and got up from the table.