Danger in the Cul-De-Sac
Zack walked into the living room and looked at his recliner. The newspaper sat on top of it, along with the remote control. Usually he spent some time every afternoon catching up on the news around the world and then taking a nap, but today he felt restless. He walked into the kitchen where Mimi was whisking up something in a bowl.
“What’s that you’re making?” He looked over her shoulder at a brownish batter.
“Oh, nothing much. Just zucchini bread, your favorite food in the whole world.”
“That brown stuff is my favorite food? It doesn’t look nearly as good before it’s been cooked.” He walked to the other side of the kitchen and stared out the window.
Mimi stopped whisking. “Okay,” she said. “What’s the matter? You’ve been pacing around all afternoon like a cat needing to go to the sandbox.”
Zack continued staring out the window. “I’m not sure. Something just doesn’t feel right. Where’s Shi-Shi?”
“She’s at dance class. I know that because she just texted me about thirty seconds ago. Are you having bad feelings about Shi-Shi?”
Zack moved away from the window. “I don’t think so.” He sat in a kitchen chair and rubbed at his chin. “Did Matt and Peng get off okay this morning?”
“Hope said they left before it was light. Permelia came over and apparently wore little Jin out. She’s napping now, and then they were going to go out for a walk. Do you think the boys are okay? Is that what’s bothering you?”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” he said and then stood, seeming to have come to some decision. “I’m going to go over and see how Hope and Permelia are doing with Jin.”
“Wait a minute, and I’ll come with you.”
Zack thought about it. “No. You finish your bread. I’m just going to go check on them, and then I’ll be back.”
“Take your cell phone with you. You call me as soon as you get there. You’ve got me worried, Zackary Shepherd.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Just restless old bones and grandfatherly paranoia.” But Zack knew it was something more. He’d had feelings like this in the past. Subtle promptings that he had learned not to ignore. There was something going on here—a sense of uneasiness about Shi-Shi, about Matt and Peng, but especially about Hope and Jin. He stopped in his room to get his cell phone. He also opened the safe and pulled out his holstered gun.
He didn’t know what was going on—probably nothing. He was most likely just getting old. But in his line of work, in his years working for the FBI and other government agencies, Zack had learned to always prepare for the worst. Most of the time the worst did not happen. But if it did, he would be ready.
* * *
The Econoline van sat at the opening to the cul-de-sac, and Dempsey and Buck peered through the tinted windows at Matthew and Hope Knight’s house.
“It looks quiet,” Dempsey said.
“That’s because it is quiet. I told you, Boss, the neighbors on either side were thrilled to win the free trip to Disneyland, and the houses farther down the street are far enough away that they won’t see or hear anything.”
“Let’s go through it one more time.”
Buck groaned. “You’re killing me. We’ve been through it a dozen times already.”
“And we’re going to go through it again.” If there was one thing Dempsey had learned from his time in clandestine operations, it was that rehearsals were critical. He’d also learned that no matter how thoroughly you prepared, there was always something that went wrong.
“I told you before. The kid likes to go outside in the afternoon. Sometimes the babe with all the hair likes to run, and sometimes she walks. She uses one of those running strollers for the kid. My guess is that they’ll be walking today because the old lady is with them.”
“And if they don’t come out?”
“Then we wait until tomorrow. You said we didn’t need to be at the rendezvous point until Thursday. We’ve got plenty of time. It will be the smoothest snatch-and-grab we’ve ever been a part of. Carney and his crew pulled the hard duty. While they’re up in the mountains trying to round up an ex-agent and a bunch of snot-nosed teenagers, we get the supermodel, an old lady, and a two-year-old. How hard could it be?”
Dempsey was about ready to lecture Buck about being too cocky when the door to the house opened and their targets began filing out. Dempsey opened the door and stepped out of the van. “Remember what I said. We don’t want to make a scene.”
Buck smiled and turned on the ignition. “Don’t worry, by the time you get there, the princess will have fallen into my arms.”
Dempsey was going to say something else about appropriate handling of the “princess,” but Buck shut the door and began to drive away. Dempsey hurried, crossing through a neighbor’s yard and behind a house. He wanted to be in position by the time Buck arrived at the curb, and Buck’s speed was going to make that difficult. Dempsey hoofed it about a hundred yards and then stopped to peek through a hedge.
Just as Buck had said, the woman was adjusting a jogging stroller on the walkway. The old woman, dressed in spandex and bright-pink running shorts, stood behind her. The older woman had come out hand in hand with the toddler and was now adjusting the kid in the stroller. The old woman wasn’t part of the plan, but since she was there, they would have to take her too. This shouldn’t pose much of a problem—she looked like she was at least in her seventies—but Dempsey still didn’t like it. He didn’t like any changes to the plan.
He began jogging. He still had some ground to cover before he would be in position. If Buck slowed down, it wouldn’t be a problem. But he knew Buck. Buck never slowed down.
Dempsey watched Buck pull up to the curb as the women made their way out to the sidewalk. Buck jumped out of the van, looking frantic. Dempsey couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he knew the script. Buck would do some improvisation, but Dempsey was actually okay with that. Buck was good with improv. And he was very good at acting a part. He just wasn’t very good at following orders.
As Dempsey got closer, he could hear what Buck was saying.
“My daughter.” Buck was wringing his hands and looked to be almost physically ill. “She swallowed a tinker toy, and she isn’t breathing. I don’t think she’s going to make it to the hospital. Is there a doctor in any of these houses?” He glanced up and down the street, a look of utter panic on his face.
As predicted, Hope immediately rushed forward. “Where is she? Take me to her. I’m a nurse.”
Buck looked up to the heavens as if his prayers had been answered and then ushered her to the side door of the van. “She’s in the backseat,” he said, following Hope into the van.
Dempsey couldn’t see them anymore, but as Hope neared the pile of blankets in the back, Buck would reach around to her face with a chlorophyll-doused rag and gently lower her into one of the seats. This was the part where Dempsey did not completely trust Buck. He didn’t trust him anywhere around a beautiful woman, and Matthew Knight’s wife was definitely beautiful.
“Hey,” he heard the old woman yell as she rushed toward the van. Buck was just coming out, and the woman caught him with a front kick to the groin, causing him to double over. Then she hit and kicked him as he rolled around on the sidewalk, trying to protect himself.
“Uh-oh,” Dempsey said under his breath as he rushed forward. The scene would have been amusing if the whole operation wasn’t in danger. He wouldn’t mind at all watching an elderly woman beat the tar out of Buck. But if somebody called the cops, it would all be over. He thought about rushing into the fray and pinning down her arms but decided against it. Instead he moved to the little girl, who was watching from the stroller.
“I think I would stop that if I were you.”
The woman looked at him, noticing that he had control of the jogger and that he happened to be pointing his gun casually at the little girl.
“Don’t you hurt her, you creepazoid. You can’t even imagine what kind of pain I can cause.”
“Oh, I think I can imagine.” Dempsey nodded to Buck, who was pulling himself off the ground. “But we’re done with the games now. Get into the van, or the little girl gets hurt.”
“What have you done to Hope?”
“Nothing that won’t wear off in a couple of hours. Now, please, move into the van. I don’t particularly like hurting women and children.”
Dempsey nearly jumped as a booming voice sounded behind him. “That’s funny, Mr. Dempsey. Hurting innocent women seems to have become a pattern for you.”
Dempsey knew the voice without having to turn around. And behind it was a six-foot-five black man who could grind a person to powder with his bare hands. Dempsey slowly placed his gun on the ground and turned to face the man who used to be his teacher. “Nice to see you again, Zack. You’ve lost some weight. Do they still call you the Hammer behind your back?”
“Usually they just call me Grandpa these days. And right now you are between an angry grandpa and his grandchild. Not a very good place to be.”
Dempsey moved away from the stroller. Buck was on his knees, still trying to catch his breath.
“Nice to see you, Bishop,” the old woman said. “I had it under control until the one with the crooked nose decided to pick on a little girl.”
“These guys don’t play fair. You did well, Permelia.”
“You know these hoodlums?”
“I know this one.” He gestured his gun toward Dempsey. “I’m ashamed to say he’s a former student.”
“Did you put that dent in his nose?”
“Naw. Not me. Matt did that.”
“Huh. I didn’t think the boy had it in him.”
“Let’s just say that some of my students were better at learning their lessons than others.”
Dempsey smiled. “You’re not talking about me, are you, Zack? Because I was actually a very attentive student. And you know the one lesson I learned from you that I will never forget?”
“What’s that, Mr. Dempsey?”
“To never, ever rely on the first plan to succeed. To always, always, always have a plan B. Isn’t that what you used to drum into us?”
Zack was about to respond when a shadow stepped out from behind a bush and hit him over the head with something hard and black. Zack went to his knees but did not go down. Dempsey marveled at how tough the man still was.
The shadow hit him again. This time Zack did go down. All the way down.
Permelia was about to scream when Buck reached around her with the chloroform rag and took her to the ground.
“Mean old biddy,” he mumbled under his breath. “Reminds me of my grandma.”
In the stroller, Jin began to cry.
“Buck, get the old lady into the van and then grab the kid. You”—Dempsey nodded to the man who had emerged from out of nowhere—“It’s about time you showed up. Help me lift Zack.”
The man from the shadows just grunted. Dempsey had worked with him many times before, and he had been expecting him, but he was still amazed at how his bearded colleague always seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Buck grimaced and rubbed at a bruise on his cheek. “Why don’t we just take the old woman and the giant back in the house and put them on ice? They aren’t part of the bounty, and neither of them looks to be a cooperative prisoner.”
“We take them with us. The woman is old and harmless, and we have enough meds to keep the big one sedated. The last thing we need right now is someone finding a body.”
“His wife’s going to miss him. Someone’s going to come looking,” Buck said as he moved Permelia into the backseat, next to Hope. He stuck Jin between them and fastened her seat belt. She had stopped crying and was sucking hard on her hand.
Dempsey and the bearded man struggled to lift Zack into the middle seat.
“All the more reason not to leave any bodies,” Dempsey said. But Buck was right. If Zack went missing, there was no telling what type of law enforcement would be on their tail. All they needed was a few days, but something would need to be done about Zack’s wife. Dempsey handed Buck a handful of zip ties.
“Okay, let’s sit him up.” They struggled to get Zack’s body into a sitting position in the van. “Is he secure?”
“His hands and feet are triple zipped. But I think he’s going to be out for a few hours. Your mysterious friend did a number on his head. By the way, where is . . . ?” Buck looked around, but the bearded man was nowhere to be seen.
“He’ll meet us at the holding site,” Dempsey said. “He’s not very sociable.”
“But he’s kind of handy to have around in a fight.”
Dempsey fished around in Zack’s pocket for his cell phone. “Okay, get me some ammonia. We’re going to wake him up.”
“Why would we want to do that? He’s resting so beautifully. And the ghost is no longer here to help us put him back to sleep if we need to.”
“You said it. His wife is going to be worried. We need him to call her.”
“And what’s he going to tell her? That he decided to suddenly take a week’s vacation in Barbados?”
“He’ll think of something good. He’ll have to. Because I’m going to give him some real motivation.”
Buck produced a small capsule of ammonia from a medical bag and crushed it under the big man’s nose. Zack’s eyes fluttered and blinked as he came back to consciousness. His legs and hands were tightly bound, and Buck had added extra protection by securing him to a post on the seat of the van. As Zack awoke and began to struggle, Dempsey thought he might pull the seat from its moorings and start beating Buck over the head with it. If anyone could do it, it would be Zack.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Dempsey said. “Your granddaughter is watching.” Dempsey gestured to the toddler, who was staring intently at Zack. “I’m going to need you to call your wife.”
“And why would I agree to do that?” Zack’s eyes were deadly, and he reminded Dempsey of a caged bear.
“Because not only do we have the little girl, but I also have people following your daughter. Her name is Shi-Shi, isn’t it? Such a great little dancer. But then again, she does take lessons every afternoon during the summer. Nice to have a studio so close that she can walk home afterward.” Dempsey pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out in front of Zack. “I believe this is the exact route that she takes. I wonder what would happen if someone pulled up and offered her a ride?”
The fire in Zack’s eyes turned icy cold, and Dempsey was suddenly glad they had brought the pharmaceuticals. A lot was going to happen in the next week, but they needed to make sure Zack slept through it all.
“What do you want?” Zack had stopped struggling. His arms and voice were perfectly still.
“You are going to call your wife. You are going to tell her you were notified of a potential threat against Matt and his family. You are taking Hope and the little girl to a safe house, and you will be out of contact for about a week. You are sure there is nothing to worry about, but you want to take every precaution to make sure they are safe. You will contact her next week, but until then, tell her not to worry and not to talk to anyone else about this.” Dempsey met Zack’s stare with one of his own. “I think that should do it. Stick to the script, make it believable, and Shi-Shi will never know that friends of mine have been following her home.”
“What are you up to, Dempsey? I thought you were strictly doing overseas jobs.”
“I go where the money takes me. And you don’t need to know what I’m up to. You just need to know that if you don’t make that call, I will be forced to deal with your family.”
Zack didn’t say anything else, but he did give a slight nod. Dempsey dialed the number for Mimi in Zack’s phone and punched the button to put it on speaker.
“I don’t need to tell you what happens if you try anything funny.”
“Hello.” Mimi came on the line.
“Hello, Mimi.”
“I was worried about you. Is Hope okay?”
“She’s fine. But there’s been a development. I got a call from Washington. There’s been chatter about some terrorists digging into information about Matt and Hope.”
“Oh dear. What kind of information?”
“They may have gotten ahold of their address.”
“But that’s not a secret. Why is that concerning?”
“It’s concerning because they’ve been asking about it and apparently communicating it to other people. People that are in the profession of doing harm.”
“Oh dear,” Mimi said again. “You need to bring Hope and Jin over here right now.”
“I considered that,” Zack said. “But I think I have a better idea. I’m going to take Hope, Jin, and Permelia to a safe house . . . for about a week. I want to get them off the grid. Intel suggested that if something is going to happen, it will happen soon. I’ll stay with them, but I won’t be able to contact you for a while.”
Zack looked directly at Dempsey. “I also want you and Shi-Shi to get out of town. I want you away from this as well.”
“But where will we go? Another safe house?”
“No, not a safe house.” Dempsey was ready to hang up the phone if Zack said as much as a wrong word. Telling his wife and daughter to get out of town was not in the script, but it also made Dempsey’s job a little easier. He gestured to Zack with his thumb and little finger to make this short. Zack nodded, his eyes still defiant.
“You know that Disneyland trip we’ve been talking about? The one where we were going to stay at the Californian?”
“Yes, I know it,” Mimi said. “The Disneyland trip to the Grand Californian.”
“I want you to go with Shi-Shi. We’ve got the money saved up. It’s in our savings account. Make the reservations as soon as I hang up the phone. Don’t wait. These guys after Matt are the lowest of pond scum, and I don’t want to worry about you and Shi-Shi. I will take care of Hope.”
“What about Matt? He and Peng are out there in the woods.”
“Matt can take care of himself,” Zack said. “These guys aren’t fit to even walk in his shadow.” He was glaring at Dempsey again. Dempsey just shook his head. There were times when he missed Zack’s not-so-subtle messages.
“Okay. I’ll make the call, and Shi-Shi and I will leave as soon as she gets home from dance class.”
“Don’t wait for her to get home,” Zack’s voice seemed to soften. “I’d feel a lot better if you went and picked her up.”
“Shall I call the hotel first?”
“Yes, do that first,” Zack said. Dempsey was running his hand across his throat, telling Zack to end it. “Look. I’ve got to go. You keep Shi-Shi safe and have a good time at Disneyland. Don’t worry about Hope and Jin. I will take care of them.”
Dempsey hung up the phone. “You think sending them to Disneyland will protect them from us?”
“I think you got what you wanted—a plausible explanation of why I’m not coming home and a wife who isn’t going to be contacting the FBI with questions about where I am.”
“Also a wife and daughter who are far away so you can focus on putting a wrench in my plans without worrying about them.” Dempsey sighed. “While I would seriously enjoy playing that game with you, there is too much money at stake.” He nodded to Buck. “Unfortunately it’s time for you to go back to sleep.”
Before Zack could struggle, Buck pulled out a long syringe and jabbed it into the side of Zack’s neck. In a matter of seconds, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his chin fell to his chest.
“I don’t know why we don’t just kill him,” Buck said as he extracted the needle. “A couple more shots of this and he won’t be waking up.”
“Because we don’t have anywhere to stash the body,” Dempsey said. “And dead bodies stink. Besides, when he wakes up and the job is all finished, I want Zackary Shepherd to know he’s been beaten.” Dempsey realized as he said the words that he meant them deeply.
Buck moved back into the driver’s seat, took one more look around the cul-de-sac, and then slowly pulled away from the curb.
* * *
After hanging up, Mimi immediately went to the safe in the bedroom closet and began turning the dial. Her hands shook so badly she messed up several times and had to start over. When the door finally opened, she pulled a paper off the top shelf and quickly began to dial a number.
Zack had made her rehearse what to do in case of an emergency. There was code language involved. One of the codes had to do with calling on some of Zack’s former colleagues for help. If the phrase involved Disneyland and the Californian or Dolphins and Cancun, she was to call Demetrius and Chico, two undercover agents Zack trusted above all others.
A man answered on the first ring. “What up, homey? You hit the butt dial again?”
“Excuse me,” Mimi said. “Is this Demetrius?”
The voice changed from Harlem slang to Harvard educated. “Mrs. Shepherd? What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure,” Mimi said. “Zack just called me. He went to check on Hope. He used a predetermined code that warns me of danger and directs me to call you.”
“Hope? You mean Matt’s wife, Hope? Where’s Matt?
“He’s on a trip with the Scouts in the mountains.”
“Dang, that man never goes to the mountains without getting into some kind of trouble. We’ll be there tomorrow. Do you have any idea where Zack might be?”
“No, but he said not to worry about Hope and him. He seemed more concerned with making sure Shi-Shi was okay. He told us we should go to Disneyland, but I think he meant that we should just get out of town.”
“Okay, you hang tight. I’ll round up Chico, and we’ll be there in the morning. Get your daughter and hole up someplace. If you think there’s an emergency, call 911.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Mimi said. “If Zack wanted me to call the police, there would have been a different code word. Shi-Shi and I will go to a hotel and stay there until you get here.”
“Okay, Mrs. Shepherd. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Mimi hung up the phone and locked the safe. Her hands would not stop shaking. She didn’t try to stop them. Zack was gone, and Shi-Shi was in danger. She reopened the safe and pulled out a gun.
For the first time in her life, Mimi thought she understood what it might feel like to be a mother grizzly protecting her cub.