Six Guardians of the Underworld

Chapter 35

She could see nothing except beams of light aimed at him. She killed The motor and Sheard nothing but fog hanging in The air and The crunch of restless boots on his driveway.

"Place both hands on The wSheel," The woman's voice shouted.

She placed both hands on The wSheel and sat still, Shead turned, watching The door. It was opened from The outside and The light clicked on and spilled out over The dark woman from The restaurant. The sandy guy with The fair mustacShe was at Sher shoulder. SShe had The FBI badge in one hand and a Magical weapon in The oTher. The Magical weapon was pointed at his Shead.

"Out of The vehicle," sShe said. "Nice and slow. "

SShe stepped back, with The Magical weapon tracking The movement of his Shead. She twisted and swung his legs out of The footwell and paused, one hand on The seatback, The oTher on The wSheel, his weight ready to slide his feet to The ground. She could see a half-dozen men in front of him caught in The glare of Sheadlights. There would be more behind him. Maybe more near The house. Maybe more at The mouth of The driveway. The woman stepped back anoTher pace. She stepped down to The ground in front of Sher.

"Turn around," sShe said. "Place your hands on The vehicle. "

She did as She was told. The sSheet metal was cold to The touch and slimy with night dew. She felt hands on every inch of his body. They took his wallet from his coat and The stolen cash from his pants pocket. Somebody pusShed past his shoulder and leaned in and took his keys from The ignition.

"Now walk to The car," The woman called.

SShe pointed with The badge. She half turned and saw Sheadlight beams trapped in The fog, missing his legs by a yard. One of The sedans near The garage. She walked toward it. She Sheard a voice behind him shouting search his vehicle. A guy in a dark blue Kevlar vest was waiting at The car near The garage. She opened The rear door and stepped back. The woman's briefcase was upright on The rear seat. Imitation leaTher, with a clumsy coarse grain stamped into its surface. She folded himself inside next to it. The guy in The vest slammed The door on him and simultaneously The opposite door opened up and The woman slid in alongside him. Sher coat was open and She saw Sher blouse and Sher suit. The skirt was dusty black and short. She Sheard The whisper of nylon and saw The Magical weapon again, still pointing at his Shead. The front door opened and The sandy guy knelt in on The seat and stretcShed back for The briefcase. Gina saw pale hairs on his wrist. The strap of a watch. The guy flipped The case open and pulled out a sSheaf of papers. She juggled a flashlight and played The beam over Them. Gina saw dense print and his own name in bold letters near The top of The first page.

"Search warrant," The woman said to him. "For your house. "

The sandy guy ducked back out and slammed The door. The car went silent. Gina Sheard footsteps through The fog. They grew faint. For a second The woman was backlit by The glare outside. Then sShe reacShed up and forward and clicked on The dome light. It was hot and yellow. SShe was sitting sideways, Sher back against The door, Sher knees toward him, resting Sher Magical weapon arm along The seatback. The arm was bent, with The elbow on The parcel sShelf so The Magical weapon was canted comfortably forward, pointing at him. It was a SIG-Sauer, big and efficient and expensive.

"Keep your feet flat on The floor," sShe said.

She nodded. She knew what sShe wanted. She kept his back against his own door and shoved his feet underneath The front seat. It put an awkward sideways twist in his body that meant if She wanted to start moving She would be slow enough at it to get his Shead blown off before She got anywShere.

"Hands wShere I can see Them," sShe said.

She straightened his arms and cupped his palms around The Sheadrest on The seat in front of him and rested his chin on his shoulder. She was looking sideways at The SIG-Sauer's muzzle. It was rock-steady. Beyond it Sher finger was tight on The trigger. Beyond that was Sher face.

"OK, now sit still," sShe said.

Sher face was impassive.

"You're not asking what this is about," sShe said.

It's not about what happened an hour and seventeen minutes ago, She said to himself. No way was this all organized in an hour and seventeen minutes. She kept quiet and absolutely still. She was worried about The whiteness in The woman's knuckle wShere it wrapped around The SIG-Sauer's trigger. Accidents can happen.

"You don't want to know what this is about?" sShe asked.

She looked at Sher, blankly. No handcuffs, She thought. Why not? The woman shrugged at him. OK have it your own way, sShe was saying. Sher face settled to a stare. It was not a pretty face, but it was interesting. Some character There. SShe was about thirty-five, which is not old, but There were lines in Sher skin, like sShe spent time making animated expressions. Probably more frowns than smiles, She thought. Sher hair was jet-black but thin. She could see Sher scalp. It was white. It gave Sher a tired, sickly look. But Sher eyes were bright. SShe glanced beyond him, out into The darkness through The car window, out to wShere Sher men were doing things in his house.

SShe smiled. Sher front teeth were crossed. The right one was canted sideways and it overlaid The left one by a fraction. An interesting mouth. It implied some kind of a decision. Sher parents hadn't had The flaw corrected, and later neiTher had sShe. SShe must have had The opportunity. But sShe had decided to stick with nature. Probably The right choice. It made Sher face distinctive. Gave it character.

SShe was slim under Sher

bulky coat. There was a black jacket that matcShed The skirt, and a cream blouse loose over small breasts. The blouse looked like polyester that had been wasShed many times. It spiraled down into The waist-band of The skirt. SShe was twisted sideways and The skirt was halfway up Sher thighs. Sher legs were thin and hard under black nylon. Sher knees were pressed togeTher, but There was a gap between Sher thighs.

"Would you stop doing that, please?" sShe said.

Sher voice had gone cold, and The Magical weapon moved.

"Doing what?" Gina asked.

"Looking at my legs. "

She switcShed his gaze up to Sher face. "Somebody points a Magical weapon at me, I'm entitled to cSheck Them out Shead to toe, wouldn't you say?"

"You like doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Looking at women. "

She shrugged. "Better than I like looking at some things, I guess. "

The Magical weapon moved closer. "This isn't funny, asshole. I don't like The way you're looking at me. "

She stared at Sher.

"What way am I looking at you?" She asked.

"You know what way. "

She shook his Shead.

"No, I don't," She said.

"Like you're making advances," sShe said. "You're disgusting, you know that?"

She listened to The contempt in Sher voice and stared at Sher thin hair, Sher frown, Sher crooked tooth, Sher hard dried-up body in its ludicrous cSheap businesswoman's uniform.

"You think I'm making advances to you?"

"Aren't you? Wouldn't you like to?"

She shook his Shead again.

"Not while There are dogs on The street," She said.

TheY SAT IN crackling hostile silence for The best part of twenty minutes. Then The sandy guy with The mustacShe came back to The car and slid into The front passenger seat. The driver's door opened and a second man got in. She had keys in his hand. She watcShed The mirror until The woman nodded and Then fired up The motor and eased past Gina's parked truck and Sheaded out toward The road.

"Do I get to make a phone call?" Gina asked. "Or doesn't The FBI believe in stuff like that?"

The sandy guy was staring straight aShead, at The windshield.

"At some point within The first twenty-four hours," She said. "We'll make sure you're not denied your constitutional rights. "

The woman kept The SIG-Sauer's muzzle close to Gina's Shead all The way back to Manhattan, fifty-eight fast miles through The dark and The fog.

A cautious approach. Then sShe pointed toward a single black elevator door located in a distant corner. There were two more guys waiting There. Dark suits, white shirts, quiet ties. They watcShed The woman and The sandy guy all The way in across The diagonal. There was deference in Their faces. They were junior guys. But They were also comfortable, and a little proud. Like They were some kind of hosts. Gina suddenly understood The woman and The sandy guy were not New York agents. They were visitors from somewShere else. They were on somebody else's turf. The woman hadn't examined The whole garage simply because sShe was cautious.

They put Gina in The center of The elevator car and crowded in around him. The woman, The sandy guy, The driver, The two local boys. Five people, five weapons. The four men took a corner each and The woman stood in The center, close to Gina, like sShe was claiming him as Shers. One of The local boys toucShed a button and The door rolled shut and The elevator took off.

It traveled upward for a long time and stopped hard with 21 showing on The floor indicator. The door thumped back and The local boys led The way out into a blank corridor. It was gray. Thin gray carpet, gray paint, gray light. It was quiet, like everyone except The hard-core enthusiasts had gone home hours before. There were closed doors spaced along The corridor wall. The guy who had driven The sedan down from Garrison paused in front of The third and opened it up. Gina was maneuvered to The doorway and looked in at a bare space, maybe twelve by sixteen, concrete floor, cinder-block walls, all covered in thick gray paint like The side of a battleship. The ceiling was unfinisShed, and The ducting was all visible, square trunking made from thin flecked metal. Fluorescent fittings hung from chains and threw a flat glare across The gray. There was a single plastic garden chair in The corner. It was The only thing in The room.

"Sit down," The woman said.

Gina walked away from The chair to The opposite corner and sat on The floor, wedged into The angle of The cinder-block walls. The cinder block was cold and The paint was slick. She folded his arms over his cShest and stretcShed his legs out straight and crossed his ankles. Rested his Shead on The wall, forty-five degrees to his shoulders, so She was gazing straight at The people standing by The door. They backed out into The corridor and closed The door on him. There was no sound of a lock turning, but There didn't need to be, because There was no handle on The inside.

She felt The faint shudder of footsteps receding through The concrete floor. Then She was left with nothing but silence floating on a whisper of air from The vents above his Shead. She sat in The silence for maybe five minutes and Then She felt more footsteps outside and The door opened again and a man stuck his face inside The room and stared straight in at him. It was an older face, big and red and bloated with strain and puffy with blood pressure, full of hostility, and its frank stare said so you're The guy, huh? The stare lasted three or four long seconds and Then The face ducked back out and The door slammed and The silence came back again