The Sentry - By Robert Crais Page 0,86
through the call he received when Dru pretended she was talking to Rainey. She had begged Rainey to give up the money.
“He wants the money.”
“He’ll say he wants it, but that’s bullshit. The Bolivians want us dead. That’s all they care about.”
Pike checked the time. One hour, thirty-seven minutes away.
“How many messages has she left?”
“Three. She’s called three times.”
“You have them?”
“Yeah.”
Pike wanted to hear her voice.
“Where are you?”
“Ah, right now? I’m in Hollywood. I’m behind a restaurant here, what is it, Musso and Frank?”
Pike thought he understood how the killer would play it, and began to develop a plan. He calced the drive time between where he was now and where he wanted to be, then told William Allan Rainey where to meet him at exactly 5:30. This would give Pike time to pick up a few things and call Elvis Cole. When they moved, they would have to move fast. They had to be ready.
Rainey said, “You’re gonna help?”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Sell you.”
43
Sixty-two minutes later, Pike slid out of his Jeep when Rainey got out of the Prius. They were in the parking lot behind a diner on Sunset Boulevard, trapped between a reinforced hillside and the restaurant, not five minutes from Miguel Azzara’s house.
Rainey looked shrunken and feeble, as if his body was collapsing along with his life.
Pike twisted his arm behind his back and shouldered him hard against the Jeep.
“Fingers laced behind your head. Feet out.”
Rainey did as he was told and did not resist.
“It’s in the car. Under the seat.”
“Shut up.”
“I hadda shoot them. I told you.”
“Like you shot Michael Fourchet?”
Pike found nothing except keys, a wallet, and a phone. He pulled open the Jeep’s passenger door, pushed Rainey inside, then went around to the driver’s side and climbed in behind the wheel. When Pike pulled the door, Cole leaned forward from the back seat and patted Rainey’s shoulder.
“If Pike won’t take the money, I will.”
Rainey jumped.
“Who are you?”
“Pike’s evil twin.”
Pike held up Rainey’s phone.
“This the phone she calls?”
“Yeah.”
Cole said, “So this is the number she’ll answer when we call?”
“I guess. What are we gonna do? What was that shit about selling me?”
Pike gave the phone to Rainey.
“Play her messages. Put it on speaker.”
Rainey fumbled with getting the phone’s voice mail to play back on speaker. The cheap phone made her difficult to hear, but they finally got it going.
Her first message was almost identical with what she told Pike, Dru saying he had her, and pleading for Rainey to give him the money. Pike didn’t listen to Dru so much as he listened for background noises, but he heard nothing useful. The condenser mics built into cell phones were designed to reduce background sounds.
The second message was much the same, but with small differences. Now Dru said he wanted all the money, and added a plea for Rainey to call back. This time she left her number.
Cole stopped Rainey before he played the last message.
“Does she know you only have three hundred left?”
“Hell, yeah, she knows. She helped spend it.”
“She’s making it sound like you have all eight million.”
“She’s letting me know she hasn’t told him. I told this one—”
He glanced toward Pike.
“—these Bolivians don’t want the money. I know, ’cause I tried to pay’m, plus extra.”
Pike said, “How can you pay them if you don’t have it?”
Cole saw the deal first.
“The Federales and La Eme. You cut a deal with them.”
“You bet your ass I did. Those Federales, they work for a cartel down in Baja. They run dope up through your Mexicans here—”
“They’re not my Mexicans.”
“You know what I used to do, right?”
“Yeah. You smuggled cash offshore on fishing boats.”
“This oil spill mess created a lot of opportunity. People still can’t fish the way they used to. I got to thinkin’ about it.”
He faced Pike again.
“I talked to the Mexicans here and they talked to the Mexicans in Mexico, ’cause I can bring their shit in and their cash out, just like I was doin’ back home. The Mexico Mexicans liked it, and offered the New Orleans crew a deal. The fucking Bolivians pretended to go along, but it was all bullshit, so here we are. Fucked.”
Pike glanced at Cole, then studied Rainey. Something about his story didn’t add up.
“If you were in business with these people, why did Mendoza and Gomer beat you up?”
“We weren’t in business, then. Those assholes were trying to rob me, just like you thought. Then Azzara came around to lean on me, making all these