Citizen Insane - By Karen Cantwell Page 0,49

with KiKi’s picture on it.”

She did. “Shashi—we’re going to play this out as if you brought us in exactly as planned and we came along only because you had a loaded gun pointed at us. Get that gun out of your backpack now. Will they know it’s not loaded?”

She shook her head.

“Good. Play it mean. We’ll act scared. Can you act scared, Bunny?”

“I am scared.”

“Good.”

“And I really have to pee. Bad.”

“Hold it.”

I handed the paper and my cell phone to Frankie. Call the FBI as soon as we’re walking. Tell them one of their Most Wanted, KiKi Urbanowski, has Agent Howard Marr’s wife and three others held hostage in the Winslow Building and that Marilyn Schmutz is assisting in KiKi’s capture.

“Got it. Let me have your keys too.”

“Why?”

“I got more ammo in my van. I’ll get it just in case.”

“Frankie—I don’t want you to get in any trouble. The FBI can handle it.”

“Just in case. You know how it is—things can happen you don’t expect.”

He was right. I handed him the keys. “Okay, show me how to use this gun, but make it quick. I think we have less than a minute left.”

We piled out of the car and Shashi pulled her handgun from the backpack while Frankie gave me the low down on packing heat.

“This is my Beretta—it’s a nine millimeter. It’s got some punch. Hopefully you won’t have to use it tonight either, but you gotta know how, just in case.” He pushed a button on the side and something slid from the handle of the gun. “This here’s the magazine.” He held it in front of my face for a better look. “I already filled it wit cartridges. Fifteen of ‘em. It goes in like dis.” He snapped it back up into the butt of the gun and I heard it click in. “You load the first one like dis,” he pulled back the top of the gun called the slide—I knew this from my research—then let go and it snapped back into place. “You’re ready to take your first shot now, so don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you mean business. It’s a semi-auto so you won’t have to reload if you have to take a second shot, but there’s a safety, so when you pull on that trigger, it won’t be easy. Just know when you gotta take the shot, then follow through, you got that?”

I nodded, hoping he was right about not having to use it. I tried to convince myself that things would be under control long before I’d have to pull that gun out.

“Stick it in the back of your pants.”

“Like in the movies?”

“Yeah. Just like that.”

I did what he said. “It won’t go off accidentally will it? My rear end is one of my better features.”

He smiled. “You always got those funny things to say. Naw. Well, not unless you reach into the back of your pants, and somehow witout realizing it, slip your finger into da trigger and pull. In which case, I’d say you wasn’t so smart.”

It was my turn to smile. “You can make a funny too, huh?”

“I’ll stick to cookin’ and leave da stand-up to someone else.” He patted me on the shoulders. “Good luck.”

My watch said 9:10 p.m. when we started walking toward the entrance of the Winslow Building. Shashi followed closely behind Bunny and me. My legs wobbled nervously. Bunny looked as white as Al Pacino’s cocaine-covered coffee table in Scarface.

The building stood taller than any in the area and was typical for modern business architecture—sleek and ninety percent smoke gray glass. For lack of anything better to do other than wish I had packed a spare pair of underwear, I counted the floors—fourteen stories. I didn’t realize it was that tall. Even though it was unoccupied, all floors were dimly illuminated. Twenty-four hour safety lighting I assumed. Except for the fourteenth floor which was lit up brightly.

It occurred to me once we reached the door that we hadn’t considered other possibilities. Frankie would call the FBI once we were in the building, but what if Krystle’s plan didn’t involve the building at all? What if they were planning to drive up and hijack us to another location? We never got to hear Shashi’s description of their plan. Hopefully Frankie would be able to follow and lead our saviors in the right direction. I was about to try one of the two large glass doors at the entrance of the Winslow Building when