Blindside Page 22

  The driver kept the gun on me as he opened his door, stepped outside, and opened my door. He said, “C’mon, out of the car, Detective Bennett.”

  When I was standing with him on the asphalt, he reached into the car and raised the privacy glass. Then he hit a button that locked the doors. Before he shut my door, he leaned into the car and said, “Natalie, you sit tight for a little while. Don’t even try to slip out of the car.”

  Now it was just the two of us. I knew that wasn’t going to last for long. I asked the driver, whose head didn’t come up to my nose, “What exactly is this bullshit?”

  The driver said, “Henry isn’t finished with you yet. He thought it was rude the way you left him in Estonia. He says you’re the kind of man who should understand payback.”

  “What’s the girl got to do with this? He could’ve left her alone.”

  “Henry doesn’t consult me about those kinds of decisions. I just handle problems in New York.”

  “What’s he gain from this? How is this good for business?”

  The driver shrugged. “I’d save those kinds of talking points for Henry. He’ll be here in a minute.”

  “Are you saying you don’t think this is bullshit?”

  “I just understand you embarrassed Henry and now he needs to make a statement so people know he’s serious. He keeps all these cyber people in line with fear.”

  In a crazy kind of way, that made sense. And because we were talking about a crazy person, I’m sure it made perfect sense to Henry.

  I noticed a new Audi rolling toward us along the street and parking maybe fifty feet away. I turned toward it, then glanced over my shoulder at the limo. There was a lot to think about in this encounter.

  I worked hard at keeping a disinterested expression when Henry popped out of the Audi wearing a gray Armani suit. He looked like one of the young investment bankers down on Wall Street, except for the Walther .380 pistol in his right hand. He smiled and said, “Detective Bennett, nice to see you again.”

  “Wish I could say the same. But I’ll say this, Henry, you have definitely impressed me this time. I’ve only been back a day and you were able to travel across the Atlantic, use the phone you cloned from the mayor, and trick me with the fake text. By the way, the ‘little fat prick’ comment on the text was inspired.”

  “Since we’re complimenting each other, let me tell you how impressed I am that you were able to figure all that out on the ride over here.”

  Now I gave him a sly smile. The guys who think they’re smarter than everyone else never really see it coming. I said, “I didn’t figure it out on the ride. My son pointed me in the right direction last night. The NYPD tech people confirmed it all this morning.”

  That got Henry’s attention. But it didn’t seem to have quite the impact I was hoping it would.

  He said, “Then I guess we’ll make this fast.” He racked the slide on his Walther.

  I knew racking the gun was more to scare me. But I could tell he wasn’t particularly comfortable holding the pistol.

  Henry looked at the driver and said, “Go get Natalie.”

  Chapter 99

  Henry and I stood in the wide gap between the two vehicles in the middle of the road, with the sun on us but the park’s large trees masking us somewhat from any afternoon runners or dog walkers. A gunshot might change all that, of course. A few cars trickled by on Vernon Boulevard several hundred yards back, too far away to see what was going on down here. And probably no one from the store came back here. Plus, Henry would’ve easily disabled any CCTV cameras on the building. In short, it was perfect for Henry and whatever his crazy plan was.

  I was waiting for the driver. I’d know when it was time to act.

  Henry said to me, “I don’t know how you convinced Natalie to betray me, but it ruined a pretty good thing.”

  “Aww, did she break your heart?” I enjoyed watching him change colors like some kind of screwed-up chameleon. He went from his normal flesh tone to a dark red, then a purple. After a few seconds, his color returned to normal.

  In a much sharper tone than usual, he said, “You’ll learn—how do you Americans say it?—not to run your mouth.”

  “When?”

  “Today.”

  When he smiled, I realized he was back to his usual, pompous self. Good. That made things more enjoyable and interesting.

  That also made me throw in, “What if I don’t learn?”

  Henry shook his head and mumbled, “It won’t matter.”

  “Henry, I’ve been around a lot of criminals in my life. The successful ones are all business. How does this help your business?”

  “What’s the point of being as successful as me if I can’t do things that make me feel better? This will make me feel better. In fact, I’m already enjoying it. I wish I could slip you back to Estonia so I could make it last.”

  I smiled. “I don’t see you having the stomach to torture anyone. Even me.”

  “I don’t have to torture anyone. I could just let you watch as your family suffers and destroys itself while you’re away.”

  “You don’t know my family. They’re resilient.”

  “Even if I ruined your credit and drained your bank accounts? What about if I add things to your son’s record and he doesn’t get out of jail for ten more years?”

  I tried to hide the fact that this asshole had just hit a nerve. I didn’t do a very good job.

  Henry chuckled. “See, everyone has a weakness. Virtually all weaknesses can be exploited by something online. That’s where I rule.”

  “This isn’t the internet, it’s real life.”

  “Yes, this is real. Sometimes that’s more satisfying.” He looked past me and said, “Here comes our other contestant.”

  I turned my head and had to smile at the way the driver kept a couple of feet away from his prisoner. They stopped a few steps from us. The look on Henry’s face was spectacular. He stared silently for a moment. I hoped he might change colors again.

  Henry said, “Who the hell is that?”

  The confused driver held up his hands and said, “It’s the mayor’s daughter. She was waiting right where you told me she would be.”

  Henry walked over and ripped off the Yankees cap. Dark hair flopped out from under it and spread out across her shoulders.

  I let out a laugh. It was partially to distract the two men, but there was a genuine element to it as well. I said, “I thought you were too smart to be tricked by anyone. You fell for this like an eight-year-old. Allow me to introduce you to NYPD detective Terri Hernandez. She looks a little like Natalie, I mean in a general way, right? Your driver fell for it.”

  Henry worked his jaw for a moment as he backed away a few paces and then said, “You forget something, Detective.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I still have a gun.” He raised it next to his face, like he was showing it to us for the first time.

  This time it was Terri Hernandez who let out a laugh. She said, “So what? Your driver has a pistol, too.”

  Henry said, “Why do you find that so funny, Detective?”

  She kept a smile on her pretty face. Then she threw me a wink. She said, “You think I wasn’t ready for that?” Without any warning, she stepped right next to the driver and hit the trigger of a Taser she had hidden under her dress. She used it like an old-style stun gun by jamming it into the driver’s side and pulling the trigger.

  He let out a squawk and immediately dropped to the ground. His pistol skittered away from his outstretched arms. He convulsed for a few seconds, drawing everyone’s attention. A thin line of spit dribbled out of his open mouth. His eyes rolled back, giving him the look of a quivering zombie.

  Henry was distracted for a moment. Most people have never seen a Taser deployed. It’s an interesting show.

  Then he regained his common sense and faced me with the pistol once again.

  Chapter 100

  The afternoon sun was over my shoulder now and in H
enry’s eyes. Good. I needed any advantage. I wasn’t about to let Henry point that gun at me again. Before he’d even brought it on target, I stepped closer and slapped it out of his hand. I have to admit, my initial response was to punch him in the face, but at the last second, I realized I needed to eliminate the pistol from the equation.

  I wasn’t worried about Terri Hernandez. She was as smart and as tough as any cop I had ever met. She was also impressively efficient. She was on top of the stunned driver even before I’d slapped the pistol away from Henry.

  I did something I never do. I gave a prisoner a chance to fight his way into an escape. I faced off against Henry and let him see that my hands were empty. It’s not a smart tactical move and not what a cop should do. But this little son of a bitch had caused me a lot of heartache. And I’d let him run his mouth on two different continents. Now it was time that he learned a lesson.

  We squared off. I was going to give the young Estonian a chance to show me just how his showy beach muscles would help him in a fight. Big biceps had never helped in a street fight.

  Henry raised both of his hands and balled them into fists. Then he started to dance like a boxer. He was loose and casual. It looked pretty good. He danced and circled away from me a few feet, throwing a quick left jab out into space.

  I turned and adjusted to close the distance between us.

  He danced a little farther.

  Then I lunged at him. I used my long legs to really cover some distance. But Henry easily skipped backward and somehow now there was even more room between us.

  Terri Hernandez shouted something at me. She sounded muffled and far away, but I couldn’t take my attention off the feisty young Estonian.

  For another twenty seconds, all of it spent in frustration, Henry kept dancing just outside the range of my fists. We covered the majority of what was left of the road, and now the East River was not far from me. I was close enough to smell it. I also had sweat trickling into my eyes. This was turning into a regular workout. The only problem was that Henry didn’t look like he was working as hard as me.

  Henry planted his feet, and right at that moment I realized the joke was on me. He had purposely led me away from any backup. I realized immediately that Terri Hernandez had shouted for me to keep close just in case.

  I was an idiot, and Henry’s smug smile didn’t make me feel any better.

  Now he cracked his knuckles and peeked over my shoulder to make sure we were far enough away from Terri. Then Henry said, “I love so many things about America.” He almost shouted it. He was showing me he wasn’t nervous.

  Oddly, I felt a flutter of nerves. But I stayed in his game and said, “It’s nice when visitors appreciate the country.” I sucked in a little extra oxygen. This would be a longer fight than I had anticipated.

  Henry said, “I love the freedoms and wealth as much as I love the hypocrisy of Americans. You have this vast continent, yet everyone crams onto an insignificant little island like Manhattan. Why is that? It feels like something lemmings would do.”

  He slowly circled me as he kept talking. Now it was Henry who was looking for an opening. “I also like how you let lawyers and the threat of lawsuits govern your behavior more than the government. And especially I like how you are all utterly convinced that the world needs you. Like you’ll ride to the rescue if there’s a problem.” He threw a few more punches in the air.

  Then he looked right at me and changed his tone. “You know what else I love?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Your media outlets have to fill time with drivel. Every detail of the lives of celebrities is broadcast at all hours. Every aspect of police investigations is reported. Like the stories of your recent shooting. The one where you gunned down an innocent youth for no reason. You know what that tells me?”

  “That you watch too much TV?”

  He gave me a polite smile and shook his head. “No, it tells me that no matter what happens between us, you won’t use a gun, even if you grabbed one. It would look too bad for you.”

  “The day I need a gun to deal with a little punk like you is the day I retire.”

  “If you ever get a chance to retire.”

  Chapter 101

  I had listened to this bullshit long enough. The smart-ass had been asking for a lesson in manners for a long time and had traveled a long way to get it.

  I didn’t have thoughts like that often, but this was a fight I had been waiting for. I held my right hand just behind my right leg as I balled it into a fist. I pictured hitting the computer genius so hard I knocked him into the river behind him.

  Maybe my expectations were a little high.

  Henry feinted with his left hand, then threw a hard, round kick right into my ribs. It knocked the wind out of me and shook my confidence at the same time.

  As I sucked in air hard, I realized I hadn’t expected him to be so good with his feet.

  Henry gave me a smile and said, “I do a lot to stay in shape. Lift weights, run, and I’ve been studying Tae Kwon Do with a master in Estonia. I finally get to use it. Too bad I couldn’t find a more worthy opponent.” To emphasize his comment, he made a quick turn and caught me in the stomach with a spinning back kick.

  I took a few steps back to give me some distance. I had to suck in as much air as possible. This guy was full of surprises. I didn’t want this to be his final one. But it wasn’t like I’d never been in a fight. I was a New York City police detective.

  I had a great reach advantage, if I could just keep him from using his feet. I had to think.

  Henry charged me and leapt into the air to deliver a kick to my head. I swung hard with my left arm and knocked him onto the asphalt half a dozen feet from me. He didn’t scramble to get up like I thought he might. But he did make it to his feet and faced me again.

  I said, “Maybe your time would’ve been better spent studying a Japanese martial art like Shotokan. More practical, lower to the ground. No fancy moves like that. But it might not work with a little short guy like you.”

  Again I noticed his face change color. My comment had exactly the effect I wanted it to.

  He let out a low growl as he stepped toward me and raised his right fist like he was going to punch me. This time I was ready for the fake. I moved my left arm slightly, but as soon as his foot came off the ground, I shifted my weight and used both of my forearms to block the kick. I didn’t know how a guy that size generated so much power. Maybe it was from his anger. Either way, I was glad the kick hadn’t landed on a rib or my chin.

  He danced away from me and we squared off again.

  I said, “Aren’t you getting tired yet? I’d like to wrap this up. I have a lot left to do today.”

  This time, as he came at me, he kicked low. Very low. It caught me right on the shin. I was shocked how much pain shot through my system. I tried to hop back, but he was on me. An elbow crashed into my temple.

  This fight was definitely not unfolding the way I had expected.

  Chapter 102

  As I breathed hard and did my own dancing to get a little farther away from Henry, I glanced around the street, wondering where the reinforcements were. Then Henry forced me to focus on the fight again.

  I managed to parry two hard punches aimed at my face. Now sweat was starting to pour into my eyes, and the pain from the kicks to my ribs and my shin intensified. I felt my breath become labored. My vision blurred.

  I needed a change in tactics. I gained a little more distance, backing farther away from Henry.

  He had a real swagger about him now. He was enjoying this. Maybe he thought he was putting on a show. Too bad for him there was no one around to see it. I would have gladly led him back to Terri Hernandez if I thought he’d bite on that idea. I also realized that if I went for my gun, with his speed he’d be all over me.

  Henry took a big step to his left, then spun and kicked me with his right foot. It hit me high. Just above the solar plexus. At least a blow like that in my chest didn’
t knock the wind out of me. I took the kick and stepped back, then slipped to one knee. This was not the position I wanted to be in.

  Henry let out a laugh. “This feels about right. You kneeling before me. Now all you need to do is ask for mercy.”

  “Does that mean you’ll show me mercy?”

  “What do you think?” He swung his left leg high over his head to bring an ax kick down on my shoulders. It was a lot easier to do something like that when your opponent was on his knee. At the last moment, I rolled to one side and avoided the kick. But I could feel the effects of the fight catching up to me. I tried to clear my head.

  I was still on the ground, and now my limbs were shaky. Henry jumped to one side so he could attack me from behind. This time, instead of blows, he wrapped his arm around my neck. I felt his other arm brace my head. He had me in a solid choke hold. This was the last place a cop wanted to be.

  He leaned in close as he used his arms to slowly cut off my air. He whispered in my ear, “Not what you expected, is it? I don’t know about you, but I don’t like surprises.”

  That’s when I reverted to what we like to call nonconventional street tactics. It really wasn’t that hard, either. As he shifted to get a better position on his choke, his groin ended up next to my shoulder. I wasted no time in making a fist and punching him in the balls as hard as I could.

  I could tell by the way he released me instantly and the sound he made that I had been right on target. I rose to my feet as he staggered back, holding his crotch the entire way.

  He worked hard to shake off the blow. I used the time to catch my breath. He came at me again, only this time much slower. I blocked a right cross, and while he was close to me, I head-butted him in the face.

  I felt his nose shatter. I’d caught him with the top of my forehead, just the way you’re supposed to. He staggered back. His eyes weren’t focused. After three steps, he flopped onto the ground, then lay down, like he needed a nap.