The operating room door opened and the two doctors burst through the door. Very shortly they were on the elevator ride back up to the 44th floor, both looked at the numbers change on the LCD display and tapped their feet impatiently. The doors opened and they walked directly to Frank’s office. Inside they found the office to be untouched. It was locked and unchanged since they left.
Frank opened the door and held it for Shirley, “This is my meager little office. It ain’t much but it’s home…” He chuckled a little and Shirley giggled in response to the stupidity of the joke.
“So, do you feel like getting a drink?” Frank looked at her expectantly.
“After today, I could use an iv of sedatives. My mind is scrambled, the fucked up surgery, and a promotion, I feel like my minds in the frying pan.”
“We could go to The Brink, it’s a bit out there but it could be a fun night.” Frank’s eyes began to glow like a school child’s at Halloween, “you know the bar at all?”
Shirley turned to him, “No, I don’t. I’ve just heard the name. What should I wear? What kind of bar is it?”
“Wear whatever you want. It’s a bar in the middle of a skating rink, the building was originally a planetarium. The bar rotates counterclockwise while the rink is stable. It’s a wild time and it takes less alcohol to get you good and drunk. Something about the rotation and the possibility of antigravity side-effects or something or another…”
“You’re so funny Frank. Antigravity thingy… HAH HAH, I like that,” her laugh turned school girl like.
“So sound like a plan?” his eyebrows raised.
“Sure, that sounds like fun,” she replied.
“I know I want to go kick back for a while and try to forget today. How about we talk later and can decide on a time?” he asked.
“Sure, I’ll call you this evening.”
Frank looked around his office, at the clock, then at Shirley, “I’m going to head home, head out together?”
She nodded her head then opened the door and held it while he gathered his things and followed her out. He made sure to lock his door and test it was closed before the walked to the elevator. The elevator reached the atrium on the ground floor, the doors opened and Frank and Shirley walked towards the front doors. Frank stopped mid way to the door, turned around and stared up at the atrium roof.
“You ok?” Shirley reached out for Frank’s shoulder.
As her hand touched him, “What!? Sorry, what?” he blurted.
“Nothing, just asking how you’re doing.”
“Oh, uhm, sorry, I was just thinking,” he said then turned and started walking with Shirley to the exit. “I just can’t get past the fact that we were ordered to do this today. What kind of agenda do they have. What the hell is in that canister?”
“Shhhh. Don’t talk about it now Frank,” she hushed him.
They exited the building and upon hitting the street were instantly blinded by the sun for a moment before a cloud obscured it and diminished its intensity.
“So I’ll call you?” Shirley looked at Frank.
“Yeah this evening sometime is fine.”
With a wink and a nod, Shirley ran off down the street to catch a bus home. Frank watched her run away, sighed and turned to walk to the parking garage and to his car. The sun still shone down between the buildings as he climbed into his car and pulled out onto the street.
Chapter 9
Rue’s phone rang suddenly breaking him out of his stupor of the never ending traffic. He picked up his phone and looked at the caller ID. The number flashed on the screen but Rue had no clue whose number it was. He was about to put the phone down when he remembered Coral was supposed to call.
He answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Hi, this is Coral. You said to call you about now. So I’m calling you.” A little giggle came through the phone.
“I’m headed to the bar later, do you know where The Brink is?” he asked.
“Of course I do. That place has been around for as long as I can remember. I went there all the time as a kid long before the bar was put in.”
“So you wanna meet me there in about three hours?”
“I don’t have a car, but I could take the bus, it’ll take me half an hour to get there at least.”
“Where do you live?”
“96th avenue and Preston street, on the corner is The Evergreen Lofts. I can be out front if you could pick me up.”
Rue paused as he thought it over then replied, “Uhh, yeah. I can pick you up.”
“Perfect, the bus is hell at night. Alright, see you about 8:30?,” her voice rose in excitement.
He looked to the time on the dash then agreed, “sure, that should work. I’ll see you then.”
“I can’t wait,” she said.
Rue closed his cell phone and tossed it at the center console cup holder then turned right down the next street. The traffic again crawled as he got near his apartment building and finally he was parked in the garage. He pulled his attache case from the passenger seat and slid his phone inside before he grabbed his coat and got out of the car. He locked it as he walked away for the elevators and the resounding beep echoed in the concrete garage.
* * *
“You hungry at all?” Will startled Denise as she was hunched over looking under the bed.
“Shit Will. Don’t scare me like that.” She sat up and turned to look at him, “I guess so. We’re gonna have to go out. We haven’t got anything in the fridge.”
“There’s always delivery,” Will offered, “It is the city. We have shit loads of choices.”
“Now we have a nice new door and better locks too. They put in a solid core door. You should feel the weight to the thing. I guess we have a new lock that can’t be picked from what Frank said.” Will reached his hand out to help Denise to her feet.
“I need to get ready before I can go anywhere,” she said as she pulled her hair out to the side.
“I need a shower and all that too,” he agreed.
Denise walked to the bedroom and Will the front door where he locked the deadbolt and the door knob, turned and walked back to the bedroom. Denise was rummaging through boxes of clothes hunting for her outfit to wear. Will walked to the dresser and opened the drawers, he pulled socks, underwear, pants, and a t-shirt out.
Denise watched as he laid the clothes on the bed, her disgusted gasp, “I wish it was that simple for me. Two minutes and you’ve decided what to wear. Men.”
She shook her head in disgust then turned to another box full of clothes and flipped the top open.
“I’m jumpin’ in the shower first, give you a chance to figure out what you’re gonna wear. We’re not going anywhere fancy, so it shouldn’t be that hard to decide.”
“Yeah yeah. Just get in the shower.”
Will closed the door to the bathroom to retain a little heat and turned on the water in the shower. Denise sat in the middle of the walk-in closet with clothes splayed out all around her. Her brow wrinkled in frustration as she lingered over two blouses, one a periwinkle, the other a maroon. She finally stood and in disgust threw the two blouses out of the closet onto the bedroom floor. She pried open another box and found a part of her shoe collection. She dragged the box to the back of the closet and tipped it upside down. The shoes piled onto the floor, spilling onto the clothes strewn about the floor. She rummaged through the shoes for a while and finally found three pairs of shoes. Out the door and onto the floor they went, one and two at a time.
“OWW! Watch it!” Will yelled from the bedroom, shoes careened off his shin and toes.
“Sorry baby,” she called out to him.
Will stuck his head in the closet and surveyed the chaos, “You still haven’t decided?”
“Everything is still packed so I don’t know where anything is at anymore. I’ve had to rummage through it all.”
“The shower’s all yours.”
“K, thanks. I’ll get in in a minute.”
“I bet,” Will winked at her then withdrew his head from the closet and put his clothes on.
He was in the bathroom combing his hair when she walked in ready to shower, “I’ll be in the office setting up the computers. Try not to take a long time please. I’m getting pretty hungry now.”
“Alright, I’ll hurry.” Denise stripped naked and climbed in the shower, closing the curtain behind her.
“Where do you wanna eat? I’m in the mood for a Chinese buffet or something oriental.”
No answer came from the shower. Will figured she had her head under the water, finished up with his hair and went to the kitchen for a glass of wine. He poured a full glass and walked to the office. He turned left into the office and turned to close the door but stopped when he looked across the hall at the second bathroom. Through the open door he could see an old claw foot cast-iron bathtub. He set his glass of wine down on one of the desks and walked into the bathroom. He bent down and looked underneath the bathtub. There was an object lying in the back corner behind and below the tub.
Will reached with all he could but came up short. He went to the kitchen and grabbed the broom, walked back to the bathroom and used the handle of the broom to fish out the object. He pulled the thing out to the point he could reach it and then picked it up in his hand. He looked at the small flat rock, no larger than a dollar coin, as he rolled it in his hand he felt grooves on one side. He looked down at the rock and noticed it had markings on one side.
“What the hell is this?” He mumbled to himself as the rock slipped and flipped in his hand.
He turned it so the markings were facing up and he turned the light switch on above his head for better light. He peered at the stone in bewilderment. The markings had to have some kind of significance, their form being very deliberate. A circle with symbols inside of it and four markings, one on each quarter, the shape of the crescent moon. He looked up to see Denise in the door way with just a towel on her head.
“What’s that?” she asked motioning to his hand with her nose.
“I’m not sure, aside from it being a rock, it has markings etched into it. Here,” he threw the rock to her which bounced off her bare skin and hit the floor.
She bent over to pick it up, at which Will stood and briskly walked towards her naked form. His cold hand slid across the skin of her butt cheek, to which she replied with a dramatic shiver. Goosebumps formed in a wave along her skin in response to his touch.
“Shall we christen the new apartment now?” Her hand toyed with a nipple as the other hand played with the rock.
“If you would have said something before I would have waited getting dressed.” His smile trailed off as he realized that, “It’s gonna have to be later cause we have to go buy and pay for the storage.”
Denise shrugged and walked to the bedroom to ready herself and tossed the stone on the bed. Will went back to the office and began un-boxing the computer parts. He had just finished emptying the second box when Denise was at the door.
“I’m ready. Where should we eat?” she asked.
“Lets go, we can talk on the way,” he replied.
They headed for the front door, stopped to get keys, money, and cell phone then Will stepped to the door and put his eye to the peephole. He unlocked the door and they stepped out into the hallway. The door closed and Will locked both locks and tested the door. The elevator doors opened and they stepped in, pushing the button for the ground floor.
As the elevator began moving Will looked to Denise, “We should see if the cops found anything out.”
“Yeah, they were supposed to come back and let us know what they found. We’ll check at the desk.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened, the people waiting for the elevator stepped aside and let them out. They walked up to the main desk and waited in line behind two people. They got to the counter and Will asked, “We were wondering if the police had found anything out from the security. We’re the Stuckerts. Apartment 2810.”
The woman behind the counter’s name tag read Julie and Will watched as it moved with her breathing.
“Sir, they left an hour ago. I can check with security and see if they know anything.”
“If you could please.”
She picked up the phone and dialed a number. They watched and listened as she asked security then repeated their response, “Sir, they say the police did get good views of the man and they took a copy of the tape to their people who are going to try to id the man.”
“Ok, so I guess we just wait for them to contact us?”
“You could sir, or you could call the precinct every few days to ask for an update.”
“Thanks Julie. I have one more question for you,” Will asked as she finished her call.
“Sure, what d’you need?” she replied.
“Where’s a good Chinese buffet?”
Julie thought for a moment then replied, “try Shen Wa’s. It’s about a twenty minute ride on the subway but well worth it. They always get voted the best buffet in the yearly Times round-up. I think I have a menu here,” as she dug around her desk then produced a tri-fold menu.
Denise took the menu and flipped it over to see the address then looked over to Will, “it looks easy to get to.”
“Yes it is, just take the subway to the 36th street stop,” Julie agreed.
“Thanks Julie,” Will smiled at her.
“No problem, enjoy your dinner,” she said as the phone rang and she picked it up to answer.
Will and Denise walked out the main doors to the building and down to the subway where they waited for the train to arrive. Soon it pulled up and they were riding through the dim tunnels watching for their stop to approach. The train came to a stop and they filed out with a number of other people then made their way up the stairs to the street above.
“I think it’s this way,” Denise said as she pointed down the street.
“Lead the way then,” Will said as he began to follow her.
They walked down the sidewalk and crossed the street to the next block and were soon at the entrance. Will pushed the door open for Denise then followed her through.
* * *
Tesar and Praza looked up as Zeleny walked down the hallway towards them and said, “we’re good, let’s go.”
The brothers stood in unison and waited for Zeleny to gather his things before following him out the apartment door. The elevator doors opened to the parking garage and they walked to the still covered car. Praza pulled the cover off, opened the trunk and crammed it inside.
“Whose is that?” Tesar asked.
“Mine now,” Praza replied as he shut the trunk.
“You going to get the windows fixed?” Zeleny asked as he got in the rear passenger seat and Tesar the front.
“Of course, we’ve just been busy today so it will have to wait till tomorrow,” Praza said as he got in the driver seat. “We have to go to the warehouse first? Or can we get food first?”
“Actually we have go to the pier warehouse and check in things since Ivan’s been locked up,” Zeleny replied.
Praza nodded then drove them out of the garage and onto the street. They wound their way through the city to the shoreline and the piers. Truck traffic was heavy and they were forced to drive around multiple different rigs backed into loading docks. At pier thirteen Praza pulled the car down the pier along the building and parked midway at a dim lit doorway.
They all got out of the car and Zeleny pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. He pushed it open and they all walked in before he closed the door and turned the light switch on so the interior was not visible as the door shut. The sodium lights flickered to life and slowly warmed up, their dim light casting a golden glow over the inside of the building.
Rows of shelving stretched out before them, all filled with long wood crates and plastic cases, metal ammo cans of various sizes, and unmarked boxes. One wall held a row of tall gun cases all side by side. The lights popped on a few at a time and the warehouse lit up bright.
“Damn,” Praza said, “I always forget how much is in here. I thought Mishenka had a buyer for most of it.”
“Last I heard he was having trouble setting up a way to get it out of country. So it sits here and it appears Ivan has kept his mouth shut,” Zeleny said.
Tesar walked over to the row of safes and pulled on a door and he was surprised to have the door pull open. Inside stood a line of identical looking compact collapsible AR-15s, all black with long silencers on the end of each barrel. The night vision scopes had caps over the lenses and each magazine looked full of rounds. Tesar looked over to Praza with wide open eyes then back to the open safe.
“These look incredible,” Tesar mumbled as Praza stopped next to him.
“I’d gladly take a few of those off his hands for him,” Praza drooled.
“How long you think Ivan’s gonna be in? He won’t know they’re gone,” Tesar pressed.
They looked at each other eyes wide then glanced towards Zeleny who was walking down the head of the rows away from them.
“You go distract him and I’ll slide a couple in the trunk,” Tesar said quietly.
Praza’s eye blinked a few times then his head nodded and he turned to follow Zeleny. He caught up to him and asked, “can you show me where the rpg’s are? I know he has some in here.”
Zeleny gave him a slightly confused look but nodded and turned down one row of shelves. They walked down the row to past the middle and he stopped at a shelf with a big R emblazoned on a white sign.
Tesar watched them walked down the row out of sight and quickly grabbed a pair of the rifles from the safe, closed the door, then quickly carried them to the door. He cracked the door and peeked out to see if anyone was near and seeing no one he rushed to carry them to the trunk. He reached in the broken driver side window and pulled the trunk lever which caused the lid to pop up from the force of the car cover crammed inside. He lifted the cover and slid the rifles underneath then piled the cover over them and slammed the trunk shut.
He slid back inside the warehouse just before Zeleny and Praza walked back out of the row. Praza looked to him and he gave a very slight nod.
“So it looks like Ivan has been taking care of things here, let’s go get food, I’m starving,” Tesar said.
“I am too, let’s hit Shen Wa’s. That buffet is killer with the crab legs,” Praza licked his lips.
“Alright, lets go,” Zeleny agreed.
The brothers walked out the door and Zeleny followed then stopped to lock the door.
“You got em?” Praza whispered as they walked.
“Yep, two,” Tesar replied softly.
Zeleny locked the door and got in behind the brothers. The car was soon driving across the city in the rush hour traffic. Praza wound his way through the streets trying to avoid the streets of parked cars but ended up sitting in one anyway. The sat in the line of cars for minutes before suddenly the mass began to move. Another thirty minutes of traffic before they pulled into a large alley with parking spots and parked in an open one.
“You two can go get a table, I have to cover the car first,” Praza said.
“Okay, we’ll see you inside,” Tesar grinned then walked with Zeleny around the corner of the building.
Praza opened the trunk which popped the lid up again. He lifted the cover and saw the rifles laying beneath. He glanced around him for anyone near then pulled the cover out to reveal both rifles. He glanced around again for anyone then pulled the tab over the spare tire storage and opened the lid. The storage space held no tire and he slid both rifles into the space which they fit nicely into. He dropped the lid then closed the trunk and flipped the cover up over the car. He then followed them around the corner to the restaurant.
* * *
Brent waited on the landing for the subway train to arrive as the landing filled with people. After nearly ten minutes of waiting the train slid to a stop and a crowd poured off the train as the crowd on the landing poured in. The packed train stopped at every stop until it finally reached the 36th street stop. He filed out of the train with a crowd of people and went with the flow up the stairs to the street where he suddenly had space around him. A deep breath then he walked down the sidewalk and across the street to the restaurant door, pushed it open and walked inside.
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