After that, Underwood knew someone like me could be useful. He took me off the streets, put a roof over my head, and filled my pockets with enough money to clothe myself and keep my belly full. He promised to help me find the answers if I worked for him in the meantime. He gave me hope. He gave me a purpose.
The hope remained. But lately, ever since the crack house, I’d been wondering if the purpose was the right one.
Four
“Bennett’s people have control of a number of properties around the city, mostly warehouses and shipping piers. Whatever they can rent out fast and cheap or use for themselves as stash houses,” Underwood said. It was the next night, and we were sitting at the table in the main room of the fallout shelter. I’d changed into a fresh new shirt and burned the one Maddock had put a bullet hole in. I’d burned nine ruined shirts so far. I hoped I could get through tonight, at least, without ruining another one. When your life is this messed up, you keep your goals simple.
The black door was closed. I wondered if Bennett had been released alive or if his bruised and beaten corpse lay on the other side of the door even now. I pictured the drain in the floor painted red with blood. I felt cold then, and turned away.
The second gray door was open, revealing a small room that was the mirror image of my own, except without a bed. Instead, there was a couch, a couple of chairs, and a floor lamp. The dark-haired woman sat on the couch, staring blankly into space while Tomo sat on a chair across from her, keeping an eye on her. She would go catatonic like this on occasion. More than once I’d seen her sitting with her eyes open but completely unresponsive—lights on but nobody home. Sometimes it only lasted a few minutes, other times she didn’t seem to come back to herself for hours. I wondered if she was a junkie and Underwood was selling stolen goods on the black market to feed her habit. It didn’t strike me as a good use of his time or money, but maybe that was what love did to people. I wouldn’t know.
Underwood continued talking, pulling my attention back to him. “Sometimes, when these properties sit empty, they get squatters. A certain object I’m looking for recently made an appearance at one of these properties, in the hands of some people who aren’t supposed to be there. I just didn’t know which property until I got it out of our good friend Bennett. This is where you need to go.”
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and passed it to me. Even his hand reeked of cologne. He’d written down an address, 49th and West Side Highway, and beneath it he’d scrawled a name, Balakier.
“It’s a warehouse that used to belong to an import company, but it’s been abandoned for a few years now. The people who are squatting there have a wooden box in their possession. I’m told the box has an old metal crest on its lid. A couple of lions and a shield. That’s how you’ll recognize it. Get the box and bring it to me.”
“How big is it?” I asked.
“About the size of a suitcase, two feet long, a foot wide. It’s big, but it won’t be too heavy for you to carry.”
“What’s in it?” I asked.
“Just bring it to me. This one’s a game-changer, Trent. I already have a buyer lined up for it, one who’s willing to drop so much cash for it that I could own this town. So don’t worry about what’s in it, don’t open it, don’t mess with it, I don’t want you fucking it up. Don’t do anything with the box except bring it straight back here. Got it?”
“Got it.” I put the paper with the address in my pocket and stood.
“One more thing,” he added. “This won’t be a simple in-and-out job like the others. Whoever has the box won’t be stupid enough to leave it unguarded, and they’re not going to give it up without a fight. Things might get hairy, but if anyone can handle it, it’s you. That’s why I wanted you on this. You’re my go-to guy. I’m counting on you.”
I nodded and pulled on my leather jacket. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Yes,” Underwood said. He picked casually at his teeth with a fingernail. “Once you’ve taken the box from them, kill them. No survivors. I don’t want anyone left alive who can trace this back to me. There’s too much at stake.”
My throat went tight.
“Something wrong?” he asked. He must have noticed me tense up.
“It’s just that you’ve never asked me to kill anyone before,” I said.
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t like having my orders questioned,” he said. “And I don’t like doing favors for someone who questions them. Is there going to be a problem?”
In the reflection of his black sunglasses, I saw myself shake my head.
“Good. Now go bring me that box.” Underwood stood up from the table and started toward the other room, where the dark-haired woman sat staring into space.
I rose and followed him. “Underwood, wait.”
He turned to face me, impatient. “What is it now?”
“Have you found anything new? About me, I mean?”
His scowl became a grin. “You better believe it. And it’s big. All those inquiries I’ve been making have paid off in spades. Believe me, you’re going to be very happy with what I found.”
“What is it? Tell me.”
“All in due time,” he said. I stared eagerly at him, waiting for more, but he just smiled. “When the box is in my hands, and the ones you’ve taken it from are dead, then I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” He nodded toward the corridor that led to the exit. “Better get a move on, Trent. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
I felt like I was going to explode. I wanted to know now, but Underwood was already walking away. I wouldn’t get any more out of him. Biting back my frustration, I walked to the fallout shelter door. Big Joe was there, waiting like a doorman. He sneered at me. “What’s eating you?”
“Nothing.”
Big Joe pulled back the bolt on the door, unlocking it. “You be careful out there, T-Bag. Nobody lives forever. Not even a freakshow like you.”
I parked the Explorer on 49th Street between 11th Avenue and the West Side Highway, then walked the rest of the way. The nighttime chill had settled over the city, and I pulled my leather jacket close around me for warmth. The address Underwood had given me was a two-story brick building in an enclosed cul-de-sac on the other side of the highway, flanked on either side by piers that stretched out into the dark waters of the Hudson River. The walls of the cul-de-sac hid it from the streetlamps and the blinking lights of the piers’ freight cranes. And from witnesses. A faded sign on the building’s façade read BALAKIER IMPORT & EXPORT. I waited for a break in the West Side Highway’s traffic, then hurried across.
The closer I got to the warehouse, the less I wanted to go inside. It felt like hundreds of tiny, imaginary hands pushing me back, trying to stop me. I didn’t like this job. A simple in-and-out collection was something I was used to, but this was a whole other ball game. It was enough to make me want to turn back. But Underwood had answers, finally. Answers I’d waited a year for, and if I wanted them I didn’t have a choice. I had to see this through.