"I gotta try to find out what’s in that package."
"Felix and the General work for Estabon. And he was Chilly’s supplier, right?"
"That’s something that always has bothered me, Nick, but now it makes sense."
"What’s that?"
"Why did Chilly’s wife hire us."
"What?"
"It’s not a hard question. Why did she hire us, a team of paid assassins, for a missing persons case?"
Nick didn’t have an answer.
"I mean, we weren’t really private investigators. We didn’t advertise, we weren’t listed in the phone book, so how did she find us?"
"I never thought about that," Nick said.
"I think that if we could actually find Mrs. Childers she would tell you that she was recommended by Diego Estabon."
"She does know him, so it is possible," Nick said.
"Who else could it be? They set us up to be killed?" Monika paused. "How many people do you think are involved in this?"
"I don’t know, Monika. There’s no telling how many or how far up the chain of command this goes. But I do know they’re still gonna want us dead. That’s why I brought you this." Nick handed Monika a wooden book with the initials M.W. on it. Monika smiled. The box contained two 9-millimeters. Nick and Jett had given it to her for her last birthday.
"I got them out from your house after you got shot." Nick handed Monika a box of clips. "You should be safe here. Call me if you need me. I promise to answer this time," Nick said and got up.
Chapter Twenty-three
There was no telling what time it was when Shy woke up. At this point, she had no idea what day it was or how long she’d been there. She was being treated well for the most part. If you can consider being tied to a bed all day treated well. She considered herself fortunate that she was still alive and hadn’t been raped. The only thing she did know was that there was a McDonald’s somewhere nearby, or at worst, one of her captors loved it there, because that’s all she’d been given to eat.
When it was time for meals, two armed men, both wearing masks and gloves, would come into the room where she was being held. Neither would speak. They would untie her, remove her blindfold and allow her to use the bathroom. While Shy ate, both men would sit in the room with their guns pointed at her. Once she was finished eating, the blindfold was placed over her eyes and they would tie her to the bedpost and leave her alone again.
Shy slept most of the day, and when she wasn’t sleeping, she thought. She tried to think of something constructive, but it wasn’t easy to keep a positive mental attitude when she’d been kidnapped and tied to a bed for who knows how many days.
There was one thing that she, no matter how hard she tried, couldn’t help thinking about. Who was that woman and why did she want to kill Shy so badly? No matter what she thought about, and Shy had nothing but time to think, she always came back to that one point.
She thought about all the women who might have a reason to want her dead. She had, as a rule, steered clear of women. They are bad news and bad for business, Shy remembered her father telling her when she was younger. For that reason, her list of suspects was short. First on her list was Susan, Ricardo’s wife. When Shy met Mike, she had been dating Ricardo. But for three years, Ricardo had been living a double life. One night when they were at a club, Ricardo told Shy that he could never see her again because while Shy was in love with him, he had another woman and they were getting married. But then he flipped it on her and told Shy that they could still see each other on the low.
Shy lost her mind. She stood up and pulled out her gun. She was about to kill him, but one of her crew grabbed the gun out of her hand. After that, Shy didn’t have any interest in men, preferring instead to concentrate on making money. That was until she met Mike Black.
It didn’t take Shy long before she ruled Susan out. She just didn’t have it in her.
There was only one person Shy could think of who would have a reason to want her dead. She never actually met her. In fact, she’d only seen her twice, and for the life of her, she couldn’t remember her name. Shy remembered the first time she saw her at Impressions on the night that she met Mike. The second time, Shy had just left Mike at Cuisine. She was riding with Jack, one of her old crew, when she saw the woman coming. Shy remembered saying, "Slow down, Jack. I wanna make sure this bitch sees me." They drove past slowly, but the woman wasn’t looking. "Honk the horn." When the woman looked at the car, Shy mouthed the words, He’s mine, then motioned to Jack to drive on.
Shy remembered thinking that it was funny back then. Now, if this was the same woman-And I’m sure that it is, it couldn’t be anybody else-then it wasn’t funny. And if that was the case, then what was whatever her name is doing mixed up with South American drug dealers?
Since the doctor sedated her back on the boat in Miami, she hadn’t heard Sal’s voice. Was it possible that she was no longer in Miami and that Sal brought her to New York and left her?
New York, Shy thought.
The idea that she might be back home in New York made her smile. Not just because she was in the city, but if she was in the city, Shy knew that sooner or later Mike would find her. It was a very comforting thought.
Just then, Shy heard footsteps coming down the hall and fumbling of keys. She had to laugh at herself, because that sound always made her heart beat faster. She felt like one of Pavlov’s dogs, as she knew that sound might mean that she would be allowed to get up and use the bathroom, which, in fact, she had to do soon. Shy listened as the key went into the lock and the door opened.
Once she was untied, Shy got up and stretched. It felt good to get off that bed. Her back was starting to hurt. Shy started to reach for her blindfold.
"Leave that on. We’re leaving."
"You’re letting me go?" Shy asked.
"Don’t ask questions. Just do what you’re told and we won’t have any problems."
"Can I at least use the bathroom first?"
There was a long pause and then Shy’s blindfold was removed. There before her were the same two masked and armed men. "Make it quick."
Once Shy was finished in the bathroom, one of the men told her to put her hands behind her back. Shy complied with their request. After her hands were tied tight and a hood was placed over her head, one of the men said, "Let’s go."
They led her out of the room and down four flights of stairs. From the sounds that she heard and the heat, Shy knew she was outside. They walked a little farther then stopped. Shy heard a noise.
I hope that’s not what I think it is.
One of the men picked her up and laid her down on something hard. Then she heard the noise that she didn’t want to hear: the sound of the trunk slamming. From the time she heard them say that they were leaving, Shy was hoping that it didn’t mean she would be riding in the trunk.
Oh well, just one more story to tell the grandchildren. That’s when Shy realized that her period was late.
While she was riding in the trunk Shy thought about the men who were holding her captive. She had heard both of them speak. They sounded like they were black, but she couldn’t be sure. It made her a little more confident in her earlier assumption that she was no longer in Miami and with the South Americans. But where was she?
When the car stopped and the trunk was opened, one of the men helped Shy out of the trunk and led her into a building. They walked for a while and then stopped. Shy heard an elevator door open. They went up a few floors, and she was led into a room, where she was untied and her hood was removed. Both men backed out of the room and locked the door behind them.