“Your wife told me you were hiding here.”
“My…wife…” His hostility turned to terror. “My God,” he muttered. “You…You’re one of them.”
“No, I’m not, I-I’m caught up in this the same as you.” Confused, Jeff continued to hold his hands up to assure the man that he harbored no bad intentions toward him. “A man named Foster Hope hired me, he’s forcing me to work for him.”
Wychek raised the knife a bit higher, ready to use it if need be.
“That’s not necessary, OK?” Jeff smiled nervously. “All I want to do is-”
“Stay where you are.”
“I won’t come any closer,” he said, hoping to mask his own fear with a docile tone. “Relax, OK? Mr. Hope asked me to tell you that it’s in your best interest to settle your debt with him and that you should contact him as soon as possible. He just wanted me to deliver that message. That’s it.”
The man gave a questioning stare. “You don’t know what you’re into yet, do you?”
“Honestly?” Jeff asked through a sigh. “No. I don’t have any idea.”
“You will.” Wychek moved toward the window, the knife leveled in front of him. “But by then it’ll be too late.”
Jeff glanced in the direction of the doorway, fairly certain if he made a quick dash for it he could make it outside well ahead of the man. “What do you owe him? What does he want from you?”
“Everything.” Wychek slumped a bit, defeated. “And I’m tired of running, McGrath. I’m tired of being afraid.”
“Come with me, and I’ll get in touch with Mr. Hope. I’m sure we can all sit down and work out an arrangement both of you can live with.”
“You crazy or just dumb as a brick?”
“I’m frightened and confused, same as you.”
“Funny how it all fits together,” he said, as if to himself. “All I wanted was to get out from under my problems, I…I wanted me and my wife to be free from them, you know? My drinking, the drugs, my running around, I-I can’t stop, I’m a fuckup, and she-she’s a good woman, my wife. Too good for me, she never deserved this. I wanted to get better so we could both be happy…free. He told me he could help us, told me he could make it all come true. But it was a trick.
He’s a cruel and evil fuck.”
“Maybe you and I can help each other.”
“Ain’t no help against his kind.”
“He’s powerful, rich and plays demented games with people’s lives, but he’s a man just like you and me.”
“No he’s not.”
“Come with me,” Jeff said again. “We’ll confront the bastard together and get to the bottom of this.”
Wychek hopelessly bowed his head. “You tell Foster Hope I’ll see him real soon.”
Before Jeff had a chance to respond, Wychek rushed to the window, and with a horrific scream, launched himself through the plastic drape and plummeted to the street below.
A stomach-churning thud followed.
Jeff ran to the window and saw the carcass of an old refrigerator in the alley below. Sprawled across the top was Wychek’s broken body.
It flopped over like a rag doll, leaving behind a wide red wake as it slid lifelessly to the ground.
Staggering back, Jeff fell to his knees and vomited. When the nausea had left him he forced himself back to his feet and staggered from the room.
Ignoring the now heavy rain and a burning sensation deep in his gut, he crossed the vacant lot at a full run. As he rounded the corner and joined a more congested street he slowed his pace and tried to appear calm.
At the next block he leaned against the corner of a bank, fumbled his cell phone from his belt and frantically punched in the number he’d been given. It was answered on the first ring, but all Jeff heard was heavy breathing. “Hello?” he said, voice breaking.
“Hello!”
“Jeff, is that you?” Mr. Hope asked.
“Something terrible has happened!”
“Calm down. What’s going on?”
“Wychek’s dead,” he said, blurting the words but trying to keep his voice down due to the amount of people passing by. “He’s dead.”
“I want to be certain I heard you correctly. Would you repeat that please?”
“Wychek. Is. Dead.”
“Dead, you say?”
Jeff wiped rainwater from his face with his free hand, looked out at the street and pressed the phone tighter against his ear. “ Yes,” he hissed. “He threw himself out a fucking window.”
“Excellent work, Jeff.”
“What?” Jeff spun back against the building. “Are you out of your mind?”
“You’ve successfully completed your first negotiation.
Unfortunately, I just don’t see it working out for you here at International Facilitator, Inc. Your lack of enthusiasm in this situation clearly shows you don’t possess what it takes to become a permanent member of our team.”
“A man is dead!”
“Yes, how marvelous. Be that as it may, I’m afraid I’ll have to terminate your employment with us, effective immediately. However, I am a man of my word, Jeff, and I do plan to live up to my end of our bargain. You will be paid for your efforts today, as promised, and the compensation will grant you what you asked for, financial independence. Meet me at the offices and payment will be arranged.”
“I don’t want your money, I want answers!”
“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”
The line clicked and disconnected.
“Mr. Hope? Mr. Hope!” Jeff snapped his phone shut and tried to clear his mind. He was soaked to the bone and his heart was crashing against his chest with such force he was afraid he might actually be having a heart attack. He slumped against the building, and despite his trembling hands, managed to flip open his phone and hit redial.
“The number you have reached is not in service,” a pleasant recorded voice announced. “Please check the number and try again.”
Jeff closed the phone and dropped it into his coat pocket as he fought back tears of anger, shock, frustration and disbelief. “This isn’t…this can’t be happening.”
He turned, and there on the corner, watching him through the rain, was Ernie Graham.
10
If the sight of Jeff hurrying in his direction alarmed him, Ernie Graham showed no signs of it as he stood statue-still in the downpour.
When Jeff was within reach, he grabbed Graham’s arm and squeezed tight, not sure if he’d intended to hurt him or if he was only hanging on for dear life. “ You,” he snarled. “What do you know about these people?”
He stared at him dully. “What people?”
“Don’t fuck with me.” Jeff turned and started them both down the street, hand still clamped on Graham’s arm. “You told me to stay away from Jessica Bell. You said you heard things, saw things, knew things.”
“You’re hurting my arm.”
“Tough shit, start talking.”
“Where are we going?”
As they reached the first alley they’d come to, his question was answered. About halfway through, Jeff spun him around and pushed him against the wall. Ernie slammed the bricks, grimaced and began to cough.
“It didn’t have to be you!” Graham said. “It could’ve been somebody else!”
“What does that mean?”
He doubled over and coughed harder until he hacked up a big ball of phlegm. “It didn’t have to be you,” he said again, spitting it out. “You could’ve been kinder to me, you-”
“I tried to be kind to you.”
“No,” he said, wiping his mouth, “you tried to get rid of me.”
“What do you have to do with all this?”
“Your wife, she was kind to me. Eden was kind. Eden is kind.”
“I told you to leave my wife out of it. Eden has nothing to do with this.”
He laughed, his chest gurgling. “Wouldn’t you say she’s your life?”
Jeff hadn’t expected the question, and it took him a moment to answer it. “Yes, of course.”
“Then she has everything to do with it.”
“She doesn’t even know anything’s happened.”
He nodded in agreement. “And she never will.”
“Tell me what you know.” Jeff raised his fists. “Or so help me I’ll beat it out of you.”