I heard the floorboards squeak.
Others were now looking around, seeing the same thing that Barlow was looking at.
I froze. It had to be Buck, and judging from the sound, he was standing just a few feet away.
Slowly, very slowly, I lowered my hands to my chest.
Tried to wind the rope back around my wrists, keeping my movements small, imperceptible from behind.
I sank to the floor, closed my eyes, feigning sleep. The carpet had that farmyard smell of wet wool.
I waited.
Buck cleared his throat. "You ladies keep it down," he said.
Then I heard his footsteps recede. I waited twenty seconds, then a minute, before opening my eyes.
Barlow nodded.
I sat up slowly. Ali, then Cheryl, saw, and their eyes widened.
"Oh, my God," Cheryl said.
53
I gave Ali a quick nod.
"Excuse me," she called out.
Buck looked around. I held my breath.
"Excuse me," she said again.
Buck came over, scowling. His jet-black hair looked stringy and unwashed.
"The hell do you want?"
"I need to use the bathroom."
"You can wait," he said, turning away.
"No, I can't," Ali said. "It's-look, it's a woman problem, okay? You want me to explain?"
Buck stared, shook his head slowly. He didn't want to hear details. Men never do.
"It's gonna have to be quick," he said at last.
She held up her hands, and he yanked her to her feet. "Move it," he said.
She walked, and he followed. Before they left the room, he slowly looked around. "Anyone moves an inch," he said, and he unholstered his gun. "You saw what happened."
I waited for a few seconds, then slipped my hands free of the rope and stood up.
Then I trod quickly along the carpet. Behind me, I could hear faint rustling, soft whispers. I turned around, held up a hand to silence them.
A low voice: "You're a goddamned idiot, Landry."
I didn't even have to look to know it was Bross.
"I hope they catch you."
"Kevin," said Bodine. "Not another word."
"Shut the hell up, Bross," Cheryl whispered.
"No way," Bross said, not even bothering to keep his voice down. "I'm not going to sit here and let this kid get us all killed."
I was just about out the door when I heard the squeak of floorboards.
"I thought I heard something," boomed a voice from the corridor.
Buck leveled his giant Ruger.44 at me. With his other hand he clutched Ali's neck.
She watched me evenly, her face a mask of calm.
Buck shook his head, cocked the revolver. "Russell warned me you might be trouble."
54
I put my hands up in surrender.
"Jesus, Landry," Ali said. "I thought Russell cut him in."
Remarkable how calm she sounded-annoyed, even.
"Not in front of the others," I said. Her poise steadied me.
"Don't move," Buck said.
I ducked my head, said quietly, "You telling me Russell didn't let you in on our deal?"
"I told you, don't move."
I took a step forward. We were now maybe six or eight feet apart. "Can we take this out in the hall?"
"Maybe Russell wanted to cut him out," Ali said. She winced involuntarily as he squeezed her neck.
I was close enough now to smell his oniony foulness, the wood fire on his clothes. "I really don't want to talk in front of the others."
"The hell you talking about, cut me out?" Buck said.
"Why the hell do you think they even brought me here," I said.
Another step. I looked up. "Because I'm the treasury guy. The operations guy. Hammond Aerospace is a company with billions of dollars in cash, and I'm the only guy who can tap into it. That's why Russell told his brother to cut me loose. He didn't fill you in? Unbelievable."
"Russell-?" That giant steel cannon of a gun was still pointed at the middle of my chest. Buck was listening now, but he was also prepared to shoot at any moment.
I took another step closer.
"I don't know how much they're paying you, Buck, but it's chump change compared to what Russell and his brother are taking."
His expression was guarded, but you couldn't miss the glimmer of interest, of greed.
"It's not just that you're getting the short end of the stick," I said very quietly. "You don't even know how long the stick really is."
"What're they getting?" he asked.
One more step. We were right next to each other now, so close that I could smell his chewing-tobacco breath. "This has got to stay between you and me," I said in a voice that was barely audible. "I mean it." My head was down, my chin on my chest. I noticed the dried mud on the laces and the soles of his boots.
"What kinda money we talking?" Buck demanded. "I want to know."
I dipped my knees slightly, but not so much that he'd notice. My back was rounded, my stomach muscles contracted.
"Why don't you tell me," I whispered.
I didn't care what he said, just so long as he opened his mouth, parted his jaws.
"Tell you-?" he began, and then I uncoiled, exploded upward, the top of my head slamming under his chin with a sudden violent force.
His teeth cracked together so loud it sounded like the snapping of bone. He made a weird uhhh sound as he tumbled backwards, sprawled onto the floor with a loud thud. His Ruger crashed to the floor alongside him.
The impact had sent a jolt of pain through my skull, but it was surely nothing compared to what Buck felt the instant his teeth smashed together.
Ali gasped as she pulled free of his grip. Someone behind me cried out, then a few more. Buck was unconscious. That I hadn't expected: I'd thought I might knock him off-balance long enough to grab his gun. Maybe my skull had struck some bundle of nerves underneath his jaw or in his throat.
"My God, Landry," Ali said. "Where the hell did that come from?" She was looking at me with a peculiar combination of gratitude and respect and, I think, fear.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing."
"But what you did just now-how did you-?"
"I don't know," I said.
But of course I did.
55
A few weeks after I'd finished serving out my sentence at Glenview, I appeared before the Family Court judge, at the advice of my Legal Aid lawyer, to request that my records be sealed. Otherwise the crime would follow me for the rest of my life.
The Honorable Florence Alton-Williams regarded me over her tortoiseshell half glasses. "Well, young man," she said in her stern contralto. "Your record at Glenview was impeccable. The warden's report on your conduct was simply glowing."
Of course it was. Neither he nor the superintendent wanted trouble from me; they didn't want any more details about Pee Wee's death to see the light of day.
"Looks to me like the right wolf won," she said.
I didn't reply.
Swooping down to retrieve Buck's stainless-steel Ruger, I tucked it into the waistband of my pants. Then I turned around to face the roomful of my fellow hostages. Everyone was awake now.
"You goddamned idiot," Kevin Bross said, even before I could speak. "As soon as Russell sees this, he's going to start picking us off-"
"That's why I need help moving this guy," I said.
Some looked at me blankly; some looked away.
"Come on. Anyone. Upton, you're a strong guy. I'll cut you loose."
"I'm sorry, Jake. Those guys are going to be back any second," Barlow said.
"Come on, Landry, let's go," Ali said. She stood at the edge of the room, held her hands out to me. "Slice these ropes off me."
"No. They'll notice you gone right away. Someone else. Paul, you know the layout of this place better than anyone. You'll know where to stash this guy."
"I'm in no shape," the manager said.
"How about your son? Ryan?"
Ryan shot me a frightened look, but his father spoke up for him: "It's a suicide mission."
"This asshole's going to get us all killed," Bross said.