Blindside (Michael Bennett #12)(7)

Alice said, “You’ve seen the same photo I have. Won’t you recognize him, too?”

Janos just shrugged. That was his answer to most things. She was tired of trying to make him more professional. He pretty much did what she told him, and he wasn’t afraid of anything. Neither of them were. They both had realized that not many grew old in this kind of profession. That was okay with Alice. She made a lot of money, got to travel, and had no boss leaning over her shoulder. Not bad for a girl who had never known her dad and whose mom had abandoned her as a child. Thank God for Grandma.

Her grandmother was one of the reasons she worked so hard. She made sure the seventy-nine-year-old woman never had money problems. Her grandmother’s luxury apartment in Rummelsburg was next to a park and only a block from the Spree River. Alice loved seeing her happy. If that meant having to put up with jerks like Henry and watch boring apartments in New York, that’s what Alice would do.

Janos nudged her and said, “That’s him walking in now.”

Alice looked at the young man with his long, stringy hair in a ponytail. He also had an unfortunate receding hairline. He needed a woman to show him how to groom. That’s what she always thought about men with ponytails or man buns.

Janos pulled the Czech-made 9mm and made sure there was a round in the chamber.

Getting a gun in the US wasn’t too difficult, but Alice preferred a simple folding knife, or a garrote made from heavy-gauge electrical wire and a couple of plastic handles she could buy at any hardware store.

Janos turned to her and said, “Remember, Henry wants us to get this kid to work for him. No rough stuff unless he completely refuses our generous offer.”

Alice smiled. She liked Janos. She felt they made an attractive couple, even though they didn’t feel that way about each other. He was the classic lean but muscular, dark-haired Romanian. She felt it was a nice contrast to her curly blond hair. She was the one who could get in anywhere with just an innocent look and a tilt of her head.

Janos, who was a year younger than her at thirty-four, knew her too well. He may have been a wild partier, but he did catch on to patterns. He was interested in the bonus Henry had promised them.

Alice was more interested in efficiency. And maybe having a little fun with at least one of the nerds they were supposed to talk to. Maybe it could be this Tommy Payne.

Just thinking about it gave her a tingle of excitement.





CHAPTER 10





ALICE ASSESSED THE apartment building in the West Village. Washington Square was four blocks east. The famed New York University was also just blocks away. It was a nice building. Too nice for a student. Probably too nice for any young person working in Manhattan. That told her Tommy Payne was probably doing things he wasn’t supposed to do with computers.

She couldn’t have cared less. She just wanted this to move along quickly. She knocked gently on the freshly painted door. Everything about the building showed it was well maintained. She wasn’t sure what rents went for in Greenwich Village, but this was a hell of a lot more than she paid for her grandmother’s apartment.

She heard a male voice inside say, “Who is it?”

Alice said, “I have a message for Tommy.” She tried to hide her accent and sound as young as possible.

The door didn’t budge. Janos stood against the wall so if Tommy opened the door he wouldn’t see him.

Tommy called through the door, “A message from who?”

Alice had an inspiration and said, “I’m not sure of her name.” That always worked on men. This time was no different. She heard a chain, and then the door cracked open.

As soon as Tommy Payne saw the pretty blond woman in jeans and a colorful blouse, he opened the door wide.

That’s when Janos stepped close and shoved the young man into the apartment.

Alice stepped inside. The apartment was dark. There was a distinct smell of old marijuana. Two sixty-inch Sony TVs hung side by side on the main wall. An array of computers and monitors sat on a long table on the opposite wall.

To his credit, Tommy didn’t say a word. He lay on the hard-wood floor and looked up at Janos. Normally Alice would chalk that up to sexism, but Janos held the pistol. Anyone would look at the armed person in the room.

Alice tried the nice approach first. She kneeled down next to Tommy and traced her finger along his nose and lips. She smiled and said, “I’m sure you realize that Henry sent us.”

Tommy was silent as he nodded his head. His eyes never left the gun in Janos’s hand.

She slipped the plane ticket from her back pocket and set it on the coffee table. She leaned in close. “That’s an airline ticket to Tallinn, Estonia, by way of Amsterdam. Your flight leaves tomorrow morning. I really think it would be in your best interest to help Henry out.”

Now Tommy cut his eyes to Alice. He said, “I, um, I, I—”

Janos kicked him in the leg. “C’mon, you’re not in a mariachi band.”

“But I, I—”

That was enough for Janos. He shoved the pistol into Tommy’s mouth. Alice could hear it crack a tooth on the way in.

The young computer genius’s eyes opened so wide Alice thought one might pop out onto the floor. A whimper came from deep in his throat.

This could be messy.

Janos said, “I can’t imagine what you do with these giant TVs. If you ever want to watch them again your only answer to us should be yes.”