Learning To Fly Read online

  “Larry,” she shouted.

  “Yes, boss,” a man answered from outside the room.

  “Be a doll and fetch me another battery, will you? This one’s out of juice.”

  “Okay, boss.”

  “Well, Mr. Handley, it appears you have a little reprieve. Only so much juice in these things. You care to tell me who you’re reporting to?”

  Handley was trying to work up enough saliva to spit at his tormenter, but his mouth was dry.

  “What’s wrong J.R., cat got your tongue? I know you’re a cop, or you’re working with them. Just tell me what I want to know and it all ends.”

  “You know what you need to know. I’m not telling you anything else, bitch.”

  “Oh, Larry, can you just hook that new one up for me?”

  “Now, where were we?” she asked, after she had the new car battery hooked up, “Oh yeah, you were being an obstinate pig.”

  She held up the small prod and placed it on his abdomen again, causing him to convulse in pain. She held it there for a few seconds before removing it, crinkling her nose at the acrid smell of burning flesh.

  “Oh dear, that doesn’t smell good. Do I have it turned up too high?”

  She hit him again for another ten seconds and removed it when she heard a knock at the door.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s Frank. Got that data you wanted.”

  “Can’t you see I’m busy? Oh hell, come on in. Mr. Handley’s not going anywhere.”

  Frank walked in, looked at Handley, and quickly looked away.

  “Is that the informant?”

  “Yeah, stubborn fool, doesn’t want to say much.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t know much.”

  “Maybe, but I so enjoy making sure.”

  “Remind me never to cross you.”

  “That’s right, Frank. What do you have on our new friend?” Catherine asked, sticking the probe back onto Handley’s chest and holding it there.

  “If you look at the time it took him to get to each apartment, including the one in New York, you can see he’s damn fast. Then the bomb in that old house in Delhi…didn’t even faze him. Dude just flew out of there with hardly a hair out of place.”

  “It appears that he’s extremely fast and can’t be killed, at least not easily. How long before he starts becoming a problem for our operation?”

  “So far all he’s done is stop a few robberies and a high-speed chase on the highway. He hasn’t messed with any of the dealers…How long you gonna hold that on him?”

  “Oh…pardon me. I should remove it now and then. That’s well and good that he hasn’t bothered the dealers, but having someone like that around could hinder future operations.”

  “I’m sure you’ll come up with something. You always do.”

  “You say he has a soft spot for helping people in trouble?”

  “It appears so.”

  “Well…it might not be the best weakness, but it might suffice. While you’re at it, Frank, have Larry bring me a couple more batteries. This might be awhile.”

  “Uh…you sure you’re gonna need another one. He ain’t lookin’ so good.”

  Handley’s head was slumped down on his chest. Mixon felt his neck, but there was no pulse.

  “Not very sporting of him, dying on me so soon. We were just beginning to have so much fun. Oh well…tell Larry to deal with the body. He’ll know what to do.”

  8

  Walter walked in the apartment after making sure nobody saw him and sat down heavily in his recliner.

  “Something smells good. You been cooking, kid?”

  “Yep, don’t move. Coming right up.”

  A minute later, Franklin came in with a plate full of hamburgers and set it down with a flourish on the coffee table.

  “Dinner is served,” he said, with an exaggerated bow.

  “You just guess when I’d be home?”

  “Nah…been tracking your phone.”

  “You can do that?”

  “It’s not hard. I put an app on there and you can track it with this program on your laptop. I put the app on mine too. I’ll show you how to do it after we eat.”

  “You think it’s a good idea?” Walter asked between bites.

  “Maybe. I can see where you are and you can see where I am. If there’s any trouble…”

  “Let’s hope there isn’t any trouble…but yeah…I can see it.”

  “Looks like you had a busy afternoon.”

  “Nothing too difficult. Got some guy’s car back to him, had a nice chat.”

  “That your phone ringing?”

  “Hmm…yeah, looks like it. Let it go to voice mail. I’ll return the call when I’m done eating.”

  Walter finished another hamburger and said, “You know kid, I like burgers, but we have to work on expanding your culinary talents.”

  “You’ll have to teach me. Never learned growing up.”

  “Guess not…about that…how much time did you have in a…stable…house?”

  “Not much. Dad was hardly home, and after he went to prison…well…Mom was always strung out. It was foster homes after Mom died.”

  “You know…I thought I had a rough upbringing, but you take the cake. You seen your dad since he got locked up?”

  “Got no use for that loser.”

  “How many years has it been?”

  “Almost ten.”

  “You never thought of patching things up?”

  “What is there to patch up? Dude left Mom high and dry.”

  “What did he get locked up for?”

  “Shot some other dude…deal gone bad.”

  “Well…I don’t know…just seems like maybe—”

  “I don’t wanna see him, okay?”

  “I just thought—”

  “How about you don’t think about that right now?”

  “Okay, just trying to help.”

  “I don’t need help.”

  “Could have fooled me. So…how about your studies?”

  “I went through all of it already. One more time on some of the science stuff and I’ll be good.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah…actually, some of it is really interesting. I’ve been visiting other sites, learning more. Wish I would have paid more attention in school.”

  “Tell me about it. So, kid. I’m gonna grab some Zs, just in case tonight ends up busy. But I want you to think about what I said. You don’t want any regrets later. Trust me on that one.”

  Walter had been snoozing a couple hours when his phone buzzed and woke him.

  “Hello?”

  “Walter…this is Larry Wilkins…down at District 1.”

  “Yeah, you got something?”

  “I…I don’t know. Don’t even know why I’m calling you. Might be something bad.”

  “No information on the fires?”

  “Nothing on that yet. Those forensics boys can take some time. It’s Handley. He’s missing.”

  “Whoa, back up a bit. Who’s Handley?”

  “You think you can meet me in person? Don’t know about the phones.”

  “Sure, like a park or something?”

  “Eden Park. I’m right by there. I’m in a cruiser.”

  “Okay, I’ll find you.”

  Ten seconds later, Wilkins heard a knock on his car window. He unlocked the car and Walter slid in the passenger seat.

  “You got here fast,” Wilkins said.

  “Well…I can get just about anywhere fast, and I don’t live too far away.”

  Wilkins drove into the park and found a parking spot.

  “I was telling you about Handley. John Handley, goes by J.R., does a lot of undercover work when the need arises. He was on an assignment and missed a couple check ins. We can’t ping his phone either. I don’t like it.”

  “And you think he’s in trouble?”

  “Man, I don’t know, but when you’ve been on the force as long as I have, sometimes you just have a feeling ab
out something. This doesn’t feel right.”

  “I’m not sure how I can help.”

  “You’re all over town, right? Can you keep your eyes open, maybe if you find…if you find a body? Here’s what he looks like.”

  Wilkins handed Walter a photo of an average looking middle aged man.

  “Doesn’t really stand out,” Walter said.

  “That’s why he was so good at undercover work. He doesn’t stand out. Anyway, he was on assignment. We’ve been trying to piece together evidence of a criminal enterprise operating in the city, but there’s not much to go on. Just seems like it could be something bigger. Crimes that don’t seem connected but carried off the same way, a few people ending up dead. Most of the guys on the force just think it’s random crime, but me and a couple other boys think there’s a boss operating here and he’s starting to expand.”

  “And you send Handley to try to work his way in?”

  “Handley went way undercover. Staged a few crimes to take the credit for, simple robberies and stuff, and before long he had made some contacts. He was checking in a couple times a day. Couple weeks ago he said he was in some organization, that it looked like they were planning something. Said they were set up in some other cities as well. He didn’t have any real hard intel yet, but was sure he was onto something. Then he didn’t call yesterday or today and his phone won’t track. I don’t like it.”

  “That might explain the fires and the bomb.”

  “Most we can expect from forensics is if they find evidence that the fires were started the same way, but if they can’t find anything more than that, we still won’t have much to pin it on anyone in particular.”

  “Well, I’ll keep my eyes open, for sure. If…you know…if worse comes to worse and someone did him in, are there places they would dump the body?”

  “Depends on if we’re dealing with pros or not. If it’s a mob type outfit, we might never find the body.”

  “I have a pretty good sniffer. I can fly over the city and see if anything odd catches my attention, like maybe the river.”

  “I’d appreciate that. That number I called you from? That’s my cell. You find anything…call me.”

  “Will do,” Walter said, exiting the car and flying away.

  Walter flew over the city, secretly hoping not to find what he was looking for. A myriad of smells confronted him, and he sorted through them and discarded them one by one. Restaurants and backyard grills were especially tempting, but whatever appetite was stirred up was quickly dispelled by the aroma of a litter box well past time to be changed.

  “Could probably hide a body in the cat lady’s house and I’d never notice,” he said to himself.

  He was over Walnut Hills, thinking he might as well head home since he was that close, when an unmistakable odor hit him, natural gas. This wasn’t someone just using a gas stove, but a gas leak. He followed the scent, and it seemed to come from a house on Hackberry St. He landed at the front door and rang the doorbell. No answer. He opened the door and walked in, calling out as he came in the house, but nobody answered. Walking in the bedroom, he saw someone lying in the bed.

  “Hey, wake up buddy,” he said, shaking the man’s shoulder, a man who looked somewhat familiar. He checked the photo Wilkins had given him. Yep, that was him, and he was as dead as a doornail.

  “No wonder he didn’t notice the gas leak. Wonder if it killed him?” Walter said out loud to no one in particular. Then the realization hit him when he noticed that Handley was already stiff. He’d been dead for a while, longer than if he had just fallen asleep when the gas leak started. He scooped Handley’s body up and was only ten feet out the door when the explosion happened. The shock wave knocked out windows in the neighboring buildings and the house was in flames in no time. Walter pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed Wilkins.

  “Yeah, Walter, you got something?”

  “It ain’t good. You still out?”

  “No, I’m back at the station. What’s going on?”

  “Does Handley live over in Walnut Hills…on Hackberry?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Well, I got him, but he’s been dead a while. House just blew up.”

  “Come again?”

  “He was lying in his bed, dead and already getting stiff, and the house blew up right after I left with his body. I’m headed there. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  Less than a minute later, Walter walked in the police station and turned Handley’s body over, before following Wilkins to a private room to talk.

  “Is that your guy?” Walter asked when Wilkins sat down across from him.

  “Yeah, any idea how he died?”

  “Not in his house. He’s already cold, and had some weird looking wounds, skin looked burned in places.”

  “Seems like we’ll wait for the medical examiner.”

  “However it was done, it’s pretty obvious. If I didn’t get there when I did, he would have burned up pretty good in the explosion. If I hadn’t smelled the gas…”

  “So, it seems like he was onto something.”

  “Do you have any idea what group he was infiltrating?”

  “There have been rumors, but nothing concrete. Seems like there’s a mob type outfit operating in town, but they’ve covered their tracks too well and we don’t have much to go on.”

  “Not like the TV shows, where everyone knows who the mob boss is and half the cops are on the take.”

  “Not quite. I’ve watched Gotham, too. It’s nothing like that here. You see a string of crimes that seem connected, but we can’t put it together. Not enough forensic evidence to nail more than some small operators, and they don’t talk…at least not much. We have a good idea that things are organized, but it must be compartmentalized and one guy doesn’t know much about what the others are up to. Rumor going around it’s a woman, though.”

  “A woman?”

  “A couple crooks have mentioned a woman who might be calling the shots. We don’t have any idea who. One thug says she’s in her 40s and good looking, but that doesn’t really narrow things down much.”

  “You think there’s any way I can help?”

  “Just do what you’re already doing and call me if you see anything.”

  “That doesn’t seem like much.”

  “No offense, but what is your background…before you became…you know…before you got like you are now?”

  “I was a factory worker, retired a few months ago.”

  “Exactly. You can catch crooks, but any more than that is probably better handled by the police.”

  “Hey, I see where you’re going. Just seems I could maybe get some information out of someone.”

  “And how do you propose doing that? You don’t have interrogation experience, and with your capabilities…”

  “Things could get out of hand?”

  “Yeah, that is a possibility.”

  “Well, you give me a call when you find out what killed your guy, okay?”

  “Sure thing. I owe you one for finding him. Wish it could have turned out better, but thank you.”

  “It was the least I could do. You need any more help, you know where to reach me. I’m not doing anything else.”

  9

  Frank Lawrence took the stairs to the basement below the warehouse and knocked on the closed door. Rumor had it that the boss was in a foul mood, so he was prepared for anything.

  “Come in,” Catherine Mixon said.

  Frank walked into the small room, thankful that there was no one else being interrogated in there this time. He once again marveled at how attractive the boss was, but nobody who worked for her would dare approach her. Behind her movie star looks she was as cold as ice. A fastidious workout routine gave her the body of a woman ten years her junior, and she had used that to her advantage on more than one occasion, disarming men who weren’t quick enough to see past the pretty exterior to the cold darkness inside.

  Frank was no fool. He had worked for her long
enough to know what she was about, and it scared him. He stood inside the doorway, hands clasped in front of him.

  “Well, Frank, any more word on Walter?”

  “He was spotted going in and out of District 1 a couple times, and he stopped a robbery in Westwood about an hour ago…and…”

  “What are you hesitant to tell me?”

  “Enrique got this video on his phone, earlier today in Walnut Hills.”

  He handed his phone to Mixon and waited while she pressed play, watching Walter enter the house on Hackberry and fly out with a body, shortly before the explosion.

  “What part of town was this?”

  “Walnut Hills…Hackberry St. The informant’s house.”

  “Who was he carrying out of there?”

  “Look at the video. It’s obvious it’s a body, the way he’s carrying him.”

  “Are you telling me Larry staged the explosion to try to get rid of the body?”

  “Yeah, and it would have worked if Walter hadn’t shown up. Would have looked like a house fire and the body would have been too burned up for the cops to know anything.”

  “But that didn’t happen, did it? Larry was too clever for his own good. Is he still around?”

  “He’s upstairs checking the latest shipment.”

  “Bring him down here, will you, love?”

  Frank and Larry entered the room five minutes later, both looking nervous.

  “So, Larry, how did things go with Mr. Handley?”

  “I put him in his bed and blew the house. Cops won’t suspect a thing.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “The house went up in flames. It’s all over the news.”

  She handed him the phone and played the video. “Then how do you explain this?”

  “What’s wrong, Larry, cat got your tongue?”

  “Uh…I…I don’t know.”

  “You were way too clever. I told you to get rid of a body, and now the police most likely have him. I gave you a simple task, and you failed.”