Already Gone (20 page)

I reach for Diane’s hand and lead her down the hall and outside to Lisa’s truck. Halfway there, she stops and pulls her hand away.

“I can’t do it, Jake.”

“You can’t do what?”

“Run like this, with nothing.”

“Diane, I—”

“I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life. I can’t do it.”

“Then we won’t,” I say. “But if you’re right and Briggs is watching this house, we need to go.”

Diane looks up at me. “I’m going to tell them we found the diamonds.”

“You can’t do that. It’s too late.”

“Too late?”

“I called Gabby and told him what was inside the statues.”

“You did what?”

“He had to know. If they track him down, at least he’ll be ready.”

“What did he say? Did he believe you?”

“He broke one open, saw for himself.”

“Oh my God.”

“Forget about the diamonds. Now that he knows about them, they’re as good as gone.”

“Call him, tell him the situation. If he knows you’re in trouble, he’ll have to help.”

“Help how? You said these people don’t forgive.”

“But with the diamonds, there’s a chance.”

I look at my watch. “Our only chance is to be on that plane. We’ll figure out the rest once we’re far away from here.” I hold out my hand. “You have to trust me.”

Diane stares at my hand, then looks up at me and shakes her head. “I’m sorry.”

A wave of light pans through the trees and over the ground. I look back and see three black SUVs turn off the main road onto the driveway, then spread out across the lawn. Their headlights are blinding.

“Get in the house.”

Diane doesn’t move.

I start to tell her again, then change my mind.

It’s too late to run.

The SUVs stop, and all the doors open at once. Several men step out onto the lawn, moving between the cars, surrounding us on all sides.

Diane grabs my hand.

Most of the faces are dark, silhouetted against the headlights. I lift a hand to my eyes to block the glare and see Briggs and Hull crossing the yard to where we’re standing. As they get close, Briggs holds his hands out and smiles.

“You found each other,” he says. “How wonderful.”

I feel Diane press against me.

I stay focused on Briggs and try not to look at the men surrounding us.

“We had a deal,” I say.

Briggs ignores me and walks straight to Diane, never taking his eyes off her.

She whispers, “Jake?”

Her voice breaks.

I step in front of Briggs. “Hold on.”

For the first time, he looks directly at me, through me, and I fight the urge to step back.

“You don’t get to speak,” he says. “Right now, I’d like to talk to your wife.”

I open my mouth to say something, but Diane squeezes my hand, tight. “It’s okay.”

Briggs stares at me for a moment, then looks past me toward Diane, says, “Hi.”

Diane doesn’t say anything.

“Why don’t you come with me. I’d like to talk in private, if you don’t mind.”

“No, she’s staying with me.”

“Is that so?”

“You and I had a deal. We—”

Briggs holds up one hand, stopping me. “Mr. Reese, I find it difficult to believe your wife hasn’t explained the situation in detail. If I’m right, then you know perfectly well that there is no deal.”

Diane pulls my arm. “Jake, don’t.”

“You should also know that we are quite serious about retrieving what was taken from us, and while I understand that you are little more than a pawn in all of this, my patience is wearing thin. I have very little tolerance for interruption.”

“I won’t let you hurt her.”

“Commendable, but an empty threat.”

I tell him again. “I won’t let you hurt her.”

Briggs looks at me, nods. “Let me see if I can make this any clearer.” He leans in and whispers, soft. “Your wife is a lying whore, and unless she can make it right, she’s going to pay for what she’s done.” He pulls back to see my eyes, smiles, then leans in again. “Any clearer?”

I don’t say anything.

“It’s not as if we didn’t try it her way,” Briggs says. “She was convinced you would know where they were. After all, it was your father who took them.”

“We weren’t close.”

“Which is, I suppose, why her plan failed. Nevertheless, we tried her way. Now we try mine.”

Briggs nods to the men on either side of us, and they come in fast, grabbing my arms and pulling Diane away.

She yells out to me, but there’s nothing I can do.

“Leave her alone.”

Briggs takes her arm and pulls her toward one of the SUVs, and they disappear in the glare of the headlights.

I don’t see the first punch until right before it connects. The impact re-breaks my nose and vibrates through to the center of my head.

In the distance, I hear Diane scream.

The next punch catches me on the side of the face. I feel my teeth dig into my cheek and my mouth fill with blood. After that, they come too fast to count.

At one point, I realize I’m on the ground.

There are at least two men kicking me, again and again. Then it stops. I roll onto my side and pull my legs up to my chest. I run my tongue over my teeth until I find the one embedded in the flesh of my cheek.

I work it free and focus on the pain.

The darkness presses in, but I fight it.

Diane is crying, the sound far off and muted. I hear Briggs’s voice, but the words are broken, and I can’t put them together. A second later, one of the men kicks me again. This time the pain is far away.

Soon, everything goes dark.

“Wake him up.”

I feel a soft hand on my cheek and hear a low murmur of voices. I open my eyes, slow. All I see are faded shadows moving around me.

I hear Diane’s voice. “We have to go, Jake.”

Several hands grab my arms and pull me up. I’m being half carried and half dragged across the yard.

I can’t see Diane.

I hear a man’s voice say, “Not that one. He’ll bleed all over the seats.”

Another car door opens, and I’m dragged away.

I feel the ground slide by under my heels, and then someone picks up my legs and I’m being carried. I lean back and look up at the stars spinning white through a solid black sky. I hold onto them for as long as I can, then I close my eyes and let them go.

“Jake?”

I hear a steady rumble, and I hold onto it, letting it pull me awake. I’m in the backseat of a car with my head on a towel in Diane’s lap. She’s looking down at me and running her thumb along my forehead. Her eyes are swollen from crying.

“How do you feel?”

I try to speak but end up coughing.

When I stop, I notice Diane’s hands are shaking. I reach for them and say, “I’m okay.”

It’s a lie, and we both know it.

I try to sit up.

“No, just lie still.”

I tell her it’s okay, then inch my way up to sitting and lean back against the seat. The pain comes from everywhere, but I do my best to hide it.

We’re in one of the SUVs and there are two men in the front. One is driving, the other staring straight ahead. I see the driver look back at us in the rearview, but he doesn’t say a word.

“Where are we?”

“Outside Flagstaff,” Diane says. “We’re driving to the airport.”

“Where are we going?”

Diane fakes a smile and brushes the hair from my face. Some of it sticks to the dried blood on my skin, and I start to wonder how bad I’m hurt.

“I thought they were going to kill you.”

I ask her again where we’re going, even though I think I already know the answer.

“I told them about Gabby and the diamonds. I’m sorry. I had to do something.”

Her hand feels warm and soft. I want to tell her not to be sorry, that I understand, but I can’t find the words.

“They want you to set up a meeting. They want their diamonds back.”

“What if I say no?”

“You can’t say no. They’ll kill you.”

“Gabby won’t just hand them over.”

“They’ll make him.”

I smile and feel something pop in my jaw. I touch the spot, wincing.

“You need a doctor.”

“I don’t see that happening.”

Diane watches me for a while, then leans her head against my shoulder, gentle. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” I say. “It’s perfect.”

We drive past the airport entrance and pull onto a service road by a large metal airplane hanger. There’s a corporate jet idling on the tarmac out front, the yellow landing lights flashing.

We stop, and the man in the passenger seat gets out and opens my door. He looks in. “Can you walk?”

“I’ll help him,” Diane says.

The man nods and steps aside.

Diane touches my face. “I’ll come around, okay?”

I tell her I can do it myself, but she’s already walking around to my side. She takes my hand, and I slide out, feeling my bones settle into place.

Briggs and Hull are standing next to the jet’s open door, talking, ignoring us.

“Nice plane,” I say.

Diane holds my arm and leads me across the tarmac toward the jet. When we get close, Briggs motions us toward the steps.

“We’ll join you in a moment.”

Diane and I go inside.

There are two single chairs on one side of the cabin and a long leather couch on the other. Next to the couch is a dark wooden desk and a folding door leading to a private room in the back.

The air inside is cold.

There’s a woman standing beside the desk. She watches me as I come in, and despite how I must look, the smile on her face never falters.

Diane helps lower me onto the couch and sits by my side. A few minutes later, Briggs and Hull come in and sit on the chairs across from us.

I ask them where we’re going.

“To meet your friend,” Briggs says. “I’m looking forward to the introduction. He sounds like a unique man.”

Briggs opens a cabinet between the chairs and takes out three glasses and an unmarked crystal bottle half filled with an amber liquid. He pours three shots into the glasses, then hands one to Diane and one to me.

I don’t take it.

“You won’t have a drink?”

“I quit drinking.”

Briggs nods. “That’s wonderful, Mr. Reese, but if there was ever a time in your life to start again, this would be it.”

I hesitate, then take the drink.

For a while, no one says anything. Then Briggs motions toward the woman standing at the back of the cabin. She comes forward, and he says, “Would you mind finding an ice pack for Mr. Reese?”

The woman nods. “Of course, sir.”

She disappears through the folding wooden door leading to the back of the plane. Once she’s gone, Briggs leans forward and says, “How are you feeling?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Good, because I’ll need you to play host once we land. I hope you feel up to it.”

“Don’t do that,” Diane says. “Just leave him alone.”

Briggs looks at her, smiles. “I’d prefer to meet this man after a proper introduction, a professional approach. Hopefully, we’re not too late.”

“What do you mean, too late?”

“The Pavel brothers,” he says. “If they haven’t gotten to him already, they will. After that, we believe they’ll come for your husband.”

I look over at Diane. Her face is pale.

“You have to call them off,” she says.

Briggs laughs. “This has nothing to do with me, my dear. They’re working on their own, and I’m afraid your husband brought this on himself.”

“I told you where the diamonds are,” Diane says. “We had a deal. You can’t let them kill him.”

“My relationship with the Pavel brothers has always been fragile at best. Their loyalty to me is strictly financial. Perhaps once our property has been returned, we can all sit down and come to some agreement. However, if something goes wrong, you and your husband are on your own.”

Diane looks away.

Briggs lifts his glass and sips. “So you see, Mr. Reese, making this introduction is in everyone’s best interests.”

Outside, the jet engines start to spin.

The folding door behind the desk opens, and the woman comes out carrying a small blue plastic bag filled with crushed ice. She hands it to me, then turns to Briggs and says, “We’re going to be taking off in a few minutes, sir. Is there anything else you need?”

“No,” Briggs says. “Thank you.”

The woman nods, walks to the front of the cabin, and closes the outside door. She leans into the cockpit and says something to the pilot, then turns and slides the privacy door closed between the cockpit and the cabin.

Briggs watches me.

“You’re not drinking.”

I lift the glass and finish it in one swallow.

He smiles. “Did you miss it?”

I look down at the empty glass. I want to tell him I didn’t miss it at all, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

“Yeah,” I say. “I did.”

Briggs picks up the bottle and removes the stopper. I hold my glass out, and this time he fills it half full.

“This is good. I’d rather do business this way. It’s so much more pleasant.”

“We should’ve tried it earlier.”

“Perhaps,” Briggs says. “But no point in regrets.”

I take another drink.

The jet starts moving down the runway, slow at first, then picking up speed. Diane takes my hand and doesn’t let go until we’re in the air.

I keep drinking.

The alcohol tastes better with each swallow, and I have to force myself to take it slow.

No one talks, and for a while I think it’s going to be a quiet flight. I close my eyes and try to rest, but a moment later, Briggs taps my leg.

“Okay, Jake,” he says. “I’d like you to tell me everything I need to know about Gabriel Meyers.”