Logan POV
My first reaction to Goren's plan was that he had finally gone off the deep end. But then I saw Eames nodding her head and grinning. And Eames is a lot of things, but crazy isn't one of them. And if I'm honest with myself, I know Goren isn't crazy either.
"You want me to kidnap Frankie," I repeated, giving myself time to let the idea settle. "Exactly how are we going to go about that?"
"I haven't worked that out yet," Goren admitted. "But if we can get him away from the others, then it'll solve all of our problems."
"How do you figure?"
"Well, he won't be dead, for starters." Eames, ever the pragmatist.
"They'll think he walked away, maybe got wind of the impending hit," she continued.
"Right," Goren agreed quickly. "Which means that they should stay on track with their plan to deliver the drugs."
"They weren't planning on him going the distance with them anyway," Eames added.
These two tag-teamed better than professional wrestlers. I was feeling severely out-matched and I was missing Carolyn some kind of bad.
"So how am I supposed to get Frankie off by himself? And what am I going to do with him when I do?"
"Put handcuffs on him and get him in the back of the SUV," Eames told me, with a tone that told me I should've known the answer to that one.
"I'm not a cop anymore. I don't carry handcuffs around with me."
"I've got some in my bag. I'll give them to you after we check into the motel."
"You take handcuffs with you on vacation?" I asked, although I was a little afraid of the answer. Her answering smirk coupled with Goren's blush had me dying to get out of the car. Too much information.
Because I mean, come on. I had an image of Eames in my head. She was a no-nonsense good girl. But the more time I spent with her, the more I realized that I didn't know a damn thing about her. Already I'd busted her and the big guy making out in my kitchen, fogging up the windows in the car, and now I learned she packed handcuffs. Not to mention that I was sure some kind of monkey business had gone on in my coat closet that night they stayed over…
"We're just going to drive the rest of the way to New York with a kidnapped Frankie in the back?"
"It's not really kidnapping," Goren argued. "Let's call it protective custody."
"And besides, it's not that much further. It's better than the alternative," Eames said.
"Okay. Let's do this," I agreed. It wasn't like I had a better plan. I had learned that while Goren wasn't necessarily the most well-liked detective, he was without a doubt the smartest, so if he thought this was the way to go, then who was I to argue?
Eames drove my SUV on up to the motel and we parked around back. The foursome had already gone into rooms, although we hadn't been able to see which ones. That would take a little detective work. We walked around the building to the registration office and saw that the clerk was a thirty-something man that was likely still living in his mom's basement.
"Looks like this one's on you," I told Eames. She gave me her patented smartass smile and went into the office. I watched as she leaned across the counter and flirted relentlessly with the poor schmuck, but I noticed that Goren didn't watch. Jealous type, huh? I couldn't resist a little picking.
"Doesn't that bother you?" I asked in a low conspiratorial tone. "Her cozying up to losers like that?"
"It's part of the job sometimes."
"That's not what I asked."
"What do you think? Did you ever like it when Barek used her feminine wiles to get information?"
"I wasn't dating Carolyn when we were partners."
"That's not what I asked," he fired back, mimicking my earlier question. See what I mean? Smart bastard. He must've known I had the hots for Carolyn even back then.
"Hell yeah, it bothered me," I admitted. Goren gave me an Eames-like smirk and I dropped the subject.
Three minutes later, Eames came back out with a victorious grin on her face.
"Rooms 312 and 314. And I checked us in to Room 300. It's right next to the stairwell and the elevator's broken, so they'll have to pass us coming and going."
Did I say Goren was the smartest detective I know? Eames gives him a run for his money, that's for sure. Maybe that's why they get along so well.
The three of us went up the stairs and into the motel room. I was a little surprised that Eames had only gotten one room, but I guess she figured there wouldn't be much sleeping going on. We had no way of knowing how long those mopes were going to hang around. Not to mention I had a little felony kidnapping to take care of.
"We need to get them out of the room," Goren said once we were in the room. Eames sat on one bed, I sat on the edge of the dresser, and Goren paced.
"We should have a little time," Goren continued. "If this was going to be a quick stop they wouldn't have bothered with two rooms, but…"
"We still need to do it as soon as possible," Eames added.
"Right," Goren said. "Alex, you made nice with the clerk. Why don't you see if he'll do you a favor?"
"Like that time that we…"
"Yeah, I thought that if you…"
"Great idea," she told him, getting up from the bed.
"Huh? What's a great idea? He didn't say anything."
"I'm going to get the clerk to call up to Mariella's room and tell her that someone was messing around her car," Eames said as though I was a little slow for not having caught on already.
"He didn't say that," I argued. And then I gave up. I had to just go with the flow with these two or it was going to be a long trip.
"Exactly," Goren said in response to Eames, as though I hadn't said a word. "Hopefully, she'll send Frankie to check it out. But even if she goes herself, he'll be alone in the room. Worse case, they both go, or they send the goons, and then we'll have to think of something else."
"So how do I know whether to be in the room or out by the car?"
"You won't. We'll just wait and see. If he leaves, you can follow him. If she does, then you go to the room. If it works, once Mariella realizes he's missing, she'll think that Frankie set up the call just to get away from her."
"She will? What if she asks the clerk?"
"He'll say that it was a man who asked him to call the room," Eames told me confidently. And then she brushed her hair back from her face, walked over to her the little duffle bag she had brought in with her and pulled out the set of handcuffs. She tossed them to me and I set them down next to me on the dresser.
"How long before I have him make the call?" she asked Goren.
"Twenty minutes. That'll give you plenty of time to get back here first. Are you ready?" Goren asked, turning to me.
"Oh yeah, sure. I do this kind of thing all the time," I joked. But then I had a thought. "No, actually I need to do something first."
I got up and headed for the door.
"Logan, I don't think it's a good idea for you to leave right now."
"Just give me a minute. I'll be right back," I insisted. I slipped out the door and quietly went down the stairs. I passed unnoticed by the clerk in the front office and I went out into the parking lot.
I wanted to have a back-up plan in place in case this thing went to hell. I moved through the parking lot and got to the Impala. I looked around, but didn't see anyone. I was afraid they might have some kind of alarm on the car, especially considering the pile of nose candy hidden somewhere inside.
I looked around and picked up a decent-sized stick and then looked around again.
"What are you doing here, Mikey?" I mumbled to myself.
But I knew the answer. I was helping out a friend. Two friends. Goren didn't have many people in his life, but he sure knew how to take care of the ones he did have. He was loyal and had this sense of nobility that made me constantly want to stand up and do the right thing. And Eames…once her trust was earned, she was like a pit bull. She would go the distance no matter what the cost. Plus, she had a sharp wit that cracked me up. The two of them may be the golden boys when it came to solve-rate, but they were the whipping boys with the brass. And I've always had a weakness when it came to pulling for the underdog.
With an internal shrug, I took a chance and threw a stick at the Impala while hiding behind a pick-up truck three spots over. It thudded off the rear quarter panel, but no accompanying siren. Secure in the knowledge that it was alarm-free, I approached the car and picked the lock. Hey, what can I say? I wasn't always a cop. As an afterthought, I stepped away from the car and placed a quick call to Carolyn. When finished, I reached in the car and jammed my cell underneath the backseat. Satisfied that it was well hidden, I hauled ass back to the room. Goren and Eames might have cornered the market on genius, but street smarts was synonymous with Mike Logan. We all have our strengths.
Once back in the room, Eames took off to sweet-talk the clerk again. Goren didn't ask me where I'd gone. I liked that. It meant he trusted me, too.
I picked up Eames' handcuffs off the dresser and checked my weapon.
"So we're just going to leave him in the car all night?"
"We have to. We don't know how long they'll stay and we can't risk him being in the hotel room with us." Good point. I nodded. We had parked far enough away from the others to not have to worry about being seen.
"We'll take turns," he assured me. "Call me when you have him and I'll come down in an hour to relieve you."
"Um…okay, but I'll need your phone." He quirked an eyebrow at me and tilted his head. His eyes seemed to look right through me. Jeez, how did any suspect stand up against this guy?
"Okay," he said when I remained silent. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me without another word.
We heard the click of the lock on the door and we tensed for a moment, but then Eames came into the room.
"Worked like a charm," she told us. "Somebody should be going to check out the car in about fifteen minutes."
I stood and watched out the peephole. It was boring surveillance work, although at least we knew it would be short lived.
"Hey, you guys know that there's no way Ross bought that whole bullshit story, right?" I said after twelve minutes. The silence didn't seem to bother those two, but it had been killing me.
"What?" Eames asked.
"You might have been okay with the whole sick-aunt thing, but you said I had to come with you?" I said to Eames. "That was the alibi kiss of death right there."
"He's right," Goren said. "We're going to have to face the music when we get back."
And then I felt instantly horrible for bringing it up. The sadness in the big guy's voice and the resignation in Eames' eyes…they both knew they were living on borrowed time with this whole keeping-the-relationship-secret thing, but I guess they'd hoped it would last a little longer than a few weeks. And really, they'd had the worst kind of luck.
"Maybe he won't push it," I suggested, although I didn't believe it for a second.
"Ross? Yeah, right. Because he's always so lenient with the rules," Eames countered.
"He did mention something about don't ask, don't tell," Goren mumbled.
"He did? When?" Eames asked. Goren started telling her about some conversation that he and Ross had when they were in my living room. I was about to throw in my two cents again when I saw movement.
"Hey," I whispered. They instantly stopped talking.
"Frankie's on the move."
It was the best-case scenario. Frankie was going to check out the car. That made it easy on me. Follow him, neutralize him, and cuff him. Piece of cake. I let him get into the stairwell and then I slipped out of the room. On my way down the stairs, I made up my mind that I was going to interfere in this whole Ross situation. It would be a crime to split those two up just because of some stupid rule.
I went out into the parking lot and saw that Frankie was circling the vehicle. He had his back to me, so I moved quickly and rammed him into the car, keeping my weight pressed up against him. I didn't pull my gun. I had the size advantage on him, and I wanted to avoid using it if at all possible.
"How ya doin', Frankie?" I asked him as I kept my forearm against the back of his neck. He made a move for his jacket.
"Uh uh," I said sharply, grabbing his hand up and slamming it on the roof of the car. "You don't want to pull your gun. Then we'd have to get into a whole size thing to see whose is bigger. And trust me, mine's bigger."
I used my body to leverage him into a submissive position and then I pulled his gun from his jacket and stuck it in the back waistband of my jeans. Then I grabbed the handcuffs from my pocket and wrenched his arms behind his back before locking the cuffs tightly around his wrists.
"You made that too easy," I told him.
"You're a dead man," he said back. I chuckled.
"I don't think so. You were the dead man, Frankie. I just saved your life." I grabbed him by his elbow and jerked him around the far side of the motel, moving quickly in case any of the goons decided to follow up.
"You don't know who you're dealing with," he warned.
"I know you got busted banging the coat check girl at the 205 Club. Mariella knows that, too." That shut him up. I threw him into the backseat and then adjusted the handcuffs so that the chain of the cuffs went through the door handle. I pulled out Goren's phone and flipped it open to look for Eames' number. Speed dial number one – big surprise.
"Eames," she answered.
"Hey Bonnie. Tell Clyde I've snatched the mark."
TBC...