Chapter 30
Foggy looked at Matt with disbelief and Karen giggled from her desk.
"Well, that's unexpectedly disgusting," he said.
"You should have been there," Matt retorted. "For once in my life, I was glad I was blind. Too bad I'm not deaf as well."
"It's like a bad spy movie," Karen giggled again.
"I'm glad you find it amusing. Someone has to watch the footage to make sure I got everything."
"Eww," she stopped giggling and flinched as Matt handing her the camera.
"Have fun," he grinned.
The night before the crescent moon it was time for Matt to sneak into Montgomery's home and hide the computer, Nyah's phone and Wen's ashes. Matt had thoroughly reconnoitered the building and surrounding area and the cameras had provided them with the schedules of the staff, so he was about as prepared as he was going to get for the risky endeavor.
Foggy and Karen would go with him to help carry the items and to be two more sets of eyes keeping watch. Karen would be positioned down the street, pretending to wait for a bus. The bus stop was in the middle of the divided street and had enough trees between it and the house to provide her with some cover while allowing her to see the front of the house and traffic passing by it. Foggy would be in the alley behind the home, out of site between two garbage dumpsters. From that vantage point, he could watch for anyone entering the building from the back. All three had ear mics that would allow them to warn Matt if anyone entered the building while he was inside.
On previous visits, Matt had loosened the grating covering the opening to the crawl space on the side of the building. The crawl space led to a small storage room in the basement that was piled high with boxes and shelves. From the layers of dust in the room, nobody had been in there for several months. That is where he planned to hide the items. It would be the safest place for Nyah to reincarnate and hide until the FBI arrived to rescue her.
Together the three made their way to Montgomery's home. They were unusually quiet, each deep in his or her thought. As they reached the block the house was on, Foggy broke the silence.
"What if she's discovered before the FBI gets there?"
Matt stopped and shook his head, "we've been over this. The room is unused, she'll be safe."
Foggy wasn't convinced, "what if she wakes up screaming like she did last time? Someone will hear and investigate."
This time Karen answered, "Foggy, she told us it depends on how she died. Her death this time wasn't as traumatic as the other was. She will be fine."
"Tell me again why we just didn't hand over everything we have to Boyd and let him take it from there? Why are we putting ourselves and Nyah in danger in the first place?"
Matt huffed with exasperation, "Foggy," he started.
Foggy held up his hand to stop his friend, "I know. We've been over that too."
"Then why are you asking?"
"Because he's nervous," Karen answered for him and took his free hand with hers. "So am I."
The tension left Matt's body. "Look, I know this isn't your thing. Either of you," he indicated them with a sweep of his hand, "you don't have to do this. I can do it by myself and meet you guys back at my apartment if you want."
Both Karen and Foggy were shaking their heads before he finished.
"No," Foggy said. "Nyah is our friend too. We need to do this."
Karen smiled at him and squeezed his hand, "you just want to play the hero for once?"
Foggy ducked his head and refused to meet her eyes, "no, but it's about time we stopped expecting Matt to do all the heavy lifting for us. He's only one person."
Matt chuckled, "good. Now how about we get going so we can get this over with while it's still dark?"
Both Karen and Foggy joined him in a quiet laugh as they continued down the street to their destination.
Near the house, Karen crossed the street to continue to the bus stop. Matt and Foggy turned into the alley a block away to approach the building from the back. Foggy handed Matt the backpack with the computer, ashes and phone, then ducked between the two dumpsters. Matt crept into the shadows of the narrow alley beside the building.
At the grate, he whispered, "com check."
"I can hear you," Foggy answered.
"I got you," came Karen's soft reply.
"I can hear you guys," he acknowledged. "I'm going in. Let me know if you see anything or anyone."
"Okay," they both replied.
He crouched and pulled the grate away from the opening in the bricks, shoved in the backpack, then crawled in behind it, pulling the grate back over the opening when he was inside. The crawl space was cramped and filled with water and gas pipes, electric lines, and other cables. It was damp, humid and smelled like a combination of mold, sewage, and animal feces to his sensitive nose. He could hear the scraping and occasional squeaks of rodents and insects all around him as he got his bearings and began to move deeper into the space, dragging the backpack as he went. Spiderwebs brushed his face, the builders scurrying out of his way, some dropping onto his head and back. He could feel them through the tough material of his suit and was glad for its protection.
In the middle of the back wall he found the opening to the crawlspace from the basement of the building. It was just a hinged sheet of plywood that swung open into the room beyond. Matt listened carefully for any noise coming from the other side. Other than the quiet noise around him in the crawlspace, he heard nothing. His other senses gave him the general layout of the room. As before, it was filled with boxes and shelves. One stack of boxes was close to the wall that held the opening.
Cautiously, he pushed the plywood door open. It swung into the room without making any noise and stopped when it met the stack of boxes. The opening was narrow, but more than enough for Matt to squeeze through with the backpack in tow. He landed noiselessly and paused to scan for movement again. Nobody was near.
"I'm in," he said softly. Karen and Foggy's equally soft replies came back.
Surveying the small room, he realized it was so cluttered that there was not enough room for Nyah to resurrect lying on the floor. He would have to move some boxes to make more room. He informed his friends of his intentions then started moving boxes as carefully as possible.
He had almost cleared enough space when Foggy's whisper startled him.
"There's a car pulling up in the alley!"
"Who?" he whispered back.
"I can't see, but there's two of them in it and they are getting out."
A moment later, "they're getting something heavy out of the trunk." Then, "They're going into the house."
"I see lights from the second floor!" Karen hissed.
On cue, he heard a door open on the floor above him and heavy treads on the floor and another set coming down the stairs.
"I'm almost done," he told them.
He quickly set the last box down and checked the space he had made. It was barely big enough for a person to lay down in, but Nyah was small, so it should work. Pulling the computer out of the backpack, he hid it back against the wall behind a stack of boxes.
Above him came muffled voices.
"Why the hell did you bring her here?" an angry male voice demanded. He recognized it as Montgomery.
"The place down at the pier isn't safe anymore," another male voice whined.
"Well, you can't leave her here!" Montgomery snapped.
A calmer voice attempted to smooth over things, "Boss, we just need to leave her here for a couple of days until we can set up a safe disposal."
"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm the Goddamn DA! I can't have her in my house! Are you stupid?" Montgomery was yelling by the time he got to the last.
"Do you really want us to just dump this anywhere and risk her being found?" the third man said, unruffled by Montgomery's anger.
"Why didn't you just take her to the same place you dumped Maroney's body?"
Matt froze at that.
"That's the plan, but Diego is out of town and his people won't deal with us. When Diego gets back, we will move her. Right now, we just need a place to store her and both the warehouses are out of the question."
Matt listened to the DA's agitated pacing as he hid the cell phone and ashes between stacks of boxes near the space he had made.
"Ok," Montgomery conceded. "But as soon as that wanna be rapper gets back in town, I want her gone! And she better not be found!"
"Sure, Boss," came the soothing voice. "We'll take care of her, don't worry."
"I'm going back to bed. Let yourselves out when you're done."
Matt listened as the DA went back upstairs and slammed his bedroom door, then he made his way back to the opening to the crawlspace.
"Ok, you heard him. Let's stash this thing and get the hell out of here before he changes his mind. I don't know what the hell Everett was thinking telling us to bring it here."
Matt stopped in the process of climbing through the opening when he heard Everett's name.
"You would think someone in the FBI would be able to find a place to dump this. But, no! He had to pawn it off on us. Now the boss thinks we're idiots." The whiney one complained.
"Shut up," snapped the third guy. "We're getting paid well to do this. Who cares if he thinks we're idiots? Come on!"
There were a couple of grunts then the sound of something heavy being drug across the floor, but no more conversation. When the door to the stairs leading down into the basement opened, he decided it was time to get the hell out before he was discovered. He was sure that, even if they came into the room, they wouldn't find the computer. And if they did, it was a storage room after all.
Pulling the plywood closed behind him, he made his way back through the crawlspace and to the grate.
"Is it clear?" he asked his friends.
"If you hurry," Foggy said.
"Clear up front," Karen said. "The lights on the second floor are off now. There's only a light in the back of the house on the first floor."
"Okay," Matt told them. "Let's go."
Back at Matt's apartment, they set the wheels in motion for the next phase of the plan. Foggy called Agent Boyd and left a message for him to contact them at the office the next day. Then Matt told them about the conversation he had overheard.
"What do you think they were hiding?" Foggy wondered.
Karen rolled her eyes, "duh! Probably a body!"
"What!" Foggy's voice went up an octave and he jumped up from his chair. "They put a body in the basement?"
"Probably," both Matt and Karen replied simultaneously.
"But," he sputtered, "Nyah is going to resurrect down there tomorrow night!"
"Calm down," Matt told him. "One of two things is going to happen. Either they come back and get the body before she resurrects, or they don't. If they don't, it's one more nail in the coffin for Montgomery."
"What if they come to get it before we get her out?"
"The odds of that are slim. As soon as she comes to, she's going to call us. Then we call Boyd. The FBI goes in, saves her, and it's over."
"And you just made the decision to take that chance?" Foggy accused him.
"Yes, I did," Matt replied not betraying the twinge of worry he felt. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now in the face of Foggy's panic and Karen's quiet concern, the possible consequences were beginning to eat at him.
"Look, I understand. We still have time to go back and get everything, though. But this was her plan from the beginning. If we don't do it now, then we will lose a month and that's another month all those women may not have."
Foggy threw up his hands in surrender, "fine! I just hope you're right and this works."
So do I, thought Matt.