Part 8
After but a moment's hesitation, Lee announced his decision. "I'm going into the store. Whoever is in there is the source of the information. You wait in the car—and I mean it this time!"
Lee gave her no time to respond, stepping out as quickly as his injuries would allow. He crossed the parking lot and went inside. Through the store window, Amanda could just barely make out his profile. He seemed to look around and then headed determinedly down one of the aisles. Less than a minute later, an alarm went off. Amanda sat bolt upright and looked around, unsure what the alarm meant. People began pouring out of the store and the distant wail of fire engines could be heard. Could the store be on fire? Anxiously, she scanned the crowd for Lee but couldn't locate him. She was just opening her door having decided to go searching, when he finally appeared coming around from the back of the building. He made his way to her car and flopped down inside, a thoroughly disgusted look on his face.
"Lee, what happened?"
"That fellow is a slippery bugger, that's what happened. I caught sight of him—at least I think it was him—grey hair, suit... Anyway, I was headed his way when someone cut in front of me with a grocery cart and knocked down a display of cans. The noise must have tipped him off because by the time I got to the end of the aisle, the fire alarm was going off and everyone was heading to the front doors trying to get out of the store. Since I wanted to get to the back, I was like a salmon trying to swim upstream—I could barely make any headway. Finally the other shoppers were gone but when I got to the back of the building, he was gone. He must have pulled the alarm as a diversion and slipped out an emergency exit. There was no sign of him anywhere."
"So that's the end of that lead."
"Yeah, except...There was something vaguely familiar about the guy. His build, the way he walked...I don't know. It just tweaked something in my memory." Lee was silent for a moment, obviously trying to make a connection between the man he'd seen and some distant memory but after a moment he shook his head. "Nope—I can't place him."
"So what do we do now?"
"I guess we head to the Washington Monument and see what our man has for us."
*****
Amanda pulled into a parking space and turned off the car. She looked at Lee and started talking even as he opened his mouth. "I know, I know. You don't have to say it. You want me to stay in the car but I really don't think it's safe for you to be alone at this meet."
"Amanda, I appreciate your concern but I've gone to lots of meets by myself. I have my gun. I'll be perfectly fine."
"That's what you always say."
"And I'm still here which proves my point, doesn't it? I can do this on my own. Wait here."
Amanda sighed is resignation and folded her arms. "Someday I'm going to tell you to wait in the car and see how you like it."
"Amanda—"
"Hey!" She interrupted suddenly sitting forward and staring out the windshield. "That's the fellow you're supposed to meet, Jeffrey Young! Isn't that him, right over there?" She pointed to a spot about fifty feet away.
"You're right, it is. I wonder why he's coming looking for me. I'm not late." Lee checked his watch just to be sure.
"Maybe he's just anxious to get this exchange over with."
"Possibly... I'll go see what he has for us."
Amanda watched as once again Lee met with the man. An envelope was exchanged. Lee spoke, then grabbed the man's arm, obviously trying to get some more information but he pulled away and ran off. Lee took a few strides, as if planning on chasing him but then stopped and rubbed his knee. Looking thoroughly disgruntled about his physical condition, Lee hobbled back to the car, all the while looking around for any signs of danger. Amanda also watched carefully, scanning the other parked cars; she didn't want a repeat of what happened at the warehouse district. Lee was just climbing into the vehicle, when she saw something that made her gasp.
A grey haired man was on the other side of the parking lot and he was talking to...No, it couldn't be! She closed her eyes and looked again but by then both men were gone.
"Lee!" Amanda turned anxiously to Lee.
"Hmm?" He was busily opening the envelope.
"Over there—on the other side of the parking lot, near that grey van. I'm sure I saw—"She didn't get a chance to finish. Shots rang out. Lee put his hand on her head and pushed her down, the car rocked then tilted to the side as a bullet hit the front tire and it went flat.
All was quiet. Amanda could feel her heart pounding, the weight of Lee's hand on her head, the seatbelt biting into her waist. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm down and process what had just happened. Someone had shot at them and hit her car. Luckily neither of them was injured, but her car! She hoped she could get it fixed before her mother saw it. Lee removed his hand. Cautiously she raised her head and peeked over the dash. Lee was doing the same thing, scanning the parking lot for signs of danger.
"Oh my gosh!" Once again, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"What?"
"Over there—that looks like Mr. Melrose. He's running around that van and he has his gun drawn!" She felt the colour drain from her face. "Lee, I think Mr. Melrose was shooting at us!"
Lee narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. "Yeah, that was Billy. What the hell is he doing here? There are no operations going down here today. I saw his schedule on his desk just yesterday. He's supposed to be in meetings all day."
Amanda looked at Lee, her eyes wide. "Lee, just before the shooting started, I thought I saw Mr. Melrose talking to a grey haired man. It looked like the same person that he was with in those photos—Karl Janovik."
"Damn, this doesn't look good."
"Maybe it wasn't Mr. Melrose who was shooting. Maybe it was the other man...though I didn't see a gun." She tried to rationalize what had just happened, refusing to accept that her boss could possibly turn on them like that. "Lee, there has to be an explanation. Is there anything in that envelope that will explain all of this?"
"After the last one, I'm almost afraid to look." Lee opened the package and slowly withdrew the contents. He scanned them quickly, then made a fist, crumpling the edges of the papers. Running his hand through his hair, he handed them over for Amanda to see. "Do you know what that is? It's a list of gambling debts. Billy owes a small fortune. There's also a list of his credit cards—all maxed out. Apparently Billy has a gambling problem and is in debt up to his ears and back. And the people he owes? They're not nice. If you don't pay them, you start losing body parts and your family has nasty little accidents."
"Jeannie and the girls!"
"Yeah—you know I wondered why Billy had them go on vacation without him this year. He must be trying to protect them and is desperate enough for money to turn on his own country."
Amanda studied the papers, hoping there was some mistake but it was right in front of her, in black and white. A perfect motive for Billy to be selling secrets to the East. He needed money desperately to pay off his debts and keep both his family and himself safe. She could almost hear the prison door clanging shut on her boss.
