Night Strike by Rodney Mountain
"I hate to have to persist with this," Corrie sighed, "But did you hear anything before you found him?"
"I heard a couple claps," CurlyQ said, "I thought it was a television in the other room."
"What time?" Corrie asked her, as she was the first one to hear anything, "And are you sure it sounded like claps?"
"About five," CurlyQ nodded, "I was barely awake. Probably about a half an hour before I got up."
"Really," Corrie said, "Ok. I’ve got to go confer with Nick. Just stay put, all right. I think we’ve nearly got this mess sorted out."
"Nick?" CurlyQ asked, "Stalin?"
"That’s him," Corrie smiled, "He’s here too. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry."
"Thanks," CurlyQ said, "I’ll be here if you need me."
"No worries," Corrie said, "Want me to send someone to sit with you?"
"Not right now," CurlyQ sighed, "I just want to be alone. Don’t want to look like a crybaby."
"I’d be more concerned if you weren’t upset," Corrie told her, smiling, "If you need someone, just stick your head out the door. Either I’ll come or I’ll send in one of the others."
"I appreciate it," CurlyQ said.
Corrie stood up and touched her shoulder before walking out the door. She walked over to the crime scene, where Nick was sitting in a folding chair, staring in the direction of the blood splatters on the wall. Corrie touched his shoulder as well and he looked up at her.
"Whoever did it was sitting right about here," Nick said, "I still think it was Nicole. There were no chairs in here that could be moved."
"There wasn’t much time either," Corrie said, "CurlyQ heard something that sounded like claps about five thirty."
"That goes with what Talbot said," Nick nodded, "I think we need to have another talk with Nicole."
"What’s the white stuff on the floor?" Corrie asked Nick as she picked up a piece, "Looks like feathers."
"Pillow," Nick said, "I’ve got a few of the uniformed officers looking for a pillow."
"That’s how the shots were silenced," Corrie nodded, "I’m ready to talk to her if you are."
"Let’s get it over with," Nick sighed, "See if we can convince her to break."
"I almost feel bad about this," Corrie sighed, "It’s much easier when you don’t know them."
"Always easier then," Nick nodded, "Let’s go."
They walked over towards the door and knocked on it, entering after hearing Madmike’s voice tell them to come in. Corrie and Nick looked at Nicole, who didn’t say a word. Everyone was looking around before Nick decided to break the ice.
"We’ve got a few more hints," Nick said, "Just wanted to check a few facts…"
Nick was interrupted by a knock on the door. He and Corrie looked at each other and Nick nodded at the door. She went over and opened it up to be greeted by an officer holding a bagged pillow. She asked a few questions that were unintelligible to everyone else and then walked back in.
"Confirmation," Corrie said to Nick, "The pillows are identified by room, just like every piece of linen. Helps them track thieves."
"What does that mean?" Crazygal said, "So it was one of us?"
"I’m afraid so," Nick said, "Why’d you do it, Nicole?"
"Nicole?" Kneads said, jumping, "Surely you’re kidding me!"
"I’m sorry, Stalin," Madmike said, "You’ve surely lost your marb…"
Before Madmike could finish the statement they all saw the look on Nicole’s face. She was caught and she knew it. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. Nick and Corrie looked at each other and sighed. This wasn’t going to be pretty.
"I couldn’t help it," Nicole began, as she began crying.
"You don’t have to say anything," Corrie said, "We’d better read you your rights."
"You have the right to remain silent," Nick told Nicole, "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to be speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense. Do you understand these rights as I’ve explained them to you?"
"I don’t care anymore," Nicole said, "I killed him and I’m glad to not have to hide it anymore! That son of a bitch deserved it!"
"Nicole!" Crazygal exclaimed, "Why?"
"Because…" she said and tried to compose herself, "He’s spent the last six months telling me he loves me. Well, I fell for him. I really did. I had it all planned out, what to do with him, what to do for him…"
"It didn’t work out the way you thought, did it?" Corrie asked her.
"He wouldn’t even look at me," Nicole told them, "He would barely say hello. Then he spent all night hitting on Kneads, Crazy and CurlyQ. Wouldn’t even give me the time of day."
"I’m sorry," Kneads said, "Why didn’t you tell us?"
"Because you would have said ‘I Told You So’," Nicole said, "I confronted the son of a bitch this morning."
"I’m guessing it wasn’t pretty," Corrie surmised, "I’ve seen Firestream rip into people before."
"He told me that he’d been leading me on," Nicole told them, "He… told me I was… That I was…"
"It’s ok," Kneads said, going over and hugging her, "I think we can guess the rest."
"He was so cruel about it," Nicole said in between the tears, "I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t let him get away with it. It wasn’t like he didn’t know. I had sent him pictures, he’d seen them on the web. He knew! If he didn’t want to, he could have just told me…"
"Where’s the gun, Nicole?" Nick asked her, "If you hid it, I need to find it before some kid finds it."
"I’m betting she keeps it on her chair," Corrie said, "Self defense, I’m guessing. She didn’t plan to kill him."
"I didn’t," Nicole whined, "You can have the gun. It’s under the chair."
Corrie kneeled down and pulled the weapon from the specially made compartment on the wheelchair. Nicole looked utterly defeated as Corrie bagged the weapon. Nick sighed and went over to the telephone, knowing he had to call this in. He dialed the dispatch number that he had long since memorized.
"Dispatch?" Nick asked, "This is Detective Jones. I have a special needs case that you’re going to have to get the DA in on. I’ve got a young woman in a wheelchair that I’ve just arrested for murder…"
Bolantine's Folly
This was a fun little story written sometime after the second version of The Accidental Immortal was finished. I'd always wanted to do a caper story and Bolantine was just immoral enough to do the job.
Chapter 1
Bolantine looked around the motel room as he sat down in the old wooden chair that he’d pushed against the wall. His eyes, while set in a face that looked young, showed their true age with a look of knowledge. They were dark and menacing eyes that contrasted with the dirty blonde hair that framed his head.
"What the hell are we still doing here, Nikki?" Bolantine asked as he looked at his partner, "We were supposed to break town days ago. I’d sort of like to get out of here before the test subject shows up again."
Nikki Bolantine grinned evilly as she looked at her man. She was a small girl that could easily pass for a child, even though she was almost as old as Bolantine himself. Her dark hair also contrasted nicely with Bolantine’s and she looked completely different from him, an advantage she’d used more than once over the years.
"Don’t worry about Stone," Nikki told him and brought over a folder, "I doubt he even has a sniff of our current whereabouts. This job is too good to pass up. It’ll give us a bit of breathing space too, allow us to go to the tropics and retire for a while."
"Going to the tropics won’t help us gain power," Bolantine reminded her, "I want to create a new world order."
"It will give us a chance to plan and throw Stone off our trail," Nikki reminded him, "I’m sick of working penny ante stuff
That statement piqued Bolantine’s interest. Before obtaining immortality many years before he’d been the head of a moderate sized criminal empire, an empire which was disassembled by internal intrigues and interference from Bolantine’s archenemy Mason Stone, a fellow immortal who has made it his mission in life to keep the population of immortals as small as possible.
"I’m always up for a legendary score," Bolantine said approvingly, "What have you got?"
"How would you like to knock off some US Gold reserves?" Nikki smiled, putting the folder down in front of him.
Nikki Bolantine had been with the man for years. After four years of being close to him she’d been incapacitated by a stray bullet and spent thirty years in a coma. Bolantine kept her alive and spent millions to fund James Entragian’s research into the serum that finally granted immortality to five people. Bolantine had intended to build an army with the serum, but the other three immortals managed to kill Elliot Sumner before this could happen.
Sumner had been the one remaining man with the knowledge necessary to create the immortality serum. His death and the remaining serum’s destruction at the hands of Mason Stone left a world population of five immortals, who were solidly in two camps and running from every government in the world. Mason Stone was the leader of the first group resulting from the initial experimentation, a group that included his mate Karen. James Entragian had been one of the serum creators, but had no knowledge of the serum creation due to having his original brain destroyed.
Bolantine spent a few minutes reading the workup that Nikki had passed off to him. She went over to the motel’s kitchenette and made herself a cup of coffee while he read. She’d spent the last few days getting the information from someone that they’d befriended in the city’s criminal underworld. She smiled and remembered the satisfaction of shooting the pig after she had retrieved that folder.
"How many people know about this?" Bolantine asked her.
"You and me now," Nikki told him, "The guy who initially put it together won’t be able to rat it out."
"It’ll take more than just the two of us," Bolantine told her, "This plan requires at least six people and some serious hardware."
"We should be able to pick up a few bodies," Nikki told him, "It’s been a lean season and there should be a few of the ambitious types ready to make a score."
"Sounds like fun," Bolantine agreed, "It’ll get the feds down on our necks again though."
"I’ve always wanted to see the tropics," Nikki cooed, "I’d say this would give us a good excuse to go and play for a while."
Bolantine smiled as he thought about it. He didn’t much care about going to the tropics, but the thought of besting the same government that had put him on the run in the first place was very appealing to him. He read through the workup that Nikki had obtained one more time and decided it was worth a try.
"Start recruiting," Bolantine told her, "I’ll round up the trucks we’re going to need for this."
"This has got to be quick," Nikki said, "The truck with the gold reserves leaves tomorrow night."
"Get five reliable people," Bolantine instructed, "How certain are we these maps are right?"
"I rechecked it myself," Nikki smiled, "They won’t find the bodies for at least a week, by which time we’ll be long gone."
"Lovely," Bolantine said dryly, "I’d say you’d better go recruiting."
"I won’t be able to do that until after dark," Nikki told him and then straddled his lap, "I was hoping to have a little bit of fun with you before that."
"I think that can be arranged," Bolantine agreed as he ran his fingers down her back.
Chapter 2
Bolantine was all business by the time Nikki returned the next afternoon with four rather ordinary looking men and one very ugly woman. Nikki was all smiles, as she usually was when dealing with strangers. The criminal element of the city had heard of Bolantine, though not under that name, and the scams that he’d been running very successfully. Nearly a century’s worth of criminal experience in a body that didn’t look a day over thirty made him an extraordinary operator.
"What have you told them?" Bolantine asked Nikki.
"It’s a job that will make them stars and give them a lot of money," Nikki said, "I figured I’d let you handle the details. You’re better at that than I am."
"What’s the score?" one of the men asked, "This girl has cred, but I haven’t heard anything I like about this job yet."
"The score," Bolantine said, using a calm tone that would be better suited for a classroom, "Is that when this job is done we’ll all be richer than god."
"I’ve heard plans like that before," The woman said sourly, "Most of the people who told em to me are dead."
"So what is the target?" another man asked, "And won’t it be protected beyond all getup?"
"The target is a single truck," Bolantine told them, handing out pictures from Nikki’s packet.
"There’s nothing that can be stored in a single truck that will make us this rich," A third man scoffed.
"This truck carries enough gold bullion to keep us afloat for years," Bolantine smiled, "You see, the truck is delivering a nice piece of the US gold reserve to Fort Knox."
"You want to knock off the guv’ment?" the last man said, "Hell, I’m all for that shit."
"How do you plan to keep them off your tail?" the woman asked, "The feds will be all over that like a hot potato."
"Slight of hand," Nikki smiled as she made a quarter disappear on her tiny hand, "And a little inside help."
"You have an insider?" the woman said, incredulously, "How did that happen?"
"Not exactly an insider now," Nikki said, "He was cut out rather abruptly yesterday. The plans are still good. We know when, we know where and we know how. Now we just need to make the smash and switch."
"Smash and switch, eh?" One of the men grumbled, "I’d like to know how that would get us out of there."
"Easy enough," Bolantine told them, "We’re going to fake them out. Which one of you can drive a rig?"
"That would be me," the rustic who was enthused with taking on the ‘guv’mint’ said, "I drove a semi for five years before they took my license."
"You’ll be driving the decoy truck," Bolantine said, "This is a replica of the one they’ll be using to transfer the gold."
"What good is a decoy?" the man said, "We’ve got to get it away from the others first."
"This is going to be a three truck convoy with a helicopter trail," Bolantine explained, "An armored carrier in front, an armored carrier in back and the semi in the middle. There will be several men in each of the armored carriers, but the truck will be populated by a single driver."
"Who is equipped with a radio," one of the men growled, "This sounds bad to me. The chopper will have us either way."
"The chopper will pull away on its own," Nikki said as she pointed to a map, "Right about here, when the highway pulls into the restriction range of the international airport."
"There’s a merge on the road right about here, right after a sharp turn," Bolantine continued, "That’s where we’ll strike."
"I still am failing to connect the dots," The woman said, "How do we do this and not get caught?"
"Here and here will be two fog generators," Bolantine told her and pointed to a spot about a quarter mile up, "Two of you will be running those fog generators, making sure a thick layer of fog rests in the area. Luckily, the weather is supposed to be dismal tomorrow, making that easier."
"So we make the switch in the fog," the first man said, "How do we pull the hijack without anyone becoming the wiser?"
"Nikki and I will handle that part," Bolantine grinned, "She’s going to be driving a sports car and I’ll be climbing from the car onto the truck. I’ll take care of the driver and maneuver the truck out of the way before anyone comes wise."
"That’s risky as h
"The prize is worth it," Nikki told them, "You in the decoy will be driving ahead for a few dozen miles to give us time to get the trucks changed."
"Wait a minute," the hick said, "How do I get out then?"
"You’ll continue on like nothing’s wrong for forty miles," Bolantine instructed him, "There will be a car waiting at a stoplight to pick you up. By the time they realize what happened you’ll be miles away."
"Sounds like a plan," they said, "When do we do this?"
"The equipment is here," Bolantine said, pointing to the warehouse behind him, "There’s little planning time and none of you get to leave to spill it before we do it."
"All we need to do is assign jobs," Nikki said, "Ok hillbilly, go take a look at the truck and make sure you can drive it."
"What do I do?" the woman asks.
"A very useful job," Bolantine said, "You get to play chicken with an armored personnel carrier. When the fog starts you run into the thing."
"What the hell do I do that for?" she wondered.
"To distract it," Bolantine told her, "You’re heading to your sister’s and you have an accident. That will keep the pressure off Nikki and me when we approach."
"I guess that leaves two of us to run the generators and one left over," another man said.
"You get to go to Brookline and pick up hillbilly here," Nikki said, "This will be a precision operation. Screw up anything and we’re all probably going to be caught."
"Anyone want out?" Bolantine asked them.
"Yes," one man said, "You’re insane if you think this will work."
"Fine," Bolantine said, "Have it your way."
Bolantine pulled out a pistol and fired a single shot, placing a round hole in the head of the lone dissenter. The others jumped, but knew after this point that Bolantine meant business. He intended to pull off this caper and if they crossed him, they’d all die.
"Anyone else?" Nikki asked them while Bolantine put the body in the back of the decoy truck.
There were no more dissentions. Nikki told the two who were running the generators to get one of the fast cars so they could double over to highway five and pick up the hillbilly. Bolantine spent the next half hour explaining every part of the scheme to them again making sure the participants knew their part. As the afternoon wound down, the six of them pulled off to a rest stop just outside of their target area.