Rage of Angels

Rage of Angels Page 36

"Sorry, lady. This is Tony's Place. I don't know no Mike Moretti."

"Wait!" Jennifer screamed. "Don't hang up!" She forced a calmness into her voice. "This is urgent. I'm a - a friend of his. My name is Jennifer Parker. I need to talk to him right away."

"Look, lady, I said - "

"Give him my name and this telephone number."

She gave him the number. Jennifer was beginning to stutter so badly she could hardly speak. "T-t-tell him - "

The line went dead.

Numbly, Jennifer replaced the receiver. She was back to one of her first two choices. Or both of them. There was no reason why Robert Di Silva and the FBI could not join forces to try to find Joshua. The thing that was driving her mad was that she knew how little chance they would have of finding Frank Jackson. There was no time. Read tomorrow's papers. There was a finality about his last words that made Jennifer certain he would not telephone her again, would not give anyone a chance to trace him. But she had to do something. She would try Di Silva. She reached for the telephone again. It rang as she touched it, startling her.

"This is Michael Moretti."

"Michael! Oh, Michael, help me, please! I - " She began to sob uncontrollably. She dropped the telephone, then picked it up again quickly, terrified he had hung up. "Michael?"

"I'm here." His voice was calm. "Get hold of yourself and tell me what's wrong."

"I - I'll - " She took in quick, deep breaths, trying to stop the trembling. "It's my son, Joshua. He's - he's been kidnapped. They're going to - kill him."

"Do you know who took him?"

"Y-yes. His name is F-Frank Jackson." Her heart was pounding.

"Tell me what happened." His voice was quiet and confident.

Jennifer forced herself to talk slowly, recounting the sequence of events.

"Can you describe what Jackson looks like?"

Jennifer conjured up a picture of him in her mind. She put the picture into words, and Michael said, "You're doing fine. Do you know where he served time?"

"At Joliet. He told me he's going to kill - "

"Where was the gas station he worked at?"

She gave Michael the address.

"Do you know the name of the motel he was staying at?"

"Yes. No." She could not remember. She dug her fingernails into her forehead until it began to bleed, forcing herself to think. He waited patiently.

It came to her suddenly. "It's the Travel Well Motel. It's on Tenth Avenue. But I'm sure he isn't there now."

"We'll see."

"I want my son back alive."

Michael Moretti did not reply and Jennifer understood why.

"If we find Jackson - ?"

Jennifer took a deep, shuddering breath. "Kill him!"

"Stay by your telephone."

The connection was broken. Jennifer replaced the receiver. She felt strangely calmer, as though something had been accomplished. There was no reason to feel the confidence she did in Michael Moretti. From a logical point of view, it was a wild, insane thing to have done; but logic had nothing to do with this. Her son's life was at stake. She had deliberately sent a killer to catch a killer. If it did not work...She thought of the little girl whose body had been raped and sodomized.

Jennifer went to tend to Mrs. Mackey. She took care of her cuts and bruises and put her to bed. Jennifer offered her a sedative, but Mrs. Mackey pushed it away.

"I couldn't sleep," she cried. "Oh, Mrs. Parker! He gave that baby sleeping pills."

Jennifer stared at her in horror.

Michael Moretti sat at his desk, facing the seven men he had summoned. He had already given instructions to the first three.

He turned to Thomas Colfax. "Tom, I want you to use your connections. Go down and see Captain Notaras and have him pull the package on Frank Jackson. I want everything they've got on him."

"We're wasting a good connection, Mike. I don't think - "

"Don't argue! Just do it."

Colfax said stiffly, "Very well."

Michael turned to Nick Vito. "Check out the gas station where Jackson worked. Find out if he hung around any of the bars there, if he had any friends."

To Salvatore Fiore and Joseph Colella: "Get over to Jackson's motel. He's probably gone by now, but find out if he palled around with anyone. I want to know who his buddies were." He looked at his watch. "It's midnight. I'm giving you eight hours to find Jackson."

The men started out the door.

Michael called after them, "I don't want anything to happen to the kid. Keep calling in. I'll be waiting."

Michael Moretti watched them leave, then picked up one of the telephones on his desk and began to dial.

1:00 A.M.

The motel room was not large, but it was very neat. Frank Jackson liked things neat. He felt it was part of being brought up properly. The venetian blinds were rolled down and slanted so that no one could see into the room. The door was locked and chained, and he had pressed a chair against it. He walked over to the bed where Joshua lay. Frank Jackson had forced three sleeping pills down the boy's throat, and he was still sleeping soundly. Still, Jackson prided himself on being a man who took no chances, so Joshua's hands and feet were tightly bound together with the same kind of wire that had been used to tie up the old lady in the house. Jackson looked down at the sleeping boy and he was filled with a sense of sadness.

Why in God's name did people keep forcing him to do these terrible things? He was a gentle, peaceful man, but when everyone was against you, when everyone attacked you, you had to defend yourself. The trouble with everybody was that they always underestimated him. They failed to realize until too late that he was smarter than all of them.

He had known the police were coming for him half an hour before they arrived. He had been filling the tank of a Chevrolet Camaro and had seen his boss go inside the office to answer the telephone. Jackson had not been able to hear the conversation, but it was not necessary. He saw the covert looks his boss gave him as he whispered into the telephone. Frank Jackson knew immediately what was happening. The police were coming for him. The Parker bitch had double-crossed him, had told the police to lock him up. She was like all the rest of them. His boss was still talking on the telephone when Frank Jackson grabbed his jacket and disappeared. It had taken him less than three minutes to find an unlocked car on the street and hot-wire it, and moments later he was headed for Jennifer Parker's house.

Jackson really had to admire his own intelligence. Who else would have thought of following her to find out where she lived? He had done that the day she had gotten him out on bail. He had parked across the street from her house and had been surprised when Jennifer had been met at the gate by a little boy. He had watched them together and sensed even then that the kid might come in handy. He was an unexpected bonus, what the poets called a hostage to fate.

Jackson smiled to himself at how terrified the old bitch of a housekeeper had been. He had enjoyed twisting the wire into her wrists and ankles. No, not enjoyed, really. He was being too hard on himself. It had been necessary. The housekeeper had thought he was going to rape her. She disgusted him. All women did, except for his sainted mother. Women were dirty, unclean, even his whore of a sister. It was only the children who were pure. He thought of the last little girl he had taken. She had been beautiful, with long blond curls, but she had had to pay for her mother's sins. Her mother had had Jackson fired from his job. People tried to keep you from earning an honest living and then punished you when you broke their stupid laws. The men were bad enough, but the women were worse. Pigs who wanted to soil the temple of your body. Like the waitress, Clara, he was going to take to Canada. She was in love with him. She thought he was such a gentleman because he had never touched her. If she only knew! The idea of making love to her sickened him. But he was going to take her out of the country with him because the police would be looking for a man alone. He would shave off his beard and trim his hair, and when he crossed the border he would get rid of Clara. That would give him great pleasure.

Frank Jackson walked over to a battered cardboard suitcase on a luggage rack, opened it and took out a tool kit. From it he removed nails and a hammer. He laid them on the bedside table next to the sleeping boy. Then he went into the bathroom and lifted a two-gallon gasoline can from the bathtub. He carried it into the bedroom and set the can on the floor. Joshua was going to go up in flames. But that would be after the crucifixion.

2:00 A.M.

Throughout New York and around the country, the word was spreading. It started in bars and flophouses. A cautious word here and there, dropped into a willing ear. It began as a trickle and spread to cheap restaurants and noisy discotheques and all-night newsstands. It was picked up by taxi drivers and truckers and girls working the midnight streets. It was like a pebble dropped into a deep, dark lake, with the ripples beginning to widen and spread. Within a couple of hours everyone on the street knew that Michael Moretti wanted some information and wanted it fast. Not many people were given a chance to do a favor for Michael Moretti. This was a golden opportunity for somebody, because Moretti was a man who knew how to show his appreciation. The word was that he was looking for a thin blond guy who looked like Jesus. People began searching their memories.

2:15 A.M.

Joshua Adam Parker stirred in his sleep and Frank Jackson moved to his side. He had not yet removed the boy's pajamas. Jackson checked to make sure that the hammer and nails were in place and ready. It was important to be meticulous about these things. He was going to nail the boy's hands and feet to the floor before he set the room on fire. He could have done it while the boy was asleep, but that would have been wrong. It was important that the boy be awake to see what was happening, to know he was being punished for the sins of his mother. Frank Jackson looked at his watch. Clara was coming to the motel to pick him up at seven-thirty. Five hours and fifteen minutes left. Plenty of time.

Frank Jackson sat down and studied Joshua, and once he tenderly fondled an errant lock of the small boy's hair.

3:00 A.M.

The first of the telephone calls began coming in.

There were two telephones on Michael Moretti's desk and it seemed that the moment he picked up one, the other started ringing.

"I got a line on the guy, Mike. A couple years ago he was workin' a scam in Kansas City with Big Joe Ziegler and Mel Cohen."

"Fuck what he was doing a couple of years ago. Where is he now?"

"Big Joe says he ain't heard from him in about six months. I'm tryin' to get hold of Mel Cohen."

"Do it!"

The next phone call was no more productive.

"I went over to Jackson's motel room. He checked out. He was carryin' a brown suitcase and a two-gallon can that coulda had gasoline in it. The clerk has no idea where he went."

"What about the neighborhood bars?"

"One of the bartenders recognized his description, but he says he wasn't a regular. He went in two or three times after work."

"Alone?"

"Accordin' to the bartender, yeah. He didn't seem interested in the girls there."

"Check out the gay bars."

The telephone rang again almost as soon as Michael had hung up. It was Salvatore Fiore.

"Colfax talked to Captain Notaras. The police property clerk got a record of a pawn ticket in Frank Jackson's personal effects. I got the number of the ticket and the name of the pawn shop. It's owned by a Greek, Gus Stavros, who fences hot rocks."

"Did you check it out?"

"We can't check it out until mornin', Mike. The place is closed. I - "

Michael Moretti exploded. "We can't wait until morning! Get your ass down there!"

There was a telephone call from Joliet. It was hard for Michael to follow the conversation because his caller had had a laryngectomy and his voice sounded as if it was coming from the bottom of a box.

"Jackson's cellmate was a man named Mickey Nicola. They were pretty tight."

"Any idea where Nicola is now?"

"Last I heard he was back east somewhere. He's a friend of Jackson's sister. We have no address on her."

"What was Nicola sent up for?"

"They nailed him on a jewelry heist."

3:30 A.M.

The pawnshop was located in Spanish Harlem at Second Avenue and 124th Street. It was in an unloved two-story building, with the shop downstairs and living quarters upstairs.

Gus Stavros was awakened by a flashlight shining in his face. He instinctively started to reach for the alarm button at the side of his bed.

"I wouldn't," a voice said.

The flashlight moved away and Gus Stavros sat up in bed. He looked at the two men standing on either side of him and knew he had been given good advice. A giant and a midget. Stavros could feel an asthma attack coming on.

"Go downstairs and take whatever you want," he wheezed. "I won't make a move."

The giant, Joseph Colella said, "Get up. Slow."

Gus Stavros rose from his bed, cautious not to make any sudden movements.

The small man, Salvatore Fiore, shoved a piece of paper under his nose. "This is the number of a pawn ticket. We want to see the merchandise."

"Yes, sir."

Gus Stavros walked downstairs, followed by the two men. Stavros had installed an elaborate alarm system only six months earlier. There were bells he could have pushed and secret places on the floor he could have stepped on and help would be on its way. He did none of those things because his instincts told him he would be dead before anyone could reach him. He knew that his only chance lay in giving the two men what they wanted. He only prayed he would not die from a goddamned asthma attack before he got rid of them.

He turned on the downstairs lights and they all moved toward the front of the shop. Gus Stavros had no idea what was going on, but he knew it could have been a great deal worse. If these men had come merely to rob him, they could have cleaned out the pawn shop and been gone by now. It seemed they were only interested in one piece of merchandise. He wondered how they had circumvented the elaborate new alarms on the doors and windows, but he decided not to ask.

"Move your ass," Joseph Colella said.

Gus looked at the pawn ticket number again and began to sort through his files. He found what he was looking for, nodded in satisfaction, and went to the large walk-in strong room and opened it, the two men close behind him. Stavros searched along a shelf until he found a small envelope. Turning to the two men, he opened the envelope and took out a large diamond ring that sparkled in the overhead lights.

"This is it," Gus Stavros said. "I gave him five hundred for it." The ring was worth at least twenty thousand dollars.

"You gave five hundred to who?" little Salvatore Fiore asked.

Gus Stavros shrugged. "A hundred customers a day come in here. The name on the envelope is John Doe."

Fiore pulled a piece of lead pipe out of nowhere and smashed it savagely against Gus Stavros' nose. He fell to the floor screaming with pain, drowning in his own blood.

Fiore asked quietly, "Who did you say brought it in?"

Fighting for breath, Gus Stavros gasped, "I don't know his name. He didn't tell me. I swear to God!"

"What did he look like?"

The blood was flowing into Gus Stavros' throat so fast he could hardly speak. He was beginning to faint, but he knew if he passed out before he talked he would never wake up.

"Let me think," he pleaded.

Stavros tried to focus, but he was so dizzy from the pain that it was difficult. He forced himself to remember the customer walking in, taking the ring out of a box and showing it to him. It was coming back to him.

"He - he was kind of blond and skinny - " He choked on some blood. "Help me up."

Salvatore Fiore kicked him in the ribs. "Keep talkin'."

"He had a beard, a blond beard..."

"Tell us about the rock. Where did it come from?"

Even in his extreme pain, Gus Stavros hesitated. If he talked, he would be a dead man later. If he did not, he would die now. He decided to postpone his death as long as possible.

"It came from the Tiffany job."

"Who was in on the job with the blond guy?"

Gus Stavros was finding it harder to breathe. "Mickey Nicola."

"Where can we find Nicola?"

"I don't know. He - he shacks up with some girl in Brooklyn."

Fiore lifted a foot and nudged Stavros' nose. Gus Stavros screamed with pain.

Joseph Colella asked, "What's the broad's name?"

"Jackson. Blanche Jackson."

4:30 A.M.

The house was set back from the street, surrounded by a small white picket fence with a carefully tended garden in front. Salvatore Fiore and Joseph Colella tramped through the flowers and made their way to the back door. It took them less than five seconds to open it. They stepped inside and moved toward the stairs. From a bedroom above they could hear the sounds of a bed creaking and the voices of a man and a woman. The two men pulled out their guns and started to move quietly up the stairs.

The woman's voice was saying, "Oh, Christ! You're wonderful, Mickey! Give it to me harder, baby."

"It's all for you, honey, every bit of it. Don't come yet."

"Oh, I won't," the woman moaned. "Let's come to - "

She looked up and screamed. The man whirled around. He started to reach under the pillow but decided against it.

"Okay," he said. "My wallet's in my pants on the chair. Take it and get the hell out of here. I'm busy."

Salvatore Fiore said, "We don't want your wallet, Mickey."

The anger on Mickey Nicola's face turned to something else. He sat up in bed, moving cautiously, trying to figure out the situation. The woman had pulled the sheets up over her breasts, her face a combination of anger and fright.

Nicola carefully swung his feet over the side of the bed, sitting on the edge, ready to spring. His penis had gone limp. He was watching both men, waiting for an opportunity.

"What do you want?"

"Do you work with Frank Jackson?"

"Go fuck yourselves."

Joseph Colella turned to his companion. "Shoot his balls off."

Salvatore Fiore raised his gun and aimed.

Mickey Nicola screamed, "Wait a minute! You guys must be crazy!" He looked into the little man's eyes and said quickly, "Yeah. I've worked with Jackson."

The woman cried out angrily, "Mickey!"

He turned on her savagely. "Shut up! You think I want to be a fuckin' eunuch?"

Salvatore Fiore turned to the woman and said, "You're Jackson's sister, ain't you?"

Her face was filled with fury. "I never heard of him."

Fiore raised his gun and moved closer to the bed. "You got two seconds to talk to me or you two are gonna be splashed all over the wall."

There was something in his voice that chilled her. He raised his gun and the blood began to drain from the woman's face.

"Tell them what they want to know," Mickey Nicola cried.

The gun moved up to press against the woman's breast.

"Don't! Yes! Frank Jackson's my brother."

"Where can we find him?"

"I don't know. I don't see him. I swear to God I don't know! I - "

His hand tightened on the trigger.

She screamed, "Clara! Clara would know! Ask Clara!"

Joseph Colella said, "Who's Clara?"

"She's - she's a waitress Frank knows."

"Where can we find her?"

This time there was no hesitation. The words spilled out. "She works at a bar called The Shakers in Queens." Her body began to tremble.

Salvatore Fiore looked at the two of them and said politely, "You can go back to your fuckin' now. Have a nice day."

And the two men departed.

5:30 A.M.

Clara Thomas (nee Thomachevsky) was about to fulfill her lifelong dream. She hummed happily to herself as she packed her cardboard suitcase with the clothes she would need in Canada. She had taken trips with gentlemen friends before, but this was different. This was going to be her honeymoon trip. Frank Jackson was like no other man she had known. The men who came into the bar, pawing her and pinching her buttocks, were nothing but animals. Frank Jackson was different. He was a real gentleman. Clara paused in her packing to think about that word: gentle man. She had never thought of it that way before, but that was Frank Jackson. She had seen him only four times in her life, but she knew she was in love with him. She could tell he had been attracted to her from the very beginning, because he always sat at her booth. And after the second time he had walked her home when the bar had closed.

I must still have it, Clara thought smugly, if I can get a handsome young guy like that. She stopped her packing to walk over to the closet mirror to study herself. Maybe she was a little too heavy and her hair was a couple of shades too red, but dieting would take care of the extra pounds and she would be more careful the next time she dyed her hair. All in all, she wasn't too dissatisfied with what she saw. The old broad's still pretty good-lookin', she told herself. She knew that Frank Jackson wanted to take her to bed, even though he had never touched her. He was really special. There was an almost - Clara furrowed her forehead, trying to think of the word - spiritual quality about him. Clara had been brought up a good Catholic and she knew it was sacrilegious to even think such a thought, but Frank Jackson reminded her a little bit of Jesus. She wondered what Frank would be like in bed. Well, if he was shy, she would show him a trick or two. He had talked about their getting married as soon as they got to Canada. Her dream come true. Clara looked at her watch and decided she had better hurry. She had promised to pick Frank up at his motel at seven-thirty.

She saw them in the mirror as they walked into her bedroom. They had come out of nowhere. A giant and a little fellow. Clara watched as the two of them moved toward her.

The small man looked at the suitcase. "Where you goin', Clara?"

"None of your business. Just take what you want and get out of here. If there's anything in this joint worth more than ten bucks, I'll eat it."

"I got something you can eat," the big man Colella said.

"Up yours, buster," Clara snapped. "If this is gonna be a rape job, I want you to know the doctor's treatin' me for gonorrhea."

Salvatore Fiore said, "We ain't gonna hurt you. We just wanna know where Frank Jackson is."

They could see the change that came over her. Her body suddenly stiffened and her face became a mask.

"Frank Jackson?" There was a note of deep puzzlement in her voice. "I don't know any Frank Jackson."

Salvatore Fiore pulled a lead pipe out of his pocket and took a step toward her.

"You don't scare me," Clara said, "I - "

His arm lashed out across her face, and in the midst of the blinding pain she could feel her teeth crumbling inside her mouth like tiny pieces of grit. She opened her mouth to speak and blood began pouring out. The big man raised his pipe again.

"No, please don't!" She gagged.

Joseph Colella said politely, "Where can we find this Frank Jackson?"

"Frank is - is - "

Clara thought of her sweet, gentle man in the hands of these two monsters. They were going to hurt him and, instinctively, she knew that Frank would not be able to stand the pain. He was too sensitive. If she could only find a way to save him, he would be grateful to her forever.

"I don't know."

Salvatore Fiore moved forward and Clara heard the sound of her leg breaking at the same instant she felt the excruciating pain. She fell to the floor, unable to scream because of all the blood in her mouth.

Joseph Colella stood over her and said pleasantly, "Maybe you don't unnerstand. We ain't gonna kill you. We're just gonna keep breakin' things. When we're through with you, you'll look like a piece of garbage the cat threw away. Do you believe me?"

Clara believed him. Frank Jackson would never want to look at her again. She had lost him to these two bastards. No dream come true, no marriage. The little man was moving forward with the lead pipe again.

Clara moaned, "Don't. Please don't. Frank's at the - the Brookside Motel on Prospect Avenue. He - "

She fainted.

Joseph Colella walked over to the telephone and dialed a number.

Michael Moretti answered. "Yes?"

"Brookside Motel on Prospect Avenue. Want us to take him?"

"No. I'll meet you there. Make sure he doesn't leave."

"He won't go anywhere."

6:30 A.M.

The boy was beginning to stir again. The man watched as Joshua opened his eyes. The boy looked down at the wire on his wrists and legs, and then looked up and saw Frank Jackson, and the memories came flooding back.

This was the man who had pushed those pills down his throat and kidnapped him. Joshua knew all about kidnappings from television. The police would come and save him and put the man in jail. Joshua was determined not to show his fear, because he wanted to be able to tell his mother how brave he had been.

"My mother will be here with the money," Joshua assured the man, "so you don't have to hurt me."

Frank Jackson walked over to the bed and smiled down at the boy. He really was a beautiful child. He wished he could take the boy to Canada instead of Clara. Reluctantly, Frank Jackson looked at his watch. It was time to get things ready.

The boy held up his bound wrists. The blood had caked dry.

"Would you mind taking this off, please?" he asked politely. "I won't run away."

Frank Jackson liked it that the boy had said "please." It showed good manners. These days, most kids had no manners at all. They ran around the streets like wild animals.

Frank Jackson went into the bathroom where he had put the can of gasoline back in the tub so that it would not stain the rug in the living room. He prided himself on details like that. He carried the can into the bedroom and set it down. He moved to the boy's side, lifted up the bound figure and placed him on the floor. Then he picked up the hammer and two large nails and knelt next to the boy.

Joshua Parker was watching him, wide-eyed. "What are you going to do with that?"

"Something that will make you very happy. Have you ever heard of Jesus Christ?" Joshua nodded. "Do you know how he died?"

"On the cross."

"That's very good. You're a bright boy. We don't have a cross here, so we'll have to do the best we can."

The boy's eyes were beginning to fill with fear.

Frank Jackson said, "There's nothing to be afraid of. Jesus wasn't afraid. You mustn't be afraid."

"I don't want to be Jesus," Joshua whispered. "I want to go home."

"I'm going to send you home," Frank Jackson promised. "I'm going to send you home to Jesus."

Frank Jackson took a handkerchief out of his back pocket and moved it toward the boy's mouth. Joshua gritted his teeth together.

"Don't make me angry."

Frank Jackson pressed his thumb and forefinger against Joshua's cheeks and forced his mouth open. He shoved the handkerchief into Joshua's mouth and slapped a piece of tape across it to hold the handkerchief in place. Joshua was straining against the wires that bound his wrists and hands, and they began to bleed again. Frank Jackson ran his hands over the fresh cuts.

"The blood of Christ," he said softly.

He picked up one of the boy's hands, turned it over and held it down against the floor. Then he picked up a nail. Holding it against Joshua's palm with one hand, Frank Jackson picked up the hammer with his other. He drove the nail through the boy's hand into the floor.

7:15 A.M.

Michael Moretti's black limousine was stalled on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in early morning traffic, held up by a vegetable truck that had overturned and spilled its cargo across the road. Traffic had come to a standstill.

"Pull over to the other side of the road and get past him," Michael Moretti ordered Nick Vito.

"There's a police car up ahead, Mike."

"Go up and tell whoever's in charge that I want to talk to him."

"Right, boss."

Nick Vito got out of the car and hurried toward the squad car. A few moments later he returned with a police sergeant. Michael Moretti opened the window of the car and held out his hand. There were five one hundred dollar bills in it.

"I'm in a hurry, officer."

Two minutes later the police car, red light flashing, was guiding the limousine past the wreckage on the road. When they were clear of the traffic, the sergeant got out of the police car and walked back to the limousine.

"Can I give you an escort somewhere, Mr. Moretti?"

"No, thank you," Michael said. "Come and see me Monday." To Nick Vito: "Move it!"

7:30 A.M.

The neon sign in front read:

BROOKSIDE MOTEL

SINGLES - DOUBLES

DAILY AND WEEKLY RATES

INDIVIDUALES - DOBLES

PRECIOS ESPECIALES

Joseph Colella and Salvatore Fiore sat in their car across from Bungalow 7. A few minutes earlier they had heard a thump from inside, so they knew that Frank Jackson was still there.

We oughta jump in and cool him, Fiore thought. But Michael Moretti had given instructions.

They settled back to wait.

7:45 A.M.

Inside Bungalow 7, Frank Jackson was making his final preparations. The boy was a disappointment. He had fainted. Jackson had wanted to wait until Joshua regained consciousness before the other nails were driven in, but it was getting late. He picked up the can of gasoline and sprinkled it across the boy's body, careful not to let it touch that beautiful face. He visualized the body under the pajamas and wished that he had time to - but, no, that would be foolish. Clara would be here any moment. He must be ready to leave when she arrived. He reached in his pockets, pulled out a box of matches, and set them neatly beside the can of gasoline, the hammer and the nails. People simply did not appreciate how important neatness was.

Frank Jackson looked at his watch again and wondered what was keeping Clara.

7:50 A.M.

Outside Bungalow 7, the limousine skidded to a stop and Michael Moretti jumped out of the car. The two men in the sedan hurried over to join him.

Joseph Colella pointed to Bungalow 7. "He's in there."

"What about the kid?"

The big man shrugged. "Dunno. Jackson's got the curtains drawn."

"Should we go in now and take him?" Salvatore Fiore asked.

"Stay here."

The two men looked at him in surprise. He was a caporegime. He had soldiers to make hits for him while he sat back in safety. And yet he was going in himself. It was not right.

Joseph Colella said, "Boss, Sal and I can - "

But Michael Moretti was already moving to the door of Bungalow 7, a gun fitted with a silencer in his hand. He paused for a second to listen, then stepped back and smashed the door open with one powerful kick.

Moretti took in the scene in a single frozen moment: the bearded man kneeling on the floor beside the small boy; the boy's hand nailed to the floor, the room reeking of gasoline.

The bearded man had turned toward the door and was staring at Michael. The last sounds he ever uttered were, "You're not C1 - "

Michael's first bullet took him in the center of his forehead. The second bullet shattered his pharynx, and the third bullet took him in the heart. But by that time he no longer felt anything.

Michael Moretti stepped to the door and waved to the two men outside. They hurried into the cabin. Michael Moretti knelt beside the boy and felt his pulse. It was thin and thready, but he was still alive. He turned to Joseph Colella.

"Call Doc Petrone. Tell him we're on our way over."

9:30 A.M.

The instant the telephone rang, Jennifer snatched it up, squeezing it tightly. "Hello!"

Michael Moretti's voice said, "I'm bringing your son home."

Joshua was whimpering in his sleep. Jennifer leaned over and put her arms around him, holding him gently. He had been asleep when Michael had carried him into the house. When Jennifer had seen Joshua's unconscious body, his wrists and ankles heavily bandaged, his body swathed in gauze, she had nearly gone out of her mind. Michael had brought the doctor with him and it had taken him half an hour to reassure Jennifer that Joshua was going to be all right.

"His hand will heal," the doctor assured her. "There will be a small scar there, but fortunately no nerves or tendons were damaged. The gasoline burns are superficial. I bathed his body in mineral oil. I'll look in on him for the next few days. Believe me, he's going to be fine."

Before the doctor left, Jennifer had him attend to Mrs. Mackey.

Joshua had been put to bed and Jennifer stayed at his side, waiting to reassure him when he awakened. He stirred now and his eyes opened.

When he saw his mother, he said tiredly, "I knew you'd come, Mom. Did you give the man the ransom money?"

Jennifer nodded, not trusting her voice.

Joshua smiled. "I hope he buys too much candy with the money and gets a stomachache. Wouldn't that be funny?"

She whispered, "Very funny, darling. Do you know what you and I are going to do next week? I'm going to take you to - "

Joshua was asleep again.

It was hours later when Jennifer walked back into the living room. She was surprised to see that Michael Moretti was still there. Somehow it reminded her of the first time she had met Adam Warner, when he had waited for her in her little apartment.

"Michael - " It was impossible to find the words. "I - I can't tell you how - how grateful I am."

He looked at her and nodded.

She forced herself to ask the question. "And - and Frank Jackson?"

"He won't bother anyone again."

So it was over. Joshua was safe. Nothing else mattered.

Jennifer looked at Michael Moretti and thought, I owe him so much. How can I ever repay him?

Michael was watching her, wrapped in silence.