Ground Zero Part 13

Jack couldn't help laughing. "I love it! That's my Weez!"

"What-?"

The conductor's voice interrupted, crackling over the speaker to announce Jackson Heights coming up.

Jack said, "Sit tight."

"But it's our stop."

"We may have company."

His eyes widened. "You mean followed? followed?"

"Possibly."

"Come on on. No one's going to-"

"Think about it, Eddie. Your sister's in a coma. Someone stole her bag. Whoever did has keys to her house but doesn't know where her house is because she's not listed anywhere as an owner or a tenant. A stranger was just asking about where she lives. We didn't tell him. So the only way to find out is to follow us."

Eddie leaned back and shook his head. "No wonder you and Weez were such good friends."

As the train slowed to a stop, the bleached blond head appeared again, then pulled back.

Yep. They had a tail. Not the guy calling himself Bob Garvey. Strictly amateur to have a familiar face try to follow, which would have given Jack a certain amount of comfort. Instead he'd sent a second guy.

Which led to the question: How many were involved here? How big was this?

Worst-case scenario for Jack: the government. In most cases, if they wanted Weezy's address they'd just flash a badge at Eddie and demand he tell them. But what if Weezy had stumbled onto some covert operation?

Listen to me, he thought. I'm cooking up a Jason Bourne plot here.

But he couldn't ignore the possibility, because for a guy who didn't pay taxes or even have a Social Security number, feds were, if not a worst-case scenario, then at least very, very bad.

But if not government, then who? And why?

Weezy, my dear old pal, what the h.e.l.l have you got yourself into?

"What's the plan?" Eddie said as the train lurched into motion again. His tone dripped sarcasm. "Put on wigs and mustaches? Or do we climb between the cars and jump off as it's moving?"

"Do I detect a note of skepticism?"

"You detect a whole orchestra."

"O ye of little faith."

"What do you expect? You're Jack from Johnson, New Jersey, who repairs appliances, and you expect me to believe you've spotted someone following us?" He gestured at the spa.r.s.ely populated car. "Who? Point him out."

Jack wasn't so sure that was the thing to do. "I said we may may have a tail. I didn't say I'd spotted one." have a tail. I didn't say I'd spotted one."

"Right. Because there isn't one. These are just regular folks minding their own business. They don't care about us."

Jack couldn't blame him. Were positions reversed, he'd feel the same way.

"Yeah, you're probably right. But humor me, okay? We'll get off at the Elmhurst stop and train back."

"Not as if I have a choice now."

"We can always pull the emergency stop and jump onto the tracks."

Eddie stared at him a long moment, then barked a nervous laugh. "You know, for a minute there you really had me going. I mean, I thought you were serious."

"I was," Jack said, deadpan, then laughed. "Are you kidding me?"

14.

As the train pulled into the 90th StreetElmhurst Avenue stop they rose and stood before the nearest door. From the corner of his eye Jack saw the blond guy take another peek. When the train stopped and the door panels split, they stepped out onto the platform. One car down, the blond guy stepped out too. As they headed for the stairs down to the street, he followed. But then, he'd do that even if he wasn't following them.

"All we've accomplished is to prolong the trip," Eddie was saying.

"Yeah, I suppose so. But it gives us a little extra time to discuss the elephant in the room we've been ignoring."

"You mean, 'burn my house.' "

Jack had been thinking about it while watching for a tail but could make no sense of it.

"Yeah. What's up with that?"

"I've turned it over and over and upside down and inside out and still can't make sense of it. She loves that house. It contains all her worldly possessions-and believe me, she has a lot lot of worldly possessions." of worldly possessions."

"I thought you said she lives very simply."

He smiled. "She does. And her possessions are simple, but there's lots and lots of them."

"I'm not following."

"You'll see when you get there. It's easier to show than tell."

When they hit the street they crossed Roosevelt Avenue to the Manhattan-bound entrance. As they reached the turnstiles, Jack stepped ahead of Eddie and swiped his MetroCard through the reader.

"Since I'm the reason you're here, my treat."

Eddie laughed. "Jack, I can well afford-"

Jack made a flourish toward the turnstile, saying, "I insist," and used the move as an opportunity to peek behind them.

The blond guy was standing at the bottom of the stairway across the street looking baffled.

Jack swiped the card for himself, and then he and Eddie climbed the stairs to the platform. Jack guided him to a spot that would put them on the middle of the train. The sun was hot so they stood back in the shadow of the partial roof.

"So you have no idea why she'd want us to burn her house?"

Eddie shook his head. "Not a clue. But I a.s.sume it has something to do with her idea that she'd turn up 'missing.' "

"Well, she was was missing for a while." missing for a while."

"Because she ran out in front of a car-not because someone abducted her. And not because someone was following her-if you get my meaning."

He gestured around the near-empty platform just as the blond guy emerged from the stairwell and stood thirty or so feet away. Eddie glanced at him but didn't react.

Clueless, Jack thought as he forced a heavy sigh.

"I guess you're right."

The Manhattan-bound train pulled in half a minute later. Jack and Eddie boarded. Uptrack to his left, Jack saw the blond man step on as well.

"Let's stand," Jack said, stopping just inside the door. "It's only one stop."

Eddie shrugged. "Sure."

Jack waited a few seconds, then grabbed the back of Eddie's jacket and yanked.

"On second thought ..."

"Hey!" he cried as he was pulled through the closing doors. "What are you doing?"

As the train began pulling out, Jack gestured at the empty platform. "Just making sure we weren't followed."

"Jesus, Jack! You're crazy, you know that? You and Weezy always had this ... this rapport, where one seemed to know what the other was thinking. And now you've bought into her paranoia."

"I don't know about that. But one thing I do know: Your sister was way smarter than I ever was. I think that counts for something."

He remembered his continuing wonder at the breadth of her knowledge and her photographic memory.

"She's still smart-smarter than both of us put together, I'll bet-but that's not going to bring the next train any faster."

Jack couldn't decide whether it would be easier to leave Eddie in the dark about the tail or clue him in. He decided a wake-up call was in order.

"Keep your eyes on this train," Jack said as it gathered speed. "In one of the cars you'll see a guy with bleached-blond hair combed forward. When he spots us out here he won't be happy."

Sure enough, the next-to-last car carried the blond man who stared out at them with an angry, befuddled expression.

"Wave to the nice man." Eddie didn't. Jack began pulling him toward the stairway. "Now walk with me."

Eddie came along but was staring at him with an uncomfortable expression.

"You think that man was following us?"

"Just walk."

He hoped seeing them heading toward the exit would convince the blond guy that Elmhurst had been their destination all along.

"Seriously, Jack-"

"He was peeking at us from an adjoining car all the way out from the city. When we doubled back, so did he. Draw your own conclusion."

Eddie stopped at the entrance to the stairwell. "So it's true? Someone was really following us?"

"Looks that way to me."

"You're ... you're not an appliance repairman, are you."

Jack had been afraid of this.

"As you said yourself, I'm just Jack from Johnson."

"Yeah, and I knew that Jack, and that Jack would never settle for being an appliance repairman."

"Why not? It's honest work. You have the satisfaction of accomplishing something. You're your own boss, you set your own hours, and you leave the job behind at the end of the day."

Not an untrue word there-except he wasn't talking about himself.

"But how does a simple appliance repairman spot a tail and outsmart him like you just did?"

"Well, maybe I am am a bit paranoid-after all, I was watching for a tail. And I've read my share of thrillers." a bit paranoid-after all, I was watching for a tail. And I've read my share of thrillers."

"You were awfully smooth giving him the slip."

"Learned everything I know from Jake Fixx."

Eddie smiled. "You read those novels? Me too, I'm ashamed to say."

"Ashamed?"

"Well, they're just plain silly. And that character, that Jake Fixx, he's preposterous."

"But you keep reading them."

"Yeah, well, there's something about the guy ... he may be ridiculous but-this is going to sound crazy, but I almost feel as if I know him."

You have no idea, Jack thought.

"Yeah, me too."