Free Fall

Fifty-Eight

Denver, Colorado

Veyda was behind the wheel of their rented Ford Escape.

Seth consulted the dash-mounted GPS while studying the storefronts as they rolled along Colfax Avenue.

They drove through menacing sections of the city with vacant lots bordered with wire fencing, abandoned buildings laced with graffiti and fortresslike liquor stores. But those areas eventually gave way to cafés, renovated businesses and new townhomes where Colfax Avenue had cleaned up.

They were taking the next critical step in their plan-a quick meeting and transaction with a man named Nash.

Before they’d boarded their flight to Colorado in Washington, Seth had hustled to work out the details for what they needed.

We did a lot of volunteer outreach at school, like computer seminars in federal and state prisons, Seth had told Veyda, while sending off messages in preboarding. The aim was to help them stay abreast technologically for when they were released. I kept in touch with a few guys, because you never know when you might need their expertise. Here, I just got a response. A friend has arranged for a contact in Denver to help us get what we need. His name is Nash. Details to follow. We’re good, babe.

But now that they were here, they hadn’t heard a word from Nash. And driving up and down the same blocks of Colfax was making Veyda uneasy.

Seth had done some exceptional work sending the Zarathustra emails through her father’s computer, making his address in Clear River, North Dakota, appear to be the source point for Zarathustra. But with each passing minute, the video her father had put out was getting more hits and tweets. It lacked details, but sooner or later the police were going to be alerted to it. And that story Kate Page had written asking for people to contact the FBI could be problematic.

Veyda glanced at the time and bit her bottom lip while assessing the facts in their favor. They were so far along, so advanced in completing their plan, that the chances of anyone getting close enough to stop them in time were nonexistent.

Still, she kept an eye out for patrol cars.

“You’re sure this is the right time and place?”

“Positive,” Seth said. “Nash said to be in this area and he’d text me. There! Down the block on the corner. There he is, the guy in the checkered shirt. Pull over.”

Seth dropped his window and Nash stepped up to it.

He was in his early forties. He wore a lumberjack shirt over a white T-shirt and jeans. He was of medium build, had thin blond hair and a face ravaged by acne. He was holding a paper bag from a fast-food outlet.

“Are you Nash, Blade’s friend?”

He nodded. “You Seth?”

“Yeah, and this is Veyda. Get in.”

Nash climbed into the backseat.

“Have you got it?” Seth asked.

“I got it. Pull into the parking lot behind them golden arches up there.”

Veyda drove to a far corner of the lot and parked. Seth got in the back. Nash withdrew a handgun from the bag and passed it to Seth.

“This is a forty-caliber pistol, very powerful. It’s unloaded. Here.” Nash tapped the gun. “This is the safety.” He made it click. “See? This way-on. This way-off. Got it?”

Seth nodded.

Nash reached into the bag.

“Here’s a magazine. I’m giving you three.” He took the gun from Seth. “Slide the magazine in like this.” It clicked. “Press here to release it and it drops like this.” Nash demonstrated. “Try it.”

Seth completed the action a few times.

“Good,” Nash said. “Here’s the chamber indicator to tell you a round is in the chamber ready for firing. So all you do is load the magazine, check the indicator, turn off the safety and fire. Got it?”

Seth nodded, tried the process a few times. Then he unloaded the gun, activated the safety and put everything in the bag.

“One thousand cash.” Nash held out his hand.

“I was told it would be five hundred.”

“One thousand, or no deal.”

“Is the gun untraceable?”

“It is and I don’t want to know why you want it. I don’t give a rat’s ass what you’re up to. Do we understand each other?”

“Perfectly.”

Seth reached into his pocket and peeled at a roll of bills, putting most of them in Nash’s hand.

“It’s all there.”

“Good,” Nash said. “Our business is done.”

After Nash got out and walked away, Seth got into the front and put the bag under the seat.

“That was smooth, Seth.”

“Very smooth, and we’ve got plenty of time to get to our point and set up. We have our insurance. We’re ready for all scenarios. We’re going to do this.”

“Nothing’s in our way now.” Veyda reached out, taking his hand in hers. “Nothing’s going to stop us.”