Ask the Parrot

4

Parker waited in the safe room doorway as Lindahl carried his keys to the alarm box beside the garage door at the end of the corridor. One key opened the box, and a second switched off the alarm.

This was the alarm that would have made it necessary for them to come back down here after removing the money, shutting the door from the inside and reactivating the alarm, then retracing their route to the other door, so that a light wouldn’t flash in security. Now that Parker had had to deal with the guards in security, it didn’t matter any more if that light flashed on. A simpler operation but more hurried.

Lindahl, finished with the alarm, opened the garage door, and there was the ramp, leading upward to ground level, where his Ford waited beyond the locked chain-link gate. Parker watched Lindahl start up the ramp to get his car, then he turned back to pick up one of the duffel bags and carry it out of the safe room. When he reached the outer room, Lindahl was back, too soon, without the car and looking worried.

“Something wrong,” he said, half a whisper.

Parker put the duffel on the floor. “What?”

“There’s another car up there,” Lindahl said. “A gray car. It’s backed up against the rear bumper of my Ford. I don’t see anybody in it.”

“No, he’s not in it,” Parker said. “If he backed his car against yours, that’s so he can watch the driver’s side. He’s up there on the left somewhere, in the dark, in a place where he can watch both the door where we came in and the driver’s side of his car. We have to go one way or the other to get out of here, and he knows it.”

“But who?” Lindahl peered at Parker as though it had become harder to see him. “Do you know who it is?”

“Cory Dennison.”

“Cory! What the hell’s he doing here?”

“Looking for our money.” Parker took a step toward the ramp but didn’t go up it.

Lindahl said, “Isn’t Cal with him?”

“No, it’s just Cory, but that’s enough.”

Lindahl shook his head. “Cory and Cal are always together, they don’t do things on their own.”

“This time,” Parker said, “it’s just Cory.”

Lindahl stared at him, trying to frame some question. Parker waited for him, then said, “Is there something you want to know?”

Lindahl thought about it, looking more worried than ever. Then he said, “There was a car behind me, for a while, might have been that one. Was that Cal and Cory?”

“Yes.”

“Together then, but just Cory now. Is Cal waiting somewhere else?”

“No.”

Lindahl nodded and looked away. Parker said, “What our problem is, he’s got us boxed in down here. We can’t waste a lot of time on this. If one of those guards has a wife that likes to call him late at night, what happens when she doesn’t get an answer?”

Lindahl stopped worrying about Cal and turned to look up the ramp. “You’re right. If I go up there and push his car with mine . . .”

“His car is in gear with the emergency brake on. You know that’s what he’s going to do. The minute you start your engine, he’ll shoot you.”

“But we have to get out of here.”

“We will. The gate’s unlocked?”

“Yes, but it’s still closed. I was unlocking it when I saw the other car.”

“Turn off the lights down here,” Parker said, “and sit tight.”

He started toward the ramp, but Lindahl said, “Wait.”

“What is it?”

“What if . . .” Lindahl gestured vaguely at the ramp.

“What if Cory comes down, instead of me?”

“Yes.”

Parker nodded at the door to the corridor. “Go that way. You’ve got keys, lock doors behind you.”

“My car.”

“The guards have pistols,” Parker told him. “Get one and do your best. Lights out.”

“Right.”

As Lindahl switched off the lights, he was looking at that inner door.