Cure

26

March 26, 2010

Friday, 12:18 p.m.

There’s a young woman coming out of the doctor’s house right this second,” Brennan blurted, sounding frantic. “She’s carrying a kid in one hand and a stroller in the other. Do you think it’s the kid we want or what?”

Louie felt his confidence falter. “Calm down!” he ordered sharply. All the talk he’d had with Brennan over the last hour about remaining calm and detached had apparently gone out the window. Louie had expected more from Brennan. Brennan obviously had allowed himself to get so wound up, he was not thinking clearly.

“How the hell are we going to be sure it’s the right kid?” Brennan whined with a touch of desperation.

“You’ll never be completely sure,” Louie said, “but you can be pretty darn close to being sure. As a starter, do mother and child look alike?”

“No, the kid’s white and the nanny’s black.”

“Well, I’d say that’s pretty definitive.”

“She’s stuffing the kid into the stroller. She acts a little like she’s impatient. You know what I’m saying? And the kid is bawling.”

“That’s not our worry. Now, is she ready to leave?”

“I’d say so,” Brennan said. “Yes, they are! They’re pushing off, heading for the park, just like you’d hoped.”

“Sounds like it is going to be almost too easy,” Louie said. Before he’d left them in front of Laurie’s building, Louie had expressed the hope that the nanny would take JJ to Central Park, as that section of the park was never as crowded as it was to the south, and usually rather deserted. Also, there were forested hills, which would provide near-perfect locations for a snatch.

With his hand motioning for Carlo to follow the stroller toward Central Park West, Brennan continued the phone conversation with Louie as if he wanted Louie to stay on the line and make all the decisions. But Louie, whether he sensed Brennan’s intention or not, said, “Okay, you’re on your own, and good luck. And also remember what I said earlier. Don’t do anything silly. Use your head. Don’t take any risks. There’s no need, as there is always tomorrow, even if we lose some of the benefits of doing the kidnapping. You hear what I’m saying?”

“I hear you,” Brennan assured.

“Let me hear from you when you have the child,” Louie said before disconnecting.

Brennan flipped his phone shut and slipped it into his jacket pocket. “Don’t get too close to make it look like we’re following!” he said to Carlo, who was driving.

“I know what I’m freaking doing,” Carlo snapped back. He wasn’t happy at having to take orders from Brennan, especially with other people in the van. It had been a sudden, psychologically painful reversal of the status quo.

“Slow down and stop!” Brennan ordered, oblivious to Carlo’s wounded ego. Ahead, the nanny was held up at the corner, waiting for the light to change on Central Park West. Just across the street, the park’s pedestrian entrance was bounded by walls of dark-red sandstone blocks. There were a few buds on the otherwise leafless trees. There was also some yellow forsythia in bloom.

The van waited thirty yards from the corner for the light to change. Carlo was drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. In the middle seats were Chong Yong and Riki Watanabe. Although they could speak passing English, they remained silent. In the far backseats sat Duane Mackenzie and Tommaso Deluca. They, too, were silent, intimidated by the two massively muscled men sitting in front of them.

“All right,” Brennan said. “Let’s review the plan now that we know for certain the woman and the kid are going into the park. Everyone except for Carlo will get out at the corner and follow them in, but not as a group. I’ll go ahead, and you people string out behind me like we’re all on our own. And make sure you’ve got your masks.”

Brennan twisted in his seat so as to look at the people in the back as he talked. “It will be up to me to decide if it is a go or not, understand? I mean, the snatch might happen as soon as we’re in the park, or later, or not at all, depending on what the nanny does. Worst case, she might be meeting up with someone. If that happens, we’ll delay. Meanwhile, Carlo will be in the van nearby with the motor running. Once we have the kid, I want all of us to get into the van and get the hell out of here. Any questions?”

“What are we to do?” Riki asked.

“Good question,” Brennan said without sarcasm after a slight pause. It had been Louie who’d ordered who was going to participate. Brennan had had the same question but chose not to ask Louie, fearing Louie might not think him capable of being in charge if the answer was obvious. “You’re to be there in case something unexpected happens and we need more people,” Brennan said, at least making a stab at an answer.

“The light is changing,” Carlo called out.

Brennan turned back to face forward. “All right,” he said commandingly. “Let’s do it!” He leaped from the car, impatient to get the operation under way. As he watched the attractive black woman hustle into the park, he felt this was his opportunity to prove himself to Louie.