Indigo Slam

CHAPTER 15

It was just before lunch in downtown Los Angeles, and maybe eighty thousand people were jamming the sidewalks and streets around us, flooding through the crosswalks against the DON'T WALK lights. In New York that would get you killed, but in LA where pedestrians have the right of way, cars collect in turn lanes like debris in a drain cover. Dobcek wasn't used to that – people in Seattle obey the crosswalk signs.

They didn't close the gap between us; they just tried to keep me in sight. Probably picked me up at my office. Probably hoping that I'd lead them to Clark.

I drove with the traffic flow, letting Dobcek stay with me, and turned north under the freeway to Sunset Boulevard, then into a strip mall. Mr. Nonchalant. Mr. Taking-Care-of-a-Little-Errand. Dobcek and Sautin pulled to the curb in front of a menudo shop a block behind and tried to look inconspicuous. Hard to do when you weigh three hundred pounds.

I called Joe Pike from a pay phone outside a florist. 'Dobcek and Sautin are sitting in a tan Camaro fifty yards away, watching me.'

'Shoot them.' Life is simple for Pike. Like with the cat.

'I was thinking more along the lines of delaying them. They probably picked me up at my office, and they're probably hoping I'll lead them to Clark.'

Pike grunted. 'Or they're hoping for another chance to beat it out of you.'

'Well, there's that, too.' I told him where I was, and what I wanted.

Pike said, 'Try to stay alive until I get there.'

Always the encouraging word.

I pretended to talk for another five minutes, went into the florist to kill more time, then climbed back into my car and continued north along Sunset, making sure that Dobcek and Sautin made every light with me.

When I reached Elysian Park Avenue I turned toward Dodger Stadium, and wound my way up past small residential homes through the mountains to Chavez Ravine. Traffic thinned, and I thought that Dobcek might break off the tail, but he didn't.

Chavez Ravine is a broad flat bowl surrounded by low mountains that wall the stadium from the city. Dodger Stadium sits in the center of the bowl, surrounded by black tarmac parking lots like some kind of alien spacecraft resting alone on its launching pad. All you'd need was a big shiny robot, and you'd think Michael Rennie had come back to Earth.

An hour before game time on a cool spring evening and there'd be fifty thousand people driving past. Noontime on a day when the Dodgers were out of town, and the place was deserted. An ideal place for a conversation or a murder.

The roads there loop and roll around the base of the ravine, and little signs direct you toward the stadium or Elysian Park or any number of interesting places. I followed the signs past palm tree sentinels toward the ticket booth, and increased my speed enough to pull away from the Russians. Dobcek would want to stay with me, but not enough to get crazy and blow his tail. After all, he'd figure that he could always go back to my office and wait until I returned, but he would follow because for all he knew I was heading toward a safe house where I'd stashed Clark and his kids. I pressed it going up the hill to the turnoff to the ticket booth, but I didn't turn there. I turned off the road into the grass and backed my car behind a stand of scrub oak and brush. We hadn't had rain in weeks and the soil was hard as the pavement.

Forty seconds later the Camaro cruised past through the gate. I saw his brake lights come on, and I pulled back onto the road, and stopped in the gate, blocking their exit. Pike's Jeep was across the road in front of them. Pike was leaning across the Jeep's hood, pointing a twelve-gauge Beretta autoloader at them. I got out, walked up to their car, and smiled at them. 'Baseball. The great American pastime.'

Dobcek's hands were on his steering wheel. He nodded. 'Nicely done.'

'Welcome to LA, boys. Now get out of the car, keeping your hands where we can see them.'

Dobcek got out first. When Dmitri Sautin climbed out, the little Camaro rocked.

I said, 'Guns.'

Pike came around the Jeep, the shotgun still at his shoulder. Dobcek fingered the Glock from under his left arm and held it out. I tossed it into my Corvette. I looked at Dmitri Sautin. 'Now you.'

Sautin shook his head. 'No.'

Dobcek said, 'Dmitri.'

Sautin said, 'I think they have to take it, if they can.' He lowered his hands and grinned at Pike. Dmitri Sautin was four inches taller than Pike, and outweighed him by a hundred pounds.

Pike said, 'It's going to hurt.'

Sautin said, 'Ha.'

Sautin was still grinning when Pike hit him on the side of the head with a hard fast roundhouse kick. Sautin took one step to the side and looked surprised, but he didn't go down. Pike kicked him again, and this time Sautin staggered. His eyes filled and his lower lip quivered and he began crying. Pike said, 'Gun.'

Dmitri Sautin held out the Sig. I took it and tossed it in with the Glock.

Dobcek smiled, and it was ugly and predatory. His eyes sparkled in the bright sun and stayed with Joe Pike.

I patted them down, took their wallets, and then I told them to step away from the car. They did. I went through their car and found the rental papers. They had arrived at LAX that morning. I took the keys from the ignition and found two overnight bags in the trunk. I looked through them but found nothing but clothes and toiletries. I put their bags in the Corvette, too. Dmitri Sautin wiped at his nose, and said, 'But we will not have underwear.'

'A criminal's life is an ugly one.' I looked through their wallets, didn't learn anything new, and tossed the wallets in with the guns. I said, 'Markov's really going to be impressed when you tell him about this.'

Sautin said, 'You must be stupid to think we would tell him.'

Dobcek said, 'Shut up, fool.' Dobcek's eyes never left Pike.

I said, 'It's like I told you in Seattle, I don't know Clark Hewitt and I don't know where he is. You guys are wasting your time.'

Dobcek said, 'Da.'

'If you're smart, you'll go back to Seattle. If you try to tag me again, I'll kill you.' Mr. Threat.

Dobcek made the little smile again.

Pike said, 'He won't, but I will.'

Dobcek's smile faded.

I said, 'See the little building at the bottom of the hill?'

They could see it.

'Start walking.'

Sautin started toward the ticket building, but Dobcek didn't. Dobcek looked at Pike. 'This one goes to you, but I think we see each other again, yes?'

The corner of Pike's mouth twitched, saying here we are, saying we can take this anyplace you want, but wherever we go I will win and you will lose.

Dobcek made a small nod and followed Sautin.

We watched them for a time, and then Pike said, 'You lie well. Too bad they didn't believe you.'

'Yeah, but it'll buy us enough time to warn Clark. I told Clark they were going to come and now they have, and he'll have to do something. He won't like it, but there you go.'

Pike went to his Jeep and came back with an eight-inch stainless-steel hunting knife. He went around the Camaro and cut all four tires. Buy us even more time.

I said, 'By the way.'

He looked at me.

'The two C-notes were counterfeit.'

Pike nodded.

'Your friend Marsha Fields kept them.'

Another nod.

'Means we're down about five hundred now.'

Pike went back to his Jeep. 'A criminal's life is an ugly one.'

I got into my car and went to warn Clark Hewitt.