The Enemy Inside by Steve Martini Read Free Book Online Page A

it’s big, but for the moment off the record. Somebody drugs him and takes him out into the desert. They smash two cars together, one of them at high speed carrying Alex, the other one with Serna inside. Was she conscious at the time?” I ask.
    “What, you think they drugged her too?” says Harry. “Why not just drown her and dump her on some beach somewhere?”
    “Because then there would be evidence. Somebody would have to walk in the sand to dump the body. She might struggle. You’d get bruising, maybe something under her fingernails. This way there is nothing. Major collision and fire. The bodies are burned. If it had worked out the way they planned it, both of them would be dead and we wouldn’t be involved to ask any questions.”
    “You think they were out to get the boy as well?” says Herman.
    “Be my guess. Given the reckless nature of the collision. There was certainly no assurance Ives would survive the impact, let alone the fire. The only reason Alex is alive is because a passing motorist pulled him from the wreck. If I had to guess, I would say that our Good Samaritan wasn’t part of their opera. Something they failed to plan for.”
    “You know you’re getting paranoid,” says Harry. “Soon you’ll be seeing black helicopters.”
    “Give me another theory that explains the events,” I tell him.
    “OK, tell me one thing,” he says. “Both cars were moving. If both Serna and Ives were unconscious, how did they do that?”
    I think for a moment, shake my head. “I don’t know.”
    “There you go,” says Harry. “Problem with your theory is it doesn’t work.”
    Harry goes back to the accident report, looking for something. He finds the pages and starts to read, running his finger over the paper.
    “Have you talked to the kid about this?” says Herman. “The fact that somebody may have tried to kill him?”
    “Not in so many words.”
    “Don’t you think you should? Assuming you’re right, if they tried once, what’s to stop ’em from trying again?”
    “Nothing, I suppose.”
    “He can’t run,” says Herman. “Can’t hide. Bail conditions see to that.”
    “Yeah. It’s all pretty convenient, isn’t it?” I tell him.
    Herman arches an eyebrow. “So what do we do? Where do we go from here?” He flips open his little notebook ready to jot down whatever little tidbits I can give him.
    “Two unknowns,” I tell him. “First the mystery girl. We have only a partial name and a description. Asian, very good looking, long dark hair about the middle of her back, about five foot five or five six. First name or nickname, Ben. She has a tattoo on the inside of her left thigh, red and blue, probably a dragon or the tail of a dragon.”
    Herman is still scribbling on the notepad.
    “I would start with the local tattoo parlors.”
    “Hell, there must be seven thousand of them,” says Herman, “and that’s only on one block downtown.”
    “Got your work cut out,” I tell him. “Harry and I need to go to work on Alex, to loosen his tongue regarding this hot news tip he’s got involving Serna. Makes sense that if that’s the only connection between the two of them, and if the accident was staged to trap them both, that the story he was working on is probably the reason.”
    “OK, tell me this,” says Harry. He finally looks up from the report. “Says here there is no evidence of mechanical malfunction in the steering or brake systems of either car. And catch this, no evidence of any malfunction or tampering with the accelerator, cruise control, or other speed maintenance systems in either vehicle.”
    “They can tell all that from the burned-out remains?” says Herman.
    “Steel doesn’t burn,” says Harry. “So, if he was unconscious, on roofies, unable to coordinate his arms or his legs and there was no alteration to the steering, the accelerator, or the cruise control, how did they do eighty miles an hour and steer one car into another in the space of a small