Chapter Fifty-one

The more I thought about delivering Orange County's most notorious crime boss into the hands of the mild mannered Stuart Young, the more I realized I had given my perfectly bald client a death sentence.

And so I spent a lot of that night thinking about what I could do about this dilemma. I thought long and hard, and somewhere near the break of dawn, I came up with an idea.

* * *

I spent all the next evening researching the plane crash; in particular, the victims on board. Because this was a military crash and because most of the victims were key witnesses to an important trial, getting the names wasn't easy. I used every available contact I had in the federal government until finally a list was provided to me.

And once I had the list I went to work.

* * *

Two days later, on the night of the full moon, with Kingsley howling away deep inside his safe room - I hoped - I alighted on Jerry Blum's wonderfully ornate alabaster balcony.

I tucked in my massive, leathery wings, focused my thoughts on the woman in the dancing flame, opened my eyes, and found myself standing naked on his stone balcony.

Naked but not without a plan.

My talons might be hideous and scary as hell, but they were good at carrying smaller objects. And one of them, this time, had been my daughter's extra backpack. The backpack was full of, let's just say, crime fighting gear.

Below me, I heard the muted sounds of men talking quietly among themselves. So far, I hadn't been seen. The sliding glass door in front of me was wide open. Apparently, Jerry Blum never expected a giant vampire bat to alight on his balcony. From within the room, I heard the sounds of muffled snoring.

I stepped into his darkened bedroom. My eyes did not need adjusting. His spacious room was electrified with shining filaments of zigzagging light. Ghost light. Vampire light. There was a lone figure sleeping in a massive four poster bed. White gossamer sheets hung from the bed's cross beams. Very uncrime lord-like.

The figure sleeping in the center of the bed was snoring softly, peacefully, contentedly. There was no evidence that this son-of-bitch stayed awake over the crimes against humanity he had committed.

There was a white cotton robe hanging over the wooden sleigh bed footboard. I slipped it on and assessed the situation. I was certain there were guards somewhere nearby, although none seemed directly outside the door. I didn't hear them, nor was my sixth sense jangling. My sixth sense was telling me that, for now, I was safe.

Carrying the backpack, I went over to the side of the bed and looked down at the man who had presumably killed Stuart's wife, a man who was powerful enough to bring down a government-owned airplane. There was a reason why I didn't confront him directly and openly. He would have gone after me and everything I loved, too. I had to hunt him from afar.

I had another reason for being here. Before I condemned the man to death, I had to know if I had the right man. Sure, Jerry Blum was a bastard. But was he the bastard I wanted?

Well, let's find out.

"Wake up, asshole," I said.

Jerry Blum's eyes popped open instantly. His hand snaked beneath his pillow, a practiced motion. He was fast, but I was faster. In a blink, his arm was pinned up over his head, driven into the mattress by my own hand, and I found myself leaning over him, staring down into his startled face. It was a face I had seen often: in the news, in books, and even in magazines. He was a celebrity crime lord, if ever there was one. Celebrity or not, he was a son-of-a-bitch. He was also quite handsome. Blum was in his late fifties, but he could have passed for his early forties. There was some gray at his temples, and there were fine lines that creased from the corners of his eyes and reached down to the corners of his mouth. These were not laugh lines. Worry lines, no doubt. Jerry Blum was not a big man, but I could feel his muscular body beneath me. Shockingly, amazingly, I found myself slightly turned on by the position I found myself in: pinning down a handsome devil in his bed in the middle of the night.

I shook off the feeling as soon as it registered.

He quit struggling, perhaps realizing it was doing him no good, and we stared at each other for a heartbeat or two. Ambient light made its way in through the open French doors. Laughter reached us from somewhere on his grounds, but not very close. A girl giggled. An airplane droned high overhead.

Jerry Blum had thin lips. Too thin for me. He breathed easily, his nostrils flaring slightly. He smelled of good cologne and something else. Lavender. But the scent wasn't coming from him. It was coming from his bed; in fact, it was coming from his pillow. I knew something about aromatherapy. One sprinkled lavender on one's pillow to ensure a good night's sleep. No doubt Mr. Blum had been plagued by a lifetime of nightmares. Or not.

"Who the fuck are you?" he finally said.

"Your worst nightmare," I said, and somehow managed to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, well, you look like a whore."

He next tried to throw me off. Tried being the operative word here. He grunted and grimaced and bucked, but I didn't go anywhere. Finally, he lay back, gasping, face contorted slightly in pain. I think he might have pulled something.

"You're a very bad man, Mr. Blum."

"And you're a dead woman."

"You're closer than you think," I said.

He opened his mouth to yell or scream and I used my other hand to slap his face hard. It was a nice slap, harder than I intended, but I didn't care. His eyes literally crossed, then settled back into place. A moment later, he was staring up at me in a daze.

"No yelling or screaming," I said.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. My stomach lurched. I purposely had not eaten tonight.

"Did Danny Boy send you up?"

"No."

"So you ain't no whore?"

"That's a double negative, Mr. Blum."

"What the fuck is going on?"

I found myself staring down at the fine trickle of blood that glistened at the corner of his mouth. Blood was food for me, sure, but it was also something else. The right blood - fresh blood - satisfied more than hunger.

I said, "Do you want the bad news, Jerry, or the really bad news?"

He fought me again, this time harder than before, doing his damnedest to buck me off him. But I didn't move, and he quickly tired of this game, gasping. And that's when I punched him. Hard. It was a straight jab into his left eye. I put a lot of strength behind the punch. I wanted it to hurt. The sound of bone hitting bone was sickening, and the punch drove his head deep into the pillow, where the goose down bloomed around him like a white flower, no doubt dousing him in peaceful lavender.

A very small voice protested what I was doing, as it had been doing all night long. It reminded me that I was a mother, a sister, a friend, an ex-federal agent, an ex-wife, a woman with a conscience and a heart. It reminded me that I was not a killer or a murderer.

And as Jerry Blum shook his head, as a deep cut along the edge of his orbital ridge dripped blood into the corner of his left eye, I listened to that voice. I listened to its arguments and I listened to its reasoning, and I decided, in the end, that Jerry Blum had to die.

But not yet. First, I needed information. First, I had to know.

I said, "You sabotaged an airplane carrying a half dozen government witnesses. The airplane crashed killing everyone on board."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I punched him again, harder than before, driving his head deeper into the pillow.

"Fuck," he said. Blood was now staining his pillowcase, no doubt adding a nice coppery smell to the lavender.

I didn't come here to beat up Jerry Blum. I didn't come here to intimidate him. I came here to get a confession from him. And what happened after that, well, I was going to play that by ear.

"Tell me about the plane, Jerry," I said.

"Do you have any idea who I am?"

"You're Jerry Blum. Orange County's biggest crime lord. You are untouchable. Your enemies shudder in your presence. You've destroyed lives and businesses and spread fear far and wide. Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah, I'm rich. I can triple whoever's paying."

"Paying me to do what?"

"To kill me."

"They didn't pay me to kill you, Mr. Blum. I tossed that in as a freebie. Pro bono, so to speak."

He lay back in his bed, bleeding. His nose was perfect, probably surgically altered. His teeth were perfect, probably dentally enhanced. He let out a long breath. His breath was tinged with the scent of blood. In fact, blood wafted up from him everywhere. He wasn't bleeding a lot, granted, but a little bit of blood registered deeply with me.

I'm a shark, I thought, smelling blood in the water dozens of miles away.

"Tell me about the plane," I said. The blood, quite honestly, was driving me fucking crazy.

"Go to hell, cunt."

"Tell me about the plane, Jerry."

He threw his face at me, lips pulled back, cords standing out on his neck. His eyes veritably bulged from their sockets. He fought and fought and screeched in frustration and anger and pain, and when he spoke spittle shot from his mouth in a steady stream. "Of course I killed them, you fucking freaky bitch! Just like I'm going to kill you. You can't stop me, no one can stop me. I'm invincible. I kill who I want, when I want, and how I want. You understand, you crazy bitch? You understand? You're a dead woman. Dead! And so is your client and anyone else you fucking know! And that's after I fuck you every which way, you fucking whore! How dare you come into my house, how dare you come in here and - "

And that's as far as he got.

"Enough," I said.

I flipped Jerry Blum over and pulled his hands behind his back. I reached into my bag of tricks and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. I cuffed the bastard and then pulled a black, breathable hood over his face. I cinched it tight. He fought me like a demon on crack, bucking and twisting, but it did him no good.

When I was finished, I hauled him to his feet and threw him over my shoulder. I carried him to his beautiful alabaster balcony, where I set him down, along with my backpack, and ditched the robe. I closed my eyes and saw the flame and the hulking winged creature. When I opened my eyes again, I was easily five feet taller than I had been just seconds before. Jerry was still pinned beneath me, this time beneath one of my massive talons.

My hands in this form are quite dextrous; unfortunately, they're also attached to my wings, just like a bat. Still, I used my hands to drape the backpack over one of my talons. Once done, I gripped Jerry Blum by his shoulders. No doubt my claws hurt like hell.

I flapped my wings hard, causing a thunderous downdraft that whipped Jerry's hair crazily. He screamed and fought me some more, but had no clue what was happening to him. And as I got a little air under me, I adjusted my grip on the crime lord, using both talons now. I flapped my wings harder and now I was rising up into the night sky, Blum dangling beneath me like a kangaroo rat.

Chapter Fifty-two

We were in the predetermined clearing in Carbon Canyon. One of us unwillingly.

Still wearing the black hood, Jerry Blum was handcuffed to a tree branch, his hands high above him. He had cussed and hollered the entire twenty minute flight here. I flew on, ignoring him, catching a high altitude current that made flapping my wings a breeze. Once we had arrived in the clearing, I had transformed again and slipped into a little black dress that I had included in my bag of tricks. Blum was full of questions and vitriol and hate. I ignored all of his questions as I cuffed him to the tree branch.

Now from my bag of tricks, I removed my cell phone. I selected eleven recipients and sent out a single text message. I next made a call to my client, Stuart Young. In so many words, I told Stuart that the eagle had landed. I had our man. Stuart had paused, swallowed hard, and said he would be here as soon as possible.

I left Jerry Blum alone, secured to the tree. Jerry Blum, as far as I was concerned, had dug his own grave. From my backpack, I fished out a pack of cigarettes and fired one up and inhaled deeply. I had stepped out of the clearing and into a thicket of twisted trees. As I exhaled, I looked up at the full moon, now just a silver mosaic through the tangle of branches. My thoughts were empty. My heart was empty. I felt empty and cold. I listened to the sounds the forest made, and the sounds of my own distant beating heart. I finished the cigarette and immediately lit another just to be doing something. Jerry Blum bellowed angrily from the clearing behind me, but I ignored him. He dug his own grave. I finished the second cigarette but decided against a third. I finally leaned a shoulder against a dusty tree trunk and closed my eyes and stayed in that position until I heard the crunch of tires from somewhere nearby.

* * *

I met Stuart on the dirt road, about a hundred yards away from the clearing. Stuart did not look good. He looked sick and scared and probably had to go to the bathroom.

"I have to go to the bathroom," he said.

I nodded and he dashed off. A moment later, he came back, zipping up. He said, "So he's really here?"

I nodded, watching him. "Yes."

"I want to see him."

I nodded again and led Stuart through the forest and into the clearing, which was dappled in bright moonlight. Jerry Blum heard us coming and raised his head.

Seeing a man chained to a tree was no doubt unnerving to Stuart. He immediately stopped in his tracks. "Oh, my God."

Blum shouted, "Who's there, goddammit?"

I ignored Blum. Instead, I took Stuart's hand and walked him over to the shackled crime lord. I removed the hood and Blum shook his head and squinted. I handed Stuart a flashlight from the backpack and he clicked it on and shined it straight into Blum's face, who turned away, blinking hard and spitting mad.

"Goddammit! Who the fuck are you two? What the fuck is going on? How the fuck did I get here?"

"Shut the fuck up, Jerry," I said.

"Fuck you, cunt." He spit at me, tried to kick me. He succeeded in only losing his footing and hanging briefly by the cuffs.

Stuart said nothing. He simply stared in open-mouthed wonder at the man hanging from the tree. Still open-mouthed, Stuart then turned to me.

"You really did it," he said.

I said nothing. I was watching Stuart. My client still did not look good. He looked, in fact, a little hysterical. I covered Jerry's head again and led Stuart away. Blum screamed and repeatedly threw his body against the tree trunk. Stuart looked back but I pulled him along through the high grass to the far end of the clearing. Once there, we stopped.

"And no one knows he's here?"

"No one who matters."

Stuart nodded. His wild eyes were looking increasingly erratic.

"Are you okay?" I asked Stuart.

"I don't know if I can do this, Sam."

"I understand."

Stuart was shaking. He ran a hand over his bald head. "I hate him so much, so fucking much. I still can't believe he's here. How did you do it?"

I shook my head; Stuart nodded. The wind picked up considerably, swishing the branches along the edge of the clearing and slapping the tall grass around our ankles.

And through the wind, I heard many more vehicles driving up along the dirt road. One after another. Stuart didn't hear them. Stuart was lost in his own thoughts. Stuart also didn't have my hearing.

"You don't have to do this," I said.

Stuart nodded. Tears were in his eyes.

"I hate him so fucking much."

We were silent some more. The wind continued to pick up, moaning through the trees. I heard footsteps coming. Many footsteps.

I said, "What if I told you that you didn't have to do this alone, Stuart?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if I told you that Jerry Blum had wronged many people the day he killed your wife? What if I told you that many, many people share your desire for revenge."

"I don't understand."

I waved my hand and in that moment ten figures stepped out of the woods. Ten solemn, white-faced figures. I recognized the faces, all of whom I had met in the past few days. All of whom I had easily convinced to be here tonight. Not one needed prodding. All had jumped at the opportunity.

"Jerry Blum is a bad man, Stuart. He would have hurt you tonight. He would have killed you."

"Who are they?"

"People like you, Stuart, all victims of Jerry Blum."

"What's going to happen tonight?"

"I don't know," I said. "I'm leaving that to all of you."

Stuart looked at me with impossibly wide eyes. He then looked at the others, most of whom nodded at him. They were all here. Mothers, wives, husbands, and children. All had lost loved ones in the crash.

I squeezed Stuart's hand and then left him there with the others. I went over to Jerry Blum and uncuffed him. I took his blindfold off and led him over to the center of the clearing.

"Who the fuck are those assholes?" said Jerry. He only fought me a little.

I didn't answer him. Instead, I turned and walked away, leaving Jerry alone in the light of the full moon. Off to the side of the clearing, I quickly slipped out of the dress and shoved my cell and cuffs and keys inside the backpack.

I had just transformed when I heard the first gunshot. And as I leaped high into the air and flapped my wings hard and flew away from the isolated canyon, I heard shot after shot after shot.

* * *

I asked Stuart a few days later what had happened on the night of the full moon, but he wouldn't give me an answer. And neither would the others.

I had been wrong about Jerry Blum. He didn't dig his own grave. I very much suspected the others had done it for him, leaving Orange County's notorious crime lord buried deep in that forgotten clearing.