Sal entered the garage level and scanned around for any signs of movement. After a few seconds, he moved forward to the valet desk. Trisha followed, pushing the cart ahead of her. The desk had an apartment guide laid out for the garage, specifying space numbers and their associated apartment numbers. Julie's car is spot 176.
They did a quick search and found that each row had a spot for the 6th apartment on each floor in the same spot on each row, so they started cutting through to the 17th row. They made pretty short work of it, but as they approached her car, the cart bumped against a moderately priced Mercedes, setting off its alarm.
Sal nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun around and came face to face with the cart that Trisha was pushing. He backed up a few steps and gathered himself in the lane. Trisha pushed the cart to the SUV and started unloading the duffle bags into the back. Sal joined her and added the second bag. She looked at him for a moment, then started laughing.
“You, sir, are a jumpy bastard, aren’t ya? Let’s get out of here. Ain’t no reason we stick around in this goddamned garage all night, right?”
“Yep, I hate surprises. I can take shit if I know it’s coming, but you give me a shock like that again, and I’m likely to have a heart attack. We all get jumpy sometimes.” Sal had a smile as he said it.
They got in the car and backed it out. When they pulled out into the lane, the lights shone on two rows of cars and a dark figure looming over them. A shriek filled the air, raising the hair on Mikel's neck. Trisha physically cringed. The figure stepped out into the full beams of the headlights. It was a massive female wolf towering over the vehicles surrounding it.
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It let out another shriek, followed by a heart-wrenching wail. Sal put the car in park and turned the engine off. Something was different about this one; it wasn't attacking. It stepped forward and held a hand up before reaching over to a car and lifting a bag of some sort from the hood. The bag was fairly large, and when she lifted it, it seemed to move slightly.
She stepped towards the SUV again, set the bag down, and then disappeared just as quickly as she had appeared.
#
Jesse sat down on her sofa and exhaled deeply, complete exhaustion breaking through her rigid exterior. Mikel handed her a glass of wine and fell into the empty seat next to her. The familiar comfort was instantly calming, and he had to fight not to drift off to sleep. Jesse broke his reverie after a few moments with the question he’d been waiting for since David was taken.
“So how much do we tell them? And did you get a look at the shoe? I tried, but that idiot Elliot had to go down the freaking chute. Idiot.”
“Not sure. The shoe didn’t have much. Proved the acid theory wasn’t valid and also had his key and code number. I also grabbed the notebooks and serum. Too bad we didn’t get any into Holly beforehand.”
“Okay, I’ll get the darts and put those in the front passenger pullout. How do we get to David’s box? Should we go before we meet at the rendezvous? That’s cutting it tight.”
“I’m fast, so I’ll leave now. You get the car, load everything in the back, check the back panels to make sure they’re stocked, and head over to Julie’s. I’m thinking I can be back there in 25 minutes. If the box has what we need, it’s worth it. If not, at least we know.”
“Tell Sal to lay the seats down in Julie’s car to get Glenn in there, and we’ll take more people in the Volvo. If David’s car is there, I’ll drive it over. Deal?”
"Deal." Jesse kissed him on the forehead and took his wine. She finished both glasses and was out the door before he finished changing his clothes. He slipped on his lightweight Kevlar vest over his tank top and followed it up with a flannel.
Three minutes later, he was sprinting down the street towards David's lockbox.