Blood Money Read online

  They waited until they could no longer hear the car above them, then stood up and continued moving forward, drawing further away from the search with every step.

  The brush was dense but not unmanageable, and a few minutes after setting out, they came to a chain-link fence separating the park from the shoulder of the freeway. A few hundred feet above them and to their right was the Cabrillo Bridge. Kelton couldn’t see a police car guarding the historic bridge, but he knew one was there—it was one of the five exits from the park.

  No other cops were in sight and the sky was still absent of choppers. As far as Kelton could tell, the police still had no idea where they were.

  Kelton scrambled over the chain-link fence. Jessica was right behind him.

  The freeway only had two lanes going each way, and at this time of night, there was plenty of time between cars to safely cross. They made their way across the northbound lanes to the protected island with ease, then waited for a brief lull in traffic to cross the southbound lanes.

  Once safely past the freeway, they climbed through a gap in the fence and began scrambling up the fairly steep embankment towards freedom.

  A few minutes later, Kelton and Jessica found themselves amongst the maze of streets that made up Hillcrest, a small neighborhood just north of downtown.

  They made their way over to a medium-sized shopping center with a movie theatre and a large parking lot and leaned against the side of a building.

  “What are we doing?” Jessica said.

  “Waiting for our ride,” Kelton replied. “Put your arm around my waist and pretend you like me.”

  Jessica looked at him with a sly smile. “And here I thought you were shy.”

  Kelton started to blush. “We just need to divert attent—”

  “I know, I know,” she said as she looped her right arm around his waist. “I’m just messing with you.”

  Kelton bit his bottom lip but said nothing.

  Five minutes later they hit the jackpot.

  A young couple in a gray, late 90’s Ford Taurus pulled up and parked in the corner of the lot. They exited the car without rolling up the windows or setting any alarms. Kelton watched as they walked up to the box office, bought tickets, and headed into the theatre.

  He turned to Jessica. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Twenty minutes after leaving Hillcrest they were filling up the Taurus with gas in the city of Escondido.

  They had traveled surface streets most of the way to this point, and while Kelton was confident they were outside of any perimeter the San Diego Police Department had set up, he knew they still had to be wary. Most of the cops in the surrounding areas would likely be on the lookout for them, and while the streets were still relatively crowded at this point in the evening, they wouldn’t be for long.

  After inserting the nozzle into the gas tank and starting the pump, Kelton took out the cell and dialed Walter’s number.

  “Hello, my friend. How are you doing?” Walter said immediately after answering the phone.

  “Better than you, old man,” Kelton replied.

  “Oh, I beg to differ.”

  “Beg all you want, it won’t change anything.”

  “What happened?” Walter said immediately after the all-clear was finished. “I waited for fifteen minutes at the rendezvous point but you never showed.”

  “Something came up,” Kelton said. “We were on our way over when an unwanted visitor crashed the party. I had to put him down, but it was a public place, and there were witnesses. We spent the last hour on the run from the local authorities.”

  “But you’re safe?”

  “For the time being.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Walter said. “Where are you now?”

  “Within a half hour’s drive,” Kelton said, not wanting to give specific locations over the phone, regardless of how safe Walter claimed the connection was. “I wanted to stay close so we could still try and get the exchange done tonight.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Walter said. “Maybe you should just find a place to lay low until tomorrow. It would be a disaster for you guys to get picked up by the authorities at this point.”

  “I hear you, but I really think it’s better for everyone if I can get her off my hands before the Feds get wind of this thing. This is one situation where we need to move quickly.”

  Three seconds of silence. Then Walter said, “Let me get in touch with some of my people, and after I get a better read on the situation, we’ll make a decision. Keep on the move for the time being and I’ll get back to you as soon as I have more information.”

  Kelton closed his phone and stuck it in his pocket. He pulled the nozzle from the gas tank and put it back on the pump. Then he started thinking about how Jason Preston could have found him. There was only one way.

  He pulled the phone back out of his pocket and called Slake’s number. The phone picked up after the fourth ring. Slake’s voicemail explained that he wasn’t able to answer the phone, but if you left a number, he’d call you back as soon as possible.

  Kelton hung up the phone without saying anything and headed back towards the car. He’d have to remember to explore the Slake angle further once he’d handed Jessica off to Walter.

  “So what did he say?” Jessica asked once Kelton had closed the door behind him.

  “To keep moving for now. He’s going to talk with his friends and he’ll get back to us shortly with a revised plan of action.”

  “Are we still going to meet up with him tonight?”

  “Hopefully,” Kelton said. “But we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  He started the car and pulled out of the gas station.

  Walter called back twenty minutes later. They were still traveling the surface streets when the phone started to ring, which allowed Kelton the luxury of pulling into a strip-mall parking lot before answering it. Leaving the engine running and Jessica sitting in the passenger’s seat, he stepped out and opened the phone.

  After running through the all-clear, Walter said, “It isn’t going to happen tonight.”

  “Why not?”

  “There’s just too much heat,” Walter said. “The Feds have already descended on the area like a plague of locusts.”

  “Even more reason for me to unload her tonight,” Kelton said. “The longer we wait, the more time we give the Feds to catch up.”

  “I understand your thought process, and normally I’d tend to agree with you. But the way things have played out so far, I want to slow things down. There’s no reason to rush into this.”

  “But if we get it done now, before—”

  “Listen,” Walter said, his tone insistent. “I know you want to get the girl off your hands, and believe me, I wish we could have made the transfer tonight, as planned. But we didn’t. And now I need to step back and analyze the situation. So what you need to do is find yourself someplace to crash and get a good night’s sleep. Then, in the morning, after I have more information on where the Feds stand, we’ll figure out a plan to get her off your hands. Okay?”

  A brief pause, then Kelton said, “Okay.”

  “This really is the best way. You know that.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Kelton said.

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  Kelton pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. How could he explain to Walter that every second he spent with Jessica Robbins was a threat to his carefully- honed philosophy of self-reliance? That the emotions he had long ago locked away in the cold, dark recesses of his mind were working their way loose every time he looked at her? That the continual presence of someone else in his life—let alone a smart, beautiful woman—was something he had deliberately not experienced in nearly five years?

  He couldn’t.

  And he didn’t want to try.

  So he said, “You’re right,” and left it at that.

  “Get out of the area, but don’t go too far,” Walter
said. “And get some sleep. I’ll call you in the morning and we’ll put something in place then.”

  The line went dead.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  It was just after 10:00 PM when they pulled into a residential community in Temecula, a city on the border of San Diego and Riverside counties.

  “What are we doing here?” Jessica said.

  “Well, it’s been about an hour and a half since we left Hillcrest, which means pretty soon the owners of this car are going to be exiting their movie and heading towards the parking lot.”

  “Where their car used to be,” Jessica said.

  “Exactly. And after they call it in as stolen, police in the neighboring areas will be looking for it. It’s doubtful that the search will extend this far north, but there’s no reason to take any chances.”

  “So we’re going to ditch the car,” Jessica said.

  Kelton nodded.

  Jessica looked around. They were surrounded by dark houses. Very few cars were parked in the open, and the vast majority of those that were sat in driveways.

  “And we picked this street because?”

  “I know someone that lives in one of the houses,” Kelton said as they turned onto Sandhill Lane. “And it just so happens that I store an extra car in his garage, along with a couple other key items.”

  “Such as?”

  “An alternate identification, a suitcase full of clothes, a decent amount of cash. And, of course, a clean weapon.”

  Jessica smiled. “Insurance for a rainy day?”

  “I am of the belief that one can never be too prepared for an emergency.”

  “So it seems,” Jessica said. “I must admit, this is pretty impressive forward thinking. Are you sure you didn’t used to be a spy or something like that?”

  “Not unless my memory was wiped clear by the CIA.”

  “Knowing those guys, I wouldn’t bet against it,” she said.

  “I would,” Kelton replied as he pulled into the driveway of a large, well-maintained house and shut the engine off. “But I don’t think I’d get very good odds.”

  They climbed out of the car and headed towards the front door.

  “So who is this guy?” Jessica asked as they climbed the porch.

  “Remember when I told you about how I got started in this business?”

  “Yeah, you gave me a weak-ass cover story about some guy that took you under his wing and taught you everything he knew before retiring and leaving you his business.”

  “It wasn’t a cover story,” Kelton said. “The guy who set me up lives in this house. His name is Earl Paladin.”

  Jessica gave him a funny look. “You mean that story was true?”

  Kelton nodded and rang the doorbell.

  “I thought you were just making something up to placate me,” Jessica said.

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because that’s what most people do. They lie about stuff they don’t want to talk about.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not like most people,” Kelton said.

  Jessica opened her mouth but before anything came out, a loud, bellowing voice on the other side of the door said, “Who the hell is it?”

  “An old friend,” Kelton said.

  “I don’t have any friends,” the voice replied. “Go away.”

  “Open the door you old bastard, it’s me. Your best and favorite student.”

  A deep laugh came from behind the door and then it opened.

  Standing in the entryway was a tall, portly, balding man dressed in a gray jumpsuit. He had heavily bloodshot eyes, a nose that had broken and re-set multiple times, and a pale face mottled with bright red capillary bursts. “Ho-ly shit. My old pal Kelton, in the flesh.”

  “Howdy, Earl.”

  Earl’s eyes darted towards Jessica and he broke out in a toothy smile. “And who do we have here?”

  “This is my friend, Jessica.”

  “Howdy Miss Jessica,” Earl said. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  Jessica bowed her head slightly. “The pleasure is all mine.”

  “Oh, I doubt that,” Earl said. “But it’s mighty kind of you to say so anyway.” He pulled the door open wide and stood aside. “Well, come on in.”

  They entered the house, waited as Earl closed the door behind them, then followed the old man into the living room. Jessica and Kelton sat next to each other on an old but well-maintained couch and Earl sat in a recliner to their right.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure?” Earl said.

  “Would you believe I just stopped by to visit?”

  “Not for a second.”

  Kelton smiled, dropped his head slightly. “You know me too well, my friend.”

  “And I damn well should, considering how much time we spent together. What’s going on?”

  “We had a little mix-up with the law.”

  “What kind? Feds or Local?”

  “Both,” Kelton said. “Each for different reasons.”

  Earl laughed. “Still getting yourself into trouble, I see.”

  “As always.”

  “Care to talk about it?”

  “It would probably be better for everyone involved if we kept that to ourselves for now,” Kelton said.

  “It’s that big, huh?”

  “Yes it is.”

  Earl leaned forward in his chair, his eyes dancing. “Well, now you have to tell me.”

  Kelton looked at Jessica.

  “What do you think?” he said.

  “You tell me,” she said.

  “It’s entirely up to you.”

  Jessica shrugged, then shifted her head in the old man’s direction and said, “I created an AIDS vaccine.”

  Earl’s brows shot up. “No shit. Really?”

  Jessica nodded.

  “Everything I’ve seen said we were at least five years away from anything like that, if it was even possible at all,” Earl said.

  “It sounds like you’ve read up on the subject.”

  “I’ve done a little research.”

  “Earl’s an information hound,” Kelton said. “He cruises the internet all day long, researching whatever he can get his hands on. He’s especially keen on conspiracy theories.”

  “Seriously? You don’t seem the type.”

  “There’s not much else for me to do these days,” Earl said. “But calling me a conspiracy theorist is a bit misleading. I’m really just a seeker of truth. I find the loonies spouting off regarding crap they don’t have the slightest clue about and tell them the truth, regardless of what side of the fence they fall on.”

  “That’s pretty cool.”

  “It keeps me busy,” Earl said. “But enough about me. I’m just a boring old man. I want to hear more about your vaccine.”

  “Well,” Jessica said. “What I created isn’t a true vaccine, like the one for Polio, or Smallpox. It’s what we call a treatment vaccine. It’s designed for people that have already been diagnosed with HIV. Without getting too technical, it emboldens the affected cells, allowing them to maintain their integrity and keep the CD4+ T cell count from decreasing, permanently preventing HIV from becoming full-blown AIDS.”

  “I thought there were already drugs that did that,” Earl said.

  “There are,” Jessica said. “But they’re all drug cocktails, consisting of two doses a day, every day, and they costs upwards of fifteen thousand dollars a month. The most common drugs used to treat it weren’t even created specifically for AIDS, but for cancer, which means they aren’t uniformly effective, and there are nasty side effects. Plus, they don’t actually prevent HIV from becoming AIDS, they simply prolong the process. What I created is a one-time injection, specifically tailored for the AIDS virus, and it’s permanent. Most importantly, it’s easy to produce, super cheap, and has no real side effects. Plus it works across the board, all blood types, no matter what your heritage or background.”

  “So why are you running?”

 
; “Because my handlers in the government-funded group I worked for told me it didn’t work.”

  “But it does,” Earl said. It wasn’t a question.

  Jessica nodded.

  “And when you tried to get it out in the open, they panicked and tried to keep it in the dark.”

  “Right again,” Jessica said. “It sounds like you’ve been down this road before.”

  “A time or two, perhaps.”

  “I’ll bet you have.”

  “Well, thanks for satisfying an old man’s curiosity,” Earl said. He turned his attention back to Kelton. “I assume you came for your stuff?”

  Kelton nodded.

  “What about a place to crash for the night?”

  “I think we’re going to stay on the road for another couple of hours.”

  “Are you sure?” Earl said. “I’ve got plenty of room.”

  “I appreciate the offer,” Kelton said. “But I want to put as much space as possible between us and San Diego before calling it a night.”

  “I understand.”

  Kelton stifled a yawn, started to stand. “Now, if you don’t mind, we really ought to get going.”

  “What?” Earl said. “You’re not going to stay for a bit, catch up on old times?” He looked at Jessica, gave her a wink. “I’m sure your friend here would love to hear some old war stories.”

  “Would I ever,” Jessica said.

  Kelton knew there was no stopping Earl once he started talking; it was pointless to even try. His only hope was to get them out of there before the old man’s engine got revved up. “We really should get going,” he said. “We’ve still got a long night ahead of us.”

  “Oh, come on,” Jessica said. “Don’t tell me we can’t spare a few minutes before we hit the road again.” Her tone was mocking in its complete and utter innocence. “I mean, how long has it been since you’ve seen your friend here?”

  “Too long,” Earl said. “Six months?”

  “About that,” Kelton said.

  “Well, we can’t just stop by, take what we need, and run,” Jessica said. “That wouldn’t be very nice.”

  “She’s right,” Earl said.