Don’t Blink

“Originally from Sicily. But he’s worked in the States before. We were wondering where he would surface next. Now we know.”

“Do you think he’s got one more assignment?” I asked.

Sorren rubbed his chin. He knew what I was asking. Is Torenzi coming after me?

“That might depend on what’s going on upstairs,” he answered. “D’zorio’s in surgery. He has massive internal bleeding. It’s a coin flip whether he makes it.”

“Which is why we don’t want to take any chances here with Nick,” said Keller, peering around the curtain at the rest of the ER. He sighed impatiently. “Where the hell is that doctor?”

I was getting impatient myself.

Then suddenly my phone rang.

Chapter 91

I GLANCED AT the caller ID expecting it to be Courtney. Or maybe my sister. Or anyone else, for that matter. I didn’t expect it to be my niece, Elizabeth.

Especially because she was calling from her Braille cell phone, which she rarely used. “Mom said I’m only supposed to use it in case of an emergency,” she had once told me.

I could hear her saying those exact words as I answered.

“ Elizabeth? Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” she said.

That’s all it took. One word from my niece, the fourteen-year-old girl with the freckles who I’d first held in my arms when she was a mere two days old.

One word.

Something was wrong. Elizabeth has never been at a loss for words. The girl was a total motormouth.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“No.”

“What’s wrong, honey? Is it your mom? What happened?”

“Can I come into the city to see you?”

I could tell, or at least sense, that she was fighting back tears. Her voice was cracking. Quivering, actually.

“ Elizabeth, what happened?” I repeated.

I pressed the phone hard against my ear as I exchanged looks with Sorren and Keller. They’d been talking, not paying any attention to what I was saying. Until now. Now both of them were staring at me. Who? Sorren mimed.

“I got into a bad fight with Mom and I’m really upset,” said Elizabeth. “I need to talk to you. You’re the only one I can talk to.”

A fight with her mother? It was certainly within the realm of possibility, I guessed. Elizabeth was a teenager and her mother was… well, her mother. Normally they were the best of friends, but even best friends fight.

So why wasn’t I buying any of this? Probably because Elizabeth wasn’t sounding like… Elizabeth.

“Where are you now?” I asked.

“I had to get out of the house, I was so mad,” she answered. “So can I please come into the city to see you? Please, Uncle Nick.”

“Here’s the deal, honey,” I said. “Any other time I’d probably say yes, but right now is really bad for me. I can’t get into the details, but you may hear about it on the news later.” I paused to put a little extra emphasis on my next sentence. “In fact, maybe you’ve already heard about what happened to me today. Is that true?”

Elizabeth was silent for a few seconds. “No, I haven’t heard anything,” she said.

But it was what she didn’t say – she didn’t ask me what had happened.

“This is what I think you should do,” I said. “You need to go home and try to patch things up with your mom. Whatever it was you were fighting about, I’m sure you both can work it out. It’s going to be okay.”

“No, it won’t be,” she said, adamant. “She’s going to tell my father and I’m afraid of what’s going to happen when he gets home.”

She was flat-out crying now, and I wasn’t sure what to say next because I was about to throw up. Elizabeth wasn’t alone. I was sure of it – as sure as the sound that came next. Someone was grabbing the phone away from her.

“That’s a smart little niece you have there, Nick. But we all know her daddy’s dead,” he said. “And unless you come alone to Grand Central Station in one hour, this little girl will be dead, too. And remember this, Nick. I have no reason to hurt her. She hasn’t seen a thing.”

Chapter 92

I COULD FEEL the blood forcing its way through the butterfly bandages on my head and arm as I walked into Grand Central Station a little less than an hour later. But I could give a damn about needing more stitches. What I really needed was Elizabeth back safe and sound. Nothing mattered more. How could it?

Above me in the Main Concourse of the station was the giant display board listing the arrival time and track information for every train. Scores of people were stopping to look up at it.

Not me. I never even gave it a glance as I kept walking, fast. That board couldn’t tell me anything that I didn’t already know.

An unidentified man with an unidentified teenage girl in tow hijacked the 5:04 southbound Metro-North train from Westport, Co

That had been the gist of the first report from the local police in Westport, the sister town to Weston, where Kate and Elizabeth lived. The only other thing they could tell Agent Keller on the phone was that the train was heading into New York City.

Yeah, we know. The unidentified man told us. He also said that the train was making no other stops.

It was hurry up and wait as I stood on the empty platform of track 19. The image of Bruno Torenzi had been seared into my brain so deeply that I could hardly focus on anything else. I could see him at Lombardo’s, and I could see him in the lobby of my apartment building. Now I was about to meet up with him again. One way or the other I figured this would be the last time. But what the hell was his plan? I just couldn’t figure that out.

I definitely wanted to kill the bastard, though. Never in my life had I felt such hatred, such loathing, toward anyone.

Easy, Nick. Keep it in check.

But it was near impossible. Not when I thought about Elizabeth and how scared she must be, or, for that matter, how absolutely terrified her mother was. Only minutes after bolting from the hospital I had reached Kate on her cell phone. She’d been food shopping, a simple half-hour errand, and then back home in a jiff to Elizabeth. Solemnly, I broke the news that Elizabeth wouldn’t be there when she arrived.

“My baby!” she said over and over. It was just crushing.

That’s when I called Courtney to ask a favor that wasn’t really a favor at all, not as she saw it. As soon as I had told her what had happened, and she knew there was nothing she could do for me here in the city, Courtney had immediately read my mind. My sister was in the good hands of the local police while she waited for this all to play out.

“But she needs to be with someone she knows, a familiar and friendly face,” said Courtney. “I’m on my way, okay?”

Yes, thank you! And when this is all over, I need to be with you, Courtney. Okay? Nothing and no one is going to stop me.

Right on cue, I heard the rumbling in the distance. Then I saw it.

The 5:04 train from Westport was pulling into the station like a slow-moving snake made of metal and steel. As the air brakes grabbed the rails, a piercing hiss echoed between my ears.

This is it. The end of the road, tracks, whatever.

Immediately, the sliding doors opened in unison. But the familiar sight of lots of people bustling out didn’t follow. There was only silence, creepy as hell. I held my breath. I could barely stand it. And then -

Tap. Tap-tap-tap…

I finally saw her all the way down the platform. Elizabeth was stepping off the first car of the train, her cane leading the way. My niece was dressed in faded jeans and a lime green zip-up sweater, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Everything about her looked so young and i