Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum #25)(76)

“I don’t know the guy’s name, but we had to drug him up and return him.”

“Where do we find Ernie?” Ranger asked.

“He jumped ship when Victor went down. He’s going back to Bogotá. I think he had a flight this morning.”

I looked at the duffel sitting on the floor. “Is that where you’re going?”

“No. I have a ticket for Flight 127 to Hawaii, then maybe I’ll go to El Salvador. I have friends there. Gonna do some fishing.”

“Have a good trip,” Ranger said.

“Thanks,” Frankie said. “I hope you find Hal, and he’s okay. The original plan was to drug the men and send them home, but I don’t know about Harry. I hear he’s mob.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN


“HOW ABOUT NOW?” I asked when we were in the car. “Do we bring Morelli in now?”

“No, but I’ll have him keep Ernie off the plane.”

“Are you going to let Frankie go fishing?”

“No. I’ll have Morelli detain him.”

Ranger drove the short distance back to Rangeman and went directly to his office. He sent Morelli a text about Ernie and Frankie, and he accessed a program on his computer that listed all assets for Ernie Sitz and Harry Hammerstein.

“Omigod,” I said. “Harry’s last name is Hammerstein? I never knew. I just knew him as Harry the Hammer.”

Ranger limited the assets to properties within a hundred miles. Sitz had seven, and Harry had sixteen. I looked over Ranger’s shoulder at the list.

“This one,” I said, pointing to a building on Harry’s list. “The warehouse in Cherry Hill. It was owned by Sitz and went up for auction a year ago.”

Ranger went to Google maps and looked at the satellite view of the property.

“It’s in an industrial park that’s mostly abandoned,” Ranger said. “The warehouse is off on its own. Good location to hold someone hostage. Smart. You don’t want to kidnap someone and cross state lines. I think it’s worth looking at.”

Ranger called Tank and told him he needed two cars and four men in ten minutes.

“I’ll be traveling with Stephanie,” he said. “We’ll need full security. Vests and belts. And I’ll need a thermal drone.”

Ranger and I went in his Porsche Cayenne. The other two cars were fleet SUVs. Tank was driving one of them. We took I-295 south and reached Cherry Hill midafternoon. The entrance to the industrial park wasn’t gated. The warehouse Harry owned was toward the back end not quite a quarter mile down the road. Tank and the other Rangeman SUV hung back, and Ranger and I drove past the warehouse. No cars parked in the adjoining lot. No lights shining from the office windows in the front of the building. No visible activity. We parked alongside the other two Rangeman vehicles and got out.

“I want to know what’s inside the warehouse on the next block,” Ranger said. “Send the drone up.”

One of the men opened his laptop and another removed the drone from a box in the back of the SUV. He set the drone on the ground and in minutes it was in the air, humming its way across the parking lot. It hovered over the warehouse and sent back thermal images.

“Five men in a large room and four more in a smaller room,” the guy with the laptop said.

Everyone crowded around to look at the screen.

“I’ll take point,” Ranger said. “Tank will watch Stephanie’s back. We’ll worry about the four men in the smaller room. I’m hoping the five men in the large room are our hostages. We’re not sure this break-in is justified, so use restraint.”

The drone returned and everyone suited up in body armor and gun belts. Tank handed me my vest and utility belt.

“Are you sure you want me along on this?” I asked Ranger.

He shrugged into his vest. “I didn’t think you would want to miss it. And more important, I need you to justify the break-in. You have the papers that allow you to go after Ernie Sitz. Stay close to Tank. We’re going in looking like the RoboCop SWAT team. I’m hoping we look serious enough to make this a nonevent.”

I stuffed myself into the vest and buckled the utility belt on. It contained a flashlight, a knife, a stun gun, pepper spray, and a couple extra clips for the Glock I had strapped to my leg. It probably contained other stuff too, but I didn’t look all that close.

I glanced down at the belt. “I don’t see any granola bars,” I said to Ranger. “And where’s the kitchen sink?”

“Babe,” Ranger said.

We drove across the street and parked close to the back door to the warehouse. Ranger unlocked the door, and we went in, moving quickly through the building. Ranger at point, motioning clear, the rest of us following. No one speaking. We reached a door at the end of a corridor, and we all stopped and watched Ranger. He tested the door. Not locked. He opened it and we all rushed in, guns drawn. Okay, my gun wasn’t drawn, but I rushed in with everyone else.

Four men were playing cards at a small table. They all jumped up when we came in. One of them pulled a gun and immediately thought better of it, dropping the gun on the floor.

“Do you speak English?” Ranger asked.

“A little,” one said with a heavy accent.

Ranger switched to Spanish. The four Rangeman guys looked like they understood everything. I understood nothing. One of the card players pointed to the door at the far side of the room. It was steel with multiple locks.