Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum #25)(77)

Ranger’s men cuffed the card players and sat them on the floor. Ranger removed a key ring from one of them, crossed to the door, and unlocked it.

I’m not sure what I expected to see. Five emaciated men, crying with joy at being rescued. Maybe in cages. Maybe shackled.

Ranger pushed the door open, and I followed him in. The room was half the size of a basketball court. Cement floor. High ceiling. Brightly lit. Five cots with sleeping bags and pillows. A card table with four chairs. Wastebasket next to it filled with Dunkin’ Donuts and Mike’s Burger Place bags. Games were stacked up by the table. Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Candy Land, Axis & Allies, checkers. Large flat-screen television in front of a big leather couch. A basketball hoop had been screwed into the wall opposite the television.

Three men were watching television and two were shooting hoops. All of the men were naked. I didn’t know three of the men, but Hal and Wayne Kulicki looked like they’d each gained about twenty pounds.

Hal was one of the basketball players. He cupped his hands around his privates when he saw me, and his face got red.

“This looks like Club Med for hostages,” Ranger said. “All it needs is a pool and a hot tub.”

“It’s not that good,” Hal said. “They cheaped out on the sports package for the television.”

“Are you going to call Morelli now?” I asked Ranger.

“Yep,” Ranger said. “Time to call Morelli.”

“This is more secure than it looks,” Hal said. “There’s only one door. It’s always locked and the men never come in alone. Always four of them with guns. We have nothing to use as a weapon. No knives or forks. They feed us burgers and donuts. There aren’t any windows. The walls are concrete. We have one bathroom with a shower. No towels or toothbrushes. Makes you wonder what was originally stored here.”

“Are there more guards than those four?” Ranger asked.

“There used to be eight in total,” Hal said. “They would work in shifts. Three of us speak Spanish and from what we could hear through the door, four of them left to go back to Colombia yesterday. The four out there now were leaving tonight. I didn’t take that as a good omen for my future.”

“Do you know who’s in charge of the Colombians?” Ranger asked.

“Ernie Sitz is involved. I don’t know beyond him.”

Ranger gave me a corporate credit card. “We passed a Target when we got off the highway. Find some clothes for the men. Pajamas, shorts, anything. Tank will drive you.”

I returned forty minutes later. Local police were already at the warehouse. Morelli pulled in behind me.

“You went shopping?” Morelli asked, looking at my Target bags.

“The kidnap victims are naked. I went out to get them some clothes.”

“Makes me happy,” Morelli said.

I led the way to the basketball court and handed the bags over to the men. Underwear, T-shirts, sweatpants, and flip-flops.

“You’re pretty casual about all these naked men,” Morelli said to me.

“You’ve seen one and you’ve seen them all,” I said.

“Is that true?”

“No,” I said to Morelli. “Absolutely not.”

Ranger joined us. “Were you able to find Sitz?” he asked Morelli.

“Yeah. We found him at Newark Airport. He was stuffed into a garbage container.”

“Is he okay?” I asked.

“No,” Morelli said. “He’s dead. I don’t know any details.”

Ranger and I exchanged glances. Harry the Hammer was cleaning house. That included friends and foes and partners. He was tidying up loose ends that could tie him to the kidnappings. Classic mob behavior. There were four Colombians left behind who may or may not know anything about Harry. And there was Frankie from Central GP.

I caught a flash of black in my peripheral vision and turned to find Wulf standing a short distance away. He was in full Wulf regalia. Black cape. Black suit and dress shirt. Blood-red pocket handkerchief.

“Thank you for locating my charge,” Wulf said.

He crooked his finger in a come-here gesture, and Ryan Meier ran over to him.

“Oh man,” Ryan said to Wulf. “Am I ever glad to see you.”

“Your father’s been worried,” Wulf said.

Wulf spread his arms wide, flaring his cape. There was a flash of blinding light, a crack of thunder, a lot of smoke, and when the smoke cleared, Wulf and Ryan Meier were gone.

“I didn’t see that,” Morelli said.

I agreed. I didn’t see it either.

“I saw it,” Hal said. “It was awesome.”

Ranger stayed stoic, but I knew he was mentally rolling his eyes.

“I’ll take Hal back with me,” Ranger said to Morelli. “He’ll be available if you need to talk to him.”

“I’ll pass that on to the feds,” Morelli said. “They’re about a half hour behind me with the crime lab. Not that I expect they’ll find anything worthwhile here. This warehouse belongs to Harry, and Harry knows how to cover his tracks. I’m sure you already know this. We also got full disclosure on The Cannibal Deli. Harry is listed as an executive producer. He bought into a production company that’s involved. If I’d asked my mother instead of having the department research the show, I could have found out sooner. Apparently, it’s the hot gossip topic in the Burg.”