“No. I just think he was indifferent. He was making his delivery fee and that’s all that mattered. The apartments the kids spoke of are just up ahead.” They drove the short distance to the apartment complex and sure enough, discovered that the entire back breezeway faced a small creek.
“Sixteen doors,” frowned Ham.
“Wait a minute. Look.” He pointed to the mailboxes, numbered with all of the apartments but they also had names on them.
“Are you fucking with me right now? Do these kids not have any sense of self-preservation? Your name on the mailbox. That doesn’t scream ‘come and get me, by calling me by name and inviting me to your windowless van with candy’.” Wes laughed, shaking his head.
“You’re getting dramatic. Take a breath.”
“I don’t want to breathe. It’s overrated,” frowned Ham looking at the mailboxes. “Apartment 207.”
Ham knocked on the door and heard movement but no one answered. He knocked again with more force and a young woman opened the door, the chain still on.
“Yes,” she asked nervously.
“Are you Creek?”
“Yes.”
“Creek, I’m not here to harm you. I’d like to ask you some questions about your assignments from Professor Mills.”
“Uh, no. I mean, the police came by when he was fired from the university. I’ve said enough,” she said frowning.
They heard someone moving around the space and Wes smiled at the young woman then shoved the door hard with his fists. The pathetic chain gave way and Ham walked into the small apartment to see a middle-aged man shoving things in a duffel bag.
“Professor Mills, I assume,” said Wes.
“She’s done nothing wrong! Don’t hurt her,” he pleaded. Ham stared at the man, then looked around the room, realizing that they were more than professor and student.
“You’re protecting him,” frowned Ham.
“He’s protecting me,” said the girl. “He couldn’t go back to his own place because Giamanco sent his men there.”
“Why were you giving them those assignments?” asked Wes.
“I was in debt to Giamanco. He got me involved in those damn card games and I lost everything. Thousands in my savings, my house, all of it. When I had nothing to pay him back with, he suggested the assignments. At first, I had no clue whatthey wanted. I mean, nothing seemed connected. It was just odd.
“Then, as I looked at each one of them, I realized what he was doing. When the university found out, I was happy.”
“Happy?” frowned Ham.
“Yes. I figured if they fired me, I couldn’t help Giamanco but that only meant he didn’t need me any longer.”
“We need to know what those other assignments were. We understand that you didn’t keep anything on a laptop.”
“Not a laptop they knew about,” he said turning and taking a small tablet from his duffel. “I kept things on this. It’s old but I amped it up with more storage space and speed. I kept everything on here, which is what they wanted.”
“Alright, let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?” asked Mills staring at Wes and Ham.
“Somewhere that Vasily can’t get to you.”
“You know about him? Geez, I thought things might be better with Giamanco dead.”
“No. Things are definitely not better and they won’t get better until Vasily is dead,” said Ham.
“You’re safe, Creek,” said Professor Mills. “You could go home to your family.”
