The Doc Justice Files - Mystic Mayhem part 5
by Direwolf

Chapter 5 - Now You Don't!

"There is no need to make such a fuss about this, I have had far worse," Alex said from the floor. The side of her jacket was torn open and stained red. A scattering of blood splatters marked the use-worn floorboards near by. The smells of burnt gunpowder and fresh blood vied with the familiar scents of stage make up, sweat and hot lights. A few stagehands stood nearby, watching and murmuring among themselves.

Beside her, with the sleeves of his jacket and shirt pulled up, Justin gave her a stern look. "Lie still for the moment. I'm trying to a get a look at the wound through the blood."

Amide a swirl of fresh air, Go-on stepped in through the fire door that opened out the back of the stage. "No sign of the quick little blighter. Made a clean get away down the stairs and over the wall. How is she?"

Alex swore first in anger then hissed in pain as Justin succeeded in peeling back the torn fabric of her blouse. It felt like someone traced a line of fire across her side. Mentally, Alex accepted the pain as a sign of her own stupidity. She never should have let Randini, Randu or whatever his name was take a shot at her. She was better than that.

"She'll live," Justin announced. "It's a scratch about two and half inches long, just creased the surface. I will point out that if it had been a little farther over, you would have a very nasty abdominal wound."

"Thank you for your professional opinion, Doctor Collins, I'll try to keep that in mind next time I decide to get shot."

"For what it's worth, we don't get a lot of shootings here," Mister Cipher offered. The backstage lighting made his makeup even more lifelike.

All of them, along with Britt and Mister Cipher's two guards were gathered in the backstage area. The twin gunshots had gone largely unnoticed in the crowded club and Alex assumed that most of the patrons assumed there were part of the show. Even as she fired, Alex knew her shot had missed the escaping man, which only added to her own frustration. In her mind, being wounded was no excuse for missing at that range. But Randu hadn't stayed around to the finish the job. The magician escaped down the stairs before help arrived and had vanished into the night.

"I think we had best take her out the back to avoid any sort of panic," Justin offered. "Go-on, you take her other side. Britt, can you please hold the door for us?"

"Really, gentlemen, I can walk for myself."

They ignored her protests and lifted her from the floor. Mister Cipher made sure the doorway was clear as they walked out.

"Do come back some evening when you aren't hunting down wanted criminals. Dinner and drinks will be on the house. And don't worry about the police asking questions about what happened tonight. I have more then a few connections in this city," the red hued man insisted.

At the top of the stairs they quickly realized that trying to make their way down the narrow flight of wooden steps would be difficult. Before she could insist on walking on her own, Justin simply took her in his arms and walked down, as sure footed as a mountain goat. It made Alex feel rather petite. It was easy to forget just how strong Justin was. The tailored suits Fu Lee insisted upon disguised the width of his shoulders and he was so symmetrical that unless you were standing behind him his shear size was lost. The only man Alex knew who was stronger than Justin was Lucas and he lacked Justin's smooth, almost catlike grace.

Lucas was waiting for them at the gate and held it open while Justin carried her out. Lucas insisted on playing chauffer and opened the doors to the car. Britt and her brother followed along, whispering to each other. Alex assumed Brit was telling Go-on what happened backstage.

"Now I'm going to get blood all over the seats!" Alex insisted. "I can use my jacket as a pad."

"I consider it a badge of honor that your blood stained my car. It's had enough of mine, most recently when we had the run in with the gunmen after the crate. And mine was just a nosebleed. Now relax. That wound won't require stitches so I don't think we need to go to a hospital. Between Fu Lee and myself, we should be able to patch you up."

The drive back to Number One Post Street passed uneventfully. Alex insisted on getting out of the car on her own and walking to the elevator. In Justin's office, Fu Lee cleaned the wound with an herbal tea and then Justin bandaged the cut. Whatever the tea was, Alex realized that it did a remarkably good job of dulling the ach.

"Well, the bad news is that your jacket is a lost cause," Go-on observed. "However you can rest assured it bravely gave its all in your service."

"It could be washed and patched, sir," Fu Lee observed.

"Oh, go on! A lady of her quality wearing anything patched! Perish the thought and toss the rag!" True to his suggestion, Go-on pitched the tweed jacket in the general direction of the trashcan. "Right-o, I think at this point we can safely assume we have found our bank robber. The question is, now what?"

"Won't he just leave town and start up somewhere else?" Britt asked.

Justin wiped his bloodstained hands on a damp towel, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I don't think so. Let's look at what we know and suspect so far and we'll see if you people agree with me."

Justin stood up and stared out the window, looking east over the Bay towards the Oakland harbor lights twinkling in the distance. Even this late, ships were being unloaded of their cargo as the beat of commerce continued.

"He has figured out a way to rob banks with what seems to be a minimum of risks and it's paying off. There is no sign that the police are on to him and he can easily stop going to the Magic Castle, so that's a dead end. He knows we are looking for him, but not who we are or what we know."

"And he has a gang working for him and they will expect some say in what happens along with their share of the take," Lucas offered.

"Good point," Alex said, shifting slightly in her chair so her wound wouldn't pull. "And who is to say that his robbery techniques will work elsewhere? Maybe it's something that only works here. If that's the case, he'll be loath to give up until he has enough money or is sure he'll get caught."

"Very few successful crooks give up because they think they have enough money," Justin offered. "It's human nature to be greedy."

"Not just human," Fu Lee said as he repacked the medical equipment into an exquisitely crafted dark red lacquered wood box. "In India, they catch monkeys by putting an orange in a heavy, narrow mouthed jar. When the monkey reaches in and grabs the orange, its hand will no longer emerge. So the hunter can capture it with ease. And the monkey won't let go of the orange."

Ever one looked at Go-on who was trying to fish a piece of candied orange peel out of a jar on the tea tray.

"Please, don't make me laugh," Alex chuckled.

"The comparison is quite accurate. Our bank robber has the orange firmly in hand and hasn't seen the jar." Lucas folded his hands behind his head and looked up at the paneled ceiling.

"And his ego is going to push him on. I mean, he bloody well flaunted his pilfered stone while he was on stage, not exactly subtle," Go-on added around a mouth full of candied peel.

"So it sounds like we agree that he's probably not leaving town," Alex continued. "So how do we figure out where he is going to strike next?"

"Well, back to the map." Justin took the San Francisco street map out of a drawer and spread it on his desk. Alex noticed that he had drawn a number of additional circles on the map since the last time they consulted it.

"I marked all the other police stations in the city, and drew circles around them roughly the same diameter as for the three robbed banks. I think the Amazing Randini or Randu will pick his target from these areas. We need to split up again, and find all the banks near these marked circles."

"Right-o. Aside from using up shoe leather, how will this help us find him? There are sure to be any number of banks within the assumed radius. Once we find them all, how do we find the one he's going to rob so we can be lurking there ready to pounce when he and his felonious henchmen show up?"

"Now that is the big question. But I think we have another clue that will help. We check the alleys near by..."

"For holes like you found near the other banks!" Alex exclaimed. "Whatever they are, you have deduced they are part of the robbery or the get-away!"

Justin nodded. "Exactly. I don't like that great of a coincidence. The fact that the holes showed up at all three locations has to be significant."

"So we find the bank near where the holes appear, then make sure we are there every day right around four in the afternoon and wait for the robbers to show up. Simple and elegant, I approve." Alex ginned wolfishly. There was no way she was going to let a bullet scratch keep her out of this.

It took them two days to locate all the banks that fit their profile. Then it was a matter of checking around each bank twice a day to see if the mysterious holes showed up in the pavement of a near by alleyway. While this was going on, Justin took the time to contact the San Francisco Police department and explain to them what was going on. Though the police disliked the idea of private citizens playing vigilante, they were willing to make an exception for Doctor Collins. He had enough connections with the local, state and even federal government to give him more pull than most. And Justin had always made it a point to assist the local police whenever they asked for his help. So the chief of police made the difficult decision to hold his men back and let Justin and his friends deal with the situation. As Justin pointed out, if Randu was watching, any sort of increase in police patrols near the suspected banks was sure to tip their hand.

The next Thursday afternoon found Alex and Go-on exploring an alleyway located in the Sunset district. Fog was rolling in from the Pacific Ocean, masking the gulls flying overhead so only their harsh cries revealed their presence. The wet chill tried to creep in past to the bone no matter how many layers of cloths she wore. It wasn't like the killing cold she remembered from her childhood in Russia but it was enough to chill the skin.

The alley looked much like the one she had been in over a week ago where she had lost site of the bank robbers. Brick walls rose to either side, each more than four stories tall. There were a few steel trashcans near a locked door and a pile of cardboard boxes that were slowly collapsing under the pressure of the elements. Traffic hissed by on the street, the headlamps shining through the fog. Alex bent down to take a closer look at the pavement. There, right in the center, the worn asphalt was marked with a single fresh hole drilled into the pavement. Alex felt her heart beat speed up. The hole hadn't been there yesterday. She could almost scent her quarry.

Just to be sure, she checked by each wall then back towards the rear of the alley. All four holes were accounted for, making the elongated diamond pattern.

Alex stood up, winching slightly at the tug on her still fresh wound. "This is it, we have found them."

Go-on's eyes opened wider in surprise. Alex realized he never really expected to find the robbers. "I say, this has all be one deucedly impressive bit of detective work. I wonder if Justin and I should open an agency, Pagit & Collins has a ring to it. One's an English lord with impeccable taste in clothing, the other's a rough and tumble engineering genius, they fight crime..."

"The only thing that is going to have a ring to it is going to be your head, after I have smacked it with a brick," Alex said, barely suppressing another laugh. "Though your brother would be glad to see you finally, officially employed at something. We need to tell Justin."

A phone booth at the corner provided the means. Alex dropped in a nickel and dialed Justin's private number. He answered on the second ring.

"Justin, it's Alex. We found them, all four holes just like you predicted."

"Good, which bank?"

Alex looked over her shoulder. "City Savings and Loan located on Forty Fourth Avenue."

"Got it. Now, get out of there and don't go back there on your own. They might be watching and if so, we can only hope that they didn't spot you all ready. Come back to the office and we'll plan out how to manage the ending of this game of cat and mouse and hopefully, recover your stone."

"Very well, and we'll be back soon." Alex hung up the heavy black receiver. She and Go-on walked back to the car parked down the block.

She had spent enough years dodging enemies in the great cities of Europe both for the Polish Government and on tasks of her own choosing to have developed an instinct for what players of the Great Game called Tradecraft. And her sense told her that the bank wasn't under observation. Most likely, that meant the robbers wanted to make sure nothing they did drew attention to their target.

It hardly mattered. She felt sure both hunter and quarry would avoid the hunting ground tonight. But tomorrow, she was sure that situation would change.

To be continued...