by Mike Ryan
Mallette grinned. “A trap. We’ll get our own computer guy. Let him leave some digital bread crumbs. Crumbs that we want Jacobs to find.”
Butch stared at his new partner for a second. “So we let him find what we want him to find. And then when he does…?”
“When he does, then we have him. We’ll set something up that he won’t have any chance of escaping.”
“And you think he won’t be suspicious of that?”
“Not if we play our cards right. That’s why we gotta do it right. We get someone who can leave something out there, but make it seem like it’s hidden. We just need to leave the door open a crack. And then we’ll see if Jacobs barges through it.”
“What if we do, but Jacobs never takes the bait?”
Mallette shrugged. “Then there’s no loss, other than some time and some money. Either way, there’s not much risk. If it doesn’t work, then so what? We’ll try something else.”
“OK. Who do we get?”
Mallette looked over at Selby and snapped his fingers, then motioned for him to come over. “I want you to put the word out, do some digging.”
“On what?” Selby asked.
“I want you to hit the streets. Find me someone who’s good with computers.” Mallette stopped himself and put his index finger in the air. “Not just someone who’s good. I want someone who’s so good we can’t even understand what he’s doing. You got me?”
Selby nodded. “I’ll start looking.”
“I want you personally overseeing this. I want you to bring me someone. And they better be good.”
“How soon you want someone?”
“Three days. Bring me someone within three days.”
“That might be a tough get, boss.”
“I don’t wanna hear what’s tough. I want results. You get them for me.”
Selby sighed. “OK. Might help to draw people in if I can float a dollar figure in front of them.”
“They can name their price. If it helps to snare Jacobs, there’s no price I wouldn’t pay.”
Selby nodded, then left the room to start his search. Butch finished his drink, then put it on the desk.
“You seem like you have an awfully big budget for someone who just recently got out of prison,” Butch said.
Mallette smiled. “I have plenty of business interests that weren’t touched while I was away. The funds and business everyone knew about were wiped away. But I was smart enough to put my hands in things that didn’t have my name on it. Or it had other names that nobody knew of. Believe me, money is not a concern for me. I still have plenty of it. Enough to get the job done.”
“Let’s just hope we can find someone worthy of giving that money to.”
“Selby will find someone. I’m sure of it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
The door burst open again, this time Reed stepped through it. Mallette glared at him, knowing something was up by the way he seemed to be hurrying.
“What is it?”
“One of our boys thinks he spotted Ames,” Reed replied.
“What?”
Reed nodded. “Yeah. He just phoned in. Says he’s still got eyes on him right now.”
“Where?”
“Says it’s some packaging plant or something. It’s on Edgar Way. We might be able to strike right now if we do this quickly.”
“How many men does he have with him?”
“Ames? Not sure. He’s not able to see inside or anything. He just knows Ames is in there.”
“For how long?”
“Ames just got there about ten minutes ago. If we wanna strike, this might be our best chance before he leaves..”
Mallette stroked his chin as he contemplated their possible actions. He wasn’t sure they had enough men for this. It would also depend on how many men Ames had with him.
“How many men can you round up quickly?”
“I can probably get eight… maybe ten. The rest aren’t close enough.”
Mallette took a deep breath. This might be a chance that wouldn’t come around again so quickly, or easily. They’d have to take the shot. He looked at Butch. With their forces combined, they could up their manpower significantly, and hopefully dwarf Ames’.
“Are you up for this? We can finish Ames off together. Then work on Jacobs after that.”
It didn’t take Butch long to think about it. He was ready for another fight. Especially after how the last one ended with Jacobs. He was itching to take his frustration out on someone else. Anyone. It didn’t really matter who. The fact that it was Ames was a bonus.
“I say we do this,” Butch said.
Mallette nodded. “Good. How many men do you have with you?”
“I have six more outside waiting. I can make a call right now and get ten more. They could meet us there.”
“Good. Do it.”
Butch got out his phone and made the call, stepping away to the side of the room.
Reed stood there, waiting for further instructions. “Anything you want me to do, boss?”
“Yes,” Mallette answered. “Get the boys ready. We’re about to go hunting. Have our man stay there. If Ames moves before we get there, or anyone else shows up, I wanna know about it.”
“Will do.”
“And tell him to get us as much information as he can about who’s there and how many. I want as much information as I can get before we move in.”
“You got it.”
As Reed left the room, Mallette turned and looked out the window. Seconds later, Butch rejoined him, done with his call.
“Well?”
“We’ll have ten more men meet us there. It’ll take them about fifteen, twenty minutes to get there.”
Mallette grinned. “Good. That should be perfect. We should get there in about fifteen minutes, ourselves.”
“Hopefully he doesn’t leave before we get there. Or get tipped off.”
“Even if he does leave, we have eyes on him. He’s not getting away from us now. We’ve got him.” Mallette raised his hand, then closed it into a fist. “And we’re going to choke the life out of him. He’s finished in this town.”
15
Mallette and Butch travelled to the packaging plant that Ames was supposed to be at. They did not get any other updates from Mallette’s man. Which was good, in that they knew Ames was still there. But it also meant they had no idea how many people he had with him.
In most cases, not knowing the strength of his enemy was a concern for Mallette. In this case, though, he wasn’t too worried about it. He already knew Ames’ organization was leaking oil from their previous confrontations with Jacobs. Ames wasn’t dealing from an area of strength if he were to get into a shootout with anyone. If there was ever a time to go into a battle without knowing the opponent’s strengths, it was this one.
Once Mallette got out of the car, he quickly spotted his man, standing by a chain-link fence. Butch and a few others were right behind Mallette. Mallette’s man was crouching down, but stood up as he saw his boss approach.
“What’s the word?” Mallette asked.
The man shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“I haven’t been able to find out anything else.”
The look on Mallette’s face indicated he was starting to grow enraged. He was able to suppress his anger, though. He kept himself from blowing his cool. “Has anyone else entered or left?”
“No. Nobody’s come in or out.”
“Good. But you don’t know how many are in there?”
“No. I haven’t been able to get a closer look.”
“Why not?” Butch asked. “If you haven’t seen anyone else, why are you still standing there? Why haven’t you tried to get a closer look?”
Mallette had the same questions, but he put his hand up to stop Butch from asking anything else, or from blowing his top. Butch said it like he was somewhat agitated. Mallette understood his frustration. But he k
new now wasn’t the time for that.
“Have you tried to get in closer?” Mallette asked.
The man took a deep breath. “I started to go in, but then I thought I heard some noises. So I figured it best to wait out here.”
“What kind of noises?”
“Like footsteps. Thought there were some guards and all. I didn’t want to get in too deep and find myself in a fight that I wasn’t prepared for. And I didn’t want to blow my presence here and lose the opportunity for you.”
Mallette put his hand on the man’s shoulder and tapped it for support. “No, you did fine. You did good. The most important thing is that we’re here without being noticed.” Mallette tried to look through the fence, but there were plenty of thick bushes and trees in the way. He couldn’t see past them. “How far are we from the building?”
“Maybe thirty, forty yards.”
Mallette wasn’t sure about that distance. “All in the open.”
“Yeah, pretty much. There’s all these trees and bushes on the inside part of the fence. We can sneak in and stay along the fence until we’re ready to strike.”
Mallette nodded. “OK. Good.” He looked over to Reed. “Start moving our men in. Stay close to the fence.”
“And if we run into anybody?” Reed asked.
“Take them out. Quietly. No exceptions.”
“Right.”
As Reed started taking his men in through the opening, Mallette looked to Butch. “Start bringing your men in. Mine are going to the left. Take yours to the right. We’ll move in from different sides. Surround him if possible.”
“Got it.”
“Make sure they know not to fire or make themselves known until I give the word.”
Butch nodded, then started talking to his men. With everyone on board, Mallette went through the opening, moving to his left. Butch and his men went in and moved to the right. Everyone started settling into their positions, blending in with the thick green bushes. They were meant to keep people from looking in and seeing anything, but they sure made a good hiding spot too.
They all waited several minutes, just itching to hear the orders from Mallette. He was trying to be patient, though. Getting rid of Ames here and now was a big move. It was a chance that couldn’t be wasted by being impatient and making the wrong move. They had him dead to rights. They just had to make sure they followed through.
“How long we gonna wait, boss?” Reed whispered.
“Until I’m sure what we’re shooting at.” Mallette looked at the building in question. He didn’t notice any lights on. He thought that was strange. His eyes moved off the building and to the left and right of it. He was looking for any signs of life. A body, a light, a noise, something. Something that would indicate someone was actually there. He was starting to have some doubts. Maybe there was a back door, he thought. They could have slipped out the back while his man was covering the front.
Then Reed said something that his boss was also thinking. “Does it strike you as funny that there aren’t any guards walking around or stationed anywhere?”
“Yeah, it does a little.”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
“I’m trying to figure that out myself.”
“Unless they got people covering from the building.”
“Possible.”
“Or maybe they’re trying to make it look like nobody’s here. That way if anyone comes along, they’ll think the place is empty.”
Mallette wiped his mouth as he thought about the situation. “Also possible.”
“What do you wanna do?”
“We’ll keep waiting a few more minutes. I don’t want to reveal our hand until I’m sure there’s something there worth taking out.”
“I sure hope we didn’t come here for nothing.”
“There’s an ebb and flow to everything. If we don’t get him here, we’ll get him the next time. He’s on borrowed time either way. That being said, it would be nice to end this thing tonight.”
They continued waiting. Twenty more minutes went by without a sign of life. Everyone was starting to get a little antsy. They wanted to move.
“How long are we gonna wait?” Reed asked again, though he wasn’t really speaking to anyone in particular. He was just spouting off. There was an obvious amount of frustration in his voice about staying in the same spot for so long.
Mallette didn’t pay him much attention. A brief glance, but he kept his focus on the building. He needed to see something before committing his men to go forward. This wasn’t like in his heyday, when he had enough men and power that he could power through mistakes and it didn’t cost him much. Now, he didn’t have the manpower to shrug those same mistakes off. He needed to be more precise.
A few more minutes passed. Suddenly, a light turned on inside the building. That was what Mallette was looking for. He just needed a sign. And now he got it.
“Boss?” Reed asked, itching to get going.
“Go!” Mallette replied.
Reed spurred the rest of the men onward. They all emerged from the bushes and descended upon the building. Butch saw the others moving in and spurred his troops on as well. Once they got within twenty feet of the building, they opened fire. Bullets shattered the windows, the front door got ripped to shreds. Even pieces of the brick exterior started falling off.
Mallette stood in back of the others, letting them do the heavy lifting. The men in front of him continued firing at a frenetic pace. They didn’t appear too interested in aiming for anything. They were going with the shock-and-awe approach, hoping that the firepower of their automatic weapons were taking out whoever was inside. It seemed to be working, as they weren’t encountering any resistance. It appeared that they killed whoever was inside since there was no return fire.
After a minute or two, the men ceased fire. The building suddenly looked like it was the location of a war zone. Reed looked back at his boss. Mallette gave a nod and pointed to the building. Reed, followed by a couple of others, scurried to the door. Mallette walked behind them. Butch then fell in behind his new partner. The others remained in their positions on the outside.
Reed and the two other men went inside, their weapons drawn, ready to fire at a moment's notice if any of the occupants inside were still alive. The ground crackled underneath their feet as they stepped on pieces of glass. Mallette stayed back, letting his men clear the rooms first before he stepped into them.
They cleared the first room, the one with the light on, then moved on to the others. Mallette stayed in that room, looking around at all the debris on the floor. Thousands of little pieces of glass, dust, and plaster from the walls that were crumbling made it difficult to walk without stepping on something. There were even a few chunks of the ceiling missing.
As Mallette walked around, he was a little concerned he didn’t see any bodies yet. With all the bullets that peppered the building, there should have been a few. A minute later, Reed and the others returned. Mallette stood there, waiting for confirmation of something.
“Nobody here, boss.”
Mallette cringed, clearly unhappy with the news. He looked around the room again. He wasn’t saying anything, though. He was trying to process everything.
“What’s going on here, boss? We saw a light come on; we know someone was here.”
Mallette looked at him, staying silent at first. Then the thought came to him. “Or did we?”
“What?”
“Was someone really here?”
“What are you talking about? The light came on. Doesn’t just do that by itself.”
“You don’t have to be inside a room these days to turn a light on.”
“Why would someone do that? What’s the point?”
Mallette instantly snapped his head toward the window. He knew what was going on now. He scurried over to it and yelled out to the men still standing there. “Get inside! Move it!” The men looked at each other at first, not sure what was going on. “Get in!”
As t
he men started shuffling their feet and moving toward the building, gunfire erupted from behind them. Several of them went down immediately. The others quickly ran to the building. Some of them made it. Some of them fell by the wayside. But the barrage of gunfire continued. A few of them got to some of the blown-out windows and returned fire, even though they weren’t sure what they were shooting at.
“What’s going on?!” Butch asked.
“We were set up,” Mallette answered.
“What?! How?”
“Questions for another time. Right now, we have to get out of here.”
“Who’s out there?”
“Considering it was Ames who was followed here, I think it is fairly obvious who the culprit is.”
“Twice in one night.” Butch stewed, not at all pleased with how his day was going. “Twice in one night! How does this happen?!”
“We need to get out of here or you’ll never get an answer to that question.”
Butch went up to a couple of his guys, wanting them to give the rest of the group time to escape. They just needed to keep firing for a few minutes to make sure nobody advanced on their position. Then, after the others had successfully gotten away, the rest of them would retreat as well.
The plan worked, as Mallette and Butch, and whatever was left of their teams, escaped through the back. They eventually found a rear exit to the property, without having any other problems, or having to fight their way out. Once they were successfully out, the three men giving them the time to do that rejoined them on the outside. They quickly got out of the area, though they had to leave a few of their vehicles behind, not wanting to be put in the line of fire again.
They travelled back to Mallette’s office again, where they could regroup and collect themselves. Mallette was in there by himself at first. Butch and Reed were doing headcounts to see how many men were lost. Mallette got a drink to try to calm himself. Nothing was going as he’d planned. He thought he’d get out of prison and instantly reclaim everything he thought was rightfully his. It seemed someone forgot to tell Jacobs and Ames, though, that they were supposed to lie down for him and let it happen.
He was already losing men. Men that he couldn’t afford to lose. Not only that, but his partnership with Butch wasn’t going as planned either. One of Butch’s strongpoints was that he had some strength in numbers. Now that wasn’t even the case. Butch was losing men at a frantic pace. And if this kept up, any advantage Mallette thought he had would no longer be true, if it were at all.