by Mike Ryan
“We’re not exactly in a position for that.”
“We got a phone. We can call for help.”
“I already mentioned that,” Jacobs said. “He’s not falling for it. There’s nobody to come help us. Can’t call Eddie or Tiff. If I call Buchanan and he gets the rest of the police here, we might be in as much trouble as Mallette is.”
“If he thinks we’re calling 9-1-1, it might make him a little jumpy. Or at least make him uncomfortable and throw him off his game.”
“How are we gonna make him think that?”
Thrower shrugged. “I dunno. How ‘bout just tell him? Still got the phone and his number.”
Jacobs thought about it more. He wasn’t sure it would work, but it was worth a shot. Just about anything at this point was.
“What do we have to lose?” Thrower asked. “Worst he can do is laugh in our face.”
Jacobs nodded. “I got an idea.” He pulled his phone out and started searching for something.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for an audio file or video or something of a 9-1-1 operator.”
Thrower grinned, knowing exactly what his partner was planning. It took Jacobs a minute or two, but he finally found what he was looking for. It was just a three second clip of an operator answering a phone. Hopefully that would do the trick. Jacobs then picked up the phone that Mallette had left for him.
“When I give you the signal, fire a couple shots into the floor,” Jacobs said.
“Why waste the bullets? Why don’t I just fire a couple rounds out there? Maybe I’ll hit something.”
“Whatever works for you.”
Thrower went over to the window and aimed his weapon, waiting for the sign. Jacobs dialed the number Mallette had called from. Mallette picked up on the second ring. He hoped that Jacobs had changed his mind.
“So have you reconsidered my offer?”
“Nope,” Jacobs answered. “I’m gonna give you one.”
“Oh, really? And what’s that?”
“I’ll give you five minutes to get off this property.”
Mallette laughed, not worried about what Jacobs might say. “Or what?”
“Or there'll be so many police officers here that you won’t know what to do with yourself. Hope you don’t have a gun on you. You’re a convicted felon. That’s an instant trip back up the river.”
“You’re not gonna call the police. There’s what, two dead bodies out there. Once they match the bullets up to your weapons, you might have a tough time explaining that.”
“Self-defense.”
“I don’t think so. You see, neither of those guys out there are armed anymore. Pretty sure you killed them in cold blood.”
“Think you have all the answers?” Jacobs asked.
“I’m pretty sure I do.”
“You don’t. Because you think you have me figured out. And you don’t. Because I’m about to do something you don’t expect.”
“Which is what?”
“Get out of here, or I’m gonna call 9-1-1 and have as many police down here as they can get.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“Wouldn’t I? I figure I have two options. I know you have the building surrounded, and I’m outnumbered. So we can either fight our way out, and maybe we make it, maybe not. Or, I can get the cops down here, and I’ll take my chances with them. Maybe they’ll have some questions about those bodies, and why we’re here, and maybe they’ll be sympathetic to an ex-cop and let me go without any questions.”
Mallette snickered. He still thought Jacobs was bluffing. “You won’t take that chance. You’re not fooling me.”
“OK. This is your last chance.”
“I’m not a fool, Jacobs.”
“Neither am I. You might wanna listen to this.” With his left hand, Jacobs put his phone on speaker, and hit the play button on the file he’d found.
A female voice started speaking. “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure there’s some shooting going on at this location,” Jacobs said. He then looked at Thrower and nodded.
Thrower fired two rounds through the window, trying to aim at one of the men he saw, shattering the glass. He didn’t hit anyone, but he hoped the tactic was still effective.
Jacobs put Mallette’s phone back up to his ear. “In case you’re too stupid to know what that was… they were gunshots. I figure you got less than five minutes.”
“You fool!”
“Well, takes one to know one, right?” Jacobs hung up, then tossed the phone back on the desk.
“What do you think?” Thrower asked. “Think it’ll work?”
“We’ll see. He did sound a little agitated, so maybe.”
“He’s either gonna get really nervous and leave in a hot second, or he’s gonna try to charge in here real fast and try to knock us off before our fake help arrives.”
“Yeah.” Jacobs glanced at each of the monitors, trying to see what their opponents were doing. “Keep your eyes open out there in case I can’t see them on these things.”
“Gotta be honest, I’m shocked that we can still see anything on them. I mean, how dumb do you gotta be to trap us in here, and then leave monitors on so we can see them coming?”
“I didn’t wanna say it, but I was thinking the same thing.”
About ten seconds later, the monitors shut off. Jacobs tapped a couple of them, hoping that would magically turn them back on again. He then looked at Thrower. “You had to say it, didn’t you?”
Thrower smiled and shrugged. “Guess they’re not as dumb as I thought.”
Jacobs picked his rifle back up, getting ready. “Well, I’m pretty sure that’s an indication that we can expect some company soon. Don’t want us to see them coming.”
Thrower continued looking out the window, not seeing anything yet. “They’re gonna have to work fast if they wanna beat the cops showing up.”
“Assuming they believe it.”
Gunner suddenly started to growl, and took off, heading to the back of the building. Jacobs assumed trouble was about to find them, and ran after him.
“You stay up here and I’ll cover the back!”
“Roger that,” Thrower replied.
Jacobs and Gunner got to the back door, just in time to see it burst open. A man came running in, though Jacobs took him down with ease, firing two shots that hit the man in the chest. Gunner continued barking, knowing others were near, though he didn’t see anyone else yet. Jacobs aimed his rifle, waiting for the next man to enter his sight line.
Then they heard the crackling sound of a window breaking in a nearby room. Gunner immediately took off. Jacobs was about to do the same, when another man entered the building, firing as he came in. Jacobs dropped down to one knee to duck the incoming bullets and returned fire. This man met the same fate as the first person that came in.
Jacobs, worried about Gunner, was about to take off after him, but noticed a few more men near the frame of the door. They stuck their arms out and started firing wildly, not even getting a clear shot at Jacobs, but hoping one of the bullets would somehow strike him. It was still enough to get Jacobs to withdraw from his position, giving the men some space to come in.
Jacobs and the men fired back and forth for a little while, with nobody getting the upper hand. He wanted to go check on Gunner, as he could hear the growling sounds that his dog made when he sank his teeth into someone. He just had to hope that Gunner had successfully pulled his man to the ground and was on top of him. As long as that was the case, he knew Gunner would be all right.
The situation was pretty similar for Thrower. The front door broke open with several men crashing in at the same time. As Thrower started firing at them, someone else came crashing through the window. He spun around, seeing another man get to his feet and point a gun at him. Thrower was just a tad bit quicker on the trigger, though.
With his back turned to the door, Thrower suddenly felt a sharp pain in his
arm. He immediately dropped forward to the ground, spun over on his back, and quickly found his target, firing several rounds at the man. He waited for his next victims to arrive, not paying much attention to the blood that was now trickling down his left arm.
Seconds later, another man rushed in, though Thrower quickly dispatched him. Hearing the sounds of someone running closer to him, Thrower turned around again, dropping to one knee, just in time to see another ugly face coming at him. Thrower pumped a few rounds into him, then snapped his head toward the door again. Seeing yet another man rush in, he quickly grabbed the handle of his knife and withdrew it from his vest, then threw the sharpened steel across his body.
The man yelled out in pain as the blade stuck into his chest. He dropped his weapon as he put both hands on the handle of the knife, a worried look on his face, sensing that this was the end for him. He briefly debated about pulling the knife out, but never got a chance to actually do it. He fell to both knees, then onto his side as he came to his final resting place.
Thrower held his gun out in front of him again, looking all around as he waited for whoever was coming next. Everything was quiet on his end. At least for now. He could still hear shots coming from the back of the building, so he knew it wasn’t completely safe yet. He debated about going back there to help Jacobs, but wanted to make sure he kept his zone free from intruders. He didn’t want to let the front go unguarded and possibly risk more coming in and sneaking in behind them.
Jacobs kept firing, and ducking as his battle with the other two men continued. Then Gunner came running down the hallway again and ran out the door, immediately latching onto the man to his right. As the man got dragged down to the ground, he stopped firing. His partner stopped firing too, as he looked at the commotion that was going on just a few inches away from him. He took a step back, wondering if he should intervene and shoot the dog, or continue firing on Jacobs.
The man’s indecision came at a cost. The few seconds he took to debate his next steps gave Jacobs enough time to leave his position and run toward him. There was no indecision on Jacobs’ part. As soon as he saw Gunner run out, he knew he had to follow him. Not only to help and protect Gunner, but he knew whenever the dog latched on to someone, a certain amount of chaos and confusion happened, not only to whoever had the misfortune of receiving Gunner’s wrath, but whoever was around to witness it.
As soon as Jacobs went through the door, with Gunner to his right, he instantly looked to his left. He surprised the man standing there, who wasn’t expecting Jacobs to wind up right in front of him. Jacobs blasted him with two shots to the chest. He then turned around and called Gunner off his man. Once Gunner released him, Jacobs ended the man’s misery as well.
Not wanting to stand outside, Jacobs and Gunner ran back in and hurried to the front of the building. Before going into the room where Thrower was, and possibly catching an errant bullet, Jacobs figured he should announce his presence first.
“Nate! You good?!”
Thrower kept his eyes focused on the door. “Good as can be.”
“Coming in.”
“I gotcha.”
Jacobs and Gunner walked into the room. They still weren’t sure the festivities were over yet. Jacobs told Gunner to watch the back door again. As Gunner left the room, Jacobs went over to one of the newly broken windows. He looked at the opening, then down at the floor at the dead bodies.
“Looks like you had some fun up here.”
Thrower laughed. “Oh yeah. Loads and loads. Wish we could do it again.”
“Don’t even think it.”
“I notice your friend isn’t among the bodies up here. How ‘bout back there?”
“Nah, he’s not gonna put himself in harm's way if he can help it. He’ll send his minions in first.”
Thrower sighed, looking at his work still lying on the floor. “Well, we took out some more of them.”
“Yeah, so far.”
“See any movement out there?”
“Not so far,” Jacobs answered.
“They might have split.”
“Maybe.”
“They blew their load. Maybe your trick worked. They thought the cops were coming, figured they had one shot, and they had to do it quick. If they failed, they’d take off.”
“Could be. I’m not exactly too eager to head out there just yet, though, are you?”
Thrower smiled. “I’m pretty comfortable right here for the moment. These guys don’t seem like they mind the company.”
“Only problem with that is if Mallette’s still out there. Maybe he left but is still lingering by the road, seeing if anybody is really coming. If someone does, then he’d split. If not, he’d come back in.”
Thrower nodded. “Makes sense. Guess we should take off too, then, huh?”
“Yeah. Let’s head out the back. Front makes me nervous.”
“Lead the way. I’m right behind you.”
They headed out the back, stepping over the bodies by the door. Gunner scouted ahead of them, letting them know if he picked up on something. They weren’t going back the same direction they came. They’d eventually get back to their car, but they were taking the long way around. If Mallette was still waiting, they thought he’d be more likely to pick them up the way they came in. It would take them some extra time, but they figured it was time worth taking.
It took them twice as long to exit the property as it took them to come in, but they made it back to the edge of the trees, near the road where they came in. They knelt down, still covered by the dense trees, out of sight from anyone who may have been waiting out there for them.
“It looks all right,” Thrower said.
“Yeah. We both know looks can be deceiving, though.”
“You got that right.”
Jacobs looked down at Gunner, who had his nose in the air, sniffing. The dog didn’t seem to be picking up on anything. Still, they were going to play it cautiously.
“One at a time?” Jacobs asked.
Thrower nodded. “One at a time.”
“You wanna head out first? Then I’ll send Gunner, with me following things up. That gives me an eye on Gunner. I can tell by the way he moves if he senses something.”
“Works for me.”
“Ready when you are.”
Thrower took a few deep breaths, then took off running, emerging from the trees. As soon as he reached the road, Jacobs told Gunner to follow him. Gunner reached the side of the road, then suddenly stopped and turned toward where the gate was. Jacobs immediately noticed, then ran out as well, focusing his efforts in that direction too.
Shots suddenly rang out. The focus of them was on Thrower. They hadn’t yet seen Jacobs. Thrower continued running toward the car, bullets whizzing past him, some ricocheting off the ground, but he didn’t stop. Jacobs started firing toward the gate, which was where the shots were coming from. He couldn’t yet tell how many men were there, but it didn’t seem like many. One, maybe two at most.
As Jacobs started firing, the attention of the shooter turned to him. Jacobs got down on the ground on his stomach and continued firing. Gunner was just standing around, waiting for an order from his owner.
“Gunner, get to the car!”
Jacobs didn’t want him standing there catching a stray bullet. Gunner took off, quickly crossing the road as he found Thrower and the car. As Thrower got to the vehicle, he opened the door, then looked back at the gunfire. He saw Gunner coming and waited for him to hop into the car. Once he was in, Thrower got behind the wheel and fired up the engine, immediately heading for Jacobs’ position.
He drove full speed, barreling towards Jacobs, sharply turning towards the right and spinning off the road. Thrower jammed on the breaks as the car stopped in front of Jacobs, shielding him from the oncoming bullets. That left Thrower exposed, and he ducked down as several bullets hit the car. Jacobs got up and opened the back door, diving in.
“Go, go, go!” Jacobs said, not even closing his door as Thrower
took off.
Thrower put his foot to the floor as he stepped on the gas pedal, going in the opposite direction from the gate. Once they were a good distance away, Thrower finally eased up and started driving a normal speed. He looked in the mirror to make sure no one was giving chase.
“Looks like we’re good.”
Jacobs pet Gunner. “Yeah. Looks like we dodged another one.”
“It was a little close.”
“Too close. That could’ve turned out a lot differently.”
“But it didn’t. All that matters is how it actually did turn out.”
“True.”
“Begs some bigger questions, though,” Thrower said.
“Like how they drew us here?”
“Yeah. That one.”
“This wasn’t an accident. This was planned. Whatever Hack found, they wanted him to find it.”
“So do they know about him now?”
“I dunno. We’ve got a lot more to think about, though.”
“One thing’s for sure: they’re upping their game. They’re not stopping after this.”
“Good. ‘Cause neither are we.”
22
Mallette was fuming as he walked into his office. He picked up the first thing he saw, a folding chair by his desk, and flung it across the room. He then grabbed a pencil cup holder on his desk and threw it against the wall. Selby and Reed walked into the office, and upon seeing their boss in the midst of a rage, clung to the wall, staying quiet so as not to incur his wrath.
Butch walked into the office too, and he looked just as displeased as Mallette did. They were unhappy about different things, though. Mallette was obviously angry at his plan falling apart, feeling like he had Jacobs just where he wanted him, and the whole thing evaporated right in front of him.
Though Butch wasn’t happy about losing Jacobs either, he was more unhappy about the increasing number of dead bodies his organization was accumulating. A couple of the men that were lost belonged to Mallette, but the majority were his. Again. His group was hemorrhaging.
Mallette finally stopped raging and stood still, able to collect his thoughts. “Why does this man have a knack for escaping things? He has this ability to slip out of impossible situations.”