by Mike Ryan
She nodded, then sat down next to Jones as he checked some of the area camera footage. Recker and Haley left, taking separate cars to head down to the area of these supposed car-jackers. They got to the area, a run-down residential area on the west side of Philly in plenty of time. They each cruised around the streets, looking for their suspects. Jones printed out mug shots for each of them so they’d have a clear picture of who they were looking for. For twenty minutes they drove around, neither of them finding either of their targets. Recker and Haley kept in communication while they drove.
“You think maybe they got spooked?” Haley asked.
Recker looked at the time. “I dunno. We did get here early. It’s right at that time now. We’ll give it a few more minutes.”
They continued driving for another ten minutes before Haley finally noticed the first one. The car was parked along the street and the man, who was barely above twenty years old, was trying to get in through the driver side door. Haley abruptly stopped his car as he pulled just behind the other car. He jumped out and put his hands on the back of the man’s shirt, twisting him around. The man swung with his right hand, hitting Haley across the face, just above his eye. Haley lost his grip of him and the man took off running. Haley dabbed at his face, seeing a trickle of blood on his fingers, though it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t something that would need stitches.
Haley looked at the direction the guy took off in, but knew it was unlikely he was going to find him again. He shook his head as if he were trying to clear the cobwebs. He did get hit pretty hard and by something that felt like metal. He felt his head again and sighed, feeling like he blew it. He went back to his car and hopped in, calling Recker immediately.
“Hey, just found one.”
“Good, I’m still looking for the other,” Recker said.
“You might be looking for a while.”
“Why’s that?”
“The dude slipped away from me. Probably hightailed it to meet his friend and split the area.”
“Yeah, if they met back up after running into you, then they probably think it’s too hot and will wait for another time.” Haley sighed loudly into the phone, and Recker could tell he was frustrated. “No big deal. They’re small-time car thieves, not murderers. They’ll get caught soon enough.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s just… I was sloppy. Saw him jiggling with a car, went in there with my guard down and he clocked me one. I should know better.”
“Happens to all of us at some time. You all right?”
“Yeah. He just hit me with something. Might have been metal.”
“Let’s get back to the office so Mia can check you out.”
“I should be fine. It’s just a small cut, nothing big. I’ll be fine. I wanna cruise around and look for these guys again, just in case they didn’t get the hint and are still in the area.”
“All right.”
They went up and down the streets for another half an hour, not running into anyone that looked like their suspects. Recker was right. The duo got scared off.
“Head back to the office now?” Haley asked, now convinced the pair was gone for good.
Recker had other ideas, though. “Not just yet.”
“Where else you wanna check?”
“Not here. I’ve got a hunch about something. Follow me back to my apartment.”
They drove back to Recker’s apartment; him having a feeling that someone may have been there watching. It was the only way someone would have known where he was to take a shot at him. With him and Haley patrolling around the parking lot, they hoped to find someone sitting in a car that didn’t look like they belonged. Once they got there, they each drove around, not seeing anyone in a parked car. They also got out and walked around the complex, looking for the same thing. They still came up empty, though. Recker and Haley met back up by their cars.
“I don’t see anything unusual,” Haley said.
“Me neither.”
“Maybe it was just one of those fluke things. Wrong place at the wrong time. It’s rare, but it does happen.”
“Yeah. But it doesn’t feel like it would happen to me.”
“What about an off-duty police officer? Your picture has been distributed to them. Maybe one of them saw you, one that’s not in your fan club, and decided to take things into his own hands.”
Recker lifted his cheekbones, not buying it. “Eh, I don’t think so. If that was the case, I’d think they would just call for backup. They’d probably get a bigger name and a bigger career boost by being the one that arrested me and brought me in instead of being the one that killed me.”
“Yeah, probably right.”
“Well, while we’re here, might as well go check the place out.”
They went up to Recker’s apartment, but it didn’t take long for them to see that something was wrong. As soon as they got to the door, they could see that it was ajar.
“I assume you didn’t leave it like that,” Haley said.
“No.”
Both men stepped to the side of the door and removed their guns. Recker motioned to his partner that he’d go in first and look to the right and for Haley to go in the opposite direction. Recker pushed the door open wide, the two of them standing there for a few seconds to see if anyone jumped out at them. Since nobody did, and they didn’t hear anything either, they went inside, both men already in shooting position. They went through each room, though they didn’t find anyone. Whoever was in there was gone. But not before they took the place apart. There was a mess everywhere. Clothes in the bedroom were on the floor and the bed. Items from the bathroom closet were scattered about. Cushions and magazines were on the floor of the living room, with tables turned on their sides, furniture moved about. Even the kitchen was a mess. Cups, plates, silverware, all were out of their homes and thrown about the counters and floor. Recker went over and closed the door as they put their guns away.
“Somebody was looking for something,” Haley said. “Sure made a mess of things.”
“Yeah, but what? And why?”
“And how did they know this was you?”
“I think it’s pretty evident now that I was followed earlier.”
“Who would know to do that? And who would have it in for you who’s got the means to do it?”
As Recker looked around at the mess on the floor, his mind started racing with possibilities. Two of which he hated to think about, as it would mean that someone had turned on him. The other wouldn’t have been pleasant either, but it would have made sense.
“As far as I can tell, it could only be three people that could do this.”
“Who?” Haley asked.
“One would be the people we used to work for.”
“I thought you were on good terms now?”
“As far as I know I am. But who knows? Maybe something’s changed. Maybe there’s a new boss who’s got a stick up his ass and wants to do things.”
“Maybe call Lawson and see.”
Recker nodded. “Yeah. The other possibility is maybe The Scorpions are regrouping. They somehow got a hold of where I live and are looking for payback.”
“Now that would make sense. I don’t see how they would know to look here, but I could see it being them. What about the third one?”
The last one on Recker’s mind was equally disturbing, but it would also fit. “Vincent.”
“Ahh, I don’t know about that.”
“I don’t know about it either. I don’t see why he would. But we both know things change in this business. Maybe I stepped across the line on some of his deals or something. Maybe he’s planning something big and wants me out of the way.”
“He’s had plenty of chances before. Plus, it doesn’t seem like his style. I mean, what would he be doing messing around in here? Plus a random shot on the street? Seems sloppy for him. If he wanted you dead, there’s plenty of easier ways he could get it done. He could just call you for a meeting and then do it there.”
“Y
eah, I agree. So if we think that’s the most unlikely, I’d say that narrows it down to the other two.”
“Well, the CIA does know where you are. As for the Scorpions, if it’s them, they’d have had to follow you from somewhere. Maybe a meeting with Vincent that they were watching.”
“Maybe. Or maybe they followed Mia.”
“Whoever it is, we need to figure it out soon,” Haley said. “Because one thing’s for sure. If they tried once, they’ll try again.”
3
Recker and Haley drove back to the office, not giving Jones or Mia a heads-up about the apartment being broken into, or about the car-jackers eluding their grasps. When they burst into the office, Jones and Mia immediately spun their chairs around to welcome the two back. Their eyes were instantly drawn to the new cut that Haley was sporting.
“Well, looks like you two had quite the time of it,” Jones said.
Mia got up from her chair and walked over to Haley, dabbing at his eye. “C’mon, sit down.” She grabbed his arm and led him over to a chair so she could clean him up better.
“It’s really nothing,” Haley said.
“Doesn’t look like you’ll need stitches.”
As she cleaned up his wounds, Jones inquired about the events that led up to that. “Is everyone else still living?”
“What?” Recker asked, hardly even giving the car-jackers another thought. They were basically an afterthought to him at that point. He was more concerned about his other situation. “Oh, them. Uh, no, they got away.”
“They did?”
Jones was surprised as it wasn’t normal that they didn’t complete an assignment. What was even odder was how unmoved Recker seemed to be about it. In those rare cases when they didn’t complete the task, he was always upset about letting someone get away. But the expression he had on his face now indicated he just didn’t give a rip.
“What exactly happened out there?”
“Listen, those guys don’t really matter,” Recker replied. “They’ll get caught soon enough. Right now, we got a bigger problem.”
“Oh?”
“After those guys slipped away from us, Chris and I went back to my apartment.” Hearing that drew a sharp look from Mia, who turned her head. “Someone broke in and dumped it upside down.”
“Someone broke into your apartment?”
“Someone broke into our place?” Mia asked. She was now finished with Haley’s face. “Why? What were they looking for? What did they want?”
Recker shrugged. “No idea. I mean, I don’t have any trade secrets there or anything.”
“You know, I was thinking,” Haley said. “Maybe they broke in to plant a listening device or something.”
“You usually do that without anyone knowing you were there, though,” Recker replied. “You usually don’t advertise it.”
“Maybe that’s it though. Reverse psychology. With the place a mess, that’s probably the last thing you would think of to look for because you assume someone wouldn’t be that sloppy.”
“Someone knows where we live,” Mia said.
“What are you going to do?” Jones asked.
“We gotta move,” Recker answered. “We can’t stay there. It’s not safe.”
Jones got up and walked over to the window and looked out. “Are you sure someone wasn’t watching and followed you here?”
“I’m sure.”
“How would this have happened?”
Recker then went over his three theories of who he suspected it might have been.
“It’s probably me,” Mia said.
“What?” Recker said.
“They probably followed me. I probably got sloppy or wasn’t paying attention or probably didn’t do what I was supposed to.”
“It might not have been you, we don’t know that.”
“If that is the case, though, that would also mean they know where she works,” Jones said. “That brings up an interesting dilemma in its own right.”
Recker sat down and rubbed his head. “My head hurts just thinking about this stuff.”
“To me, that brings it down to either the CIA or Vincent. Scorpions don’t know about her.”
“There was that little incident in the hospital,” Haley said.
“But the ones responsible for that are dead.”
“That’s true.”
“I have a hard time believing that it’s Vincent,” Jones said.
“That’s what I said,” Recker replied.
“Why?” Mia asked. “He is a criminal, and he did kidnap us.”
“He did not kidnap us,” Jones replied. “He was the one who got us out of that situation if you recall.”
“Yeah, well, maybe. But I still don’t see why you guys are always so trusting of him.”
“Because he’s never given us reason not to,” Recker said. “Is he a criminal? Yes. Has he ever gone against us? No. Has he ever turned his back on us or not been there if we really needed him? No.”
“There was that thing with the police officers being shot that you thought he was involved with if you remember.”
“I’m not saying he’s a saint. I just think if he was going to turn on us, there would be better ways for him to do it.”
“Well then if we don’t think it’s him either, that brings us down to one,” Jones said. “But what would be the point of that?”
“I don’t know. How’s your scans coming along?”
“Still working on it. I don’t think it should be too much longer.”
“Why would the CIA be after you again?” Mia asked, the concern evident in her voice. “After helping them not that long ago.”
“We don’t know that it’s them,” Recker said.
“Perhaps you should call Ms. Lawson and find out,” Jones said.
“Already put a call into her on the way back here.”
Almost as if someone was listening, Recker’s phone rang. It was his CIA contact.
“Hey, saw you called,” Lawson said. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to… well, I’ll just cut straight to the point.”
“Don’t you always?”
“Someone took a shot at me on a random street corner earlier. Then someone broke into my apartment.”
“OK? You don’t exactly shy away from that kind of stuff, as I recall.”
“I just want to see, uh…”
“Oh, I see where this is going. You wanna know if it was us.”
“Well, yeah.”
“I thought we were on good terms now.”
“I thought so too.”
“As far as I know you’re a distant memory. I haven’t heard anything about you since you came back from London.”
“Maybe someone’s looking at old cases that had asterisks?”
“There’s no asterisk by your name anymore, you know that.”
“I thought I knew that. I just wanna make sure.”
“All right, hold on. I’m just getting to my desk now.” Recker could hear her starting to type away on her computer. “I’m getting into the system now to check your file.”
“So?”
“So I can see if anybody else has logged in and if they did, what they looked at, or what they were looking for.”
“Oh. I didn’t know all that was logged.”
“Are you kidding? Are you sure you worked here?”
Recker laughed. “Us field agents aren’t always versed in what goes on back in the office.”
“So I notice.” Recker listened to her typing away. “Find anything?”
“Going through the logs now.” Lawson cleared her throat. “I don’t see anything suspicious. The last time anyone looked at your file was me a few months ago.”
“Maybe someone didn’t look at the file?”
“Let me see if someone just did a search on your name.” After a few more minutes, her answer was the same as before. “No, that’s empty too. Nobody’s searched your name in months.”
“Is it possible they
could have kept that hidden?”
“No, it would still be logged. There would be a computer timestamp. They’d have to do a whole lot of hacking to erase that, and the security computers would have picked it up that something unusual was happening. There are safeguards against that sort of thing.”
“So you’re saying it’s not you.”
“Mike, would I lie to you?”
“Well, I would hope not. I thought we had built up some goodwill.”
“We have. And I wouldn’t throw that away.”
“So it’s someone else.”
“If there’s somebody after you… it’s someone else.”
“All right, thanks. Appreciate you getting back to me so fast.”
“No problem. If you need anything else, let me know. I’ll do what I can for you.”
After putting his phone down, Recker looked at the others. They already knew what the answer was based on what they were hearing.
“So she says it’s not them?” Jones asked.
“That’s what she says.”
“Do you believe her?” Mia asked.
Recker nodded. “I do.”
Jones scratched the top of his head. “Well if we believe her, and we believe it’s not Vincent, and we don’t believe it’s The Scorpions, then what do we have? We have eliminated all of our suspects.”
Recker leaned back in his chair and put his hands over his eyes. He wished he could just go to sleep and wake up later with the problem already resolved. He knew it didn’t work that way, though.
“Either we’re way off base with our theories,” Haley said. “Or someone’s not as trustworthy as we think they are.”
“Maybe you should ask Vincent point blank,” Mia said.
“Wouldn’t do any good. If it was him, he would deny it anyway.”
“Well you could say the same thing about the CIA too.”
Recker sighed. “Yeah, I guess you could.”
“What this comes down to is we’re going to need some proof,” Jones said. “Until we have something definitive, everything else is just going to be wild speculation and guesswork.”
“That’s what we need. Proof. And we ain’t got it.”
“Not yet. But we will.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”