Double Barrel

by Mike Ryan

  By the time Recker arrived on the scene, he could already see that he was too late. Too late to prevent it from happening, that is. Not too late to fix it. There was a white-colored van parked along the curb in front of the house. Looking at the two expensive looking cars in the driveway of the two-story house, and then looking at the dirty-looking van, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that one didn’t match the others. Though Recker didn’t immediately see any doors or windows open, he knew the crew was in there.

  He took out his gun and put the suppressor on, then snuck up to the side of the house, peeking in what wound up being the living room window. There was nobody in there. Going in through the front door didn’t seem like the best idea, figuring they probably had someone on it. Recker went around the side of the house and opened the white vinyl gate. He went around to the back door, seeing double hung glass french doors. He kept his head down as he passed underneath a few windows.

  Recker tapped on his earpiece. “Chris, how much time you got?”

  “Give me a few minutes.”

  Recker then heard what sounded like a woman screaming. “Got trouble. Can’t wait that long.”

  “I’m coming.”

  There were some curtains on the inside part of the french doors, but there was an open slit in the middle, allowing Recker to somewhat see inside. He still didn’t see anyone. He pulled down on the handle of the door, and to his surprise, it opened. He would’ve gotten in even if it wasn’t, but it did save a little time. He opened the door just enough for him to slip his body inside. He kept his gun out in front of him as he looked around and closed the door with his other hand. Then he heard another scream. It was coming from upstairs. Recker quickly ran through a hallway to get to the stairs. As soon as he turned the corner, though, he saw a man standing near the front door. He was armed with an assault rifle. As soon as the two men saw each other, they both instantly raised their weapons. Recker was quicker, though, and put two rounds in the man’s chest before he was able to get off a shot. The man slumped to the floor. Recker stepped over his body as he started ascending the stairs.

  Recker was about halfway up the steps when another man appeared at the top of them. He immediately saw Recker, who immediately saw him too. Just before the man was about to pull the trigger on his gun, a bullet ripped through his stomach, causing him to lose his balance and fall down the stairs. Recker moved to the side and clung to the wall as the man’s body fell past him. Recker kept his eyes glued to the top of the stairs in case anyone else came strolling by. And he wasn’t wrong. Upon hearing the thumping sound of one of their friends bumping down the steps, another one of the crew came by to see what was going on. After seeing Recker standing there, the next man immediately pointed his gun at him and fired before Recker was able to stop him. Recker ducked his head, the bullet whizzing past him and lodging into the wall. Recker returned fire, hitting the man in the left shoulder. He was just wounded, though. Recker raced up the rest of the steps to get to the man before he could revive himself. As Recker got to the top step, the man tried to sit up and reached for his weapon again. Recker put another bullet in him to end the contest.

  He didn’t know for sure, but Recker was pretty positive that everyone else in the house knew he was there. There were too many bodies thumping on the floor to spring a surprise on anybody else. Now on the second floor, Recker peeked his head around the wall to see which direction he should go in. The others came from the right, but that didn’t mean everyone was there. And it didn’t mean the occupants of the house were there either. They could have been split up. He then heard a noise coming from the right-hand side, and that was the direction Recker was going in. He walked past a bathroom, then down a short hallway, before coming to a closed door.

  Knowing the assailants were likely behind that door, and probably waiting for him to open it so they could blow his head off, Recker got down on the floor. Whenever the door opened, whoever was shooting at him would have their eyes up higher, expecting someone to be standing up. Him being on the ground would give him the advantage. At least for a second or two. And in this business, the advantage of a second or two was sometimes the difference between life and death.

  The door was slightly ajar, though Recker couldn’t see through the slit between the door and the frame. It just wasn’t closed tightly. He then put his left hand on the bottom of the door and forcefully pushed it open. Almost immediately the shots came fast and furious. But they all were flying over his head, where the men expected Recker’s body to be. Recker immediately located the first guy, almost directly in front of him. Two shots to the chest quickly eliminated him. Recker then looked further inside the room, and to the right, was what he assumed was the last remaining member of the team. Jones did say it was only a five-man group, and Recker took out four already.

  Recker stood up and looked at the man, who now was hiding behind the woman that lived there, holding her as a hostage. He had a gun pointed at the side of her head. Recker glanced around at the rest of the room, making sure there were no more armed men, and also looking for the rest of the family. There was only the husband, though.

  “Where are the kids?” Recker asked.

  “They’re at school,” the woman answered.

  “Shut up!” the man said, tugging at the woman’s hair.

  “You got nowhere to go,” Recker said. “Might as well drop the gun and get out of here.”

  “No. You drop the gun and get out of here or I’ll blow this woman’s brains out.”

  “You do that and there’s nothing that’s keeping you from me. You kill her and I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

  “Looks like we’re in a standoff then.”

  “I can do this all day. How about you?”

  The man took a deep breath, trying to think of a way he could get out of it. In reality, he was just trying to buy an extra minute or two. There was actually a sixth man to the group, one that Jones hadn’t detected. He was in another part of the house and was now sneaking his way towards Recker’s position. The man was slowly creeping up the steps, trying not to make any noises or sounds, hoping that the stairs didn’t creek as he went up them. He successfully made it to the top of the stairs, standing on the second to the top step, taking a few deep breaths before he jumped out at Recker and surprised him. The man jumped out from behind the wall and onto the top step, ready to fire into Recker’s back. The shot rang out and Recker turned around to face the man. He was already on his way to the ground, though. With Recker turning around, the man holding the woman let go of her and took aim at Recker. He fired, but when Recker turned to face the other man, he squatted down, making this shot go high and over his head. Recker then spun back around to face him, hitting him square in the chest. As the man fell over, Recker quickly went over to the man who was now face down in the hallway. He peeked down the steps and saw Haley standing there.

  “Looked like you could use some help.”

  Recker smiled, then laughed. “Just a little.”

  “Is that it? We done?”

  “Looks that way.”

  Haley began walking around the house, just to make sure there was nobody else there. While he was doing that, Recker went back over to the man he just shot, making sure he was dead. Once he confirmed that he was, he went over to the husband and untied him. His wife ran over to him and hugged him.

  “Thank you,” the wife said. “Thank you so much.”

  Recker looked at them and nodded. “You’re welcome.”

  “How did you guys get here so fast?” the husband asked.

  “Huh?”

  “You’re cops, right? One of our neighbors call?”

  “Uh, no, your neighbors didn’t call.”

  “Then how’d you know?”

  “We just got a tip. Everyone all right?”

  “Yeah, we’re fine,” the wife answered. “Thank you again.”

  “Just you two in the house?”

  “Yes, thankfully. Our kids are at school
.”

  “Good. Well, we’ll be going now. You guys take care.”

  “Wait,” the husband said. “What do you mean, you’re going? Don’t you have to do some crime scene stuff or something?”

  “Uh, no, we’re not that type of police. We’re more like an independent task force type of team. We just do what we have to do and leave. The regular cops do all that type of stuff.”

  “Oh. Well are they coming?”

  “I would suggest calling them as soon as we leave.”

  “You guys don’t do it?”

  “No, they don’t really like hearing from us.”

  “Oh.”

  “You guys take it easy.”

  Recker then left, leaving the husband and wife to look at each other, confused about what was happening.

  “What do we do now?” the wife asked.

  The husband shrugged. “I guess we call 911.”

  Recker went down the steps and found Haley standing by the front door, keeping a lookout outside.

  “Everything good?”

  “Clear as can be,” Haley answered. “Sorry I got here so late.”

  “Your timing was perfect as far as I’m concerned. Let’s head back to the barn, huh?”

  They drove back to the office, only telling Jones that the mission was successful. Recker wanted to wait until he saw him in person to razz him a little bit. Once they got there, Recker only dropped a hint, wanting to drag it out a little.

  “Everything went well then?” Jones asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Recker answered. “Six victims. But it was a success.”

  Jones immediately stopped typing, though he didn’t turn around or say anything yet. He just sat there with his fingers on the keyboard, trying to decipher what he just heard. He then spun his chair to the side as he saw Recker and Haley getting a drink from the refrigerator.

  “What do you mean, six victims? I thought you said it was a success.”

  “It was,” Recker said.

  “Well then why is there an extra body? Don’t tell me one of the homeowners died before you got there?”

  “Nope. Everyone was alive when I got there.”

  “You were too late to save them?”

  “No, the homeowners are fine. They’re both alive and kicking. No injuries. No physical ones anyway. Mentally is another story. Hard to get over something like that.”

  “Well then I don’t understand what you are saying. If there were five perpetrators and there were six victims, and the homeowners are fine, and you’re both fine, where did the other victim come from?”

  “There weren’t five of them,” Recker replied. “There were six.”

  Jones looked at him like he had two heads. “What do you mean, six?”

  “Uh, just what I said. There were six guys. Not five.”

  Jones looked at Haley. “Is he serious?”

  “He is,” Haley answered. “And he’s correct. There were six.”

  “That’s impossible.” Jones immediately started typing away again. “There was nothing indicating a sixth man.”

  “Looks like maybe you screwed up a little,” Recker said.

  “Impossible. I was very clear and I double check everything three times before giving it to you.”

  “Maybe your system had a malfunction.”

  “My system is working perfectly.”

  “Looks like you finally screwed the pooch on this one.”

  Jones continued looking over his notes. “There is nothing here that indicates a sixth man was even remotely in the cards.”

  “David, it’s fine. Just because that sixth guy that I didn’t know about or plan for almost killed me, it’s no big deal.”

  “What?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  Jones started looking frantically at his notes, afraid he missed something that he shouldn’t have. Recker looked at Haley and smiled. He had successfully worked Jones into a lather. His mission was done.

  “David, it’s fine, I’m just trying to mess with you.”

  Jones took a deep breath. “Thank goodness. I really thought I may have missed something. So there wasn’t a sixth man, then?”

  “Oh, there was a sixth man.”

  “There really was,” Haley said.

  Jones immediately went back to his notes, drawing a laugh from Recker. “David, it’s fine. Really. Don’t worry about it.”

  “How can you say not to worry about it?” Jones replied. “If I almost got you killed, then I must have screwed up somewhere along the way. Missed something.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t miss anything. At the last minute they probably decided to bring someone else on board. Or maybe it was a friend or relative that they wanted to see if they would be a good fit for the group on a future job. Or maybe they just had someone tag along at the last minute. Could have been anything. It happens.”

  “But it doesn’t happen to me. I make sure that I am quite thorough in explaining what you may come up against.”

  “And you do a great job of it. This isn’t on you. Don’t worry about it. Things happen out there that we can’t account for or plan for. We all know that. Just part of the job. Besides, everything worked out. Bad guys went down, good guys are alive, homeowners are safe. Win all the way around.”

  Recker’s phone went off, indicating a text message. Reading his body language, Haley could see that it wasn’t something normal.

  “Something wrong?”

  “No, not really. Tyrell says he’s got a guy who knows Sadko. Says he’s willing to talk to me.”

  “Well that’s good news,” Jones said.

  “Maybe.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “I dunno. Just hesitant about walking into a trap I guess.”

  “Tyrell wouldn’t do that,” Haley said.

  “It’s not Tyrell that I’m worried about. How do we know this guy isn’t playing him? Sadko worked for Vincent. He probably knows I have a relationship with Tyrell too.”

  “So he could have someone have Tyrell accidentally find them, which lures me in, then try a second attempt to finish what they started.”

  “Could be.”

  “So what do you plan on doing?” Jones asked.

  “Same thing I always do,” Recker replied. “Go in with my eyes wide open.” Then he looked at Haley and pointed at him. “And a backup plan.”

  7

  The man that was willing to talk to Recker initially wanted to meet at a park, but Recker put the kibosh on that. He wasn’t talking to anybody in a wide open area. Too many variables that he couldn’t control or know about at the moment. He wound up agreeing to meet the man at a small pub, that way Recker could see everything around him. Tyrell agreed to stay with the man until Recker got there.

  Before going into the pub, Recker and Haley looked around outside for twenty minutes to make sure there was nobody out there with a gun waiting for them to come back outside. They didn’t see anyone or suspect anything was amiss, not that it still couldn’t happen. But it seemed legit so far.

  “You know, Sadko may know my face now too if he was in on some of the stuff we did together,” Haley said.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “So me slipping in there undetected may not work if he does.”

  Recker shrugged. “What other choice do we have?”

  Recker and Haley went in, immediately splitting paths. Recker walked to the back of the room, instantly finding Tyrell, who stood up to make himself noticeable once he saw his friend walk in. Haley ordered himself a drink, then walked over to the side of the room and leaned against the wall. He would have looked out of place if he just stood there without anything in his hand.

  “Mike, what’s happening?” Tyrell said, shaking hands. He then looked over at the other guy, who Recker quickly glanced over to size up.

  Though Recker didn’t let his guard down, he didn’t think he had a lot to worry about with this guy. At least not from him physically. If he was setting him up for somet
hing later, well, that was still a worry. But he didn’t have to worry about this guy lunging over the table with a knife or anything. The man looked to be in his late forties, early fifties, and appeared to be a little down on his luck. His clothes were dirty and a little torn. He had one of those Newsboy Caps on that honestly looked a bit too big for his head. Recker figured the man probably found it on the street or behind a dumpster or something.

  “This is J.J.,” Tyrell said.

  Recker and J.J. shook hands, then sat down. They all had drinks in front of them, including Recker.

  “Took the liberty of getting one for you,” Tyrell said.

  “Thanks.”

  “You can bring Chris on over if you want, man, this is all on the up and up. You ain’t gotta worry about J.J. He’s good people.”

  “I like to be sure.”

  “I know. But I’d have given you a heads-up if I thought there was something hinky about this.”

  “So you’re The Man,” J.J. said, looking a bit wild-eyed. He was kind of in awe, like he was meeting a sports hero or an actor or something.

  “I don’t know about that,” Recker replied.

  “You’re a legend in this city, man. A man of the people. Always looking out for the little guy.”

  “I do my best.”

  “It’s just an honor sitting down here at the same table as you, man. Just a real honor.”

  Recker couldn’t help but let out a small smile. Well, half of one anyway. It was nice to hear those words, but it wasn’t what he was there for. “What’s this about Sadko? I hear you know him?”