by Mike Ryan
Recker wiped his mouth with his forearm, trying to think of what to do. “True. But we also don’t know if they’re it or there’s more roaming around here. This is a big place. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more somewhere else. I just don’t want us to get trapped by someone coming up from behind us while they’re shooting at us from above.”
“I kind of doubt Vincent and Malloy got pinned down with just five shooters. Especially all at one angle. I’d assume they were shooting from different positions.”
Recker nodded. “Yeah, I’d agree. Question is, where are the rest.”
“Let’s just knock out these guys first. Take it one at a time.”
“Well, we got them at a disadvantage. In order to fire at us, they gotta reveal themselves. They can’t just lay there. They gotta get up, and when they do, they’ll give us a target.”
They sprinted over to the next container. Recker stopped short of it, standing at the previous container to give himself a good line of fire. Haley kept going until he got to the one the next shooter was on. He made sure he banged against the container to make sure the shooter knew someone was there. It worked. The man on top looked down to see who was there, giving Recker just enough of a target to fire. Upon the bullet entering the man’s body, he fell limp and fell forward off the container, hitting the ground with a thump.
The plan worked well, so they decided to try it again with the next one. They did the same exact thing. And just like the last one, the plan worked to perfection. With two more shooters to go, though, they weren’t about to fall prey to the same trick. After seeing the first three guys go down, the last two weren’t waiting for the same fate. They immediately started climbing down off their respective containers. Recker and Haley were waiting for the first man as his feet touched the ground, both of them hitting the unsuspecting man at the same time.
Several bullets ricocheted off the containers behind them as the final man reached the ground and spotted them and began firing. Haley dropped to the ground on his stomach as he returned fire, while Recker took cover behind the next container. There was a brief back-and-forth exchange which only lasted about thirty seconds before the last man was also terminated.
Recker and Haley met up again by the edge of the container and started looking around to figure out their next move. It was quickly determined for them, though. Several more shots rang out, though they were farther away.
“Sounds like maybe it’s coming from the other side,” Haley said.
Recker agreed. “Probably holed up in the warehouse.”
Recker and Haley started running for the warehouse, weaving between a couple of containers on the way there. They wanted to get there quickly, but at the same time, not make any sloppy mistakes on the way there like making themselves a highly visible target. It was only a couple of minutes before the warehouse was in sight. Once they ran past the containers, it wasn’t just a straight path to the warehouse, though. There were plenty of other storage boxes, crates, and equipment along the way. It almost felt like it was staged the way it was set up. It wasn’t an abandoned facility, though. There was actually work done there from time to time. Vincent did make sure there were plenty of obstacles around, as he usually did in the places that he owned, so that it did afford him some protection in the event something like this ever happened. He never wanted to be caught out in the open with nowhere to go.
Once the warehouse was in their sights, Recker and Haley immediately saw where the commotion was coming from. There were four men just on the outside of the warehouse shooting at targets inside, which they figured was where Vincent and his team had retreated to. Then one of the men broke off from the main group and started moving to the side.
Haley tapped Recker on the arm. “Hey, one guy’s trying to move around!”
“He’s yours, take him.”
As Haley moved on from his position, Recker tried to move too, to get a little better line of sight on the remaining three guys. He didn’t want to alert them of his presence yet, hoping he could take them by surprise and pick one or two of them off before they knew he was there. As he took up a new position, Haley quickly ran for the back, getting there just in time as the other man was trying to open the back door. The man saw Haley coming out of the corner of his eye and stopped what he was doing to face him. He jumped and turned to the side, pointing his gun, though he didn’t get a chance to fire it before Haley took him out.
“Man down,” Haley said.
“Good,” Recker replied. “Just stay back there and cover that door in case there’s more.”
“Will do.”
Haley retreated back to another spot on the perimeter so he could still keep an eye on the door if anyone else tried the same idea. Recker had now moved to a more advantageous position, getting a clear view of the sides of a couple of the men. As soon as he had a shot, he took it. The man closest to him immediately went down. Upon seeing their partner drop, the man in the middle instantly turned, a look of bewilderment on his face as he tried to understand what was happening. The look was quickly erased by one of pain as a slug from Recker’s gun penetrated his torso. Once he dropped, the third remaining man of the group raised his body and started shooting at Recker’s position, causing Recker to take cover behind a large crate. But in the process of firing, the man exposed himself to the warehouse, with all three men inside finding their mark at the same time.
There was an eerie silence that filled the air, as no one was quite sure that the battle was actually over, even though there were no more guns firing. Everyone just waited in their respective spots for the next few minutes, waiting for someone to move, someone to fire, a noise to be heard, something that would indicate there were more of them out there. But there wasn’t. It was a noise that wouldn’t come. After five more minutes, all the respective combatants started to leave their positions. Recker moved into the open in front of the warehouse, Vincent, Malloy, and their other man came out of the warehouse, and Haley emerged from the back of it. They all convened in a circle a few yards in front of the warehouse building. Vincent motioned to his man to check on all the bodies, both theirs, and their attackers, to see if anyone was still alive.
“I thank you for the assist,” Vincent said.
Recker nodded. “Glad we were able to get here in time.”
Malloy grinned. “Though you did cut it close.”
“Better late than not at all.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
“What exactly happened?”
Vincent took a deep breath before he answered. “Well, as you know from our meeting this morning when I told you our men had been ambushed, this was where it happened. We came up on the scene, started checking my guys, then more bullets ripped through the sky. And more of my men went down.” Vincent’s eyes naturally looked to the ground, where he saw a few of his men laying. There was an obvious sadness to his face.
“How’d they know about this place?”
“Sadko,” Malloy answered. “Had to be.”
Vincent nodded. “Yes. I would agree. He’s been here. He knew of it.”
“How would he know your guys would be here though?” Recker asked.
“Even if we’re not conducting business somewhere, we still maintain checks on all of our properties regularly. I send out teams to check places, make sure there are no vagrants, nobody’s broken in, things like that. Since this is a facility we’re still using on a fairly regular basis, it gets checked every week.”
“Every Wednesday it’s been,” Malloy said.
Vincent sighed. “Yeah. Every Wednesday. We’ve moved a lot of our deals around to be more unpredictable, show up at different places and different times, but this… with this we got sloppy.”
“It’s my fault. I should’ve changed the schedule.”
“No, Jimmy, I allowed it to go. I figured they would be more preoccupied with cutting in on some of our deals that I didn’t think they would worry about building checks. Such a mundane
task. Show up to a place, check it out, leave five or ten minutes later.”
“Five minutes is all it takes,” Recker said. “You don’t think this could be someone else, other than Sadko?”
“No.”
“It’s definitely him,” Malloy said.
“The real question is whether he’s doing it on his own or under Jerrick’s orders.”
“I would think it’s with Jerrick’s blessing. From my brief conversation with him, I got the impression he runs a tight ship. I don’t think he gives his guys freelancing capabilities. He does what he wants, when he wants. And there’s no deviations.”
A minute later, the rest of Vincent’s men arrived through the gate, finding the group in front of the warehouse. Vincent instructed them to search the rest of the grounds to make sure there was no one else still there lying in the weeds. Then Vincent’s other man came over to him.
“Everyone’s dead, sir.”
“Even our guys?” Malloy asked. “None are still breathing.”
“Everyone’s dead. Everyone.”
Vincent looked at his top lieutenant with a worried look on his face. “It appears a formidable foe has grown within our mists. And a deadly one.”
18
Recker and Haley were getting ready to leave the apartment when Recker suddenly remembered he had forgotten something. They arrived late the night before and Mia had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for them, so Recker didn’t have the opportunity to give her the present yet. They had already said their goodbyes to Mia and had opened the door to leave when Recker tapped his friend on the arm.
“Wait a minute,” Recker said. “I didn’t give that necklace to Mia yet.”
“Oh. You wanna do it now?”
“If you don’t mind waiting.”
Haley shrugged. “Don’t matter to me. David said nothing’s going on right now, so we got time.”
As they walked back through the living room, Mia emerged from the kitchen. “What are you guys doing? Thought you were leaving?”
Recker put his finger in the air and disappeared into the hallway as he went into their bedroom.
“What’s going on?” Mia asked. Haley shrugged again. “You know what this is about, don’t you?”
“My lips are sealed.”
Recker came back out a minute later, his arm tucked behind his back. He had a smile on his face. It actually made Mia a little suspicious and uncomfortable to see him act like that. It was unusual for him.
“What are you doing?” Mia asked.
She briefly looked at Haley before her eyes went back to her boyfriend. He was acting so strangely she had fleeting thoughts that, with one hand behind his back, he was about to get on one knee and ask her the question. She was starting to get nervous. Her thoughts were quickly put to rest when Recker suddenly brought his hand around, showing her a small box.
“Here,” Recker said with a happy grin. “I got you something.”
“You got me something? Why?”
Recker shrugged. “Just to let you know I love you and I appreciate you… just being you.”
“Awe, that’s so sweet.” Mia then took the box from his hands and slowly opened it. She took out the necklace and held it up high, admiring it. “Wow, that is so pretty.”
“You like it?”
“I love it.” She then reached over and gave him a kiss and a hug. “It looks expensive.”
“You’re worth it.”
Mia couldn’t hide the smile from her face as she went over to a mirror and put it on. “I love it.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
Mia went back over to her boyfriend and jumped into his arms as she put her lips onto his. “I love it. And I love you thinking of me for no reason. When did you get this?”
“Just picked it up yesterday.”
She put her hands on the side of his face and gave him another passionate kiss. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
“Should I leave the room?” Haley asked, somewhat sarcastically.
Recker and Mia both looked over at him and smiled. The text ringer on Mia’s phone then went off. She went over to it and made a small huffing sound.
“What is it?” Recker asked.
“Oh, just work. They wanted to know if I could come in today and cover a shift.”
“But you’re off today.”
“Well, I’m not really doing anything, so I guess I can go in.”
Recker shot Haley a look. “But we don’t have coverage for you right now. Vincent’s men aren’t there.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Mia…”
“Don’t Mia me. I’m not gonna hide in a corner somewhere. I’m sure they’re not going to try the same thing again. You just go ahead and I’ll be fine.”
Recker shook his head. He wasn’t having that. “No. Chris, why don’t you head to the office? Tell David what’s going on and I’ll be in soon. If you need me for anything, call me.”
“We got you covered,” Haley said, leaving the apartment.
As Haley closed the door behind him, Recker gave Mia a face. She knew exactly what it meant.
“I can’t just do nothing.”
“I’m not saying to do nothing,” Recker said. “I just want to make sure you’re adequately protected.”
“I’m fine. Nobody can get into that wing without proper credentials, anyway.”
“We’re not dealing with idiots here.”
“They wouldn’t try something there.”
“Maybe. But last time they waited until you left.”
“So I’ll eat in the nurses’ room.”
Recker sighed, knowing he was going to lose the conversation. “Fine. But I’m driving you. And I’ll pick you up.”
“OK.”
As Mia went into the bedroom to change and get ready, Recker made a phone call. Malloy immediately picked up.
“Hey, hate to bother you so soon after yesterday, but I got a question.”
“Shoot,” Malloy replied.
“Mia just got called into work. I know this wasn’t on the schedule, and I know you guys are reeling a bit after losing some guys yesterday, but is there anyway you can still provide some coverage at the hospital today?”
Malloy thought for a few moments. “Uh, yeah, I think so. Might be a little bit of a scaled down crew though.”
“Whatever you can give, I’d appreciate it.”
“Might only be able to spare two or three guys today.”
“Like I said, whatever you can give.”
“Consider it done. When’s she going in?”
“I’m driving her over in a few minutes.”
“I can have them over there in about half an hour.”
“Sounds good. I appreciate it.”
“After what you did for us yesterday, it’s the least we can do.”
“How you guys making out?”
“We’re dealing, you know? I mean, it’s never easy burying guys you get close to, but I guess it’s part of the deal, right?”
“It is.”
“It’s a small hit. A small setback. But we still got plenty of men. And we still got plenty of fight. We’re going to bring it. And we’re going to bring it soon.”
“Hopefully this isn’t something that drags out,” Recker said. “I have a feeling that the longer this goes, the more powerful Jerrick’s going to become. And it’s going to get tougher to stop him.”
“I agree. We’ll get him.”
Once Mia came back out, Recker quickly said goodbye and ended the conversation.
“Who was that?”
Recker shoved the phone into his pocket. “Uh, no one. Just… David.”
“That was not David.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I can always tell when you’re talking to him.”
“You can?”
“Yes.”
“Well this time I was talking to him different.”
“No
you weren’t. Don’t lie to me.”
Recker started to say something, but didn’t want to keep lying, so he just threw his arms up.
“That was Vincent, wasn’t it?”
“No.”
“Malloy.”
“Uh… maybe?”
“Mike, I’ll be fine.”
“I’m just making sure.”
“You’re having them send men there, aren’t you?”
“Just a couple.”
“Mike, you can’t have people there twenty-four-seven.”
“Who says?”
Mia rolled her eyes. “I know this is a fight I won’t win, so I won’t try anymore.”
“Good. Because you weren’t.”
They left the apartment and drove down to the hospital. Mia was a bit surprised when he didn’t pull up to the front to let her off. Recker parked in a spot.
“What are you doing?”
Recker turned the car off. “Walking you inside.”
“I’m sure that’s not necessary.”
“Do I tell you how to take care of babies and new mothers in there?”
“No.”
“Then don’t tell me how to protect someone.”
Mia rolled her eyes and sighed, but just accepted the answer and got out of the car. Recker walked her inside, keeping his head on a swivel as they walked in, ready and waiting for a surprise. Waiting for something to suddenly appear and jump out at them, probably holding a gun. Thankfully, nothing came. Once they got up to Mia’s floor, they gave each other a hug and a kiss.
“I guess this is my stop,” Mia said.
“Guess it is.” They kissed again.
“I guess I’ll let you know when I’m done.”
Recker couldn’t shake the feeling that something seemed off. He wasn’t sure what it was. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The hospital seemed to be operating as it always did. But he still had that feeling that something was off.
“Would you stop worrying?” Mia said, knowing what the expression on his face meant.
“I’m just…”
“A worrywart. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m just… extra precautious. Especially when it comes to you.”