by Matt Rogers
King stormed inside, Slater not far behind. Together they slipped past the unmanned reception desks and hustled across the wrestling mats to where Frankie sat on a folding chair between two punching bags. The bags still swung gently on their chains. Frankie must’ve taken out some of his pent-up anger on the leather.
When he saw how fast they were moving toward him he leapt to his feet, twitchy. He started reaching for something concealed near his waist. ‘Both of you just relax.’
‘Yeah, Frankie,’ King barked. ‘Yeah, that makes sense. Telling us to relax. You know how close your boys were to just shooting us dead and dumping our bodies?’
‘They wouldn’t do that.’
By that point they were close enough to reach out and grab him, but they didn’t go that far. They pulled up short, mean-mugged Frankie from ten feet away. He hadn’t finished the reach for his waistband, hadn’t pulled out whatever was underneath. Which was good, because then they’d have to kill him before they knew if there were any others he’d recruited.
Slater raised his voice, too. ‘“They wouldn’t do that.”’ He scoffed. ‘Wouldn’t have been much more than what they already did. The meatheads were okay. They were sort of just following along. But that Carter guy…I mean, what the fuck, Frankie. Did you know he hates blacks?’
Frankie’s eyes were wild. ‘What? What are you on about?’
‘He spewed all sorts of shit at me when we were getting forced out of the van. Towards you, too. Called you a wop. Said all the blacks and all the Italians are the same. All shit-for-brains. Then they were gone.’
Frankie shook his head. ‘I’ll kill him for this.’
King said, ‘What’s Carter told you?’
‘Carter ain’t answering.’
King didn’t respond.
Neither did Slater.
Frankie ran both hands through his hair. ‘On the phone. Before. You said, “After the job…”’
King pretended not to understand what the man was really asking. ‘Yeah. On the way back, which doesn’t make any sense, does it? Like, we got it done, and that’s when they decide to kick up a fuss? I told you on the phone. They’re cowards and they’re running for the hills. They’re—’
‘Shut up!’ Frankie roared, cutting him off. ‘Jesus, you really are shit-for-brains. Tell me about the job.’
Slater raised his eyebrows like it was no big deal. ‘What? What do you want to know? It went the way you wanted it to go.’
‘You got the photos?’
‘Why would I have the photos? Did you tell me to take the photos?’
Frankie’s face fell. ‘So he didn’t just run off, but he ran off with photos he knows are worth six figures.’ A long pause. ‘Why the fuck would he do that?’ He pulled a wad of cash out of his back pocket, at least thirty thousand dollars. ‘I got Carter’s cut right here. He knows that. All he had to do was bring the evidence back, clear it with me, and he’d be off to the club for bottle service.’ Another pause that felt like an eternity. ‘So why would he do that? He wouldn’t.’
Crunch time.
The wrong answer and this’d become a shootout.
Slater braced for anything.
King said, ‘Because he’s dumb, but he’s not that dumb.’
It made Frankie hesitate. ‘What?’
‘He’s hot-headed and stupid,’ King said. ‘That’s a given. He forced us out of the van for no good reason, but he saw we were pissed about it. And when we’re pissed, it’s a whole different ball game…’ He trailed off.
Slater picked up where he left off. ‘You were too transparent about our worth, Frankie. You should’ve played it down to Carter, at least at the start. We were your new star recruits and he hated that. He could see a timeline where we took all the jobs from him in a matter of weeks. So that triggered him and he forced us out of the back, made us walk. But then he would’ve realised that you would’ve blown your lid when he got back. Because we’re star recruits, right? And Carter jeopardised that. He skipped town because he’s terrified of you, terrified what you might do to him…’
It provided Frankie with an answer, but it also massaged his ego.
A potent combination.
The suspicion vanished, replaced by grave concern. ‘Heidi’s going to lose her shit.’
Without missing a beat, King said, ‘Who’s Heidi?’
Frankie’s phone started buzzing in his pocket.
He looked at his watch before he pulled it out and grimaced. ‘Speak of the devil…’
He nodded confirmation to himself as he looked at the screen, then answered on speakerphone.
Which conveyed trust, involvement in the messy details.
In the course of a single day, King and Slater had reached the gangster’s innermost circle.
Frankie said, ‘Hey, Heidi…’
‘I need the Choi photos right now,’ she snapped. Her voice was like a barb, cutting its way from the speaker. ‘And I need you for, like, four or five more jobs. Tonight. There’s a flat five hundred k in it for you if you get everything done in time. It’s urgent.’
Frankie stared vacantly into the empty space between King and Slater. Searching for words.
‘Listen, Heidi,’ he said. ‘We got Choi done. We made it brutal. There’s a slight delay with the photos, but we’ll—’
‘Delay?’
The question was cold, demanding.
Frankie said, ‘Yeah. Technical difficulties.’
‘What technical difficulties? Are you fucking kidding me?’
‘No,’ Frankie said matter-of-factly, trying to match her iciness. ‘I’m not kidding you. These things happen. The phones are playing up. Look, darlin’, life isn’t smooth sailing. I—’
‘Don’t you dare lecture me.’
Right then, King got a true sense of what Heidi Waters was capable of. Before he’d been distanced from it, hearing about her sociopathy from others, but on top of her lack of emotions was a dangerous bravery. She seemed to have no worldly experience with the intricacies of organised crime, but she was talking to Frankie — a violent and trained killer who controlled a stable of murderous fighters — like he was her child.
Like he was throwing a temper tantrum.
And to make things crazier, Frankie obeyed. ‘I’m sorry. I just need you to understand. We’re doing our best.’
‘Can you do the jobs for me?’
‘Yes. Absolutely.’ He gave King and Slater a wince, silently saying, I didn’t get your permission but there’s a whole lot of money in it for you. ‘How many people?’
‘Five.’
‘All tonight?’
‘Yes.’
‘Who are they?’
‘Employees.’
‘What have they done?’
‘They annoyed me.’
Frankie said nothing.
Heidi said, ‘Is that going to be a problem, Frankie?’
‘No,’ he said, his eyes searching for King and Slater’s acceptance. ‘No problem at all. But it’ll be seven-fifty. Not five hundred.’
‘Fine. But if I don’t have photos of Choi in my inbox by the end of the night the deal’s off.’
She hung up before he could accept her terms.
49
Endgame.
Employees were on the chopping block, so somehow shit had truly hit the fan, and Heidi was taking as many of her perceived foes down with her as she could. At least it finally gave King and Slater reason to move in once and for all on Frankie Booth.
Slater faced Frankie, who seemed shellshocked. ‘How important is it that we get this done?’
Frankie tried to shake himself out of his stupor. ‘What?’
‘If you turn her down, how angry is she likely to be?’
‘I’m not turning down seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. No fuckin’ way.’
‘You’re not getting the Choi photos. Carter’s already out of the city by now, I guarantee it.’
‘Doesn’t matter. We pull this off and sh
e’ll forget about Choi.’
‘And then?’
‘And then what?’
‘She’s getting arrested tomorrow if five of her employees go missing overnight. Coupled with that board member in the news — Jack someone?’
Frankie froze in his tracks, stared at Slater. ‘How do you know about that?’
‘Heidi Waters. Vitality+. It’s everywhere, Frankie. You think I didn’t recognise her voice? Some board member went missing a few days back. It was in the Chronicle.’
‘Who cares if she gets arrested?’ Frankie said. ‘You think I give a shit about Heidi? She’ll pay us in Bitcoin before she goes down, and that’s all that matters. It’s untraceable. The authorities won’t get it back.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘And these employees,’ King said. ‘They’re just…what? In her crosshairs?’
Frankie sized King up, took a step toward him. ‘What’s it to you?’
King shrugged. ‘I just want to know what they did.’
‘She pays us not to care about why she wants these things done.’
‘Yeah. But you don’t think about it? Sounds like none of them deserve it.’
Frankie scoffed and went for something in his back pocket. King stiffened, ready for a brawl, but Frankie pulled out a small metal flask. He unscrewed the top and took a swig, the gel in his hair gleaming even in the lowlight. Then he put it back in his pocket.
‘That’s for when I start thinking about any of this,’ he said. ‘I’d say you find something similar. Just make sure it ain’t meth or dope. I’ve been down that road. Doesn’t lead anywhere good.’
King said, ‘Okay. We’ll do this right. And then we’ll drink. What’s our cut of seven-fifty?’
‘Half-half.’
Slater shook his head. ‘Bullshit. We’re doing all the work.’
Frankie said, ‘You’re telling me you’ll turn down $375k. That’s years and years of salary for one night’s work.’
‘We’re not saying no. We’re saying we need more.’
‘It’s $375,000 or nothing,’ Frankie said. ‘I’m the middleman. Heidi sends me the details. Without me you ain’t got shit. So you take it or leave it.’
King patted the air, trying to cool tensions. ‘We’ll take it.’
Slater mean-mugged him. It was an impressive performance. King almost felt slightly intimidated. And it gave him the perfect setup.
He wheeled to Slater. ‘What? You wanna go back to coaching classes for a couple bucks? Be my guest. I’ll take the money myself.’
Slater said, ‘Fine. Fine. I’m in.’
Now King had done Frankie a favour, and it gave him room to lay out his own terms. ‘Frankie, we’ll need everyone you’ve got.’
Frankie bristled. ‘I don’t do that. I never go all in. What if you fuck this up? Then I’ve got no one. I’ll have to start again from scratch. Groom some fresh meat. That takes time.’
Slater forced himself not to react. He kept the rage under the surface, channelled it for later.
King said, ‘You know we need it. This is the payday of a lifetime for you, too.’
Frankie sighed. ‘Okay. Fine. I’ll get everyone together. And I’ll come myself. Make sure we don’t have a repeat of the Choi job.’
Slater said, ‘How many you got?’
‘Three more. Two older guys and Danny.’
King shook his head. ‘Not Danny.’
‘He’s capable. I didn’t push it before but he can do this.’
King’s heart was in his throat. ‘Has he done this before?’
Frankie stared, furious. ‘None of your fucking business. You’re asking a whole lotta questions that aren’t any of your concern. You two are the lucky ones here. Remember that. Without me you’d still be looking for a gym that’s…how did you put it?…out of the spotlight.’
King thought about pushing it, weighed it up. Decided that it’d only show his hand if he was too forceful with the Danny issue. He was supposed to be a remorseless killer, so what would he care about some kid?
He said, ‘Fine. But if he drops the ball…’
‘He won’t.’
King didn’t know what that implied.
Frankie’s phone pinged with an incoming message. He grinned. ‘Ah-ha. Details.’
He crossed to them, showed them the phone as he opened the PDF attachment Heidi had sent through. It was an Excel spreadsheet, a small table with seven rows and three columns.
Seven rows for seven employees.
The first column had their full names.
The second column had their addresses.
The third column showed who was assigned to kill them.
Frankie’s name was attached to the first five names.
Someone named Petr had been assigned the final two.
Frankie said, ‘There you go. First five are for us. I’ll get Danny, Bobby, and Kit to meet us here within the hour.’
Slater said, ‘And the other two? She wants seven dead.’
‘That’s not up to me,’ Frankie said. ‘Would be nice to go for all seven, round it up to a cool million, but she dishes work out to Petr and his goons sometimes.’
‘Who are they?’
‘An independent crew. Russian gangsters or some such. But what I’ve gathered from Heidi is that Petr’s been fucking up lately. She hinted that she had his boys following some dissenting employee, Margaret or Mary or whatever, and that they dropped the ball. Sounds like she got away.’
‘Which is why she gave you five and Petr two instead of an even split?’
‘Exactly.’
Slater didn’t care about any of this. He spent the whole conversation with his eyes locked on the spreadsheet on the screen, burning the last two names and addresses into his memory. If he forgot a single word…
The stakes gnawed at him, quickening his pulse.
Too soon, Frankie whipped the phone away. ‘I gotta make calls. Stick around. Don’t go anywhere.’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ King said.
When Frankie disappeared into a back room, Slater hustled to the other end of the warehouse and called Alexis.
In a hushed whisper, he recited the last two addresses and waited for her to write them down.
She said, ‘What’s happening?’
He kept his voice low. ‘The Russians are hitting both houses tonight. They’ll start at the first one and I imagine they’ll do them one at a time instead of splitting up their forces. They’ve already taken too many casualties and they don’t want any more. You need to be there to intercept them or two employees are going to die.’
A pause, then, ‘Okay.’
50
The rental house held a gross and uneasy sensation in the air.
Alexis could taste it.
Mary sat at the kitchen table on one of the rickety dining chairs, her knees tucked up to her chin, rocking back and forth. The motion made the chair legs groan, but she wouldn’t stop.
Alexis came out of the bedroom with her MP-443 Grach tucked into her waistband and sensed that fear as an aura, encompassing the whole house.
She knew it wouldn’t go well, but she said, ‘I need to go for a little while.’
Mary looked up. ‘No.’
‘You bunker down here. No one followed us. No one knows where you are. You’ll be safe.’
‘You don’t know that. You said I’d be safe at that motel. And…’
She trailed off, because she knew what the retort would be, but Alexis made it anyway to hammer the point home. ‘Because you took yourself to that motel. And you made mistakes. This place is different.’
‘Yes,’ Mary said. ‘I know. But…they almost got me. At Azure Waters. I didn’t even tell you how it happened. They knocked on the door and I looked through the keyhole and saw them standing there and I just…opened up. That’s the worst part. I’ll always have to live with that. That I got scared and I just caved. Didn’t think, didn’t plan, didn’t re
sist. I knew they wanted to hurt me and I thought it’d make them more angry if I tried to get away so I opened up for them and let them take me. They walked me out with a gun at my back and if your friends came a minute later…’
She bowed her head, holding back tears.
‘I know,’ Alexis said. ‘I know what that feels like. I’m still green in this world. I can remember that feeling clear as day. The powerlessness.’
Mary didn’t know what to say to that.
Alexis said, ‘Ernie McFarlane.’
Mary jolted as if electrocuted.
Alexis nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. You know him?’
‘Of course. He’s the CFO of Vitality+.’
‘The men that tried to kill me today… there’s more of them. They have his home address. They’re headed there to do what was done to Jack Sundström.’
Alexis had been wary of giving too much away at risk of tipping Mary over the edge, spiralling her into total nihilism, but she needed to know.
That there was more at stake than her own personal safety.
Alexis said, ‘Heidi is going to have seven employees beaten to death tonight.’
Mary’s voice trembled. ‘W-why? Ernie’s harmless. He’s always had the best intentions. He’s never even…provoked her. Oh, God, and the others. Who…?’
‘Heidi doesn’t care anymore. She sees herself rushing toward a cliff and she’s going down swinging.’
Mary breathed out, tried to get her head straight, tried to make an objective observation. ‘This isn’t about me anymore.’
Alexis nodded.
‘Go,’ Mary said. ‘I’ll stop complaining. I’ll be fine.’
Alexis rushed for the door.
51
Ernie McFarlane was proud of his little San Mateo condo.
In comparison to other senior executives’ homes it wasn’t much, but comparison is the thief of joy. He could certainly afford better, being the chief financial officer at a company as popular as Vitality+. For months they’d been a staple in the headlines, one of the hottest media topics in all of Silicon Valley, the appeal and popularity buoyed by Heidi Waters and her indomitable spirit.