by Matt Hilton
‘Oh, so you must be Shuggie, then?’ I swept my gaze around the barroom. Shook my head at what I saw. ‘You know, place like this dump, you should be ashamed of yourself.’
‘I ain’t Shuggie, asshole. And that’s not what I meant.’
‘Yeah, I know what you meant.’
‘I own this place. I own what goes on under this roof.’ He stuck out his grimy hand a second time. ‘Hand it over.’
I shrugged.
‘OK.’
The SIG was between his eyes before the smirk had fully formed on his lips.
Chairs scraped and there was a chorus of shouts as just about everyone leapt to their feet, pulling out guns of their own. A couple of the more delicate customers headed for shelter.
It was like DefCon Five had just been announced and anarchy was the new world order.
It kind of matched my mood.
‘This is how it’s going to be,’ I said. My words were for everyone in the room. ‘Everyone relaxes, puts away their weapons and gets the hell out of my way. The alternative is that Biker Boy will be throwing his very own wake in the near future.’
‘He’s only one fucking pussy,’ an anonymous voice shouted from out of the crowd. ‘We can take him out.’
‘One pussy with a gun at your stinking boss’s head,’ I reminded the shouter. Turning my attention to Tats, I asked him, ‘How would you like things to go? Bit of a party animal, I guess. Should be a good turnout for your wake.’
‘Put down your goddamn guns,’ Tats yelled. ‘Any of you muthas with itchy fingers, you’re gonna answer to me!’
Smiling at him, I grabbed a handful of his denim cut-off.
‘Me and you are going to walk out of here together,’ I told him.
He was shorter than I was, but bulkier in the chest. Slightly awkward for getting a hold round his neck. Making do with bunching his cute little ponytail in my left hand, I stuck the SIG under his ear. That way we moved towards the door.
A man to my right maybe still had it in his mind that I was a cop. Cops will always warn before they shoot. He lurched at me, trying to grab the gun away from Tats’ throat.
But I’m not a cop.
My sidekick found his knee. There was a tendon-popping twang and his leg now had a two-way joint. His face screwed around the agony, a good target for my elbow. He went down, but at least in his unconscious state he wasn’t in pain any longer.
In the fraction of a second that it took to take the idiot out, the SIG had never wavered from its target.
‘Any more of you assholes want to test me?’ I growled.
They hung back like a pack of hyenas, wary of the lion in their midst, starving but too afraid to try to snatch away its kill.
Taking that as my cue, I dragged Tats backwards and out of the door. Arrayed along the road outside was a row of chopped and converted Harley Davidsons and other bikes I didn’t recognise. I shot at a few of them, putting 9 mm ammo through their gas tanks. One of them went up in the air like the space shuttle, trailing fire and burning fuel that splashed most of the others. Rapidly I dragged Tats away from the conflagration, even as others began to spill out of Shuggie’s. Suspended between their desire to get Tats free and saving their beloved bikes, there could only be one winner. I was able to bundle Tats into my Ford Explorer without anyone else trying to play the hero.
Screeching out of the parking lot, I pushed the SUV into the eastern lane approaching eighty miles an hour and gaining.
‘Fuck, man!’ Tats said from the passenger seat. ‘You didn’t have to go as far as blowing the bikes to hell.’
I smiled. The action had done my bad mood the world of good.
‘Had to make it look real, Ron, otherwise they might’ve guessed you were a willing hostage.’
2
I’m not a cop. I’m not a bounty hunter. But I didn’t mind the cash kicked back my way for taking Ron Maynard in.
He was grateful for the service, even thanked me for my help as I passed him over to his bail bondsmen on the outskirts of Tampa. I nodded at him, but didn’t accept his hand. After all, he was a punk criminal who’d hurt too many people in the past. His only endearing quality – and the reason I’d agreed to the job of getting him out – was his desire to get away from the lifestyle and go whistleblower on his gang’s activities. His testimony would put a shitload of his friends behind bars. Not as satisfying as if they’d been sitting astride their bikes when I blew them to pieces, but there you go. Still a good result.
It was the small hours of the morning but the sub-tropical heat was like a wet hood thrown over my head. An air-conditioned room and comfy bed seemed like a nice idea, but I’d arranged to meet with my friend Jared Rington first. Didn’t matter what time it was, Rink would be waiting up for me.
Rink has a condominium up in the wooded lands north-east of Temple Terrace, but he keeps an office for his private investigations business in downtown Tampa. It was outside his office that I parked the Ford. Few people were out on the street, and what traffic there was in the area was reduced to the occasional police cruiser or taxicab. The blinds had been drawn on the window to his office and a ‘Closed’ sign was hanging in the door, but when I twisted the handle the door swung open.
Rink was sitting behind his computer tapping keys as I walked in and shed my coat. He just didn’t look right at the desk. He should have been in a wrestling ring or octagonal cage. If he was a foot shorter and one hundred pounds lighter he’d have looked like the hero from a 1970s Kung Fu movie. He owed the blue-black hair and hooded eyes to his Japanese mother, while his size and muscular build had to have been passed down from his Scottish-Canadian father.
‘Got a call thanking us for a job well done,’ he said. He gave me a grin, his teeth flashing white against his tawny skin. ‘Course, we might have to do a little damage control over the shit storm you left at Shuggie’s Shack. Did you have to burn down the entire building?’
‘It burned down?’ I couldn’t help the chuckle. ‘Never mind, it was a pigsty. Shuggie will likely thank us.’
If things worked out with Maynard, Shuggie’s wouldn’t be getting as many customers in the future. The owner would get more from the insurance payout than the place was worth.
Pulling out the envelope that Richard Dean had passed me, I put it down on the desk next to Rink’s computer. ‘What do you know about this client, Rink? Impression I got was he’s on paranoia overdrive.’
‘Just your run-of-the-mill white-collar worker with a mortgage to support,’ Rink said. His Arkansas drawl always made me think of Wild West heroes; which was apt considering Rink was as quick on the draw with a gun. All that was missing was the white Stetson.
‘So how does he come up with that kind of cash?’
On the drive over, I’d pulled into a rest stop. The way in which Dean had conducted the meeting had set off a worm of unease inside me. The envelope contained a number of photographs and a wad of cash. Twenty thousand dollars to be precise.
‘Maybe he’s done a little digging into his daughter’s college fund. It ain’t like she’s gonna be needin’ it.’
Moving the cash to one side, I laid out the series of five photographs. The first showed a pleasant – if homely – looking young woman smiling into the camera. She was slim, her slightly prominent ears emphasised by her tight ponytail. She wore only a dab of make-up and her jewellery didn’t extend beyond silver studs in her ears and a delicate crucifix on a chain at her throat. Her clothes were a conservative blue cardigan over a white blouse. Richard Dean’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Marianne, looking shy and uncomfortable in front of the lens.
In contrast, the young woman in photos two and three could have been lifted directly from a celebrity gossip magazine. This woman was the type you usually see hanging on to a movie star’s arm. If it weren’t for the crucifix I wouldn’t have immediately made the connection to the insecure child in the first photograph. Marianne had definitely blossomed from drab duckling to radiant swan.
&
nbsp; The final two images gave me most concern. The first showed Marianne in the back of a limousine. She was drunk, her hair disarrayed, clothing twisted askew. The man sitting beside her was mugging for the camera as he slipped his hand up the hem of her dress. His face was cruel, mindless of the token effort that Marianne made to push his hand away. Then there was photo number five. A flat portrait shot lifted from a Miami P.D. file.
Marianne had been crying. Her hair was dark with sweat and clung to her forehead. Mascara was smeared down her cheeks, but failed to hide the bruises round both eyes. Her top lip was split in two places, and an earring had been torn from her left lobe, leaving dry blood streaking her neck.
The most poignant thing that was instantly noticeable to me was the lack of her crucifix.
There was a note pinned to the final shot. Handwritten by Richard Dean, it said, ‘Will the next photograph be taken from the M.E.’s post-mortem report?’
Maybe he had a point.
Recalling his final words to me, I thought about what he expected. ‘Please, Mr Hunter, I need you to get my daughter away from that monster. If it means killing him to do that … well … I’ll pay you any price you want.’
When Rink and I were in the Special Forces together we’d both killed men. Government-sanctioned killings of terrorists and gang lords. I never saw myself as an assassin; still don’t. I saw the death we doled out as a necessary evil. The scum we put down deserved what they got, and it usually made life so much better for the innocents who had suffered under their reign. Maybe I’d been a little too quick to deny Dean’s assumption that I was a hit man. There were some men in this world that needed killing: Marianne’s battered face was all the proof I required.
‘The asshole in the limo,’ I asked, ‘I take it he’s Jorgenson?’
Rink swung the computer monitor so that I could see it. The same face smiled out at me from the screen. He was a clean-cut-looking kid, early twenties, reddish hair. Bradley Jorgenson was one of the playboy elite who were gaining media attention on the Miami scene.
‘He do that to her?’ I tapped the police photograph.
‘Marianne wouldn’t go through with any official charges. She denied Jorgenson was responsible. So did more than two dozen partygoers at his mansion that night. Course, when they were out of earshot of the police, talk was different. They said Jorgenson must have beaten her for the hell of it. He was pissed off about some deal or another going ass-up: Marianne was the nearest punching bag he could find.’
‘But she went back to him?’
‘Don’t think she had a choice in the matter.’
‘We’ll see about that.’
Three months ago, moving out here had been a big decision. It had taken me all of about one minute to consider whether I could build a new life in the sunshine of Florida. It meant leaving behind my old life in England, an ex-wife who I still cared for, and my two dogs, Hector and Paris. Diane took the German Shepherds and I took the first flight out. Rink’s offer of work had clinched the deal. When we were in the forces together we’d worked as equals. Although – according to the sign on his door – Rink was at the helm of this P.I. outfit, we were still equals now. So there was no need for an executive meeting to decide what we were going to do about the Marianne Dean situation. I pressed buttons on my mobile phone.
‘Mr Dean. You’re still awake. Good.’ I looked down at the portrait of his daughter. The fear behind the flash-washed image couldn’t hide. ‘You still want me, I’m going to take the job.’
I’d have taken it whatever his answer.
3
Mention New Orleans and certain images come to mind. The world famous Mardi Gras carnival. Jazz musicians. River boats plying the wide Mississippi. Then there are those pictures that people wish to cleanse from their minds. Hurricane Katrina. Floods and devastation. The dead and the displaced. Thousands of families still living in transit, suffering for all they had lost when nature unleashed its pent-up fury upon them.
New Orleans is a potent mix of extravaganza and destruction, magic and mayhem, wonder and desolation.
It would be hard to imagine a human equivalent, a poster boy for the city. No one would instantly bring to mind the face of Dantalion. But, in his own estimation, he was the very essence of this contradictory place of enchantment and woe.
Outwardly, he accepted, he was no great shakes to look upon. Some might even say that his unhealthy pallor and emaciated frame spoke of disease and decay. Initially people would avoid him, but in the end they’d come when he wished. They would bend to his will and give him what he desired. He had that power. It was his gift.
It was what had made him a master of his craft.
Why he was much sought after when certain people required other persons dead.
He was meeting certain people today.
Not in New Orleans, the place of his birth, but far to the east in Miami. The whisper had gone out among those certain people that he was in town and available. A coded message had come through on his BlackBerry, requesting a meeting. This was why he found himself sitting on a bench in Bayside Park overlooking Biscayne Bay. Nearby the Macarthur and Venetian Causeways carried traffic over the holiday-brochure water towards the island where the world famous Miami Beach could be found. The Mildred and Claude Pepper Fountain was just visible through the trees, and to his left he could make out the Miami Queen at its permanent berth, allegedly Miami’s most unforgettable attraction. Dodge Island was a low-slung beast hunkering in the water. Pale against the turquoise sea, it was like a great white whale aground in the shallow bay. Industrial units and storage containers made up the barnacles on this creature’s back.
He wasn’t there to appreciate the sights, not a tourist. But that was how he would appear to anyone walking by. His pale skin was at risk from the sun, so he’d be forgiven the wide-brimmed hat and dark glasses. His billowing white coat, like the cassock of a medieval monk, was a little strange when taken at face value, but not compared to the garb of some visitors.
Behind his sunglasses his pale blue eyes were watchful. The stark light pained him, but it was necessary that he be vigilant. Sometimes certain people wished he was dead, too.
Three men were walking towards him from the mall area next to La Marina de Miami. One, dark-haired and perma-tanned in a cream linen suit, headed directly towards Dantalion. The other two, men with guns concealed under their jackets, stood kicking their heels as though admiring the bronze statue commemorating Christopher Columbus. But their eyes never left the man on the bench.
Scanning right, Dantalion saw a further two men on the parking lot of the Bayside Park amphitheatre. Not interested in the band stand, they too were watching him. There could be yet more, but it was enough to be getting on with. Discreetly Dantalion slipped a hand beneath the tail of his voluminous coat, as though scratching an itch on his thigh. He unsnapped the holster holding his 90-two Beretta semi-automatic. It had the capacity to fire off seventeen 9 mm rounds as rapidly as he could caress the trigger. Enough for the five men and then some.
The tanned man sat down on the bench next to him. There was no preamble. No checking of identities; each man knew who he was there to see.
‘I’ll take care of your instructions personally. The information you need is already where you asked,’ said the client. He brushed a speck of lint off his suit. ‘In return I need something from you.’
‘I know what you want from me.’ Dantalion’s voice came out in a whisper. It wasn’t practised, merely an effect of his feeble genes. His words were lilting; not effete, but androgynous, as though spoken by a pre-pubescent child. There was no trace of his Cajun heritage in its inflection. ‘Confirmation of death. One target has been eliminated. The others will soon follow.’
‘Sooner rather than later would be appreciated.’
‘You have a choice,’ Dantalion pointed out. ‘If you simply wish these people dead, you could send your dogs around—’ he nodded at the two nearest the amphitheatre, just to let his cl
ient know that he was aware of them – ‘or you can be patient and allow me to do what I do best.‘
‘The killings can’t be traced back to me,’ said the man.
‘So you choose me?’ Dantalion nodded slowly. He placed a hand on the man’s wrist. He saw the cringe worm its way up the man’s arm and into his face. Dantalion smiled faintly and slowly drew back his fingers. His touch caused that reaction in most; they were repulsed by the scaly look of his skin, the thick yellowing nails.
‘You know my terms?’ Dantalion asked.
‘You will be paid half the sum up front. The remainder on confirmation that the targets are dead. You are trusted to do the job … I have no problem with that.’
Dantalion’s chuckle was like the whisper of bats’ wings through the night. ‘Those are not the terms I’m referring to.’
A pale flush crept over the man’s features. He looked across at the two men keeping Columbus company. ‘Along with the targets you have the right to choose how many others die. Yes, I understand. That’s up to you.’
‘Yes,’ Dantalion agreed. ‘It’s up to me. But, worry not, I don’t charge extra for a high body count. I’m just happy with the job satisfaction.’
‘Just make sure nothing can be connected to me. You do realise what’s at stake here, don’t you? How much is at stake?’
‘I thought you trusted me to do the job?’
‘I do. Your record is impeccable. Only …’ he coughed. ‘You can’t blame me for being nervous.’
‘No need to be nervous.’ Dantalion smiled, showing his caramel-coloured teeth. He shifted his sunglasses so that he could lock gazes with the man. ‘It’s not as if I’m coming after you.’
The man stood up fast. He swayed, looking down at the killer on the bench. His face said it all.
‘Please,’ Dantalion laughed. ‘Sit down. I’m only funning with you.’
‘You don’t look like the type to make jokes.’ The client didn’t sit down again. His gaze sought Dantalion’s hand where it disappeared below his coat.