“I was thinking I guess we need to use a private ballistics lab for the analysis, right,” she asked?
“Yea, then we can go see Detective Walker after we get the results, and I thought we’d go to the gym after we drop them off.”
Faxon’s cell phone rang. “Faxon Bennett Investigations,” he said.
“Mr. Bennett, Pierce Clark here, I need to get a message to Harper, I came by the office yesterday and everything was here, and I started putting the large pictures on the wall. I came in this morning and all the brochures, large drawings and pictures, and the contracts are all gone. The model of the towers is smashed, someone broke in through the back door, and the police were here when I came in this morning.”
“I’ll get the message to her and be right there.”
Faxon explained to Harper what had happened, they both got dressed, both of them took gym bags with them expecting to go and workout sometime today. Faxon drove the SUV while Harper called the production company and ordered all the materials that they had just made. She explained what had happened, then to the lab first to drop off the two bullets to Faxon’s friend, then to the store front. The police had come before daylight when the alarm had gone off. The crime lab technicians had dusted for finger prints and where gone by the time Harper and Faxon pulled up.
Lisa Colman was talking to Pierce Clark. Jacklyn was talking to Tanya, one of Lisa’s sales girls. Lisa and Pierce were about the same age and by the way they were laughing they seem to be getting along better than just friends.
“Harper I have my maintenance man cleaning the place up, it’s a good thing you’ve got Faxon to hunt these guys down.”
“Did someone see who it was Lisa,” Faxon asked?
“Better than that Faxon dear, I’ve got the best damn security system money can buy. They may have gotten away before the police responded to the alarm, but I have hidden cameras everywhere.”
Harper, Faxon, Lisa, and Pierce went into her office and she accessed the digital record of the cameras during the early morning hours before dawn.
“Don’t ever bring a woman in there after hours and bend her over the desk Pierce, you’ll give me something to show my friends,” Lisa laughed then winked at him.
“Maybe you could show me what you mean Lisa,” he said.
The digital record showed the two men’s faces close up there’d be no mistaking who they were if Faxon could find the right people to identify the two men. One of the men had a tank top on and Harper and Faxon both could easily see the tattoo on his arm. This was the Marine group still trying to stop the Lewis Towers from being built.
Lisa downloaded the recording onto a flash drive and Faxon went to a print shop to have some pictures made of the two men.
“So what are we going to do now,” Harper asked?
“Let’s go get a workout in while we’re waiting on the ballistics report, and I have an idea of where to go to find these guys. There’s a bar down in the inner harbor area where a lot of ex-military guys hang out, if they’re not there someone will recognize them. But the best time to go will be tonight.”
Faxon drove to the gym and they both carried in their bags, Harper changed into a pair of tight yoga pants, a tight sports bra with a t-shirt over it, she was barefoot. Faxon wore tennis shoes, a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt. They went through a free weight upper body workout. Three sets each body part, chest, back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. Then they worked their legs out on a hack sled, Faxon used heavier weight but he was surprised by how strong Harper was, and when they finished three sets she wanted to move to the mat area. Faxon had seen the pictures at Harper’s home and knew she had trained in cross martial arts and weapon training. She insisted they both go through a series of stretching exercises, before squaring off.
“I know you’re trained in martial arts Harper, but I’ve been trained Special Forces, it’s different we’re trained to injure, to kill, it’s not sparing.”
“I’ll be very surprised if you even touch me, I promise I won’t hurt you.”
She began to circle, she flicked a left back fist at him and Faxon slapped it away. He didn’t take any kind of defensive stance, and turned with her as she circled. She flicked out another left back hand and when he went to slap it away she turned, took a step toward him and grabbed his wrist with her right hand, then spun into him, she hit him in the stomach with an elbow, dropped to the mat and slid between his legs, grabbing him by the ankles then jerking. Faxon went down face first onto the mat, Harper was on his back. She held his right wrist, put her foot on the floor up under his armpit and bent it behind his back. That was the way she had dislocated the big guy’s shoulder at the bar.
Harper quickly let Faxon up and over the next thirty minutes she schooled him in her ability to fight someone much stronger. Even when he got his arms around her she always had a way of getting him to let her go. He was impressed, those weren’t just pictures and awards at her house they were years of training. She moved with grace, fluid like water, turning, twisting, kicking, pulling her punches, like a dance, she definitely had skills.
“I was trained by a Master, Hiro Matsuta,” Harper said, as they drove back to the apartment. “Knives, sword, staff, anything you can pick up can be a weapon, but he didn’t push me as hard as my father did. We were fighting one day and he gave me a black eye, I was fourteen, I really thought my mother was going to kill him. It was the only time I saw how tough my mother could be, and how scared of her my father was.”
Faxon looked over at Harper as they pulled into the parking garage, he saw her wipe away a tear, he wanted to say something but thought better of it, and instead he tried to make a joke.
“We’ll I know now to never piss you off.”
Instead of laughing she wiped her face with the back of her hand and looked at him.
“I would never hurt you, no matter what you did.”
They ate soup and sandwiches with a beer, sliced ham and pastrami from the grocery store deli, with a thick slice of Swiss cheese, the soup was tomato. They waited till 8:30 pm before going to the Inner harbor area to the Anchor bar and grill, a place where Faxon knew ex-military guys hung out. It was also a place where the three men that were involved in the hijacking of semi-trucks went, and Lew had found a reference to the bar in phone call transcripts between the men.
“Do you have your gun,” Faxon asked?
“Yea and pictures of both men, you already told me we’re not going to show them around until we give it time to see if they’re in there or they come in. If they do then we watch for a little while to see who they meet, then we come back to the car and call the police.”
“I’ll let you go in first, that way we don’t look like we’re together. It’ll give us a chance to cover the whole bar that way.”
Harper walked in through the front door of the bar, she had on her worn out jeans with the holes in the knees, tennis shoes, a t-shirt and a long sleeved flannel shirt over that with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Her hair was braided and she had her ball cap on. The room was dark, and the bar was in the center of the large room. Three bartenders worked furiously to get drinks and beers for the large crowd, two of the bartenders were girls, both tall and busty their low cut t-shirts didn’t hide much. All the tables and booths were full, every stool around the bar was occupied and plenty of people stood around talking. Harper noticed there were about a third of the crowd was women, middle aged, rough looking girls some with leather jackets. Two women with worn jean jackets sat at the bar right in front of her, on their backs it said Renegades with a skull and crossed bones it marked them as biker chicks. She walked up behind them and ordered a beer over their heads then reached between and handed the barmaid a twenty.
Both of them moved around on their stools and looked at her, “I don’t remember ever seeing you in here,” said one of the women.
“I’m looking for a guy I meet, he said he came here.”
“You don’t look the type, too fresh.”
“I helped him with a B&E job, I have my skills despite what I look like,” Harper said.
“What skill do you have that a hard head would need,” said the other woman.
“If he doesn’t want to get caught, he’d need someone to disable the alarm, and get around any hidden security cameras, open a safe, and slip out unseen or heard.”
The barmaid handed her the beer and put the change on the bar. “Get two for my new friends,” she said.
“Ok, I’m impressed, so what was it you got away with?”
“It was a rich bitch living in a condo off 1 Park street, a shit load of jewelry, the asshole was supposed to fence the shit and give me my cut. I haven’t heard from him in three days, and now he won’t answer his cell phone. I’ve worked with him before but nothing this big, fucker’s cut me out, but I know how to take care of him.”
Harper turned around with her back to the two women and lifted her shirt just enough to show the handle of her gun.
Faxon walked in, he saw Harper talking to two rough looking women with Renegade colors on and went the other way. He looked at every face he passed hopping to see the two ex-Marines as he worked his way around to the back of the room. The brightest part of the bar was where the two lighted pool tables were. Two men played on each table and the room was full around them, cash was on the edge of the tables.
He ordered a beer over the heads of people sitting at the bar and the barmaid handed it to him, he gave her a twenty and said, “Keep the change.” He stood against the wall watching the pool tables and looking around the room hopping to see the two guys. He noticed a woman about thirty walk toward him stepping around people in the crowded room. She was petite, five foot two, slim with double ds. She wore boots, jeans, and a t-shirt with no bra. Her hair was jet black and she wore a lot of makeup.
“Hey, you look like you need some company good-looking?” She stood close. “How about you buy me a drink and we’ll talk about what comes up.” She rubbed against his groin.
“What are you drinking?”
“Jack, neat,” she said.
Faxon went to the bar and ordered another beer and the Jack. He looked over and saw Harper staring at him with a scowl on her face. He laughed and gave the barmaid a twenty she smiled and didn’t give him any change.
* * *
“Hey is that the guy,” asked one of the Renegade women? “We’ll help you if it is.”
“No, that’s not him, I thought it was but that guys to damn ugly to be the guy I was working with,” she said.
* * *
“Here you go,” Faxon said as her gave the girl the straight Jack Daniels.
She stood close and stood on her toes and whispered in his ear. “If you got a hundred we can go out to your car and you can ride me.” She smiled.
“I’m waiting for someone sweetheart. Maybe you should try someone else.”
“How about fifty,” she asked?
“No thanks, I’m waiting on someone, it’s important.”
The busty little girl looked around until she found another potential John. “Thanks for the drink babe.” Then she walked away toward a man across the bar. Faxon looked back over at Harper and she was still talking to the two rough looking women and buying them drinks. Then he saw them walk through the door, it was both of them. Harper’s back was turned so she didn’t see the two men, and they didn’t see her. He moved around the bar behind them watching to see if they would talk to someone.
Harper was laughing at a joke one of the girls had told and one of the women’s old man walked up after losing his game of pool and twenty dollars. He wore a jean jacket with the Renegades logo on the back. He was a big guy 6’8” three hundred pounds at least. He had long hair and a long beard a bandana around his head and a primary motorcycle chain for a belt. Harper bought them all another round of beer. They were making introductions when Harper noticed Faxon was no longer talking to the sexy little whore and looked around the room until she saw him. His attention was on two men making their way to the back of the room, and then she saw them, the two men from the video at the storefront.
Harper said excuse me and walked around the bar the other way watching the two ex-marines. She could feel someone behind her and turned around. The biker was standing there looking over her head at the two guys that she had seen.
“One of those guys the one that ripped you off,” he said in a deep gravelly voice? “I can make the mother fucker pay, for a small finder’s fee.”
“It’s ok, I just want my money, probably just a misunderstanding is all, I have my way of handling this,” Harper told him.
When she turned back around both men were looking right at her, and the big biker behind her. They obviously recognized her, one of the men started pushing his way through the bar toward the front door, and the other one pushed people out of the way going as fast as he could to the back of the room. Harper followed the man going for the front door.
The other one made it around Faxon in the crowded bar. He was the smaller of the two men and made it to the back door faster than he did. When Faxon come out he could just see the man running toward the main street and he took off after him.
Harper ran through the front door following the ex-Marine. She was only three steps behind him when he turned down the alley, she nearly ran into his fist as he tried to hit her. She ducked and put her shoulder into his body and they both went down, she rolled to her feet and he started to get up, she kicked him in the face. He groaned and blood sprayed from his nose, he charged at her. They were ten feet away from each other, she dove at his feet and he went down again, and she was up before he was. The alley being in the dock area was full of trash, garbage cans, old pieces of pipe, and rebar. The big Biker came around the corner just as Harper kicked the man in the throat and he fell backwards, and didn’t move again. A piece of rebar went through his back and exited through his chest, a foot long piece of the bloody bar stuck up in the air.
“Damn girl you killed the son of a bitch,” said the big biker, “I’ll swear it was self-defiance.”
* * *
Faxon turned down the block and saw the guy ahead of him make a right at the end, he wasn’t even close. Maybe the guy would get tired, he thought. When he turned the corner a woman was getting up off the sidewalk. He must have knocked her down when he went around the corner and Faxon was right behind him. The ex-Marine ran across the street, Faxon heard a horn and a screech of tires. When he looked he saw the grizzly image of the man’s body under a yellow cab.
The cabbie was speaking in Spanish saying that the man just ran right out in front of him. There was blood coming out from under the cab. Faxon got down and checked for a pulse before pulling the body out from under the car, the man was dead.
Faxon’s cell phone rang, and he didn’t bother answering his usual way. “Hey did you follow the other guy?”
“Yea but he’s dead, he fell in the alley on a piece of rebar and it went right through him, I guess I didn’t help the situation, he was trying to kill me when I kicked him. I’m waiting here for the police. Did the other guy get away,” Harper asked?
“No, I’m on my way back to you now, are you hurt?”
“No I’m fine, what happened to your guy?”
“Ran in front of a cab, he’s dead.”
When Faxon got back to the bar Harper was standing at the end of the alley he could see the body lying about twenty feet away. There was a small crowd of people from the bar. The police were still not there. Faxon noticed the big biker standing near her with his old lady and her friend.
“You ok,” Faxon asked? He held her hands.
“Yea I’m fine,” he hugged her tight. He could feel she was still shaking just a little. Faxon knew it was never easy to kill someone. “He never touched me.”
“You got one hell of an old lady, man,” said the big biker in his low gravelly voice.
Two police cars pulled up and took everyone’s statement, and about thirty minutes late
r Detective John Walker pulled up in his unmarked car.
“Well I should have known. You know Bennett my wife hates your guts. Is that pile of shit lying in the street a couple blocks from here you’re doing too?”
“He ran right out in front of that cab.”
“I was over there before I came here, a witness said he was being chased by someone, shit you look just like the description. I checked the body, guess what? The son of a bitch had a tattoo on his right upper arm, and funny thing is I’ve seen that tattoo before. Now let me guess this guy’s got the same tattoo?”
“I saw the whole thing Detective,” said the big biker. “This ass hole thought he was going to fuck this girl here up, it really didn’t work out that good for him. He slipped and fell and killed his damn self.”
“We’ve got your statement everyone go home or back in the bar. I know this girl buddy this isn’t the first guy she’s killed.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Faxon drove the SUV, Harper was quiet. He wanted to talk to her, to ask what had happened, maybe if he told her what happened to him first, he thought.
“Shit that guy could run. He was a hundred feet ahead of me, I saw him go around the corner along the main street and I thought he was gone. But by the time I turned the corner he was right there, he ran into a woman on the sidewalk and they both went down. I was about twenty feet away from the guy, he saw me and ran right out into the street, that damn cab must have been doing forty miles an hour, it ran right over him. In the bar I know he didn’t recognize me, he ran right by me, it looked like he saw you. Someone must have showed them a picture of you, more than likely before they broke into the office.”
“Yea, they saw me and ran, but I don’t think it was me they were afraid of, they saw that biker with me. Probably thought all the Renegades were looking for them. Maybe they thought I hired them. Shit that big son of a bitch would have never caught that guy, I ran after him and when we got into the alley he turned to fight. He swung, I knocked him down and kicked him, he got back up and when I kicked him the second time I thought for sure I knocked the breath out of him and I’d have time to disable him. He fell backwards and landed on that damn piece of rebar.”
FIRST STEP MURDER Page 20