by Evelyn Glass
“No,” she said, and started moving as fast as her ravaged body would allow. “I’m getting up. See? I’m moving. No worries. I’m heading for the shower. See?”
“Good,” he said and followed her into the shower.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
She found Jacob’s Diner to be cozy and the service was perfect. They rode here on the bikes and the morning air still held some chill from the night. She was glad she wore her jeans and boots yesterday, and that Cole tossed her the leather jacket he bought for her since hers was too thin and strictly for use as fashion, not protection.
She brought with them three hundred from her just-in-case stash bag, telling Cole that she needed at least a change of clothing and some basic necessities which they didn’t have time to gather yesterday evening.
“Angie will take you for a full shopping trip, I’m sure, but yes, there’s a super-store we can stop at on our way back to pick up what you need today. Just keep in mind the size of the saddle bag while you shop,” he told her.
“Are those the largest size?” she asked curiously.
“Without going custom, yes. Why?”
“Just wondering, as I plan on going on trips with you in the near future,” she said and leaned over for a kiss.
After he kissed her, he looked at Brian who was studying traffic through the large windows, “Any word from last night’s raids? Rat said his group hit three places and came away with a sizable amount of cash, as well.”
“Pillaging is one of the great wealth bringers known to man,” Brian said without turning from the window. “There’s a car across the street, two men in the front seat. A Cougar, I believe. Red. See them?”
She searched at the same time and found it just as Cole said, “Got them. What’s up?”
“They were outside the club at the curb down from where we were. We were most likely the first patch-holders out on the sidewalk this morning.”
“I’m not liking where this is going,” Cole growled.
“Me neither,” Nicole piped.
“How do you want to play it?” Cole asked Brian. When Brian turned a little with a raised eyebrow, Cole said, “Don’t give me that look. I’m a street fighter. Learned all I know from gang fights and getting jumped in the wrong neighborhoods. I only have one tactic: kill them. That’s as far as planning ever gets with me. However, Jim tells me you’re a walking Art of War and I follow directions very well.”
“Thanks,” Brian told him. “You’re senior and thanks for letting me handle this for you.”
“Hey, buddy, I like breathing. So you lead. I’ll follow.”
Brain nodded his thanks again and then looked back out the window. “Well I doubt they are coming in here. If they decide to, we’ll spot them long before they get here. Are you armed?”
“Yeah, the cops took mine last night since it was the weapon that was used, but I have extras,” Cole informed him.
Brian nodded to the wisdom of this and then asked, “Who is up and close right now? Got their numbers?” Brain asked.
“Yeah,” Cole said, taking out his phone and looking over to her. “Hey, baby, eat. It’s still good food. Best breakfast in Chicago.”
“I seem to be losing my appetite.” She murmured.
“Not a good time for that,” Cole told her. “You’re going to need all the energy you can get.”
She looked at him wide-eyed and then Cole added, “Well, you’re going shopping after this, right?”
She didn’t quite get it, but when it hit, it was lame and cute, and funny as hell under the circumstances. She laughed and gave him a smile, “That is so chauvinistic. I’m shocked you think of me like that.”
He returned her smile and started to eat. She checked the car outside again and followed suit.
Cole reported, after a few calls, that he could get two men there in ten minutes. Brian nodded and told him where he wanted the men to arrive at, what direction they needed to come from, and what to do.
Cole listened and she watched his expression, and the growing concentration in his eyes as Brian’s words built up the scenario like a model in his mind. could almost see the plan unfolding in his facial expressions as it controlled the enemy’s movements, forced the men in the car to divulge their intentions, and then killed them after the plan revealed they were looking to do the same thing to the Horsemen.
Through her studies, Nicole came across descriptions of people who possessed eidetic memories – memories that were highly visual in nature. These memories tended to degrade very slowly over decades, not hours, with amazing recall clarity. Cole had told her during their first evening together that he never finished high school — yet he reads Shakespeare. She felt a low, deep sadness that Cole’s life hadn’t allowed him to make use of a gift like his, if he in fact possessed such a gift, and the odd connection between them was telling her he did.
Cole had quit eating halfway through the plan, falling into a state of pure mind power as he concentrated on what Brian was laying out for him. When Brian finished, she watched Cole’s eyes as they continued to move around the table, as if he were replaying it and studying it from different angles. “Shit, Brian,” Cole announced after a few moments,” Jim sold you short. That’s fucking brilliant.”
“Thanks,” Brain said and calmly took a sip of his coffee while Cole got back on the phone and told Mark and James the plan, and their parts in it.
When that was done, they paid the check, but were set to wait for twenty more minutes.
“Cole? What was I wearing for our first ride together?” she asked, unable to control her curiosity.
Cole recited her outfit without hesitation and from what she remembered, which she felt was fairly accurate since she spent a lot of time picking out her clothing, it was near perfect. In fact, she felt he was dead on. “What color were the eyes of the first man you saw on the boat that day?” she pressed.
“Green,” he said, “You going someplace with this?”
But Nicole noticed that Brian was suddenly very interested, as well. How he might have picked up on where she was going with this, she didn’t know. Fucking brain trust in this group of motor junkies. “That car across the street, did you see it at the hotel?” she asked.
“Yeah, just where Brian said it was, but I didn’t notice it here until he pointed it out,” Cole explained.
“What’s the license number?” she pushed.
Cole, again, told her without a second of hesitation. There was no brain searching. It was just there, in his mind, like magic.
“Wow,” Brian said, not bothering to hide his amazement and sat back looking at Cole, “Eidetic memory?”
“What’s that?” Cole asked, looking from Brian to her and then back again.
Nicole walked him through what she knew about eidetic memory, admitting that the subject, at the time she came across it during her research, didn’t hold much interest for her, so her understanding was limited. “No one has ever brought that up to you?” she asked him with slight wonder.
Cole shrugged, “I get the visual part. I use that a lot and certainly during every fight I’m in.” Then Cole ran a play by play with the boat ambush he walked into, even moving pieces like the salt and pepper and sugar packages around as he explained how he knew where the attackers were behind the curtain, or at least the couple of places physics would allow them to be and used that to aim.
“Again, wow,” Brian said with a little more wonder in his voice. “I’ve heard about it, too, but listening to how you use it puts chills in my spine knowing I was so close to going up against it.”
Cole checked his watch, “It’s time. We can talk about my brain after we take care of this little chore.”
“No we won’t,” Nicole told him, “You’re going to avoid the subject like a plague.” She smiled teasingly while she rose from her chair and shrugged into her jacket, “aren’t you?”
Cole grimaced at her.
“I don’t know what impresses me more, your memory
or how well she knows you,” Brian laughed. “You two have quite a connection with each other.”
Cole looked at him, “Buddy, you have no idea.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The only thing Cole didn’t like about this plan was that Nicole would be riding behind him. But, there was no way not to tip their hand if she didn’t get back on the bike. He noticed a tremble in her hand as she strapped on her helmet. He wanted to say it was going to be fine, but that felt kind of silly coming from the man who was about to ride her into battle. Then he noticed the expression in her eyes. They were alight with the fierceness of a small Valkyrie whose wrath was barely contained by her glowing blue irises. “Ready?” he asked.
“Ready ten minutes ago,” she told him with a smile. “Let’s get them.”
That was probably the moment, the moment he fell in love with her. He wasn’t sure now, though, if he hadn’t fallen in love with her before this and just now realized the depth of his feelings for her. It felt like he had always loved her and was just now catching up. If it wasn’t the moment, it should have been, he decided and got on his bike.
He started the engine up and came off the kickstand just as he saw a flash of red movement in the reflection of the diner’s window. In that brief flash of reflection, he recalled with pure clarity the Charger coming up behind them and a large gun in the passenger’s hands as he was making his way out of the window to sit down on the opening, preparing fire across the top of the car. They were going to strafe them, right here, right now.
“Down! Gun!” he shouted, and came off his bike, pulling Nicole with him.
His bike fell as its center of gravity was pushed the other way during his hurried dismount. There was no time to look to Brain and he hoped his brother heard him as he rushed Nicole, nearly carrying her, behind a parked car a few feet away. Brian showed up at the back of the car a breath later, his twin guns out and ready. Then Hell hit the other side of the car with a fury of lead and tearing explosions.
There was nothing Cole could do except wrap Nicole up in his arms, and cover her with his body, which he did. He expected her to be screaming, but she wasn’t. Cole guessed they were about half way down the side of the car, turning it to junk with the automatic weapon when Brian suddenly stood leveling both guns at their attackers with a smooth, graceful motion that made Cole think of a ballet dancer and pulled the triggers of his hand canons — once.
In fact, it sounded like only one shot and the effect was as if Brian just turned Hell back off, like he might turn off a radio. The gunfire was gone and he heard nothing on the other side of the car. Then Brian holstered his nickel-plated guns and looked to Cole, “I think there was a small hole in my plan.”
Much too curious to lay there any more, both he and Nicole got up, and peered over the hood of their shield. The Cougar was against a parked car across the street, coming to rest there, because the driver was dead and so was the gunman. Both were shot in the head, from what Cole could tell.
Cole was too experienced with violence to be in shock for very long. He left Nicole’s side and ran across the street to the car, yanking the dead driver back from his dead-weight slouch against the wheel. A quick search rendered him a new 9mm, a cellphone, and the driver’s wallet from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, which felt very expensive.
Brian finished with the gunman, taking a large automatic pistol, which Cole thought might be an Uzi, and said, “Let’s go, we’ll round up your men on the way.”
“I’m behind you. Lead,” Cole told him and they ran back to Nicole. Cole yanked his idling bike up, and a got on in one smooth motion. A breath later, Nicole was on the seat behind him. Instead of backing the bike out to the street, he gunned it up over the sidewalk curb, ran around the bullet-riddled car, then back down onto the street with Brian behind him. Just as he was giving his bike fuel, Brian’s bike roared past into lead position, heading for the men waiting for them.
Nearly halfway back to the club, the four riders pulled over at Cole’s signal and Cole got on his cellphone, dialing Jim’s by memory. As soon as Jim answered, he ran down the ambush details without preamble and told him they were on their way to the club. “I think they’re going to hit the club, Jim. It’s burning in my gut.”
“Got it and I’m on it,” Jim told him and the connection was broken.
“Jim’s on it; let’s ride,” he said to the others and they rode through the streets as fast as they could with the traffic, weaving in and out of cars and sharing lanes between them.
When they arrived at the club, there were chains across the parking lot entryways and a large sign that said the club was closed due to remodeling; please come back soon. As they approached, two men dropped the chains and let them into the lot.
Once inside Jim’s office, Jim asked, “All right, tell me what happened” with as demanding and threatening a voice Cole could ever remember hearing, including what was used during all of the action movies he’s seen.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Cole was about to begin his report when Nicole said, “Well, we had breakfast and then Brian came up with this amazing plan that was simple, easy to execute… just brilliant, really, but then he decided to just kill them so we could get back here.”
Cole and Brain tried really hard not to laugh, and failed miserably. A second later, Jim joined them and in a release-of-stress moment, he took her in to a bear hug that lifted her up and had her legs kicking about a foot off the ground. After he set her back down, he tousled her hair and said, “You’re all right, kid. I’m really starting to like you.”
“You’re all right, too, big guy,” she smiled.
“Now, once again,” Jim chuckled, “but with a little more detail.”
Fifteen minutes later, Logic, a wiry man standing five-ten and weighing little more than Nicole, was on his laptop, hacking into the CPD database to look up the names of the two men in the Cougar. Cole recited the license plate for him.
Bear, the club’s Sergeant at Arms came in right after him – a large, burly looking man with a full and wild beard that had several colored memento beads braided through the whiskers. He received a recap of the drive-by from Brian and was then on the phone lining up rosters and summoning men.
George, the List Master, who ran the security and outrider details, came in right behind Bear. George looked like a CPO who rode on the weekends. His hair was perfect, fingernails perfectly trimmed on manicured hands, and white pearl teeth, which generally smiled often. He wasn’t smiling right now and his face became more serious as Brian recapped the story.
“What makes you think they’ll hit the club?” Jim asked Cole.
“The driver’s suit,” Cole said, “it was too expensive. A suit like that might have cost him close to five grand, maybe more. No one on Gabriel’s crew brings down enough to wear a suit like that on a drive by. These guys were skilled, patient, and professional. Gabriel has brought in mercs, probably from the docks. Mercs aren’t going to fuck around with strip clubs and liquor stores. They’ll hit us where it hurts. They’ll hit us here and at our homes. They’ll buy lists of current members from CPD contacts and start hitting where there will be no security, and no protection.”
Everyone in the room was silent and had only eyes for Cole. Then Logic spoke, “He’s right about the two guys, Jim; they are both heavy hitters for Lou.”
“Fuck,” Jim hissed and rested his forearms on the desk, staring at the wood grain.
“Lou?” Nicole asked.
“Louis Donadio,” Brain clarified. “He runs the smuggling at the dock yard. Nothing moves in or out that hasn’t been taxed by Lou. He’s honest-to-god, real-as-it-gets mafia and very unhealthy to get tangled up with.” Brain explained to her, making her eyes go wide.
“How the fuck could Gabriel bring in Lou on a skirmish like ours? How could he afford to bring in Lou?” Bear asked.
“He’s insane, he really is, medically insane,” Jim said, his voice low and filled with awe. “He’s
got to know this will cost him his business.”
“No,” Cole told him, “Gabriel doesn’t. He’s obviously delusional enough to think he’ll find a way out of that eventually.”
George came out of the corner, where he went to make a call, snapping his cellphone shut, “Just got off the phone with one of the guys scouting out Gabriel’s house. There are at least fifty suits walking around with auto rifles and subs in the open, dogs, large armored trucks, the whole works. The place is locked down. If we attempt to charge that, a lot of men are going to go down trying.”
Nobody spoke for a long time and Cole really didn’t think he had anything to say either. Then Jim picked up his cellphone and speed-dialed a number.
“Lou? This is Jim Hawker,” Jim said into the phone and then listened. Everyone in the room froze and it felt like they weren’t even breathing.
“Sally is good, just finished high-school; how are Tony and Beth doing? Tony should be out of law school by now, eh? That’s great. I wish him the best and maybe we’ll throw some business his way. I don’t want to waste your time Lou, so I’ll get right to the point.
“It seems that fate or really bad decisions have put us and some of your men at odds, and I would like to ask about rules of engagement. One of my crew believes that personal homes, wives, and children are on the hunting list. Of course, I told him that would never be the case, but I wanted to clarify it with you before someone does something seriously stupid.” Big Jim held his face still as stone as he listened to the man on the other side of the connection. “Thanks Lou. I’m glad to hear that. Your wife’s birthday is in a couple of weeks, isn’t it? Any ideas? Really, I know just the place for those. Have a good day Lou.” Jim set down his phone, and scanned the faces in front of him, “No homes, women, or children. I don’t know why I don’t feel better right now.”
“Because we’re still up against Lou and they were on the list before you called,” Brain suggested.
“Yeah,” Jim nodded, looking grim, “that’s exactly why.”