Hard Case IV: A Violent Life (John Harding Series Book 4)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “That ship could be a treasure trove if we take it fast enough. We’ll kill without mercy from the Huey and our landing. Then, Clint can join us with Lucas ready with sniper rifle or fifty cal. while we secure the ship.”

  “It’s a dangerous, dirty job, but your plan will garner immediate sanction, with immediate monetary backing. I know we can get an okay for a combat ship ready to secure our gains if you take the boat in one piece. Thanks for that, John. I didn’t know if you’d be willing to board a possible floating deathtrap.”

  “Not much different than what we pulled off in the ‘Stans, Denny. Every op was a deathtrap there with our so-called leaders wanting to take over a country without casualties.”

  That provoked a bout of hilarity and nodding agreement. “Good Lord… you got that right, John. Think what might have been if we’d fought them full bore, and aced anyone who tried to interfere on the outside. Don’t get me started on what we should be demanding for payback. Therein lies insanity.”

  “You’ve kept us in the forefront of this container ship op. That’s important, Den. Our crew definitely cares about stopping this shit at all costs. Have you ever gotten the feeling those assholes in Washington would just love an actual Armageddon type cover for all the shit they’re doing.”

  Denny’s smile and enjoyment of a brief moment in our insane universe disappeared. “Don’t get into my head like that, John. You won’t like it. I’ve come to grips with the fact common sense and logic died a tragic death long ago. We’re the patchwork quilt covering the kids on the front lines. Now, our immigration policy is so full of holes, these bastards think they can wipe us out with a plague? Bullshit! We’ll keep our heads in the game, and brother, we will end this reactionary crap. Washington may have to send a Reaper to stop us if we catch them trying to carry out a ‘War is good business’ ploy.”

  “I’m glad to hear you state it in plain terms, Denny.” I made sure my eyes were locked in on his. “The alternative would be leaving you in a landfill somewhere. Neither of us wants that.”

  Denny glanced around the boat at our crew. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some inkling of what was going through his head. Denny doesn’t scare. If fear ever had a foothold in Denny’s consciousness, he would never have worked to assemble the group on this boat. He knew intimately the dangers of acting as a middle man between Washington, and a deadly set of violent killers not many could even imagine in their wildest dreams. That we would at some point ram past our parameters and keep America’s safety our prime objective was probably a given with Denny. I knew he felt the same way. He had to keep up appearances as our middle man. Forming a hit squad of deadly killers with nationalistic fervor for their country is not for the faint of heart. Denny was not faint of heart.

  “Nope… I don’t want that. I’d rather have the choice to put some scumbag acting as a deal breaker in the landfill if I’m given the choice.”

  “You have my word on it. Choose at your discretion. Choose wisely, because we will.”

  “You don’t ever see yourself in the same position, Cheese?”

  Never. “I’m not their boss. I give out directions from you, or monitor a discussion of a mission, insert my take on things, and then listen. Lynn knew everything was loose enough to tag Laredo in that sting with the Islamo zombies. She put it into play on her own initiative. The ‘Knockout’ caper was a joint enterprise taking all of us into consideration.”

  I relaxed again in my seat. “Anyone of my team claims they need a violent ending for someone, I’m in. I trust them with my life and the lives of everything I care about. If one of my crew decides someone I don’t know needs killin’, and I’m the messenger, the target better have their affairs in order. I will get ‘er done. You have to make your own choices, Den. I’m certain Washington’s directives are highly important to you. We don’t see it that way. We do things because logic and the safety of our nation make the decision for us. I will not put you in a landfill unless absolutely necessary though.”

  He enjoyed that one. “Alexi also wanted me to let you know Rattler wants a face to face meeting with you to discuss a rematch. He will be in the Bay Area this weekend. Alexi would like to set the meeting up if you agree to it.”

  “Sure. Why not? Anytime I can meet up with the guy when he isn’t pounding my face into mush is fine with me. Did Alexi mention how much leverage his new partnership with the Middle Eastern fight conglomerate will be increased by this meeting?”

  “Nope, but I’m sure he’s considered it,” Denny replied. “I’m hoping he isn’t harboring any hard feelings about my abrupt decision to head off security leaks by trying to end him.”

  “It’s a rough trail, Denny. The old man knows if he takes you out now, it will cost him. I guess you have to hope that’s enough of a counterbalance to keep you alive.”

  “Thanks, John… that’s very reassuring.”

  “You should have consulted me before you decided to take Alexi out. If you knew me half as well as you think, you would never have pulled your piece.”

  “Unfortunately… or fortunately, you’re full of surprises, John. It’s been a long time since Afghanistan, my friend. You’ve been hell-a-entertaining since those days. When you started doing street fighting gigs, I thought we’d have to retire you. Then I weighed the cost in trying, and we’ve been friends ever since.”

  I chuckled at that admission, because I knew the story behind it. “Damn nice of you to pretend like it was your prerogative. Let me quote some words for you from Lucas and Casey – ‘take John out, and die’. Did I get it right?”

  Denny’s mouth opened in surprise just a bit, but he recovered nicely. “I should have known those pricks would share it with you. Okay… no more secrets. You would have been dead long ago except most of my minions turned out to be your minions, including Clint. I have a bunch of incredibly competent killers that are only on the surface under my command. I guess I don’t have to admit that was the main reason for establishing your crew out here with you as my second in command, right?”

  This was getting damn interesting. I went and got a couple of shot glasses and Bushmills from our bar. I waved at everyone. “Help yourselves.”

  I filled the shot glasses up and handed one to Denny. He was already furrowing his brows at me. “Well… okay… you got a negative response from brothers Lucas and Casey. Then, being the tactician you are, you tried to get Clint to take me out?”

  Denny didn’t sip the sippin’ whiskey. He popped it down and held out his glass, which I refilled. “We have no secrets now, John. Apparently, we had no secrets when I thought we had them. Clint showed up next to me in my bed when I was still stationed out of DC after I contacted him about the hit. The prick slapped me into consciousness, and then sat down on the bed. He grinned like he does now just before he blows the top of a target’s head off. Clint says, ‘hi, Den. I got your message. Touch John, and I do you Russian mafia style. I’ll cut your dick off and shove it down your throat’. That was why I knew exactly who Laredo contacted first, when Clint ended up in that dungeon in South America before escaping. Laredo knew he’d get ambushed by some kill squad while trying to pick up Clint, so he brought a real kill squad with him. They never knew what hit them.”

  “Washington writes us off whenever they feel like it. No one gets written off amongst us, Denny. To your credit, you figured that out before we made you disappear mysteriously. Apparently, you’ve put a patch over your wounded relationship with Alexi. If we’re all done catching up on past brushes with death, how’s the old man doing?”

  “He said we were even if I set up a meeting between you and Rattler. His business associates have been offered oversight on a rematch at the Mandalay Bay. I won’t pretend to know how these deals progress, but a rematch with the huge hype generated by the first fight would mean Fiialkov’s group would be let in on a number of subsequent UFC matches. Their standing would be greatly enhanced.”

  “With all he’s doing for us, it would very ung
rateful of me not to at least meet with my buddy Eugene. Am I supposed to travel somewhere for this meeting?”

  “Fiialkov wants it to be right at The Warehouse. He would like it to be around noontime on Sunday. Rattler has a meeting in San Francisco to attend on Saturday with one of his biggest backers. What do you think, John?”

  “Sounds great. When do you want us to move into position on the City of Hope?”

  “We can’t take a chance on putting you aboard while it’s in port. I think we’ll have Laredo fly you guys out to the Hope while it’s proceeding to meet with our target ship. Keeping this under wraps will be our biggest problem. Alexi agreed to not inform anyone of this. He will be flying out to his ship with your team, making sure there are no leaks.”

  That would limit the exposure. “I never figured he’d go that extra mile on our behalf, but the chances of the target getting wind of our trap would be practically nonexistent. Do you think he’s okay to do something like this?”

  Denny shrugged. “He seemed excited when I talked it over with him. He’s flown out to board his freighter before. The crew knows their boss, so there won’t be any objections to his arrival, or yours. I’m sending Jafar too. I want all communication jammed on the ship from before you land to after the ship is taken. There’s a lot riding on this, John. Because of the possibility of a leak, it was decided no one would have any idea what this threat is, or how we planned to handle it.”

  Makes sense. “It’s damn good we have this going down out at sea where exposure in the event of a screw up would be negligible. Are you coming to the Sunday brunch?”

  “Not me. I imagine you’d be welcome to bring Tommy with you like always. Has he changed his mind about steering clear of a Rattler rematch?”

  “Nope. I know him pretty well. He’s serious. I’ll meet with Eugene alone. I’m sure we’ll only be discussing a general date in the future, and what money would be expected. A rematch has to be months away. Neither of us could heal any faster, and still train in time for a match any sooner. Rattler won anyhow. He’s under no pressure to hurry his ass into the cage with me. T is probably right about it being a bad idea. I know I set back Eugene’s fight schedule plans. He had maybe a couple more fights before a title shot. Rattler could have been champ by next summer.”

  “What about you?”

  Yeah… what about me. “Rattler helped me dispel my delusions of grandeur. If he hadn’t gotten cocky, I think he would have killed me in the second round.”

  “I thought you were done in the first. That last second two arm block was all that saved you. If you don’t get this UFC shit out of your blood, I don’t like the chances of you having much of a meaningful life after it ends, other than with a cane or wheelchair.”

  “Like Lynn keeps saying lately… it is what it is. Me and Rattler really mixed up some brain cells in the cage. I admit the street fighting was a hell of a lot easier until I messed around with poor old Van Rankin, and made my way into the UFC. These past two matches at the Mandalay Bay have been incredible. I’d be lyin’ if I said I didn’t enjoy the crowds, and that arena. Besides, we managed another cover op leading to this damn plague threat. In the Dubai fight where I aced Rankin, we took out a world class assassin, Ahmed Quadir without stirring up even a little sand. I’d say my idiot UFC matches have been pretty valuable.”

  “Sure, if you can keep your brain anchored inside that thick skull of yours.”

  “There’s no use hashing that out over and over. I’m going to do it until I don’t want to do it. I’m glad we’re done here before it got too late. Appearances have to be kept up with the in-laws. I should make it home by seven. That should keep Tess from having too much ammunition stored away for yet another confrontation. She’s become a very tough to swallow pill.”

  “She has indeed, John,” Denny agreed. “Say… speaking of training. Are you going to keep up that damn shark bait training regimen you’ve been doing. I know you hate the hell out of it. Can’t you find some other masochistic torture to get ready for a fight?”

  I sipped my whiskey. “I’ll consider an end to that. It helped me with endurance, but I was too damn slow for Rattler. As you point out… I detest it. It’s entertaining for my crew though. The whole gang shipped aboard The Lora during my daily training sessions in the Bay with Tommy the Torturer. Lynn took over handling the pole to take shots at me. Ever since I caught the pole and yanked T into the water, he directs the action instead of working me over himself.”

  Denny got a big shit eating grin on his face. “I heard you improved so much you even caught the pole with Lynn poking you.”

  Bastard. “I was just going to give her a little swim time.”

  “She Tasered you… the moment you caught the pole… oh my God… you should have heard the way Clint described the session.”

  Denny enjoyed his ill gained knowledge for a couple minutes while I sipped and remembered getting zapped by the ready for anything, Lynn. You can bet she’d heard about T hitting the water. Lynn’s answer to preventing it happening to her led to a lockdown of all weapons before training sessions. I had to give my word no one would hit the water when I caught the pole. It was a lose/lose situation for me – I still got poked with the pole, but could do nothing in retaliation, when I successfully grabbed it. So then, I began snapping the pole with a very acrobatic chopping move until Tommy substituted a metal pole with a rubber tip… the prick.

  Chapter Ten

  New Plan, New Match

  Clint held Lynn close next to him as they rode at The Lora’s bow. November coolness made the windblown spot a chilly one they had experience with from riding on John’s training cruises. Wearing foul weather hooded coats they had stored aboard, the two huddled together in quiet enjoyment.

  “You were pretty intense today.”

  “I was feeding off of Cheese,” Lynn replied. “Forget all that. I want to go with you out to the City of Hope.”

  “Fine by me,” Clint knew better than to try and play the overprotective husband and future father. “I’ll tell John you’re going. You’re going to be pretty uncomfortable.”

  “I know. I don’t want to miss an action to stop something like that anthrax plague attack. If they had been successful getting it in the country and distributed, tens of thousands could have died. I can’t stay behind on this, Clint.”

  “John already said there’s room no matter what. Even if you can’t do the boarding, you won’t be letting anyone down. I’m glad we worked with you on repelling off a hovering helicopter, because John’s already mentioned that may be an option. Lucas and I can get you shooting expert with whatever high firing gun they have mounted in what we ride in on too.”

  Lynn turned in Clint’s arms, cupping his chin. “You’re really not pissed, are you?”

  Clint kissed her with growing ardor until they started getting catcalls from the bridge crew. He pulled away reluctantly. “The only thing I’d be worried about is if we have any maternity combat uniforms with the elastic waistband.

  “Why you…” Lynn resisted Clint’s embrace for about ten seconds until his mouth sealed against hers. Only more catcalls from their cohorts separated them. Lynn closed her eyes, focusing on Clint’s soothing touch as she controlled her racing heart and breathing. “Damn these hormones! I should want to slice a couple pieces off you, but all I can think of is you sliding your pieces into me.”

  Clint massaged her shoulders. “I haven’t asked John about us going down to LA alone. I’m thinking it will be too close to this mission for your plan. Besides, I don’t think Denova will take off in the next few weeks. He’ll be there when we get back. He thinks he’s safe as can be. The only thing we need to worry about is Kevin’s bunch actually lucking into finding him and getting themselves killed. Then he really will run for it.”

  “What if he’s tied up in this container ship plot? Maybe he has an in with this Chinese freighter line, Cosco, to smuggle a couple anthrax shipments to the South?”

  “All go
od questions, babe, but I haven’t had time to run down every stray lead yet. You’re right. He may be in the Mexican Mafia, and all these bad guys surfacing from their hideouts in foreign nations to flit around freighter ships may be tied together.”

  “I didn’t mean to sound like I thought you were slacking off. I know you just pulled a few details when John called us in on the Reyes gig. Now that we know about this ‘Revolution’ thing being tied to the anthrax containers, this shit is just plain getting weirder by the minute. C’mon, let’s go talk to John and Denny while the two are drinking together. That’s always entertaining.”

  Clint helped Lynn up, steadying her. “No… getting you from here to there is entertaining.”

  “This continued disrespect of your child’s soon to be mother will not go unpunished.”

  “I never doubted that for a second,” Clint replied.

  * * *

  Denny and I listened to Clint and Lynn’s report on Denova, and what they thought about a tie-in with Reyes. I kept sipping, because I trusted their intuition, and the booze took away the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Denny’s face revealed the same creeping crap going through my head. Clint noticed.

  “I can tell on your faces you guys don’t think this is unrelated.”

  Denny was already FaceTiming with Jafar and Laredo. He gave them all the high points of what Clint told us. “You two get on all connections Denova could have had with Brannigan’s old empire, Quays Tannous, Voltaire, the Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia or any names we’ve turned up on this. I mean now, boys, and don’t let sleep get in your way.”

  He disconnected when both Laredo and Jafar acknowledged. Denny glared at us. “Damn it! The fuckin’ moment I think we’re getting a step ahead, something else stomps us into trail dust. Denova working around the Cosco freighting line really worries me, especially since he’s supposedly been hiding out in Thailand. What made you think to start checking in on him more deeply, Clint?”