That’s how they worked their way through the rest of the crowd. Mike stayed heavy with the jostling; Benny’s hand moved quick. By the time they got through the crowd, Benny’s pockets were full.
As Benny and Mike left the dock, the crowd fought their way onto the boat. Some of their victims would probably check their wallets on the water-taxi. Mike wished he could be there to see the look on their faces when they realized that they were on their way to a gambling ship with empty pockets. Mike stopped halfway up the steps that led to the top of the bluff where they had parked their car. He turned and smiled and watched the boat motor away from the pier.
“Hey.” Benny was at the top of the steps looking down. “ Snap out of it.”
Mike did. He clambered up the rest of the steps and met Benny at a grey Model K convertible that had belonged to a patron. The man had gotten too drunk at the bar and Mike had tossed him into the alley, but kept his keys. Mike liked the car and he had been driving it for several days and always with the top down. Mike started up the car and Benny slid into the seat next to him and took the wallets out of his pocket.
There were lots of them and it took him a while to pluck the cash from them and divide it. He took a piece for himself first, then gave a smaller one to Mike. Mike shoved his share into his side pocket without counting it. He knew Benny was giving him a fair split. They were con men. They could trust each other.
Mike drove out of the lot and up the hill away from the pier. Benny tossed the wallets out of the car with an overhand motion. Then they merged into the traffic heading away from the beach. It was slow going, so they lit cigarettes and settled back for the ride.
As he smoked, Mike checked out the stiffs in the cars he passed. They were John Doe’s working week to week. They were suckers. Mike shook his head and muttered under his breath. Benny picked up on it and nodded along with the sentiment. Still they sat in traffic like everyone else smoking and nodding at women on the sidewalk, and lurching forward and stopping again every few moments, and always inhaling exhaust.
After a little more than an hour, they pulled into the garage behind the Ashton apartments where Mike lived, thanks to Benny and the badger game. They hopped out of the Model K and left the motor running and crossed the garage toward the back of the apartment building. There was a beat-up ’21 Ferris that was parked off in a corner. A skinny black twelve year old pulled his head out from under the hood.
“Does it need work, ‘cause I’m backed-up all week?” Moses threw the words at them, then hopped off the car and ambled toward them rubbing his dirty hands clean on a white rag. For a mechanic, the kid was spic-n-span.
“No, the car’s fine. Just park it with the others.” Mike was half way out of the garage when he answered.
“We still 50/50?” Moses asked.
He caught up to Mike and offered him his hand. He liked to shake on every deal. Mike humored him and took his hand.
“Yeah. Same deal.” Mike answered.
This kid was good. Mike knew the car would have a price tag on it in an hour. It would sell quick and Moses would be all smiles for a week. Mike had seen it before. It was the third car he had given Moses. Mike liked his young partner, but he kept an eye on him. Mike watched him close, looking for where Moses was hiding his share of the money.
“Hey.” Benny grunted. He was waiting by the back door to the building.
Mike started moving, but Moses held fast. “Someone was in there looking for you.” The kid delivered the line steady.
Mike stopped in his tracks. “Who?”
“How should I know?” Moses shrugged.
“He get inside? He talk to Stonewall?”
“Stonewall.” Moses muttered and shook his head. “You really think that old doorman looks like President Jackson?”
“I showed you the portrait. He’s a dead ringer. So did my visitor talk to him?” Mike put his hand on the kid’s shoulder.
“I don’t know. Probably.” Moses shifted on his feet.
Benny didn’t stay in the alley by himself. He came back to the garage and stood in the doorway with his right hand fidgeting over his gun pocket.
“They talk to you?” Mike kept up with the questions.
“Hank talked to me.” Moses gave fast answers to back Mike off. It didn’t work.
“He did?”
“He did indeed.” Moses held his hand out.
Mike almost punched him in the mouth. “You gotta be kidding me?”
“I ain’t.” Moses’ hand was steady. He had a rule about talking for free.
“Fine.” Mike slapped a bill into it.
“Hank came out here and talked to me after they left. He said they were asking after you. He told them that he’d let them in.” Moses looked up at him and smirked. “That old door man sure doesn’t like you.”
“Feelings mutual.” Mike was irritated. “They still in there?”
“I dunno. A lot went in. A lot came out. I didn’t count’em.” Moses shrugged.
“I don’t like this.” Benny chimed in from his lookout post in the doorway.
“Anything else?” Mike asked through clenched teeth.
“They’re from someplace cold. I saw the wet and salt on the edge of their pants. They stopped right there in the alley and went in back. They left the car alone, a Cadillac limo. I gave it the once over. It was running hot. They came a long way. Dead bugs on the glass.”
Mike nodded and took it in. He liked this kid more every day. Even better, the kid was on the right side of the scale. He was on Mike’s side.
“Colorado?” Benny spoke up from the shadows. He was almost totally hidden in the obscure, but the glow of his cigarette gave him away. “That old man sure does move fast.”
“You bet he does?” Mike walked away from Moses and headed toward the building.
“I’ll have the car ready.” Benny said, but he didn’t move. He wasn’t going anywhere until Mike got inside.
Mike crossed the alley, but he didn’t go to the back door. Instead he took a detour to the trash pile behind the building and picked through the refuse until he found a long slat of heavy wood. He grabbed it and tested his grip. It felt good. He liked the balance of the club in his hand. Mike took it and headed to the back entrance to the Ashton. A short concrete staircase led up to a set of black double doors. They were usually locked, but tonight they were open. Mike paused and gathered himself before he went inside.
The back foyer was normally brightly lit, but tonight the lights were off. Mike tried the switch on the wall next to him: nothing. He squinted and saw broken glass on the floor under the fixture. Mike could tell the room was empty and he crept in toward the freight elevator in the far corner. When he got there, the car wasn’t on the ground floor so he pulled on the lever to call it. Nothing happened.
Mike gave up on the elevator and headed to a back staircase that was tucked away next to it. He stepped softly and made very little noise. When he reached the stairs, he checked his grip on the wooden stake and held it ready. Then he hugged the wall and craned his neck to see as far up the stairwell as he could. There was only darkness, but he could sense someone above him, hugging the same wall. Mike figured the guy had to be at least three flights up.
Mike returned to the back door and slipped outside. The convertible had its top up now and Benny sat behind the wheel. Mike noticed that Moses had cleaned the windows in the few minutes that Mike had left the car. Mike shook his head. That kid was something else.
Mike slipped into the passenger seat, but he kept the door open and let his foot dangle outside. “I’m gonna have to go up and get him.”
“You think he’s alone?” Benny twitched and his foot gave the car a little gas and the engine revved.
“Yeah, but he’s clever. He stopped the elevator and hid himself in the stairs.”
“He’s probably got a gun in there.” Benny said. “We should get you one. Even the odds a little.”
“No time. Back this car up to the fire escape.
” Mike’s felt his partner waiver. “Don’t worry, I got a stick with me.” He showed the club to Benny.
His partner wasn’t impressed. “Well, you better swing it quick if you want to stay alive.” Benny looked over his shoulder and drove in reverse toward the fire escape. Mike ducked down so his pal could see.
Mike hopped out as soon as the car stopped “I’ll be right back.” He said as he clambered on top of the car and aped up to the fire escape.
On the fifth floor a hallway window was open, so Mike scrambled through. He stood in the shadows for a moment and listened to the sounds of the building. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Mike inched down the hallway toward the back stairwell. On his way there, he passed the freight elevator. Its doors were jammed open with a wooden wedge. Mike took it away and the doors closed.
A second later, Mike could hear the man coming up from his hiding place in the back stairwell. Mike slipped into a storage closet and waited. Soon Mike could hear the scuff of shoes on tile and he watched as a real heavyweight emerged from the shadows and slinked toward the elevator. When he got to the closet, the heavyweight stopped and sniffed the air. Mike almost broke out of the closet and let him have it, but he held back and the man moved on.
When he did, Mike crept out of the closet and followed him. The heavyweight stopped at the elevator. He saw the piece of wood was out of place and he bent down to pick it up. It was right then that he heard Mike coming up behind him. He heard too late.
Mike put his club to work and the guy crumbled. Mike pulled the lever and called the elevator. The heavyweight tried to get up a couple of times before the car arrived. Mike put a stop to it each time more savagely. When the car got there, Mike dragged the man into the elevator and set the lever to go down. The box dropped slowly and Mike took the time to kneel down and check the man’s features: bald, pig-nosed, and overfed. He was so ugly that Mike knew he had never seen him before.
Mike patted him down until he found his wallet. He rifled through it. There was no I.D., but the guy had a stake: several hundred. Mike took it. The man also had a heavy leather blackjack in one pocket and, strapped to his chest, a Mauser Red 9 automatic. It was a German gun from the World War and you could tell that by looking at it. Chips and scratches dented the barrel. Mike pocketed the gun and the sap – there might be more trouble hanging around.
When the elevator reached the ground floor, Mike picked the man up. The heavyweight grunted a protest and tried to pull away, so Mike punched him in the gut and the man doubled over and lost his breathe and Mike steered him easily out of the building.
Benny had the car pulled up to the exit and the passenger side door open. Mike hustled the heavyweight down the stairs and shoved him into the car down onto the floorboard. As soon as Mike had the door shut, Benny reached over and handed Mike a long coil of greasy rope. Mike took it and hogtied the man. Benny handed Mike an oily rag. Mike shoved it into the man’s mouth. The strong smell of the rag brought the big man back to his senses and he started to struggle.
Mike broke the man’s nose with one punch and the man fell back onto the floorboards with blood pouring down his face. Mike kneeled on top of him and pinned him so he couldn’t move and had to struggle to breathe.
Benny tapped the gas and the car rolled down the alley away from the building. He drove onto Wilshire heading west, but turned off quickly to take back streets and avoid the eyes of others. These streets were narrow and lined with long squat houses and tall palm trees.
In the back seat, the guy on the floorboards kept up his struggle. Mike had to hit him again to keep him down. It worked, but the fellow kept fighting until Mike lost his patience and drew the Red 9.
“Don’t you dare.” Benny shouted and slammed on the brakes.
Mike pitched forward and hit the front seat. The heavyweight sensed the opportunity and bucked hard to get up, but Mike regained his balance and pistol whipped him. There was a loud pop when the gun hit skull and the heavyweight flash froze and didn’t move again.
Benny and Mike didn’t trade a word after that. They sat ramrod straight and stared out the windows as the night flowed past. They made their way up the Pacific Coast Highway past the beach towns. Soon a fog rolled in to greet them. When they came to a tight curve in the coastal road, Benny pulled off of it and drove slowly down a steep incline toward the beach. He parked on a sandy lot between an old broken down pier and a dilapidated shack.
They got out and Mike dragged the heavyweight after them. By now the guy was out cold and Mike had to drag him down to the water so a big wave of cold Pacific could roll over him and wake him up. He was woozy, but he still had fight in him. Mike had to punch him a couple of more times in the gut to snap him out of it. The man doubled over, but stayed on his feet and Mike pushed him across the sand towards a shack that squatted in the shadow of the cliff like a brigand.
When they got to the door, Benny unlocked it and let them in. The shack was much like they left it a few days ago. The chair where the girl had been tied-up was still lying on the floor in the corner and the ropes that had bound her were next to it. Right where Mike had tossed them. Sloppy’s empty bottles were still there too. Mike even recognized the one he had tossed aside after they had made the deal to let her go.
Mike shoved the heavyweight in front of him and his prisoner stumbled forward and hit the floor hard. Mike left him there and went to the chair and picked it up. On his way, he caught sight of a torn piece of the girl’s dress and his heart sank. He had really liked that kid. He wanted her back, just for a little while, just for long enough to wring her neck.
Benny could sense Mike was drifting off, so he nudged him with an elbow and snapped him out of it. Then Benny went over to the chair and picked it up. Mike dropped the heavyweight into it. Benny used the same ropes they had used on the girl to tie the big man to the chair. When he was done, Benny took the oily gag out of the heavyweight’s mouth.
“What’s your name?” Benny smiled.
“Go to hell.” The heavyweight spat out the words between gasps. When he got his wind back quick, he started in with the threats. “Do you guys know what you’re doing? I have people.”
“Who are they?” Benny stayed all smiles.
Mike paced around the shack. He had the heavyweights leather blackjack swinging at the end of his arm. Every time Mike got close to them, Benny flinched.
“You know who we are.” The heavyweight sneered back at Benny. “You know why we’re here. At least, your buddy should.”
“You know about this?” Benny looked at Mike.
“You’re the one out promoting. You’re the heavy talker.” Mike sounded angry.
Benny turned back to the man. He started in on him again, this time easy. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on? I can get you outta here. I can get you out in a minute. In a minute.” Benny snapped his fingers for emphasis.
The heavyweight laughed in his face. “Do I look like a sap to you? You see that big guy behind you.” The heavyweight nodded in Mike’s direction. “I know him. I know how he operates. I know there’s no chance I’m walking outta here.” The heavyweight didn’t act scared. He acted like a guy who couldn’t wait to get this over with.
Benny kept on smiling. He had his grin painted on. “Look. We weren’t lurking in the dark waiting for you. You did that. My friend and I just want to know who you boys are and why you’re here.”
“Well, he’s right about your heavy talking. We could hear you all the way in Denver.” The man nodded at Mike again. “You can ask him who we are.”
Benny turned to his partner. “You know this guy?”
“He’s not worth knowing.” Mike stepped toward the chair.
“Keep making promises tough guy.” The heavyweight flexed against his ropes and tested them. They were tight.
Benny stepped between Mike and the man. “Come on, I can get you outta here.” He patted the heavyweight on the knee and asked nicely. “Spill?”
Benny was magic. T
he heavyweight gave a what-the-hell shrug and started talking.
“Well, it started a coupla days ago when we got word over the wire that a couple of L.A. yokels were running the fight game. The Judge has a monopoly on that promotion this side of the Mississippi, so when someone told him about your talk, he was interested. But not because you’re running his action, he lets people slide on that all the time. In fact, they ran one in Santa Fe just last week. The difference is good old Mike here. The Judge was real interested when he heard about Mike. Your pal here did something real bad to his boy.” The heavyweight fixed Mike in a dead stare. “Back in Memphis wasn’t it? The judge sure liked his boy. Didn’t he, tough guy?”
“How many of you?” Benny ignored the innuendo. He stayed in the moment.
“A dozen. Some came with us. Some we picked up out here.” The heavyweight said the words with finality. He looked past Benny at Mike and took a deep breathe. “This guy know what you did, Mike? You want maybe I tell him?”
Before the man could say another word, Mike lunged forward and hit him with the blackjack. The heavyweight smiled after the first strike, but the second knocked him out. Mike didn’t stop at two. He kept going. He laid in hard and fierce. Benny didn’t try to stop him.
CHAPTER FOUR
Mike leaned against the wall and struggled to catch his breath. He was covered in sweat and his forearms were blood-soaked and swollen. In the center of the shack, the heavyweight lay on his back with his face caved in. The chair had tipped over. Benny tried not to look at the body. He rooted around in a pile of refuse in the opposite corner until he found a filthy canvas tarp. He picked it up and tossed it at Mike’s feet.
“Wrap him up and find a chain. You’re rowing, too.” Benny walked out.
Mike watched him go, then picked up the tarp and lay it on the sand next to the body and spread it out. The corner of the white canvas touched blood and sopped it up. After the tarp, Mike went to the chair, untied the heavyweight and rolled him onto the canvas. The big guy rolled easy and Mike wrapped him up tight in the canvas without much difficulty.
Fixed Fight (Mike Chance series Book 2) Page 3