As he stared at his old home, the front door opened. A man wearing a business suit, probably in his late twenties, walked down the driveway toward his car. Much the way Lawson had done every day for three years. Then the door opened again. This time, a young girl with bright blonde hair, maybe five years old, came running out after him. A brown paper sack in her tiny little hands. The man turned around, and his smile matched the wide one that his daughter wore on her face as he picked her up, kissed her cheek, twirled her around, and looked back toward the front door. His wife stood there, watching. Smiling.
Was Lawson really seeing this? Or was this a daydream of what his life would have been like if his horrific nightmare had never happened? As he watched these strangers interact with each other in such a blissful way, Lawson began to feel the opposite. His first thought was that he wanted a piece of his old life back. He wanted more than anything to see Lexi grow up. And he was going to do everything in his power to make that happen.
He watched the dad take his daughter back to the front door and hand her off to his wife. She rewarded him with a long and heartfelt kiss good-bye. And as Lawson watched her wrap her arms around him, giving him an extra squeeze, Lawson’s blood ran cold. The warm thoughts that had been passing through his mind were washed away and replaced with the thought that it should’ve been him. That woman should have been Lauren. He didn’t realize it, but he was squeezing the steering wheel so hard in his hands that the tattered thing was beginning to crack. A rage unlike any he had felt through all his pain found him there in that car. And the next image that flashed in front of his mind’s eye was of Nero De Luca.
That smug son of a bitch thought that his money and his power made him untouchable. People that believe that way begin to get sloppy. And though Lawson didn’t think that De Luca had necessarily been sloppy about covering his tracks suggesting he was involved in Lauren’s murder, he did feel like Nero was sloppy with him. Far too overconfident that he could pull the wool over Lawson’s eyes and actually have Lawson help him regain his foothold in Vegas. Nero’s biggest problem was that he thought he was smarter than Lawson. He saw Lawson as a brute force, the smash-your-way-through-people kind of man. But Nero didn’t know the other side of Lawson. The side that uses brute force to gain favor. The side that, as a detective and FBI agent, was not just good at putting things together but good at manipulating situations. Situations like finding weak spots. Finding that one link in the chain that was ready to break. And in this instance, that link was Nero’s own son.
Nero’s biggest mistake was the one thing that should have been his strongest link. But a man like Nero doesn’t have time for his actual family. Because his work is his life. His power is his legacy. And his neglected, unimportant son, who doesn’t want anything to do with the criminal life, is left swimming in the ocean all alone . . . sad . . . angry . . . vulnerable. Vulnerable to a shark like Sokolov. Vulnerable to Sokolov’s beautiful granddaughter. And Lawson was the only one who could take full advantage.
Lawson’s phone began to ring.
Speak of the devil.
Before he answered Johnny’s call, he took a deep breath and let the rage fall from his mind. “That was fast.”
“I didn’t need a lot of time, Lawson. Besides, you didn’t give me much.”
“So you have proof?”
“He just met with Delaney and Walters last night. The only reason I knew was because he wanted me there to serve them drinks. It’s like he thinks I’m his servant or something. Then he kicked me out before they started talking. I have no idea what was said. There is no audio.”
“So what is the proof?” Lawson persisted.
“Oh, right. Dad has a security camera in his office because he doesn’t trust anyone, including me, to be in there without him. But he wasn’t around when the system was set up. I was. He thought I was at school, so he thinks he and the head of his security are the only ones who can access it. I overheard them discuss the passcode that day and I wrote it down just in case. I can access the hard drive from any computer. So how do I get the video to you?”
This was too easy. There must be some sort of catch.
“I have an email address you can send it to,” Lawson said.
“That won’t work. The file is too large to email. I can’t just cut the meeting you want proof of, the entire day’s video had to be downloaded. I put it on a flash drive.”
And there was the catch. No matter how clever Johnny thought he was being, Lawson knew a man like Nero, who had secrets floating around all the time, would never be so cavalier with a security video. Lawson knew what Johnny didn’t, that his father’s head of security would undoubtedly be alerted when someone accessed the terminal.
“Where are you, Johnny?” Lawson’s tone had turned more serious. And Johnny could hear it.
“What? I’m in my room. Why? What’s wrong?”
“You have to get the hell out of there. Right now.”
“What’s going on?”
“Meet me at Battista’s Hole in the Wall. It’s a little Italian restaurant on the back side of the Flamingo’s parking garage.”
“I know where it is. But what—”
“Johnny, go now. Or I won’t be able to save you.”
24
“Where the hell was Johnny De Luca ten years ago when we needed him?” Cassie asked.
“Middle school,” Lawson said as his car went sideways onto Las Vegas Blvd. He mashed the gas pedal and swerved around three cars that were in front of him.
“Was that your tires I heard squealing, Lawson?”
“I have to get to Battista’s. There is no doubt Nero’s men will be close behind Johnny. This is it, Cassie. This is the break that helps me clear my name, and the break that helps us finally take down De Luca. If this is what Johnny says it is, I could actually get Lexi back.”
“Well, we’re not going to be able to take down anyone if you are in jail. You realize that you are public enemy number one right now. Let me handle this, Lawson. I can have Johnny picked up by a local cop and have him brought to me. You don’t need to go anywhere near this.”
Lawson swerved around a couple more cars. His heart was pounding. Not because of the frantic drive, but because he was so close. He thought it would take weeks, maybe even months to get to this point with De Luca, and now he’s only minutes, hell, only a few blocks away!
“I can’t take that chance, Cass. I have to get that flash drive!”
“Lawson, listen to me—”
“There’s no time. The police are after me, the director of the FBI is after me, and my in with Nero is gone. If this doesn’t work, I’m dead, and so are you. You think Nero won’t send more men for you? You and I are the last link to his involvement in all of this. He made the mistake of letting me live once, he won’t do it again. And if the police get to me now, he won’t have to. I’ll be locked up forever.”
Cassie’s voice went up an octave. “That is what I am trying to tell you! If the police see you now, this is all over. The proof will be gone, and Delaney’s murder will be pinned on you too. Let’s do this by the book and—”
“To hell with the book!” Lawson slammed his fist against the dashboard. “The book is why I am in this situation to begin with! I’m not leaving this in someone else’s hands this time, Cassie. Not again. This time I’m ending it once and for all.”
Lawson ended the call.
His blinders were on. There was nothing else in the world that mattered more than getting that flash drive. He would worry about De Luca, the police, and everything else after it was in his possession. Until then, he knew he was a dead man walking, and Cassie’s plight wasn’t much different.
He tried to calm himself as he pulled into the parking lot of Battista’s. He couldn’t go inside. He couldn’t risk someone recognizing him from his picture all over the news and calling the police on him. He just hoped Johnny could make it before Nero had him picked up.
Lawson’s phone alerted him of a
text.
Johnny: I’m at the bar. Did you know you are all over the news? And listen, there is something else I have to tell you. But you’re not going to like it. I put something else on the flash drive that you need to see.
An SUV swerved into the parking lot and four men jumped out of the car.
De Luca.
Lawson pressed call on Johnny’s contact.
Johnny answered, “I just sent you a—”
“Johnny, go out the back door, right now. And run!”
“What? I don’t—”
“Now! I’ll try to distract your father’s men. GO!”
Lawson stepped out of the car and shouted at the men as they hurried toward the entrance to the restaurant. “You guys looking for Johnny?”
The bald guy in the front of the pack pulled a pistol immediately and started firing on Lawson. Two bullets clanked into the hood of Cassie’s car. Then one of the men behind him pointed over Lawson’s shoulder and shouted, “There goes Johnny!”
Lawson turned and saw the back of Johnny De Luca sprinting down Audrie Street toward the massive High Roller. The man shooting at Lawson was distracted by his man shouting just long enough for Lawson to pull his Beretta. There were three cars and a pickup truck that separated him from De Luca’s four men. Lawson’s first shot missed, and the four of them dove behind the cars for cover. Lawson used the moment of opportunity to jump back in his car, throw it in reverse, swerve out onto the street, and pull away just as a few more bullets hit the trunk of his car. Johnny was just a couple of blocks ahead of him, still making a run for it. Lawson was closing in. He was going to get to that flash drive after all.
Then a black Chevy Tahoe coming toward Johnny from the opposite direction slammed on their brakes, and three more men jumped out. Johnny noticed them and darted left before the men could get completely out of the truck. Lawson floored it, then slammed on the brakes when he reached the Tahoe and bolted out of the car. It was time to use all that running he’d been doing for something more than just exercise.
Johnny had turned left just in front of the High Roller, which meant he was running up the LINQ Promenade, where they were last night. Lawson could see Johnny up ahead and the three men right behind him in close pursuit. Lawson kicked into another gear and sprinted up the back side of them. The men weren’t shooting at Johnny, most likely per Nero’s orders. This gave Lawson a chance. If they were going to try to bring him in without killing him, Lawson would be able to wait for the right time to move in.
Lawson couldn’t see Johnny now, but he was closing in on De Luca’s men. They were bowling over the crowd that was strolling down the promenade. Oversized drinks were spilling from their hands, ladies were screaming, and bystanders lunching on the patios were shouting for people to watch out. Lawson was just a few yards behind them now, when they all turned right into O’Sheas, the bar where Lawson had met Cassie for drinks and pulled Johnny out of last night. Lawson rushed through the door. One of De Luca’s men had just run over the craps table that greeted patrons at the front, and gambling chips were scattered everywhere on the floor. De Luca’s man had managed to get back to his feet, but not fast enough to get away from Lawson.
Lawson reached the back of the man’s collar and yanked him backward. He thudded to the bar floor on his back, and before he could register what happened, Lawson drove his elbow down on the bald man’s forehead. The lights instantly went out.
“Lock the entrance, there are more of them coming!” Lawson shouted to the bartender as he bolted to his feet and raced for the back of the bar. If they did as he said, maybe it would slow the other four of De Luca’s men down who were coming up behind him.
The back of O’Sheas opened into the LINQ Hotel. Lawson sprinted left and could just make out the other two men chasing Johnny as they entered into the casino. Lawson lowered his head and continued to chase. He could tell the men in front of him were starting to slow. This was a lot of running and adrenaline dumping. If you weren’t in good shape, this would be exhausting.
Good thing that wasn’t a problem for Lawson.
25
Lawson ran onto the casino floor to a slot machine chorus of bing-bing-bing-bong-bong-bong-bong. He saw the men on the main path, following the signs to the exit out to the Strip. Lawson decided to try a shortcut through the rows of slot machines. Halfway through them, he could see that it was going to pay off because he was now closing in on Johnny. But when Johnny tried to slow his momentum and take a left toward the exit, the slick marble under his feet took its toll, and Johnny went sliding on his side into a rail that separated the gaming area from the slick surface of the entrance. The two men slid to a stop right in front of Johnny, and one man pulled his pistol and shouted at Johnny to get up. Lawson closed the distance, hurdled a trash can, and dove at the gunman, taking him to the ground with a double-arm tackle.
“Run, Johnny!” Lawson shouted. “Out to the Strip! Blend in with the crowd!” Lawson raised himself off the man, holding the man’s wrist in his hand, and slammed the man’s hand down on the marble. The man’s gun skittered across the floor.
Lawson glanced back over his shoulder, and De Luca’s other man had managed to grab Johnny before he could get away.
“Where’s the flash drive, Johnny? I know you have it,” the man shouted as he shook Johnny by the shirt.
Lawson punched the man below him in the forehead, then grabbed him by his dark hair and slammed the back of his head against the marble.
“I . . . I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Johnny answered.
The man punched him in the stomach. Johnny bent over at the knees and gasped for air. Lawson rose to his feet and turned toward Johnny’s attacker.
“Why don’t you try hitting me like that?”
The man straightened Johnny up and held him in place by the front of his shirt. Then he turned to look at Lawson. Lawson recognized the man’s face from the meeting with De Luca at STK.
The man’s expression was smug. “Thought you were supposed to be working for us?”
Lawson shrugged his shoulders. “Things change. Let him go, and I’ll let you live.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
“Right now?” Lawson stalled. “I’m the man who’s going to stop you from getting that flash drive. Later? I’ll be the man standing over your boss’s dead body.”
“You’d have to get by me first, Raines. And there’s no chance in hell you’re man enough for that.”
The man smirked as he reached for his waistline.
Lawson shouted, “Knee, Johnny!”
The man looked back at Johnny, giving Lawson’s words enough time to register. Johnny shot his knee toward the man’s groin. He missed, but still hit him in the lower midsection hard enough for the man to flinch and let go.
“Give me the flash drive!” Lawson shouted to Johnny. But the man had already recovered. As Lawson closed the eight-foot distance between them, the man once again reached for his gun.
“Hey!” The bald man Lawson knocked out back inside O’Sheas had caught up with them.
“Just go, Johnny!” Lawson told him. “Meet me at Carnival Court!”
Lawson caught the hand of the man pulling his gun and drove his forehead down on the bridge of his nose. Johnny looked at Lawson, then up at the other man coming his way, then did what Lawson asked and ran out the front entrance. As the gunman reached for his nose, he dropped his gun, and Lawson delivered an overhand right to his temple with enough power to knock him off his feet. Lawson grabbed the waist-high, gold-domed trash can, wheeled it around 180 degrees, and hurled it at De Luca’s oncoming goon. The man stopped, then stepped around the trash can, continuing toward him. When Lawson turned back around and stomped the heel of his shoe down on the neck of the bloody-nosed gunman, a crack reverberated in between the dings of the nearby slot machines.
Only one man to worry about now.
The man who had dodged the trash can finally pulled his pistol, and Lawso
n dove behind the Wheel of Fortune slots just as two bangs from the gun sent everyone nearby into hysteria. Lawson pulled his Beretta as he pushed up off the ground. He could feel the eyes of all the cameras on him as he aimed around the slot machine. The media was going to love the next video clip in the ongoing saga that was Lawson Raines: pardoned prisoner turning once again to murder.
The end of Lawson’s gun found its target, and before the man shooting at Lawson could react, Lawson shot him twice in the chest. He rounded the corner of the slot machine just as Pat Sajak was asking another player to spin the wheel, dodged several terrified passersby, and walked toward the exit. The first man he tackled and knocked out finally came to, and as he began to sit up, Lawson didn’t break stride as he shot him in the forehead and walked out the door onto the Strip. No sense leaving these men alive to take another run at him later. Thinning De Luca’s herd now could only pay dividends when he finally went after the son of a bitch.
The temperature change on the sidewalk immediately exhausted him. It was oppressive heat at this point in the day. The Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace were across the street in front of him. He turned to his right, in the direction he told Johnny to run, and up about a block there was commotion in the middle of the street. Lawson ran down the crowded sidewalk, and up ahead he could see an SUV stopped in the right lane and a crowd of people curved around some sort of commotion beside it. The closer Lawson got, the more he knew it was trouble. Sure enough, he maneuvered around the gawking crowd just in time to see two men stuffing Johnny in the backseat. There was nothing he could do. There were far too many people to start shooting.
When the Man Comes Around: A Gripping Crime Thriller (Lawson Raines, Book 1) Page 11