Jelena interpreted and Susan left the room.
“How much English do you know?” Deja asked Candy.
“A little. Most is sex talk. American men like me to sex talk with accent.”
“Jelena, ask her to tell you what she saw while she was on the street. Not when she was with a john. Things like what did the other women working that spot do or say. Did they give her any shit? What was it like in general? Were there any things that stood out?”
After several back and forth questions and clarifications Candy understood what Deja wanted. She started talking about the night. She reported the other women didn’t talk to her, or cause any problems either. Nothing more than normal when she had been in a new spot. A couple of the women smiled at her, most ignored her. There had been a car parked across the street. The people watched for a while, then left.
That perked Deja up. “Tell me about the people in the car. How many were there? What did they look like?”
“There were two people. A man driving and a woman with him.
“What did the woman look like?”
“She was Black, but not pretty like you. She had a thin face with big hair.”
“What did the car look like?” Deja asked.
“It was a big car. Color gold. I think it is old, not new,” Jelena translated.
“Did it have anything different about it, like different wheels, or loud music?” Deja asked.
“It had big wheels, but the black part, the rubber is skinny. The back windows are a mirror,” Jelena translated.
“What about the driver?”
“A Black man. Short hair and small hair on face. The type over his mouth and on the chin. He was not big. I don’t know how tall because he stay in car,” Jelena translated.
“Fucking Latoya and Spider. I shoulda known . . .” Deja said.
“Is this bad? Do these people work with Jack-Move?” Jelena asked. Fear widening her eyes.
“No. Nothing like that. It’s the woman I kicked off the street. The one whose place Candy took. Her and her asswipe boyfriend. I didn’t know he was out of jail.”
“Oh, is this bad?” Jelena asked.
“It’s not a big deal. She was checking to see if there really was a Russian woman taking her place. Guess she found out.”
Twenty-One: Slave’s Quarters
NIKKY EYEBALLED THE dingy hall leading to the apartment. “You sure about this?”
“Absolutely. It’s perfect. They rent by the week or month, no checks, cash or credit card only, no lease, no security. If you want something nicer, all the perks of invisibility go away with a huge paper trail. This is exactly what we need.”
Michelle and Nikky inspected the apartment and created a list of necessities that included a shower curtain without mold, a couple bottles of bleach, plastic kitchenware, and linens. Michelle took the shopping duty while Nikky went looking for the pick-up point Jelena had described.
Michelle returned to the apartment several hours before Nikky and put the time to use with cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. She sat in the small living room taking a break when she heard the key in the door. “Did you find the place?”
“Yeah, no problem. With Jelena’s description and GPS directions, I drove straight to it. It’s the place alright, there were several Russian women standing outside smoking when I went by,” Nikky responded.
“Are you sure they were Russian?”
“Um huh. I parked around the corner and walked by the front of the café. They were talking in Russian when I went by.”
“Okay, good that you checked. Not so good that you let them see you.”
“I can see on your face you think it was a mistake,” Nikky said.
“Yeah, a small mistake. Although we think they don’t know you, they could easily have a full portfolio on you and Deja with pictures and the works. So, yeah, you shouldn’t have let them see you. Not even in a simple walk by. Especially, without any type of disguise just you out there with your pretty little face being who you are.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think of all that. I did walk around the whole block so I only passed by one time. I drove out a different way. I thought that was pretty clever. It was a big ass block too.”
“That was good. Since you lived to tell me about it, you must have got away with it. But you do need to be more careful.”
“Got it,” Nikky said. “It’s a real different way of thinking. Back home, everything is chest out, head held high, don’t take no shit, and make them see you’re not afraid. I’ve been strolling strong like that all of my life. I’ll do better I promise.”
“It’s mostly a mindset, and you’ll have plenty of practice when we start following them.”
“Oh, how’s that?” Nikky asked. “Did you get any wine?”
“Yep, in the now-clean fridge.”
On her way to the kitchen Nikky asked, “Want some?”
“Sure, we’re in for the night.”
Nikky rummaged around in the kitchen. “You were saying?”
“It’ll be three in the morning with empty streets. We can just hang back and think they won’t notice the only other car on the road is following them. We will have to take it one leg at a time and switch off with a couple different cars. We follow them along one street until they turn and we keep going. That is, unless they stay on the street for more than a few minutes. If they do that, we turn off and let them go.”
Nikky set two red plastic cups and the open bottle of wine on the coffee table. “Then what happens?”
“The next day we do the same thing if it looks good. We may have to park and wait to see if they pass. Some sections may take two or even three days depending on how it all comes together. Trust me, you’ll have plenty of time to think about and understand the perspective of laying low.”
“Okie dokie. When do we start?”
“Tomorrow night if we get back on time. We have an early evening appointment with our Vietnamese friends to pick up for the first shipment.”
“First shipment? I thought it would all come at once?”
“No, they told Tuan it would come at different times. I got a text saying a particular piece of equipment will take an extra day. I’m not surprised. It’s not like it’s sitting on somebody’s shelf. Even somebody like our friends won’t have it readily available. The fact they could have it made at all, says they’re deeply connected. Way more than Ascia probably knows. If we weren’t taking his ass out, I think sooner or later Ascia would have had some serious trouble with these guys.”
“They sent you a text? Isn’t that kind of, well, not so smart? I mean, don’t the cops know who these guys are and can, you know, read their texts?”
“Yeah, but we’re all using new burners and they sent me a picture, not a text. It’s a picture of a puzzle missing one piece. That’s as good as a phone call. Anyway, they’ll send another text later with an address of where the dead drop is. I’ll need you to help me make the pick-up. The bags will be heavy if they put several of the guns and ammo in them.”
“I never thought I’d be acting all Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. Yet, here we are being slick, doing cloak and dagger stuff. The funny thing is, I’m mostly just dog tired,” Nikky said.
“That’s how it is,” Michelle said. “If everything goes right, it’ll stay that way. So you go ahead grab some sleep. I’m headed out to spend some time on the street checking out more of Ascia’s operation to make sure it stays as boring as possible.”
The problem is everything never goes right. There’s always surprises . . .
* * *
Three black Escalades pulled up to the front door of the café where the women congregated at the end of the night. Parked almost a block away, Michelle and Nikky watched the scene unfold. It was the same scene they had watched for three nights in a row. Fast Eddie stepped out from the back seat of the leading SUV. He made a big show of greeting all of the hookers as they came out of the cafe.
“Look at that shit,” Nikky
said. “They’re all dragging ass, but look, they’re all perky and act like he’s something special when they see him looking at them. My God, they’re all cheesing with big grins. What do they see in this creep?”
“Those grins are about as real as cheap costume jewelry,” Michelle said.
“What? Then why the act?”
“They’re afraid of him. If they don’t act all happy and excited to be part of the team, he’ll beat them. With this many women, he can afford to lose one or two for a few weeks. If he beats one, he’ll beat her down bad to keep the rest in line.”
“Fucking asshole. I know our first priority is Ascia. I got that. He was the one who is a danger to us now. He’s going, no matter what. But, we also have to take out these pimp slave-making muthafuckas. I mean it, Michelle. They have to be removed from the face of the earth.”
“Here we go.” Michelle pulled out a half block behind the last Escalade.
The Escalades went three blocks, then turned right at a light. Michelle continued straight through the intersection. “That’s the first leg. Tomorrow we’ll find a place a couple blocks down that way and catch them when they pass. That will be our second leg.”
It took seven days to complete the tail. When it was all done, the drive was less than twenty minutes from the pick-up point to the set of single story apartments where they lived.
The next day, early in the morning when it was least likely for anyone to be out, they did a drive by.
Michelle wore a long wig and ball cap pulled low and drove past without slowing down. She kept her head facing forward so she appeared not to be interested. Nikky checked out the apartments without looking at anything in particular.
“Well?”
“It looks like there are two buildings facing each other with some yard and small bushes in between. No trees or anything big enough to block the vision from any part. I think there were four doors on each side so they have eight apartments total. Do you think they have the whole thing?”
“Yeah, they should own the place. What about in the back?”
“I couldn’t see, one of the Escalades was in the way,” Nikky responded.
“No problem. The important thing is we know where they are.”
“Jelena said Fast Eddie has thirty girls. Where do you think the rest of them are?” Nikky asked.
“What do you mean? Where are they?”
“Well, we watched him pick up seventeen girls. There are eight apartments, from the size of them, they’re probably one bedroom with a small bathroom. That should fill them up don’t you think?”
“Earth to Nikky: These guys don’t give a rat’s ass about how comfortable the women are. This is where all of them stay.”
“All thirty are crammed into those eight apartments? You really think so?”
“Oh yeah. I’ll bet you a set of new Pradas at least one of the apartments is for Fast Eddy. And one of the apartments is used for muscle and a place for the drivers to hang out,” Michelle said.
“You’re shitting me. That means there are thirty women crammed into six or seven one bedroom apartments! What kind of life is that? That’s horrible.”
“Yes it is. But not for much longer.” Michelle drove away from the depressing apartments.
“Can we go back and cap every one of those assholes right now? Please.” Nikky asked.
“Soon.”
Twenty-Two: Snooping Old School
THEY HAD BEEN in Houston for almost two weeks and things were going well. Michelle had a solid feel for the layout of Ascia’s operation. The Ancestor’s Honor crew had delivered everything she ordered in the four days they said it would take. It took a couple days of checking everything and tweaking the electronics on two of the items, and they were good to go. With all of the equipment her primary and back-up plans were all solid.
The initial rush of emotions from the realization Ascia had ordered Michael’s death had worn off, and Michelle had settled into her routine of preparation. Her readiness rituals helped, but she knew this would be the hardest job she had ever done.
Walking into the ‘war room’ of their apartment, Nikky asked, “Does it always take this much planning and groundwork?”
Hunched over the plastic work table Michelle mumbled, “Just a sec.”
Nikky pulled up a stool, sat, and watched.
A thin tendril of smoke rose from a soldered connection. Michelle straightened and rolled her shoulders. “Planning is key. There is always a lot of planning. Each job is unique. But this one is way out there on the outside edge of crazy. This one is personal. I’ve done personal before when I got Lewis, and then his boss Jackson. But I’ve never gone after anyone who knew I was coming. That makes it ten times harder. Especially because it’s Ascia. He knows me. Even though he doesn’t know what all I can do, he certainly knows what I’ve done for him.”
“How much of a problem does that cause for us?”
“It’s good and bad news. The bad news is obvious, he’ll be especially careful so all the easy shots are gone. The good news is he believes he knows how I think. He doesn’t. He thinks I’m like him. All high-tech and new school. He’s let it slip he’s proud to have kept up with the times. You know, moving along with high-tech, moving into the right drugs, basically being an entrepreneurial crime boss. He’s proud of not being old school. What he doesn’t know is I prefer low-tech and old school. It’s always more reliable.”
“What’s the difference?”
“For us today, high-tech is putting a set of sensors throughout the building to image where things have been built out differently than the plans. Or use those sensors to locate where people are in the building. Low tech, get dirty. Crawl through the air vents. Look with my own eyes — if I can. If the vents haven’t been rigged.”
“What do you mean, rigged?”
“Old school is they have grates welded in to keep people like me from moving through the ducts. New school is they put motion or heat sensors or both, in the system.”
“What happens if they’ve done those things?”
“I defeat their system, or I find another way.”
“What about me? What do I do?” Nikky asked.
“You have one of the hardest parts of this job. You have to hang out, be patient, do nothing and be ready to jump. It can be exhausting.”
“That lesson is beginning to sink in,” Nikky said. “I thought it would be easy to sit and do nothing. I was so wrong.”
“I’ll go into the main vent system before dawn tomorrow morning. But, I’ll have to be still and wait until around 8:00 or 9:00 when there is more noise with activities in the building to move around. It could easily take all day to move around to all the places I need to go.”
“Where will I be?”
“You’ll be in the van in the parking building on the corner. From there you can see the front of Ascia’s building. I want you to keep an eye on things and make notes of how many of his people come and go. They won’t all be easy to spot, so do the best you can.”
“No problem, I can do that.”
“Good, because I need you to stay in or right next to the van the whole time. Don’t leave for nothing. Keep your phone on you and be fully ready to run if I call. You might need to go on foot or in the van. That means keep your shoes on, everything fully ready for anything the whole time. You can’t relax until after we’re back here in the apartment,” Michelle said.
“All day?”
“From about 5:00 a.m. on. I’ll probably be inside the system until shift change in the evening. Then I’ll stay up on the roof until it’s dark.”
“If that’s what you want, you’ve got it. Wait. What happens when you have to pee?” Nikky asked.
“Like I said, we go old school. I wear industrial strength diapers. You’ll have a jar.”
* * *
Nikky stood by the front of the van, watching Ascia’s building when Michelle walked out the door dressed in all black clothes. In her black clothes and black gym
bag slung over her shoulder she was dressed like Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment. Jones’ clothes fit tighter, and there was no bulky diaper, but the resemblance remained.
Nikky jumped in the driver’s seat.
Michelle dropped her gear on the floor of the van, slid the side door closed, and pulled herself in on the passenger’s side. She leaned back into her seat, head against the headrest, eyes closed, arms relaxed at her sides, and took several slow deep breaths.
Nikky glanced over at Michelle. “Are you okay?”
“Exhausted. Jeez, this feels good. I’m completely wiped. Fourteen hours in there dragging this shit with me, and can’t make a single sound. That’s some killer duty. Take us home so I can get out of this pissy diaper and into a shower.” With that, she leaned back and closed her eyes again.
Nikky drove in silence while Michelle let her mind wander, not really thinking of anything in particular or even noticing where they were. She was mildly surprised to realize they were turning into the alley behind their apartment building heading to their parking space.
Inside, Michelle dropped her bag by the door of their war room and made a bee-line for the shower. A half hour later, much refreshed, Michelle sat at the kitchen counter drying her hair with a towel. “I almost feel human again. Almost, I have a rash from wearing that diaper for so long.”
“Bummer,” Nikky said.
“A chapped ass is one more reason to hate Ascia and his whole crew. The good news is, we’re in,” she said with a big smile.
“That’s great! Umm, what does that mean?”
“It means we have ears in his office where he spent most of his time while I was in there. I was able to put ears in the front office also. I couldn’t set any microphones in the apartment. But I’m happy with what we have. They’re the most important.”
“Couldn’t you make it into the apartment?” Nikky asked.
“Yeah, I got in, but didn’t have enough wire to string to the microphones.”
“You couldn’t use the wireless microphones?”
“No. It was a long shot at best. But like I thought, they sweep for bugs every day. The night crew did it before they went off shift. They would pick up a signal from any wireless transmitter. So I had to go old school again. Run the wires to a transmitter I set up two floors down in the insurance office.”
Hard Win: Action Adventure Pulp Thriller Book #3 (Michelle Angelique Avenging Angel Series) Page 13