Hammer’s jaw tightened. He had already concluded that was the plan, but it was still a jarring confession to hear.
Leo went on. “I recruited Jerardo Jovanni to handle the situation. He was indebted to me, and had no choice in the matter. He tried to do it where we could get in the door without Bulldog’s son, and then take what we wanted once we found out what you had,” he said to Amelia. “But when Jovanni proposed a partnership with you, you turned him down cold. So I turned to Drag.”
Hammer frowned. “You turned to what?” he asked.
But Amelia was stunned. “You turned to Drag?” she asked, her face a mask of confusion. “What does Drag have to do with this?”
“Who’s Drag?” Hammer asked her. He was confused too.
“He’s one of my sector chiefs,” Amelia responded.
“He’s Michael Wheater,” Leo said.
And Amelia couldn’t believe it. Hammer either. “Wait a minute,” Hammer said, looking at Amelia, shocked as hell. “One of your men is Bulldog’s son?”
“Yeah,” Leo answered for her. “I figured you knew that much! You weren’t asking me who Michael Wheater was. You were asking me where he was, and what he was up to.”
Amelia was beside herself. Drag? That fucker was just in her office after she had to ice Culverhouse and Ringo because they had been stealing, to the tune of half-a-million dollars, from his sector. That fucker, KeKe, and Punch, were cleared by her personally of any wrongdoing. And she was right. They were innocent of those charges. But that motherfucker was trying to take it all? He wasn’t trying to steal money, he was trying to steal her whole business? She knew better than that!
“Okay, back up,” Hammer said. He was stunned witless too. “You’re telling me that Bulldog’s son worked for you all this time?”
“Yeah, he did,” Amelia said. “We called him Drag. I never used his real name, and since he was always paid in cash it didn’t matter.”
“Damn, Amelia,” Hammer said.
“I’m as shocked as you are. He was there before Bull died, and he was good. One of my top guys. So I kept him on. But I had no fucking idea!”
And Leo, seeing the state of shock they both were in, especially Amelia, decided it was now or never. Kill Hammer, he decided, and take Amelia hostage. It was his only way out.
He had already planned it. He had been frisked by Hammer’s men before he left the laundromat, but they failed to remove the jacket he wore and turn it inside out. Nobody did that. To Hammer’s men’s credit, they did at least remove the jacket and checked it thoroughly, but they didn’t feel the knife. Leo was nervous, because nobody else had ever gone that far, but he was relieved when they handed his jacket back to him. Because inside that sleeve, buried inside the material, was a compartment where he always kept a neat little knife. He was still wobbly from that torture shit Hammer put on him, but he wasn’t all gone.
He grabbed the knife out of his sleeve compartment with a quickness, and as Amelia and Hammer were still reeling from the news of Drag’s betrayal, he hurled it at Hammer. But Amelia, whose swift reflexes astounded Leo, as if she saw that her man was in imminent danger and did not hesitate, lifted her stiletto boot and kicked the knife away just as it was about to lodge into Hammer’s throat.
Hammer jumped up and pulled his gun on Leo. Leo kicked the table over, in an attempt to dislodge Hammer’s gun, and he succeeded. The gun was knocked over. But that was fine with Hammer. Hammer time meant more than torture. It meant a beat down too.
Hammer grabbed Leo by the catch of his collar, and flung him up to where they were toe to toe. Man to man. No weapons for either one of them. And then he began punching Leo like a punching bag. He beat him for his part in Amelia’s ambush and kidnapping. He beat him for his part in those assassination attempts. He beat him down. Amelia didn’t usually like violence, but she was feeling this fight.
Hammer’s men had opened the door of the parlor, ready to assist, but Hammer needed no assistance. He took care of Leo all by himself. By the time Leo was almost done for, he leaned Leo against the parlor wall, held onto his collar, and punched him and punched him until his face had swollen three sizes larger, and every bone in his face was broken. He had played a dangerous game when he came for Hammer Reese. And now he was paying the price.
And Hammer wasn’t about to stop until it was all over. He punched and he punched. Amelia looked at Hammer, and she’d never seen this side of him. she didn’t interfere. They had all they were going to get from Leo. They knew his hidden territory. They knew about Drag. And as Leo Tamberelli keeled over and died, it was good riddance to Amelia too. Anyone who came for Hammer was coming for her. And would get what was coming to them. She didn’t know how to play it any other way.
Ray Rosen and damn near the entire crew were standing at the parlor door, watching Hammer in action. And when he finished, and when Leo was finished, he ordered them to clean up the mess.
Amelia looked at Hammer as they walked out of the parlor and away from the crew. They sat in a seating area up front, near the cockpit. Hammer was still breathing heavily, but other than that he was handling it.
“You okay?” she asked him.
He nodded. He was fine.
Amelia pulled out her cellphone, and pressed a button.
“What are you doing?” Hammer asked her.
“I’m calling Scotty,” she said. “We need to find Drag.”
Scotty answered on what seemed like the final ring. “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”
“I need to find Drag, Scotty,” Amelia said into the phone. She had the call on Speaker, for Hammer’s sake. “You know where I can find him?”
“He’s on vacation. Just for a few days he said,” Scotty told her.
“On vacation where?” Amelia asked.
“Canada,” Scotty said. “I don’t think he said exactly where in Canada.”
Amelia and Hammer both were shocked. “Why would he all of a sudden decide to come to Canada?” Amelia asked.
“He’s not the type?”
“Hell no!”
And they reached the same conclusion. If he wanted her out, and knew about this meeting they were having with Leo, why wouldn’t he take out the next best thing?
And their hearts dropped. “Oh, no, Hammer. JoJo!” Amelia said, and as if their lives depended on it, they sprang into action.
CHAPTER TWENTY
They jumped up, together, and began running for the exit. Hammer yelled for Rosen and his men to get off of the plane. “Get the big rigs ready,” he ordered. “Clean that shit up later!”
And Hammer was calling Oz, while Amelia was on her cellphone calling Rowena, as they ran off of the plane to a waiting SUV.
As soon as they jumped in, the SUV sped off in one direction, while Ray Rosen and his crew took off in the opposite direction to secure the big rigs Hammer had ordered up.
But as Hammer and Amelia sat in the backseat of that SUV, and as their driver/bodyguard drove as if his life depended on it to Hammer’s estate, they were turning up blanks. No response at all from Oz’s cellphone. Rowena’s went straight to voice mail.
Hammer called security at his front gate. Thankfully, he thought, one of his men answered. “Everything okay around there?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” the guard responded.
“Where’s Ozzie?”
“Inside the house.”
“Any company?”
“No, sir. Oh, other than Reggie Dell I mean.”
Hammer was surprised to hear it. Amelia too. “Reggie Dell?” Hammer asked. “What is she doing there?”
“She said you told her to wait for you here. They were going to do a job for you. Since she’s done jobs for you in the past, and she has permission to be on your property, I let her on. It was okay, sir, right?”
“You said they were going to do a job for me,” Hammer said. “Who are they?”
“Her and her boyfriend, sir,” the guard said. “Or, at least, that’s who she said he was.�
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And that was when it hit Amelia. “Pharmaceutical salesman,” she said.
Hammer looked at her.
“Reggie said her boyfriend was a pharmaceutical salesman.”
“That’s right,” Hammer said. “What about it?” he asked.
“Pharmacy, Hammer. As in drugs. As in drug salesman. As in drug dealer.” She looked at Hammer. “As in Drag.”
“Jesus,” Hammer said, stunned. “Get inside that house!” Hammer ordered the front gate guard. He was jumping up in his seat. “You and every man on site! Reggie Dell’s boyfriend is the target. Detain him and Reggie too. Kill his ass if you have to! Protect my son! You hear me? Protect my son!”
“Yes, sir!” the guard said, and killed the call.
To Amelia’s shock, Hammer then jumped over the seats of the SUV. “Move!” he ordered the driver.
The driver moved swiftly, still holding the wheel, as Hammer took the controls. And then Hammer floored it for real. Their driver had been good, but Hammer was in another league. He drove them so fast that Amelia was having whiplash.
But he got them up that mountain and back to Charlemagne.
But as soon as they approached the gate, they saw the problem. Guards, the ones who had been on duty at the front gate, were laid out near the entrance, dead.
Hammer hit the brakes, backed up immediately, and went toward the backside of his vast property.
But Amelia was confused. And angry. “What are you doing, Hammer? What the fuck are you doing? Our son might still be in that house!” She wanted to add, you can’t just leave, but she didn’t. Because she knew him better than that.
And she was right. Hammer hadn’t left the property, he just went to a more strategic location on the property.
When he got back there, he stopped the car, and he and Amelia jumped out. Their driver jumped out too, to stand guard outside, as Hammer and Amelia ran into what was a big, unimpressive shed on the property. It looked old and seemingly dilapidated and useless. Amelia wondered what in the world was Hammer doing.
But when they went inside, she understood what. It was as if a command center was in that shed. Seemingly a hundred monitors were in that shed, and Hammer only had to type in one code, as he did quickly, and every one of those monitors lit up.
“Wow,” Amelia found herself saying as she realized every crook and cranny of Hammer’s property was on those monitors. She moved in closer, as he zeroed in on the nursery.
To their great relief, their son was in his bed, fast asleep.
But then he panned, and that was when their hearts dropped. Oz was tied to a chair. Rowena was tied to a chair. And Drag, with a rifle in his hand, was pacing the floor of their son’s nursery as if he was out of his mind with rage.
Reggie was pacing with him, and was trying to get him to leave the house and not harm anybody, but it was obvious to Hammer and Amelia that she held no sway. Drag had taken her gun, and she was defenseless too. She was good at contract killings, when everything was carefully planned out and organized. She was terrible at love and life, when there were no such thing as only planned events. She had no business bringing his ass there in the first place.
But a part of Hammer was glad that Reggie was at least in the room talking to the punk. She was not going to let Drag harm his son, at least he hoped not. But it would be a cold day in hell before he relied on her. Besides, another part of him was angry as hell that she would have brought that fool into his home when she had to know the risks.
“What are we going to do, Ham?” Amelia asked him. “Drag can be batshit crazy when he wants to be.”
“Is he a killer?” Hammer asked, and then looked at her.
“Oh, yeah,” Amelia said without hesitation. “One of the best.”
Hammer didn’t want to hear that. But he already knew he had a fight on his hands. He got up, went over to a side wall, and pressed in another code. And then he began grabbing guns and placing them on various parts of his body, or gunning-up, as he called it.
Amelia didn’t wait to be told. She gunned-up too.
Hammer looked at her. She wore a black turtleneck, a pair of blue jeans with a wide black belt, and go-go boots. His coat was ill-fitting, but she brought pizzazz to that too. He was amazed how stylish, how beautiful she looked. Even at a time like this.
“I’ll go in first, and shut it down,” he said. “I’ll aim for Drag, but if I miss, you’ve got to be my backup. I don’t trust any man over you and Oz in moments like this, and Oz is incapacitated. So it’s going to be up to you.” He said this with pain in his voice. He knew she could handle it. He just hated that she had to.
But Amelia was ready. “I got you,” she said.
“You’ll go in through the guest room beside the nursery,” he said. “As soon as you get in, you jumped out and run into the nursery. You may have to take Drag out if I can’t get him down, so be ready for that. But even if you hit him, you grab our son and run. I’ll finish him off. And I’ll handle Regina. You get in, get Hannibal, and get the fuck out. You hear me, Amelia?”
“I hear you,” she said.
Hammer didn’t look doubtful, but he looked worried sick for her safety. But he knew they had no better options. If they tried to go in straight on, they would be eviscerated, and their son could be killed. He began hurrying out of the shed.
Amelia was right on his kneels following him, but she was still confused. “But how are we going to get in?” she asked him. “He can mow us down as we approach the house, and then he can turn his gun on JoJo.”
“Reggie won’t let that happen,” Hammer said with confidence.
He had far more confidence in that bitch than Amelia had, but that was a fight for another day. “But how are we going to get in?” she asked again. She just wanted her son safe!
Hammer didn’t answer her. But as soon as they walked around the shed to another driveway, she got her answer.
Those big rigs that Hammer spoke about weren’t rigs at all, but tanks. Big, brash, armored tanks that came rolling up to the shed two in a row.
Amelia was amazed. “Those are yours?” she asked.
“Yes,” Hammer said as he walked over to the second tank, with Amelia following him.
She felt better already. “Now this is what I call the fucking Calvary!” she said.
The driver of the second tank lifted open the top lid.
Hammer took Amelia by the shoulders, and turned her to him. “I want you to listen to me,” he said, with a stormy look in his eyes. “I want you to handle this. It’s going to require both of us. You will have to do your part. But above all, I want you to look out for yourself. Don’t try any stupid shit, Amelia, and I mean that. Just get our son and go. Don’t you worry about me, or the nanny, or anybody else. You go. You hear me?”
She was nodding. “Yes,” she said. “And don’t you try any stupid shit, either, Hammer Reese. Or I’ll kill you myself.”
He smiled a weak smile, he couldn’t manage anything stronger, and then lifted her into the second tank. The driver of the tank was Ray Rosen and he was waiting to help her in. But Amelia turned and looked at Hammer. “You’re going to drive that tank, aren’t you?”
“You bet your ass,” Hammer said.
Rosen looked at his boss. “Any instructions, sir?”
“I go in first, through the nursery,” Hammer said. “You go into the guest room next to it. Then get Mrs. Reese out of here,” he added, to Rosen’s shock.
“Mrs. Reese, sir?” he asked.
“That’s what I called her, yes. Mrs. Reese. Because I want you to understand that transporting her is the same as transporting me. And you’d better not forget it. You get her in that guest room, and she’ll take it from there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And make sure every man holds his fire. Our son is in that room. I don’t want any misfires.”
“Yes, sir,” Rosen said forcefully, and closed the lid.
Hammer hurried over to the lead tank, jumped u
p and into the open lid, got behind the controls, and the convoy took off.
They began moving to the west end of the house, at the farthest angle to the nursery, where they could not be detected from where Drag was located. Hammer looked at the monitors that were inside the tank. He saw Drag’s positioning every step of the way. Fortunately, the room was large and Drag wasn’t near the baby’s bed. But unfortunately, the baby was in that bed, and everything Hammer did had to be based on that calculation.
Then they were ready, with Hammer driving the lead tank, and Amelia riding shotgun in the second tank, as they positioned themselves for entry. And when Hammer began moving at an angle away from their son’s bed, but directly toward where Drag was currently positioned, Rosen, driving the second tank, began moving too. Both tanks had men inside, four each, but Hammer and Amelia were to take the lead.
Hammer took the lead alright. He drove, full steam ahead, into the wall of his home’s nursery, breaking through like a crane operator. Just as he broke through, the second tank broke through the wall of the guest room.
Reggie screamed when she saw the tank, causing the baby to wake up crying. Hammer attempted to pin Drag beneath the tank before he had a chance to react, but he was already reacting, and Hammer pin part of him, but he was able to break free. Drag, knocked down to the floor on his back, began firing at the tank.
As Hammer attempted again to ram him, Amelia and the men in the second tank were jumping out into the guest room. Amelia pulled out two guns, turned them sideways for her best aim, and hurried to the nursery.
But just as she entered the nursery’s doorway, Drag had taken cover behind the big changing table, and began firing at her. She had to jump back, away from the entrance, to avoid getting hit.
Hammer jumped out of his tank, firing at Drag, and slid down on his ass as he fired. Drag got off several shots, but all bounced off of the tank and missed Hammer, and Hammer got off several rounds too.
Then Drag seemed to want to change position. And seemed to be angling for his best bet: a hostage. Namely, he was angling to grab their son.
But Amelia and Hammer immediately saw what he was up to, and would have none of that. Their men had been ordered to hold their fire, to avoid any stray bullets hitting the child, so they held back. But Hammer and Amelia didn’t. Because as soon as Drag began running for the baby bed, to take their son hostage, they ran for him.
Amelia Sinatra: Hammer Time Page 16