[JC Bannister 01.0] The Fixer, Season 1

by Rex Carpenter

  “Fine. Then thank you for helping me get out of jail and for ensuring that the man who engineered the setup can never be prosecuted for it.” Arms still crossed.

  “Well, I think if you continue to hang around us you’ll see there’s more than one kind of justice. Am I right, sir?” Bannister said, trying to include his former commanding officer into the conversation. Cool Garcia down.

  The General nodded. Opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Garcia.

  “Is Duke in there?” she asked again, moving her hand to the door handle.

  JC raised his hand smoothly, putting it between her and the door. No sudden movements.

  “I’m not so sure you’re going to want to go in there, Detective,” he said.

  Garcia froze, hand in mid-air, leaning forward. Looked at JC. Stood up straight, right hand resting on her service weapon at her hip. “Why not?”

  “You open that door you may see things you can’t unsee,” JC said. “Things that you may be asked to testify about later.” JC sighed. “Look, I deeply thank you for the help you gave my team in finding me after I was kidnapped and tortured by the Bolivians. All indications point to you being a great cop.”

  JC paused, looking for the right way to say what he had to say.

  “But…” Garcia said.

  JC smiled. “But we’re not cops. We do things in ways that would put you in a compromising position. Ways that could possibly smear your reputation even more than it already has.”

  “You’re talking about the senator.”

  “Yes, and other things. Listen. Tonight, go to the Roosevelt Hotel. About twelve thirty or so. That will put you in a position to get your career back on track.” Paused. “If you’re interested in that sort of thing.”

  Garcia’s eyes jumped between JC and The General. JC could see she was trying to correctly evaluate the situation and come to a quick decision. Not easy, considering her emotional attachment to Duke. And her anger at not getting what she wanted immediately.

  Garcia locked eyes with JC. “Tell Duke I stopped by.” Turned and walked down the hallway, her low heels pistoning into the worn carpeting.

  JC turned to The General. The man was still smiling.

  “I like her. Duke’s got good taste in women.”

  JC shook his head slightly, the adrenaline of the confrontation ebbing. “So did you, sir.” Paused. “Good taste in women tempered by terrible decision making skills regarding them.”

  The General’s smile dimmed slightly then disappeared. Serious, not angry.

  “You mind telling me how you found us?” JC continued.

  The General nodded with his head towards the absent Garcia. “Figured you boys wouldn’t let her rot in jail. She got released, I was waiting. Teamed up to track you down.”

  “It couldn’t have been that easy to find us.”

  “If you know the team, yes it was,” The General said. “L.A. is Theo’s town. Started running down all possible connections to him. Figured you’d need a place to stay above all else. Didn’t take too long. This was the second place we came to.”

  JC sighed. He was suddenly tired again. “How can I help you, sir?”

  The General’s serious expression didn’t change. “You’re in some serious trouble here, son. It’s more about how I can help you.”

  That’s what I was afraid of. Having The General trying to edge his way into the equation wasn’t going to help things, in JC’s opinion. Still, the man had powerful connections. “What did you have in mind, sir?”

  “Let me come in on this. Try and help you guys out. Use my experience to get you and your team safe and sound.”

  JC smiled then shook his head. “Thank you sir, but no thank you. The last thing I want is for you to get even more involved in this mess than you already are. At this point, you’ve got deniability. Step in much deeper and that will be lost as well.”

  The General stood there, staring at JC. JC stared back. Trying to figure out the man’s next move. No luck. JC said nothing. Waiting him out.

  “Okay,” The General said. “That’s how you want to play things out, it’s your choice. Your team, your choice.” Stood there. Unmoving.

  “So…”

  “So Garcia was my ride. I’ve got no way to get back to my hotel. And if you think I’m taking a cab in L.A.?” The General didn’t finish the sentence.

  JC opened the door and squeezed inside. “Theo? Keys.” Theo tossed JC the keys to the car they came in without a word. “Joan,” he said, ignoring Duke, “be back in our room in five minutes.” Turned and exited the room again. Trying to keep the door open as little as possible to prevent The General from seeing inside.

  “Here you go. It’s parked downstairs.” Gave the man the keys. “Do me a favor? There’s a gasoline bomb inside the trunk. Should just burn the car. Put the car somewhere safe and then set it, would you?” Conversational, like he was asking him to pick up some doughnuts.

  “Sounded a little bit like you asked for my help, there, didn’t it?” The General put the keys in his pocket. “You need anything else, you give me a call.”

  “Sure thing, sir,” JC said, knowing he wasn’t going to call him.

  The General turned and strode down the hallway, appearing larger than his five foot five inch frame. He always did, JC said to himself. Turned on his heel, remembering his days in the Army, and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction.

  *****

  “I kinda screwed things up, didn’t I,” Duke said after Joan had left. More to himself than anyone in the room.

  “Yup,” Theo answered.

  “You really think he’ll boot me off the team?”

  “You’re not there tonight? Yeah. He will.”

  Duke was quiet. Picked at the remains of his Thai food in the Chinese takeout container. Dropped his chopsticks, eyes wide. Lightbulbs were going off in his head. Turned to Lorraine. “Can you excuse us? Theo and I need to have a talk.”

  Duke didn’t wait for an answer. Grabbed Theo by the shoulder, dragging him to his feet and out the door. Theo protested but Duke didn’t respond. Safely back in their shared room, Duke deposited Theo on the bed. Sat in the one chair in the room. Leaned forward.

  “What if I don’t have to be there tonight?” Duke said.

  “What do you mean? You have to be there. You’re not, you’re gone.”

  “What if I don’t have to be there tonight because what if JC doesn’t have to be there tonight? What if everything is taken care of before the meeting is scheduled?”

  Theo started shaking his head. “What the hell, man?”

  Duke stood. Pacing. “Get your phone out. We’ve got some calls to make.”

  Chapter 66

  Blown All to Pieces

  Duke rode in the back of an L.A. ambulance. Uninjured. Checked the time on his cheap black plastic watch. Nine twenty. He didn’t need to be on time. Just close. Adjusted his suit jacket. Tried to adjust the bulletproof vest underneath. Pull his shirt out to hide the ceramic breastplate Theo had scrounged up from somewhere. And the other paraphernalia.

  “Stop messing with it,” Lisa Hannigan said from the driver’s seat. “You keep at it you’re going to screw it up.”

  First Duke had to convince Theo of his plan. Then he had to convince the man to call Lisa to convince her. Theo was very resistant to the idea. Was sure Lisa would run screaming. Likely straight to the cops. Told Duke she had been pretty sketchy after he showed up at the garage with his bullet wound. Didn’t want this to be the last straw.

  Theo was wrong. Lisa had been surprisingly easy to convince. It turned out she had a far broader definition of “reality TV” than the team had thought. It of course included the trashy guilty pleasures that were the standard bearers of the moniker. But it also included historical shows on Discovery. Real crime and gang shows on A&E and the History Channel. She especially liked one particular episode of Gang Boss that focused on the Armenian mob in America and the leader of that gang, one Vahan Pet
rosian. Father of Theo Petrosian.

  She told Theo, and later Duke, that she knew who Theo was when he called her. Remembered him being discussed on the show about his father. After accepting the job, she had called around to a few friends and discovered that Theo was the good Petrosian. The one who could move around in the criminal underground world due to his family connections but had chosen to stay largely legitimate and not part of that life. A move encouraged and accepted by his father, and therefore by all the members of the gang. Upon pain of death, the documentary had said.

  Duke smiled. Her driver’s license for her truck covered vehicles the size of the ambulance Theo’s brother Tigran had arranged for them to borrow. Borrow, not steal. Didn’t want to worry about someone reporting their getaway vehicle as stolen. There was, however, one problem. Lisa fainted at the sight of blood. Fake blood was no problem. But their plan may actually end up with Duke being injured and bloodied. A getaway driver who faints is no kind of help.

  “You know who we need,” Theo had said.

  Duke knew. He had nodded but said, “No.” It took Theo ten long minutes of cajoling before Duke was convinced.

  Duke looked across the ambulance. Lorraine was sitting next to Theo in the cramped space, both dressed in EMT uniforms from Lisa’s stash of costumes. They were both looking at the floor. Saying nothing. But they had positioned themselves at an angle slight enough that allowed their knees to remain in constant contact.

  Hell of a thing, Duke thought. Theo found a woman who thinks he’s a hero. Truthfully, Duke knew Theo was. Joan had told him the details of her conversation with Lorraine. Knew Theo had probably saved his life by shoving him out of the way of Pong’s AK-47. There was no jealousy in his heart. Lorraine was beautiful but his connection to her was in some ways deeper than mere love. Perhaps parallel to it. But the two feelings would never intersect.

  Besides. Right now his heart belonged to someone else.

  I wonder if Karen will ever speak to me after this is all over.

  “We’re getting close,” Lisa called out.

  Duke nodded, using the movement to help clear his head. He needed to be as focused as possible. Thoughts of Karen would have to wait.

  “You sure you want me to stay inside?” Tigran, Theo’s brother, said.

  “Yeah. Only come out if Theo gives the O.K.” Duke had only met Theo when he came to L.A. but they had served in the same Army. Both had been members of Bannister’s team for years, although not concurrently. He trusted Theo’s judgment. Tigran had volunteered to ride shotgun with an AR-15 and Theo had accepted before Duke had a chance to decline. Duke was glad to have Tigran along. But he simply didn’t know the man.

  Truthfully, he wished Joan was there. She was an unerring and strict taskmaster when it came to the defense of the team. Violent, almost to a fault at times. But as fiercely loyal as a lioness or a mother bear. However, asking her meant revealing his plan to JC, and that meant the boss saying, “No.”

  “We’re here,” Lisa said over her shoulder. Pulled off the street and parked next to a laundromat just off Hollywood Boulevard. Turned in her seat. “There’s no moving parts, so everything should work as planned.” Paused. “Be safe.” Turned back around.

  Duke half-stood in the ambulance, his height a great disadvantage. Moved to the back door.

  “We’re listening on the comms,” Theo said, right hand extended, left hand tapping his earpiece. “You say the word and the cavalry will come running.” Duke shook his hand. Warmly. Less than a week and they were old friends.

  Lorraine’s hand reached out and touched his arm. Her ball cap was pulled down low over her eyes, hair bundled up inside it. Eyeglasses from a Rite-Aid pharmacy. Along with a surgeon’s blue mask. Her face was mostly obscured. Duke had demanded it. The mask made her voice sound distant but he was able to clearly hear her when she said in Laotian, “You owe your life to me. Don’t throw it away.”

  Duke squeezed her hand with his free one. “I won’t,” he replied in English. Opened the back door to the ambulance. Exited then closed the door again. Adjusted his suit. Glanced down. “I pray to God this works,” he said. Then turned left and started walking to Mann’s Chinese Theater.

  Duke knew it wasn’t called that anymore. Purchased in 2013 and now part of the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall and arts center, he would always think of it as the Mann’s Chinese Theater because it was known as such for so long. And it simply sounded better than TCL Chinese Theater. He threaded his way through the crowds of tourists. And locals. Some were dressed as Batman or Spiderman or any random character, charging the tourists five or ten bucks to take a picture with them. Other people were handing out leaflets. He hoped they would provide the needed amount of distraction and pressure for his plan to work.

  If not, then that’s what the bulletproof vest was for.

  Duke walked past the theater. Glanced at the floor. Longed to stop and examine the hand and footprints left there by former Hollywood legends.

  “Snap out of it!” his inner voice barked at him. “You’re an Army goddamned Ranger!” Smiled. When his inner voice scolded him it always sounded like an angry Gene Hackman. This time, like usual, it was right. He had been an Army Ranger. His plan wasn’t a perfect one, but it was the only one he had at this moment. Perfect or not, he had to make the best of it.

  It was simple, really. He had called Kowalski and arranged a meeting before the Secret Service agent was scheduled to meet JC. Public place. Used the one bit of leverage he had. Money. He had done a bit of hacking. Discovered Kowalski’s bank account numbers and wired him a million dollars from the funds the team had received for the hit on the senator. The plan was to meet with Kowalski and offer him twenty million more to simply follow the plan they had agreed on before they went out to Henderson for the attack on the compound. They could still set up a phantom and make it look like the phantom was the senator’s killer. If Kowalski would play ball, then the team could still go free.

  Although JC hadn’t informed the rest of the team what Agent Oldham had told them about Kowalski trying to find depleted uranium, Duke had made the cognitive leap the same as JC. For whatever reason, Kowalski had been trying to give Senator Marcus cancer. It worked. She was dying a slow and horrible death. But having JC and the team end her pain wasn’t part of his plan. So he had taken it upon himself to kill her with his own two hands. Or trigger finger.

  Duke hoped Kowalski would see the light and accept a new plan. See the light, as well as the millions of dollars.

  And if he didn’t? Duke hoped the rest of his plan would go off without a hitch.

  *****

  Lisa had driven the ambulance to another location. Closer to the Hollywood and Highland center but still out of sight of the main meeting area. Theo was sitting across from Lorraine, where Duke had been earlier. Their knees were still touching. Only now instead of thinking about the wonderful woman sitting across from him, he was busily trying to reach the one woman in the world he was slightly frightened of.

  Despite Duke’s insistence, Theo knew the best way for this plan to succeed was with Joan on sniper duty. It didn’t necessarily mean Joan would report to JC. Theo was pretty sure she didn’t want to see him go hand-to-hand with Kowalski in a hotel room either. A dead Kowalski would mean a living Bannister. If that could happen before their meet, then all the better.

  The only problem was Joan wasn’t answering her text messages. Theo had started sending them back at the hotel whenever he thought Duke wasn’t looking. Made excuses for what he was doing every time Duke caught him on his phone. But still, no answer.

  “Not answering?” Lorraine asked. Theo had not told her what he was doing. How she could have guessed he didn’t know, but it made him love her even more. But now was not the time to get into that.

  “No,” he said. Focused on sending yet another text.

  “How is your bandage?” Lorraine said. Duke had bandaged up Theo’s wounds tightly. Lorraine had insisted on double checking h
is work. Neither one wanted any leakage of blood onto the uniform. That one thing could make the entire mission collapse in on itself.

  Theo didn’t answer. Nodding instead. He had been raised the son of a gangster. He had been a combat medic. Once the panic attacks started, he’d been a nurse in a field hospital. He knew how to compartmentalize as well as anyone else. Maybe later he could explain that to Lorraine. But for now, he simply hoped she understood his need to keep his attention on what he was doing. And hoped that Joan would see and answer her dozens of text messages. He knew Duke was running out of time for proper backup to arrive.

  *****

  Duke was beyond the running out of time stage. Even though Theo didn’t know it and was valiantly trying to bring in extra help, there simply wasn’t enough time for anyone else to get into position. Duke’s plan would stand or fall based on who was there at the moment.

  The one person currently missing from the equation was the star of the show, the lynchpin on whom the whole plan rested: Special Agent in Charge Guy Kowalski. Duke was standing in the large open space that marked the entrance to the shopping area. It was a nicely warm spring evening and he was standing there in a suit and tie. The people milling about were generally dressed in shorts and short sleeve tops. Or Batman costumes. Duke would have felt out of place had he taken the time to think about it.

  But he didn’t. He was doing everything within his power to act as naturally as possible. Scanning the crowd, looking for a half-Korean man slightly shorter than himself. Likely dressed in a suit and tie as well. Looking for others who might be watching him more than they should be. Looking for movement in the background. Shop doors being closed and locked early. Hurriedly. Security guards alerted to the possible danger and hustling people out of supposed harm’s way. The misstep of a SWAT teammate revealing himself before the “GO” order was given.

  He saw nothing. Although that did not yet relax him, it also did not ratchet up his anxiety at the mission. Duke was unarmed. He didn’t want the risk of a security guard or off duty officer seeing his handgun printing against the back of his suit jacket. Or wind up being forced to shoot Kowalski. He needed Guy to do one of two things. Either accept his offer.