Vigilante Assassin

by Mark Nolan

  Chapter 53

  Sarah tried a desperate gambit and threw herself onto Elena, wrestling her to the floor. They rolled on the carpet and fought for dominance.

  Elena got lucky and came out on top. She started choking Sarah with both hands.

  Sarah fought to get free, but black dots appeared in her vision as she gasped for oxygen. She used the last of her strength to throw a right jab to Elena’s injured throat.

  Elena gasped and lost her grip on Sarah. She grabbed the knife off the floor and held it over Sarah’s chest. Her voice was hoarse. “I’m going to stab you in the heart; just like Wolfe did to the man I loved.”

  Sarah planted her feet on the floor and thrust her hips upward as hard as she could, twisting her body and rolling free. She grabbed the stun baton and shot Elena full of volts.

  Elena writhed in agony, screaming as she got a taste of her own medicine.

  Chairman Banks and Abhay entered the room from an adjoining office. “I’ll get Elena’s car keys, Abhay. You bring Sarah along for leverage … hurry!”

  Abhay rushed toward Sarah, who held the shock baton up in front of her. His gaze took in Sarah with her weapon, Elena on the floor, and the unconscious man with the twisted knee. He drew a pistol and aimed it at Sarah. “Impressive effort. Now drop your weapon, turn around and put your hands behind your back, or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

  The door flew open and Jake and Cody appeared in the doorway. Jake saw Abhay aiming a pistol at Sarah and shot him three times in the chest, sending him staggering backwards and onto the floor.

  Banks turned and ran for a door.

  Jake said, “Get him, Cody!”

  Cody rushed forward, got between Banks and the door, and bit down on the man’s crotch, shaking his head back and forth.

  Banks screamed in agony, and slapped at Cody’s face with both hands. Cody let go and chomped down on Banks’ right hand. Banks cried out and tried to run, but Cody pulled him down to the floor.

  Banks fell facedown, and Cody sank his teeth into the man’s left butt cheek. Banks cried out in pain and drew a small pistol out of his pocket. He rolled over and tried to aim the pistol at Cody with his injured hand. “Die, you filthy animal!”

  Jake dove onto Banks, grabbing his hand and twisting it in another direction as the pistol went off and shot a hole in the wall. Jake head-butted Banks, removed the pistol from his grip, and then sat on his chest. He began punching him in the face, over and over. With each punch, he said a few words.

  “This is for Stuart. And this is for Sarah. One for Lauren. One for Chrissy. One for Ben.”

  Cody barked at Jake and pushed his head against him.

  Sarah said, “Jake, stop it—you’ll kill him.”

  Jake took a deep breath, then raised his fist up high and said, “One more, for trying to shoot Cody.” He brought his fist down and punched Banks in his side as hard as he could, breaking a rib. Banks grunted in pain and fainted.

  Jake reached into his pocket for some zip ties, then rolled Banks over onto his stomach and bound his hands and feet.

  He went toward Abhay, intent on tying him up next, but the man bolted up and ran for the door.

  Jake said, “Cody, takedown!”

  Cody ran and bit onto Abhay’s thigh, wrestling him to the floor. Abhay got onto his hands and knees and Jake kicked him in the stomach like an NFL kicker going for a field goal. Abhay collapsed with the wind knocked out of him.

  Jake put zip ties on Abhay’s wrists and ankles, then bound the two together so he was hog-tied. He put a zip tie around the man’s neck and then used a few more to bind his neck to his hands and feet.

  “Bulletproof vest, huh?” Jake said.

  Abhay groaned. “The best vest money can buy.”

  “Hold still while my dog guards you.” Jake gave a command to Cody who stood near Abhay and snarled at his face.

  Abhay closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and held still as he felt the dog’s hot breath on his ear.

  Jake went to Sarah and put his arms around her.

  Sarah hugged him tight. “Thank God you found me, Jake.” She clung to him, her body shaking now that she was free.

  Jake took a deep, ragged breath and held onto her possessively, deeply relieved that she was alive and well.

  After a moment, he held her at arm’s length. “Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

  “No, I have a few bruises, but I just want to go home, soak in a hot bath and drink a glass of wine.”

  “I’ll take you home right now.”

  “Jake, what was this all about? That woman said you killed the man she loved. I overheard her talking about using the millions in his offshore bank accounts to wage war on the police.”

  Jake’s eyes got dark. He glanced around and saw a purse on a desk. “Sarah, can you check Cody to make sure he hasn’t been injured?”

  “Yes, of course.” Sarah got down on one knee and gave Cody a quick checkup.

  While Sarah was preoccupied, Jake put on gloves, opened the purse, and found Elena’s wallet and phone. He put her phone in one of his coat pockets, then reached into another and took out a plastic bag that held Pavel’s phone and the pistol Jake had shot him with. He opened the bag and dumped the phone and pistol into Elena’s purse.

  In the hallway, Vito said, “Jake, it’s Vito. I’m coming into the room—just me, nobody else.” He added a few code words in Italian.

  Jake stepped in between Sarah and the door, drawing his pistol.

  Cody turned and watched the door, ready to fight.

  Vito entered the room alone and looked around at the captured prisoners. He nodded at Jake. “You’ve been busy.”

  Jake lowered his weapon. “Sitrep?”

  “All targets are down. The escort cars have arrived, the truck is loaded with the water, and we left the heroin for the cops.”

  “Tell everyone to clear out, but I need you to stay here and help me secure the prisoners.”

  Vito sent a text to his team in the warehouse. Their cars could be heard driving away, escorting the truck to a hidden location.

  Jake and Vito began securing Banks to a heavy chair.

  Banks regained consciousness and said, “Wait, I’ll make you rich if you let me go. Name your price.”

  “My price is you going to prison for a long time,” Jake said.

  Chapter 54

  Jake walked into the hallway, along with Sarah, Cody, and Vito. They went to the meeting room that held the photos of cops who had been targeted.

  Jake used a burner phone to send a text to Roxanne. He attached pictures of the wall that had photos and maps targeting Chief Pierce and his family, along with other cops and city officials.

  Once he’d sent the pics, he called her.

  “Who’s calling?”

  “Rox, don’t say a word; just listen. This is Jake Wolfe. I found the warehouse you’re looking for. I’m going to give you the location, but only on one condition. If you understand and agree in principle, say I’m listening.”

  There was a long pause and then Roxanne said, “I’m listening.”

  “Did you look at the photos I sent just now?”

  “Yes.”

  “There was a gang war at the warehouse with a high body count. You’re the tech, you found the address and you solved the crime. The one condition is that I’m your protected source. My name and the names of my associates can never be mentioned, even under oath, and we all have immunity from prosecution. If you and I have a deal, say okay.”

  There was another long pause. Roxanne cursed.

  “That was the wrong four-letter word, Rox,” Jake said. “There’s millions of dollars’ worth of heroin at the location, along with a phone containing enough evidence to solve dozens of crimes. You’ll have to go there immediately, before every criminal in the city tries to steal the drugs.”

  Roxanne let out a loud breath. “Okay!”

  Jake recited the address. “You found the warehouse by workin
g your sources, putting the word on the street, and then receiving an anonymous phone call from a burner phone. This will always be our secret, agreed?”

  Roxanne hesitated for a moment. “Agreed. What is the current status of the situation?”

  “It’s a morgue, filled with dozens of dead foreign gang members, except for three prisoners who are alive for questioning.”

  “Only three are left alive?”

  “There was a gang war. I hear sirens. You’ll have to hurry to be the first on the scene.”

  “I’m on it, and … you’re crazy, but … thank you for the intel.”

  “It’s all in a day’s work. Cody needed something to keep him busy.” Jake ended the call.

  Cars began arriving in front of the warehouse with the sound of screeching brakes and slamming doors. Jake looked out a window and saw men getting out of the cars, holding assault rifles. “It looks like another gang has come to steal the heroin. I’ll be damned if I’ll let them spread that poison all over the city.”

  Vito looked out the window. “Give me your monocular.”

  Jake handed it to him. “Who are they?”

  “I recognize one of them. Those are members of a Serb gang.”

  “I heard about that gang when I was working in the media, but I thought they operated out of Sacramento.”

  “They’re spreading out to other cities. Now they’ll steal the Russian gang’s heroin and use the profits to spread their Serb gang’s influence to San Francisco.” Vito handed the monocular back to Jake.

  Jake turned to Sarah. “Vito will drive you home. Cody will stay with you and protect you.”

  “No, Jake. You can’t fight a gang all by yourself.”

  Cody barked at Jake.

  Vito shook his head.

  Jake pointed at Vito. “Anselmo put me in charge. I’m giving you an order. Take Sarah home, park in front of her building and protect her.”

  Vito nodded. “If those are your orders, that’s what I’ll do.”

  “Do you have any more stun grenades?” Jake said.

  “I kept one in reserve,” Vito reached into a coat pocket and handed a grenade to Jake.

  Sarah gasped when she saw Jake slip the grenade into a jacket pocket.

  “Thanks, Vito. Now get out of here.”

  Vito walked out of the room, motioning for Sarah and Cody to follow him. Cody growled at Jake.

  “Cody, protect Sarah. That’s an order.”

  Cody barked once and followed Sarah as Vito pressed a protective hand on her shoulder and kept her walking toward the back stairs.

  Jake opened the closet and grabbed a suppressed AR-15 assault rifle, along with extra mags of ammo. The AR reminded him of the M4 carbine he’d carried in the Marines. It felt familiar in his hands. He went back to the meeting room, opened all three windows, and took a night vision monocular out of his pocket.

  Several more cars arrived and the armed men were assembling in a group. Jake began firing warning shots at the cars, shooting their engines, radiators and windshields full of holes. One man fired a wild spray-and-pray burst of rounds at the second floor, shattering the windows.

  Jake kept his head down until the glass shards stopped flying past. He then popped up in the far-right window and shot the man who was spraying bullets at the building. Before the man even hit the ground dead, Jake ducked back out of sight as bullets zipped through the windows and riddled the ceiling with holes. He crawled to the center window and removed the stun grenade from his jacket pocket.

  Chapter 55

  Jake left the grenade on the floor near the center window and commando-crawled to the far end of the room. He fired some rounds from the far-left window at the gang members on the ground and then went to the far-right window and did the same. He repeated the moves several times from different windows, trying to give the impression there was more than one shooter.

  While everyone on the ground was firing up at the second floor, Jake heard the roar of a military-type vehicle nearby. He risked a quick peek out the window with his monocular and saw an armored SWAT truck arriving, along with Terrell in his police SUV. Several men in the gang below began shooting at Terrell.

  “Oh, hell no.” Jake pulled the pin from the grenade, waited three seconds as he cooked it, and then tossed it into the crowd below.

  The SWAT team’s vehicle came roaring up the street.

  Terrell’s police SUV was right behind it, with lights flashing and siren wailing.

  Terrell saw muzzle flashes from dozens of weapons lighting up the dark area in front of the warehouse. A gang of men were firing at him. It looked like an ambush by cop killers. Rounds hit the SWAT vehicle, and several bounced off of Terrell’s bulletproof windshield, leaving stars on the glass, right in front of his face.

  A gang member reached into his car trunk, pulled out what looked like an M72 LAW rocket launcher, raised it to his shoulder and aimed it at Terrell.

  Suddenly a bright flash illuminated the scene, followed by an incredibly loud bang. Many of the shooters staggered and fell down, stunned. Several men on the periphery of the area continued firing at the police and at the building.

  Terrell saw weapons fire coming from the second floor. An individual was being shot at by the gang members, yet he was gunning them down one by one with military precision. The man with the LAW rocket launcher aimed at Terrell was the first to die.

  Terrell grabbed his radio mic. “Looks like two rival gangs in a shootout. SWAT, you go in first.”

  “Copy. We’re rolling.” The SWAT team’s armored vehicle crashed through the collection of parked cars and screeched to a stop. The weapons fire from the second-floor window ceased. Cops dressed in black jumped out of the SWAT vehicle and began yelling and firing weapons.

  Soon, most of the criminals had surrendered and were facedown on the pavement, wearing handcuffs. A few tried to fight the SWAT team and were shot.

  Terrell looked through binoculars at the second-floor windows. He saw a door closing as someone left the room.

  Jake moved from window to window, dodging incoming rounds as he fired his rifle the way he’d been trained in the Marine Corps School of Infantry. This was war and those criminals were the enemy.

  When SWAT rolled in, Jake dropped the rifle and left the meeting room, closing the door behind him.

  He went down the back stairs, out a door and into an alley. After checking for cops and gang members, he took off sprinting. At the next street he took a right, ran half a block, turned into another alley and kept running. He repeated a random zigzag pattern, avoiding intersections, until he was far from the scene.

  Then he hailed a cab, giving the driver Sarah’s address. “Drive fast. I’ll give you a hundred-dollar tip.” He opened his wallet and pulled out a Benjamin.

  “Da, spasibo,” the driver said. As he drove, he glanced at Jake in the mirror, and then looked at his phone. He smiled and sent a text message.

  Jake watched him and got a bad feeling. He looked at street signs. They were driving along an odd route. “I asked you to get there fast, not take me on a tour.”

  The driver punched the gas and roared down a side street, past some commercial buildings. The garage door on one of the buildings was rolling open.

  Jake drew his pistol and pressed it against the driver’s head. “Stop the car.”

  “Stoy? Ochen horosho.” The driver skidded into the garage and stopped. Jake saw someone cutting into a car with a torch. Auto parts were stacked everywhere. The garage door began to close, and the cab was immediately surrounded by several men with their weapons drawn and aimed at Jake.

  “Sorry, Wolfe” the cab driver said.

  An angry man, who looked a lot like Pavel opened Jake’s door and aimed a sawed-off shotgun at his head. “Well, if it isn’t the great Jake Wolfe who killed my brother. Drop your gun or I’ll blow your face off.”

  The other back door opened and one of the men aimed at Jake with a TEC-9 machine pistol that had two magazines taped toget
her. The man said, “Go ahead and shoot the taxi driver, so I can comfort his widow.”

  The driver cursed at him.

  Jake gritted his teeth. There was no escaping the cloud of lead from the shotgun at this close range, and the TEC-9 could fire thirty-two rounds into his back. He set his pistol down in the footwell and put his hands behind his head.

  The man with the shotgun yelled, “Tie him up!”

  Several men grabbed Jake, dragged him out of the cab, and stood him up against the side of a tall mesh cage that stored fifty-gallon barrels of auto paint and chemicals. They held his wrists up on either side of his face and tied them to the cage with rope. Next, they tied his feet. Once Jake was helpless, they took turns punching and kicking him. The cab driver walked up and kicked him in the crotch.

  Jake stared at him. “I never forget a face. We’ll meet again one day.”

  The man in charge stood in front of Jake and blew some cigarette smoke in his eyes. “My name’s Yuri. One of Pavel’s soldiers saw you running out of his building, went upstairs and found what you’d done.”

  “Maybe my dog and I were dancing in the club and then we got invited to a party and had to run.”

  “I’ve had all kinds of people on the street watching for you—taxi drivers, doormen, hookers and drug dealers.”

  “Why, do you want my autograph?”

  “I’m going to make you suffer in ways you can’t imagine.”

  Jake shook his head. “You’ll be hunted down and exterminated by friends of mine. When does it ever end?”

  “Where is Pavel’s phone?” Yuri pressed the hot end of the cigarette against Jake’s chest, burning a hole in his shirt and singeing his flesh.

  “The police have Pavel’s phone. Maybe if you ask politely, they’ll give it to you.”

  Yuri backhanded Jake. “Liar! I need that phone.”

  Blood trickled from the corner of Jake’s mouth. “Call it. Maybe you’ll hear it ring.”

  Yuri scowled. “You think you’re funny? You won’t be laughing when I get done with you. I’m going to wipe that smile right off your face.”