Hard to Kill - Debt Collector 4 (A Jack Winchester Thriller)

by Jon Mills

  “Please be alive,” he muttered.

  Chapter 35

  He’d been staring at the clock for the past ten minutes.

  “The weather’s bad. You have to give him time,” Theresa stammered.

  Every few minutes, Giovanni glanced out the window checking for cars coming into the lot, then checked the corridor. He was beginning to feel antsy. He didn’t like this one bit. Congealed blood from the officer pooled on the floor at the foot of the bed.

  “Phone him again.”

  Theresa didn’t even hesitate. She dialed the number and waited, but this time there was no answer. A cold shot of fear ran through Giovanni. It was the first time that he had felt nervous. He was outside of his country, out of his element and walking a fine line by returning to the very place he had shot up.

  “Maybe’s he’s stuck in traffic or dropped his phone?”

  Giovanni moved over to the door and then he saw him. Not Jack but the officer from the elevator. He was approaching with two coffees in his hands. He didn’t look surprised to see his partner not there. Giovanni stood behind the door waiting for him to enter. He raised a finger to his mouth to make sure that Theresa knew if she said anything, it would be the last thing she would say.

  “Mac?”

  He heard the coffee being placed down and the door open. The officer seemed as if he was in the process of asking where his partner was when he saw the blood on the floor. Giovanni sprang into action and pressed the tip of his gun against the cop’s head. He didn’t even think twice. He unloaded a round sending brain matter against the window. His body flopped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Giovanni dragged him over to his partner. Now the floor was covered in blood. Tears streamed down the woman’s face as he rolled the one officer on top of the other, then used a towel from the washroom to wipe down the window.

  He glanced at the clock on the wall.

  “Five minutes. If he’s not here —”

  “Where’s my daughter?” Before he could finish she cut him off.

  “She’s safe. In a motel nearby.”

  “Which one?”

  He didn’t answer her as he continued to go through the same routine of looking out the window, then down the corridor.

  Hurricane Danielle had already caused mass devastation. Outside the wind was reaching epic proportions. Everything and anything that wasn’t bolted down was torn apart and lifted in the air. The only upside to it was that few police would be coming out looking for him. All their efforts would be thrown into public safety, which would include their own. Jack veered into the parking lot that was empty of people. There were about two hundred cars. He drove around close to the front doors, shut off the engine and hopped out. From the cruiser he removed the police shotgun. He tucked his Glock and the officer’s piece into the small of his back. Before he went in, he went to the back of the vehicle and took out a large yellow raincoat with a New Orleans Police Department logo sewed onto it. The cop’s hat was still in the cruiser. He put that on and slipped the shotgun underneath his jacket as to not cause alarm when entering the main hospital lobby. To anyone looking on, he was nothing more than a cop.

  Large droplets of water dropped from the raincoat as he approached the elevator. It dinged and as the doors opened an officer stepped out.

  “Oh hey,” he glanced at Jack. Jack tipped his hat further and kept his eyes down. “What are you here for?”

  “Shift change.”

  The officer frowned as Jack stepped into the elevator.

  “But that doesn’t occur for another four hours.”

  “I was called in early because of the weather.”

  “By who?”

  Jack swallowed. “Look, man, I don’t call the shots. I just show up and do the work.”

  He stared intently. “Are you a new hire?”

  Jack hit the button on the elevator for the fifth floor. He cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

  Before the doors slid closed the cop stepped back inside. “I’ll ride up with you. I need to speak to Mac, he’s not picking up.”

  “Probably taking a piss,” Jack replied.

  “So how’s the weather holding up out there?”

  “It’s not getting any better.”

  He tried to act normal but he could feel beads of sweat rolling down his back. The last thing he wanted to do was harm a cop. No matter how he saw this go down, he was liable to get hurt. His mind flipped through various scenarios.

  “So is this your first shift?”

  “Yep.”

  The officer looked him up and down, then the expression on his face changed as he glanced down at his shoes and pants. His eyes came up to meet Jack’s. Jack had already anticipated what he would do next. Before the cop could go for his gun, Jack punched him twice in the face, took out his gun and used the butt of it to knock him unconscious. He slumped down against the side of the elevator. Jack glanced up at the light as it illuminated the floor levels.

  He regretted having to knock him out but at least he was alive. He took a moment to handcuff him. He finished up just as the elevator reached the fifth floor. As he stepped out onto the floor, he cast a glance both ways. He saw the numbers on the wall indicating the rooms. Before he made his way to Theresa, he alerted the nurses who were at the desk to get out.

  “What?” One of them must have thought he was joking.

  “Take the staircase, when you reach the bottom floor, alert the others and get out of the building.”

  Their eyes widened in horror but they didn’t hesitate or question him. All they saw was the police hat and raincoat. That’s all anyone saw when they met police. People didn’t question the law, especially if their lives were at stake. His heart began pounding in his chest as he kept the Glock low and he passed room 502, 504 and 506. The door to room 508 was closed, the blinds pulled shut. He paused with his back to the wall. There was no easy way to do this. Whoever the guy was, he already had the advantage. If Jack burst in, chances were he would be blown away, or Theresa might be hurt. Then there was the fact that he might not be working alone. Jack looked around. Before he made a decision on what to do he went to each of the rooms and told the occupants to get out if they could walk. They wanted an explanation, he couldn’t give them one but showing the Glock got them moving. As the corridor filled up with patients heading for the stairs he returned to room 508.

  With his hand on the handle he slowly pushed it down and cracked the door open. He figured he would see Theresa or the barrel of a gun but there was no one inside. He pushed the door wide open, glanced around and then stepped inside. It was empty.

  Then, in the reflection of the window he saw him.

  “Drop the gun.”

  Jack released his weapon. It clattered as it hit the floor. The next thing he felt was a whack on the back of his skull, and everything went black.

  Chapter 36

  The sudden slap of freezing cold water snapped him back into consciousness. Blinking hard, the world came back into view. He found he was in a room that resembled an operating room. Laid out on a gurney, his arms and legs were held down by leather straps.

  “Finally awake.” The man didn’t look at him, he had his back turned. Jack hadn’t even seen his face, only the memory of his blurred reflection. Jack’s head was throbbing hard at the base of his skull. He glanced down and saw that his shirt had been ripped open.

  “Who are you?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Who sent you?”

  Not even replying, he turned and wheeled over a steel surgical trolley. Laid out on the top were scalpels, scissors and other various indistinguishable tools. A bright light was shining down on his face. As his eyes adjusted to where he was, he got a sense that he wasn’t in surgery but what looked like a basement. The hospital basement? Large rusty pipes and exposed vents snaked their way across the ceiling. The man was a wearing a white shirt, his sleeves rolled up.

  “I have to admit, after everything that I’d heard about you
, I thought it would have been harder than this.”

  “Where’s my daughter? Where’s Theresa?”

  “You know, I once had a daughter.” He paused holding up a scalpel to his chin, lost in thought. “She was beautiful. I never imagined I could love a person as much as I did her. She was just full of life. I had a wife too.”

  “What do you want?”

  “It’s not what I want. Do you remember Vito Nicchi?” he paused. “Of course you do. You killed him.”

  “You have your facts wrong. I didn’t kill him. SWAT did.”

  He studied Jack’s face.

  “SWAT. You. It doesn’t matter now.”

  He pulled up a seat and got real close. An Italian with thick black hair and a chiseled chin stared at Jack, studying him like a lab rat.

  “You and I we are cut from the same cloth. We have a job to do. It’s not personal. It’s business, you understand.”

  “We’re not the same.”

  “No?”

  “I killed those who were responsible for their actions. I didn’t kill Vito. Vito’s men killed my sister, and my father.”

  “But you would have, right?”

  He tapped Jack’s bare chest with the flat side of the scalpel.

  “Where’s Theresa and my daughter?”

  He didn’t reply but continued to stare at him. Finally he said, “You know what, Jack. I believe you. You see, men like us, we don’t have any reason to lie. If you say you didn’t kill Vito, I believe you. However, that doesn’t change what needs to happen today.”

  Jack let out a laugh.

  “Something amusing?”

  “It’s the irony. I spent my whole killing people for money. Those who owed. Those who couldn’t pay. Those who needed to pay. Now I’m one of them and I didn’t even do it. Ironic right?”

  “Death comes to us all.”

  Jack tugged on the straps but they were tight. There was no getting out of this. Fate seemed to have a strange sense of humor. “What’s going to happen to my daughter?”

  “What do you think?” He stared back. “What would you do in my shoes, Jack?”

  “I wouldn’t kill them.”

  The man ran a hand over his chin. A slight look of amusement danced across his face.

  “That’s how you justify it, is it?”

  “What?”

  “What we do. You expect me to believe you’ve never killed a woman or child?”

  “I don’t expect you to believe anything. You can go to hell for all I care.”

  He smirked. “You know how many people I have killed, Jack?”

  Jack rolled his eyes. They were all the same. Egotistical pricks who kept count of how many lives they had taken.

  “Let me guess, you have a belt with notches of every life you’ve taken?”

  He tapped Jack and let out a chuckle. “No. I’ve lost count.”

  He got up and walked out of the room. Jack heard a scuffle and then Theresa came into view. He was holding her by the back of the neck and forcing her forward. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stumbled forward and fell to the floor. “Jack.”

  “Here’s what I’m going to do, Jack. I believe you. I really do. For that, I’m going to extend the courtesy that wasn’t extended to me when men killed my wife and child. I’ll give you a minute to say goodbye.”

  He grabbed a hold of Theresa by her hair and yanked her up, tossing her against Jack.

  “Go on now.”

  He stepped back and watched as Theresa looked at him.

  “Hurry up before I change my mind.”

  Theresa looked at Jack. “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

  “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have come here.”

  Her tears dropped onto his chest.

  “Oh this is magic. A real Hallmark moment,” the man said from behind. With Theresa blocking the man’s view of Jack, he motioned with his eyes to the surgical instruments. Theresa’s eyes followed his gaze without moving her head.

  “I never understood the men who killed my family, but now I do.”

  Jack continued to talk to her about his daughter while he gestured with his eyes. There was a slim chance that she’d be able to do anything but they had nothing to lose. This wasn’t going to end well for either of them.

  “Alright that’s enough.”

  As he dragged Theresa back, Jack watched her grab up a scalpel. The man led her out of the room. Jack’s pulse was racing. Not even ten seconds had passed when he heard a high-pitched scream. The door burst open and Theresa came stumbling in not even looking back for one second. Her hands were covered in blood. She immediately began loosening the strap holding Jack’s wrists down. She had managed to get both his hands free when Giovanni came staggering back into the room holding a hand to the side of his neck and wheeling a gun around. He looked disoriented. Theresa ducked down. Bullets ricocheted off steel as he fired at her. She rammed a metal trolley towards him knocking him backwards. The gun flew out of his hand. By now Jack had his legs unstrapped. He leapt off the gurney and lunged at Giovanni who was in the process of getting the gun.

  In a struggle for control, the gun went off several times and bullets pinged off the metal. One bullet hit a pipe and it burst open letting out a blast of hot steam. Giovanni kicked Jack off him and fired a round at Theresa. The shot hit her in the leg and she collapsed to the ground. On the ground, Jack reached for the metallic tray that had once held the surgical instruments. He tossed it at Giovanni and then lunged at him again.

  By now the once clean floor was bathed in blood from both Giovanni’s wound and Theresa’s. Slipping on blood, it became even harder to fight as they struggled to stay upright. Jack plowed into him with a right hook, only to feel the full force of a jab in the side of his ribs. The gun Giovanni had been holding was knocked out of his hands again and slid across the ground. As he went to retrieve it, Jack drove into him full force and they fell back though the double doors. Beaten back, Giovanni managed to get on top of Jack. With his hands around his throat he tried to choke him. Jack drove a knee up into his groin, reached up and dug his thumbs into Giovanni’s eyes. He let out an excruciating scream and released his grip. Jack pushed him off, took a hold of him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him back into the room. Steam poured out of a pipe as Jack tried to force him into it. Giovanni grabbed his leg and bit deep into it. Jack screamed in agony and fell back. Standing to his feet, Giovanni grabbed up what looked like a bone cutter off a counter. He lifted it in his hands as Jack writhed around on the floor in agony.

  Right then the sound of a gun going off three times resounded. The echo was so loud it was almost deafening. Giovanni gripped his stomach, blood trickled over his fingers as he dropped to his knees. Behind him on the floor sat Theresa with both arms outstretched and the gun in her hands.

  Jack, gripping his leg, slid over to Theresa. She just held the gun. Her eyes wide. Her skin pale with shock. Slowly Jack removed the gun from her grip and pulled her into his arms.

  “It’s okay, it’s over.”

  Her hands were shaking. Her body was stiff as he held her tightly and glanced back at the assailant.

  “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

  Jack rose to his feet helping her up with one arm around her. They staggered slowly towards the door. As he pushed the door open to leave, he heard a sound behind him.

  “Jack.”

  Jack wheeled around with the gun just as Giovanni came at him. He fired two shots into him, and he collapsed to the floor. Both of them stared down at the lifeless body before staggering away.

  Chapter 37

  Jack awoke from his slumber. He’d hitched a ride with a local trucker who was heading south. He had no destination in mind. All that mattered was getting as far away as possible. He’d learned firsthand what Eddie had warned him about. He couldn’t be around anyone who he cared for. It was too dangerous. It wasn’t just the FBI that was after him but others would come. A debt was never forgiven. In the criminal unde
rworld only blood could atone for wrongs committed.

  The following two weeks, Jack continued to hitch rides, sleep in cheap motels and stay on the move. He figured if he didn’t stay too long in one place, the chances of him being found were slim.

  Three weeks after the night at the hospital in New Orleans, Jack placed a phone call to Theresa. It hadn’t taken the police long to find Ruby. Forty-eight hours later she had been reunited with her mother. As Giovanni hadn’t mentioned the name of the motel, they had to contact every motel in a twenty-mile radius. Safe but shaken up by the whole ordeal, she was placed into care until Theresa was well enough to get out of the hospital. Kalen’s arrest had led to the apprehension of Tex and now both of them were staring down a lengthy sentence.

  “Have you heard any more from Agent Baker?” Jack asked.

  “She came by in the first week. She had a whole bunch of questions, told me if I heard from you to let her know.”

  “How did she look?”

  “She made a remark about you saving her life?”

  Jack chuckled a little.

  “And, she said that perhaps she had misjudged you. But that didn’t change anything. She was still going to bring you in.”

  “I wouldn’t expect any less.”

  “Though, you’ll be pleased to know your mug shot isn’t being shown on any Amber Alerts.”

  There was a pause.

  “How is she?”

  “She doing okay, Jack.”

  Jack didn’t say anything further. There was very little he could say. News that he had a daughter had been shocking enough. Not being able to stay was the hardest thing he had to do. But it was for the best.

  “What about Billy?”

  “He didn’t make it.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I think we would have gone our separate ways eventually.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  Theresa didn’t ask him if she would see him again. She knew him better than anyone else. Danger followed him. His life wasn’t ever going to be ordinary, even if that was what he wanted now.