Dead Ends

by Don Easton

  “That goes without saying,” replied Jack, furrowing his eyebrows slightly as if indignant.

  “I’m not the Force shrink,” said Rose. “I know you better, so don’t try to con me.”

  “Sorry,” replied Jack. “Force of habit.”

  “Are you going over to see Sy when we’re done here?” Rose asked, changing the subject.

  “I’d like to hold off until later in the day. The Organized Crime Task Force has some wire up and running. It would be nice to know if anything comes across the phones that might help us figure out if more attacks are planned. I’m also concerned that Connie and Sammy saw Weasel and his cohorts start their car before we left the party. I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  Rose snickered in spite of the seriousness and said, “You of all people say you don’t believe in coincidences? Hell, that’s been your middle name ever since I arrived in this office.”

  “You know what I mean,” said Jack. “There’s a good chance Sy has someone in his gang who is working for the other side.”

  “And we don’t mean our side,” said Laura.

  Rose nodded, sighed, and said, “Be safe, the both of you.”

  “Yes, Mom. Both hands on the wheel,” replied Jack.

  Rose furrowed her eyebrows to feign anger at the remark.

  Jack looked at her and said, “Deception doesn’t suit you. Maybe that’s a good thing.”

  Rose pursed her lips before saying, “Go. You’ve got work to do.” She waited until they left the office before smiling at how easily Jack had seen through her.

  * * *

  It was suppertime when Jack and Laura arrived at Sy’s apartment. In the previous hour Sy had called Jack a couple of times, but his calls were ignored. It was a control issue and Jack wanted to be in control.

  “Where the fuck you been all day?” asked Sy, as they entered his crowded apartment. There were only males in the apartment and the atmosphere was a combination of excitement and tension.

  “Princess and I had to go rent a car and then we went to help my aunt find her dog,” replied Jack. “Why?”

  “Why? This is fuckin’ why!” said Sy, picking up a sawed-off shotgun and waving it in Jack’s face, before nodding toward the door and saying, “Come on, let’s you and I take a walk.”

  Laura kissed Jack on the cheek and said, “Don’t be long. Princess might get bored.”

  As soon as Jack and Sy were alone in the hallway, Sy said, “We found out where Weasel is stayin’. We’re gettin’ him tonight.”

  “Tonight!” replied Jack.

  “Yeah. He’s staying with his girlfriend.”

  “Have you ever heard the expression, ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’?” said Jack. “There’ll be lots of heat. If you wait, they’ll relax their guard.”

  “We’re gonna do it. If you don’t want to come, then don’t.” Sy looked suspiciously at Jack and said, “Fuck, man, they shot at you and Princess, too. I thought you would want in.”

  “I do, but something stinks,” replied Jack.

  “What are you talkin’ about? The only thing that is gonna stink is Weasel’s corpse!”

  “Who told Weasel and his buddies about the party?”

  Sy shrugged and said, “I dunno.”

  “How did they know it was you last night when it wasn’t your car?”

  “Probably watchin’ the place. Saw us leave.”

  “It was dark when we left. People coming and going. Easy to see silhouettes, not so easy to see faces.”

  “What the fuck are you tryin’ to say?”

  “That you have a leak. Someone tipped them off last night. This could be a trap.”

  “Naw, ain’t no trap,” replied Sy. “Roach and Bagger got lucky. Rounded up a guy by the name of Raven who knows Weasel’s girlfriend. Raven talked as soon as they rammed a gun in his face. He told us Weasel is staying with his girlfriend in the basement of her parents’ house.”

  “Roach and Bagger kill Raven?” asked Jack, nonchalantly.

  “Naw, not necessary. Roach and Bagger are holding him at their house so Weasel can’t be warned. What Raven told us checked out. I had one of my guys drive past the house half an hour ago. Weasel’s car was parked in the alley behind the house.”

  “Same car as last night?” asked Jack.

  “Naw, didn’t you hear the news? They used a stolen car last night. His is a blue Honda. If it’s there, we’ll sneak up, kick in the door, and blast the shit out of him and his bitch.”

  Jack took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before saying, “I’m telling you, after last night … you heard the news. The cops could be watching everyone. If they know it was Weasel, they’ll be expecting someone to take revenge. You should wait until things cool.”

  “Fuck that.” Sy cast a sideways glance at Jack and said, “You saved my life last night, but now you’re actin’ weird. If you’re worried about us gettin’ hurt, don’t. I got a team of seven guys, not countin’ you an’ me. We got enough firepower to blow the whole house to smithereens. So … you comin’ or not?”

  Jack sighed and said, “Yeah, I’ll come. Give me a minute to tell Princess I’m steppin’ out. How long will we be?”

  “The place is out in Maple Ridge. Better count on being gone a couple of hours.”

  “What you got for wheels?”

  “Brewski will drive a van with cool plates. Me, I got a little five-litre Mustang that the guys boosted. Goes like a bullet. The owner is on holidays, so it won’t be reported.”

  “Hope it’s not white?”

  “It’s black. Why?”

  “Good. Harder to spot at night. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it right. Start with letting me drive and have the van follow.”

  “Why?”

  “Because when we leave, I’m going to drive in circles for awhile. Make damn sure nobody is following us. Tell Brewski to do the same.”

  “Okay, you proved your driving ability last night,” replied Sy. “You can be the wheel man, but when we get there, I’m first through the door.”

  “Wouldn’t want it any other way,” replied Jack.

  * * *

  Jack quickly updated Laura as they walked back to their rented apartment above Sy’s.

  “Oh, man,” said Laura. “Bust them and we’re burned. Don’t and we’re party to murder. Any ideas?”

  “OCTF should be able to come up with an address on Weasel’s girlfriend. Tell the narcs to drive over there and empty the garbage off their floor mats out front and in the alley behind. When we arrive, have the Emergency Response Team do a takedown. I’ll stall as long as I can to give everyone time to set up.”

  “You’re going to have them arrested? We’ll be burned. They’ll figure it out.”

  “Maybe … maybe not. I have an idea.”

  Minutes later, Sy opened the trunk of the Mustang parked in the underground parking lot. “Take a look,” said Sy, as he smiled and pointed to a duffle bag.

  Jack opened the bag and saw four handguns, four sawed-off shotguns, and an AK47 automatic machine gun. “Hell of an arsenal.”

  Sy nodded and kept the AK47 for himself, along with one of the shotguns for Jack, before passing the duffle bag over to his gang members, who were parked beside the Mustang in a van. Seconds later, Sy ordered two of his people to ride in the back seat of the stolen Mustang while the others went in the van with Brewski.

  “Let’s roll!” ordered Sy.

  Jack spent an hour driving around in circles before an exasperated Sy told him enough was enough. Jack drove as directed to a residential area in Maple Ridge. When they arrived, Sy indicated a house halfway down the block. “Pull over,” said Sy. “I see his blue Honda parked out front now.”

  Jack pulled over to the curb and Brewski pulled in behind him. At the opposite end of the block a set of car headlights came on and the driver sped away. “One of your guys?” Jack asked.

  “No,” replied Sy. “I didn’t want Neighbourhood Watch or someone reporting an
ything suspicious. That’s probably a neighbour. Don’t worry about it.”

  “It pays to worry sometimes. Tell the guys in the van to drive around the area and check things out. It’s not good for both of us to be parked together. While Brewski is doing that, I’m going to park on the next block and you and I will walk back. Let’s see if anyone is sitting in parked cars.”

  “Fuck, man, you’re paranoid.”

  “You stay alive that way … and out of jail.”

  “Yeah, okay,” muttered Sy, before giving the order for Brewski to circle the area.

  Jack parked the car in the next block and said, “Let’s leave our artillery in the car. I don’t want to be seen walking down the street carrying these cannons. If it is the cops they’re liable to see it and grab us.”

  Sy agreed and left the AK47 in the car and told his two associates to wait while he and Jack checked things out.

  As Jack and Sy arrived at the end of the block from Weasel’s house, Jack pointed to the ground and said, “Damn it, I knew it.” He pointed to the empty parking space at the end of the block where the car had driven away when they first arrived.

  “What?” replied Sy. “I don’t see nothin’.”

  “Cop droppings,” said Jack, pointing to the sidewalk and road.

  “Cop droppings?” replied Sy with a snicker. “What the fuck are you talking about? Looks like sunflower seeds.”

  “A buddy of mine got busted once,” replied Jack. “They had his house under surveillance first. He told me later he knew where they had been parked by all the sunflower seeds they ate and the husks they spit out while watching his place.”

  “You shittin’ me?”

  “No. We should get the hell out of here. Tell the boys in the van to scram.”

  “Over some seeds? You gotta be kiddin’. Hang on.”

  Jack listened as Sy ordered the van to cruise through the area and check.

  “That could draw heat,” cautioned Jack.

  “You’re fuckin’ paranoid,” replied Sy with a chuckle. “Come on, we’ll head back to the car. If the boys haven’t spotted anything suspicious by then, we’re goin’ in.”

  “Let’s walk down the back alley first and check it out,” suggested Jack.

  “Yeah, okay, but if the alley is clear, we’re gonna do this fucker.”

  “Sounds good,” replied Jack.

  They had barely made it into the alley when Sy received a call.

  “The cops got us pinned!” screamed Brewski. His warning wasn’t necessary as the sharp, piercing sound of sirens cut the night air from several different locations.

  Two police cars with lights flashing entered each end of the alley simultaneously and zoomed toward Jack and Sy.

  “Come on,” yelled Jack. “Over the fence!”

  Jack and Sy both clamoured over a wooden fence and raced through someone’s backyard, out through the front and crossed the street to another yard and kept going. Three blocks away they were in another yard and about to run out a gate into a rear alley, but the sound of another car speeding up the alley caused them to crouch down behind some bushes while peering through the back fence.

  Jack glanced at Sy and saw he was holding a pistol at the ready.

  “Jesus, Sy,” whispered Jack. “I thought we left the artillery in the car in case the cops searched us.”

  “After last night I started carrying an ankle holster,” Sy whispered.

  Both men froze as a flashlight beam cut through the darkness behind them. Jack looked over his shoulder and saw the distinct yellow stripe on the uniform trousers of a policeman who walked toward them. His beam was still probing the bushes when Jack saw Sy raise his pistol and take aim.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Laura sat in the back of a surveillance van with Connie and the commander of the Emergency Response Team. The Organized Crime Task Force gave them an address in Maple Ridge for who they thought were the parents of Weasel’s girlfriend, but had added a disclaimer that their information was a month old. Did Weasel still have the same girlfriend?

  With the address being in Maple Ridge, Laura felt relatively confident that it was the same, but when she saw Jack arrive in the Mustang, followed by Brewski in the van, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  The surveillance van was parked across the street one block down from where Weasel was living and offered a relatively good view of the front street and one entrance to the alley.

  The ERT commander groaned when Jack parked the Mustang and the van started to circle the neighbourhood. “Wished we had more time to set up and organize,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” asked Laura. “Jack made them drive around for an hour before they even left the city. I thought you guys were good? How much more time did you need?”

  The commander ignored her comment as their earplugs crackled a message from another member of the ERT.

  “T-1 and T-2 out of the car and walking back toward the house.”

  Laura used binoculars to watch through the one-way glass in the surveillance van and soon saw Jack and Sy come into view as they walked along the sidewalk. She smiled when Jack stopped and pointed at the sunflower husks while talking to Sy.

  “These two are the guys we let escape, right?” crackled their earphones.

  “Affirmative,” replied the commander.

  Laura continued to watch as she relayed what was happening to Connie and the commander. “They’re heading back down the street,” she whispered. “If they follow the plan they should be going down the alley.” Seconds later, Laura confirmed that Jack and Sy were entering the alley.

  “Teams one and two, are you in a position to take out the vehicles?” radioed the commander.

  “Team one, ten-four.”

  “Team two, ten-four.”

  “Team three, ready for the alley?” asked the commander.

  “Team three is ready.”

  “All teams go!” radioed the commander. “Team three, make it look good but let them run.”

  “Copy that,” replied several voices barely heard over the eruption of sirens.

  Seconds later, Laura smiled when they received the first report.

  “This is team one. We have five targets secured and kissing asphalt.”

  Moments later, the second team also reported that the arrests of two more targets had gone without incident.

  The radio crackled again and Laura heard, amongst laughter, a voice say, “Team three here. We got two rabbits leaping fences and backyarding it northbound from the alley.”

  “Copy that,” replied the commander. “Stay in the alley and make some noise.”

  Laura heard the sound of a garbage can being kicked over and saw lights come on in several houses as people awoke to the sound of the clamour taking place.

  “This is team one,” the radio announced, “we’ve recovered enough weapons to start a small war.”

  “Likewise for team two.”

  Laura smiled at Connie and said, “Perfect. I love it when a plan comes together.”

  “Yeah, and the law didn’t come into it,” said the commander

  “The law?” asked Laura.

  “Murphy’s law.”

  “Guess all your worrying was for nothing. Mind dropping me off at my car? I should be getting a call soon.”

  “Not a problem,” replied the commander, gesturing for Laura to hold on for a moment as he received a radio call from the telecommunications centre.

  “Are you still at the same location?” asked a feminine voice.

  “Ten-four,” replied the commander. “Just mopping up.”

  “Uniform spotted two men running through someone’s backyard three blocks north of your location. We have one member in pursuit on foot and the other circling the block in the car.”

  Laura’s eyes flashed her concern as she looked at the commander.

  “They were told to stay clear!” replied the commander into his transmitter.

  “I advised them that,” replied the w
oman, “but they said they heard sirens and believed your takedown was finished. They said two were escaping, so they decided to help.”

  “What channel are they operating on?” asked the commander.

  Laura felt her stomach knot as the commander contacted the patrol car and said, “Who am I talking to?”

  “Constable Gibson,” came the reply.

  “Clear the area at once! Leave the pursuit to us!”

  “Uh … I can’t get hold of Constable Farthington,” replied Gibson. “He turned his portable radio off to sneak up on someone.”

  Laura grabbed the radio and said, “Gibson, this is Constable Secord. I don’t have time to explain. You need to get Farthington back to the car immediately. Get out and fire three shots into someone’s lawn. Do it now!”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  As the flashlight beam came closer, Jack stood up and walked between Sy and the officer.

  “Hi, officer,” said Jack. “I’m glad you’re here so fast!”

  Jack blinked as the flashlight beam found his face. “Who are you?” demanded the voice behind the flashlight. “Keep your hands where I can see them!”

  “It’s not me,” said Jack indignantly. “I’m the one who called 911. There were two of them,” he said. “They ran through my yard a moment ago. They went that way,” he added, pointing back between two houses.

  “Oh … uh, I see,” replied the officer. “Okay, uh …” he didn’t finish as he took a step in the direction Jack pointed, before turning around.

  Come on! Go! Jack thought, while smiling and giving a slight nod of encouragement for the officer to continue his search elsewhere.

  “First, I’d like to see some identification.”

  “It’s inside my house,” replied Jack. “They’re getting away for Christ’s sake! Why aren’t you chasing them?”

  The officer’s reply was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. By the third shot, the officer vanished from view in the direction the shots came from.

  “Fuckin’ bloody hell,” said Sy, standing up from where he had been crouched behind a bush. “Hope those shots were some cop being plugged and not one of my guys!”