The Protectors: Vigilante Justice (Vigilante Cops Book 1)
Page 31
“Thanks, amigo,” Adelmo said.
Connor nodded silently. Agassi cringed away from Connor’s brutal looking persona. Julie ran over with Adelmo’s men. She slapped Agassi’s face without warning, having decided on an opening to stun Agassi and bolster her own resolve in what was to come.
“Bitch! Did you think to betray us!” Julie snarled convincingly in Spanish, inches away from Agassi’s face.
“We… we can still deal. It was a mistake,” Agassi pleaded. “I’ll make the call for double your fee. Just… no… wait!”
Connor had flicked open the butterfly knife with deadly ease. He moved behind Agassi as Adelmo released her into Connor’s arm lock around her throat. Connor choked Agassi tightly against him. She screamed hysterically as the butterfly knife entered the flesh under her left ribcage to almost two inches.
“Don’t move, my little dove,” Julie cautioned, reciting the prearranged script, her gag reflex barely under control. “My companion will gut you like a fish if you move.”
“Please!” Agassi squealed, her body frozen in tense agony to avoid being cut any further. “Anything… anything you want!”
“Tell us who your superiors are. We no longer wish to deal with you.”
“I…I can’t. They’ll kill me!” Agassi screamed as Connor moved the knife slightly upwards. She clamped her lips together and turned her face away. She was resigned to die.
Julie flipped open the cell-phone she held, trying with little success to keep her hand from shaking. She speed dialed Ellie’s number and put the phone on speaker.
* * *
“This is it kids,” Ellie said, holding up her ringing phone. “Real scary for me, okay? Now!”
A chorus of ‘Ummi’ (mother in Arabic) followed by heart wrenching screams brought an answering cry of horror from the other end of the line. Ellie hung up. She put away the phone and hugged the two kids.
“You two were great!”
Yep, straight to hell.
* * *
Connor pulled the knife away from the crying Agassi. Julie smashed her across the face again.
“I’m sure you recognized those voices, huh Senora Agassi? Did you think we wouldn’t take care of our interests? If the special nanny we have with your kids hears the phone ring again, pieces of your little ones will be removed. We have heard you people worship death, even for your own children. Shall we put it to the test?”
“No!” Agassi sobbed piteously. “I will tell all!”
“Start talking,” Julie ordered when she heard Donaldson’s confirmation he was ready.
* * *
A half hour later, Paulo Adelmo nudged the bound and gagged Agassi with his foot. “You have been very helpful, Senora. I am happy you had my other million in the other truck. Otherwise, I would have altered your appearance a bit. My friends and I will be saying adios now. Perhaps it would be in our interests to call the authorities. What do you think?”
Agassi shook her head in the negative violently. Adelmo laughed.
“We’ll see. We’ll see. I’m afraid you must remain here while we get to a safe distance. It will be a surprise for you. Either I will call the superiors you so generously revealed or someone here interested in this dirty business of yours. In any case, I’m afraid I will have to decline your offer of further employment.”
Adelmo walked to the van where Connor, Julie, and his men were already loaded and waiting. Agassi writhed on the ground making bleating noises for Adelmo to come back. When Adelmo was seated in the van’s rear passenger compartment, his man drove them away.
“I have decided to inform the authorities,” Adelmo joked.
Connor chuckled. “We accept, Paulo. They’ll watch her for an hour or so and then move in. Fulton and Guzman want to do the honors.”
“All of this nastiness will be blamed on the infamous MS-13 gang. Your Homeland Security will close all their security holes while professing innocence in how it was done. Ah, amigo, did you ever think this would end so well?”
Connor leaned back in his seat pulling Julie close. She rested her head against his chest. “Not for a second, amigo. Not for a frackin’ second.”
Adelmo laughed.
* * *
Ellie, wearing Julie’s sheer silk robe, opened Julie’s entrance door before Connor and Julie could get to the walkway. She ran up and hugged them both. The three lovers held each other tightly in a comfortable silence until Nasty the cat walked up and head butted Julie’s leg, purring loudly. Julie laughed and picked the cat up.
“We are going to party,” Ellie announced. “I’m glad you two kept your costumes on. I’m going to get me some gang banger before morning. I could just eat you up, Buffy.”
Julie blushed. “Ellie!”
“Buffy!”
“Donaldson’s giving us the next few days off, El.”
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.” Ellie took Connor’s arm and pulled him toward the house. “I already told the MIB’s we don’t ever want to see them again. They agreed. If everyone keeps their mouths shut, we won’t go to prison.”
“Good to know.”
Together at Julie’s bar, the three toasted each other with shots of Jack Daniels.
“Here’s to more quiet times,” Ellie said.
“And watching Connor make you beg,” Julie added.
Ellie blushed. “Frack you, Buffy!”
* * *
Ellie led the way into the station, guiding Connor while making sure he didn’t peek from under his blindfold. Julie giggled while walking on Connor’s other side, grasping his belt.
“Is this really necessary?” Connor asked for the twentieth time. “Why not bust my chops without the blindfold. What the hell is it anyway? We haven’t been out of each other’s sight since our terrorist gig.”
“It’s just a little surprise, Opie.”
The squad room lapsed into silence as the three walked in. Jason Ladd and Luis Arvizo met them with Ben Donaldson watching from the background, shaking his head. Ellie removed Connor’s blindfold. He blinked and stared around him. Huge blown up pictures of him lying on the dead terrorist’s body, M14 at the ready, and Nasty the cat curled up on his back decorated every wall within sight. Raucous laughter erupted around him along with applause. Connor put the blindfold back on.
The End