by June Kramin
“Jesus, Mandy!” Axle put his gun down and held his hands up.
“Where’s Kermit?”
“My brother’s not here.”
Mandy shot past him, so close he was sure to feel the breeze. A TV screen blew out behind him.
“Goddammit! That was brand new.”
She aimed at a bottle on the bar and fired again.
“Enough! He’s in back!”
“Kermit or Angelo?”
“Both, man. Quit shooting. My beef isn’t with you.”
“It is when you have my man.”
“We were gonna give him back.”
“In a body bag, no doubt.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“I don’t want your excuses. Let’s go.” She waved the gun in the direction of the door to the back room.
As he turned to walk away, a door past the bar opened. They were fired at. Hunt dropped to the ground, drew his gun, and shot back. He only had to fire once. The kid that had opened the door went down. Again Axle stood up with his hands in the air. “I didn’t call that! He heard the shooting!”
“Who else is here?”
“No one. Ah, man…” He walked over to his brother on the ground. Hunt had only grazed his forearm—that was all. Mandy was grateful Hunt had followed her lead.
Mandy walked over, aiming the gun between the two of them. Hunt was beside her and kicked away a gun that Kermit dropped. She took zip ties out of her pocket and handed them to Hunt. He attached both of the boys to the brass poles of the bar while she held her gun on them. “Gotta love your foresight, Mandy.”
“This isn’t my first time.”
After the boys were secured, Mandy led Hunt through the door Kermit had come out of and locked it behind them.
“How do we get out?” Hunt asked.
“There’s a back door.” She went past two doors before she opened a third. Angelo was in the middle of a bedroom that was furnished completely in black. He sat in a black desk chair with his hands secured behind his back. “Angelo!” Mandy rushed to his side.
He picked his head up slightly. His face showed signs of having been beaten. His head lolled as if he were drunk. “Mandy? Fuck me. They killed me, and now I’m seeing angels.” His head dropped to his chest. He was out cold.
Mandy cut through his restraints as fast as she could and examined his hands. He had all of his fingers. Whoever sent the ring to Eddie wanted to make a point without really hurting Angelo. She didn’t waste time wondering whose finger it was.
As soon as he was free, Angelo fell forward, but Hunt caught him. He knelt in front of Angelo, draped him over his shoulder, and stood. “I have him. Get us out of here.”
During the escape out the back door, down the alley, and back to their car, they didn’t encounter any more trouble. Hunt placed Angelo on the back seat, and Mandy sat with him, resting his head on her lap. He hadn’t budged or so much as groaned the whole way.
“Where to now?” Hunt asked.
“I’ll direct you to the office building. I’ll bet he still has an apartment there.”
Hunt spun around. “Are you insane? Didn’t we just escape those guys?”
“Eddie and his goons, not everyone else. We can hardly go strolling in the Waldorf with him looking like this. I need to call the house doctor. I can trust the people there to take care of him.”
Staring at her, Hunt asked, “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“It’s not like I can go to the FBI, Hunt. You’ll have to trust me.”
“What about the guys that are shot back there?”
“Axle will already be loose and making calls. They’ll be fine.”
After pulling away from the curb, Hunt said, “I didn’t expect any of that.”
“I didn’t take guns because I missed the accessory, Hunt. You must have had a clue.”
He was silent for a minute then sighed. “I suppose I did, I just didn’t want to believe it.”
“Nice shot, by the way.”
He dared a smile. “You need me.”
“I still wish you hadn’t come along.”
“Because you could have carried him out by yourself?”
“If I had to.”
“Mandy…”
“Let’s not, okay? We’re here now, and we need to figure out where to go from here. I didn’t want to let him sit where he was. I don’t know what Eddie has planned, but I’m disturbed he didn’t ask what I thought and offer to let me go in and do what I just did. If I thought of the Cornellas right away, he should have, too.”
“Are you sure you’ll be welcomed back at this office building?”
“I think Eddie was right about one thing. Vince wouldn’t have made it common knowledge about me being a fed. At least not to anyone that didn’t already know. I think showing up with Angelo will put any ill feelings to rest. At least initially.”
“And after ‘initially’?”
“I don’t really have a choice, Hunt. I need to get him home.”
“I really want to get home, too.”
“I’m working on it. Take a left at the next light.”
Mandy directed Hunt to the offices above the little corner grocery store where she used to work when she was undercover for the FBI.
“Will you stay in the car with Angelo, please? I’ll go in first and let them know we’re coming.”
“All right, just be careful. Any sign of trouble and you get the hell out of there fast.”
She sighed before stepping out. “I must be insane coming back here, but I don’t see that we have another option.”
Chapter Nine
As the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, she stiffened her shoulders and walked towards what used to be Vince’s office.
A secretary sat outside his door. That was new.
“Can I help you?”
“I need to speak with someone about Angelo.”
“This is in regards to…”
Mandy put her hands on the desk. “Him being found. Now you call whoever you need to and get me some help.”
“I’m not sure Mr. Menusco—”
“Vince is dead. Cut the crap. Who took over when Bennett was killed?”
“I’m sorry. You are?”
Mandy pulled out her gun and sat it on her desk. “Get someone out here now.”
The woman finally got in gear and picked up her phone. Within a minute, the door was opened. Knowing she wouldn’t get a welcoming hug from whoever opened it, Mandy stood firm. She was surprised at who showed up.
“Hello, Eddie.”
“What the hell are you doing here? I told you to stay at the house.”
“I have Angelo in the car. I need a path cleared and some help getting him in his room.”
“What have you done?”
“Got him free. That was the goal, right? Stop busting my chops, and grab his apartment keys. Call Doc Chu while you’re at it. He’s taken a bad beating.”
Hunt declined help from the goons that came down with Mandy and carried Angelo up to the penthouse by himself. No words were spoken through the length of the elevator ride. Once the two guards led Mandy and Hunt into the bedroom, she asked one to stand guard outside the front door and one outside his bedroom. She closed the door while Hunt gently placed Angelo on the bed.
“I want to get him undressed, Hunt. I need to see what they did.”
“I’ll do it. You go get a washcloth and towels to clean him up. You have a doctor you can call?”
“He’s on the way.”
Angelo didn’t move while Mandy carefully cleaned his face. He smelled of alcohol. She couldn’t figure that out. Torture him after they’d shared a few nightcaps? None of this made sense.
The bell rang and Hunt went to get the door. He expected it to be the doctor but was surprised to see Eddie’s face glaring back at him instead.
“If you’re here to make trouble, I’d leave now before I let my wife know you’re here.”
“Th
at’s not why I’m here. Where did you find him?”
“The first place Mandy went to. With those Muppet brothers.”
“She’s the one that shot them up?”
“She had a little help. Man, good news sure travels fast around here.”
“Who did you think they would blame for this little rescue of yours? Of course I heard about the shooting.” Eddie paced the room. “Why did you sneak out? Couldn’t this have waited?”
Hunt crossed his arms. “Not by the looks of him, no. If you knew he was with those two, why the song and dance to get Amanda here? Why didn’t you just go there yourself?”
“We didn’t know he was there.”
“But you didn’t even bother to look? For crying out loud. If Mandy drove straight there, why couldn’t your guys have done that? What is this shit, Eddie?”
Their argument was interrupted by the doorbell. Hunt opened it and was glad to see a doctor and not another goon with a previously broken nose in and an ill-fitting suit. He led the doctor to Angelo’s room and closed the door behind him. He thought it was best if Amanda handled this alone, even if it meant he had to return to Eddie’s company.
Eddie had poured two drinks by the time Hunt joined him. Hunt accepted what was offered to him. He didn’t care much what it was.
After a long silence, Eddie finally spoke. “I honestly didn’t think she’d pull this.”
“Pull what? Save the kid? What did you expect? She loves him.”
“I didn’t think…hell. I don’t know what I thought. It’s been a long time. I had no idea…”
“No idea what?”
“That she’d look for him, let alone find him.”
“So you didn’t want him found?”
“Hell yes, I wanted him found, dammit. That boy is as close as any son could be.”
“So if she found him so easily, why didn’t you send some people to him?”
“It was too easy going over there. I never thought they’d be that stupid.”
“But you didn’t bother to check before you barged into our lives?”
Eddie got in Hunt’s face. “Don’t you tell me how to run my business!”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I’d have to make all kinds of protective body armor and bullet suggestions.”
“Screw you, cop.”
Just then, Mandy walked out.
“You two knock it the fuck off! I can hear you through the walls!” She turned to Hunt. “Doc wants to start an IV on him. Come help me rig something up.”
Hunt put his drink down and followed her in.
The doctor explained Angelo’s condition. “He’s taken a good beating. I’m pretty sure there are a few ribs busted or cracked. I’ll have to X-ray him to be sure, but I wouldn’t go moving him just yet.”
“You think he has internal bleeding?”
“I don’t see any cause for alarm there either. He is plain pissed drunk, that’s for sure. I bet he’d blow double the legal limit.”
“I don’t understand,” Mandy said.
“You’ve been gone a long time. If my liver were this kid’s, I’d be dead. If you hadn’t found him tied to a chair, you’d’ve found him in the street. We would have written it off as a bar brawl. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Eddie didn’t call me here because he thought Angelo was off on a bender. It doesn’t make sense to kidnap him and get him loaded.”
“Makes perfect sense. Like I said, they could have ditched him in this condition, and we would have been none the wiser.”
“Shit. I’m running on nothing here, Doc. I guess you’re right.” She motioned her head towards Angelo. “I can’t do any good here. I’m going to head back to Lonny’s and catch some sleep.”
“I’ll call you if anything changes. I’d hate to add much by way of meds on top of the booze. He’ll be out till morning would be my guess. I’ll give him something for the pain, then. You did good finding him, Amanda.”
“Thanks. See you, Doc.”
Mandy walked out of the room with Hunt and faced Eddie. “I’m going to get some sleep. Keep a guard on him.”
“No shit.”
“Someone you can trust dammit, Eddie. Is Earl still around?”
“Already called him. He’s been a little on edge with Vince gone. This will give him something to do.”
“I have something I need to do tomorrow, and I want no grief from you about it.”
“You keep me in the loop about everything. We ain’t done here.”
“I’ll check in with you tomorrow, Eddie. When I’m damn good and ready.” She grasped Hunt’s hand and stormed away.
Chapter Ten
Mandy walked into the FBI building like she owned the place. Her thoughts went to how she’d walked in all those years ago: pink high-heel sneakers, cut-off top, pierced belly button showing. She hadn’t believed Craig Abbey wanted her as an agent, so she’d tried to project how much she didn’t want to be there when she showed up. She was tempted to do the same now but didn’t want to take the time to shop for a get-up or get her belly button pierced again just for the effect.
Her attitude must have worked. Two guards immediately stood at attention.
“You’re back?”
“Damn straight.”
“You know that Abbey—”
“Yup.” She snapped her gum. “I’m the one that killed him. You going to let me in or what?”
“I’ll need to call you in to Sherry, Ms. Smith.”
“You do that, Ernest.”
After ten minutes, Mandy was escorted up a few floors and over to a familiar office. The guard left after he motioned for her to go through the door. The secretary smiled. “Good to see you again, Agent Smith.”
“Mrs. Blaine.”
“You mean Blair.”
“Right. Can I go in?”
She grinned. “This could be fun. I don’t think I’ll announce you. Go right in.”
“Thanks. I’d actually prefer that you didn’t.”
As Mandy walked through the door, James Stoner quickly stood. “Amanda. To what do I deserve this honor? You here to ask about getting your old job back?”
“Not even in my wildest nightmares do I come back here.”
“Yet here you are.”
“I want answers; I don’t want a job.”
“What can I do for you?”
“You have a guy inside with the Menuscos again?”
“Are you serious?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
“No, I guess not. We don’t. I can promise you that. You were the last man we had in there, figuratively speaking. We got around to that shipment you botched and tracked its source. It may not have made the news, but we cut the coke import business by about ten percent. That may not sound like a lot to you—”
“I know what the figure means.”
“We’ll never stop all the gangs and mobs, Amanda. We have to go after the source. Just because we don’t have anyone in there anymore doesn’t mean we aren’t making a dent in their corner of the world.”
“This is one of the reasons I wanted to run for the hills when Abbey tried to recruit me. All the political bullshit that goes along with this is insane. You see a bad guy doing something wrong, you should lock him up. End of story. Instead we have to watch them for a year, spend a fortune in resources, and do jack-shit even after we hold the cards.”
“I’m not going to lecture you on things you already know. We may not have someone there, but we are making headway. Your problem isn’t who we are watching. It’s who we aren’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there is some kind of vigilante out there and frankly it has everyone scared.”
“Vigilante?”
“Someone is out there trying to mop up the city, Mandy. It isn’t us.”
“Oh, bullshit. It was someone I knew that took Angelo. There’s no vigilante.”
“I know nothing about anyone taking Angelo. What I do know is th
at over the past few months things have gotten crazy, and we don’t have a clue who it is.”
“You have to have an idea.”
“We don’t. You think the mob is going to let us in there and investigate? One of theirs is killed, and they kill back. They don’t even particularly care if it’s the ones responsible. They get even. End of story. People out there are dropping like flies in retaliation, only they aren’t sure who for anymore.”
“And you’re just going to sit back and watch this happen?”
He leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers, dropping his hands in his lap. “My uncle had a small farm upstate. He could hear coyotes all the time and always feared for his chickens. One summer he went on a hunt with some buddies and killed twenty of them.”
“I’m dying to see where this is going.”
“You’d think, after killing the coyotes, the chickens would be safe, right?”
“Of course. He removed the problem.”
“Wrong. He lost everything in a week.”
She stared at him dumfounded. “More moved in?”
“That’s right. He had coyotes surrounding him, but they had their boundaries. For whatever reason, they hadn’t gone to his farm. A new batch came in, and without the others to stop them, they wiped him out.
“You remove one, Mandy, and another will take its place. Chances are the one that replaces it is worse than the first. You think we’re not policing, but trust me, we are. It may not be the best system, but it’s the best we have, and it works.”
“I’m not really buying this bullshit analogy of yours, but let’s say for a second we put it aside. We still have a vigilante out there, but you’re not going to worry about your chickens?”
James laughed. “I’m not going to risk my men to hunt down someone, or a group of someones, that want to clean up the streets.”
“So much for what you just fed me.”
“I said it couldn’t be done on a grand scale. I didn’t say I gave a rat’s ass if someone else decided to take the law into their own hands.”