by Jacob Chance
“Do you trust me?” he questions. What a weird question.
“I do.” I humor him by answering.
“Good, because I’d never do anything that would hurt you. There’s nothing for you to worry about. You reminded me we need to go to work still and I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here with you and spend the whole day together. Instead, we’ll be to work in an hour and I probably won’t see you until tonight. It sucks.”
“I’ll miss you too, you big softie, but at least we can be together, tonight. If I get to start and end my day with you, what more could I ask for?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nash
“Are you hearing me?” Martin is reading a statewide police alert on his cell phone out loud as we drive over to Belfast’s new pot shop.
“What makes you think he’s got something for us?” Georgia asks me, ignoring Martin.
“He said to give him twenty-four hours.” I try to sound convinced myself.
“You’ve got a lot of faith in this Irishman.” Georgia doesn’t sound like she agrees.
“Neighborhood witnesses are describing a military style tactical assault by an undetermined number of suspects at a warehouse south of the city last night,” Martin continues reading despite neither of us listening.
“I’m not sure it’s faith as much as it’s hope,” I answer, Georgia. “We’ve got nothing else to go on right now, so keep your fingers crossed.” I pull up in front of the dispensary and park.
“Nash, I’m not sure, but this reads like something we might want to look into before we...” Martin tries to explain, but Belfast is now at the door waving us inside.
“He looks eager to chat.” Georgia is leery of Belfast’s invitation.
“Martin, watch the street.” I cut them both off. “Georgia, you’re with me.”
“Super green.” She unholsters her pistol, checks the chamber and reholsters. “Let’s go see what the bad guy has for us.”
“I’ll be right here,” Martin calls out as I close the door. “Please tell him I said to fuck off.”
“No goons with guns today.” Georgia’s defenses are up, but she’s not wrong. The armed guards and rooftop snipers we clocked yesterday are nowhere to be seen.
I instinctively place my thumb on the handle of my pistol as we walk inside. “Eyes up.”
The smell of marijuana is overwhelming, once inside the two locked security doors leading into the main shop.
“It’ll take a spell to get used to the aromas.” Belfast sees our expressions. “But it’s nice right?” He walks through the display room and to his private office in the back while we follow. I notice the entire shop is empty and I can see Georgia observing the same. Not a single person to be found.
“Slow day today?” I ask as he closes the door behind us.
“Let’s call it a lunch break,” he answers with a smile.
“Doesn’t seem like smart business to close up shop in the middle of the day and let all your employees take a lunch break at the same time.” Georgia prods him a little, as she opens the door back up and stands in the entrance, keeping a clear line of sight on the rest of the shop.
“If you’re so interested in my business succeeding I can recommend a nice cookie strain for ya.” Belfast cocks an eyebrow as he suggests it.
“No thanks,” Georgia chirps back. “I’m more of a kush kinda’ gal.”
“God bless ya luv.” Belfast sighs and shakes his head, smiling. “Marry me.”
She lets out another small laugh.
“I hate to interrupt you Romeo, but it’s been twenty-four hours.” I try to steer the conversation back to business.
“Next time don’t take so long saying yes darling.” Belfast smiles at her.
“I didn’t say yes.” Georgia snaps at him.
“Aye’ love.” He winks at her. “But you didn’t say no either.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, enough already.” I’m done with his playing around. “Look, we’re on a timeline here. What do you have for us?”
Belfast turns back to face me. “Right. Your Chechen’s name is Nicholas Ruslan.” He reaches into his pocket and drops a small portable hard drive onto the desk between us. “This drive has everything you need to know about this piece of shite’s business.”
“Wow.” I’m pleased but not sure why he’s giving me this much. “How’d I get so lucky?” When he knows I’d have been happy with just a name.
“The name I picked up quick,” he admits. “But when I shopped it for intel I got word from back home.” His tone of voice darkens. “I heard some bad things Nash, very bad things.”
“What did you hear?”
“Your Chechen Nicholas took some girls about a year ago, young girls.”
“Irish girls?” Georgia asks.
“Belfast girls.” He sounds ominous.
“What did you do?” I’m not sure I’m ready for his answer.
“Nash, Martin just sent this link,” Georgia interrupts, holding out her phone. “You need to see this.”
It doesn’t take much reading of the statewide alert to put the pieces together.
Multiple eyewitness accounts describing a tactical assault by a small group of armed suspects
Reports of sustained gunfire exchanges followed by a single explosion
Multiple unidentified bodies at the scene, most burned beyond recognition
Initial indications are leaning toward possible warring organized crime factions
“What did you do?” I step a little closer to him and can now smell the faint traces of ash and smoke from a recent fire. “Belfast, tell me what you did.”
“You’ve got all you need right there.” He points to the hard drive.
“Are we going to find the Chechen among those bodies?”
“Well I can’t really say, Agent Garrison.” Belfast reaches over and slowly turns the cell phone in my hand, so he can see the screen. “I haven’t seen what you’ve seen.” He reads for a moment and then stops and shakes his head, smiling. “I don’t imagine you’ll be finding much of anything, from the sounds of it.”
“Tell me what you did.” I step closer as the anger builds inside me.
“I did what you asked.” Belfast stands his ground, defiantly.
“And what about all this?” I shove the screen back up in front of his face.
“I did what was needed.” He pushes it back. “And if you put your hand in my face again you won’t be getting it back.”
“Brennan,” I make one final attempt before things might need to get ugly. “I can’t leave here without knowing what happened to the Chechen.”
Belfast is silent at first, then suddenly turns. “This is going nowhere.” He quickly walks past Georgia on his way out of the room. “Come with me.”
“Looks like we’re exiting the rear of the building,” I call out to Martin over the comms, as we follow Belfast out through the display room, into the grow room and out the back door.
“What the fuck is this?” Georgia sees them first. The two armed goons from the street yesterday are waiting in the back lot, guns out in the open and held by their waists, at the ready.
We’ve been ambushed.
“Put ‘em on the ground, now,” Georgia and I shout in unison as we each point our pistol at the nearest gunman. Neither of them moves a muscle. They just stare straight at us, unflinching and awaiting orders from Belfast.
“What are we doing here, Belfast?”
“Well, I know I’m just trying to show you what happened to your Chechen.” He’s calm and smiling again. “But I’m fairly certain the two of you are now shitting in your pants.” He slowly walks toward the back of a sedan parked nearby, with his hands held out wide and his palms up in a passive gesture. “Don’t go losing your nerve now, laddie.” He sounds friendly, but he’s not telling his men to drop their guns either. “Not before you see what’s inside.” He slowly reaches into his pocket, pulls out and shows me a key fob, waiting for me t
o agree.
Everything I know about this man has me hesitant to agree, especially standing in such close proximity while images of IRA car bombings flash through my mind. I glance at Georgia and she nods her head. “Show me.” I tell him, as we both take two small steps back.
He shakes his head in disgust and pops open the trunk, without triggering any explosions. Nicholas Ruslan is lying motionless inside, with duct tape wrapped around his head, covering his eyes and securing his wrists and ankles.
“Is he dead?” I can’t tell.
“What? No, he’s just resting.” Belfast lifts his leg and plants a heel into the Chechen’s stomach. “Wakey - wakey comrade shithead.”
Nicholas cries out in pain. “You fucking bastard. I’ll kill you,” he seethes as he struggles blindly to lift himself from the trunk.
“See, what’d I tell ya?” Belfast raises his leg up again and snaps the same heel straight down into the Chechen’s face, shattering his nose and knocking him unconscious. “He’s fine.”
“Stop kicking our prisoner,” Georgia shouts at Belfast.
“Not so fast kids.” He ignores Georgia and speaks to me. “You only asked me what happened to him.”
“I did.” I get the feeling things are about to go wrong.
“Well it ain’t done happening.” Belfast reaches over and closes the trunk.
“Belfast, listen to me. I’m not leaving here without him,” I warn. “One way or another, he’s coming with me.”
“Well then my friend it looks like we do have a problem.” His men quickly point their guns at us as Georgia and I do the same back at them. The two men who were positioned on the roof yesterday reappear, except this time their guns are pointed straight down at us. Belfast has the numbers and the high ground. Things just got ugly.
“FBI.” I pull out my badge and start demanding. “Place your guns on the ground, now.”
“I don’t think so.” Belfast is now holding a pistol. It’s down by his hip but out in the open. “We’re not playing cops and robbers here my friend.” He slowly walks away from the sedan with my gun pointing at his chest as he moves. “You and I both know you’re off-book on this one, so don’t act like you can just pull out your badge and call the game. It doesn’t work that way, not today.” He stops smiling. “Today we’re all bad men.”
“Put your guns down, now.” I give one last warning.
“Wait, wait,” Georgia interrupts, lowering her gun and slowly stepping toward Belfast. “Everybody just wait.” She keeps moving, looking back and forth between us until she’s right beside him, sliding her gun back into its holster. “What is this all about?” She speaks calmly. “It’s about the girls, right? The girls from back home?”
Belfast is silent for what feels like too long a time. “Aye, the girls.” He finally laments. “He has to pay for what he’s done.”
“He will pay,” she reassures him. “No matter who he ends up with, that much I can promise you. But right now, we need information from him,” she continues talking and it appears as though he’s listening. “Look at what’s happening here. There has to be a better play than this, one where we all walk away whole.” She gently places her hand on his shoulder. “One where this piece of shit gets what he deserves.”
I can see the hesitation in Belfast as he weighs his options and thinks it through. He’s listening to her, she’s reaching him. “You can get your information from him right here.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I’m not sure I heard him correctly. “You’re suggesting we question him here?”
“I’m not suggesting anything,” Belfast snaps at me. “I’m telling you I’ll allow you to question him here and if that don’t work, you can fuck off.”
“You’re telling me?” I’ve had enough of this bullshit. “Are you out of your fucking m…”
Georgia quickly steps over to me and interrupts with a hand on my arm. “Take it easy, Nash. It’s a good start.” She speaks quietly and sounds sure of herself. “And it gets all these guns pointed at something else besides our heads, right?”
Looking around at the four gun barrels currently pointing at us, I realize she’s right.
“Martin.” I lower my gun and call out over the comms. “Pull the truck around back, it looks like we’re going to be here for a while.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nash
“Do you want to explain to me who the fuck this guy is and why I’m here right now?” Karyn’s on fire as she arrives at the dispensary.
“You wanted quick and dirty.” I try to answer without sounding like an asshole.
“Well I’m certainly not fond of quick,” Belfast complains. “But you can definitely call me dirty, love.” He smiles and holds out his hand. “Brennan Collins pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“I wasn’t speaking to you, crook,” Karyn snarls at him.
Belfast laughs and turns back to Georgia with a raised brow. “Your mum works for the FBI too?”
Georgia struggles to contain a smirk. I don’t bother trying to fight mine.
Karyn ignores Belfast. “Garrison, come with me.” I follow her out of his office into the display room. “Bring me up to speed.”
Two minutes later we’re back in the office. Karyn is all caught up and giving orders. “This room works, get it set up,” she orders Georgia, who instantly begins moving the desk and chair around to suit our needs. “Nash, you two are in the room first.”
She turns to Belfast “Irishman, have your men bring him in.” She softens her tone. “You and I will wait outside the room.”
Belfast smiles and holds out his arm, leading the way. “Ladies first.”
“Play this straight and he’s all yours.” She accepts his gesture, walking out of the office in front of him. “But only after we get what we need.”
As soon as the door shuts Georgia is at my side. “You did hear that, right?”
“I damn sure heard it,” Martin replies over our comms. “And for once, I’m glad to be on backup.”
“Tighten up. And keep your heads in the game,” I speak so they both can hear me, but not loud enough to be overheard by anyone outside the room.
A minute later, with still no sign of Belfast’s men or the Chechen, I call back to Martin over the comms. “What’s the holdup?”
“Gimme a sec.”
Twenty seconds pass, slowly.
“Package is on its way in now,” Martin reports.
“What was the problem?”
“No problem. They were slapping him around out here for kicks. I stopped them.” Martin doesn’t fuck around when it’s go time.
Belfast’s men burst through the door seconds later with Nicholas still bound and hopping to keep up without the use of his sight. They toss him onto the floor and laugh at the bright red and purple marks swelling up on each side of his face.
“Pick him up, now.” I throw a little extra bass in my voice to let them know I’m not fucking around. After a brief pause they concede and roughly lift him up off the floor. Dragging him into the center of the room, they force him down onto the chair, shaking their heads in disgust as they exit through the doorway. Nicholas angles his head back, struggling to catch a glimpse under the tape after hearing a new voice, one with some authority over the rest.
Georgia steps in and three pain filled, Chechen obscenity laced minutes later, the tape is unwrapped and removed from around his head and face. Tears streaming down his cheeks, his eyes blink repeatedly as he deals with the pain from the tape removal and now the sudden change in light, all without the use of his hands.
“Where am I? What is this? Who are you? What do you want?” He rapid fires his questions all at once, not pausing for an answer until he’s asked them all.
“Your name is Nicholas Ruslan,” I start.
“Ha,” Ruslan shouts. “You are cops, right?” He smiles through blood covered teeth. “This is good. I like American police.”
“We're not cops,” I clarify for him.
“You must be Feds.” He holds out his already bound hands and laughs. “Even better, I’m ready to speak with my lawyer now, thank you.”
“You may be right. We might be federal agents.” I smile and lean in close. “But I’m afraid it's just not that simple, Nicholas.” It’s time to bring him up to speed. “I think maybe you should take a look around you - does it look like we’re going to be calling your lawyer?” Stepping back, I give him a chance to glance around and let it sink in.
Nicholas slowly moves his eyes around the room. “What is this?”
“You’re finished asking questions.” Moving in quick, I slap him, hard. “I’m asking the one and only question left to be answered here today.” I bring my arm back down across the other side of his face with a vicious backhand. He tries to contain his reaction, but it doesn’t last long. “Fuck you,” he cries out in agony after the second slap.
“And you better think carefully before you answer.” Grabbing a handful of his hair, I pull up and back until his eyes are wide open and he’s looking straight at me. “Because I’m only going to ask you once.” I cock my arm back to slap him again. “Once.”
Nicholas instinctively pulls his head back and cries out, “don’t.”
I’ve got him and we both know it.
“Ask your question.”
Georgia steps in, opens a bottled water and empties the contents on his head, face and neck. “You’re gonna want to pay attention.” She steps back without another word.
I allow the water to bead up and run off his face before stepping in again. “Where is he?”
His expression is puzzled. “Where is who?”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” I demand. “Where’s Popov?”
Nicholas laughs, loudly. “That’s what this is about? You are cops. I knew it.” He laughs and spits fresh blood on to the floor.
“Last chance.” I step closer, warning him on the way.
“Relax, relax. I’ll tell you everything I know about Marius Popov. But it won’t matter.” He sits back in the chair, suddenly appearing much more comfortable.