Denouement

by E. H. Reinhard

  “Any friendlies inside?” one of the guys asked.

  “Not sure, but we have another vehicle there. I’d imagine someone is in the office. I was going to make a call to the front desk before we rolled up.”

  “We’ll take care of it,” the guy said. “Thanks for the heads-up on the motel.”

  “What?” I asked, looking at Faust. “If you think I’m sitting on the sidelines, you’re out of your damn mind. You wouldn’t even be here if I hadn’t called you.”

  Faust waved for me to follow him, so I did as he walked to the front of the van and out of earshot from his men and Deputy Levy.

  “Kane, these guys know what they’re doing. Let them take Azarov down. There’s no reason to put yourself in harm’s way if you don’t need to.”

  “This guy abducted my fiancée, tried killing me and those close to me… I don’t know how many times. I couldn’t give a flying shit what you say. I’m going into that motel.”

  Faust’s face twitched. “You know I could just detain you while we take care of this.”

  “Good luck with that,” I said.

  He let out a breath and shook his head. “Whatever. Just stay behind us. I don’t need you to get shot and us to get blamed. Do you have on a vest?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Come on.”

  Faust walked to the driver’s side of the van, and I followed.

  He stepped inside the open sliding door, grabbed a vest from a shelf, and tossed it out to me. “Put that on,” he said.

  I stared past him into the van. Thick metal sheets welded together were lining the walls. A rack on the back wall held a number of assault weapons. Two laptop computers sat on a metal table. He jumped out of the van and rounded the back. “Come on,” he said.

  I followed Faust back to everyone on the opposite side—pulling the vest over my shoulders and snugging it tight as I walked.

  “Are we ready?” Faust asked.

  “He’s coming with us?” one of the guys asked.

  I looked over at him. He was the guy from Sokoloff’s condo with the knife strapped to his chest.

  “He is,” Faust said. “Kane, you want to make that call to the motel office?”

  “Now?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  I got the number and dialed. The phone rang and rang. After countless rings, I hung up and jammed the phone back into my pocket.

  “No one?” Faust asked.

  “No. We need to see if there is staff inside. If he’s there and he sees us, I guarantee he’ll start shooting,” I said.

  “What exactly did you see when you turned around in the lot? Was the office open?” Faust asked.

  “I don’t know. The other vehicle there has to belong to someone. And it’s not the kind of car you are going to let sit around.”

  Faust called for the guy with the knife strapped to his chest and Deputy Levy to come over. They both walked up.

  “Okay. Here’s what we’re doing. We’ll pull up single file and park along the street. I’ll lead, then my guys in the van, then Kane in your own vehicle, and then the sheriff’s cruiser.” Faust looked at his man. “Knox, I need you to go to the front office. Ask whoever is there how many staff are present, and then get them away from the building back to the sheriff’s car, who’ll get them away from the property to safety. As soon as we’re good there, we’ll pull into the motel’s parking lot and get ready to advance on the room. Everyone understand how this is going down?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Are we trying to get into the room or trying to call him out?” I asked.

  “We’re going in,” Faust said. “You get our back. Okay, again, everyone got it?” he asked.

  Faust’s guy with the knife, apparently named Knox, nodded.

  “Got it,” Levy said.

  I bobbed my head in confirmation.

  “Let’s go,” Faust said.

  I got in my car and followed them from the lot. In my rearview mirror, I saw Deputy Levy get in his cruiser. We drove the quarter mile, and Faust pulled to the side of the road, parallel to the front office in the Charger, followed by his men in the van and then me in my Cadillac. Deputy Levy pulled behind me. Faust stepped from his car, pulled a pistol, and aimed it at the motel, using his car as a shield. The van door slid open. Two men rounded the van and took positions over the hood. One stayed at the wheel while the one named Knox went for the motel’s office. I got out, removed my service weapon and took a firing stance over the roof of my car.

  Knox disappeared around the corner of the building toward the motel’s front door. We waited. A minute passed with no signs of Knox or any staff. Faust inched away from the front of his car, trying to get a visual on the front office door of the motel. Knox came back a moment later, jogging back toward the van. “No one answers to knocking at the office. The door is locked. The sign says Closed.”

  “Could you see in?” Faust asked.

  “There is a blind pulled down over the glass on the door. I didn’t see any lights on, though.”

  “Let’s move,” Faust said. “Kane, leave your car where it is. Hop in with me. Deputy, block this driveway with your cruiser and take a position there.”

  “Sure,” Levy said.

  I closed my car door and walked to Faust’s car. I got in the passenger side as he was firing the motor. We crept forward and made a right into the lot. The black van followed us and parked directly behind the Toyota Ray had been driving, blocking it in. Knox jumped from the van, took his knife from the sheath on his chest and walked toward the Toyota. Faust and I stepped out, and Faust went to his men at the van. I got behind the Charger and took a firing position again. I could see movement inside the room next to the office.

  “Faust,” I said in a hard whisper. I pointed at the room. “Someone is moving inside.”

  Chapter 29

  “Who the hell is calling here this early?” Amy asked.

  Ray sat on the edge of the bed. He pulled a T-shirt on. He looked at Amy half under the bedsheets. The constant ringing was beginning to annoy him. “Do you need to get that?” Ray asked.

  “No. We don’t open until nine,” she said.

  “You might be losing business,” Ray said.

  “Whatever. I don’t get any of the money anyway.”

  Ray didn’t respond.

  “So are you staying tonight again?” she asked.

  “No. I should probably be leaving shortly,” Ray said.

  “Oh, where are you going?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Just moving along,” Ray said.

  “Do you want to stay another night, on me?”

  Ray said nothing. He sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. The coke was beginning to wear off, the hangover returning.

  Amy rolled herself out of the bed and wrapped the bedsheets around her naked body. She walked in front of Ray and sat on his knee. “Or maybe we can go stay at my place. My dad won’t be back for a few days.” She smiled. “It’s big, private, and has lots of booze.”

  Ray thought for a moment. “Where’s your place?” he asked.

  “A little under an hour east of here on Lake Apopka. I have to go there anyway to feed the dogs and change. Do you at least want to check it out?”

  “Um, is there anyone else there? Brothers, sisters, or whatever?”

  She wrapped her arms around Ray’s neck. “Nope. It would just be us.”

  Ray tried to contain a smile as his mind continued working on a plan. The Porsche said that her father had money, and the house on a lake confirmed it. He could spend a few days drinking and screwing around with the girl, take anything of value from the house, and then drive away in a Porsche. The car could be flipped at a chop shop—all easier than selling guns on the street.

  “Yeah, I guess I could check it out,” Ray said.

  “Cool.”

  “What about this place?” Ray asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, who’s going to run it if you’r
e at home?”

  She shrugged. “I’ll just close and lock the place up. It’s not like anyone really comes here, anyway. No one will care if we’re closed for a few days. They’ll just continue down the street.”

  “When do you want to leave?” Ray asked.

  “I don’t know. Now is fine.” She said. “Or we could go later.” She leaned in and kissed Ray.

  The sound of a knock interrupted them. Amy pulled back from kissing him and rolled her eyes. “It’s probably whoever was calling. Stay quiet. They’ll go away,” she said and went back to kissing him.

  The knocking continued.

  “Ugh! Let me just go tell them we’re closed,” Amy said.

  She stood and picked up each article of her clothing scattered across the floor. She quickly dressed and walked through the open connecting door to the office. She came back a few seconds later. “Must have already left,” she said. “I opened the door and didn’t see anyone. Do you want to just go now? Do you need to shower or anything? You could probably just shower at my place.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine,” Ray said. He stood and put on his pants.

  Amy leaned against the wall next to the room’s front window, putting on her shoes. She turned her head, reached over, and moved the curtains to look through the blinds. She stared out the window. “What the hell? As soon as I want to leave, people show up. I mean, we don’t have anyone for days, and all of the sudden there’s two cars at once?” Amy continued staring out the window. She slipped her fingers between the blinds and spread them further. “Weird. Looks like Army guys or something,” she said. “What the hell! There’s a guy stabbing the tires on your car.”

  Ray took two fast lunging steps toward the window. He shoved the girl to the side.

  “Geez!” she said.

  Ray looked out the blinds and spotted men wearing tactical gear taking positions in the lot—one with a large knife, retreated from the side of the Toyota Ray had driven. His car was parked in by a van. He recognized another guy over the roof of a black sedan.

  “Kane,” Ray said.

  “What’s Kane? Do you know these guys or something?” Amy asked.

  Ray reached out, grabbed Amy by the arm, and yanked her toward him.

  “Ouch! What the hell, Mark?”

  “My name isn’t Mark, bitch. Now shut the hell up!” Ray said. He dragged her to the side of the bed and pulled a TEC-9 pistol from one of the duffel bags filled with guns.

  “What the hell is going on? What are you doing?” She tried pulling free from Ray’s grasp—she couldn’t break his hold.

  “Shut up, bitch!” Ray yelled.

  He pulled her back to the front window, muscled her in front of him, and placed his left arm around her neck. They both faced the window, looking out.

  “Move the curtains and pull up the blinds,” Ray said.

  Amy obeyed.

  Ray placed the barrel of the gun at her temple. Then he locked eyes with Kane staring at him just thirty feet away.

  Chapter 30

  The curtains spread, and the window blinds flew up. In only a fraction of a second, I realized I was looking at Ray holding a brunette woman as a shield in front of himself. He had a pistol pressed to her head—the gun was unmistakable, a TEC-9. I made eye contact with him and had no doubt he knew what was going down.

  “Shit, he has a hostage,” Faust said.

  “He isn’t going to give her up,” I said.

  “What are we doing, boss? Are we going in there or what?” Knox asked.

  Faust didn’t respond.

  The blinds dropped and spun closed. We no longer had any kind of visual into the room.

  “Can this guy be talked out?” one of Faust’s men asked.

  Faust looked at me.

  “Zero chance,” I said.

  The door of the motel room flew open. Ray was holding the woman in the same fashion as he had in the window. However, the gun wasn’t pointed at her that time. It was pointed out at us, specifically at me. I dropped down immediately. Ray began firing. The sound of automatic gunfire and the bullets ripping into Faust’s car filled the air. The windows shattered and cascaded down on me. Safety glass rolled off my shoulders. The spray of bullets continued for another second or two, finishing into the van. The gunfire stopped. I heard the motel room door slam shut.

  “We good?” Faust shouted.

  “Yeah!” I yelled.

  Faust motioned me toward the van that he and his four men had taken cover behind. The windows of the van were splintered but remained. The windshield looked the same.

  “Down and quick,” Faust said.

  I went and pulled up at their sides. “Everyone okay?”

  “The van took it all,” Knox said. “He won’t be able to punch through the armor.”

  “Well, I ain’t sitting out here and getting shot at, either way,” one of the other men said.

  “We need eyes in there,” Faust said.

  “We brought firepower, no surveillance equipment,” Knox said. “Let me put a grouping through the top frame of the window. Maybe it will bring the blinds down or at least get us a little bit of a visual inside. The shots will be high enough that the girl inside won’t be in danger of getting hit.”

  Faust said nothing. He appeared to be in thought.

  “It might be our only option,” I said

  “The girl?” Faust asked. “What if he just decides to kill her?”

  “He can’t kill her. She’s his only leverage,” I said. “If he does, there is nothing stopping us from putting him down.”

  Faust looked at Knox. “Do it.”

  Knox scooted himself to the nose of the van. He took aim and fired eight or nine times. The motel window shattered and exploded into the room. The woman screamed. The left side of the blinds broke free and hung down, but the right side remained attached. Knox’s gunfire created a triangular open section that let us see in, but I saw nothing more than a bed. Then Ray appeared with the woman held before him. She screamed for help and tried to pull from Ray’s grasp. Ray was holding some kind of assault rifle. He stuck the gun’s barrel through the opening in the blinds. I ducked back for cover behind the van as Ray opened fire. Bullets slammed into the opposite side of the van. Feeling something hit my shin, I looked down and saw a quarter-sized chunk of concrete. As I stared at it, trying to figure out how I’d just been hit with it, one of Faust’s guys dropped, clutching his leg. I heard the two tires on the far side of the van blow out. More concrete chunks flew from beneath the van. I grabbed Faust’s guy by the shoulder and pulled him inside the van before he took another bullet.

  The gunfire coming from Ray stopped.

  Faust stepped inside the van. “Where are you hit, Rose?”

  The man grimaced and held his knee. Blood came from between his fingers. “I’ve had worse. I’m not walking right for a bit, though.”

  “A bullet bounced underneath the van,” I said.

  “Get something around your leg,” Faust said.

  Rose pulled his belt from his pants and cinched it around his own leg.

  Faust stuck his head out from the side door. “Can anyone see the shooter?” he asked.

  Knox came to the open door. “Yeah, he just left the window.”

  “Was he still using the woman as a shield?” Faust asked.

  “Yeah,” Knox said. “I can probably get a shot when he comes back. He’s probably reloading.”

  “Negative. Not while he has that woman,” Faust said.

  I stared down at the agent named Rose. Though the belt looked tight, the wound was still pumping blood. I looked at Faust. “We have to get him out of here.”

  Faust looked at his agent. Rose shook his head.

  “Knox, on my call, give me some cover fire over the hood. Aim high,” Faust said.

  “Got it.”

  Faust looked at me. “Watch my back. I’m going to get him to the deputy on the street.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Rose said.

&nb
sp; “You’re losing too much blood. I’m not letting you sit here and die on me.” Faust took Rose under the armpits and pulled him from inside of the van. He lifted Rose to his feet.

  Rose balanced on one leg and winced. He put one arm over Faust’s shoulder.

  I stepped out and took a spot at the back corner of the van with one of Faust’s other agents. We both had eyes locked on the motel. I kept my attention and aim on the window of the room.

  “Now, Knox!” Faust called.

  Faust’s agent fired until the magazine in his gun was empty. Bits and pieces of the motel roof line above Azarov’s room splintered and flew.

  Faust passed me, dragging Rose toward the street.

  My eyes stayed on the room. I didn’t see any movement.

  Faust returned to my side a moment later. We went back into the van. “The deputy is getting him help,” Faust said.

  “Good. Who else do you have at your disposal? We’re going to end up needing SWAT, a negotiator, or something. He’s just going to keep shooting.”

  “He’ll run out of ammo sooner or later. I mean, how much can he have in there?” Faust said.

  Erik Ekel entered my thoughts. “He may have just gotten a delivery. I don’t know, but he’s obviously armed well enough, using a human shield, and showing no signs of coming out.”

  “It will be at least an hour, maybe two, until I can get a full team in here,” Faust said.

  “We can get a SWAT unit from Hernando County,” I said.

  “Not yet,” Faust said.

  “Why not yet?” I asked.

  “I think I have a way to put an end to this bullshit.” Faust looked up the street through the open side door.

  I tried to find what he was looking at but came up blank.

  “If I send Knox up the street with a rifle, do you think you can get Azarov back to the window so we can get a shot?”

  “I’m betting all it takes is my voice, and he’ll be at the window shooting. What about the woman?” I asked.

  “Hold on,” Faust said. “Knox,” he called.