Debt Collector - Vengeance (Book 2 of a Jack Winchester Organized Crime Action Thriller) (Jack Winchester Vigilante Justice Thriller Series)

by Jon Mills

  For Frank, his home was that. It was his personal sanctuary. And now it was being invaded with a kid that he didn’t know. Damn you, Jack. Damn him for helping Frank when he was a kid. It was odd how one small event as a kid shaped his view of Jack. They had both become very different people, and yet he still believed that there was good in him. That somewhere below all of the shit he had done in his life, there was that kid who wouldn’t just pass by the group beating Frank. The one who came to his aid. He had to believe there was some redeeming quality left in Jack, as he might hope that others would see in him.

  Truth was he had come off the tracks many times in his career. He’d been through AA meetings. Battled his own demons and been tempted to take payment from criminals in exchange for looking the other way. It was easy. He knew there were guys in the department who did exactly that. No one could prove it. It was always kept hush-hush but it was common knowledge.

  Jason wandered out to the kitchen as Frank ground up coffee beans, shook the grains into a French press, and poured hot water over it. The smell brought his senses to life. Kick-starting his mind to think more clearly.

  “I haven’t heard anything about them. You want some breakfast?”

  “Sure,” Jason replied.

  “What do you want? I’ve got toast, cereal.”

  “Whatever you’re having.”

  “I don’t eat breakfast. Just coffee,” Frank said.

  “What’s the cereal for?”

  “The evening,” Frank said.

  “You mean you only eat cereal in the evening?”

  “Late at night, if I get hungry.”

  “But not in the morning?”

  “No. Coffee suits me fine. I’m lucky if I have ten minutes to myself. I’m usually racing out the door.”

  “Doesn’t sound like much of a life.”

  “It isn’t. Don’t become a cop, kid.”

  “I have no plans on it.”

  “Coffee?”

  Jason nodded.

  He poured him a cup and slid it across. They sat there in silence drinking coffee. Frank made Jason some toast. Half an hour had passed when Jack came stumbling into the room. His face was pale and it wasn’t immediately obvious that he was hurt until he pulled his hand out and it was covered in dried blood.

  “Jack.” Jason jumped up and gave him a hand over to the sofa.

  “Oh my God, Jack. What have you done now?”

  Jack looked up at Frank. Frank went and got a towel, a bowl of water, a small first-aid kit, and some bandages.

  “They killed her, Frank.”

  “I heard about. It’s all over the news,” he replied.

  Frank tore open Jack’s shirt and began tending to the wound.

  “What happened?” Frank asked.

  Frank went about cleaning up the wound while Jack brought him up to speed. By the time he was done, a pile of bloody rags was on the counter. The water had turned a deep red.

  “Did you see where they went?” Frank asked.

  “They drove off.”

  “How the hell did you get into all of this, Jack?”

  “Long story.”

  The following hour, Frank listened to Jack as he told him what had occurred with Gafino. He shared with him what happened after getting out of Rikers. And how he had planned to leave it all behind.

  “So what now?” Frank asked.

  “I have to find them, they have Dana.”

  Jason dropped his head into his hands.

  “You think you know where they might have gone?”

  “I went by Leo’s place but it was closed. They could be anywhere by now. I need your help,” Jack said.

  “I can’t help you. Hell, I should be bringing you in.”

  “I understand,” Jack replied.

  “Just give me a moment.”

  “You going to call it in?”

  “No.”

  Frank left the room and went upstairs. He took a shower and put on some fresh clothes. When he was faced with challenges, he always found a shower worked wonders. There must have been something about the water hitting the head, or the steam clearing his mind but it did the job.

  He sat there on this bed and glanced at a photo of his ex. He still hadn’t removed it. He hadn’t even slept in this room since they had parted ways. Most nights he would just fall asleep in the La-Z-Boy downstairs. Now here he was thinking about what he should do. He had already put in twenty years of service. He’d joined the police when he was nineteen. He’d always had his eyes fixed on promotion. Becoming the chief. Laying down the rules and helping the police department become the best. So much had changed in that time. The longer he was in the force, the more jaded he had become. He no longer wanted the responsibility that came with being a chief, or any position for that matter, besides the one he had. The higher up you went, the more shit you had to deal with. Everyone blamed the one at the top.

  He glanced at his phone. He thought about calling it in. Have them show up without any sirens blaring and take Jack into custody. Regardless of them finding the others, Jack had done enough to put him away for life. He was certain of that. How they would prove it, was another thing entirely.

  On the other hand, he could use this as a way to put a mighty big dent in the activities of the crime syndicate. He could finish out his career a hero. The guy who brought down the New York and Sicilian Mafia. It had a nice ring to it. He could see it now in the news. Veteran cop makes good on his promise. He’d made that promise years ago. As a naïve young detective. In a time when he thought he could change things. Long before he realized how difficult it was to catch crime families. He had been trying to do it for years. But there was only so much he had been able to achieve. He had needed someone on the inside. Someone who knew how they operated. Or someone who the Mafia wanted dead. Jack was the perfect person for this. It made sense. Help him, to help himself. Kill two birds with one stone and repay him for what he did when they were younger.

  24

  The phone call had come in while Frank was upstairs. Vito had made the call. Dana was still alive. They briefly had placed her on the phone.

  When they did, she was crying.

  Jack didn’t tell Jason but he had a feeling he already knew. As much as Jack wanted to trust Frank, he knew he couldn’t. It wasn’t that he didn’t think he would help him. But they were fighting two different wars.

  He had no intentions of letting any of them live. Whereas Frank would have done everything by the book. Trouble was these were the kind of men that could operate even from within a maximum-security prison. Their reach extended far beyond the thick walls and barbed wire.

  He had figured that others would come. Vincent told him that. He knew that. That’s what he would have done had Gafino still been alive. There had been times Jack had wondered what life would have been like had he just gone back to being a debt collector for the mob. He never lingered long on that thought, as he knew where that road ended.

  Vito wanted to meet in the Annadale neighborhood of Staten Island. He’d said that the death of his sister was payback for the money they had lost and the death of Leo’s son. In his mind they were even. Now he wanted to talk about a truce. Having Jack come work for him. He could use a man of his skillset. As if that was ever going to happen. Did he really think Jack was that stupid?

  He would kill him the first chance he got. If reputation meant a lot to Gafino, it was everything to the Sicilian Mafia. And what better way to regain control than to kill a man who was infamous in New York? It would send out a clear message. That no one was to fuck with them or they would wind up dead.

  At first it puzzled him as to why they would want to meet there. Then it dawned on him. Gafino had a waterfront property. It was nestled in the Blue Heron Park Preserve. The entire place was surrounded by marshes, fishing ponds, and hiking trails. It was a four-million-dollar house that overlooked Raritan Bay.

  Jack had left before Frank had returned. He had tried to get Jason to stay, but he w
ouldn’t. He said if his mother died and he was just sitting around he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. Reluctantly Jack took him along. Even at the age of sixteen, Jason reminded him of himself. The thought that he could get hurt was far from his mind. Though he knew it was a possibility. He would deal with that later.

  As they drove away from Frank’s place, Jack winced in pain. The cut wasn’t deep. But damn, it hurt like shit.

  There were several ways to get over to Staten Island: The most common was ferry. It transported over twenty-two million passengers across the water every year. It ran twenty-four hours and took around five minutes to get you from lower Manhattan to Bay Street on the island. The other ways were to go by vehicle across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Brooklyn or take one of the bridges from New Jersey.

  They were taking the truck so it was over the bridge they went.

  That morning there was a clear blue sky. It gave them a spectacular view of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty. Before they went, Jack stopped at the storage locker, stocked up on ammo, and retrieved a second assault rifle. He snatched up a bulletproof vest. He paused at the door and spotted the case of grenades. It was extreme, but then so was this situation.

  “I want to go with you.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  “What will happen after?” Jason asked.

  “What?”

  “You know, if everything goes right. Will you return with us?”

  He floored the gas pedal as they tore out of the storage area.

  “Right now, Jason, nothing matters except getting your mother back.”

  The journey over there was long and slow because of all the traffic.

  “I’m sorry about your sister,” Jason said.

  The car idled on the bridge. Jack looked out over the water. He didn’t respond. He was lost in thought. His mind drifted back to when they were kids. To a time when things felt good. Those moments were few, so they stuck out in his mind. He remembered taking his sister out. Going to Staten Island for the first time. They rode the ferry over there. They were meant to be at school that day but he’d convinced her not to go. When they weren’t in school they were usually dealing with shit at home. It ate away at them. It was breaking down his sister. He could see the way the light was dimming in her eyes. The way she lost a sense of confidence and hope for life. He just wanted one day. One day when they had nobody yelling at them. No one hitting them. No one telling them what to do.

  It had been a Wednesday. They never got on the school bus that day. Jack was fifteen at the time, she was almost ten. When they reached the other side of the island, they spent the whole day exploring. They bought ice cream and hung out in some creepy old mental hospital that used to be operational. It was called Willowbrook State School. Geraldo Rivera had run a piece on it, exposing the horrors that had occurred there. Children sat in their own feces, kids were beaten by staff, and there was a lot of sexual abuse that had gone on. The place was closed in 1987.

  After spending time exploring what remained inside of a gutted building, they found it a little too creepy and left.

  From there they had spent a few hours fishing and bathing in the sunshine. They daydreamed and talked about what life would be like if they had been born into a wealthy family.

  As Jack came back into the present moment he switched into high gear. He knew there would likely be more than just a few men there this time. Leo would have pulled in more help from surrounding crime families. Those they were still associated with were few. Everything had dwindled in the city. The grip they once had over businesses was starting to lose its power. The police had cracked down on numerous areas that were being extorted and put away a number of key figures.

  Their time was nearly over. And he planned on being the one who put the final nail in the coffin.

  “This Danny guy, how does he operate?” Jack asked.

  Jason tossed him a glance. “Uh.” He paused, contemplating the question. “He stores some of the drugs at a place outside of Rockland Cove, distributes them out of the condo in town, and receives shipments each month on a boat called the Morning Glory.”

  “Down at the harbor?”

  “Yeah. That’s where he keeps any of the overflow. They keep it stashed under the seats on the boat.”

  “What will you do when you go back?” Jack asked.

  “Well, besides wanting to kill the guy?”

  “Jason.”

  “I’m kidding. I’m gonna stay clear of it all.”

  “That might not work so well,” Jack replied.

  “Maybe I will tip off the police.”

  “Maybe somebody already has?”

  “No. He is very sneaky. Somehow he knows when the police patrol. He has scanners and shit.”

  “Then they need to show up when he’s not awake.”

  “Yeah. I would love to see his face when that day happens.”

  As Jack came closer to the location he pulled into Blue Heron Park Preserve. It was a tourist location that had been acquired by the city. It was a wildlife sanctuary that had been built upon a wasteland of abandoned cars. Now it was picturesque in more ways than one. Full of walking trails, meadows, ponds, streams, and woodlands. It offered the best cover.

  Jack knew that it was a good hike through the marshlands to get to the home. Thankfully the trails would keep him dry. Jack killed the engine.

  “Now remember. If I’m not back in thirty minutes, you are to phone Frank, let him know what happened. He’ll take it from there. Here’s a phone.” He gave him the card with Frank’s number on it.

  “I’m not waiting here. I can help.”

  “You’re too young, Jason. We’re not doing this now.”

  “But.”

  “No. Enough,” Jack bellowed.

  Jason looked taken aback.

  “Now remember. Thirty minutes.”

  Jack jumped out, reached into the back of the truck, and put on the bulletproof vest. Over the top of that he put on a belt that would hold the magazines. By the time he was finished getting geared up, he was starting to resemble a special ops guy. He had enough weapons and ammo to cause some serious damage. He took extra in a duffel bag, just in case. He would leave it close to the house. In the event things went south, he would have a backup option.

  He gave Jason one final glance and then trudged his way down a trail until the truck was out of sight.

  Jason sat there for a moment weighing his options. There was no way one man could pull this off. He stared at the card before tapping it against his leg. Jack’s sister had already died. He wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to his mother.

  Jason made the call to Frank.

  “Frank?”

  “Where are you, Jason?”

  “Staten Island.”

  He relayed the information of where he was and what Jack was up to. Frank told him to stay put. He would be there within the next fifteen minutes

  Fifteen? It had taken them the better part of an hour to get out here because of traffic. He assumed they were going to take a helicopter.

  Dana fully expected that she was going to die. She had heard the gunfire, she had seen that Milly hadn’t returned. Though no one had told her that she was dead, she just figured she was. Now, all she could think about was her boy. It had been huge mistake opening herself back up to Jack. Trusting him to keep her out of harm’s way.

  After leaving Long Island, Vito had been furious. Dominick had wanted to return to kill Jack but Leo had told them it was too risky. The police were in the area. She heard police drive by their parked vehicle. She was on the floor of the SUV. How close she was to being found. Now she had no idea where she was. She had heard them say on numerous occasions that it was best if they just killed her and dumped her body. Vito was keen to get out of New York. He wanted to cut ties with Leo. She heard everything. For the longest part of the journey out to wherever they were now, they had been arguing about what to do.

  She had hea
rd the ocean, and seen it briefly when they took her into a mansion. It was massive. They took her into a back room and one of Leo’s men was watching over her. He’d been given instructions that if she did anything to try to escape, he was to shoot her. She sat on a sofa, her hands tied behind her back, while the guy glared at her from the opposite side of the room. She could tell he was undressing her with his eyes. He would smirk occasionally. There was no indication of time. No clocks on the walls.

  “You think you could loosen these binds?”

  “Nope.”

  “But they are cutting into my skin.”

  The guy glanced at the door. He walked over and stood in front of her.

  “What will you do for me?”

  “Forget it. I would rather be in pain.”

  He chuckled and walked back to his spot.

  Jack had eyes on the place. He had brought a small pair of military binoculars with him. He was trying to gauge how many men there were. He wasn’t going to take chances like he did last time. It had got his sister killed. He needed to act swiftly this time. There were six men patrolling the house. He saw another through a window. Leo and Vito were out of sight. He knew now they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. For all he knew, they could have killed her by now.

  He was ready to engage, and move in on the house when he heard the helicopter. It was subtle at first, then shots rang out. He glanced up to see it. The word POLICE was on the side in a deep blue.

  He chuckled. Jason.

  It was now or never. He attached the suppressor on the end of the weapon. He pushed ahead. One of the men was distracted by the helicopter when Jack fired two rounds into him. He dropped and Jack unleashed two more into the guy who came rushing around the corner. Jack dived for cover and waited.

  Police were closing in on them. It would keep the guys on the outside busy while he ducked inside and began searching for Dana.

  He pulled at a door and entered into a pool area.