The Warriors Series Boxset I

by Ty Patterson

  You should’ve left Broker alone.

  Chapter 21

  Broker swiped through the photographs, peered closely at a few of them and lay back against his pillow after he returned Zeb’s phone.

  ‘You left the bug active?’

  ‘Yeah, no point letting on that we’ve found it.’

  ‘You know what that is?’

  Meghan punched Broker’s bed, rattling it. ‘Jeez, guys, just get to it. What is it?’

  ‘It’s a listening device obviously,’ Broker looked at her impatiently. ‘But it’s not one you can buy in amateur radio store. This one’s used by folks like us.’

  Her eyes rounded. ‘You mean whoever planted it is from the agency?’

  Zeb cut in before Broker blew his stack. ‘Nope. It’s used by special forces, by black op agencies, like ours. Whoever placed it either works in such an organization....”

  ‘Or has access to such devices.’ Meghan completed. ‘I guess these are not procured on eBay.’

  ‘Nope. Nor do many arms or specialist equipment suppliers deal in these. You ladies call Talbot and a few others I know who might deal in these and check out if any of them sold such a device. I’ll call Bwana’s dad.’ Hank Talbot was their arms and specialist equipment supplier.

  Beth looked surprised. ‘Why his dad? He’s in bad shape if you’ve forgotten.’

  Zeb’s voice was grim. ‘Yeah, I know, but he’s the only one who knows Lester best. We need to know if any black ops agency in the DRC might have had an interest in Lester.’

  Zeb hesitated before calling Bwana. His father was dying of lung cancer and Zeb didn’t want to bother the family. Lester was Robert Kayembe’s best friend. He wouldn’t mind the call.

  ‘We’re measuring time in hours, Zeb. He could go any day now. Any moment.’ Bwana said quietly as he wandered outside his home to speak freely. Zeb heard the brief smile in his voice. ‘Nope, we aren’t sitting around in sadness. Neither is he. He led a full life, he has no regrets, no sorrows.’ He listened quietly. ‘Hold on, I’ll hand him the phone. He would want to talk to you himself.’

  There was a silence and then a rich voice came on, a voice that trembled, that illness had subdued but not beaten. ‘Zeb, my son, how are you? It’s so good to hear your voice. You should call more often.’

  ‘I’m fine, sir. How are you? How’s –’

  ‘Don’t you worry about me, son. This jackass next to me, he thinks I need looking after. I don’t need anyone babysitting me. I’m dying, but everyone dies. I’ll soon be joining my Mary. I’m looking forward to that. Now, how can I help you? Bwana said it was something to do with Lester.’

  He listened when Zeb explained and then laughed. ‘Lester was a pain to the establishment, but not so much that they’d still be interested in him after decades. I’m still in touch with people there. I am confident no one from the DRC is responsible for that bug.’

  Bwana came back on the phone, apologetic. ‘Zeb, I couldn’t be with you guys.’

  Zeb cut him off. ‘Stop right there, bro. Stay with your dad for as long as required. He’s dear to all of us.’

  He hung up and caressed the phone idly as he looked at his team’s photograph on the wall. Each room in the office had the same photograph.

  Bwana’s lucky.

  He left the Bubble and joined the sisters who were hunched over phones, making calls and writing notes.

  He read over Meghan’s shoulder and saw No, Nope, and hard slash marks on her notepad. Going by Beth’s grimace, she too didn’t seem to have much luck with the specialist kit vendors.

  Any luck?

  A message from Broker.

  He replied, tossed the phone on his desk, went over and stood by the picture window and watched the city go about its job.

  Who are you? Where are you?

  Tiny ant-like figures played in the park, some were kicking around a ball, some were throwing a Frisbee, and a few were with a bat.

  He read about BBK and disguised his kill and attack. A professional. Didn’t leave any trace. Even sprayed the letters.

  A FedEx truck rolled below, a figure hopped off it and disappeared inside.

  If the message was the trigger, why attack Broker? Why not the boys?

  It would’ve been too obvious!

  So what was the trigger? That he was selling? Or the who and why?

  You don’t know who or why!

  Movement on the street caught his attention. The FedEx truck.

  Zeb spun.

  ‘You sure about this?’ Emilio asked uneasily as Zeb lead them up to Lester’s apartment.

  The boy’s frowned deepened when Zeb brought out his tools and picked the lock on Lester’s apartment.

  ‘Maybe we should get Alisha’s permission, you know? After all, she owns this now.’

  ‘Maybe we shouldn’t. Don’t be a pussy, Emm. This won’t take long.’ Beth snapped at him.

  They had rushed back to the store and while driving, Zeb had voiced his thoughts to the Petersens.

  ‘Broker and I searched his apartment and found nothing but his journal. Nothing in it other than how he felt about Shaniya and Alisha. He still loved her. Shaniya.’

  He slowed to let a truck, its horn blaring, pass. Meghan rolled her window down, stuck a finger out and yelled something that suspiciously ended with ‘hole.’

  She grinned when Zeb glanced at her. ‘Hey, we’re New Yorkers now. That’s mandatory vocabulary. That guy was asking for it.’

  ‘The apartment.’ Beth reminded Zeb.

  ‘Yeah. We never checked if anything was missing.’

  Zeb pushed open the door and gestured at Emilio and Joe to enter. Just as Joe crossed the threshold, he remembered something and grabbed the boy back and pulled Emilio out too.

  He fired a text to all four of them.

  No talking.

  The boys looked at him puzzled, but nodded.

  Stale air and silence greeted them as they moved deeper in the apartment. Zeb noted the slight frown on Emilio’s face and looked at him questioningly. He shook his head and followed Joe.

  The apartment was small, Lester didn’t have many possessions and it didn’t take the boys long to rifle through drawers and check out the bedroom. When they returned to Zeb, they shook their heads.

  Nothing. But something about them.

  He followed them out and secured the apartment softly behind them.

  ‘Emm and I’ve been to his apartment just a couple of times. It’s not as if we knew its contents. Nothing looks missing as far as I can tell.’ Joe began. He hesitated. ‘One thing odd though. I would’ve sworn his diary was thicker. He carried it with him always. We used to josh he probably carried it to the bathroom too.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Emilio chimed in. ‘I got that too.’

  Zeb scrolled through his phone and brought the journal up. ‘This is the one in his apartment. It’s about an inch thick.’

  Joe frowned as he looked closer and then looked up apologetically. ‘I can’t be sure, man, but the one we saw was about half an inch thicker.’

  ‘Yeah,’ his friend corroborated.

  ‘The cops took away anything?’

  ‘Nah. We were there the whole time, Alisha was there.’

  Alisha.

  ‘She might have it?’

  There was doubt in Joe’s voice. ‘Maybe. They never met, but Lester could’ve mailed it to her.’

  Emilio couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer. ’What’s going on, dude?’

  Beth told him.

  ‘Holy shit.’ Joe breathed softly. ‘So this badass is still out there?’

  ‘It looks that way, but we don’t know for sure. That’s what we’re checking out.’

  Emilio cleared his throat nervously as his eyes refused to meet Zeb’s. ‘Yesterday, you asked us not to talk in the store. About, you know what you did.’

  Zeb watched him patiently. He knew what was coming.

  The two boys reddened under his gaze. Joe mumbled. ‘We migh
t have let slip today. We were talking casually and before we knew it, we were wondering if you’d found anything.’

  Not their fault.

  They misread his silence. Joe’s face darkened further in embarrassment. ‘Sorry, man.’

  Zeb gripped his shoulder and squeezed it gently. ‘Relax. Don’t sweat it.’

  Emilio nodded jerkily in thanks, as his body loosened in relief. He watched them disappear in the store and led the twins to their wheels.

  Zeb had fired up their ride when a shout stopped him and the boys came running. Meghan lowered her window.

  ‘The journal. Joe’s got a picture on his phone.’ Emilio panted.

  Joe fumbled with his phone as Meghan reached a hand out for Zeb’s phone.

  ‘There.’ Joe shouted triumphantly.

  Lester was smiling broadly as he looked at the camera, an arm slung around Emilio’s shoulder. Their backs were against the counter. The computer to one side of them.

  A diary on another.

  Half an inch thicker than the one on Zeb’s phone.

  The man sat in the dark in his office and ignored the music and the noise from the bar below. He replayed the recording. The man was huge, well over six four with heavy muscle that padded his shoulders and upper body. He had dark curly hair that caught the lights and his eyes were glittering sharp like diamonds.

  What do you think Zeb was looking for?

  Beats me. I think he was here the better part of the night. A laugh. He doesn’t share much does he?

  Yeah, but those chicks with him? They’re superhot.

  And waaay out of your league. Come on. Move your ass and help me with this carton.

  He hit the stop button and looked across his desk at the person opposite.

  A lean man with brown hair, nondescript features, clean shaven and of average height. A person who would easily be forgotten. The brown-haired man was a successful assassin just because of those qualities. His brown eyes were dead and lizard like and never stopped looking and never lost their vigil.

  Bossman tapped the glass on his desk. ‘You think this Carter found the bug?’

  ‘We should assume so.’ The assassin’s voice was scratchy as if he wasn’t used to conversation. He wasn’t. But he saw Bossman’s unease and said a few more words. ‘It won’t lead him anywhere. There’s nothing to be found.’

  ‘What if we’ve overlooked something?’

  ‘We’ll know if this goes any further. We’ll take action.’

  ‘Hey, Zak, how’s it hanging?’ Meghan said two days later as she greeted the glowing and shining cop when he and Chang entered their Columbus Avenue office.

  Pizaka lowered his shades and eyed her warily. ‘I’m good, thank you,’ he replied formally.

  Chang, disheveled as always beside his immaculate partner, cracked. ‘This is Zak. His doesn’t hang. It’s neatly folded and put away.’

  She high fived Chang and once she’d stopped laughing and commanded. ‘Rest your asses, gentlemen. It’s show and tell time.’

  She and Beth briefed them about the message the boys had left their findings and brought up images of the bug, as well as the two journals.

  She addressed her next question to both the cops. ‘I’m guessing the NYPD didn’t take anything from his apartment.’

  Pizaka crossed his legs with care. Knife edge creases had to be maintained. ‘Nope, no reason.’ He slid out a piece of paper from an inside pocket and pushed it toward her. ‘Copy of the inventory in the apartment. No diary.’

  Chang chinned in the direction of the screen. ‘That’s not a device I’m familiar with. We use a different model in the NYPD.’

  ‘The Wise One says they’re used by the Secret Service, Defense Intelligence Agency, and folks like that. We’ve checked out dealers who sell weapons and this kind of bug. So far we have got zilch. Zeb’s checked with people he knows. The bug isn’t from any of our agencies or those friendly to us.’

  Zeb nodded when the cops looked his way. Clare had sent him a text in the early hours of the morning. ‘My guess is the killer could have gotten this from dealers in Europe or South America.’

  He didn’t have to spell the implications. A killer who moved in those circles was likely to be a professional assassin.

  Chang sipped loudly breaking the following silence and closed his eyes as he drank from the mug Beth handed to him.

  ‘Hey, Zak, how about we move our office here? I’d follow this coffee to the ends of the earth.’ He smoothed his face when the shades swung his way. ‘Right. Cop business. No jokes.’ He winked at Beth as he read the poor you expression on her face.

  Pizaka searched out Zeb who was lounging at the back of the office. ‘Benjamin had a decent amount of savings with him. No unusual transactions in his bank accounts. He had a credit card, but hardly used it. Nothing in his financial records that would suggest a sudden need for money. He had no criminal record, no run-ins with gangs. No one in the DRC has any interest in him. That was the first point we checked when he was killed.’

  Beth’s raised finger halted him. ‘To add to the mystery, we called all the realtors in the area. Not a single one of them had received any calls from Lester. So if Lester had a deal in place, it was a direct sale to a buyer.’

  ‘What do you need from us?’

  Meghan smiled at him. ‘So you’ve come round to the second killer theory?’

  Pizaka polished his shades and admitted. ‘That’s the only one that has legs. Jerry and I have drawn blanks looking for a copycat.’

  ‘Get Cleary to go through Lester’s apartment.’ Zeb’s said. ‘I am betting he won’t find anything since we seem to have a pro here. But we’ve got to rule that out.’

  Rolando was visiting Broker when they visited the hospital in the evening. It was the first time they’d met him after Pelling’s arrest and after the Commissioner had congratulated them, the sisters briefed him on the latest turn.

  ‘I’ll make sure Cleary’s on the job tomorrow. He’s back.’ A sly grin crossed his face. ‘Looks like you ladies made a strong impression on him. He was asking if he could be permanently assigned to your team.’

  ‘Don’t even think of it, sir. He makes Zak look like an angel.’ Beth replied indignantly.

  Rolando smothered a smile and looked searchingly at Zeb. ‘You think we should go public about this new killer?’

  ‘Nope. We’ve even less to go on now than when we broke the BBK story.’ His words slowed and stopped, his eyes narrowed as he watched Rolando grip Broker’s hand and prepared to leave.

  His chair crashed back as he bolted through the door. The twins stared at each other in confusion, at Broker, the Commissioner and then they too raced out, Meghan hobbling as fast as she could.

  ‘Zeb?’ Meghan called out.

  Zeb floored the SUV as soon as the women piled in and burnt rubber as he exited the parking lot.

  ‘Call Alisha. Tell her we’re heading her way.’

  Meghan punched the numbers, spoke briefly and when she’d hung up, stared at Zeb. ‘I’m assuming there’s a reason for this insane dash.’

  Zeb snapped a look at her. ‘Why would you suddenly need a large sum of money?’

  ‘For buying stuff? Like a house or a car?’

  Zeb moved his shoulders impatiently. ‘What else? In Lester’s case, we can rule those out. He lived like a monk.’

  ‘Medical care.’

  ‘Lester was in great shape. But go on, you’re getting warmer.’

  Beth tapped Meghan on the shoulder and she turned around. ‘Hey sis.... ’

  The rest of her sister’s words washed away as it came to her in a blinding flash. I’d do anything for her.

  ‘It was for Alisha!’

  Chapter 22

  Alisha Jones wasn’t happy. Her crossed arms, stiff back and narrow eyes reflected her anger. And in case her visitors didn’t pick up on those, her words were plain.

  ‘Maybe I wasn’t clear last time. I’ve had nothing to do with Lester Benjami
n, and I’ve had enough of you guys.’

  The four of them stood just inside a café since she’d turned down a drink and declined to seat herself.

  ‘This isn’t about you.’ Meghan’s words came rougher than she intended and she bit her tongue instantly as stormy eyes turned to her.

  Zeb spoke quickly before the volcano exploded. ‘Lester’s killer is still loose. We suspect something happened about four years back that triggered his death.’

  Alisha’s eyebrows came together scornfully. ‘You caught his killer. It was all over the news.’

  ‘There’s another killer about who copied the BBK to throw the cops off. This second perp’s the one who killed your father.’

  A warning finger came up. ‘Not my father. He was nothing to me,’

  Great going, Zeb. Put the other foot in your mouth too.

  Beth took Alisha through their investigation and gradually her posture loosened as the fight went out of her. They fell silent as she chewed her lip in thought and finally shook her head.

  ‘I was working four years back, earning well. A lot of my savings went toward Mom, to support her and fund her medical bills, but even so, I had enough. Once Mom died, I worked for a couple of years more and then quit and started school at Columbia.’

  Meghan drew invisible shapes on the table in frustration, circles, squares, all of them closed. Dead ends.

  ‘He sent you any stuff?’ Zeb asked her. ‘Books, papers, anything?’

  ‘Nope. Like I said, he didn’t figure in my life.’

  Zeb sat unseeingly for a long time when they were back in their ride, the sisters silent beside him. People drifted out of the café, its light darkened and its shutters came down. A barista looked at them curiously as she went past. Traffic thinned and night cast a deeper shadow and still Zeb sat unmoving.

  He drove randomly when he finally fired the engine and joined life, cutting through alleys, streets, past blinking lights and the neon signs of Times of Square. Down Broadway, then through Wall Street.

  Money.

  He turned, went up William Street, past the ever present rush at New York Downtown Hospital.

  Broker.

  Back on Times Square, he waited for a family to cross, father hustling a couple of kids, mother carrying a small child.