Vinnie D was behind the bar yelling at his brother, Richie, as he held the smaller man’s face in the grip of his right hand. When he spotted Jessica and her husband, he released Richie and sent them a smile.
“We don’t open for another half hour, folks.”
Jessica walked over to the bar.
“I’m Jimmy White’s sister.”
“I hope you’re here to pay his debt.”
“Jimmy has given you all the money he’s going to, and he’s pressing charges against you.”
Vinnie D smiled his crooked smile.
“The cops have been here. I gave them my alibi for last night, they’ll check it out, and the case will be at a dead end. Jimmy owes me twenty-five grand, and one way or another, I’ll get it.”
“As my wife said, you’re not getting another penny. I also want back the money he gave you yesterday.”
Vinnie laughed as he looked over at his brother.
“Do you believe the balls on this guy, Richie?”
Car doors slammed in the parking lot, and soon Vinnie’s enforcers, Andor and Beck entered the bar.
Vinnie called to them.
“Boys, say hello to Jimmy’s brother-in-law. Give him a taste of what you gave Jimmy.”
Remembering what Jimmy had said about being held by one man while the other beat him, he waited for the closest man to attempt to grab him. It was Andor, and as he reached out to encircle him with his arms, he ducked, pivoted, and then shot his head up to impact with the man’s chin. There was a loud CLACK! sound as Andor’s teeth snapped together, and the behemoth stumbled backwards into his equally mammoth brother, causing both men to topple to the floor near a row of tables.
Andor let out a bellow of pain as blood began seeping from his mouth. Apparently, he had bitten through his tongue. Beside him on the floor, Beck had freed his gun from the holster on his belt, only to have it yanked from his hand.
He pressed the gun against Andor’s head.
“Give me your weapon, slowly.”
Andor did as commanded, and then mumbled something unintelligible.
Jessica shouted his name, and he spun around to see Vinnie D running towards his office. He ran after him, and as he passed her, he handed Jessica one of the guns.
“If they so much as blink, shoot them.”
Vinnie had just opened the top drawer of his desk when he raced into the office behind him.
“Reach into that desk and you’re dead.”
Vinnie froze, and when he walked over to stand beside him, he saw an old Colt Commander lying in the drawer.
He shoved the drawer closed and placed his gun against Vinnie D’s chest.
“I want the five thousand that Jimmy gave you.”
“Anything you say, since you’re the man with the gun, but I have to open the safe.”
“Do it.”
Vinnie walked over to a corner of the room, got down on one knee, and opened a three-foot high black safe.
“Jessica?” he shouted.
“I’m good!” she answered.
Vinnie began emptying the safe of its cash, which must have been over $30,000.00.
“Just the five, we’re not here to rob you.”
Vinnie gave him a strange look, but separated out $5,000.00 and locked the rest away.
He took the money and told Vinnie to walk back into the bar.
They then herded the two sets of brothers out into the parking lot, where he spoke to Vinnie one last time.
“Forget Jimmy and forget us, or I will put you in the ground.”
Vinnie stared back at him without speaking, and then they climbed into their car.
As soon as he started the engine, he saw Vinnie D rush back inside.
“He’s going for his gun,” he said, as he accelerated away.
By the time Vinnie rushed back outside firing wildly, they were far beyond the Colt’s reach.
***
They returned to the hospital to find that Jimmy had been moved to a different room under a different name, and was being kept under guard, as a precaution.
The two detectives were there, and they spoke with them outside Jimmy’s room. Vinnie D’s alibi was holding for the time being, but the detectives told them that they were applying pressure to the Dawsons and had high hopes of finally nailing Vinnie D, who had long eluded them.
As they were talking, Jones’ phone rang and she answered it. When she finished her call, she looked at the two of them with fire in her eyes.
“I’m told you went to see Vinnie D and nearly got yourselves killed.”
“Told by who?” he said.
“That doesn’t matter.”
“You have an informant, don’t you? Is it the man named Richie?”
Smith and Jones gave each other nervous looks, and Jessica suddenly understood.
“Your informants are those other men, the two large ones, the men who assaulted my brother?”
Jones cringed, as Jessica’s words echoed down the corridor.
“Jesus, Doctor, quiet down, please, yes, those two are our informants. They’re facing deportation and so they’re willing to sell Vinnie out, but in the meantime... they have to follow his orders.”
“Such as the order to beat my brother nearly to death,”
“Yes, but listen, Vinnie is meeting with a drug dealer on Thursday to discuss laundering money, once we record that conversation, we’ll also be able to add racketeering charges, and that will put him away even longer.”
He looked at both detectives in turn.
“Your case sounds weak; those two thugs hardly make for good witnesses.”
Smith spread his hands.
“It’s all we’ve got for now.”
***
They left the hospital after visiting hours, and parked outside Vinnie D’s Bar & Grill.
Jessica looked around at the packed lot.
“This place does a good business, and the patrons appear to be respectable types.”
“Smith told me that the bar is legit. It’s owned by Vinnie, but managed by Richie, who is also Vinnie’s younger brother.”
A short time later, he noticed furtive movement in the side view mirror.
“We’ve got company, Smith and Jones,”
Smith extended a finger and rotated it in a counterclockwise circle, indicating that they should lower their windows.
“Dr. White, I thought you agreed to stay out of this.”
“I’ll do what I think is best for my brother.”
“If Vinnie D spots you, there will be trouble.”
“What’s the D stand for?” he asked.
Smith answered with a smile.
“His name is Vincent Darling. If I was a mobster and my last name was Darling, I would hide that fact too.”
He pointed out the window.
“There’s movement.”
Jones squinted at the figure walking out of the alley.
“That’s the brother, Richie, and he looks to be in a hurry.”
A few minutes after Richie left, Vinnie D came out and got in his car.
Smith and Jones scowled at them.
“Go back to your motel and let us do our jobs,” Jones said.
He ignored them and followed along at a distance, to a new development of upper-middle class homes. There were twenty or so houses built in a horseshoe shape that was carved out from a stretch of woods.
They had driven past several similar developments on their way there and they all looked so much alike that he wondered if the residents ever turned into the wrong street by mistake.
Vinnie D left his car and walked towards a house in the middle of the horseshoe. As he went up the steps, the front door opened and he went inside.
When they were spotted by Smith and Jones just moments later, the detectives charged at them, and he lowered his window.
Smith pointed at him.
“Leave right now or we’re placing you under arrest for obstruction of justice.”
The shots startled all of them, and Jones whipped out her gun and ran towards the house.
“Leave now!” Smith ordered, and followed her.
As Jones reached the house, Vinnie D bolted outside, following behind him was Jenna Dawson, and she was holding a gun.
“Drop that weapon!” Jones said.
Jenna Dawson came to a stop and stared at her.
“I said drop it.”
The gun fell to the ground, and then Jenna pointed a finger towards Vinnie D, who was being frisked by Smith.
“He killed my husband!”
Vinnie gawked at her.
“The bitch is crazy. She called me here, said her husband was out playing poker and she wanted to see me, then as soon as I stepped inside, I heard shots coming from upstairs.”
Smith cuffed him and began reading him his rights.
From where they were parked, Jessica caught sight of something moving among the trees at the rear of the property and pointed it out to her husband; it was the bobbing and weaving of a flashlight beam as it was carried across uneven ground.
He went in pursuit, by driving away and into the neighboring development on the other side of the trees, where a similar collection of homes stood.
When the man emerged from the thicket of trees and headed for a car, he came up behind him.
“What’s going on, Richie?”
Richie Darling spun around, looked at him, and began to cry.
***
They took him to their motel room to talk.
Richie was shaking with slight tremors, as he came down from the adrenalin his body had fed his system, during the previous hour of stress he’d endured.
“I killed Bob Dawson. The son of a bitch was abusing Jenna and needed to be put down, but actually doing it... I almost vomited afterwards.”
“You love Jenna Dawson, don’t you?” Jessica asked.
Richie nodded, as a small smile appeared.
“We first met months ago, at a restaurant supply house. I came around the corner pushing my cart and saw this wounded angel. She had a nasty bruise on the side of her mouth from where her husband had hit her, and the make-up covering it only highlighted it more. I walked over and touched the mark lightly, and then she reached up and caressed the bruises on my own face. I think we fell in love with each other right then and there.”
“You used your brother’s gun, the one he keeps in the desk?” he asked.
“Yes, I was to kill Dawson and make it look like Vinnie did it, while Jenna killed Vinnie in self-defense, and then the two of us would be free, but Vinnie’s still alive, isn’t he?”
“Yes, the police stopped her.”
Jessica placed a hand on Richie’s arm.
“Will your brother come after you?”
“He will. Not only did I conspire to kill him, but I cleaned out his accounts earlier and transferred them offshore to an alias, including the restaurant accounts. Hell, I even emptied the safe before I left. Yeah, he’ll know it’s me for sure.”
“You and Jenna were planning this for some time, weren’t you?”
“Our ‘great escape’ we called it. I was to disappear and establish our new life, and once all the dust settled, Jenna was going to join me and never be heard from again.”
“But you didn’t count on getting caught leaving the scene.”
Richie shook his head.
“You could testify, you and Jenna both, and that way Vinnie will still go away for years.”
“I killed a man, Dr. White, and so I guess I’ll be joining him... and Jenna will be charged as well.”
Her husband stood and headed for the door.
“I left my phone in the car, but I’m going to make a call and find out what’s happening.”
He returned a few minutes later and sat on the side of the bed beside Jessica.
“Your brother is being charged with murder and assault, Richie. It seems Jenna had fresh bruises on her face and is claiming that Vinnie tried to rape her. He also has gunshot residue on his hands.”
“Bob gave her those bruises; the bastard was beating her when I snuck in the back door earlier, and the gunshot residue is there from when Vinnie fired at your car this afternoon.”
“The detectives say his two thugs are verifying that Vinnie threatened Dawson and wanted Jenna for himself. They think the case against your brother is a slam dunk, but of course, Vinnie is shouting his innocence.”
Richie sighed.
“What did they say when you told them about me?”
“I didn’t mention you.”
Jessica jerked her head around at those words.
“What is it you’re thinking?”
“If Vinnie is cleared of the murder, he’ll walk free. Think about it. The two cops that have been hounding him for years just happened to be there to arrest him when he was being framed by his brother for murder? I doubt a jury would buy that, I think it’s more likely that they’ll think the frame was larger and involved the cops as well, which will ruin their careers. Also, Vinnie now knows that he can’t trust his men, and he’ll soon know that Richie stole his money. He’ll be out for blood once he’s freed, and I doubt he’ll scratch our names, or Jimmy’s, off that list.”
Jessica got up and paced in front of the bed, and when she stopped, she looked at Richie.
“We never saw you. Follow your plan and leave town.”
Richie looked back and forth at them.
“You’re really letting me go, knowing that I killed a man?”
Jessica gave a little shrug.
“You’re the lesser of two evils, and my main concern is to keep my brother safe, and your leaving accomplishes that.”
Richie stood.
“Dr. White, sir... thank you, for Jenna and I both, thank you.”
“Take care, Richie, and take care of Jenna too,” he said.
After Richie left, Jessica stared at him.
“We’re helping to frame a man for murder, aren’t we?”
“No, we’re keeping Jimmy safe.”
“Then why do I feel conflicted?”
“Because you’re a good person,”
“And what about you, do you have mixed feelings about all this?”
“No, but then, I’m not a good person.”
“You’re not a bad person, you’re just...”
“A lesser evil?”
Jessica hugged him.
“You’re my husband, that’s what you are.”
He smiled as he hugged her back.
“Maybe I’m not so bad after all.”
TAKEN! V – THE BOY
(The events in TAKEN! V took place nine years prior to the events in TAKEN!)
Years ago, when he was only eight, he found his mother passed out at the kitchen table with an overturned bottle of whiskey beside her.
“Mom.”
She didn’t respond, and as the breeze outside the window fluttered the branches of a tree, a shaft of sunlight drifted in and caused the spilled amber drops to sparkle.
He studied the liquid, the whiskey, and saw that there were still droplets falling off the edge of the table and mixing with the puddle on the scarred linoleum.
After checking to see that his mother still dozed, he leaned over, stuck his tongue out, and caught one of the droplets in flight.
His face immediately pinched up in disgust at the foul taste, and he licked his arm to rid his tongue of it.
The pale liquid had always been kept away from him, while his mother seemed to never tire of it, and he had thought that it would taste like ambrosia, and now that he had sampled it, he wondered what strange force compelled his mother to consume it.
“Mom?”
He shook her, and then shook her harder, and a third shake caused her to open her eyes.
“What do you want?”
“I’m hungry.”
“I gave you breakfast.”
“That was yesterday,”
“Oh, well, go watch TV and I’ll make you some
thing soon... just need... a little more... sleep...”
She was out again.
He walked over, looked inside the refrigerator for the third time, and confirmed that it was still empty.
After his mother began to snore, he went outside and sat on the creaky porch steps.
He was hungry, but had known worse, and because it was summer, he couldn’t get a meal at the school. He was about to begin knocking on the neighbor’s doors when he remembered the man his mother had taken him to see.
Number Twenty-eight.
He rose from the porch and headed east. When he came to the wide avenue near the McDonalds, his stomach growled and his mouth watered from the aroma of cooked meat.
Once he reached the other side of the boulevard, he went two blocks south, turned down the street, and began counting.
16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28!
***
Rafe Owens was wiping his hands on a rag, after having changed the oil in his truck, and that’s when he spotted the boy coming down the block.
The kid was thin as a stick, and he cursed his sister and brother-in-law for treating the boy so shabbily.
The boy, Jace, his sister had said his name was Jace, the boy was counting house numbers, and when he reached number twenty-eight, he gazed up the driveway at Rafe and smiled.
“Hi.”
“Hi yourself, kid, I see you remembered where I’m staying.”
“I’m hungry.”
“I don’t doubt it to look at you, but give me a minute to wash my hands and I’ll take you to McDonalds.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and hey, come here,”
The boy approached slowly, warily, he had only met his Uncle Rafe once, just days earlier, and the tough-looking man scared him a bit. When he finally stood before him, his uncle lowered himself to eye level and smiled.
“Anytime you’re hungry come see me, okay?”
Jace nodded, and then saw his uncle staring at the faded bruises on his arms.
“Your daddy do that to you?”
“Yeah, but he ain’t been home for a couple days.”
Rafe sighed and shook his head.
“Jace.”
“Yes sir?”
“You ain’t alone, boy, you hear me. I’ve been away, but I’ll be around from now on.”
Jace smiled.
Taken! Alphabet Series - 26 Original Taken! Tales (Donald Wells' Taken! Series Book 14) Page 9