Hard Case: Boxed Set Books 1,2 & 3 (John Harding Books)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  Lucas quickly rented a full sized Chevy Tahoe from Hertz while Casey and I sat with our friend Neal. The SUV was brought around and parked out front. We loaded Neal up and went on a scenic route of Las Vegas as I texted Denny we were in a safe spot to talk. We waited in comfortable silence until Denny got on line.

  Denny didn’t waste time. “His name is Bishara Khalid. He’s a Syrian national, and on the no fly list. Since he’s here, he’s here illegally. I’m gambling. I don’t think this is related to our main visitation. Due to necessity, I set up an immediate meet at a safe house we control only five minutes from the airport. Clint and Montoya are going to meet us there in one hour, but feel free to get started without them. I’ll be there waiting. I don’t want anything to crab our other deal. How’d we look for eyes on this ding-a-ling?”

  “Casey and I combed the baggage claim area in spreading circles,” Lucas told him. “It was immediate and we turned up nothing after John Gronked him.”

  “John Gronked him?”

  “Yeah, John’s daughter, Alice scoped this guy out in the first minute of his approach,” Casey explained. “The term is taken from a case prior to this one. We’ve officially adopted it since John Gronked this clown a few seconds after he let John know he was supposed to lose the fight, or have family safety issues. If he knew what was happening, he would never have approached us with a threat.”

  Denny pondered that for a moment. “You’re right, Case. I’ll keep Clint and Montoya out of the soup for now until you guys find out what this clown was really after. Man, you really must have pissed off the Slayer, John.”

  “It’s probably his handlers. They have more money than brains. To get a guy like this Khalid to face me down in an airport must have cost them a small fortune, not to mention what he was threatening me with.”

  “Let me make a few calls. I know a couple things now about your companion I’m tying up. I put the safe house address in your inbox. Go there, and I’ll contact you.”

  I wanted to get one thing clear with Denny before he went on his merry way. “You understand that this clown has a date with the desert, right?”

  Denny grinned at me from the i-thingy. “Let me see what I can do with him, John. You get final say though. Fair enough?”

  “Okay, but don’t get cute. If I think I’m getting played, I’ll snap this sucker’s neck.”

  “Understood.”

  Khalid began groaning shortly after Denny hung up and we were on our way to the safe house. We had his arms secured behind his back. I also confiscated everything he had on his person. He was only carrying incidentals like fake ID, and money. He began sputtering and blinking his eyes, trying to focus on where he was.

  “Where are… you taking me?”

  We ignored him. Why have conversations with dead men?

  “If you knew me you would not be doing this.” Khalid tried the ominous dark threat gambit. “Free me, and you live. Otherwise, you will all die.”

  Casey laughed and patted his shoulder. “Good one, partner.”

  My i-thingy went off. It was Alexi Fiialkov. I hesitated to take the call with Khalid there, but there wasn’t much Alexi didn’t know anyway with the canary he had working in Interpol. It was just a call anyway, so I answered.

  “John, Mr. Strobert told me you have Bishara Khalid. Please let me have him. I will find out anything you want, but I have much personal business to attend to with him. He tortured and murdered my brother in France. You have my word he will never surface again.”

  Well, Denny must have worked a fat quid pro quo for this turn of events. That means Denny knew about the Fiialkov angle before he even talked to me. That works for me anyhow. “Tell me where and when, Alexi.”

  “I own the safe house your Mr. Strobert directed you to. Please proceed there as you originally planned. I will meet you in a short time. Thank you, John.”

  “No problem at all, Alexi.” Neal is now staring at me in horror. I don’t blame him.

  “I will tell you anything you want to know… anything!”

  Lucas has pulled over and parked. He doesn’t like guessing about this new paradigm. Casey’s grinning from ear to ear. He’s been watching the transformation from threatening asshole to begging for mercy dead man with interest. Casey, Lucas, Clint, and I have been where this Khalid is now. It’s one of the main reasons if we know one of us is in trouble, no government sock puppet is going to tell us to stay out of it. I don’t think Khalid will be expecting any help. In fact, my guess is he got complacent, and the airport faceoff was his idea. He thought he could scare some Joe Citizen nobody. Whoops.

  “What’s up, John,” Lucas asked.

  “Denny made a trade for a player to be named later. Alexi Fiialkov owns the safe house where Denny’s sending us. Apparently, Satan’s Spawn saw our Neal, found out who he was, and who wanted him. We’re to continue on to Fiialkov’s safe house. We drop our buddy off, and then we get back to the Mandalay Bay.

  “You must turn me over to the authorities!”

  Lucas smiled, started the motor again, and headed for the safe house. Casey and I leaned back in our seats on either side of Khalid.

  “Sucks to be you, partner,” Casey observed.

  * * *

  Lora and her Minnie-me greet me together at the door to our suite.

  “I saw you Gronk that guy, John,” Minnie-me performs a reasonable imitation of her Mom with hands on hips splendor. “Tell Mom who put you onto him.”

  I looked at Lora, and launched the Dark Lord. “Your Minnie-me is out of control. She walks over in a public airport, points to a stranger, and orders the Dark Lord to Gronk him. I think she needs an intervention.”

  Alice giggles, but Lora keeps her serious face. “Yeah. Apparently, my daughter has more sense than I do. I’m sorry about that, John.”

  “Forget it. Alice was the only one of my crew that knew something was up with that guy. It’s all on our radar now. I had Jafar text everyone as to this new wrinkle in our stay. Besides, Alice didn’t think he was dangerous. She was afraid he’d sweep you off your feet and take you away from me. Alice didn’t want to move.”

  “What?” Lora stares down at her daughter who meets her gaze with her own unblinking attention, which cracks me up. “Why in the world would you think that?”

  “You were all over him, Mom. It was embarrassing. I needed to get John before you-”

  Alice ran for it with a scream. She saw Mount Vesuvius begin to erupt over Lora’s facial features. She streaked into the bathroom and locked it a nanosecond before Lora’s fist pounding arrival. “Oh, it is so on, young lady! I’m making the rounds right now of every electronic gadget you’ve brought along. By the time you emerge from your hidey hole you will be tech free. I hope you brought something to read.”

  “Dark Lord! You owe me!”

  “The Dark Lord is here, little one. Wicked lady, how dare you confiscate the great Beeper from your daughter! The Beeper must be free!”

  Alice corrects me with an instant scream through the door, much to Lora’s muffled amusement. “It’s Bieber!”

  “Come out of that bathroom or the only sound you’ll be hearing will be beepers on the street outside.”

  “Okay… but no hitting. I can’t help it if you were lining up replacements for the Dark Lord in a public airport. I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”

  “Why you little…” Lora looks ready to smash down the door. I’m no use because I’m howling in laughter. “Oh girl, you and I are going to have a long talk about appropriate conversation from a nine year old.”

  “I hope some of the talk has to do with how to keep a Mom from flirting inappropriately with strangers.”

  Lora is steaming, and I’m helpless. She of course turns on me. “Alice has never spoken to me like this before you started egging her on, DL.”

  “Hey… at least her vocabulary is improving. I may laugh, but inside I’m a hundred percent behind you.” I make inappropriate motions as if I were behind her. Lora sta
rts laughing, and Alice takes that as a sign she can exit the bathroom.

  She smiles up at me. “So, where did you take the mysterious stranger, DL?”

  “We don’t ask that, Al,” Lora said.

  “She needs to know, Hon. It turned out, the man was there to prove how close he could get to you and your Mom, Al. He wanted me to lose the fight against Abdul Bacca. If I didn’t lose, he threatened that something bad would happen to you and your Mom.”

  “But something bad happened to him instead,” Alice concluded.

  “Exactly. I want you to keep your eyes and ears open all the time. You did real good today, Al. I promise you, I won’t ever ignore something you tell me. I may not Gronk on command, but I will investigate. All the guys like your new word.”

  Alice nodded, but turned on her Mom, finger wagging. “You, young lady, will not talk to strangers unless you talk to me first about it.”

  I saw defeat in Lora’s eyes as she accepted the zap in good spirits. She hung her head. “Yes, Dark Lord Junior.”

  “This has been wonderful ladies. I have to meet my crew at the training facility they set up for us. I should be back in a few hours. I have to go get my bag. Truce?”

  Lora and her Minnie-me exchanged looks and shrugs.

  “We’re okay, John,” Lora said with a grin. “She got me good. I know you have to train. We’ll see you later after you get back. Should we stay in until you return? I was going to take Alice over to Circus/Circus for their show. Is that okay?”

  “Just as planned. Lucas, Casey, Jafar and their wives are going with you and Al. Tommy, Devon, and Jesse will be working out with me. Their girls want to gamble, so Rachel will be leading that excursion.”

  “Are we going to meet your new friends joining the crew on the coast?”

  “Yes. Just as soon as I can arrange it.” Lora stored my single sentence item about Clint and Lynn, which means she’s already figuring slots to put them in. “With those two in the crew, we are going big time. You’re going to like them.”

  “If Clint’s as good at investigations as you claimed, I already like him,” Lora replied. “He can do missing persons, runaways, and help out on all the crap Denny keeps trying to push our way too, right?”

  Yep. She’s on it. “That’s the plan, Hon. He’s tracked down serial killers the FBI couldn’t find, and is in the middle of a serial rapist consulting job for them right now here in Las Vegas. He and his partner Lynn have already wrapped it up.”

  “Can I meet them too, John?”

  “Sure, Al.” From the look on Minnie-me’s face, I’m thinking she has it in mind to give them the third degree. “I better grab my gym bag and get out of here before Tommy comes up and starts slapping me around.”

  Chapter Ten: Training Day, Killing Day

  Nearly three hours later, Tommy still had Dev and Jesse working me over. We were doing all ground and pound, because that’s where I planned to take ‘The Slayer’. I had a feeling after the last time when I busted him up with the leg kicks, and eventually broke his arm on the mat, he’d be really humping to get me on the mat under his terms. The good thing was he could not be in steroid land this trip around, because they’d nail him in the pre-fight drug test. I know the lab coats are working on some undetectable Testosterone mix to juice up the fighters, but that didn’t work out for a few of the major league baseball players. I was hoping to do the ‘Slayer’ without him bringing on the extras. I didn’t want a disqualification for him either.

  I did a sweet roll over, pinning Dev in an arm bar he tapped out immediately from. Tommy was frowning, because he had been tag teaming my two trainers, letting them work me over during the switch together. He also kept them at it for three five minute rounds with no rest. Devon Constantine and Jesse Brown were pros. As part of my team they watched my opponents hour after hour when there is any video of them at all. Since most of my fights are brawls in the warehouse cage, many times they have to go see my prospective opponents fight in person. When we hear of a contender beatin’ the crap out of everyone, Dev and Jesse go and take their own videos. Driver and escort work for tourists, along with an occasional bond apprehension rounded out their duties.

  “Let’s knock off on that lucky move,” Tommy announced.

  I helped Dev up. Jesse was already chuckling. “Did that seem lucky to you, Dev?”

  Dev grinned. “Maybe somewhere in Tommy land, DL. Let’s get cleaned up and get this vacation underway. Between punks screwin’ with us on arrival, and T the slave driver, I need some downtime.”

  Jesse clapped me on the back. “That was one righteous move, brother. If the ‘Slayer’ moves a little slow pulling in his wings, you’ll end him. Dev’s right, we need to get this party started.”

  “No party for Lucky here yet,” Tommy said. “You two take off. Lucky has a five mile run to cool down with.”

  Dev put an arm around my shoulders. “Gronk him, DL. Jesse and I will say Tommy tripped.”

  We all got a hee-haw out of that one, even Tommy. “I’ll be okay with the run. You guys go ahead. I’m betting my Circus/Circus crew’s not back yet from the shows anyway. You runnin’ with me, T?”

  “I’m the manager, not some two bit pug due for some road work. Get movin’ Lucky before I make it ten miles.”

  Another hee-haw with Jesse coming to my defense. “That’s just mean, T.”

  “While John was dealing with our airport greeter, I had eyes on the ‘Slayer’ work out earlier, where he does his business off site, through a contact I have. They must have some kind of secret formula the lab can’t detect. He doesn’t look any different than the last time, except bigger. I’m doing Lucky here a favor. You can bet old Abdul ain’t forgot that broken arm from their last meet up.”

  I nod. “Tommy’s right. If he’s that impressive, I’ll have to wear him down. See you guys later. We’re all on our own tonight, so have fun.”

  Tommy starts rubbing his chin. “Make sure it’s a hill climb on the machine. I’m thinking forty-five degrees.”

  “I’m thinking maybe I will Gronk you,” I reply to laughter from Dev and Jesse.

  * * *

  I notice a presence behind and to the left of me. When you’ve been in the business as long as I have even four and half miles into the hill climber doesn’t shut off that sense of self preservation. I speed it up for the last half mile. I’m in the Mandalay Bay Gym so I don’t expect a lot of attention. It’s quiet this time of day, but there are still people around. I finish off the five miles, and slow down to cool off.

  “It’s just me, partner,” Clint states quietly before walking up next to me. “This gym’s a bit nicer than the one down at the Stratosphere, but the machines look pretty close to the same. I watched your workout earlier off site without being seen. You guys ain’t foolin’ around. I haven’t got a look at your opponent yet, but he better be in shape or have a sledgehammer in both hands. Denny told me a little about your last hookup with him.”

  I smile over at him while toweling off. “Hey, Clint. Yeah, Tommy busts my butt. He likes the UFC stuff, and so does my crew. I like the Oakland warehouse. My present opponent, The Syrian Slayer, refurbished it so he could pound me into oblivion on Al Jazeera pay per view. We have a nice cage and everything.”

  “How’d that work out for him?”

  “Well, he bought the judges, referee, and one of the promoters. I broke his arm.”

  Clint laughed. “Then it was just like Denny told me. What the hell does he want with a rematch?”

  “Tommy says he looks bigger than he did before when he was already mainlining steroids. T thinks the lab boys may have come up with an undetectable booster. We didn’t part on good terms, so Abdul will be wanting blood. I plan on giving him some… and of course taking. Lora wants to meet you. Would you and Lynn like to go for dinner with us tonight? We can meet over at Sam’s Town. It’s out of the way, and they have good food.”

  “I’d like that, John. How about eight?”

  “That
works for me. I know our buddy from out of town will be arriving tomorrow, and Lynn will have to go into character. We’re still backing you up right?”

  Clint nodded. “Yep. Denny has it all planned out according to him. He knows all the places Darzi loves in Vegas already. It will be up to Lynn from there. If we have to go to Plan B, things could get messy, so I’m hoping she can charm him into the last roundup. Do you have any preferences as to when in regard to your fight?”

  “Nope. We get ‘er done. Denny would like me to throw the fight, so Lynn will have an easier time while Darzi is celebrating a Slayer win. What do you think of that plan?”

  Clint smiles and says nothing.

  “Yep. That’s what I thought of it too. I’d like to make it easy on Lynn, but that is not going to happen unless it’s for real, and I admit it’s a possibility. One of these days I’ll get my clock cleaned.”

  “Hell, with your damn pain threshold, you’ll probably like it better.”

  Yeah, me and pain are mates. Clint knows it. “I’ll let you know when it happens. Maybe, this’ll be the time, but-”

  “Harding!”

  Out by the gym entrance, the opening is filled with ‘Slayer’ and a four pack of Middle Eastern goons. They’re all decked out in suits, looking very impressive. I didn’t think the Slayer and his crew were going to hit the party circuit for a while, meaning going out in public, but it won’t matter. I know Abdul won’t want any rough stuff before payday arrives. We never really traded much talk at our last get together, so other than him being a cheat, I really didn’t have an opinion about him. I wave as Clint moves slightly away from me. It’s already too late for pretending we don’t know each other.