Man, I’m lost. I either had too much to drink or not enough. “How in hell do they coax these idiots out into the Gulf to be taken, and to what purpose?”
Clint grinned, because he saw complete confusion on everyone’s face but Denny’s. “They hand pick their targets. All four couples have relatives in Congress and the Senate. Cassigan was the first one to question the disappearances. These people are not being killed. They have had their fortunes taken by this company, and are filmed living in luxury at an estate in Cancun.”
“I was able to intercept one of their sales pitches once Clint found the holding area,” Denny added. “Clint deciphered enough on this front group oil company to give us a behind the scenes backer: The Sinaloa Cartel. They launder money along with every other mob syndicate endeavor you can name. This one’s a beauty. I thought Brannigan might be involved in this, but if anything, I think they were rivals.”
“Sinaloa now has a front company to launder vast amounts of money, while maintaining a persona of legality,” Clint continued. “They have hostages against direct action by our government. All four couples’ Congressional relatives are on key committees. Cassigan is on the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. The other three are in Congress on Ways and Means.”
“So these people we thought were hostages actually entrap more targets?” Casey shook his head. “To do what, continue making recruitment movies with them living the high life down in Cancun?”
“Yes,” Denny answered. “They’ve been robbed of their money, but promised it back with a healthy profit if they cooperate, while living like they do have a fortune down in Cancun. They’re naïve idiots, but they probably don’t have much choice. We haven’t located their yachts anywhere, or heard anything from the crewmembers that were aboard them when taken. I’d bet they’re not in Cancun, living the high life… or living for that matter. Without Cassigan’s interest, this one again gets tricky. I presented Clint’s case to one of our Senators who likes very much what we’ve accomplished. She hasn’t gotten back in touch with me yet.”
Wow, the Dark Lord is not very bright this early morning. “I’m still in the breeze. Do you mean despite the warnings about everything disappearing without a trace, the ones taken still manage to entice others?”
“It’s this way, John,” Denny said. “Once they’ve been absorbed, they play off the warnings in the recruitment film saying everything about the deal is top secret to prevent interlopers from accessing data and profit margins to manipulate the market with. They’re treated like royalty in Cancun, but not allowed to leave. It’s brilliant in a way.”
“So if I understand this right,” Lucas said, “you plan on using your Senator friend as a government relative for the sting we do. She would allow us to make up a completely fictional couple related to her in some way that Lynn and Clint would fit?”
“That’s it exactly. The big if is her agreeing to it. Even though she’s an enthusiastic supporter, I’m not sure how she’ll feel about something like this. Clint’s file with made up credentials for the couple he and Lynn would play was very impressive. Jafar backed him up with an account in the Caymans where we have an operative in place to make it look like our fictitious couple has forty-five million hidden there. If she goes along with our plan, I’ll have Clint put out feelers through their recruitment people they mention on the videos they’ve forced the hostages to make.”
“I hope you’re not thinking of letting this bunch attack my Sea Wolf and take us all prisoner so we can get Clint and Lynn in undercover,” Lucas said.
“Are you stupid?” Denny’s instant retort got a chuckle. “You guys will take these suckers by any means necessary. I would like prisoners, so we can find out where these jokers have their home base. I want you to go there and obliterate it. Yes, I will have a drone ready to back you up. This op won’t be black. Once we make sure we wipe out their base, you all will be sailing full speed for Cancun. Clint and Lynn will make contact with our unfortunate would be oil entrepreneurs. We have zero info on how these people were taken, or what was used to accomplish it. The Sea Wolf is loaded. It’s weapons free until the survivors give up the ghost.”
“If Lynn and I can get near the couples already taken, we’ll herd them someplace safe, while we take care of business with the assholes we find running the estate,” Clint added. “They’re actively recruiting, because I’ve been following up on the sites they nailed the others from. I’m monitoring the situation in case they get a legitimate prospect. If they did, we could slip into their place easily without personalizing the situation with the Senator. We would need to keep them incommunicado until we finish the op. So far, there have not been any prospects that fit their criteria. Jafar has hacked the communications. The first time the prospect questions using their boat, or any aspect of the meeting, they get dumped.”
“Jafar told me how much our recent busts have netted into our retirement fund for unintended circumstances,” Denny said. “We have plenty to cover this op. What I don’t want is to proceed without Senator Nora Braxton’s support, and confirmed drone backup. The good part of all this is the nearness to the Continental USA. The bad part is the rescue on foreign soil. If we could trust the Mexican government not to tip off the bandits, we’d be doing a joint op. No one can say how high up the cartels have infiltrated the Mexican government. All will be forgiven if you guys can achieve a successful rescue. Then we can let the hostages tell their story. We pull this off, and word will get around in congress about our success.”
I looked out at the light from a mountainous gray dawn providing grainy illumination inside our transport. “We would be making some rather high ranking friends. With our increased visibility, that would be a damn good thing. We’re on the offensive big time right now with taking out Brannigan and positioning a positive force behind his empire. I’d like to get those people out of Cancun. I know that Sinaloa Cartel is an entity I don’t want in the oil business. They don’t scare. We’d need to hurt them. If we can capture a few of the right people, we may be able hurt them financially as well as disrupting their oil plans.”
“John… you’re just so cute as Denny-light, I could just hug you,” Lucas said, reaching out his arms, and making smooching noises to everyone’s amusement.
“Lean forward another couple inches, Ahab, and The Sea Wolf will be yachting around the Bay on a daily basis with tourists, because its so called owner will be recuperating in intensive care, trying to eat whole food again.”
And we had one more early morning toast to that one.
* * *
Every inch of Lora’s frontal skin molded to my body, as she gripped me in a heaving, sweaty aftermath of muffled love. Knowing the Minnie-me has ears like a damn vampire bat, we were trained to harness all audio expression or endure the kid’s smiling sarcasm the next morning. I blamed Lora for it, and of course somehow she blamed me. She loved my house, but the bedroom placement led to unfortunate audio circumstances if we were too unrestrained. It was all good. We were careful. Al was on the opposite side of the hall, a bedroom down the way. I know for a fact she fakes hearing noises, giggling about it in the morning, but Lora’s so self conscious, she falls for it every time.
I kissed Lora’s forehead. “T will be here shortly for my torture session.”
The weeks since the Brannigan sanction passed with a quiet solidification of our gains. Brannigan’s ‘natural’ passing from a heart attack in his Tahoe retreat sent shock waves all over the world, especially to anti-American nut-cake organizations, completely dependent on Brannigan’s former evil empire. With Denny’s suggestions through Lynn, Maria had shed all of them, plunging a few of the worst into their own chaos. Once the money dried up, so did their destructive fervor. Since Brannigan had cloaked all of his seedy puppet master operations with layers of front groups, Maria pulled the plug on them, thereby staying out of the initial raging of lunatics cut off from their feeding trough. Lynn surprisingly, loves the new duty. Maria has become her real BFF, which i
s a real hoot to the rest of us. Alexander and Candice do what they’re told, but are relieved to be out of the illegal end of things.
“Are you having any more trouble with your chest?” For emphasis, Lora rubbed her chest against mine, the little minx. “Did you remember Tess and her husband will be visiting with my Mom for a week?”
Hell no. “Sure. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I’m certain Al will love the visit. She hasn’t seen your family since our first holiday together. My chest has been fine.”
Lora shifted out from under me, heading for the shower. “I sure hope you have a few new tricks to pull on that Destroyer guy. I’d feel better if you were allowed a baseball bat in the cage. I wish you hadn’t agreed to a match in the Oakland warehouse.”
“Don’t worry. T and I have a whole game plan figured out to surprise The Destroyer.” I wish.
Lora spun around. “Shit. I forgot to tell you we got the ticket on Kevin Halliday. I talked to Earl. He said Halliday’s still in the area, but hiding out somewhere in Hayward. They’ve had a couple of sightings, but not in time to nab him. It’s a nice payday because the bonding company Halliday used is in LA. I talked to the agent in charge of the bond. They screwed up, and they want out from under it anyway they can.”
I need to give this some thought. Nothing much impresses me when I’m considering either a fight, a bond skip, or a mission with my other sponsors. Halliday is a red flag perp. He knows me. I collected him with Tommy at Lake Merritt one time. Halliday’s a psycho. He’s not stupid enough to act out constantly, so he drifts in and out in the gray area where law and law enforcement mingle in weird waves of bullshit. What I remember about him was I knew I should have killed him. He had assaults, armed robbery, and beating up a couple of the women dumb enough to hook up with him. It was one of those times with Tommy, where that wasn’t an option. I at least found out the women beatings charge was bogus.
Halliday’s about three inches over six feet with steroid enhanced body – big brown haired head, and over enhanced body. Tommy and I approached him politely because of the public place, and festival going on. Halliday wasn’t having any of it. We approached from opposite directions, so he didn’t know about me until Tommy fronted him. He busted backward right into me, bounced, and got ready to rumble. I gronked him. We plastic tied his hands, and had him in my old Chevy within minutes of our trek to the car. He became verbal with the threats to our families, friends, and others. It’s part of the business. We don’t overreact to that bait, or at least not in a situation like we were in where everyone and his brother saw me collect him. It’s just business. When Halliday told T he thought he recognized him, and payback was a bitch, I reached back and broke a couple of his fingers. He got complacent real quick, but I always knew if someone didn’t cap his ass, I’d hear about him again.
“I hope we’re getting a nice payday for that clown. He’s not your run of the mill skip.”
Lora paused before heading into our master bedroom suite shower. “Tommy and I shared info. He said you two had history. Is he going to be a problem for you?”
“Nope. He may not survive the collection process though.”
Lora’s eyes narrowed, and she bit off the flippant remark I’m sure tried to bust up out of her control into an audible realm. “It’s that bad between you two?”
I shrugged. “I’ve only hooked up with him once, but I know the look all too well. I don’t know what he did I’m picking him up for, but he’s probably done a hell of a lot more bad stuff than they suspect him of. He makes a statement I don’t like, and he’s going to disappear permanently. I want him off the streets. I don’t want to ignore him. I imagine you’ve already sent the info to Tommy. After my workout, I’ll take a look around the places you’ve heard he’s at. We’ll go from there.”
Lora sighed and came to grapple with me as I got off the bed. “Listen you. I know this is part of what I have to do for us to be together. I don’t care what you think has to happen. I just want you back with me. Everything else I figure you make allowances for or end the threat. You’ve converted me into a Lynn Montoya without the capability of performing in person like she does. I… I just don’t want you thinking I’m so abhorrent about what you have to do that you hesitate to do what you need to. Does that make any sense?”
I scooped her up in my arms and showed her there were no hard feelings at all as to what I needed to do, except where hard needed to be. Yep, Lora and I were soul mates – a term I thought I’d rather amputate my own arm than voice even in my head. I was a recon Marine. We adapt. It’s a good thing I caught her before her shower.
Chapter Eight: Kevin Halliday
Since the UFC fight with the Slayer, we now had our own workout room after moving into my new business digs. Lora normally worked out of the house, but we had to have a place to put our two limos, and an office in case we did need to meet a client. In other words, Oakland Bond Enforcement and Escort Service received a fancy name, and a new building. Not so new, just foreclosed on, and bought up by me for a great price. It already had a storefront near 2nd and Webster, with plenty of partitioned sections. Lora had the office looking terrific and very professional. It wasn’t a great neighborhood, but not bad either. Our workout area had great ventilation, and every torture device Tommy could think of for readying me to fight in the cage or on the road in a UFC match.
Dev, Jess, and lately, Jafar all pitched in to pound the crap out of me. That Tommy took particular pleasure in it was an added entertainment item for my three workout partners. Frankly, we didn’t have a clue how to approach the Destroyer fight. I’d watched the videos my two scouts made for me. They pointed out this and that, but no one had hurt this guy. Then I saw it. When Subotic launched his right, he stomped a little forward with his right foot. It wasn’t much, but I pointed it out to my training crew.
“You’re thinking to smack his inner knee?” Jess shook his head. “It’s a great idea but if he doesn’t give you a clear enough shot, you’ll break your damn toes arching through that cement stanchion he calls a left thigh.”
He’s right. “Yeah, that would be the end of the fight right there. I’ve been watching for something I could exploit to do damage. Man, I got nothin’. The Big O hit him flush and the guy barely blinked. No one’s been able to get him on the mat, so ground and pound is an unknown. The right he knocked out the Big O with nearly decapitated him. I don’t see anything else I can exploit except get to his legs early. I hope when he goes to the mat for whatever miraculous reason other than to pound my head into dust, that I’m able to find a hold that will work.”
Dev simply stood up, holding his hands out. “Call in sick, John. Guys duck other guys all the time. He hasn’t been to the UFC yet, so it’s not like he can demand it. Duck him, and let’s concentrate on your UFC ranking. We can worry about Destroyer when he clubs his way into a guaranteed UFC money match.”
“I hear you, Dev, but I gave Alexi my word. You guys will probably have to hide me out for a few days until the swelling goes down before I see Lora and Al.”
“She’ll just hunt your ass down, brother,” Jess said. “I’d settle for you still being able to walk from the car to your house.”
I’ve been getting this shit from my guys ever since back when the Slayer came to town all pumped up on steroids. It’s been funny to me how I’m always the damn underdog. This time though, I see their point. They want to help me, but I’m going to have to take the lead. Tommy’s staying quiet. He knows I don’t go back on my word, and he doesn’t have anything for a suggestion that would help.
So now, here we are, busting the crap out of me. Even Tommy acknowledges I’m in shape for it. If I get tagged though, all the stamina in the world won’t do me any good. You don’t come back in this sport from La-La land. I did come up with a training ploy at the end of a workout. Jess and Dev throw on me from the sides while Jafar and Tommy alternate glimpses of a heavily padded two by four as targets representing the legs of Destroyer. Dev would
throw a shot at my head from the Destroyer’s would be right. Tommy stomps the padded board down slightly ahead of the left leg padded board Jafar held. Good God in heaven did that hurt when I missed. With both Tommy and Jafar moving the padded boards, and tilting them in a split second’s time, it was the pits. Tommy always stayed in rhythm with Dev though. Today, I broke the damn two by four. That even shocked Tommy. He threw the two padded pieces down, the lower one attached by some threads of remaining padding.
“That’s it for today, John. That was damn good. Lord almighty, if you get that smack in on him, The Destroyer will be one hurtin’ son-of-a-bitch.”
We were all standing there, everyone’s chest heaving but mine. I was sweating like a four hundred pound gypsy in a sauna room, but I felt good. I could have trained another hour after that hit. It was like that board had become some kind of a straw man for me. When it cracked, it meant I hadn’t pulled back, anticipating hitting my toes on Jafar’s board. For a moment, I had been so confident of the strike, I let it all go without holding back.
Jess hugged me around the shoulders. “Damn straight, brother. T’s right. You bam that on his leg, Destroyer’s goin’ down.”
“If you concentrate too much though, John, he may separate your head from your shoulders,” Dev added. “We’re concentrating on your strike for practice. You have to keep your head in the game on all levels.”
No doubt about that. “Great ending. I feel perfect for looking around for that skip, Halliday. We have a bar he’d be hittin’ in the Hayward area. Tommy and I might get lucky.”
“Let’s all go,” Jafar suggested with both Dev and Jess reinforcing his suggestion.
I shook my head. “Nope. Halliday already knows me and T. This guy’s a psycho loser. That he hasn’t already come after me and Tommy is a blessing. I don’t want him knowing anyone else. We’ll handle this one for better or worse.”
Tommy smiled. “I don’t think Halliday has many romantic thoughts for you, John. The dumbass resisted at this festival we found him at. John knocked his ass out cold. We get him in the car and he starts threatening us, our families, you know… on and on. John reached back around him and snapped a couple of his fingers. That shut him the hell up… ‘cept nearly crying like a baby. It was our word against his about how it happened. They knew from his record Halliday was violent as hell, so they just laughed at him. I never thought he’d be out on the streets this soon. Those idiots down in LA that bonded him are desperate. They tried to get him with a Hollywood type Dawg The Bounty Hunter wannabe. Halliday shot the crew leader, and smacked around the woman he had with him. The other two guys ran that were part of Hollywood’s crew.”
Hard Case: Boxed Set Books 1,2 & 3 (John Harding Books) Page 69