“Maybe you’ve done your homework on me, but I’m still going to need some proof that you are who you say you are.”
“I like your moxie, Myles. You understand that the devil is in the details … that’s important. How about if you talk to Natasha personally—would that be proof enough for you?”
Geoff nodded.
Kushka reached into his bag and pulled out a creased piece of paper with two numbers written on it. “The first one is to her room in Vegas. Try there first, but knowing my daughter, she’s probably out painting the town, so that’s why I included her cell.”
Geoff took the card and dialed the hotel room.
“And remember, she might not be able to talk freely if Irina is there, but she will be able to calm your fears about who I am. Just be discreet.”
Geoff got no answer at the room, but when he dialed the cell, a very familiar voice answered. It was Natasha Kushka.
Chapter 53
With his one son immersed in a phone call—thanks to the numbers he’d found in O’Connell’s backpack—it gave the Jack Hammer the opportunity to seek out the other.
He strolled into a bedroom to find Teo sitting on a bed engrossed in a video game. He wore a leather jacket and sunglasses inside the house—he definitely got his fashion sense from his mother.
Teo looked up at him. He could tell his son felt a familiarity, but just couldn’t place it. He had been just a toddler the last time they’d crossed paths. He then returned to his game.
He needed his son’s full attention, so he ripped the power cord out of the outlet—game over. Teo appeared angered by the development, and his temper was beginning to rise.
But the Jack Hammer remained calm. He removed his sunglasses, and mentioned that it had been a long time since he’d seen his son. “Hola, Teo. Ha sido un rato largo puesto que he visto a mi hijo.”
You never forget your father no matter how young you were. Teo stood frozen for a moment, gathering twenty years worth of thoughts, and it clicked. “Usted esta vivo!”
“Sí , mi hijo, sí —I am very much alive.”
When he attempted to embrace his son, Teo didn’t respond at first, but eventually gave in and wrapped his arms around him. He mumbled in Spanish that he had missed him for his whole life.
He pulled away, sensing the boy wanted more. But there was little time for sentimentality—he needed to find out what Anna had told him, and he asked him in direct Spanish.
Teo appeared baffled by the question. “No comprende.”
“Teo!” he raised his voice. When he continued to evade his question, he explained in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t tell him the truth, he would never get to see Anna again. By Teo’s expression, he could tell that he’d yet to be delivered the news about his sister’s death. A good sign—communications were being cut off as he tightened the noose.
“Anna?” Teo asked in a concerned voice.
He understood Teo’s connection with Anna—they had grown up side by side. But he didn’t have the same connection with Cam and Geoff. So he thought it would be an easier task to break him about how they’d conspired, and then return to the information Anna had provided him.
But when he asked Teo about his recent connection with his brothers, looking hard into his eyes while doing so, he couldn’t believe what he saw. The mouth might lie, but the eyes always tell the truth. And what he saw was the same thing he’d seen in Geoff’s eyes in the mall. But since Geoff was a professional liar by trade, he didn’t trust it.
The odds against all his sons coming together by coincidence were astronomical. But that was exactly what had happened. The second triangle was like the Bermuda Triangle—it only existed in the mind.
Coincidence or not, it didn’t change what he had to do—he couldn’t risk his three sons trading notes.
****
Natasha answered her phone as she made her way down The Strip in a rented convertible.
“Who is this?”
“Ms. Kushka, my name is Geoff Myles. I’m a sports agent.”
“I have an agent. Goodbye!”
“Please don’t hang up. I have a man in my kitchen claiming to be your father. I understand you might be in a position where you can’t talk, but can you please indicate to me if you’ve had conversations with him about changing management.”
“Is this some sick joke? My father is dead!”
Chapter 54
Geoff dashed into the room, calling his father a liar.
The Jack Hammer responded by hitting him with a backhand. Geoff was sent to the floor, looking up at him with dazed eyes, searching for the truck that just hit him.
“You’re an imposter, you son of a bitch!” he wasn’t out of fight.
“I told you that I am Alexander Kushka, and that’s exactly who I am.”
“I just talked to Natasha. She said her father is dead.”
“She is under the impression that I committed suicide when she was just a little girl. But she is mistaken.”
Geoff’s attention went to Teo. “What did you say to him—why is he crying?”
“Daddy came home to find his children acting up, and he had to show them who’s the boss.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
He reached into his bag and pulled out the gun that Geoff had hidden in his bedroom. “Looks like little Geoffrey has been a bad boy. Now Daddy is going to have to give him a spanking.”
“What’s with this Daddy stuff, you psycho?”
“Maybe these will help you figure out who I am.” He reached into his bag once more and pulled out photos of Jack Myles, Victor Stepania, and Alexander Kushka.
Geoff wasn’t easily convinced. “What is this, some sort of joke? My father died before I was even born.”
“While many people were known to worship Jack Myles, I can assure you that I didn’t rise from the dead.”
“Who are you? And what do you want?”
“Is that any way to talk to your father?”
“You’re not my father,” Geoff shouted, but his eyes never left the photos. The truth was starting to creep into his mind, no matter how crazy it seemed. Visual proof could be so convincing. During his final showdown with the Senator, the Jack Hammer didn’t just tell him what he’d do to his grandchildren, he created a visual for him. After that, things went smoothly.
“Maybe you should ask Teo what he thinks about that. Does he know how you treated the last brother you represented?”
As the Jack Hammer turned to Teo, he felt a searing pain in his cheekbone. It felt like a bomb went off in his head. When his vision cleared, he realized that Teo had fired one of his sizzling fastballs into his face at close range. But it wasn’t a baseball—it was a small, mobile music device, similar to the one Trent always had glued to his ears.
Before he could react, Teo was choking him from behind with the wire to the headphones. Teo was much stronger than his lean body indicated and he was pulling with all his might, sucking the life out of him. His arms hung at his side, and when he could no longer maintain his grip on the gun, it fell to the floor. Geoff picked it up and pointed it at his head. His children now truly were ganging up on him.
Trained in the Israeli self-defense system of Krav Maga, the Jack Hammer knew the principles called for him to instantly counter the attack, targeting the weakest points of the opponent—eyes, neck, throat, groin—but he always went against the grain. He knew the average person would become unconscious within five to fifteen seconds during strangulation, and could be dead as soon as ten. But he was anything but average.
As precious seconds clicked by, Teo wasn’t letting up. He really was intent on killing his old man. But Geoff looked conflicted. He was choosing a bad time to lose his killer instinct.
The Jack Hammer counted seconds until the last possible moment, and then did a quick spin around that startled Teo. They were now face to face.
Teo was strong, perhaps even stronger than him, but the Jack Hammer’s experienc
e would rule the day. He knew the fatal mistake the attacked usually makes is moving their hands to the throat and plucking at the rope to gain breath, but that just exacerbates the problem. His training taught him that the spin was almost impossible to stop without proper leverage. A problem Teo compounded by using a cheaply made wire—using a sharp piano wire would fatally wound the victim during the attempted spin.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot,” Geoff said, finding his nerve again, even if it was too late. The Jack Hammer could feel the gun aiming at the center of his back.
He laughed. “I would advise you to shoot, since it’s your only chance to get out of here alive. The odds are not in your favor.”
“Careful what you ask for—you might get it.”
“It seems your mother never instilled in you the lesson of, he who hesitates.” He wrapped his hands around Teo’s neck. “Let this be some incentive—either shoot me, or watch your brother die.”
“Get your hands off him!”
“Someone is going to die here, Geoffrey, it’s up to you to decide who that is.”
He felt Geoff take a step toward him, and warned, “Not another step, or I’ll rip his throat right out of his neck. If you’re going to shoot me, you’re going to have to do it from right there.” It would still be an easy shot, but the situation required order.
His hands grew tighter around Teo’s neck and he gasped for air.
A shot rang out.
It was a predictable warning shot into the wall, and he didn’t even flinch.
“I hope for his sake, you’re a better shot than that.”
Geoff fired again. Another warning shot. He expected it and mocked him with a laugh. “You have three seconds to make a decision.”
The Jack Hammer counted to three, but had already dropped to the floor at two. The bullet buzzed by where the middle of his back once was. And where Teo still stood. It ripped through Teo’s chest, and he crumbled to the ground in a heap.
Geoff was momentarily stunned—fatally shooting your own brother can do that to a person. Or perhaps he was more concerned about losing his new cash cow. It gave the Jack Hammer enough time to whisk his way across the floor. This time he maintained his KM principles, and kicked out Geoff’s leg. His son fell to the floor … right where this whole thing started.
Chapter 55
The Jack Hammer peered down at Geoff.
“You killed him,” he said with defiance. “Why are you back? After all these years—I’m guessing you’re hard up for money.”
Anger aside, it sounded like his skeptical son was becoming a believer. “I don’t have time to go into my reasons for leaving, other than to say that some people were interested in finding me. I didn’t want to be found, and I wouldn’t have … until my ungrateful children decided to stick their noses in my business.”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t even know you were alive until a couple minutes ago.”
He believed him, but had to make sure. “Either you start telling me the truth or you’re going to be joining your brother real soon.” He glanced at Teo, who lay lifelessly on the floor with a huge hole in his chest.
“I told you—I don’t know!”
He faked a kick at Geoff, who covered up in a ball. The Jack Hammer believed in torture, but preferred the psychological kind. “I need you to understand, Geoffrey, that I loved your mother very much—still do—and I never wanted to leave her. But survival instincts have a mind of their own, and if I don’t start getting some honesty, I’m going to have to pay her a visit.”
He was bluffing—he could never hurt Katie, even as a last resort. But she was a weak spot for Geoff, and he planned to exploit it.
“You leave my mother alone,” he squealed, and a tear leaked down his cheek. He was on the verge of breaking him.
“Then I need some answers, and I need them fast. Who was this Tim O’Connell, and why did Anna hire him?”
“I don’t know any Tim … or an Anna.”
He read Geoff’s face, and he got the same results. He couldn’t believe this—he was telling the truth. But he pushed on, “Tell me how you and Teo came together.”
“A contact of mine, a Cuban exile named Rafael. He tipped me off that Stepania was looking to make a move to the United States. He needed someone to help fund the venture, and in return, I’d get the first shot at representing him.”
“Where did Cam run off to? I need him to confirm your story.”
“Cam had nothing to do with Teo coming. He’s just here to train for his comeback. The last thing he wants to do is find his father.”
“You’re telling me it’s a coincidence that my three sons ended up having a family reunion in Miami?”
“Cam is gone and he isn’t coming back.”
“Then you need to let him know how important it is that he returns.”
“Go to hell.”
“I’ll be going there sooner or later. And you seem to be on a similar path, Geoffrey … but perhaps there’s still hope for you, if you were to perform a good deed before you leave this world.”
“Are we negotiating?”
“That’s what agents do, right? Negotiate for the best interests of their clients—in your case, your mother and Cam.”
“What do I have to do to ensure their safety?”
“You’ve already identified me, so you’re going to die today, one way or another. But if you help me clean up this mess, I’ll give you my word that Cam and your mother will not be harmed.”
“And by ‘clean up’ you mean help provide a suspect for Teo’s murder.”
“You’re starting to catch on. And besides, you’re the one who shot him, so it would make sense for you to confess.”
“And why would I take your word?”
“Because I’ve proven trustworthy. I offered your grandfather a similar deal—in exchange for his grandchildren’s lives, and you’re still here, aren’t you?”
Geoff looked defeated. He was out of moves. “So how do we do this?”
“First you write a heartfelt letter which explains that after your latest falling out with Cam, and Teo on the verge of abandoning you, your big comeback came to a crashing halt—sending you back to your old demons. This led to a drug fueled rage, and deadly altercation with Teo, who you ended up shooting to death … conveniently with a gun registered in your name.”
He unzipped a hidden pocket of his bag that Geoff passed over on his search—the devil really was in the details—and pulled out a bag of cocaine. “You then go out how everyone always expected you to leave the stage—in a drug overdose.”
Geoff stared straight ahead, contemplating his own mortality.
“Do we have a deal?” the Jack Hammer asked.
Chapter 56
Geoff passed the handwritten note to his father.
By the placid, emotionless look on the man’s face, it was obvious that he didn’t see the irony of the situation. That after spending most of his life being blamed for his father’s death, not only was his father not dead, but he was now going to be responsible for Geoff’s death. But sometimes you get to a point where you have to cut your losses, and if this deal saved his mother and brother then it was worth it.
After thoroughly reviewing the note, his father coldly handed him the bag filled with white powder, along with a clean set of needles. He informed Geoff that he wanted it done in the quickest way, which was injection. Geoff had bad experiences with injection, including a horrible ringing of the ears, known as the “bell ringer effect”. He didn’t want that to be his last memory, but he didn’t have much leverage at this point.
“I usually inject it in the bathroom,” he said.
This drew a suspicious look.
“You can come and watch if you want … if you don’t think I’ll go through with it. Unlike you, I have the guts to live up to my responsibilities.”
He declined. “You came into this world without me, I think it’s best that you leave without me.”
; “Typical. You have others do your dirty work for you, while you run away to save your own ass. You’re too much of a coward to do it yourself … just like you were with my grandfather.”
He’d hoped to get a reaction, but received none. It was obvious that Geoff wasn’t going to be able to talk his way out of trouble this time. He swallowed hard and headed off to the bathroom.
He turned on the lights and the ventilation fan. He then locked the door and took out the screwdriver from under the sink. He climbed on top of the toilet seat, and removed the screws from the vent as fast as his shaky hands would allow.
When he got the grill off, he reached inside and grabbed the second handgun he’d stashed inside. He thought he’d be using it to stave off some angry Cubans, or worse … agents. But now it was really going to come in handy.
Geoff waited, gripping the gun. To reach peak effects of the injected cocaine, it would take over three minutes. At that point, the euphoria would pass and the toxic effects would start to take over.
There was a knock on the door. “How you doing in there?”
When Geoff didn’t answer, he attempted to open the door. Finding it locked, he began urgently twisting the handle, and raised his voice, “What’s going on?”
“Calm down, dude,” Geoff responded in a drugged-out voice. “It’s not like I can go anywhere—there’s no window in here I can escape from.”
“Let me in.” He’d finally figured out it was a bad idea to leave him alone.
“Just a minute … I’m coming.”
Geoff moved to the door, aiming the gun. He took a deep breath, slowly blew it out, and twisted the door handle. He swung the door open and fired at the man standing in front of him. “Never trust an agent, asshole!” he yelled as he fired away.
He kept firing until the chamber was empty. Partly out of survival, but also as a payback for the way his father had left him. For the guilt and the pain, and the burden of unfair expectations. He kept firing, even after all the bullets had been sprayed into the body.
The Jack Hammer Page 17