by Mike Ryan
From the sound of the gun, he knew they were somewhere in front of him. Haley took another peek around the door and didn’t see anyone in sight. He rushed in, once again drawing gunfire. It was coming from the dining room, which was just in front of him. There were two rooms to each side of him, and Haley took cover behind the first thing he saw, which was a small rustic looking chair. It wasn’t much of a shield and Haley figured even a plastic bullet probably would’ve been able to penetrate it.
With a slight break in the firing, Haley stood up and rushed into the dining area. As soon as he entered the room, another man appeared, holding a gun in his hand. As Haley passed him, he was running too fast to realistically stop and face him, so he just kept on going. But as he passed, he swatted the gun out of the man’s hand. After successfully knocking the gun out, Haley jumped on top of the dining table and slid to the other side of the rectangular shaped table, knocking off the centerpiece as he glided along. When he got to the end of it, Haley rolled over and stuck the landing on his knees like he was an Olympic gymnast. In one continuous motion after sliding off the table, Haley quickly identified his first target, the man who had his gun knocked out of his hands, and fired, successfully drilling him with a couple of shots to the chest.
Haley heard another of the men yell out the name of the man he just shot, giving away their location. Haley waited at the end of the table for a moment, sizing things up, waiting to see if the men would come to him first. After a minute or two, Haley figured he’d have to do the stalking. He got up and started moving towards the kitchen area. About halfway there, another man emerged from the room. Haley and the man fired at each other simultaneously, both narrowly missing each other. Haley rebounded first and was able to get the first aim again, shooting the man, but not fatally. The bullet was a through and through in the man’s shoulder, not hitting anything of importance and no major damage except for a good amount of blood loss. The man retreated back into the kitchen area as Haley pinned himself to the wall.
Haley took a few deep breaths, then unglued himself from the wall and sped into the kitchen, several bullets being fired at him as he entered, all of which narrowly missed him. Haley ducked behind the counter, waiting a few seconds before raising his head over the countertop. Once he rose up to see where his targets were, exposing his face slightly, he almost got his head shot off, a bullet grazing off the marble granite countertop just an inch away from him.
“Let Pinkston go!” Haley yelled. “You’re not getting out of here with him.”
“I think we will,” a male voice replied. “Still got you outnumbered.”
“Only for the moment. We got more guys coming and you’ll be surrounded soon enough. We know about your plan at the bank so you can’t even pull that off anymore whether you have Pinkston or not.”
Haley could hear the two men remaining talking to each other, though they were speaking so low that he couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying.
“By the blood on the floor I know one of you’s bleeding pretty bad,” Haley said. “Gonna need to get that wound checked out soon unless you wanna lose an arm.”
“Just stop talking man!”
“All right, suit yourself.”
Haley looked at his watch, wondering if Recker was going to show up soon. He never did find out from Jones whether their partner was on the way or not. Jones told him he was going to call Recker, but it just never came up when Jones called Haley back. It would have been nice to know so he could plan accordingly. Haley felt his pocket for his phone, but he didn’t have it on him. He was talking to Jones on the way in and left in a hurry. He must have just tossed it down on the seat of his car when he exited.
“Listen man, we’re getting out of here and we’re using this dude for a shield, so you better take your finger off the trigger of that gun.”
Haley quickly rose up again, putting his elbows on the countertop as he aimed his gun at the intruders. They also had their guns aimed at him as they slowly walked sideways across the kitchen, holding Pinkston in front of them for protection.
“You try anything funny or try to hit one of us and we’ll kill him.”
“Just let him go now and I give you my word I’ll let you leave without a problem,” Haley replied.
The leader of the group laughed, not having any of that. “Yeah, right, you think I’m stupid? We let him go and you open up. We’re not letting him go until we’re safe and sound out of here.”
“I’ll let you get to your car. You take him with you, and I’ll have to follow you.”
“You do that and he’s as good as dead.”
“In that case there’s no length I won’t go to to bring you down. Your best bet is to just let him go when you hit the front door and then just keep on going.”
The men exited the kitchen with their hostage, moving into the living room, Haley following them. He kept as close as possible to them without making himself a wide-open target. He stuck to the walls and then behind furniture once he moved out of the kitchen. The men were still moving slowly with Pinkston, worried about Haley trying to keep them from reaching the door.
As it turned out, they never had to worry about Haley at all. They were so concerned about him, that they never saw the other man waiting at the front door for them. Recker had been standing there for a minute or two, getting there just in time to hear Haley going back and forth with the men in the kitchen. He figured if he stood there long enough, the action would just come to him. No need to even move. He was right.
The men continued backing away from Haley, their backs still to the door. Recker played with them long enough to give them the idea that they just might make it. He disappeared out of sight outside, just beyond the door, standing to the side of it. Gripping his gun firmly in his hand, he waited for the right moment. He’d done this so many times now, there wasn’t an ounce or nerves or anxiety. He almost felt too loose, as if nothing could go wrong.
About thirty seconds later, one of the men appeared in the door. He still didn’t see Recker since he wasn’t all the way through it yet. Thinking he was in the clear since the other guy had the hostage still, the man turned to start running to the car, so he could bring it up to the door and park on the grass to give them an easier exit. He almost got both his feet out the door. Almost.
Recker gunned the man down just before his second foot touched down on the concrete walkway. The leader of the group had also just reached the door, and startled by the shots being fired behind him, let go of his hostage as he jumped, finally turning toward the door. Letting go of Pinkston gave Haley a clear shot and he took it. The bullet ripped through the upper part of the man’s back, closer to his right shoulder. The force of the bullet entering his body made him stumble forward, taking a few steps out the door. Now that he was firmly in Recker’s line of sight, The Silencer calmly put one more, fatal slug into his chest. The man fell to the concrete, dead before he even touched it.
Haley went over to check on Pinkston as Recker patiently waited outside. Haley already knew his partner was there without either of them saying a word to confirm it. It would have been no one else. He doubted the police would have been so gun-happy. They would have at least given the men a chance to surrender. Not that they deserved it. As Haley checked on Pinkston, Recker checked his gun and reloaded. He walked back to his car as he waited for his friend to finish up. Haley came walking out a minute later and headed straight for his friend.
“Took you long enough to get here,” Haley chided.
Recker smiled. “Well, I knew you had everything well under control. When Jones told me about this, I was actually gonna head to the golf course since I knew you’d take care of this no problem.”
Haley couldn’t resist a chuckle. “Oh really? Well, I mean, I did do all the heavy lifting here. You got the easy shots at the end.”
“That’s how you work it when you’re the senior member of the team. You let the junior members do the work, then you take the credit for it.”
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br /> “I’ll remember that for whenever I become a senior member.”
Putting all kidding aside, Recker finally turned serious. “How’s the banker?”
“He’s good. A little shaken by everything, but nothing he won’t get over. At least physically anyway. I would imagine after this he’ll get an alarm system or something.”
“Speaking of alarms, we should probably get moving. Police will probably be here in a minute or two.”
“Yeah. Chalk another one up in the books.”
3
Recker and Haley arrived back at the office after their excursion at the Pinkston residence, both plopping down on the couch to relax for a few minutes. Jones peeked up at them over his computer.
“Rough go of it?” Jones asked.
“No, not really,” Haley answered. “Wasn’t too bad. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Did you get there in time for the festivities, Michael?”
“Oh yeah. Right at the end. Just in time for the fun to finish up. Got anything else on the agenda?”
“Nothing that requires our immediate attention. I’m just monitoring a few things at the moment. I suspect we’re still a day or two away from any of those though.”
“Pity.”
The room was silent for a few minutes as Recker and Haley sat there relaxing, and Jones did his computer work. The quiet room was interrupted by the sound of Recker’s phone going off.
“What’s up, Tyrell?”
“Hey, that was good. You’re getting better. It was almost like a hello. One of these days you’ll get there.”
“You call me for something important or just to rag on my phone conversation skills?”
“Nah, I just wanted to let you know I heard something was brewing. Something big.”
“Such as what?”
“Not sure. Don’t have many details.”
“Well who’s involved?” Recker asked.
“Well that’s one of the problems. I don’t know for sure.”
Recker looked confused as he took the phone from his ear and held it in front of his face as he stared at it. “Uhh, should we just start this whole conversation over again?”
“Real funny.”
“No, seriously, you’re telling me there’s something big brewing, but you don’t have details and you don’t know who’s involved. You’re not really telling me anything.”
“Well if you’d shut up for a minute and listen to me for a hot second, I might be able to tell you what I’m thinking.”
“Oh, this should be good.
“You want this info or not, man?”
“I’m just riding you, go ahead.”
“OK, so I don’t have specific names or anything, but from what I can tell, everything’s revolving around that new woman, what’s her name… Nowak?”
“Yeah. What makes you think it’s her?”
“‘Cause I know some people that have been working for her. Not on her payroll or nothing, but she hired some dudes for scouting missions, going deep into Vincent’s territory and all.”
“What for?” Recker asked.
“Don’t know. They came back to her with where his men liked to go, how many usually went to certain places, time of day, things like that.”
“Could be she’s just keeping an eye on them.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so man. I know some of the guys she hired, apparently they didn’t want to use Nowak’s associated men ‘cause they didn’t want Vincent’s crew to spot them. She’s trying to sneak in all quiet and stuff.”
“She’s already started something with Vincent,” Recker said. “I really doubt she’s gonna be able to sneak up on him again.
“Maybe. That don’t mean she won’t try though.”
“So’d you tell Vincent all this?”
“What do you think I am?”
Recker laughed. “I know what you are.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you already have a good relationship with him. Figure you telling me that kind of information would be worth something. And I’ve never known you to pass down a buck.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I slipped a piece of paper to him or something.”
Recker laughed again. “See? I know you.”
“Yeah, yeah, well, since his business has a way of becoming your business, I just figured I’d give you a heads up too, just in case you get drawn into it somehow.”
“Thanks for the heads up.”
After hanging up, Recker let the others know the gist of the conversation with Tyrell.
“I have a feeling she’s not gonna go away anytime soon,” Haley said.
“I would agree,” Jones replied. “I believe she might wind up being a more formidable foe than either Jeremiah or the Italians for Vincent.”
“Well if you recall, Vincent didn’t take either of those out.”
“I’m painfully aware. Can I please make a suggestion and sit this one out please?”
“You know me,” Recker said with a smile. “I just go where the crime takes me.”
Jones gave him an eye roll and went back to his work. Recker and Haley went back to their relaxation techniques. About twenty minutes quietly went by before one of Jones’ computers started beeping. They all knew what that meant. Recker and Haley quickly sat up at attention, wondering what had happened. That beep always meant something unexpected had happened. Something big.
“Holy Hannah,” Jones marveled, looking at the screen.
Recker and Haley looked at each other, then jumped off the couch and moved in behind Jones.
“What is it?” Recker asked.
“An explosion.”
“Where?”
“Some trucking facility.” Jones started typing, bringing up the address on screen.
“I know that place.”
Jones then brought up a picture of the building on the larger screen. “Isn’t that?”
Recker nodded. “Yeah. That’s Vincent’s place. The one that he brought me to all those times.”
“I wonder what happened?” Haley asked.
“I don’t think you need to wonder long.”
“Nowak?”
“Yeah. This has gotta be her doing. Tyrell said she had people scouting. This is probably step one.”
“I don’t really get it though. I mean, if you’re after Vincent, and you wanna take him by surprise, this isn’t really gonna help. It’s just gonna put him on high alert. If you wanna take him out, you gotta make that your first action. Everything after this just makes that task harder.”
“I would assume she knows that,” Recker said. “This isn’t about taking him out. This is about sending a message.”
“I just think that’s stupid. Vincent’s not gonna scare. He’s not some two-bit punk who’s just getting his feet wet and will run at the first sign of trouble. He’s gonna bunker down and fight back.”
“Maybe that’s what she’s counting on,” Jones said. “Maybe she doesn’t think she can get Vincent. At least not at first. Maybe this is her saying I’m going to take out everything around you first and leave you as the last man standing. At that point he would have nothing left to fight with.”
Recker shook his head, knowing none of their theories would be pleasant. “This is gonna be a long and violent war.”
“And a public one at that,” Haley said.
“Question is how many innocent people are gonna get hurt by them in the process?”
“We are not getting involved in it though, correct?” Jones asked.
“We’re not?”
“We have gotten involved in Vincent’s business all too often over the years. Some of it has been necessary, no doubt. But at times we have gotten involved when it wasn’t necessary. When we’ve had other options.”
“I don’t really agree.”
“Even so, this thing they have going on does not concern us.”
“Until the first innocent victim drops. Then it will concern us.”
Jones sternly looked at him, not wanting to get into another one of their differences of opinion. “Michael, this is between two criminal parties and we will stay out of it. Like you have always suggested. Vincent has manipulated us, and you in particular, far too often over the years in order to get you to do his dirty work so he can have more power and influence. You’re not going to make his job and life easier for him again.”
“I thought our position here was to protect innocent people from getting hurt?”
“Yes, well, that has not happened yet has it?”
“Well, when it does?”
“Then we will talk about it at that time.”
“OK,” Recker agreed. “We’ll stay out of it for now. But if innocent people start getting killed, I’m gonna make it my business.”
4
Recker knew what he wanted. As soon as he saw the caller ID on his phone, he knew what it was about. Ever since the explosion happened the day before, he’d been waiting for this call. He didn’t think for a second that Vincent wouldn’t reach out to him. When his phone started ringing, Jones looked over at him, and from the look on Recker’s face, he knew who was calling as well. Just as he was about to answer, Jones had some last-minute advice.
“Don’t get suckered into anything,” Jones said.
Recker glared at him and shrugged it off, not paying him much attention. “Hey,” Recker greeted.
“I have something to discuss with you,” Vincent said. “Are you available at some point today?”
“Uhh, I don’t know, I’m kind of busy.”
“I’m only asking for a few minutes.”
“Where?”
“Same diner as usual. An hour from now?”
“What’s it about?” Recker asked, not wanting to travel just to turn Vincent down in his request for help.
“You know I don’t like to discuss things over the phone.”
Recker sighed, knowing he was going to have to go. Though he assumed what it was about, there was always a slight possibility it involved something else. He’d hate to blow off the meeting if there was something else important that might have involved him.