The instant I saw the glint of a knife blade in Switchblade’s hand, I acted.
I burst from my container. “Mad Dog!” I yelled.
Mad Dog dropped his gun, turning just as Switchblade made a thrust from behind. Mad Dog’s hands when out in front of him to block Switchblade’s thrust and I watched as the knife’s blade slipped silently through the center of one of Mad Dog’s hand.
I didn’t have time to watch the rest. Instead, I took aim at Switchblade’s two bodyguards who had their guns aimed at the unsuspecting Bushy and Will and squeezed the trigger.
Rounds tore into the guards just as they began to fire. One of their bullets struck Bushy and he went down. Will dove for cover behind the nearest pallet, bullets ripping into the containers atop it and sending a spray of toothpaste everywhere.
As I dropped the two men, I looked back to Mad Dog. He stood over Switchblade who lay on the floor in a pool of blood. What I had missed was an incredibly badass move by Mad Dog. With his guns inoperable and one of his hands incapacitated and unable to throw a punch due to Switchblade’s knife having been rammed through it, Mad Dog had acted instinctually. It was something only a man born to fight and pre-set to self-preservation would have thought of. Turning his own injured hand into a weapon, Mad Dog had grabbed Switchblade by the shirt, holding him close with his good hand while whipping a lightening quick backhand – knife blade still protruding from it – up into Switchblade’s neck – repeating the move several times simply from of adrenaline-fueled rage – until the weight of Switchblade’s lifeless corpse pulled him down and out of Mad Dog’s vicious grip and onto the floor. Then, almost as an afterthought, Mad Dog gripped the knife by its handle and ripped it from his hand.
* * *
“Surprise!” Ava met Jake in the driveway as he stepped out of the SUV after his driver had opened the door for him. Several still bullet-ridden armored SUVs bearing Jake’s personal bodyguards pulled up in the horseshoe-shaped drive behind them.
The Mediterranean-style mansion in front of where they parked housed seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a media room, a wine cellar, a library, a video arcade, and even a bowling alley. The estate itself comprised nearly five acres and included a boat house with several boat slips, and nearly a quarter mile of sandy beachfront. The entrance to the private drive was gated and had a gatehouse for guards. There was a five-car garage with separate guest quarters above it that would be the perfect place to house additional on-property bodyguards.
The grounds, as well as the main structure, were in need of work as there had been some deferred post-flu maintenance to the property. The lawn needed tending, the hedges and shrubberies trimmed, the driveway had weeds growing up through cracks in the bricks, several portions of the mansion needed painting, there were some loose and missing terra-cotta roof tiles, and portions of the exterior stucco needed to be patched; but otherwise, the place was in pretty decent shape in Ava’s opinion. It wasn’t anything a few weeks of rehab work wouldn’t handle; and she certainly had the financial resources and manpower now for just such an undertaking.
“Come on!” Ava said excitedly as if she hadn’t a care in the world. “Come see it!” she took Jake by the hand and led him up the entry steps to the front door.
Ava had planted the seed of her unhappiness with their current condo situation weeks ago and had been tending it ever since. She would mention little things she was displeased with. “I hate that we don’t have a pool here.” Or “I’m so sick of having these guys in and out of our private residence at all hours of the day and night. We have no privacy, and they stink!” Or “What’s the point of living in Miami if you can’t walk on the beach whenever you want!”
They were just tiny digs, and Jake would often remain silent through her complaints, but Ava knew he was listening and hearing her displeasure.
So when Ava told him that she was going to start house hunting for “something better,” Jake hadn’t put up much of a fight. It wouldn’t cost him anything since they could just take any home they wanted, so it really wasn’t any skin off his teeth. And Ava hoped that when the time finally came – as it had now – and she invited Jake to come see their “dream home,” that the seed would have grown enough to flower into a request that didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary. To Jake, she hoped that it would just be yet another time-consuming project in which he must indulge her to get what he wanted – sex.
“Hold it,” Jake pulled back as they reached the home’s front door. “Just hold on a minute.”
Ava frowned and pouted, playing the displeased princess who was having to temper the excitement of showing off her palace while several of Jake’s bodyguards ambled up to the front door and entered the home. He’d brought along eight guards in two trailing SUVs in addition to his personal chauffer. He’d learned from the attempt on his life just how valuable a little caution could be at times.
“Let them do their thing,” he nodded as the guards walked inside to case the joint. “It’s what we pay them for,” Jake said. “Let them earn their fucking keep.”
Ava shook her head, rolling her eyes. “You’re getting paranoid in your old age,” she said somewhat playfully.
Jake huffed, “You’d be fucking paranoid too if somebody tried to off you while you were at…” he paused, catching himself, “…while you were working,” he played it cool.
“You think I’d bring you to see a house where someone was waiting to kill you?” Ava said, nonchalantly. “That wouldn’t say much for my choice of homes now, would it?”
“Nah,” Jake said. “You wouldn’t be that stupid. You wouldn’t want to kill the golden goose…your meal ticket.”
Ava bit her tongue at the insult, but she stayed quiet, her jovial demeanor caked on her face.
“But you never know,” Jake continued. “One of these other jokers might…Mad Dog or Rambo or Fallback, or somebody. They all seem pretty loyal, but you never know.”
“That’s true,” Ava nodded, coming close to him. “I’m proud of you,” she nestled up close. “You’re starting to plan and think like a true leader,” she smiled, kissing him.
A minute later, Jake’s men were back outside.
“All clear, boss,” one of them called to him.
“Alright, let’s go inside,” Ava said excitedly, taking Jake by the hand again and pulling him along behind her. He followed somewhat begrudgingly. House hunting was definitely not his thing.
Jake wasn’t a “house” kind of guy anyway. A house tied a man to something, and other than Ava, Jake didn’t like being tied to much of anything.
Inside the grand foyer of the home, Ava let go of Jake and spun in sweeping circles, arms held wide out at her sides. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she breathed, gazing around her. “This could be our home.”
Jake just grunted.
Ava stopped her twirling and led the way through the foyer and into a huge glass-roofed octagonal-shaped atrium in the center of the home. Open limestone archways led from every side of the space, the center of which held a massive marble – and currently non-functioning – fountain of a naked cherub boy riding a large fish, the mouth of which appeared to have spouted water when it was working. The rest of the atrium surrounding the fountain was decorated with an array of dead and wilted potted plants.
The sunlight filtered through the glass-ceiling and onto Ava, giving her a radiant look. Jake watched her. She looked beautiful wearing black leather knee-high boots and skin-tight black yoga pants that hugged every curve and sank magically into every crevasse. An equally becoming form-fitted tank top, accessorized with her lucky guns that she was never without and that were strapped across her chest, completed her ensemble.
For once – actually, maybe for the first time ever – Jake now saw Ava not just as a sex object but as a woman and as a partner.
Jake followed Ava as she exited the atrium and walked over to the huge sliding pocket doors that led from a hallway off the atrium and into a library that was crammed floor to c
eiling with rare and collectible books.
“My gift,” said Ava, spreading her arms wide as she swept around the room, absorbing its elegance.
“We’ll this is a waste of space,” Jake grumbled as he stopped just behind Ava and looked around him. “But overall, it’s a nice place,” he nodded. “It’s not really my style, but it’s the most beautiful gift anyone’s ever given me,” he agreed, looking around him at the majestic architecture, the stunning artistry, and the finely-crafted features of the room and the mansion as a whole.
It actually seemed like he was being genuine, and it almost made Ava regret what was coming next; but it was too little too late.
“But this gift isn’t for you…it’s for me,” she turned to look at him, and in the process, leveled her two 9 millimeter lucky handguns at Jake’s chest.
Jake gave a confused half smile. “What?” he said, frowning, not understanding.
Ava shook her head sadly, “Clueless to the end.”
“What do you mean?” Jake frowned.
“I’m setting up shop here…without you,” Ava said. “This is my town…my people.”
“What do you mean your town?”
“I’m from here, you idiot,” she shook her head, incredulous at Jake’s apparent inability to connect even the simplest of dots.
“You’re from here?” Jake grasped mightily at the concept.
Ava had mapped out this final split months ago, and to this point, had managed the process of getting here magnificently. And now it was hers for the taking. This was the final phase in moving their organization from joint venture to sole proprietorship.
“I…I…” Jake fumbled, watching as Ava fingered the triggers of her lucky guns. “I didn’t know you were from here,” he said as though he was making small talk, giving her a sly, charming little smirk that used to work.
This time, it didn’t.
“You didn’t know, because you never asked,” Ava said coldly, her eyes cool and calculating as she kept her guns trained on Jake. “Just like you never asked about the time I spent in Chicago before I met you. I was going to college and studying operations and business management by the way…just in case you were curious. Or why I really left Little Havana alone, or why the Polaroid pictures were gone from your Stryker or why I took those pictures in the first place, or why I wanted to leave Atlanta and come here, or why I sucked up being with a small-time piece of trash like you for so long.”
It felt good to let all this out in the open and watch her words hit Jake like a ton of bricks. Finally, after all she’d endured, after all the abuse she’d taken from him, she was able to enjoy dishing a little of it back.
“Listen…” he said, shaking his head and swallowing hard, “…you don’t want to do this. You’re fucking nuts if you think you’re going to kill me and just walk out of here. I’ve got nine guys out there,” he looked at her wild-eyed as though she were crazy. Half of him still figured she was joking, this being a ridiculous part of her house-warming initiation or some warped woman thing she was trying to pull just to get her way about him letting her have the house.
“I know you have nine guys out there,” Ava nodded confidently, secure in the knowledge that she had thought of everything.
Suddenly a huge explosion rocked the outside the house, causing Jake to lunge forward and giving him the opportunity he needed to grab Ava by the arms and in the process, shove aside the guns she had trained on him.
With both his hands holding her guns’ aim away from him, Jake brought his elbow up, smashing it hard into the side of Ava’s jaw, stunning her momentarily. He used this opportunity to pull her up close, tucking both her arms, guns still in hand, under his left arm, where he wedged them between his underarm and body. This freed up his right hand which he used to punch Ava hard in the side of the head, and then again in the face.
Gone was his love for this bitch. It was kill or be killed, and he wasn’t going to be the one going down. Not here. Not today. And definitely not because of Ava.
* * *
After Jake’s arrival, his bodyguards had relocked the entry gate to the compound and then took up positions around the grounds where they could lounge casually. Some of them chose to relax in their air-conditioned vehicles. Others wandered about, inspecting the grounds and smoking cigarettes. Two sat on the home’s front steps, simply enjoying the day. The house was secure, the bosses were inside together, probably getting it on in their new digs, and their guards could take a breather from Jake’s ridiculous and constant demands upon their time and energy.
The sun was out and there was a cool breeze blowing in off the ocean. It was a beautiful south Florida day.
Suddenly there was a strange hissing noise from one edge of the thick growth that lined the property followed almost instantly by a massive explosion just to the right of where the two bodyguards sat on the home’s front steps. It showered them with debris. A flying brick stuck one in the head, knocking him unconscious. Bits of stone peppered the other in the side of the face, temporarily blinding him in one eye.
The impact was the result of a rocket fired by one of Rambo’s men and that was intended for Jake’s personal SUV and the driver inside. But these men weren’t well-versed with such weaponry and instead the shot had gone wide and hit the house. Rambo was afraid the rocket might have impacted the library where Ava had planned to be with Jake, but there was no time to worry about it now. Whether she was dead or alive, he had to ensure that he followed through with the rest of the plan; otherwise, he was good as dead himself.
Another rocket hissed from the foliage ringing the other side of the estate’s grounds, and then another. They both hit their intended targets, taking out the two armored SUV’s along with the three bodyguards lounging inside their air-conditioned coolness. Seconds later, Jake’s personal driver fled his SUV, subsequently being gunned down by one of Rambo’s men.
Meanwhile, from the cover of several scrubby palms lining the boundary of the grounds, Ray, and Gordon’s brother Don opened up with automatic rifle fire, taking down two more of Jake’s bodyguards while Rambo and his men charged the front entrance finishing off the two wounded guards on the front steps and another who was attempting to kick his way inside the front door that Ava had locked behind her on the way inside.
It was all over in less than a minute. Rambo and his men held the day outside, but Ava’s situation inside the home remained unknown.
* * *
Ava could hear continued explosions and gunfire erupting outside as she struggled with Jake. With her hands incapacitated, and still dazed from Jake’s initial blows to her head and face, a well-placed knee to the crotch temporarily slowed the barrage of fists and elbows coming from her former lover. His body recoiled, and he groaned mightily, but he didn’t release her hands that were still pinned between his arm and body.
They continued to grapple with one another, each looking for an advantage; each in their own dazed state from the blows they had been dealt.
Jake recovered first.
He used his free hand to grab Ava by her long black locks and rip her head back. As she struggled against him, he suddenly released his hold, causing her head to jolt forward just as he brought his forehead banging in hard against her own. The blow dazed both of them again, but Ava bore the brunt of the impact more so than Jake and she fell backwards, the guns she still gripped being wrenched from her hands as she collapsed. They clattered to the floor and Jake scrambled for them.
Ava touched her forehead, stunned, her vision blurred. This was not how it was supposed to happen. Jake was supposed to be dead by now. She’d organized things so well from the very start. Her plan had been months in the making. She’d worked so hard to plan it all. And everything had been falling into place. She’d even been able to work around the Little Havana setback. She thought that her eventual rule over Miami had been preordained. But now it was all falling apart.
As her vision began to clear, she could see Jake standing just a few f
eet away holding her lucky guns which were now trained on her where she lay on the floor.
“Why couldn’t you have just gone along with things?” Jake said, staring down at her incredulously. “We had the world. We’d finally taken out our last remaining competition. All you had to do was enjoy it? But you had to have more. You stupid little bitch,” he sneered at her, shaking his head. “You lied to me from the start, didn’t you?”
Ava just stared up at him, waiting for the shots to come. She wondered where he would decide to place the bullets. Would there be one…two…more? The rage he must have felt coursing through his veins might mean a quick end for her, but maybe he’d enjoy drawing it out, making her suffer, prolonging the agony of death for his own personal enjoyment.
She knew Jake. He was just that sick.
It didn’t take long for Ava to get her answer. A single, well-placed bullet stuck home – dead center of the forehead.
* * *
As Rambo and his men made it inside, they heard the sound of a single gunshot.
They ran to the library where Ava had told them to meet her after they’d taken out the guards.
She was lying on the floor, blood on her face, motionless.
Rambo stopped short in the doorway, surveying the scene, his heart rate jumping at the sight of Ava.
Jake also lay on his back on the floor, Ava’s lucky guns on the ground beside him. There was a single bullet hole in his forehead.
Rambo looked over to the slightly angled bookcase that concealed the entrance of one of the mansion’s multiple hidden rooms. Standing there, peering out from behind, his body still half-concealed by the bookcase, his gun still trained upon Jake’s lifeless form, stood Gordon.
He had remained patiently hidden inside the secret room, waiting to extract his revenge upon the man who had killed his son and then posed so cruelly for the snapshots of the death and destruction he’d wrought.
The Systemic Series - Box Set Page 97