by Mike Ryan
Mia put the key in and unlocked the door, opening it slightly. She pushed it open, then got an overwhelming sensation that she was being watched. She spun her head to her left and looked down the hallway. There was no one there. She then looked in the other direction. There was no one there, either. At least, not that she could see. Still, she was a little spooked, and rushed inside.
Once there, Mia quickly closed the door and locked it. She looked out the peephole for close to a minute, making sure there was no one out there. There was still no one that appeared. She started to turn around, then spun her head in each direction, hoping there wasn’t somebody already in there, even though there was nothing that indicated that someone was.
“Why am I so nervous?” she whispered.
Mia stayed near the door, not walking any further into the apartment. She didn’t know what was making her feel like something was wrong, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was. She took out her phone and immediately called Recker, who picked up right away.
“Hey. You OK?”
Mia kept looking around. “I’m not sure.”
Recker stood up from his desk, instantly getting alarmed. “What do you mean you’re not sure?”
Mia sighed. “I don’t know. I just… something feels off. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s just my imagination with everything else that’s been going on.”
Recker wasn’t automatically writing it off to her imagination. He trusted her instincts. She wasn’t one that scared easily or imagined things that weren’t there. If she felt that something was wrong, he believed it. “What feels wrong?”
“I can’t put my finger on it. I keep feeling like someone’s watching me.”
“Are you at the apartment yet?”
“Yeah, I just got here.”
“Did you see anybody?”
“No, but, maybe I’m just crazy. I keep looking around, expecting someone to be there. Maybe it’s just because of what happened with Chris and Phillips.”
Recker still wasn’t willing to take that chance. If Mia felt uneasy, so did he. And he wasn’t leaving her alone any longer. He shouldn’t have even let her go alone to begin with.
“You stay there, don’t go back out, don’t answer a door, don’t do anything until I get there.”
“Mike, I’m sure…”
“No. I’m coming right now. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Mia sighed again, hating that she was pulling him away from whatever he was doing, especially since she wasn’t even sure anything was wrong. But she knew better about arguing. He was coming. “OK. I’ll wait.”
“Good. I’m on my way.”
As Recker started rushing around, Jones started fearing the worst as well. “What’s wrong?”
“Maybe nothing.” Recker grabbed his gun and headed for the door.
“Sure doesn’t look like nothing.”
“Mia feels weird. I’m just gonna make sure it’s all good.”
“Let me know when you get there.”
As Recker hurried out the door, Mia started moving around the apartment. She was a little nervous, but she still gingerly walked into the kitchen, making sure there was no one in there. Then she checked the bedroom and bathroom, thankful that it was also clear. Finally, her nerves started to calm down, and she started to breathe a little easier.
With the knowledge that she really was alone in the apartment, Mia started grabbing some of the things she needed. Only a minute or two had gone by when she thought she heard something. It sounded like someone pushing up against the door. Mia walked out of the room and nervously went into the living room. She stared at the door for a moment, though the noise had now stopped.
Mia didn’t leave from that spot, though. And she couldn’t take her eyes off the door. There was silence for a few seconds. Then the noise could be heard again. Mia jumped slightly and put her hand over her mouth. Then there was a knock on the door. Whoever it was knocked three times.
Mia stayed put. She wasn’t moving. She also wasn’t going to respond or answer it. There were three more knocks on the door.
“Excuse me?!” a man shouted from the hallway. “I’m a new neighbor. Just wanted to see if you had a cup of milk I could borrow.”
Mia’s heart was beating a mile a minute. She wasn’t falling for that trick. Even if it was the truth, she wasn’t taking that chance. Whoever it was could knock on someone else’s door. The knocking continued, though.
“Mia.”
Mia’s eyes widened upon hearing her name. It wasn’t just hearing her name; it was also how it was said. The guy said it in a maniacal way, the way someone does when they’re trying to scare someone. It was a mixture of a whisper and the man’s regular voice, while also being very pronounced.
“I know you’re there,” the man said.
Mia took a gulp, trying to think of her options if things started getting worse. Whatever she did, she had to hold off long enough for Recker to get there. She didn’t have to escape. She didn’t have to fight if she could avoid it. She just had to hold on. There were three more knocks on the door.
“Mia.”
Mia nervously looked around again, and as soon as she did, the door burst open. Three men came rushing in. Mia instantly let out a scream, then ran into the bedroom again and shut the door.
“You know that door’s not gonna hold us,” one of the men said.
Unfortunately, Mia knew they were correct. If they could break through the front door, they were definitely going to get through the less secure one. She frantically looked around for something she could put in front of it to slow their progress. The only possible items were a desk and a dresser.
Mia rushed over to the desk and started pulling it. She got about halfway to the door when it broke open as well. The men rushed into the room, immediately going after her. Mia tried to fight back and unleash a few punches, but she wasn’t able to get much force behind them.
Two of the men grabbed Mia by the arms, effectively restraining her. The third man, and the leader of the group, walked right up to her and backhanded her across the face.
“Bitch!”
Mia closed her eyes as she tried to shrug off the pain. “Do I know you?”
“No. But your boyfriend does.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s not in his book.”
The man slapped her again, this time on the other side of the face. “Smart mouth you got on you.”
“Sorry,” Mia sarcastically replied.
Another of the men laughed. “I think her mouth looks pretty.”
The third man holding her other arm agreed. “The rest of her looks pretty good too.”
The leader of the group took a few steps back, looking her over. “Yeah, not bad. Maybe we can have some fun before we kill her.”
“Why kill me? What did I do?”
“It’s nothing personal, lady. It’s just that we hate your boyfriend.”
“What did he ever do to you?”
“Oh, he knows what he did.”
“If you leave me your names, I’ll have him call you back and apologize for whatever he did. I promise.”
The man laughed. “I think not. I think we’re gonna have some fun with you, then we’ll kill you and make his life miserable.”
“Please don’t.”
The man continued laughing. “Yeah. We’ll kill everyone that’s close to him. Just like we did with his partners.”
“Wait, you’re the ones that killed Phillips and Chris?”
A big smile emerged on the man’s face, seemingly proud of his accomplishments. “Yeah. Glorious, wasn’t it?”
“Why? Why are you doing all this?”
“Because The Silencers are responsible for taking out all of our friends. And family members.”
“And who’s that?”
“Enough talk. Let’s go.”
“Can we get a few minutes?” one of the men holding her arms asked.
“Yeah, make it quick, man. I
don’t wanna stay here all day. Do your business and come on.”
“Me too?” the other man asked.
“Yeah, we’ll all get a few minutes with her before she gets it.”
“Almost a shame we gotta kill her?”
The leader looked her over again. “Yeah, she is pretty good-looking at that, ain’t she? Too bad. I hate hurting pretty women, but… since you’re who you’re with… unfortunately, you gotta go.”
The men started pulling Mia towards the bed, though she was trying her best to wrestle herself free. She also started kicking at the men, which helped stave them off. One of the men lost their grip on her as they reached for their shin. With one of her arms free, Mia then started flailing away at the remaining man, though it was only temporary. The other two men quickly went over to her and grabbed her, throwing her down on the ground.
“It’d be more comfortable on the bed,” one of the men said.
The leader didn’t care. “C’mon, let’s go! Do it and let’s move on. It’s the floor or nothing.”
Recker then let his presence be known, standing in the frame of the door. “I’d say it’s nothing.”
Startled, the three men jumped around. None of them had their weapons out and waiting, basically making them sitting ducks. And Recker wasn’t waiting for them to draw first. His gun was already out. He fired at the man nearest to him, who was the leader of the group. Once he went down, Recker then took aim at the other two men. He fired one round at each of them, hitting them both in the chest. And at that range, they weren’t surviving it.
With the three men down and not moving, Mia immediately jumped up and ran over to him. Recker put his arm around her and pulled her close to him, while he still kept his focus, and his gun, pointed at the downed men.
“You OK?”
Mia felt her face quickly, then looked at her hand to see if she was bleeding. She wasn’t, though. “I’m OK. Just a little shaken.”
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t say. They did say they’re the ones responsible for Chris and Phillips, though.”
“What?”
“Yeah. They said they were doing it because of what you did to their friends and family members.”
“And they didn’t say who that was?”
“No. They said they were gonna kill me too. They said they wanted to kill everyone close to you.”
Recker sighed, not liking it one bit. “How’d they know you were here?”
“I don’t know.”
Recker pulled her closer, thankful she wasn’t hurt. “I’m just glad you called me.”
“I guess it’s lucky I did.”
“You trusted your instincts. Just like I always told you.” Recker then took his arm off her. “Stay here.”
Recker walked over to each of the three men, wanting to see if any of them were still breathing. He hoped one of them was, that way he could get some more information out of them. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that lucky. And he was too good of a shot. All three were dead.
Recker then started rifling through each of their pockets, hoping to find something that way. None of them had wallets or identification, though. He stayed on one knee and took a deep breath, kneeling beside one of the bodies, just looking at it. He then noticed a mark on one of the arms of the leader of the group. Recker assumed it was a tattoo, though most of it was covered up by his shirt. Recker lifted up the sleeve of the man’s shirt, seeing the rest of the tattoo. Recker stared at it for a moment.
“What is it?” Mia asked.
“I’ve seen this tattoo somewhere before.”
“Where?”
Recker looked away for a second, trying to remember. He just couldn’t place it yet. “I can’t remember.” Recker then turned the man over and started pulling up the man’s shirt towards his head.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for something.”
“What?”
Recker then saw what he was looking for. He pointed at it. “That.”
“What is it?”
There was a tattoo of a scorpion on the man’s back, between his shoulder blades. “A scorpion.”
Mia’s eyes got bigger. She automatically knew what that meant. “A scorpion? I’m assuming that means…”
Recker sighed. “Yep. They’re back.”
11
As Recker and Mia drove back to the office, they each had what seemed like a million questions running through their minds. They had very little answers. But at least they had the main one. They now knew who was responsible for gunning down their friends.
“How did you know to check his back for that tattoo?” Mia asked.
“That’s their thing. Every member in the gang has a scorpion on their back. And it’s always in the same spot.”
“Yeah, but what made you look for it?”
“I don’t know. I guess because he had one on his arm, it just made me think about checking his back. Just instinct, I suppose.”
“I thought you got rid of them all before?”
Recker shook his head. “Most of them. Probably over ninety percent. We got the leaders. The others were the guys at the bottom of the ladder, and we hoped we just scattered them enough to be inconsequential.”
“Well, I’d say they’re consequential now.”
Recker took a deep breath. “Yeah.”
Once they got back to the office, Jones was waiting by the door to greet them. Recker texted him, letting him know that The Scorpions were back, though he couldn’t say in what kind of numbers.
“Are we certain it’s them?” Jones asked.
“No doubt,” Recker answered. “Scorpion tattoo on his back, just like the others. And he mentioned to Mia about what we did to their friends and family members. It fits their profile.”
Jones sighed and shook his head. Then he glanced at Mia, and reached over to her. “How are you? Are you OK? Hurt?”
Mia flashed him a quick smile, appreciating his concern. “No, I’m fine. Really. Mike got there just in time.”
“I’m so glad of that.”
“I shouldn’t have let you go by yourself,” Recker said.
Mia wasn’t going to let him blame himself. “Mike, it was my choice. I’m…”
Recker put his arm around her and pulled her into him, kissing her on top of her head. “I know. I got there in time and you’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
“Well, in any case, I guess that takes the mystery out of everything,” Jones said. “Now at least we can concentrate on them.”
“We’re gonna have to put Tyrell on it, see what he can come up with.”
“I guess that also lets Vincent off the hook, doesn’t it?” Mia asked. “Doesn’t he have issues with them too?”
Recker nodded. “Yeah, there’s no love lost on either side now. That reminds me, I should probably let them know what’s going on so they can prepare.” Recker got out his phone and walked over to the window and looked down at the parking lot.
“I hope you have better news than the last time we talked,” Malloy said.
“Depends on how you look at it.”
“That doesn’t sound promising.”
“Well, I now know who’s responsible.”
“I hope you’re not back to us again.”
“It’s The Scorpions.”
“What?”
“They’re back.”
“We took them out.”
“No, we took most of them out. There were a few stragglers left behind. Low-level guys that left the area. Nothing worth pursuing.”
“How sure are you?”
“One hundred percent positive. I just killed three of them.”
“I won’t ask about the details, but how can you be sure they were Scorpions? I assume you didn’t have a conversation with them beforehand?”
“I saw the tattoos on their backs. All three had one. You know as well as I do that’s one of their symbols.”
Malloy loudly sighe
d into the phone. “Crap. As if there’s not enough to deal with these days. Now we gotta throw them back into the picture? How many are we dealing with now?”
“I don’t know yet. I would think not as many as before, but they’ve had some time now to build their numbers back up a little.”
“All right. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll tell the boss and we’ll go from there.”
“OK.”
“Hey, before you go…”
“Yeah?”
“How’s Chris?”
“Still no update.”
“You let me know when there is, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Recker put his phone away and turned back to the others, who were sitting at the desk. Jones’ fingers were already firing away on his keyboard, trying to get whatever information he could on The Scorpions.
“How you making out?” Recker asked.
Jones answered him without taking his eyes off the screen. “It would be a lot easier if I had some names to go with this.”
“Well sorry, I didn’t have time to ask for their name, address, phone number, and social security number first.”
“I’m just saying it would be easier. I didn’t say it was your fault.”
Recker sighed. “None of them had ID’s on them.”
“That’s not surprising.” Recker kept shaking his head, thinking back to the apartment. “Is there something else bothering you?”
“Yeah. How did they know Mia was there?”
“I would say they had someone watching the apartment,” Jones replied.
“How’d they know she was coming?”
“They probably didn’t. I would say that they probably have had someone there for a few days, weeks, whatever, waiting for you or her. I’m assuming they didn’t know you were on vacation.”
“But how did they know where we lived? It’s not like they could’ve followed one of us there. And they obviously weren’t in town before we left, or they would’ve known that.”
Jones stopped typing and looked at his friend for a few seconds. He wasn’t sure how they could have found that out, either. He then looked at Mia.