by Mike Ryan
“Bad doesn’t even begin to describe them. This is as rough-and-tumble of a crew as we’ve ever come across.”
Recker shot Jones a look. They’d handled some pretty bad dudes in their time. Saying this group might be the worst was either a bit of a stretch or it would be overly terrifying.
“We’ve dealt with some pretty bad hombres, David.”
“Oh, I’m well aware, believe me. But this crew is a little different than the others we’ve come across.”
“How so?” Haley asked.
“Because they just entirely rely on brute force. Unlike Nowak, Jeremiah, Vincent, or any of the other people we’ve come across, these guys don’t try to outsmart you or make you think they’re coming from a different direction. They’re coming head-on and they don’t care if you know it. They’re coming straight for you and they dare you to get in their way.”
Recker and Haley continued to look at the names and faces on the screen to get familiar with them.
“How come I don’t recognize any of these people?” Recker asked.
“Because they’ve only been here for a few weeks.”
“Here? They’ve moved?”
“Oh, indeed they have,” Jones answered.
“Where were they before?” Haley said.
“Mostly New Jersey and Delaware. That’s where most of my information is coming from.”
“What are they doing here?”
“Establishing a presence.”
Recker shook his head as he looked at the screen. “When’s it gonna end? Every time a challenger for Vincent’s throne gets knocked off, there’s a new one coming.”
“Well, while I normally would understand the connection, you would be off base in this instance,” Jones replied.
“What?”
“This group has no interest in taking over a city from underneath it.”
“Then what do they want?”
“The short and easy answer is to take as much money and inflict as much brutality as they can before they move on.”
“Why here?” Recker asked. “Why now?”
“As far as I can make out, it is police pressure driving them out. That was the reason they relocated from New Jersey to Delaware initially.”
“So, the same thing will happen here.”
Jones put his hand up, indicating that would not be as easy as it sounded. “In both cases it took over five years to drive them out. Now if it takes that much time here, then…”
“Then a lot of people are going to get hurt.”
“A lot is putting it mildly. The estimates that I could get my hands on indicate that this gang is believed to be responsible for close to a hundred murders in the past ten years. And that’s just the start of it. Hundreds of others have been put in the hospital at their hands.”
“Who are their usual targets?”
“The best answer I can give you is just about anyone,” Jones said. “Young, old, black, white, innocent, criminal, nothing much matters to this bunch. If you’ve got what they want, they will take it from you. And they will take no prisoners in doing so. They are violent and will use whatever means are at their disposal.”
“Is it just these eight?” Haley asked.
Jones didn’t immediately reply, causing both men to look back at him. With a sigh, Jones hit a button on his computer, and then looked up at the screen again.
“Hardly,” Jones said.
The faces on Recker and Haley pretty much said it all. A look of surprise and horror encapsulated their expressions. They watched as the fairly large pictures of the eight men were replaced with the much smaller pictures of dozens more.
“Is this all of them?” Haley said.
“At least the ones that have been publicly identified,” Jones replied. “Who knows how many more they’ve recruited that aren’t known yet.”
“There must be close to a hundred people here,” Recker said.
“No, not quite. Only eighty-three.”
Recker’s eyes almost bulged out of his head as he looked at the screen. “Only eighty-three,” he whispered.
“Where are we gonna start?” Haley asked.
“I’m in the process of working on that now,” Jones answered.
“They’re already here?” Recker asked.
“Indeed, they are.”
“For how long?”
“Earliest I can make out is they arrived sometime last week.”
“And these are the guys you’re saying we might have to deal with today?”
With a worrisome look in his eye, Jones went back to his computer screen. “Unfortunately.”
“I’m hoping we’re not going to deal with all eighty-three guys today,” Recker said.
“I wish I could tell you how many there will be, but I can honestly say that I don’t know. It could be three. It could be thirty.”
“Wonderful. Just what is it they’re going to be hitting today?”
“I’m still working on that,” Jones replied.
Recker looked at the time. “Still working on it? When you gonna know?”
“When they say something definitive.”
“But you know it’s gonna be today?”
“That would be correct. Sometime around three o’clock.”
“Well, do you have an area?” Recker asked.
Jones looked up at him. “I do not. I have a time. That’s it.”
“Just great.”
Haley continued looking at the screen, amazed at the amount of people he was watching. “Not that I particularly care about the odds, or being on the short-end of the stick, but how are we gonna go up against eighty-three people?”
“Hopefully one at a time,” Jones answered.
“As unlikely as that is,” Recker said. “Chris is right. We’re gonna need help.”
“And just what did you have in mind?”
Recker gave him a grin. “There’s only one man in this city that can help.”
“Don’t say it.”
“You know who I’m talking about.”
“Why don’t we just put our offices next to his?” Jones sarcastically said. “We work with him so much we might as well be paying him rent.”
“How organized is this bunch? Do they have a name or anything?”
“Well, they call themselves the Tri-State Scorpions.”
Recker wasn’t impressed. “Clever.”
“As far as being organized, they do not have a de facto leader. They make decisions as a group. Exactly what that process is like or how involved it is I cannot say. It could be something like a general council or it could be everyone.”
“So how do they determine what to hit then?”
“As I just explained to you, we don’t know. Perhaps there’s a ten-person board that approves everything. Perhaps everyone is free to do whatever they like within certain parameters. Perhaps it’s some combination of the two. Right now, your guess is as good as mine.”
“And how many of them are you tracking right now?”
“Right now, I’ve got three of their numbers.”
“How’d you manage that?” Recker asked.
“Same way I always manage it. The system picked up on a couple of words within the covered radius and alerted me.”
“Any idea what they’re planning? I know you don’t have an address yet, but is it a bank, convenience store, drugstore, anything?”
“Yes. Could be any of the above,” Jones replied.
“Thanks. Very helpful.”
“I’m giving you all the information I’ve got at the present time.”
“Is it possible this thing could go down without us?”
“Extremely possible.”
“Wonderful.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Is there anything you need us to do?” Recker asked. “Something to speed things along?”
“No, not a thing.”
“In that case, I’m gonna make a phone call.”
“Don’t do it,” Jo
nes said.
“Got to.”
Jones sighed, already knowing he had lost the battle. Recker was going to call Vincent for help again. He looked up from his computer only to see that Recker was already on the phone.
“Mike, what can I help you with?” Vincent asked.
“It’s something urgent. Can we meet today?”
“Uhh, yeah, I think I have room in my schedule. How’s one o’clock sound?”
“I can make it,” Recker said. “Where?”
“Let’s make it the same place as usual. I missed breakfast today.”
“I’ll be there.”
As Recker put his phone back in his pocket, he glanced over at Jones, who was sitting at his computer still shaking his head.
“A little more discussion would have been nice before getting us in bed with him again,” Jones said.
“We’re so far in bed with him at this point, what’s the difference? Right now, I’ll align myself with anybody to stop what I believe is the greater threat. And right now, it’s those creeps on the screen.”
3
Vincent and Malloy were already sitting down in the conference room of one of their delivery businesses, waiting for their visitors to arrive. The Tri-State Scorpions had already contacted Vincent via a third party to request a meeting, wanting to meet with the crime boss to announce their arrival in the city and surrounding area. Vincent was already well aware of the gang’s reputation, and though he’d never formally met them before, both sides knew of the other.
“What did Recker want?” Malloy asked.
“Didn’t say. Just said it was urgent.”
“Wonder what that’s about.”
“Don’t know,” Vincent said. “Could be just about anything.”
“What time?”
Vincent looked at his watch. “About two hours from now.”
About five minutes later, one of Vincent’s subordinates walked into the room to let them know that one of the Scorpions had arrived.
“He been frisked?” Malloy asked.
After getting the word that their visitor was clean, Vincent was eager to have the meeting begin. “Show them in.”
“How you think this is gonna go?”
“We shall see.”
The door then opened, Vincent’s man stepping to the side to let Tommy Billings in. Billings was a fairly big man, standing over six-foot-three, and well over two hundred pounds, and could be an imposing sight with his bald head and goatee. Though Jones was right in that the Scorpions did not have a specific leader, in situations where someone needed to talk for the group, Billings was usually the man for the job. He could be an intimidating figure, he could talk the tough talk when it was needed, but he also was an intelligent guy and didn’t succumb to making moves on impulse like many members of the group. While most of the Scorpions did opt for violence and brutality first, and Billings wasn’t necessarily opposed to it when necessary, he also knew there were times when a softer touch was needed for the survival of the group. He knew, sometimes, diplomacy was the best option.
Vincent stood up to shake his visitor’s hand. “Mr. Billings, pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Billings replied, reciprocating the handshake.
Vincent pointed to a chair. “Have a seat.”
“Thank you.”
Vincent then pointed to his most loyal soldier, seated by his side. “This is Jimmy Malloy.”
“Ahh, the famous right-hand man of yours. I’ve heard of you as well.”
“Nothing good I hope,” Malloy said.
Billings grinned. “A mixture. Thought you’d be a little taller though.”
“Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, what can I do for you?”
“As you may or may not be aware, we’ve been relocating our base of operations from Jersey the last few years.”
“I’m well aware of your migration pattern.”
“The heat’s been coming down on us pretty good lately.”
“And you think it will be easier for you here?”
“Listen, I know you run things around here and you’re the top dog, and I totally understand and respect that. We’re not looking to get into a war with you. We just want to peacefully coexist together.”
Vincent smiled, thinking it was an odd choice of words. “I didn’t think peaceful and Scorpions could coexist in the same sentence together.”
Billings let out a small laugh. “Fair enough. I should tell you in all honesty, that some of the boys wanted to just roll into town and get rid of whoever gets in our way, you included.”
“I should tell you that you wouldn’t be the first to try. There was the Italians, Jeremiah, Nowak, and a bunch of other small-timers. I’m still here. They’re not.”
“We might be a little more formidable than those people.”
“Perhaps. Or maybe you would just occupy more space in the cemetery. Make no mistake, I was aware of your presence the minute you drove into town. You see, unlike your crew, war and violence is very seldom my first option or preference. But once I’m there, I will be as ruthless as anyone.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
“You should also know that I operate in many circles. What you see isn’t always what you get. And you don’t always know where it’s coming from.”
“I’ve heard that,” Billings said.
“I’ve got people employed in many different facets. Some work for me directly on a day-to-day basis, some work in financial sectors, some put on a blue suit and patrol around in a police car, some are detectives, some work in various other business interests, and I even have a few working for good old Uncle Sam. Believe me when I tell you, you don’t want to make me for an enemy.”
Billings nodded, knowing exactly how formidable of a threat Vincent was. Nothing he was hearing was new to him. The rumors of how far Vincent’s hand stretched were known far and wide.
“And I believe that. Like I said, I didn’t come here to threaten.”
“Then what exactly do you want?” Vincent asked.
“Listen, we all know you’re a powerful man. You’ve got influence all over the place. No one disputes that. I think that if we wanted to take over, we’d have a hell of a fight. We’re not some pushovers.”
“No question about it.”
“You’d have your hands full,” Billings said. “Maybe you’d win, but it’d come at a high cost. Just the same, we might win, but it would also come at a high cost.”
“Sometimes that’s just the price of victory.”
“It is. But it’s not one we’re interested in playing with right now. We’re riding in holding the white peace flag so to speak.”
“For what purpose?”
“Just for the purpose of coexisting, man. We know us riding in, you could take it as a threat and act out against it. That’s not what we want. We also know that if we start hitting places that belong to you, that wouldn’t be good either. We just wanna hang around, do our thing, and not have any beef with you.”
“So, what, you want my blessing to have you here?”
“If you wanna call it a blessing, sure, I’d prefer to think of it as a truce. Neither side acts out against the other. There’s plenty of room for the both of us without either side getting stupid about it. That’s all I’m saying. We’re not here to take over. Just doing our thing.”
“That itself may present a bit of a problem,” Vincent said. “You see, I have business interests all over this city, including the surrounding suburbs. Most of them are not widely known. I can’t just have you blindly knocking over places that may belong to me.”
“One of the reasons why I’m here. Just let us know what areas to stay clear of, or what places belong to you, and we’ll skip right over them.”
Vincent briefly looked at Malloy as he contemplated his options. He then stared Billings in the eyes for a minute. “I’m sure you can also see the perils of me just telling you what belongs to me. That wouldn’t exactly be in my best
interests.”
“I’m trying to be cooperative here.”
“I’ll tell you what I can do. I’ll assign someone to be your contact. Whatever you plan on hitting, you clear it with him first. If it’s mine, or something for reasons of my own that I don’t want touched, you steer clear. If it’s not, you have a green light.”
“I don’t know if the boys are gonna like having to get permission to do what they want.”
“That’s my best offer,” Vincent sternly said. “You’re free to take it or leave it.”
“I’ll have to take it back to the boys and discuss it with them first if you don’t mind?”
“Take all the time you need. In the meantime, if something gets hit that belongs to me before you give me your answer, you might as well not come back with one. In the same vein, if you agree to these terms, and then choose to ignore them, or don’t follow them to the letter, you’ll be choosing your own fate. I hope I make myself clear.”
“You absolutely do. I’ll take it back to the boys.” Billings got up and then reached his hand across the table to shake. “It was a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Vincent once again returned the handshake. “The pleasure was all mine.” Billings turned around and was about to leave before Vincent spoke up again. “Oh, before you go, you should also know that I’m not the only main player in this town.”
“Oh?” Billings said. “I was under the impression you had no other rivals.”
“Not in this capacity, you’re right, I don’t. But there are other powerful people in this city who also will not take your arrival so happily.”
“If you’re talking about the law, we’ll deal with them when the time comes.”
“I’m talking about something much bigger than the law and a hundred times more lethal.”
“And what would that be?”
“There’s a man who works in the city called The Silencer,” Vincent said.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of him.”
“I should warn you that he is an incredible threat.”
“I think we can deal with him.”
“Others have said the same.”
“We’re not the others,” Billings said. “We have over eighty members right now. I think we can deal with one man.”
Vincent grinned. “As you wish. I just felt you should be adequately warned about the dangers.”