by Mike Ryan
“Meaning Jeremiah?”
“Up to now we’ve been on fairly good terms with Jeremiah. But at some point, that very well may change. There may be a time when control of the whole city is up for grabs,” Vincent stated.
“And you think Recker would side with us when that day comes?”
“If we have something worth offering. I don’t believe he would have any interest in any of this if he didn’t have a personal stake in it, like with the Italians. But maybe there will be a day when we can offer him something that Jeremiah cannot, if it should ever come to that.”
“Maybe we could eventually bring him into the fold,” Malloy said.
“No, I don’t think he’s the type of guy who would join up with anyone unless it was for a specific purpose. He’s a loner. Plays by his own rules. Dangerous, yes, but if handled properly, can continue to be a strong ally of ours. We must give him a long leash.”
“What if he gets in our way at some point? Gets in the way of one of our deals, takes out one of our guys, or someone we have a stake in?”
“We’ll give him some latitude. He’s a dangerous man,” Vincent smiled. “Like I said, a man like him would be an extreme asset if war ever breaks out in this city. A long term view with him will benefit us so much more than a short term deal will. We must remain cognizant of that.”
Malloy nodded, agreeing to his boss’ point of view on the matter. Once Recker got back to the office, Jones was still there working on the computer. He was just about to ask Recker how the meeting went when Recker’s phone started ringing. He was a little surprised to hear from Vincent already. He figured Vincent would take as much time as necessary to study the situation, so Recker really wasn’t expecting a call until later in the evening.
“Made a decision already?” Recker asked.
“I have,” Vincent answered. “I will help you get the men you seek.”
“Good.”
“I do have some conditions attached, however.”
“OK?”
“Bellomi must be your first target. If you go after Mancini first, once Bellomi gets wind of it, you’ll never get close enough to him.”
“I can agree to that.”
“Here’s the real kicker. When you take out Bellomi, we want you to take out his top two aides at the same time,” Vincent revealed.
“I have no quarrel with them.”
“Yes, but they could always take out another hit on you, deeming you a major threat. If you want to take out Bellomi, the entire organization has to be crippled, brought to its knees.”
“And giving you an easier time to move in and take over?”
“Does the proposition give you pause?”
“Taking out three men at one time isn’t an issue. I’ve done it before,” Recker told him.
“Now, in return for this, we’ll get you access to wherever you need to be in order to accomplish the task. We’ll monitor them and make sure they’re all in one place when we contact you. You’ll also have to be ready to go at a moments notice.”
“I will be.”
“A thing like this, a perfect opportunity could present itself at any time, and we need to take advantage of it should it arrive.”
“That’s not a problem. What if it’s in a small, closed off area?”
“Like I said, wherever it is, we’ll get you in,” Vincent said.
“What about Mancini?”
“He’s not a major player, he can be gotten after the others.”
“Once he hears about Bellomi, he’ll go underground or out of the city,” Recker noted.
“He’s nothing to be concerned about. Even if he goes underground, after we take out the Italians, I’ll control half the city. We’ll find him and snuff him out. I’ll bring him to you myself. If I get word he’s left the city, I’ll have someone follow him to the other side of the world and bring him back. He won’t get away from us. You have my word on that.”
“OK.”
“So we have a deal then?” Vincent asked.
“We do. You get me access…I’ll take them out.”
“Excellent. One other thing though. Until this happens, you’re gonna have to keep a low profile. I understand that may be difficult for a man like you, but it must be done. If someone spots you on the street, or you do one of your heroic deeds that winds up in the newspaper, that’ll throw everything out of whack. We’ll lose the element of surprise and Bellomi will be that much tougher to get to.”
“How long do you anticipate this taking?” Recker asked.
“Tough to say. We have to be patient. This type of thing takes time.”
“Well time is something I don’t have a lot of. Neither is patience.”
“I understand.”
“I’ll give you a week. If you can’t flush him out by then, I’ll do it on my own.”
“That could be challenging,” Vincent balked.
“One week,” Recker repeated. “Make it happen.”
As soon as Recker put his phone in his pocket, he looked at Jones, who seemed to have somewhat of a disapproving face. Jones wasn’t sure they should’ve been aligning themselves with the criminal element of the city. Recker, though, was willing to make a deal with the devil if it led to getting the end result that he wanted.
“You don’t agree with this?” Recker asked.
Jones stopped typing to look at his partner. “I’m just not sure throwing in with a major crime syndicate is what we signed up for. We started this to stop crimes and get criminals in jail.”
“I thought we started this to help prevent innocent people from getting hurt.”
“We did.”
“So taking out a major crime organization wouldn’t qualify?”
“But at what cost? Are we going down that same path? And besides, we’re taking out one organization, just so another one can move in. That’s not really eliminating anything. That’s just changing the composition of the players,” Jones stated.
“I look at it like this. One is trying to take me out. One’s willing to leave me alone. If someone tries to take you out once, they’ll try again. I’m not gonna let that happen.”
“I understand all of that. And I’m not against you taking retribution on them, per se, I just don’t know if aligning with Vincent is the right move, that’s all.”
“One thing I learned in the CIA is that sometimes you have to make strange bedfellows if you share a common goal,” Recker told him. “Sometimes you gotta put issues aside if someone else can help you accomplish that goal.”
“So you’re saying you do anything to accomplish the mission. By any means necessary.”
“Well I’m not going to go out and kill a bunch of children or anything to get what I want, but as long as nobody innocent is involved, then yeah, I’ll do what I have to.”
“What if after you take out the Italians, Vincent decides you’re a risk that he can’t allow to walk the streets. What if he has a plan to take you out the moment you take out Bellomi?” Jones wondered.
“This isn’t my first time doing this, David. I’ve been double crossed before. I would imagine at some point in my life, if I keep doing this, I’m sure it’ll happen again. If Vincent decides he can’t have me walking around, I’ll be ready for him.”
“So you don’t really trust him?”
“I only really trust two people in this world right now. Mia and you,” Recker responded, checking his weapons. “Besides, I’m fully loaded.”
“I’m going to take this as one of those times when I just have to trust that you’re in the right and know what you’re doing,” Jones said.
Chapter 5
Four days had passed since Recker made the agreement with Vincent. He had confined himself to either his apartment or the office, though he was starting to get a little antsy being so cooped up. He knew it was for the best, to make sure he wasn’t spotted by any of Bellomi’s soldiers and throw the plan off the rails. As far as most people knew, Recker was still dead. He had to kee
p it that way until the plan was in action. There were only five people that knew he was still alive as far as he was aware…Jones, Mia, Gibson, Vincent, and Malloy. But if he had to stay cooped up for another week, that was likely to change. Everyone would know he was still alive because he’d go on the rampage.
Recker was in the office, sorting and cleaning out his guns, as he’d done every day for the prior four days. It was just something to keep him busy. Anything to keep him from the boredom he couldn’t seem to escape. Every now and then he’d do some computer work with Jones, but that usually only lasted an hour or two at a time. He missed being out on the street.
“How long do you plan to keep this up?” Jones wondered.
“Not much longer. Two or three more days at the most.”
“Good. Because while I appreciate your situation and am trying to be as supportive as I can, there are people out there who need our help.”
“I know,” Recker sighed.
“Look at this,” Jones said, picking up a stack of papers from the drawer and tossing them down on the desk. “Six people that I’ve identified as possibly needing our assistance. And while you’re stuck in here, none of them are getting the help they need or deserve.”
“I know,” he dejectedly replied.
Recker was already aware that there were people out there needing assistance. It’d been weighing on his mind. It was one of the factors, in addition to wanting revenge, that was making him want to get out of there sooner rather than later. He and Jones knew that every day they delayed getting out on the street, there was a very good likelihood that someone they could’ve protected, could get killed. Recker’s phone rang and he quickly reached into his pocket to answer it, hoping it’d be the call he was waiting for. He was a little disappointed when he saw it wasn’t Vincent, though not completely so, since it was Mia calling. He once again chose not to answer it, the third time in four days that she had called in which he chose to ignore her call.
“Ms. Hendricks again?” Jones asked.
“Yeah.”
“Not that I’m trying to intervene in your personal affairs, but may I ask why you’re choosing to ignore her calls? That’s the third time I’m aware of that you’ve done so.”
“She’s gonna want to meet or something and I just can’t do that right now,” Recker replied.
“So why don’t you just tell her you’re busy with a case instead of avoiding her?”
“I dunno. Just seemed simpler this way.”
The sound went off indicating he had a voice message, just like the previous three times. Just like the others, it was just Mia asking him to call her back when he was free.
“You know, it’s probably a good idea to call her back before she starts worrying,” Jones told him.
“Why would she worry?”
“Probably because you were recently shot and recovering from an injury? If you don’t respond she might think something happened.”
“Oh. I didn’t think of that,” Recker replied.
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”
Taking Jones’ advice, Recker immediately called Mia back. She picked up right away, the phone not even getting to the second ring.
“I patch you up and take care of you for a week, then you leave and ignore me?” Mia greeted.
“Uhh…”
“Relax, I’m just kidding.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’ve just been a little busy catching up on things,” Recker explained.
“I kinda figured as much.”
“So what’s up?”
“Nothing. Can’t a girl just call a guy to see how he’s doing?”
“Uhh, I guess so.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were OK with your shoulder,” she said.
“Oh. Yeah. Yeah, it’s fine,” Recker replied, moving it around. “A little stiff at times, but not too bad considering.”
“Good. Yeah, since I haven’t seen or talked to you since you left my apartment, I just wanted to say hi, see how you were and all.”
“I’m good,” Recker said, trying to think of something else to say. Small talk was not something he enjoyed. “Uhh…how’s work?”
“Busy. Yeah, really busy. They’re running me around all over the place. Got like another ten days straight to go,” Mia laughed.
“You’ll make it through.”
“So, one of the reasons I called, I’m actually on day shift tomorrow, would you be interested in meeting after work for dinner…maybe six or seven?” she hopefully asked.
Recker was afraid she was going to ask something like that. “You know, I’d really love that, but I’m already committed to doing something tomorrow night that I can’t back out of. It’s for a client.”
“Oh. OK. Yeah, I understand. It’s fine.”
“Otherwise you know I’d like to.”
“It’s fine. We can maybe make it for next week or something,” Mia said, obviously disappointed. “Maybe when I get out of my nightmare work schedule.”
“Definitely.”
“So I take it you’re not taking any more time off then? Getting right back in the saddle?”
“I have to. There’s some things going on that I have to be involved in,” Recker told her.
“You know, you could always let the police help. That’s kind of what they do.”
“Not for this.”
They talked for a few more minutes, neither saying anything of much significance, just more of the small talk. Once they completed their conversation, Recker let the phone swing down in his hand, hitting his leg with it and sighing.
“I take it that didn’t go so well?” Jones asked.
“It went fine,” Recker tersely responded.
“I can tell by the tone of your voice,” he sarcastically said.
“It’s just hard saying no and disappointing her.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I dunno. She’s just always so nice and pleasant. It’d be so much easier if she wasn’t so damn friendly all the time.”
“Just terrible, isn’t it? It’d be more preferable if she was more obnoxious or something, wouldn’t it?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I take it she wanted to meet for dinner?”
“Yeah, tomorrow.”
“Well, if you really wanted to, you could still keep a low profile by eating at her place.”
Recker gave him a strange and funny look upon hearing that. “What? Weren’t you the one who told me not to get involved with her?”
“Since when did you ever listen to me? I’m just giving you options should you prefer it.”
“Well I don’t prefer it. It’s one thing eating a restaurant with someone, it’s entirely different eating at their home.”
“Too personal?”
“Yes. Besides, you were right, I don’t want to give her a false hope that something could eventually happen between us.”
“Did you just tell me I was right?” Jones asked, almost falling out of his chair in astonishment.
“Yes and don’t let it go to your head.”
“It just happens so infrequently that you admit that.”
For the next few minutes, Jones watched Recker circle around the perimeter of the office, seemingly in deep thought. He said a couple of things to him, but Recker didn’t hear a word of it. Jones wasn’t sure what was in his mind…Vincent, Mia, Bellomi, or any combination of the three. Recker’s concentration was broken when his phone rang again. He eagerly looked at the screen thinking it was Vincent, but once again, was slightly disappointed.
“Tyrell? What can I help you with?” Recker greeted.
“Hey, uhh, it’s uhh, kind of hard for me to ask this…”
“Just spit it out. I won’t kill you over the phone.”
Gibson laughed. “Yeah right. With some of the things you’re capable of, wouldn’t surprise me if you could.”
“I’ll work on it.”
“I bet. Listen, I c
ould use a favor,” Gibson said.
“You need a favor?”
“Yeah. You said you owe me for getting you the info on Mancini, right?”
“I did.”
“Well if you help me out with this then we’ll call it even.”
“You haven’t told me anything yet,” Recker said.
“Remember I told you before about my kid brother?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s getting recruited hard, man. I’m afraid he’s gonna get caught up in the pressure and do something he’ll regret.”
“Jeremiah?”
“Nah, Jeremiah wouldn’t do that. He has respect for those who wanna get out of here and do something cool with their life.”
“Who is it then?”
“Just some upstart gangs trying to make a name for themselves. They’re small-time, man, but they’re recruiting high school kids hard to get bigger,” Gibson explained.
“Does Darnell wanna do it?”
“Of course he don’t. That’s why he came and told me. He don’t wanna, but he’s afraid that somehow he’s gonna get forced into it. These are kids, man, most of them are afraid to say no to these gangbangers…afraid something will happen to them if they don’t do what they want.”
“Why don’t you just put a stop to it?” Recker wondered.
“It’s not that easy for me. I’m out here on the streets every day. I got no gang affiliation, no one to watch my back, if I go up against these guys…even small-timers, we both know what’ll happen.”
“Why don’t you ask Jeremiah for help?”
“Cause you know what happens when you ask guys like Jeremiah and Vincent for help? You’re indebted to them for life. It’s always hanging over your head. Right now, you’re really the only other person I know I can trust this with.”
“So you want me to play the bad guy?”
“No, I want you to play the tough, bad ass, mo-fo that you are,” Gibson said.
“Fine. If you want my help, you got it,” Recker agreed.
“I really appreciate that, man, I really do.”
Recker could hear the relief in Gibson’s voice as he spoke. “It’s not gonna be for a few days though. I gotta conclude my business elsewhere first.”