by Liz Crowe
She knew that coordinating a rescue would take time, time they did not have. Armando just might have a better chance of pulling it off. She hated to admit it, but she had more faith in his abilities than those of her own department. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. But the reality of it was, she did trust him more than she trusted the men and women in the Department.
“You didn’t hear or see anything. If stuff happens, you weren’t here, Gina.”
There he was again, worrying about her, what impact this would have on her.
“So, where are they holding her?” She thought maybe she might get lucky.
“I don’t know, some boat.”
“That would be Carlos’s yacht. Not a very safe place, Armando.”
“You know about his boat?”
“I’ve been on it,” Gina said and immediately saw the sadness in his eyes.
“More secrets, Gina? What else aren’t you telling me?”
“Don’t do this, Armando. I think it’s a sting. I think the cops are onto him. I don’t want you caught in the crossfire.”
“I’m not afraid of crossfire. Hell, I’m prepared for that. I’m gonna have help. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let someone else rescue my sister and botch it up.”
“Please slow down for a second or two; I’ll tell you something about all of this. Just calm down.”
“Baby, later. Then you can explain everything to me. And this time, Gina, I want the full truth. No bullshit. You’re somehow involved. Are the cops looking for you too?”
“Yes.” She had to lie.
“You know anything about Mia being taken?”
“Absolutely no, Armando. I would never be involved in that.” She tried to place a hand on his shoulder, was going to move it up to his cheek. Armando angrily brushed her away.
“You were the decoy,” he said bitterly “They sent you to distract me so I’d take my eye off the ball. All this talk about Sam and an insurance company and shit. You’re probably working for Sam.”
“No Armando. Please, believe me. I’m a—”
Armando’s phone chirped before she could finish. He started swearing in Spanish as he swerved to avoid crashing into traffic and jumped up on the curb taking a right turn. He stayed on the phone, shouting instructions in Spanish, but they made it back to her place in record time anyway. She barely had a chance to say her goodbyes before he streamed out of the parking lot and went barreling down the street. Standing in the late afternoon sun with her bag still slung over her shoulder, loneliness descended all around her. Perhaps this would be the last time she’d see him alive.
And she hadn’t even told him the truth. She hoped the God Mrs. Guzman prayed to be listening.
Bring him back safe, sir. He’s the real deal.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sam had spent the entire afternoon thinking about what it would feel like to have Gina all to himself again. He watched some of his home movies taken from the very bed he was lying on. The CDs, along with this bed and the building were the only things he got from his divorce. He’d lost the house and everything else, not that any of it had any meaning to him.
He fingered the pillow he’d used to prop up her little ass so he could kiss it, ram himself so tight up her little sex that she groaned. He told himself it was pleasure, but this was the last one, the time when she insisted she be let go. He told her he’d be gentle, that this would be a goodbye fuck, and she acquiesced. But then he got rough again. He couldn’t help it. And in the end, she just lay there and let him finish. She couldn’t stop crying afterwards. She wouldn’t let him take her home. He knew he’d lost her that night.
He studied the sheet-rocked walls of the rundown, abandoned duplex he called home. He’d purchased it in foreclosure a year ago when he and Gina were dating. He’d wanted some special renovations, but they broke up before he could take her there.
As far as living arrangements, he didn’t need much, just a bedroom with heat, an efficiency kitchen with a hot plate and microwave, and a decent bathroom. He’d been able to upgrade his unit in one long weekend. He had plans for the other side, too, but everything was on hold now.
After the breakup, he thought maybe if he and Gina worked together, some of the chemistry would come back. He stopped calling her and tried to move on. But no one was like Gina.
He didn’t want to share her with anyone, even guys on the force who casually knew her. He didn’t want her too close to Kozinski. He didn’t want anyone stealing a look, catching one of her smiles, or smelling her perfume. It all belonged to him. It was all he wanted, and he’d pay any price for it.
So when she got sweet on the SEAL, something flipped in Sam’s mind. He walked through a doorway of no return, a place of desperation. Suddenly, his obsession with her turned into he couldn’t live without her.
Tito had let him know about the sweep going on and how successful the task force had been. He knew it was only a matter of time before the operation was called and everyone would go their separate ways. He also knew Gina would make complaints about him and he was facing a dishonorable end to his career.
He tried not to think about it. If he could reason with her, love her in the manner that which he knew she needed, she’d see the folly of her ways. She’d see that he could save her in every way she needed saving. If she felt the power of him inside her, could see how good they were together, then maybe there would be a happy ending.
He didn’t want to kill her. He wanted her to surrender to him. Tell him she’d been wrong and he was right. He was the right man for her. He needed to hear that.
Tito had been released and Sam knew right where to find him. Although he wasn’t supposed to, he found him at one of their cribs in an abandoned house covered in graffiti. On any other day, Sam would have brought backup, but today he felt like absolute Teflon. He kicked in the front door with his boot and chambered his shotgun.
“Nobody move.”
People started scrambling out the doors and windows anyway. Glass broke. Chairs were overturned. Sam scanned the darkened room filled with marijuana smoke and found Tito in the corner, passed out with a needle in his arm.
No one was going to challenge him. He figured with so many of their leadership down at the station, there wasn’t anyone in charge. Everyone he’d seen looked to be underage.
Three quick strides across the room brought him to Tito’s feet. Sam grabbed him by the front of his shirt and Tito shook like a rubber chicken, his head lolling back and his mouth drooling something white and foamy.
Sam thought perhaps he was OD’ing. But Tito opened his eyes, at first lazy and glazed over, then full of panic as he recognized the big cop.
He reached down and picked up Tito’s kit, tossing the needle. He threw the boy over his shoulder, carrying the shotgun and kit in his right hand. Again, no one challenged him as he made his way back to the pickup truck on the street.
Tito slung against the side of the passenger door in a semi-coma as Sam started the engine.
“You fuckin’ piece of shit,” Sam spewed.
Tito responded with a warm smile. Sam had an EpiPen in the first aid kit he carried in the back of his truck, and damn, he was going to use it on the kid. He needed him to play one more part, and then to hell with him.
Tito looked like a zombie in a bad movie, Sam thought. Almost too scary to take him to the pancake house, but the kid was hungry, and Sam needed him to stay awake, while not looking too jittery. So he let Tito order anything he wanted. Sam had lost his appetite.
From the red vinyl booth, syrupy sweet music happily playing in the background, Sam dialed Gina. He wondered if she’d pick up. He had a Plan B if not. But she did.
“Hello?” She sounded groggy.
“You turn in early?”
“It’s not early. It’s after eight.”
“Only time we went to bed that early was to fuck ourselves to death,” Sam said. Tito looked up from his pancakes, and smiled as syrup spilled from his mouth on
to his shirt.
“Sam, the only reason I picked up this phone was because I hoped you’d seen the light. Everything’ll be over in a day or two. You know I’m going to tell Kozinski what went down.”
“Well, he’s kind of busy right now. Don’t know if you’ve heard, but they’ve been making sweeps. Got a ton of guys.”
“Good. I thought they were going in on Monday.”
“That’s what he told me too. Seems we’ve both been left out, for some reason.”
She didn’t say anything.
“One thing I thought you might want to know, they can’t find Mia.”
“Well, I’d expect she’d be smart enough to lay low.”
“You didn’t tip her off, did you?”
“Hell no. I wouldn’t do that. You know me, Sam.”
He rubbed the front of his pants under the table. Tito looked at him with a scowl. “Yes I do, Gina.”
“So that’s it? Mia’s missing?”
“And we know where she is. She’s with Carlos. I got little Tito here, one of Carlos’s runners. You remember, the kid who rolled on him?”
Tito frowned and stopped eating. Sam knew he was considering bolting from the booth. Sam put his boot into the kid’s crotch and glared at him. He placed his right hand over his weapon.
Tito was going to stay put, for now.
“So, where is she?”
“She told Tito to get you. She’s in a building down past Seaside. He’s going to take you to her. I think she can convince Carlos to give himself up. You want in on that?”
Gina hesitated. He could tell she knew something. “Sure I do,” she said. “But I thought Carlos was on his boat.”
“Where did you get that information?”
“I thought that’s where Koz and the team were expecting to make the arrest.”
Sam knew she was lying.
“Well, we got lucky. We have the better intel. Tito lied to the sergeant.”
Tito’s didn’t look at either of them.
“Kozinski doesn’t know about this? Gina asked. “Don’t you think we should call him?”
“You want the whole fucking task force there?”
“If it’s Carlos, we’ll need backup.”
“So listen, I’m going to be your backup. Tito will take you to the location and I’ll follow behind. Don’t want them to see me. But they trust you, so you want this?”
“Why can’t you just give me the address, we can call it in?”
“Because Tito won’t give it to me, and he’s the assurance you’re coming.”
With the trap set, Sam watched as his plan went off without a hitch. He dropped Tito off at Gina’s apartment complex, and watched him stand under a streetlight until she came down. The two of them took off. Sam had stashed a thousand dollars on the kid, and told him there would be another after they got to the duplex, so he was fairly sure the kid would cooperate.
He followed Gina’s car to the building. From the outside, it still looked abandoned, the lot covered in weeds that stood four feet tall. Next door was a brick warehouse that was also abandoned and had all the windows shot out of it. He was thrilled to be able to bring her home at last.
Tito unlocked the door, just as Sam had instructed him, and they both went inside. That was Sam’s cue to go around back to the door bordering the back alleyway. He slipped into the cool cavern and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark. He heard them talking on the other side of the building.
“I dunno. He said to just wait here,” he heard Tito say.
“He? Wasn’t it Mia you talked to?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am. Sorry.”
“How did Mia know to get hold of you?”
“I guess it was through Carlos. Tell you the truth, I’m just the messenger. As soon as this is over, I’m outta here.”
“So I guess Carlos doesn’t know you gave him up?”
“Shhh. Careful about that. Don’t want him finding out before it’s time. I didn’t give him up. I told the cops he was on a cruise, like he told my sister to tell me. I told them he’d be back Monday. He told her that too.”
“So he came back early,” Gina said.
Tito chuckled. “The fucker never left.”
Sam came up behind where Gina stood and with one arm placed a flannel scrap laced with chloroform cocktail across her mouth and nose. At first she stiffened, but then as she inhaled the gas, went slowly limp and stopped struggling.
“Holy shit,” Tito’s hands were splayed out to the sides, waist-high.
“Shut up and help me,” Sam commanded. He could see Tito hesitate. “You do want the other grand, or are you good with just one?”
Tito didn’t say anything, but started to pick up Gina’s feet.
“No, asshole, come over here and get her shoulders. I’ll take her feet.” Sam wanted to make sure a generous portion of Gina’s skin cells and hair landed on Tito’s clothes. Her drool ran down her chin, and over the boy’s wrist. The boy didn’t notice Sam had work gloves on.
He directed them to the bedroom with the black satin comforter. Tito had to kneel on the bed to get her properly laid out on a pillow. Sam took her shoes off and cuffed her ankles to the lower lip of the bedframe. He pushed Tito aside and cuffed her wrists to the headboard.
“Okay, wow. What are you going to do with her, man?”
Sam stood up and arched his back, cracking it. He gave a wink to the kid and got the reaction he expected. “Nothing she doesn’t want done.”
“Is Carlos coming over?”
“Fuck Carlos,” Sam said.
“But I thought you said he had set all this up for you.”
“He did, he did. He just doesn’t know it yet.” Sam was grateful the kid had been an easy target. “Come on,” he said as he tugged on the back of the kid’s head, “let’s get you your money.”
They closed the door, which locked from the outside. Tito didn’t notice. He also didn’t notice Sam had removed his gloves.
“So what are you going to do with your earnings?” Sam was placing the silencer on the barrel of his .38 while he walked behind Tito. The kid didn’t have a clue.
“Shit, I gotta get out of Dodge. Probably Mexico to stay with my cousin.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Sam reached around as if to give the kid a hug, but slammed the barrel of the silencer against his temple and pulled the trigger. Tito’s head exploded all over both of them.
Sam had to wait for all the blood and brains to stop falling around him, and to let the pieces of Tito fall off his clothes. He cleaned his eyes with the back of his forearm, and looked at the detritus that had been the kid.
“You did good, kid. Sorry it turned out this way.” He leaned forward and searched Tito’s shirt, finding the packet of money still in the bank envelope. It mattered little to Sam if it was all there.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Armando had ground his teeth so hard his jaw hurt.
Showdown at the harbor.
He stopped by Fredo’s apartment picked up Fredo and Rory. They threw their bags in the back, Fredo taking shotgun.
“I did tell Kyle,” Fredo began, “and man, was he pissed.”
“That was dumb, Fredo.”
“He reminded me how dumb you are all the time about Mia. I’m here, my good friend and brother, to watch over you. I’m your guardian angel.”
“Like hell you are. You just complicated things.”
“Oh, like Mr. Armani, Super Stud, things aren’t complicated enough now?” Rory chimed in “You got a thing about this gang? This some form of payback?”
The Scorpions had kidnapped Mia over a year ago and Armando fell into that trap too. Kyle, Cooper, Fredo and Gunny rescued them.
“You going for a repeat, Armani?” Fredo asked.
“I don’t care. Mia’s in trouble, and that’s just what I do.”
Yes there were some similarities, he thought. He’d gotten the call from Caesar the last time. And yes, that one really did take him by su
rprise, but then, the gang was after guns and the guns they mistakenly thought the SEALs would steal for them. They were really stupid to think such a thing. But they’d used Mia as bait, which was a big mistake on their part.
“This time I’m pretty sure Carlos wants a deal.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because he told me Mia was his insurance policy. He promised he wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Right. And you believed this scumbag? I’m telling you, Armando, you’ve got your head all twisted. That lady friend of Mia’s got you all thinking with your little brain.” Fredo shook his head in disgust.
“She has nothing to do with it. Besides, it’s not little.”
“Like hell. It’s just too much of a coincidence,” Fredo added, ignoring Armando’s retort. “I didn’t know better I’d think you went all tofu and shit on me, like Cooper did last year. That stuff will rot your brain.” Fredo turned to Rory in the back seat. “You know what they make tofu out of? Fermented soy beans, man. They can’t even get cattle to eat that shit.”
Rory shared Fredo’s laughter. Then Armando drilled a glare at him from the rear view mirror. Rory got serious in a hurry. “So, what’s the plan, Armani?”
“We go there and I reason with him. I got my Invisio.”
“I feel you. So Rory and I sit in the truck and jack off, right?”
“No, if need be, you save the day. But I think the guy is going to be reasonable. Something just isn’t adding up right. Piece of the puzzle missing, and I’m going to find out about it. If I fail, you guys will be my seconds. And if you don’t want to do it,” he pulled over to the curb abruptly, screeched on the brakes, coming to a complete stop, “you get out right here.”
Fredo and Rory shared a look.
“Fuckin’ nothing better to do on a Saturday night,” Fredo mumbled.
“I had a date,” Rory said cheerfully. Fredo began to swear.