End Game (Jack Noble #12)

by L. T. Ryan

  Movement from the other end of the garage caught my attention. I turned toward the distraction. Two men had stepped out of the stairwell. I couldn’t make out their faces, though, still too dark. They had on heavy coats. Hoods atop their heads. They stepped around a mini-van and walked down the aisle toward me.

  I pulled out my phone and called Bear.

  “Might have an issue here,” I said.

  “What is it?” he said.

  “Couple guys showed up, came down the stairwell.”

  “And?”

  “They’re headed for me. How long you think it’ll take you to get over here if something goes wrong?”

  He laughed. “Too long. Besides, I ain’t going nowhere. Just saw your guy again, and this time he had on a coat. Seems like he’s getting ready to move.”

  I threw a quick glance toward the men again. One had a cell phone pressed to his head. The other hid both hands in his coat pocket. It occurred to me that they might be on their way to meet Ginger. Maybe I’d been looking at it the wrong way. What if Ginger was Thanos’s associate, not the head of his security? If the guy was second in command to Thanos, he might be next.

  “All right,” I said. “I’m coming to you.”

  “What?”

  I hung up the phone and made a line toward the exit. Going out in public put our operation at risk, but if those two men were connected in some way, there wouldn’t be a chance to take Ginger down.

  The first floor of the gray building across the street was a wall of tinted windows. I dodged traffic, minding the reflection of the garage behind me. The two guys exited through the same opening. They looked up and down the street. One pointed across toward me.

  “Christ,” I muttered.

  The guy slapped his buddy’s shoulder, and they hit the blacktop, huffing it in my direction.

  I hurried toward the corner, hugged it tight as I turned right. Foot traffic ahead was light, ten or so people directly in front of me, half of them coming my way. Like any typical big city, they kept their gazes fixed ahead, ignoring everything around them. I pushed forward until I reached a spot where the Gothic building I’d noticed earlier indented. A narrow tunnel that led me to an overgrown courtyard. It was a mix of concrete and dead grass and weeds and rusted playground equipment. Broken windows with thick iron bars on every floor overlooked the area. Was it an apartment building? A school? An old psychiatric hospital?

  I waited just inside the area, out of view from the tunnel. Thirty seconds passed, then a minute. I waited some more. Cold air whistled through the corridor. It felt as though a hundred sets of eyes gazed down at me, but every time I glanced up I saw no one.

  And no one came through the tunnel.

  Had they stopped following when they reached the street? Were they waiting on the other side? Maybe they knew I had no way out. Why not apprehend me here, though? There’d be no witnesses.

  I called Bear again.

  “You in position where you can check out the cross street for me? Tell me if a couple of goons are hanging out in front of the Gothic-looking building.”

  “Hang on a sec.” Bear breathed heavily into the mouthpiece as he covered some ground. “Looks deserted, man. What’d they look like?”

  I’d only seen them in the shadows and their reflection in the window. “Never got a good look. Heavy coats with hoods.”

  Bear laughed. “All right, then every person I see walking around right now is suspect.”

  “Stay there for a minute. I’m coming out.”

  I kept the line open as I headed back through the tunnel. Once we made eye contact, Bear moved back into position. The garage wasn’t safe anymore, and if the guys were who I thought they were, I figured that Ginger would be spooked by now.

  “You think they made you?” Bear asked.

  “When I saw them in the window, they pointed at me. So, yeah, I think they know.”

  “Your boy’s gonna be on the move soon.”

  I had to come up with a plan pretty fast. They stopped following, which meant they had to be tracking me somehow. I looked up and down the street. There were plenty of places they could be watching and I’d never know it.

  “I’m gonna take over for you,” I said. “They’ll see me and either confront me, or leave as a team. You go get the car, pull it up here and wait for my signal.”

  I put my head down, pulled my collar up, hurried to the corner. Bear passed without batting an eye in my direction. They might already know about him, know we’re together. But they might not. Either way it felt like our chances of catching up to Ginger today were diminishing by the minute.

  I rounded the corner and placed myself in full view of Thanos’s building. I looked up at his office, sunglasses reducing the glare off the window. I saw movement, a couple guys at least.

  A black Escalade pulled up to the curb in front of the building. A man sat behind the wheel. His stainless watchband glinted in the sunlight. The passenger seat was empty.

  “Where you at, Bear?” I said.

  “Almost at the car,” he said.

  “Anyone watching you?”

  “Just the ladies.”

  “This isn’t time to fool around, man.”

  “It’s clear.” The S8’s supercharged engine revved. “What’s going on there?”

  “Maybe something.” I noticed the man in the SUV put a phone up to his head. “Hang tight for me.”

  “All—”

  The line went dead.

  28

  At the same moment the call dropped, the door across the street opened and two men stepped out. They were medium height, lean, angry looking, and definitely armed. Behind them a third man emerged. Even with the beanie on his head, I could tell it was Ginger.

  I pulled out the phone and hit redial. The line clicked, rang multiple times and then stopped.

  “Dammit,” I muttered. “Where are you, Bear?”

  One of the angry men crossed the sidewalk, opened the passenger door and leaned in to speak with the driver, who stretched his arm out and shrugged twice. The angry guy looked back at Ginger and nodded. I was barely a hundred feet away, standing in plain view, and they paid no attention to me even though I was sure I’d been made by the two guys in the garage.

  My finger hovered over the redial button on the phone in my pocket. I pressed it and waited while the phone rang eight times, then cut off again. I started to worry that they’d reached Bear before he could get out. I held on as long as I could. Once the rear passenger door on the Escalade opened and Ginger crossed the sidewalk for it, I turned and backtracked. I could only hope that Bear was waiting there and that he’d arrive in time for us to follow the SUV. We had to find out what Ginger knew, and we needed it today. Every second mattered now.

  I reached the corner where I was mired in a group of powerwalkers all wearing neon tights and bright shoes. They scattered around me, tossing nasty looks as they passed. I scanned the street and walked ahead, saw the two men from the garage approaching. They were less than fifty feet away. I unzipped my jacket, pulled the right flap back a few inches. A shootout in downtown Chicago was less than ideal. Hell, brandishing a weapon would land me in jail. I glanced around at the network of CCTV cameras positioned on the traffic lights, on the sides of buildings. Shops had their own surveillance systems. Whatever was about to happen, it would get caught on video.

  As I drew near, the men paid no attention to me. They slowed and stopped in front of a store window. I passed, throwing a nonchalant glance at them, saw them holding hands. I grew tense over the next few steps, my back to them, but after I passed they did nothing. I thought back to the window when I saw their reflection, saw the guy pointing at me. I searched my mind for a better description of that building. Letters stenciled on the window. Visa and MasterCard and AMEX logos on the door. It was a shop of some sort, and I recalled seeing the faint outline of a suit behind the glass.

  All that energy wasted for nothing, and on top of that I potentially outed myself
in front of Thanos’s office.

  Bear pulled up to the curb in the Audi. The lock clicked. I yanked the heavy door open and slid into the front seat.

  I aimed a finger ahead. “Hurry, they’re probably halfway to Sheboygan by now.”

  Bear didn’t wait for me to pull the door shut. He cut back across the street and floored it to the intersection.

  “Having fun?” I said.

  “I’m trading in my beast for one of these as soon as we get back to the city.”

  “This car doesn’t suit a guy like you. Too fancy.”

  He matted his beard down with his hand. “You saying I’m not classy enough?”

  I shrugged as he hit the brakes at the corner. A group of people blocked the way. We caught the tail end of the Escalade as it was making a left a block away. Oncoming traffic made it impossible to turn in time. “Go straight. We’ll turn right at the next intersection and hopefully have a better shot.”

  Bear gunned it before the light turned green. We raced down the block at seventy miles per hour, weaving left. He slammed the brakes and started turning twenty feet early, cutting in front of three cars. Tires squealed, horns honked. Bear collectively gave them the finger.

  “We don’t have enough to deal with up ahead?” I said. “You wanna anger some punk with a death wish, too?”

  “You’re getting soft,” he said.

  I hoped that wasn’t true.

  “There they go,” he said. “Straight through. Shouldn’t have much trouble now.”

  The light at the next intersection was blinking. Bear rolled through, wedging us in between a couple oncoming cars. My focus now was on the SUV half a block ahead. We had to get closer or risk losing them at a stoplight. There were cameras everywhere. I figured that meant cops were less concerned about basic traffic violations. They probably had license plate readers and a computer programmed to sort out where to send the ticket.

  On cue, the light ahead turned yellow as Ginger and his guys cleared the intersection.

  “Get through that light,” I said.

  Bear grinned, hit the gas, and used the lane marker as a center line. We squeezed between a mini-van and a classic Camaro painted black with flames on the hood. The light turned red. Bear pushed harder. I looked out my window at oncoming traffic. I could see the expression on the old guy’s face as he tossed his coffee onto his passenger and gripped the wheel with both hands. His mouth was twisted in a scream as he stomped on his breaks.

  We got through unscathed, but the sound of cars avoiding impact with us was sure to draw the attention of others.

  “Need to be careful here,” I said. “They might start evasive maneuvers to draw us out. Settle in a few cars back.”

  The next few minutes were tense. Sweat beaded up on my forehead. Every ounce of focus I had was spent in an attempt to see through the Escalade’s heavily tinted rear window. Were they watching us? Armed and prepared to lead us to a location where they would have the upper hand? We still knew relatively little about Thanos, and nothing about his security guy. How big was their team?

  Finally, the SUV turned right.

  I pulled up the navigation unit. “They’re headed to the interstate.”

  Bear followed the SUV, which continued on at the same pace. “I think we’re good, man.”

  “I’d feel better if we could track this thing at a distance.”

  “Call Frank.” He looked over and nodded.

  I thought about it for a minute. This was an area he could help. But at what cost? I always had to keep Frank’s ultimate motive in the forefront. It’d be nice to say he’d lend us all the support we needed. But I’d be lying. Frank Skinner would do whatever benefited Frank Skinner at that moment. If that meant helping, fine. Or it might mean him leading us down the wrong path while he took over and dictated how things would end up.

  “Let’s just stay on them for a while,” I said. “If they’re looking for a tail, I doubt this is the car that’s gonna catch their attention.”

  “Wishful thinking,” Bear said.

  If they were trained properly, the make and model of the vehicle would mean nothing to them.

  We merged onto the interstate heading north and fell six cars back, moving up and down the line as necessary. Bear did everything he could to make every move appear natural. Traffic was thick but moved ten miles per hour over the posted speed limit. Twenty minutes passed. My fingers hovered over the phone the entire time. I had to find a way to reach out to Lexi. By now she had likely called. Hopefully she’d continue to try because at that point I had no idea when I’d get my hands on a new burner phone.

  The Escalade exited, and one other car in front of us followed them. Bear and I pulled down our sun visors and sat tall in an effort to stay out of sight.

  “I doubt they’d recognize your ugly mug,” I said.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Bear said. “You know as well as I do that they subscribe to MERC Monthly magazine. I was the damn centerfold three months last year.”

  It was good to have his off-beat sense of humor around again. But it did little to ease the anxiety that had built up over the past couple of days.

  We dropped back further after turning onto the three-lane road. Bear pulled into a turnoff that entered a shopping center, then merged back on the road at the last second. Little things like that added up, made it seem like we were looking for something. At least that was the hope.

  “Looks like they’re about to turn,” Bear said.

  I studied the map. “That’s a neighborhood. One way in, one way out.” I looked up, waited until they made the turn. “Drive past and pull into the first parking lot you find.”

  We cruised through the intersection in the middle lane.

  “For Christ’s sake,” Bear said.

  The SUV had pulled to the curb a few blocks down. The front doors were open. One guy was on his phone. The other was looking in our direction.

  29

  We pulled into the first parking lot on our side of the road in front of a barbecue restaurant, gas station and drug store, all in one. Bear kept the S8 in gear while we waited next to a pump for the SUV to show up, or one of the men to emerge through the thick hedges surrounding the perimeter of the lot. My heart beat in time with every second that passed. Cars and trucks and SUVs streamed by in a steady pattern following the traffic light half a block down. A line of school buses drove past filled with kids no older than seven or eight. I figured they were on a trip to visit the Field Museum in town.

  “They’d have come by now,” Bear said.

  I nodded, said nothing, kept my gaze fixed on the oncoming traffic.

  “I can double back, see—”

  “Nah, don’t put yourself out there yet,” I said. “They’re following a protocol. Probably trying to sniff any followers out. Hang tight here. I’m going inside the store.”

  The first few steps in the open were agonizing. There was no cover, leaving me an easy mark. I clenched my jacket tight to my body and jogged across the parking lot. Behind me the Audi pulled away from the gas pump and into an open parking spot along the side of the building. I nodded at Bear, then entered the store. There were cameras positioned everywhere. No chance I could get in and out without having my face filmed.

  First thing I did was fill two large cups with coffee. The brew smelled hours old. Didn’t matter. We both needed the jolt. I grabbed a couple pre-made hoagies, some bottled water, and headed to the counter. The young woman there barely acknowledged me.

  “I need a couple phones, too,” I said.

  “Which ones?” she asked, eyes still glued to her magazine. It was an article about ten things your boyfriend secretly wants you to do in bed, but would never tell you.

  “You ever done any of those?” I figured if they had me on camera I might as well make an impression.

  She looked up at me, cheeks turning a dark shade of red. A slight smile formed on her thin lips. “Maybe half.”

  “The cheapest ones you
got.”

  She jerked backward as though I’d swung at her. “What?”

  “The phones,” I said. “I’ll take the two cheapest you got.”

  Her smile broadened as she turned and grabbed two Nokias from a hanger and set them next to the coffees. “You get sixty minutes free on each.”

  “I’m heading up to Kenosha for a couple nights if you’re free later.” I tapped the magazine. “Maybe show you the rest of those moves.”

  Her cheeks reddened again as she held up her left hand. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m married.”

  I gave her a wink as I paid the bill, grabbed the goods, and exited the store, convinced I’d made an impression on the lady. And now if someone came questioning the clerk, she’d tell them I was headed to Kenosha, and Bear and I would have at least a few hours to work undetected.

  I handed Bear a coffee and hoagie. The big man scarfed down his sandwich while I talked.

  “As soon as you’re finished let’s get out of here and find a spot across the street somewhere. I don’t want to lose sight of the entrance to that neighborhood.”

  He discarded the sandwich wrapper in the grocery bag, then pulled out of the parking lot. We found a nice spot a few blocks away on the other side of the neighborhood, located on the opposite side of the street. The view was perfect, allowing us to see every car, driver, and passenger that left.

  While waiting I slipped out of range and powered on a phone. A few button pushes later it was connected to my server and calls to a specific number would route to the cell phone. All I had to do now was wait. Temperatures were dropping, so I decided to take a chance and leave it powered on in the car.

  Bear glanced at the device. “You sure you wanna take that risk in here?”

  “What’s he gonna do? Fire me? Even if they can lock onto this, I’m using it once and dumping it. They won’t be able to reroute the call or gain access to the conversation. At most, they’ll figure out where we are, and I’m pretty sure they already know that.”

  Bear lifted his finger off the steering wheel. “Look at that.”