After The Fall (Book 4): Undercover

by Nees, David

  The two went ahead and Jason sat down in a corner trying to be unobtrusive. He could hear multiple voices as Luke and Michael roused the senior officers and convinced them they had to come to a late-night meeting.

  After a half hour, they returned with five men looking tired and irritated. Jason sighed and got up. He realized that talking took as much out of him as action. If he was honest, he preferred the action. But now was the moment for talking. Maybe with enough words said, he wouldn’t have to take more drastic steps to secure this insurrection that he found himself nurturing.

  Introductions were made, not altogether friendly, and the group of eight men went to the club. They entered the command center and all sat down at a conference table.

  “Before you begin,” one of the men said. “Commander Roper talked with us today. He’s under threat. This man,” he pointed at Jason, “has threatened to kill him on sight, even tried to do so earlier. So, I’m not sure what you’ve got to say, but you’re not going to get a very sympathetic hearing.”

  “The situation is complicated, so you need to hear us out, including Jason,” Luke began.

  Jason put a hand on his arm. He needed to cut through side issues and make his point. Direct and without any gloss.

  “Let me get to the heart of the matter. Why we came out here to talk with you. First, I don’t give a crap what you think of me. My beef is with Larry Roper. I haven’t attacked any of your men, except in self-defense when under attack by Roper. But he’s planning on attacking Hillsboro. That’s where my family lives. I will protect them with my life and that involves protecting the town. Many will die in any attempt to overrun us. That’s why I’m here. To stop an attack before it begins. To save lives.”

  He paused to eye each one of the men.

  “Your city is run by the mafia. Maybe you didn’t know that before, but I think you do now. They’ve threatened your families and loved ones. I understand that. Mine are threatened by them as well. That’s why I killed Al Tagliani and Joe Nicoletti. It was to take out the mob’s leadership.

  Jason hunched over the table.

  “Along with decapitating the leadership, I set into motion the possibility of Charlotte’s civilian leaders retaking control over the city. Taking it back from the mob. It’s called a revolution, gentlemen. Some of you come from Charlotte. This your chance to get your city back.

  “In a revolution, the outcome depends on which side the military goes with. That’s you. You command the troops, not Roper, so it’s in your hands. Now I hear that you’ve gone soft on Daniels and the mayor. That you’re worried about your families.”

  Jason now leaned back and scowled at each of the officers.

  “I’m not impressed. With that attitude. Maybe you deserve the mob running your lives.”

  “I’m not going to sit here and be insulted.” One of the officers stood up.

  “Sit down!” Jason said in a loud voice. The man looked at him for a long moment. Jason pulled out his pistol and placed it on the table. “You’ll sit and listen to me, or else.”

  The officer sat back down.

  “If your group wasn’t a threat to Hillsboro, I’d let you suffer under the mob. We overthrew a small-time gangster in our town because his rule got more and more dictatorial and violent. That will happen here.”

  Jason now stood up, putting his pistol back in his coat pocket.

  “Do you think you’re dealing with civilized people? The mob has its own rules and they don’t exclude killing, especially outsiders.” He pointed to the men. “That’s you. You’re not family, so anything goes if you cross them.”

  “We don’t need a lecture from you on how to get along with the mafia,” another officer said.

  Jason turned to stare at the man. His anger clearly rising.

  “Apparently you do, since you’re all acting stupid.” He put out his hand as the man started to respond.

  “Shut up and listen. They’ve threatened you. The mask is off. You know what you’re dealing with. Now, stop being so goddamned stupid and cowardly. Go get your families and bring them here for God’s sake. Put them under protection. The mob can’t get to them if your men are worth anything. The mayor will arrest the capos and the mob’s leadership will be cleaned out.

  “What you’ll have left are leaderless gangsters. You can pick them up when they cross the line and do something stupid. Round them up and put their asses in jail. That’s how you take back this city.”

  Jason paused to look at each man in turn.

  “Are you in?” he asked. “Because if you’re not, you become my enemy and you don’t want that. If you think the mob is violent, try me when my family is threatened.”

  He sat down. No one moved. The room was silent. Finally, one of the officers raised his hand like a schoolboy. Jason nodded to him.

  “Commander Roper came over to meet with us earlier today. He asked us whether or not the mafia had threatened us or our families.”

  “What did you tell him?” Jason asked, now in a calmer voice.

  “We told him they had and we weren’t sure what to do about it. We agreed that we would follow his orders but we needed to be sure they were in synch with what the mob wanted.”

  “And what does the mob want?”

  The man shook his head. “That’s the problem, we’re not sure. They just seemed to want to make the point that they were in charge, not Roper or the civilian government. They let things go through Roper, but he had to follow their direction.”

  “How’d Roper take that?”

  The man looked around at the other four officers. “We’re not sure. He understood it, but didn’t comment on it. He did say that he was going to relocate because of your attempted assassination. He’d let us know where later.”

  “It wasn’t an assassination attempt. If I had wanted to kill him, he’d be dead. I don’t miss. His plan is to bug out to somewhere like South America when he has enough loot. He’s not loyal to Charlotte. I’m trying to convince him to go now so I don’t have to kill him.”

  The officers began to talk with each other. One of them looked over at Jason.

  “That puts things in a different light.”

  “Maybe. The main issue for you to understand is do you want to do the smart thing, the right thing and get your city back?”

  “Can we talk about this among ourselves? You’ve given us a lot of information. Can we have a few minutes alone?”

  Michael looked over at Jason. The officers weren’t armed. Jason nodded.

  “We’ll be right outside. You have five minutes to decide what you’re going to do.”

  He got up and the three men went left the club.

  When they were outside the door, Luke asked Jason, “What are you going to do if they don’t agree to help?”

  “Kill every damned one of them if I have to.”

  Luke looked at him with alarm.

  “We have to have the militia on our side. If a change in leadership is necessary there, I’ll bring it about.”

  Chapter 56

  ___________________________________

  W ithin the five minutes, the door opened and Jason and the others stepped back into the room.

  “We’re on board with you,” one of the officers said. “

  “Good choice,” Daniels said. He didn’t want Jason to say anything to upset the newly achieved agreement.

  “You all make me proud to be a citizen of the Queen City,” Luke said with enthusiasm. “As a spokesman for the mayor I am happy to welcome you on board.”

  The officers looked at him. They knew who he was but didn’t seem sure of his official position. Luke’s stating that he represented the mayor caught them off guard.

  The three men got up and left the room.

  “Still a lot to do,” Michael said as they left the airport.”

  “We live in exciting times,” Luke said.

  “Like the old Chinese curse,” Michael said looking over his shoulder at Luke who now sat in the bac
k seat.

  “Not sure it’s accurate,” Jason said. “In any case there’s some truth to it. Just don’t let the chaos monster get out of control.”

  After the officers ended their meeting, one of them wrote a note and gave it to one of the security men at the front door.

  “Take this to Vincent Bonocchi,” he said, showing him the address on the folded paper.

  The man nodded, got into a Humvee, and headed out from the airport. The officer then went back to his quarters and put on his full uniform to go round up the squads under his command.

  Dawn found the courier waiting at Vincent’s office. When the mobster arrived, he gave him the note and waited to see if there was a reply.

  Vincent read the note and told the man to just thank his officer. The man nodded and left.

  Vincent’s crew had assembled. He sent Rocco and Carlo out to contact the other capos and have them come to his office. They would be suspicious but wouldn’t stay away, not wanting to be left out of any scheming that might go on in their absence.

  “We got a problem,” Vincent said after the capos had arrived.

  They came with their bodyguards. There were nearly twenty men in the outer office and hallway including Rocco and Carlo.

  “Roper’s nowhere to be found. And somehow Jason and the FEMA guy have convinced the senior officers to support them and the mayor. They may be going out to arrest all of us. They’re trying to take back control of the city.”

  “The mayor’d never approve of that. He knows we’d whack him and his family,” one of the capos said.

  Vincent shrugged. “My guy in the militia thinks otherwise. If the militia goes with Jason and the FEMA guy, the mayor will too. Jason’s convinced them that now’s the time to strike. While we’re disorganized.”

  “Whaddaya think we should do?” another capo asked.

  Vincent noted that leadership was ceding to him. Information had tipped the scales in his favor. The militia officer sent the note to him, which indicated he thought Vincent was the next in line.

  “We strike back. I don’t want to sit around and wait for some militia pukes to arrest me. Do any of you?”

  He looked around the room. The capos were all shaking their heads.

  One of them spoke up. “What’s this guy who gave you the info want? He on our side?”

  “He’s trying to play both sides. He’ll go along with the others. But he wants to be sure if we win, he won’t get whacked.”

  “So…what?”

  “We grab this FEMA guy. I know the building where he lives. We grab him along with the mayor and the militia families. We do it now, before they can protect themselves. With them in our hands, the militia will cave.”

  The capos left Vincent’s office to round up the families. Two cars were sent over to Daniel’s apartment building. Eight men in all. They parked along the entrance to the garage to wait. Without knowing which apartment he lived in, they’d have to wait outside to catch him coming or going.

  The three men drove back to Daniel’s apartment. They had the militia on board and they had the mayor on board, after many assurances of lowering his risk factor. Now they had to wait for the militia to secure the families. Then the militia would start rounding up the capos.

  “We did it,” Luke said with enthusiasm.

  “It ain’t over yet. Better wait to celebrate,” Jason said.

  “You still want to see Vincent?” Daniels asked.

  “Yeah. There’s someone in his crew. I owe him something. I’m going give him the opportunity to do the right thing, get on the right side.”

  “But not kill Vincent, right?” Daniels said.

  “Right. And don’t worry, I won’t give away the game.”

  As they turned on the road to the apartments, Jason saw two cars parked outside, near the garage entrance. He could see some heads through the windshield.

  “Something’s not right,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” Daniels asked as he drove forward.

  “Those cars, there’s men in them…”

  “So?”

  “Stop. Something’s wrong.”

  “We’re almost there,” Daniels said.

  “Stop!”

  Daniels brought the car to a stop in the middle of the street.

  “I don’t see an ambush,” he said.

  Jason didn’t answer he just watched the cars. Nothing moved.

  “Is there another way into the building?”

  He was feeling naked. He only had his 9mm. His M4 and M110 were in Daniels’ apartment.

  Suddenly the two cars started up and accelerated towards Daniels’ car.

  “Back up! It’s an ambush.” Jason shouted.

  He pulled out his pistol as Michael put the car in reverse and stepped on the throttle. The car started swerving as Daniels fought to keep it under control. Someone stuck a pistol out of the passenger window in one of the cars and started firing.

  “Shit!” Luke shouted and dove for cover in the back seat. Jason leaned out of the passenger side and fired at the closest car. Two of his shots went through the windshield. The car swerved and hit the curb. The other car kept coming. More shots came from it and now from the stopped car as men poured out of it.

  “Ow, I’m hit,” Daniels cried out. The car swerved to one side and backed into a light pole. Luke opened the back door and began to crawl out.

  “Get out,” Jason yelled at Daniels as he opened the passenger door and returned fire again.

  “You go,” Daniels said. “I’m hit in the shoulder. Can’t get the door opened.”

  Jason reached back in and tried to pull Daniels to the passenger side. The man’s feet were caught under the pedals.

  “Go. I’m stuck.”

  Jason fired two more rounds, keeping the attackers at bay. The intensity of the return fire increased. Their position was untenable.

  “Go, go,” Daniels said again.

  Jason looked at him and tried to pull him again. He didn’t budge.

  “Surrender. Maybe they want to take you hostage. I’ll come for you.”

  With that he dropped to the ground. Luke was cowering at the rear corner of the car.

  “Follow me,” Jason shouted.

  He ran in a crouch, keeping the stalled car between him and the shooters. Luke followed in his footsteps. They made it around a corner. The shooting behind them stopped. Jason looked around. They needed to find a place to get out of sight but not trapped. Halfway down the side street which dead ended at the freeway, was a storm drain pickup.

  “Stay with me,” Jason said and took off towards the storm sewer.

  He pressed himself under the concrete canopy that covered the opening and slithered into the vertical shaft. There were iron rungs on the side and he used them to climb to the bottom.

  “Hurry,” he called up to Luke.

  When Luke got to the bottom, they took off in a crouch splashing along through the four-foot high drain. Jason kept them running past the next vertical shaft. After what he estimated was two blocks of running through the sewer, he climbed the next shaft they came to. It had a grate on top. With some effort Jason managed to pry it open and scanned the area. They were still inside the downtown, in a low, grass-covered swale that collected the storm runoff and directed it into the sewer.

  There was no one around. He put a fresh magazine in his 9mm and got out, keeping watch while Luke climbed after him.

  “Holy crap,” Luke exclaimed. “Do you think they killed Michael?”

  His eyes were still wide with fear. He was panting from both the run and the adrenaline. Jason kept scanning the area as he caught his breath.

  “Maybe not. The shooting stopped after we rounded the corner. They were shooting at us, not Michael. Hopefully they want him as a hostage. Probably wanted all of us.”

  “Bargaining chips?”

  Jason nodded.

  “Now we’re going back,” he said and started off towards the apartment building.

&nbs
p; Luke ran after him.

  “We can’t go back there. They’ll be looking for us.”

  “You’re right. Out on the streets like here. Not back at the apartment building. My guess is they’ve already gone.”

  Just as he spoke, they heard a car coming down the street they had just left. They hid in the bushes next to a building, well off the road. The car cruised slowly down the street. It stopped at the storm sewer. The grate was clearly misplaced. Two men got out with their AR-type rifles. They scanned the area and approached the drain. After checking down the shaft and looking around, they went back to the car. It turned around and headed back up the street.

  “They think we continued away from the ambush point. That’s in our favor.”

  “Why go back? Shouldn’t we go to the mayor’s office, or back to the airport?”

  “I need more than my pistol. And the mayor and the militia won’t be of any help if the mob has captured some of their families. That’s what I’m worried about.”

  “But how would they know?”

  “Someone might have tipped them off. That’s why they came for Daniels.”

  “Who would do that?”

  “One of the officers.” No one else knew. We have to take care of this ourselves.”

  “You know I’ll help. I’m your man. But I’m a player, a gambler, a schmoozer, not a fighter. I don’t do guns. I make my way with my wits and words.”

  “Well now you’re going to have to stretch yourself. ‘Cause I need your help. Even if you can’t shoot.”

  “Isn’t there any other help we can find?”

  “We don’t have time and I can’t be sure which one of that group sold us out.” Jason shook his head. “No, it’s on us. Let’s go.”

  Back at the apartment building, Jason took a fire extinguisher and broke open the door to Daniels’ apartment. He gathered his gear, checked his ammunition and they exited the building.

  Chapter 57

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  W here are we going?” Luke asked when they were back on the street.