Powder Burn

by Ty Patterson

  He searched the ride and found a blanket, which he draped over them.

  ‘Someone will come for you,’ he told Cabal. ‘They’ll get your wounds treated and hold you.’

  ‘Hold us?’ the dealer shouted. ‘I’ll kill you—’

  ‘Try to stay alive until they arrive.’

  He climbed inside the Hummer and drove away without a second glance. He rolled down the window when he hit Torrance Boulevard and let the wind clear his mind.

  He drove automatically, paying little attention to the traffic, with just one thought in his mind.

  Panig Janikyan played me.

  74

  Zeb and his team rolled to the bluff in two SUVs in just over half an hour.

  He jumped out of his ride and spotted the mass of bodies immediately in the glow of the headlights.

  Cutter picked a good spot for interrogation. No one comes here, since the ground is rocky.

  ‘What kind of ride does Cabal have?’

  ‘Hummer.’ Beth guessed his thoughts. ‘It can drive here.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ he grunted as he removed the blanket covering the men. He inspected the wounds of the bangers and nodded to himself. They weren’t serious but needed attention.

  Bear bent over Cabal and ripped the tape from his mouth, who yelled in anger.

  ‘WHO ARE YOU?’

  Bwana joined them—tall, dark, his face all angles and edges. ‘What did he want?’

  ‘WHAT DID WHO WANT? WHO ARE YOU?’

  ‘The man who did this to you. What was he after?’

  ‘What’s that to you?’ Cabal raged. ‘He said someone would take us to a hospital. Is that you?’

  ‘We will,’ Bwana promised solemnly, ‘as soon as you tell us.’

  ‘Can’t you see we’re dying?’

  ‘You surely will if you don’t spill.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘We?’ Bwana chuckled humorlessly. ‘That dude who did this to you … we’re ten times worse than him.’

  * * *

  ‘Janikyan set Cutter up,’ Meghan said quietly as she drove the lead SUV back to the city.

  ‘Yeah.’ Zeb looked out of the window, at the passing traffic and flashing billboards, though none of it registered. He was thinking of his friend, who was out there, alone, wanted.

  ‘He’ll go after the Armenians. They’re bigger, more ruthless than the Street Front,’ Beth chimed from behind.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘We’ve got to help him.’

  ‘We will,’ he promised. ‘Not yet, though. Let him complete his investigation.’

  ‘He may not have time on his side. Have you forgotten cops and Covarra’s bangers are hunting him?’

  ‘Cutter Grogan is a survivor,’ Zeb said confidently. ‘LAPD, all those thugs, they have the wrong idea about him. They think they have him cornered in this city. They don’t know that’s when he’s most dangerous.’

  75

  ‘Tell me about the hospital,’ Covarra demanded when Salazar entered the living room.

  ‘I got some of our men to check it out,’ his deputy responded. ‘Lasko is on the fifth floor, in an intensive care room. Two cops outside, in the hallway, in shifts.’ He found a piece of paper and drew on it with a pen. ‘Two cops here, where the elevators open.’ He made a cross in the lane that marked the corridor. ‘They’re about a hundred feet away. Lasko’s room is at the end of the hallway. Windows on the wall that look over the parking lot.’

  ‘Only four men on that floor?’

  ‘Four are enough, Snake. All of them are armed. Our men say they’re alert.’

  ‘There must be stairs as well, and a service elevator.’

  ‘Stairs are next to the main elevators. Service one is down the hallway.’ He made another cross to indicate it. ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘What about cops on the ground floor?’

  ‘Yeah, five of them in the lobby. Two cruisers outside.’

  ‘Are they checking identities?’

  ‘They were doing that on Lasko’s floor the first night, but the medics protested. They said it was holding up the entire floor, the surgical staff and operations. They quit, after that.’

  ‘Access doors?’

  ‘Those are controlled by the cards the staff have. The ones they have around their necks.’

  ‘Send two of our best shooters. Don’t send more. They’ll stand out. Get passes for them. Kill two nurses if you have to. That hospital is large. It will have its own security, but it’s so busy no one will check the card and compare it to the face.’

  ‘How will they get out, Snake? The minute there are shots, the entire hospital will be alerted.’

  ‘A getaway car in the parking lot. Filled with our men.’

  ‘Yeah, but how do they get to the ground?’

  ‘They go out of that window in the hallway. I bet there will be pipes that go down.’

  ‘Boss, our men are not special forces kind of—’

  Covarra gripped his shoulder and squeezed lightly.

  ‘Killing Lasko is important,’ he said softly. ‘It doesn’t matter if our men die.’

  ‘Cops will know those are our men.’

  ‘Yes.’ Covarra’s eyes blazed. ‘I want them to know. I want Grogan to know, wherever he’s hiding.’

  ‘LAPD will wonder why we killed the cop.’

  ‘Let them. With Lasko dead, there will be no witness to what happened.’

  ‘Our best shooters, boss? Those are Munoz and Rodrigo. You want to sacrifice them?’

  ‘They’re smart, they’ll get away. And if they don’t,’ Covarra shrugged, ‘we have other men who are just as good. We get new recruits every day.’

  ‘Do it tonight,’ he ordered and dismissed his deputy with a flick of his fingers.

  * * *

  Cutter’s phone buzzed when he was in the shower. He turned off the water and cocked his head. Yeah, that was his device vibrating on the table. He toweled himself hastily, went to the living room and checked the number.

  ‘Cesar?’ he asked cautiously as he looked through the window of the Laguna Beach motel room he had rented the previous night.

  ‘I have heard talk,’ the banger whispered. ‘You’ve got to go to the hospital tonight.’

  ‘Which hospital?’ Is he talking about Cabal and his men? No, that can’t be. Beth said she would get those men collected last night.

  ‘Where Lasko is,’ Cesar hissed angrily.

  ‘Why?’ he straightened abruptly. ‘What’s going down?’

  ‘Snake has ordered a hit. It will happen tonight.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Cutter turned cold.

  ‘Of course, ese, why would I call you otherwise?’ the hitter exclaimed irritably. ‘Munoz and Rodrigo are the shooters. They’re good, very good. I and other bangers will be in the parking lot, to get them away after the hit.’

  ‘How will they get inside the hospital?’

  ‘I don’t know. They’re planning it themselves. Fuse told us to be in the getaway car.’

  ‘What time will you be there?’

  ‘He said to be there at nine pm.’

  * * *

  Cutter dressed as his thoughts raced. He reached for his phone to send a warning text to Difiore. What about Covarra’s informer in the LAPD?

  His fingers paused. She and Quindica will tell Dade; the snitch will come to know soon enough. That might get Covarra to act sooner.

  No, he couldn’t take the risk.

  How could he stop the hit, though? He was alone, and every cop would be looking out for him.

  I’ll have to try.

  He put his personal mission behind him as he applied his disguise. He had slept well and his body was almost back to peak physical shape. Janikyan … his eyes narrowed as he recollected Cabal’s revelations the previous night. He isn’t going anywhere, he decided. Lasko comes first.

  * * *

  It was midday when he took the Land Cruiser to Boyle Heights. The choice between Limon’s
cab and the SUV had been easy to make. Chuck’s armored this one up. I’ll need its protection in case I have to make a fast getaway with cops firing at me.

  Not just the cops. He grinned sardonically. Street Front, too.

  The hospital was on Chavez Avenue and occupied an entire block. Brown and cream-colored walls, a small parking lot in the front, a bigger one at the back.

  He parked his ride in the rear and helped a couple wheel their elderly relative from their van. He accompanied them, making small talk, looking like he was part of the family.

  He drifted away when they entered the lobby and went to the coffee machine. Poured himself a drink, stood in a corner and took everything in.

  Marble floor, high ceiling, large seating area, busy reception desk, at which uniformed staff directed visitors and patients. He spotted five cops, three of them alert, watchful, while the other two were lounging on couches, checking their phones.

  He kept his eye on them, but none of the officers moved from their positions. They’re the perimeter; there will be more throughout the building and on Lasko’s floor.

  His attention went to a wall-mounted TV where a news bulletin was playing. His photograph came up briefly as a journalist explained why he was wanted.

  Cutter put on a disinterested look, briefly. He looked nothing like his real self and hadn’t attracted the attention of the officers in the lobby.

  He threw his coffee cup into a trashbin and went down the hallway behind a cleaning attendant.

  ‘Buddy.’ He tapped the man on his shoulder and dropped his voice conspiratorially. ‘This is where that cop is? Lasko?’

  ‘Yeah,’ the attendant said wearily, ‘fifth floor. He’s just a cop, you know? Not some Hollywood actor.’

  ‘Thanks, bud.’ Cutter gave him a big smile. ‘You just won me ten bucks. I had a bet with my friend.’

  He watched the attendant go down the hallway and through a door. Returned to the lobby and watched the elevators. I’ll need a swipe card … what about the stairs?

  They were behind large double doors that opened automatically when he neared them. He climbed swiftly, keeping his head down, and on the fifth floor pulled out his phone and talked with an imaginary caller.

  ‘Sis,’ he said loudly as he entered the corridor. ‘The operation went well. Mom’s in her room now … yeah, intensive care. I’ll hang around all day. You’ll be coming in the evening?’ He passed two cops, aware that they were sizing him up, and went to the water dispenser. ‘Yeah, bring those cookies. I don’t think she’ll be able to eat, but she sure can smell them.’

  He poured himself a cup and drank it deeply. He yawned and stretched as he turned around and took in the entire hallway.

  Rooms on each side. Chairs for visitors. The two cops who had watched him, a distance away, in front of the elevators, next to which were the stairs. Doctors and nurses hustling, attendants rolling in oxygen tanks, equipment to various rooms.

  He went past more rooms, a coffee machine and snack dispenser, then spotted two more officers lounging against the wall, outside a room.

  Cutter scrolled through his phone as he approached them, snorted and chuckled as if he had read a joke.

  ‘Sir?’ One of them barred his way.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Are you a patient? Visiting someone?’

  ‘My mom’s in a room down there.’ He jerked his head down the corridor. ‘I’m just stretching my legs. Something up?’ he asked curiously.

  ‘You can’t come any further, sir. Security. Please turn back.’

  ‘Some VIP in that room? Who is it?’

  ‘Sir.’ The officer used his command voice. ‘Please leave.’

  Cutter gave them a grouchy look and turned back. He occupied an empty chair and played with his phone idly as he mounted watch. He spotted Munoz and Rodrigo when they arrived through the elevators and went to the coffee machine, but nothing about them pinged his radar.

  * * *

  ‘You see them?’ Rodrigo barely moved his lips as the machine filled his cup.

  ‘Yeah.’ Munoz bobbed his head in thanks as he took the drink. ‘Two cops just behind us, two more down the hallway.’

  ‘That’s where Lasko is.’

  They made a show of laughing at a joke and went as close as they could to the injured officer’s room. They stood in front of a wall-mounted bulletin board and read through the posters and leaflets pinned to it.

  ‘Cameras, cops, how will we do this, ese?’ Rodrigo whispered.

  ‘We’ll have to shoot them and Lasko. No other way. Go down the stairs and join the crowd running outta here. This is bad. For us. Snake and Fuse aren’t giving us enough time to plan.’

  ‘It’s all risky. You saw the cops in the lobby. They’ll come rushing at the first sound of shots.’

  ‘Snake and Fuse don’t care, do they?’ Munoz said bitterly. He took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. ‘We may not live through this.’

  ‘Ese.’ Rodrigo laughed humorlessly. ‘We kill people for a living. We are bangers. You really thought you would live a long life?’

  ‘So, we got a plan?’

  ‘Yeah. Shoot the cops and Lasko. Go down the stairs and, hopefully, we will get to the getaway ride.’

  ‘It would be better if we were disguised as doctors.’

  ‘Let’s kill two of them, take their coats and ID.’

  * * *

  Cutter took in the men at the board and assessed them automatically. They seem to be good friends. He waited and observed, became part of the furniture, didn’t attract any attention.

  The shift change happened at four pm. The elevator doors opened and two officers replaced the hallway cops, after a short discussion. Two other uniformed officers took over on Lasko’s detail.

  Cutter saw one of them nod his head in his direction. He’s telling the arrivals about me.

  He got to his feet after half an hour and pretended to wince as if his knees hurt from the prolonged sitting. Anything to give the impression that he wasn’t a threat.

  He went down the stairs as he thought of the setup. That hallway has just two exits, the elevators and the stairways. Both can be easily blocked.

  There was no easy way to hit Lasko and escape. Not unless the shooters were prepared to die.

  Bangers are not suicide killers, he thought. Shoot indiscriminately and get away. That’s what they might do.

  How do I get away if I stop them?

  He would be caught on cameras and the entire hospital would be alerted by the shots. Nope, can’t go down the elevators or the stairs.

  He went into the lobby and out, spotted the two men who were heading to their ride. Thought nothing of them as he circled the building and went to its side, where there was more parking. He squinted up and counted windows. That fifth one, that’s where Lasko’s room is. He could crash out through it, but there were no drain pipes, no support for him to come down. There were ledges, however, at the bottom of each window.

  His eyes lingered on them, and he nodded to himself.

  That would be his escape route.

  76

  Cutter returned at six pm. Armor over his chest, loose shirt, jacket on top, several spare magazines in his cargo pants pockets.

  He nodded to the Elevator Cops and went outside a room that had no visitors. Waved at the patient through the window and grinned widely. ‘I’ll be here, all night,’ he told the elderly woman who smiled uncertainly as she tried to place him.

  He occupied a chair, pulled out his phone and briefed his nonexistent sister that he had returned with his takeout meal.

  Room Cops were close to a hundred feet away, to his right. The elevator and stairs were at his ten-o’clock. No sign of bangers. Nothing on the floor to indicate that a hit was impending.

  Two nurses came out of Lasko’s room after a while, pushing a trolley of equipment and medicines.

  ‘Yeah, he did that to me, too.’

  Cutter’s ears pricked.

  ‘He
clutched my hand. I don’t think he saw me. His eyes had that wild look, you know. He didn’t come. That’s what he said. I told Choudhary about it.’

  ‘He did the same to me, too,’ the other nurse nodded. ‘Shame he had a relapse. Doc said he wasn’t going to tell the cops. Not yet. He thinks they will crowd around him and get him to talk. That won’t be good in his current condition.’

  Lasko talked? How? Wasn’t he intubated?

  He followed the nurses to the service elevator but didn’t get anything more from them. He checked the news on his phone. No change to the cop’s condition.

  He must have recovered briefly. That nurse said he’d gone back to critical condition.

  He returned to his seat and thought about Lasko’s words. They didn’t make any sense to him. They don’t have to. People say things when they are in that state.

  He read various news articles to see if there was any mention of Lasko’s family. Didn’t find any references.

  Fired off a text to Beth.

  Does Lasko have parents? Siblings?

  No response.

  She or Meghan are quick to respond usually. He shrugged. They weren’t there to do his bidding.

  ‘Ese,’ Cesar called at eight pm. ‘We are here.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘In the parking lot at the back.’

  ‘What about the shooters?’

  ‘I don’t know where they are. They said we should be ready to roll as soon as they turn up.’

  ‘Are you alone?’

  ‘No, ese,’ the banger whispered, ‘there are many in my ride. All of us are armed. Did you alert the cops?’

  ‘How can I? I’m a criminal in their eyes. What do Munoz and Rodrigo look like? Will they be in disguise?’

  ‘I’ve got to go,’ Cesar said hurriedly, ‘someone’s calling me.’

  * * *

  A white-coated doctor arrived at eight-thirty pm with the same two nurses in attendance. He spoke briefly with the Room Cops and went inside Lasko’s care unit.