Chance Reddick Box Set 1

by David Archer

  He had other reports that day, as well. While Baldizon had claimed he would take his soldiers and go home, there was absolutely no sign that they were leaving the city. Granted, Baldizon only had a few hundred, which was nothing compared to the three thousand soldiers Gonzalez commanded. This war would not last long once it began, and Gonzalez was beginning to believe that it was going to start before the day was over.

  Still, nothing more happened until well into the afternoon. At four o’clock, as he always did, Gonzalez decided to go home. He would have Hector, who ran his prostitution operation, bring a couple of his best girls over later, but for the moment Gonzalez only wanted to bask in his anger.

  He stomped out of his office, ignoring the polite goodbye from his secretary, then got into the elevator and took it down to the basement, where his car was parked. He climbed in and started it up, backed out of his space and then drove it up the ramp to the alley behind the building. He made his way out to the road, then headed south toward the gated community where he lived alone.

  He hadn’t always been alone. His wife Estrella had been with him when he first came to Louisville, and it was she who had picked out the house. Unfortunately, she had also picked out the young man who came to do the yard work and clean the pool, and Gonzalez had surprised them by coming home early one day. Nobody ever asked where Estrella had gone, any more than they noticed the new rosebushes Gonzalez had planted in the backyard.

  When he got to the gate that led into the subdivision, the security guard on duty smiled and waved him on through. Gonzalez was sure that the people around him had some idea of who he was and what he did, but it was amazing how the rich and affluent in America would accept just about anyone for a neighbor, as long as they could afford the right kind of house, or the right kind of car. His immediate neighbors were executives from nearby corporations, and they were always friendly and ready to chat when they saw him out in his yard.

  Today, he didn’t want to chat with anyone. It had been a long and stressful day, and he was ready to just relax. Tomorrow would undoubtedly be the beginning of even more stressful days, but for tonight he intended to put Baldizon and his arrogance completely out of his mind. As for Oscar—well, men like Oscar were not that hard to find. He already knew of several others of his soldiers who were just as willing to do whatever they were ordered to do, but stealing Oscar from Baldizon had seemed like a feather in his cap.

  He pulled into his driveway, but didn’t bother putting the car into the garage. The weather was nice and it wasn’t supposed to rain, so it just seemed like too much effort. He climbed out of the car and walked across his yard to his front door. Had he not been so focused on getting to the bottle of tequila that was sitting on his coffee table, he might have noticed the sound of footsteps as someone rushed up the stairs behind him.

  Just as Gonzalez stepped over the threshold, he felt something hard press deep into his back. He froze in his tracks until the insistent pressure urged him to move farther into the room.

  “Be very quiet,” ordered Chance as he closed the door. “Mr. Gonzalez, you and I have some business to discuss.”

  “Business? What kind of business?” asked Gonzalez as Chance pressed him up against the wall. Chance frisked the man and found nothing but a set of car keys. Apparently, Gonzalez was cocky enough to feel that he didn’t need to carry weapons.

  “Is there anyone else living here with you?” Chance asked.

  “No,” Gonzalez said. “Who are you, and what is this about?” He didn’t know who this intruder was, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to try to be a hero and attack a man holding a large automatic pistol with his bare hands. “If it is money you want, you can have everything I’ve got here,” said Gonzalez with a definite note of fear in his voice.

  “Well, now,” Chance said, “that’s what I like, a cooperative man. How much have you got?”

  Gonzalez shrugged. “Probably about fifty thousand.”

  “That’s not very much,” Chance said. “I figured a rich guy like you for more like a quarter million.”

  “It’s all I’ve got here,” Gonzalez said. “I can get you more.”

  “Forget it,” Chance said. “I’m not after your money. I’m here to talk to you about the murder of Jorge Baldizon. Do you remember that?”

  “Baldizon? The boy? Why do you think I had anything to do with that?”

  “Because I know what’s going on between you and that boy’s father,” Chance said. “You see, when you ordered Jorge to be killed, your people didn’t bother to wait until they got him alone. There was a girl killed along with him, do you remember that? That girl happened to be my little sister.”

  Suddenly, the sheer arrogance of someone invading his home made Gonzalez angry. “Do you have any idea who I am? Who do you think you are, coming into my home and…”

  Chance slapped him in the back of his head. “Shut your mouth,” he said. “You don’t speak unless I tell you to.”

  Gonzalez was startled, but he shut up. Chance spun him around, then pointed the big Maxim into his face.

  “Here’s the situation,” Chance said. “You and I are going to take a little ride, and then I’m going to give you one single opportunity to convince me not to kill you. If you manage it, fine, I’ll walk away and you and Baldizon can figure out how to kill each other. If not, then I’m going to kill you, Gonzalez. As far as I can see, there just doesn’t seem to be any other way of freeing myself from your cartel friends. I hope there are no hard feelings.”

  Chance spun him around again and walked him toward the door. “I’m putting the gun in my pocket,” he said. “Now, you might as well know that I’m not a bit bashful about using this thing, so if you try anything I’m going to blow your ass away. If you don’t believe me, just give it a try. You and your buddy Oscar can talk about it in hell.”

  Gonzalez suddenly perked up. “You? You’re the one who killed Oscar? But why? He did not even work for me when Jorge was killed.”

  “It’s a little thing called honor,” Chance said. “Oscar tried to trick me into murdering a young woman, part of some plot he had to get his hands on money he stole from Baldizon. I don’t like being tricked, and it turned out that young woman was innocent. Oscar signed his own death warrant the day he first lied to me. Now, let’s get in your car. I’ll give you back the keys so you can drive, but if you try to signal anybody that something is wrong, I’m going to kill you first and then them afterward. I’ve already seen the guard on your front gate, and you can believe he’s no match for me.”

  “I’m not going to try anything,” Gonzalez said. He got behind the wheel of the car as Chance walked around to the passenger side and got in beside him. Chance handed over the keys, and Gonzalez started the car and backed out of the driveway.

  Neither of them said anything until they got to the gate, and then Gonzalez smiled and waved at the guard. Chance kept the gun down out of sight, and they made it through with no problem.

  “All right,” Chance said, “you’re doing just fine. Now, all you need to do is listen to my phone, because it’s going to give you directions to where we’re going.” Chance hit a button on his phone, and the navigation app began speaking.

  Gonzalez followed the directions, and they came to an old warehouse building about thirty minutes later. Chance told him to drive around the back of the building, and to park near one of the doors.

  “Now hand me the keys,” Chance said, “And then get out of the car very slowly. Remember, if you try to run, I’m going to shoot you dead.”

  Chance got out on his side and walked around the car. Gonzalez had stepped out and was waiting, and Chance took hold of him by the arm and led him into the building. It was a large, empty warehouse, and quite dark inside, but there was a single light on in the middle of the big room. Chance held onto his arm and walked his prisoner straight toward it.

  There were people standing around the room, but most of them were difficult to see. Chance could tell there wer
e quite a few of them, and he was more than a little nervous, himself. If anything went wrong, there was very little possibility he would make it out of this building alive, and he knew it.

  Finally they got to the center of the floor, with the single light shining down. Chance brought Gonzalez to a stop, then turned him around so they were facing each other.

  “Okay, this is it,” Chance said. “I told you you’d get one chance to convince me not to kill you. Give it your best shot, man.” He raised his gun and pointed it into Gonzalez’s face, and the man’s eyes suddenly got wide.

  “Tell me what you want,” Gonzalez said. “Do you want money? I will give you a million dollars. You can build a chapel for your sister, something so everyone will remember her.”

  “Are you kidding me? Is that the best you can do? Come on, man, you gotta try harder than that.” He pressed the barrel of the gun against Gonzalez’s forehead, and the man suddenly began to cry. Tears were running down his face, and glistening in the overhead light.

  “Please,” he said, “please do not kill me. I do not know what you want, but I will give you anything. Whatever it is, I will give it to you.”

  Chance looked at him for a moment, then shook his head. “Sorry, Gonzalez,” he said. “You had one chance, and you blew it.”

  He squeezed the trigger, and Gonzalez’s body fell backward as his brains blew out and splattered on the floor.

  There was absolute silence in the room for more than a minute, and then Chance heard footsteps coming toward them. He looked in their direction, and saw Baldizon approaching, with several other men right behind him. They walked right up to where Chance was standing, and then all of them looked down at Gonzalez’s body.

  “Are you satisfied?” Baldizon asked the men around them.

  One by one, they nodded. They turned and looked at Chance, and then lowered their eyes.

  Baldizon laid a hand on Chance’s shoulder, and then spoke loudly. “This is Señor Chance Reddick, and he has been my associate for several months. Today, he has killed Oscar Reyes and Felipe Gonzalez over matters of honor. As a proven associate, he claims the authority of Felipe Gonzalez as his right.” He looked at the other men standing around them. “These men are the captains who served under Gonzalez, and they recognize Señor Reddick as their new general. Gonzalez showed weakness in his last moments, and is unfit to continue. Is there anyone here who will not accept Señor Reddick as the new general?”

  It started low, with just a few people answering, “no,” but then the volume seemed to climb. Within seconds, it had become a shout that was reverberating around the building. Baldizon let it go on for a few seconds, then held up his hands for silence and the noise died down.

  He turned to Chance. “Señor Reddick,” he said loudly, “you are the new general of the Zetas in Louisville. What is your first command?”

  Chance looked around the room for a moment, and thought briefly about whether he could make a difference if he simply held control over the city, but he knew that the cartel life was something he would never truly understand. Sometimes, a man had to choose the lesser of two evils, and Chance had made his choice.

  “It is my command,” he said loudly, using the phrase Baldizon had taught him, “that my authority be passed immediately to Manuel Baldizon. He is now the new general of the Zetas in Louisville. Is there anyone here who will not accept Señor Baldizon as the new general?”

  This time, there was thunderous applause. Chance stood for a moment, and then he slipped his gun into his waistband and made his way out of the building. Baldizon said something to the man standing close to him, and the fellow ran to catch up to Chance.

  “Señor Reddick,” the man said, “I am José. Señor Baldizon has told me to drive you to wherever you need to go.”

  “Well, good,” Chance said. “You can take me back to my car.”

  “Of course, señor ,” José said. “But Señor Baldizon wishes you to wait only a few moments. He says he wishes to speak to you before you leave.”

  Chance turned and looked back into the building, and waited while Baldizon accepted the congratulations of those around him. It took a few minutes, but then the old man started walking his way.

  “Mr. Reddick,” he said when he and Chance were face-to-face. “While it may seem to you that you have made a deal with the devil, I can tell you that your actions today have probably saved many lives, including many innocent lives. A war between factions of the cartels would have been quite terrible, and there are always those casualties who should never have been on the battlefield. I thank you.”

  Chance nodded. “I’m just glad it’s over,” he said. “I want to get back to Gabriella, so that I can let her know she doesn’t have to worry about Oscar sending anybody else after us. And that reminds me, what do you want her to do with that money? It’s actually yours, but I know her well enough to know she’ll want to give it back.”

  Baldizon smiled. “Didn’t you tell me you plan to marry Gabriella? Then, tell her to give it to you. It is my wedding gift to the both of you.”

  Chance grinned. “Nice wedding present,” he said. “And you and I are really done, right? It’s all over between us?”

  “We are finished, Mr. Reddick. All of the things you have done have only been of benefit to me. You will mean nothing, but if there is ever anything I can do for you, you need only to call.”

  “Mr. Baldizon, with a wedding gift like that, I think you’ve already done everything I could ever hope for.”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  It was after 8 o’clock by the time Chance got back to his Dodge, and he rolled into the farmhouse driveway at shortly after eleven. He got out and walked up the steps, trying to be quiet so as not to wake his grandmother, but then he found her sitting on the couch in the living room.

  “How did your personal business turn out?” Grandma asked. “Is everything all right?”

  Chance nodded. “It’s about as good as it can get,” he said. “I’d say that most all of my problems are gone, now, and I think it’s time for me to start living.”

  “Not until you tell me what this was all about,” Grandma said. “You can’t fool me, Chance, I spent too many years with your grandfather. Wherever you’ve been, there’s been violence of some sort. I can feel it all around you.”

  Chance sat on the couch beside her and rested his elbows on his knees. He looked at the floor by his feet for a long moment, then turned to face the old woman.

  “You remember, when I was a kid,” he said, “you used to tell me all those stories about the seven archangels in heaven. Most of them, they seem like the kind of nice folks you’d expect to be in heaven, but then you mentioned one of them and it sent a shiver down my spine. I don’t remember his name, but you called him the Angel of Justice.”

  Grandma nodded her head. “That was Raguel,” she said. “Why did he scare you?”

  Chance chuckled. “Probably because I was usually in some kind of mischief, and the thought of justice probably made me think of a good, hard whoopin’, you know? Anyway, since all of this happened after Robin and Grandpa dying, I’ve come to have a whole new perspective on justice. Today, I guess you could say that I was handing out justice. The man behind the attempts to kill Gabriella is dead, and that is justice. The man who originally ordered the hit on Jorge, and therefore on Robin, is also dead, and that is justice.” He turned his head and looked her in the eye. “I don’t know if there really is an angel of justice, but if he ever needs an apprentice, I’d be more than willing to take the job.”

  Grandma smiled at him. “Have you told Gabriella that everything is okay?”

  “Not yet,” he said. “Driving back from Louisville, I just needed time to let it all soak in. I’m going to give her a call now, but first you and I need to have a talk.”

  Grandma narrowed her eyes. “A talk? About what?”

  “About you putting this place on the market, and coming back to Nevada with me. Grandma, when I leave you this time, I don�
��t ever plan on coming back.”

  “Well, that’s fine,” she said, “but you’re asking me to walk away from my home. I’m sorry, but that’s not something I’m ready to do. You go on and marry your Gabriella, and don’t you worry about me. I’ll be just fine, and you can always come back and visit me sometimes.”

  Chance shook his head, but he took out his phone and dialed Gabriella’s number.

  * * * * *

  Gabriella was getting worried. Chance had called her two days earlier, and told her that their problems with the cartel were all over. He promised her that he would be home as soon as he could, and that he loved her and could not wait to marry her, and she had been ecstatically happy.

  Then, he had called her again just the day before, and told her that he was on the way. He was leaving that afternoon, and was planning to drive all night so that he would get back to her that much quicker. She had been overjoyed.

  He had called her again that night, and again this very morning, telling her that he was on the way and giving her updates on how far he’d made. Gabriella had been so excited that she decided that something special needed to be done to celebrate his return, and she had called Carmelita and Juanita to come down and help her get ready, and then Jerry Johnson had stopped by and she told him, so he decided to go home and get his big gas barbecue grill and bring it over so they could have a real celebration. He had brought along his wife and kids at Gabriella’s invitation, and even Mrs. Johnson was trying to pitch in and find some way to help.

  The trouble was that she hadn’t heard from Chance since early in the morning, and he wasn’t answering his cell phone. She was worried that something might’ve happened to him, and the thought that she could lose him was absolutely terrifying.