The Combative

by Mike Ryan

  Jacobs shrugged. “What other choice is there?”

  “We fight,” Franks answered. “That’s the other choice. We don’t just go hiding in a closet when the mice come in. We fight them head on, man. We lick those suckers.”

  Jacobs knew what he was saying, though, like usual, it was a terrible choice of metaphors. He looked away for a second. “Well…”

  “There’s no wells, man. He wants you and Gunner, so we’ll give him you and Gunner.”

  Jacobs, Tiffany, and Thrower all looked at Franks, unsure at what he was getting at.

  Franks looked at each of them. “And a whole lot more! That’s what I’m getting at!”

  “Ames is likely going to have everyone he’s got left there,” Jacobs said. “Could be twenty, thirty, forty men still.”

  “So?”

  “I mean, we’re good, but he’s not gonna release the order on Tiff’s parents until he sees we’re there and not giving a problem.”

  “So we make him think you’re not giving a problem.”

  Jacobs sighed. “Listen, I know you’re just trying to help, but maybe it’s just time. Maybe this is as far as I can go.”

  Tiffany lunged at Jacobs and hugged him close. “Don’t ever say that.”

  “Besides, it’s not just you and Gunner going,” Thrower said. “You can count me in.”

  Jacobs looked at him and instantly shook his head. “No. No, I appreciate the gesture, but I can’t. You can’t.”

  Thrower grinned. “Pretty sure that’s my call.”

  “You know what you’ll be walking into.”

  Thrower’s smile widened. “I got nowhere else to be.”

  “Nate, look, I can’t…”

  “It’s already settled. I’m going. That’s my call.”

  “I’m going too,” Franks said.

  “What?” Jacobs said. “What do you plan on doing?”

  “Hey, I dunno, I’ll figure it out. I always do.”

  “You and guns don’t exactly go together.”

  “Hey, I saved you from, uh, uh, uh, what’s her name?”

  “Yeah, and I still say that was a lucky shot.”

  “Got the job done, didn’t I?”

  “I’ll go too,” Tiffany said.

  Jacobs put his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s just pump the brakes here a little bit. If Nate wants to come, fine, I know he can handle himself. If Eddie wants to come, I guess I’ll OK it. But in no way, absolutely no way, are you coming. That is a capital NO.”

  “But…”

  “No buts. You’ve never even fired a gun, and I wouldn’t even dream of putting you in that kind of situation. I’d be too worried about you to worry about what I was doing. No. You’re not going. But I appreciate the thought.”

  “I got an idea,” Franks said, a smirk forming on his face.

  “What’s that?”

  “You’ve still got a friend on the police force, right?”

  Jacobs instantly shook his head, thinking he knew what was coming. “No, won’t work. If I tell Bucky and they swoop in on Ames, he might have given orders to his guys that if they don’t hear from him, that they take out her parents automatically. Can’t chance that.”

  “That’s not what I’m thinking.”

  “Then what?”

  “Tiffany finds out exactly where her parents are. She goes down to meet them. We have Buchanan meet her there too, with maybe a few extra officers. Let them feel the police presence there.”

  “Doesn’t mean they won’t take a shot.”

  “Hear me out, man. You go meet Ames as agreed. When he sees you, you make sure you don’t do anything until he tells his guys to stand down. Then when he does, you give me a signal. Scratch behind your ear or something. When I see that, I’ll call Tiff and let her know. Then she and Buchanan can take her parents away to safety. What do you think?”

  “A lot of moving parts.”

  “Could work, though,” Thrower said.

  “Yeah. Maybe,” Jacobs said.

  “But we ain’t got time to dilly-dally,” Franks said.

  “If we start fighting, though, what’s to prevent Ames from putting the order back on again?” Jacobs asked.

  “If the cops get them to safety, it’ll be too late for them to do anything.”

  “I got a better idea,” Thrower said.

  “What’s that, my man?”

  “We can still do Eddie’s plan. But I keep a rifle pointed at Ames. As soon as I see that signal from Brett, I take him out. That way when things go down, he’s not able to give the order. And the rest of them will be too busy ducking bullets to care at that point.”

  Franks nodded and smiled. “I like it. I like it.”

  “What do you think?” Thrower asked Jacobs.

  Jacobs thought about it. “It could work.”

  “It’s our best shot,” Franks said. “Ain’t no captain going down with the ship on my watch. This ain’t the Titanic. Ain’t no iceberg taking this boat down. We’re all making it to shore.”

  “If we’re gonna do it, we need to get things in motion now,” Thrower said. “Time’s ticking.”

  “Everyone agree it’s the best plan?” Jacobs asked, looking at each of them. They all agreed that it was. “OK.” He got out his phone and called Buchanan, hoping he wasn’t already at a crime scene or in the middle of an investigation that he couldn’t pull himself away from.

  Thankfully, Buchanan picked up immediately. “What’s up, Brett?”

  “I need a favor from you. I don’t have a lot of time to go into it, and it’s gonna take you trusting me, but I could really use your help.”

  “Name it.”

  “I need you to grab a couple of uniformed guys and head down to Rainbow Beach.”

  “What for?”

  “Protection. Two people there are in danger.”

  “Names, faces?”

  “I’m gonna text you the phone number of a girl named Tiffany. She’s gonna meet you there. She’s their daughter. When you get there, call her so she sees you. She’ll explain everything.”

  “This Tiffany… is she a flake or something?”

  “She’s… special to me. I need this.”

  “Part of your healing process?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Say no more. Just tell me one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “This Tiffany… is she gonna help you get back to the old you?”

  “I think so.”

  “That’s good enough for me. I’ll be there.”

  “Thanks, Bucky. I owe you. More than I can ever probably repay.”

  “Hey, if you and this girl… you make this work… that’s all the payment I’ll ever need.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’ll get there in about fifteen minutes.”

  Jacobs put his phone back in his pocket, then looked at Tiffany. “You should probably get going so you can meet him there. He said he’ll get there in fifteen minutes.”

  Tiffany still looked worried. “What about you?”

  Jacobs grinned, trying to put her mind at ease a little. “Hey, with all these guys behind me, how could we go wrong?”

  Tiffany’s eyes started tearing up. She put her arms around him and pulled him tight to her body. “Please come back to me.”

  Jacobs took a second to actually enjoy holding her. He put his face into the side of her hair. It was a moment that he didn’t want to give up. “I’ll do everything I can.”

  Tiffany reluctantly pulled away. She got down on one knee in front of Gunner and started petting him. “You make sure you bring him back to me, OK?” Gunner let out a growl. “You better come back to me too, understand?” Gunner then licked her face. Tiffany wiped her eyes, then stood back up and looked at the rest of the team. “You all be careful, OK?”

  “Don’t worry,” Thrower said. “I’ll make sure everyone gets back.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.”

  “You better get goi
ng,” Jacobs said.

  “I know you’ve talked about Buchanan before, but…”

  “You can trust him. I wouldn’t trust anyone else for this.”

  “OK.” Tiffany leaned into him and planted a kiss on his lips. “Let me know when you’re safe.”

  “I will.”

  They all stood there and watched Tiffany walk out the door. Franks and Thrower left the room to get themselves ready and armed, while Jacobs went over to the window. He watched Tiffany as she walked to her car. Just before she got in, she looked back and saw Jacobs standing at the window. She gave him a little wave, a gesture that Jacobs returned. She got in her car and drove off.

  Jacobs stood there at the window, not wanting to move, watching until Tiffany’s car was out of sight. Thrower came over to him and put his hand on Jacobs’ shoulder.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll see her again.”

  “I sure hope so,” Jacobs said. “I’d like to think…” He never finished his thought, but Thrower knew where he was going with it.

  “C’mon, let’s get ready. We do this right, you’ll be on the beach with her sipping some fruity drinks in no time.”

  Jacobs grinned. “Yeah.” Though he certainly appreciated the words of encouragement, his friends were a little more confident in how things would play out than he was. He was hopeful, but his mind kept going to a dark place. He sure would have hated if this was the end for him. Just as he thought his life was going in a new direction, with a woman that he cared about. Now that there was light at the end of the tunnel, he sure hoped there wasn’t a train coming.

  17

  Jacobs, Franks, and Thrower put everything they thought they’d need into the car. Guns, ammo, any equipment they even thought had a chance of being used, it was there. And they all had bulletproof vests on.

  “How do you guys even move with these things on,” Franks said, squirming around to make it fit better. “So uncomfortable, man.”

  “You get used to it,” Jacobs said.

  Thrower tapped Franks on the back, making him stumble forward a bit. “Yeah, after a while, you don’t even feel the weight anymore.”

  Franks just looked at him. “You don’t say?”

  “Might as well get this show on the road,” Jacobs said.

  Franks looked at the time. “What’s the hurry? We still got a little time.”

  “Let’s just do this and get it over with. The sooner Tiffany’s parents are out of trouble, the better I’ll feel. Plus, you guys will need a few extra minutes to get into a good position.”

  “Speaking of that,” Thrower said. “What kind of layout are we looking at here?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never been there.”

  “I have,” Franks said, scratching his cheek. “It’s been a while, but it’s a secluded spot. There are two or three buildings there. There’s the main one in the middle, a bigger one, then two smaller buildings, one on each side.”

  “How many floors?”

  “Each one is two.”

  “Entrances? Exits?”

  Franks grabbed a piece of paper from the car and went over to the hood. The others followed him. He started drawing the layout of the area as best he could. “Don’t know about exits. All I know is the one in front. Whether there’s another one in back, I can’t say. Didn’t go back that far.”

  “What kind of buildings are they?” Thrower asked.

  “I don’t know. I think the two smaller ones on the side were office buildings or something, and the one in the middle was for manufacturing or warehousing or something like that. I’m not sure. Never really asked.”

  “What about us? We can’t go in the front door. I assume there’s a fence around the property?”

  “Oh yeah, you can count on that. Probably about six or eight feet, something like that.”

  “Well, if there’s a back entrance, you can assume Ames will probably have a guard on it,” Jacobs said.

  “No doubt, man.”

  “Which once again leaves the question,” Thrower said. “How are we getting in? If I’m gonna take out Ames as soon as you give your signal, I’m gonna need a clear line of sight right to him.”

  “What about nearby buildings?” Jacobs asked.

  “You think this is Ames’ first rodeo?” Franks said. “You think he’s gonna hold this little shindig in downtown Chicago? No!”

  “Let me guess, it’s a secluded area.”

  “Well, I mean, it ain’t in Timbuktu or nothing, but as I recall, there wasn’t much around it. Certainly not another building Nate’s gonna be able to use.”

  “Still the same question, then,” Thrower said. “We’ve gotta be able to get in unseen, or else this isn’t gonna work. If I have to fight my way in, that’s gonna throw the whole plan off. And if that’s the case, we might as well just both plow through the front in a tank.”

  Jacobs thought about it for a few seconds. “How close are these buildings to each other and the perimeter?”

  Franks rubbed his chin. “As I recall, the two end buildings were slanted in a little, like facing the one in the middle. Not all the way, just a slight angle.”

  “How much distance between the end buildings and the fence?”

  Franks shrugged. “Can’t say exactly. It’s been a few years. But as I recall, it’s not too far.”

  “Could you see the back of the building from the front?”

  “No, not too much.”

  Jacobs looked at Thrower. “Guess there’s your answer. You’re gonna have to cut your way in and get to that back of one of those buildings.”

  Thrower pointed to one of the side buildings. “If I get through the fence over here, and make my way to the back of the building, I’ll have to try to get into the building and make my way up to the second floor.”

  “Might be tough if Ames has got people stationed in back.”

  “Yeah. I don’t see another way, though.”

  “What if he’s already got men stationed inside that building?” Franks asked.

  Thrower started shaking his head. “I’ll just have to take out whoever’s in my way. Quietly.”

  “Yeah,” Jacobs agreed. “Because if you get into a loud battle before I show up, everything’s out the window. Pressure’s gonna be on you.”

  Thrower cleared his throat. “Yeah.” He looked at the other two men, knowing all the pressure would be on him to sneak in quietly. He already knew that was going to be a tall order. But it was one that he needed to fulfill.

  “Where you want me to be?” Franks asked.

  “Right behind him.”

  “You don’t want me in that other building?”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re not a fighter, Eddie. If Ames has men outside or inside that building, I don’t have confidence that you’re fighting your way in quietly.”

  “Gee, thanks a lot.”

  “Hey, we all have our skill sets. This isn’t at the top of your list. If you’re behind Nate, you’ll be there to support him and make sure nobody comes up on his rear. Or if he’s engaged, you can be his eyes. It’s still an important job.”

  “All right, man, all right. Hey, Tiffany and Buchanan should be at the beach by now, right?” Franks asked.

  Jacobs nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Why not just have them grab the parents now and whisk them to safety? Why wait for our signal?”

  “Because police presence or not, what makes you think they won’t shoot them with the cops around? Maybe they have orders to shoot if anyone makes a move to try to escort them from the area.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Didn’t think of that.”

  “Are you willing to take that risk?”

  “Not me, man.”

  “We’ll wait for the signal. I want them to hear Ames’ voice telling them to stand down. Anything else is a gamble I don’t want to take.”

  With everything squared away, they hopped in the car and drove to the meeting spot. They pulled off the main r
oad, driving onto a small side road that led through a group of trees on both sides of the road. They still couldn’t see the buildings yet, though there was a brief outline of the fence that could be seen from that position.

  “Let us out here,” Thrower said as they reached the first line of trees. “We’ll use the trees to get us in there without being spotted. They might have lookouts further up.”

  “OK. Got your comms in?”

  Thrower put his in his ear. “We’re good.”

  “I’m good,” Franks said.

  Jacobs looked at the time. “Still got about fifteen minutes. That enough time for you?”

  “I’ll make it work,” Thrower said.

  “Just give me all the time that you can. Stall if you have to.”

  “I’ll do what I can. Just let me know when you’re in position.”

  “You got it,” Jacobs said.

  Thrower and Franks, with backpacks on, got out of the car and immediately started running through the trees toward the side of the property. Jacobs watched them move until they were no longer visible. He checked the time again. He was going to give them every possible second that they needed.

  Jacobs looked over at Gunner, who was sitting in the passenger seat. He smiled at him and rubbed his head.

  “You ready for this, buddy?”

  Gunner let out a low-sounding growl, and lowered his head, indicating he liked being pet in that spot. Once Jacobs stopped, Gunner barked at him.

  “Yeah, I hope we make it out of this too.”

  Gunner then let out a strange mix that sounded like a cross between a bark and a growl.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. Hey, if I don’t make it and you do, I want you to… well, I was gonna say stick with Eddie, but you love Tiff too, so I don’t know, pick whoever you want, I guess.”

  Gunner barked at him again.

  “Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t talk like that. But I just want you to be prepared in case.”

  Jacobs continued talking to Gunner for the rest of the time that Thrower needed to get around to the side. It helped to pass the time. It also helped him to not think about all the bad things that could happen in the next few minutes.

  Knowing what could happen, Jacobs’ mind then went to his family. The past couple years, he’d always been so willing to join them. He’d always gone into any battle completely at ease with the prospect of not making it out. Now, it was strange. Now, he wasn’t ready.