by James H Roby
“Don’t make a sound. I’ll have you free in a second.”
Now all he had to do was get out of there. Fatty wouldn’t be struggling on the toilet all day. Jordan couldn’t count on being out of the house before that happen. What would he do then? The point became moot.
“Yo, Dek,” TV man was shouting for Fatty. He turned around, “Why don’t you - What the -?”
TV man popped to his feet. Before he could utter another sound, Jordan stood and fired the Mark 23. A pop sounded before the man’s head snapped back and he dropped behind the couch. Blood splashed the man sleeping next to TV man. He woke up angry and immediately came to his feet.
“Damn! What the hell is this?” He turned to face Jordan. Shock registered on his face and Jordan discharged another round. The man went down without another sound.
Robin shook violently in a vain attempt to get free. Before Jordan could calm her, Fatty emerged from the bathroom. He read the danger in the room and drew an Uzi from under his jacket. Jordan didn’t have time to aim his gun so he threw the Smith and Wesson, embedding it into Fatty’s throat. Bubbles of blood erupted. His brain sent one last impulse to his finger and fired a burst from his Uzi into the ceiling.
Robin screamed. Shouting and the sounds of running came from upstairs. Jordan sprinted for Fatty. He pulled the knife noisily from his throat.
“E, I’ve been made.”
“Yeah, I figured that’s what all the shouting and shit was about.” E-Man’s voice said into Jordan’s ear. “I’m ready.”
Jordan went back to Robin. He sliced the last of the cord with one swift motion. He tore the pillowcase off Robin’s head. Her beautiful face was gripped with fear. Tears flowed freely. He didn’t notice. There was only one time Robin didn’t look beautiful to him and this wasn’t it. He forced himself back into reality.
“We’re outta here.”
Robin nodded and Jordan took her hand. He headed back to the stairs just as one of the men came down. Jordan fired another silent shot. The man took the bullet in the chest and fell down the remainder of the stairs.
“E, where’s that cover fire? I got company down here.”
“You want some more?” E-Man said. “I can stop.” On E-Man’s side, Jordan heard the pop-pop-pop of automatic fire.
He darted up the steps with Robin in tow and imagined E-Man was doing the best he could from his position. Jordan got to the top of the stairs and burst out of the side door. He dragged Robin along the side towards the backyard.
“E-Man! Get the car. We’re on our way!” Jordan and Robin made it to the back yard. She screamed again as they passed the first guard Jordan encountered.
“It’s OK! We’re almost there!” He pulled her along. He looked over his shoulder to ensure she was still moving. As he turned, two men with assault rifles rounded the corner of the house. Jordan stopped and whirled Robin behind him. He drew aim – lights from the house illuminated the men. Three shots and the men fell.
Jordan pulled Robin on. At the rear fence, he lifted her by her waist and nearly threw her over the fence. They raced through the yard and on to the front of the house on Grand Boulevard.
The van idled in the street, E-Man at the wheel. Jordan threw open the side door and pushed in a dazed Robin. He was about to get in, when he turned. Two more gunmen rushed from behind the house. Jordan fired. The men fired back. Bullets bounced off the van. Inside, Robin screamed as the ricochets echoed.
“Get in!” E-Man shouted from behind the wheel. Jordan continued to fire. The rage he had bottled up since leaving Small’s had found a release and would not be denied. No telling how long Jordan would have stood there if he hadn’t ran out of bullets.
“Goddamn it, Jordan!” E-Man shouted again, “Get in now!”
No other option, Jordan leapt into the van. He brought the door shut with a slam. “Go, go, go!”
Tires whined as E-Man mashed the petal to floor. They sped off, the sounds of bullets whizzing by grew further and further apart and finally ended altogether.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Loose Ends
Slash burst through the door of the Michigan Avenue motel close to the Detroit-Dearborn border. A splash of light from the open door filled the room. Random was on the far side of the sole bed. He came quickly to his feet, fasting his pants. Slash noticed a kneeling figure with a pink bob of hair just before Random.
“What could you possibly want now?” Random said.
“The girl’s gone.” Slash swallowed air in gulps.
Random’s patience was a long-ago memory. “No, she’s right here!”
“Not that girl,” Slash said. He cocked his head slightly to the side, as if trying to draw a memory from Random’s brain. The light bulb came on and Random’s mouth went round. He turned to the girl and without a word pointed to the door. The lady of the evening understood and left in a flash.
Alone, Random turned to his right-hand man. “Jordan?”
Slash nodded. “I got a call a second ago from one of the boys. No one really saw anything but said it was like a military hit – the guy had sniper support just like in the movies!”
Slash rate of breathing came down some as he awaited his boss’ instructions. He definitely didn’t expect Cody to scream at the top of his lungs. Just as quickly as he started screaming he stopped. He grabbed a lamp next to the bed and hurled it through the window.
“How did he know?” The question was more to himself. A moment’s thought. “Small.”
Slash twisted his lips. “I told you that spade would be trouble.”
Random smiled as he retrieved his phone from the dresser. “He is, indeed a rat, my friend. Fortunately, I know how to handle rats.”
“You kill ‘em,” Slash said.
“Exactly.” Random turned his attention to his phone. “Mr. Small has outlived his usefulness. Can you handle this?” A pause. “Thank you.”
~
E-Man looked up in the rearview mirror and caught Jordan’s eyes. The interior of the van was filled with three sets of labored breathing and the dull drone of the engine. Jordan sat next to Robin. He wanted, needed to touch her, but given her last few hours, he thought better of it. He reached behind them to the third row of seats and pulled out the A2 jacket. He draped it over her shoulders, doing his best to conceal her teal Victoria’s Secrets and return a portion of her dignity. Her head popped up for a moment to meet his eyes. Silently, she dropped it again and pulled the jacket tight around her.
“Where to?” Jordan turned to E-Man’s voice from the front.
“Small’s. He knows where Random is.”
“Damn, yo. Didn’t we just leave there?”
Jordan arched an eyebrow at E-Man then threw his head in Robin’s direction. “I was kinda in a hurry…”
“Oh. Yeah.”
~
Small fell in and out of consciousness. He had no idea how much time had passed. The only thing he was sure of was the pain all over his body. No bones felt broken but everywhere else throbbed with a pain he didn’t even know was possible. It hurt to think, forget about moving. Every attempt was like knives throughout his body. He had to reach Random. To warn him. There would be hell to pay, he was sure – but if he could get to Random, tell him about the detective’s plan to save Robin…maybe he could still get through this mess with his skin intact.
He rolled to his side and for a moment and almost blacked out. Several seconds of heavy breathing passed before his darken house came back into focus. Across the floor he saw it – his cellphone. A bit of good news. All he had to do now was to slide across the floor to it. If it had been on the table or laying on the couch, all bets were off. No way could Small stand in his current condition. He collected what little strength he had left to begin his trek of six, maybe seven feet to his fallen phone. Behind him, close to the door, floor boards squeaked. He rolled over onto his right shoulder to investigate. His vision was blurred, still he recognized the man in the room.
Small breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank God, it’s you.” He said, “Help me up. We got to warn Random. Jordan -”
Small stopped in mid-sentence. A gun appeared in the man’s hand. Before he had time to scream, Kevin Small felt a crushing blow to his head. What was left of his brain still inside his skull conjured a vision of Robin Summers looking at him. Tears in her eyes, she asked, “Why?”
Small’s world went black before he could think of a reply.
~
The first sign something was wrong was the small knot of men on the corner. They milled around aimlessly. Some were on their phone, but everyone down to a man looked in the direction of Kevin Small’s house.
“Your call,” E-Man said. His eyes again up to the rearview. Jordan knew E-Man felt something was amiss. It was going on midnight and something must have brought these men out of their homes, just to stand on the street. The absence of a pretty girl narrowed the choices. And while Southfield was not Detroit, the residents, particularly on this street, were cut from the same cloth.
“Pull in the driveway,” Jordan said. “Keep the engine running.”
E-Man did as he was instructed. Just as the wheels came to a stop, Jordan slid open the van’s side door and leapt out. He looked back to see Robin’s head darting about, recognizing where she was and E-Man, behind the wheel, armed again with the Px4 Storm.
Jordan cut across the grass, taking the straightest route to the door. He was more than a little surprise to find the door still open. The surprise was compounded by the fact the car watching the house was gone. He drew the suppressed Mark 23 and entered the house. Still dark, moonlight from the bay window in the front the only source of light. He wasn’t inside for two seconds when he found Small. He was almost in the same spot Jordan left him, but now a bullet hole marred his babyface.
He knelt beside Small. No need to check for vitals, he was clearly deceased. A coppery smell of blood filled the air and glistening chucks of what could only be brain matter form a trail behind Small. Jordan shook his head.
“You brought this on yourself,” Jordan whispered. “But who did-”
“Jordan!” E-Man shouted.
The Mark 23 came forward as Jordan took aim at the door. Robin ran into the room, the leather jacket long gone. She came straight to Small’s dead body and kicked it in the stomach.
“Bastard!” Robin screamed.
Jordan leapt to his feet to restraint her. She fought in his arms. She reared back to spit on the dead man. As the spittle flew forward, Jordan intercepted it with his hand. E-Man at the door, twisted his face in disgust.
“Evidence.” Jordan said, wiping his hands on his black tactical pants. If Robin’s spit was found on Small, it would place her at the scene of the crime. E-Man nodded, probably agreeing with his partner’s decision if not his methodology.
“OK,” Jordan said, “there’s nothing for us here. Let’s get out of here.”
Jordan dragged the kicking Robin out of the house. He clamped a hand over her mouth to curtail the stream of profanity. He passed his jacket on the lawn and picked it up. E-Man opened the door for them and Jordan literally threw Robin into the van. On the other side, the young men grew closer. It was definitely time to leave. Jordan close the rear door at the same moment E-Man floored the gas.
“The office,” Jordan said. “Do an SDR.” Spy talk for Surveillance Detection Route – a measure of avoiding pursuers. Given the disruptions to Random’s operation, being followed was a low possibility, but no one ever died from being too careful.
Thirty-seven minutes later, E-Man guided the van into its usual parking spot behind the UrbanKnights office. The streets of downtown were empty of life and a cold unearthly still filled the night. Jordan exited and guided Robin out. Whatever fight she had in her evaporated during the trip and she offered no resistance as Jordan helped her to his corvette, parked next to the van. After Jordan buckled Robin into the sports car, he went back to E-Man who hung back at the van, trying not to crowd Jordan in this awkward moment.
“So, now what?” E-Man said.
“Get Akio, take her somewhere safe.”
“Done. Then?”
Jordan headed back to the Vette.
“You and the fellas be back here tomorrow morning – we’ll finish this.” Jordan looked hard at E-Man. He wondered if the resolve of his friend was weakening under all the increase in violence. E-Man had made his feeling clear about working with, even in this indirect way, the government. He read Jordan’s mind.
“We cool, man,” E-Man said. A moment passed. “I can beat you up about this later.”
Jordan nodded and turned to leave.
E-Man said, “Where are you going?”
“Back home,” Jordan said.
“Really? How about one of the safe houses?”
Jordan shook his head. “I’ll be good. Besides, I half want Cody to try something.” He got in the car and drove off.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Lovers Again
The security from Jordan’s apartment building wouldn’t hold off a determined Random or any forces he had left. Still, it had a few things going for it. First it was off McDougall, a somewhat narrow street which would not be ideal for vehicles storming the gate. Secondly, an updated hotel with plenty of guests was just next door to the property would invite all sorts of unwanted witnesses.
Jordan cut the engine in his assigned parking space. He looked at his passenger and she was still catatonic. He exited the car, gun at the low carry. The three-story parking structure, decked out in red brick matching the apartment building was still as a tomb. Like E-Man, he completed a SDR en route home, still he checked around. A piece, a vital piece of this puzzle was missing. How did Random escape prison? How did he just happen on the one drug dealer who was dating Robin? And who killed Kevin Small? Jordan was sure all these questions had one answer. An unseen player on the board.
Satisfied they were alone. he opened the passenger door and lifted Robin out of the seat.
“OK, here we go…” They were face to face but Robin’s head rolled to the side like a puppet without strings. Jordan sighed. Bad enough he had to drag a woman in only her underwear from the parking garage to his apartment, but a woman in only her underwear in a state of semi-consciousness.
“Looking forward to this,” he said and wrapped his arm around her waist.
The space between the garage and the apartment was of course bathed in bright lighting, which, alone with the beams of the moon, made the blacktop glow. The security fence before the hotel did nothing to block the view. Fortunately, most of the guests were enjoying the comforts of their rooms at this late hour. Jordan’s luck continued as instead of entering the building through its main entrance, complete with doorman, he got inside through an unmonitored side door. He slid his keycard through the reader. The door popped open and Jordan and his less than cooperative guest entered the building.
The halls were empty so no one interrupted their trek to the third floor. Jordan leaned Robin’s limp body against the wall next to the door of unit 319. Another keycard swipe and they were in.
Galahad bounded across the empty living room to the door with all the uncoordinated cuteness one would expect from a puppy. His barks were a combination of confusion and anger. Jordan understood – the confusion was from the newcomer into his domain, the anger was because his master had been absent so long. Jordan didn’t have time to consider the benefits of a doggie daycare, he had to see to the needs of his guest.
Her bare feet slapped the hardwood floor leading to the master bedroom. Once inside, Jordan sat her at the edge of a king-sized bed. Her head hung so her chin touched her chest. Her hands cupped in her lap. He looked over her again. At the door, Galahad danced in place, still barking. Jordan didn’t have time for this. He closed the door. The dog’s whines sounded for a few seconds, then the sound of his body hunched against the door, followed by a long sigh. Jordan went back to Robin. He i
magined she was still in shock. At the very least, she needed a good night’s rest.
“I’ll be right back.” He went into the master bathroom and returned with a first aid kit. He set the kit next to the motionless Robin and knelt down in front of her.
“OK,” he said, “I’m going to check you for injuries. I’m not, you know, trying anything funny.”
Again, Robin made no signs of acknowledgement. Eyes stared down at her empty hand. Jordan took her silence as a sign it was alright to touch her. He ran his hands slowly down her arm. He checked for injuries not visible to the eye. Bruises under the skin, broken bones – things of that nature. He tried to stay focus, but he couldn’t help noticing how smooth her skin was. He shook his head and refocused his efforts. To look at her not as a woman but just a collection of limbs. It didn’t really work.