by Mike Ryan
“So, how we gonna find out? Or are we?”
“I think we’ll know the answer to that if any more of Vincent’s men drop in the next week,” Jones said. “Or if he retaliates, assuming he knows who did it.”
“Or we could put some ears on the street,” Recker said.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Who’s the best guy we know at that?”
“Tyrell.”
“If something’s going on, he’ll find it.”
2
Recker was already in the diner, waiting for Vincent to arrive. It was the first time Recker could remember actually beating Vincent to a meeting. It’d been two days since Jones learned of Vincent’s men being killed and Recker could only imagine the crime boss was a little unnerved the last few days. Recker took the liberty of ordering a coffee and a bagel while he waited. As he dug into his food, his phone rang. It was Tyrell.
“How’s it going?” Recker asked.
“Can’t complain.”
“How you making out with that assignment?”
“Not too good, man. Listen, from the people I’ve talked to, nobody knows anything about them guys getting knocked off.”
“Don’t know, or just too afraid to say something?”
“Nah, they don’t know nothing,” Tyrell said. “But there’s a lot of theories floating around.”
“Which are?”
“Most people think there’s a new player in town.”
“Why?”
“Has to be. Nobody’s gonna knock off Vincent’s crew unless you want a war. And the only way you’re doing this is if you’re fighting for territory.”
“Maybe it was an accident or some guys who didn’t know who they were,” Recker said.
“No, those guys were ambushed, man. Whoever took them out knew full well what they were doing.”
“All right, well keep your ears to the ground and let me know if you hear anything else, huh?”
“You got it.”
Recker went back to his food as he contemplated what he’d just heard. If it was true there was another player in town fighting with Vincent, Recker wasn’t sure if that was actually good or bad. On the plus side, maybe it was someone that could keep Vincent in check in case he roamed a little far with his ideas and priorities. On the negative side, it was one more person Recker would have to worry about. And it was possible that whoever it was might not be as easy to deal with as Vincent. Recker had just finished his food when he looked through the window and noticed Vincent’s entourage coming. The men took their usual positions outside, while a couple others cleared the inside to make sure there were no hostile people waiting for the boss. Those men took another table further down as Vincent and Malloy walked in. Malloy stood near the door as he usually did while Vincent sat down at Recker’s table.
“Even got our usual table,” Vincent said with a smile. He seemed rather upbeat for a man who’d just lost a couple of men.
“I almost wasn’t sure what to do with myself. First time you weren’t already here waiting for me.”
“Yes, I’m sorry about that. Had a few other important matters to attend to first.”
“Funeral arrangements, maybe?” Recker asked
Vincent glared at him for a moment, the pleasant look on his face evaporating due to the subject matter.
“I assumed that’s what we came to talk about,” Recker said.
“Since you’ve brought it up, what have you heard?”
Recker shook his head. “Nothing.”
Vincent gave him a cross-eyed look, thinking that surely couldn’t be true. “Come now, Mike, with all the information you and David are able to glean from a stroke of the keyboard, I’m sure something must have come across your desks.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint you, but that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Didn’t find out about it until David saw it on the news. Put some feelers out on the street that came back empty. I’m afraid I got nothing to tell you.”
Vincent seemed content with the answer, taking Recker at his word. “It’s of no matter. I will find out who it is and crush them.”
“Do you have any leads?” Recker asked.
Vincent stirred his coffee as he debated how much information to share. In the end, he figured there was no use hiding anything. “We had a few, unfortunately none of them panned out.”
“You think it’s a new gang looking to take over?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“How much do you know?” Vincent asked.
“Not a whole lot. Just that two of your men were killed by some factory or something.”
“Well they weren’t just killed by a glancing bullet or some type of skirmish in a deal gone sour. My men were ambushed. There were entrance wounds in their chests and their backs.”
“So, they were set up.”
“They were lured there. Then executed.”
“What were they there for to begin with?”
“We’d gotten a call from someone looking to sell some weapons,” Vincent answered. “They went there to look over the merchandise.”
“For your own purposes?”
Vincent smiled, unusually forthcoming in describing his business dealings. “No, I’ve got agreements with various factions up and down the east coast for redistributing weapons. I get a shipment then pass them along for a higher price.”
“What about the guy that made the initial contact with you about this?”
“A small-time guy we’ve done business with before.”
“Think it was him?”
“No, he’s not someone who has higher aspirations,” Vincent replied. “He’s quite content in his current rank in the food chain.”
“Then someone got to him.”
“We’ve already questioned him. He doesn’t know anything.”
Recker knew there had to be more to it than that. “Well if he set up the meeting, and you think he wasn’t involved, then it came from someone else he’s done business with.”
“Trust me, he’s already been dealt with in a sufficient manner. He’s given us everything he knows. He gave us a name and phone number of the man he was working with. We’ve checked both out. They came back empty. A fake name and a phone number that leads to nowhere.”
“Even trails that wind up empty start with something. Maybe you took the wrong path.”
“Perhaps so. But we’ve taken that avenue as far as we can go for the moment.” Vincent reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a business card. He put it down on the table and slid it over to Recker. There was a name and number scribbled on the back of it.
“What’s this?” Recker asked.
“The name and number of the man we used to facilitate this deal.”
“And why are you giving it to me?”
“Maybe you could put your resources to work on it?” Vincent said. “I can promise you, I will make it worth your while if you can provide me with any further leads.”
“I’m not looking for money.”
“I know you’re not. That’s why I’m not offering it. But I’m hoping the promise of further considerations in the future on my part will be enough to entice you.”
Recker smiled. “Don’t you still owe me for saving your life?”
“Do I? I thought that had been repaid by you escaping from that police car.”
“Hmm. Forgot about that.”
“Are we still keeping score?”
“Never was to begin with.”
“I’ve lost count how many times we’ve done things for each other,” Vincent said. “I’d prefer to think of it as continuing to strengthen our already strong business relationship.”
“That’s a very lawyer-ish, CEO way of looking at things.”
“It fits, does it not?”
Recker couldn’t dispute it. The moment he heard the news of Vincent’s men being killed, he knew he’d somehow get roped into it. But he also couldn’t deny Vincent had been a st
rong ally of theirs. The times they needed help, and there’d been more than a few, Vincent was always there to lend a hand or bail them out of trouble. Recker picked the card up and studied the name on it for a few seconds before putting it in his pocket.
“I can’t guarantee anything,” Recker said.
“Of course. I understand.”
As Recker put the card away, he stared at Vincent for a few moments, wondering if he should bring up the last case they were involved with. He still wasn’t happy about feeling like he was used for Vincent’s gain. Part of him felt like he should let it go since it was over and done with. But part of him wanted Vincent to know he knew what he did. Recker didn’t like feeling he was being played for a patsy. In the end, he chose to speak out. Even if doing so in some way damaged their relationship, Recker wasn’t keen on keeping secrets, especially when it made him look like an idiot. At least that’s how it seemed in his mind.
“I’ll give this a look for you, under one condition.”
“Name it,” Vincent said, not yet realizing what was about to come.
“I want the truth about that police thing you got me involved with.”
“The truth?”
“You played a lot of games with me on that one and I can’t say I’m particularly pleased about it.”
“Such as?”
“Such as telling me you knew nothing about what was going on when you really did,” Recker said. “I got credit for killing someone taking down police officers when I didn’t have a thing to do with it.”
“You didn’t?” Vincent asked, still not willing to admit any involvement. “Who did then?”
“You wanna hear what I think went down?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“I think you either heard about, or dealt with directly, a rogue faction of cops who were starting their own little organization that was moving in on your territory. But you couldn’t go around killing police officers, could you?”
Vincent smiled, already knowing Recker had all the pieces of the puzzle figured out. “I’m intrigued with what happens next.”
“Now, I’m not sure whether that’s because you just didn’t want the heat of killing cops, or because you’ve got men in the department on your payroll and didn’t want to risk them turning on you.”
“I guess it doesn’t really matter in either case, does it? All amounts to the same thing.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Recker said. “So, to keep up your charade, you play it like nothing happened on your end. You get me involved, get me in touch with a detective that’s in your pocket, all in the hopes of distancing yourself from everything.”
“Sounds ingenious,” Vincent said with a smile.
“Almost. So, what else happens? You find some sucker you could pin everything on, send Malloy over there to take care of him, and conveniently let me find him a hair too late. Evidence is planted in his room, he’s dead, I get the credit, your competition’s eliminated, a cop killer’s gone, everything’s tied off so neat in a tiny little bow.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is I don’t like being played for a fool.”
Vincent nodded, understanding his position. In truth, if he was on the other side of the table, he probably wouldn’t have liked it much himself. “So, what do you want from me? An apology?”
“Just an acknowledgment that everything I said is correct and how it went down. And that it won’t happen again.”
It didn’t take Vincent long to think about the proposition. Especially now he was asking for Recker’s help again. He knew admitting his involvement in the matter wouldn’t somehow come back to him or be held against him. “I bet you’re a real good card player too.”
Recker smiled. “I don’t play cards.”
“Maybe you should. Could probably win a lot of money.”
“If I was interested in that.”
Vincent nodded again, finally willing to admit it. “Fine. You win. Everything you said is a hundred percent true and accurate. You nailed it. There’s nothing I can or will deny. So, what do we do from here?”
Recker shook his head. “Nothing. I just want assurances from you it won’t happen again. I don’t like working in the dark.”
“You’ve got it. You’ve also got my apologies. I give you my word it won’t happen again.”
“I would hope not. I would like to think our relationship wouldn’t be severed by something so trivial.”
“I cannot argue there.” Vincent then pushed his coffee away from him and clasped his hands together. “I hope that’s now been settled to your satisfaction.”
“For the moment. I’ll see what I can find out with this,” Recker said, taking the card out of his pocket again and holding it in the air.
A devilish grin came over Vincent’s face. “I’ll anxiously be waiting.”
Recker immediately went back to the office, where he found Jones and Haley hard at work, both banging away at their respective keyboards.
“Hey, look, you two almost look like the nerd twins.”
Haley let out a laugh, while Jones kept plugging away, not even breaking stride. “Flattery will get you nowhere,” the professor said.
“Takes a lot to insult you,” Recker said.
Jones finally looked up at him and smiled. “Complaining?”
“No. Just stating facts.”
“Now that we’re done with the comedy improv; can we get down to business?”
“Everything’s fine. Finally got a confession.”
Jones scrunched his eyebrows together and contorted his face. “Over?”
“That whole police scandal he got us involved in.”
Jones looked disappointed. “Are you still harping on that? I thought we agreed to put that to rest. It’s done and over with.”
Recker looked over at the wall and sighed. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t for me.”
“What good did it do?”
“Got me the answers I was looking for. Relax, David, everything’s fine. He acknowledged his role in everything.”
The look on Jones’ face suddenly changed to a surprised one. “He did?”
Recker nodded. “Absolutely. I told him exactly what I thought and what I suspected him of and he came clean.”
“To everything?”
“One hundred percent. As a matter of fact, he even offered an apology,” Recker proudly stated.
“He did?”
“Gave me his word he would never do it again.”
“Now there’s a man who’s looking for something,” Haley said.
Jones sharply turned his head. “Such as?”
“Man like that doesn’t go around apologizing for his actions, or even admitting them for that matter, unless there’s something bigger at play. There’s something else he wants for his admittance of guilt.”
Recker pointed at his partner as if he had just gotten a prize for getting the correct answer to a puzzle. “You got it.”
“He wants something?” Jones asked.
“That he does.”
Jones’ shoulders slumped, and he closed his eyes, getting a sinking feeling they were about to be dragged into something. “What is it?”
Recker reached into his pocket and grabbed the business card Vincent gave him. He held it in the air for a few seconds for everyone to see, then tossed it down on the desk. Jones picked it up off the desk and looked at it for a few moments.
“Should I ask what this is?” Jones said.
“You shouldn’t,” Recker answered. “But I’ll tell you anyway.
As he waited for the answer, Jones passed it to Haley. “I can hardly wait.”
“The name and number of the guy Vincent used to facilitate a gun transaction.”
“And that interests us how?”
“Because Vincent believes that guy holds the key to finding out who ambushed his men.”
“And he’d like our help in finding out?” Haley said.
“You got it.”
/> “Wonderful,” Jones said.
“Hey, I told you we were gonna get roped into this.”
“Doesn’t mean you had to agree to it.”
“Well, what if this is a new arrival of someone in town and we don’t like them as much as Vincent?” Recker asked.
“Whatever happened to not helping known criminals?”
“I amended that policy.”
“To what?”
“Unless it somehow helps us.”
Jones rolled his eyes and turned back to his computer to start working again. Haley handed the card back to him. “I guess we better get started then.”
“Never know, maybe this’ll be fun.”
3
Recker and Mia were sitting down at the table having breakfast before they went their separate ways for the day. Mia was doing a double shift today and wouldn’t have another opportunity to discuss with him what was burning in her mind for the last week. And she didn’t want to keep thinking about it for a few more days before talking to him about it. Though she knew what his likely reply would be, she still held out a faint hope she could somehow convince him.
“So, does it look like you guys are going to be busy in the next few weeks?”
Recker stopped chewing his food for a second as he pondered the question, thinking it was a strange one to ask. He shrugged it off though as he finished chewing. “About average I guess. Tough to say sometimes. You know how it is, sometimes things pop up at the last minute.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Mia said, flashing him one of her smiles. “Just asking.”
Recker wasn’t convinced though. He knew what that face meant. Behind that sweet, innocent, sexy looking smile of hers was a devious plot in her mind. He was just waiting for her to spill it. But after a few more minutes of silence and sensing that the other shoe was ready to drop, Recker couldn’t hold back his curiosity any more.