by Mike Ryan
“Guess I’ve had a lot of practice.”
Mia shot him a look causing Recker to start laughing. “You better not,” she said.
“I’m just joking. I couldn’t resist.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Mia started eating her food and couldn’t help but think there was something else on his mind. Something important. “So, you gonna tell me the real reason you’re here or are you gonna make me guess?”
“There’s no other reason. Why do you think there is? Can’t I just stop by and have dinner with you?”
“No, you can, and I love it when you do. It’s just… not the normal.”
“Well maybe we should make it normal.”
“So, there’s nothing else on your mind?”
Recker thought back to their earlier conversation at the apartment. “Well, maybe there is something.”
“See, I knew it.”
“No, nothing bad,” Recker said. “I was thinking about what we were talking about earlier. You know, the vacation.”
“Oh.” Mia didn’t sound very excited, mostly because she already had it in her mind they wouldn’t go. She didn’t want to get her hopes up only to have them dashed.
Recker could tell she thought she was about to get disappointed. “So, I already talked to David about it.”
“Oh? And?” Mia asked, still not even the faintest bit of hope in her voice.
“He said he didn’t see any problems with it.”
“Really?” There was finally a hint of excitement heard in her voice, thinking they might actually have a shot at it.
“Yeah. So… I think maybe we should go.”
Mia’s face lit up and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets as she stared at her boyfriend. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You really mean it?”
“Yeah, I think we should go,” Recker said.
Mia lunged over and hugged Recker so hard he almost fell out of his seat. “Oh, I’m so happy.”
Recker smiled, feeling good she was as happy as she was. She deserved to be, he thought. “You’re sure you wanna take me on vacation?”
“There’s nothing else I’d rather have.”
“Not even a few diamonds or something?”
“Not even diamonds,” Mia answered. “You’re the only thing I want or need. I knew it from the moment I met you.”
She planted another kiss on his lips as they embraced for a few more moments. After letting each other go, they went back to their respective seats and continued eating their food. They also started discussing vacation plans.
“So where should we go?” Mia excitedly asked. “The beach? The mountains? Somewhere warm?”
“Honestly, I don’t care. It’s up to you. As long as we’re together and you’re happy, that’s all that matters to me.”
“Well, I don’t want it to be me making all the decisions. I want it to be the both of us.”
“OK, OK. How ‘bout we talk about it over the next few days, then make a decision.”
“OK. So, when can we go?”
“Well, we’ve got some things going on right now with Vincent, and possibly a new gang in town, so that might take some time. Let’s wait a few weeks or maybe a month or so. Is that OK?”
Mia leaned in and put another kiss on his cheek. She was just so happy to hear him say he was going she didn’t even care about the date. “As long as we’re going, any date is fine. I’ll need about two weeks to put my notice for a vacation in here.”
They continued to talk about their vacation plans for the rest of Mia’s break period. Once it was over and she had to go back to work, all she wanted to do was throw herself into Recker’s arms and go home with him. But since she had to work again, she settled for a hug and a kiss. As Recker left the hospital, he felt good he made Mia happy. She was really the only personal satisfaction he had outside of work. Nothing else mattered to him other than trying to make the city a safer place and trying to be the man that deserved her love.
Since Mia was working and he didn’t have much else to do, and he didn’t want to hang around at home, Recker went back to the office. He hoped Jones would have had, at least, something by now. It’d been about two hours. As Recker walked in, Jones was at his usual position, doing what he normally did. Working frantically between two computers, sliding his chair back and forth until he got the information he needed. Well, it always seemed a little frantic to Recker, but for Jones, who handled computers so easily, it really wasn’t much effort as far as he was concerned. Recker sat down next to him and turned a computer on.
“Come up with anything yet?” Recker asked.
Jones turned his head and looked at him with a blank expression on his face. It was almost like Jones wasn’t sure who he was. “How long have you been here?”
“Oh, about two hours.”
Jones turned his head back to his computer as he stared at it, deep in thought it seemed. “Really?”
Recker scratched the back of his head, in disbelief of how absent-minded Jones could be at times. “Uhh, no, not really. I just got back. Remember, you sent us away for a couple hours while you did your research?”
“Oh. Yes. Of course.”
“You have no clue, do you?”
“Of course I do,” Jones answered. “I remember perfectly. I’m not senile yet, you know.”
“Good to know. So, do you have anything yet?”
“What would you classify as anything?”
Recker looked perplexed then put his hand up to his ear and started tapping it the way someone does after swimming when they’re trying to get water out of his ear. “We must have a bad connection here or something.”
Now it was Jones’ turn to look confused. “What?”
Recker put his hand up, wanting to restart the entire conversation. “You know what? Let’s just start over. Have you uncovered any other information about the three men you started digging into?”
“Oh. Yes. Why didn’t you just come out and say so from the beginning?”
Recker rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling, not even wanting to deal with it anymore. “So, what’d you find out?”
“First of all, Hernandez, Milton, and Teasley, have all been in other crime organizations, but none of them have ever been in charge of one, or even in the hierarchy of one.”
“So, they’re likely working for someone else.”
“Correct. Furthermore, they all received and made calls to the same phone number in the week before Vincent’s issue popped up.”
“Someone brought them here,” Recker said.
“Correct again. Now to this point, I have not yet pinpointed a name to go along with that number.”
“Someone’s trying hard to conceal their identity.”
“Correct… again.
Jones went back to typing, leaving Recker alone with his thoughts. He sat there staring at the floor, rubbing his chin, thinking. Jones tried to ignore him and keep working, but he kept looking at his friend out of the corner of his eye. It always unnerved him when Recker was sitting there in thought, not doing anything. Almost as much as when Recker was out in the field looking to shoot people. Almost. Mostly because he knew when Recker got like that, in his thinking mode, he had a specific thought in mind that usually proved to be right. Finally, Jones couldn’t take it anymore and stopped typing, swiveling his chair back around to face his partner.
“So, what are you thinking about?” Jones asked.
“Just getting things straight in my mind.”
“Like what? What specifically is bothering you?”
“What makes you think something is bothering me?”
“Because I know that look.”
“I’ll have to learn to become less predictable,” Recker said.
“Not likely.”
“Yeah. Anyway, sounds to me like someone’s building up an organization from the ground floor.”
“For what purpose? To rival Vincent?”
Recker nodded. “
Yeah. And it has to be someone high up, who’s used to this type of thing, who has connections. Because these three guys are from three different areas. Only someone high up would know who they are and where to look.”
“A mobster from another city perhaps?”
Recker shook his head and continued thinking. “Not likely. Tough enough getting two factions to cooperate, let alone three.” After another minute, Recker snapped his fingers, thinking he finally got it.
“What?” Jones asked.
“I think it’s fair to say whoever’s behind this isn’t some run-of-the-mill thug, right?”
“I would assume so.”
“I mean, this has involved planning, secrecy, involving other people while remaining in the background. That requires a certain level of sophistication.”
“I would say as much.”
“Someone who’s done this type of stuff before,” Recker said.
Jones shrugged, still not getting his point. “But all Vincent’s enemies have been killed off, the other gangs destroyed, and any remnants still alive have been driven off long ago.”
“Maybe we’re not looking for an enemy.”
“Well I certainly hope we’re not looking for a friend,” Jones replied. “With friends like that...”
“What if it’s someone from another city who’s retired, or was run off, or replaced, or relocated, something along those lines? They already know how to run organizations like this, they already know how to operate, and they know how to get things done.”
“But for what purpose?”
“Maybe they see an opportunity. They see only one man in town and figure they can move in and take part of it. Or maybe they think they can take it all. If it’s someone like I said, who was forced out somewhere, but still thinks they can be in charge, maybe they’re looking at this as a new opportunity. They’re aware of these other gangs and start recruiting from them, promising them higher positions, more money, more everything if they join him in this upstart group.”
Jones took it all in, thinking it sounded plausible. Whether it was likely, he wasn’t sure. But it was as good a theory as any of them had at that point. A few minutes later, Haley came back. Recker started talking to him about his latest idea and Haley bought in. While Jones continued running down the leads he had on the other three characters, Recker and Haley started researching displaced mob bosses who’d lost their power in the previous couple of years. As Recker started pulling things up on the screen, he sighed, thinking it was going to be more work than he thought it would be by the number of names he was seeing.
“This might take a while,” Recker whispered.
Haley then tapped Recker on the arm. “Hey, I just had a thought that might make it a little easier.”
“I’m all for that.”
“What if we ask Vincent? I’m sure he would know far sooner and easier than we would. He’s probably got all this information at his fingertips.”
Jones couldn’t help hear them talking and put his two cents into the conversation. “I would caution against that.”
“Why?” Haley asked.
“Because we don’t have proof of that being the case yet and we don’t want Vincent going off half-cocked with information we don’t yet have any validity of.”
“David’s probably right,” Recker said. “Besides, if we tell Vincent what we’re thinking, he might go off on it alone and not tell us anything, thinking it’s mob business.”
“So? If they wanna duke it out, let them,” Haley said.
“Problem is they might duke it out without it being the right move. And, in a situation like this, Vincent might try to cut the problem off head-on. I’m not sure that’s the best move here.”
“I would agree,” Jones said. “I think our best course of action is working quietly, not letting those people know we’re on to them and springing ourselves on them when they least expect it.”
“Besides, we’ve built up goodwill with Vincent,” Recker said. “I’d hate to throw it all away now for someone else.”
7
Recker, Jones, and Haley had been working all night to try to figure out what they were dealing with. Since Mia was at work, Recker didn’t have the inclination to go home and stare at the walls. It actually felt like old times, with him and Jones working all day and night, trying to get to the bottom of something. The three hadn’t spoken in a while as they were all entranced in their own work and the room was deathly silent. The silence was broken when Recker’s phone rang, startling them since they were not expecting a call. Recker grabbed his phone and looked at it.
“Who is it?” Jones asked.
“It’s Tyrell.”
“Wonder what he wants?”
“Maybe I’ll answer it and find out,” Recker sarcastically replied.
Jones rolled his eyes. “Indeed.”
“Tyrell, what’s up?”
“Yo, man, what’s happening?”
“Nothing. Just working some things,” Recker said.
“One of those things got to do with that Vincent mess?”
“Yeah, it would. Why? You got something?”
“Well you told me to keep my ears open so that’s what I been doing.”
“Whatcha got?” Recker asked.
“Ain’t much, man, just a time and a place.”
“Time and place for what?”
“I’m not even sure,” Gibson answered. “All I know is something’s supposed to go down at some abandoned building near center city.”
“Center city’s a big place.”
“Well, yeah, I know, I got the address, it was just a figure of speech.”
“Oh.” Tyrell then gave Recker the address of the building. “So, what’d you learn?”
“Just that some deal’s supposed to be going down there around ten o’clock tonight.”
Recker looked at the time and saw it was just after eight. “Doesn’t leave us much time.”
“No, it don’t.”
“What kind of meeting?” Recker asked. “Who’s involved?”
“That I can’t tell you. All I know is it’s some new group. Everything’s very hush-hush. Might be those guys that hit Vincent last week. Can’t say for sure but that’s kind of the indication I was getting.”
“Where’d you get this from?”
“Friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a… girlfriend. Or something like that.”
“Sounds reliable.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t say it was. I’m just telling you what I hear. Up to you to figure out how reliable it is.”
“What’s your gut say?” Recker asked, trusting Tyrell’s opinion, knowing he wouldn’t intentionally pass on bad information.
Gibson paused for a second. “I dunno, man. Something doesn’t feel right about it.”
“Such as?”
“I dunno. I can’t really put my finger on it.”
“You don’t think there’s gonna be a meeting?”
“No, it’s not that. I think there will be.”
“Then what’s the issue?” Recker asked.
“It’s just… I don’t know. I got a bad feeling about it for some reason.”
“Well something’s gotta be making you feel that way.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know what. Maybe it’s just it seemed like it came too easy. It almost feels like the information was supposed to get out and be passed on. Know what I mean?”
“I think I do.”
“It almost feels like someone’s being set up.”
“I guess the next logical question would be who?”
“That I don’t know, man.”
“No ideas on who might be involved?” Recker asked.
“I mean, no, not really.”
Recker then picked up a paper off the desk and started reading the names. “Hey, did you ever hear of a Jamar Teasley, James Milton, or Gabriel Hernandez?”
“No, who they?”
“We think they might be involved in the Vincent thi
ng.”
“Oh. Well, no, I never heard of them before.”
“All right, thanks. We’ll check on the meeting.”
“OK… wait a minute, hold up.”
“What?”
“Now I’m thinking of it, I think I did hear one of those names before,” Gibson said.
“Which one?”
“The first one you said. What was his name, Tease… Teasley?”
“Yeah, Jamar Teasley.”
“When I heard about this meeting going down tonight. Someone said something about Tease is gonna handle it or something like that. I really didn’t think nothing of it at first. Sounded like a nickname or something. Maybe they just shorted the guy’s name or something.”
“Yeah, could be. Thanks Tyrell, we’ll check it out.”
After getting off the phone, Recker immediately passed on the information to his colleagues, so they could start discussing its merits. They started checking other sources, looking on the computer, calling people on the phone, all in the hopes of somehow verifying the upcoming event. And they didn’t have much time. Once Recker saw it was eight-thirty, he called off any further attempts to learn what was going on.
“All right, there’s no use in going any farther with this thing,” Recker said.
“What?” Jones asked.
“If this thing’s going down at ten, it’s already eight-thirty, we don’t have time to keep going. We gotta move now.”
Jones sighed, not liking the idea, but agreeing there wasn’t much else they could do with such a short time frame. “I wish we had a few extra hours.”
“But we don’t. And we have to roll with the information we got.”
“Do we? It’s not necessarily something we have to do. We do not know for sure this is related to anything. In fact, it could turn out to be a complete waste of time. Or it could be something we don’t even have to involve ourselves with.”
“But, if it is?” Haley asked. “I don’t think we can afford not to check it out. If it’s a waste of time all we lose is an hour or two.”
“I agree,” Recker said. “We can’t afford not to. Could be the big break we’re looking for.”
“And if it’s a trap?” Jones asked.