by Mike Ryan
“You’re assuming she, in fact, had that chance. And, according to my research, she did not. Immediately after Paul Nowak’s death, the leadership changed hands to one of his captains, and that is why she faded into the background. Not any grand design by her, but because she was forced to.”
“She mustn’t have been that involved with the business if that’s the case. Otherwise they would have kept her on in some capacity.”
“Be that as it may, she may have had more of an influence in her husband’s organization than anyone knew. Either she was secretly involved in the day-to-day operations, or she was taking a lot of notes, studying her husband’s business in anticipation of one day taking over.”
“I still don’t get it, though. If that’s the case, and that’s her ambition, why not stay and fight for control over the business your husband started?” Recker asked.
“Perhaps she was more interested in starting something from the ground floor. Something she could put her own stamp on. Or maybe she felt like she was continuing his legacy instead of starting her own. It’s impossible, at this point, to know her true motivations. Whatever they are, though, I think it’s safe to say she does have some skills at this. To pull off the hit on Vincent’s men, then the attempted hit last night, does require some abilities.”
“So, now the question becomes; what we do about it?”
Jones tilted his head, a little perplexed, not sure there even was a question. “To my knowledge, our little part in this is over. Complete. We were tasked with finding out who this was. We have done that.”
“So, you’re saying just hand everything over to Vincent and take a step back and let whatever happens happen?” Recker asked.
“What other option is there?”
“We become proactive in this and drive her out of the city before she gets a stronghold in it.” Jones made a face, obvious to Recker he didn’t agree with the proposition. “You don’t agree?”
“If we’re talking honestly, then no, I don’t.”
“Our mission here is to take on the bad guys.”
“No, our mission here is to help the innocent,” Jones replied. “Saving one bad guy from another does not qualify.”
“But if we let another criminal element into this city, more innocent people will get hurt. It’s inevitable.”
“Are you sure you’re worried about that or is it you don’t want to see Vincent replaced?”
Recker glared at him, not really liking the question, no matter how valid it was. He thought for a minute before replying. “Even if I were to admit that… it’s not a case of saving him, per se. It’s more the fact that in the world we live in, there’s bad people in it. You’re never going to have a crime-free city or society. There’s going to be people who try to capitalize on the hurting of others. That’s just the way it is.”
“I agree with that.”
“So, in admitting there will always be a criminal element, I’d rather try to keep the one that most aligns with our own interests.”
“But how do you know Ms. Nowak would not?” Jones asked.
“I don’t. But it’s like they always say, dance with the girl that brought you. The grass ain’t always greener on the other side.”
“They also say don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.”
“How’s that apply here?”
“I don’t know. I figured if you could throw out a saying so could I.”
“Anyway, we know we can coexist with Vincent. There’s a healthy respect between us. He’s largely stayed out of our way. We know we can trust him to a certain degree. He mostly stays to his own dealings and doesn’t bother with business that involves us. There’s no guarantee that same deal will apply to Nowak.”
“Again, you’re assuming a lot of things about someone we don’t know,” Jones said.
“Vincent also has a lot of contacts in this city, some of which have helped us. We’ve been able to lean on that knowledge at times. If Nowak takes over, that eliminates a source of information to us. She’s not gonna have that same level of contacts and sources he does.”
“But you’re also assuming her and her organization will survive against Vincent. If we turn the information over to him, let him deal with it. My instincts tell me if the two factions come to battle, he will, in fact, come out on top. All without us having to get involved in it further or lift a finger in either direction.”
“Guess we’re in a tie here,” Recker said. “Maybe we should duel it out in a cage fight or something.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll simply talk it out like we always do until we come to a satisfactory conclusion.”
“Satisfactory for who?”
“For both of us.”
“There’s a third member of this team now, you know.”
“Of course there is,” Jones said. “Don’t talk to me like I’m slighting him. He’s simply not here right now.”
“There’s one way to solve this if you’re up for it.”
“I’m not donning boxing gloves.”
Recker laughed. “No, something much easier than that.”
“I’m listening.”
“Let’s put it up to a three-person vote. Those in favor of staying involved and those in favor of handing it off to Vincent and stepping aside.”
Jones hesitated for a second, thinking whether he was OK with however the vote turned out. He concluded he was. “Fine. If you are really on board with it.”
“I am.”
“No matter which way it goes?”
Recker shrugged. “No matter which way it falls, I’ll hop on board.”
“And we’re not to tell him which way our votes fall.”
“Agreed. Besides, it’ll make him feel better, like he’s still part of things.”
Recker immediately got Haley on the line, who picked up after only one ring. Recker put the phone on speaker so Jones could hear.
“Need me back already, huh?” Haley joked.
“Well, kinda, we do have a question for you.”
“OK, shoot.”
“Interesting way of putting things considering your current predicament,” Recker said.
“So, what’s the question?”
“Well, we’ve found out who our mysterious player is and you’re going to be the deciding factor in what we do with that information.”
“How’s that?” Haley asked.
“Not telling you who’s voting which way, but one of us wants to stay involved in the situation to get rid of the new threat, and one of us wants to hand the information over to Vincent and let him deal with it, then walk away.”
“So, whichever way I swing, one of you is gonna be mad at me, is that it?”
“Nope. David and I both agreed to let you be the swing vote. Whichever way you decide will be fine for both of us. There’ll be no hard feelings or anything either way.”
“A lot of pressure here.”
“Don’t look at it like that,” Recker said. “We’re all friends, nobody’s gonna be mad, anything like that. We’re all a team here and you get a vote in what we do since we’re split.”
“Sounds good.”
“You wanna know the details of who this person is?”
“No.”
“You don’t?”
“No. Doesn’t really make a difference as far as I’m concerned,” Haley answered.
Though Recker didn’t know for sure, he believed he was about to be disappointed with his other partner’s answer. From the sounds of it, he thought Haley was about to side with Jones.
“You’re sure nobody’s gonna be mad at me for my answer?” Haley asked again.
“We’re all friends here, Chris,” Recker replied. “We’re a team here and we’re gonna stay that way. This isn’t big enough to change any of that.”
“OK. Well then my vote is to hand the information over to Vincent and step away from it.”
Recker looked over at Jones, who had a slight grin on his face, happy with how th
e vote turned out.
“Sorry for whoever I voted against, though I have a pretty good idea who’s who,” Haley said.
“Out of curiosity, who do you think was which?” Jones asked.
“I’d say David voted to step away and Mike voted to keep after it. Am I right?”
“Right on the button.”
“You know, I’m not sure I like how well everyone knows me,” Recker said, choosing to make a joke instead of getting mad he didn’t get his way.
After a few more minutes of conversation about Haley’s health, Recker let him get back to resting. He immediately looked back at Jones, who seemed to be very pleased at the turn of events.
“You look pretty satisfied,” Recker said.
“I must admit I am.”
“You knew all along he was gonna side with you, didn’t you?”
Jones put a couple fingers in the air. “Scout’s honor, I had no idea.”
“Scout’s honor, huh?” Recker said with a laugh. “I think you did. That’s why you went along with it so easily. Going to him for the tiebreaker.”
Jones shook his head, still admitting to nothing. “Honestly, I had no idea. I think by now, just like I do with you, I have a pretty good idea of how Chris’ mind works. He’s much more levelheaded in his thinking than you are. No offense.”
Recker smiled. “None taken.”
“While he doesn’t take things to the extreme that I do, he still looks at things more analytically than you do. He sees more of the big picture. My only concern was that with getting shot last night, his emotions would cloud his judgment and he would want to get back into things and hope to get some revenge.”
“You know I would.”
“Yes, I know. Like I said, he does not get as emotionally involved and looks at things with a more level head.”
“Guess he’s been everything you hoped he would be, huh?” Recker said.
“And more. I think it’s fair to say he’s worked out even better than we could have hoped. But in getting back to our situation, how are we going to handle it?”
Recker shrugged, thinking it was already resolved. “I thought we just voted on it.”
“We did. And I guess my real question isn’t how, but when?”
“Well, guess there’s no time like the present. Might as well do it now. How much should I give him?”
“Give it all to him,” Jones answered. “We have no more need of it or any reason to conceal any of it for our own purposes. He should be happy with it.”
“I don’t think happy is quite a strong enough word for how he’ll feel about getting this. It’ll be more like the fourth of July with fireworks going off.”
“I’m sure it will be once he actually comes face-to-face with Ms. Nowak.”
12
Recker called Vincent and let him know they had the name of who they believed was behind everything. Though Vincent pushed to learn the identity of the person right away, Recker was able to convince him to wait a day, until the following morning. They agreed to meet at their usual place, where Recker could turn over the contents of the folder they’d compiled on Nowak. Recker didn’t want to give Vincent a name and let him go off half-cocked without having all the information at his fingertips. He wanted to deliver it in person, so Vincent knew everything he was up against.
When Recker arrived at the diner, he saw the usual guard was standing by the entrance, so he knew Vincent was already there. As Recker walked up to the door, the guard gave him a head nod.
“Ever miss the old days when we used to argue back and forth about how many weapons I had?” Recker asked.
The guard laughed. “Not really.”
The two shot the breeze for a minute before he went inside. For the first time, there was nobody there to greet him. With Malloy currently out of the picture, it was a weird feeling for Recker to not see him there. He looked down to the usual table and saw Vincent sitting there. Recker walked down to it and hopped in the booth across from him.
“A little weird not seeing Malloy there,” Recker said.
“Not so easy for me either.”
“How’s he doing by the way?”
“He’s going to pull through,” Vincent said. “Dr. Luke’s keeping him another couple of days, then he’ll be released.”
“Good to hear. Why take him there, by the way? Why not a regular hospital?”
“I’m sure you of all people should understand the answer to that. People who go to medical facilities with gunshot wounds invariably invite questions. Questions I don’t want answered. And law enforcement personnel I may not want to deal with. It’s simpler this way. Wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh, yeah, I agree. I wanted to see if your reasoning would be any different than mine.”
“You said you had something for me?”
Recker plopped the file folder down and slid it across the table. “Should be everything you’re looking for.”
A pleased look came across Vincent’s face, hoping he was finally about to learn the truth about who was coming after him. He opened the folder and eagerly started reading. It wasn’t long before he perked his head back up and looked at Recker, surprised at the name.
“Stefania Nowak?”
Recker nodded. “Surprised to us too.”
“Without trying to sound disbelieving, how accurate do you believe this information to be?”
“We put it at about ninety-nine percent,” Recker answered.
“That’s about as near a guarantee as you can get.”
“It’s her. Well, you’ll see as you keep reading and get to the details. Ever had business with her or her husband before? Something that went sideways?”
Vincent shook his head. He periodically looked up at Recker to talk as he continued reading, soaking it all in. “No. I knew of her husband though, Paul Nowak. He was killed about a year ago.”
“Why would she be targeting you? Ever take business away from them somehow?”
Vincent tossed one of his hands in the air, unsure about any past dealings. “Not to my knowledge. It’s sometimes difficult to gauge how your actions will affect others. But, considering she’s from a different area, I don’t think our paths would have crossed very often.”
“Yeah, we really couldn’t find any kind of connection either. Maybe there isn’t one. Could be she’s just targeting you because this is a big city and you’re the only major player left in it. She might think there’s room for one more. Or she could think it’s an easier path since there’s only you, instead of going to another city where she might have to deal with multiple people.”
Vincent didn’t reply for a couple minutes as he stared at the information at his fingertips. His eyes couldn’t read fast enough for his liking as he wanted to devour everything in an instant.
“So, what do you think you’re gonna do?” Recker asked, even though he knew it was unlikely Vincent would reveal any of his plans to him.
“Tough to say right now. These things require a great deal of thought and planning. As you remember, I’m not an impetuous man. I won’t rush into something that won’t be to my advantage.”
“Maybe she’s not looking to take you out. Maybe she just wants a little piece for herself.”
“There’s only one problem with that,” Vincent said.
“What’s that?”
“As you quite honestly told me several years ago, no one is satisfied with having a little piece. Everyone eventually wants more. And if it’s not dealt with appropriately at the beginning, then it becomes a bigger issue.”
“So, you don’t think you could possibly coexist?”
“Why would I want to coexist?” Vincent asked. “I have prevailed over the leaders of three other factions that loomed over this city for several years. Why would I want to go back in time and have to give up what I was working towards for so long?”
Recker nodded, understanding his concerns and reasons. “Makes sense. Just figured I’d ask.”
“Now in sa
ying that, it doesn’t mean I will hit her immediately. It doesn’t mean I will hit her at all. Perhaps I’ll set up a meeting first and discuss her intentions with her. Maybe we’re all worrying about nothing.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“With Jimmy out of commission for a while, maybe you could even join me for this meeting.”
Recker smiled, having a feeling something like that was coming. “Yeah, I don’t think that’d be possible.”
“David won’t allow it, huh?” Vincent said with a smile.
“Our deal was to find out who was behind this and we’ve done that. Our arrangement wasn’t to get involved in the fight.”
“Just figured I’d ask. Speaking of partners, it was nice to finally see the new one of yours. What was his name? Chris?”
Recker nodded. “Haley.”
“Old friend of yours?”
“Nope. Never met him before he came here.”
“He must be very highly regarded then for him to join your operation.”
“He is. He’s every bit as good as I am.”
Vincent grinned, thinking of some unlikely possibilities regarding the new man. Recker could tell by his smile he had some thoughts in his mind.
“He’s not gonna join you either,” Recker said.
“Well, it was just a thought.”
Stefania Nowak was in her luxurious hotel room, conducting business and making plans for her upstart organization. She knew it was likely it would eventually be discovered she was the brains behind what was happening thus far. She also knew it was likely someone would find out where she was staying. Though she was checked in under a false name, she was aware that would only provide cover for so long. In anticipation of someone coming, Nowak always had a couple of guards stationed outside the door. Nobody got in unless they were expected. She was in the middle of deciding their next route in her little crusade against Vincent. Knowing she had already bested him twice, getting one over on him both times, she knew it would only get harder from there to continue doing that. She knew by Vincent’s reputation he would be more cautious from that point on.