Текст книги "Jack Taggart Mysteries 7 - Book Bundle"

Автор книги: Don Easton

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 141 страниц)

chapter thirty-two

Jack and Danny made sure they were not being followed, then checked the area around Danny’s home. Nothing aroused their suspicions. Six hours later, Danny kissed Susan and Tiffany goodbye and watched them go through security at the airport to board their flight. Jack had taken another car and followed them to the airport.

Jack and Danny were walking back to their cars when Danny’s cellphone rang.

“Danny! It’s Sid Bishop. I just saw the news! Did you hear what happened?”

“About what?”

“Two bikers were blown up in a van this morning near Willy’s Restaurant! It had to have happened right after we left. That’s no coincidence!”

“Oh, that. Yes, I heard.” Danny covered the mouthpiece on the phone and whispered to Jack, “It’s Sid Bishop!” He then held the phone so they could both hear.

“What do you mean, oh, that? How did they know we were there? They tried to kill us! Christ, I don’t want to go home!”

“Sid, relax. If they wanted to kill you, they could have shot the both of us when we were leaving.”

“That’s not very comforting! I called Marvin at home and —”

“Marvin?” asked Danny.

“Sorry, Superintendent Wigmore. He gave me the home number for Assistant Commissioner Isaac. He’s not home yet; I keep calling. I want to hear what he says about this!”

Jack rolled his eyes, then took the phone from Danny and said, “Sid. This is Jack Taggart, Danny’s partner. I’m positive that your life is not in danger. If you think about it, the bikers would have nothing to gain by killing you. In fact, they would have a lot to lose. We don’t think this is connected to us. We have intelligence that a drug war is starting. Getting the wire hooked up is the best thing we can do right now.”

Sid sounded surprised. “You think it’s a drug war? That it was a coincidence?”

“I’m certain of it. We heard that Satans Wrath killed a speed dealer by the name of Bobby Singh. This is probably retaliation for that.”

Sid paused, then calmed down. “So you don’t think I’m in danger?”

“No.”

Jack heard Sid turn away from the phone and say, “Oh, God, thank heavens.” He then spoke to Jack: “I must admit, this incident has shaken my composure. I’m glad to hear you say that. It took me a long time to get through on Danny’s cell. He should get a new phone!”

“There’s no need to panic.”

“I don’t panic! I was just concerned.”

“I’ll give you my home and cell numbers. Danny will be staying with me for a couple of days, so if you need to, you can reach either of us there.”

“Why is he staying with you if there’s no need to panic?” said Sid, his voice rising.

“Just coincidence. His wife is out of town and we decided to bach together. By the way, how well do you know Superintendent Wigmore?”

“Not well. Just socially on occasion. He didn’t speak very highly of you.”

“Oh?” said Jack, feigning surprise. “He’s had some emotional problems lately. I won’t hold that against him. I’ll call you as soon as we know something further.”

“Now what?” asked Danny, after Jack hung up.

“If Isaac thinks our lives are in danger, he’ll transfer the both of us so far north we’ll need a dogsled team. If that happens, I’ll quit and stay here to finish this on my own.”

“After what happened, how can you convince him otherwise?”

“Play up that it’s a drug war. I’ll have a report on his desk first thing tomorrow morning saying our informant told us a drug war is starting. Convince him that today was a coincidence.”

“Isaac will want to know who is dumb enough to take on Satans Wrath.”

“I’ll say it’s conflict within Satans Wrath. That way when more of them start dying, it’ll make sense.”

“You think he’ll swallow that?”

“I hope so. Otherwise you and Susan better develop a taste for whale blubber.”

“Speaking of our friend?”

Jack glanced at his watch. “This should be interesting. When I cancelled the meet with him at noon, he sounded like he didn’t know anything yet. Since then he’s left half a dozen urgent messages for me to call him.”

“Why not call him?”

“I will, but I want to see his face when we talk.” Jack called Lance’s number. His message was brief. “Cemetery! Two hours!”

Jack then said to Danny, “Tell me you’ve got your vest on?”

“It’s on.”

Two hours later, Lance made sure that his jacket covered the handle of the 9 mm tucked in the front of his jeans before quietly making his way into the cemetery. He didn’t approach from the normal direction, but circled around and came in from behind instead.

Minutes later, he heard whispering and saw Jack and Danny standing near a grave marker. Their backs were toward him and they continued to whisper as he approached. Lance stopped behind them and said, “Glad to see you guys didn’t bring a shovel with ya!”

Jack and Danny turned to face him. “It’s not that far away,” said Jack.

“How come ya didn’t get back to me? I’ve been phonin’ and leavin’ messages all day!”

“Why didn’t you call before it happened?”

“I swear to fuckin’ God I didn’t know about it! The first I heard was when Wiz called a meetin’ around noon. That’s when he let everyone in the chapter know that Nails an’ Axle got blown up. He said that they were takin’ care of business when somethin’ happened. It was after the meetin’ that Wiz and Rolly let me know that it was supposed to be for you guys.”

“What did they say?”

“Wiz apologized for not lettin’ me in on it but said that there wasn’t time. I asked him what happened.” Lance looked at Danny and said, “Rolly was there. He thought he saw Nails put the bomb on your car and then drove about a block away and waited. He mentioned that some broad had driven in when Nails was doin’ it. At the time, he thought it had been planted but realizes now that it wasn’t.”

“Who else was there besides Rolly? Wasn’t Wizard around?” asked Jack.

“It was just the three of them. Wiz was at the airport meeting Damien. He was just getting’ back from the Grand Caymans.”

“Did Damien sanction this?”

“Don’t know. But they do know that someone in the club is rattin’. The heat is really on.”

“They had to figure that out once you let them know that we knew who Rolly and Wizard murdered. This doesn’t really change anything as far as you go.”

“Yeah, I guess not, but it’s getting’ pretty damn uncomfortable.”

“We’ll look after you.”

“So now what?” asked Danny. “What are they going to do next?”

“I asked. Wizard said we’re not to do anything right now. He promised to let me know if that was going to change.”

“You’re sure about that?” asked Jack.

“That’s what he said. We got orders to sit tight. Wiz did say that things will change after the election. He’s confident that he’ll beat out Damien.” Lance looked at Jack and asked, “There was somethin’ you were going to get me to do?”

“I was going to get you to put more pressure on Wizard and Rolly this week, but things are too hot right now. We better wait a week or so and see what happens.”

“You’re fuckin’ right things are hot! Waitin’ is fine by me.”

Lance agreed to stay in touch and was walking away when Jack said, “One more thing!”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Just out of curiosity, are you packin’?”

Lance lifted his jacket slightly to expose the handle of the 9 mm. “You’re fuckin’ right I’m packin’! If I’d seen another shovel I would’ve used it to bury you both!”

Jack smiled, then said, “Take care of yourself, Lance.”

Jack and Danny stood in the cemetery and watched Lance drive away. Moments later they heard the metallic sound of a bolt sliding in a rifle.

Jack turned and said, “Louie, you look like a bloody ninja. Except for the white socks!”

Louie looked quickly at his feet. “You asshole! They’re black!”

“You weren’t sure, though, were you? I don’t know, Louie. I think you’re getting old.”

“Not so old that I couldn’t kick your ass!”

Danny interjected. “Listen guys, if it’s okay with you, I want to get going. I told Susan I’d call her and Calgary’s an hour ahead of us.”

Jack gave Danny an extra key to his apartment and told him to go ahead. He said he wanted to make sure that Louie didn’t get lost in the graveyard and then stop at the office to put in a quick report for Isaac to read in the morning.

Danny let himself in through the main entrance of the apartment building and walked across the lighted lobby to the elevators.

From across the street, Damien and The Suit sat in a car looking out through the tinted windows. The Suit lowered his binoculars and said, “That’s O’Reilly!” Damien took a quick glimpse through the binoculars, then picked up a portable radio.

“Pork chop number two just entered through the main entrance.”

Whiskey Jake, who was the president of the east-side chapter, sat in a van parked in the underground parking lot of the building. With him were Sparks, Thumper, and Two-Forty Gordy.

Whiskey Jake thumbed the radio and said, “Copy that.”

A couple of minutes later, Damien gave another message: “Lights just went on. He’s in the apartment. It’s up to you guys now.”

“No problem,” replied Whiskey Jake.

Damien glanced at Bishop and said, “I’m taking you to your car.”

“No, I want to see it,” said The Suit. “I want to see them beg for their lives!”

Damien grabbed The Suit by the front of his jacket, jerking him halfway across the seat. “You put my family and everyone in the club at risk today! I’m not selling ringside seats here! This isn’t a fucking game you’re watching!”

Twenty minutes later, Damien stopped a block from where The Suit’s car was parked. Neither man had spoken a word. The Suit got out and slammed the door as he left.

Two hours later, Jack drove into the underground parking lot and parked in his stall. A minute later, he opened the metal door leading to the alcove where the elevators were. He stepped inside and saw that he wasn’t alone. The man facing him was wearing a ski mask.

Jack’s adrenal glands instantly electrified his body, but it was too late to prevent the solid kick he received to his groin. His knees wobbled as two more men grabbed each of his arms from behind. The pain made him want to vomit.

He was slammed face down on the concrete floor. He could see the square-toed boots of the man who had kicked him. A small piece of leather was curled back off the end of one of the boots. He wondered, briefly, if it was the result of someone being kicked in the teeth, then thought it ironic that he would think of that when he was about to die. A hand jerked his pistol out of his holster, and he braced himself for the shot.

Seconds later, his eyes and mouth were plastered with duct tape. He hands were bound behind his back and his ankles were also wrapped. They found the knife he carried for undercover duties and slid it out of its scabbard. He was then lifted off the ground by his arms and dragged out the door. He heard the sound of a sliding door and was tossed inside a van. Perhaps he had been optimistic, thinking that his life would end so quickly. They want to know who the informant is first, he realized.

He felt someone remove his keys from his pocket. Nobody had spoken a word. He heard the sliding door again as some of the men left the van. He had a sickening feeling that he knew why they had taken his keys.

His body rolled against a metal bar under a seat as the van sped away.

Danny was sitting on the sofa watching television when he heard the sound of the key in the apartment door. “Good, you’re back!” he hollered. “I feel like a drink.” He heard the footsteps behind him and said, “I talked with Susan. She’s scared but she’s okay.”

Danny felt the cold barrel of a pistol in his ear. He snapped his head around, and the barrel of the pistol obscured the vision of one eye. The man holding the pistol was wearing a ski mask. He looked past him and saw two other men. They were also wearing ski masks – and they were also pointing pistols at him.

chapter thirty-three

Jack estimated an hour had passed before the van came to a stop. During the trip, he vowed that he would never release Lance’s name. He would quickly give them a few names, then hold out for as long as possible – and finally give them Rolly.

He thought of other things. He wished that he had a chance to tell Natasha that he loved her one more time. He wished that he could apologize to Susan for failing to protect her husband, and somehow to Tiffany, for giving her a life without a father.

The sliding door of the van opened and he was hauled out by the arms and dragged across rough ground before being placed in a kneeling position.

The minutes ticked by and all he heard was the engine noise from a couple of vehicles. He started to lose his balance and felt himself falling forward, but a hand grabbed him by the hair and jerked him back into position. The duct tape was unwrapped from around his eyes.

Jack blinked and strained his eyes to see. Headlights behind him cast light and shadows across a construction site. He stared down at a hollow wall of rough planks interwoven with metal bars. He was kneeling in front of a large pit that had been dug out of the ground to build a basement. The construction was at the stage where the forms had been prepared for the pouring of the cement floor.

Jack looked behind him but was blinded by the high-beam headlights of a van and a car. He glanced down at the feet of a man standing beside him. He could make out the same square-toed boots and realized that his groin still ached. The man was no longer wearing a ski mask and sneered down at him. He recognized him from photographs of the east-side chapter as someone who went by the nickname of Thumper. Two more men approached from out of the headlights, and one of them used Jack’s knife to cut the tape wrapped around the back of his neck before peeling it off his mouth. Jack recognized him as a striker from the same chapter. The striker handed the knife to the third man, who commanded, “Leave us!”

Thumper and the striker walked back and disappeared behind the headlights. Jack recognized Damien’s face as he stepped closer.

“Do you know who I am, Officer Taggart?”

Jack looked up at his face. “Sure I do, Damien. Please, call me Jack. I hate formalities. Excuse me for not shaking hands.”

Damien did not appear to be amused. “Let’s get to the point. What do you think the point is, Jack?”

“The point is, you fucked up this morning by trying to kill my partner and his wife and baby. Now you’re fucking up again!”

“I can understand why you would think that. Tell me, why do you think you ended up out here?”

“You want me to give you the name of someone. Good luck. Let the games begin! What will you start with? Water and a cattle prod?”

“Interesting tip. Tell me, Jack, just out of curiosity, what name would you yell out first?”

“Yours!”

A wry smile flashed across Damien’s face, and then he said, “That’s what I thought. I know we’ve got a rat in our club. I accept that. It happens, and it is something that will be dealt with. Unfortunately for you, others don’t accept it quite as easily as I do, which brings us to the point of our meeting here.”

“The point being?”

“The point being that sometimes large organizations have internal problems that need to be dealt with. You referred to an incident this morning. I had no knowledge about that incident until after it happened. I admit that someone in my organization may have been impetuous. I have since rectified the situation.”

“Impetuous! Is that what you call committing murder? I don’t care if you sanctioned it or not. You’re in charge, and that makes you responsible!”

“I agree. I must, and do, accept responsibility for what happened. However, it would hardly be fair for other … innocent people to get hurt simply because someone acted foolishly.”

“What are you implying?”

“You’re hardly the person to ask what I’m implying! You know full well what I’m saying! You and I are in different clubs, but we’re very much alike.”

“Alike? That’s bullshit! I don’t kidnap and murder people!”

“Kidnap? Murder? I brought you here to save lives! That’s the whole point! You need to know that if I wanted you dead, you would be.”

Damien then took the knife and slashed the tape from Jack’s ankles and wrists.

Jack got to his feet and asked, “What about my partner?”

“He’s okay. Probably relaxing in a tub right now.”

“So you don’t plan on committing any murders today?”

Damien leaned close and hissed, “Don’t you, of all people, stand there and accuse me of murder! You’re only alive because the others didn’t figure it out!”

“Figure what out?”

“The switch! When you get home, wash your jacket. You’ve got an oil stain on the back from crawling under vehicles!”

Jack found himself at a loss for words.

Damien scowled and said, “I bet you and your partner had a good laugh over that one.”

“He doesn’t know. He thinks it was an accident.”

“Loose lips?”

“I prefer to call it a need-to-know basis. He didn’t need to know.”

“Just as well. Do you give me your word that we’re even for what happened this morning?”

Jack thought for a moment, then quietly said, “Yes.”

Damien handed him his knife and pistol. Jack checked the pistol and saw that it was fully loaded.

Damien then yelled, “Thumper! Take him home!”

Jack glanced down at Thumper’s square-toed boots as he approached. The man was slightly shorter than Jack and sneered up at him as he got close. Without warning, Jack kicked him hard in the groin and watched as he buckled over and staggered back.

Jack then turned to face Damien and said, “Now we’re even for tonight, too.”

Jack felt a tap on his shoulder and was surprised to see that it was Thumper.

“Ya want a piece of me, pork chop?” Thumper asked.

Jack had two months of rage burning inside him. He was eager to release some of it. He handed his gun and knife back to Damien and said, “You’re damn right I do!”

Damien and the third man both laughed. Damien whispered something to Thumper, who nodded, then looked at Jack and said, “Okay, pig, let’s see how tough ya are!”

Thumper opened with a side kick to Jack’s ribs. Jack blocked the kick with his forearm and landed a fist on the end of Thumper’s nose. Thumper stepped back, his eyes watering and blood gushing down across his lips. Jack stepped in close to deliver a karate punch to the solar plexus, followed by another punch to the throat. He didn’t connect with either. He found himself sailing though the air, and then he landed in the pit dug for the basement.

He scrambled to his feet as Thumper jumped in beside him and planted a boot squarely across his chest. He staggered back, then lunged forward with another punch. Thumper grabbed his wrist and spun him sideways while delivering another kick to Jack’s armpit.

Jack felt his arm go numb, and for a moment, so many fists and feet were slamming his body that he believed he was fighting all three men. He realized he wasn’t when he was lying barely conscious, face down in the dirt, and heard Damien from above ordering the striker to go down in the hole and help Thumper carry him back to the van.

Jack was still winded and dazed as he was tossed onto the floor of the van.

Damien dropped Jack’s gun and knife on the floor beside him and said, “I think I figured out who the rat is, so we really don’t have a problem.”

Jack didn’t respond.

Damien then said, “Also, for your information, Thumper teaches kick-boxing, karate, and tae kwon do. You should sign up for lessons.”

“Too late. My body just declared bankruptcy.”

Damien chuckled, then softly closed the sliding door and walked away.

The striker hopped in the van and drove, while Thumper sat in the passenger seat. During the trip, Jack heard the striker say, “This has got to be a first, Thumper. Never seen anyone smack ya in the face before, let alone a pig.”

Thumper replied, “Damien said he didn’t want any other pigs getting excited. Told me I couldn’t hit him in the face and to try not to break any bones. It’s hard to fight when you’re only playin’ with someone like that.”

Jack groaned.

When they pulled up to his apartment, Two-Forty Gordy came to the van with Jack’s apartment keys and Thumper tossed them back to Jack. A few minutes later, Jack entered his apartment.

He found Danny wrapped in duct tape and lying face down in the bathtub. It took him a few minutes to take the tape off.

“Christ! Am I glad to see you,” said Danny, blinking and wiping his eyes as he stepped out of the bathtub.

“Likewise,” said Jack.

“What took you so long? I’ve been lying in this tub for hours!”

“I was detained.”

“Detained? You’re filthy! You look like you crawled out of a grave!”

“Close guess. I had the crap beat out of me by a guy who could have won with both hands tied behind his back.”

“What happened? How come we’re alive?”

“Grab the medicine. I’m too sore to reach the cupboard. I’ll have mine on ice. We’ll talk in the living room.”

Danny poured drinks while telling Jack how he was grabbed and tied up like a Christmas turkey.

“Why did they dump you in the tub? Why not leave you on the rug?”

“Maybe they wanted me to think that they were going to drown me. When they dumped me in the tub, that’s what I was afraid was going to happen.”

“Did they run any water, just to scare you?”

“They didn’t need to. I was already scared shitless. How did they grab you?”

Jack explained how he was kidnapped and brought to see Damien. He explained that Damien was making the point that he wasn’t involved in the bomb incident and that he could have killed them tonight had he wished.

Then he said, “After I had the crap beat out of me, Damien told me that he thinks he knows who the rat is in their club.”

Whiskey Jake and Sparks sat in the back of a van parked a block from Jack’s apartment. Sparks turned the volume up on the speaker and said, “Here it is!”

They listened as Danny’s voice came over the speaker.

“Damien knows who our friend is?” he said.

“I’m not so sure,” said Jack. “If he really knew who it was, why let me know?”

“I don’t know, but maybe we should warn him.”

Sparks swore and said, “Come on, pigs! Give us a name!”

Whiskey Jake put his finger to his lips and Sparks became silent.

“He doesn’t need warning,” said Jack. “He knows the heat is on.”

“So what do we do now?”

“At least we know that The Suit isn’t with the City narcs,” said Jack.

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. CC said she would keep this on a need-to-know basis. She couldn’t have told too many people.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing. We shouldn’t forget Department of Justice, either.”

Danny thought for a moment, then said, “There can’t be that many guys who knew. If we get pictures of all the possibilities, maybe Marcie could point him out to us.”

“Possibly. Either way, I figure we’ll find out who this bastard is before the week is over!”

Sparks turned and looked at Whiskey Jake. “Who is this Marcie? Think we should let Damien know?”

“Fuckin’ right!”