by Mike Ryan
“You’re not exactly known for your fighting prowess.”
“Hey, I’ve gotten a lot better since we first met, you know.”
“Yeah, but you’re still not exactly anyone’s first choice for a shootout.”
“So you do expect there to be a shootout,” Tiffany said.
“If Ames has got a lot of people there, who knows what might happen? But like I keep saying, I want to be prepared. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, isn’t that how the saying goes?”
“Isn’t another one better safe than sorry?”
“Tiff.”
She put her hands over her eyes and rubbed her face for a moment. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to tell you what to do or make you feel guilty or anything.”
“You’re not. And what you think and feel is important to me.”
“Just not important enough to change your mind?”
“Don’t do that to me, Tiff.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m going to take every precaution, OK?”
“OK.”
Franks stood up. “You sure you don’t want me to come with?”
Jacobs shook his head. “No. If I’m taking Gunner, I want you staying here.”
Franks blew some air through his mouth and nodded. “Okey dokey.”
Jacobs looked over at Gunner. “You ready, boy?” Gunner immediately ran over to him, his tail wagging. He was ready. Jacobs took another look at Tiffany, who still looked anything but pleased. “Can I get a kiss before I go?”
Tiffany looked up at him and smiled, then leapt to her feet, throwing her arms around him. She hugged him tight. “I’m sorry. It’s just…”
“I know.” Jacobs put one hand on her back and another cradling the back of her head, putting the side of his face against hers. “I know.”
They then passionately kissed for a moment. “I just want you to be safe.”
“I will.”
Tiffany had tears in her eyes. “And please come back to me in one piece.”
“I promise I will.”
They broke from their embrace, then Tiffany wiped her nose and her eyes. She gave Jacobs a smile, then ran into the bathroom to compose herself.
“She’ll be OK,” Franks said.
Jacobs sighed. “Yeah.” He felt bad about making her upset.
“Now that she’s out of the room, you wanna come clean about what’s going on here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re going to a meeting you don’t wanna go to, Butch tells you that you don’t need to be armed, you don’t need to bring Gunner, and here you are armed to the teeth.”
“It’s just a feeling I got.”
“Care to explain some? I got ears, you know.”
“Something about this doesn’t feel right.”
“Like what?”
“I dunno. Can’t really put my finger on it. I’m told to leave Gunner, but bring you, don’t come armed, I don’t have to do anything, I dunno… just seems like a lot of strange requests.”
“Which says what to you?”
“Almost makes me feel like I’m walking into a trap. They want me to come unarmed, so they don’t have to worry about Gunner, and they can take you out too.”
“But it’s Butch. He’s been helping us before. Why would he change his tune now?”
Jacobs shook his head. “I dunno. I don’t know.”
“Well, if you think this is a trap, why you going?”
“I don’t know if it’s a trap. I just said it sounds strange. Hey, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, you know what it usually is?”
“A swan?”
“Ha ha, very funny.”
“You know what’s up.”
“I dunno. Part of me feels like if I don’t go, they’ll think I know it’s a trap.”
“And the problem there is?” Franks asked.
“Well, if I tell them I’m coming, it gives them a false sense of security. If they think I’ll be an easy mark, that gives me the upper hand.”
“Man, I don’t see how you figure that. Seems like they’re gonna have you outgunned and all.”
“There’s a reason I’m leaving early.”
“Which is?”
“Get there first. Scout around. See what’s going on.”
“Man, what’s wrong with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know full damn well what you’re expecting to find. You’re expecting a fight, you think you’re being set up, and you think they’re trying to double-cross you. So why go through all this jazz?”
“I guess… maybe it’s because I’m tired. Tired of having to go through all this stuff. Tired of seeing her worry,” Jacobs said.
“And you think this is gonna help? Walking into that?”
“If it is what I’m expecting, every one of them I take out now is one I don’t have to take out later. And if it’s not what I’m expecting, and I’m just overthinking it, then I still don’t have to worry about Ames anymore.”
Franks shook his head. “You’re not making sense, man. Even if this is a setup, the risks don’t outweigh the rewards. How many you think you can take out? Two? Three? Five? If they’re there waiting for you, you know damn well they got an army there. And there ain’t no guarantee you’re getting out.”
“But if I don’t go, I won’t know if Butch has turned. And I’d rather know now then getting into something later and expect his help, only to have him shooting me in the back. Don’t you think?”
Franks rubbed his chin as he thought about it. “I dunno, man. I mean, maybe there’s some strange logic to that mess that’s going on in your head right now, but… I don’t know.” Franks pointed to the hallway with his thumb. “That woman in there. She’s reason enough to take things easy and not take chances.”
“It’s because of that woman in there that I’m going.” Jacobs took a deep breath and shook his head. “She needs to be free of this. And she needs to be free of it now. So anything I can do to put an end to this more quickly, I’m gonna do. Even if that means only taking out one person now. It’s a start.”
“I feel ya, man, I do. But as your friend and your partner, I think you’re getting a little sloppy on this one. I think you’re letting what’s going on in here,” Franks pointed to Jacobs’ heart, “affect what’s going on up there.” He pointed to Jacobs’ head. “Ya gotta be smart on this one.”
Jacobs looked at the time. He heard what Franks was saying, but it wasn’t sinking in. He was still going to go. “I’ll be fine. I know what I’m doing.”
“All right, man, I sure hope so.”
“I need to go now so I can still get there in plenty of time.”
“OK. If you need me, hit me up, and I’ll come lickety-split.”
“Thanks.”
Jacobs and Gunner left the house. As they walked toward the car, Tiffany came out of the bathroom. She walked over to Franks, and he put his arm around her.
“Don’t worry. He’ll be back. Before you know it.”
Tiffany sighed. “I hope so.”
They went over to the window and watched Jacobs and Gunner get into the car. They stood there, even after the car left and was no longer in sight.
“Do I need to toughen up a little?” Tiffany asked.
“What? No. You’re plenty tough already. Please. You’ve gone through way more than most people have or would. You’re fine just the way you are. Don’t you ever change. Plus, the woman you are is the person he’s falling in love with. Not someone else.”
“I feel like I can’t always reach him.”
“That’s not on you, sweety. He’s just used to doing things a certain way. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes it’s not. But it’s his way.”
“I just… when’s it gonna be over?”
“Soon. Soon. You just gotta hang on a little bit longer, OK? Don’t give up on him now.”
“I’m not. Never. I love him. I’m just scared of losing him now.”
&nb
sp; Franks pulled her in closer to him, trying to pick up her spirits. Then his phone rang. “Scuse me, I gotta take this.” Tiffany continued looking out the window, while Franks started pacing around the room as he talked on the phone. “Hey, how you been, brother? Yeah? Well, that’s good. When you think you’ll be able to get back here? Oh, you’re back already? You just got in? Well, that is perfect timing, man, perfect timing. ‘Cause I got something that’s up your alley. That is, if you’re of mind.” Franks stopped pacing and stood still for a second. “Great. I’ll take care of everything later. I got a job for you right now. Up for it? That’s fantastic, man. Hope you’re packing… I have a feeling you’re gonna need it.”
8
Jacobs was out of his car, lying on his stomach, looking through a chain-link fence. There were some bushes around him to disguise his location. He left Gunner in the car until he was sure that he would need him. He had to look through and around some trees and bushes, but he was able to get a view of the Dexters building. He wasn’t seeing any activity around it. He didn’t see any men coming or going.
He looked at his watch. There was still half an hour before he was supposed to be there. It didn’t feel right, though. He’d been watching for close to thirty minutes, and Jacobs hadn’t seen a sign of anybody. Not Ames or his men. Not Butch and his men. Not anything. Not even a stray cat.
Jacobs wasn’t sure what he was going to do yet. It was way too quiet for him to actually go in there. He wanted to see a sign of somebody. He didn’t even care who it was now. He just wanted someone to appear.
He soon got his wish. A few minutes later, several cars drove up to the building, stopping just in front of it. Jacobs watched closely as the doors opened and several men got out. His eyes widened when he saw Butch’s face. He now knew for sure, just like he had expected, that this was a ruse to get him out there. Butch had turned on him. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t be driving up to a building that was supposed to have Ames inside.
Jacobs wiped his mouth with his forearm as he continued to look on. Butch was standing just in front of the building, not moving for some reason. It looked like he was waiting for somebody. A minute or two later, another group of cars pulled up. Jacobs looked on intently. He was half-expecting Ames to show up, thinking that perhaps the two rivals somehow struck some kind of deal, one that included killing him.
His eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw Mallette’s body get out of one of the cars. Jacobs was mesmerized as he watched Mallette walk right up to Butch and shake his hand. Jacobs’ heart was thumping, his body was paralyzed, unable to take his eyes off his enemy. It was obvious what this was all about now. Mallette got out of prison and struck a deal with Butch, knowing he and Jacobs had a common enemy in Ames. And Mallette was using that to get to him.
It was smart. Jacobs wouldn’t have expected less from Mallette. He just didn’t think it would happen this soon after getting out of prison. He thought Mallette would wait a while before resorting to making deals with the other players. Maybe after a few months of spinning his wheels again, it would make him more conducive to dealing with the others. Now, it was obvious Mallette wasn’t waiting that long. He wasn’t going to take any chances. Maybe Mallette had learned from his prior mistakes in dealing with Jacobs. He was going after him right away, by any means necessary. And it didn’t matter who he had to broker a deal with. Even other organizations who were trying to take Mallette’s place.
After a few minutes of Mallette and Butch standing around talking, it looked like they gave some orders to their men, as a bunch of them took off right away. They got in their cars and drove off, probably wanting to get the vehicles out of sight before Jacobs showed up. Then Mallette and Butch disappeared into the building. Just like that, all the activity in front had dispersed. It was like no one had been there at all.
Jacobs took a deep breath, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He had Mallette right in front of him. He had a chance to kill him and finally put an end to their conflict. The problem was how Jacobs would get to him. He assumed one of the other men would be taking up a position somewhere, out of sight, keeping an eye on the building, letting them know of any problems. As soon as Jacobs appeared, the man would probably let the others know, and he’d get surrounded before he was able to get close to his target.
Jacobs thought about it, really wanting to get in there and kill Mallette. There was nothing he wanted more at that moment than to put a bullet in Mallette’s body. But he had to fight that urge to go in there recklessly. He thought about what Franks had told him before he left the house. Maybe he was right. Maybe Jacobs was thinking with his heart more than his head. And he had to resist doing something that wasn’t smart.
As much as he wanted to get in there and put an end to Mallette’s life, he couldn’t be foolish and reckless. Maybe if this had been six or eight months ago, Jacobs would have risked it. At that point, he would have had nothing to lose. Including his own life. It just meant he would have seen his family sooner.
But now… now it was different. He was in a much better state of mind. He had Tiffany now. And he worried about what his actions would mean for her. It wasn’t just about him anymore. And he wasn’t all about seeing his family as soon as possible anymore. Now he could envision a life with Tiffany. That meant not doing anything foolish to jeopardize that. Including being reckless with a man who he had an intense hatred for. As much as he hated to wait, he had to think things through.
Jacobs waited for a few minutes. He was heavily concentrated on his plan of attack, trying to come up with an alternative to just rushing in there. He did have a rifle in the car. With that, and a clear line of sight to the front of the building, which he had, he could wait for Mallette to come back out, then pick him off with one shot. It wouldn’t be as satisfying as doing it up close, letting Mallette know that Jacobs was ending his life, but now wasn’t the time for that. Jacobs didn’t know when he’d get another opportunity like this. Maybe never. He had to take advantage of the situation and take Mallette out now. It didn’t matter how he did it. As long as it was done.
Jacobs was thinking so much about what he needed to do that he lost focus on what was happening around him. One of the things that Butch’s men were doing was canvassing the perimeter of the property. Jacobs’ phone rang. He looked at it and saw it was Franks. He answered it, though he had no interest in having a long conversation at the moment.
“Listen, Eddie, can’t talk now.”
“Yeah, I know. I just wanted to let you know that—”
“Eddie, stop. Mallette’s here. I see him.”
“What?”
“Mallette. He’s here. He and Butch must’ve made some type of deal to set me up.”
Butch’s men were closing in on Jacobs’ position. Jacobs didn’t see them until it was too late. He heard a twig snap to his right, and he whipped his head in that direction, seeing a man trying to sneak up on him. Jacobs instantly dropped his phone. He grabbed his gun and pointed it at the man, but he still didn’t see the other couple of men that were on the other side of him. And they were in firing range of him.
“I wouldn’t,” a voice said behind him.
Jacobs turned his head slightly, without turning the rest of his body, though he still couldn’t see behind him.
“Drop your gun,” another man said.
“You’re outnumbered.”
Being outnumbered had never bothered Jacobs. In fact, it was a constant occurrence. No matter what he did or who he went up against, he was always outnumbered. But right now, they had position on him. There was no scenario he could think of in which he could survive this if he came up shooting. They had him cold.
If he had Gunner with him, maybe they could have done something, but then again, if Gunner were with him, maybe he’d be in as much trouble as his owner appeared to be. There was nothing else Jacobs could do. He dropped his gun and put his arms up. They obviously didn’t want to kill him yet, or else he would’ve been dead alr
eady. He had to hope there’d be an opportunity at some point to wiggle his way out of this.
One of the men went over to Jacobs’ gun and picked it up. Then a couple other men grabbed Jacobs’ arms and pulled him up to his feet. Now Jacobs got a good look at the men. There were four of them. He made the right decision in dropping his gun. If he’d tried to fight his way out of this, he wouldn’t have made it.
“C’mon, let’s go.”
“Where we going?” Jacobs asked.
The man pointed at one of his friends. “Just follow him and don’t try anything stupid. There’s three guns pointed at you. And we won’t miss.”
Jacobs nodded. “Understood.” He started to drop his hands.
“Ah, ah. Don’t do that. Keep them up. You drop them again and we’ll drop you. No questions asked. We’ll tell you when you can put them down.”
Jacobs sighed. He didn’t see how he was getting out of this jam, not yet. He just had to hope they made a mistake somewhere along the way. But it’d have to be a big one.
The men started moving, and Jacobs complied, following the man in front. They walked along the fence, heading towards the opening. The man in the back got on his phone.
“Hey, we got him. We’re bringing him in now. Yeah, he’s alive. No, just him.”
By the time they walked around to the front of the building, they had company waiting for them. Mallette, Butch, and several of their men were standing there, waiting with great anticipation. For Mallette, a wide smile formed on his face as he saw Jacobs being led to him. He saw the finish line in sight. Finally. He was going to have the last laugh. After all this time in jail, watching his men fall, and his organization crumble, he was finally going to get his revenge.
For Butch, as he looked on, there was no smile. There was no emotion of any kind. A piece of him still felt bad. This wasn’t the way he liked to do business. He considered himself a man of his word, and he was breaking it. He looked at Jacobs, then glanced at Mallette, wondering if he was doing the right thing. Part of him thought about taking out Mallette as he stood next to him. He’d still have to deal with Mallette’s men, who numbered about ten in the area. He quickly shook those thoughts out of his head. It was too late for that now. He already did the deal. The time for second guessing was over. He made the agreement, now he had to live with it.
