by Mike Ryan
Butch seemed less enthused talking about Jacobs, and instead wondered about the new partnership that didn’t seem to be working out the way they both thought it would. “Perhaps it’s not the man, and it’s the plans that are being devised.”
Mallette glared at him. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think it’s pretty clear. Your hatred for Jacobs clouds your judgment.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“I think it’s exactly the truth. Jacobs continually beats you because he thinks clearer under extreme circumstances. You’re so consumed with beating him that you don’t see the alternatives, you don’t account for things going wrong, you just assume that he should lie down for you. And it doesn’t work like that.”
“So that’s what you think?”
“Yeah. It is.”
“Maybe you think you can do better?” Mallette asked.
“Well, at this point, I don’t think I could do much worse. When I agreed to this partnership, I assumed that things were going to go a little better than this.”
“I would agree that things haven’t gone quite like I thought they would.”
“And I’m not sure I wanna continue.”
“You think you would do better on your own?”
“Since I threw in with you, I’ve done nothing but lose men left and right, so I don’t see how I couldn’t do better. I don’t think our goals quite align with each other.”
“Our goals are the same as they always have been,” Mallette said. “To eliminate Jacobs and Ames.”
“All I see is failure.”
“To eradicate people like this, you must have patience.”
“Easy to say when my men are taking the brunt of things.”
“You’re upset about losing men. It’s understandable. Any leader worth their salt would be. But you mustn’t let it get the better of you and cloud your own judgment.”
“There’s nothing clouding my judgment,” Butch said. “I’m seeing very clearly. Your enemy is Jacobs. Mine is Ames. Our goals do not seem to align.”
“So what do you want to do? Walk out? Try to do things on your own?”
“It’s crossing my mind.”
Mallette continued to stand in place, staring at his partner. While Butch walking out wouldn’t be catastrophic for him, it would set him back a little. Butch and his men doubled the size of their force. Not having them in place would mean Mallette would have to slow down his plans. And that was something that didn’t appeal to him at all. He had to attempt to convince Butch to stay, and he’d appease him in whatever way was possible.
“Look, let’s not lose our heads here.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do by leaving,” Butch said. “Because staying here seems like a losing proposition.”
“Let’s just stay the course. Let’s do this together. Whether it’s Jacobs, or it’s Ames, we’ll figure out who’s best to target next. But if we separate now, we’ll both be worse off for it. I won’t get your help in taking back this city, and you won’t get the help you need in getting one of your own.”
“Unless I just decide to stay here.”
The tone in Butch’s voice was obvious. He was defiant. He’d now seen Mallette up close and in action. He wasn’t particularly impressed. He saw nothing in Mallette that made him think he had anything to fear from him. On the contrary, Butch felt he was a better leader than his new partner. Even if they were to go up against each other now, Butch didn’t have any worries about who he thought would come out on top. He believed that it would be him.
“Don’t be a fool, Butch. Now you’ve made an enemy of Jacobs. He won’t let you off the hook now. Do you really want to go up against me, Ames, and Jacobs?”
Butch didn’t respond. He glared at Mallette, considering his options. He wasn’t yet sure what he wanted. He was leaning towards leaving and taking his chances alone. But Mallette was right. Before, his only enemy was Ames. If he walked out now, his enemies would triple. And considering the number of losses he’d sustained recently, going up against all of them wasn’t an enticing idea. He wasn’t even sure if he had enough men to take on all the other parties at the same time.
Butch sighed. “Fine. I’ll stay. For now. But if we have one more of these issues, I’m done.”
“Understood. I guarantee… the next time we have Jacobs or Ames in our sight, we’ll finish them off.”
Just like he’d been doing almost every day for the past week, Hack was hard at work at Jacobs’ kitchen table. The others were sitting at the table as well.
“What I don’t get, man, is how Mallette set that up?” Franks asked. “How would he know to put that out there? Or was it just some fluke?”
“It wasn’t a fluke,” Jacobs answered. “He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“He knows about Hack.”
Hack shot him a look, knowing that wasn’t possible.
Jacobs put his hand up. “I don’t mean you specifically. I mean, he knows I’m working with someone who knows computers. That’s why he put that out there. He got someone to float that address, waiting for us to find it.”
“It’s quite likely,” Hack said. “I’ve been checking out everything involving that incident, and there are a couple things that are quite interesting.”
“Like what?” Franks asked.
“Well, I'll spare you the technical terms that you won’t understand.”
“You saying I’m not up on computer lingo?”
“Uh, yeah, anyway… basically, it comes down to the fact that the stuff that I originally saw is no longer there.”
“So it was put up for a specific purpose,” Thrower said.
Jacobs nodded. “Yeah. Us.”
Hack agreed. “Yes. Everything involving that building has been removed, so it was definitely put there just for one thing.”
“Are you able to track where that information came from? Like an IP address or some type of signature or something?”
“No, whoever put it up was very careful and covered their tracks well.”
Jacobs sighed. “That doesn’t help us very much.”
“I know. Sorry.”
While Hack went back to work, the others sat around the table quietly. They all had solemn looks on their faces, feeling like they were at a dead end. Then Thrower thought he had something.
“Hey, why don’t we throw a trap for them?”
“Whatcha mean?” Franks asked. “Whatcha talking about?”
“Well, they just set something special up for us, right? Let’s return the favor.”
Franks snapped his fingers. “I like how you’re thinking, man. I like how you’re thinking.”
Jacobs didn’t seem to be as enthused as the others about the plan, though. His look wasn’t lost on the others.
“You don’t think so?” Thrower asked.
“Yeah, man, what’s the problemo?” Franks said. “You’re not feeling it?”
Jacobs shrugged. “It’s not that I’m not feeling it. It’s just… I’m not sure how effective it would be.”
“Why not? What’s the matter with it?”
Jacobs rubbed his chin as he thought. “Well, Mallette’s obviously found himself a computer guy too, right?”
“Not as good as me,” Hack said.
“He was good enough to fool you last time,” Franks said.
“I wasn’t fooled. All I can do is present the information that I find.”
“I still say you were fooled.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Jacobs said. “But if we were to try one of those traps of our own, especially right after he tried it, he’s gonna be on his guard. He’s gonna be skeptical.”
“Not if it’s done right,” Franks said.
Thrower agreed. “Yeah. If Hack can set it up right, we can pull it off.”
“Yeah, like if Hack accidentally releases your address or something. Some place that’s advantageous for us.”
“
Accidentally releases my address,” Jacobs said with a huff. “He’s not gonna fall for that. He’s not stupid. Do you think after all this time, he’s gonna believe that I’m just gonna magically allow my address to appear out there somewhere?”
“Well, that’s why we gotta disguise it, man. What’s with all the negativity here? You wanna end this thing or not?”
“You know I do. I also wanna be smart. Just like Mallette tried something and failed, now we’re gonna think twice about anything we find. He gave it a shot and blew it. He might not get another one. We have to think the same way. We may only get one shot to do something like this. So if we do attempt something, it’s gotta be good, and it’s gotta work. On the first try. No maybes, no hoping, no nothing. It’s gotta work.”
Franks nodded. “I hear ya, man, I hear ya. We gotta make it good. You’re right, throwing your address out there won’t work.” He looked at Hack. “Or will it?”
Hack shrugged and gave a face of indecision, contorting his face and raising his cheekbones. He obviously wasn’t sure about it either. “It’s like Brett said… it’s gotta be good. And if you wanna make it good, it’s gonna take time. Depends on how much time you wanna give it.”
“Why can’t you just throw something up there all willy-nilly?”
“Because it doesn’t work like that. If something just magically appears and looks too good to be true, he’s gonna assume that it is. Especially if he’s got a computer guy who’s almost, but not quite, as good as me. They’ll see through it. If you wanna pull something like this off, it’s gotta be a slow and deliberate process to make it seem natural and not forced.”
“Hack’s right,” Jacobs said. “You can’t force it. It’ll take time.” Jacobs sighed again. “Time we really don’t have.”
Tiffany had stayed silent the whole time. She was listening to everything and taking it all in. But she had a few things going around inside her head. None of them were appealing. But she thought she may have an idea that would speed up the process. She couldn’t believe what she was thinking. And she couldn’t believe she was actually going to say it. What was about to come out of her mouth was almost as much of a surprise to her as it would be to the others hearing it.
Before speaking, she took a gulp. Then she broke the silence, not looking at any of them, but instead staring down at the table. If she looked at them, she wasn’t sure she’d actually be able to say it.
“Use me.”
The others all looked at her, unsure of what she was suggesting. There was also a look of shock on their faces. Tiffany continued staring down at the table, though out of the corner of her eye, she could see everyone’s head turned toward her. She slowly picked her head up, taking a split second to look at each of them individually. Nobody else said a word. They were all waiting for her to elaborate.
“Use me,” Tiffany repeated.
Jacobs was the first to speak up. “What are you talking about?”
“Use me as bait.”
“What?!”
It sounded funny to her even as she said it. It was an odd thing for her to say. She didn’t consider herself a particularly brave person, though most others would have disagreed with that, considering she was still voluntarily in this situation.
“You want to get these guys, right?” she asked.
Jacobs immediately started shaking his head. He didn’t even want to hear anything else. “No. Not like this.” He didn’t care to listen to whatever plan she was concocting. “No.”
“Brett, just listen.”
“No. I won’t. Using you as bait is a nonstarter. Won’t happen. I won’t let it. I won’t put you in harm’s way. Not intentionally.”
“Remember what we’ve talked about with me making my own choices?”
Jacobs continued shaking his head. He still didn’t want to hear it. “No, I’m not—”
Tiffany put her fingers on Jacobs’ lips to prevent him from disagreeing any more. “Just let me talk. If everyone agrees it’s not good, then fine. But it’s my choice to offer, so let me finish.”
Jacobs blew air through his mouth, not liking it already. But he closed his eyes and nodded, letting her continue.
“Whatcha got rolling around in the pretty little head?” Franks asked. Jacobs gave him a look, not really wanting to encourage her.
Tiffany cleared her throat before starting, still a little uneasy about what she was about to suggest. “Well, if doing all that computer stuff is going to take time… too much time than you all want. I think the easiest way to draw them all out… is me.”
Jacobs squirmed in his chair and was about to say something, though Tiffany put her finger up at him, squashing him before he was able to get started.
“We already know I’m a target for them. Right?” Everyone nodded, except for Jacobs. “So if I put myself out there, they will come. Right?” Everyone nodded again, though still not Jacobs. He wasn’t fond of the idea. “So wouldn’t it be faster if we use me to draw them in?”
The others were thinking it would be, except for Jacobs, but they weren’t going to say it. Not with the look that Jacobs had on his face. That was something for the two of them to figure out and argue over.
Tiffany waited for one of them to respond, but with the deafening silence, she turned toward Jacobs. She knew nobody wanted to endorse the plan without him being on board with it.
“Brett?”
Jacobs kept shaking his head. “No. We’re not doing it.”
“Brett, you know this is the best way.”
“No I don't. And it’s not.”
“Just stop thinking like the stubborn person you are and think logically and reasonably.”
“I can’t believe you’re even suggesting this.”
“It’s not because I love the idea or because I want to potentially get hurt. But I want this to be over. We can’t keep doing this forever. I can’t keep doing this forever. I want to be done with it. Everything you’re talking about takes weeks or months or god knows how long. I don’t want to wait that long. I want to be done.”
Jacobs understood her frustration. He felt it too. But he wasn’t sure this was the way. He put his hand on her arm. “I know. But do you really think putting yourself out there is the way to go?”
Tiffany held back a few tears and collected her thoughts. She opened her mouth, but hesitated before letting any words come out. “I think… I just want this to be over. And if putting me out there helps to accomplish that faster… then I’m OK with that. I want to get back to a normal life. And I want that with you.”
Jacobs still wasn’t in love with the idea, but he could see the hurt and the anguish on her face. It wasn’t fair that she still had to deal with all this. He still wasn’t sure he was going to agree with anything, but he was at least a little more willing to listen.
“I’m assuming you have something in mind?” Jacobs said. “Besides you just walking down the middle of the street and waiting for one of them to recognize you.”
Tiffany smirked. “I have a plan.”
23
Tiffany had just finished explaining everything that was going through her mind. The others seemed to be down with it. Jacobs was still the holdout.
“OK, explain this to me one more time,” Jacobs said.
Tiffany looked at him and smiled. She knew he understood everything. It was just his way of processing it to make sure he was actually good with it. “It’s really pretty simple, Brett.”
“Just humor me.”
“I go back to school tomorrow, and if someone’s there watching, we let them follow us. You don’t try to lose them, you let them follow, and then you lead them wherever you want them to go.”
“But you can’t make it look too easy,” Franks said. “They’ll think something’s up if you do that.”
Jacobs stared at Tiffany. He still couldn’t believe she wanted to go through with this. But it was a good indication of how frustrated she was. She wanted this to be over. He was right there with
her on that aspect. He still wasn’t thrilled with putting her in danger, though.
“Brett, I want to do this,” Tiffany said. “Well, I don’t really want to do this, but I’m willing to do this.”
“But we can figure out another way.” Jacobs reached over and grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to put yourself out there like this.”
She cleared her throat. “As long as you’re out there, and Nate’s out there, I know you guys are going to protect me. I know that. And I trust that you will.” Her eyes started getting glossy.
Jacobs took a deep breath, then looked over at Thrower. He valued his opinion.
“What do you think?” Jacobs asked.
Thrower immediately answered. “I think if she’s willing, and you’re OK with it… I think it can work. It’s better than waiting and letting them come up with something else. Let’s take it to them.”
Jacobs nodded, then looked back at Tiffany. “You’re positive you wanna do this?”
Tiffany nodded back. “I am. I want to have a normal life again. Soon.”
Jacobs coughed, then rubbed the side of his head. “OK. If you’re sure.”
“I am. I trust you.” She leaned over and hugged him, Jacobs squeezing her tight.
After they broke their embrace, Jacobs looked in her eyes and smiled. “Let’s get to work, then.”
It didn’t take too long to come up with something. The plan was basically in place. They just needed Franks to come up with a good spot to lure their opponents to. While the others went over specifics on their end, Franks got on the phone.
“I think I should be in the car with you,” Jacobs said.
Thrower nodded, agreeing. “Then I can set up wherever Eddie picks and wait for you to get there.” They were silent for a few moments, before Thrower spoke up again. “Wait a minute.”
“What’s the matter?”
“What about her?” Thrower pointed to Tiffany. “If they follow you, that means she’s gonna be right in the midst of everything.”
“I know. What else can we do, though? If this plan works, I won’t be able to drop her off anywhere.”
