Double Barrel

by Mike Ryan

  Double Barrel

  The Silencer Series Book 13

  Mike Ryan

  www.mikeryanbooks.com

  Copyright © 2020 by Mike Ryan

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  * * *

  Cover Design by The Cover Collection

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  About the Author

  Also by Mike Ryan

  1

  Recker looked around the office, feeling as uncomfortable as he could remember. It was pretty much like he expected it to be. There was a desk, a couple of chairs, a couch, and a bookshelf with a lot of titles that looked hard to pronounce. He promised Mia that he would come to see if it helped with his sleeping issues, but he didn’t think it would do much good. Going to a psychologist's office might have worked for some people, and was probably a good idea, but just wasn’t his cup of tea. Opening up to some stranger about life wasn’t in his DNA. But for Mia’s sake, he agreed to give it a shot.

  Dr. Louise Penner was highly thought of, and was recommended to Mia by co-workers in the hospital. She looked over the sheet that Recker filled out in the waiting room, though his answers weren’t very in depth. And some of the questions he skipped. Even the name threw her for a loop. John Smith. She had a feeling this was going to be one of those kinds of patients that really tested her skills. Some patients freely opened up and she could barely get a word in. This was not going to be one of those. She sat down across from Recker.

  “So, Mr… Smith. Tell me about yourself.”

  Recker looked stunned, as if he weren’t ready for the question. In truth, there wasn’t much to say about him. Or much that he would say. “Well, I’m, uh… I’m… here.”

  Penner grinned. “Very good. I can see that. So is Smith your real name? Because some people have a habit of coming in here with fake identities, thinking they can’t reveal who they really are or something.”

  “Sure.”

  “I promise you that anything you say in here, it just stays between us. No one else.”

  “OK. Good.”

  “So tell me about yourself.”

  Recker coughed. “Well… I have a girlfriend.”

  “Good. What else?”

  “That’s pretty much it.”

  Penner couldn’t help but laugh. “OK, well that’s a good start. What do you do for a living?”

  “Well, I, uh… really can’t say.”

  “All right, is it because you’re embarrassed about what you do or you would rather do something else? Are you out of work?”

  “No.”

  “You’re a… man of few words.”

  “Usually.”

  “So tell me about your girlfriend.”

  “She’s a nurse.”

  “Good. And?”

  “That’s it.”

  “Oh. So let’s get back to your work. Is that why you’re here?”

  “Maybe.”

  “So can you explain what you do?”

  “Not really.”

  Penner rubbed her hands together, realizing this would be a real challenge. “OK. So what’s stopping you from talking about it? Is it that you’re uncomfortable? Don’t want to? Can’t?”

  “Uh… can’t.”

  “OK. So are you in a secret line of work?”

  “You might say that.”

  “Do you work for the government? Police?”

  “Somewhere around there.”

  “OK. So your job swears you to secrecy?”

  “You might say that.”

  “OK, well, that’s a start. Is that why you’re here today?”

  “Could be.”

  “What exactly are you having problems with?”

  “I have… sleeping issues.”

  “OK. What kind?”

  “I usually wake up in the middle of the night after having a bad dream.”

  “And what are the dreams about? Are they the same ones or different?”

  “Different sometimes. Sometimes they’re the same, but sometimes they have variations to them.”

  “OK. And is there a general theme to them, or do they vary wildly?”

  “Usually they involve someone close to me getting killed.”

  “Oh. OK. So what do you think that means?”

  Recker grinned. “If I knew that I wouldn’t be here.”

  “How long have you been having these dreams?”

  “I don’t know. At least a year probably.”

  “Is it every night? Do you have them with the same occurrence or regularity as before?”

  “At first it was not very often. Once every few weeks, a couple months, something like that.”

  “And now?”

  “It’s probably four or five nights a week. I’m usually more surprised when I don’t have one than when I do.”

  “I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that with your secret job that it can sometimes be stressful.”

  “Usually.”

  “And dangerous?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “That probably has a lot to do with it.”

  “That’s what I figured.”

  “In your line of work, have you had people close to you who have passed away in that work?”

  Recker’s eyes hit the floor, immediately thinking of Carrie. “Yes.”

  “Do you think that the dreams might possibly reflect your apprehension about possibly losing more people you care about?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Are you ever the victim in these dreams or is it just people around you?”

  “Sometimes me. Sometimes others.”

  “OK, so let’s talk about your mindset.”

  Recker didn’t really want to talk about his mindset. Or anything else, really. Though he knew it wasn’t how it worked, all he really wanted was an answer on how to make the dreams go away, or put his mind at ease. He didn’t really want to get into his feelings or explain them. For the rest of the session, which lasted about forty-five minutes, Recker did his best not to reveal too much of himself, or delve into too many topics he didn’t want to get into. It was tough trying to keep a secret life a secret. Or revealing who he really was.

  “OK,” Penner said. “Well, our time is up for today, but this was a good first session. I think we accomplished a lot here.”

  “We did?”

  “I think so. Let’s set up another session for next week and we can dig into things further. What do you think?”

  Recker waved his hand in the air. “Yeah, maybe.”

  Penner could see his hesitancy, but wanted to make sure he didn’t blow her off after only one session. She had plenty of them. Some patients decided one session was all they needed, and some decided the setting just wasn’t right for them. She thought Recker was a deeply conflicted individual who would really benefit from multiple sessions. He just had to make them.

  “I think we can really get to the bottom of your issues and take a significant step forward with them with a few more sessions. So make sure you make them.”

 
“Well, with my job, I have a tendency to not make plans too far in advance.”

  “That’s OK. If you have an afternoon free or the next day or whatever, just call and see if I’m available. If I am, I can fit you in on short notice.”

  “OK.”

  Recker walked out of the office and saw Mia sitting there, a smile on her face.

  “So, how’d it go?”

  Recker shrugged. “I dunno. She wants to meet again.”

  “Well that’s good.”

  They walked out of the office building and strolled along the sidewalk, their arms locked together. It was a busy day, with a lot of people walking around them.

  “What do you think about lunch?” Mia asked.

  “I think I could be persuaded to dine with a pretty woman.”

  “So what do you think? Are you going to see Dr. Penner again?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know if it’ll really help.”

  “But it can’t hurt, can it? I mean, even if it does wind up not helping, it’s certainly not going to make it worse. And the best-case scenario is that it does.”

  “I hate it when you talk sense.”

  “I know it’s not comfortable for you and you’re out of your element there, but I really think you should keep at it. At least for a few more sessions.”

  Recker nodded and smiled. “I probably will.”

  Mia reached up and kissed him as they continued walking to the restaurant. They were only a few minutes away from it, standing along a street corner, waiting for the crosswalk sign to change to green. As it did, Recker and Mia started walking along the white lines on the road. Once they got near the other side, Recker’s eyes happened to glance at a car driving nearby. There was just something about the car that captured his attention for some reason. Maybe the fact that it was starting to speed up while everyone else was slowing down. As the car turned the corner, he noticed the window beginning to slide down. This was one of the times when he felt a problem was coming before it actually existed.

  Recker slowed down, letting Mia get in front of him, so he could shield her in case there was an issue. As the car got near them, Recker turned his head back to look at it, seeing a gun emerge from the window. He immediately pushed Mia to the ground, diving on top of her as several bullets ripped through the air. The car quickly sped off after it missed its chance at The Silencer. Luckily, none of the bullets hit anyone else either, as all of them either hit the ground or the wall that was behind them.

  “Everyone OK?” Recker asked. There were several other people on the ground near them.

  After getting confirmation that everyone was, Recker turned to Mia, helping her up. As she brushed herself off, she looked at him.

  “You knew. You pushed me down before the bullets fired.”

  “It was just a feeling. You know I’ve always had that sixth sense when trouble is near. I just had one of those feelings.”

  “So who were they shooting at? And why?”

  Considering he was who he was, Recker was pretty confident he was the target. It would have been too big of a coincidence for him to be at a spot where someone else was the target, or that it was just a random occurrence. No, he was as sure as could be that it was him.

  “What did you get yourself into now?” Mia asked.

  Recker looked at the direction the car travelled off into, long gone by now. “I don’t know. But I aim to find out.”

  2

  As Recker and Mia finished their lunch, she looked at him and shook her head, laughing at him.

  “What?” Recker looked down at his shirt. “I make a mess or something?”

  “It’s just you. You just get shot at, and here you are, eating, talking, like nothing ever happened. Like it doesn’t even bother you.”

  Recker shrugged. “Because it doesn’t.”

  “How can you be so calm?”

  “Well, for one, I don’t know for a fact it was me. We just suspect it. And two, I’ve been shot at before. It’s not exactly a new feeling. And three, they’re obviously gone, so there’s nothing else to worry about now.”

  “Unless there’s someone else waiting outside here.”

  “There’s not.”

  “How do you know?”

  Recker shrugged again. “I just sense it.”

  “What are you doing, using your Force powers?” Recker smiled. “So why would someone be after you?”

  Recker shook his head, unable to come up with anything. “I don’t know. We’re not really in the middle of anything major. Just the regular stuff.”

  “What’s more alarming is they knew where you were. How would they know that?”

  “Lucky guess?”

  Mia glared at him. “Mike, be serious. I mean, it would be extremely coincidental if they just happened to be driving along and saw you and decided to take a shot. I mean, what are the chances?”

  Recker grinned. “Not real high.”

  “Exactly. So that means someone had to tell them where you were. Who else would know?”

  “Nobody. Nobody knew I was coming here except for you.”

  “Well I sure didn’t tell anyone.”

  “That only leaves one other explanation then.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We were followed.”

  The look on Mia’s face said it all. “Somebody knows where we live?”

  “Have to. That’s the only other explanation unless we go with the happened to see us while driving theory.”

  “That’s scary. What are we gonna do? I don’t know if I can stay there by myself when you’re out, knowing that someone tried to kill you and also knows where we live.”

  “We might have to make other arrangements.”

  “But that’s our home.”

  Recker tried to comfort her. “Our home is wherever we’re together. That place, it’s just four walls. Well, it’s actually more than four, but you get the point. It’s just a place that we live. Wherever we go, as long as we’re together, that’s our home.”

  Recker pulled out his phone and called Jones. He let him know everything that happened and asked him to start going through camera footage to see if they could figure out who the shooter was. Once he was done, Mia didn’t even let Recker get the phone back in his pocket before peppering him with questions.

  “What’d David say?” Mia asked.

  “He’s gonna start looking into it.”

  “That’s all.”

  “That’s all we can do right now.” Recker then put money on the table to pay for the meal. “We have to go, though.”

  “Why?”

  “Got a job coming up. Gotta get back to the office.”

  “With this looming over our heads?”

  “David’s looking into it. He’ll find something. Until he does, there’s still people out there that need help.”

  “And what am I supposed to do? I can’t go back to the apartment all alone. If they know where we live, how do we know they won’t be there waiting for us?”

  “We don’t. I’m not taking you back there right now.”

  “Where am I supposed to go?”

  “Guess you’re going to the office.”

  Recker and Mia left the restaurant and went back to their car. They drove back to the office, where Jones and Haley were already waiting for them. Mia gave each of them a hug upon seeing them, after not seeing either of them in over a week.

  “Any cuts or bruises?” Haley asked.

  “No, I’m fine, thank you,” Mia answered.

  “Find anything out yet?” Recker asked.

  “Not yet, but it’s still early,” Jones replied. “I’m confident we’ll come up with something. You were downtown and there’s cameras all over the place, so I’m sure something will turn up soon.”

  “Let’s just hope it’s not a dead end, or a stolen car or something like that.”

  “Well, we’ll just go where the clues lead us. We will figure it out. We always do.”

  “Yeah. So
you said we got a job coming up?”

  “Sure do.” Jones looked down at the papers on his desk and found the one he was looking for, handing it to his partner.

  “What’s this?”

  “What’s it look like?”

  “Car theft?”

  “That’s what it is.”

  “That’s a new one.”

  “Car theft is new?”

  “New for us.”

  “Yes, well, those two gentlemen on your sheet there are planning on taking a few cars in that neighborhood in approximately one hour. So you two need to get there and prevent that from happening.”

  “Sure about the time?” Recker asked.

  “Positive. One texted the other to confirm the time.”

  “What are they doing with the cars?”

  “They are planning on taking them to chop shops and getting money from the parts.”

  “Neither has a big record.”

  “But they both have records, albeit small, and they will go through with this if they’re not stopped. So you two need to do that.”

  “Nothing that shows they’re violent?” Haley asked.

  “No history of it,” Jones answered.

  “Doesn’t mean there won’t be a first time,” Recker said.

  “It also means it’s not likely. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle them through non-violent means.”

  “Should we hand them milk and cookies and tuck them into their warm snuggly beds when we’re done?”

  Haley couldn’t help but laugh, though Jones kept a straight face. Jones was going to respond but really had no words to say and just shook his head instead. He then pointed at the paper and kind of waved at it, and at the door.

  “Just go, prevent some bad things from happening,” Jones said.

  Recker went up to Mia and gave her a kiss. “We’ll figure out the rest when I get back.”