Double Barrel

by Mike Ryan

  “Seems like they’re coming out of the woodwork lately.”

  “If you’re referring to challenges for me, it’s just part of the deal. When you get to the top like me, there’s always going to be someone vying for that spot. The Italians, Jeremiah, Nowak, the Scorpions, rogue cops, Justin, it’s always something. There’s always someone looking for a slice of the pie.”

  “Get tiresome?”

  “It is what it is. I could ask the same question of you.”

  “Could.”

  “And?”

  “I’d probably give you the same answer. It is what it is. So do you think this Sadko has other guys with him?”

  “I’d like to say he’s alone, but I think that would be wishful thinking. He’s had three months to acquire and integrate men into his group. I’m sure he’s taken advantage of that time. He has learned under me, after all.”

  Vincent was reading Recker’s face, as he always did, looking for underlying clues in his feelings that weren’t being conveyed with his words. This was one of those times where he was holding something back.

  “What else is there?” Vincent asked. “I hope this hasn’t strained our relationship. I give you my word this was done without my knowledge or blessing.”

  “You can’t control people who aren’t with you anymore. I get that.”

  “But?”

  Recker looked away, noticing a younger couple posing for pictures by the LOVE statue. “Mia.”

  “Was she with you when the attempt took place?”

  “She was. And she knows about the apartment being broken into.”

  “I’m sure that must have her rattled some.”

  “It does.”

  Vincent continued reading Recker’s face. He thought he knew where he was coming from. “And now you’re worried that he knows where she works and may use her to get to you.”

  “I guess it’s crossed my mind.”

  “How ’bout stashing her somewhere?” Malloy asked.

  Recker shook his head. “Won’t work. Yeah, for a day or two, maybe, but if it takes longer than that, she won’t go for it. She’s stubborn. She’s not gonna be deterred from living her life and working.”

  Without hesitation or thought, Vincent came up with a plan. “Then let me give you some peace of mind.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I feel some responsibility for this whole thing since he used to work for me. Allow me to set up protection for her.”

  “In what way?”

  “I’ll put men at the hospital around the clock. Or at least whenever she’s working. I’ll put a man inside and one on every entrance and exit possible. I’ll make sure she’s not bothered. My men will know what to look for.”

  “How will you know when she’s there?”

  “Just give me her schedule. I’ll arrange everything.”

  “Hey,” Malloy said. “I didn’t help rescue her from a hospital just to let her fall into the hands of some psycho that used to work for us. I’ll take care of the details. You know I will.”

  Recker was inclined to believe them. Especially Malloy. He thought they had forged something that he could trust.

  “What about a tail?” Recker asked.

  “Let us know what you want,” Vincent asked. “If you wanna pick her up at the hospital? Or if you want her to meet you somewhere? You name it, we’ll make sure she gets there.”

  Recker nodded, about to take them up on their offer. At least that way he knew Mia would be taken care of while he was off hunting Sadko.

  “How long is this offer good for?”

  “For as long as it takes,” Vincent answered.

  “I give you my word,” Malloy said. “I’ll protect Mia until this son of a bitch is dead and buried. And that’s a promise.”

  5

  Recker and Haley went back to the office after meeting with Vincent. Recker retold everything that Vincent and Malloy said, as well as what they were offering. Everyone seemed to be on board with it, except for one.

  “Do we really have to do this?” Mia asked. “I really don’t want to ask him for protection.”

  “We didn’t ask,” Recker replied. “He offered.”

  “It’s the same thing. I’m not really comfortable with knowing his men are watching my every move.”

  “They’re not watching your every move. They’re just going to watch the hospital and be on the lookout.”

  “How will they know if someone looks suspicious?” Jones asked.

  “Maybe they’re already aware of some of the guys that Sadko’s recruited,” Haley answered.

  Recker pointed at him. “Yeah, that could be. Anyway, if there’s anyone who would know if something doesn’t look right, it’s them.”

  “It still makes me uncomfortable,” Mia said. “What if they’re lying to you?”

  “They’re not.”

  “How do you know?”

  “It’s like they pointed out. They didn’t help me get you out of that hospital a few months ago just to change their minds now. If they wanted me, or you, out of the way, they could have easily turned on us there.”

  “They had reasons not to then.”

  “Malloy took a bullet in helping to get you out of there.”

  “So does that make you besties now?”

  “No, but I don’t think he’d lie to me now.”

  “You put too much faith into these people.”

  “And you don’t put enough. It’s like when Chris and I worked at the CIA. You don’t always work with friends. Sometimes your ally today is someone you wouldn’t trust under normal circumstances. But your goals align together for a common purpose. That’s all it is. Our goal and Vincent’s goal align together.”

  “I think that’s only because he doesn’t want to go up against you and as long as you are somewhat on good terms, you’ll look the other way with the things that he does.”

  “There might be some truth to that. But as long as he sticks to his business and isn’t hurting innocent people, I can live with that.”

  “So you really think this is a good idea?”

  “I think it’s the best idea we have at the moment.”

  “So how is this gonna work?”

  “Whenever you have to work, I’ll drop you off, then I’ll pick you up when you’re done. It’ll save some time of you meeting me at some other secret location and then driving around for a while trying to lose any possible tails, and then finally going home. This way we can skip a few steps.”

  “What if you’re busy whenever I’m done?”

  “If it’s small, Chris can handle it. And if it’s not, we’ll figure it out.”

  Mia sighed, still not liking it, though she knew it was probably for the better. And it was probably as good a plan as they had. “I really hope this doesn’t take long.”

  “I hope not too.” Recker then turned to Jones. “How are we looking on that front?”

  “Working on it,” Jones replied. “Like everything, it will take some time. I assume this man has spent the last three months building up his organization if he has one.”

  “Speaking of which,” Haley said. “What exactly is the point of all this? I mean, what’s the beef with you? Why do this?”

  Recker shook his head, not sure if he had an answer. At least not one that was based on any facts. “Unless it really is as simple as this guy wanting to make a name for himself. What better way to announce your arrival than by taking me out?”

  “He could do that by taking out Vincent, who he probably knows better than you and could plan for that better.”

  “Maybe he figures he doesn't have enough men for that. He saw me, thought I was an easy target, made his move. Could be as simple as that.”

  “If that’s the case, then I don’t think this guy’s playing with all his marbles. Sounds like he’s got a screw loose.”

  “Nobody said he was playing with a full deck.”

  “He might not even be playing with half a deck.”
<
br />   “I guess we’ll find out.”

  Recker then pulled out his phone and started making a call.

  “Who are you calling?” Jones asked.

  “Getting all hands on deck.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Recker started talking into the phone. “Tyrell, need you to get ears on the street for me.”

  “What’s shakin’?”

  “I need you to find out all you can about a Justin Sadko.”

  “Radko?”

  “No, Sadko. Used to be in Vincent’s operation. I’m sure you ran into him over the years.”

  “Hmm. Don’t ring a bell off-hand. The name don’t really strike me. Maybe I’d recognize him if I saw a picture.”

  “Well I can send you one if you want.”

  “Might be helpful. What do you want this dude for?”

  “He tried to kill me yesterday.”

  “Say what?”

  “You heard me.”

  “He really tried to off you?”

  “Yep.”

  “Does Vincent know about this?”

  “He does.”

  “Then why not just let him take care of it? Because you know Vincent ain’t gonna stand for his guys taking jobs off the books and working without his orders and his A-OK. He’ll kill the guy himself for a stunt like that.”

  “Sadko doesn’t work for Vincent anymore,” Recker said. “Left around three months ago.”

  “Oh. So what’s he after you for?”

  “Who knows? Maybe he’s looking to make a name for himself. Or maybe I saw him at a meeting once and gave him an evil eye. Like I said, who knows? He also found out where I live and wrecked my apartment.”

  “Dang, man, that’s messed up.”

  “Tell me about it. Anyway, I’ll send you his picture. I don’t really have anything else on him right now so if you can get the ball rolling and find out something I’d appreciate it.”

  “You got it, man, I’ll start digging today. I’ll see what I can come up with for you.”

  “Thanks.” Recker then turned to everyone. “Well, Tyrell’s on the job.”

  “So where does that leave us?” Mia asked.

  “Well, we got you protection for when I’m not there. We got Vincent looking for this guy. We got Tyrell looking for this guy. We’re looking for this guy. Between the three of us, we’re the best in the city. We’ll find the guy.”

  Jones continued on with his typing, Mia joining him, doing what she could to help. Haley went over to the Keurig machine and poured himself some coffee. He motioned for Recker to come over and join him, looking like he wanted to keep it hush-hush. Recker did, also getting some coffee. He kept his back to the others while Haley looked at them, making sure they didn’t hear what he was saying, though it was mostly Mia that he was trying to keep from hearing.

  “There’s something bothering me about this,” Haley said, keeping his voice low.

  “What’s that?” Recker replied, also whispering.

  “A lot of this makes sense, but some of it doesn’t.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like what they would be doing at your apartment. That part makes no sense to me. What’s the point behind that?”

  “I don’t know. It’s been bugging me too.”

  “I mean, they were obviously looking for something. And I doubt it was money or valuables or things like that. They were looking for something specific. Something they thought you had. There would be no point in breaking in unless they had something in mind. I mean, I doubt they wanted to just telegraph to you that they were there.”

  “I know,” Recker said. “I just don’t know what it could have been.”

  “So maybe there’s more to this than just trying to kill you to put a notch on their belt. Maybe there’s a more specific purpose in mind.”

  “Unless they were looking for clues about where else I might go. Here for instance. Or maybe they were looking for something that might indicate who you and David are, where you live, go, things like that. Maybe they thought I might have some papers lying around that would give them more things to go on.”

  “Could be. They missed their shot on the street. Maybe they thought they might not get another one. So they go to your apartment, ransack it, hoping to find an address, a name, something that would lead them to another place where they could take their next crack at it.”

  “Other than that, I don’t know what they might have been looking for. Unless they were just trying to send a message. You know, the I know where you live type of thing. Trying to spook me out.”

  “They couldn’t be stupid enough to believe something like that might work.”

  “A lot of it going around these days. I just hope we find this guy quickly. I don’t know how much sneaking around Mia will be able to take.”

  “She’s tough.”

  “I know. But it’s not so easy when you’re the one being hunted.”

  “Well it’s not her.”

  “Might as well be. The way she’s going to worry about me until this thing is settled, it’s gonna hit her hard. It’s one thing to do what we do. It’s another when there’s someone out there who’s actually hunting us. Someone who knows where she works. Someone who knows where we live. That’s the tough part.”

  Mia then turned around and looked at them. “What are you two mumbling about over there?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just talking about which one of these coffee flavors we like best.”

  “I’m partial to all of them,” Jones said.

  Recker and Haley each brought them over a cup.

  “What are you working on?” Recker asked.

  “Just trying to see if I can trace Sadko’s movements over the past couple of months,” Jones answered. “Looking into phone records, credit cards, GPS’s, things like that. Seeing if I can pick him up somewhere along the line.”

  “So can you?”

  “It’s hit and miss right now. I’ve got a few hits on him, but nothing concrete that we can establish a pattern from. And nothing recently. Everything is from two, three months ago.”

  “Cuts ties from Vincent, then drops off the grid,” Haley said.

  “Yeah,” Recker said. “Question is whether this was his goal the whole time. Is this what he had in mind from the beginning when he left? Taking a shot at me?”

  “Why wait so long if it was?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “My guess is that he has spent the last three months doing multiple tasks. One, acquiring more men, in the eventual phase that he takes on Vincent. Or at the very least begins to move in on Vincent and perhaps take away some of his territory.”

  “Vincent won’t stand for that.”

  “I know. But Sadko won’t be the first who has tried. And he won’t be the last either.”

  “He has the one advantage that the others haven’t had, though,” Haley said. “He’s been the only one who’s been part of Vincent’s organization. He’ll know what Vincent likes to do, where he likes to go, what kind of strategies he uses, everything. Vincent would have to completely rethink his entire organization and plans to compensate for that.”

  “That’s true,” Recker said. “That would give Sadko the advantage.”

  “Besides all that,” Jones said. “The second part of his plan for the last three months, aside from acquiring more men, is to find you and take you out.”

  “But why?” Mia asked. “Just to give himself a bigger name?”

  “It might be much more of a business calculation than that. He knows that at some point, he’ll have to deal with you. It could be he was just trying to be proactive and eliminate you before you ever get to interfering with his plans.”

  “Could be,” Recker said.

  “Eliminate your enemy before he knows he is your enemy,” Haley said. “Smart.”

  “It would be if he actually was able to carry it through. But he didn’t. Now it’s gonna be my turn. And when I get my shot… I won’t miss.”
<
br />   6

  Jones’ lackluster demeanor instantly picked up. He sat up straighter and then leaned forward, almost as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He then reached over to a second computer and started typing away on that.

  “What’s going on?” Haley asked.

  “You might be moving quickly soon,” Jones answered.

  “What’s up?”

  “Looks like we might have a home invasion commencing soon.”

  “How soon?”

  “That’s what I’m verifying now.”

  Haley looked at the time. “Mike should be on the way back now from dropping Mia off at the hospital.”

  “He’ll have to meet you there.”

  “What are we dealing with?”

  Jones scribbled a few things down on a piece of paper, then continued typing away. He switched between both computers and several screens on each one, printing several things out at once.

  “Looks like we have got five people we’re dealing with,” Jones said. He took one of the printouts and handed it to Haley. “Get to that address now. It’s going down in twenty minutes.”

  Haley quickly looked at it. “This place is at least twenty minutes away.”

  “That’s why you’ve got to hurry.”

  Haley immediately grabbed a couple of weapons and then bolted out the door, hoping he could miraculously get to the place in time. With time being a factor, he had to look over the information Jones had given him while he was driving. There was definitely no time to study it and come up with a plan. He would just have to figure things out on the fly. And hope Recker could get there around the same time as him. Jones sent a text message to Recker, letting him know the urgency of the situation, as well as the address. Recker responded almost immediately. He was already on the way back from taking Mia to work, so he was a few minutes closer to the spot than Haley was.

  The job was to protect a family in the suburbs of Newtown. There was a husband, wife, and two kids that lived there. They had now been targeted by a crew of thieves who had done some yard work for them previously and knew they were well off. Two of them had even been in the house before under the guise of using the bathroom. In reality, they used that cover to check the house out. While doing so, they knew there were some valuables in the house, including a safe. They also knew that the husband was high up in the pecking order of a technology company. None of the crew were safecrackers, so in order to get it open, they needed someone who knew the combination. That meant they had to break in by force and make someone open it for them. All five of the men had criminal records, though none of them would be considered hardened felons. None of them would be confused with choir boys either.