Double Barrel

by Mike Ryan

  “Hopefully Tyrell will come up with something.”

  “Or Vincent. I still get the feeling he might know more about what’s going on than he’s letting on. Or Hubbard told him more than he shared with us.”

  “Why?”

  Recker shrugged. “Because it’s Vincent. And he always seems to know one more thing than everybody else.”

  “That’s true.”

  “I dunno. Maybe we should just hit the streets and see if anything pops up. We don’t have any jobs on the horizon, do we?”

  Jones shook his head. “Not at the moment. I can always call you if something breaks.”

  “I feel like we got three days, with Mia being off and not having to worry about her, that we can really focus on just finding these jerks.”

  “Well, Tyrell’s out there,” Haley said.

  A few minutes later, Recker’s phone started ringing. “Ah, speak of the devil.” Recker answered it. “What’s up, Tyrell?”

  “Yo, I just wanted to give you a heads up, I think I’m close to breaking this thing.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, I am close, man, real close.”

  Recker was actually a little stunned. “Uh, you’re sure?”

  “Positive. I got some bites out there that I’m just starting to reel in now.”

  “Well what’s going on?”

  “Can’t say for sure, man, not yet. I don’t got no specific names or anything. I just know that it’s something big.”

  “Big like what?”

  “Like I said, I don’t have any names yet. I’m still working on that.”

  “Well you must have something you can tell me now.”

  “Just that there’s someone in the past that you took out and someone’s now gunning for you.”

  “I kind of figured that.”

  “Well that’s all I got.”

  “Someone other than Sadko?”

  “Please, man, that crazy boy couldn’t be calling the shots on something like this. I hear he’s just a stooge in all this.”

  “It’s not Vincent, right?”

  “What? Nah, man, that’s just crazy. No, it’s someone you killed or something a few years back. I ain’t got the whole story yet. I’m waiting for one of my contacts now. He says he’s got the whole story. Once I get it, I’ll pass it along back to you.”

  “You trust this guy?”

  “I mean, as much as I trust anyone in this business. You just hear what someone’s got to say, consider their reputation, and then go from there. We’ll see. What he told me so far makes sense. I’ll see if the rest of it does.”

  “You want me to come down with you?”

  “Nah, he’ll only talk to me. Don’t worry, I’ll hit you up when it’s over.”

  “All right. Let me know.”

  “Will do.”

  After Recker put his phone down, he just stared at the desk for a moment. The others were waiting for an explanation.

  “It sounded as if we might have a break?” Jones asked.

  “Uh, yeah, maybe,” Recker answered. He then retold everything that was said to him by Tyrell.

  “Well that’s good news,” Haley said. “Maybe we’ll be able to wrap this up soon and get back to normal.”

  “Maybe. Somehow I doubt it’ll be that easy, though. It never is.”

  Tyrell was waiting at the back of the pool hall, just like he usually was when talking to this guy. He was one of Tyrell’s regulars and often passed along useful tips to him when he had them. He’d never steered Tyrell wrong yet. While he was passing the time, Tyrell started playing a game of pool by himself. He looked at the time, noting that his guy was five minutes late. That should have been his first tip-off, since in the previous dozen or so encounters Tyrell had with him, he’d always been on time. But Tyrell figured everyone was late at one time or another. Must have been a heavy traffic night.

  That five minutes quickly turned into thirty and now Tyrell was getting worried. Either what the man had was so big that he was afraid to share the information and was now blowing him off, or something had happened to him. Tyrell pulled out his phone and tried to call him. The number rang, but there was no answer. Tyrell tried three more times, getting the same result each time. He sighed, wondering how much more time he was going to give the guy. Since he was already there and waiting, he figured he’d wait another hour or so. He didn’t have anything else that was pressing at the moment, so he could afford to wait. At least for a little while.

  The pool hall was usually a bustling place and had a lot of activity, though on this night, there was something different about it. Tyrell had been there a bunch of times, but it never looked quite like this. Maybe it was the time of day, since he was usually there later, but the clientele looked different to him. It was a rougher-looking bunch than usual. And none of the people in there looked familiar. Every time Tyrell had ever been in the place, he recognized a few of the patrons as regulars. He looked at every table. There wasn’t the same kind of life and exuberance as there usually was in the building. Something was off. He then looked at the person behind the counter, who he didn’t recognize. He didn’t think anything of it at first when he came in. He just figured it was someone new. But now that he was focusing on the rest of the people in there, it seemed weird.

  Though he initially planned to wait another hour for his guy to show up, Tyrell was starting to get bad vibes as he looked around the room. He put the cue stick on the table and was about to head out. Just as he put it down, though, the front door opened up. Several men walked in, and then another man behind them walked in by himself. He was a bigger guy, well over six feet and two hundred pounds. He had a close-cut haircut and a thin beard. Tyrell knew the type. He knew this was bad news. The other men that were playing pool all suddenly stopped and looked at the man walking in. As Tyrell looked around the room, he knew he was alone. The man walked right up to Tyrell and shook his hand.

  “Tyrell, good to see you again.” Tyrell shook hands, trying to play it cool, though he knew something was going down. “If you’re looking for the guy who was supposed to be meeting you here, well, it looks like he isn’t able to make it.” The man smiled as if he knew something nobody else did. “Looks like he had some kind of accident on the way over here. You shouldn’t wait up for him.”

  “What’d you do to him?”

  The man moved his head back like he was offended. “What’d I do? I didn’t do nothin’. I told you, traffic’s a bitch out there today. It’s not fit for man nor beast. Accidents are happening all over the place.”

  There was an unmistakable worried look on Tyrell’s face. He knew he had to watch what he said and did closely and not make any sudden moves or say anything stupid.

  You probably don’t remember me, do you? I was a member of...”

  “I remember you,” Tyrell said. “I know who you are.”

  “Well that’s good. Gives us a good first step.”

  “In what?”

  “I want Mike Recker, man. I want The Silencer.”

  Tyrell shrugged. “So what are you doing here, then?”

  “You’re one of his boys, aren’t you?”

  “Nah. We’re not that tight.”

  The man started laughing. “Now that’s funny. You see, it’s all over this city. Everyone I talk to says the same thing. That you’re in tight with him.”

  “It’s not like that. I’ve done a few jobs for him here and there, just like I did for Vincent, Jeremiah, the Italians, and anybody else who’s got the money. But we ain’t like buddy-buddy or anything.”

  “Now you’re just messing with me. You and me both know you never did any jobs for the Italians. I was around then.”

  “So what are you doing back here, man?”

  “Reclaiming what was going to be rightfully mine at some point before your boy took it away.”

  “He’s not my boy.”

  “Yeah, well, at this very minute, you better hope he is.”

  “Why�
�s that?”

  “Because your life might depend on it.”

  “He ain’t gonna make no deals for me,” Tyrell said.

  The man nodded, though he didn’t believe that for a second. “We’ll see.”

  “What are you gonna do?”

  “Just want to have a chat with him, man. That’s it. And you’re gonna make that happen.”

  “I don’t have his number.”

  “You expect me to buy that?”

  “It’s true. Anytime he wants me, he calls me from different numbers. Burner phones. Never the same one twice. He’s careful like that. Even if I had his number, it wouldn’t do any good. He’d already have switched to three new phones in that time.”

  “Well then you’ll use your contacts with Vincent to make it happen.”

  “Vincent ain’t gonna do that.”

  “Well then you’re a dead man. You either find a way to get a message to Recker or else I’m just gonna put a bullet in your head now. Which will it be?”

  Tyrell sighed and looked around the room. He’d run out of choices.

  As Recker waited for news from Tyrell, he paced around the room, as he often did. Jones sighed as he passed him a few times. The pacing drove him crazy, and sometimes was distracting for him, though he knew it often calmed Recker down.

  “Will you just sit down and work on something?” Jones said.

  “How can I work on something when I know Tyrell might have the answer to this whole thing now?”

  “He’ll call when he has something.”

  “I didn’t even get a time. I should’ve asked what time he was meeting this guy.”

  “Or woman.”

  “Whatever. You know what I meant.”

  “You said he was waiting for someone to contact him. There might not have been a specific time. Maybe he’s still waiting.”

  “Why don’t you try calling him again and see what’s up?” Haley asked.

  “Tried a few minutes ago,” Recker said. “Went to voicemail. Whenever his phone goes straight to voicemail, that usually means he’s tied up with something.”

  “Well then just wait for him to call,” Jones said.

  “That’s what I’m doing.” Recker continued walking around the room.

  “I meant by doing something else.”

  “This calms me.”

  “You don’t say?”

  When Recker’s phone started ringing on the desk, he stopped his pacing and dashed for it. He was slightly disappointed to see that it wasn’t Tyrell. But maybe Malloy had something useful for him.

  “Hope this is short,” Recker said. “I’m kinda in the middle of something.”

  “Does what you’re in the middle of involve Tyrell?”

  “How do you know?”

  “Just got a message from him.”

  “What? Why would you get a message from him?”

  “I don’t know. Apparently he’s in some kind of trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What’s the message?”

  “It came into one of my guys, who passed it along to me. Looks like he’s been taken.”

  “Taken? By who?”

  “Message doesn’t say,” Malloy answered. “Just says to give this message to you. Says if you want Tyrell back unharmed, to come to the Doublemint Hotel, room 648, alone.”

  “What time?”

  “Tonight. Eleven PM.”

  “Who sent it?”

  “Apparently it came from Tyrell’s phone, so whoever grabbed him must have known his connections. What’s going on? What was he doing?”

  “Working on the Sadko thing. Said he was close to figuring out who was behind it all. Was supposed to be meeting with someone and then he’d know.”

  “Well, I’d say he found out now.”

  “The message say anything else?”

  “Just says to come alone, no tricks on either side.”

  “Sounds like they just wanna talk.”

  “If you believe them at their word.”

  “Not sure if I have a choice.”

  “There’s always a choice.”

  “There isn’t when someone’s life is at stake.”

  “Sure there is,” Malloy said. “Just depends on how much you value it.”

  “There’s no choice to make on this one.”

  “Well, if you need me on this one, you know where to find me.”

  “Thanks.” Recker put the phone down and looked at his partners. “We got a problem.”

  12

  After explaining the situation to the others, Recker looked at the time.

  “Looks like we got two hours until then.”

  “What’s the play?” Haley asked.

  Recker shrugged, not having an answer except for the obvious one. “I go in there at eleven o’clock and get him out.”

  Jones took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “That’s not a plan.”

  “It’s the only one I got. And we don’t exactly have a lot of time to create one.”

  “As terrible as this is to suggest, and I know you will push back on it, but there is also one major consideration that we have to think of.”

  “I probably know what you’re gonna say, but say it anyway.”

  “We don’t know for sure whether Tyrell is even alive.”

  Recker shook his head. “Don’t matter.”

  “I knew that would be your reaction, but it is something that we still need to consider.”

  “You consider it. Doesn’t change anything from my perspective. I’m assuming he’s there. And I’m getting him out. That’s the only thing I’m considering.”

  “I’m not saying we shouldn’t do anything. I’m just saying it needs to be thought of.”

  “Doesn’t sound to me like there’s gonna be any tricks,” Haley said. “Sounds to me like someone who wants a conversation and doesn’t know any other way to go about it.”

  “Could be,” Recker said. “But if they just wanted a conversation, why go after Mia?”

  “Maybe after the failure of that they decided to change course?”

  “Does who this might possibly be change anything?” Jones asked.

  “It doesn’t,” Recker replied. “Doesn’t matter who it is at this point. Looks as if we’re about to find out soon enough, anyway.”

  “No, but it might have been helpful to figure out who it was and have some inkling of what or who you might be going in there with. At least it would have helped to prepare.”

  “The only thing I need help preparing for now is figuring out how I’m getting in and out without getting killed.”

  “Besides the obvious fact of not going?”

  “Yeah.”

  Haley was wracking his brain on it. “I mean, I can keep a watch on you throughout the hotel, in the lobby, the hallway, all of that, but once you’re in that room, outside of me getting in there and hiding somewhere, I’m not sure how I can cover you.”

  “Let’s pull up photos of the hotel.”

  “Already on it,” Jones said.

  They started going through pictures of the perimeter of the hotel, aerial photos, pictures of the inside, everything they could get their hands on. There were no obvious spots for Haley to set up in.

  “Can you pull up which side of the building that room number is on?” Recker asked.

  “Should be able to,” Jones replied. He kept typing for another minute, bringing up several pictures, which disappeared from the screen shortly afterwards. Finally, he brought up another picture that he kept on the screen. “This is it. It’s on the west side of the building.”

  “OK, what’s on that side?”

  Jones brought up some more pictures, all of them focusing on the outside of the building.

  “Wait a minute,” Haley said. “Go back.”

  Jones clicked to go back a couple of pictures. It was of the building across the street from the hotel. They all stared at the picture for several seco
nds.

  “Yeah, I think that’s gonna be my best bet.”

  Jones turned his head, though he still kept his eyes on the screen, thinking he was missing something. “What exactly are you seeing that I am not?”

  “That hotel is six floors, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Building across from it is about the same height. I can cover through the window.”

  “You might not even be able to get a look from there.”

  “I’ll have to make it work.”

  “What is that building, anyway?” Recker asked.

  Jones typed away for a minute or two until he got the answer. “Looks like some kind of office building.”

  “Should be perfect,” Haley said. “About the same height. At night. Nobody will be in there. I should be able to pick my spot.”

  “But that still doesn’t mean you will get a good view of Michael through that window.”

  “No, but I can try. As far as I can see it’s the best option we got.”

  Recker nodded., seeing the same thing as his partner. “I agree.”

  “Will you be able to get into that building?” Jones asked.

  “I’ve broken into some of the toughest places imaginable over the years,” Haley said. “I think I’ll be able to manage an office building.”

  “I’ll have to try and make it over to a window once I’m inside that room so you can get yourself a target.”

  “What if you’re never able to make it there?” Jones asked.

  “I’ll do what I can.”

  “I guess the second part of my question there is, what if they decide to kill you on the way to the room, or as soon as you step foot into that room? Tyrell could be dead already for all we know. This might just be a ploy to get you there alone and do you in as well.”

  “We’ll just have to take that chance.”

  Jones took a deep breath, not liking that answer. He liked having a more definitive answer behind any moves they made. He hated leaving things to chance and guesswork. But it was what it was at that point.