The Finish (The Eliminator Series Book 12)

by Mike Ryan

  Once Mallette arrived, he was led around the upstairs and first took a look at the security room. There was nothing left of it. All the equipment was shot to pieces. He’d have been surprised if anything was salvageable. He didn’t look happy, but he hadn’t lost his temper and gone into a fit of rage as he was sometimes capable of doing.

  Then he was led into his office. Mallette took a look around, and while it was messy from being searched, it wasn’t destroyed.

  “What do you think they were looking for?” Selby asked.

  Mallette shrugged. Surprisingly, the angry look on his face had disappeared. He looked more content, accepting of what had happened. “Who knows? Maybe he was hoping to find out where I go outside of here.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Well, we can’t stay here anymore.”

  “We can double up the security. Put more guards around. More cameras. Traps. Really lock this place up tight.”

  Mallette shook his head. “No. No matter how much security you have, or how good, there’s a way to get around it. He’s burned us here. No need to compound that mistake by thinking we’re untouchable here. And he could follow any one of us from here to somewhere else, exposing that address as well. No, it’s better to just cut bait now.”

  “We need to hit back somehow.”

  “I intend to, just as soon as we can find him.”

  “I say we sit on that school with that lady he’s sweet on.”

  Mallette turned and looked at the whiteboard, reading the message that Jacobs had left. He didn’t get upset in the way that Jacobs had hoped. Mallette seemed resigned to everything.

  “Boss? Should we put someone on the girl?”

  Mallette stood there, crossing his arms, staring at the whiteboard. He finally relented. “Yeah. Keep them extremely loose at the moment. I don’t want them seeing our guy. Even if that means losing them at first. I’d rather keep them relaxed and thinking no one’s there. We’ll strike when the time is right.”

  “Will do.”

  “And start packing up everything from here we want to take with us.”

  “What about the damaged stuff?”

  “Leave behind anything that’s not operating or that we don’t need.”

  Selby left to start gathering the things they wanted, as well as getting someone to sit on Tiffany. While he was doing that, Mallette kept his eyes on the whiteboard. He eventually went over to his desk and sat down, seemingly unconcerned with the wreck that his office now was. He rarely took his eyes off the words that Jacobs had left him. He let it rattle around inside him, sinking in deeply.

  An hour had gone by, and Mallette hadn’t left that chair. Selby had come back into the room to let him know everything was ready to go.

  “Ready when you are, boss.”

  Mallette didn’t move at first. He had something rattling around in his head. “Before we make a move on Jacobs, let’s end this with Ames first. That way we can put our full concentration on Jacobs.”

  “Got something in mind?”

  “I do. Put the word out in certain circles that I’m going to be conducting a secret meeting. Our entire organization is going to be there.”

  “By certain circles, you mean Ames?”

  “I mean Ames.”

  “That’s great, but… how are we gonna do that?”

  A little grin formed on Mallette’s face. “I’ve got a plan.”

  Jacobs ran his hands over his face, then looked at himself in the mirror. He could see the finish line, but it still seemed so far away. His eyes looked tired. And he had the body to match. He was just about done with this type of life. It worked for a while, when it was just him, but now that Tiffany had entered his life, it didn’t work for her. She deserved better, and no matter how hard he tried to escape this, it just didn’t seem to be ending.

  He walked out of the bathroom, and while the others were discussing things in the kitchen, he called Gunner, and the two of them went out in the backyard. Jacobs threw a tennis ball, then sat down in a chair as he waited for Gunner to retrieve it. A few seconds later, he was joined by Tiffany, who sat in the chair next to him. She put her hand on his back.

  “You OK?”

  Jacobs took the ball from Gunner’s mouth and threw it again. “Yeah.”

  “So why do you look so depressed?”

  Jacobs shrugged. “I’m not, really. Disappointed, maybe.”

  “Because Mallette wasn’t there?”

  Jacobs nodded. “Yeah. I was really hoping… I wanted it to be the end.”

  Tiffany rubbed his back. “I know it’s not the result we wanted, but we’re getting closer. It’s just a matter of time.”

  Jacobs threw the ball again. “Yeah. I dunno. I’m just tired of it all, I guess.”

  Tiffany forced a smile. “I know that feeling.”

  “I just… if this doesn’t end soon… I don’t know how much longer I can ask you to wait.”

  “I’ll wait as long as I need to.”

  “But you shouldn’t put your life on hold indefinitely.”

  “I’m not. And I don’t want to talk about going our separate ways, or moving on because it’s better for me, or anything else you might be thinking about.”

  Jacobs looked at her and smiled. “That obvious, huh?”

  “I just know you. You put a lot of pressure and weight on those shoulders of yours. And it’s not always justified.”

  Seconds later, Franks came out to join them. “Hey, hate to interrupt you two lovebirds doing your song and dance here, but I thought of something.”

  “That time of the month, huh?” Jacobs asked.

  “Now don’t be getting all like that, man. Um, what was I saying?”

  “You had an idea?”

  “Oh yeah, that. Anyways, I got another idea we can try.”

  “We’re listening.”

  “The lawyer,” Franks said.

  “What about him?”

  “Mallette’s got a new lawyer, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Franks looked at a paper he had written some stuff down on. “Andrew Berry’s his name, right?”

  “Yeah?”

  “We can use him to get to Mallette. Think about it, we’ve done it before. A couple times, if I’m not mistaken.”

  Jacobs turned his head and thought about it. “I’m sure Mallette’s got some safeguards in place by now. I mean, after what’s happened with his former lawyers, he’s gotta assume we’ll latch on to him at some point.”

  “But what if he don’t?”

  “What exactly are you proposing we do with him?”

  “I dunno. I’m sure there’s something. Follow him, listen to his phone calls, snoop into his records, you know… the usual thing.”

  “You’re assuming he’s got regular contact with Mallette,” Jacobs said. “And there’s no guarantee there is.”

  “No guarantee there ain’t either.”

  “Wouldn’t Mallette have a great deal of appreciation towards him?” Tiffany asked. “I mean, since he’s the only one who got him out of prison, wouldn’t he reward him with whatever he wanted?”

  Franks snapped his fingers and pointed at him, winking at her at the same time. “There you go. Now you’re thinking. She’s getting the hang of this thing. You’re right on the money with that, too. I’m willing to bet you there’s a pot of gold at the end of Berry’s rainbow.”

  “What pot of gold are you speaking of?” Jacobs asked.

  “Tiff’s right, man. Nobody else was able to get him out of prison except this guy.”

  “So?”

  “So you know Mallette had to reward him somehow, right? Buying him things, giving him things, promising him things. You see where I’m going with this?”

  Jacobs did, but decided to string things out. “No.”

  Franks slapped his legs and sighed. “C’mon, man, are you really gonna act this way? If Mallette is giving him something, or whatever, there’s gotta be records, right?”
>
  “But that doesn’t mean anything will come back to Mallette.”

  Franks shrugged. “Depends on what it is. Some things you gotta put a name and address down for. Or a name.”

  “Or a fake name and address,” Tiffany said.

  Franks snapped his fingers and pointed at her again. “There you go again. You got it. She gets it. Whoever said you were just a pretty face?”

  “Who said that?”

  Franks shrugged, then slyly pointed to Jacobs with his thumb.

  “I did not!” Jacobs said.

  Franks let out a laugh. “OK, OK. But seriously, let’s dig into this guy’s records, see if we can shake a cat out of the tree.”

  Jacobs nodded. “OK. Sounds like maybe we can get something there.”

  “My man. I’ll let Hack know to start poking around in that direction.”

  After Franks left, Jacobs looked at the pretty woman to his left. “You know, I’m not sure I like that you’re starting to get into this. Thinking like everyone else.”

  Tiffany grinned. “I’m a quick learner.”

  “That’s the problem. It’s stuff I’m not sure I want you to learn,” Jacobs said. “You’re better off not getting involved in this at all.”

  “But I am. And since I am, I might as well help to get you out of it, too.”

  “You’re the best. You know that?”

  Tiffany shrugged, then leaned over to kiss him. “I just want that pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, too.”

  6

  Mallette was walking around the main floor of the warehouse, waiting for his plan to be put into action. It was a bit of a gamble, but he didn’t feel he was risking much. Selby rushed over to him after coming in from outside.

  “Everything’s in place.”

  “Good,” Mallette said. “Everyone knows what to do?”

  Selby nodded. “They do.”

  “Excellent. Now, all we have to do is wait. And hope that Ames takes the bait.”

  “You think he will?”

  “All depends on how credible he thinks the information is. I’m willing to bet that he can’t pass up the opportunity of possibly killing me, so I believe that he’ll be here.”

  “He might just send his crew, though. He might not show up, himself.”

  “We’ll see. I think he would want to be here in order to see for himself that I’m dead.”

  “Speaking of all that, are you sure about those guys out there on the perimeter?”

  “What about them?” Mallette asked.

  “Well, we got one guy on the gate, then a few more scattered around the fence on all sides.”

  “So?”

  “So if Ames takes the bait here, there’s a good chance those guys are gonna get killed.”

  “It’s a price that needs to be paid. That’s why I told you to hire some extra guys off the street for this. No need to waste any of our men on this.”

  “But we didn’t even tell them they were being used as marks.”

  “They’re getting paid to provide security,” Mallette said. “That comes with inherent risks when you accept that kind of assignment. Let’s not waste anymore thoughts on them. Let’s look at the bigger picture.”

  “We got the machine rolling in the office, hooked up remotely, so if Ames’ guys come in, they’ll hear the voices in the office.”

  Mallette smiled, pleased with how everything was coming together. “Good.” He pointed to the hallway that led to the office. “They’ll go down that hall, then we have them. They’ll be nowhere for them to go. There’s only one way in or out.”

  “There are those small windows in that office.”

  “They’re boarded up, though. And even if they can get through them, we’ll have someone on the outside there to cut down anyone who tries to escape. Then the only way for them to come in is back this way. And we’ll have everyone here waiting for them.”

  “Everybody’s in place, boss.”

  “What about the team outside?”

  “They’re ready,” Selby answered. “They’ve got an eye on the front gate so that if they see a car lingering out there, they’ll come in behind it to prevent them from escaping.”

  “Good. I have a feeling that’s where Ames will be. He’ll be in his car, behind the action, waiting for the sign that it’s safe to come in. Then our car will come up behind him and block his exit.”

  “Assuming he’s there.”

  “Even if he’s not, we could cripple his organization and take out whoever he has left. He’d be nothing to worry about at that point.”

  “We should go and make sure you’re not around once everything starts.”

  Mallette nodded, looking around one more time before he left. He was escorted to his car and got in the back seat. He was then driven down the street, and the car parked behind an unmarked white van. Mallette got out of his car and got in the back of the van. One of his men was in there, surveillance equipment all around, looking at a bunch of monitors.

  “Anything yet?” Mallette asked.

  “No, but we have clear views of the entrance points by the gates, as well as the building. If they show up, we’ll see them. No doubt.”

  “Good.” Mallette sat down and looked at his watch. There was still about an hour to go before the supposed meeting was scheduled to take place.

  While he waited, Mallette let his eyes and mind wander. He leaned his head back, and looked up at the roof of the van, thinking about that moment when he would have Ames standing in front of him. What would he do? What would he say?

  Mallette closed his eyes, trying to picture it more clearly. There was no doubt in what he would do. In his vision, he had Ames standing in front of him, and Mallette put a bullet right between his eyes. Ames crumpled to the ground, with Mallette standing over his dead body. It was a pleasing thought for him. His eyes fluttered open, his mind then turning to Jacobs.

  Mallette closed his eyes again, now thinking of Jacobs in front of him. This time, Jacobs was tied to a chair, unable to move. His arms were tied behind the chair, with Mallette walking around him, talking, almost gloating about his impending demise. Then, Mallette stopped pacing around the chair and stood in front of Jacobs. He pointed a gun at Jacobs, then pulled the trigger five times, hitting his prisoner in the chest with all five shots. Jacobs’ head instantly slumped forward as his chest became soaked with blood.

  A small grin came over Mallette’s face, pleased with what he was imagining. He could picture both things happening for real. And soon. He wasn’t far away from putting the first part of it into action. He just needed Ames to show up first.

  For the next hour, Mallette was in his own little world, scarcely paying attention to anything else. He barely knew anyone else was in the van with him at that point. And his eyes only looked at the screens a few times. His thoughts were all about Ames, and Jacobs to a lesser extent. But with Ames hopefully not too far away, he was most present on Mallette’s mind.

  Mallette was broken from his trance when one of his men called his attention to a monitor.

  “Looks like we’ve got action.”

  Mallette snapped to attention and leaned in, looking at the monitors more closely. “What’s going on?”

  The man pointed to one of the screens that was monitoring the back fence. “We’ve got movement there.”

  Mallette squinted to see better. “Looks like one man.”

  “Wait, look over here.” The man pointed to one of the cameras that was monitoring the side. “Another one there.”

  “They might be attacking on all fronts.”

  “Makes sense,” Selby said. “They don’t want to blast their way in from the front and give themselves away.”

  The man at the controls pointed to another screen. “One of our guys just went down.”

  “Here they come,” Mallette said. “Let’s hope they’re bringing the big dog with them.”

  One by one, the guards stationed on the perimeter went down. It was all happening very
quietly. The last man standing was the guard at the front gate.

  “Why’d they leave him?” Selby asked, observing a bunch of men advancing toward the back of the building. “Doesn’t make sense.”

  Mallette thought he had an answer, though. “It does if you think it’s being watched. In order to maximize the surprise, you leave the guy at the front standing. If you think he’s being watched, or there’s a camera there, that way nobody else is alerted when he goes down. If whoever’s inside sees him taken out, it gives them time to prepare for the attack, or time to escape. It makes sense to leave him standing if you can, at least until the assault is ready.”

  They continued watching the monitors, seeing what looked like eight men advance toward the main building.

  “They’re going in now,” Selby said.

  Mallette pointed to the front gate. “Now watch for it. I bet he goes down now.”

  Seconds later, the front guard was taken out, just as Mallette had predicted. They kept watching, observing the eight men go inside the warehouse.

  “Is the audio on in the conference room?” Mallette asked.

  “Already running,” Selby replied. “It’s on a continuous loop. Should we start moving in?”

  “Yes, but hold off on firing yet.”

  Selby turned to radio his guys to get into position.

  “Come on, Ames, where are you?” Mallette said, staring at the monitor trained on the front gate.

  Then the front gate was suddenly broken open by a car ramming through it. Then another car came in behind that one.

  “That’s gotta be him!” Mallette said excitedly. “Let’s go! Move in! Move in! Everyone, move in!”

  As Selby gave the orders, Mallette jumped out of the van to head back to the warehouse. The cars Mallette had waiting outside had now pulled in behind the two vehicles that crashed through the gate.

  Inside, Ames’ men had reached the conference room. Hearing voices coming from the room, they broke through the door and immediately started firing before they even had a chance to acquire their targets. Bullets pelted the room, though there were no victims to go along with it. All they succeeded in doing was destroying the room.

  “What the hell?” one of the men said. “Where is everybody?”