by Mike Ryan
Once he got there, he was surprised to see that it was slightly open. He pushed it open further, and Gunner raced in. Jacobs and Thrower remained by the door for a few seconds, waiting for an alert from Gunner. It didn’t take long for them to hear it. Gunner let out a growling sound, indicating that there was something there that he didn’t like.
Jacobs and Thrower rushed in. Jacobs found a light switch and flicked it on. Though maybe the darkness would have been an advantage if someone knew they were there, it wouldn’t be too much of an advantage. And it would allow him to see what he was shooting at.
Gunner continued growling, so Jacobs and Thrower rushed over to where his voice was coming from. Then they saw it. Gunner was standing there, growling at the men that were lying on the floor. There was blood everywhere.
Jacobs and Thrower moved in closer to inspect the bodies that were there. The bodies were almost thrown on top of each other. As they got closer, there was one positioned on top of the others. His face was unmistakable, even if it was covered in blood from the hole that was through it.
After looking at the face, Thrower glanced at his friend to get his reaction. “Wilson Ames.”
Jacobs was almost in shock. He briefly looked at Thrower, but quickly put his eyes back on Ames, staring at what was left of him. There was never any joy in seeing someone dead, but maybe there was some small sense of relief that was going through Jacobs at the moment. It meant one less person he had to worry about. One less person that he had to deal with. And he was one step closer to getting a life back.
“These are all his men,” Thrower said.
“Not all. A few of these guys I don’t recognize. Ames had five or six more, though, I think.”
“What do you think happened here?”
Jacobs looked all around, not sure himself. Then he thought of the meeting. He looked back at the bodies. “Maybe they found out about the meeting, too. Came here to put an end to things.”
“Well, they sure did put an end to things. Themselves.”
Jacobs looked at the walls, the floors, seeing the blood splattered all around. “Or maybe this was a trap.”
“For who?”
Jacobs shrugged. “Whoever came. What if Mallette intentionally put word out that he was having a meeting here tonight, hoping that either Ames or I would stop by? Then when whoever showed up… he pounced.”
“Could be. Pretty good plan. He’d know that if word was out there he was gonna be here… nobody would be able to pass that up.”
Jacobs nodded. “And that was what he was counting on.”
Thrower put his hand on a few of the bodies. “These guys are still warm. This didn’t happen that long ago. Hour or two at the most.”
“Just think, if we had gotten here sooner… it might have been us.”
They continued walking around the building, just to see if there were any more bodies around. But there weren’t. Everyone had been placed in the middle of the main room. After clearing the rest of the building, they came back around to where the bodies were.
“What do you think the meaning of that is?” Thrower asked. “Placing them on top of each other like that. Ames on top.”
“Who knows? Maybe it’s some message from Mallette. Maybe it’s just his way of placing the leader of his enemy on top of the pile? Could be anything from that twisted mind of his.”
Thrower put his hand on Jacobs’ shoulder. “Well, it’s one less person we need to worry about.”
“Yeah.”
“Just think, Mallette took out our enemies for us. First Butch, now Ames.”
Jacobs nodded. “Yeah. Too bad he doesn’t take himself out next.”
“Don’t think we’ll be that lucky. But it still helps us out, him doing this work for us. Now there’s nothing in our way between him and us.”
Jacobs stared at Ames’ lifeless body. He couldn’t help but think back to how it all started. “Yeah. It’s back to how it was in the beginning. Just him and me. There’s nobody else left. But this time… one of us isn’t going to be around to see tomorrow.”
8
As soon as Jacobs and Thrower got back to the house, they let Franks know what happened. Though they said it wasn’t necessary, he came right over. Tiffany was waiting by the door to let Franks in as soon as he got there.
Franks barged right in, not even waiting for anyone else to talk. “Man, this is crazy, man, crazy. Crazy.”
Jacobs and Thrower were now sitting on the couch, trying to relax a little. Even though they hadn’t seen any action, they still were on edge after anticipating they were going to see some. Seeing the mood that Franks was in, they both just let him go and get it all out before they chimed in.
“To think, we were this close on them,” Franks said. “This close. Almost there on Mallette. Almost. Of course, you could also say he was this close on us, too. But that’s neither here nor there, you know?”
Jacobs and Thrower just looked at each other, knowing their friend wasn’t done yet.
“Now I think back on it, did someone give me an intentionally bad tip?” Franks was pacing around the room, looking down at the floor as he spoke. “Was everyone in on it? Did nobody else know? I mean, what’s the line here, boys? What’s the line?”
“Well…,” Jacobs started to say.
“Hold that thought, man. I mean, was this a trap by Mallette to bring you in? Or just Ames? Or was it for the both of you? Was I used in this conspiracy to try to trap you in there, sending you both to your impending doom?”
Jacobs and Thrower glanced at each other again, looking confused. “Impending doom?” Jacobs whispered.
Thrower put his hand over his mouth to make it seem like he wasn’t talking. “Maybe he watched a documentary before he came over?”
“And are we for sure assuming this was Mallette who did it?” Franks continued, though he wasn’t listening for a response.
Jacobs started to respond but was cut off before he was even able to utter a word.
Franks kept pacing. “But if it wasn’t Mallette, who else would it have been? Of course it was him, man. It had to be. Who else would it be?”
“Do you think he’s gonna let us get a word in at some point?” Thrower asked.
Jacobs sighed. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Franks continued rambling for another minute, then finally stopped walking and stood right in front of the others. He stared at each of them. “Well? Either of you got anything to say?”
Thrower put his hand up and opened his mouth, but never got a word out.
“You’re both just sitting there like stumps on a log,” Franks said. “You’re letting me do all the talking, and you’re both just sitting there like you got flies in your mouth or something.”
Jacobs and Thrower each made a face like they weren’t sure what that meant.
“I mean, I wasn’t there. So I can’t speak on what I saw, since I didn’t see anything. But you guys were. But you’re just letting me talk and talk and talk. I mean, I can’t do all the talking, can I?”
“You don’t think?” Jacobs asked.
“Well, I mean… maybe I could. But it really comes down to a question of…”
“What?”
“I dunno. Lost my train of thought, man. Talking too much.”
Tiffany walked over to Franks and grabbed him by the arm. “Let’s go into the kitchen and get you a drink.”
“Oh, thanks. You’re the best. You’re the only one who offers. These two slobs just let me talk and talk until my throat is parched.”
Jacobs and Thrower looked at each other and shook their heads. Franks was certainly one of a kind.
“You think it’s possible there might be someone else out there that’s just like him?” Thrower asked.
“I’d find it hard to believe that there might be.”
A minute later, Franks and Tiffany returned from the kitchen. Jacobs looked at Tiffany and mouthed the words “thank you” to her. Tiffany replied with a smile. She’d
known both Jacobs and Franks long enough now that when Franks got a little long-winded, she intervened to stop him and move things along, as well as prevent Jacobs from getting irritated.
“So where were we?” Franks asked.
“We were talking about the tip you got,” Jacobs said. “How’d you get it?”
“Just one of my regular sources, man.”
“Think he could’ve been setting you up?”
“Nah, can’t see that happening. He’s an up-and-up guy. All he told me was… he heard Mallette had some type of big meeting with all his guys, and everyone was gonna be there. Didn’t know any more than that.”
“Just enough to draw Ames in,” Thrower said. “Honestly, I think Mallette put it out there for whoever came by. Ames, us, whoever. He was ready to drop the hammer on whoever showed up.”
Jacobs nodded. “Yeah, could be.”
“In any case, none of that really matters now, I suppose, does it?” Franks said. “Ames is gone, hallelujah, and now we just gotta worry about Mallette. Right?”
“I guess that’s what it boils down to.”
“We’re almost there, man, almost there. I can smell it, taste it, feel it, it’s pumping through my veins. The end is near.”
Jacobs was doing his best not to get too excited about that aspect of it. Though he was certainly closer to the end than the beginning, there was still a long way to go. Mallette was no pushover. And he wasn’t going to just lie down in front of them and surrender.
“Should probably let Bucky know,” Jacobs said.
“What?!” Franks asked. “Why?!”
“Uh, because there’s a bunch of dead bodies in a warehouse? That’s what the police do. Investigate things like that.”
“Man, he’s just gonna think that you did it.”
“No, he’s not.”
“Even if he don’t, what good’s telling him about it? What’s it gonna accomplish? Them guys are still dead, and nobody’s gonna miss them, so who cares?”
Jacobs gave him a face. “Because it’s the right thing to do? We’re not supposed to be like them. I know at times the lines get blurry, and maybe we’ve stepped over it a few times, but at the end of the day… we’re supposed to be better. And if the police get there in a week, then find out I was there, then what? Then they’ll wonder why I didn’t report it.”
“OK, OK, fine. Just tell him to keep it hush-hush, though, OK?”
“Fine.” Jacobs grabbed his phone and called Buchanan, who picked up after a couple rings. “You weren’t sleeping or anything, were you?”
“No, just relaxing here. What’s up?”
“Oh. Well, sorry. Your night’s about to pick up.”
Buchanan sighed into the phone. He already knew what that meant. “What happened?”
“There’s a bunch of dead bodies in a warehouse. Eight, ten, twelve, something like that.”
“Did you…?”
“I had nothing to do with it.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Went there and found them.”
“You just happened to stumble over a dozen dead bodies?”
“Wilson Ames is one of them,” Jacobs said.
“Excuse me?”
“I saw him myself. Ames is dead.”
“And you had nothing to do with it? You wanna start from the top on this?”
“I got word that Mallette had a big meeting going down. So I went over there.”
“Word from who? Franks?”
“That doesn’t matter,” Jacobs replied. “Anyway, I went over there, found a bunch of bodies. That’s all there is to it, really.”
“So what are you saying? Mallette lured Ames there, then killed him?”
“That’s what I think. Can’t prove it, though. Not unless he left some kind of evidence behind.”
“That’s unlikely,” Buchanan said. “I’ll get a team over there right away. Send me the address.”
“I will. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say where this tip came from.”
“You know me… I never do. I guess you’re happy about this development, though, huh?”
“I’m not sure happy is the right word. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about him anymore. Happy… I’ll be happy when all this is over and it’s a distant memory.”
“Hopefully, soon, right?”
“Hopefully,” Jacobs said. “Still one more guy to go to make that happen.”
“Well, maybe I can tie him into this Ames thing and put him back in prison. This time for life.”
“I doubt Mallette’s sloppy enough to leave evidence that he was there. It’s not what I want, anyway. Mallette in prison is still a dangerous man. You know that. There’s only one way to stop him for good. And we both know what that is.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Wishful thinking, I guess. All right, let me get to that warehouse. Send me the address.”
“Will do.”
After Jacobs hung up, he quickly sent a text to Buchanan. Then he put his phone down next to him.
“So what’s next?” Thrower asked. “Obviously Mallette’s last on the list, but how are we gonna find him now.”
“I’ll tell you what, we better find him before he finds us,” Franks replied.
Jacobs nodded. “The next time we hear anything about Mallette being somewhere, we’re gonna have to assume that it’s a trap. Especially after this. I’m sure he’ll try this again for us.”
“No doubt. He’ll see if he can pull it off twice in a row.”
“So we gotta be smarter,” Thrower said. “We gotta find him first.”
“Yeah,” Jacobs said. “How is the question.”
“I’ll tell you how,” Franks said. “The lawyer. He holds the key.”
“I’m still not sure he’ll know anything.”
Franks grinned. “One sure way of finding out. I think maybe a little visit is in order to Mr. Andrew Berry.”
Jacobs looked at Thrower, who was also nodding. “I agree,” Thrower said. “I don’t know if the guy has any answers. But we also don’t need him to give us the keys to the entire castle. Just the front door.”
Jacobs agreed. Berry had to be their next target. “I guess we should start making plans to meet him, then.”
“Just need to figure out the time and place.”
“I know the time,” Franks said. “You guys can figure out the place. But I know the time.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
9
Jacobs and Thrower were sitting in their car outside the residence of Mallette’s lawyer, Andrew Berry. As they waited for the right moment to make their move, Thrower looked down at his notes.
“Just took possession of the place last week. Paid in cash.”
“Nice,” Jacobs said. “Guess Mallette’s money still goes pretty far.”
“Probably one of the perks of getting him out.”
“How much did it go for?”
“Seven fifty.”
Jacobs whistled. “That’s a pretty good chunk of change to just hand over.”
“Looks like Mallette’s not as bad off as his public financial records indicate.”
Jacobs shook his head. “No way. The guy’s not an idiot. Before he got sent up, he probably set up fifty shell corporations to hide his money in. That way it could accumulate while he was inside, even as his organization was crumbling.”
Thrower glanced at the back seat, seeing a familiar face wasn’t there. “You sure it was a good idea to leave Gunner behind?”
“If he’s got cameras set up, there’s no way to get Gunner in there unnoticed.”
“Does it matter, though? He’s gonna know it’s us.”
Jacobs looked at the fence surrounding the property. It’d be tough to get Gunner over that. The front was iron, and the sides and back were a tall concrete fence. They weren’t going to be able to lift Gunner over it. They’d barely be able to get over it themselves.
The hope was that with Jacobs and Thrower dress
ed in all black, including hoods, if there were cameras, they’d be able to blend in with the night, and hopefully avoid being picked up. Gunner likely wouldn’t be able to avoid it. At least that was the thinking behind it.
It was just about midnight, and the lights in Berry’s new house finally went out. Now it was time for Jacobs and Thrower to spring into action.
“Looks like it’s go-time,” Thrower said.
“Let’s go.”
They put their hoods on and got out of the car. Each house in that neighborhood had a little bit of land to it, so the houses weren’t right on top of each other. It allowed Jacobs and Thrower to work without worrying about being spotted by a neighbor. They sprinted over to the side of the concrete fence, towards the back of the property. They brought a small ladder with them that would allow them to climb over the top of the fence without a problem.
Thrower went over first, then Jacobs, who pulled the ladder up with them, bringing it over the fence so they could also get out easier. Just in case they had to leave in a hurry, they didn’t want to waste time fumbling up the fence.
Once they were in the backyard, they kept the ladder on the ground, touching the fence. Jacobs and Thrower knelt on one knee, surveying the property in front of them.
“Hope this guy doesn’t have guard dogs,” Thrower said.
Jacobs raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t something he’d really considered. “He just moved in last week. Not enough time to get a dog and train him.”
“Who said it has to be trained? Or maybe he already had one.”
“Let’s just go with that he doesn’t have one.”
“But what if he does? I prefer not to shoot animals if I can help it.”
Jacobs shrugged. “I dunno. If you see something charging at you, get down on a knee and see if you can talk some sense into it.”
“Should’ve brought some dog treats in case.”
“How ‘bout we just move in and see what we find?”
They quickly moved through the spacious yard, heading toward the back of the house. There was an in-ground pool, which also had a small fence around it. It didn’t take long to reach the back of the house.
