by Mike Ryan
“Brett, just let her say what’s on her mind,” Thrower said. “It might be the best thing we’ve heard yet.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
20
Jacobs and Tiffany continued talking, debating, with her desperately trying to get her point across.
“Are you willing to listen?” Tiffany asked.
“I guess if I have to.”
“Well, you don’t have to do anything.”
Jacobs sighed again. He honestly feared what was about to come out of her mouth. He figured it would be something along the lines of putting herself in a risky situation. “No, just go ahead and say what you’re thinking.”
“Use me as bait.”
Jacobs threw his hands up. “There it is. I knew it was coming.”
“No, listen to me.”
“We’ve done this already.”
“Would you just listen? Please?”
Jacobs lowered his head, then nodded. “OK.”
“We can use this to our advantage if you can get him into such a rage that he can’t control himself.”
“In what way?” Thrower asked.
Tiffany shrugged. “Just get him so mad that all he wants to do right now is strike back. Like immediately.”
“But he can’t. He doesn’t know where we are.”
“Except for me. I’m the only one he can come after right now.”
Jacobs took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “And he could kill you.”
Tiffany shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’ll use me to get to you. That’s his biggest option right now.”
“And what do you plan on doing, just stand in the middle of the street and say, ‘come take me’? That won’t work.”
“What exactly are you thinking?” Franks asked.
“Make it appear that I’m going to work by myself tomorrow. Make him act upon that.”
Jacobs instantly shook his head. “Won’t work. He’ll know it’s some sort of trap. He’s not an idiot.”
“Not if you make him think it’s true.”
“How’s that?”
“You’ve said before, he’s not going to shoot the school. So his only option would be to take me, right? Use me in order to lure you in.”
“Not if he lets you drive a while, then takes you out on the road,” Jacobs said.
“But then he’d still be no closer to finding you. And that’s what he needs right now. To find you. I’m the closest bet to that. Then, after he grabs me, he’ll take me somewhere, and if you guys know where I am, you can get there at the same time. I won’t be in any real danger.”
“Except when the shooting starts.”
“Brett makes a good point,” Thrower said. “He’s not gonna believe you’re going to school by yourself after all this time of having a guard. He’ll know something’s up.”
“Not if he makes Mallette believe I’ll be unprotected.”
“But how would that happen?”
“I got it!” Franks said. “Let me take her to school. That would cause them to move in quickly, thinking this is their chance to grab her.”
Jacobs shook his head. “Nope. Won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’ll definitely shoot you.”
“What? Why?”
“Because they won’t need two hostages. Even if they decide to take her, they’ll just put a bullet in you and walk away. They don’t need you.”
“Oh. Well, let’s scrap that idea, then,” Franks said. “I’m not willing to die for the cause just yet, you know what I mean?”
“And even if you’re by yourself, they’re gonna assume we’re nearby, watching,” Jacobs said.
“That’s why you won’t be watching,” Tiffany said.
“Say what?”
“Look, that’s obviously what they’d think, right?”
“Yeah?”
“So let’s be smart. Instead of watching from the road, hook me up with stuff. Trackers, GPS, cameras, I dunno, whatever you guys think would work. That way you have eyes on me at all times and know where I am at all times.”
“That might work,” Franks said.
Thrower was largely silent, thinking about it all, running it through in his mind.
“There’s so many things that can go wrong with this,” Jacobs said. “And the week isn’t up yet, by the way.”
“But this could be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for,” Tiffany said. “We might not get a better one than this. Especially right now. We could end this tomorrow if we do it right.”
Jacobs put his hands over his face and rubbed it. It was tempting to think it could be over in another day. But there were still so many risks. Risks he wasn’t sure he wanted to take. Not with Tiffany. If it were him, or Thrower, he might’ve been more receptive to it. Maybe he was too close to it, though. Maybe he needed someone who was more neutral, who hadn’t been through the same things he had. Someone who could think more objectively.
“What do you think about it, Nate?” Jacobs asked.
Thrower hesitated before answering, still going over everything in his mind. “I think it could work under certain conditions.”
“What conditions?” Tiffany asked.
“For one, Brett’s gotta get him mad enough that Mallette wants to act immediately and lash out at the first person he can.”
“I’m sure I could do that,” Jacobs replied.
“Then, we gotta make sure that Mallette picking Tiffany up is an option, that he doesn’t feel like it’s a trap. That means you’d have to say something to make him believe that she’s going to be unprotected tomorrow. But you’ll have to be subtle about it or else he’ll feel like you’re intentionally trying to get him there.”
“Unfortunately, I can probably do that too.”
“Is that it?” Tiffany asked. “You’re making my point.”
“Not yet,” Thrower said. “The last point is the most important. We need to make sure you’re protected at all times, and that we know where you are exactly.”
“Can’t we do that?”
“Probably need to get Hack in here to help with that,” Jacobs said.
“I’m thinking we need to put a tracker on the car,” Thrower said. “But also on Tiffany personally, that way if they take her out, which I assume they would, we still have a beat on her.”
Jacobs seemed more resigned to letting this thing happen, though he still had concerns. “You really believe they’d just grab her? You don’t think there’s any chance they’d just kill her and move on?”
Thrower thought about it. “Doesn’t really make sense to just kill her.”
“Mallette’s not always a rational man, you know.”
Thrower shook his head. “Killing her doesn’t really help him. It would get you angrier. So what? You already are. I think that bridge has been crossed by now, don’t you? It’s all about killing you now. Getting you in front of him again. Killing her doesn’t help him get that. You’d still be out there. I don’t see any way in which he’d want to knock her off. I do think he’d try to use her to draw you in. Again.”
Jacobs nodded. It was still against his better judgment, but everyone else seemed to be for it, so maybe it was the better play. He just didn’t want to see it. He looked over at Franks.
“You got anything we can use for this?”
“Oh yeah,” Franks replied. “I got just the stuff.”
Jacobs sighed. “Fine. But if we do this, I wanna have backups, and then backups on the backups.”
“Sounds like a done deal to me, man.”
Tiffany agreed. “Yeah. Definitely.”
“Seems like the only thing left to do now is make the call.”
Jacobs looked around at the others to make sure they were all in complete agreement. They were. Jacobs got on the phone and dialed the number listed for RM. It kept ringing with no answer. After six rings, it stopped, but it didn’t go to voicemail. It just seemed to go dead.
&nb
sp; “Try again, man,” Franks said.
Jacobs did. It was the same result. That wasn’t going to stop him, though. He kept trying.
“Hopefully, he hasn’t already gotten wind of what happened,” Thrower said. “Then he knows what this is.”
“Yeah, that’d be a real kick in the gonads,” Franks replied. “That’d make this whole thing all for naught.”
Jacobs was still undeterred and kept trying. About ten minutes went by. He was beginning to think they were wasting their time. Maybe Mallette did find out already. In a way, it would have been a relief, as that would mean they wouldn’t follow through with Tiffany’s plan, which meant she wouldn’t have to put herself in danger. He still wasn’t thrilled about it.
Jacobs put the phone down for a bit, then dialed again after another twenty minutes. He was expecting more of the same. He was surprised, then, when someone finally answered. It wasn’t Mallette, though. He’d recognize Mallette’s voice anywhere.
“I need to speak with him,” Jacobs said.
“Who is this? You’re not Lee.”
“No, I’m not. But he’ll wanna talk to me. Get him. Now.”
“Not until I know who this is.”
“Just give him the phone. He’ll know who this is.”
After a few seconds, another voice got on the line. There was no doubt about who this person was. Jacobs recognized the voice immediately.
“I guess I don’t need an introduction, do I?” Mallette said.
“Shouldn’t.”
“So what do I owe the honor and pleasure of this conversation?”
“Well, as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, Lee is no longer working for you.”
“What did you do?”
Jacobs laughed. “Oh, I dunno, I just happened to stumble upon a little operation that he was running for you. Was is the key word.”
“What did you do?”
“You had what, thirty, fifty million worth of product in there? Is that right? And… had is the key word there. Right now, I’m sure the police have taken it away by now.”
“What did you do?!” Mallette’s voice was raised, and there was no doubt about the anger that was flowing out of him. He kept asking the same question, but he already knew the answer.
Jacobs kept laughing. “Hope you’re not running out of funds anytime soon. That might put a damper on your operation, huh?”
Mallette seemed to get himself back under control for the moment. “I can spare it.”
“Really? Oh, you must be talking about the other three places with similar content inside. Uh, well, I really wouldn’t count on them if that’s what you were thinking. I’m pretty sure the police have them blocked off now, too.”
Mallette was quiet for a moment, but Jacobs could practically hear him seething into the phone. Jacobs could picture his face turning red, veins popping out of his neck, thinking about what he wanted to do at that very moment.
“I’m gonna bury you,” Jacobs said.
“Not if I bury you first!”
“Looks like I’m winning.”
“For the moment. The war is not over.”
“Yes, it is. If I can’t find you right now, I’ll do the next best thing. I’m going to dismantle your operation bit by bit until you have nothing left. Absolutely nothing. You’ll have no money, you’ll have no men, and you’ll have no time. And then, you’ll be mine.”
“Keep thinking that,” Mallette said.
“Oh, you gonna tell me you have more operations with a few million inside just waiting for you?”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“You don’t have to. I know. I know everything. I’m looking at everything right now. I have a list of names and addresses, all associated with you. Your time is ticking away. It’s almost at the end.”
“I don’t think you know as much as you think you do.”
“Oh really?” Jacobs said. “Maybe you should be looking out your window right now, wondering if I’m outside. Waiting for you.”
Mallette actually wondered if that was true. He went over to his window and looked out, not that he could see much at that time.
Jacobs laughed. “You’re actually looking, aren’t you? I figured you would. I’ll set your mind at ease for tonight. I’m not there. Yet. But I know. I finally know.”
“Know what?”
“I finally know every piece of property you own. All the aliases, all the secret businesses, everything you set up before you went to prison, so you’d have a little nest egg waiting for you when you finally got out. I know it all.”
“And what good do you think that will do you?”
“Now I’m coming. Since I know the address of every single place you own, tomorrow, I’m going to come looking for you. And I’m not gonna stop until I find the place that you’re in. And when I find you, I’m gonna do what you couldn’t. I’m gonna put a bullet in your head. And I’m going to walk out of this fight a winner, while you’re put in a box.”
Mallette’s anger exploded out of him again. “There’s not a chance of that happening! You wanna come looking for me, you go right ahead! There’s an old saying: be careful of what you’re looking for, you just might find it.”
“I hope I do.”
“So do I.”
“Remember, tomorrow’s your last day. I’m coming.”
Jacobs hung up the phone and put it on the table. He took a deep breath and leaned back.
“Good stuff, man,” Franks said. “Real good.”
“It’s only good if he does what we want him to do, and he doesn’t think I’m blowing a lot of hot air.”
“Not a chance, man, not a chance. It’ll work. I’m telling you. It’ll work.”
“I dunno. Was I too subtle? Should I have dropped bigger hints about not guarding Tiff tomorrow?”
“Say it too plain and you run the risk of making it obvious,” Thrower said. “I think you played it perfectly. You got him riled up, he’ll infer from what you said, now the rest is up to him. If he sits back and thinks about it, analyzes it, he should come to the conclusion that you’ll be out looking for him.”
“But won’t he think you’d be guarding me?” Tiffany asked.
“If he’s got more properties out there, I’d think he’d assume I’d be out there looking too. Brett can’t watch them all at once.”
“Hogwash,” Franks said. “This is it, man, this is it. He’s gonna buy this hook, line, and sinker. I’m telling you. One more day. That’s all that bastard’s got left. One more day.”
21
Mallette had Selby meet him in a parking garage, at an address that was not associated with him in any way. He didn’t know if Jacobs was bluffing or not, but from what he heard from his conversation the previous night, he couldn’t afford to take any chances.
“You really think he knows as much as he says, boss?”
“I don’t know. I do know we can’t afford to be wrong.”
“That’s for sure.”
“I also know that he was right in that all four of our places got hit last night,” Mallette said.
“That’s a big sting.”
“Catastrophic. Those four places were what was holding my organization together financially.”
“I thought there were more?”
“Legitimate business, none of which can bring in the kind of cash flow that we need to fund this.”
“So what’s the play now?”
“We need to end this thing with Jacobs. Today. Now, it’s not even personal. Now, it’s business. He’s taking my business apart, and if he keeps at it, I won’t have anything left. I’m already down to the bare bones. I didn’t get out of prison just to watch my organization crumble in front of me.”
“So what should we do? Set up a trap for him?”
Mallette nodded. “Yes, but what? We have ten men, all told.”
“Why not just set up somewhere and wait for him to come to us like he says?”
“But what
if he really is bluffing about that? We could be sitting all day somewhere for nothing.”
“Then wouldn’t that be good? That he doesn’t know where we are?”
“But that still doesn’t take him off the table,” Mallette answered. “That still leaves him out there, being a pain in my ass, being a nuisance, destroying everything I’ve worked so hard to build.”
“There’s always the girlfriend, again. She’s still out there.”
Mallette put his hand on his chin. “She’s the one constant we know.”
“And today might be the day to grab her.”
“Why?”
“Well, if Jacobs is out there looking for us, then he’s obviously not with her.”
“That still leaves the other guy.”
Selby shrugged. “Maybe not. Maybe he’s out there with Jacobs sneaking around. Maybe it’s worth a shot.”
Not having any other clear options, Mallette agreed. “Fine. Make it happen. Take her.”
“Take her, or take her out?”
“Taking her out doesn’t get us any closer to stopping Jacobs at the moment. It only causes him more pain. And right now, that doesn’t help us either. We need her to bring Jacobs to us. We need her. Alive.”
“I’ll get it done. Take her to the warehouse?”
“Yeah. Take two men with you. I’ll get the rest over there and wait for you.”
Tiffany was just about to walk out the door. She would be alone for the first time in a long time. It felt kind of weird. It was nice, in a way, but that feeling didn’t last long when she remembered what was likely going to happen. She tried not to think about the risk that she was taking and focused on what the result would be after it was done. They could get on with their lives.
Jacobs put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “You’re sure you wanna do this?”
Tiffany grinned. “No. But it’s the best way. We both know that.”
Jacobs looked down for a second. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”
She kissed him softly. “I know that. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have complete trust and faith in you.”
“I guess we should go. Everyone else is outside in the van.”
