The Conflict (The Eliminator Series Book 9)

by Mike Ryan

  Franks grinned. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  “Oh, look what I have for you?” Tiffany said to her new furry friend. She had a small bag next to her and pulled out a tennis ball. She looked to his owner for permission before she threw it. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all.” Jacobs glared at Franks. “He loves balls.”

  Franks cleared his throat. “Throw that sucker.”

  Tiffany threw the ball, with Gunner jumping off the bench to fetch it. As he ran off for it, Tiffany then pulled out a frisbee. “I have a frisbee here for him too.”

  “Oh, do you now? What are the odds of that?”

  Jacobs faked a smile as he looked at his friend. “Yes. What are the odds?”

  Franks talked softly. “Not very big apparently.” His voice then rose back up to normal levels. “You know, funny you should have these things, ‘cause we were just talking about how we wished we had brought something like this, weren’t we?”

  “Yes. We were. One of us conveniently forgot them.”

  Gunner brought the ball back, then Tiffany threw the frisbee. Once he went out for it again, Franks sat down at the end of the bench, leaving an open seat between him and Tiffany. As Franks watched Gunner bring the frisbee back, then go out to get it again, he slapped his hand on the open part of the wooden bench.

  “Brett, why don’t you sit down and take a load off, buddy?”

  Jacobs looked at the open seat and could see it was going to be a tight squeeze. He was going to be right up against the two of them. He gulped, afraid that being so close to her might make him reconsider his stance against what he told her before.

  “C’mon, sit,” Franks said. “Can’t stand all day.”

  Jacobs took a deep breath. He didn’t want to offend Tiffany and make her think he didn’t want to sit next to her, so he was just going to have to make sure that he stayed strong in his desires. Jacobs went over between them and sat down, his right arm making contact with Tiffany’s. Gunner came back right over to Tiffany so she could throw the tennis ball a few more times. They kept repeating the action over and over again, though Gunner would sometimes alternate between Jacobs and Tiffany as to who he wanted to throw it.

  After a few minutes, Jacobs started letting his guard down, and chose to just enjoy the moment. They were having a good time, smiling, laughing, just watching Gunner go after the ball and frisbee. They weren’t even talking about anything else, other than their affection for Gunner. Jacobs seemed to forget about trying to distance anyone from himself and actually seemed happy for once. Franks even got up at one point to stretch his legs, and Jacobs didn’t notice, didn’t try to move over to give himself more space from Tiffany, he didn’t move an inch. He stayed right there next to her, both of them petting and playing with Gunner. Franks stared at the two of them for a minute. For just that moment, forgetting everything that had happened in Jacobs’ past up until then, they looked like they could have been any normal, regular couple playing in the park with their dog. A smile came over his face. It was good to see. It was good to see his friend not carry so much baggage with him, even if it was only for a short amount of time. Jacobs needed it, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

  The group was having such a good time that they didn’t realize the time flying by. An hour went by in the blink of an eye. Then another hour went by. They didn’t only stay there by the bench and play with Gunner, the three of them also walked around the park on the paths for a while. The entire time walking, Jacobs and Tiffany stayed side-by-side, though they didn’t hold hands or interlock arms or anything, but it was obvious they were comfortable being close to each other. Sometimes Franks hung back a few steps to give them a little space, though he always caught back up within a few minutes.

  After a couple of hours, they’d done pretty much everything there was to do at the park, other than going on the kid’s playgrounds and swinging on the monkey bars. But they thought they were just a few years too old for that. They eventually stopped back at their familiar spot, the park bench. For Jacobs, with Gunner by his side, and Tiffany faced in front of him, it was time to say goodbye.

  “Well, we should probably be going now.”

  “Oh, yes, me too,” Tiffany said. “Have a lot of plans tonight.”

  “You do?” Franks asked.

  Tiffany nervously smiled. “Yes. Dinner plans.”

  “Oh. Oh. Yeah. Right.” Franks nudged his friend on the elbow with his arm. He whispered as he turned his head away from them. “Hopefully not with another guy.”

  “Well, it was good to see you again,” Jacobs said.

  “Yes, you too.” She then shook hands with Franks. “It was nice to meet you.”

  “Oh, yes, likewise. Yeah. See you next time.” Franks gave a slight nod and winked at her to let her know he thought it went well.

  Tiffany got down on both knees and pet Gunner on both sides of his face. He replied by licking her face a few times, causing Tiffany to laugh. “Hopefully I’ll see you again soon, OK?”

  Gunner let out a bark.

  “Looks like a yes to me,” Franks said.

  Jacobs glared at his friend, but took his eyes off him as Tiffany got back to her feet. She was a little closer to him now after petting the dog. Neither of them knew what to do. Should they shake hands? Hug? Just walk away without another word? Franks could tell that the two didn’t know how to bid each other farewell. He slapped his friend on the back, causing him to move forward a couple of steps. Jacobs and Tiffany were only inches away from each other. Jacobs finally put his hand in front of him to shake, though he didn’t look all that confident in doing so. Tiffany then put her hand in his.

  “Maybe one day…” She then reached up and hugged him, putting her head against his chest. It wasn’t what she planned, but it was just an instinctual thing.

  Though Jacobs initially looked taken aback and kept his hands at his side, after a few moments, he put his arms around her. He wanted to tell her something, something similar to the last time, something that would make her run far away from him. But he couldn’t get the words out. Everything about this felt right. Even though he knew he shouldn’t, it just felt right. He smelled her hair, her perfume, and thought about the time they just spent together. He couldn’t deny that it felt good. Inside, his mind was still telling him it wasn’t a good idea, no matter how good it felt. But there was something else nagging at him not to let go.

  He whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “I’m just… so conflicted. I don’t know what to do.”

  Tiffany pulled away from him, though she still kept her hand in his. Her eyes were tearing up. “We could try to work through this. If you want to. Together. But only if it’s what you really want.”

  Franks wanted to shout out an answer for his friend, but knew that was probably not a good idea. He could lead the horse to water, but he couldn’t make him drink it. This had to be Jacobs saying he was ready. Franks just hoped he’d make the right decision.

  Jacobs didn’t try to break his hand free. But he wasn’t ready to make any big announcements either. He looked at her glossy eyes, not sure if he could be strong enough to send her away. “I don’t… everything about this is telling me you should run as far away from me as you can.”

  “Is that what you really want?” Tiffany asked.

  Jacobs looked over her head at some of the trees, leaves and branches softly swaying in the wind. “I... I don’t know what I want. I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I’m ready. I don’t know if I’m good enough for you. I don’t know if I deserve to be with anyone again. And I don’t know if you’re putting your life in danger by being with me.”

  “There’s only one way to find out all of those answers.”

  “Which is?”

  “By giving it a chance.”

  Gunner nudged his head against his owner’s leg, almost like he was
trying to nudge him into making a certain decision. Jacobs looked down at him and pet him on top of his head.

  Tiffany wiped her eyes to prevent tears from falling. “All we can do is give it a shot. If in a few weeks or months either of us feels like it’s not working, then we can at least say we tried.”

  Half a smile crept over Jacobs’ face. “Are you going to admit that this encounter may have been staged?”

  A full smile came over Tiffany’s face. “I can neither confirm nor deny those accusations.”

  Jacobs looked down, smiling as well. “Yeah, well, I know which one of you is behind it.” He then glared at Franks. Franks instantly looked away, tilting his head up towards the sky. He began whistling.

  “I don’t want to pressure you,” Tiffany said, continuing to hold Jacobs’ hand. “But I don’t want you to push me away either if you think there’s a chance.”

  Jacobs nodded. “Being with me probably wouldn’t be the easiest thing you ever did.”

  “Is anything worth having easy to get?” They stood there looking at each other for a few moments. “Why don’t we do it like this? No commitments, no pressure, nothing has to change. But also not intentionally pushing me away either. Like I said before, we can just take things slow, let things play out naturally, and see where it takes us. Does that sound doable?”

  Jacobs cleared his throat, thinking about it. He looked down at the ground, then at Gunner. He seemed really happy having Tiffany around. Jacobs looked back at Tiffany’s face, staring into her brown eyes. How could he say no? He sighed. “OK. We’ll take it one day at a time and see where it leads us. No promises, no expectations.”

  Tiffany smiled. “Deal.”

  Since they still had a hold of each other’s hands, they couldn’t shake on it, so she just lifted their hands up together. Jacobs hadn’t even realized their hands were still locked together until then.

  “Could I possibly get another goodbye hug?” she asked, with a tilt of her head and a smile on her face.

  Jacobs didn’t think or hesitate. He put his arms around her and hugged her. She slipped into his arms so easily, he thought. He kept telling himself it shouldn’t have felt that good. That was the nagging part of his brain telling him this was still a mistake. After their embrace ended, Tiffany backed away, a big smile on her face as she began to leave.

  “So, we’ll talk soon?”

  Jacobs nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, we will.”

  “Great.” Tiffany waved, then turned around and started walking back to her car. She was pretty pleased with how everything turned out.

  Jacobs and Franks stood there, watching Tiffany leave, neither of them saying a word.

  “Yeah. Yeah, she seems like a good one,” Franks said, also pleased with his own efforts.

  “She does.” Jacobs hoped like crazy that letting someone else get close to him wasn’t a mistake.

  Franks tapped his friend on the back. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

  As Jacobs and Franks walked back to their respective cars, neither of them noticed the two strange men that were also getting in their cars at the far end of the parking lot. Once inside their vehicles, one of the men called their boss.

  “Mr. Ames, looks like Franks and the girl wound up in the same place.”

  “And where was that?” Ames asked.

  “The park. They met Jacobs there.”

  “Really?” A big smile came over Ames’ face, feeling as though he had the upper hand.

  “They looked pretty friendly too. Jacobs and the woman hugged each other a couple times.”

  “Really?” The smile on Ames’ face didn’t evaporate yet. “So Jacobs has a girlfriend, huh?”

  “They’re all leaving now. They’re in separate cars. What do you want us to do? There’s only two of us.”

  “Follow Jacobs. Get on Jacobs. Don’t let him slip through our fingers now.”

  “What about the others?”

  “Screw the others. We already know where they are. Jacobs is the one we’re after. He’s the one that’s elusive. Find out where he is. Don’t let him escape.”

  “Right. We’re on him.”

  Ames put his phone down, and thought of the possibilities once they found out where Jacobs was. He didn’t necessarily have his hopes up yet though. He was sure that Jacobs wouldn’t be that easy to tail. If that turned out to be the case, and Jacobs did slip through their fingers, Ames wasn’t worried. His associate, Charlie, came over to the pool.

  “Good news, boss?”

  Ames smiled. “Yes, very good news, Charlie. Looks like our mysterious woman just had a visit with Jacobs at the park. A very friendly visit.”

  “So the word on the street is wrong.”

  “It would appear so,” Ames said.

  “Our boys are tailing Mr. Jacobs now. We’ll see how that goes. Should I get more help on the way?”

  “No, that won’t be necessary. Besides, it’s unlikely they’d do much good or get there in time.”

  “But what if he loses them? This could be our best chance to find him.”

  The smile on Ames’ face indicated he didn’t agree with that assessment. “No, Charlie, if he manages to escape us this time, we have other options in play.”

  “Such as?”

  An evil grin came over Ames’ face. “The girl. They’re obviously chummy and trying to keep things a secret. But we know who she is and where she lives. That gives us an advantage. We have no worries here. Things will work in our favor one way or another.”

  “So we’d use her to…”

  “Yes, Charlie. If things don’t go our way here, the girl will lead Jacobs to us. If it comes to that, we’ll see how much he cares about her.”

  “We could just kill her. Maybe that’ll send him over the edge. Make him make a stupid mistake.”

  Ames thought about it. “We could. We’ll try things the other way first. But if it comes down to killing her, well, I guess I could let you do the honors.”

  “Whatever you want, Mr. Ames.”

  Ames couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. They would either find out where Jacobs was hiding himself, then kill him by surprise, or they would take the girl that they assumed meant something to him, and kill them both. Ames had no problem proceeding in either scenario.

  “It’d be a shame to kill a girl that pretty, though,” Charlie said. “Just for being around him.”

  “Yes, it would be, wouldn’t it? But we both know things get unpleasant in our line of work, doesn’t it? If it comes down to it, she will pay the price for him.”

  13

  It was less than an hour later when Ames got another call. It was from the same men tailing Jacobs. Ames picked up the phone, hopeful for some good news.

  “Mr. Ames? We’re sorry, sir, we lost him.”

  Ames smiled. He wasn’t bothered by the news at all. Not when he had an ace up his sleeve. “It’s OK, gentlemen, nothing to fret about.”

  “We really tried. He either knew we were on him, or he’s just really careful about being followed.”

  “It’s perfectly all right. We’ll just go to plan B. Charlie will call you again in a few minutes with the details.”

  Ames put his phone down, still looking happy enough considering they lost Jacobs. Charlie was conversing with a few ladies at the other end of the yard, but Ames motioned for him to come over to him.

  “It looks as if we need to put plan B in motion.”

  “Jacobs lost the tail, huh?” Charlie asked.

  “It’s fine. We knew it was a likely possibility. But as long as we have alternatives, we’re still in the driver’s seat.”

  “Take the girl or kill her?”

  “Let’s take her for now. The killing part will come later. Set everything up.”

  “For when?”

  “As soon as possible.”

  Franks had just pulled up to his rental house, and before getting out of his car, he heard his phone ring. He picked it up and saw it was Jacobs calling.
r />   “Hey, what’s shaking, man? That was a good time we had today, wasn’t it?”

  Jacobs wasn’t interested in reliving the warm and fuzzies though. He had other, more important, business on his mind. “Yeah, great, listen, I think there’s a problem.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re second guessing yourself about what you told Tiffany, ’cause I’m telling you, it’ll be fine. It’s normal, man, it’s normal.”

  “No, it’s not that. Just shut up and listen to me for a second. I think I was being followed on the way home.”

  “What?”

  Jacobs looked out his window, just to make sure he didn’t see any strangers out there. “I noticed two different cars that looked like they were trying to tail me.”

  “Trying?”

  “I’m pretty sure I lost them.”

  “Ahh, that’s probably just your imagination. Who would be tailing you?”

  “I dunno. I can think of a dozen people off the top of my head.”

  “But how? How would they know where you were?”

  “I don’t know. Are you home?”

  “I just got here. Still in my car, though.”

  “Look around. You see anything suspicious?”

  Franks looked in every mirror the car had as well as turning his head in every direction. He didn’t see a car that looked out of place, or anyone sitting in one of them; nothing looked out of the ordinary. “Nah, man, everything looks fine here. You sure it’s not just your imagination?”

  Jacobs sighed. “I don’t know. Could be. Maybe with everything at the park, I’m just super paranoid or something.”

  “Listen, here’s what you do: grab a beer, put your feet up, watch some porn, and you’ll feel better in no time.”

  “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”

  “Tell me that won’t lift your spirits, man, just tell me.”

  Jacobs continued looking out the window, though he still saw nothing. “I’ve got other things to worry about.”

  “Even if what you’re saying is true, and you were being followed, and you lost them, what are you still worrying for? They’re gone, right?”