by Don Easton
“Naturally, I would need to know your business inside and out, but let me say that I have an exceptional talent for obtaining information. I have many clients who tell me things that are not in their realm of interest, but could prove extremely profitable for others.”
“And your fee for such information?”
“It’s negotiable and depends on how much assistance I provide. I don’t expect to be paid until the venture is successfully completed.”
“I am impressed with you.” Wolfgang sat back and wiped his mouth, then tossed the napkin onto his plate. “However, I am not the one who makes the final decision on whether to hire you. Would you mind if I stepped away to make a phone call?”
“Not at all,” replied Jack. “If there are any questions, I would be happy to speak to whoever you are calling, as well.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Wolfgang left the table.
A few minutes later he returned. “There is someone I would like you to see right now,” he said.
“Now?” Jack felt the adrenalin surge through his chest.
“Yes, at the place where you first met Anton.”
“Okay.”
“Does that make you nervous?”
“Not particularly,” Jack lied.
“Good. Let me pay the bill and go to the washroom, and then we can leave.”
Jack nodded. “Go ahead, I need to make a call myself.”
* * *
Moments later, Laura started feeling exasperated as she spoke to Jack. “Are you positive?” she asked. “No backup?”
“I’m positive. I need to build trust. It’s too easy for them to spot you out there. Wolfgang made a call a few minutes ago, but I don’t know what phone he used. Check with the monitors in the event it was the phone I gave him last night.”
“But —”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be okay. I’ll call you when I’m clear. ”
“Yeah, sure, you’ll be okay. Look what happened last time. They could get the drop on you before you had a chance to draw your gun.”
“I’m not packing,” Jack said. “I’m trying to build trust. Gotta go.”
Laura hung up and immediately dialled a different number. A woman answered.
“Who am I speaking with?” asked Laura abruptly.
“Hi, Laura. It’s Nicole Purney,” she replied.
Laura was surprised, but also relieved. She knew her name would come up as private on Nicole’s display, but Nicole was good at what she did, and voice recognition was part of her job. Laura had only talked to her a few times before, but it was enough for Nicole to file her voice away in her memory.
“Calling about the new line?” asked Nicole.
“Yes. Jack is with Wolfgang at a restaurant. He says Wolfgang made a call a couple of minutes ago.”
“Not on the phone Jack gave him,” said Nicole.
“Anything on Anton’s today?”
“Not a thing.”
“I know you guys have a ton of lines to listen to, but Jack is going into a situation. Any chance you could live-monitor those two lines for me until he’s clear?”
“You’ve got it,” replied Nicole sombrely. “Hang on! The light went on for Anton’s line. I’ll turn it on so we can both listen, if you like.”
“Please,” said Laura as she strained to hear. The first couple of words spoken by Anton and another man told her that listening would not do her any good. “They’re speaking in French,” said Laura. “Which I can’t understand.”
“No worries,” Nicole said. “I’ll translate for you. Anton called Roche. They’ve greeted each other … Roche said he was brought up to date about Klaus last night.”
“By who?”
“Didn’t say. Stand by … Anton says Wolfgang is coming over with Jack … I presume to that same acreage?”
“Yes.”
“Anton says Big Joe is really pissed off, but doesn’t say why. Says Big Joe is looking for revenge. If Jack isn’t who he says he is, Big Joe will soon know.”
“How?”
“What I’m telling you is everything we know,” said Nicole quickly. “Your interruptions make it hard —”
“Sorry, I’ll shut up.”
“Anton says they were going to fire Big Joe, but he’s anxious to make up for it and will work today for free … the Ringmaster has set some sort of test for Jack … Roche knows … is telling Anton to call him back when the test is presented, as he wants to hear.… That’s it. The call’s ended.”
Oh, man. “What kind of test?” Laura asked.
“What I told you is all there was.” After a moment Nicole added, “Please let me know when he’s clear of the situation, will you? Jack’s a friend of the family. He and my dad have worked together.”
“I know. I’ve worked with your dad, too. I’ll keep you in the loop. Gotta go. Jack and Wolfgang are out of the restaurant. I’m going to call him.”
* * *
Laura watched Jack answer her call. She knew he couldn’t say much without being overheard by Wolfgang, but she was, at least, able to tell him about the phone call.
“That’s too bad Nicole isn’t well,” Jack replied. “You should keep her company.”
“Did you hear me? Their test sounds more like a trap. I think I should round up some backup and hide out nearby.”
“No, I don’t really believe in herbal medicine. Stick to the doctor’s prescription.”
Laura hung up and Otto could see the concern on her face. “Problems?” he asked. “You look worried.”
“I am. Worried that Jack will be sliced into pieces with an electric saw.”
“What?” Otto’s mouth hung open.
“And there’s nothing we can do to prevent it.” Laura fought the urge to scream in frustration.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jack drove into the yard and parked beside the three other cars belonging to Anton, Bojan, and Klaus respectively. As he and Wolfgang got out of his SUV, he saw Bojan wave to them from the side door of the workshop.
Jack felt apprehensive coming to the acreage. Entering the workshop made him feel worse. Somehow I doubt the Ringmaster is the type to hang out in a dusty workshop. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled in an attempt to calm his nerves, then thought about the man who’d died trying to save him. In his heart he knew he could not back out.
He followed Wolfgang and Bojan to the back room, while Anton stood in the doorway punching numbers on his cellphone. He saw Klaus’s still body curled in a fetal position on a blue plastic tarp on the floor. His eyes were closed and he was still gagged and hog-tied with duct tape. Dried blood was splattered over the tarp, and the smell of burnt hair and flesh hung in the air. There were scorched burn marks through the seat of his pants, and Jack noticed the propane torch on the workbench.
Despite knowing that Klaus was a sadist who liked burning people with cigarettes, Jack felt sickened. There’s retribution … and there’s retribution. This is too much.…
“As you can see,” said Wolfgang, “he will not be bothering you again.”
“A brutal way to kill him,” said Jack.
“We know what he did to the young lady who worked for you. We thought you would be pleased. As for killing him, I hope we didn’t go that far.”
“You mean he’s still alive?”
“Let’s find out,” Wolfgang said, then delivered a vicious kick to Klaus’s stomach.
Klaus moaned and opened his eyes, fixating on Jack. A subsequent moan told Jack he was pleading for mercy.
Jack glanced at Anton, who was chuckling at something said over the phone. Bojan’s face was pale and it was clear that the scene before him was not to his liking. Wolfgang looked at Bojan and said, “Give me your gun.”
Bojan handed Wolfgang a Glock semi-automatic .40 pistol. Jack watched Wolfgang examine it, then nod approvingly before handing it to Jack. “I’ll give you the honour. Go ahead and finish him off.”
* * *
Laura and Otto sat silently, listening as Nicole
adjusted the volume on the audio when Anton called his brother back. She translated the call in bits and pieces as Anton told Roche what was going on.
“Jack and Wolfgang arrived … Jack is staring at Klaus … we’ve got him tied up and lying on a tarp. Too bad you weren’t here last night when Wolfgang and I worked him over. Bojan had no stomach for it when we used the torch and had to run outside to puke.” Anton chuckled, then said, “He doesn’t look too good.... Okay, Wolfgang handed Jack the gun and told him to finish him off.”
Laura looked at Otto, then at Nicole. She could only imagine the sickening scene that Jack had walked into. At least he has a gun now. There’s no way he can murder Klaus, so the show’s over. He has to make arrests and go with what we have. Time to call in backup.
“Anton says Jack is refusing to do it,” Nicole said. “He’s handing the gun back to Wolfgang —”
“No!” Laura blurted out. “This is their test!” She felt helpless as she looked at the faces of the people around her. “Look what they did to Klaus! For Jack it will be far —”
“Shh,” Nicole hissed. “Anton’s talking again.”
* * *
Jack glanced at the gun, then handed it back to Wolfgang. “You really think you can hold something over me to blackmail me this easily?”
“Blackmail?” Wolfgang looked surprised. “No, not at all. That is not our intention.”
“I told you that my first step with your organization would be doing a thorough analysis of certain people before acting as a troubleshooter. Or weren’t you listening?”
“I was but, uh, because of what he tried to do to you yesterday, we thought you would enjoy killing him.”
“You heard what I said earlier.” Jack was unflinching. “It’s a matter of trust. At this point I am not assured I’m with people I can trust.”
Wolfgang silently regarded Jack. His look said, And you are not trusted either.
“Do you have something to say?” Jack asked.
“I need to call someone,” said Wolfgang. “Wait here,” he ordered before walking out of the room.
Jack watched him shove Bojan’s pistol into his belt before taking out a phone and using it as he left the back room.
The minutes ticked by slowly. Jack heard the sound of the table saw in the front room — Wolfgang had apparently turned it on — and then Wolfgang reappeared in the back room. He walked over to the band saw and looked at Anton. “Shoot him,” he said, then turned on the band saw.
* * *
In the monitor room Laura could hear her own heartbeat as everyone sat in complete silence. They’d heard Anton tell his brother that Wolfgang was leaving to call the Ringmaster. All eyes in the monitor room had automatically focused on the indicator light for the phone Jack had given Wolfgang, but it remained off. All they’d heard was the occasional sound of Anton’s and Roche’s breathing as they too waited.
And then came the high-pitched whirr of a power saw, and the next words they heard in the background were Wolfgang’s: “Shoot him.”
Only two words, spoken quickly, but played out in Laura’s mind, they were in slow motion. Her body reacted with fear, as her mind highlighted and analyzed every shred of data. Then she gave a sudden involuntary jerk at the unexpected scream of a second power saw, but even that noise was not enough to deaden the sharp report of a gunshot. The second saw stopped.
Anton’s comment to his brother was terse. “It’s done. I have to go.”
Laura grabbed her phone and pushed the memory button for Jack’s phone. They all listened in silence, holding their breaths, before they heard the automated voice say to leave a message.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Jack watched Anton casually take a pistol out from the back of his belt and was relieved to see that his eyes were fixated on Klaus.
Seconds later Anton fired one shot through Klaus’s temple.
Wolfgang nodded his satisfaction and switched the band saw off while Bojan left to shut the table saw off.
Jack saw that Anton had shut his phone off and immediately felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket. Probably Laura … the timing from the sound of the gunshot and Anton hanging up is too coincidental for it not to be her … and too coincidental for me to answer without arousing suspicion…
Wolfgang waited until the noise from the table saw ended, then looked at Jack. “Clean enough for your standards?” he asked, before smiling and gesturing at the tarp. “A simple matter to roll up and dispose of … what is it you call it? A loose end?”
Jack frowned. “Not quite up to my standards. The calibre of pistol Anton used was powerful enough to go through his head and the tarp. I am sure there is blood on the floor underneath, not to mention the possibility of the slug being there. A .22 or .32 cal’ would have been better.”
Wolfgang lifted the tarp by the edge, rolling Klaus’s body over, and peered at the floor. “You’re right,” he said. He then dropped the tarp and reached into his jacket pocket, from which he withdrew a wad of money. He handed it to Jack.
“What’s this for?” asked Jack.
“Ninety-eight hundred dollars,” replied Wolfgang. “The going rate, you told me. Not to mention, you have performed this task for us once before.”
“That I have,” said Jack.
“Consider it payment for a temporary contract. If it pleases you, I am sure the contract will be extended.”
Jack thought for a moment, then put the money in his pocket, before shaking hands with Wolfgang.
* * *
Laura and Otto were running to their car when Laura’s phone rang.
“Hi, Laura,” said Jack nonchalantly, knowing that Wolfgang was standing close enough to hear him. “It’s Jack. How’s Nicole doing? Is she feeling any better?”
Laura could only gasp mouthfuls of air as she tried to stop herself from blubbering.
“You sound terrible,” said Jack. “Is she that sick?”
Laura’s feelings went from anguish to anger. But unsure if anyone was listening to her on Jack’s end, she repressed the anger and replied, “Yes, she’s still in a lot of pain.”
“That’s too bad. Please, give her my love.” He paused briefly. “The reason I’m calling is that I need to speak with Sammy. I called, but he didn’t pick up.” It was a lie. Jack had only pretended to call because he knew Laura would be reacting to what she heard and he needed to put a halt to it. “Do you know where he is?”
“Want me to call him and get him to call you?” Laura asked.
“Please.”
“There’s a lot of people I’ll need to call,” she added, knowing that the Emergency Response Team had been summoned, along with a host of others responding to her call for help.
“I understand that,” Jack said. “Do what you have to. Does her sister, Rose, know what’s going on?”
“Not yet. I haven’t had time.”
“Good. She’s frail herself. No use alarming her until we know more.”
“I take it you’ll contact her yourself?”
“Yes, but not until later. Sorry to rush, but a new client has invited me in for coffee. I should go.”
Minutes later Jack sat with Wolfgang and Anton at the kitchen table while Bojan made coffee.
Jack pretended to be watching Bojan, but he could sense that Wolfgang was itching to tell him something. What now?
Wolfgang cleared his throat and said, “Jack, there is another loose end I think you would like cleaned up. It has to do with you directly.”
“Oh?”
“Klaus’s car. As a result of the … encounter you had with him last night, there’s a lot of blood in the trunk. If there were to be an investigation into his disappearance, you would not want the police to find his car. Particularly since, as you mentioned, you were seen driving it out of the parkade.”
Jack smiled to himself. Big Joe, you oversized baboon, so that’s how you intend to check me out.
“Well?” Wolfgang prodded him.
“No worries,
” Jack replied. “The car is a loose end that you are not to blame for — other than hiring Klaus in the first place. I’ll look after that, as well.”
“Excellent,” said Wolfgang. “I expected you would.”
Jack’s phone vibrated and the display told him it was Sammy, so he answered.
“Laura said you were trying to get hold of me,” said Sammy, careful not to say more than necessary until Jack let him know he could. “I was recharging my phone and had it switched off. She reached me through Benny.”
“I need some janitorial work done again,” Jack said. “Same place as last time.” Jack paused, as if listening, then smiled at Wolfgang before saying, “No I’m not joking. These people might be interested in a weekly service.”
“I hope not,” Wolfgang whispered from across the table, before grinning.
“There is something else that needs to be cleaned up,” Jack said. “Hang on and I’ll tell you what I want you to do in a second.” Jack then smiled apologetically to Wolfgang. “Sorry, but I need to go outside for a little privacy. If you find out my trade secrets, you won’t need me.”
Wolfgang inclined his head. “I understand. By all means.”
Jack walked out into the yard, then said, “Okay, we’re both free to talk.”
“What’s going on?” asked Sammy.
“Anton put a bullet through Klaus’s brain on orders from Wolfgang.”
“Yeah, we figured that. Laura said they wanted you to do it as a test.”
“I don’t think that was the only test. I’m sure the gun Wolfgang gave me wasn’t loaded. He stuck it in his belt when I gave it back to him, yet told Anton to do it while he was busy yakking on the phone. Why didn’t he shoot Klaus himself or have Bojan do it? Not to mention, when Anton shot Klaus, the electric saws had been turned on to cover the sound. They weren’t turned on when he handed me the gun and told me to do it.”
“Good thing you didn’t try to arrest them,” muttered Sammy. “Tough call to make.”
“I wouldn’t have arrested them even if it was loaded. They’re not the ones who killed Kerin.”
