by JC Kane
Green walked out from behind his desk and closed the door to his office. Some of the other members were starting to gather in the hall that leads to Green’s office. The guys at the clubhouse knew Bruce but they never saw him behave like this before. At least not towards Green. Green closed the door because he didn’t want the other members to hear what he was about to say. Green went back to his desk and sat down.
“Would you like to sit down?” Green asked Bruce.
“Did you talk to the cops or not?” Bruce was losing his patience.
“How did you find out?”
“Green, I’m not gonna ask you again.” Bruce was about to lose it.
“I told the cops only what I wanted them to know and there were only two people that I wanted to get arrested, Lee and Jesus. I made sure to protect everyone else.”
“Jesus Christ, man. In a million years I never would’ve guessed that you would be the person to turn on everyone.”
“I didn’t turn on everyone. I had to give the cops something and I was happy to throw Lee under the bus. He’s a virus. I know you won’t admit it, but you know he is. He’s a terrible fucking person, a worse friend, and he deserves to be in prison. I have no regrets about sending him to jail.”
“And what about me getting arrested?” Bruce asked. “Was that part of your plan, too?”
“That was one hundred percent Lee. He talked to the police about you. That’s what kind of person he is. He lied about you and told the cops exactly what they wanted to hear to save himself. That had nothing to do with me. In fact, when Detective Hatchett asked me about you, I told him that you were just a lawyer, nothing more. I made that very clear.”
“You don’t know Lee as well as you think you do.”
“I can see who he truly is. You’re the one that’s blinded by your history with him. People change, and not always for the better.”
“Yeah, friends will stab you in the back. You know about that, don’t you? That reminds me, I brought Old Goat back from Vegas for you,” Bruce said. “I know you were trying to hide him from me, and you lied to me about it, but he’s up front if you want to talk to him.”
“How the hell did you find him?” Green asked.
“A guy from Mad Miles told me because I offered twenty-five thousand dollars to anyone that could get me in a room with him. If you knew this whole time that he was in Vegas, why did you lie to me? I’ve been wasting my time looking for him and you knew all along.”
Green rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn’t expecting to do so much explaining today. “Okay, I got pulled over by the cops for a broken tail light about three weeks ago. I didn’t know the tail light was out. The cop brought a drug-sniffing dog around my bike and he hit on my saddlebag. Busted me with two kilos of cocaine I was delivering to Nathan. The cop said if I told him who I got the drugs from, he’d let me go. I sent a text to Old Goat real quick that said move all the money out of the Azteca stash house, except for $160,000.00, destroy your phone, and go straight to Vegas and lie low until I tell you otherwise. I brought the cops to the house, they confiscated the $160k, and then they wanted me to set up a buy so they could bust my supplier. You know, move up the food chain. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get Lee out of my life, and your life. I didn’t want Old Goat mixed up in this stuff and I knew unless I sent him out of town he wouldn’t be able to stay out of trouble. So, I told him to disappear in Vegas until this blew over. I didn’t want you mixed up in it either and I knew you wouldn’t approve, so I didn’t tell you.”
“Unbelievable.”
“I got lucky, really,” Green said. “The cop let me go that night and told me to set up a buy and call him with the details. Within a couple of days, we were at the Firehouse, I heard you talking to Lee on the phone about the shipment he was bringing in. I sent a text to Detective Hatchett after you told me that you weren’t going. I knew you wouldn’t be there. I thought Jesus would be there, but he wasn’t there. And it worked out. They busted Lee with one hundred kilos of cocaine and I was off the hook.”
“Wow, that was a big risk.”
“Not really. Either they caught him with the drugs or they didn’t. I knew you weren’t there. None of my guys were there. That’s all I cared about. It was all good.”
“Well, Lee is out of jail now,” Bruce said. “I’m facing charges because he’s talking to the police. So, now what do we do?”
“I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about Lee or Jesus anymore.”
“Why do you say that?” Bruce asked.
“I make another deal, but not with the cops.”
Chapter 49
Lee Giordano sat in the back of a cargo van, chained to the floor with his hands cuffed behind his back. He had no idea who was driving. He had no idea where they were taking him. He had no idea what they would do to him. He did know that his leg hurt like hell and things were probably going to get worse.
After what seemed like an eternity, the van finally stopped and the engine shut off. The back doors popped open. Pepper jumped in the back of the van, unlocked the chain connecting Lee to the mount, and dragged Lee to the edge of the van. Francisco Carbajal stepped up to the van and helped Pepper drag Lee out of the van.
The place seemed familiar to Lee, even though it was dark outside. He knew the driveway, the trees, the front entrance. He had been there before. It was El Cazador’s estate. What he didn’t know was that El Cazador’s estate was a thirty-acre property in Los Gatos, California in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The property was big enough that they didn’t have to worry about nosy neighbors, which was a good thing in their line of work.
One of El Cazador’s security guards walked over to the van and waved over an electric golf cart with a flatbed on the back. The electric cart pulled up to the van and they managed to get Lee on the flatbed. The cart drove around the back of the house and Pepper and Francisco walked in the front door with El Cazador’s security guard.
There were four armed guards standing in the backyard courtyard area. The golf cart zipped around the corner and backed up towards the guillotine. The driver and another guy lifted Lee off the flatbed and dumped him on the concrete, near the fountain. There was a large metal table placed on the concrete with a variety of tools on a smaller table. Two of the armed guards watched Lee closely, with their rifles slung over their shoulders.
Pepper, Francisco, and El Cazador walked out into the courtyard towards Lee.
“Oh, beautiful,” El Cazador said. “You have arrived.”
Lee could barely lift his head to nod. “I’ve arrived. Let’s get this party started.”
“You’ve been a busy man, yes?” El Cazador asked.
“Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
Pepper stepped up and kicked Lee in the ribs. “Don’t be a fucking smart-ass.”
El Cazador signaled to two of his men to pick Lee up. “Come say hello to Jesus. We started the party as soon as Jesus arrived.”
They dragged Lee towards the guillotine so he could see Jesus. Jesus’s head was lying face up in the basket and his body was on the ground next to the guillotine.
“Put him on the table,” El Cazador said. The men put Lee on the metal table and secured him in place with heavy-duty nylon straps.
El Cazador picked up a knife and started to not-so-gently cut the bandage off of Lee’s leg. Lee squirmed in pain. The bandage had bonded with the blood and raw skin on his leg. The pain was barely tolerable as El Cazador ripped the bandage away, cutting anything that got in his way.
“It’s funny,” El Cazador said. “Jesus didn’t tell Francisco you were arrested by the police when they met the other day. He didn’t tell Francisco that the police confiscated the one hundred kilos of cocaine you acquired in San Diego. Jesus didn’t tell Francisco that you decided to turn your friends into the police. No mention of the fact that you have no money, even though you owe us eighteen million dollars. I’m curious, what did you tell the police about me?”
Lee
shook his head. “I never mentioned your name to the police.”
“You must have mentioned someone’s name because they released you from jail and let you go home under protective custody.” El Cazador took his knife and poked it into Lee’s open wound, hitting muscle, nerves, and veins. Lee screamed in pain.
“I swear,” Lee said. “I told them Bruce Kennedy was the boss. That was it. No one else.”
El Cazador took a deep breath. “You expect me to believe you sold out your good friend but didn’t mention anyone else? I thought I could trust you to tell me the truth? What did you tell the police about Francisco?”
The knife dropped from El Cazador’s hand and he fell to the ground. Blood drained from a small hole in his head. One bullet had hit him directly in the center of his head. Four more shots rang out and three security guards dropped to the ground by the time Francisco and El Cazador’s people realized what was happening.
The guards didn’t know where the gunfire was coming from but they fired into the darkness of the backyard anyway. Pepper pulled out a handgun as he ran towards the house. A bullet hit him in the back and he fell to the ground.
Ten men wearing bandanas on their faces strategically approached the courtyard, firing their automatic weapons at the three remaining guards. They didn’t stand a chance.
Francisco made it inside the house and ran out the front door. He tripped over a security guard lying on the front porch. As Francisco regained his footing, he stood up and saw Severo Moreno standing directly in front of him. Severo leveled his gun and shot Francisco right in the face. Francisco was eliminated.
Severo, Green, Bruce, and four members of the Two Zero Five cautiously walked in the front door of the house. They looked around for any remaining guards but didn’t see anyone moving. They walked outside and signaled to the rest of their crew that it was clear.
Green looked back at Severo and pointed to the ground. “Severo, take a look at this.” Green pointed to Pepper, who was lying on the ground, gasping for air. “Is that the guy that tried to kill you?”
Severo looked down at Pepper. Pepper shook his head and tried to spit out some words. Severo fired four bullets into his chest and Pepper stopped gasping for air.
“Yup, that was the guy.”
Bruce walked towards the metal table and saw Lee strapped down. He was in bad shape, but alive. Bruce undid the straps and helped Lee sit up.
“Bruce?” Lee was surprised. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Just trying to make things right.”
“These are your people?” Lee asked.
Bruce shook his head. “Severo’s friends.”
“Severo’s here, too? Fuck.”
“Look at yourself, man” Bruce was shocked at Lee’s condition. “I warned you to get out when you still could and you didn’t listen. What a fucking mess you got yourself into.”
Lee’s blood boiled. He didn’t want a lecture from Bruce. He jumped off the table towards Bruce. It was pointless. Lee had one foot and he was in really bad shape. Bruce took a step back and Lee fell to the ground.
“How could you do this to me?” Lee asked. “How the fuck could you do this to me?”
Bruce grabbed Lee and leaned him up against the wall of the fountain, not far from the guillotine. Bruce probably wouldn’t have placed him there if he had noticed that Jesus’s headless body was right next to him.
“I didn’t do this to you, Lee.” Bruce sat on the guillotine bench. “You dug your own grave.”
“You owe me,” Lee said. “You know you do.”
“I did.” Bruce nodded in agreement. “But that debt has been paid back ten times over. I can’t save you from yourself.”
“Bruce, now is not the time for your bullshit.” Lee lifted what was left of his leg. “Look at me. They cut my fucking foot off. You have to fix this. Have I not been a good friend to you?”
Bruce laughed at the suggestion. “You lied to me about shutting down the business. You went behind my back and made a deal with the Sinaloa Cartel. You stole two hundred kilos of cocaine from Los Zetas. You tried to kill Severo. And then, to top it all off, you told the police that I was the mastermind behind this entire operation. Now you’re asking me if you were a good friend? Do you really need an answer to that question?”
Lee dropped his head in shame. Bruce made it sound like he was a terrible person, and he was right. It was hard to dispute the facts.
“Fine,” Lee said. “I’m sorry. I apologize. I fucked up. I didn’t know what to do. But I’m asking you as my friend, help me now. I can’t change the past, but will you help me now?”
“I tried over and over again to help you,” Bruce said. “I cleaned millions of dollars for you. I brought you legitimate business opportunities. I kept you out of jail for eight years. I offered you a real life, outside of crime. But, you made it clear that you were never going to leave that world. There’s no doubt in my mind that you would have brought me down with you if I let that happen. That’s not what I call a good friend. There was a time that I called you my best friend, but not now. Now, you’re a threat. Believe it or not, this isn’t easy for me, but ultimately you chose this path by the decisions you made last week, and last month, and last year. So, will I help you? I already tried, and you rejected my help when it could’ve done you some good. I’ll say it again, I can’t save you from yourself.”
Lee shook his head and laughed. “So you did this to me? You had them grab me at my house? Cut off my foot and stuff me in a fucking garbage can?”
“I’m retired, Lee. I didn’t do this to you. The only decision I made was to get out of this fucking business while I still could.”
“So, now what happens? You gonna put a bullet in my head? Is that how this is going to end?”
“It’s not my call.”
“Well, fuck you.” Lee tried to spit on Bruce but he couldn’t even do that right. The spit dripped down his chin onto his shirt.
Severo and Green walked over towards Bruce and Lee. Green looked at Lee and laughed. “Wow, you don’t look so good,” Green said.
“Go ahead,” Lee said. “Take your best shot.”
“Did you know you’re missing a foot?” Severo asked.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Lee asked.
“For some reason, Bruce wanted to save you from being tortured,” Severo said, “and I wanted to eliminate my competition. It was a win-win situation, really.”
Green looked around the backyard. Severo’s crew was already long gone. “We have to get out of here guys. Let’s wrap this up.”
Lee looked over at Bruce. “What does that mean, wrap it up? Me? Is he talking about me?”
“If you’re asking if you’re going to die,” Severo said, “yes, I’m going to kill you. Are you ready?” Severo pointed his gun at Lee’s head.
“I’m a little busy today,” Lee said. “Can we schedule this for next week?”
Bruce stood up. “Sorry, Lee. You left us no choice.”
Green pointed at Lee. “There is good news, though. You won’t be tortured thanks to Bruce. He saved your ass once again. Sort of. It’ll be quick and painless. And, what are the odds that we would have a guillotine right here? That’s pretty damn convenient. I mean, would you rather have a bullet to the head or a quick, clean cut from this bad boy?” Green knocked on the wood of the guillotine.
“I think I’d rather — “
Severo put a bullet in Lee’s head and ended it. Lee wouldn’t get to choose.
Chapter 50
Bruce Kennedy and Cooper McGill were in a small conference room at the San Jose Police Department. Detective Wendell Hatchett and his partner, Detective Deebak, were sitting across from them.
Cooper pointed at the sheet of paper on the table. “This is the unofficial statement. You can follow-up on your own, or we can provide you with a sworn affidavit, whatever works for you.”
Detective Hatchett didn’t like what he saw. “So, you’re saying that you were in a
mediation in Santa Rosa that night?”
Bruce nodded. “That’s right.”
“And what time did the mediation end?” Hatchett asked.
Bruce looked up at the ceiling. “We probably got out of there around seven thirty. Then, we went to eat at the Russian River. We probably left there at nine thirty, or ten o’clock. Something like that.”
Hatchett looked at the paper again. “Who is this guy you were in the mediation with?”
“David Platt. He’s an insurance lawyer,” Bruce said. “My client was injured in a car accident and David Platt is the attorney representing the insurance company. Just trying to work it out, you know, get a fair settlement for my client.”
Hatchett nodded. “I assume that the mediator and your client would also testify to the same thing?”
Cooper nodded. “Yeah, we can get you names, statements, whatever you need.”
Hatchett smirked. “I’m sure you can.” He looked at his partner and shrugged. “Okay, well, we’ll follow up on this information and if we have any more questions for you, I’ll let you know.”
Bruce and Cooper walked to the door. Hatchett opened the door for them.
“So, what happened?” Bruce asked. “You said someone was murdered?”
“Yes, more than one person,” Hatchett said. “You didn’t see it all over the news?”
Bruce shook his head. “Nah, I avoid the news. Too depressing.”
After Bruce and Cooper walked out, Mark Umbers, the District Attorney, walked in. He closed the door behind him and sat down at the conference table.
“I don’t even know where to start with this,” Mark said. He sat down and shook his head at Hatchett. “I’ve never seen anyone screw up this bad before. How did you let this happen?”
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake? It was a colossal fuck-up,” Mark said. He opened the folder in front of him and glanced at his notes. “We made a deal with Jonathon “Green” Reynolds, so he’s off the hook. Leonardo Giordano is dead, taken from the house where you had two police officers protecting him, and he had an ankle bracelet on. The case against Bruce Kennedy was dismissed because there is no way to prove the phone belonged to Bruce Kennedy and there is no other evidence against him. There were twelve dead bodies in a house in Los Gatos, and what do we have to show for it?”
