Excess Baggage

by Pete Lister

  “That sounds good,” Ashley told him. “I could eat something. Dianne?”

  “Right behind you, kids.” The three Sherrys walked out of the pool and took the elevator to their rooms to get dressed for lunch.

  § § §

  In the lobby, Steve Roberts and Frank Martin were just leaving the hotel, after making a pickup for Shiv Thompson. One of the bellhops at the hotel was a distributor for Shiv’s operation, servicing businessmen/dealers who made their connections while passing through O’Hare.

  “Frank, hold up a minute. You remember those guys worked us over in Milwaukee?”

  “I never saw them,” Frank replied, “but I sure remember them. Why?”

  “I just saw one of them. Going up the elevator with two babes.”

  “You sure?”

  “Frank, a guy sticks a cannon in your face, you tend to remember him.”

  “How do we find him?”

  “Well, they were all wearing swimming suits, and it’s almost noon. Maybe they were going up to change for lunch. Why don’t we just sit down and relax a little while?”

  “Lemme call in and let Shiv know what’s going on.” Frank stepped outside to use his cell phone while Steve sat down facing the elevator, picking up a Sports Illustrated. Frank walked back in a minute later. “Shiv says bring him in.” He sat down across from Steve and picked up the Sun-Times.

  § § §

  The elevator door opened and Dianne and Ashley stepped out, followed by Drew. The two men reading in the lobby stood up and quickly crossed to where the trio approached the dining room.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Sherry. Can I speak to you for a minute?”

  Drew immediately recognized the two from the raid on his father’s house in Milwaukee. The last thing he wanted was trouble with the girls around. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

  “Well, sir, we’d appreciate a word with you, in private, if you don’t mind.” Very casually, Steve opened his sport coat just far enough to show Drew the automatic stowed in a shoulder holster.

  “Sure thing,” Drew told them, turning to his wife. “Honey, I’ll be right back.” As he turned to accompany the two men out of the lobby, Drew handed her the keys to the rental car with a wink. She nodded and smiled.

  “Would you gentlemen like to join us for lunch?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, we just need to talk to your husband for a minute, then we have to get back downtown.” Ashley watched them walk out the front door with a sinking heart.

  “Who are those guys?” Dianne asked.

  “I think they’re Shiv Thompson’s boys.” Ashley told her. “Oh my God!” As she watched, one of the two thugs hit Drew from behind and pushed him into the back seat of their car. Jumping into the front seats, they raced out of the parking lot, leaving the two women with their hands held over their mouths.

  § § §

  Taking the information Detective James had given him, John drove through what was arguably one of Chicago’s seediest neighborhoods. The street had more trash and newspaper pages than John had ever seen on one street before. As he cruised, he spotted the dealers on the corners. Choosing one of them, John rolled to a stop in front of him.

  “My man, I think I got what you need.” The smile, the gold grill, the guy was a stereotype right out of a B-movie.

  “I doubt it. But I have something for you. I have 63 bricks of 75% pure heroin. Here’s my card. Have Scott Lewis call me within the next ten minutes or I’ll shop it somewhere else, like Shiv Thompson.”

  “Hey, man, I don’t know no Scott Lewis!” The man was backpedaling away from John’s car.

  “I’m sure you don’t, but I wouldn’t want to be you if he finds out he missed this deal because you’re too dumb to pass a message. Ten minutes.” He drove away, watching his rearview mirror as the dealer dialed his phone. It took Lewis three minutes to call.

  “Who dis?”

  “Who dis?”

  “You mess with me, boy, I hang up this phone on you.”

  “Screw you. I’ve got a sixty-three bricks of heroin, and if you don’t want it, I’ll push it to Shiv. Now, you want to sit down someplace and talk, or you want to try to out-macho me on the phone? I don’t need you, Lewis. I just prefer you to Shiv.”

  “Where we meet?”

  “It’s your turf. You tell me where you want to meet.”

  “Someplace you feel safe, white bread?”

  “Scotty, my man, I’ve got 63 bricks of 75% pure shit. You don’t know where it is. Shiv’s already lost more than two dozen men just trying to find it. You think I’m scared of you? Either we do business together or we don’t. Your call.”

  “I won’t be disrespected, you sumbitch.”

  “Yeah, me, too. Now, are we through puffing out our chests?”

  Lewis started laughing. “Yeah, man, we cool. S&E Diner on Halsted?”

  “Half an hour.”

  § § §

  Ashley turned and bolted for the elevator with Dianne right behind her. Dianne could see the young woman holding back the tears that threatened to spill over her cheeks.

  “Ashley, what are you going to do?”

  “Do you remember where Keith Gilbert told us Shiv’s office was? I need it. I’ll be over in a minute. There’s something I have to get out of my suitcase.” The elevator door opened and they parted ways, each going to her own room.

  Ashley opened the door and went straight for her suitcase. Unzipping the case, she reached in and pulled out her pink Ladysmith .38, still in its holster. It had been a birthday gift from Drew last year.

  Moving over to Drew’s suitcase, she removed his .45 and a full box of ammo. Checking to make sure they were both loaded, she slipped the holstered .38 into the back of her jeans, and tossed the .45 into her purse.

  She knocked on Dianne’s door, and when it opened, slipped in quickly. Dianne handed her a piece of paper with an address and phone number on it, and a Chicago city map with the red circle around the address on the paper.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” Dianne asked her.

  “No, you stay here so you can brief John when he gets back. Wait ‘till he calls you to tell him, though. He’s into some heavy stuff this afternoon, and we don’t want to mess him up until he’s done. I don’t want him to get hurt, too.” Her lip was trembling, but she looked determined.

  “Okay, honey,” Dianne told her, leaning over and kissing her cheek. “Promise me you’ll be careful, okay?”

  “Trust me,” Ashley said, through clenched teeth. “I’m going to get my husband back.”

  Sitting in the rental car in the parking lot, Ashley studied the map until she was sure she knew where she was going. Then, just to be on the safe side, she entered the information onto the dashboard GPS. Putting the car in gear, she was on the freeway in minutes, heading into the city.

  § § §

  Thirty minutes after the initial phone call, John walked into the diner. When he had googled it on his Smartphone, he read that the Sun-Times had called it the ‘culinary equivalent to the African-American barbershop’, and now he understood why. Today, his was the only white face in the house.

  Lewis, a tall, thin, hard-looking man in his late twenties, was sitting at a table in the back. Each of the two closest tables held four hard-looking young toughs, each trying to out-hard the rest. John walked in smiling. Striding between tables, he sat down next to the drug dealer.

  “How you doin’, Scotty? I’m John.”

  “I tell you could call me by my name?”

  “Do we have to go through this, again? If we can’t deal as equals, we can’t deal at all. Maybe Shiv will sell you some of this shit.”

  “Okay, man, chill. Now, whatcha got, and how much?”

  “Well, this is going to be the tough part for you to believe. I have 63 bricks, and it’s free.”

  “What are you playing at, man?”

  “Let me explain the situation to you. A couple of years ago, a guy stole this heroin fro
m Shiv Thompson. Shiv’s boys caught the guy and killed him, but they never found the stuff. We found it.

  That’s why Shiv’s been chasing us for a couple of years, now. We’ve managed to stay ahead of him, but it’s getting old. We want him off our backs. I’m going to call Shiv and offer to return the stuff, if he’ll back off and forget about us.”

  “You know he never do that.”

  “I know it. That’s where you come in. I’ll insist that the handover has to be someplace public. I’m not going anyplace private with him, and trust him to let me walk away. He agrees, and he shows up with his boys, at least the few he has left.”

  “Way I hear it, he ain’t got too many boys left.”

  John laughed. “Yeah, well, that’s my fault.” Lewis’ eyebrows went up as he studied this white man. “Anyway, we meet someplace public, we hand him the goods, and you step in and take it away from him. That diverts his attention from me to you, and I walk away.”

  “Do that, I gotta kill him; he never let me get clear.”

  “Well, Scotty, you do what you gotta do. Personally, I don’t give a shit. All I want out of the deal is me free and clear, and I’m willing to give you the shit to do it for me.”

  “Why you ain’t sell it yourself?”

  “I don’t touch that shit. If there was a way to burn it and get out from under, I would. This way, everybody profits but Shiv.”

  “An’ you don’t get nothing’?”

  “Well, to be honest, the guy stole the heroin took a couple hundred grand, too.” Now, Lewis started belly-laughing.

  “Oh man, that sweet. How much of that cash you gonna split?”

  “Not a goddam dime. I think 63 bricks of heroin is enough, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, man, I think so. You know how much that’s worth?”

  “Don’t even care. How much time you need to set it up, once I tell you where it’s going down?”

  “I be ready next day. How I know you ain’t settin’ me up?”

  “If you don’t see us hand the stuff to Shiv, just walk away, and you’re off the hook, you’re not involved. Unless you think Shiv would personally take possession of 63 bricks in public just to screw with you. I have your number. I’ll call you as soon as I set it up with Shiv. And, Scotty, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” He put out his hand and they shook.

  “Nahyet, man, but it gonna be.” Lewis smiled as John walked out to his car.

  § § §

  John had just gotten back into his car when his phone rang. Dianne was on the other end of the line. “Honey, am I interrupting?”

  “No, dear, I just finished. I’m on my way back. What have you guys been up to?”

  “John, something terrible’s happened. A couple of men took Drew from the hotel, and Ashley’s gone after them.”

  “Oh shit. How did she know where they were taking him?”

  “She assumed they’d take him to Shiv’s office, the address that Gilbert fellow gave us.”

  “That would have been my guess, too. How long ago did this happen?”

  “ about half an hour.”

  “Okay, I’ll try to find her before she goes in by herself and gets hurt. Stay there. I’ll call you as soon as I know something. I love you.”

  “I love you, too, John. Please, be careful. Oh, and I think she took a gun.”

  “Christ, I hope so. I’m pretty sure she didn’t expect to smile and get him back.”

  “Do you have that address?”

  “Yeah, I have it right here. I’ll call you as soon as I know something. Bye.”

  Hanging up on his wife, John dialed his daughter-in-law.

  “Hi, John. Glad you called.”

  “Honey, what are you planning?”

  “I thought I’d walk in and get Drew out.”

  “How were you going to do that?”

  “I thought I’d walk in and shoot anything that moved.” As worried as he was about his son, John couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Okay, that’s one approach. Suppose we try to think of a better one, though. Where are you now?”

  “I’m still on the freeway. As close as I can figure, I’m about ten minutes from Shiv’s office.”

  “I’m only a couple of minutes from there, myself. What kind of car did they take him in?”

  “A black Cadillac Escalade.”

  “That’s Shiv’s boys. Shiv loves those Escalades. Listen, I’ll meet you exactly two blocks due east of that address, okay?”

  “Okay, now you wait for me, John. They took my husband, and I’m going to hurt somebody.”

  John couldn’t help laughing, in spite of how serious this situation really was. “Don’t worry, honey. One cop to another, I have no desire to storm that castle alone. I’ll see you in a couple of minutes.”

  § § §

  Shiv’s minions had figured that delivering Drew wouldn’t be as impressive as delivering him with the location of Shiv’s drugs and cash. To that end, they had taken him to a park just south of the museums downtown. Normally, while the park was packed on weekends, no one was around this time of day during the week. They were in luck, they thought, because the parking lot was empty. Pulling in, they dragged Drew out of the car and bent him back against the back door. They probably should have tied his hands.

  “Here’s the deal, kid.” Roberts told him. “If we can take you to Shiv with the location of his stuff, he’ll probably go a lot easier on you than if he has to beat it out of you. I’m sure he’d rather beat it out of you, but if he already has it, he’ll be happier with you. So, where is it?”

  Drew put his chin on his chest and mumbled something very quietly.

  “I didn’t hear that. You want to try it, again?” Roberts stepped closer and raised Drew’s chin with the barrel of his Glock. Drew swept Roberts’ gun hand away with his left hand, while he slammed his right hand, open palm, into the man’s chin. Roberts fell over backwards as Martin leveled his Glock at the center of Drew’s chest.

  “Good move, hotshot, but maybe you’d like to try that with me. Think you can get six feet before a slug takes out your lungs?” Drew put up his hands in surrender, smiling. “Smart move, now turn around and put your hands behind your back. Bend over the hood.”

  As Drew complied, Martin pressed his gun to the back of Drew’s head, while he taped Drew’s wrists with duct tape. Turning him around, he delivered a swift punch to his abdomen, doubling him over. Grabbing him by one ear, he propelled him into the back seat, before turning to help Roberts to his feet.

  “Listen, Steve, it’s not so bad, just delivering the kid. Shiv’ll get him to talk and we’ll still get the credit for bringing him in.”

  “I don’t care,” Roberts muttered. “I just want a minute or two alone with that son of a bitch. Let’s get him back to the office.”

  § § §

  Ashley pulled up behind John, two blocks from Shiv’s office. Locking the rental, she moved into his front seat, handing him Drew’s gun.

  “So what do you think, John? Do we just storm the Bastille?”

  “I don’t think he’s here, Ash. That’s the address, down there. There are a couple of cars there, but no SUVs, black or any other color. Let’s move in a little and see what happens.” John pulled forward until he was within half a block.

  As they watched, Shiv and two of his boys stepped out of the office and got into a Lincoln Town Car. The limo pulled out of the lot and turned down the block, going away from them. As it disappeared around a corner several blocks down, a black SUV sped into the lot. Roberts and Martin got out and, opening the back door, dragged Drew from the car into the office.

  Before John could react, Shiv’s limo pulled back into the lot, and the three men entered the office.

  “Okay, John, it’s time. What’s your plan?” Ashley asked. John could see the set of her jaw.

  § § §

  Shiv walked in to find Drew sitting in a wooden chair, his hands taped behind his back, taped to the back rung of t
he chair, his feet taped to the front chair legs. He was awake, and watching everything in the room. He watched as Shiv approached.

  “Well, well, well, if it ain’t Mr. Drew Sherry. Nice of you to visit, I been waitin’ a long time to talk to you.”

  “Well, Shiv, I hope it was worth the wait.” Drew told him, his head held high.

  Shiv punched him, snapping his head back and jarring his teeth. He was bleeding at the edge of his mouth, where the gold ring had torn his skin.

  “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear. You talk when I tell you to talk. Now it’s your turn to talk. First, how much of my money is left?”

  “Most of it, actually.”

  “Where’s my horse?”

  “Safe. It’s in storage in Wyoming.”

  “Wyoming’s a big place, you little shit. Where in Wyoming?”

  “You’d have to check with my dad. I don’t really remember.”

  Shiv lashed out, backhanding him, and this time his ears were ringing.

  “We can do this easy or we can do it hard, like they say in the movies. You will tell me, though, you little prick, or I’ll skin you alive.”

  “Shiv, I’d die before I’d tell you a damned thing.”

  “Your choice, dipshit. But I ain’t sure that’ll be your final answer. I’ll be in my office, boys, teach him some manners.”

  § § §

  Shiv was sitting in his office, and his troops were working Drew over in the adjacent room, when John and Ashley slipped into the office. Chris was working at her desk, her phone balanced on her shoulder, while entering numbers onto a spreadsheet, her back to the door. With the occasional thuds and grunts coming from the office where Drew was being held, she never heard the door.

  In fact, she was unaware of the intruders until the muzzle of a .38 appeared in front of her. She very quietly hung up her phone as her eyebrows went up and she turned slowly to face Ashley, who was smiling at her. As she started to smile back, John cracked her behind the ear with his gun, dropping her silently to the floor.

  John looked at Ashley, who was moving toward the door where they could hear the sounds of flesh striking flesh, accompanied by grunts and moaning. He moved into position behind her as she gently pushed the door open. Two men were standing over Drew, taking turns punching him. His face was already swollen and bloody, and every other punch was directed into his ribs. Blood was beginning to seep through his shirt.