Clint recognized instantly he would get nothing from me and Tommy. “Think about it, babe. This is a dead bang cinch waiting until they all pass out. What possible good could come of you doing a Rambo on the warehouse carrying our unborn son?”
That got a furrow browed, intense stare from Lynn. “So… you’re forbidding me to do this in an entertaining manner because I should look like a pussy in front of our unborn son?”
Oh man… we howled at that one for a few minutes. Even Lynn couldn’t keep a straight face for more than a few seconds. I patted her shoulder. “Good…good one, Lynn.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have let Cheese talk me into coming down here as the wheel man. You suckers are nuts. I’m in now either way. I’ll tell you one thing. You psychos are the most entertaining people I’ve ever been around.”
“It’s your call, Clint.”
“Gee, thanks John. It’s all yours, Hon. We’ve got your back if there’s anything left of it once this turns into a cluster fuck.”
Lynn’s eyes actually brightened. It was then I knew she thought we would no way allow her to do it. “You guys are the best. This is going to be so cool. The first story after I tell the kid about Mommy busting down a kidnapping ring will be how we singlehandedly busted up a terrorist hangout. I thought for sure you’d wimp out on this one, Clint. There’ll be something extra in your stocking this Christmas, baby.”
Clint took a moment to enjoy that statement. “Yeah, if any of us are alive at Christmas. Well… Cheese? Let’s get ‘er done, brother. The force of nature has spoken.”
Lynn suddenly started looking in the lighted visor mirror, patting her hair into place, checking her… whatever. She took off the black top she had on, leaving her with only a black sports bra on the top side. Making noises of discontent, Lynn worked on the black slacks she was wearing, trying the cuff look, and then leaving them down. “Which looks more attractive, Clint, cuffed or down?”
“It doesn’t matter, Babe. You look awesome, even three months pregnant. Let your hair loose though. You look too rough for a party with it tied back.”
“Good one.” Lynn pulled out her hair restraints, fingering her hair into a loose aura around her face. “How’s this?”
“Perfect. Please don’t get killed, babe.”
Lynn giggled. “Let’s do this, boys.”
Since there were no guards watching the entrance, Lynn approached the building exactly like she owned it. She carried a .32 caliber Berretta in her purse, but her butterfly knife lay within easy reach in the front fold. If there are women who without any fear do what Lynn was about to do… more power to them. I knew only one, and I wasn’t about to let her get killed because of shortsightedness. I could tell from the look on Clint’s face, he felt the same way.
“We’ll wait for three seconds and follow her in, brother.”
“Yeah we will,” Clint replied. “I hope it all works out the way Lynn wants it to, but I am going to shoot anything in sight if it doesn’t.”
“I’m in for the extras. Here she goes.”
We waited the three seconds. Although networked in with her by hidden com, we didn’t take anything for granted. They could knock her the hell out seconds after she walked through the entrance. I went left and Clint went right. We had Ruger 9mm automatics with silencers. Hell broke loose in seconds. A mook had grabbed Lynn the moment she entered before she could react. Clint put a silent round right between his eyes. Lynn eviscerated the guy next to him in a dazzling, lightning fast employment of her weapon of choice, following the screaming man to the floor for a finishing power stab to the heart. She leaped up shrugging comically, with bloody knife dripping.
“I may have let my entertainment side sign checks my idiot mind couldn’t cash. My bad. Could we just gloss over my little mental error in judgment and get on with it.”
Clint swept her up in his arms while I watched our backs. “Sure, babe… for now; but you know what they say about payback.”
Lynn hugged him tightly. “Yeah… I do. Damn, the floor plans for this place didn’t say anything about a greeting alcove. I guess Gus isn’t as stupid as we thought.”
I began dragging the bodies into a corner while Clint and Lynn watched the door to the inner party. A few seconds after I piled the two against the wall, and yanked their table and chairs over in front of them, a few more blurry eyed party goers stumbled out. Clint opened the outer door for them.
“Nice to see you. Drive carefully.”
Lynn wiped off the blood on her hands and upper body with one of the dead men’s discarded jackets. I handed Lynn her black top to pull on over her blood stains. “I think we should just hang out here, and separate the sheep from any wolves that come our way.”
“I suppose this error in planning will go on my permanent record, and I won’t get to adlib any more this trip, huh Cheese?”
“I’m afraid not, Lynn. It will take us at least three faultless missions to build up the karma you destroyed in a few seconds here.”
Lynn pretended to cough while mumbling, “pussy.”
Then a big guy with tats all over his sleeveless arms, extending up under his shirt to neck and face, emerged from the party room, glaring around unhappily. “Where the fuck’s-”
I decided to try out my knife-hand strike to the guy’s left temple. It was a perfect strike, with rotating body action, powerful enough to break a two by four board. In this case, the man’s light faded as he dropped sideways limply into a crumpled pile. Lynn crouched over him for a moment, checking for life.
“Damn… Cheese. He’s dead. You monster! Pile him against the wall. We’ll play rock, paper, scissors to see who does the next one.”
I dragged our new addition over to join his comrades in hell. “Maybe we better take one alive, just in case Denova’s not here or something.”
“Good demo on why they don’t allow knife-hand head strikes in the UFC, brother,” Clint said. “That looked hell-a-fast. You think it’s quick enough to do what Tommy wants?”
“No. I used a full arc. Rattler would have counter-punched my head off before I landed it. The time in the water, chopping the pole did do wonders for my accuracy.”
For the next half hour we acted as concierges for the leaving partiers, a truly rough looking bunch, including the women. Lynn bitch slapped one overly attentive woman dressed in next to nothing who decided to cop a feel of Clint’s ass as he worked the door for them. Then Clint had to throw the upset boyfriend out, while Lynn shoved the girlfriend after him. I enjoyed the little skit in the middle of an important mission. It fit right in with our upside down way of doing things. After Clint made sure the two were well on their way, and not thinking about retribution, I cautioned Lynn.
“Can we stick to the mission, Lynn, Please? Clint’s had his ass felt up before. It’s not a big deal.”
Another fake cough ending with mumbled, “pussy.”
Then a couple of Denova’s crew stumbled out, laughing. When they saw us, they went for their guns. We didn’t waste time with anything fancy. Clint and I pistol whipped them to the floor. Lynn plastic tied them like she was roping calves, jumping up after each one as if being timed by rodeo judges. Yeah, it was funny… and insane. Clint watched the door while I slapped one into a groggy state of consciousness. Lynn held her butterfly knife at his throat. Wide eyes, focusing in terror, locked into Lynn’s malevolent gaze while I held his head.
“How many more in there, Dopey?”
“I… get the fuck off me! I-”
Lynn did a precision cut, not too deep, that had blood running down into Dopey’s shirt. “One more chance to save your throat.”
“Seven! Don’t cut me!” Dopey was wide awake and serious.
“That depends. Is Gus Denova one of them?”
“Yes! There are three women… Gus… and three more of his boys.”
“Are they as wasted as you are?”
Dopey wisely thought it out for a second. “Ah… yeah. Gus is really wrecked. The gu
ys and women… they’re mobile… and you know… foolin’ around since everyone else left.”
“Okay… good report. We’re going to give you something nice to calm you while we work.” Lynn patted his face. “I’m very pleased with you. Thanks.”
Dopey smiled up at Lynn while I juiced him for the last time with a needle. I did his friend, and then we were ready to proceed. “I think we should do a couple flash-bangs, and take him right now. We’ll send the crew to hell, and give the girls something to allow them to awaken amongst all the dead. Maybe they’ll get a clue.”
The fake cough, and of course, “pussy.”
“I like it, brother,” Clint agreed, while locking up the entrance from the inside. “It’s nearly 3am. Time to wrap this up the way we want.”
Clint and I pulled on our masks, opened the door, walked inside, took a peek at the stunned expressions and counted participants. We then threw the flash-bangs, while stepping back out. The resulting mayhem was satisfying in a monstrous sort of way. We entered again, jogging to our very upset recipients of flash-bang awareness. Lynn took charge grimly of the puking Gus Denova while I sent his posse to hell. Clint plastic tied the very vocal girls. They were dying. They just went to a party. They… were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Clint administered a less lethal dose of our permanent solution for gangbangers. We did a quick check of the place, gathering anything and everything of a digital nature.
“We should help Gus point us at a safe he might have, Cheese,” Lynn said. “You know how these guys are. We don’t want to get far away, only to find out we missed a chance at the obvious. I brought my Taser in Clint’s bag. Let me light his nuts up and see what else they have in storage.”
“Good one, Lynn. We need this, so let’s set him up, Clint.”
We plastic tied the moaning and groaning Gus spread eagle on some metal shelving off to the side, naked from the waist down. I popped a wakeup capsule under his nose. He jolted into stunned awareness in seconds. Then we were treated to the litany of all the horrific things Gus would perform on us if we didn’t let him go that instant. Lynn shot the Taser needles into his groin area, cranked him up and down a few times with the resulting ear piercing screams echoing around the warehouse. Then she got in close.
“Well hello my little Gus. I know so much about you, it seems like we’re old friends. We have a lot of questions for you, but they can wait for later. I sure hope you have a hidden safe somewhere in the warehouse. If you don’t, the next couple of hours with me electrifying your nuts is going to be a real bad experience. How about it, amigo? Do you have some safe to give up in order not to have your balls barbequed?”
“Yes… yes… yessssss…” Gus squealed in a voice similar to a nine year old girl.
“Good for you! Okay… location first… and then combination. Try to bargain, and I light you up for a ten minute reminder that I am not your Mommy. Understand?”
Gus told us the location and the combination. It was golden, along with a goodly amount of money and drugs. We packed it all away, because we wanted this to appear to be a drug war incident. Lynn was nice enough to dig out the only slug fired… the one to save her life Clint put between the eyes of the bad guy. Man… that girl is like a surgeon. It wasn’t easy since she had to go in from below, or smash the skull to pieces. Tommy was waiting for us at the curb. I deposited Gus in the back, and off we went to our luxurious beach house. Soon, Gus would be a reality show star, and then he would be a terrific informant for us.
“I see you all got what you wanted,” Tommy observed as he sped away. “Any problems?”
“None you need to hear about, nosy,” Lynn replied.
“You couldn’t have screwed up too badly, Cruella,” Tommy said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the mission target in the back. That’s a good day, no matter how it went down.”
“That’s what I told them, T.” Lynn immediately went for the life preserver. “I’ll give Cheese an extra poke for you when we start training.”
“Hey… what the hell. Why do I get extra pokes because you screwed up?”
“It was your responsibility to keep me under control, Cheese. You delegated authority, and look what happened. Next time, you’ll know better.”
Oh boy, did they broil the Cheeseburger all the way to the beach house over that jewel. We locked down Gus for the night, after allowing him to clean up. I gave him a couple Vicodin, and told him to get some sleep after I plastic tied his ass up real good. I also told him to start thinking of every item in his life we would be interested in, because if we had to find out the hard way, he would think that little demo he got earlier was heaven. He had kind of a sullen look, so I figured he would need some convincing to do exactly what we said. Such is life in monster land.
Chapter Twelve
Show-time
“Good morning, sunshine.” Lynn was yanking gently on Denova’s ear. His awareness meter shot up from zero to a thousand when he recognized Lynn. “Oh good. You remember our last meeting. That was just a feel good preview of what I have planned for you if we don’t reach an understanding real fast. You feel me, sweetie?”
Denova nodded. I didn’t think he looked as sullen this morning. “What is it you want from me?”
Lynn spent the next twenty minutes letting Denova know how much we knew. To describe his reaction as surprised would be a disservice. Gus became terrifyingly aware we knew everything he had done in his life, and everything he intended to do.
“You can understand how many other questions we have for you about those dastardly terrorist cells. We’ll get to those when we take you up North with us. Here’s the exciting part. You’re going to be a reality TV star, Gus. Isn’t that just incredible? You’re probably wondering how that can happen. Let me explain.” In an instant, Gus had Lynn’s butterfly knife at his balls. Lynn had her game face on, and she was not bluffing. He didn’t have to be intact to perform the duties we had in mind for him. “You’ll do exactly what I outline for you to do, or you’ll do it without your dick.”
Lynn had the scene she wanted him in plotted out in her head. Denova’s part would be very simple. We’d drug him up a little, and have the Hollywood Bounty Hunters find him in a compromising position somewhere in the dark. They would act out a bit. Gus would try to escape but be captured and handcuffed. The Hollywoods would then go through some pantomiming while planning to meet Agents Harding and Dostiene at a secure location for the handoff.
“Don’t! I’ll do whatever you ask!”
Yep. Gus was not as sullen this morning. “Ms. Montoya will be directing a film today with you in it. Whether all of your parts stay attached to your body will depend on you. We want you to have a good attitude during filming, so we’re going to let you get a bit high. Pick something that will tone you down. We have all your stash with us. Ms. Montoya doesn’t want to shoot the scene more than once, so you’ll need to concentrate. I’m thinking a few Oxycontin should do it. Do you understand, Gus?”
“Yes…” Gus eyed Lynn sitting next to him doing knife tricks with recognition he was in the presence of a killer who was probably more brutal and imaginative than he had ever encountered. “It will be as you say… exactly.”
Lynn smiled. “That’s my good little helper. Let’s round up the Hollywoods for the flophouse scene, Cheese. Did Clint call yet with a location?”
“He and Tommy found a perfect one. They cleared out the bums with a few bucks, and kept a few for show. All we have to do is put Gus into place while you direct the Hollywoods with their arrival poses. I warned Kev already that you want the arrival done in a different manner, so they’re all ready for your direction.”
“Good. I don’t want any of that van screeching to a halt, and out pops the tulips all decked out in bad ass gear. I want them grimly lacing up for battle, with subtle touches between Kev and Kensy as they make ready to head into danger. Les will by my guy who goes around, checking everyone out with a professional eye. Then they hit the flophouse to pick up Gus.
You getting this, Gus?”
“Si. I am to be in hiding in this flophouse. The Hollywoods arrive to take me in a dramatic moment. What should I do?”
Lynn put an arm around his shoulders. “I like your attitude, Gus. Think you could maybe stumble onto your feet like a caged tiger, trying to get your bearings?”
“Sure… sure… I get it.” Denova was starting to get fired up for film. “I could make a pawing attempt at resisting, and then get taken down hard.”
“Cheese, I think Gus here would like to live through our adventures. I bet he would like to help us with our at sea gig too.”
“Si! Yes, Senora! I want to help. I was sick to death of Thailand. I have many contacts with that Muslim Brotherhood. I would sell them out at your command! Every day I was near death here. If the people running the shipping line found out I was plotting to smuggle terrorists in aboard their tanker, they would have tortured me to death. It is only the Muslim Brotherhood that supplied my credentials to work the shipping line keeping me alive this far. Watch how good I do in your film! I can act well enough to fool the Brotherhood too.”
Lynn did her pensive killer routine for a moment. “Well… okay, Gus… but the filming better be an Oscar winning performance for me to consider any other roles for you other than a death scene.”
“It will be as you say, Senora Montoya. I will be very valuable.”
Lynn put her arm around Denova again, guiding him out. “What the hell should we do with the big Cheeseburger here? His acting sucks, and he walks so stiff during filming, it’s like working with the Tinman from Wizard of Oz.”
Gus glanced at me, but didn’t do anything stupid. The sweat beaded up on his forehead as he considered how to appease Lynn without me snapping his neck. “Perhaps he could grunt menacingly, Senora, while your other man takes a more active role.”
“Good input, Gus! Damn… I’m glad I didn’t slice and dice you earlier.”
“Yes, Senora Montoya… I am very glad too.”
The Cheeseburger however, was less than enthused about this latest demotion to grunting cardboard cutout.
Hard Case IV: A Violent Life (John Harding Series Book 4) Page 20
