When the Man Comes Around

by Bradley Wright

  Lawson picked up a newspaper sitting in a nearby slot machine chair and walked over to the elevators where they had taken him up to see Sokolov earlier. He texted Cassie to meet him there. This was all taking longer than he would have liked, but it was the smart way in. Just outside the elevator hallway, Lawson leaned back against the wall and turned the paper to the sports section. He saw Cassie walking up out of the corner of his eye.

  “Could you look more suspicious?” she said.

  Lawson just held his finger to his lips. A few seconds later, an elevator dinged behind him, and three men in suits went sprinting by.

  Lawson tossed the newspaper on the floor. Cassie still looked confused.

  “Was that Sokolov’s men? How did you know they would be coming?”

  “You took too long to get here, so I had time to create a distraction.”

  Lawson pulled one of the Glock 17s he took off De Luca’s men and turned the corner for the elevators.

  “So we’re doing this now, are we?” Cassie followed behind him into the elevator. She pulled her pistol from her shoulder holster that was tucked beneath her navy-blue blazer. “At least tell me the distraction.”

  “I paid a couple of young guys a thousand bucks to have a loud conversation over by the Sports Book.”

  “That’s where Sokolov’s men hang out, I assume?”

  Lawson nodded. The elevator moved past the tenth floor on its way to the thirty-fourth and top floor. “I told them to shout to each other that they couldn’t believe how the guy that’s been on TV all day for killing the district attorney is in a fight with the security guard in the lobby.”

  “Nice,” Cassie checked the magazine on her pistol. “And they weren’t worried about why they were doing this?”

  “I told them it was a prank. That it’s my bachelor weekend and my buddies who are hanging out in the Sports Book were scared to go over to the Strip because this crazy guy was on the loose. They thought it was funny, so they agreed to do it.”

  “Glad they thought it was funny,” Cassie ribbed. “So how’d you know Sokolov’s men would come running from the elevator?”

  “I didn’t. But I thought Sokolov’s men at the Sports Book might call for backup. Or at least get confirmation that they should go and get me. We were just lucky they did. Best thousand dollars I ever spent.”

  This really was not the time for jokes, but it was almost like a reflex being with his old partner. They had always done their best to lighten the mood when going into a serious situation. Some habits die hard. The elevator moved past the thirtieth floor.

  “You realize I am probably going to lose my job for not calling this in?”

  “Yeah.” Lawson pulled back the slide on his Glock, chambering a round. “But the benefits are terrible anyway.”

  “So how many men can we expect in here?”

  Cassie was fearless. She always had been. Lawson’s frozen heart thawed a bit at the thought of her willingness to put everything on the line for him. He was also angry with himself for ever doubting her.

  “Two just inside the door. Maybe five more inside, not counting Sokolov.”

  “Seven men? Who do you think we are, Lawson, Batman and Robin?”

  “Maybe only four total since three of them ran past us on their way out of the elevators.”

  “Oh, only four. Well, in that case . . .” Cassie glanced at the numbers lighting up on the slow-moving elevator.

  Lawson tried to focus her as they reached the top floor. “You’re going to have to lure the men at the door out into the hallway.”

  “Right, ’cause I’m a beautiful temptress and all.”

  “Just knock on the door, flash your FBI credentials, and tell them you need to speak with Sokolov.”

  “They’re not going to open the door for that,” Cassie explained as the elevator door dinged open.

  “Then make something up, you are an FBI agent, right?”

  Cassie rolled her eyes and walked out toward Sokolov’s suite.

  It was always an odd mix of feelings when walking into a situation like this. When you are on a case that you have spent months, and sometimes years on, the weight of everything working out the way you’ve planned is a heavy burden of anticipation. Then you have the excitement of the adrenaline rush mixing with the nervousness of how dangerous what you are about to do really is, and often it leaves you with a sickening high. For Lawson, after spending ten years churning over this moment where he could actually get his hands on proof that he didn’t kill Lauren, it was different. There were zero nerves. Only the shot of adrenaline that made him feel like he was floating behind Cassie. It made him feel like he could achieve anything. And if he didn’t control it right, things could go very wrong once that hotel room door opened.

  “I’ll be just out of sight when you knock on the door,” Lawson said.

  “Roger.” Cassie pulled her FBI credentials from her blazer pocket. “Just try not to make a mess. I’ve already spent the entire morning cleaning up after you.”

  Lawson didn’t answer, and Cassie didn’t expect one. She approached the door to Sokolov’s suite and gave it a confident knock. The door cracked open to the length of the chain lock.

  A man’s voice with a Russian accent reached Lawson’s ears. “We are busy. Go away.”

  Lawson watched Cassie present her credentials.

  Then he heard the door shut.

  Cassie glanced over and shrugged her shoulders, then gave a more forceful knock.

  “FBI, open up. We know you have a hostage in there!” she shouted.

  The door opened to the chain again. And once again the Russian man spoke calmly.

  “You have warrant?”

  “We don’t need one. We—”

  The door slammed shut.

  This wasn’t the first time Sokolov and his men had been through this routine. Law enforcement had most likely been a regular occurrence there. Cassie stepped back and gave Lawson the look of knowing what was coming next. Lawson moved around the corner of the door. Cassie drew her weapon, ready for whatever came next. Lawson and Cassie could only hope that Sokolov and his men were not.

  29

  Lawson readied his pistol in his right hand, took a long step forward with his left leg, then brought his right leg forward as hard as he could. The bottom of his black oxford shoe connected with the door, right beside the lock, which shattered as the door crashed inward. Lawson pointed his pistol at the red-haired man’s midsection while simultaneously dropping down to one knee so Cassie would have a clear line of sight from behind him. Since Lawson had previously visited the room, he knew exactly where everything would be and where every potential target could be standing. He had expected some sort of volatile situation between Sokolov and Johnny. What he found was quite the opposite.

  “Mr. Raines.” Sokolov calmly rose from his seat on the couch in front of the wall of windows. Johnny was seated beside him, and Kiara on a chair to the left. Johnny showed no signs of fear or anxiety. Lawson was confused. The two men at the door had both pulled their guns, one on Lawson, the other trained on Cassie. Two more men stood to the right of Sokolov, both reaching for their weapons. “You know you are welcome here.” Sokolov glanced at the busted door. “Why the theatrics?”

  Sokolov motioned for his men to put down their guns. Lawson rose from his knee and lowered his but kept it down by his side.

  “I told you I would handle Johnny,” Lawson said.

  “Yes. And you did. You coerced him into giving you criminal evidence, and now I have it. Our business has concluded.”

  “How long were you following me?”

  Sokolov gave a pitying smile. “Long enough to watch you reminisce at your old home. Such a shame. Your wife was a very beautiful woman.”

  Lawson took an angry step forward. Sokolov’s man put his hand to Lawson’s chest, stopping him from moving any closer. Lawson went to raise his gun when he felt Cassie’s hand wrap around his wrist.

  “I think we can
settle this without violence,” Cassie said. “Sokolov, you seem like a civil man.”

  Sokolov’s pitying smile morphed into one more befitting a snake. “Yes, of course . . . As I was saying, our business together has concluded. I’ll see to it that this video will reach the proper hands. Benefitting both of us greatly.”

  Lawson moved his eyes from Sokolov to Johnny. “Are you all right?”

  Johnny nodded.

  “Does he have the flash drive?”

  Johnny nodded again, this time with a sorrowful look on his face.

  “Did you manage to best the security guard in the lobby?” Sokolov asked, changing the subject. His tone had a humored edge.

  Lawson heard the sarcasm in his question, and didn’t much care for it. “I need the flash drive, Sokolov.”

  “And I need you to leave.” The smile was gone. “Now. . . . And take Johnny’s body with you.”

  Before there was any time for reaction, Sokolov pulled a pistol from behind his back, raised it out to his right, and shot Johnny De Luca in the forehead. Kiara screamed from the chair beside him, Johnny’s blood a mist upon her face. As Sokolov’s men were raising their weapons, Lawson kicked backward and knocked Cassie to the floor back out into the hallway. He immediately grabbed the man to his left and bull-rushed him into the bathroom that was just inside the door. He heard several gunshots behind him, a couple of which he hoped were Cassie’s.

  The image of Johnny’s head exploding flashed before Lawson’s eyes as he drove the big red-haired man in a black suit all the way to the back wall of the bathroom, slamming him hard against the solid marble. The man wrapped both hands around Lawson’s neck and began to squeeze, but all that did was make him completely vulnerable. Lawson delivered a nasty knee to the man’s groin. As the man dropped to the ground onto his knees, Lawson took a step back and put a hole in the top of his skull with one of the twelve bullets in his Glock’s magazine.

  The sound in that tiny room was deafening.

  Outside the room, through the ringing in his ears, he heard more gunfire. That meant, at least for the moment, Cassie was still alive. The other man guarding the door was lying facedown just outside the bathroom. Cassie must have shot him first.

  “Idti!” Lawson heard Sokolov shout in Russian. “Go! Kill them both!”

  Lawson picked up a porcelain toothbrush holder from the bathroom counter and threw it out the bathroom door, smashing it against the entryway wall. Sokolov’s men reacted to it by blasting off a few more bullets, and Lawson reached outside the door with his pistol to take advantage of the intended distraction. With only his right eye peeking around the bathroom door frame, he squeezed the trigger three times. Two of his bullets broke the glass on the wall of windows, and one found its mark in the shoulder of one of Sokolov’s gunmen. The shattering of the glass was so loud that the other of Sokolov’s men instinctively looked toward the loud noise, and Lawson quickly put two bullets in his side.

  “Stop!” Sokolov shouted.

  “Lawson, are you all right?” Cassie called from the hallway.

  During the shooting, Sokolov must have moved into the bedroom off to the right. However, in true scumbag fashion, he left his granddaughter out in the main room. Lawson moved his gun and pointed it at her.

  “I think you forgot something, Sokolov.”

  Kiara was in the fetal position on the couch, physically shaking from all the commotion. Lawson took a step forward. The entryway wall extended another couple of feet in front of him on his right. This blocked Lawson’s view of the bedroom where Sokolov was hiding.

  Sokolov answered from the bedroom. “I didn’t forget anything . . . Now!”

  On her grandfather’s command, Kiara’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. In a blink, she had turned toward Lawson, her arm swinging upward from underneath a cushion. A cushion that had been hiding a gun. Lawson had time to squeeze the trigger, plenty of time to take Kiara down. But he didn’t, even though he knew she was attempting to kill him. He wasn’t sure if it was her blonde hair, reminding him of how Lexi would look as a young woman, or what it was, but his instinct instead shouted at him to duck.

  Lawson dove forward toward the base of an oversized leather chair. He heard two shots from Kiara’s gun, followed immediately by two shots from behind him.

  Cassie didn’t see Kiara as Lexi. She saw her trying to kill her old partner. And she didn’t let that happen.

  When Lawson dove forward, it gave him a clear line of sight into the bedroom, where Sokolov stood in the doorway. Lawson never dropped his arms when he dodged Kiara’s bullets, so his gun was pointed right at Sokolov’s chest.

  “Don’t shoot!” Sokolov shouted. “I’ll destroy this flash drive!”

  Lawson heard Kiara’s body thump against the floor. Sokolov didn’t so much as flinch.

  “You just killed your granddaughter. And you’re worried about a flash drive?”

  “Put your gun down or I will destroy it.”

  Sokolov stepped into the main room, and the light from the glassless windows revealed a glass of water in his right hand. The flash drive dangled above it from his left. Lawson rose to his feet, his gun still trained on Sokolov. Cassie moved in beside Lawson.

  “Your own granddaughter?” Lawson said.

  “I have another. She is much more competent than this one.”

  The level of cold-bloodedness in that statement chilled the entire room, even as the Las Vegas heat flooded in from the broken windows. Lawson had been more willing to save Kiara than her own grandfather was. Right then and there, something shifted inside Lawson. He physically felt a change come over him. There, standing in that room in front of a man so vile that his own flesh and blood meant nothing to him, Lawson realized that he had been wrong about himself after all. This man, Serge Sokolov, was a monster. Nero De Luca was a monster. Lawson knew for the first time in years that he definitely was not. Instead, Lawson was just a man fighting for what was right. Always had been, always will be. The moment of clarity took Lawson by surprise. But just because he knew now that he wasn’t a man—a monster—like Sokolov, it didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of doing what was necessary.

  “There is no way out of this, Sokolov.”

  “If that is the case, then why wouldn’t I just go ahead and drop this flash drive into the water—”

  Lawson squeezed the trigger and a dark hole appeared in the middle of Serge Sokolov’s forehead. As his body swayed, before it could hit the ground, Lawson raced over to him, and when Sokolov finished his backward collapse, Lawson snatched the flash drive from his dead hand before any of the water could get to it and ruin it.

  Lawson looked back at Cassie who was taking inventory of the carnage around the room.

  “Yep, my career is over.”

  Lawson left Cassie to her thoughts as he walked over to the man he had shot in the shoulder earlier. The man’s eyes were filled with fear. However, just because Lawson now knew himself not to be a monster didn’t mean he was the kind of man who was going to let someone get away with doing terrible things. So before the man on the ground could protest, Lawson put him down with two more bullets to the chest.

  “Lawson,” Cassie huffed, “you can’t just kill a man like that in front of me. I’m still an FBI agent, and I still have rules.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t.”

  Lawson moved his eyes from Cassie’s to Johnny’s bloody remains. Then back to Cassie. He knew she understood. He walked over to Johnny’s body lying facedown on the floor. Dead. All because Lawson had brought him into his own quest for revenge.

  As if Cassie could read his mind, she said, “This isn’t your fault, Lawson.”

  He turned toward her and held up the flash drive. “He wouldn’t be dead if I hadn’t forced him to get this for me.”

  “Wrong.” Cassie switched out the empty magazine in her pistol for a fresh one. “He wouldn’t be dead if Nero De Luca, his father, wasn’t a criminal scumbag.”

  Though Lawson knew th
at was true, he couldn’t help but feel responsible.

  “Johnny was a good kid,” he said.

  “Maybe so, but his father is a bad man. A bad man now gunning for you . . . and me. It’s time we get you out of town. Now that we have proof to clear your name, this thing is finally over.”

  Lawson dropped the flash drive down into his suit jacket’s inside pocket, pulled the second Glock from behind his back, and chambered a round.

  “This isn’t over until Nero De Luca is dead.”

  30

  Cassie didn’t like what Lawson was saying, he could tell that by looking at the scowl on her face. He understood where she was coming from. But he wasn’t going to leave Nero’s fate—his wife’s murderer—in the hands of the system that kept Lawson wrongfully locked up all those years.

  “So, what, Rambo?” Cassie waved her gun as she spoke. “You’re just going to charge into De Luca’s home and take out all his men, even though they are all there waiting on you? That the plan?”

  Lawson didn’t answer for a moment. Mostly because that was the plan. But the way she said it, it did sound like suicide. Lawson glanced back at Johnny’s body. Cassie could see Lawson’s mind working.

  “I won’t let him get away with it, Lawson. Can’t you just let me handle this?”

  He glanced up at her as he kneeled over Johnny’s body. “You know I can’t do that.”

  Lawson reached down in Johnny’s pocket and pulled out his iPhone. He pressed the home button and a keypad popped up, asking for a passcode to unlock it.

  “Damn this new technology.”

  “Whatever you’re doing, we don’t have time for it. I hear sirens, and you know the rest of Sokolov’s men have to be on their way up here.”

  “Is there any way to bypass this passcode?”