Gagged, tied up, and feeling it was all hopeless by now, the man knew Tuck was serious, so he shook his head "Yes.”
Tuck listened to him for over two hours giving names, telephone numbers, and even addresses, of everyone including Steven. When he finished, Tuck asked if Steven was the boss, or was somebody else in charge. Archer said with some hesitation, "I am the boss.”
"You're lying to me.” Tuck reached for the hammer.
"Okay, the head man in charge is Homeboy or Steven.”
"You mean Steven Portman?”
Archer said, "Yeah, that's him. I am the one who got his new identity.”
Tuck sat there for a minute. "Archer, I'm going to let you live for a few more days. I'm going to tie you up and put you down in the basement, and I'm going to visit a few of these people. If I find out you're lying to me, I'm coming back here and finishing the job. So, if you want to recant any of these names you better do it now, because if I have to come back here because you lied to me, I'll be pissed when I get back.
"I'm straight with you, man.”
"You know what, I believe you.” Tuck picked up a pillow from the couch and put a bullet in his brain.
Now Tuck had a decision to make: should he go after the head man first and take a chance of the rest of them scattering, or should he take out the minions first and leave the head man for last? He’d been awake for almost six days so he decided to sleep on it. As he walked out the back door, he did his usual and set the house on fire.
When he woke up the next morning, in the crappy motel his guys were still waiting at, he considered his dilemma. When he considered the old adage "kill the head of the snake and the body will die" it made his decision easier. But then again, the head of this snake was not the one that had done the evil; it only sanctioned and caused it to happen. Tuck saw a few different scenarios how this could play out, and he was considering which would be the best and keep things in his favor.
The first option was to take out the head man first, and then if he was lucky and moved quick enough, he might be able to get two or three of the others before they scattered like the rats they were. The second scenario he came up with require him to be really lucky, pick off the lowlifes until he reached Steven, then he would have no backup. But if Steven disappeared and was never found, he would be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life, so would Glory.
Although Tuck knew he could analyze the situation to death but it might be a fruitless endeavor. When one thing went wrong, all the scenarios would be up for grabs again. Tuck had one last option in mind; it was the best scenario and the most dangerous and time consuming. He took out his list of names, numbers, and addresses he’d collected from Archer, and considered the chances of getting them all together and then taking care of them all at once. He could give it a shot.
*****
Tuck waited until the men were awake. He put it to a vote; there was no other way to do it. The guys needed to know what the fuck they were getting into. They decided, he would take out Cleve and Steven while the others took out the rest. Two fronts at the same place, and neither would fail, they couldn’t, their lives depended on it. Their plan was set, now to follow through
They took the address Archer said was one of Steven’s low men and went with it. When they got to the address, they waited for someone to come out of the house.
From the exterior, Tuck could see this guy lived a pretty lucrative lifestyle and had a lot of nice things. A couple of new cars were parked in the driveway, in front of his two-car garage. He was well off enough to live in a place where he had a lot of property around him to keep others from moving in on top of him. To Tuck, nice cars, a nice house, and a lot of land said one thing—bit money. He figured he was right on track with his assessment and after a couple of hours a man came out of the house. Just from the way he moved, Tuck knew he was dirty. Most people leave their house and lock the door, walk to the car with a briefcase or lunchbox and head to work without checking their surroundings. This guy came out of the house after ten a.m. with nothing but a fat envelope in his hand. Then he made a point to check left and right before he walked off the first step. He was probably a shady character and up to no good. Tuck was sure he had a gun in his waistband because of the bulge under his neatly ironed t-shirt.
“What kind of person irons their t-shirts?” Tuck said to Rat who chuckled.
When the man left the house, Tuck saw it as their chance get settled inside to grab him when he got back. Tuck and his men slipped down the back of the house, surrounded by a tall privacy fence, and found a gate. Walking past the nice in-ground pool confirmed Tuck’s thought about the guy having money. At the backdoor, he looked inside and seeing no one there, he tried the door. It was unlocked so they went in. Tuck and his men pulled their weapons, and went through all the rooms checking for anyone, but there was no one else. No toys or baby beds so no kids, which was a good thing. His men crept silently around him making sure everything was secured.
Tuck and his men were in the house a little over two hours when they heard the car coming up the drive. It was a woman. Backing into a room off the hallway, they waited until she got in the house and then confronted her. All of them but Rat stayed back, it was his scene. She went directly to the kitchen and set some bags on the table. Rat walked up behind her and put his pistol in her back and his hand over her mouth. “Stay quiet and sit down.” She did what he said and after Rat got her tied to a chair he took part of the tablecloth and blindfolded her.
“If you don’t scream I won’t gag you,” Rat said quietly.
“Who are you and what do you want?” she whimpered.
"Was the guy that left here your husband?” Rat snapped.
"Yes. Why? What do you want with him?”
"I want to ask him some questions, and make him an offer that may save his life. Do you know what your husband does to make money?” Rat said while Tuck and the others continued to listen.
"He's a sales executive for a bike mechanics shop,” she wailed.
"Is that what he told you? Did you ever wonder why a bike shop would need a salesman? How many sales executives do you know who go to work in a t-shirt and carry a gun?” Rat laughed.
"He makes good money so I never asked any questions,” she whispered.
"What do you really think he does for a living?” Rat snapped again.
"I really don't know. What do you think he's done?” she asked.
"I'll discuss that with him when he gets here. What time do you think that will be?” Rat said quietly again, he was keeping her off her game.
"He usually comes home around five,” she said.
"Well it looks like we have a long wait. I’ll let you get a little more comfortable so I’m going to move you into the living room so I can see out the window. Are you comfortable?” Rat said nicely now.
"Yeah, this will be fine,” she replied hesitantly.
Rat sat with the woman until a car pulled in the driveway, the rest of them made sure they cover every door and window to make sure. Tuck listened when Rat told her that her husband was home loudly. "I'm going to take your blindfold off and I'm going to stand here behind the door, so don't do anything stupid and get him killed, you got that?”
"I got it,” she said.
The man came through the door and as soon as he closed it, he was met with Tuck’s gun to the back of his head, and he froze in his tracks.
“Pull out your gun slow and hand it to me butt first.” The man complied, and Tuck pushed him forward and told him to go sit by his wife.
“Are you alright,” he asked his wife.
“Yeah.”
"Who are you and why are you here?” the man demanded.
"I left your boss, Archer, a while back, and we had a long discussion about you and several of your friends.”
"Are you the one that killed him?” he snarled.
"I'm afraid I am.” Tuck laughed and the others came into view. The wife whimpered and the man paled a li
ttle at the site of all of them.
"Do you know who he was?” the man whispered.
"Yeah, he is the one who stupidly let his name be used by Steven Portman. That's why he's dead now,” Tuck said.
"So you're the one he is looking for,” the man whispered.
"Yep, but I figure if I find him first, I win.” Tuck laughed.
"All this isn't what I wanted, the boss ordered it,” the man said.
"You mean Steven?” Tuck said until the man nodded, he needed confirmation that Steven was the highest and he got it.
"Looks like Archer told you quite a bit. But he didn’t tell you everything, he couldn’t have.”
"Well he didn't have a lot of choice since I was crushing his toes with a hammer and was about to move to his balls.” The man’s eyes got bigger and he started to look scared.
"What do you want with me?”
“I want you to help me set up a meeting with Steven and your whole organization. If you do, I'll let you live a long happy life with your beautiful wife here. If not, then you'll die a worse death than Archer did, and leave your wife a widow.”
"If I do this, they’ll kill me.”
"If you don't do it, I'll kill you and that you can bet on.”
"I don't want them hurting my wife. She had nothing to do with this.”
"If you do what I tell you, I will guarantee safety for you and your wife, and you'll live rich for the rest of your days without fear. But you'll have to follow what I say to the letter.”
"What will I have to do?”
"Does Steven know Archer is dead yet?”
"Yeah, he knows. He knew an hour after it happened.”
"Okay, then what you do is call Steven and tell him I contacted you and said that I was coming. Tell him the whole crew needs to meet up with him somewhere and figure out what to do, because I told you I was coming after all of you for what you did. If he acts like he's thinking about coming, you need to act like Archer knew more than he did and tell him you need to let everybody know what the deal is so you can come up with a game plan. Convince him everybody in the organization needs to meet but him; tell him you will meet him at the shop in town after. You’ll be off the hook once they show up and I’m done.”
He reluctantly agreed to Tuck’s terms, and asked when he needed to make the call.
"Call him now and I'll listen to what you have to say and make sure you're convincing enough.”
The man made the call and when Steven answered, he did exactly as Tuck told him and said exactly what he wanted him to say. When the call was over, the man told Tuck they were meeting in the desert in three days and everybody was going to be there.
Tuck and his boys had three days to get ready, he and the boys planned. Raven knew of a connection, which wasn’t too far away. Rat and the others stayed at the house while Raven and Tuck went to make a deal.
"What am I going to do with you while I'm getting everything ready?” Tuck said to the couple. “We'll just take you with us. We need a way to get around anyway, Raven take the car.” On the way to the car, Tuck told them in a calm voice, "I sure hope you don't give me any problems or do something stupid. I’ll kill you, you know that don't you?”
"I swear we won't try anything,” the man said as Tuck pushed him into the driver seat.
Raven went to the back with the woman and Tuck took the passenger seat.
"Take us to into town.” When they arrived, he took the keys to the car and went inside, leaving the man and woman with Raven. Tuck told the owner who he was and who sent him. He smiled and told him to pull around back and drive inside the door and they’d fix him up. Tuck asked them if everything was ready to go, and they said, "It will be ready to go when you leave here.”
After they were loaded, the guy closed the trunk, then came to the window. "If you need to transfer it to something else, just pick it all up at one time and set it down wherever you want it.”
As they were leaving, Tuck told the man to drive easy and don't have any wrecks. "What did they put back there?”
Tuck smiled and said, "You don't want to know, if you knew you would probably have a wreck.”
As they got back to the man’s house, and he told them they’d have to tolerate their company until the job was over. They didn’t look too pleased with the news but what could they say. Tuck and his men took turns staying awake all night and watched the couple to make sure they didn’t try anything.
"How far is this meet up place?” Rat asked in the morning.
“It’s where we always meet out in the desert. Steven likes so no one can overhear what we’re talking about,” the man said.
“Is there anybody else around?” Tuck asked.
"No, there's nobody around for miles,” the man replied.
"Good, take us there.” They drove about forty miles until they were far out in the desert.
"This is the place?” Tuck asked.
"Where do you gather and stand around?” Raven asked confused.
“We just park on the road and stand around in the open area.” It looked like it used to be an old storage site for some business. It had several old rusty barrels scattered around and several piles of old lumber along with other things that must have seemed worthless when they vacated the site.
“Pull up to one of the barrels,” Tuck ordered one of his men, he got the keys to the trunk and opened it, then took out the contents they’d loaded the day before and set it in the barrel. "Now drive slowly down the road this way.” They got about one hundred yards away from the site, and Tuck told him to stop and kill the car.
"Get out and walk over here with me. When we get here tomorrow, this is where we'll be,” Tuck said, pointing.
“How are you going to get here with all the guys around?” the man asked warily.
"Don't worry about that, just know we’ll be there.” Rat smiled.
"How do you expect me to get out of the way before you make your move?” the man asked.
"Just tell them you need to take a piss and walk over here.” Raven shrugged.
"What did they put in the back of the car yesterday?” the man asked.
"It was about thirty pounds of C4.” Tuck smiled.
"You had me riding around with C4 in the car? What if it went off?” the man squeaked.
"Well, then we would all be dead right now, wouldn't we.” Rat laughed loudly.
*****
The day of the meeting came, Tuck told the woman she had to stay there. "I need to ask you not make any phone calls or do anything to mess this up, or your husband will die. Just sit here and watch TV or take a swim and let this pass and you'll never see or hear from me again. But if they get wind of what's happening, I'll know it and I'll have to come back here when I'm done out there in the desert.”
"I won't do anything because I never want to see you again,” the woman snapped.
"Don't hate me because of what your husband was involved in. I think I'm doing you two a favor getting rid of these people. After this, you can live the rest of your lives without worrying about when they are going to come take you out. Their selfishness and greed would eventually come down on you guys because they don't like witnesses to their deeds. It would eventually happen, because that's what these kind of people do. I don’t kill women, so you are lucky,” Tuck said.
They headed back to the desert for the meet up. When they got a few miles from the spot, Tuck told the man to drive in, act natural, and let it play out. Then he crawled into the backseat. "Remember, after you get there, and you see everybody has shown up, tell them you're going to take a piss then walk to the rock I showed you yesterday. When you come to the rock, I'll know everybody is there.”
As the man got to the site, he pulled up behind all the other cars, and he was going to have to walk about forty yards up the road to where they were all standing. As he got out of the car and closed the door, he glanced into the backseat where Tuck was supposed to be, but he wasn't there. What the hell. As he approached the
other men he greeted them with the usual handshakes and hugs like they were a crime family or something, but Tuck was glad to see he was acting normally without showing any signs of being nervous. Two more cars showed up and the men walked up to the crowd.
Tuck watched from the rock, and he saw his man make a move toward his direction, so finally all of them were there.
“They’re all here.”
"Where is Steven?”
“At the shop, he beeped me as I got out of the car,” the man said. Tuck looked over his shoulder and then moved quickly to the second part. He was leaving; just needed to make sure no one double-crossed him.
“Rat,” Tuck said softly and held out his hand. Rat dropped the keys into it and he melted into the trees and was gone.
Somebody in the group of men yelled out to the man looking into the trees after Tuck and said, "C’mon, man, shake it off and get over here.”
"I'll be right there,” he yelled.
"You better get down and cover your ears. This is going to be pretty loud.” Rat grinned.
The man got on the ground and covered his ears and Rat set off the explosives with a handheld radio. The explosion was devastating, and the shock of the blast was so strong it knocked Rat off the rock he was on. After the dust cleared, he walked to the site with pistols in hand to see if anyone made it through the blast. But when he reached the site, it was apparent nobody made it. There were body parts everywhere for fifty yards around the blast site. "Looks like ten pounds would have done the job, but at least they didn't feel anything.”
"Are you sure that was all of them?” Raven snarled.
"Yeah, that was everybody,” the man whispered.
Chapter Eleven
Death: the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person
Tuck walked silently to the back of the shop they had already scoped out. He knew exactly where to stand to hear everything.
Tuck's Revenge Page 11
