“Sit,” she said.
Dee stood and looked around. The only other person in the room was Ruiz, who withdrew a discreet distance and stood beside the door.
“Thank you, Ruiz,” Irina said.
There was a querulous tone to Irina’s voice that sounded completely alien. Something about her had changed. Dee saw that Ruiz had gone out, but left the door ajar and was probably standing right outside. She walked to the door and looked out, saw him.
“Hey honey,” she said. “This is girl talk, okay?”
“Sure,” he said, insolence in every pore. “I’ll just be over here.”
She waited till he walked away, then shut the heavy door till the latch clicked. Dee walked and stood over Irina.
“What the fuck is going on?” she said without preamble. “I’m walking out of here.”
“Please don’t,” Irina said. “I need someone here…”
“This feels like a set up,” Dee said. “Is that what this is?”
“I don’t know what it is.”
“You need to replace this whole crew.”
“I don’t know how to.”
“Well, I do. But it will cost you extra. A lot extra. And you’re not safe here. Something is up.”
“I know.”
“You’ve got what feels like a mutiny brewing here. Do you have something going down tonight?”
“No. We’ve been selling it all off…I think I need to be done with this. This is not a business for a woman.”
“Not for just any woman, that’s for damn sure.”
Irina looked up at Dee. The Russian woman’s face was drawn with tension, maybe even some fear. “Can you get me out of this?”
“Do you have money here?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“A lot.”
“How much?”
Irina looked at the door, then back at Dee, lowered her voice. “Almost a million in cash. $900,000 +. In the safe.”
Dee sat down.
Payday.
“I can get you out of here,” she said. “But all that cash is going with us. Just you and me, none of this rented muscle. Because somebody else is renting your muscle now, I’ll bet dollars to donuts, sweet heart. And you’re going to give me half that stack. Because sister, somebody is coming to kill you tonight and these guys are in on it.”
“Yes,” Irina said.
“Well, we got the talking part done,” Dee said. “Now we got to see if Dee Kozak still has the moves or not.”
***
We moved into the brush. Night vision we had, but it wasn’t necessary tonight. I like to be prepared, and I remembered my friends from Task Force Ranger who, after The Battle of the Black Sea, never went out on an op without those NVDs again. Young Rangers and the D-Boys, with whom I’d worked in the ‘Stan, they always rolled heavy. And we’d taken a page from their book tonight. We had two SAWs, two M-203s, a M-60 (humped by Moe, who’d swapped his M4 for the heavy machine gun), and two M4s. Shoulder bags of ammo, easy on, easy off, and a pistol for every man.
A chicken in every pot, and at least a gun or two for every man.
Was it a president that said that, or a comedian?
I couldn’t remember.
It was disconcerting to me that I noticed a shift in my mindset. It was part of the evolution or devolution, I didn’t know which yet, that was going on with me. The part of me that remembered what it was like when I did this for a living harangued me about keeping my mind on the job, stay tuned in, stay focused on all the minute details of what was going on around me, the hiss of brush against my clothing, the heartbeat in my ear, the smell of wet grass, the full moon riding the sky high above us, the bandoleer of grenades for the M-203 across my chest, the rest of the men following me in trail, except for Joe and Marcus on the flanks, moving fast till we got to what I’d determined would be our phase line to move to the lay up for the leader’s recon.
Why was I doing this?
I didn’t know the answer to that. Hadn’t even really thought about it. Got into it for fun, for…what? Habit? Old habits. Deon knew that, which was why we’d had our tense little talk when it became apparent that he’d been thinking this through for a long time. He had a good tactical head; he didn’t need mine.
But he was my friend, and he needed this done, and I’d chosen to walk this way with him.
My feet were on a different road now, though. Lizzy…something there had shown me that there was more to what I was living. Maybe I didn’t need the edge anymore…because that was what this was all about. That’s what this was really about at the core of things. This was the closest to what I’d done in the old days that I could do anymore. Was that it? No, not really. Those doors were still open to me…but I couldn’t go back through them. Could I?
I didn’t know.
I brought my attention back, using the tools and techniques I’d learned in the hardest of schools, where the real world punished you for a mishap. I’d lived through those schools, earned the stripes cut right into my flesh. The scars I bore were my diplomas. And some of the worst scars no one would ever see.
Though Lizzy sensed them.
She knew, without ever asking, without ever saying a word.
“Oke?” Deon said. It shook me back to what we were doing.
“Yeah?”
“You know where you’re at?”
I looked at the base of the low hill that Marcus and Joe had set their observation post up on.
“I do now.”
There was a slight snort, maybe disdain, from Moe with the M-60. I ignored it, knelt, and everyone knelt as well, backs to each other, weapons facing out. I pointed at Marcus, and Deon and I followed him up the hill, slid onto our bellies, then inched slowly between a small stand of trees, our silhouettes hidden from any observer by the tree trunks. The three of us lay with our sides touching, and I focused the night optic binoculars on the house.
“It’s the same set up as before,” Marcus whispered. “Two on the gate, two on the grounds, two in the house, one at the door and Ruiz with Irina. You got the two handlers, they stay out in the warehouse. We text Ruiz, he pulls everybody into the warehouse. We’ll see them go, get a head count. When they’re in, we secure them. We take what we’re here to take, use their vehicles…”
“How do we know if they’re gassed up and ready to go?” I said.
“Part of the deal,” Deon said. “We enter the house with Ruiz, he takes us to Irina. She tells us where the safe is and how to get into it.”
“Ruiz doesn’t know?”
“No. He gets his payday when we get ours. Then we deal with Irina…and go.”
I turned my head and looked Deon straight in the eye. “Remember what I said. She walks.”
He nodded. “I hear you.”
“I don’t recognize that Taurus,” Marcus said. “We didn’t see it here before.”
Deon took the binoculars, braced himself, focused in.
“Fuck,” he sighed.
“What?” I said.
“That looks like her rental,” he said. “The woman. The hitter.”
I looked up at the sky and grinned, stifling a laugh. Nothing was ever easy. But it was almost worth it to see Deon squirming right now.
“Simply lovely,” I said. “But we’ll just have to deal with it. Marcus can cover the driveway, Joe the warehouse front. We’ll go in with the Three Stooges and do what we have to do.”
Deon nodded, took out his cell phone, shielding the light of the dial face under him as he entered a short text message, then hit SEND.
“We’re in play,” he said.
I felt strangely disconnected.
But that was something I had grown accustomed to.
Rock and roll.
***
Nina parked her squad right in front of Moby Dick’s. Got out and stalked into the bar. Nobody on the door. A few people at the bar, some tables. Quiet. Nobody at Deon’s table in the corner. Thieu and the new wa
itress talking quietly. Nina went to Thieu and said, “Where’s everybody?”
Thieu set up a Cuervo Gold without asking. “Slow night.”
“I mean Jimmy. Is he around, coming in later?”
“No, not tonight,” Thieu said. “I think maybe he with his girlfriend.”
“Maybe? Is he or isn’t he?”
Thieu gave her a look, then lapsed into the expressionless face of a woman who had way more history than she’d ever talk about. “I don’t know.”
Nina hit her shot, looked at the new girl, who looked away.
“What’s your name?” Nina said.
“Gina,” the girl said.
“You’re running with a rough crowd in here.”
The girl was pretty, young, maybe 21 or 22 if that. But she had some lines on her face. Maybe she had some history, too.
“I like the crowd in here,” Gina said. She walked away to check her tables, and Nina let it go.
“Okay, Thieu,” she said. “If you see Jimmy tonight, tell him to give me a call. I need to talk some business with him.”
“Sure,” Thieu said. “Absolutely.”
And Nina knew that she’d crossed a line tonight. The run was on, and she was behind. Time to catch up.
She felt the little burn in her flat stomach, slapped a five dollar bill down on the bar. “Keep the change.”
Walked out, eyes on her.
And pulled away, wheels squealing, from the curb.
Maybe Lizzy would know.
***
Ruiz entered the living room without knocking. “I got to go outside. I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”
“We’re just fine, sweet heart!” Dee said, smiling.
He gave her an up and down look, then gave her his back. Dee watched him go, a smile fixed on her face, looked up at the clock. 10 p.m. Little early for a night time raid, but if the help was in on it…
“We’re out of here,” she said to Irina. “Show me the safe.”
Irina got up, teetered on her heels.
“You’re going to have to put on some flats,” Dee said. “We might just be running before this night is through.”
Irina staggered away as though she hadn’t heard her. Led her out of the living room and then up the stairs to the master bedroom suite. Through a play room equipped with more sex toys than Dee had seen outside of an adult entertainment store. Into a small office hidden behind a panel.
“Just like the movies!” Dee said.
Irina pointed at the Mosler safe hulking in the corner.
“Open it,” Dee said.
Like a somnambulist, Irina bent and rolled the dial. It took her two tries, her hand shaking, before she unlocked it and pulled the heavy door open. Banded bundles of case were neatly arrayed inside. Some were still in the Federal Reserve shrink wrap, maybe half. The rest were used bills neatly banded in bank paper.
“Get some flats on,” Dee said. “Pants. And get me a duffel bag to put this in, maybe two. That’s a lot of weight to carry. Or better yet, get me a rolling suitcase. We’ll tell the boys that you’re going on a shopping trip with me. Hurry up!”
Irina flinched at the tone in Dee’s voice, but hurried off to do what she was told. Dee thought about the toys in the next room, and wondered about Irina. Probably the dom, but inside of every dom was a submissive looking for the right time to come out. Maybe this was what it was going to take. At least she took orders well. Dee weighed a bundle in her hand. How much was here? Probably $100K. There were five plastic sheathed bundles like this, and then probably a dozen smaller banded ones.
And all she had to do was get out of here with it, and her laundry man would take care of everything. Though it was probably already clean, being the Komorov stash.
Irina came back in, clean denims and a top, black sport coat and flats, pulling two medium sized Samsonite rolling suitcases.
“This is what I have,” she said.
“It’ll do.” Dee started packing the money into the suitcase, splitting the plastic wrapped bundles between the two, then stuffing the smaller bundles into the space that was left. She got it all, with a little room to spare, shut and locked each suitcase, while Irina stood by and watched in silence.
Dee took her Glock out of her purse, tucked it in the top of her pants in the appendix position, hung her blouse out over it. In her left hand, she tugged out one of her two Hideaways, turning it so that the blade was to the inside of her hand, concealed in the cup. She used that hand to pull one suitcase, and pointed at the other.
“Bring that one,” she said.
Irina followed her out, through the playroom and into the master bedroom.
“This is what we’re going to do…” Dee said.
Chapter Forty Five
I waited till we saw Ruiz bring everybody out. The two guys in the guard shack took their time walking up the road, and they’d left the gate open. Like they expected us to drive right in.
“What’s the count?” I said.
Marcus was glued to the binoculars. “We’re missing at least one. Two on the gate, Ruiz came out by himself, two guys outside, and I don’t know where the two handlers are. Probably in the warehouse with the rest.”
I considered that. If it was me, I'd have people in the woods, but that was something with criminals -- they didn’t want to work too hard, and most of what I’d seen with the Komorov’s weren't top shelf muscle. You never underestimate the opponent, so we’d move tactically.
And we did just that.
I sent Marcus and Joe to the security positions, had Deon send his Three Stooges down into the warehouse. Deon and I…we were going to go into the house ourselves, clear it, find Irina, and deal with the money before we brought Ruiz in. Just to keep everybody honest.
I waited.
A text message on the cell phone from the Three Stooges: all secure.
We’d seen Joe and Marcus go into place.
“Let’s go down, oke,” Deon said.
“Lead the way.”
I followed him down the hill, moving carefully from shadow to shadow. The full moon threw sharp edged shadows between the trees, and then we were jogging quickly from the tree line alongside the lawn, moving in on the front door. We paused. Deon tested the door. Unlocked. He opened the door slowly, and we entered.
***
It was a slow night at The Trojan Horse too. Nina walked up to the door man, held out her creds.
“Is LIzzy dancing tonight?” she said to the doorman.
“Yeah,” he said. “Detective.”
“I’m looking for somebody.”
He stepped aside. “Go right ahead, Detective,” he said, an artful sneer in place.
Nina went in, ignoring the looks she got from the men inside. Lizzy wasn’t dancing. And Jimmy wasn’t in the club.
She went to the dancer’s door, flashed her creds at the security man. “I want to talk to Lizzy.”
“I’ll tell her you’re here,” he said. He ducked through the door, locked it behind him. After a moment, the door opened, and he waved her through.
“Back there,” he said.
Nina went down a short hallway into the dressing and make up room. Seven dancers, in various stages of naked, looked up from their make up tables. Lizzy was on the left side, brushing her face with a powder brush.
“Hello, Nina,” Lizzy said.
As always, Nina was struck by how beautiful Lizzy was. The other girls were good, too, but Lizzy, she was something special.
“Hey,” Nina said. “I’m looking for Jimmy. You talk to him today?”
“Not since this morning,” Lizzy said. She turned and faced Nina directly. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Nina said. “I need to talk to him. Can you get him? Does he have a cell?”
“I don’t know his number.”
Nina laughed. “You two are a real piece of work. How do you get in touch with him?”
“I have a key. I go to his place. He shows up. Eventually.�
��
“Does he call you?”
“Sometimes. Yes.”
Nina pulled one of her cards out. “Here. My cell phone is on that. When you hear from him, tell him to call me. I want to talk to him.”
“Sure, Nina,” Lizzy said. “Of course I will. Do you want to stay for awhile, have a drink? I’m on in a little bit.”
Nina touched her nose.
“Not tonight, Lizzy,” she said. “But maybe another time.”
That smile.
“I’ll see you, then,” Lizzy said.
“Till then,” Nina said.
Out in her car, she took stock of herself. It was in the air tonight. She looked up at the moon. Thought.
Komorov.
***
Ochoa and Taylor crouched in the bushes near the warehouse and watched the three men enter.
“Motherfucker got an M-60? What the fuck he gonna do with a M-60?” Ochoa muttered. He had a Galil ARM 7.62 assault rifle, while Taylor, the quiet white boy from the back woods, held an AK-47.
“Put some serious shit out, that’s what,” Taylor whispered. “Can you hear what’s going on?”
Ochoa nodded, and turned up the volume on the handset he held. Ruiz had one on his belt set to INTERCOM, so they could hear everything inside.
***
“Where’s Deon?” Ruiz said.
The old man with the M-60 said, “He’s taking a look around. He’ll be in in just a minute. Stay cool, Ruiz.”
“I’m cool,” Ruiz said. “We’re all cool, right?”
“Yep,” the old man said. “You can all keep your pistols, nobody gets froggy, we just do our business and go our way. Just like we planned. What you guys got in stock back here, anyway?”
“We’ve been selling a lot,” Ruiz said. “We got about a dozen M-16s, old ones, from the National Guard, couple cases of hand grenades. Couple of RPGs, and some rockets.”
“No shit?” the old man’s partner, a thin wiry guy with Aryan tats visible at the neck and on his hands. “RPGs?”
“Yeah,” Ruiz said. “Couple guys brought them back from Sandland.”
“How many rockets?” the wiry Aryan guy said.
Ruiz looked at his handler, who said, “Maybe a dozen.”
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