Above Ground

by Don Easton

  “Where are they?” asked Whiskey Jake.

  “I don’t know. The line went dead,” he said, as the arrival of hope coincided with the return of panic.

  “They let them go!” said Lance.

  Instantly Ray’s eyes portrayed his relief and he mumbled a prayer.

  “Maybe,” replied Damien. “She said they were going to be killed, but then weren’t. Then the line went dead.”

  A moment later, Damien received a text message on his BlackBerry: They’re both okay. We’re on our way to VGH. -JT-

  Damien looked at his men. He felt his knees tremble and it took him a moment to comprehend.

  “Damien?” asked Lance. “What is it? What’s going on?”

  “They weren’t let go,” he said simply. “They were rescued by a cop ... Jack Taggart. They’re on their way to the hospital.”

  Bile immediately flooded into Ray’s mouth. He choked and swallowed rapidly to keep from suffocating.

  “Taggart! How the fuck did he get his nose into this?” growled Whiskey Jake.

  “Yeah,” quickly added Lance, wondering who was talking with whom. He glanced down at Leitch and Ray and felt a wave of fear.

  “Whiskey Jake, you come with me,” ordered Damien. “Rellik, you find out everything these two fuckers know. What they know about each other, Carlos, The Toad ... how many guys are working for them ... everything!”

  “Will do, boss.”

  “But keep them alive until I come back,” added Damien, before turning to Lance and ordering, “Arrange for a security team to cover off the Vancouver General, then meet me there.”

  Jack sat in the Emergency waiting room, off by himself. Laura remained in the car outside in the parking lot. She agreed that the fewer Satans Wrath members who knew what she looked like, the better it would be.

  Jack didn’t have to wait long before three strikers he recognized from the west-side chapter entered the hospital and quickly scanned the waiting room and the corridors. One of the strikers then went back outside to wait near the entrance. The other two set up a vigil inside.

  Several minutes later, Jack saw Whiskey Jake and then Damien enter behind him.

  Damien’s eyes met his, and he stood as Damien approached. He was conscious of the two strikers moving toward him, but a flick of Damien’s hand sent them both away. Damien then said something to Whiskey Jake, who took a seat in the waiting room while Damien spoke with Jack.

  “Where are they?” asked Damien. “What happened? How...?”

  “They’re going to be okay,” said Jack. “They’re both being examined right now. Give the doctors a few minutes, then you can see them.”

  “You said they’re okay?”

  “Vicki did lose one finger and she has an infection, but other than that, she’ll be okay.”

  “Katie! What about Katie?”

  “She wasn’t sexually molested. She is missing two teeth from being punched in the mouth. I understand they’re baby teeth so ... anyway, she’ll be okay. They’re both dehydrated and in shock, but that’s it.”

  “They punched her in the mouth! She’s only eight years old,” seethed Damien.

  “She tried to rescue her mom when they attacked her with bolt cutters.”

  “How? How did you find them?”

  “My partner tracked them down through Customs declarations and shipping invoices for coffee. We had just found their warehouse when we saw a van leaving in a hurry. We decided to follow the van. It was just luck. We didn’t know Vicki and Katie were inside. We followed the van to a spot along the river in Coquitlam. That’s when we realized what was going on. There were four guys. They got away but we managed to save Vicki and Katie.”

  Damien let out a deep sigh, looked at his watch, then said, “Everything go okay with your trip to Mexico? I heard you were a hero.”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  “Well, tonight you really are one.” He looked at his watch again and said, “That’s it. I’m not waiting out here. I’m going to see them. I’ll send you a message in the morning. We’ll talk then.”

  Jack nodded, then said, “There’s one more thing. I found out that Carlos has a brother by the name —”

  “Ray,” said Damien. “Yeah, I just found out. He’s the one with the British accent. Leitch was two-timing me behind my back. Don’t worry about Ray. He won’t be bothering anyone again.”

  “You ... got him?” asked Jack.

  Damien nodded.

  Jack wondered if Ray was dead and used his finger to make a slashing motion across his neck to convey what he wanted to know.

  Damien shrugged, then said, “Yeah, sure if you want to do it personally. I owe you big. If you want to kill him, that’s fine.”

  Jack realized the mistake and said, “No! That’s not what I meant. I just wondered if he was still alive?”

  “Oh! Yes, he’s being questioned as we speak.” Damien paused, then said, “I presume you had something to do with a shipload of coke that was taken down in San Diego?”

  Jack nodded and said, “That’s why Ray tried to kill me. Only he botched it and killed the wrong guy. Acting on orders from Carlos, I presume?”

  “Maybe,” said Damien. “Either that or following a suggestion from their lawyer — Leisure Suit Larry.”

  “Leitch?”

  “It would be his style. He recently recommended that someone from your toxicology department be killed to jeopardize some court cases. I believe her name was Lucy.”

  “Lucy! Who did he say this to? Is there a contract on Lucy’s —”

  “No. He suggested it to me. I nixed the idea immediately ... but I’m not Carlos. You cost him a lot of money in San Diego. He would agree to have you killed if he didn’t think of it himself.”

  “I didn’t exactly advertise my involvement.”

  “No, you were waiting to nail me with the second ship,” said Damien bitterly.

  Jack nodded and said, “Speaking of that, nobody in my office knows about tonight either. I was grilled this morning about Bishop. I would like to be prepared before I go to work tomorrow morning. Anything you learn from Ray would be appreciated.”

  “I’ll see what I find out. I’ll send you a message around four tomorrow morning. We can meet then,” said Damien.

  “I don’t start work until eight. We could do it at seven,” said Jack.

  Damien shook his head and said, “That doesn’t work for me. If you want to know what Ray said, answer back at four.”

  “I would like to ask him a few questions myself,” said Jack quietly.

  “Such as?”

  “Whose idea it was to try and kill me and Danny’s baby. Was it Carlos or Ray? Also, I want to know how Carlos found out I was involved with the first ship.”

  Damien nodded and said, “I’ll ask, then let you know.”

  “One more thing. Ask him who the four guys were who kidnapped your family and where they can be found.”

  “That,” said Damien, pointing his finger at Jack’s chest, “is my business.” He turned to walk away but paused and said, “We’re just like you guys on this one.”

  “How so?” asked Jack.

  Damien sneered and said, “We’re making sure that Ray doesn’t say anything without his legal counsel present.”

  His legal counsel? Jack realized what Damien meant and watched him walk away. He thought about the early morning hour when Damien said he would call. Certain tasks are better accomplished in the dark ... like body disposal.

  Jack checked his watch. That was six hours from now. He left the hospital and got in the car with Laura and told her about the conversation.

  “You think they’ve got Leitch and the Brit?” she asked.

  “Positive. The way things are going, I bet they’ll both be dead in less than six hours.”

  “We better reach out to our friend and see if he knows where they are!”

  “Whiskey Jake is with Damien. I’m sure our friend is involved and unable to call. He could be with Rellik
right now.”

  “So what should we do? Set up on Damien? You can bet he is going to take a personal interest in this.”

  “Personal! Oh, it’s personal all right. Just ask Holly or Charlie or Danny and Susan! This is personal! It’s also personal for Damien!”

  “Jack, relax,” said Laura quietly. “You don’t have to convince me it’s personal. Danny’s baby convinced me of that. If the both of them are found with a bullet in their head, I won’t exactly lose sleep over it, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “Good. Then let’s not lose sleep. Go home and rest. I’ll call you as soon as Damien contacts me.”

  Laura stared intently at Jack and then nodded in agreement.

  They were just pulling out of the lot when Jack received a text message from Lance.

  “It’s our friend,” he said, reading the message. “Says we need to talk. Urgent. He is on his way to meet Number One.”

  “He’s on his way here,” said Laura. “We could meet him a block away before he arrives.”

  Jack shook his head. “We don’t need him telling us tonight what is going to happen. I’d rather he tell us tomorrow.”

  “Good point,” replied Laura.

  Lance wasn’t too surprised when he received a message back asking, On your way to VGH?

  Lance quickly typed, Yes.

  Lance was shocked when his next message asked, The two interviews over?

  Lance paused, not sure how to respond. Then simply typed, Yes, but not finished.

  You safe?

  Yes.

  We’ll meet tomorrow.

  Jack put his BlackBerry away as Laura said, “Yes, but not finished?”

  “They’re still alive.”

  “That’s what I figured,” said Laura.

  A few minutes later, they stopped at a traffic light and Jack noticed that Laura was starting to tremble.

  “You okay? Your body is shaking.”

  She turned the heater on high and said, “I’m cold.”

  “I know how you feel,” said Jack. “I get ... cold too, when I’ve been shot at. It’s funny. You think it would happen at the time, but with me, it seems to come later when I’m actually safe.”

  “I guess that’s when we finally have time to think about it. How do you handle it?”

  Jack let out a sigh, then said, “Natasha says it’s something you need to be aware of and control. Emotional shock, acute stress disorder, PTSD — whatever the label, it basically boils down to someone being exposed to a life-threatening event. A reaction to something that causes intense fear, helplessness, and horror.”

  “Like back at the river.”

  “For Vicki and Katie ... yes.”

  “You trying to tell me you weren’t afraid? Horrified at what almost happened?”

  “Definitely, but not helpless. Neither were you. When we were running toward them, I slipped and fell. It didn’t slow you down any. You continued right on.”

  “I was too afraid to turn around. Thought I would get a bullet in the back.”

  “Or too angry. Either way, you’re not what I would call helpless. Remember that. You made decisions. You were in control. As long as your brain has control of something, anything, you are not entirely helpless.”

  Laura gave him a grim smile, then continued to drive. After a moment she turned the heater off and said, “Thanks.”

  “You may not know it yet, but there might be times when this job could become stressful. We have to watch out for each other.”

  “It could get stressful!” yelled Laura, while punching Jack on the shoulder. “Well, please let me know if you think that might happen!”

  They both laughed, harder than they would normally have, as their bodies and minds leapt at the chance to relieve some tension.

  “Does Natasha prescribe something for it? The stress, I mean?” asked Laura, while glancing in the rear-view mirror at her mascara.

  “A three-olive martini works for me. Care to join me?”

  Laura shook her head. “Thanks, no. Elvis will be wondering what happened. We’ve already logged in fourteen hours today. All I want to do now is close my eyes.”

  Laura was almost home when she drove past a liquor store, then slammed on her brakes and backed up.

  Jack was relaxing on the sofa talking to Natasha when the phone rang.

  “This stuff is awful!” said Laura. “How do you drink it?”

  “Ah ... you are wise to phone the master martini maker,” replied Jack. “It is actually an acquired taste. For beginners, I recommend...”

  Elvis saw Laura’s hand tremble as she slid a martini across the kitchen table toward him. He took a sip, grimaced, and then said, “So, you set the alarm clock for four?”

  Laura nodded.

  “Pretty early.”

  Laura took a swallow but held the glass with both hands to try to stop it from spilling.

  “Are you going to tell me about it?”

  Laura peered at him from over her glass but didn’t reply.

  “Something bad happened today ... or tonight.”

  Laura put her glass back down on the table and her eyes opened wider as she feigned surprise.

  Elvis’s face reddened and he said, “Don’t lie to me, Laura! Don’t give me that act surprised, show concern, deny, deny, deny routine. You narcs do it so much that it has become a joke in our office. If you don’t — or can’t — tell me, fine, but respect me enough not to lie to me.”

  Laura’s face went blank for a moment, then she started to cry. Elvis put his arms out to her. She quickly rose and then sat on his lap and held him tight.

  “I respect you,” she sobbed, “and I love you more than anything. What happened today ... I really love you. This ... I can’t talk about it. Everything will be okay. Just trust me.”

  Elvis held her but didn’t respond. What is going on?

  chapter thirty-three

  It was quarter to four in the morning when Damien, Lance, and Whiskey Jake arrived back at the car wash. Leitch and Ray lifted their heads and turned to stare. They were still naked and tied face-down to the railings on the floor, with gags in place.

  Leitch’s eyes were wide with fear. His face was bloodied, but he still had hope. He grunted and whined as he tried to plead. White blisters on the soles of his feet were explained by the cigarette butts lying beside them.

  Ray’s eyes were dark. His experiences had taught him that pleading might only prolong the inevitable, delaying the welcome relief of death. The smell of burnt hair lingered in the air from more personal places where a cigarette lighter had been applied to his body.

  “What did you find out?” asked Damien.

  Rellik tapped Ray in the ribs with his boot and said, “Ray, here, was acting on orders from Carlos. They found out that Jack Taggart was involved with the first shipment that the cops grabbed in San Diego.”

  “How?”

  “They have sources in the phone companies. They did phone tolls of the U.S. cop who got the search warrants. They found several calls back and forth between him and Taggart. Right before the bust, during the bust ... and a call after. Good idea. Something we should be doing.”

  “Why the fuck didn’t Carlos tell me? Would have been nice to know, seeing as we had two more shiploads coming!”

  “They figured they had taken care of the problem before the next ship went out, except they whacked the wrong guy. That’s also where Leisure Suit Larry here came in. He told Ray that you weren’t prone to killin’ cops ... not even broads that work in the cops’ labs. They figured if you knew, you might back out of the deal.”

  Damien knelt close to Leitch’s face and said, “You will soon discover that killing people is an option I am not always opposed to.”

  Leitch grunted and whined as Damien stood to face Rellik again.

  “What about The Toad? Where is he?”

  “They both deny knowing him.”

  “I was told that they were both in a park with The Toad.”


  “Maybe someone bullshitted you?” suggested Rellik.

  “Same person said that these two knew each other. That info was good.”

  “I was pretty thorough, boss,” said Rellik. “I really don’t think they knew him. At least, not under that name.”

  Damien thought about this, then asked, “What about trying to drown the cop’s kid?”

  “Ray says that Carlos figured they could neutralize the cops by messin’ with their brain cells. Scare ’em all into doin’ nothin’. After that, he said somethin’ about giving them a choice of silver or lead.”

  Damien looked at Ray and said, “For your information, the cops in Canada are paid a fuck of a lot more than the cops where you come from. They’re not easily bribed here, and if you offer them silver or lead ... I guarantee they’ll give you lead!”

  “There’s another thing with Leisure Boy,” said Rellik. “Ray paid him a hundred grand to backstab us. Leisure Boy gave him reports from the rat cop before we even saw ’em. Also set up companies for Carlos to launder money here.”

  “Maybe that was The Toad’s interest in Leitch,” suggested Lance. “Using him to move the money out of Canada for him!”

  Leitch shook his head from side to side and let out a muffled protest. It brought him another kick in the ribs from Damien, who then asked, “How many guys they got here?”

  “Twenty-one people,” said Rellik. “But only four besides Ray that got balls to do stuff. The rest are mom and pop types used for laundering.”

  “Names and addresses?”

  Rellik nodded and said, “Phone numbers, too. The four tough asses live in a rented house together. Got someone watching it now. Don’t think anyone is home yet. Ray has his own apartment. We got someone lookin’ in it now.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yeah. Before we got Ray, Carlos was planning to have you personally deliver the last payment down to Colombia. Wanted to see if you would give your life to save Vicki and Katie.”

  Damien stared down at Ray for a moment, then said, “Untie his arm. The one that’s broken. He can still use it to hold a phone.”

  Rellik untied Ray’s wrist, and a moment later Damien punched in the numbers on the cellphone. He waited until Carlos answered and then said, “Carlos, your brother wishes to talk with you.” He handed the phone to Ray and said, “I’ll let you say goodbye.”