***
Laying atop the ruined lighthouse and concealed in tan camouflage, Bo Raines sighted in on Pierce through his scope.
He had seen Pierce before, but not Jimmy, and he assumed that they were to be a part of the raid on the warehouse later.
Bo thought of Pierce as the skinny detective, and although he couldn’t be certain, he thought that Pierce was the cop who saved his parents at the farm. Bo decided to find out. He called the cell phone number that his father had sent him. The one for Pierce.
When the skinny detective reached into his pocket and took out his phone, Bo smiled.
He now had a name for the man.
***
Pierce saw the unfamiliar number on his phone and wondered who was calling. He answered it as he stood near the bay.
“Hello, this is Pierce, who’s calling?”
“Detective Pierce, this is Bo Raines, and sir, I want to thank you for saving my mother and father.”
Pierce covered the phone and told Jimmy who was on the other end, he then spoke to Bo.
“You’re welcome, Bo, and call me Rick, after all, we’re on the same side.”
“Are we? Or would you arrest me on sight and place me in a cell beside the Bay Street Demons?”
“I am a cop, but I’m also a man who has a sister, and I am so sorry for your loss.”
“I’m sorry for yours as well, sir. I saw Detective Finder’s murder. It was committed by a middle-aged blond woman who has a scar on her left cheek. She’s a hanger-on with the Bay Street Demons.”
“Yes, I’ve recently learned about her. Her name is Andrea, and I’ll catch the Bay Street Demons, Bo, count on it.”
“No sir, I will kill the Bay Street Demons, and you can count on that.”
The line went dead and Pierce put away his phone.
“What did he have to say?” Jimmy asked.
“He said that he was going to kill the Bay Street Demons.”
“Maybe someday, but there’s no way he could know that they’ll be down here later, right?”
“I don’t see how. I was almost kept out of the loop.”
Jimmy smiled slightly and looked around, as an idea occurred to him.
“Why do you think Raines called you now, while we’re here?”
“I don’t know; why do you ask?”
“What would you do if you came across Bo Raines, Rick?”
Pierce looked thoughtful, then shrugged.
“The cop part of me wants to arrest him, but there’s another part of me that wants to give him a medal.”
“I’d let him have the damn Demons, and if I could I’d help him escape.”
“I guess that’s why you’re not a cop anymore.”
“Yeah, now ask yourself why you still are one.”
“I do that often, Jimmy, and if I came across Bo Raines, I might have to make a choice between doing my duty and doing what’s right.”
Jimmy pointed at Pierce.
“See, that’s why I’m no longer a cop. Doing your duty and doing the right thing should be one and the same, but they’re not.”
Pierce wanted to argue the point, but found that he couldn’t.
CHAPTER 24
As Coke suggested, at four o’clock, Pierce, Jake Collins, and Stacey Hightower just happened to run into FBI agents Rodgers and Abrams in front of Caesars Casino.
The group then walked across the boardwalk to The Pier Shops and sat together inside the food court. Pierce filled them in on the location near the warehouse he’d been shown by Jimmy. After everyone ate an early dinner of fast food, they followed Pierce to the old road near the bay.
Pierce noticed that Jake and Stacey had driven down together and that they seemed to be getting along well. He was happy for his partner and hoped the two would become a couple. He liked them both, and thought that they might be good for each other.
Agent Rodgers smiled as he made a sweeping gesture.
“This place will be a good staging area for us if nothing else.”
Stacey nodded in agreement, and then made a suggestion.
“If the Demons appear, let’s not jump the gun on them. If Rick’s friend is right, they’ll make it easy for us to capture them by entering that drainage ditch. Why don’t we go take a look at it and see where we can set up an ambush? If the Demons show, we’ll have them dead to rights.”
“Sounds good to me,” Pierce said. “But we’ll also need people to stay here. There are five of us, six with Jimmy, let’s walk that ditch and then we’ll have a better idea of how to implement the plan.”
Abrams spoke for the first time since greeting everyone in front of the casino.
“Where will your friend be Rick? We don’t need any friendly fire incidents.”
Pierce took out his phone and brought up a picture that had been taken months earlier. It showed him with Jimmy and Jake at a football game. Stacey, Rogers, and Abrams studied Jimmy’s face.
“Jimmy is a big guy and he still has the beard,” Pierce said. “He’ll be watching my back, so why don’t we do this. Jimmy and I will be Team One, Stacey and Jake will be Team Two, and Abrams, you and Rogers can be Team Three.” Pierce turned his head and spoke to Collins. “Did you bring what I asked you to get?”
“Yeah, Rick, they’re in my car, six two-way radios and two night-vision monoculars. I borrowed them from my brother’s pawn shop. He said if we damaged any of it he would kill me.”
“He’ll get it all back in one piece, but you and Stacey keep one monocular and pass the other to Rogers. The area around the drainage ditch will be darker than out here by the water, and the moon will be almost full tonight.”
Pierce began walking towards the collapsed wall.
“Let me show you the drainage ditch.”
The others followed Pierce, unaware of the fact that they were being observed through a rifle scope by Bo Raines.
***
At the same time, Bo Raines was being watched by Jimmy Drake.
Jimmy was eyeing Bo through a pair of binoculars. He was hidden from view behind an abandoned car in a weedy lot that was on the other side of the drainage ditch.
When he saw that Bo was looking elsewhere, Jimmy went on the move, determined to sneak up on Bo Raines. Jimmy wanted to talk to the man, not hand him over to Pierce.
It took him nearly an hour of painstakingly slow movements to climb to the top of the crumbling lighthouse. Jimmy was determined not to make a sound that would alert Bo of his presence. However, when he finally made it to the top, he found that he was alone.
Then, he saw the note. It had been secured from the wind by a rock that acted as a paperweight.
NICE TRY, FRIEND, LET PIERCE KNOW THAT THE DEMONS ARE MINE.
Jimmy searched the surrounding area for a sign of Bo, seeing nothing, he lowered the binoculars and smiled. If the Demons showed, they would be in for one hell of a surprise.
Before placing the note back under the rock, Jimmy wrote a note of his own, to Bo. He then made a show of pointing to the note while gesturing with his pen.
Although he couldn’t see Bo, he was certain that he was being observed by him.
Jimmy placed the note under the rock again with the hope that Bo would read it. He then flashed a thumbs up sign and made his way back down the shaky spiral staircase of the old lighthouse, a building that had been designed for sending signals.
CHAPTER 25
Just before midnight, Gorgon drove a stolen box truck down the cracked road that ran alongside the fence of the switching station.
There was a patch of land big enough to make a three-point turn with the truck. Gorgon used the space so that the truck would be ready to drive away quickly, if needed. He then backed up so that Moloch could do the same with his vehicle, which was following him.
That left the rear of the truck facing the bay, and made it easier for them to unload their motorcycles. They didn’t dare drive down on them either together or separately.
Gorgon had seen more than one motorcycle pul
led over by a cop on the highway as he drove down. While he couldn’t be certain that the police were pulling bikes over randomly in hope of finding them, it seemed a safe bet.
Andrea was seated beside Gorgon while Moloch followed behind in a stolen van. The van contained the rest of the Demons, along with Darla, who had fallen asleep on the ride down. Moloch followed Gorgon’s lead and turned the van around, but if everything went right, they would be on a ship by morning and headed to Mexico.
When she awoke, Darla looked around with a blank expression and asked a question.
“Where are we?”
“A.C. baby, but we’ll soon be in Mexico,” Moloch said.
Darla kissed him.
“I want to be your Señorita.”
One of the other Demons laughed.
“Darla, you’re everybody’s Señorita. Hell, you gave three of us blowjobs this morning.”
“Four,” said a Demon named Rum. He was a shaggy-looking man with dark blond hair. Moloch had tried explaining to the young man that rum wasn’t an actual demon, but an alcoholic beverage, but then figured what the hell, and so the name stuck.
Darla pouted.
“I just like being friendly.”
“We ain’t complainin’, honey,” Moloch said.
Everyone poured out of the van and stretched as Gorgon and Andrea did the same by the truck. They had arrived later than they had planned, and were still a short walk from the waters of the bay. They were unaware that they weren’t the only ones in the area.
***
Pierce was among a grouping of wild bushes on the left side of the road, near the bay. He had seen the headlights of the Demons’ vehicles.
After taking out his two-way radio, Pierce tuned in to the proper channel to inform his group that there was activity out on the road by the switching station.
The group radioed back their acknowledgement, and then Rogers had news as well.
“There’s a lot of shouting coming from the rear of the warehouse. It looks like two of the men are arguing over something.”
“Could that be a part of the raid, maybe a distraction?” Pierce asked.
“Maybe,” Rogers said. “But it looks intense. In any event, the raid goes down in two minutes, so keep us apprised if those sounds you hear are the Demons.”
“Roger that,” Pierce said. He then called Jimmy on a separate channel.
“Go Rick,” Jimmy said.
“Where are you?”
“Straight ahead and to your right, behind the wall. I’m laying on my stomach at the base of the wall where there’s a hole I can fire through. This old stone wall will offer some cover, and when the Demons show, we’ll have them in a crossfire.”
“That’s not the plan, Jimmy. Rogers and Abrams will arrest them on federal charges. We’ll only shoot if they resist.”
“I hear you, but there’s a player in this game that’s a wildcard, Bo Raines.”
“Raines is here?”
“He was in that old lighthouse earlier. When I went there he was gone, but I’d bet my bike that he hasn’t gone far.”
Pierce reddened in anger.
“Damn it, Jimmy. Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“I want Bo to go free and these scumbags deserve to die. You might have gotten in the way of that.”
“So what you’re saying is, that once the Demons come down here, they’re dead, slaughtered?”
“What I’m saying is that Bo Raines won’t be stopped, and if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
The sound of several motorcycles coming to life reached Pierce’s ears.
“The Demons are here. I hear motorcycles up by the chain-link fence,” Pierce told Jimmy.
He then called the others and let them know that the Demons had arrived and that Bo Raines was in the area as well.
Pierce heard everyone reply, but then his two-way radio came to life with Rogers’ voice.
“That argument at the rear of the warehouse just turned into an execution. A third man snuck up behind one of the others and blew his brains out. I sure as hell hope that wasn’t Homeland Security’s mole.”
Abrams came on the air next.
“Homeland Security agents are moving in and—”
The sound of a blast came over the radio and everyone called Abrams name at once, but it was Rogers that answered.
“Abrams and I are good, but Homeland Security has trouble. The Salvadorans have grenades and submachine guns. I count three agents down. Pierce, Abrams and I are going to join the fight, you and the others handle the Demons. Rodgers out.”
Pierce called Jake Collins.
“Can you see what’s going on?”
“Yeah Rick, and it’s not good. We’ve got to help Homeland. The Salvadorans are firing on them and we know what side the Demons will be on if they join the fight.”
Pierce gripped his two-way radio as he took a second to think.
“Listen to me, Jake, you and Stacey help Rogers and Abrams. Jimmy and I will deal with the Demons.”
“There’s too many Demons for the two of you, Rick,” Jake said.
“You forget, Bo Raines is here, now go, partner, go help Rogers!”
“Stay safe, Rick. Collins out.”
The radio went quiet, but then Jimmy’s voice came through.
“Hear that rumble growing louder? That’s the Demons. We have to keep them from joining the fight.”
Pierce came out of hiding, ran to the center of the decaying road, and moved his suit jacket aside so that the badge on his hip was visible. The road in front of him had collapsed and was lower than the section he stood on, while behind him was a trench a foot wide. If he had to, he could dive into it to take cover.
Jimmy called to him from behind the wall.
“What the hell are you doing, Rick?”
“The Demons get one chance, Jimmy. The instant they raise a weapon, waste them.”
“I think Raines will beat us to it.”
“Yeah, and that’s what I’m counting on, but I need one of them alive. I have to find the woman named Andrea. They know where she is.”
The rumbling grew louder as the Demons slowly made their way down the path and onto the mostly flat, but cracked and weedy, road.
Gorgon was first, followed by Moloch, then came the others, and they lined up in a semicircle facing Pierce, whose weapon was drawn but hanging by his side. The bikes were so loud that they drowned out the sound of the lapping water, while their headlights threatened to blind him. If not for the fact that the Demons were parked atop a sunken section of the roadway, their headlight beams would have rendered him blind.
Gorgon and Moloch took off their helmets and glanced at each other before turning their attention back to Pierce.
“Evening Officer,” Gorgon shouted. “What can we do for you?”
Pierce took a step closer, while turning sideways. It not only made him a smaller target, but would make it easier for him to drop down and roll into the trench.
“Bo Raines is nearby. If you sacks of shit want a chance of staying alive, toss your guns away, then get down on the ground and raise your hands in the air.”
A tense moment passed, and then Gorgon spoke.
“That ain’t gonna happen, cop.”
Pierce smiled.
“I was actually hoping you’d say that.”
Pierce was bringing his gun up, intending to shoot Gorgon, but he was too slow, much too slow.
CHAPTER 26
Gorgon had left Andrea and Darla behind with the stolen truck and van.
If things went bad with the Salvadorans, they would have to take off in a hurry. If all were well, he’d send a couple of the Demons back to fetch them.
He had no idea that the Salvadorans were engaged in a battle with Homeland Security. By the time the first grenade went off, the Demons had been on their loud bikes and wearing helmets.
As soon as they made it down to the bay, Gorgon knew that things would not go smoothly. He had
spotted Ricardo Pierce, and then pointed him out to Moloch.
Gorgon couldn’t be sure, but he thought it was the same cop who had been at the farm the day before. The skinny bastard was holding a gun at his side and displaying a badge on his hip like he was Eliot Ness or something. If he wasn’t alone, he sure as hell seemed to be.
Gorgon was wearing the backpack with the gold in it. It would be shitty enough to get arrested, but to lose the gold, that would be a freakin’ nightmare.
He stopped his bike and took out his gun slowly, to let it hang by his side. He made a hand signal for the other seven Demons to stop, and watched them follow his lead. After he took his helmet off, he saw that Moloch had done the same. Moloch’s eyes reflected what Gorgon was feeling. There was no damn way that they were going to prison.
Another look around seemed to confirm that the cop was alone. It was time to find out what game he was playing.
“Evening Officer,” Gorgon shouted. “What can we do for you?”
Gorgon watched the cop move closer, even as he kept an eye on the man’s gun.
“Bo Raines is nearby. If you sacks of shit want a chance of staying alive, toss your guns away, then get down on the ground and raise your hands in the air.”
Gorgon heard Moloch whisper a curse, and from the corner of his eye, he could see that Moloch was looking around for Soldier-boy. It was a bluff by the cop, Gorgon was sure of it. If Soldier-boy was near, he’d be shooting at them.
Gorgon smiled.
“That ain’t gonna happen, cop.”
When the cop grinned back, Gorgon saw a steeliness enter his eyes.
“I was actually hoping you’d say that.”
In a flash, the cop was bringing up his weapon, but he never got the chance to use it.
***
Pierce was standing five yards away from Gorgon, as he raised his gun, the ground in front of him exploded. He leapt away so fast that he nearly tripped and fell backwards into the trench. Pierce actually had to hop over it to keep his balance, as more shots drove him farther back.
The Demons all had their weapons out and were looking around when the shooting stopped. The shots had been fired from a water tower, which sat on the other side of the switching station. The rounds had driven Pierce back so far that he was near Jimmy Drake.
Demons (A Detective Pierce Novel Book 2) Page 10
