Payback: A sniper seeking revenge terrorizes the mob (Assassin Series Book 1)

by David Nees

  Doreen smiled at Ray. He was opening up. It might make him hesitate to pull the trigger on her. “Well, from a girl’s point of view, we like the security of a having a man we can rely on. You know someone who provides, is a good earner and doesn’t mess around…at least not too much.”

  Ray shrugged. “Yeah, I get that, but it comes with too many restrictions.”

  “You’ll get there. There’ll be a time when you’ll like coming home to a nice, home-cooked meal and someone who knows just how to turn you on in bed. Yeah, the fast girls are fun, but the steady ones, the ones who know you, are also fun. They get to know how to please their man.”

  She smiled at him. Ray appeared about ten years younger than Doreen, but his look told her he liked what he was looking at. It was similar to the young lawyers just out of school that she navigated around at work. She knew how to play this scene out.

  “Can I get up and stretch a bit? I’ll be quiet,” Doreen asked.

  Ray nodded. She stood up and stretched voluptuously. Ray took it all in with interest. Then Doreen walked around the room as Ray’s eyes followed her. She looked over at him as she smiled and tried to button her torn blouse. Ray smiled back.

  “I like you, Ray. You’re nice. When this is over, maybe we can go out to dinner sometime. It’d be fun.” Doreen guessed he was thinking he was a real lady killer.

  “So now you want me to spend money on you, take you to some fancy place? You figure that makes up for tying you up?” Ray asked.

  “It would help. And I know how to show my appreciation for being treated nice.” She winked at him.

  Ray now was leering back at her. “You sound adventurous. I thought you was Tommy’s girl.”

  “I like Tommy but he didn’t protect me. A girl likes someone who can protect her as well as show her a good time.”

  “So you like having a good time?”

  “With the right guy, I can get pretty adventurous. All this,” she waved her hand around the room, “would be exciting, except that I’m the hostage. And that pisses me off.”

  Ray walked over to her. “Maybe we can make that happen, when this is over.”

  “Make what happen?” she asked, looking inviting.

  “Dinner and some time in bed. I like a girl who’s adventurous.” He bent down to kiss her and Doreen met him with a long, full kiss.

  “Mmmm, I like that,” she said.

  Ray started to slide his hands over her breasts.

  “Not now, not here,” she said breathlessly. “Let’s wait until this shit is over.” She stepped back, still smiling as Ray stopped, obviously frustrated.

  Chapter 61

  Dan and Tommy drove down to the warehouse district. The street was full of abandoned buildings. They pulled into an ally four blocks away and worked their way towards the warehouse where Joey waited. Two blocks away, they broke into an abandoned building on the other side of the street and found their way to the roof. They crept to the parapet and took position behind a cracked section where Dan could place his rifle. He helped Tommy set up the spotting scope with the range finder. After carefully measuring the distance, they looked for clues to tell them the wind direction and strength. Dan worked the numbers in his head and calculated the sight adjustments. Satisfied he had the rifle properly sighted in; they watched and waited for a clear shot.

  They could see the two men staked out in front, behind two cars, watching the front entrance to the parking lot. Finally, two men emerged on the roof and split up, one going to the far side of the building, the other towards them. The men kept low while moving. The one nearest them had cover from the parapet when he sat down.

  “Damn!” Tommy cursed, partly under his breath. “How you going to see him?”

  “Patience,” Dan said. “He has to look out to keep watch, that’s how I’ll get him. The other one has no cover from this angle.”

  “So who’s first?” Tommy asked.

  “The nearest one. The one on the far side can’t duck if he sees the other one go down. I’ll have a chance to get him, but he’ll probably be a moving target.”

  “You can hit a moving target that far away?”

  “If I have to.” Dan settled down with his rifle. He had it propped up and steadied in the crack, giving him a solid shooting foundation. “Here we go. Remember, after this, we move fast into the neighboring warehouse, break a window, and get to the tunnel. We’ll drop the sniper gear in the alley before we cross the street and get it on the way back.”

  Tommy didn’t respond. He was worried whether there would be a way back and would it include Doreen. He kept silent, not wanting to disturb Dan’s concentration.

  His surroundings faded away, the familiar tunnel emerged between Dan and his target until they were locked together in their own private universe, defining the ends of a path on which the bullet would travel as if guided by a wire from muzzle to the target. His breathing slowed, his heart rate slowed. He waited. When the head appeared he would have two or three seconds before the man would drop down again. That was enough.

  The head came up and the man scanned the block looking towards Dan but not seeing him. Even from a distance, Dan could tell he was nervous, he knew danger was out there, somewhere. He looked down the street, searching for something out of the ordinary. Dan’s rifle moved slightly to the right and centered on the man’s forehead. He let out half a breath and stopped. The connection was there, from his barrel to the man’s head. His finger gently squeezed back and the rifle let out a muffled pop as it jumped. Tommy, looking through the spotting scope, saw the man’s head fly backwards as he dropped out of sight. Dan shifted immediately to the other man.

  The second rooftop lookout heard the sound of his partner falling back but thought it was just him shifting to a more comfortable position. He understood. It was damned uncomfortable to crouch behind the roof edge for cover. He wasn’t even sure the raised edge would stop a bullet. What he didn’t realize was that those few thoughts before he turned to look back were going to be fatal for him, depriving him of the slim chance he had to run for cover. As he turned, the .308 round smashed through his left temple, blowing out the right side of his brain. He crumpled to the roof in a tangled heap. There was no sound except for the muffled pop two blocks away. The men watching the entrance didn’t know death had visited the roof of the building.

  Dan thought about taking out the street lookouts, but they were just sitting behind the cars, not moving, not presenting good targets. He turned to Tommy who was still looking through the spotting scope. “Let’s go, keep low.” He gathered up the casings and quickly disassembled the rifle, putting it in the gear bag. “Tommy, the scope. Put it in the bag and let’s go.”

  Tommy turned to him, his eyes wide, his mouth open. He put the scope in the bag and followed Dan across the roof to the stairway door.

  They ran down the stairs from the roof and then went back out to the fire escape to complete their exit. In the alley, Dan took out the shotgun and 9 mm and handed them to Tommy. Then he grabbed his .223 carbine and .45.

  “Okay, we gotta cross the street without being seen.”

  They waited, studying the cars in the parking area three blocks away where the lookouts were hiding. Not seeing them, Dan concluded they wouldn’t be seen and dashed across the street. They began working their way towards the building where Joey waited, moving carefully from lot to lot. When they were one block away, they broke a window in a warehouse two buildings away from their target and entered. It was abandoned like all the warehouses in the three block area. Racing through the main floor, Dan finally found the cover that lead to the tunnel. The latch was rusty.

  “Find a bar to give me some leverage,” he told Tommy. Tommy scrounged around and came back with a steel bar used to lever up pallets. Dan inserted it and the latch finally sprang open. They quickly went down and began a crouched run towards the warehouse. Dan had measured his stride and counted off the paces. After a couple of minutes they stopped; running bent over was n
ot so easy, especially with Dan’s side still hurting from Frank’s shot.

  “Are we close?” Tommy asked.

  “About half way. When I think we’re close we walk and look for the hatch. There’ll be a ladder for climbing up.”

  “How do we get out without getting shot?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s see what we got when we get to the ladder and hatch.”

  After another few minutes, they slowed to a walk and then Dan pointed to the ladder ahead. “That’s it.” Tommy nodded. When they got to the bottom of the ladder, Dan whispered, “They won’t be expecting us to come up from the floor. They had guys on the roof, guys out front, and probably guys out back. I’ll bet Doreen’s not on the main floor. Did you notice the warehouse we entered? It had a mezzanine floor with offices. That’s a pretty standard layout. She’s probably in an office on the mezzanine and Joey’s up there as well.”

  “So there won’t be anyone watching the floor?” Tommy whispered back.

  “No. They’ll all be watching the outside.”

  “We’re going to make some noise getting the hatch open.”

  “Can’t be helped. We need to do it quickly and get out. Then we’re on even ground and not sitting ducks.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Tommy asked.

  “We get out. You take up a position where you can cover the front entrance and, if possible, the rear. I’ll go up on the mezzanine and take care of Joey.”

  “Simple as that. Sounds too easy.”

  “Nothing’s easy, but that’s the plan we’ll use. How it works out depends on a lot of things. Mostly how we react to what happens. The guys from the front will come in at some point. Be ready. You can’t hesitate and you can’t miss. If you get shot or the outside guys get past you, they can come at me from behind.”

  Tommy stared hard at Dan, and nodded he understood.

  “The shotgun is loaded with double aught shot. It’ll stop a man fifty yards out. Just aim at the chest, center mass, the largest part and let fly. The gun re-chambers a round automatically, so you just keep it aimed and keep pulling the trigger. Remember to load additional shells as soon as you stop shooting. You don’t want to get caught empty. Got it?”

  “I got it the first time,” Tommy whispered back.

  “Okay, here we go.” Dan put the bar in the latch lever and turned it.

  Chapter 62

  The latch creaked as it scraped over metal for the first time in years. The creak grew to a screech as Dan swung the door open. Both men jumped up and quickly ran for cover. Dan pointed out the front door to Tommy and then located a set of stairs leading to the mezzanine. Tommy pointed to the rear with a questioning look. Dan shrugged. There were multiple doors at the rear of the building.

  Joey shouted from above, “Benny, Louie, that you down there? What’re you doing inside?”

  His voice came from the far end of the warehouse, at the end of the mezzanine. Dan gave Tommy the thumbs up and quietly headed for the stair opposite from where they heard Joey.

  The mezzanine was not uniform. Where Dan went up it consisted of a single row of offices jutting out over the main floor. Half way down the length of the warehouse, it stepped forward with another row of offices. The corridor ran in front of the offices along the narrower part and then split in two where the mezzanine jutted further out. One corridor went straight and became an enclosed hallway servicing the rear offices. The other jogged left and went around to the front of the expanded mezzanine to access the front offices. There the corridor was enclosed with glass in a vain attempt to keep the dust and dirt from the warehouse out of the offices.

  When Joey heard no reply, he took out his phone and called Benny. “Where the hell are you?” he yelled into the phone.

  “Out front.”

  “Anyone come in?” Joey asked.

  “No, we’re both out here. Haven’t seen a thing.”

  “Shit. Get in here quick. He’s inside.”

  “How could he be?” Benny asked.

  “How the fuck do I know? Someone’s on the main floor. I heard him. Get in here.” And he hung up.

  Dan was about half way down the first part of the walkway when the front door opened. He dropped to the floor. When Joey’s men were through the door and looking around, Tommy’s shotgun roared. One of the men went down, his chest torn open with a large red stain spreading on his shirt. The other started to run and was knocked to the ground by the second blast from the shotgun. The shot hit him in the groin and hips. He turned to fire as Tommy loosed another blast that hit him in the head and torso. He twisted on the floor for a moment and then stopped moving. The first man was moaning and gasping, barely alive.

  Joey, hearing the shotgun blasts, stayed hidden in the doorway of the last office. He had a clear shot down the corridor. He waited. If his guys didn’t get Dan, Joey would when he came around the corner, there was no other approach. Recognizing the sounds, he wondered why Dan would use a shotgun. He expected an AR15 or Kalashnikov type carbine, not a shotgun.

  Before the shotgun blast, Doreen had begun to pace again. Walking kept Ray from getting ahead of himself in the romance department. She gave him plenty of enticing looks indicating she wanted this to be over so they could get on to more fun things.

  When the shotgun fired, Ray headed to the door. He turned his back on Doreen, his attention now on what was going on outside the room. Before he reached the door, Doreen grabbed the back of the metal chair and swung it over her head with her arms fully extended. She brought it down across Ray’s shoulders and head with all the force she could generate. The gun dropped from his hand as he grunted and fell to his knees. Without hesitation, Doreen swung the chair again and brought it down on him. He slumped to the ground. Then she grabbed Ray’s gun and retreated to the corner of the room farthest from the door.

  With more strength than Doreen could imagine, Ray got to his knees, grunting. He turned his head back to Doreen and looked at her like he didn’t know who she was. “F-f-fuckin’ bitch,” he stammered as he tried to get to his feet.

  “Stay there. I don’t want to shoot you,” Doreen yelled. She held Ray’s pistol, a .45 semi-automatic, in both hands. Her whole body was shaking; the gun wavered and shook as she tried to keep it trained in Ray.

  Ray didn’t make it to his feet. He crawled forward towards Doreen and tried to stand again. “F-fuckin’ bitch,” he said again, this time a little more clearly.

  “Stay back!” Doreen shouted now. “Don’t come any closer.”

  Ray stopped moving forward and grasping the edge of the table, he slowly levered himself upright. He swayed and would have fallen if not for the table. “You gonna pay for that. Why the fuck’d you do that?”

  Doreen didn’t answer. She just kept the gun pointed as best she could at Ray’s chest.

  Then Ray lurched forward. “Gimme the gun, you bitch,” he mumbled, his eyes wavering, rolling. He looked like he couldn’t keep Doreen in focus. He took another step, and then another.

  “Stop!” Doreen screamed now. But Ray kept shuffling, forward, slow and unsteady, his eyes now beginning to focus on her with a dark intensity. She closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. She squeezed harder, pulling it with all her strength. Nothing happened. Oh God. It won’t fire!

  Ray took another unsteady step. Doreen’s mind raced. She had to think. The gun had to work. What was stopping it? Suddenly she remembered; guns have safety switches. Where was this one? Frantically her fingers felt around the weapon hunting for a switch of some sort. She couldn’t take her eyes off Ray. He had murder in his look now as his head got clearer. He took another step, this time more steady. Another step. Doreen’s fingers found a lever. She tried to move it up; it would not go. She pushed down and it flicked into a new position. Ray stepped forward. The gun fired, almost jumping out of Doreen’s hand. The bullet hit him high on his right chest almost at his shoulder. Ray fell sideways and reached out towards Doreen, trying to grab her ankles. She squirmed s
ideways and backed herself along the wall out of his reach.

  “Fuckin’ bitch,” Ray said again. He struggled to move.

  Tommy turned to the rear after taking down the two at the front door. There had to be men stationed out back, at the loading docks. They would be coming in one of the back doors. He scanned them frantically, not wanting to get surprised. Suddenly a door creaked open. He turned to it and without hesitation, brought the shotgun around and let off two blasts at a man coming through. The man backed out of the door with only a few buckshot pellets hitting him in the chest and arms.

  “There’s a shotgun inside and no cover,” he shouted to the other two. “Jesus, I almost got killed just opening the door.”

  They looked at each other. “How do we get in?” one of them asked.

  “No way I’m going in there. I’m not getting killed for Joey. That guy Dan’s a killer and he’s got a big ass shotgun. Let Joey take care of him.” He turned and hurriedly limped towards his car holding his wounded arm. The other two hesitated for a moment and then ran after him.

  Joey heard the .45 go off in the next room. Then he heard the shotgun fire again from downstairs. He took a deep breath and moved out from his hiding place. He stepped to the door where Doreen was held.

  “Ray, what the fuck you doing shooting?” He opened the door. When he started into the room, Doreen fired off two rounds from Ray’s pistol. Joey backed out and shut the door. His mind reeled. What had just happened in there? As he was getting ready to open the door and storm in, someone called his name.

  Joey spun around. Dan shot him in his right shoulder. He staggered back. “What you doing up here?”

  “Thought I was downstairs? That’s Tommy. He’s got my back.”