A Pair of Second Chances (Ben Jensen Series Book 1)

by Brian Gore

  Zlatco told him "good... keep watching" and hung up. He filled the group in with what little information they had so far and everyone looked to Raif. No one spoke, but all eyes asked the same question; "What do we do?"

  Raif sat quiet, deep in thought... the silence stretched out, but no man there was in a hurry. They'd been through too much. They all knew what they faced. They knew how the game was played. They waited for him to speak.

  "We can't just go busting into a place we know little about. We don't know how many are there. How they are armed. I'm sure this is the right bunch... but, we don't know enough about them to just roll in there. We must wait for an opportunity. We must be patient."

  He looked down at his hands, still grasping a coffee cup in front of him. "We must operate on the assumption that Sadik... is gone. Too much time has passed. They got from him whatever it was they wanted... whatever it had to do with... this girl... and he is gone."

  "What we do now, is not a rescue. It is..." Raif looked up from his hands, and met the eyes of every man sitting at the table... "retribution. We pay these dogs back, for their sin against Sadik, and against us... and... We collect a steep interest on the debt."

  All heads nodded in agreement... while Milan dealt another hand.

  Just after 9:30 Juka called with his second report. Zlatco put his phone on speaker and laid it in the center of the table for all to hear as Juka spoke.

  "The black Yukon left for a little while with three men in it. Another man walked up and went inside the warehouse, while that Yukon was gone. The car just came back, sat for a few minutes with the engine running. One man got out and went inside. A few minutes later, two came back out and got in, they were moving like they were in a hurry, and the Yukon took off. It took off fast. Everything is all quiet right now."

  Raif leaned close to the phone and asked; "how many do you think are inside? Do you know?"

  "I don't Raif. I couldn't see much when the doors opened. I could get closer and try to see... You want me to do that?"

  Raif thought a moment and replied; "We can't afford any more losses Juka. If you can get a better view, do it... don't take any chances... and don't waste time... but we need to know what we're up against... we need to know now." Raif jabbed the table top with his finger as he spoke.

  "give me twenty minutes Raif."

  "From this point forward, use proper military comsec. You are blue two, Out." Raif commanded.

  "Blue two out." Juka replied, and the line went dead.

  They were quickly falling back into old habits.

  Milan dealt another hand... They sat, quietly playing cards, every eye constantly flicking to the phone that still lay in the middle of the table. Two hands were dealt and played in silence other than the words required to ask for cards and play the game.

  They all jumped when a phone rang. But it was Raif's phone, not the expected call from Juka.

  They all relaxed when told it was Risto calling in to update them all on the movement of their families to a safe location in Ohio. They were a little over half way he said. Everyone was tired so he decided to take Tatjana's suggestion that they stop and sleep for the night behind a truck stop a few miles from the Ohio border. They'd drive the rest of the way in the morning.

  "Your boy is smarter then we all thought Jadranko!" Raif teased, slapping Jadranko on the shoulder. "He's learned to obey a woman a lot faster than any of us ever did!" The laughter was cut off when the phone on the table buzzed and rang.

  When Raif clicked the phone on, he answered with only a terse; "Go". Juka started without introduction; "I got where I could look through a window on the back of the warehouse. There can't be more than six men in the building. I can see through an open door into a small room inside. It looks like a factory break room. There are a few men sitting at a table in there, I can't see the whole table, but there can't be more than four or five sitting at it, playing cards. That white Chevy van is parked just inside an overhead door on the front of the warehouse with a man door beside it. There's another set of doors, one overhead, one man door over on the side.

  Inside, one man is patrolling around inside the warehouse. He's carrying what looks to me like an old Uzi. He keeps moving, his head on a swivel, and never the same path... the others I don't know, they look to all be carrying pistols... this one, the roaming guard, it feels like he knows what he's doing. While I was watching one of the card players came out to talk to the guard. They stopped right by the window. I could hear them clear as they talked. The card player said he was going to go into the office and take a nap. That the guard should make sure he woke him up at ll:30 in time for his run, and to make damn sure that Rashan fool didn't drink anything but coffee! He didn't need no drunk fool with him tonight... Then he walked off and the guard walked over to the break room...What do you want me to do?"

  "Return to your previous position... maintain position, we'll be there in an hour."

  "Roger" Juka replied

  "Out." Raif hit the end button on the phone.

  "Ok. The odds are even, though we have the advantage of surprise. But... it looks like two are going to be leaving, probably in that van. They are our target. Everybody will gear up here. We'll go in three cars. Zlatco and Mirza in Zlatco's you are Blue three. Milan, you ride with me we are Blue 6. Jadranko you take your car... when we leave the warehouse area, Juka will ride with you. You are Blue four. Everybody to my car now, and get your gear. Each man will arm with a pistol and an HK. Four spare magazines for each weapon. Each man will carry a radio on his vest and use his earpiece.... Keep your weapons out of sight while we move. Everyone, obey the damn law. Do not speed. Use your turn signals. Check all your lights before we move. Now is not the time to be careless or foolish. We do not want any complications with the law here. Communicate only when necessary. Fire only on my order. We Do NOT engage Chicago PD. If anyone sees police, or something catastrophic wrong, before we strike, call abort, three times. Everyone else acknowledge the call. Does everyone understand?"

  A low murmur of ascent went through the small group.

  Ok, then... let's move."

  The five men went out the rear of the small bar, shutting off the lights and locking the door behind them. Raif stood for a few seconds, looking at the locked door. With a smile and a shake of his head, he turned and walked to his car.

  The gear was distributed; security checks of the vehicles lights and fuel levels, and radio checks were quickly accomplished. With all gear checked and rechecked the men loaded up, started the engines and pulled out of the parking lot.

  As the cars drove across town, Raif studied the street map in his lap. From the description Zlatco gave him of the location of the warehouse, as well as the deserted warehouse from which Juka was observing, he gave the other cars instructions where to park.

  Jadranko, he told to pull into the alley behind the warehouse, with his lights off, where Juka waited. Zlatco would pull into the mouth of an alleyway a block or so to the east... while he and Milan would wait in an alley to the west.

  Raif made a com check with Juka on the radio, and then they all went silent.

  When Juka radioed that the target was moving they would follow. One car at a distance behind, and the others along parallel streets ... until the opportunity to take their target down presented.

  Each car found its place. Engines were shut down and the men quietly waited. No music on the car radio. No smoking. No talking. They simply, silently, waited... as a cat waits for a mouse.

  When their prey did finally come, they would need to be even more patient. At the least, they'd need to wait until they were far enough away so reinforcements could not be summoned in time, from the warehouse, if things went wrong. They'd also need time, in a secluded enough place, to elicit the proper answers to the questions they had.

  That they would get their answers, no one doubted. How long it would take, and how much noise the interviewee might create, no one knew. They needed both a bit of seclusion, and a bi
t of luck.

  They sat for more then an hour, until the clock ticked past midnight when the call came from Juka; "The door is going up" he whispered over his radio. "I see tail lights.... the van is backing out... the target is moving."

  The drivers of all three chase cars started their engines and sat idling. Juka maintained his overwatch position to see which way the van turned.

  "East... the Van is moving east... I'm moving to Blue four now... Blue two, out." he transimitted in crisp military manner.

  Raif pulled out his radio and transmitted; "Blue six will follow. Blue three you cover the south flank. Blue four, take the north, over."

  "Blue three, roger..."

  "Blue four, roger..."

  The men had all fallen back into their military manner with practiced ease.

  A dozen blocks from the warehouse Raif called over the radio; "Three blocks ahead is an intersection at the light. I can see the light now, it's green. It will likely be red when they get to it. They'll be blocked by a building close up to the road on their right. Blue three move ahead, to come across from the right and cut them off. Blue four, move ahead and come in to block them on the left flank. Blue six will close the back door.... Move!"

  Raif pressed on the accelerator to close the distance on the van. Just as the Chevy they pursued approached the intersection, the light turned red and they saw the van's taillights come on. Raif's car was closing fast; he intended to ram the van firmly enough to shake up those in it and cause them to jump out, angry, though unsuspecting targets... but not hard enough to do any serious damage to his car...

  His arms were just tensing up as he neared that "point of no return" when Zlatco shouted over the radio; "Abort! Police!... Abort! Abort! Abort!."

  Raif jumped on the brakes and slid to a stop behind the van, tires squealing. As the cars of Jadranko from the North, and Zlatco from the South, crossed in front of him, a cruiser of the Chicago PD passed Zlatco as they rolled through the intersection.

  Raif could see a black man glaring wide eyed, in the side, rearview mirror of the van. He stuck his head out the window waving his arm and hollering; "sorry" in what he hoped would be taken for a drunken slur.

  He could see the driver look over at his passenger, say something and then laughing and shaking his head, turn left when the light changed to green.

  Raif was quickly back on the radio; "Blue three, move to West flank, I'll take East flank, Blue four! Reverse and take up direct tail... Move!"

  The three cars moved into position like the moves had been choreographed. Two flankers a block east and west.... the pursuit car a block to the rear.

  "Blue four... Keep us informed what's going on."

  "Roger... he's just put his blinker on... it looks... yes... he's getting on the JFK expressway headed... west..."

  "Blue six... everyone get on the expressway... Blue four stay on him... Blue three stay back with me..."

  "Blue four, roger."

  "Blue three, roger."

  They'd only run on the expressway for a few minutes when the transmission came; "Rabbit turning north on I-94... North on I-94"

  "Blue six, roger."

  "Blue three, roger."

  The traffic was light but it was still impossible to make the stop on the Interstate. So the Bosnians, Jadranko a few hundred feet back, the other two cars a quarter mile in the rear followed along, waiting for their opening.

  They ran through the night, through Skokie to get off on Lake Ave. and turn east toward Lake Michigan. Just north of Gillson Park they turned north along the coast and after a very few miles, the Van turned onto the access road, and then into the parking lot of a small marina.

  They had a problem. Though it was after 1 A.M. and the parking lot was deserted, there was no way the men, pursuing in the three cars, could get close enough to the van to make a clean job of it. It was just not credible that three cars would, innocently pull into the marina at this time of night.

  Their target would have too much warning, and the likelihood of being able to grab one of them without a shoot out was slim, and they needed one of them.

  Raif called out over the radio. "Roll past, park out of sight. We will approach on foot."

  Zlatco keyed his mic; "Blue three Roger."

  Jadranko did the same; "Blue four Roger."

  The three cars continued on past, and pulled off the road, behind a tall hedge, just past the parking lot. The six would-be plumbers jumped out, silently closed their doors and sprinted back to the end of the hedge, each gripping an identical HK assault rifle.

  Raif peered around the hedge to see the van parked just over a hundred feet away. It was backed up to the gangway that led down to the slips; each filled with cabin cruisers of various makes and models.

  The two black men were dragging what was obviously a plastic shrouded body out of the rear of the van. In the quiet he could hear the crinkle of the plastic as they handled the body.

  He could hear their voices equally as clearly.

  The man closest to the van laid his end on the pavement so he could reach up and close the rear door of the van. "We'll load this one, and then come back for the other. We can get the weights last."

  "Right! Hurry Mahn. No one is around, let's get it done!"

  Raif turned to his squad, head spinning. They all leaned in close to hear his whisper. "They're loading bodies", he signaled two with his hand; "on a boat... then they're coming back to get weights. We'll wait until they are moving the second... then we'll close in."

  The Jamaicans had to stop at the bottom of the gangway to unlock the security gate and tie it back. The marina was small and they made quick work of carrying and loading the two bodies.

  They returned from loading the second body, failing to see the six crouching Bosnians stacked up in front of the van. Kai had just pulled the rear doors of the van open, to get the chain and cement blocks, when they suddenly found themselves surrounded; with rifle muzzles pressed against they're backs and necks.

  Only one man spoke. The ice in his voice made the Jamaican disposal crew shiver.

  "Hello Gentlemen. Nice night for a cruise, don't you think? Go ahead and pick up what you're after. I'm sure we'll find a use for it."

  "Zlatco, Jadranko, Milan, take the cars and go find a place to wait without drawing attention. Mirza, and Juka will come with me. You two," Raif gestured at the two Jamaicans,"just continue with what you were doing before we so rudely interrupted."

  Kai and Rashan picked up the chain and cement blocks and started moving toward the boat.

  "Tyrone gon' kill us Mahn!" Rashan hissed at Kai."

  "You black ass fool! What you think these guys are up to? Tyrone ain't got no chance at all!" Kai hissed back.

  Raif laughed at them. Pointing at Kai with his rifle barrel as they carried their load down the gangway he told him; "You know, you're not half as stupid as you look!"

  Chapter 10

  Amanda had called the motel office, the night before, to ask for a wake up call. That call came through promptly at 6 a.m. as requested.

  With the few possessions they had, it didn't take the two long to get them loaded in the car and be ready to roll. Amanda was about to put the key in the ignition when an idea struck her.

  Though she didn't see how they could be following her yet, they had always found her in the past. Maybe, just in case, laying down a false trail would help. It sure couldn't hurt. With that thought she looked back at Timmy, already nearly back to sleep in his car seat, and told him; "Be right back Baby, I have to go to the office for a minute."

  The boy just mumbled something, as he slid back to sleep in the early morning.

  When she walked into the office with a road map in her hand the clerk behind the desk asked if there was something she needed.

  "Yes, there is. I'm going to take my son camping! I was wondering if you could suggest which of these might be the nicer places." and she held the map up, pointing to several state recreation areas to the south, near th
e Nebraska state line."

  The clerk replied that he and his father frequently went fishing at the Burke Lake area, and that's where he'd go, if it was his choice.

  Amanda thanked him, and with the comment; "Well then, that's where my son and I will go then!" she shook his hand and gave him a bright, full face smile. If he was asked, she wanted him to be able to say; "Yeah, she said she was going south, to camp at Burke Lake!"

  However, when she got in her car and started the engine, her car went west, not south. As she pulled away from the motel, the clock on the dash clicked over 6:45.

  Unseen by her, at that same moment, a black Yukon was rolling down an exit ramp into the eastern edge of Mitchell, South Dakota.

  Amanda drove steadily west, stopping only for fuel at Wall, lunch in Rapid City, and of course, for Timmy to pee. "I swear little man... You pee twice as much as you drink!" she teased him. The boy just looked up at his momma, and laughed.

  That afternoon, though her map said the driving time should take her seven and a half hours, she found that she'd made it to Sheridan, Wyoming in eight, even with their many stops. "I better watch the speedometer better" she laughed to herself, "We don't need any speeding tickets! All I need is for some curious cop to find a gym bag full of twenty dollar bills!"

  After they'd checked into their motel for the night, it still being not much more than mid afternoon, she asked Timmy if he'd like to go for a walk and stretch his legs. "I think I saw a park with a slide just up the road!"

  "Hooray Momma! Can I go on the slide?" the boy giggled back at her.

  "You've been such a good little man all day, you can go on it 'till you rub a hole in your jeans!" she laughed back.