“You going to stay here all night, King?” Captain Howe stopped at Jack’s desk. His overcoat folded across his arm, as his briefcase hung in the other hand.
“No, sir. I’m just tying up some loose ends before I go.”
“Didn’t I hear you tell somebody earlier that you were meeting your family for dinner?”
“Yes, sir, but I’m almost through with this.” Howe turned towards Jack and bent over his desk.
“Let me tell you something, Detective King. No matter bad this guy is that you’re trying to catch. No matter how it long it takes to catch him. And no matter what I may say about the job you’re doing. There’s only one thing that matters when it’s all over.”
“What’s that sir?”
“Your family, Jack. They’ll always love you Jack, no matter what else happens.”
“Yes, sir, but I still have to finish this-“ Jack began.
“Have you got the guy in custody yet?” Howe asked, as a puzzled look crossed Jack’s face.
“No, sir.”
“Then it can wait until tomorrow. Go to your family Jack. You need them. And they need you.” Howe turned and walked out of the office. He did not wait for Jack to respond. Jack knew that he needed to finish the report anyway. He glanced at the clock and his heart sunk. Six-fifty. He was beyond late, and he still hadn’t left yet. Hurriedly he saved his work, gathered his things and grabbed his jacket on the way out the door. He sprinted to the elevator, and began to repeatedly tap the down arrow, until finally he heard the bell ring that indicated the elevator had come to a stop on his floor. As the door opened, he expected it to be full of people, but for once it was completely empty. He stepped inside and as the doors began to slide shut he punched the button for the garage. Tracey was going to kill him, he thought, there were no two ways about it. He had told her that he’d be there at seven, and there was no doubt that he’d be at least twenty minutes late.
When the elevator finally reached the garage level, and the doors began to open, Jack sprinted towards where his car was parked. He fumbled with the keys, as he tried to get the door open, and finally got them in the lock. Once inside the car, he started the car, and the tires squealed as he backed out of the parking spot. He stomped the brakes and brought his vehicle to an abrupt stop. He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. He was going to be late, and that’s all there was to it. There was nothing that he could do now to stop it, and driving like a maniac wasn’t going to solve the problem. It would only endanger lives. He reached over and grabbed his seat-belt, locked it into place, then gently let his foot off of the brake, and slowly headed out of the parking garage.
Traffic was not on his side as he made his way towards the restaurant, and he was later than he had thought he would be. He breathed a sigh of relief when he could finally see the Pappa Louigi’s sign up ahead. He and glanced at his watch. It was almost seven-thirty, as he pulled into the nearly full parking lot. He passed Tracey’s car as he drove down the first full row of parked cars, but there was no sign of her and the kids. At least they were still here, he thought, and relaxed a bit. Finally at the rear of the lot, apparently where the staff parked, he found an open spot and began to pull into it. His headlights flashed over a dark figure that appeared to be bent over near the dumpster, and Jack’s senses flared up. As he brought the car to a halt, he peered towards the dumpster again, but in the darkness, he couldn’t make out anything in the shadows. Cautiously he got out of his car, and locked the door. He hesitated. Should he check out the mysterious figure, or go inside where he belonged before Tracey left.
Suddenly there was a shriek further back. He could hear the unmistakable sound of a muffled female scream. His instincts took over. He crouched, ran, and pulled his weapon simultaneously. As he approached the rear corner of the parking lot, he threw off the safety on his Glock semi-automatic. He could hear a commotion just ahead, and he eased up against the back of an SUV that was parked in next to the last slot. Suddenly, as he braced himself to confront the situation, he heard the sound of silenced pistol fire. In training he had fired pistols equipped with silencers to learn how they handled and how they sounded. Now for the first time since his involvement with any law enforcement agency, he heard that sound in action. He knew that this was not a good sign. Only the elite of the criminal world had access to such equipment, so chances were whomever was on the other side of this van was going to be a professional. He shifted his gun in his hand slightly, and remembered distinctly that he had chambered a shell that very morning before he had holstered his gun. Though the hammer on his pistol was not cocked, he knew that the double action that this model featured would both cock and fire his gun with one trigger pull. He braced himself for the confrontation, when from around the corner of the van, he heard a squeal. He knew that the danger was not over in any way, but he lunged around the corner anyway, and looked down the barrel of his weapon. His finger was taught on the trigger, ready to fire.
He surveyed the scene in an instant. He saw a body, apparently male, face down on the pavement between the SUV and the sports car next to it. Towards the front of the passageway between the two vehicles, a tall man stood behind a woman who continued to fight for her life. The tall man, dressed in a dark coat, had his arm wrapped around her waist. Jack noticed his hand was gloved, and became even more distressed as he saw that he also had a handgun, equipped with a silencer, in his other gloved hand. He did not seem to have seen Jack yet. The young lady struggled, and began to scream
“Now we can’t have any of that.” The tall man said quietly as he began to raise his weapon towards her head.
“Freeze! Move another inch and I’ll take off the top of your head!” Jack said as he intervened in the horror that unfolded before his eyes. The woman began to scream even louder, as she fought desperately to break the hold that the killer had on her.
“Oh my.” The tall man exclaimed quietly. “We can’t have any of that either.” As Jack puzzled over the assailants cool demeanor, suddenly the killer launched the girl towards him. Jack feared that the force of her collision with him would make his gun go off, so he quickly began to move it to his right when suddenly he heard the sound of the tall man’s silenced gun fire again. In mid-flight, the girl arched backwards, and then slammed into Jack. He was knocked to the ground, as his gun clattered away on the asphalt. The girl was dead when she landed on top of Jack. Her killer attempted to run past them. Jack shot his arm out and caught him by the foot. This grab threw the tall man off balance and he tripped. As the killer braced himself for the fall, his weapon too clattered to the ground. Jack rolled and freed himself from the entangled arms of the now dead girl. He lunged for the killer, only to be met with a shoe to the face. The man was not as dazed as Jack had thought. As Jack shook his head to bring his vision together again, he realized that the killer now scrambled after his gun, and if he reached it, that he would kill him. Jack lunged again. This time he grabbed the man around both legs, and immediately he began to kick as he tried to free himself. While Jack held tight, and tried not to receive another kick to the face, the man’s fist slammed into the side of his head. A bright flash of light behind Jack’s eyes went off, and momentarily stunned him enough that his grasp slipped. His assailant kicked free and escaped.
As the killer got to his feet, and stooped his tall frame over to pick up his weapon, Jack realized that his only hope for immediate survival would be escape. He quickly rolled underneath the SUV. He belly crawled as he went, and moved further towards the front of the vehicle when he suddenly heard the killer’s silenced weapon fire twice in succession, and then heard the bullets ricochet off of the asphalt beside him, and then off of the under carriage of the SUV. Jack slumped, and fell still as he stopped breathing. A few seconds passed with nothing but silence, and then, in the distance, sirens could be heard. Suddenly footsteps echoed under the SUV, as the killer left his position at the rear of the SUV and began to walk aw
ay. Seconds passed as the footsteps grew softer and softer. Finally Jack breathed a sigh of relief, and began to breathe normally again. He rolled from under the SUV and emerged beside where the girl had fallen. He quickly felt her neck for a pulse, and as expected, found none. He reached to her companion who still lay face down on the asphalt. Jack rolled him to one side, and once he saw the small nine millimeter size hole placed neatly in his forehead, let him fall back onto the pavement. He scurried after his gun that still lay on the ground where it had fallen, and with weapon in hand he leaned his back against the rear of the SUV. This time, he thought, if he found himself in another confrontation, he would shoot on site.
Jack took a deep breath and then launched himself out into the open. He landed in a semi crouch with his weapon drawn. As he surveyed the parking lot, he saw no sign of his assailant, and no sign of where he had gone. As he started to relax a bit, he glanced towards where he had parked his own car, near the dumpster at the other end of the lot. He surmised that the only escape from the parking lot aside from the front exit was an alley that led behind the restaurant, and quickly headed in that direction. As he neared the alley he saw the tall man at the other end and called for him to stop. The dark figure slowed, then hesitated, before it suddenly turned and fired a silenced shot which ricocheted off of the pavement just inches from where Jack stood. As Jack raised his weapon to return fire, the shadow at the end of the alley disappeared to the left. Jack began to run down the alley. He hoped to catch him before he made it back around to the street. All he needed was one clean shot.
As he neared the end of the alley, he slowed and readied himself to lunge around the corner. As he began to bring his gun up, to be ready to fire if the opportunity presented itself, he was startled from behind.
“He got away.” The voice said matter of factly Jack fought his instincts to keep from accidentally shooting the man as he stood on the opposite side of the alley in the shadows.
“You saw him go by?” Jack asked. He kept his weapon raised, not yet ready to ease his guard. He was uneasy that this mysterious man had seen the killer run by but had not made his existence known until now. Jack was worried that maybe the killer was not alone, and that this man may in fact be his accomplice.
“He’s gone.” The man said, as Jack kept his eye on him and eased cautiously to the edge of the alley to peer around the corner. “Jack.” The man said. Jack suddenly lost all interest in the original suspect, but now wanted to know how this man in the shadows could have known his name.
“Who are you?” Jack asked.
“Who I am is not important. Not as important as a lot of other things in your life.” The man answered cryptically.
“How do you know my name?”
“I know you, Jack. But I know more than just that. I know things. Lot’s of things.”
“Like what?” Jack asked as he considered bagging this fruitcake and taking him downtown instead of the killer.
“I know Ted.”
“Ted? You mean Ted Truman? That son-of-a-bitch put you up to this? You’re stalking me?" Jack fired back in anger. His pulse quickened at the mere thought of such an intrusion by his old betrayer.
“No. But I know Ted. And I also know that he can help you. He can help you to solve problems. Problems so big that losing the murderer that you were chasing will seem insignificant. Listen to him, Jack.” The man in the shadows said as he began to walk towards the end of the alley.
“Wait! Where do you think you’re going?” Jack asked as he began to approach the man. Suddenly as the shadows began to recede from the man’s face, Jack could see the rough outline of his features. “I know you!” He said as he searched his mind feverishly for a match to the figure that he saw.
“Better than you can ever realize.” The man said as he continued to walk away.
“Detective King! Are you okay?” A uniformed officer had approached from the parking lot area, and Jack turned to face him and wave that he was okay. When he turned back the man was gone, and as he walked around the edge of the alley, there was no one in the adjacent alleyway. The mystery man was gone. As was the killer.
“Any idea who we’re looking for?” The uniformed officer asked, as red and blue flashes of light pulsed down from the parking area.
“Huh?” Jack was still distracted by the conversation with the unknown man, and had to grasp reality to bring himself back. He engaged the safety on his gun and holstered it before he answered the officer.
“Tall guy. Caucasian male. Probably six-five or six-six. About two-hundred pounds and around thirty-eight. Bald, no distinguishing marks, no facial hair. And he’s wearing a black coat, black pants, black shoes.”
“Not a bad description, sir.” The officer said as he began to relay the information over his radio. Jack turned back to where the stranger had disappeared, and then headed back towards the parking lot. At first he walked slowly, as he contemplated what the stranger had told him, and then as his thoughts turned to Tracey and the kids, he picked up his pace. As he rounded the beginning of the alley and entered the parking lot, his heart sank. Tracey’s car was gone. He had missed her.
“Detective King.” The watch captain approached.
“Sergeant Terry! They still let you out?” Jack asked, as a bit of a smile swept into his expression.
“Only for good behavior. I tell you, it’s a good thing your wife called us, otherwise we’d still be waiting to hear from you.”
“Tracey called?”
“Yeah. That’s what dispatch said. She heard a lady scream as she and your kids were leaving, and felt like we ought to know about it. Where were you? The bathroom?”
“No...I was running late. You know how it is.” Jack said.
“Don’t I. I’m on wife number three.” Terry answered as another patrolman walked up and asked him a question. Jack thought about what Terry had said and wished that somehow he had been able to at least speak to Tracey if nothing else. He nodded to the Sergeant and told him that he would write a report in the morning, but for now he was headed home.
“Maybe she’ll forgive you, Jack.” Terry said.
“Maybe. But I’m not taking any bets.” Jack responded with a slight smile still on his face, though his heart had sunk deeper by the minute. This was another chance that he had blown. Tracey was right, he thought, maybe he couldn’t be the man he used to be. Jack knew that nothing in the world would have stopped him from trying to stop the killer. Those actions were ingrained so deep within him that it wasn’t even a question of if he could control them or not. It was more a question of if he could live with them. Or even more to the point, if Tracey could live with them.
As Jack made his way back to his car, he stopped to give another uniformed officer a brief statement. Then as he sat in his car he thought back to what the mysterious man had said. He wondered how the man knew his name, and even more strange, how he knew Ted. Why should he trust Ted. He had. A long time ago, and all it had gotten him was a career change, and the desperate inability to trust anyone.
Jack pulled out of the parking lot and thought that first he would go straight to talk to Tracey, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that would be the worst thing that he could do. She was still mad, he was sure. A little time to cool down wouldn’t hurt anything, he thought as he headed for his apartment. He would give her some time to relax, and then he would call and explain. He just hoped that she would even talk to him. She could forgive him later.
Chapter 15
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