“Come back later,” the first man said.
“I’m going to need those doughnuts now. My schedule is very busy today.”
“The bakery is closed for the day,” the second man told Marcus. “There was a death in the family.”
“And there might soon be another one,” the first man chuckled.
Marcus ignored them and approached the counter where a wide variety of cakes, cookies, doughnuts, and other pastries were on display.
“Everything looks so good,” Marcus said. “I think that I’ll get a Danish roll along with the doughnuts.”
“Are you deaf?” the second man shouted at him. “This place is closed!”
“It looks open to me.”
“If you don’t leave right now, I’m going to hurt you bad.” The man moved toward Marcus, intending to grab him.
Instead, Marcus grabbed the man’s arm and broke his wrist. As the man screamed in pain, his partner flipped open a butterfly knife and lunged at Marcus.
Marcus deftly avoided the blade, kicked the man in the groin, and hit him in the head with a backfist strike. He restrained the dazed man, took away his knife, and removed the handgun from the man’s jacket.
Marcus shoved both men out the doorway. They stumbled onto the sidewalk, and after a few seconds, went staggering away, muttering curses and threats.
The bakery owners looked at Marcus with amazement.
“Thank you!” the husband said.
“Who are you?” the wife asked.
“A couple of days ago, I was hired by your neighborhood association to protect your businesses from the gang that has been terrorizing them.”
“Oh!” the husband explained. A look of understanding appeared on his face. “Yes. We contributed to the fund that was raised to pay your fee. That gang has killed four persons in this neighborhood. They even murdered a teenage girl to keep her from testifying against them. Last week they burned down Lew’s Laundry, and Lew was badly burned trying to save his business. We realized that extreme action needed to be taken.”
“Yes. You did the right thing to hire me. I will take care of the problem.”
“But those gangsters will be back!” The wife declared with wide eyes. “They will be furious about what happened to them in our store. Next time they will kill us!”
Marcus moved toward the doorway. “You will never be bothered by those two men again. And soon the rest of the gang will no longer be a problem.”
“You are one man,” the wife said. “Can you defeat an entire gang?”
“I guess that we will find out soon enough,” Marcus said with a smile.
“Go do what needs to be done,” the husband said. “Good luck, and God bless you.”
Marcus went out the door and headed down the street in the direction that the two men had gone. He hoped that he could catch them.
After walking for about a block, he still did not see them. He began to worry that they had called someone to pick them up.
I lingered in that store too long talking to that couple, Marcus reprimanded himself. I allowed those guys to get too much of a lead on me.
Then, a half-block ahead, he spotted them walking into an alley where a third man was waiting for them. After conferring briefly with this third man, all three pulled out their cell phones and made calls.
Bingo! Marcus thought as he advanced toward the men.
They were so intent with their phone conversations that they did not notice Marcus until he was about thirty feet from them.
The man with the broken wrist dropped his cell phone and reached into his jacket and began to pull out a handgun.
With the swiftness of a classic western gunfighter, Marcus did a quick draw of his own pistol from the shoulder holster concealed beneath his leather jacket.
As the man started to aim the gun at him, Marcus fired a silenced shot through his forehead. He fell dead onto the hard pavement of the alley.
The third man, who had his own gun pulled halfway out of his pocket, froze as Marcus aimed at him.
“That would be a really bad idea,” Marcus warned. “Drop the gun and kick it toward me.”
The man did so, and Marcus picked up the gun and placed it into an inner pocket of his jacket.
“You killed Scott!” the second man shouted accusingly at Marcus.
“He didn’t give me much choice, did he?” Marcus said. “I hope that the two of you make smarter choices than your friend did.”
“What do you want?” the third man asked.
“At the moment I want your wallets and your cell phones. And give me the wallet and cell phone of your dead friend.” When they hesitated, Marcus aimed his gun at them. “You know that I will pull the trigger. Give me those wallets and cell phones now!”
Realizing that he was not bluffing, the two men quickly complied, handing Marcus their wallets and cell phones. The third man removed Scott’s wallet from the back pocket of his jeans, picked up the cell phone from the alley pavement, and handed both item to Marcus.
“I can’t believe this!” the second man exclaimed. “You are robbing us!”
“No, I’m not.” Keeping one eye on the men, Marcus removed the driver’s licenses and some other identification cards from the wallets, then tossed all three wallets back to them. “I didn’t take any of your money or any credit cards. I just want to know who the three of you are and where you live. I want the cell phones because I’m going to use their call logs to help identify the other members of your gang.”
“Who are you?” the third man asked.
Marcus could tell that this man was the smartest of the three. “I am a concerned citizen.”
“Come on, man.”
“I am concerned that your gang has been terrorizing this neighborhood. Your gang has killed four persons in this neighborhood, including a teenage girl who was going to testify against you. Last week you burned down a laundry and the owner was badly burned. Justice would be served if I killed both of right here, right now.”
“We didn’t do anything, man,” the second man insisted.
“I want the names and addresses of the leaders of your gang. I want the names and addresses of whoever killed the teenage girl.”
“What are you going to do to them?” the third man asked.
“What do you think?” Marcus replied.
“We’re not telling you anything, man,” the second man said.
“I can see some gentle persuasion is going to be necessary.” Marcus aimed his gun downward and fired a silenced shot that ricocheted off the pavement only inches away from the second man’s foot.
“Hey!” The man jumped back in fear. “Why did you do that?”
“Unless you two tell me who killed that teenage girl, I’m going to have to assume that you two are the killers. Or you might be leaders of the gang. Then I will be the judge, jury, and executioner.”
The third man glanced down at Scott’s body. “Neither of us had anything to do with murdering the girl, and we are not leaders.”
Keeping his gun trained on them, he handed a pen and paper to the third man.
“Tear that piece of paper in half, and give him the other half,” Marcus commanded. “I want each of you to write down the names that I want. Don’t look at each other lists.”
A couple of minutes later both men completed the assignment that Marcus had given them. He briefly examined the two lists.
“Fortunately for both of you, these two lists agree,” Marcus said. “You gave me the same names. There are a couple of minor differences in addresses and phone numbers, but I should be able to resolve that problem.” Marcus paused and looked closely at the two men. “I’m going to allow both of you to live --- at least for now. However, you must not do anything else to harm or threaten anyone in this neighborhood. And you must not tell anyone about the information that you gave me.”
“There’s not much chance of us telling anyone,” the second man said. “We don’t want to be called snitches.”
“You’ve done the right thing,” Marcus said as he began walking toward the street. “You both can still turn your lives around and get on the right path.”
The third man glanced down at Scott’s body. “Here is a dead man. You killed this man. What makes you think that you are on the right path?”
Marcus returned his pistol to its holster. “I’m not on the right path yet, but I’m searching for it. Good luck.”
The two men watched as Marcus departed from the alley and turned the corner onto the street, vanishing from their view.
.
In the following week, Marcus completed his mission. The three cell phones had proved to be gold mines of information. The numerous voice mail messages to which he gained access provided him with many valuable insights into the gang and its activities.
Marcus tracked down, set up, and eliminated the three key leaders of the gang. After doing a short investigation, Marcus conclusively determined that one of those leaders had personally murdered the teenage girl who had planned to testify against the gang.
Marcus did not enjoy killing, but he had to admit to himself a certain amount of personal satisfaction at delivering justice to this man who had murdered the young woman. That gang leader thought that he had escaped the justice system by murdering her, Marcus reflected. However, justice caught up with him anyway, and he got what he richly deserved --- a bullet in the head.
Marcus was glad that he did not need to kill any of the lower-level gang members. Marcus correctly reasoned that the gang would fall apart without any leadership.
As soon as he was certain that his mission was complete, Marcus logged onto the Internet and used a travel website to book a Caribbean vacation. He left his own cell phone back at his expensive condo in Clayton. Marcus wanted and needed two weeks of complete relaxation --- sailing, snorkeling, sand, and sun.
Chapter 3
Jenny Jawbreaker
It was a little, neighborhood diner with a big reputation. Angie’s Place was noted for its first-rate hamburgers, seafood, and several types of soup.
The diner was located in southeast St. Louis about a quarter-mile from a popular Mississippi River casino. In addition to its good food, Angie’s Place had a reputation for being a meeting place for persons engaged in various illegal activities.
Elaine Sandhaven parked her red Porsche about a half-block away from the diner. If things went badly inside, she did not want anyone in the diner to be able to get her license number. Although she only planned to be in the diner for a short time, Elaine carefully set the car alarm; the expensive car was a tempting target for a thief.
Elaine was a tall, attractive tan brunette in her late thirties. She strode down the street confidently, but hesitated for a couple of seconds at the diner’s entrance.
Mustering her resolve, she went inside and headed toward a booth in a far corner. This was Elaine’s third visit to this diner. The two previous visits had merely been reconnaissance missions; today, if the opportunity presented itself, she was going to place her plan into motion.
Just a few seconds after Elaine slid into the booth, a waitress approached the table.
“Welcome back,” the waitress greeted her. The waitress was a slender young woman with light brown hair.
“Thanks, Jenny,” Elaine replied without glancing at the woman’s name tag. Elaine had a good memory for names.
“Jenny Jawbreaker,” the waitress said with a smile.
“What?” Elaine asked.
“That’s not actually my last name. It is just my new name. I recently joined the local roller derby team. Now I’m Jenny Jawbreaker, but I haven’t actually broken anyone’s jaw yet.”
Elaine laughed. “Well, have fun.”
“So far it has been fun. However, I’m the least experienced player on the team, so I need lots of practice to get up to speed.”
“I’m sure that you’ll do well.”
“Thanks. But I’m guessing that you didn’t come here to hear about my roller derby adventures.” Jenny placed a menu on the table. “What can I get for you today?”
“Actually, I don’t need the menu. I’ll just have a tuna fish salad sandwich to go. But I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have a couple of minutes?”
Jenny glanced over her shoulder, then sat down next to Elaine in the booth. “Sure. It is pretty quiet in here now. We are between the lunch and dinner crowds.”
“That’s why I came here at this time of day,” Elaine said with a slight grin.
“So what’s up?”
“This is a very delicate matter. Can I count on your discretion?”
“Absolutely,” Jenny assured her.
“Good. As you have probably guessed from our conversation during my last visit, the problem is my husband --- my soon-to-be ex-husband.”
“I figured that this was about him. He must be an awful man.”
“In the past couple of days, I have discovered that he is even worse than I thought when we talked previously.”
“How so?”
“I know that he has been unfaithful to me, and he has been verbally and emotionally abusive, but I never considered him a violent man. However, last night he punched me in the stomach.”
“That’s terrible!” Jenny declared, keeping her voice down so that none of the diner’s other customers or employees would hear.
“He didn’t hit me in the face because he did not want anyone to see bruises on me.”
“That is absolutely diabolical.”
“Yes. When I married him eight years ago, I never dreamt that he would ever hit me. He seemed like such a nice, gentle man. Either he has changed very much or I never really knew him.”
“What are you going to do now?”
Elaine shrugged. “For now, I have to go home and hope for the best. We have a little boy. I have to protect him. I have considered taking our son, moving to my own apartment, and getting a restraining order against my husband. However, I know that a piece of paper won’t keep him from coming after me and probably killing me. I recently heard on a television news channel that many women are found murdered with restraining orders in their purses.”
“I have heard the same thing,” Jenny said. “I would suggest contacting the police. They might be able to help you safely get away from him.”
Elaine shook her head. “No. I won’t run and hide. I am going to defend myself. I want to hire someone, perhaps a private investigator, to confront him forcefully. It might even be necessary to rough him up in order for him to understand that his behavior has consequences.”
“That might create some legal problems for you.”
“I’m willing to take that chance. Do you know a man who could help me with this? I can pay him very well.”
“I do know someone who you could talk to about this situation,” Jenny said. “His name is Ch …”
At that moment Elaine’s cell phone rang, cutting off Jenny in mid-word. With a look of annoyance at the interruption, Elaine pulled the phone out of her Gucci purse. She glanced at the caller ID on the phone. The annoyed expression was replaced by a surprised one.
“Jenny, would you excuse me for a minute? I have to take this call.”
Jenny quickly stood up. “Of course. I’ll go get your tuna fish salad sandwich.” She walked toward the kitchen.
“It’s about time that you returned my calls,” Elaine said. “I’ve been leaving messages on your voice mail for a week.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Sandhaven. I’ve been in the Caribbean for the past two weeks. I left my cell phone back at my condo so that I would have two weeks of peace and quiet.”
“Your little Caribbean vacation almost caused you to lose a lucrative job. It almost cost you a lot of money. I was just about to hire someone else to do this job for me.”
“Sounds like I called just in the nick of time.”
“Hmmm. If you didn’t come so highly recommended, I would tell you to get lost and hire the other man.”
&
nbsp; “Easy, Mrs. Sandhaven. I’m back now. Everything is cool. We can’t discuss your case on the phone, but based on the voice mail messages that you left, I should be able to help you resolve this situation. This is the sort of case that I especially like. You’ll be very pleased with its resolution.”
Elaine was mollified and a satisfied grin appeared on her face. “I’m glad.”
“We need to meet in person.”
“Yes, and as soon as possible.”
“Do you know where Sister Marie Charles Park is?”
“Yes. It’s on the riverfront, right off of South Broadway. At the moment I am only a few miles from there.”
“Good.”
“Can you meet me there in about twenty minutes?”
“That will be perfect.”
“Then I’ll see you there, Mrs. Sandhaven. Goodbye.”
Upon seeing Elaine hang up and place her cell phone back in her purse, Jenny walked back toward the table.
“Here is your tuna fish salad sandwich, Elaine.”
“Thank you, dear.” Elaine paid her for the sandwich and gave her a generous tip. “As it turns out, I won’t be needing the services of your friend after all. Another gentleman is going to help me resolve this situation.”
“I still believe that it would be a good idea for you to speak with my friend, Elaine. He can help you. He is a very good man.”
Elaine laughed as she walked away from the table. “My dear, I don’t need the help of a good man. I need the help of a bad man --- a very bad man!”
She waved goodbye to Jenny and strode out of the diner.
A few minutes later Elaine was driving her Porsche down South Broadway. It was mid-afternoon and traffic was light. She drove past Bellerive Park, another small park with a good view of the Mississippi River.
She turned into the parking lot of Sister Marie Charles Park and selected a spot at the far end of the lot. Elaine was glad that there were no other cars there.
Less than a minute after she parked, a Lexus pulled onto the lot and stopped a short distance from her. A tall, athletic man in an expensive suit got out of the Lexus, strolled out onto the grass, and looked out at the river.
This has to be him, Elaine thought. She got out of her car and walked toward the man, stopping at his side.
Moonlight Warriors: A Tale of Two Hit Men Page 2
