Mercury Decending (Mercury Black Authority Book 3)

by Finian Blake

  Asshole was waiting with the side door of the van open. Rich dove in the van, and it raced off to the end of the alley with the side door still open. Rich closed the door, pulled off the mask tearing the thin rubber as he removed it. Opening box of baby wipes he started to scrub the makeup off his face. The Econoline pulled around the corner assuming a normal pace, since Asshole did not want to attract attention with his driving. Rich went to work bundling up his hit kit. He rolled the shotguns, mask, baby wipes and the clothes that he was wearing, in the top coat. He took a piece of cotton cord tying the coat in to a bundle. Finally, he dressed in a set of clothes that he brought with him. They were out of the loop in five minutes. Asshole drove the van down to Michigan Avenue, over to Division Street and turned onto Clark Street. In ten minutes they arrived at the Nova that they parked on Clark Street. Rich stepped out of the Econoline moving to the back door pulling his hit kit out putting it in the trunk of the Nova. As he closed the door Rich pulled the magnetized license plate that was covering the original plate off the van. Asshole pulled around the block while Rich fired up the Nova. When he came around the block for the second time Rich pulled out of the parking space driving down the block to the corner, waiting after making the turn. Asshole pulled in the parking space hopping out of the van walking down the street to the corner. He eased in the Nova, and Rich drove off calmly. Only fifteen minutes had elapsed since Stark had been shot. It would be at least another fifteen minutes before the police would put out a city wide call looking for the van. They would be well out of the area before the city wide call would be made, and it would be at least twelve hours before the state wide alert would be issued.

  “Where can I drop you Asshole?”

  “Drop me at the junk yard. I set up something special for you.” Rich took division to the Kennedy Express Way and drove to the western suburbs. They pulled into the junk yard parking next to a wrecked car as directed. Asshole opened the trunk, and threw the hit kit in the trunk of the junk car. A forklift picked the wreck up dropping it in the crusher. When the crusher was finished the wreck was only twelve inches high. The fork lift picked up the car and loaded it on top of a flatbed trailer. Asshole one waved to Asshole two in the truck.

  “This asshole will take the load to the Calumet Steel Mill. By six o’clock, the car will be in the smelter.”

  “That was a nice touch, thanks George.” Rich pulled seven thousand out of his money belt. “Take six and give the other asshole a grand. Can I drop you somewhere?”

  “No, I am going to the mill with this asshole.”

  Rich made a quick run back down town to the Palmer House dialing the suite. Juan answered the phone.

  “Your ride to the airport is here.”

  “Come up to the room.” Rich went right up to the room. Juan admitted him. When he walked in all that Laurita would do is glare at him. She went into the bathroom and locked the door. Juan looked at Rich. “She thinks that you pulled the trigger on her father. Your work has been all over the news. You really made a mess.”

  “Juan, you said you wanted it done quickly. There was no time for finesse. I had no idea of what he knew, or what he was going to do. I took him out with two of his bodyguards, but I don’t think that I hit anybody else.”

  “According to the news, there were three dead and four with superficial wounds. There is a reason that they call the sawed off shot gun a crowd pleaser. Ten or twelve were splattered with blood. The perpetrator got away in a white van, but there are conflicting reports as to the year and whether it was Ford or GM. There are police all over downtown. The news believes that it was in retaliation, for the hit on me. Every FBI agent in town is either downtown on State Street or at my place. The news is calling it a roaring twenties style gangland slaying.” Juan grabbed Rich by the shoulders, “Christ if I knew that you were this good I would have used you as a hitter.”

  Rich made no comment quietly handing Juan his hat. “Perfect, it is time to get you out of town. I will drop you off at Ohare and you can fly to Dulles tonight. You catch a flight to Madrid tomorrow and do a quick transfer to Barcelona. Here is the card of the rental agent. I paid four months rent in advance. All of your flights are first class so that you can use the first class lounge. The deal took some very generous bribes. We are at two hundred fifty thousand dollars. I have seven hundred fifty thousand on tap. There is six hundred thousand in an account, and one hundred fifty in a stash. Part of the hundred fifty is thirty thousand in cash which is in this envelope for traveling money.” Rich handed Juan a thick envelope. “We never discussed price, so we need to do that now. Oh, I did not take out for Tony. He will take a lot of heat on this.”

  “You have one hundred twenty in the stash, right?” Rich nodded his head silently. “Give Tony twenty, keep a hundred and have Father Cash put the six in my Zurich account. He has the numbers. Are we, right?”

  “We are very right. Are you leaving tonight?”

  “Laurita and I will be ready in thirty minutes. We will meet you in the lobby.”

  “I will check you out and be back here in thirty minutes. There is a way to go straight to the parking garage from the rooms.” Rich went down stairs, and set a meeting with Tony for seven at the burger bar. He went to the front desk and checked Juan out of the hotel returning to the room in exactly thirty minutes. Laurita answered the door. Juan stepped into the hall way with Laurita following them silently. They loaded into the Nova, and drove to the airport.

  “‘Hermes’, keep in touch. I will have some work for you in the future. When you get a call from ‘Mercury’, it will be me. Let Tony know where you are at.” He slipped his arm around Laurita and disappeared into the terminal at Ohare airport.

  Rich drove to the burger bar to meet Tony. He could see both asshole one and two standing in front of Tony’s table. He had prepared an envelope with twenty grand in it slipping it in his shirt.

  Tony looked at his watch, “You are early I haven’t put your order in yet.”

  “We can talk while we wait.”

  “We need to hurry,” Tony said nervously. “Some of the boys think that you iced Mooney. Did you know that the bastard had cancer? I hear they shot him sixteen times in the face. This Snark thing has the whole city up in arms and everyone is expecting an ‘all out’ gang war. The mob and the law are scared shitless about another feud. Nobody will profit from a war. That would be very bad business for everyone. The man that shot Snark had a white glove on one hand and a black glove on the other hand, for the White Hand Italian group, and the Black Hand Sicilian group. They are trying to figure out which group is responsible, or if they both ordered the hit. Whoever dropped the hammer had a set of steel balls. It would be wise for him to leave town. If anybody finds out who did this thing there will be a big contract placed on him.”

  “That sounds like good advice. If you find out who it was be sure to pass along that little piece of wisdom. I need to get back home.” Rich slipped the fat envelope from under his shirt and passed it under the table to Tony. “Our mutual friend wanted me to pass this to you along with his gratitude.” Tony hefted the envelope it was fat and heavy.

  “His appreciation is gratefully accepted. Now, get the fuck out of here asshole.” Rich walked out of the bar stopping at the bodyguards table.

  “He called me an asshole.” Both men smiled and patted him on the back.

  “You will always be an asshole.” He walked out of the bar with a smile on his face.

  Rich had one more stop to make. He called Wanda, and asked her to make one last set of papers.

  “What name would you like to use?”

  “Try the name Tom Baker, if there are no warrants, go with it. I will be leaving town for a long time. I will drop the money off before I leave. You may have to send them to me.”

  “I can do that.” Wanda pushed him out the door without the normal farewell. She would miss ‘Hermes’.

  Rich went back to his apartment. He barely unlocked the door when he heard Chloe call
ing his name.

  “I’m sorry to wake you.”

  “I knew that you were due to be home tonight. I told you that I can’t go to sleep until everything is right in the house. I wanted to talk to you anyway.” Rich was tired and needed to get some sleep. Chloe pulled the picture that he had given her of the land out of her pocket. “Is this land really out there?” Rich relented. This would be the perfect opener to tell Chloe that he needed to move out of town.

  “I took the picture myself and it is out there. Why are you asking?”

  “I was home sick for my family’s farm from the time you showed me the picture. I am sick of the city there is nothing here that I care for. I have this apartment building, but there is nothing here that I care about except for my children, and if I move they will come with me.”

  “It was strongly suggested that I move out of town,” Rich shrugged. “Would you help me with Pat?”

  “If we can find something like this I will.” Rich pulled out a map of California. He pointed out the areas that might be promising to Chloe. “I can take the boys out there while you and Pat are on your honeymoon,” Chloe said hopefully. We can look things over. Tell me where you are staying in case I find anything of interest.” Chloe went back upstairs clutching her picture. She went to sleep planning to get Pat to move.

  Chloe was up early fixing breakfast for the family. The over powering smell of coffee and bacon woke everybody up. She placed the picture of the land on the table.

  “I am home sick. This is my dream and I am going to pursue it. I know you have good jobs. You can stay here, or come with me. Pat you have already quit your job. You and Rich will come with me.” Chloe spit the flood of information out in one pass. Everyone at the table was stunned. Pat picked up the picture, shaking it in Rich’s face.

  “This is your fault. You gave Momma this picture intentionally. You set this up.”

  “I have to admit that it has been suggested that I leave town. California would be a good spot to go, but I did not set this up.” After a half hour of arguing the boys had to go to work. Pat had to get the final fitting on her dress and Rich had some errands to run. Chloe marched Pat into her bedroom.

  “Let there be no misunderstanding, this is my dream. The city is a place to live not for a life. This is my chance to live my dream. I am at least going to look at it. You need to apologize to Rich.” The discussion continued while Pat prepared for the day. She still had a feeling that Rich put Momma up to this, but she did not want to call her mother a liar. Tomorrow she had to stand up for her friend Dora, and Sunday was her big day.

  Laurita, interrupted with a bitter voice, “That has nothing to do with me. I lost my father and you found love.” Anna put her hand on Laurita’s arm to pause the conflict.

  “This story is payment for my services and I have some questions.” Anna continued with Laurita. “Did Juan keep his promise to you?”

  “Yes, he treated me as a daughter and made sure that I wanted for nothing. As time passed I became his most trusted advisor. After a few years we started living as husband and wife. When he came down with cancer I hired Paul as a bodyguard and he took excellent care of my body.” Anna could tell that Laurita was still drunk. “Do you have any more Questions?”

  “Yes, I am dying to know what the police found when they looked into Mooney’s death.”

  Alex stepped in the conversation. “There was no doubt that the body was Mooney. The Oak Park Police wanted nothing to do with the FBI’s mess and the FBI took over the case, since they did not want to explain how Mooney was assassinated with agents in front and back of the house. The only evidence that they could find was the corpse and the bullets. The CIA and the NSA jammed them at every turn. The police kept reminding them that this was an FBI investigation and they had all of the evidence.

  When Snark was executed in the steak house the FBI and the Chicago police took a collective shit because they were going crazy about the possibility of a ‘Roaring Twenties’ style gangland war. It was a cowboy move all the way and people hunkered down afraid of what was going to be next. The FBI tried to take over from the Chicago police, but the CIA and NSA secretly backed the Chicago Police freezing the FBI out. When no warfare developed all parties decided the Snark probably let out the contract on Mooney and that had a possibility of implicating the Syndicate, CIA, FBI, NSA, or the CPD. Snark was playing all sides and nobody wanted to find out that they were responsible. After some minor displays of investigation, the whole thing hit the back burner. All of the FBI agents involved were all quietly informed that they would be field agents for the rest of their careers meaning that they needed to look for employment in the private sector. All except for Mike who only had two years until he retired. The NSA classified all of their records beyond secret, since they took on the services of Juan Garcia to replace Mooney’s services. Juan would deal only with them, insisting that all instructions would be relayed through ‘Mercury’ which as it turns out is Laurita.”

  Laurita smiled drunkenly, “Yes I am, but all of my little devices only made you richer. You killed Anna’s husband and took over his cut on the deals by marrying Anna. My ‘Mercury’ identity also helped me hide my little empire from everyone including ‘Mooney’.” In her drunken state Laurita did not realize that she admitted to sabotaging the last two jobs and her involvement with Dianne.

  6.

  DECISSIONS

  Anna poured Alex a drink after he finished his narration, and when he was sound asleep Anna produced a pair of handcuffs from her purse cuffing his hands behind his back. She turned her attention to Laurita.

  “So, that is your story? Mooney shot your father and you lived with him for twelve years. You want revenge on Alex because he arranged it. You asked Alex to shoot Juan and he refused, so you got me to do the job. Have I got this right?” Laurita nodded drunkenly. “I suggest that you let it go and get out of the business. You are thinking with your emotions.”

  “I have a firm grip on the situation.”

  Anna went on a fishing expedition, “What about this business with your film operation in London?”

  “That was a profitable operation. Somebody hit us hard and I intend to hit back. Dianne delivered our end bringing her friend Opal with her and they both disappeared. Dianne kept a stash here and I still have it in case she shows up.” Anna listened quietly as Laurita drunkenly continued. “Opal kept a stash here too. I will find out what happened to both of them, and have my revenge. Juan would not let me do anything about them. He said the way that they were hit was too precise, and he would not let me pursue the issue. Now, I intend on pursuing all of these issues. I have some contacts in Chicago filling that gap. Tony is as cautious as an old lady. My first step is taking care of my pain in the ass maid. Her sister was a maid here a few years back and disappeared. Constanza never stops asking questions about her. Let me show you how I take care of business.” Laurita pushed a button pouring herself another drink and five minutes later, Constanza wheeled a cart into the door of the pool house. There was a large tray on the cart piled high with several types of ice cream, toppings and drinks.

  Constanza was dressed in a seductive satin maid’s outfit wearing a frilly maid’s cap on her head. Constanza’s dress was black with white ruffles with the hem of her dress coming inches above the tops of her black fishnet hose. Finishing off the outfit were eight-inch platform high heels strapped securely to her feet. She felt ridiculous in the outfit, but Laurita paid her extra to wear it telling Constanza that she heard news of her sister and for that Constanza would do anything. Laurita was sitting with Anna in the conversation pit. Laurita produced a pair of Rhine stone covered shoes.

  “A friend of mine in Chicago sent these to me. I will show you how interesting they are in a few minutes.” She motioned to Constanza. “Bring the tray down here.”

  Laurita kicked a pillow over to expose the bare floor. Anna noticed that the toe of the shoe tore the fabric of the pillow. Constanza wobbled down the stairs carryin
g the heavy tray. As she was making her way over to the spot that had been indicated, Laurita pressed a button to summon Paul. Constanza had to bend over from the waist so that the tray could clear her legs. Just before the tray was positioned, Laurita stretched out her foot between Constanza’s thighs and raked her thigh with the toe of her shoe. The maid shrieked in pain losing her balance landing face first in the tray of ice cream and toppings. The shoes had microscopic barbs set between the Rhinestones. Constanza’s hose were shredded, and her inner thigh was bleeding.

  Laurita produced a pair of handcuffs cuffing Constanza’s hands behind her back while she pushed Constanza’s face in the contents of the tray to muffle her protests pulling the helpless maid to her knees by her hair.

  “You have been a pain in the ass asking about your sister. Your persistence has paid off, my dear you will be by your sister’s side before the sunrises tomorrow, but only after I give you a lot of pain,” Anna, was ready to spring, but decided to see what developed. Paul entered the room, and Laurita gave him his instructions.

  “I promised Constanza that she could be by her sister’s side by sunrise. Get the shovel and prepare a place next to her sister.” Paul went to leave. “Make it big enough for two people.” She pointed to Alex. “If you are not too tired when you finish digging you may entertain him for a few hours.” Paul left the room with a broad smile on his face. Anna was looking around the room. She needed to figure out her next step. Laurita reached between the pillows producing a Glock nine with a silencer.

  “I do not like the look in your eyes. Sit down while I tell Constanza about her sister and you about Dianne and Opal.” Constanza had a shard of a broken bowl stuck in her cheek. Laurita roughly removed it causing her cheek to start bleeding. Laurita picked up a scoop of ice cream and dipped it in the blood. “This is my favorite topping. Dianne gave me a taste for blood.” She touched the toe of her other shoe lightly to Anna’s thigh causing her to wince. She left Constanza kneeling in the middle of the ruined tray. Laurita raked the inside of Constanza’s thigh causing her to collapse into the ice cream mess again. Laurita ate the ice cream with her left hand and started her story.