Nimble Be Jack: A Jack Nolan Novel (The Cap's Place Series Book 2)

by Robert Tarrant

  From my restricted view out the dark side window, it looked to me like we were in a warehouse area, but beyond that I was clueless. We slowed suddenly and made a hard right turn crossing a set of railroad tracks before driving between two buildings. They looked like three or four story old style warehouse buildings. We made another right turn, this one wide and sweeping, and drove through an open, large overhead door.

  The Expedition pulled next to an identical one parked in the center of a large empty floor. The two thugs got out of the front seat, but left us in the vehicle. I could hear muted conversation between three or four distinct voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  I turned to Elena, she was sitting still with her eyes tightly shut, and whispered, “Elena, we’ll get out of this. Bracchi wants the bar. He doesn’t get that if I’m dead.”

  She opened her eyes, another tear trickled down her cheek, “People like him aren’t rational, Jack. He’s an animal. He reacts to life with the limited intellect of an animal. You can’t possibly predict what he’ll do.”

  “I’m so sorry Elena. I would never have brought you into this. I’m just sorry.”

  Her face reflected resolve, “Don’t be sorry Jack. Be smart. Use that intellect and silver tongue of yours to keep us alive for a few more hours. That’s all I ask, a few more hours.”

  Before I could reply, my door was yanked open and Pug Face unbuckled my seatbelt and drug me out of the vehicle. I stumbled, but managed to get my balance and stand up. His iron claw grabbed my arm and started to lead me away from the vehicles toward a wooden staircase that led to an open catwalk at the second story. The catwalk ran in front of several office doors along the side wall of the warehouse.

  I heard Elena scream and turned around to see her, still belted in the vehicle, being groped by one of the thugs we had our confrontation with on Saturday. It was easy to recognize him as the one Justin’s guy grabbed because one of his wrists was in a cast. Pug Face stopped, turned, and shouted, “Cut that shit out. Get her out of there and take her to the back office. There’ll be plenty of time for that later, after Mr. B leaves.”

  Elena screamed, “Jack!”

  The thug with the broken wrist hissed, “Shut up bitch. You’re boyfriend can’t help you now.”

  I turned to Pug Face, “Don’t hurt her. She’s not part of this. She doesn’t know anything about my business with Mr. Bracchi. Let her go.”

  He chuckled, “Listen to you. Giving orders and all. What happens to her depends on what Mr. B says. If he says kill you, we’ll take her as a bonus. Oh, we’ll kill her too, but we’ll enjoy her first.” I stiffened and he chuckled again and continued, “Now, if Mr. B says to let you go we’ll let her go too, and she’ll hardly be the worse for wear.” He paused, “It’s all up to Mr. B.”

  Pug Face took me upstairs and into the first office. It was a twelve foot square box with empty pop cans and trash strewn about the floor. It didn’t look like it had been used in decades. The only furniture was a battered old wooden desk and three straight back chairs. It was dimly lit with a couple of fluorescent light fixtures hung high near the ceiling.

  He slammed me down onto one of the chairs. He produced several more zip ties from his pocket and thirty seconds later had my ankles secured to the chair legs and my still bound hands secured to the chair back. He looked at me with a crooked grin and said, “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.” He left the office.

  A minute later, I heard the sound of Elena’s heels clicking on the catwalk floor as she was pushed down toward the other end. It wasn’t her heels, but the sound of the lecherous growl of the thug with her that caused my stomach to roll again.

  Periodically, over the next hour or so, I would hear sounds outside of the office, but no one came in. I had the feeling that someone was posted just outside the door. The zip ties were digging into my wrists and ankles and I had to keep flexing my fingers to stop my hands from falling asleep.

  My own discomfort paled in comparison to my fears for Elena. I kept trying to tell myself that she was not part of Bracchi’s plan and his thugs would be careful with her until they knew how he reacted to their bringing her in the first place. I needed to make Elena’s welfare part of my agreement with Bracchi, if there was going to be an agreement, and he wasn’t just inclined to kill me out of spite.

  I was deep in my thoughts, when the door suddenly burst open and in strode Anthony Bracchi. Pug Face was right behind him. The scowl on Bracchi’s face was dark like a thunderhead moving across the horizon. He looked down at me trussed to the chair, turned toward Pug Face and bellowed, “Untie this man. This is no way to treat my business associate.”

  Pug Face produced a large pocket knife and roughly cut the ties that bound me to the chair. Then he jerked me to a standing position and looked to Bracchi. Bracchi nodded curtly and Pug Face cut the tie binding my wrists.

  I just stood there rubbing my wrists. Bracchi moved the chair I’d been bound to from the center of the room to the end of the desk and said, “Please have a seat Jack. We must talk.” He walked around behind the desk and sat down. He looked up at Pug Face and growled, “Send someone out to get us a bottle of scotch and two glasses. You wait outside.”

  After Pug Face left, Bracchi’s face softened a bit and he looked directly at me and said, “I’m sorry about this Jack. I wanted to meet with you somewhere outside of your bar and sent my guys to pick you up. I didn’t expect them to treat you like this. They get a little overzealous sometimes. I’m truly sorry.”

  The first thought that flashed through my mind was that Bracchi was playing “good cop” to his earlier “bad cop.” The next thought came directly out of my mouth without really passing through my consciousness, “Fine, then Elena and I will be leaving now.”

  I stood but Bracchi didn’t flinch a muscle, “Ah, the woman. Now that was truly stupid on their part. I wanted to talk to you. There was no reason to inconvenience her.”

  I blared, “Inconvenience! They kidnapped her.”

  “Jack, please calm down. I’ve already taken steps to make her as comfortable as possible. As soon as you and I conclude our business, the two of you can continue your evening.” With that, he raised his bushy eyebrows and winked as if he was in on some plans Elena and I had for a night of wild sexual escapades. What I wouldn’t have given for a baseball bat right then.

  I concluded that, regardless of the tone of his voice or the expression on his face, Bracchi wasn’t going to release Elena and me until he had achieved whatever he was looking for, so I reluctantly sat back down and said, “All right, let’s get to talking about whatever it is you want, so Elena and I can get the hell out of here.”

  Bracchi steepled his beefy hands and said, “Good. That’s the attitude Jack. I knew you and I could work together for our mutual benefit.”

  I took a deep breath and asked, “What exactly is it you want?”

  Leaning forward in his chair slightly Bracchi said, “Yes. What exactly do I want? Let me rephrase your question just a bit. What exactly is it I will have?” He leaned back into the chair, “What I will have is an equal partnership in your bar. You will continue to run daily operations and I will be, how do they put it, managing partner. There will be no need to put my name on any of your documents, this will be a gentleman’s agreement between you and me.”

  I was still absorbing the impact of what he was saying when Bracchi continued, “Now, don’t think that I won’t contribute anything to our partnership. No, no, I will contribute plenty. As I told you before, I have considerable experience in the bar business. I will be able to make numerous improvements in operations as well as addressing any of the unfortunate problems that occasionally arise. You know, problems like those you have experienced lately.

  “Another significant contribution I will bring to our business is a regular infusion of cash. All businesses need cash infused on occasion to keep things running smoothly. You know what I mean.” I knew exactly what he meant, he meant
laundering dirty money. Probably money from his rackets up north that he would run through Cap’s.

  Bracchi looked down and traced a set of initials someone had carved into the top of the desk with his finger before looking back up and saying, “Of course, bookkeeping for a complex business arrangement such as ours is not simple, so I will have someone come in and set up the books for you. No problem, just another example of my contribution to our partnership.”

  Just then, there was a sharp rap on the door and a voice called, “Mr. B, we have your scotch.”

  Obviously not pleased with the interruption, Bracchi exhaled sharply through his nose and growled loudly, “Well, bring it in.”

  Pug Face came in and set a fifth of scotch and two glasses on the desk. Bracchi picked up the bottle, looked at the label, and scowled. Pug Face stood still like an ugly Greek statue, his expression clearly indicating he didn’t know what to do next. Bracchi looked up, nodded toward the door and again scowled. Without a word Pug Face turned and left.

  Bracchi poured a generous drink in each glass and pushed one across the desk toward me. The slightest smile crept across his face and he said, “Talking business always makes me thirsty.” With that he raised his glass in a toast and said, “To our new partnership. May we both live long and prosperous lives.”

  I didn’t know what else to do, so I raised my glass and clinked his. I took a sip of the scotch. It burned like hot tar sliding down my throat. My eyes immediately watered. It was all I could do not to grimace. I’m just not a scotch drinker.

  Bracchi swirled the scotch in his glass, took a long sniff of the aroma, and then took a meaningful drink. He sat very still as if his entire body was processing the taste of the scotch. Finally, he looked up and said, “It is always such a disappointment sending those morons out for liquor.” If I hadn’t been so damn scared I probably would have laughed out loud.

  Bracchi took another drink and said, “Now, where were we? Oh, yes. We were talking about how much assistance I will contribute to daily operations. Once we have the books set up properly, I will have someone audit them periodically to make certain everything is running smoothly.”

  He paused and looked at the scotch in his glass, then he looked directly at me again. His deep blue eyes were cold as arctic ice as he said, “Now, you may have employees today who do not understand the benefits of our new business arrangement so it will be important that you encourage them to find employment elsewhere. People sometimes do not take well to change. They resist change. I am not a patient man. I do not take well to resistance, or even reluctance, to change. I will expect you to deal with these situations so that I do not need to.” He leaned back in his chair again and said, “I’m confident you understand what I mean.”

  Oh, I knew exactly what he meant. If Marge, Sissy, or Moe, or whoever, didn’t want to go along with working in a bar run by organized crime, they should find another place to work or face the wrath of Bracchi. Not much of a choice.

  Bracchi took another sip of scotch and said, “Of course, one of the other benefits I bring to our partnership is my occasional access to truckloads of supplies at deeply discounted prices. You know liquor, even meat.”

  Now he was talking about the proceeds of truck hijackings. Forcing myself into actually discussing this situation as if it was a real business arrangement I replied, “I don’t know if we do enough volume to handle a truckload of either liquor or meat. We certainly don’t have the storage to keep those quantities at Cap’s.”

  Bracchi cocked his head and said with a condescending tone, “I certainly understand that Jack. We could store liquor off site,” with a sweep of his hand, “you know a warehouse or one of those rental units. The meat, of course, would be a different story. Can’t keep meat forever you know.

  “What I’m planning to do is acquire additional businesses in this area. With these additional businesses will come the capacity to utilize these discounted truckloads.”

  There it is, just what I suggested to Mancuso, Bracchi intends to expand his business interests into South Florida. I sure wish Mancuso could hear this conversation, he wouldn’t so summarily dismiss me.

  Bracchi poured himself another scotch and looked at the one I had only taken one drink from, “Don’t like the scotch?”

  I replied as casually as I could muster, “It’s probably fine. I’m just not much of a scotch drinker.”

  He picked up his glass and said, “It’s not fine. It’s not even very good. I will teach you to appreciate scotch, but with better scotch than this.” With that, he took another drink and seemed to stare off into space as if lost in thought.

  This gave me the opportunity to attempt to organize my own thoughts. I realized that what I was hearing was that Bracchi was going to take over Cap’s Place. I would be working for him, utilizing his business model. The words sounded innocuous, but I knew that everything he’d said was code for a full blown criminal enterprise. He was also saying that resistance to his plans would not be tolerated. He’d already demonstrated his willingness to utilize violence to obtain compliance.

  Recalling my beating, the bombing of my car, and then tonight’s abduction brought my thoughts immediately back to Elena. Whatever I did now had to protect her. I drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled, trying to hold my voice low and steady, “You and I should discuss the details of your proposal, but before we do I want Elena released immediately. She has nothing to do with our business.”

  Bracchi’s cold eyes bore into me, “This is not a proposal we are discussing. No, we are discussing the way things are going to be.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  The deep blue Porsche Cayenne pulled into the parking lot at Cap’s Place and slowly drove around the building. Rounding the back of the building it hesitated momentarily when its headlights illuminated the Ferrari parked next to the nondescript Ford Fusion that screamed “rental car”. Then the Cayenne pulled up and parked next to the Ferrari. Lorenzo Mancuso stepped from the passenger side of the Cayenne and walked to the Ferrari. He opened the door of the Ferrari and turned to Eddie Cox, who had stepped from the driver’s door of the Cayenne, and said “Keys are in the ignition. Her purse is on the seat. This is not like Elena. This is not good. Not good at all.”

  Moe had just finished locking the last of the liquor cabinets when the back door opened and two men walked in. He thought to himself that he should have relocked the door after he let Justin in a few minutes ago. Everyone else was gone for the night and Moe was finishing the last of his cleaning, when Justin rapped on the back door. He let Justin in and they talked about Justin’s people being around Cap’s for the weekend, starting as early as tomorrow evening.

  Moe took stock of the two, the first looked to be in his 50’s, was medium height and trim like a guy who works at staying fit. He wore a tailored suit that was obviously expensive. The second was about 6 foot 4 inches tall and weighed a good 250 pounds. He looked to be in his 30s, but his face wore a weathered look like a man who had spent much of his life outdoors. He wore a loose fitting windbreaker jacket over a button-down shirt and dress slacks. The loose jacket no doubt concealed a weapon.

  Moe came around the bar and said, “Sorry gentlemen, we’re closed.”

  The first man strode forward and stuck out his hand to shake, “I’m Lorenzo Mancuso. I’m looking for Jack Nolan.”

  Moe’s head was spinning as he shook Mancuso’s hand, “I’m sorry Mr. Mancuso, but Jack isn’t here.”

  Mancuso’s voice was firm, “My daughter called me and told me that she was coming here with Nolan. Her car is parked outside. I believe she is here with him. I would like to confirm her safety.”

  Moe cocked his head, “The Ferrari, that’s your daughter’s car?”

  “Yes it is. She called me forty five minutes ago and told me she was driving here to meet with Mr. Nolan. Her car is here, with the keys, her purse, and her cell phone. She must be here and I want to see her.”

  Just then, Justin came walking out o
f the men’s room. He saw the three men talking and stopped in his tracks. Eddie Cox looked across the room at Justin and exclaimed, “Holy Shit, I’m seeing a ghost!”

  Justin strode quickly across the room and the two men shook hands and embraced. Cox said, “You died in that chopper crash. I went to your funeral. You’re buried in Arlington.”

  Guilt crossed Justin’s face, “Sorry about that Eddie. You understand the drill. It was necessary.”

  Cox exhaled, “Where did you go? Where have you been?”

  Justin replied, “I spent several years in Pakistan. That’s what necessitated my funeral. To do the work I was doing, certain tribal chiefs needed to believe I no longer existed. After that, I got out. I’ve kicked around for awhile, but ended up here, in South Florida.”

  Cox exclaimed, “I heard rumors there was a ghost roaming the tribal areas in Pakistan, but no one ever knew if it was true. At least no one that I was authorized to talk to.”

  Mancuso spoke up, “Eddie, I hate to break up your reunion with this gentleman, but we need to find Elena.”

  Moe turned to Justin and said, “Justin, that Ferrari you were asking about belongs to Mr. Mancuso’s daughter. Mr. Mancuso says she called him and told him she was coming here to meet Jack.”

  At the mention of Justin’s name, Cox looked first at Justin, then back to Moe, and finally back toward Justin. A smile crept across his face but he said nothing.

  Moe continued, “Let me try his cell phone. Maybe they’re upstairs.” With that, he took out his cell phone and hit a speed dial number. Everyone could hear the unanswered ring. Moe said, “No answer. I’ll go up and knock on the door to the apartment.”