by Mike Ryan
“I’m unclear what you think I can do for you,” Vincent stated, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
“I heard you were in charge of this territory. They might be in this area. They used to rent a house down in Frankford. Maybe you heard about it, or know where they might be.”
“What makes you think I’m not involved in some way?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just figured someone like you wouldn’t stoop low enough to kidnap a child for ransom,” Recker responded.
“You’re an intriguing man, Mike” Vincent told him. “You don’t mind if I call you Mike, do you? What drives you to do this?”
“Do what?”
“This thing you’re doing. Helping people. So far, I’ve read about you stopping rapists, murderers, robberies, even an arson.”
“That’s my job,” Recker plainly stated.
“How is it that you seem to keep appearing at that exact time of need when someone’s in trouble?”
“Just seems to happen that way,” Recker shrugged.
“I bet. You’ve got some type of inside information somehow that allows you to be there. Very ingenious.”
“Luck more than anything.”
Vincent shook his head, “no, I don’t believe that. I don’t believe luck has anything to do with it. You make your own luck in this business, or any other for that matter. People like to say it’s luck, whether something good or bad happens, so they don’t have to take responsibility for it. But it’s anything but luck. It’s the choices you make that put you in that position, in that very moment, when that supposed luck occurs.”
Recker nodded, agreeing with his point of view.
“You work on your own? Have a team? Or a boss?” Vincent wondered.
“Well, you have your secrets, I have mine.”
Vincent smiled. “So what is it exactly that you want me to do?”
“Put the word out and see if any of your men or contacts knows where they are. I’m not looking for anything except information. If you find their location, let me know, I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Going to kill them?”
“Unless they decide to give themselves up, I imagine that’s what it’ll come down to,” Recker assumed.
“Why do you think I’d even be willing to help you?” Vincent asked.
“After meeting you, you seem like an intelligent man, well dressed, like to eat well…what I can’t figure out yet, is what you’re willing to do to protect yourself.”
“I’m not sure I understand your meaning.”
“You like having money, power, having people look up to you and fearing you. I would think someone as smart as you would understand that things like this would bring heat on you. If that kid gets killed in your territory, that’s gonna bring a lot of heat from the police in this area, not to mention the bigger media presence. If you like to operate in the background, that wouldn’t exactly be good for business. Plus, if something like that goes down without your knowledge, people will start questioning whether you’re actually in control. That wouldn’t exactly be good for your little empire, especially since you’re trying to expand your power base,” Recker explained to him.
“What makes you think I’m looking to expand my power? What makes you think I’m not content with what I have?”
“You hear things. People are never content with what they have. People who have a little bit of power always want more. Human nature.”
Vincent smiled, a pleased look on his face as Recker seemed to accurately describe him. “So do you have names for these people that you’re looking for?” he asked, picking up his glass of beer.
“Deanna Ambersome, Marcus Ambersome, her brother, and Derrick Ianetta.”
Vincent finished taking a sip from his glass and was halfway to putting it down when he heard the names. His arm froze, recognizing the last of the names, looking at Recker before turning his eyes back on his glass. Recker noticed his hesitation upon hearing the names and knew he struck a nerve.
“You know them?” Recker asked.
Vincent looked at Malloy before answering. The pleasant look on his face slowly disappeared, replaced by a look of disgust. “I know Derrick Ianetta. He’s done some work for me in the past.”
“You know where he’s at?”
Vincent threw his hands up, “he’s more of a freelancer. He’s not a permanent member of my organization. He’s done a few jobs for me but nothing recently. Haven’t heard from him in a few months or so.”
“Deanna’s his girlfriend.”
Vincent motioned for Malloy, sitting at a nearby table, to come over to them. “Derrick Ianetta. He kidnapped a child a few days ago and could be in the area,” he said to him. “What were the others’ names?” he asked Recker.
“His girlfriend, Deanna Ambersome, and her brother, Marcus.”
“Find them,” Vincent sternly said.
“Yes, sir,” Malloy replied, leaving immediately.
“I guess I’ll owe you a favor if you can find them,” Recker mentioned.
“We’ll talk about that if we find them,” Vincent told him. “Give me a number I can reach you in the event we do find them.”
Recker grabbed one of the napkins on the table and wrote his number down on it. He slid it along the table in front of Vincent, who looked at it, then put it in his pocket. They concluded their business and then Recker left the diner, making sure he picked his weapons up again from the guard at the door. He left in a better mood than he came in with, though, sensing that they were actually getting closer to finding Mara.
Chapter 12
Though Recker and Jones continued their search for Mara, there really wasn’t much more that they could do. They turned over all the leads that they could. Everything just came up empty. They didn’t want to put all their faith in Jeremiah or Vincent, though, so they kept on plugging away. Mr. Ridley called Recker on the phone he gave him sometime during the night to ask about his progress, but Recker informed him that they hadn’t found the kidnappers yet, though they were sure who was behind it. He did tell Ridley that they had a few more leads to track down and not to give up hope. The night passed, both of them sleeping in the office again. They woke up before the crack of dawn again. They passed on breakfast this time, neither having much of an appetite, knowing how high the stakes were about to become later in the day.
“I don’t think I’ve ever rooted so hard for criminals to succeed in my life,” Jones stated.
Recker didn’t respond to the comment, but agreed and understood the meaning behind it. A little after nine o’clock, Recker’s phone rang, getting their hopes up before he saw who was calling. Hopes were quickly dashed when he saw it was Mia. Not that he was disappointed to talk to her, but he was hoping for news from one of the crime leaders.
“Hey,” Hendricks greeted.
“Everything OK?”
“Yeah. Haven’t seen or heard from you in a few days and I was thinking about you.”
“Bored, huh?” Recker quipped.
Hendricks laughed. “No, nothing like that. I was just wondering if you wanted to get together for breakfast or something. I’m working the mid shift today and just thought maybe we could get together.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t today. I’m not that hungry,” Recker rejected.
“Oh,” she dejectedly replied. “Are you working a case?”
“Yeah,” he told her, not wanting to get into details.
“Maybe when it’s finished then,” she stated.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“OK. I’ll call you in a couple days then?” Hendricks hopefully asked.
“Should be fine.”
“OK. Talk to you then. Be careful.”
“I will.”
Once he saw Recker hanging up, Jones spoke up. “Are you sure it’s wise to keep her involved?” the professor wondered.
“She’s not involved,” Recker objected.
“If she’s close to you, then she’s involved.”
�
�I told you before, if something happens, it’d be good to have a nurse on our side to avoid a public hospital trip. She already knows about my past, we can trust her. Believe me, I have good instincts on who I can and can’t trust.”
Jones nodded. “I know. I guess I just don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
Recker smiled. “Professor, I didn’t know you cared so much. I’m touched.”
“Yes, well, let’s see if we can get back to work and find Mara before it’s too late.”
They worked right up until noon, nothing new coming across their laps. Recker went out to get them lunch since they were starving from missing breakfast. They got about halfway through when Recker’s phone rang again. A look of hope dashed across Recker’s face when he saw it was Tyrell. Maybe he had some good news for him.
“Tyrell, tell me you have something.”
“Afraid not, man. Just talked to Jeremiah and he wanted me to let you know that he came up with nothin’. He said his boys combed the streets but they have no idea where those bulls are,” Gibson told him.
Recker sighed. “I was afraid of that. Well, tell Jeremiah I said thanks for checking. I appreciate his help. You too, thanks for setting things up.”
“Yeah, no sweat, man. Listen, I hope you find the girl. I really do.”
“Yeah, me too,” Recker replied.
By the sight of Recker’s body language, Jones could feel that he’d gotten a negative answer from his contact. He asked the question anyway, just to be sure.
“I take it that didn’t go as well as we would’ve hoped,” Jones assumed.
“Yeah,” Recker replied, a hint of disgust in his voice.
“Well, we still have Vincent.”
Recker nodded, not having anything else to say.
“What do we do if Vincent doesn’t find them by five?” Jones asked.
“Then I’ll accompany Ridley to the meeting place and try to make sure that everything goes according to plan.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll have to improvise,” Recker answered.
Two more hours went by, neither man saying another word as they worried about what was about to happen in a couple of hours. A little after two thirty, Recker just about jumped off his chair in excitement when he heard his phone ringing. Since it was a number he didn’t recognize, he thought it had to be Vincent.
“Hello?” Recker answered, hoping he was right.
“Michael, good to hear your voice again,” Vincent pleasantly said.
“I hope you have good news for me.”
“Well, I have news. Whether it’s good or not, I’ll leave up to your judgment.”
“OK?”
“A couple of my men have found two of them,” Vincent revealed.
“Great. Where?”
“They’re hiding out in a house over in Mayfair.”
“Which ones?”
“Derrick and Deanna. I’m not sure about the other one yet.”
“Question them yet?” Recker asked.
“We’re about to go in in a few minutes. I thought I’d give you the courtesy of joining us in the discussions if you’d like,” Vincent told him, giving him the address..
“I can be there in twenty minutes.”
Recker hung up and rushed over to the gun cabinet, eagerly trying to get himself ready.
“I take it we have good news?” Jones asked, watching Recker move faster than he’d ever seen.
“Vincent found Deanna and Derrick in a house over in Mayfair. He’s about to go in and question them now. I’m gonna go meet them.”
“What about the brother?”
“No word about him yet,” Recker responded. “I’ll let you know what we come up with.”
Recker rushed out the door and down the steps, running to his truck with his bag of guns in hand. He peeled out of the parking lot and raced down the highway, jumping on I-95 to get there quicker. Once Recker turned onto the street, he immediately noticed Vincent’s guys. They were hard to miss. There was about ten of them gathered in front of one particular house. Recker parked his truck, then walked toward the house.
“You Recker?” one of the men asked as he approached.
“Yeah.”
“Boss is inside waiting for you.”
Recker walked past the men and noticed Malloy standing in the frame of the doorway.
“You got here fast,” Malloy mentioned.
“I’m in a hurry.”
Malloy led him into the living room, where Vincent was, along with several other men he commanded, along with Deanna and Derrick. Vincent was circling around the two of them, seemingly in a calm mood. The two suspects were sitting in a chair, side by side, their hands tied behind the backs of the chair. By the looks of it, Vincent had already done his share of interrogating the pair, as both had cuts and bruises on their faces, spots of blood on each of them. Deanna had a cut on her forehead, while Derrick had a cut above his eye and blood running down the side of his face. Recker looked at Vincent’s hand and didn’t notice any cuts or abrasions on it, leaving him to believe he wasn’t the one who worked the two over. He glanced down at Malloy’s knuckles and noticed they were read and had traces of blood on them.
“Mike, nice to see you,” Vincent greeted upon seeing him. “You’re just in time. We were just about to get to where they were hiding the child.”
“She’s not here?” Recker asked.
“No. We’ve already searched through the house. The child isn’t here, nor is the third member of their little group.”
“Please Mr. Vincent, we didn’t mean nothin’. We were just lookin’ for a quick, easy score,” Ianetta interrupted.
“You disrespected me by bringing unwanted and unneeded attention by this little stunt of yours,” Vincent responded. “If you wanted money, you should’ve come to me and I might’ve been able to give you a job or something. Instead, all you’ve done is bring down the heat.”
“Where’s the girl?” Recker asked.
Ianetta spit in Recker’s direction, sure that the man had something to do with his current predicament. Vincent looked to the ground, displeased at Ianetta’s behavior. He gave a nod to Malloy to continue roughing up their guests. Malloy came over and gave a backhand across the right side of Ianetta’s face, before nailing him with a right across on the other side of his face. Vincent grabbed his underling’s arm to prevent any further damage at the moment and stepped forward, standing in front of the captured man.
“This man is my guest and he will be treated with dignity,” Vincent told him. “You will not disrespect him in my presence and be uncourteous.”
Ianetta spit out some blood and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
“Where’s your brother, Deanna?” Vincent politely asked.
She hesitated before answering, “I’m not sure.”
Malloy looked to his boss before acting. Then he got the signal and backhanded her across the face, then came across the other side with the open side of his fist. After roughing her up, he took a step back to let Vincent continue talking.
“I’m not sure what you think you have to gain by this, but I assume you know that you’re not leaving here until we get the information we want.”
Deanna looked over at Ianetta, who nodded at her to tell their captors whatever they wanted to know. Since Ianetta had done work for Vincent, and was familiar with him, he knew what he was capable of. The best they could hope for now was just to be able to leave the house with their lives intact.
“Promise me you won’t kill him,” Deanna said.
Vincent paced a few steps before turning back to answer her. “I give you my word. I will not lay a hand on him.”
Even though he reassured them they wouldn’t kill her brother, she still was hesitant on giving up his location.
“Tell him!” Ianetta yelled, knowing what would happen if they didn’t.
“Marcus is with the girl on a house on Devereaux,” Ambersome revealed.
&nb
sp; “I’m assuming he’s armed?” Recker asked.
“What do you think?”
“Address?”
“6249,” she sighed.
“Is he alone?”
She clenched her jaw tighter, not wanting to say another word.
“The man asked you a question,” Vincent added.
“Yes. He’s alone,” Ambersome reluctantly answered.
Vincent immediately looked at Recker. “You go get the girl. We’ll stay here with them.”
Recker looked at the two sitting in the chair, then back toward Vincent. He nodded his head, knowing the probable fate that loomed over the two prisoners. He raced out of the house and got in his truck, zooming down the road to get to Devereaux Street, which wasn’t too far away. While he was on the way to get Mara, Vincent still paced around the room, as Malloy got in a few more shots at the faces of both Ambersome and Ianetta.
“Please stop,” Ambersome mumbled, just able to get her mouth open.
“I give you my word, Mr. Vincent, I’ll never do anything like this again,” Ianetta stated, barely able to open his eyes.
“You see, the problem is, examples sometimes need to be made to keep the masses in line,” Vincent replied, stirring their fears.
“No. No,” Ianetta said.
“Sometimes you need to do things that you really don’t want to do to show that you’re still in control. That you still have a tight grasp on things.”
“You’re still the boss.”
“Deanna, I’d like to offer you my condolences.”
“Why?”
“Losing a brother is not an easy thing to live with,” Vincent inferred.
Tears started rolling down Ambersome’s face. “You told me you wouldn’t kill him.”
“And I will keep that promise. I will not kill him. Neither will any of my associates. But my friend, the one that just left here, you see, I didn’t offer the same promise in regards to him. I’m quite certain he will kill your brother.”
“Nooo!” she yelled.
“The only decision I have to make now is whether you two will be joining him.”
“No. No. You know I can help you, Mr. Vincent,” Ianetta pleaded.
“I really don’t think you can, Derrick. You’ve become a liability that I can’t trust.”
