Hard Case: Boxed Set Books 1,2 & 3 (John Harding Books)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Abu.”

  I pat his shoulder. “Good start. I bet you want to know what your other option is, don’t you, Abu?”

  Abu gets passionate, his head nodding, while he blurts out, ‘yes’, over and over until Lynn has to grab his chin to shut him up. His eyes widen in shock at the closeness of Lynn’s smiling face.

  I take over again. “See, Lynn, he wants his option. Here’s what we have for you, Abu. You tell us every detail of your life as a terrorist idiot, especially who sent you today, and we pass you up the line to our boss, who will take care of you until we check out all your great information. If you impress the boss, and all your info checks out, you get to keep your skin. If it doesn’t, Lynn here gets to keep you for her very own until she gets bored. Unfortunately for you, by the time Lynn gets bored, you’ll be praying to die. Any questions?”

  Abu shakes his head no violently. “I will tell you.”

  “Wise choice.” I turn to his cohorts. Lynn is entertaining them by click-clacking her Balisong knife open and closed, alternating it from hand to hand. They’re impressed. “How about you boys? Want to help us out or go with Lynn somewhere secluded so she can show you some more knife tricks?”

  Energetic affirmations to help from both men elicited a disappointed sigh from Lynn. I texted some questions to everyone’s phone. “Good. Here’s how our initial session starts. We’re going to split you boys up and ask you a couple of very important questions. If the answers don’t match, someone’s going to wish they were never born. Clint, you take the cameraman since he’s made your acquaintance already. Casey can take the big guy, and Lucas will have our buddy Abu. I texted the questions. Let’s split ‘em up and get this part over so I can call Spawn.”

  Dev and Jesse kept up a roving patrol to keep away any curious bystanders while Lynn and I stayed with Jafar and Samira. I had only asked three questions – what are your companions’ names, who sent you, and where are they holding Laredo. Samira walked over next to Lynn, who was watching Clint.

  “You were most impressive, Lynn. Would you really do what you threatened?”

  Lynn looked questioningly at Jafar.

  “I do not speak to Samira about our work at all, Ms. Montoya.”

  Montoya nodded her understanding, smiling over at me. “He’s a keeper, DL, tight lipped, and efficient. I heard you recruited him out of a jail cell, and you watched over Samira in an Afghan cave, so how much can I share with my protégé.”

  That’s deep. I get her drift. “You can tell Samira anything. Jafar makes his own choices. I do much the same with Lora. I answer anything she asks me truthfully, but she chooses not to ask.” I turned to Samira. “You’ve seen a lot more of death than Lora, and I don’t make decisions for you or Jafar. Be careful what you ask for, Samira. Lynn’s part of our family now, but her part in what we do is geared to her abilities which are violent and horrific to most people.”

  Samira’s countenance darkened. “I would like the truth. I have no rose colored glasses as to what we must do, and I know if any of our methods are exposed, the idiot enablers will surely put us all in prison.” Samira looked away for a moment, gathering her thoughts carefully. “I am sick of being a lamb protected from the slaughter. I wish to be more, and I see in Lynn a way to achieve it. I…I admit I don’t know if I can do what is required. I only know I do not wish to be shielded from it.”

  That’s plain enough for me, and Jafar is already smiling as he must have heard similar arguments from her before. “You can answer her, Lynn.”

  “Let’s put it this way, sister, if Abu decided silence was golden, I would have made him scream and beg to let him tell us everything we wanted to know.”

  “Then you would have skinned him?”

  Lynn shrugged. “Like a fresh Cornish hen for dinner.”

  Samira’s lips tightened into a thin line of determination. “I know I am not capable of that, my sister, but I understand it. Thank you for trusting me.”

  Lynn’s countenance changed to vivid appreciation. She put her arm around Samira. “You’re welcome. I’m a monster, kid. I respect your dedication. I know from what John’s told me you’ve seen horror close up from the time you were born. That it didn’t turn you into me is a good thing. If you can adjust to the fact we can’t survive fighting monsters with a holier than thou perspective, you and I can still be a team.”

  Samira smiled up at her. “Yes. I can be Lynn-light as John is Denny-light.”

  You can only imagine the he-haws everyone within earshot drew from that one-liner. Gronked again. The guys led our sheep back to the fold, after comparing notes.

  “Names matched, and the boss matched,” Lucas said. “They have Laredo held in Belize.”

  Interesting. We need bargaining power. “Tell me the boss is local… please.”

  Clint chuckled, perceiving what I had in mind. “He’s in San Francisco right now. Our buddies here know him as Manny Silva. He flew in to oversee this operation, and to handle information gathered as to how we would react to them snatching Laredo.”

  Holy crap. “Thee Manny Silva? Saudi Arabian mom and Egyptian father who changed his name? He’s been on Denny’s person of interest list for years. Rich, beyond rich, and suspected of everything under the sun. He’s a wahabi believer, except of course in his life style. Well hell, my friends, I think we need Mr. Silva to step up and volunteer for an exchange.”

  “I agree with emphasis,” Clint said.

  “I’m in,” Lynn echoed her man. “I owe Laredo, and I have a feeling it will be a hot exchange, DL.”

  “Small doubt about that, Lynn,” I admitted. “I’ll call Denny, but we’re going immediately. Dev and Jesse can watch our guests while the rest consider abduction plans. Where’s Manny staying?”

  “The Mark Hopkins,” Clint answered.

  “We did a snatch and grab there two years ago, Dark Lord,” Casey said. “Denny has a much tighter grip on things than what we faced then. Let’s go get this done. You know Laredo will whine for months if we don’t get him out of Belize… like instantly.”

  “He’s pulled us all out of the soup,” Clint said after the laughter died down. “He screwed up and tried to go live on the beach with the ill gotten gains from our last bad guy score. If we get him back in one piece, we should recruit him here on the coast. We need an air-wing prerogative. Hell, he’s flown everything, including a Stealth. I know you fly helicopters, John, but frankly… you suck.”

  I connected to Denny immediately, relaying the information we’d gained without any filler. His lips tightened, and it looked like Denny wanted to come right through the i-thingy.

  “Get that son-of-a-bitch, John! Don’t worry about fallout. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take the heat. If you can keep collateral damage at a minimum, then great. If you can’t, too fuckin’ bad. I’m taking a flight into Oakland first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “We’ll get it done. I’ll update you when it’s finished.” No use getting wordy here.

  “Talk to you then, John.” Denny disconnected.

  I walked back amongst my brethren. “Let’s get these boys incarcerated at Hotel Pain. Can you and Jess watch them for us, Dev?”

  “Yeah, brother, but don’t you need us along?”

  I told him the facts. “Not on this trip. We may need a couple of the crew on the outside of jail.”

  Both Dev and Jess chortled away at that explanation.

  “Understood,” Dev acknowledged. “We’ll head there now.”

  “You go with them, Samira. We’ll need Jafar with us.”

  Samira nodded her head slightly. “By your command, Denny-light.”

  Dev and Jess were still laughing as they prodded our captives toward the limo. I of course was in the middle of my own roast at the hands of my one time friends.

  “Can we cut this laugh fest short and go get Manny. I’d like to do this op with quiet sophistication, but my master Spawn wants him no matter what. We don’t take chances. Jafar seals off all
communication except ours, hacks into the hotel feeds, and we go in with badges and ID’s. We find out where our boy is. Then we take him, hot and heavy. I need you to stay at the desk and make sure the hotel people don’t do anything stupid, Lynn.”

  “Whatever it takes,” Lynn answered. “Are we packing enough fire power?”

  “We have everything we’ll need with us,” Casey said. “We’re all packin’, but Lucas and I have vests and MAC 10’s in our trunk.”

  “Do the vests say anything special, Case?”

  “Of course, John. We stole them from the FBI.”

  “We’ll probably have to sew a couple together for you, Dark Lord,” Lucas spiked me.

  “Maybe we should take Lynn up with us and leave Denny-light at the desk,” Clint suggested as we headed for Lucas’s SUV.

  Lucas shook his head no. “That won’t work, Clint. We may need to bust in the door with his head.”

  “Good point.”

  I trailed the hyenas while considering my new role as a target of opportunity.

  Chapter Two: Mission For Manny

  Jafar drove Lucas’s SUV up around the semicircle in front of the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Lucas, Casey, and Clint hurried out with Homeland Security/FBI badges and ID’s flashing to make sure the greeters did not approach our vehicle under any circumstances. Jafar began hacking into the hotel security system immediately while Lynn and I waited outside the van. The Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel is a magnificent building. The entrance gives the incredible perception of entering the magic kingdom. I know we looked very impressive, armed to the teeth, FBI vests, and grim looking faces. We meant every aspect of it.

  “Everyone is on line, John,” Jafar said in my ear. “You have control.”

  “We have the desk people primed,” Clint immediately acknowledged. “C’mon in. They know who Silva is by our pictures. He’s here under the name Atlee Morgan.”

  “On our way.” Lynn and I moved to the entrance with wide mouthed guests and concierges moving out of our way. “No one touches a communication device or moves out of your sight until we have Silva, Lynn.”

  Lynn glanced at me with a smile. “No problem.”

  We reached the front desk a few seconds later with Clint, Casey, and Lucas watching the desk personnel as well as the gawkers. I held up my ID for the front desk manager to see.

  I gestured at Lynn. “Special Agent Montoya will be here at the desk. I want all your employees out here from your backroom. No one touches a communication device until we have Silva in custody. If anyone tries to call out, Agent Montoya will stop them.”

  Lynn moved around amongst the desk personnel. She checked the room behind the desk and disappeared for a moment, returning with two other employees, and a confiscated cell-phone. “Go ahead, John. I have this.”

  “No casualties this time if you can help it, Agent Montoya,” Clint said.

  Lynn smiled, looking around at her Mark Hopkins employee companions. After Clint’s statement, they eyed Lynn with growing concern. “We’re going to get along just fine, aren’t we, kids?”

  Heads nodded in unison at the face Lynn uses on serial killers. We immediately headed up on the elevator with Jafar monitoring everything imaginable: camera feeds, random calls, and especially hookups out of Silva’s room.

  “Someone is on-line, but doing nothing of note, John. They are unsuspecting.”

  “Thanks, kid. We’re seconds away from the door.”

  “Are they really going to use your head to get through the door, John?”

  My companions enjoyed that zinger on the way out of the elevator with Jafar snorting his own self-absorbed appreciation. The Dark Lord will have to reestablish some parameters with his minions. We reached the door to Silva’s suite. Clint grabbed the handle while Casey slid the room card. I charged through the door the moment it unlocked. I take the first hit on front door, narrow space attacks, because seeing me coming at you, a shooter will aim for the biggest target: my chest. One of Silva’s men is quick on the draw and I get three shots in the vest rapid fire before Casey puts two right between the shooter’s horns. I’m on my knees when Clint runs over Silva’s second man and Lucas puts Silva on his face. Casey continues around the suite with weapon ready while I roll around on my back like the proverbial turtle in the desert.

  “All clear,” Casey calls out.

  “Oh, get up, you big baby,” Lucas orders as he walks by with Silva and gives me a kick in the shoulder.

  “Call Bigge Tow,” Clint orders. “Tell them we have an eighteen wheeler on its side.”

  Smartass comebacks elude my usual razor sharp wit. Wheezing some air back into my lungs is about all I can handle. I’m laughing on the inside though. Casey finishes me off by taking a photo with his i-thingy before showing me Denny’s smiling face. I roll over onto my side with a weak wave.

  “I caught a military flight out of Washington, John. I’ll be there in a few hours. Are you okay? You look a little winded.”

  Regaining my hands and knees with a smiling Casey still helping Denny face-time with me, I give him what should be my snarly face. It probably more closely resembles an open mouthed trout. “Five… by five… Prick.”

  Denny laughed. “Nice work, guys. See you soon. I located my cleanup team. They’ll be over in half an hour. Take the good stuff and head for pain central.”

  Casey puts away his phone, and starts undoing the straps on my vest. I’m not proud. I stay where I am while he does it. The guy Clint ran over is beginning to cry out in pain. Casey helps me up. “What’s wrong… with him?”

  “I think I dislocated his shoulder,” Clint answered. “He thinks that should mean he doesn’t get restrained. I showed him what pain could be.”

  “I have Silva’s goodies loaded up, DL,” Lucas said. “Are you through playing invalid enough to cart it down while we watch the bad guys?”

  “I’ll manage… you unfeeling wretch.” I took the bags from a laughing Lucas. He led the way with Silva. Clint followed with whiney. I trudged along with the bags while Casey watched our six.

  When we reached the front desk, there were no hotel guests in sight. The front desk employees were on their hands and knees with hands clasped behind their heads. One guy was curled up in a fetal position. Lynn was answering the hotel phone and taking messages. She glanced up and waved.

  “Okay, kids, you can all get up now. Pete, I wrote down your messages. They’re next to the phone. No one enters the room our team just vacated. Our CSI people will be by to clean up. Go about your business, except for you bright boy. You stay on the floor until all of us are gone. Understand?”

  The guy shook his head violently in the affirmative.

  Lynn moved around toward us. “Hi guys. You don’t look so good, DL.”

  “We had a quick draw McGraw in Silva’s room. DL took three to the chest running point before Case retired him,” Clint explained. “It was an unfortunate close grouping of shots, causing our fearless leader some discomfort. May we inquire what this poor sap on the floor did?”

  Lynn shrugged. “He decided he was exempt from our no communication order. I convinced him to see it our way. Let’s get out of here. I think Jafar is getting worried. I bet you’re going to be wearing a nice new black and blue for Lora tonight, DL.”

  I nodded at her while we all headed for the exit. “I’d plead for sympathy, Lynn, but these barbarians I’m leading have been ragging me mercilessly.”

  That got a chuckle from the barbarians and Lynn. Lynn put her arm around Silva, who was checking her out. “Hey… I think Manny here has a crush on me. Are we going where I think we’re going, DL?”

  Time for cross checking information. “Yep. Spawn will be arriving in a few hours, but I’m wondering if you’d like to find out where Mr. Silva here has our friend Laredo before then.”

  I watched with admiration as the light changed instantly in Lynn’s eyes. She hugged the suddenly uncomfortable Silva, much to the amusement of my crew, especially Clint. I could
tell by the look in Silva’s eyes Lynn probably wouldn’t even have to touch him.

  Lynn shook Silva like an excited old acquaintance. “Oh Manny, did you hear that? We are going to have some fun. See, we have this great place we call the House of Pain. I have control issues, and every once in a while I have to feed my darker side. The Dark Lord here lets me have a really tough guy like you he knows probably won’t ever talk about the bad things he’s done that we need to know about.”

  “I will tell you nothing!”

  Manny’s statement of bravery cracked up the barbarians, and actually elicited an excited hand clap of joy from Lynn. She pinched his cheek. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about! My last outing was a real disappointment. Agent Dostiene and I caught these three serial killer monsters. They had been carving up women all over the country. When I got them on the cutting room table, I barely had a chance to touch them before they rattled off everything they’d ever done in their entire lives. It was embarrassing. I had to duct tape their stupid mouths just to shut them up. They needed to feel a little of what their victims felt, but it was damn difficult to keep them conscious enough for the demo.”

  We arrived at Lucas’s SUV. Lucas opened his cargo area hatch and we stuffed our two guests inside. Clint plastic tied their ankles too, and duct taped their mouths for the trip. Lynn patted Silva’s cheek. “Sorry, Manny. I’d like to talk over what adventures we have to explore together with you on the way over the bridge, but the last guy I prepped pissed himself all over Lucas’s seat. I’m lucky to be alive.”

  “Damn right!” Lucas played along. “Don’t you start talkin’ to him now.”

  We loaded the bags in with them, and shut the hatch. I could tell Lynn’s blood threatened to pound right out of her veins as she slipped into the back next to Clint. It’s no secret to any of us she enjoys her work. Lucas’s Chevy Suburban has three row seating, so Jafar went in the back next to Casey, and I sat up next to Lucas. We maintained a comfortable silence for the trip. Jafar phoned ahead and the big pull up door was open for us when we arrived.