by Jon Mills
Cooper tossed down a piece of paper in front of her. “Okay, you can thank me later. His name has cropped up in the system. Looks as if Mr. Winchester is taking in sun, surf, and the babes. So get your stuff together, I have a flight booked for this evening.” He put his ass cheek on the side of the desk. “I hope you look good in a swimsuit.”
Isabel glanced at the report filed by an Officer Smith. A double shooting and he was let go? Self-defense? Acting as a security guard for a local mission? What were two members of the Chinese Triads doing there? She flipped it over and scanned it fast, pulling out all the pertinent parts. Maybe they didn’t need to get an admission to wrap up this case. If they could bring in Jack Winchester on a different charge, they might be able to work out a deal whereby he gave insights into some of the operations that the Mafia had in circulation. Names, places, connections, just anything that might allow them to restart surveillance and bring down key members of the mob. Her superiors didn’t care about who was responsible for the killings of the Sicilian Mafia members. They wanted to know who screwed up their surveillance operation. They wanted to get back in the good books with those who were above them. It was all politics.
“You booked a flight without consulting me?”
He bristled at the mention that he might have done something wrong.
“I was being proactive. You know, just like you said.”
“Proactive would have been picking up the phone before you wasted taxpayers’ dollars on a flight.”
He frowned. “Who bit you in the ass today?”
She groaned and blew out her cheeks. “Sorry. I just feel as though I’m butting up against walls trying to extract anything beyond what’s in these reports.”
“Maybe you are asking all the wrong people.”
She looked at him.
“We’ve been dealing with the branches when we need to go to the root.”
She snorted. “Cooper, maybe you will turn out to be useful after all.”
Chapter 23
Evie was exhausted. She looked at the American family who sat at a table. A young boy and girl both chuckled as they sipped on their soda pop. “That should have been us,” she muttered to herself as she gave another order to the chef. Fat, greasy, and with hair tucked under a net, he eyed her with contempt while the other younger chef ogled her. Anytime one of the girls went out back both of them took turns pinching their butts or groping their breasts. In any other workplace that would have been shut down and filed under sexual harassment but here it was the norm. They were nothing but slaves made to work from morning until night, given a shower, food, and then they slept again until the next morning. Rinse, repeat. She’d only been there a couple of days and she was already thinking about running away.
Had Zhang tried that?
She hadn’t seen him since they were separated. At night her tears would dampen the pillow as she thought about home. The longing for the familiar was so intense that it ached in her heart. The only thing stopping her from leaving was Lifen. The oldest of the girls, she had tried to mother them. Evie knew she was just putting on a brave face as she heard her sobbing at night.
“Don’t just stand there, wipe tables, refill their glasses,” the older woman said. Evie never heard what her name was. She wore no nametag and any interaction with her was harsh. She had brought several of the girls to tears just by shouting at them. Of course she always did it out back, out of earshot of the customers.
Evie carried their meals into the dining area. She wondered what they would have said had she told them that she had been smuggled into the country. As she set the food down, the young boy said, “You have a funny voice.” He pointed and it was just one more thing that reminded her that she wasn’t home. Her English was broken but she understood what he’d said.
Evie was about to walk away when the father piped up.
“This is cold,” he said. “I’m not eating that.”
“Sorry. Very sorry. I will change it for you.”
She carried the plate of rice and Cantonese chicken towards the back of the room. The look of disgust on the old woman’s face made it clear she was in trouble. Never once did she yell at the kitchen staff. If a customer showed any sign that they were unsatisfied, the girls were to blame. Even now as she handed it back and told them that it was cold, she was the one that got blamed.
“You should have taken it to the table faster. It was sitting here on the counter,” the fat chef said. He was lying but he knew the way things worked around here and he took full advantage of it.
“That is going to come out of your pay,” the woman said, handing it off to the chef who smirked and tossed it into the trash. Evie could feel a lump in her throat forming. She did her best to try and be apologetic but it didn’t seem to matter. What was done, was done.
“Here, get it over to them now.”
In her haste, her foot caught on the carpeting; she stumbled but managed not to lose her grip. She glanced back and the woman’s eyes bore into her. She could literally feel them burning a hole in the back of her skull. Evie made it over to the table and laid the food down in front of the gentleman while apologizing profusely.
“Can we get some more water?”
“Certainly.”
After she reached for another jug that was one table over, she turned back only to find herself slamming into Lifen. The water went up in the air, and all over her and the two young children. The girl at the table started crying.
Before she could say a word, the older woman dashed over, took a firm grip on both of their wrists and hauled them away while barking orders to the remaining girls to clean it up. Her wrist burned from where she was gripping them so tight. She led them out back and down into the basement which doubled as their living quarters.
Her hand reared back and came down across Evie’s face so hard she thought she was going to pass out. Her cheek burned like fire.
She did the same to Lifen.
“How dare you show such disregard for our customers. Now I’m going to have to go back up there, apologize and give them their meal for free. This is coming out of your pay. And this is the last time you will embarrass me. Stay here, I will be back to deal with you both shortly.”
And like that, she left them sobbing. The door upstairs slammed and they could hear her feet stomping across the kitchen floor towards the restaurant area.
“We need to get out of here,” Evie said.
“And go where? We have no money, nowhere to stay, we barely know the language.”
They didn’t have to wait long for her to return. She instructed them to collect their belongings.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. Just do as I say.”
The woman pursed her lips and folded her arms tightly in front of her. For a short, middle-aged woman, she sure could hit hard, Evie thought.
It didn’t take long to get together what they had as it amounted to the clothes they had arrived in. The woman led them out into the back alley where a car was already waiting. Lifen looked at her and for a brief moment Evie thought they were going to kill them. A girl had left yesterday. She never returned.
Inside the older woman stared at them blank-faced. Evie thought if she smiled her face would crack. Whatever had caused the woman to be so mean?
The journey took a little over ten minutes. When the doors opened they looked up and saw the sign.
Palm Tree Massage Parlor.
Evie gripped Lifen’s hand.
Chapter 24
He couldn’t stay there. She had already stuck her neck out enough for him. He wasn’t going to bring her any more trouble than he had already. Besides, Jack needed to know where the boy was. His guns were back at the hotel. He stood beneath the doorway that led out to the alley. A heavy downpour made rainwater rush over the edge of the ground and down the concrete stairs to where he was standing. As he puffed away on the cigarette the mini waterfall mesmerized him. The way it cleaned away the grime and brought a slick shine back t
o what was once dull.
He’d been there for the better part of the morning and afternoon listening to them puttering around upstairs. Several times a chef came down and looked at him as he gathered more supplies. They didn’t seem scared or surprised by his presence. One of them even brought him a glass of green tea.
It was good to see that they had tried to take a stand against Sheng Ping, even though they had suffered greatly. Men like him hated to see anyone stand up to them. They hid behind others, like puppeteers conducting business from above. Just like Roy Gafino had done with him. The sad part was that all his men took the risk while he basked in the freedom that money could buy.
When she returned later that afternoon he was lying on the hard ground. She glanced at him with a confused expression and he got up.
“Do you always make it a habit to lie on hard concrete?”
“It’s good for the back.”
“But not for the head,” she remarked while bringing in a bowl of hot noodles and setting it down.
“How are you feeling?”
He didn’t give her an answer; instead he requested a taxi to take him to the Madison.
“Probably best you stay away from cabs,” she said with a faint smile dancing on her lips. “And the hotel. They will be looking for you.”
“I need to collect my belongings.”
She peered out as water gushed down. “In an hour it will be dark. If you want to go, I’ll take you. But it’s best if we wait until it’s dark. Until then, eat up.”
Jack took a seat at a small card table. He sat on some overturned crates that he stacked on top of each other. Malese joined him on the other side with her own bowl.
“What do you do for a living?”
He spooned the yellow juice filled with wormlike noodles into his mouth, then wiped his lips.
“Well today, I was meant to be a security guard but like most things in my life, it didn’t last long.”
“Before that?”
He paused the spoon hovering near his lips. “This. That. Errands.”
She studied his face and continued eating. “Why do you wish to help this boy?”
“That’s a very good question.” He paused for a second then replied, “A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers.”
She smiled. “Maybe a leopard can change its spots,” she replied before blowing on her soup. They sat with only the sound of their lips smacking as they polished off lunch, or was it dinner? There was a natural flow to their conversation as Jack asked about her past. He felt uncomfortable talking about his own. The people who had killed her mother were in the same line of work as him at one time. Back then he never really gave much thought to how his actions would affect those left behind. Now he could see. These were good people who only wanted to lead peaceful lives.
How may good people, honest business owners in New York had been the same way?
How many of those killed for Gafino just wanted to be free of crime?
Eddie was right. There were good people in the world, his skills could be used to help them.
Under the cover of darkness, they made a dash for Malese’s silver Volvo. The rain plastered their clothes. Neon lights throbbed in a blurred state behind the heavy water pounding against the windscreen. Even on full power it was hard to see the road ahead. On a dry day it would have been a good twenty-minute drive but with the roads clogged up with cautious drivers it took just over thirty minutes.
“Pull up near the front, you can just drop me off.”
“Where will you go after this?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“I’ll wait for you.”
“No, you have done more than enough, Malese.”
She swerved up in front of the run-down hotel. Jack cast a glance around looking for signs of Sheng’s men. It was hard to see anything. A few homeless people were outside trying to seek shelter beneath a large blue tarp. Lights glimmered in the darkness. Jack glanced up at the black fire escape that snaked up the front. A few of them had crawled up to the first level to get out of the rain. How on earth did they manage to survive without catching pneumonia?
“You had a car crash, Jack. You might feel okay, but…”
“I’m not Superman?”
She chuckled a little.
“Exactly.”
“I’ve been through worse.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You are stubborn,” he said as he pushed his way out of the vehicle.
“That’s what my father used to say before they cut his tongue out.”
Yu Cheng watched the white devil duck into the building. His eyes then drifted to the figure in the car. With the rain coming down heavy, he couldn’t make out who was inside but if they were helping him, they would be punished severely.
He gave a small gesture to the five men who came with him. They hopped out of the cube van and double-timed it across the street with weapons hidden beneath their jackets.
Yu Cheng followed after — heading in the direction of the car.
Chapter 25
Officer Deon wasn’t making any headway.
“You know this doesn’t look good. I can’t believe you didn’t run any background checks on the guy. You hired him on a whim because of a guy that once helped your mother out? Are you serious?”
John nodded. “Everyone deserves a chance to turn their life around, Deon.”
“I understand that but sometimes having a big heart can land you in hot water.”
“I have worked my way through three security guards and not one of them has managed to stop those Triads from showing up. They are all too scared but he handled them without any fear. Now, maybe he has a shady background. Everyone has a past. Heck, even you do, Deon. Let’s not forget what you did before becoming a cop.”
It was true. Deon was born into a family of six. A single mother, a father in jail. The chances of him becoming a cop were slim to none. Most either ended up in a gang or wound up with a bullet in them. Growing up in Compton, he had to fight to stay away from the gangs. It wasn’t usually the case that kids chose the gang life; they were lured in through association. In his case, his older brother had strong ties with the Crips.
“I get it, John, but on the other hand you’re not doing yourself any favors. We both know there is big money to be made in human smuggling. Who’s to know that Winchester isn’t working for a rival gang?”
“No. I don’t get that feeling with him.”
“You don’t get that feeling?” Deon sighed and ran a hand over his head.
“It’s a gut instinct; something about him. Eddie was a good man, he wouldn’t have spoken so highly of him had he worked for guys on the wrong side of the law.”
Deon stared at him blankly. He’d read the report. He’d seen the trouble that Jack had been in with his stint in Rikers. Heck, his entire life had been lived on the wrong side of the law.
“I know you want to believe that people can change but some people don’t.”
John punched a few keys on his computer and then turned the screen.
“You see all those names. Every single one is a person who had run-ins with the law. People who were drunks, heroin addicts, thieves or had injured others. Every single one of them turned their life around through our mission.”
“They have to want to change, John. Do you know if this man wants to change? Hell, do you even know him?”
“So you are going to judge him because he did what you didn’t do? I thought you were better than that, Deon.”
Deon shifted in his seat as John continued. “Weren’t you busted for theft as a kid?”
“Yeah, sure, but I didn’t make a career out of it. This guy has ties to the mob in New York.”
John leaned back in his seat, he interlocked his fingers and hesitated before continuing.
“Do you recall the saying about two dogs?”
Deon blew out his cheeks, exasperated. Here we go again, he was going to pr
each at him about good and evil.
“Yeah, yeah, evil dog, good dog, fight each other, which one wins, it depends on which one I feed.” Deon stared around the room trying to make it obvious that he wasn’t telling him anything that he hadn’t heard before.
“Every time you hear it, most people think that the individual is responsible for deciding which one to feed. Not many realize that there are those who don’t have anything to feed the good dog with.”
Deon frowned. “You’ve lost me.”
“If all you’ve ever known is the wrong side of the law, violence, and criminal activity. Where do you gain your reference point to do the opposite?”
He chuckled. “I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. Just don’t do what you’ve been doing.”
John tapped the screen. “Tell that to all these people who were living on the streets, taking drugs, and were involved in all manner of crimes. Ask them if they had tried to get away from that mindset and believe me, it is a mindset that is developed and nurtured. Likewise, all the good, all the things that a person should be doing can be nurtured.”
“He’s a grown man for god’s sake,” Deon said. “Adults shouldn’t need to be nurtured.”
“Age changes nothing, Deon. Adults are prone to derail. Adults are prone to repeat mistakes. If I believed that people couldn’t change or become a better person, I would give up what I was doing today.” He paused. “Hell, you don’t even believe that. Why did you get into the police? To make a change. You know you can’t change the person, they have to decide to do that but you can come alongside them, guide them, show them their worth, and teach them that there’s a better way.”
“Are you going all religious on me?”
John Dalton laughed. “I think this has less to do with religion and more to do with common sense, human decency, rights, and all the things that thousands of people have fought to improve. The desire to be shown some respect, and at times be given a hand. We all need to be lifted out of the muck when we get stuck, Deon. Some of us can pull ourselves out. Others need a little help.”
