by Mike Ryan
“Move,” his friend from the front seat told him.
“Just show me where I’m going.”
The man pointed with his pistol at the office. “In there.”
“Oh. Sure.”
Thrower continued looking around as he walked to the office. He was taking careful note of everything. Where everything was located, the amount of men that he saw, how far his car was from the building, everything that might be necessary if he was in a hurry. And he figured he would be.
Once they entered the office, Thrower looked at the walls and ceiling. Then he noticed a brown desk in the corner of the room. That was the only piece of furniture left in the room.
“Sit.”
“On what?” Thrower asked. He looked around again for emphasis. “I don’t see a chair anywhere.”
“Sit on the desk.”
“Oh. Well that seems kind of primitive.”
“You ever shut up? You do a lot of talking.”
Thrower shrugged. “Does it bother you?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Good.” Thrower then moved his arm around, pointing at the walls. “You know, you could use a good interior decorator in this place. It’s lacking a little something. Maybe if you put a picture or two up. It might do wonders.”
The man rolled his eyes and sighed. He really didn’t want to listen to him anymore. He turned to one of his friends. “Is the boss here yet? I’m tired of listening to this guy.”
“He’ll be here in a minute.”
“In a hurry to be somewhere?” Thrower asked.
“No, I just wanna hurry up and shoot you so we can throw you in the river somewhere.”
“And after all I’ve done to be cooperative? The boss is not gonna like that.”
The man really looked like he was losing his patience. If it wasn’t for his orders, he probably would have plugged Thrower already. Luckily, his boss came about a minute later, so he wouldn’t have to listen to Thrower’s nonsense anymore.
As the boss came in, Thrower could tell he was in charge by the way the others moved to the side of the room. They were obviously deferring to him. Thrower looked him over, trying to see if he looked familiar, though he wasn’t one of the Scorpions that he came into contact with before.
The man was big, standing at six-feet-two, and weighing about two-hundred and sixty pounds. His head was shaved close, though he wasn’t bald. He appeared to be in his mid to late thirties.
“I would say introductions are in order,” the boss nicely said.
Thrower smiled. “Sure, go ahead.”
“Now, since you took out several of my men the other day, I would at least like and appreciate the courtesy of knowing the name of the man that did it.”
“Speaking of the other day, you’re lucky I wanted to meet you, or else I would’ve knocked out these bozos too.”
The man that accompanied Thrower from the front seat of his car stood just next to his boss. And he wasn’t pleased. “Let me just kill him, boss.”
“Since we’re talking about those clowns, where are they, anyway? I don’t see them anywhere.”
The boss let out a friendly smile. “They’re home, recuperating from the injuries they sustained from you.”
Thrower laughed. “Except for the one guy. Don’t forget about him. He can’t recuperate from anything anymore. Though that wasn’t really my fault. Your one guy had a little twitch of his finger. You should work on that with him.”
“I will. Now, on to business.”
“The only business I’ll discuss with you is leaving Mia Hendricks alone. That’s it.”
“Well, perhaps we can do something about that. If you’re willing to meet my terms.”
“Which are?”
“I want everything you’ve got on Mike Recker.”
“Who?”
The boss snickered. “Oh, come on now. You’re guarding his girlfriend, and you’re escorting her everywhere. I know full well that he’s the one that hired you, so let’s not play stupid games. OK?”
“I was hired by somebody. No names were exchanged.”
“And what does he do, leave a stack of money in a mailbox for you?”
“Paid in cash in advance.”
“Impressive.”
“Mr… we still haven’t exchanged names yet. What is yours?”
“I go by a variety of names.”
“Which is the one you’re going by today?”
“I tell you what, you tell me yours, then I’ll tell you mine.”
“My name is Ronnie Slater. Now yours?”
“They call me The Bodyguard. You can call me Mister.”
Slater raised an eyebrow. He’d heard of The Bodyguard before. “So you’re the famous Bodyguard. We’ve dealt with you before, though I’ve only heard the story since I was not personally involved.”
“Hope they got the details right.”
Slater pulled out his phone and started searching for something. It only took a few seconds. “Nathan Thrower, I believe. Is that not correct?”
“Oh, that name.”
Slater didn’t look amused, and he was starting to lose his patience. “Yes, that one.”
“You’re not exactly an unknown to us since we’ve crossed paths before.”
“When you say us, you mean The Scorpions, right? I mean, might as well put all the cards on the table.”
“Yes. Us. And since we’re putting all our cards on the table, a little truth on your end could go a long way. It could also mean whether you leave here on your feet or in pieces. And since you know for certain who you’re dealing with now, you also know that we don’t make idle threats. If we say we’ll kill you… we will.”
Thrower stared at the man, and the three other men in the room. He was still waiting for the right opportunity, which hadn’t yet presented itself. He had to be patient and not force it before the time was right.
Thrower put his hands up. “So what is it that you want? Sounds like you’re asking for a deal.”
“Well, if you want me to be blunt, I’m not asking. I’m telling you what the deal is. You tell me what I want to know, and you get to leave here still breathing. And if you don’t, you’ll leave in a box. Most likely in tiny pieces.”
Thrower looked at the ground for a moment. “Sounds like you’re not giving me much of a choice.”
“No, we’re not.”
“So? What’s on your mind?”
“I would like to know where Mike Recker lives, where he hangs his hat, who he associates with, any partners he may have, and where I can find the rest of them.”
“And I get?”
“Your life. And your word that you leave this city immediately and never come back. If you do, we’ll kill you on sight.”
“And Mia Hendricks?”
“Well, she is the girlfriend of the man we hold as public enemy number one.”
“She gets a pass, and she leaves with me or no deal.”
“You’re not really in a position to bargain, Mr. Thrower.”
“Listen, I take every job knowing that it may be my last. I’m not some slob that’s gonna beg and plead to save my life. If this is it, I’ve got no regrets. That also means I’m prepared for whatever you wanna do and I’m not going to do anything if I don’t want to.”
“Why is she so important to you?”
“Let’s just say I’m taking a liking to her.”
Slater grinned. “So we kill the boyfriend, you take his girl, and live happily ever after?”
“Something like that. Is it agreed?”
“Fine. I’m not really that interested in her, anyway, other than she’s a way to hurt him. If he’s dead, she’s of no mind. You can have her. I assume I’ll never have to worry about her after this?”
“You’ll never hear from either one of us again. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Fine. I agree to your terms.”
“Then I guess we now have something to talk about.”
“Can’t really
tell you any of that.”
“Remember what I said about the games? That’s not what I want to hear. If you’re going to tell me you don’t know anything, then we have nothing else to discuss. And that means there’s no further reason to be here.”
“Look, I’m an outsider. I’m not part of Recker’s crew, and I don’t hang with him. He hired me to protect his girl, that’s it.”
“As it stands right now, you’re going to be chopped up in eight pieces. You’ve told me nothing.”
“I can find out what you wanna know, though.”
“How?”
“Let me go back to the hospital, talk to Mia, ask some questions, and I can find out what you want.”
“No. You’ll tell us now, or you go nowhere.”
Thrower sighed, trying to figure out another plan. “Fine. Give me my phone and I’ll call Recker right now.”
Slater laughed. “Seriously? You think I’m gonna let you call him? Why? So you can give him the code word that you’re in trouble? Do I really look that stupid to you?”
“I give you my word I won’t try anything funny.”
“You’re right, you won’t. Because you’re not calling.”
“Well then how do you expect me to get what you want? If you kill me now, you’re definitely not getting it.”
“I can take my chances.”
“Well that’s just dumb, then. I can offer you your enemy on a silver platter if you just take the damn thing, and you’re passing it up.”
“You haven’t offered me anything yet.”
“Fine, I can text him. You can even see what I’m saying before I send it to him? That should satisfy you. If there’s something you don’t like, you can take it out. All right?”
“Don’t listen to him, boss,” Thrower’s front-seat friend said. “It’s some type of trick.”
“It’s not a trick. How can it be a trick if I’m telling you to approve it before I send it?”
“Why should we give him the phone at all? If he’s just sending a text, we can do that ourselves.”
Thrower shook his head. “That’s an amateur move, and proves what I already knew about you. You’re a knucklehead.”
The man pointed his gun at Thrower again. “I’m really getting tired of your nonsense.”
Thrower pointed back at him with his finger. “Don’t listen to this guy. He’s a dope. Because a professional would know that everybody has a particular way of talking, even through text messages. Nobody can replicate the way someone speaks. One slip-up, saying LOL instead of ha ha, or saying you are instead of ur, saying hi when I never say hi, and it’s game over for you. And you’ll never get him.”
Slater intently looked at Thrower, letting his words sink in. Even his underling was quiet, thinking about what was said. They couldn’t deny he had a point.
“Fine,” Slater said. “Give him his phone back.”
“I don’t know about this, boss.”
“You don’t make the decisions. I do. Give it to him.”
The man with the gun huffed and puffed, but gave Thrower back the phone he took off him when they got in the car at the hospital.
“You better make it good,” Slater said. “Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure I kill Ms. Hendricks myself. And I’ll make sure it’s as violent and ugly as any of them. Understood?”
Thrower nodded, and started typing a message. “Hey, leaving the hospital now with Mia. Can’t go back to the new apartment, think it’s compromised. Can you and James meet me somewhere? Or just lead me to your base if you think it’s secure enough.” Thrower then handed the phone to Slater so he could look it over.
“Who’s James?”
“Oh. That’s Recker’s partner.”
“You said you didn’t know anything.”
“I wanted to be sure you’d hold up your end of the bargain first.”
“What else are you not telling us?”
“That was the only thing I was holding back.”
“What do you know about this James guy?”
“Not much,” Thrower answered. “Only met him once, when him and Recker hired me.”
“Describe him.”
“Uh, young guy, maybe twenty-five or so. Black hair, kind of long in the back, think he’s really good with computers or something. Some kind of computer genius, I think. Seemed kind of cocky, but, whatever.”
“That checks out, don’t it, boss?” the man with the gun asked. “He’s supposed to have some kind of computer guy with him.”
Slater nodded. “What’s this new apartment?”
“They just moved into a new place two days ago. Don’t even think they got much furniture in there.”
“Why don’t we just go there and wait?” the gunman asked.
Thrower shook his head. “Won’t work. Recker and James did a bunch of new security measures after you guys surprised her at the last place. I don’t even know what they are. And asking about them’s a sure way to get him wondering about what’s going on. He’ll know something’s up.”
“We could just wait for his girl to go back there.”
“Are you really that dumb? The time to strike is now, man. Your boss can’t risk me possibly tipping her off, or her wanting to do something else after work, or her getting suspicious of something, or waiting for another four or five hours when she’s done. That’s almost a lifetime. He’s gotta do it now, so I can get out of here, and he doesn’t have to worry about me anymore. Are you a rookie or something?”
“Can I please just kill him now?”
Slater put his arm out to quiet his man down. “Shut up.”
“Should I send the message? Do you wanna edit it? Or do you wanna do it another way?”
Slater stared at Thrower for a few seconds, then looked at the phone, focusing on the message for an equal amount of time. Then he handed it back to Thrower. “Send it.”
Thrower nodded, then immediately hit the send button. “Done.”
“How long should this take?”
Thrower shrugged. “He’s always answered me back within a couple minutes before.”
Slater smiled, OK with waiting a few more minutes. He’d been waiting a lot longer just to get to this point. “A few more minutes.” Slater started walking around the room, imagining the possibilities after Recker texted back. “A few more minutes, and then Recker will join his friends, only this time, we’ll make sure he’s dead before we leave.”
18
Recker stared at his phone, trying to decode the message. He knew there was something else to it. For one, there was no new apartment, and he called David by a different name. Jones glanced up from his computer, and could instantly tell something was wrong.
“What is it?”
Recker looked back at him. “Thrower sent me a message.”
“And?”
“He must be in some kind of trouble.”
“How so?”
Recker walked over to the desk and showed it to his partner. “Read it. Doesn’t make much sense.”
After Jones read it, he concurred with Recker’s statement. “What do you make of it?”
“He’s gotta be in some sort of trouble.” Recker then thought of his girlfriend possibly being with him. “Mia.”
“Relax. Just call her at the hospital, or send her a message now, see how she responds.”
Recker did, and was pleasantly surprised to get a message back within a couple of minutes. Mia must have been between patients.
“She’s still in the hospital, she says. She said she just had lunch with him not long ago, though.”
“Well, at least she’s fine, then,” Jones said.
“Doesn’t explain him, though. If I text back, and he really is in trouble, if I don’t say the right thing, he’s gonna be in a lot more of it.”
Jones stopped what he was doing and thought about it. “Well then, seems simple enough. Don’t ask any questions. Just follow his lead. See where it goes.”
Recker nodded, agreeing
. “Guess we’ll see.”
Thrower immediately looked at his phone as the message came in. “There it is.” He read it, then showed the message to Slater. Slater took the phone and looked at the message himself.
“Meet me at the Schuylkill River, where we met before.”
Thrower now knew that Recker understood the situation, because they had never met at the Schuylkill River before.
“Should I text him back?”
“Tell him you’ll be there in twenty minutes,” Slater said.
Thrower took his phone back and texted Recker back that he’d meet him there. He slid off the desk and stood up straight. “So, can I go now?”
“Oh, no. You’re coming with us.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal. You said to tell you where he was. I’ve done that. I’d like to go before the shooting starts.”
“No. You’re gonna come with us to make sure he’s there.”
“Fine.” Thrower threw his left arm up. “Lead the way.”
Slater was the first one to walk through the door. Thrower walked in that direction, with two of the other men falling in behind him, and the other man with the gun standing next to the door, waiting for him to go through it. This was Thrower’s chance. He wasn’t leading them anywhere. He wasn’t putting Recker into a situation that wasn’t of his own making, and even if he did lead them to the river, he wasn’t even sure if Recker would actually be there. Then he’d have to figure out a new plan.
This was his best shot. And there were only three of them now since the boss left the room. Thrower could handle this. As Thrower reached the door, he turned to his friend from the front seat, and held his phone up in the air.
“Uh, you guys want this back?” Thrower showed a sarcastic-looking grin. “I didn’t know if you trusted me enough with it.”
The man put his hand out. “Yeah, we want it back.”
“Well here.”
Thrower gently tossed the phone at him. The man pulled back as the phone went up into his face. As he brought his free hand up to try to catch it, Thrower reached back and delivered a powerful right hand, knocking the man off his feet, sending him crashing into the wall. Thrower immediately pushed the door closed, then turned around to face the other two, who weren’t ready for a fight, and seemed stunned at what was happening.
