“Okay, so if it’s not drug money, it’s likely still from an illegal source. If that’s the case, Kevin could get himself into a lot of trouble with the law.”
“I know, and that’s why I wanted to speak with you. I have a favor to ask.”
“Is this about my father? Because you know, he gave up practicing criminal law.”
“No, Sara, you misunderstand. I want you to help. I want you to find out what Kevin is up to.”
“Me? Why not hire a private investigator?”
“Because whatever they discover they might not keep to themselves, but you will.”
Sara considered the request. She loved Alicia and had always thought of her as a good friend. Although they had drifted apart in recent years, she would like to help her if she could, and the truth was, she had nothing else to do.
Her contract with the Burke corporation had expired, and although she had been working with Tanner recently, he was not a man who required an assistant. She needed something to do, and solving the mystery of Kevin Kincaid’s new found wealth might even prove to be a challenge.
“I’ll help, Alicia.”
“Thank you, Sara. I can’t stand by and watch Kevin ruin his life. He’s all the family I have left.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“What will you do, just follow Kevin around and see where he goes?”
“Not yet. I need more information.”
“I’ve told you everything I know.”
“That girlfriend of Kevin’s you mentioned, what’s her name and where can I find her?”
“Oh, you think she might know something?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a place to start.”
Alicia looked heavenward, as if a prayer had been answered.
“I feel better already.”
“I can’t make any promises. Kevin might be in so deep that no one can get him out.”
“I understand, but I know you, Sara. When you put your mind to something, no one can stop you. It’s why I came to you for help.”
They spoke a while longer, then Sara stood and grabbed her purse, as she prepared to go off and locate Kevin Kincaid’s old girlfriend.
“Sara?”
“Yes?”
“Please be careful. I love Kevin to death, but I couldn’t bear it if helping me led to your getting hurt.”
Sara’s smile was full of hidden meaning.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been known to hold my own in a fight.”
Tanner was with Joe Pullo inside Johnny R’s.
Gathered with them were Sammy, Bosco, and Rico Nazario. Tanner told them the story of the attack he faced on the highway. They were all in agreement that it sounded like they were leaking information somewhere.
“Who knew that I was going to Boston?” Tanner asked.
“Bosco, Sammy, and me,” Joe said. “But others knew about the van we got for you to use, and Rico here was the one who came up with the Massachusetts plates.”
“I vote we kill Rico,” Sammy said.
Rico glared at Sammy.
“If you do, you’ll be killing an innocent man.”
“I’m willing to take that risk.”
“Enough with you two,” Joe said. “Bosco, who else knew about the van?”
“It was delivered around the back, so Ivanov knew about it. Also, Red probably heard us talking about it in the limo.”
Joe shook his head.
“I can’t buy either of them working with someone to kill Tanner.”
“Whoever it was knew that I would be in the van, or saw me get into it, but I don’t think they knew where I was headed or why.”
Joe ran the back of his right hand along the stubble on the underside of his chin. He had left home at daybreak after getting Tanner’s messages, and only took time for a quick shower.
“I really wanted to talk to that Sean O’Doyle,” Joe said. “We could have made him confess that he was working under orders from Moss Murphy.”
“Murphy wasn’t behind the robbery of the bakery,” Tanner said, then he went on to explain the conversation he had eavesdropped on between Sean O’Doyle and the man he heard but never saw.
“That sounds like Murphy doesn’t know what’s going on either,” Joe said.
“Maybe you both have leaks,” Rico said. “And Tanner, what makes you think that the men who tried to kill you were Salvadorans?”
“They were pretty mangled up by the time I got a close look at them, but at least two of them had face tattoos. The kind the Salvadoran gangs are known for.”
Rico grimaced.
“They wouldn’t work for Moss Murphy or anyone else. If they’re behind the robberies, it means they’re making moves.”
“And they wanted Tanner out of the way,” Bosco said.
“They just ensured that I stay in. Whoever sent them after me will see me himself someday.”
Joe held up a finger and caught Bosco’s eye.
“Tell Big Ralphie to stay on his toes, and put two men on Laurel, but loosely, I don’t want her worried about why I’m upping the security around her.”
“I’ll take care of it, Joe, but can I suggest something?”
“That’s why I keep you around, every once in a while, you come up with a good idea.”
“Let me meet with Finn Kelly, Moss Murphy’s number two man. He’s always seemed like a straight shooter to me.”
“You think he’ll be willing to talk with you?”
“I don’t know, but if he is, we might get some answers.”
“Or you might get killed,” Sammy said.
Bosco pursed his lips while shaking his head.
“That’s not Finn Kelly’s style. If he agrees to meet it won’t be a set-up.”
Joe nodded.
“See if he’ll meet you.”
“I’ll go make the call, but first, I’ll see that Laurel gets more security.”
“Good man,” Joe said.
Bosco was gone for twenty minutes as Joe, Sammy, Tanner, and Rico considered options. When Bosco returned, he wore an odd expression.
“We’ve got new trouble.”
“How’s that?”
“One of our cocaine shipments was almost stolen in a warehouse at the docks. Three guys got away, but not with the drugs.”
Joe stood in a rush.
“They kill anyone?”
“No, but a man was shot in the arm.”
“Who?”
“A kid named Adamo Conti, they say he wounded one of the heisters with a knife as he fought them off.”
“Why a knife and not a gun?”
“They missed the knife when they patted Conti down. The kid used it to get back his gun, and that’s when the heisters ran.”
“When Conti recovers from the shooting, set up a meet here. That kid is getting moved up a notch, along with a bonus.”
“Will do, and one more thing, these guys were white. Conti struggled with one and yanked his mask off.”
“Maybe Moss Murphy is making moves, or someone wants me to think so.”
“Could be someone wants New York and Boston to go to war so that they can pick up the pieces when the dust settles,” Tanner said.
“There is good news, boss,” Bosco said. “Moss Murphy himself agreed to meet with you.”
“When and where?”
“Tonight, at six. He wants to meet in Killburry, Connecticut.”
“Maybe he’ll hand the town back to us as a peace offering,” Sammy said, but only as a joke.
“Tell them we’ll be there, Bosco, all four of us.”
“Make that five,” Tanner said. “I want to be there.”
Joe smiled.
“Tell them five men apiece, Bosco.”
After Bosco left to confirm the meet, Rico shrugged.
“Maybe things will get settled.”
Joe lowered himself into his chair again.
“Or, maybe all hell is about to break loose.”
15
Let’
s Talk
Sara sat at a table inside a department store.
She was in the employee breakroom and having a conversation with the ex-girlfriend of Kevin Kincaid.
Emma Poole was blonde and pretty, with shoulder-length hair and green eyes. She worked the perfume counter part-time while going to college for a degree in engineering.
“Kevin has a lot of pent-up rage over what happened with his brother, Michael. Most of it is directed at the drug dealer who sold Michael the drugs.”
“I wasn’t aware the family knew who his dealer was.”
“I don’t think they have a name, and there was likely more than one. But Kevin hates all drug dealers. Once, when we were at a friend’s party, Kevin got in a fight with a guy selling pot. You would have thought the guy was peddling child porn the way Kevin reacted. That was when I asked him to get help.”
“By help, do you mean a psychiatrist?”
Emma sat her coffee cup down atop the table.
“I meant a group. People like Kevin who had also lost family members due to drug use. I know from experience that talking things out with like-minded people can be healing. It worked for me, concerning the abuse I suffered as a child, I thought it might help Kevin too.”
“I take it he wouldn’t go?”
“He went. He found a group through the college and started attending regularly. But see, instead of helping Kevin, he seemed to become more obsessed.”
“How so?”
“I would watch him search the web for stories about drug dealers who’d been busted, but put back on the streets. It infuriated Kevin. By the time we broke up, Kevin was walking around campus with a petition to have the drug laws toughened. He and his group wanted the laws changed so that anyone selling or buying drugs would receive the death penalty. Miss Blake, almost no one signed it.”
“You say the group was a part of the petition. I thought the purpose of a support group was to help the members deal with their emotional difficulties, not turn them into activists.”
Emma Poole’s eyes grew large as she nodded agreement.
“Exactly, and now I wish Kevin had never joined that group. It changed him.”
Sara wrote down the name of the group and the names of the members Emma knew.
There was the group’s founder and leader, Ian Seagate. Seagate was in his late-thirties and a law professor. There were also three fellow students whom Kevin had grown close to, Roland, whom Emma said was blond, stick thin, and nervous. Gabriel, with dark hair, dark eyes, and walked with a limp. Then there was Juan Vega, Kevin’s new best friend. Vega was good-looking and drove a vintage sports car that he’d saved for since he was twelve.
“How many more members are in the group?” Sara asked.
“That might be all of them. Professor Seagate is arrogant and tends to rub people the wrong way, but Kevin sure likes him. He thought the man could do no wrong.”
“Why did you and Kevin break up?”
Emma pushed a strand of hair from her eyes.
“It just wasn’t much fun to be around him anymore, and he was spending most of his time with the group.”
“I see.”
“Miss Blake, are you related to Kevin.”
Sara smiled.
“No, I just happen to resemble his sister.”
“You really do, and Kevin too.”
Sara asked a few more questions and walked with Emma as she returned to the perfume counter. As they were saying goodbye, Emma asked a question.
“Is Kevin in trouble, Miss Blake?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out.”
In Killburry, Connecticut, Tanner climbed out of the rear of a limo with Joe, Sammy, and Rico, as Bosco got out of the driver’s seat.
The area they were in showed signs of its recent devastation. It was the site of Tanner’s battle with The Brotherhood. Many of the homes had been destroyed by fire.
Not far away, Moss Murphy left his own limo with his son, Liam, his number two man, Finn Kelly, two young punks, and a mountain. At least, the man looked like a mountain. The red-haired giant was so huge that he made the twin black bouncers back at Johnny R’s look small in comparison.
“What the hell is that?” Rico said.
Bosco laughed.
“They call him the Irish hulk. He’s their version of Big Ralphie.”
Joe walked with Tanner beside him. The suit he wore was blue, the tie, red, while Tanner’s suit was black and unaccompanied by a tie. Both men had their jackets unbuttoned.
“Let’s go see where this takes us,” Joe said.
The two groups headed toward each other and met in the street before a pile of debris that had once been the home of Burt Hodges, Killburry’s former head mobster.
Killburry’s current criminal mastermind was Liam Murphy. Murphy was as handsome as his father, who was a notorious ladies man. Liam was dressed in tight black jeans, red sneakers, and wore a white T-shirt under a black leather jacket.
There was a gun on his left hip, a Glock, and that side of the jacket was pushed back to make the weapon easier to extract. Liam Murphy was a stone-cold punk, but he was a punk who enjoyed the clout and backing of his powerful father.
Liam was looking at Tanner the way a talented young boxer eyed an undefeated champion. It was a hungry look, and a cocky one. Brashness and danger danced together in Liam Murphy’s blue eyes.
Finn Kelly, Murphy’s number two man, was the opposite of Liam. He was about Tanner’s age or perhaps a few years younger, wore glasses with thin black frames, and his gray eyes looked as calm and flat as a lake on a windless day. If asked, most people would have guessed that Finn Kelly was an accountant, or perhaps a dentist. No one would claim he was a mobster.
When Tanner’s gaze met Kelly’s, the Irishman sent him a slight nod of acknowledgement, and Tanner answered with the same.
After everyone had eyed everyone else, with the Irish hulk and Tanner getting most of the stares, Joe tossed his chin in Moss Murphy’s direction.
“I thought we agreed on five men apiece? I count six on your side.”
Murphy shrugged.
“I didn’t think we were counting ourselves in that.”
“You don’t consider yourself a man?” Sammy asked Murphy.
Moss Murphy turned his gaze on Sammy.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Sammy Giacconi.”
“Ah, the grandson. I didn’t know you had a mouth on you.”
“Now you do,” Sammy said.
Liam spoke up, while looking at Tanner. He was moving a lot, twitching, as if trying to disperse nervous energy.
“You’re Tanner, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How fast are you?”
Tanner watched the kid.
“What do you mean?”
“On the draw, you know, with a gun. How fast can you draw a gun?”
“Fast enough.”
“You’re supposed to be this big fucking deal, but you don’t look like much.”
“We can’t all be as pretty as you, kid.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty, the bitches love my ass, but I’m fast too, Tanner. I’m the fastest fucking gun in Boston.”
“Liam!” Moss Murphy said, in a warning tone. His son flashed a glance his way and spoke to Tanner again.
“Why don’t we find out who’s faster?”
“I thought we were here to talk.”
Liam laughed, as his hand crept closer to the gun on his hip.
“Hear that, everybody, fucking Tanner just came here to talk. I think he’s scared.”
“Murphy,” Joe said. “Put a choke chain on your boy before he winds up dead.”
“Liam! Leave Tanner the fuck alone. He’s right, we came here to talk.”
Murphy’s tone had been harsher, but this time, Liam didn’t even grant his father the courtesy of a glance. He was smiling at Tanner, as he pretended to go for his gun, then stopped his hand only inches away from it.
Bosco, Sammy, and Rico looked to be on edge by Liam’s antics, but Joe and Tanner simply observed the show.
It turned out that Liam hadn’t been boasting. The kid was fast, just lightning quick. However, others were faster.
Liam’s gun was halfway out of his holster when three things occurred within hundreds of a second of each other.
Tanner, along with Joe, had cleared leather, and they were pointing their guns at the boy. Meanwhile, Finn Kelly had reached over and grabbed Liam’s wrist, to prevent him from drawing his weapon. Liam struggled against Kelly’s grasp, but it was no use, the man was too strong for him.
Bosco, Sammy, Rico, and the two street soldiers from Boston, all stood with their hands on their guns while looking at each other with nervous eyes. The man-mountain that was the Irish Hulk maneuvered his bulk in front of Moss Murphy, thus, keeping the man safe behind a wall of flesh.
Liam was staring at Joe and Tanner in astonishment. He was fast, knew he was fast, but the men before him were on a whole other level. If Finn Kelly hadn’t prevented him from clearing his holster, he would be on the ground bleeding.
Still, punk that he was, he reacted with anger and petulance.
“Take your fucking hand off me, Finn!”
Kelly removed his hand, but slowly, while berating Liam. Kelly’s voice had the lilt of an Irish accent. Tanner realized he was listening to the man who had been at Sean O’Doyle’s apartment the night before. Finn Kelly had questioned Sean O’Doyle about the robbery at the bakery.
“That was a stupid thing to do, Liam. You’re lucky Tanner and Mr. Pullo didn’t blow your fool head off.”
“My father told you not to talk to me that way.”
“You’re right. He also told you to leave Tanner alone. You’d be best to heed that advice, boy.”
Tanner and Joe holstered their weapons much slower than they had brought them out.
Liam scowled at Tanner, his eyes now devoid of their earlier devilishness. The brashness had been replaced by a guarded gaze.
“Let’s talk about business now, hmm?” Joe said.
The others all relaxed, except for Tanner and Finn Kelly, because neither man’s pulse rate had risen during the incident.
Tanner took note of Kelly’s calmness, along with the speed he displayed when he grabbed Liam’s wrist. He classified the bland Irishman as the only true threat before them.
Manhattan Hit Man (A Tanner Novel Book 18) Page 8
