by Mike Ryan
“I can lose a tail. I’m not even worried about that.”
“But what if you bring backup, they bring backup, everyone sees each other, then a war breaks out right then and there.”
“It’s gotta happen, eventually.”
“Yes, but hopefully that eventually will happen on our terms, when we want it to, and not have it sprung upon us.”
“I can scout the area out ahead of time,” Haley said. “If I notice activity I don’t think I can handle, I could always back off.”
Recker nodded, appearing to be pleased. Jones sighed, knowing he could throw out a hundred different scenarios for how this meeting could go sideways, but he knew his friends would have a rebuttal for every one of them. They always did. That was the main problem for Jones once they brought Haley on. Not that he ever regretted it, on the contrary, he felt it was the best thing they ever did. Haley was a good partner, and a good friend. Jones couldn’t imagine doing the work without him again. But if there was one downside, it was bringing in someone like Haley, who had similar experiences to Recker, and also similar thought processes. It was just how they were wired, partly from all the work they did in their previous work. But that also meant that whenever there was a difference of opinion, Jones was likely going to be outvoted. At least when it was just the two of them, Jones could every now and then win a debate. Now, it was almost impossible. The two former CIA agents almost always stuck together on any topic. But considering how valuable Haley was, and now seeming indispensable, Jones supposed it was a good tradeoff, even though it meant he usually didn’t get his way.
Knowing he was defeated, Jones still had questions. “Considering we don’t know where they are, exactly how do you plan on setting up this meeting?”
“That part’s actually easy,” Recker replied.
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. Vincent told me he’s waiting to hear back about the offer he made them. I’ll call him, let him know what I want, that way when he hears back from Billings, Vincent can see if he’s interested in meeting me. We’ll see if he can arrange it.”
“And did it ever occur to you that Vincent’s letting these people stay in town because he sees more value in them than you?”
Recker looked at his partner strangely. “What, you think Vincent might set me up and let The Scorpions take me out?”
“Let’s be honest here, Mike. Vincent’s been a good ally for us, and us to them, for a long time now. But make no bones about it, Vincent will do what’s best for Vincent. Always. And if the time comes when he feels there’s someone out there that will help him in a better manner than you, don’t think for a second that he doesn’t view you as expendable.”
“Maybe.”
“And have you considered the possibility that maybe Vincent is letting them stay with the intention of eventually recruiting them into his own organization, thereby giving him almost untouchable status with any other rival that ever comes in? Nobody who’s sane would ever think about going up against him again with The Scorpions in his back pocket. That would mean no more Nowak’s, no more Jeremiah’s, no more Italians, no more contenders to his throne. Ever.”
“I guess in some way that makes sense. But I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.”
“I hope you’re right. Because your belief and trust in Vincent could eventually come back to haunt you.”
7
While Recker didn’t put as much stock into Jones’ theory as David did, Recker couldn’t say it was completely without merit. He honestly did not believe that was what was happening, though he couldn’t outright say it was impossible either. He just didn’t think that was what Vincent was planning. At least not now. Recker would take him at his word that Vincent wanted The Scorpions out of town just as much. He just had a different way of going about it. Recker grabbed his phone to make the call. Before his fingers started pushing buttons, he glanced over at Jones, who he could feel was shooting lasers out of his eyes at him.
“You’re really going to do this?” Jones asked.
“I think it’s the best way.”
“OK. Do what you think is best.”
Recker knew that was Jones-speak for admitting defeat, though he still wasn’t backing off of his position. Nevertheless, Recker made the call. This time, he got right through to Vincent.
“Mike, nice to hear from you again. If we keep talking to each other at this rate, we might have to move in together.”
Recker let out a laugh, though he really didn’t think it was that funny. “Maybe so. Anyway, the reason I called is that I have another proposition for you.”
“I appreciate your insistence, Mike, but my stance hasn’t really changed.”
“I’m not asking you to. I have something else in mind.”
“Which is?”
“You’re expecting to hear back from Billings at some point, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Whenever that happens, I’d like for you to ask him if he’d be willing to meet with me.”
Vincent was a little stunned at the request. It definitely wasn’t something he was prepared to hear. “You want a meet?”
“That’s right.”
“Can I ask what you think the point of that would be?”
“I want him to know I’m coming,” Recker replied.
“I have a feeling he already knows that.”
“Listen, I know, for your own reasons, you wanna wait a while before making a move on them, and that’s fine, you do what you gotta do. But I don’t have the same stance.”
“I understand that.”
“Did you hear about a job that was pulled a few hours ago? A convenience store in the northeast, a man and wife in their sixties were killed.”
“I heard something to that effect.”
“I think they did it.”
“I was under the impression the police had not identified anyone yet,” Vincent said.
“I have my own reasons for believing it was them.”
“And if it was?”
“Those people they killed were not a threat. I’m not gonna just sit around for months and watch innocent people get murdered because this group feels like it’s fun and games.”
“I can understand your feelings, Mike, I really can. But even if I set this meeting up for you, what would it accomplish? They’re not going to stop, whether they know you’re coming or not. And I don’t see what good it would do for you to have them be ready for you. As good as you and Chris are, stealth is your only play here. You need to bob and weave, move in and out, going toe to toe with these jokers is not the wisest of moves. There’s just too many for you guys to deal with at one time.”
“I agree,” Recker said. “That’s why I don’t plan to. We’re gonna move in a way that makes sense. But I need that meeting first.”
“You have something up your sleeve already, don’t you?”
“I don’t think it would do either of us any good if I answered that.”
“I’ll assume that’s a yes.”
“So, can you set it up?”
“It sounds like your mind is pretty much made up on this.”
“It is.”
“Where and when?”
“I need a place where I can be confident that Billings isn’t going to have backup and end the meeting prematurely.”
“Why do I get the feeling this still involves me?” Vincent asked.
“Maybe we could use one of your facilities. Your boys run security so neither of us can bring in any weapons and keeps out any surprise guests.”
“An interesting proposition.”
“I thought so. So, what about it? You think you can do it?”
Vincent hesitated for a second before answering. “Well, it may take a few days. I’m not sure when Billings is going to get back to me on my offer.”
“That’s fine.”
“But when he does, I’ll mention it and let you know what he says.”
“That’s all I c
an ask.”
It was two more days before Vincent and Billings hooked up again. Instead of a phone call, they agreed to meet at the same place they did before. It was the same situation, Vincent and Malloy waiting in the conference room, waiting for Billings to be led in after being frisked. Once he was in, Billings smiled at seeing the two men sitting next to each other again.
“You two come as a matching set?”
Vincent grinned, though he really didn’t find it all that amusing. “In my position, I find it advantageous to usually have someone by my side during any external meeting. It has a tendency to relax things in the event the discussions get heated.”
“Certainly understandable.”
“So, your group has come to a decision?”
“We have,” Billings answered. “We’ll agree to your terms for now.”
“For now?”
“Well, if we play by your rules for a while, and you see that we’re willing to be flexible and work with you, maybe you’ll relax those rules a bit later on.”
“I suppose that could be arranged if the situation warrants it.”
“Then it sounds like we got a deal.”
The two men then got up out of their seats and shook hands to consummate their agreement.
“I do have some other things to discuss with you, however,” Vincent said.
“Oh, yeah?”
“First off, I’ve heard you’ve already been busy. That hardly seems like the behavior of a friendly business partner.”
“What are you talking about?”
Vincent looked to Malloy, who pulled out a newspaper article out of his jacket and handed it to him. Vincent briefly looked at it, then slid it across the table for Billings to see. Billings picked it up and read about the misfortunes of Antonio and Rosetta Govindo. He didn’t bother to read the whole thing though. He was already familiar with the contents of the article. He lifted his eyes up and looked over the article at Vincent.
“If you’re thinking this was our handiwork, it’s not. This wasn’t us.”
Vincent and Malloy looked at each other, a little surprised that he was denying it. They assumed he would come clean as soon as they presented it to him. Unless he was telling the truth, which would have been an even bigger shock. That would have meant that Recker was wrong in accusing The Scorpions of the hit. They couldn’t remember Recker ever being wrong before in anything. Anytime he ever thought someone was involved in something, they were. They knew he didn’t go throwing accusations around lightly. If Recker said it was them, Vincent took it as gospel.
“So. you know nothing about this?” Vincent asked.
“I do not.”
Vincent looked away for a moment, trying to articulate his words so that he didn’t come across like he was calling the man a liar to his face, but also being stern enough in letting him know that he didn’t believe him.
“I have it on good authority it was your group that was responsible.”
“Whose authority is that?” Billings asked.
“Well, I’m sure you can understand that I can’t reveal my sources.”
“Some of those contacts in the police department maybe?”
“Perhaps.”
Billings coughed as he tried to think of a response. “Well, I can only speak to my direct knowledge of the situation, which is I don’t know who’s responsible for that. Maybe it was a couple of the guys acting on their own, which they’ve always been able to do freely.”
“Do you have control of these people or not?”
“Well, I think it’s important to note that, if this was us, it was done before we came to any sort of agreement with you. It wasn’t your building, was it?”
“It was not. That doesn’t really matter though if you’re unable to reel your guys in.”
“Nobody needs to be reeled in. I guarantee from here on out that we’ll live up to our end of the agreement.”
“I would hope so. I would hate for our arrangement to come crashing down so soon.”
“As would I. Well if that’s all, I’m sure we all have other things we need to attend to.”
Vincent wasn’t finished yet though. “Just a minute. We do have one other thing we need to discuss.”
“Oh? Someone else get knocked over?”
“Not quite. I’ve received a request from someone to have a meeting with you. He asked me to pass it along.”
“Getting famous already, huh?” Billings said with a smile. “Who’s that?”
“The Silencer.”
Billings’ smile slowly faded from his face as the news sank in. “The Silencer wants to meet with me?”
“That would be correct.”
“What for?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Talk with him often, do you?”
“The request was made through a familiar third party,” Vincent replied. “The request was made and passed to me, and I’m passing it along to you.”
“What’s he wanna meet with me for?”
“That… I have no idea.”
Billings then laughed. “Yeah, sure, I’ll meet up with the crumb. Where and when? I’ll bring the boys along and we’ll end the guy for sure.”
Vincent grinned. Obviously, the man had no idea how Recker worked. It was a situation of a man hearing the reputation, and thinking he knew all there was to know, but clearly didn’t have a clue.
“It won’t be quite so easy in that regard,” Vincent said. “The request I received was for the meeting to take place here at a time that’s convenient for you. It was suggested that I sit in to moderate and make sure neither party tried anything funny.”
“What?”
“The Silencer is a very careful and intelligent man. You won’t fool him. He’s asked for both you and him to meet here, no backup, no weapons, with me here to screen both parties beforehand.”
“Why you?”
“Probably because we have a mutual respect. He knows I won’t double cross him. If this meeting is agreed to, then both parties will live up to the terms.”
“All right, I can dig it. I’ll meet with him.”
“You agree to the terms?”
“Absolutely,” Billings said. “Bring him on.”
8
Recker and Haley were getting ready to leave the office for their meeting. They each packed their bag with weapons, not that they were expecting to use most, if any of them, but just in case, they’d be ready. They figured they could trust Vincent. But The Scorpions were another matter. As they packed everything up and were ready to go, Recker made sure Jones was ready.
“You good?” Recker asked.
“I am ready. You’re sure you wanna go through with this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just making sure this is what you want.”
“Stop worrying. It’ll be fine. It’ll work.”
“I sure hope so.”
“We’ll call you when we’re there.”
Recker and Haley left the office and hopped in their separate cars to go down to the meeting place. The plan was for Haley to get there first, parking a long way away and walking the rest of the way so he’d avoid eyes or cameras. He had a tracking device on him that he was planning on planting somewhere on Billings’ car. He wanted to be in place by the time Recker rolled up, that way nobody would think they were there together. Mostly in case The Scorpions were planning the same thing, or something similar. If the situation turned out that Haley couldn’t get to Billings’ car, whether there were people around, or other obstacles, he’d retreat back to his car and drive to a nearby spot where he could follow Billings coming out of the meeting. Then he could plant the tracking device on the car at a later time.
Recker and Haley got to the area at the same time, but Recker drove around for a while until his partner said he was ready. It would also give Recker a chance to see if he could spot anyone else who might have been lingering around. If so, it would likely be The Scorpions. But Recker drove around for
over thirty minutes, without seeing any obvious signs of trouble awaiting.
“I’m not seeing anything,” Recker said. “I’m gonna head in.”
“All right,” Haley replied. “I’m already on the move.”
“Just remember you don’t need to take chances. If you can’t get close to the car, we’ll go to Plan B.”
“Right.”
Recker then drove to the meeting place, going through a gate that had Vincent’s men stationed on it. He didn’t even have to be vetted anymore since all of Vincent’s men were so familiar with him these days. He drove up to the main building and got out of his car to head inside. Once he went up the concrete steps and walked in the building, he was immediately greeted by ten more of Vincent’s men. They started approaching him, but Recker already knew the deal. He reached inside his jacket and removed his gun, holding it out for one of the men to take it.
“Other guy here yet?” Recker asked.
“Not yet,” Vincent’s man replied.
Recker reached around to his back and removed his backup weapon and handed that over as well.
“That it?”
“Yep,” Recker answered. He put his arms up and turned around so the men could frisk him.
They did a half-hearted job, knowing they weren’t going to find anything else. They knew Recker well enough by now to know that he didn’t try any tricks. He was as straightforward as they came. If he had a gun, he’d tell you, and if he didn’t want to give it up, he wouldn’t. One of the men led Recker into the conference room, where Vincent and Malloy were already waiting. Recker looked around to make sure that his opponent really wasn’t there. Recker walked over to the table and shook hands with the two men. Vincent could tell by Recker’s face that he was ready for this to begin.
“He should be here shortly,” Vincent said.
“I can wait.”
“You look like a man who has something to say.”
“I do,” Recker said.
“You really think this is going to accomplish something?”
