Lethal Force

by Mike Ryan

  “Just open the door and I can show you.”

  “Maybe you’re one of the bad guys trying to trick us.”

  Haley and Malloy had a laugh on the bed. “You tell ‘em,” Haley said.

  “Please, sir, just open the door.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We can kick it in if we have to. Just save us the trouble and open the door.”

  “Well, OK.”

  Recker opened the door slightly, just enough to see a police officer standing there. He was in full uniform, so there was no doubt about his claim, unless the Scorpions switched tactics and started impersonating the men in blue. But that was doubtful.

  “The threat’s over, sir,” the officer said. “Anybody else in there with you?”

  Recker opened the door all the way, allowing the officer to look inside and see his friends.

  “All those guys are gone?” Haley asked.

  “They are?”

  “Everyone here OK?”

  “Yeah, we’re good. We were visiting our relatives here and these guys just started shooting so we locked ourselves in here.”

  “You did the right thing.”

  “I’m gonna keep checking these other rooms here, but did you guys notice anyone else fighting against the guys that took over the hospital?”

  “We heard some shooting out there,” Recker answered. “But we didn’t see who it was. We just hunkered down behind the bed there and prayed for the best.”

  “Well, it’s over now.”

  “Thankfully.”

  “Are we able to leave yet?” Haley asked.

  “Not just yet,” the officer replied. “There will be some detectives and other officers coming in soon to get a statement from everybody.”

  “How long will that take? This has been such an ordeal. We just wanna go home soon.”

  “I understand. It won’t take too long. Someone should be along in a few minutes. Just wait here. Won’t be long.”

  “Thank you.”

  The officer then went down the hall until he got to the next room. Recker turned around and shrugged at his friends.

  “Guess we gotta wait. Hope we don’t get someone in here who recognizes me.”

  “It’s taken care of,” Malloy said.

  “What? How?”

  “You’ll see.”

  A minute later, another officer appeared in the door. It was the same one that was in the parking garage that let them in the building.

  “About time you got here,” Malloy said.

  “Got here as quick as I could,” the officer replied. “It’s a madhouse out there.” The officer looked at Recker, recognizing his face immediately. “You’re him. The Silencer. I didn’t recognize you before with the mask on, but you’re him, aren’t you?”

  Recker stood there silently, not answering.

  Malloy replied for him. “Is there a problem with that?”

  The officer looked a little nervous. “No. No problem.”

  “Good. Let’s just get us out of here then.”

  The officer then took a bag off his shoulder and handed it to Recker.

  “What’s this for?” Recker asked.

  “Guns,” Malloy replied. “Figured we could sneak them out instead of leaving them here.”

  “Oh.”

  Recker went over to the closet and started putting their weapons in the bag. Then he stuffed all their clothes on top of them. He then came back to the middle of the room, where the officer reached for the bag.

  “I’ll take that.”

  Recker looked over to Malloy, who nodded. With his approval, Recker let the cop take the bag, who slung it over his shoulder.

  “You hurt?” the officer asked, noticing the blood on Malloy’s leg.

  “It’s nothing. I’ll be fine.”

  “You want me to get a doctor in here?”

  “No. I just wanna get out of this place as quickly as possible. Vincent will take me to one of his doctors. Keep it off the books.”

  “How are we getting out of here?” Haley asked.

  “We’re gonna walk,” Malloy answered.

  “How?”

  “Just follow me,” the officer said. “I’ll get you all out of here without a problem.”

  “How are you gonna do that?”

  “There’s thousands of people in here. After we get everybody’s statement, names, and addresses, we’re letting everyone go who doesn’t have some kind of business here. Hospital staff and patients mostly. With all the bodies lying around, there’s crime scenes everywhere. They need to start processing them.”

  “They’re just gonna let a parade of people go down those stairwells with dead bodies all over the place?” Recker asked.

  “No. Elevators.”

  “That’s gonna take a while.”

  “Yeah, well, as soon as we’re done interviewing people, we’re to escort them to the elevators. There’s a couple on every floor, so assuming people are done being questioned at different times, hopefully it won’t be backed up too much. It is what it is, can’t really help it too much.”

  “Wait, I thought the elevators were disabled?” Haley asked.

  “They were. They’re back up and running again.”

  “So, are you supposed to be talking to us?” Recker asked

  “Like I said, there’s thousands of people in here,” the officer said. “They’re not gonna notice if three guys walked out of here without giving a statement.”

  “What about cameras?” Haley asked.

  “Cameras are still offline. From what I hear it’ll be another hour or two before they’re back online.”

  “Sounds like you got it all worked out.”

  “Only if we move now.”

  “What are we waiting for then?” Recker asked. “Let’s move out.”

  “You need help?” Haley asked, tapping Malloy on the arm.

  “No, I’ll be OK. Last thing we need is for people to see an injured man getting helped out of here. Brings too much attention. I’ll grin and bear it.”

  “You guys got everything?” the officer asked.

  Recker looked at the others, who all nodded they were ready. “We’re good. Let’s roll.”

  Led by the police officer, Recker, Haley, and Malloy walked out of the room and down the hall. They passed by several other officers and detectives, none of whom paid a lick of attention to them. They were all way too busy in their own right, interviewing people themselves. Though Malloy still had some pain in his leg, he managed to walk to the elevator almost without a limp. They were the first ones there at the elevator since everyone else was still being questioned. Once inside, Haley and Malloy each took a deep breath, feeling like they were almost out of it. But once those elevator doors closed, Recker could only feel like he was abandoning the love of his life. The whole point of this mission was to come in and get her, and even though she was now out of danger, and was going to pull through surgery just fine, he still felt like he failed. Mia was going to come out of surgery, and he wasn’t going to be there for her. Recker wasn’t even sure when he would be able to come back. It was a certainty that the police would be there for a while examining the crime scenes. And even when that was done, they might decide to leave a few officers there just in case. Would he be able to walk back in without going through some type of security? There were a lot of police officers that knew his face. He probably wouldn’t be able to take the chance of coming back if the police were still there.

  With the elevators running again, the team didn’t have to worry about being spotted again, as the elevator opened up right at the parking garage level.

  “Would’ve been nice if we could’ve just ridden that right up to the fifth floor to begin with,” Haley said.

  “Tell me about it,” Malloy replied.

  The officer handed Recker the bag, and he slung it over his shoulder as the three men started walking through the garage to get back to Malloy’s car. Malloy stopped and looked back at the officer to g
ive him a final message before they left.

  “Thanks for the help. Vincent will want to give you a little extra bonus for your efforts today.”

  The officer nodded. “Thank you.”

  Malloy walked back to the others to catch up with them, but he started limping a little more.

  “Think the pain’s finally starting to hit me,” Malloy said.

  “Probably ‘cause the adrenaline rush is wearing off,” Recker replied.

  “Yeah, probably so.”

  Recker and Haley each grabbed one side of Malloy and put his arms around their shoulders, as they lifted him off the ground, so he didn’t have to put any more weight on his injured leg. Once at the car, they put Malloy in the back seat, so he had a little more room to stretch his leg out. With everyone settled, Recker got in the driver’s seat, and calmly drove out of the parking garage. There was still another police officer stationed there, but he was only preventing people from coming in. He didn’t pay much attention to anyone coming out. He was told if someone was leaving, they’d already been vetted and questioned.

  The team drove off the hospital property and back to the parking lot next to it. They got out of the car and Haley started rooting through the bag to take out their equipment.

  “Well, it’s been fun,” Malloy said.

  “You gonna be OK?” Recker asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  “I mean to drive.”

  “I’ll make it.”

  Even though he was sure Malloy would be able to manage all right, Recker still felt a little bad about just casting him off like that.

  “I’ll tell you what, why don’t I drive you back to Vincent, then he can take you to his doctor from there.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Malloy said.

  “I know I don’t have to. I just wanna make sure you don’t get a severe pain in your leg and you cramp up, then swerve to the side of the road and kill somebody.”

  “How will you get back?” Haley asked.

  “You can just follow me there. I’ll drive him there, drop him off, then hitch a ride back with you.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  “You good with it?”

  Malloy smiled. “You really take the good Samaritan bit a little too far sometimes.”

  “Maybe.”

  “But I won’t argue with it. Thanks.”

  They got back in their respective cars and drove out of the lot, Haley following Recker.

  “Looks like we made it after all, huh?” Malloy said.

  Recker sighed, still not happy at the cost. “Yeah. Looks like we made it.”

  22

  Once they were on the road for a few minutes, Recker called Vincent so he knew to be expecting them.

  “How did the mission go?” Vincent asked.

  “Not as smooth as I hoped it would,” Recker answered. “But I can’t say it was a failure either.”

  “Your lady friend, how is she?”

  “She’s gonna make it. We got her into surgery in time.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “Thanks again for helping out. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Sure you could have,” Vincent said. “You would have found another way, I know you. Maybe it would have taken a little longer, but you would have found something else. When it comes to you against an immovable building, I’m still taking you.”

  Recker laughed. “Maybe. Still, it probably worked out better this way.”

  “I’m happy it worked out. Everyone make it out in one piece I gather?”

  “Well, Jimmy took one in the leg. He’s gonna need to see one of your doctors.”

  “Is it bad?”

  “Not too bad. He’ll be off his feet for a few days, but he’ll live. He’s not losing a leg or anything.

  “Not yet, at least,” Malloy said with a laugh.

  “Well, thankfully it’s not too bad.”

  “I’m bringing Malloy over to the warehouse if you wanna meet us there.”

  “Absolutely, I can be there in a few minutes. Now that I know all the main players made it out safely, how did the rest of the assignment go?”

  “I think we took out around twenty of them,” Recker replied. “Can’t say for sure, lost count after a certain point, but it was around there.”

  “I guess that counts as a good day’s work.”

  “It was costly for them.”

  “Losing twenty men is never an easy proposition, no matter how many you still have left.”

  “Even besides that,” Recker said. “They lost Billings too.”

  “What?”

  “Billings is dead.”

  “Oh? How did that happen?”

  “Jimmy took the initiative to take him out before we left.”

  Vincent hesitated before replying, hoping the job wasn’t sloppily done. “How was it handled?”

  “Before the cops arrived, he used one of the Scorpions guns, killed him, then dropped the gun back down.”

  “So, it won’t come back to you guys?”

  “Shouldn’t. If they do ballistics on it, they’ll find the gun used belonged to one of their own.”

  “Well done.”

  “What this means from here on out is anyone’s guess,” Recker said.

  “As far as The Scorpions?”

  “Yeah, no telling how they’re gonna react now. Billings is dead, the hospital takeover failed, they could go in a bunch of different ways from here.”

  “Only time will tell.”

  “I know you weren’t ready to deal with them yet. Hopefully, this won’t come back to you at all.”

  “If it does, then we’ll deal with it,” Vincent said. “It’ll certainly be easier to deal with them with sixty members than eighty.”

  “Assuming they don’t recruit more.”

  “As I said, we’ll deal with it. If it does come back to me, or the next guy I deal with is not as willing to make a deal as Billings was, can I count on you to help exterminate them?”

  Recker didn’t even have to think about it. Vincent helped get him into the hospital. As far as Recker was concerned, the question didn’t even need to be asked. One of the Scorpions shot Mia without reason. That was not something Recker was going to forgive or forget. There would be payback for it.

  “You got it,” Recker said. “Whatever is necessary.”

  “Good. I’ll see you at the warehouse.”

  “See you there.”

  After putting his phone down, Recker looked at his passenger, seeing Malloy holding his leg. His facial expression indicated he was in a fair amount of pain.

  “How you holding up?” Recker asked.

  “Getting shot sucks.”

  “Can’t argue there.”

  “How many times has it been for you?”

  “Uhh, I forget. Three? Maybe four? That doesn’t count the times a bulletproof vest saved me.”

  “Yeah. Ever think about going into a safer line of work?” Malloy asked.

  “No, not really. What else would I do?”

  “I dunno. Banker?” Malloy laughed at the thought of Recker working in a bank. “That’d be quite a sight.”

  “The world’s not ready for that.”

  “I never asked you before, but you worked for the CIA, didn’t you?”

  Recker was a little taken back by the question, catching him off guard. “What makes you think that?”

  “The things you’re able to do. The way you talk. Everything about you screams government agent. You were, weren’t you?”

  Recker thought for a second before replying, thinking about whether he really wanted to answer. “Yes. I was.”

  “What happened? Why’d you leave?”

  “The decision was made for me.”

  “They let you go?”

  “Uhh, something like that. They tried to kill me.”

  “What? Really? The CIA?”

  “Yeah. I was engaged to be married at the time. The person in
charge of the program I was assigned to decided I had become a security risk. So, they tried to terminate me.”

  “Well, I can obviously see they failed.”

  “They still looking for you?”

  “No. The person who ordered the hit on me has since been removed. Whoever’s in charge now recognized the issue and has put me back on the good list, so to speak.”

  “So, you’re in the clear?”

  “For now.”

  “So that woman, was that Mia?”

  “No,” Recker answered. “Her name was Carrie.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “She was killed. They took her out at the same time they tried to kill me.”

  “Sorry to hear it.”

  “Yeah. What about your past? How’d you come to where you are now?”

  Malloy looked out the window, remembering exactly how he got to this point. “This is where I was always going to end up.”

  “How so?”

  “My mother died when I was young. I was probably five or six at the time. So, my father raised me. He wasn’t a great dad, but I guess he did the best he could. He was always in some kind of trouble. He was like a small-time criminal, doing any small job that came his way. Breaking into cars, robbing houses, pickpocketing, you know, whatever opportunity came his way.”

  “Just you?”

  “Yeah, I was an only child thankfully. It’d been even rougher if another kid had to deal with all that nonsense. He was a drinker. Actually, he was an alcoholic. Ever since I could remember, I can’t ever think of a day when he wasn’t smashed by the time I went to bed.”

  “That’s rough.”

  “Yeah, I mean, we made it work, I guess. Whenever there was an event at school, I always had to make up an excuse as to why my drunk father could never be there.”

  “You got through it OK?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know how, but I did. There were no baseball games or father and son trips or anything like that. It was just school, homework, watch your father drink himself into a drunken stupor, then go to bed and do it all over again the next day.”

  “Still talk to him?”

  “No, he died,” Malloy said. “Ironically, it was the day after I graduated from high school. He was coming home to take me out to dinner to celebrate. He was driving drunk, slammed right into a telephone pole, killed him instantly. It’s funny, he hadn’t taken me out to dinner in probably five years before that. Then the one time he was planning to actually do something with me… it’s funny how life works sometimes.”