The blonde pointed at him. “Why are you wearing a gun?”
“I’m a private security consultant.”
The blonde smiled at him. She was hot, but pregnant, and so he had no interest in her.
“Can I see it, the gun?”
“No, it ain’t a toy.”
“Can I see it?” the redhead said, and then she stepped closer to him, and placed her hand on his bare chest.
Rafe took the gun off his hip, withdrew the clip, and handed it to her.
The redhead stroked it. “It’s so big.”
Rafe grinned at her and she grinned back, but then Tenney shouted from the porch, as he was running back inside.
“Get your ass back in here, there’s some noise comin’ from upstairs.”
“I gotta go!” Rafe said, and reached for his weapon, but the redhead moved it behind her back. “Stop playin’ girl,”
The blonde pointed a gun at him.
“She’s not playing, and neither am I.”
***
Szabo watched the car approach the gate.
He was standing inside the security booth at the entrance to the gated community, with the real security guards handcuffed and gagged at his feet.
The car was a silver Mercedes, and as it slowed at the gate, he realized that the driver was Naomi Hopkins.
He knew her face but she didn’t know his, and so he had no fear of being recognized. When Naomi smiled and waved as she passed by, he did the same in return, but then realized that he had used the hand with the missing digits
***
Tenney bounded up the steps two at a time but then slowed as he hit the landing. He looked back the way he came, expecting to find Rafe following, but seconds passed, and Rafe still didn’t show. After climbing four more steps, he saw that the door to the girl’s room was open, and called to her.
“Ms. Hopkins, are you all right?”
“Yes, but what’s all that noise in the street?”
“Just a car accident, but how you doing today?”
There was a pause, but then she spoke. “I’m lonely.”
Tenney calmed down at the sound of her voice, and dropped his gun arm to his side. He liked Linda Hopkins, the girl was beautiful, and it would be nice to talk with her. He just hoped that Darnell wouldn’t order him to kill her someday, he wouldn’t like that, but then, he never had like killing women.
He hurried up the rest of the steps and walked into the room, to find Linda standing by the windows with the bars on them, then, something rushed at him from his left side and the world went black.
***
He bolted from the house with Linda Hopkins in the middle and Tyler on the right and found Jessica holding a gun on the other guard, who was now shirtless.
He walked over to the man, raised his fist, and with a hard jab, he rendered him senseless.
Jessica guided Linda to one of the cars as Kari climbed into the other one, with Tyler taking the wheel.
They drove normally, as if they were in no rush, and soon the guardhouse was in sight.
As the gate arm went up, a flash of silver emerged from a side street and smashed into the front car, which contained Tyler and Kari.
***
Naomi didn’t know what the DEA agent Tony Trent looked like, but Darnell had told her about the severed fingers. When the guard at the gate displayed half a bandaged hand, she showed no reaction and called the house.
No answer.
She made the right turn that led to her house, but then turned right again at the corner and continued until she was back facing the main road, with a view of the gate-bound traffic.
When she spotted Linda riding in the second car, she jammed her foot down on the accelerator and smashed the heavy Mercedes into the lighter car, then she rolled out from behind the airbag and came up firing.
***
He spotted the car an instant before the crash and practically stood on the brakes. After narrowly missing Tyler’s car, he rolled out and onto the street.
“Jessica?”
“I’m fine, go!”
Two shots shattered the car windows before he could find his target, but then he fired at Naomi three times, wounding her in the arm, and as her weapon clattered to the cobblestoned street, she ran towards the trees.
“Jessica!”
“Linda’s hit...she, she’s dead.”
He looked into the car and saw Linda slumped in her seat with a gaping wound in her chest, then, he ran over and checked the other car, to find Tyler in tears, while cradling Kari in his arms, as blood ran down her face.
“She’s wounded,” Tyler said.
When Szabo arrived, he tried to hold him back, but he shook free and stared into the car at Linda, then, Szabo let out a moan, slammed a fist atop the car and screamed out a name.
“Naomi!”
***
Naomi tried to ignore the pain, but her arm felt as if it were on fire. Darnell would be so angry at her for doing it herself, but she was sure that that bitch Linda was dead.
When she heard her name shouted with a roar, she turned to check for pursuers, that’s when she spotted the fake guard running towards her with a sawed-off shotgun in his left hand. Fear gripped her heart for a moment, but then she remembered that he was a DEA agent and realized that the worst he would do is arrest her.
She ran fast through the trees, but he was faster, and he caught up to her as she reached the clearing, then, he shoved her hard from behind, causing her to stumble and fall onto her back.
They were both breathing hard, but she found her voice and spoke to him as he towered above her.
“I want my lawyer.”
But then, then Naomi saw his eyes, saw the twin barrels taking aim, and knew that she was about to die.
CHAPTER 6
Detroit, June 1996
Darnell and Naomi left the restaurant and he asked her if she’d like to take a walk.
When she said yes, he felt relieved. Maybe in the park, without so many people around, he would finally get up his courage.
He reach into the pocket of his suit jacket and felt the ring box again. He had planned to ask her to marry him in the restaurant, but like a coward he kept putting it off until the check arrived and the moment had passed.
She won’t say no, Darnell told himself. They had been together since the day they met and he knew that she loved him, but he couldn’t help feeling as if he didn’t deserve her.
She was Tyrese Dawkins daughter and, in his world, that made her a princess. She was also so beautiful that at times, he felt his breath catch in his throat when he looked at her.
But he had done well for himself, had risen out of the ranks of mere soldiers and had carved out a piece of new territory by taking over sixteen blocks and eliminating a rival gang. It had been bloody and had taken them to the brink of war with the other gangs, but it had pleased Tyrese greatly and caused him to look at Darnell with new eyes.
They sat on a bench, and he was clearing his throat in preparation to ask the question, but then he felt the gun against the back of his head, as the three men gathered around them.
“Wallet and watch, now!”
Darnell couldn’t see the man behind him holding the gun at his head, but his two companions were Hispanic and only had knives. While keeping his head steady, he shifted his eyes and looked over at Naomi. She wasn’t frightened and was, in fact, staring at the man behind him with venomous eyes.
“If you assholes leave now I won’t kill you,” Darnell said, and readied himself for the desired reaction, which came an instant later, when the man with the gun at his head pressed harder.
Darnell flowed with the force while shifting his head to the right, and the barrel of the gun was now sitting against his left cheek. He then jerked forward while gripping the gun barrel, and a shot rang out that deafened him.
One of the gunman’s companions grunted and fell, as the bullet hit him in the gut, then Darnell freed the gun from his ankle holster
, and blindly fired three shots over his shoulder, as he felt the other gun slip from his grip.
When he looked up, he saw the flash of a knife as the third man prepared to strike, but then the man’s face contorted into a rictus of agony, and he dropped the knife and fell to his knees, as behind him, Naomi still gripped the blade embedded into his neck.
Darnell stared up at her in stark surprise, but she broke the spell by pointing at the fleeing gunman.
“He’s getting away!”
Darnell stood, aimed, and fired the small gun’s three remaining shots, expecting to miss because of the distance, but then the man’s head exploded in a spray of red and he knew his aim had been true.
When he turned to Naomi, she was smiling wide and looking at him as if he were a God. He then dropped to one knee beside the two dead muggers, and asked her to be his wife.
***
The Present
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Darnell stood over the body of his murdered wife as tears threatened to blind him. He brushed them aside as he had their ancestors and studied the face of his wife.
So beautiful, even in death,
There were two men standing with him, one of them a police detective, the other a lawyer, but both men were in his employ.
The double blasts from the shotgun had shredded Naomi’s torso and a good portion of her right arm, which had already been wounded by a handgun.
The cop spoke up.
“The two guards at the gatehouse said that the man who attacked them had a fucked-up right hand, as if somebody had chopped off his fingers. It’s probably why he had the shotgun, he could fire it left-handed and not have to worry about taking aim.”
“He wasn’t alone,” Darnell said, and it was a statement, not a question.
“No, two women caused a diversion outside your house by faking a car accident, but, all we got out of the witnesses so far is that one of them was a blonde and the other a topless redhead.”
“Topless?”
“Yeah, part of the diversion, that’s how they got your men to temporarily shut down the alarms.”
“And the men that went inside the house and took my cousin, would they have been a tall white man and an even taller black man?”
“Yes, that’s all we have by way of description though, they were both wearing masks.”
“Take care of my wife’s body,” Darnell said to the cop, and then he walked a short distance away to speak alone to the lawyer. “My cousin must have been the one who took Rawlings’ laptop, and now I have to assume that the DEA have it. If that’s the case, then how bad is this?”
The lawyer, a middle-aged black man with graying hair, hesitated, and Darnell saw the fear in his eyes.
“Listen, Gary, I won’t kill the messenger, but I need to hear the message. Just how bad is this?”
Gary the lawyer sighed in despair.
“It’s devastating, I’m sure Rawlings had everything on that laptop, and it won’t take the feds very long to break the encryption. They’ll then be able to claim that all of your holdings were illegally obtained and they’ll seize them.”
“My investment firm is aboveboard and its records scrupulous. Not one penny has ever been laundered through it. They won’t be able to touch that.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Hopkins, but that’s just not true, they’ll claim that everything was funded by the profits of a drug empire and taint it all with that brush.”
“Then that means that it’s even worse than I thought, all right, go back to the house and wait for me. I’ll be along soon.”
“My condolences for your loss, Mr. Hopkins, your wife was a lovely lady,”
“Thank you, and please send Mr. Brown over, I need to speak to him.”
Mr. Brown walked over. He came to stand beside Darnell and waited for his boss to speak.
The two men still disliked each other, but had learned to work together out of necessity, Mr. Brown, because he had little choice in the matter, and Darnell out of respect for Brown’s acumen and connections in the drug trade.
“The two men that were guarding the house, where are they?”
“They’re being held at the warehouse until you decide what to do with them.”
“Kill them, painfully,”
“All right, anything else?”
“The men that should have been guarding the security gate; I also want them dead.”
“The two gate guards?” Brown said, as his eyebrows rose in surprise.
The rent-a-cops that manned the gates were unarmed security and could hardly have been expected to repel a man wielding a shotgun. It was unlike Darnell to be so ruthless.
“I want them dead and the bodies buried where they’ll never be found.”
“All right, and I’ve put the word on the street about Linda, but so far she hasn’t been seen?”
“Set-up 24/7 surveillance outside the DEA headquarters, but hire an outside firm to do it, and make sure they’re good. I need to know who comes and goes there, particularly the agent we know as Tony Trent.”
“About Trent, I’ve got news on him; his real name is Steve Szabo. The feds transferred him here from the south, and he’s got some rep, a real hard ass with a lot of busts.”
“Szabo...” Darnell said, and knew it was the name of his wife’s killer. “Bring me Szabo, Mr. Brown, bring me Szabo alive and I’ll double your percentages.”
“I want the bastard too, and you’ll have him as soon as possible, but does he need to be alive?”
Darnell turned, and for the first time Brown saw his eyes and understood that he was not talking to the Darnell Hopkins of late, but the Darnell Hopkins of old, the gangbanger, the taker of territories, the killer. However, there was something else new there as well, and it was fear, fear mixed with grief, and a man who feared was ultimately weak. Brown filed away these observations for later consideration.
“I want Szabo alive, he’s mine.”
“I got it, and you’ll have him.”
“We’re done,” Darnell said, and then he stared over at his wife’s lifeless body, and once more began to cry.
CHAPTER 7
Inside Tyler’s home, Kari opened her eyes and saw Tyler sitting in the chair beside her bed. There was a such of look of joy showing on his face, that she wondered what marvelous thing had happened.
“Why are you so happy?”
“I’m happy because you’re awake. Jessica said you were fine, but I... it doesn’t matter, you’re awake now.”
“Oh, my head really hurts.”
“You were shot.”
“Shot? Where?”
“The bullet grazed the left side of your head and rendered you unconscious, then, when you wouldn’t wake up... I... I thought that you might be in a coma.”
“Like your wife?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m okay, Tyler, it didn’t happen again.”
Tyler looked at her with wet eyes.
“I couldn’t live through that twice.”
“I love you, Tyler.”
Tyler stood, leaned over, and kissed her on the lips.
“I love you too; but I think you know that,”
Kari patted the bed.
“Lie here and hold me.”
He climbed in, took her in his arms and felt her hug him back with a grip that surprised him, then, they kissed again, while enjoying the simple pleasure of being together.
“Where is everybody? Oh my God, was anybody else hurt?”
“Yes, Linda died.”
“Oh damn, and she was almost safe, but where is everybody now?”
“They’ve gone out to deal with the aftermath, and I think poor Szabo will never be the same.”
***
Steve Szabo gently lowered the body of Linda Hopkins into the rear of the ambulance, which was parked on the side of a fast food restaurant. The vehicle’s attendants were inside having a late lunch, and would discover the body upon their return,
He kissed
her lips one last time and then quietly shut the doors and returned to his car. After a short drive to a rendezvous point, he rejoined Jessica and her husband.
“It’s done,” he told them, “Let’s go to the cemetery.”
They drove one behind the other to Elmwood Cemetery with only a faint idea of the grave’s location, and then split up in order to hasten their search.
It was he who found it, and he called to Szabo and his wife, who joined him, and stared down solemnly at the name on the grave.
EDWARD HOPKINS
Born: July 5 1993
Died: January 23, 2008
Jessica sighed after reading the tombstone. “He was only fourteen?”
“Yes,” Szabo said, “and Linda loved him more than anything, and now, now she’ll soon be buried beside him.” He dropped to his knees, brushed aside dead leaves and began digging at the soil with a trowel.
“She said that she hadn’t buried it very deep,” Jessica said, and no sooner had she finished speaking when Szabo found it.
It was a white laptop and she had sealed it in plastic. Szabo stood and placed it under his arm.
“It cost Linda her life, but when the forensic accountants at the DEA get through with him, Darnell Hopkins will be facing multiple charges on money laundering and other crimes. By the time they’re done with him, he’ll be penniless and on the run.”
As he stood beside Jessica, he asked Szabo a question.
“He'll be in trouble legally, but he’ll still have his drug empire, won’t he?”
Szabo shook his head.
“I’ve been dealing with these guys for a long time, and believe me, the people below Darnell in his organization can sense his weakness, and it’s just a matter of time before one of them makes his move. With any luck, they’ll kill the son of a bitch.”
Jessica pointed at the laptop.
“He has to assume that you have that; they’ll be looking for you.”
“I know, and I won’t go within a mile of the office. I’m going to meet Curt Baker, my supervisor and hand it off to him.”
Jessica gave Szabo a hug, before kissing him on the cheek and wiping tears from her eyes.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 9-12 (Taken! Box Set Book 3) Page 12
