After The Fall (Book 4): Undercover

by Nees, David

  “Vincent’s headquarters. Know where it is?”

  “Of course. It’s a hike. Should we try to take a car?”

  “We can take Michael’s. If it still runs. But it’s shot up. That could raise suspicions.”

  “The militia guard the checkpoints. I can talk my way through them. Some rogue gang tried to shoot us up. That’s why you’re along, for protection. We have to report them to Vincent Bonocchi. I can do this. It’s what I’m good at.”

  Just as Luke said, he talked them through the checkpoint to get out of the downtown area. Luke avoided the main roads where they might run into any of the mob. Two blocks from Vincent’s office, Jason directed him to pull into an alley with the car aimed for a quick exit.

  “What now?” Luke asked. “You do have a plan, don’t you?”

  Jason shook his head.

  “You’re going in without a plan? That’s crazy. Worse, it’s suicide.”

  “Can’t plan when I don’t know what we’re facing. We just have to adjust on the fly. The thing is, I know what I want to accomplish.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Find out if the mob’s taken any hostages and where they are. Then we go free them.”

  Luke grabbed Jason’s arm. “All by yourself?”

  Jason stopped and turned to him. “No, I’ll have you with me.”

  “Oh, that’s some comfort.”

  Jason screwed his suppressor onto his 9mm. His M4 was slung over his shoulder. He left the M110 in the car. “Come on. Stay close.”

  They were crouched a half block away from the office entrance behind some concrete steps. Jason scanned the block, checking the rooftops, doorways, and windows. While they were watching, four men with their bodyguards came out and got into cars and drove off.

  “Must be the other capos. Looks like a meeting just broke up,” Jason whispered. “I didn’t see Vincent. That’s good. He’s the one I want to talk to.”

  He waited a few more minutes. Nothing moved on the street. Jason pulled the charging lever back on his carbine. “Let’s go.”

  They walked down the street and entered the office building. Inside, Jason unslung his M4. Leading the way, he quietly climbed the stairs to Vincent’s office. He could hear voices inside. He motioned for Luke to stand back from the door. Luke happily nodded in agreement.

  Jason stepped inside. Rocco and Carlo looked up with shock, seeing Jason with his rifle leveled at them. Rocco started for his pistol. Jason shot him in the chest. He swung the rifle towards Carlo who froze.

  Jason stepped to the side of the inner office door. It swung open and Vincent stepped through with a .45 semi-automatic in his hand. Jason swung the butt of his carbine down hard on his wrist. The gun flew from his grasp.

  “Shit.” Vincent exclaimed as Jason stepped back to cover both men.

  “Get on the floor, both of you. Sit with your hands on your heads.”

  The men did as he instructed, giving him surly looks.

  “Luke, come in here,” Jason called out.

  Luke’s face appeared in the door way. Slowly he stepped inside staring at the damage done.

  “Take off your belts,” Jason instructed Vincent and Carlo. “Luke, take Rocco’s belt off of him. He’s the one in the chair.”

  Luke hesitated, staring at Jason. Without taking his eyes of Vincent or Carlo, Jason repeated his order.

  “Go around the far side of the desk. Don’t get near these two.”

  Luke moved in slow motion and gingerly undid Rocco’s belt from his waist. When he pulled it loose, the man slumped sideways in the chair.

  With a suppressed cry of shock, Luke jumped back. He tried to hand the belt to Jason.

  “You hold on to it.”

  Jason told Vincent and Carlo to push their belts across the carpet to Luke.

  “Now lay down on your stomachs with your hands behind your back,” Jason instructed.

  “You’re a dead man,” Vincent said.

  “Not yet. Do as you’re told or you might be one.”

  When the men were in position, Jason gave Luke instructions to kneel down behind each man and tie their wrist with the belts.

  “Either of you try to move, I’ll shoot you dead. Just like Rocco.”

  When Luke was done, Jason shouldered his carbine and pulled the two gangsters into a sitting position.

  “You stand behind them,” he told Luke. “Watch their wrists. If they try to loosen the belts let me know.”

  When Luke was in position, Jason pulled up a chair and sat it in front of the two men.

  “Now we’re going to have a talk. You ambushed me and my two friends. I think you captured one of them. We want to know where he’s being taken. I also think you may have captured some of the militia families. I want to know where they are as well.”

  “I don’t know nothing,” Carlo said.

  “You better hope that’s right. But I know Vincent does. I think he’s the heir apparent. The next boss. The capos coming here to meet with you tells me that. They come to the boss. The boss doesn’t go to them.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you I’d kill you when I saw you next,” Vincent said.

  “And here I am, and there you are. Not a very good position for you.”

  “What the hell do you want? Haven’t you done enough already?”

  “I want to finish what I came to do.”

  “What the hell is that? Kill everyone?”

  “If I have to…yes. I want to make sure Hillsboro is safe.”

  Vincent looked up at Jason. Vincent’s eyes were full of anger and hate. “If that’s all, you could just negotiate with us. We’d be happy to leave that dump alone.”

  “It didn’t sound like it when Joe showed up at our town. It didn’t sound like it from some of Joe’s statements back here either.”

  “You trying to take over things. It won’t work. The militia won’t support your crazy revolt. The mayor won’t either. You’re done, you hear me? Done!” This last he said with an angry shout.

  “That’s because you have some of them captive. You’ll hold them hostage. That’s why I want to know where they are.”

  “I ain’t telling you crap,” Vincent said.

  Jason turned to Carlo. “How about you? You know where they are?”

  Carlo shook his head. “I told you no. I wasn’t in the meeting. Vincent arranged it with the other capos. They sent out a team. Rocco and I weren’t on it.”

  Jason stared hard at him.

  “It’s the truth, I swear.”

  “Ears go with them?”

  Carlo nodded. “Vincent told him to go along, make sure things were done right.”

  “Shut up you fool,” Vincent said.

  Jason turned back to Vincent. “I guess it’s up to you to tell me. You’re the boss now.”

  “Go to hell,” Vincent said. His voice like a growl.

  Jason got up and went over to the desk. He grabbed a letter opener and slid his hand along the blade.

  “Not sharp enough.”

  He put it down and took out his sheath knife.

  “I guess I’ll use this.”

  He pushed back the chair and squatted in front of Vincent whose legs were stretched out in front of him. Jason held the knife up to Vincent’s face.

  “You know about pain. You’ve dealt some out in your career. Now I’m going to ask you again where they are. If you don’t answer, I’ll deliver you some pain. It won’t be lethal. I’ve got plenty of options until you decide to talk. It’s up to you how far I go.”

  Vincent sat with his lips pressed closed in a sharp line across his face. His eyes burned with hate.

  “No answer?”

  Without waiting a second more, Jason plunged his knife into Vincent’s thigh.

  “Aaahhh! Jesus!” Vincent cried out.

  “Oh my God!’ Luke said from behind. He stepped back with his hand to his face.

  The knife plunged two inches into Vincent’s leg. Ja
son pulled it out and blood spurted out of the wound.

  “You won’t bleed out. We’ll try this again. Where are they?”

  Vincent sat still, his breath coming in raw gasps through his clenched teeth.

  Jason stared into his face.

  “Still no answer? Making it hard on yourself. Vincent, I’m going to get an answer, sooner or later. Where are they?”

  Vincent kept his mouth shut tight.

  Jason plunged the knife into his other thigh.

  He cried out and started to fall backwards.

  “Hold his shoulder,” Jason said to Luke.

  Luke caught him and kept him upright. He was making soft, almost mewing sounds while Vincent gasped for breath.

  “Next time I go in, I turn the blade. More tearing, more pain, more damage. You sure you want to continue?”

  Jason moved the blade over the first leg. Vincent shook his head.

  “No, no,” he murmured.

  “Where are they?”

  Vincent was panting. “Catch my breath,” he said in between gasps. “In a warehouse. North of here.”

  “Got a street?”

  “Near where you killed Gino. Four warehouses, off Brookshire Freeway. They’re in the second one from the end, south end.”

  “How many men holding them?”

  “Maybe a dozen, not sure. Damn this hurts.”

  “I’ll help that later. Ears with them?”

  Vincent nodded. “What’s so important about Ears?”

  “I owe him a favor. I’d like to repay it before I go.”

  Jason stood up.

  “Luke, go into the inner office and find a bottle of whiskey or any other hard liquor. Bring it here.”

  Luke came back with a bottle of bourbon. Jason tore open Vincent’s pant legs and poured the whiskey over the wounds.

  Vincent almost screamed as the alcohol bit into the punctures.

  “Now, go get my backpack from the car and bring it here. Be careful on the street.”

  Luke looked at him and hesitated.

  “Go now!” Jason said in a loud voice. Luke jumped and ran out of the door.

  When he returned, Jason bound up Vincent’s legs and jabbed a morphine injection into one of them.

  “That’ll help for a while. You won’t be walking any time soon. Luke, pull him back so he can lean against the wall.”

  After Vincent was in position, Jason had Luke help Carlo to his feet. Rocco was pushed to the floor and Carlo pushed into the chair. Jason tied Carlo firmly to the chair with the extra belt.

  “I think that’s all we can do here for now. Time to go to the warehouse.”

  He looked at Vincent who stared back with dull eyes. Without a further word, Jason turned and left the office with Luke in tow.

  Chapter 58

  ___________________________________

  W e need some glass bottles and some gasoline,” Jason said when they were back at the car.

  Luke was staring at him. He seemed to not have gotten over the trauma of Jason’s interrogation.

  “Did you hear me?” Jason asked.

  Luke nodded. “What are you going to do? Make Molotov cocktails?”

  “Exactly. We’ll need pieces of rags and something to light them. I expect you can find this while we’re on our way?”

  “Yeah, I can.” Luke paused for a moment. “How far would you have gone back in there?”

  Jason turned to him. “As far as I had to go. We needed the information and he had it.”

  “But you could have crippled or killed him.”

  “That was up to him.”

  Luke shook his head as if to clear it. “I guess I just don’t understand such violence.”

  “Sometimes it’s called for, no matter how distasteful.”

  Jason turned to Luke, “Do you know how to get to the reservoir? There’s an industrial section out there with a few stores and a bar. I met someone out there who rebuilds old cars from the junkyard. He may have what we need.”

  “I can find it.”

  Luke drove them to the area and, after some scouting around the local streets, Jason saw the bar.

  “There. Let’s get some bottles. We need four of them.”

  Luke went inside and negotiated for four empty liquor bottles.

  “Now, head up the road a couple of blocks. It’s on the left. It’s a garage with a big yard out back. Like a junkyard, only he ‘resurrects’ cars as he describes it.”

  They pulled up and Jason got out. He walked inside and called out, “Harry.”

  A man came out from behind an old Plymouth.

  “Jason. Is that you?”

  Jason nodded.

  “What are you up to these days?”

  “I’m on a mission now. Some people have been kidnapped and I have to help them.”

  “Kidnapped? By who?”

  Jason shook his head. “Better not to know any more.”

  He held out the four liquor bottles.

  “I need you to fill these with gasoline. And I need some rags to stuff in them.”

  “You making what I think you’re making?”

  Jason nodded. “The less we speak of this the better. I appreciate your help. No one will know where this came from.”

  “Follow me.” Harry turned to go back into the garage. He pumped some gas from a 55-gallon drum. Then he tore some strips from an old sheet and stuffed them into the mouths of the bottles.

  “I use old sheets. Tear them up to use as rags.”

  “Thanks Harry.” Jason shook his hand. “A piece of advice for you. The mob is going down. I know all about how it runs the city. Those days are about to end. I want you to have a heads up, so you can make sure you’re on the right side of things.”

  “This have anything to do with the shootings?”

  “It’s complicated, but yes. Changes are going to be coming pretty fast. Just make sure you keep your head down.”

  Harry gave him an appraising look. “I always do.”

  With the bottle bombs safely nestled in the back seat, Luke drove them to the warehouses. Jason had him park a couple of blocks away.

  “We wait until night.”

  “Do you have a plan? More than the last time?”

  “The last time didn’t go so badly.”

  “For us. But there were only three of them. Vincent said there were a dozen men guarding the hostages.”

  “Let’s reconnoiter the area and then we’ll talk about a plan.”

  Jason reloaded all his magazines. Then he grabbed his backpack along with the M110 strapped to it, his M4 and 9mm. Luke carried the Molotov cocktails. They started for the warehouses and settled into some brush across a parking lot from the buildings. There were four cars parked in front of the second warehouse, probably belonging to the gang.

  Nothing stirred. As dusk approached, two men came out and, after walking around the building, they climbed to the roof and took up positions.

  “Lookouts,” Jason said. “They’ll have a long field of view up high like that. But they’re sitting ducks for a sniper.”

  “Someone like you,” Luke said.

  Jason nodded.

  “But the others inside will hear the shots, won’t they? Won’t they also think somethings wrong if they don’t hear from them?”

  “They may not hear the shots. The rifle is suppressed. They’ll be a general sonic crack. The bullet goes supersonic, but they may not react to it. And I don’t see radios on the lookouts, so they’re not in regular communication with those inside.”

  “But it’s only two. You’ll still have ten to go.”

  Jason looked over at Luke. “It’s a start.”

  “Oh my God. Do you just wing everything you do? We’re talking about lives here. Yours, mine to begin with. Then there’s the hostages, not to mention the gangsters.”

  “I’m working on a plan. The two on the roof are easy. I’m trying to work out what to do about the rest.”

  The coming night was clear and
cold. The moon would not rise for some hours to light it and the stars would only give faint light to the dark. Jason would have to take his shot before it got too hard to see.

  “Here’s what we do,” he said.

  “I’ll take out the two men on the roof. Then we approach the warehouse. I’ll take up a position near the door. You throw the firebombs on the cars. It doesn’t matter if you hit all of them, just hit some. When the fire starts, I’ll yell out ‘fire’. That should draw most of the ten out of the building. I can take them down when they emerge.”

  “But there’ll be some left inside.”

  “Yeah. I’ll have to go in and take care of them. You’ll wait outside for me.”

  “The hostages could get killed.”

  “They could. Hopefully there’ll be enough confusion for me to neutralize the guards before they can threaten the hostages.”

  Luke gave Jason a concerned look. “I assume by ‘neutralize’ you mean kill?”

  Jason just stared back at him. “You ready?”

  “Never for stuff like this. But, yes, as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Jason slipped the M110 through the bushes. He placed his backpack under the rifle for a shooting rest. He settled the scope on the rooftop, moving from one man to the other, gauging the shift in aim he needed to switch targets and get off two effective shots.

  “Got to get both before the second one can dive for cover,” he almost mumbled to himself.

  “Not much cover up there.”

  “There’s the rooftop AC unit. I’ll take out the man closest to it first. The one nearer to us, has fewer options for hiding. Get ready to move.”

  Jason narrowed his attention, dismissing all outside distractions. He slowed his breathing and waited for his heart rate to respond. The scope’s reticle settled on the guard who had no idea that his life would shortly be over.

  In between heartbeats his finger closed on the trigger. The rifle gave a muffled bark and kicked back at him. The man on the roof disappeared. Jason swung the barrel in a smooth motion to the other man who had heard the guard’s fall and turned around to see what had happened. As he turned Jason fired again. The man’s head exploded and he crumpled to the ground.

  Jason laid the rifle down on his backpack and picked up his M4. “Let’s go,” he said.