Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (18 page)

Lynn closed the door. With cheers of encouragement from his cellmates, Red shot what he thought was a gouging strike to my eyes in order to blind me for a follow up shot more deadly. I made the exercise a short one. I caught his wrist and stabbed through his t-shirt, skin, and under his ribcage with a knife hand strike, plucking his still beating heart out. I held on to his right wrist as Red stared for a brief moment at his heart before collapsing in a heap. I released him. I laid his heart on Red’s chest and wiped my hand on his pants the best I could as he twitched into acceptance of death. The brutal and messy blow incorporates incredible speed, power, and concentration. I had all of those. Sometimes, I recognize a sickness inside me with no outlet. Tonight, I killed and maimed with my bare hands. The urge to do so could not be explained so I didn’t try.

Lynn opened the cell. I stepped out, gesturing at Dead Red. “I’ll clean tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll have a couple of these buddies of his help me, unless of course they’re not willing to.” I stared in at the other cells of shocked occupants. “Anyone not willing to help with cell cleaning tomorrow morning?”

Silence.

“Good. Can you give me a ride home too, Lucas. We’ll set the security cameras on and I’ll keep checking these guys on my iPad.”

“Sure, Recon,” Lucas agreed. “Wash your damn hands before you enter my vehicle, boy.”

“Of course, Pappy.”

“Damn, Cheese,” Lynn exclaimed next to a grinning Casey and solemn Denny. Casey had seen the blow in combat before when he and I were on a mission in Lebanon. “What was that all about? I figured you’d bitch slap him a couple times.”

“I didn’t bring an extra syringe if I broke something on Red. Then he would have been howling all night. Besides, I’m getting tired of punks threatening to school me like a big tuna.”

Lucas glanced at Red’s body. “Lesson learned. I bet we won’t have much trouble asking questions tomorrow morning. Can we make it around ten? I need to get my beauty sleep.”

“Ten it is. That’s early enough for me too,” I agreed. “I have a meeting with Tommy and some lawyer concerning a bond skip the lawyer wanted a face to face for at 1 pm.”

“No worries then,” Casey said. “The lawyer won’t have a heart to be ripped out anyway.”

We all walked away enjoying that bit of Monster humor. Lynn stated her case immediately. “Don’t you cut me out of a juicy bond skip, Cheese. I’ll expect to get a call.”

“Let Tommy and I get briefed on the skip before you get all excited, Princess Pole. You’ll be my first call if we take the job.”

“I’m going to be Princess Red Hot Poker when I get you in the water again Mellow Yellow. I’m thinking portable heater for the pole tip just to stir things up.” Lynn didn’t like the amusement derived from my nickname adlib.

“Fine by me. It’ll hiss a little when I catapult you into the water.” Baiting Lynn is not an action recommended for the faint of heart.

“No more of that, Banana,” Lynn replied. “We’re giving you double pole strikes in place of your usual training. We need to get you ready for the championship belt. We have to step up your game.”

I nodded in recognition of the fact I would never win this battle of the boat training. I’d never get a chance to repeat my dunks of Cruella Deville. Sick as I probably am in the head at times, I felt better after my cell match. I stopped at our temperature controls and set the holding cell area to fifty-eight degrees. It would only be a matter of hours before I’d be back to clean the cell. The prisoners could use the blankets provided to stay warm.

“I was wondering if you’d adjust for the smell factor,” Casey commented. “Maybe we should bag him tonight, DL.”

“Screw it,” Lucas said. “Turn the venting fan up a couple notches.”

“Case is right, Pappy.” This was my mess. “I’ll take a loner home. Maybe I can eavesdrop on some chatter while I’m cleaning. Since we dealt with the last Sopa incident, I’ve studied the Tosk and Gheg dialects. I doubt Tito’s holding out on us after what Crue did to him, but I might get something. I’ll see you all in the morning at ten.”

“Good idea, John, but we record everything down there anyway. If they let slip anything requiring immediate action, call me at home,” Denny remarked as Jafar joined us. “Please don’t kill any more of them.”

“I have never seen anything like that strike outside the movies, John,” Jafar said. “I clipped it for the others not in attendance. The minions will find a way to use it in prisoner control I am sure.”

They would too. Anyway, my friends noted the determination to stay. I made my decision, trivial or not. They waved goodnight as I locked the door behind them with my clean hand. Washing was a chore, but cold water always does the trick with blood. I retrieved a body bag and cleaning utensils along with our hazmat pads for absorbency. With gloves on hand I journeyed down to holding, liking the gasps of surprise from our guests.

“Hi guys. I decided to clean my mess tonight.” I unlocked Blondie and Dead Red’s cell. I threw the heart in first before wedging Dead Red in the bag. Once he was zipped in, I cleaned the bag and cell with the absorbent pads followed by disinfectant.

During the time I worked, my holding area companions spoke in low tones, mostly in Arabic. They insulted my heritage, sexual preferences, and even my good looks. I tried not to grin because some of the blasts were very creative, but through it all I kept my features neutral. They never thought anyone could do what I did to Juthamah. Then they cursed me for eternity for what I did to Dead Red. The short squat one in the cell next to Blondie’s I thought of in my head as Stumpy said something of note.

“Did you contact Gilani to tell him about the fight tonight? Perhaps he could help with this.” Stumpy said in the Albanian dialect, Gheg.

The guy who shared his cell I thought of as Tic-Tac in my head because he had a constant right eye twitch. He was a few inches taller than Stumpy and slim of build with close cropped black beard. His long black hair, cinched in a ponytail was darling.

“I could not reach him,” Tic-Tac replied. “I could not trust Tito. It is just as well. If Tito had known about Gilani, he would have told the witch they call Crue. I saw he had been broken.”

“Gilani expected us to contact him before the fight. Will he come north from Salinas to check on us?”

Tic-Tac shook his head dejectedly. “He was not to call us or make contact himself until I called first. I thought it a bad idea to do so until we made our initial moves into the area and disposed of Oaktown. Gilani may not have heard we are in the area yet.”

“We moved too fast,” Stumpy agreed. “We are lost.”

“Not if these people do not find out about anything other than our gang front. Thank Allah I picked Tito to front everything. I believe they are satisfied with what he told them. When we are questioned we will tell all about the gang front but nothing else.” He stopped and gestured at the snoring Blondie. “I should have ordered Rinor to stab Harding the moment he walked in through the entrance. I left it to him and Rinor paid for his hesitation. Let us speak of this no more for now.”

Oh my. I finished my cleaning. As I shouldered Dead Red, I turned to my cellmates with a friendly wave. “Goodnight. I will see you all in the morning.”

There were many gasps of anguish. I voiced my evening departure in Albanian Gheg. Heh…heh. I didn’t think we would have left anything to chance with these guys but you never know. Tito had indeed been a good choice to front the gang. Even he thought he was in charge. I admit we did. I’d never underestimate Lynn’s skill at finding truth, but this revelation would make for an easier morning. It would not however be easy for the Albanians. These Isis tools arise even from East Coast mafia wannabes. Victor Sopa dealt with the enemy within. We will deal with them too and him. I’m sure he wishes to know where his brother Arian went. I will be sure to show him.

Chapter Seven

So It Begins

I made breakfast for Al since I heard her stirring while I worked my satellite uplink laptop to the CIA stars. I researched Arian Sopa’s brother, Victor. We erred not ending all traces and threads from the traitor who nearly caused a nuclear holocaust on the West Coast. We rejoiced in ending the threat at the time, missing the opportunity to wipe its slime trail from existence. It is an error I will not repeat.

Al yawned at the doorway, sniffing with delight. “Bacon… I smell bacon!”

“Sit down you little carnivore. Your breakfast awaits. Will a mushroom and Swiss cheese omelet with bacon and grape jelly toast suffice?”

She clapped her hands together as she sat in front of the place setting. I added her sweet tea on the side. “Oh yeah! Where’s Mom?”

“Sleeping in a little. You’re awake early. It’s only eight. Anything I should know about?”

“I’m going into the office with Mom,” Al said between bites. “She’s showing me how math and accounting work. I learned about break even points yesterday. I heard you and Uncle Tommy are meeting with an important client today.”

This kid never misses a single eavesdropping opportunity. “Things will be getting a bit hurried around here for a while, Al. Then, we’ll be leaving on the cruise. I believe we’ll be stopping in New York for a day or two before our flight overseas.”

“I’m really excited about the pirate attack. Mom thinks we’ll all be killed.”

“She does not. Your Mom wouldn’t take you on a suicide mission. Besides, we don’t even know if there will be an attack.”

“I know you, Dad. I see the look like before you go into the cage. You know there will be a pirate attack,” Al stated confidently. “Mom’s not sure we should go but I want to. How did the fight go last night? You look okay, so I figured you won.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t much of a fight. He was big with no skills. Do you miss school?”

Al pointed her fork at me. “You’re changing the subject, Dark Lord. The guy you were fighting last night didn’t do so well, huh?”

“He lost. I’d say that was not doing so well,” I reasoned, wishing Lora would get her ass in here to end the interrogation.

Al stared at me for a moment while I sipped my coffee. “It’s okay, Dad. He was a bad guy, right?”

“Very bad.” I gave up on wishin’ and hopin’, but then the Lora steamboat finally shuffled into port. Yeah, I may have needed a bit more closeness before sleeping, but she hadn’t seemed to mind at the time. I escorted her to a place setting across from Al.

She didn’t speak until her coffee and breakfast was in front of her. After sipping the coffee for a few moments while Al made faces at her, she spoke, but ignored Beeper Girl. “Are you going back to Pain Central, John?”

“I have to at ten, but I’ll be at the meeting with Tommy on time.”

“This is going to be one of those endless days for you just like the last two, isn’t it?”

“I may get home in time to take you two out. We can go see an Imax 3D movie if you want. There’s bound to be some dinosaur ripper movie or space cadet against the dark empire movies on. I’ll even go to see a nice romantic comedy if you’d like.”

Lora smiled at my bribery attempts. “We’ll wait and see how long your day gets. I’ll look at the movie times. Are you sure you don’t want to take the Alameda Ferry and go for a nice swim?”

A woman fell overboard a time not long ago while we were on the Ferry to San Francisco’s Pier 39. I was pressured against better judgement to dive in and save her, only to be nearly blamed for the goofball falling overboard in the first place. “Thanks for that morning chill thought. Even the mention of saving that looney-tune in the icy bay makes my teeth chatter. No. Not tonight. I doubt I’ll make dinner unless it’s a very late one.”

“You’ll remember to call me after the lawyer meeting, won’t you?”

“The moment Tommy and I find out whether we’re taking the job or not, you’ll be the second call right after Lynn.”

“Nothing appeases Lynn’s Monster nature except action,” Lora replied. “I wouldn’t want to be you or Tommy if she ever found out she didn’t get right of first refusal on a takedown. Did Tommy have any idea about why the lawyer had to have a face to face?”

“Nope, but he charged him three hundred to see our hand.”

Lora and Al both enjoyed that nuance of Tommy’s. My phone rang with the Dark Lord theme Lora snuck on there a few weeks back. It was of course Lynn. Her ears must have been buzzing.

“I wanted to see if you were awake and not in the bedroom bangin’ Lora like-”

“Hey! What the hell, Crue. It’s a little early for the surly Crusader.”

Silence for a moment. “Sorry. That was uncalled for. I was listening with Clint this morning on the iPad to our guests. They’re ready to tear the bars down. Clint picked out some choice phrases about getting their story straight. You goosed them last night, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but I’ll explain when I see you. It will make our question and answer period a bit easier because we’ll know what’s on their minds. Tito gave us a lot. We need to be thorough with the rest of them. That’s all. Tito was their front man for the gangster gig, but there’s more to the story you’ll make them want to explain in the worst way.”

“I’m ready. In spite of all they witnessed last night they must think they’re being questioned by the regular federal authorities. Can you get to Pain Central earlier?”

“Will a half hour be okay?”

“That will be fine. Say hello to Lora and Al for me. Staying for cell cleaning turned into a nice move, Cheese.”