Street Justice (28 page)

Jeff jumped in, “And all we need to do is keep the flow of product coming.” Russ flipped through the cash again.

He sighed deeply and said, “OK, for the time being we can move forward. But let me go on record as saying I’m hesitant.”

“Fine,” said Jeff, “OK, you can have your larger split. But that’s it.”

“Of course,” said Johnny.

“Out of curiosity, where are you getting the new guys from?” Mario inquired.

“That, we’re not quite sure of. I think I remember a couple of guys from back in Afghanistan that might be interested, I’ll reach out to them, see if they are interested or know someone who is. If you think of anyone, let me know.”

“What about us?” Russ asked.

“Come on now, you just said you guys were the brains, we’re the muscle. I’ll be honest, I don’t trust you guys to do what needs to be done, should it need to be done. And besides, Russ, you at least I need to keep safe as my lead to the supplier.”

“OK. The new product will be here in three days, does that work for you?” Russ asked.

“Yeah, that’ll do. Let’s roll Alex, we have work to do,” Johnny said. He finished his beer, stood and headed toward the door. Alex followed suit.

As the door closed behind them Russ said, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“You always have bad feeling,” Mario said. He grabbed the cash and threw it in the air, “But this is not a bad idea at all.”

Back in their car, Alex asked, “So who do we know that might be interested?”

Johnny frowned, “No one, but I wasn’t going to tell those guys that. Anyway how hard can it be, we’re not the only mercenaries out there, and with the amount of money we are making with this new split, we can buy a few muscleheads and still come out ahead of where we were.”

“So how are we going to make sure they are down?”

“Let’s make sure they know someone we know. We have a big network, we’ll know someone they know. The armed forces are large, the number of people who did what we did is small.”

“So let’s get to the ‘net, reach out to the soldier of fortune. But remember, we gotta move fast. We can hold the corner for a time, but we’re stretched thin.”

“I got ya’. As always, the balance between speed and caution. I live for it.”

Steve and Adrian sat at Adrian’s desk. Steve recapped, “So, we find out we need to track Carl but his influence means we can’t officially investigate him. You found out searching through the geek’s internet you found Carl’s drop points. We track the drops and find out how Carl is running his corners without using the phones, but then he gets hit and our investigation takes a turn for the worse.”

“Or does it? Maybe we can use this to help ourselves. A new player means new opportunity.” Adrian said with a fake cheer that was not convincing. “Let’s go talk to Sam, see how things are going.”

The two men ambled to Sam’s office. Once seated Adrian asked, “OK, now that James is not around, what are our options. It seems that Carl is the largest fish in the sea, so to complete our mission we need to find out where he is getting his drugs from. But we can’t touch him. So what do we do?”

Sam sighed, “I’m not sure. In fact, I’m not sure how much longer we can keep pressure on him, but the heat is coming down now to shut down the entire investigation.”

“Sir, that is not going to work at all. Even without support we know Carl is up to his neck in this. But there is no way we can get to his supplier in days. Heck, we don’t even know how often he resupplies. It could be weeks or months,” Adrian pleaded.

“Adrian, I’m on your side. I know what our objective was when we started and where we are now, but it is out of my hands. I am using up all my favors just keeping things open this long.”

“It’s pretty smart. Who watches the watchers?” Steve murmured.

“What was that?” Sam asked.

“Well, I was just saying, there is no IA for IA so they can do what they want. They also have no jurisdictional issues since they span everyone. So if you want to put some people in your pocket who can drive results, IA is a great place to start.”

Both Adrian and Sam stared at Steve for a long moment. Finally Sam continued, “Well, all admiration aside, you have days at best, get what you can. I can’t give you any more resources either.”

Adrian and Steve left Sam’s office dejected. “So what now?” Steve asked.

“I’m not sure,” replied Adrian, “It seems we’re out of options. I guess we keep following Carl, hoping for a break.”

“Hang on, why don’t we go talk to Carl?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean? I mean, let’s go to his house and knock on his door.”

“What?”

“Look, one of his corners has just been hit by an unknown group. His enforcers have just been wiped out. He is obviously off center because of this. Maybe he’s willing to work with us.”

Adrian stopped in the middle of the hallway. Finally he cocked his head and said, “I guess it isn’t going to hurt us. What’s the worst that happens, he increases his pressure internally and we are shut down in hours, rather than days. Let’s go.”

Adrian and Steve pulled up in front of Will’s house. It was a three story Spanish-inspired home with a roof made from curved red tiles. It was more than a little out of place in the Pacific Northwest but would have fit right in if it had been located in Southern California. They exited Adrian’s Crown Vic and casually walked up the footpath to the front door as if they were expected. Steve rapped on the door loudly with his knuckles. The man who answered the door as at least six and a half feet tall. His biceps were as big as Steve thighs and his head attached directly to his shoulders. He growled, “What do you want?”

“Sir, we’re here to talk to Carl Marfori,” Steve said, matter-of-factly.

“Is he expecting you?” the mountain of a man grumbled.

“In a manner of speaking. I would guess so,” Adrian chimed in with a smile.

“Who should I say you are?”

“Tell him it is the FBI,” Steve said. The large man slammed the door without a reply. Steve and Adrian looked at the door, at each other, then back at the door. “Do you think he is going to let us in?”

“I’m thinking this is not a good sign,” Adrian said, “Well, we gave it a shot.” The two men turned and started back down the path. When they were about twenty feet from the door they heard it open. They turned to look.

Carl stood in the doorway this time, dressed in a silk, oriental patterned robe and said, “Sorry for my man’s lack of manners, come on in.” Adrian and Steve started back up the lane. As they approached, Carl stood back and ushered them inside. Inside, the rooms were large and spacious. The large tiles on the floor were reddish-brown tones and the walls were a pale, earthy yellow. Paintings and expensive tapestries covered the walls, keeping sounds muted. Carl led the way into an expansive living room filled with chocolate brown, overstuffed leather couches. The far wall was dominated by an enormous fireplace.

“Please, take a seat,” Carl said, indicating one of the couches. He took a seat on another couch, facing them. Steve and Adrian sank deeply into the soft cushions. As they settled, the large man came into the room and Carl said, “Brad, can you get us some coffee?” The man nodded and left. Carl turned his attention to the FBI agents and said, “Now gentlemen, what can I do for you?”

“Well, we wanted to come by and introduce ourselves,” Adrian explained, “We heard you have recently had some, how should we say, ‘issues’ with one of your businesses on Colorado Ave.”

“One of my businesses? On Colorado Ave? Whatever do you mean?” Carl said.

Adrian knew this conversation would be a dance. He continued, “Let’s say, we have come upon certain information that some folks who work for you have gone missing, the last place they were seen in on Colorado Ave. Now others are doing business there.”

The large man entered the room and set a platter with a large carafe and three coffee cups on the glass table in between the two couches. The platter also contained a small bowl which held sugar cubes and a small creamer pitcher. Carl leaned forward, poured himself a cup of coffee, added a cube of sugar and leaned back. “I don’t think anyone I know works for me on Colorado Ave. I am the owner of a simple tire and wheel shop.”

Adrian countered with, “Oh I understand that. But a businessman such as yourself always has interests in a variety of enterprises. Anyway, your interest in Colorado Ave., it just took a hit. We can help.”

“I am not saying I have any interest in anything that on Colorado Ave. but if I knew someone who did, what could you offer this person?”

“Oh enough of this,” barked Steve, “Listen, we know you are a drug dealer. We know you are behind the corner down on Colorado Ave. We know you got hit hard and your reinforcements got hit even harder. Now we want to take those guys down and I think that would be doing you a favor. So let’s cut the chit chat and let’s figure this out.”

Carl sank a bit deeper into his couch. He slurped a sip of coffee and looked up at the ceiling. The silence stretched out until Steve thought he had made a major mistake by speaking up. Then just before Steve spoke up again in an attempt to fix things Carl said, “Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks. What do you need, what do you want and what can you provide?”

It was Adrian’s turn to pause, but not thinking, simply taken aback this direct approach worked. Then he stammered, “Um, well, we need people, man hours. But your influence in IA is getting us fewer resources right when we need more.”

“What else, let’s put it all on the table at once.”

“Your supplier, we’re not the DEA, we’re not after you. Your supplier and any others you know of - We can grant you immunity for that information. We also need anything you know about the guys who came in and took over your corner. Finally, we need to know what other corners we should be watching to see if these guys spread,” Adrian stated. Steve was impressed that Adrian thought on his feet quickly or, more likely, Adrian had put a bit more thought into this than he let on.

Carl nodded and sipped his coffee again. He held out his hand and studied the back of his fingers as if Adrian and Steve were not in the room. Leaning forward he placed his cup on the table, placed his elbows on his knees and replied, “Tell you what, if I do have any influence in the FBI, I’ll get you some people. I will not be giving up my supplier, but I understand, you’re not the DEA so short of a supplier with insight into how our borders are weak, this case is a bust for you so I will help you find and source the supplier for the new guys. If I can’t get you that, I might be able to aim you at a competitor’s supplier. I still need to live in this city so I can’t hand them to you but I should be able to do enough that you can source it from there.

“As for corners, drive downtown. If you see gang bangers, they aren’t the people you’re looking for. I’ve seen pictures of what the corners look like now. There seems to be one, maybe two guys there, but if anyone tries to storm them, they know they are coming and they are not just out gunned, they are out classed.”

Adrian sat forward, mimicking Carl’s position and pondered for a moment, then said, “Okay, agreed. So what are our next steps?”

“Next steps? Go have a drink, take the afternoon off. Then tomorrow go to work. You might find a new environment there in the morning,” Carl said, standing up, “Now if you don’t mind, I have a few calls to make.” Adrian and Steve stood. As they did Brad appeared and indicated toward the front door. The two men proceeded down the hallway and out the door.

Once out the door Steve said, “So we are allowing him to keep being him in exchange for help with others?”

“It seems that way,” Adrian confirmed, “Sometimes that’s how it is.”

“I guess,” Steve lamented, “But the up side is, we can go get a drink.”

Russ sat at a table for two in the hotel bar, the FedEx box was in a backpack sitting at his feet. He tried to act casual knowing there were three kilos of uncut cocaine just lying on the floor where it could be stolen or used as evidence to lock him up for a very long time. He played the image of someone acting normal in his head and tried to repeat the moves himself but had no idea if he was at all successful. He lifted his beer and pretended to take a long drink but only sipped the beer. He thought the act of drinking was casual but did not want to get drunk. Suddenly Russ worried if people were noticing that the level of his beer was not going down in accordance with his presented drinking.

“You look stressed,” came Johnny’s voice from behind him. Russ turned and looked up at him. He began to stand and Johnny said, “Stay seated, you’re fine. Besides I am afraid you might fall over if you tried to stand.”

Johnny sat down, as he did he subtly reached below the table and moved the backpack over to his feet. Then he leaned back in his chair and motioned for the waitress. She came over and Johnny ordered a beer. The two men sat in silence until the beer arrived and the waitress had left again. “So I’m guessing this is the product, not your laundry,” Johnny laughed.

“Yeah, it is,” Russ said, pushing the bag a little closer to Johnny with his foot.

“Man, you look like hell,” Johnny noticed, “We’re the ones who’ve been up around the clock, maintaining the distribution point. You should be sleeping like a baby, counting your money in your sleep.”