Street Justice (31 page)

“I know it is a coping technique. I have trouble balancing the two. It is not good to dehumanize the enemy but you do what you need to do,” Russ stared off into the distance. Then snapped back and said, “Well, there you go, that’s what you need to make sure is in his profile. I’ll give this impression as well. Also, you need to let me know his story in the Army, and I can let you know where I was so you can build the story of where we met and how we know each other.”

“Then let’s get back to work,” Adrian said. Throughout the entire conversation neither Mike nor Mark looked up from their screens.

“Hey, Johnny, I think I have someone who can help you?” Russ said, sitting in his apartment. With him were Jeff, Steve and Mario. They each had a beer and a CD case covered with a small pile of coke lay on the table. Russ had introduced Steve, as Chris, to Mario and Jeff, when they had come over, as a friend of his from the Army who had been kicking around and decided to come visit Seattle. He had then decided to call Johnny and set up the meeting.

“Really,” Johnny said. Alex had reported that Russ had been seen in the police station, but they did not know if the police had picked him up for something or if he had gone in on his own. “Who is it?”

“A buddy of mine, Chris is interested. He is in town, just visiting and we got talking a bit.”

“I am guessing if you were talking with him about the situation, you know him and trust him.”

“Yup,” Russ said.

“Russ, is there anything you need to tell me?”

“About Chris?”

“About anything,” Johnny replied.

“Well, Chris is a good guy, we met in Basic then again on my first tour…”

Johnny let Russ talk for a couple of minutes, not really listening. Instead his mind was racing. If Russ had been pulled in, he would have mentioned it, so now Johnny was leaning toward the idea that Russ was turning on them. But he did not yet want to tip his hand that he knew, he wanted to know who it was that Alex had seen with him. He needed to find out more details. “Well, that all sounds good, why don’t we all meet?”

“Sure thing, we’re here at my apartment, why don’t you come on over?”

“That sounds like a plan, I’ll see you in a few.”

Russ hung up and said to Steve, “Johnny is coming over to meet you.”

Twenty minutes later Johnny pulled up in front of Russ’ house. As he entered, Russ introduced him to Steve. “Johnny, this is Chris. Chris, this is Johnny. Johnny runs the operations side of our little company.”

Steve stood and Johnny smiled and shook his hand in a death grip. Steve smiled back and returned the squeeze. After a brief moment, when he realized they were at a stalemate, Johnny released his grip, gave Steve a barely perceptible nod and said, “So, how do you know this guy?” indicating Russ.

“We met years ago in basic training,” Steve walked through a general story about them meeting, what the base looked like, and a funny story about the bad service at the PX. He then followed a similar outline for meeting again in Afghanistan. Then Steve explained how he came to be in Seattle and hooked up with Russ. He was a laid off construction worker, heard Seattle’s housing market was growing, plus weed was legal, and looked up Russ for a free place to stay.

Johnny took it all in, nodding his head and interjecting the occasional “Uh, huh.”

“So, that’s about it,” Russ said when Steve was done. “He’s in town, looking for a job and we know he’s not anti-drug,” Russ indicated the small pile of cocaine on the table.

Johnny paused for a moment and pondered the situation. He wandered over to the couch and sat next to Jeff. “You got a beer?” he asked.

“Sure,” Russ said and headed in to get a beer.

Looking at Steve he said, “Chris, sit on down. If Russ says you have the ability, then you have the ability. But we also need the cultural fit. No way of knowing that without getting to know you. Sit, we’ll have some beer, do a few lines, and see where we get to.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve said enthusiastically. Steve sat down and Russ brought out a full round of beers. Mario started cutting out lines on the CD case.

“To new adventures,” Russ said and raised his beer. The men clinked their beers and they all took a sip. Mario started passing around the CD case. While the others focused on the case or waited their turn, Johnny subtly tapped out a text and hit send. Then he dropped his phone back into his pocket and rejoined the group.

Alex’s phone buzzed. He was sitting on the roof of one of the apartment buildings overlooking their corner. The Google glasses showing the camera feeds allowing him to look through the buildings. Everything was calm. The traffic had been steady, nothing much to worry about. He thought about Johnny’s plan to not simply secure the corner but to utterly destroy it and how it had paid off. He doubted that the competition or former owners could guess they were running only one or two man shifts due to lack of men and need for sleep, and no one was looking to come test them again because of the impact they had had when they first came into town.

Alex pulled his phone from his pocket and read the text from Johnny, “Made contact with Russ’ lead. Seems like a nice guy, nothing stands out, still don’t trust the situation. Can you get me background?” Alex sighed. Johnny was a good planner and thought ahead, but often did not know the day-to-day of who was doing what. He typed out a text to Kip, “Boss needs any internet background you can find on one Chris Ziener. Says he was with Indian Head.” Indian Head was the nickname of the 2
nd
Infantry Division.

A few minutes later Kip texted, “Dude, I was asleep but OK. I’ll let you know.” Alex went back to his surveillance. He did not like being distracted, it was in fact one of the keys between them and the people they replaced. The other crews needed more people to hopefully have someone watching. Alex knew he needed to not only police himself to stay vigilant but he also know what to do if things went south.

He scanned the street for another half an hour when his phone buzzed again. Again, he took a quick look at his phone. The text from Kip said, “I’ve got background here dated at the right times detailing a history with Indian Head.”

“Thanks,” Alex replied. He was going to text Johnny all was alright but things did not feel right to Alex. The timing was too coincidental. Russ is in the police station one day and the following he is calling with someone for their team. It could happen, but not likely. Instead of texting Johnny that all was alright, he texted, “Get me a picture of this guy if you could.”

Minutes later Johnny replied, “What’s up? Is he not who he says he is?”

“I didn’t say that. His internet presence checks out. I just want to see this guy.”

Johnny sighed. He looked around the room. They’d each had a couple of beers and two thick lines. Everyone was smiling and laughing. He noted that Chris did not drink nor do coke like a cop. He was leading the pack if anything. Mario and Jeff had started playing some first person shooter on the Xbox. Before the text had interrupted Johnny, Chris, he and Russ were talking about the Seahawks’ chances of going to a Super Bowl. Russ, born and raised in the Pacific Northwest was sure they were going all the way. Chris, who seemed to be a 49ers fan, was claiming they would stop the Seahawks run. Johnny was a Jets fan and was spouting that it did not matter who from the NFC went, the Jets were going to win it all anyway.

Russ and Chris had continued their conversation while Johnny had read his text. Johnny switched his phone to camera mode and said loudly, “You two, get together.”

Without thinking, Russ grabbed Steve and spun him around so they were side by side. He plastered a big grin on his face and flipped his middle finger at Johnny. Steve contorted his face into a mock scream, opening his mouth as large as it would go and scrunching his eye closed. It was not that he thought the face looked cool, but he did not want to be photographed and figured this face would make him the least identifiable.

The phone made a small lick sound and Johnny headed over to take a picture of Mario and Jeff. They looked up from their game briefly and made ridiculous poses as well. Johnny took the picture and headed back to his seat. He had not really wanted a picture of Mario and Jeff but thought it might look suspicious if he did not take everyone’s picture. “I always like to capture the moment, you know, so we can look back on these and remember the good times.” Subtly he flipped through the phones gallery until he got to the photo with Steve in it and sent it via text to Alex.

Alex’s phone buzzed in his hand. He jabbed the screen and the text from Johnny showed up. He studied the picture. The man in the photo was tough to see. The shot was not the clearest and he was making a face. He zoomed in and looked again. Then he took a look around the area, saw everything was clear and closed his eyes, picturing the two men in his mind. Opening his eyes he zoomed back out and looked again. Yes, he was sure this was the same guy.

He hammered out a short text to Johnny, “That’s the guy I saw leaving the Police station with Russ.” Then he went back to scanning the area.

Johnny checked his phone and read Alex’s text. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. If this was the guy Alex had seen, then this was real trouble. It meant that either this guy was law enforcement or at the very least a degenerate who got popped on something, made a deal with the police to inform, then Russ sprang him. Not good at all. He put his phone in his pocket and looked around the room.

“You OK,” Russ asked.

“Yeah, man, I’m fine, just feeling a bit, I don’t know, off,” Johnny said.

“Too much drinking light weight?” Steve smiled and laughed, taking a long pull from the beer that was in his hand.

“Yeah, I guess so, maybe,” Johnny went along, “Listen, I’m going to go.” Johnny stood and plastered a smile on his face, “Russ, thank you for the invite and the intro.” They clasped their right hands and swung their left arms around each other’s shoulders in a half hug, half shake. Then he looked at Steve and said, “Listen, give me your number, I want you to come by and meet some more of the crew tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Steve said. He gave Johnny his number who typed it into his phone.

“Thanks, talk to you soon,” Johnny said. He shook Steve’s hand and headed for the door. As he did he waved a hand over his head and said, “Mario, Jeff, peace love and chicken grease.” Johnny headed out the door and got in his truck. He immediately texted Alex back, “I’ll arrange another hotel room, near ours, to meet Steve in tomorrow. Who can meet him. I’m thinking one of our guys can take down a local Seattle Police Officer.”

“I’d guess so, but maybe there should be two of us, just in case. I’m guessing you want him alive which is harder than dead.”

“Okay, see what you can arrange, we need to make sure we keep the corner so we need to make sure someone is always down there. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.”

Johnny disconnected the phone and turned over the engine in his car. They had a new shipment coming in to Russ tomorrow, he would need to get to the shipment before Russ to try and find information on the source. Russ needed to be cut out of the loop and maybe cut out of life.

The next morning Steve sat with Adrian at Leena’s Café in Shoreline. Steve had a large plate heaped with eggs over very easy, corned beef, hash browns and beans. Adrian had a bowl of fruit and a bowl of cottage cheese. They were talking through the logistics of Steve being undercover, how often he would check in, what to do in an emergency, how they would know when to end the cover and the associated paperwork.

“You know I’m not doing the paperwork,” Steve said. His eyes were ever so slightly bloodshot and he wore a light smile on his face.

“You’re the one undercover, you’re the one who will have the details, you’re the only one who can do the paperwork,” Adrian said, exasperated.

“I guess it’s not getting done then,” Steve stated matter-of-factly, leaning back and folding his arms across his chest. Adrian began to protest again but Steve’s phone rang. Steve looked at the caller ID then held up one finger to Adrian. “Hello, this is Chris… yes… yeah, I know where that’s at… sure… what time… sounds good, see you then.” Steve hung up the phone.

Steve took a bite of his corned beef hash. Adrian waited for Steve to chew and swallow. When Steve took another bite, Adrian bust out, “So? Was that them? What’s next?”

“Oh that, that was them, I’m in,” Steve smiled, “They want to meet this afternoon and discuss logistics. I’m going to be meeting with their tech guy Will. Apparently they are all staying down at a hotel near their corner and I am to meet him there.”

“Excellent, let’s get you downtown and get you wired up,” Adrian said.

“Yeah, I think they are going to check for things like that. I’m meeting their technology guy, that’s what he does,” Steve protested.

“That’s not all he does, he also kills people,” Adrian said, “I want you to be safe.”

“Aw, you care about me.”

“No, I will just need you to testify in court, or at the very least have recordings of what they say,” Adrian countered.

“You’re not fooling me, you care. But the answer remains the same: no thank you. They will be looking for it. Isn’t this why I am doing this as opposed to anyone else? Because there are inherent risks and I’m the guy to take them. My history is built on missions like this, high risk, high number of variables and being able to think on the fly?”