Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

As the flashlight beam came closer, Jack stood up and walked between Sy and the officer.

“Hi, officer,” said Jack. “I’m glad you’re here so fast!”

Jack blinked as the flashlight beam found his face. “Who are you?” demanded the voice behind the flashlight. “Keep your hands where I can see them!”

“It’s not me,” said Jack indignantly. “I’m the one who called 911. There were two of them,” he said. “They ran through my yard a moment ago. They went that way,” he added, pointing back between two houses.

“Oh … uh, I see,” replied the officer. “Okay, uh …” he didn’t finish as he took a step in the direction Jack pointed, before turning around.

Come on! Go! Jack thought, while smiling and giving a slight nod of encouragement for the officer to continue his search elsewhere.

“First, I’d like to see some identification.”

“It’s inside my house,” replied Jack. “They’re getting away for Christ’s sake! Why aren’t you chasing them?”

The officer’s reply was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. By the third shot, the officer vanished from view in the direction the shots came from.

“Fuckin’ bloody hell,” said Sy, standing up from where he had been crouched behind a bush. “Hope those shots were some cop being plugged and not one of my guys!”

“Come on, we better keep moving,” said Jack. “I’ll call Princess and have her pick us up.”

“Fuck, I know I’ve said this before, but you gotta be one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met. That fuckin’ cop don’t know how close he came. You shouldn’t have done that, though. Fuck of a chance being in the middle if the shootin’ started.”

“I probably saved your life … again,” replied Jack.

“Bullshit! I had the drop on him. He didn’t even know I was there.”

“Don’t be stupid,” replied Jack. “Think about it. He’s trained and wearing body armour. He’d see your muzzle flash … you’re crouched and would probably fall back on your ass with his first shot. His second shot would take out your nuts and intestines.” Jack paused to let the image sink in and said, “And for what? If you gave yourself up, what would you get? Probation? Hardly worth killing anyone over. Especially a cop.”

Sy eyed Jack carefully and said, “What you did was stupid, too. Putting yourself in the middle like that. You could have been shot. Makes me wonder who you were trying to save? Him or me?”

“I wanted to save all of us,” replied Jack. “Those punk kids you’ve got working for you wouldn’t stand up to the heat if a cop got killed. They’d rat us out in a jiffy. We’d both spend the rest of our lives in jail.”

“Their lawyers would protect them. They wouldn’t need to rat.”

They eventually made their way far enough out of the area and Jack called Laura to come and pick them up. Jack and Sy spoke little as they waited. It was clear that Sy was going over everything in his head. On occasion, he cast a suspicious glance in Jack’s direction.

Forty minutes later, Laura drove up and Sy quickly climbed into the back seat while Jack sat in the front with Laura.

“What happened?” asked Laura, as she started driving.

“I think we were set up,” said Sy. “The cops were waiting.” His voice was grave and Jack turned in his seat and saw Sy’s blank face staring at him, pondering over what had happened.

“They had to know that Weasel was one of the shooters last night,” said Jack. He spoke as if talking to Laura, but studied Sy’s face for a response. “They were obviously waiting to see if someone would retaliate,” he added.

Sy scowled and looked at Laura and snapped, “Find me a payphone! I don’t trust …” He paused to look at Jack before continuing, “this BlackBerry.”

* * *

Minutes later, they found a payphone and Sy ran over to it while Jack and Laura waited in the car. He glanced back at them as he dialed a number.

Sy’s first call was to Mongo, one of the other two bosses who was still on his side. Mongo owned a pizza outlet, but Sy placed the call to a cellphone number that Mongo had given him earlier that day. Soon Mongo’s gruff voice answered.

“This is Sy. This number still cool?”

“Yeah, one of my guys got it yesterday. What’s up? How did it go tonight?”

“My guys got busted outside Weasel’s house. I was lucky to escape. Cops got most of my good artillery. I heard shots, too. Don’t know what the fuck happened. Hope none of my guys got wasted.”

“Fuck, no. Tell me you’re joking.”

“Do I sound like I’m jokin’?”

“Fuck,” muttered Mongo. “How did it happen?”

“I made the mistake of trusting two people who moved into the apartment above mine. Jay and his bitch he calls Princess. They’re sitting in a car waiting for me to finish talking with you.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Take ’em both out tonight. One of them has to be a rat. Maybe both, who knows.”

“How ya want to do it?”

“They don’t realize I figured out it’s them. I’ll bring ’em over to your pizza joint. Meet us in the alley and we’ll go in your back office. Call Munch, too. The three of us gotta unite if we’re gonna win this war. May as well have Munch join us and get started.”

* * *

Laura sat in the car with Jack and watched as Sy jabbed the numbers into the phone. She glanced at Jack and said, “Connie will be expecting us to call soon. She’ll be wondering what Sy has to say and be worried.”

“She’ll have to wait. I’d like to know what Sy is thinking myself.”

“Something is going on,” she said, looking back at Sy. “He looks upset.”

“After what happened, I expected he would be upset,” replied Jack. “But is he on to us?”

“That’s the big question,” replied Laura.

“We’ll play it by ear, but keep your head up. He’s packing a pistol in an ankle holster. Once he’s back in the car, if it looks like he’s going for it, I’ll grab him, beat the hell out of him and toss him out. As long as he’s not arrested, our informant should be safe.”

“And if he pulls the gun out before he gets in?” asked Laura.

“Drive like hell. Here he comes.”

Sy got in the back seat again and Jack turned to face him, acting nonchalant as he draped one arm over the back of the seat. “So, what do you figure?” asked Jack. “Maybe come back to our place and we can figure out what happened.”

“Maybe after,” replied Sy. “There’s someone I want you to meet, first. He’s waiting.”

“Who?” asked Jack, hoping to hear the name Cocktail.

“A guy you’ve never met. I told him about you two. He has a plan of what to do next.”

Sy’s evasive manner set off a warning bell in Jack’s brain. Is he introducing us to Cocktail … or the Grim Reaper? If I say no, and he’s suspicious, it will make things worse. If I’m innocent, I need to act that way and should go along.

Jack glanced at Laura for her reaction. She stared straight back at him, without expression. Jack sighed. She was leaving the decision up to him. Jack turned to Sy and asked, “Where is this place?”

“A restaurant called Pizza 24-7, near the Guildford shopping centre in Surrey.” Sy looked at Laura and said, “Take the 152nd Street exit and cut across on 96th.”

Jack smiled to himself. Good, a restaurant. Public location should be safe. “Sounds good,” said Jack. “I could use a bite. How about you, Princess?”

She felt numb. Something isn’t right … but I trust Jack … She looked at Jack and nodded. Oh, man …