CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

 

Sunday – April 11

 

Jack lifted the remote with a shaky hand to turn off the TV, then set it on his tray table. Sunday morning news had just recapped the takedown at Dragon’s Lair.

He glanced beside him. Ray had been the first person Jack saw when he’d opened his eyes earlier in the morning. The nurse had told him Ray hadn’t left his side since he’d been rushed into emergency surgery after the bust. It had been dark outside when he’d awakened so he’d thought it was still early Saturday morning, not Sunday.

Ray had updated Jack on everything, from the takedown through his life-saving surgery to remove the nine millimeter round and repair his damaged organs.

Jack winced when Ray told him he’d flatlined in the ambulance. It had taken EMTs more than three long minutes to bring him back. Doctors had told Ray, had the round been just a millimeter closer, it would have nicked the artery to his heart, and Jack would have bled out before the ambulance had arrived on scene.

The news he’d died, even for three minutes, stole what little breath he had.

If he’d been dead, where had his family been? Where was Nick? Where was his mother? If he’d truly been dead, there had only been darkness.

He scowled. Was that what he’d have faced if his Beretta hadn’t misfired?

His stomach tightened with the thought he’d actually gone to Hell—but where was the fire and brimstone?

Maybe he’d been cast into Limbo, but hadn’t he suffered in Limbo the last four years?

Jack turned his gaze to the other side of the bed where Haniford occupied another visitors’ chair, one ankle resting over the opposite knee. He’d arrived just before the news began and had updated Jack on the FBI debriefing. He knew it was a courtesy on Haniford’s part, but Jack appreciated it.

One thing confused him though. What had made Haniford decide to bring in backup after all his posturing and insisting Jack was going in alone?

"Jack, you still with us?" Haniford asked.

Jack snapped out of his reflection. "I'm listening," he said, somewhat breathless.

"As I was saying,” Haniford continued, “the operation couldn't have gone any smoother."

Jack choked back a grumble. “Yeah, real smooooth.” He glared at Haniford for a long minute, sizing up how to get the answers he needed. When Haniford didn’t speak, Jack inhaled as much as he could and rasped, “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

A groove formed between Haniford’s eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“How about the bit where you sent me in on my own? You were pretty adamant about that. I spent two days putting my affairs in order . . .”

“That’s the truth, Lieutenant,” Ray said. “I went to his place the other day and he gave me a key to a safety deposit box and the authorization paperwork to access it. Paraphrasing here, but he said if things went tits up, someone had to deal with his shit. Honestly, by the way Jack was acting, I didn’t think I’d ever see him again. It scared the shit out of me.”

Jack caught the weak smile on his friend’s face before looking back at Haniford, waiting for an answer he could believe.

Finally, Haniford said, “I guess we didn't exactly leave our last conversation on the best terms, did we? I know I forced you to put aside your reasons for seeing Li and go in undercover for us . . . for the task force." Haniford nodded toward the hospital bed and added, “Maybe now’s not the time to discuss this.”

He wasn't letting Haniford off lightly for what he'd done or for the things he'd said. "No, we didn't; yes, you did; and this is the perfect time. And don’t give me the it is what it is bullshit." Jack’s lungs burned on his raised voice and he breathed through the cough he felt coming.

"Honestly?”

“Nothing but,” Jack insisted.

“I was furious with you, and Ray. I still am. I don't want to get into another heated argument, but with Ray continually allowing you to ride shotgun on investigations—"

Jack cut in. “You’re pulling Ray’s promotion.” His gut twisted at the thought.

“Nothing like that,” Haniford replied, “but things are changing in the department, and how you treat the department has to change too.”

Before Haniford could finish, Ray said, "Lieutenant, I knew Jack would investigate the Rybak case on his own. That’s his job. I thought if I kept him close—"

"Goddammit, Ray. I told you I don't need a babysitter," Jack snapped, but the effort took his breath away, making him cough like an asthmatic. He took several shallow breaths to calm himself.

"Ray letting you tag along, even when I explicitly told him to keep you out of things, pissed me off. You and I, Jack, would have had that conversation regardless of Friday night's operation. Since you were already involved with Li, I took the opportunity to, I don't know, teach you a lesson—"

"Teach me a lesson. What the fuck, Dick?" Jack ignored the wide-eyed stares he got when he emphasized Haniford’s given name.

Jack’s heart pounded hard. He felt like it pumped boiling blood through his aching body and struggled to remain composed to keep from breaking out into another coughing fit.

In a word, Jack was pissed. Both with Ray's insinuation he needed babysitting and now Haniford thinking he’d been teaching him some kind of lesson.

"I wanted you to sweat a little, like I do every time your name comes up in an investigation."

"Don’t you think I’ve been doing a lot of my own sweating?" The sharp pains echoing through his body made him add, “I almost didn’t go to the meet-up.”

"Jack," Ray gasped, concern edging his voice.

"I'm sorry about that," Haniford said. "Believe me when I say I never intended on sending you in alone. That would have been insane. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to remind you of your situation."

"You're saying it was all a bit of payback?" Jack asked between clenched teeth. Haniford shrugged in a noncommittal way. "Believe me, message received, loud and clear."

“Don’t be like that,” Haniford said.

“I get it,” he fumed under his breath. He tried getting comfortable again, but the effort of trying to punch the pillows into submission made him wince. “I’m no longer on the force and have no business looking for favors from the department. The tie’s been cut. I'll stay well clear.” Matter-of-factly, he added, “Thanks for the support on Friday, but you can leave now and let me get on with picking up the pieces of my life.” He threw himself back against the pillows in frustration, forcing himself to breathe calmly before he exploded.

Jack looked up when the nurse, Markus, rushed through the door to his side. “Are you all right, Mr. Slaughter? The monitors are going off at the nurses’ station like a Saturday night disco ball.”

“Sorry, Markus. Just trying to get comfortable. Not easy when you’re weak as a puppy.” Jack glared at Haniford.

Markus’ bright smile accentuated the deep color of his complexion. His almond-shaped brown eyes with their long lashes hinted at a mixed heritage.

“Don’t you worry, honey. You’re still a big dog.” He winked at Jack. The coy look on the nurse’s face was obvious as he fluffed the pillows and helped him settle back. “You just need some TLC.” Satisfied Jack was comfortable and had fresh water in his jug, he asked while making notes on Jack’s chart, “Is there anything else I can get you while I’m here?”

“A whiskey is probably out of the question.”

Markus chuckled. “I’m sure it’s five o’clock somewhere in the world, sweetie, but sadly not here. If you’re looking for something more exciting than water, I can sneak you in a cola or a mineral water.”

“Thanks. Maybe later.”

Markus looked between Ray and Haniford. “Can I get your friends something?”

Before the men could answer, Jack said, “No, they were just leaving.”

“If you change your mind, just push the button.” Markus moved the nurse’s call handset closer to Jack then disappeared through the door.

Jack stared at the TV’s black screen, trying to ignore the elephants in the room.

Finally, he said, “I don’t know why you’re still here, Dick. You said your piece.”

“I’m not finished, Jack,” Haniford replied.

Jack ignored him and gave Ray a sideways look. "You fell right into your Lobo persona. Think we'll actually get you on a bike one day?"

"I never said I can't ride, I just don't like to," Ray confessed.

"Until you prove otherwise, I'm gonna say you can't ride."

Haniford chuckled and brought the conversation back on point. "I have to say, Jack, you do have a set of brass balls on you.” Jack’s only reply was a lifted eyebrow in Haniford’s direction. “I don't think I would have shown up for that meeting with Li on my own."

"It's not like I had a choice."

"You always had a choice," Haniford said. "You chose to meet Li."

"It was the only way to find out what happened to Leah. Even after what went down last night . . . Friday night . . . the only thing I learned is Li did have something to do with my wife's disappearance, but not where she is."

"Sorry about that, Jack, but this operation took priority."

Haniford's voice faded when Jack's mind went back to the warehouse. He knew he'd been making headway with Li and was just about to find out what happened to Leah when Haniford got the deal back on track.

Jack felt the heaviness return. A weight settled on his chest, and something constricted his throat, forcing him to take long, slow breaths, but for a different reason this time. He dug his fingers into the blanket he’d been fisting. All he'd cared about was finally finding Leah. He'd been this close . . .

"Jack?"

Haniford broke into Jack's thoughts again. He shifted his weight on the mattress but the pillows propping him up slipped and his wound screamed, bringing moisture to his eyes. Ray stood and helped Jack get comfortable before reseating himself. Jack nodded his thanks.

"I asked what made you take such dangerous side steps," Haniford said.

"What side steps?"

"We went in to buy coke and meth, then Li changed the deal. What's this Little Dragons thing all about?"

Jack reminded Haniford about Armstrong and his crew, one of whom blew his brains out in Jack's house. "Armstrong has been working on a new party drug for Li, and I suggested to Li we could add it to the rest of the deal. He’d brushed me off, but it looks like Armstrong came through at the eleventh hour. I figured, the more we could get on Li, the longer he'd go down for."

"Like with the AKs?"

Jack nodded. "More weight on his sentence."

"You leaned on him pretty hard."

"How else was I supposed to treat him? He's a murdering thug who lacks any moral conscience.” Jack couldn't make it any clearer.

"I get it." After a moment, Haniford said, "Tell me what's going on between you and Chin."

Jack shook his head. "Absolutely nothing. I just don't like her. I was surprised to see her involved in the sting after I'd told you about meeting her—"

"Your date?" Haniford asked.

"Not a date," Jack corrected. "It was a business meeting to get her to tell us about her brother Danny. I came to you about her unprofessional behavior, so I was shocked seeing her Friday night."

"I wondered the same thing," Ray said.

Haniford looked between Jack and Ray. "You're not wrong about her being assertive."

"Assertive? Is that what you're calling her?" The woman was downright forceful. She'd already proved to him she could go the distance—hounding him for years to take her out, in spite of his repeated refusals.

"I was being nice," Haniford replied. "The point is, she wasn't on the task force. When she showed up, ready to go, it was too late to send her home. Before I could ask her what she thought she was doing, she said we’d need an interpreter since she knows Mandarin and Cantonese. I thought by keeping her outside while we met with Li there wouldn't be any trouble. I hadn't expected her to barge through the shop door. At that point—"

Jack nodded again. "At that point, you were all in, and she knew it. Just as she knew, if she made it clear to Li she was with me, he wouldn’t have been suspicious unless I shrugged her off. He may already have been leery since Danny worked for Li until he disappeared, but he didn’t give any indication he recognized her."

Ray shifted in his chair. "I'm not making excuses for her, but maybe she took the opportunity to find out what Li did with her brother. No one knows what happened to him either.”

"Somehow I doubt it." Jack couldn't keep from scowling. He didn’t care what Chin’s motivations were. Just talking about her and her behavior pissed him off.

"By the look on your face, there's something else with Chin eating at you," Haniford said.

Jack ran shaky fingers through his hair, remembering how she’d clung to him after he’d been shot, her screaming in his ears.

"She's becoming a loose cannon, and I'm worried she'll do something stupid someday and put those around her at risk.”

To Haniford, Ray said, "I've noticed Chin's behavior has changed too. Her concentration is off. During the stakeout at Christmas at the Majestic Lounge, she spent more time watching Jack than looking for our suspect. If we’re being honest here, I don’t trust her anymore to have my back."

Haniford put up his hand. "I get it, but as Jack is no longer with the department, there shouldn't be any reason for her to be anywhere near him, and I can’t tell her what to do on her off-time unless it reflects on the department. At this point, she has a clean record. You know how this goes. Until she does something actionable while on the job, I can't touch her. Let’s hope the Majestic Lounge and Friday night are two anomalies and she chooses to stay in her own lane going forward."

"That’s fine to say, but I’m telling you, something’s not right with that woman."

"I hear you, Jack. It didn’t slip my notice how she hung back on Friday when things started going down rather than move into action like the trained officer she is. She refused an AK and froze when bullets started flying. She put herself and others in danger when she went to your side. She could have very well been the one shot. I'll require she sees the department shrink to make sure she's fit for duty.”

"A shrink’s a good idea," Ray agreed.

Jack nodded with another scowl.

“What’s the scowl for?” Haniford asked.

Jack wasn’t in the mood to beat around the bush so he gave it to Haniford straight. "I met Li with the express focus on finding Leah. You scuppered that by bringing me into the task force sting. Now Li's behind bars and I still don't know what he did with my wife."

"I'm sorry we had to bring you in this way, but we couldn't lose the opportunity to take down the Jade Dragons. We couldn't have done it without your help."

Jack glared at Haniford. "Make it up to me. Let me question Li."

Ray sat forward and looked at Haniford. Jack glanced between the two men. “What?”

"You gonna tell him or am I?” Ray asked.

Haniford grimaced and crossed his arms over his chest.

“What?” Jack repeated, louder this time, his glare deepening.

“Li’s gone, Jack,” Ray finally said. “This was a federal operation, and they took control of the prisoners.”

Jack stared at his friend. “You’re telling me I can’t interview Li?” He turned a dark look on Haniford.

“Sorry, Jack,” Haniford said. “We didn’t know when you’d wake, or if you would. The feds couldn’t wait to find out, so they took Li back to their headquarters for interrogation and processing.”

“Shit!” Jack cursed. “Then we lean on Kenny. He has to know what happened to his friend. Finding out what happened that one night could answer questions for a lot of people."

Ray shook his head. “He was taken away with Li. It’s all in the feds’ hands now.”

“Goddammit!” Jack shouted, flinching at the pain of air being forced from his lungs. He winced and dropped back to the pillows. “Did they take everyone?” Both men nodded. “What about Armstrong . . . him too?” Jack’s gaze fell on Haniford. “What?”

“Remember when I said we had a CI working with the task force?” Haniford asked.

Jack slowly said, “Yeah.”

“Armstrong was our CI.”

“Are you shitting me? You brought in a junkie to inform on the gang?” Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Agent Carter told me after an initial interview with Li, that he knew Armstrong had been turned, but kept him alive to feed the task force false intel. That’s why it took so long to take down the Jade Dragons.” Haniford added, “Without you, we’d still be waiting.”

Haniford’s confession didn’t make Jack feel any better, so he ignored it. “Did Armstrong know he was being played from both sides?”

Haniford shook his head in a noncommittal way. “We haven’t been able to find him. Have you spoken with him?”

“No. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him since my intro with Li.”

“We have a BOLO out on him, but so far nothing,” Ray added.

Jack thought back to his chat with Armstrong in his kitchen. “He’s been under Li’s and the Jade Dragons’ thumbs for years. He’s probably taken the opportunity and fled the city.”

“You’re probably right. I swung by the abuela’s house and the Trans Am is gone. She hasn’t seen him in several days.” Ray added, “I don’t think there’s any love lost there.”

To Haniford, Jack asked, “Have the drugs come back from the lab yet?”

Haniford shook his head. “It’s still early, but initial tests say it looks like the pills were a sham.”

“What do you mean? Li said Armstrong came up with a new formula for the ultimate party drug. That’s what he sold us. He blathered on about the potency of his new Little Dragons. I assumed he tried them himself.”

Ray said, “Doubtful. He probably believed what Armstrong told him to make a sale.”

Haniford shook his head. “Armstrong is a pretty ballsy guy. He might have got away with it.”

“Tell me,” Jack pushed.

Haniford sat forward with his elbows on his knees and looked up at Jack with a look he took as admiration for Armstrong. “According to the lab, Armstrong crushed up sildenafil citrate—”

“Wait,” Jack cut in. “Viagra?”

“That’s the trade name, but yeah. He crushed up the blue pills and added a colorant to change the powder to green, then mixed in some methaqualone—”

“Quaaludes? I thought ludes faded away with the seventies,” Jack said.

“They’re still around. Just not as in demand as X and the like,” Haniford said.

Jack looked between the two men again. “What about Cutter’s tests on the night? They came back for a number of drugs.”

Ray chuckled. “Right, but the tablets had only been washed in those drugs. Like a candy coating. There was just enough to test positive, but the trace amounts wouldn’t have given a very substantial high. Anyone taking those pills would have only had an all-night boner with an added feeling of euphoria.”

Jack would have chuckled if his body didn’t hurt so much. That clever fuck! If Armstrong hadn’t been a CI for the FBI, there probably wasn’t enough narcotics in the tablets to get him any jail time. Since he was running, he probably didn’t know he was off the hook. Even if it would have earned him jail time, given his CI status, he would have got a walk.