Checkered Crime: A Laurel London Mystery (21 page)

She was crying holding her face and he spat on the ground next to her screaming something that was inaudible. I didn’t have time to worry with him because if he was out here, then he wasn’t in there.

“Laurel! What the hell are you doing?” Johnny was standing behind me getting out of a blue Crown Victoria.

“Who’s car?”

“You left so quick, Mike let me take his car. They FBI is on the way.” He grabbed my hand. “Please tell me you aren’t going in there.”

“I am and you are either with me or against me,” I warned.

“I’m with you.” He opened the door and looked both ways before we darted in.

“Follow me. I know this place like the back of my hands.” Which had to be an upside to working there for so long.

The entrance we went in was where the extra porta-lets were kept behind a chained wall. There was a little rustling around and if this wasn’t going on, I’d have thought it was a mouse, but I had to check it out.

“Shh.” I put my finger up to my lip and grabbed the set of keys off the hook to unlock the padlock for the gate.

I had no idea why Morty kept the keys hanging right there if he didn’t want anyone to get in the chained area, but that was Morty for you.

We walked up the rows of unused potties until I heard a grunt coming from one of them. I opened it.

“Trixie,” I gasped when I saw her gagged and bound to the sanitizer dispenser that was attached to the plastic wall. There was a beating coming from the potty next to Trixie. “Johnny, you help her.”

I opened it and Louie was stuffed in there like a little pig in a blanket. He had tears streaming down his face.

“No! Not my finger!” I heard Derek scream in the distance.

“Johnny, help them.” I didn’t wait for his response when I ran out of the chained area and down the dark corridor leading into the open warehouse where I thought I heard Derek screaming from.

With the gun and one bullet held out in front of me, I slowly turned the corner. There was some big guy with a tied-up Derek, Morty, and Jax. In front of them was a large fish tank that had never been there before. Next to the fish tank on the ground were the two Styrofoam boxes that I had seen Nicoli give Morty on the dock that day.

The big guy was dipping a net in the Styrofoam container and taking out piranhas and putting them in the larger tank.

“I think you are first.” The big guy cackled with a big grin on his face looking straight at Morty.

He was obviously taking pleasure from taunting Morty. There was sweat dripping off of Morty’s bald head.

“Please not my hand.” Morty begged and wiggled around in the rope that he was all bound up in when the big guy approached him.

In horror, I stood there with my mouth open watching as the big guy hooked Morty to the port-a-let lifting crane that we used to get the potties on the truck bed for delivery. Just like an unsteady port-a-let, Morty was hoisted into the air. The big guy untied Morty’s right arm and held his hand over top of the tank, giving the crane operator the go ahead to lower.

The guy’s hand glistened with one of the Cardozza family’s rings that looked a lot like mine. Slowly they lowered and lowered Morty.

Jax and Derek squirmed. Jax saw me and profusely shook his head for me to go back. But I couldn’t stand it.

“Hold it right there or I will shoot!” I took a step and stumbled over a walnut.

The gun went off and the bullet ricocheted into the warehouse rafters, landing on one of the unopened crates that filled the space. I fell to the ground as the big guy let go of Morty. Morty’s body swung around and around. My body swung around when the big guy grabbed me, but not before first grabbing my gun.

“Well, well.” I winced when he picked me up by my forearm and jerked me over to the group. “Look what we have here. A girl.” He flung my arm toward the tank. “I bet they would love to have a taste of you.” His evil smile exposed a mouthful of rotted teeth.

He grabbed a rope and tied my legs together with my hands.

“I will take care of you in a minute.” He went back over and grabbed the twirling Morty.

I looked around and saw someone moving in the shadows. When they quickly moved into the sunlight darting in from the warehouse windows, I could tell it was Johnny.

Thank God
. I took a deep breath so thankful Johnny was there, giving me a little hope. I looked for Trixie, but I bet he had gotten her and Louie to safety. Plus the FBI was going to be there any minute. I had hoped they had gotten there and took Jennifer and Trigger into custody. But that hope quickly shattered when he came traipsing in with her on his arm.

“No!” I screamed when Johnny dipped out of the shadow.

I wanted to warn him to stay there so he could watch for the FBI and not get taken by Trigger and one of his men.

“Shut up, Laurel!” Johnny ordered. “Tony meet Laurel London.”

“Hey, why is she tied up?” Trigger asked with a questioning look on his face.

“Let me introduce you to The Gorilla’s granddaughter.” Johnny kicked my foot, causing me to tumble over on my side since my feet and hands were bound up.

“Shit. I knew you were no good Johnny Delgato!” I spit at his feet.

“Bitch.” He grunted.

It wasn’t him that I was worried about. It was Trigger who was walking over to me. When he bent down to get a good look at me, his knees cracked.

“Well well.” He grabbed my forearm and pulled me up back on my butt. “Laurel London were you getting a little kick out of playing me for a fool this whole time as you were driving me back and forth to this shit hole?”

“Don’t worry Trigger.” I smiled. “Mike Florenza will be here any minute to arrest you and you.” I glared over at Johnny.

“Yeah, I’m already here and I didn’t call for any back up.” Mike appeared out of the shadows of the warehouse. “We all kind of,” he waved his gun in the air, “work together.”

“Yeah.” Trigger laughed looking around at his little posse. “Me, Johnny and Mike met in college. I think it was fate that Johnny lived near Louisville. So I sweetened the pot for him and Mike.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Going into the FBI was my dream job. And if I could work for the mob with my FBI cover and make ten times more money…” He winked. “You bet ya.”

“And when Tony told me about his family and he was looking for an orphan
—
and since I’m such a nice guy
—
he offered to front my phone business and supplement my income if I helped figure out just where The Gorilla’s grandchild was located.” Johnny walked closer and bent down next to Trigger. He ran his hand down my cheek and stopped them on my lips. “Only I didn’t know that it was hot, hot, Laurel London who I had been trying to get my hands on all of these years.”

I snapped my teeth at him making him jump up.

Johnny stood up with a grin on his face. He adjusted his pants.

“Funny how you always thought you were better than me, you orphan rat.” His nose snarled. There was an evil look in his eyes.

I looked away. Jax had his head down. I could see he was trying to get free while all the attention was on me. Jax and Derek exchanged a few looks while Morty was bawling still hanging and twirling around from the crane.

“Where’s Trixie?” I asked stalling for time.

“That old crazy bat,” Johnny laughed. “I will take care of her after I take care of all of you.”

“Now, let’s get on with this.” Trigger leaned closer to me and whispered, “This can all go real smooth if you tell me where my ring is. Please don’t make me hurt you.”

“What ring?” I asked, pretending to be ignorant.

“This ring, bitch!” He jabbed his hand, minus the finger, in my face.

The family ring was wedged on his middle finger.

There was a rustle behind one of the unopened crates.

Without warning, Johnny pulled a gun from his waistband and shot at it. The crate popped open, the door of a brand new port-a-let swung open and hundreds of AK-47 machine guns fell on to the ground.

“You idiot.” Trigger shook his head.

Trigger motioned for Jennifer. Without her even asking for instructions, she rushed over and started to pick up the guns like she had done this several times before.

A walnut rolled across the floor without them seeing and right into my reach.

“So,” I blurted out to get them to look at me. I wiggled around like I was trying to get free when I was really trying to get my hands on the damn walnut. “You are also smuggling illegal firearms? Morty?” I looked at Morty in disgust.

I couldn’t believe he put Walnut Grove in danger.

“Aren’t you just a smart one?” Trigger gave the crane operator a nod. “I take any opportunity I can when it comes to business. And I want to thank you for coming to New York where Jennifer owns the agency that is promoting The Underworld Music Festival. Not only was I looking for you in this area, but I was looking for a nice little out-of-the-way location to bring in the last shipment I will ever have. Because with my ring that you are going to give me, I will retire and no one, not even Jax Jackson will be able to find me.” He looked at Jax. “My bad.” Trigger grinned. “You will be with your little partner. Dead.”

When he looked at Jax, I extended my arm to get the walnut and fell over, giving me just the right reach to grab it. Using my elbows, I hoisted myself up while Trigger held a crying Morty’s hand right at the top of the water of the fish tank. The piranhas were going crazy. The water was bubbling at the top and you could barely see them.

“My babies are hungry. I’m glad because I haven’t fed them in a couple of days.” Trigger was giddy with pleasure on the torture he was about to bestow upon us.

Derek caught my attention. He smiled knowing I had gotten a walnut. He nodded toward his hands that he had unbound but were still together, holding the illusion he was tied up. He looked me straight in the eyes. We could always tell what the other was thinking. He was telling me to wait for his cue and hurl the walnut at one of Trigger’s men. But who?

With not a lot of time to spare, I slipped the knife out of my back pocket and slowly used the blade to saw the rope in two pieces, leaving my hands free to throw that walnut.

In a flash, Derek jumped up. I hurled the walnut at Johnny who was running toward Derek, knocking his ass out flat…again.

The big guy rushed Derek as I took the knife to cut the ropes that had Jax tied. I put the knife back in my pocket.

Jax tackled Trigger when he noticed Derek beating the crap out of the big guy. That was short lived when Jennifer pulled out a gun which none of us seemed to have.

“Hold it right there!” she screamed firing a shot into the air.

Trigger used the back of his hand to wipe the blood off his lip where Jax had punched him. He took the gun from her after he smacked her ass and planted a kiss on her lips.

“That’s why I have a side piece.” He wiggled his brows looking at me. “Now, let’s get this settled and then I’ll dump all of your chopped-up body parts in my tank.” He walked over to me. He slid the butt of his hand gun down my face. “Where is my ring? I’m not playing games.”

Out of nowhere a barrage of walnuts came flying through the air hitting Trigger in the head while another hit Jennifer along with the big guy, knocking them out cold. The crane operator jumped down just as the warehouse doors flung open and an army of FBI agents stormed in with big black bulletproof vests on and shields covering their faces.

“Jax Jackson.” The lead FBI guy walked up to Jax and shook his hand. “I see you had this all under control.”

Trixie, Louie and Ben Bassman stepped out from behind one of the other unopened crates that had to be filled with all the illegal firearms Trigger was trying to smuggle. Trixie ran over to me, with Ben Bassman on her heels but he stopped at Trigger’s unconscious body first.

“Good throw.” I smiled, embracing her and ignoring whatever Ben was doing.

“Do not say a word about the ring,” Ben whispered after he wrapped his arms around Trixie and me like we were one big happy family. “Let me take care of that. It’s what The Gorilla has paid me to do all these years.”

“Excuse me, Laurel?” The FBI guy walked over, breaking up Trixie, Ben and my little hug session. “I was the agent at the desk when you and Mr. Delgato came in to see Mike.” He pulled out a tape recorder from his pocket and pushed the button to record. “The FBI had been investigating Trigger Finger Anthony Cardozza for years. We knew there was an FBI inside agent informant that was working with Trigger, we just didn’t know who. So when you came in today, telling me about all of this crazy stuff and you mention Jax, I knew you were telling the truth.”

I inhaled knowing we were all going to be okay.

“Jax has been great. He totally deserves a raise.” I ran my hand down Jax’s arm when he walked over.

“That’s just the thing.” The FBI agent gave Jax a sideways glance. “Jax was removed from the agency when he just wouldn’t let the death of Lance go. He had been placed on our watch list because he has been traveling around watching Trigger.”

“I was going to kill him.” Jax lowered his head. “I couldn’t let the FBI ignore what Trigger had done to my partner. He had a family. A wife. Kids.” His voice cracked. “I had to get Trigger back.”

“You knew what was at stake,” the agent warned. “And how you went about this wasn’t the right protocol.”

“Screw protocol.” Jax spat. “We got him now. And it was my way.”

“I’m not saying you weren’t right, but it wasn’t the best way.” They argued back and forth.

“Listen, I just want to get Trixie home. I don’t want to stand here seeing who has a bigger penis by right and wrong.” I made myself very clear.

“I’m going to need a cut-and-dry statement from you. Can you be at the agency tomorrow morning?” He pulled out his card.

I looked over at Trigger who was coming to and being carted off by a few agents… at gun point.

“Yeah, my calendar just opened up,” I said knowing I wasn’t going to be going to the Airport Hotel anytime soon.

Chapter Twenty Three

“Congratulations to you and Jimbo.” I sat down next to Susie Warren, Sheriff Jimbo Warren’s wife.