Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (19 page)

MSGT TRENT
:
Yeah.

CAL
: Why
don’t you go down with Doc and give him and Andy each
one.

MSGT TRENT
:
You got it.

Trent, Brian and Andy left the room.

CAL
: Neil,
can you bring your tracking gear on the ride with us?

NEIL
: Of
course.

CAL
: Good.
Now go put on some more operational shoes and let’s get
going.

Neil looked down at his Italian loafers and
nodded.

+ + +

As promised, ten minutes later the teams
assembled outside The Lodge. Cal gave everyone their instructions
and patrol areas. Neil handed out small water-tight boxes to each
team. Cal looked at him quizzically and Neil just winked back.

No one hesitated as they jumped in their
respective vehicles and headed north.

+ + +

Cal looked into the back of the truck’s cab
to see if Neil was up and running.

CAL
: You
getting anything yet?

NEIL
: Nope.
I probably won’t get a damned thing until Top makes the next call.
I’m worried this guy’s gonna lose the phone and then we’re shit out
of luck.

CAL
:
Alright then, let’s make the call, Top. Remember, keep him on the
line as long as you. Say anything you need to.

Although he was driving, MSgt Trent pulled
out the stolen cell and re-dialed Dante’s number on speaker. He
picked up after the first ring.

DANTE
:
Where the fuck have you been?

MSGT TRENT
:
I’ve been in my truck.

DANTE
: What
do you mean, you’ve been in your truck? I told that fool to have
you give…Wait a minute, who is this?

MSGT TRENT
:
This is the fool.

DANTE
: What
are you talkin’ about?

MSGT TRENT
:
I’m the fool you owe money to.

DANTE
:
Where are my two guys?

MSGT TRENT
:
Don’t you worry about them. They’re nice and cozy.

DANTE
:
Fool, if I find out you killed them, son…

MSGT TRENT
:
Don’t worry, Dante. Calm down. I didn’t kill ‘em. I’m just after my
money.

DANTE
:
Fool, I don’t even know who you are, asshole.

MSGT TRENT
:
I’m the fool you owe money to.

Neil poked his arm through the two front
seats with a thumbs-up signaling that he’d caught the cell phone
trail. He’d silently told them that he’d need about a minute after
latching on to the signal before he could get a better location.
The convoy was still about ten minutes from their target.

Now West sounded amused.

DANTE
:
Fool, if I owed you money, you’d either be dead or on a payment
plan by now. I don’t know you. And if I don’t know you, that means
I don’t owe you.

Trent glanced at Cal who gave him the keep
going signal.

MSGT TRENT
:
I said you owe me. I didn’t say that you know me. It was actually
one of your boys that I took care of over in the shitty little
house in East Nashville. Motherfucker stiffed me out of ten grand
last month when I came to deliver supply. I asked him to pay me and
he told me to talk to you. Something about it being YOUR
business.

There was a pause on the other end as Dante
weighed the new information. He wasn’t an idiot. He wanted to keep
all the customers he could get. Gangster or not, he was still a
businessman.

DANTE
: Look
man, I don’t know what that idiot told you but I never stiff my
customers or my competition. This town is too small for that
shit.

MSGT TRENT
:
That’s what surprised me. I’ve been doing business with your guys
for a while and this was the first time I ever felt cheated. So
what do we need to do to get me my money back?

Trent looked at Cal who
shrugged his shoulders as if to say,
I
can’t believe this guy is buying this.

DANTE
: How
about I have a little talk with my boy and I’m sure we can get this
thing worked out.

MSGT TRENT
:
How about I come over to your place and we talk about
it?

DANTE
:
Sorry, man, that I can’t do. Give me a couple minutes and I’ll call
you back.

Trent looked at Cal again, who nodded.

MSGT TRENT
:
OK. Call me back.

The line went quiet as the call ended.

CAL
: Nice
job, Top. I guess he took the bait.

MSGT TRENT
:
Yeah, but I wouldn’t count him out yet. He’s like a cornered rat. A
SMART cornered rat. I could almost see the wheels in his head
turning. Did you see how fast he calmed himself down? This is one
cool customer.

CAL
(thoughtful): Yeah.

MSGT TRENT
:
So, have you figured out what we’re gonna do with this guy when we
get him?

CAL
: I
figured we’d just have to see how it plays out. I’m sure, with the
experience you guys have had in the past, we can hatch up some plan
to dump him on the police without anyone knowing it was
us.

MSGT TRENT
:
Now you’re thinking. We can’t let him know it’s us either. That
would be bad for you AND for the company.

NEIL
: Good
thing we’ve got a bag full of black masks back here.

Neil raised a small duffel bag on the seat
next to him.

There was silence for a minute as Cal
digested the conversation and planning the upcoming action. Worst
case, they would miss West. Best case, they would find him. Then
what? Part of Cal wanted to see West die by his own hands. The
realist in Cal pondered the idea and knew it wasn’t the logical
outcome. He could not put his people in jeopardy or endanger their
livelihood. Furthermore, he did not want to be known as the wayward
son that brought down his dead father’s company.

Think, Cal, think.

He’d just come to a decision when Neil
tapped him on the shoulder.

NEIL
: Put
this in your ear, the team’s checking in.

Cal glanced back as Neil handed him what
looked like a miniature hearing aid.

CAL
: What do I do with this thing?

NEIL
: I forgot you haven’t used one of these yet. It’s one of my
latest gadgets. The boys in the field love it. It’s going to let
you communicate with the rest of the team. You’re the only one that
everyone will be able to hear all the time until you tap the side
there. (He pointed to the slightly raised edge on the side of the
earpiece) Tap it once to talk.

CAL
: How
powerful is this thing?

NEIL
:
Thanks to my mad skills, it’s got a range of just over a mile. The
battery is another one of my designs and will give you about twenty
hours of straight use without recharging.

CAL
:
Nice.

Cal slipped the tiny piece of communication
gear in his left ear. He tapped the side of the earpiece.

CAL
: This
is Snake Eye Six, teams check in, over.

Each of the six teams, including Brian and
Andy, checked in with their respective assigned team numbers.

CAL
: OK,
listen up. We’re about five minutes out. When you get into
position, I want your baby birds on the fly, over.

Each team confirmed. The quick plan Cal had
laid out for the team prior to departure was that each pair would
have one of the spy drones for easier reconnaissance. Upon final
check in each team would launch their Baby Bird (Cal had named the
drones much to the chagrin of Neil who thought they should be
called something more sophisticated) and discretely recon the
objective. It would be tricky in the light of day, but the
miniature size of the Baby Birds decreased the likelihood of
detection by curious civilians.

+ + +

DANTE
(thinking out loud): Something’s not right about
this.

Two of the hired guns glanced up in
confusion and Dante just waived them back to their card game.

He mentally processed each of his customers
and drug partners. He knew the two men running the operation that
had apparently been raided by the mysterious caller. He’d made a
quick call to one of his call girls to go take a peak inside. The
soonest she could be there was in ten minutes.

Shit
. Dante thought. He didn’t like other people having the upper
hand. West didn’t like owing people either. It seemed like ever
since that damn thing with Shorty he was neck deep in favors. He
was a criminal, but a relatively honest one. His crew always
delivered and never tread on some else’s territory unless provoked
or if it was marked for acquisition by Dante himself. By keeping
that tight rein on operations, N.O.N. had seen solid growth in
income and recruitment since 2005. West did not want that to go to
hell. So what should he do about this caller he supposedly owed
money to?

+ + +

NEIL
: I’ve
got him!

CAL
: Where
is he?

Neil swiveled his laptop so Cal could see
and tapped on the property address. Cal relayed the information to
the rest of the teams. The net just got a lot tighter.

CAL
: We’re
five minutes out. Let’s get him back on the phone just to make
sure.

MSgt Trent hit redial.

DANTE
:
Yeah?

MSGT TRENT
:
So did you find out where my money is?

DANTE
: Not
yet.

MSGT TRENT
:
That’s not good, brother.

DANTE
: I
know, I know. Look, I’m working on it. It doesn’t help that I can’t
get a hold of the two boys you handled.

MSGT
TRENT
: Not my problem, Dante. Maybe I
should come by and visit.

DANTE
:
Look, man, I think you know that there’s no way I’m gonna tell you
where I am, so how about we just calm down and wait.

MSGT
TRENT
: I’m not so good at waiting,
Dante. What if I told you your boys told me where you’re hanging
out?

The comment disturbed Dante. Deep down he
knew there was no way his crew had snitched. Hell, he hadn’t even
told them where he was hiding. He wasn’t stupid.

At the same time, the paranoid part of Dante
West made him peek out the front window of the house. He didn’t see
anything suspicious. Besides, he had a house full of firepower
ready to defend himself. The problem was that he just couldn’t
shake the confidence of this deep-voiced caller.

DANTE
: I
told you, man, there’s no way you know where I am. Give me another
couple of minutes. I’ve got a girl going over to the house. In two
minutes, I’ll know which of my boys I need to squeeze to get your
money.

Trent looked over at Cal who motioned to
draw out the conversation.

MSGT
TRENT
: What if I told you I’m on my
way to your place right now, Dante?

DANTE
: I’d
say you’re bullshitting me.

West peered out the window again. The other
men in the room had gone mute and were watching Dante.

MSGT
TRENT
: I don’t bullshit, Dante. I’m
gonna get my money one way or another.

West put his cell phone on mute and yelled
at his crew.

DANTE
: Get
up off your asses and pack your shit. I think we’ve got trouble
coming.

The men started running around gathering
their gear in a fairly organized manner. These men were not novices
to danger. They already had their weapons at the ready as each
headed for the back door and their escape vehicles.

Dante took his cell phone off mute.

DANTE
: I’ve
had enough of this conversation, man. Even if you are on your way,
I’m gonna be gone. I’ll call you from another phone later, if I
feel like it.