Hard Case VI: The Killer Inside (John Harding Book 6) (12 page)

“We hang here… saw you walkin’…” the same one mumbled with Tonto eyeballing him from six inches away from his face.

I heard sirens closing in so Earl and ‘Rique gained some inter-district cooperation fast. “Last question before I collect pictures and prints. Who runs the 38
th
Street Locos now?”

“Cory Davar.”

By the time Earl and ‘Rique joined us, I had pictures and prints collected with my iThingy app. I patted my leg while moving back next to Al. Tonto and Naji leaped across bodies to sit next to me. ‘Rique shook his head.

“You six punks against John Harding, and two dogs I know could handle all six of you by themselves. The gangbanger IQ drops lower every day, Earl. Hi Al. Rough night for a walk, huh?”

“Samira had her baby girl, Uncle ‘Rique. That’s why we have Tonto and Naji.”

“Well… there’s some good news,” ‘Rique said as he restrained the four walking wounded while Earl covered him. He then did a thorough pat down on each one, including Mr. Out-cold, and broken collar bone. After bagging the knife, he read them their rights.

“Have you talked to Achmed the Terrorist since he became a Dad?” Earl moved closer to me while ‘Rique finished.

“Not yet. Sam delivered in an hour and a half, so Achmed got off easy.”

“How many you deliver overseas?”

“Two. One in the mountains, and one in Kandahar,” I answered. “How about you?”

“I assisted on one in Ramadi, but I have you beat with two more here on the job. The Mom’s were in the last stage, so I was as lucky as Achmed.”

“Lora had a twenty hour marathon with Al, so she’s steamed.”

Earl, ‘Rique and Al appreciated the humor in that revelation.

“Did you find out what you wanted,” ‘Rique asked.

“38
th
Locos… Cory Davar.”

“That doesn’t sound like any name I’ve heard, especially with the Locos,” ‘Rique said. “Then again, no one will probably hear about the Locos ever again either.”

I kept my mouth shut on that supposition. Forty minutes later, and two FaceTime calls with Lora, the ambulance and meat wagon left with our Lake Merritt welcome wagon ‘bangers. Al and I said our goodbyes to Earl and ‘Rique then. They let us go home. There wasn’t really anything more to be done, and they knew where to find me.

“Mom seemed calmer when she called the second time.”

“Maybe,” I replied. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Tonto and Naji had a good time. I bet they’ll be ready for a good meal, and some time relaxing. I’ll be driving the private school transport taking you and the twins to school until I solve this Locos problem.”

“We can sleep in an extra half hour that way.” Al looked on the bright side. I’ll call my minions when I get home so they know we’ll be cruising to school. We’re done with school on Thursday anyhow. Maybe I’ll be able to go out on the boat and watch you get poked after school’s out.”

“That’s just mean.”

Al giggled, and I may have been imagining it, but I think the dogs smirked at me.

* * *

“They could have drawn pistols on you instead of a knife,” Lora commented while I poured a Beam brother double. Al was playing catch with Agent Tonto and Naji, probably against their will after the exciting Lake Merritt excursion.

“I was armed, Hon. You have never seen Tonto in combat mode, and I hope you won’t ever have to. No stranger can draw a gun in front of him. Clint trained him so he acts on his own in case of a weapon. That’s beside the point. I was armed, and I’m not a policeman.”

Lora hugged me. “I know. Do you think this will eventually settle down with your Oaktown Cartel idea?”

“It’s going to settle down for the 38
th
Street Locos. I guarantee you that. An example must be made. The name of the one who put a price on my head, Cory Davar, drew my interest. The last name means judge in Urdu. It’s Persian, which of course is Iranian now. I sent the pictures and prints of the guys from tonight to Denny when I warned our squad about the threat. Denny texted me they’re letting Jafar bring Samira and the baby home tonight. They’re staying at Lynn and Clint’s place because Lynn has her own pediatric care wing in the house, and two live in assistants, Dannie and Amara. I know Lynn pays those two a fortune, but they’re the best. Everyone will be safe inside tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll deal with the threats.”

“I’m glad we’re staying in tonight. Ever since Al and I threw you off the ferry, you’ve been in one mess after another.” Lora began groping me inappropriately. “How do we reverse the trend?”

I figured it was a rhetorical question, and did my own inappropriate groping until I heard the return from the backyard of Al. She has a six sense concerning her Mom and me. If there’s a time she should stay away for a few moments of our adult time, Al will be walking in right on schedule to break it up. Lora sighed, running a hand along my cheek.

“Bring your Beam brother, and we’ll go watch a movie together. Do you want popcorn, and your Bud brother?”

“Sounds good, now that Al the interrupter is here.”

“Maybe I should have set Tonto and Naji on you two when I came in,” Al replied.

“Remember what I told you about jokes in front of Tonto and Naji. They don’t understand humor. They would not attack people they know under any circumstances, but if you were to say the words with authority when in the company of strangers that would be bad, Al. You know what they can do.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have kidded around. I know these two are dangerous. They’re so cute and cuddly all the time, it’s hard to picture them like they were tonight by the lake. Can I give them treats while we’re watching a movie?”

“I bought them those beef flavored rawhide bones they both love. Go ahead and give those to them. They’re in the cupboard with the dog food.”

Ten minutes later we were in the movie room watching one of the latest dinosaur ripper movies where scientists decide it’s a great idea to clone the deadliest creatures ever to walk the earth, and build a theme park around them. Now there’s a good idea. I had a nice buzz on, so the dinosaur ripper movie was like watching a comedy of errors, where the price of making those errors is everyone human becomes a happy meal. I had already been warned I would not be allowed to laugh during the show. When my phone rang at ten, I took a look at the ID, saw it was Tommy, and stood.

I paused the movie while telling Tommy to wait a moment. “It’s Tommy, Hon. You two go ahead and keep watching. This is one of the funny parts anyhow.”

“Funny?” Al was incensed at my uncaring attitude toward humans in dinosaur ripper park. “People are going to get eaten.”

“There was a simple rule to be followed in preventing such a horrible outcome, Al. Say it with me. Don’t clone the dinosaurs.” She did giggle and chime in as we had done in the past at bad moments in dinosaur ripper movies we’d watched. Lora was amused so that was a good thing. I restarted the movie, and walked out of the room.

“Hey T. How are you? I guess you heard Achmed is a daddy, huh?”

“Yep. I FaceTimed with Achmed and Sam. They had baby Mia at Clint’s place just a moment ago. Beautiful baby girl. Are you already seven sheets into the wind? I’ll take anything up to four sheets with you.”

I took stock, looking at the rest of my Beam brother longingly. “I’m about three. What’s happening?”

“I just got a call from Darry at the Cinebar down in San Jose. Bonnie and Clyde arrived fifteen minutes ago. They’re drinking at the bar, and havin’ a good old time. I told Darry to give them happy hour prices on our dime. Crue told me if we went down there without her, she’d make my next trip out on the Bay a one way ticket. Clint said he’ll watch the home front. Lynn wants you to bring Tonto. She’s been working with him on a seeing eye dog trick.”

Uh oh. Agent Tonto in a crowded bar. Damn. That’s more entertaining than a dinosaur ripper movie. “You’ll have to pick us up, T.”

“I’ll be outside your door in two minutes.”

“See you then.” I went into the movie room. “I have to go with T to collect those two bank robbers. Lynn’s coming, and I’ll be taking Tonto with me.”

Lora paused the movie. “I knew it. We shouldn’t have made you dive into the Bay. It was a trigger.”

“Will you stop with the Bay trigger business? I’ll be back in a couple hours.” I pointed at Naji. “Stay, Naji. Tonto, come.”

“Be careful, Dad!” Al called out.

“Will do. See you soon.”

Tonto and I arrived on the sidewalk only a few seconds after Tommy drove in front. I had my black t-shirt on, and black leather jacket. If Lynn was going to make an experiment with Tonto work, she’d need a diversion. I was interested in whether she planned on walking into the bar with Tonto, or waiting for Bonnie and Clyde to have a few. We could take them outside without endangering people in the bar on a Sunday night; but I knew if Cruella Deville was running the show, endangering the bar patrons would not be one of her concerns. Tonto leaped into the backseat, and sat like the soldier he is at attention, happy to be going for a ride. I settled into the front with Tommy.

“Hey, brother, I heard the rescue went well with extras. You sure picked a dangerous ploy to get out of the Bay party boat excursion tomorrow, but I’m glad the Seal was still alive.”

“It did go well. I could have used a night off though. No use whining about it with the chance to take Bonnie and Clyde down for Chad. I’m surprised you let Lynn in on it.”

“The woman threatened me the first moment she learned about the bank robbers. She’s nuts. When she ordered updates on every piece of info about Bonnie and Clyde, I agreed. What’s the use in arguing with her? She’s like an out of control guided missile. The only thing anyone is sure of is they don’t want the missile exploding next to them.”

That pretty much covered Cruella Deville. “Agreed. Strike that comment about letting her in on it. Any ideas about what she’s planning with Tonto and the seeing-eye gig? I was hoping it meant she’d distract them as they exited the bar drunk by pretending to be blind with Tonto leading her.”

“I haven’t given it any thought since she mentioned it,” Tommy admitted. “We’ll be at their house in a few minutes. I guess we’ll find out then. I like your idea. If she has a plan to traipse into the Cinebar with Tonto, I’m at a loss as to how we’ll play that out. I don’t even know if they allow seeing-eye dogs and blind people in, but I would imagine they do with all the ridiculous handicap laws they’ve passed.”

“I’m sure she could get let in with another person, pretending to be blind, but I don’t know if they would allow Tonto in. We could go in with her. Tonto’s so well behaved, a crowd would have no meaning. Like you say, we’ll wait to hear her idea.”

* * *

Lynn was none too pleased to get overridden on the rules of engagement. “I want you to go home and get the real Cheese. I don’t want the Snow White Cheeseburger. Leave Snow White Sands at your house too.”

Clint and Jafar were quietly enjoying my upbraiding for the common sense approach. Tommy and I had already ducked into what we called the Cruella Pediatrics Wing of their house to see the new baby, and speak with Samira for a moment. Our trouble started immediately upon my venturing what I believed she had in mind for Tonto, which was a pretty fair idea, when we adjourned to the door on our way out of the house.

“John’s right, Babe,” Clint backed me up at his peril. “Wait for the bank robbers to exit the bar, and then do the seeing-eye dog show right next to them. We only trained Tonto to do it in the first place for a train station or bus station takedown where there was more than one exit, or a street apprehension. A crowded bar with only one exit is silly and dangerous for Tonto.”

Clint pierced the prank prone, hard ass Cruella Deville, but only because he held Clint Jr’s smiling body between him and Lynn in comical protection, bobbing the baby up and down. The baby loved it, and Lynn didn’t resort to her usual demand for unarmed combat to resolve the situation. Tommy and I knew better than to express any emotional response. Tonto sat with a curious but neutral face. Achmed the Terrorist fled the room into the pediatric wing with wife and newborn. Lynn couldn’t hold on to her terror face while Clint Jr bobbed in front of her.

“Okay… I’ll settle for the sidewalk or parking lot,” she relented. “When was the last time you checked to see if they were still in the bar, Snow White Sands?”

“Our guy is texting me every fifteen minutes because he’s getting a nice tip for keeping an eye on them,” Tommy answered without taking umbrage at becoming Snow White Sands. “They’re getting happy hour prices too.”

“Let’s go then.” Lynn kissed the baby and Clint before grabbing her white cane, sunglasses, and special harness for Tonto. “For the record, Tonto would have been terrific inside the bar. Only two or three innocent bystanders would have been whacked around a little.”

Tommy and I traded grins and waves at Clint before taking our leave in the ‘Wake of the Red Witch’ as I compared Lynn in my head to an old John Wayne movie of stormy seas.

“You seem a little too pleased with yourself, DL. We dodged the Cruella Deville bullet only with the influence of Clint and the baby.” Tommy noticed my continued happy features while following Lynn and Tonto.

“I was thinking our following Lynn in terms of that old John Wayne sea movie ‘Wake of the Red Witch’. Get it? Wake of the-”