Hard Case VI: The Killer Inside (John Harding Book 6) (3 page)

“I see. Ramming it through as osmosis, huh?”

“Huh? Oh… yeah… I guess you could think of it like that. It’s the ideal way, so slowly put into effect, Clint never realizes what’s happening until it’s a fact of life. One day, Amara is looking for another state to live in, and then she’s gradually absorbed into the family ever so slowly. Besides, Tonto is Clint’s people barometer. Tonto loves Amara almost as much as Dannie.”

“Good deal. Grab Clint and hit the road. We’ll handle final details. The Mob has already taken their living casualties to the hospital. Jeron is bagged for shark disposal, and we hosed the blood. I’ll see you at the game tomorrow.”

“Until then, Cheese,” Lynn replied with a wave. “I hope you can stay off the couch.”

“That makes two of us.”

I saw Tommy glancing my way in between listening to Gus Denova reciting and explaining terms of the Mob’s surrender to the remaining members in the street. Lucas remained in his nest atop the house while Casey, Quays, and Silvio stayed with Gus and Tommy. I would get a chance to talk with Tommy in the car. We drove here together. Lucas joined me on the street watch a few minutes later.

“Crue sure threw you a knuckler pitch tonight, Recon.”

“She did indeed. I knew once she committed me though I had to see it through or listen to you rag me for the next two months.”

Lucas enjoyed my synopsis. “You’re damn right I would have. There wasn’t any danger. I would have blown that prick’s hand off if they grabbed you.”

“Yep. That’s how I had it figured, Pappy. Jess’s Mom will be safe. I know Gus already told the Mob if Flo even gets the flu, we’ll be looking for them.”

“I saw Crue grab Clint for an early getaway. She doesn’t even clean her crime scene,” Lucas complained, referring to the fact Lynn never cleaned anything. “You hosed Jeron off Flo’s sidewalk. That’s disgusting. She holds the damn ‘banger so he sprays blood everywhere, and then she won’t even use a garden hose to spray him off the sidewalk.”

I shrugged. “Your Godson is probably the only thing in her life Crue’s ever kept clean.”

Lucas chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right about that. Man, Jeron never had a prayer. She’s faster than before she was pregnant. Are you and Crue assisting at the soccer game tomorrow?”

“It starts at one if you feel like coming. I know soccer’s not your game. Al likes it, and I’m finally beginning to understand what the heck they’re doing.”

“Just in time for the season to end.”

“Her small league at that age only plays six games. I’ll remember for next year. The parents are just as crazy in soccer as they were in softball.”

“Al’s playing with the boys. Parents are always nuts with the boys’ sports. Are we going to have politician and cop trouble about tonight? I know that shit-ball Jeron had the weeping relatives wailing the boy made a simple mistake by beating the clerk into a coma. You can bet they hadn’t seen the asshole since his first convenience store robbery at ten when he started bangin’. If not for Flo being black, they would have burned the city down, claiming the whole thing was a racist plot.”

“This was never going to end well for any of us, Lucas. We’ve given the politicos cover. I won’t rule out doing our own intimidation stunts if the relatives get too wild with the tears of angst about the disappearance of their poor innocent baby boy.”

“I’m black. Jess, Dev, and Tommy are all black. We’ll have a reverse riot. We’ll go burn down all the gangbanger relatives’ homes, and steal their TV’s in the name of honest black people everywhere.”

I had to take a moment to appreciate Lucas’s reverse riot idea. “Good one. It’s no more ridiculous than the authorities allowing the thugs to riot through Baltimore, tearing the city to pieces, while they looted and pillaged.”

“There’s nothing that fights injustice like smashing through businesses of innocent citizens, and stealing everything not nailed down,” Lucas replied. “Then mob rule becomes law while the bastards beat and rob people, forcing a major city into lockdown. You should be outraged, whitey.”

“I’m surprised at you, Lucas. Didn’t you know beating innocent white people to death is okay as long as it’s in the name of racial equality?”

“I forgot. My bad. It looks like the final negotiations are ending. I hope this is it for a while with Oaktown Cartel business, John. We need a cooling off period. They’ll be exiling us to our island pretty soon if we make any more gang adjustments like this one.”

“Agreed. I’ve been working with the minion Godfather Gus to pick only the worst cases where the thugs are terrorizing neighborhoods, or starting drug depots. You’re right though. We’ll need to be careful. We required a loud statement on this one. If we have to go into action sooner than expected, we may do a snatch and grab until the problem ends.”

Lucas pointed at our approaching Cartel companions. They were all smiles except for Tommy.

“It’s done, John,” Gus said. “The Mob accepted terms. They got a kick out of the part where if there’s a danger of outside gangs coming into the city we’re the first line of defense. They also know we’ll be watching them.”

“Good fight tonight, John,” Quays added. “Even we minions were surprised the Mistress of the Unimaginable tossed you to the wolves.”

“Although they turned out to be sheep,” Silvio pointed out. “The Crue cuttin’ really made an impression on the Mob. She’ll be famous by morning. We have it on video, so maybe when we hear about another challenge to our authority, we’ll send out the double header from tonight with Crue giving Jeron a Tijuana haircut, and you maiming four guys on HD. Crue was getting pissed anyhow. All we have to do is show guys she’s due to question her movies, and they tell us anything we want to know before we get a chance to ask.”

Casey laughed. “Crue told us a few days ago she’ll be obsolete if we keep making movies. I heard we’re going to Las Vegas. I’m in. Do we get to just be an entourage or will Denny figure out a target for us to kill while we’re there?”

“That fight’s still in the negotiation phase, Case,” Tommy answered for me. “I need to talk with John about that one.”

“He’s ready, T. You saw him bust the ‘bangers into the pavement,” Lucas said. “I’m taking the whole family this time if the Spawn of Satan doesn’t ruin our Vegas getaway with a side mission. We’ll put Mellow Yellow into the Bay day after tomorrow when we feed the sharks with tonight’s catch.”

“Gee… thanks.” I knew we’d be talking about my ridiculous training regimen again, but if I was going to take on the number one contender and not embarrass myself, I’d damn well need to be ready. Nothing gets me readier than being shark bait while Tommy and Crue poke me with poles.

Chapter Two

The Berserker

Tommy remained quiet in the car until I thought maybe I had been mistaken about his wanting to discuss something, but then he started opening up – about Crue first.

“Psycho is going to get you killed.”

“Lucas had my back, T. He would have blown the Knife-man’s hand off. Crue apologized. Clint told her she went too far. It’s all good. We made a hell of a statement tonight if the authorities stay the hell out of it. We couldn’t let anything happen to Jess’s Mom. That’s for sure.”

“Agreed. I could tell Jess was really worried. He was getting ready to move back in with her until something was done about Thomas.”

“Crue certainly did that,” I replied with a grin at my partner. “Did you see those guys’ faces when she held the spraying Jeron. It wasn’t pretty, but it was damn effective.”

Tommy nodded. “I’ll give her that. They won’t forget her or tonight when you flattened four of their hoods… one with a knife thanks to Crue. I don’t want you to fight The Berserker.”

“That’s what you were giving me the weird looks about? Why didn’t you say something earlier when we were going to Flo’s house?”

“I didn’t want you distracted. You’ve come a long way, John. I think you’re one of the best mixed martial arts fighters I’ve ever seen. I think the Rattler fight was your peak. When that kid ‘Dragon Hands’ nearly kicked your head off, and then choked you out, I’ve been meaning to talk with you. We have more money than we can spend now. You earned two large in about thirty seconds tonight. I think we need to work our Oakland Investigations and Bonds business to stay busy while we help with the movie kids in LA and your CIA work. If you keep doing UFC, I think you’re going to get your brain pounded to mush within a couple years.”

“Thanks, T. Hell of a pep talk. Dragon Hands worried you that much?”

“Hell yeah. That kid tore you out a new one, and you know it.”

“You do know Jess and I went to talk with him about fighting in my place because he was that good. He’s done. After the whoopin’ I gave him, Dragon Hands decided to hang up the gloves. I nearly killed him, and he knows it. If it weren’t for Jack Korlos refereeing I would have killed him. Too bad too. That kid had talent.”

“Dragon Hands didn’t know he was fightin’ a cement headed killer. It scared him. That fight’s probably the only one he ever lost. It still doesn’t mean you should be searching for someone to pound you into mush. It’s not like the old days. You have a lot on your mind. Every time your thoughts stray in the octagon, you risk getting maimed. Hell, I know you can take punishment. Killing Marko at the warehouse while blinded by that shit he had on his gloves put you into the pain hall of fame. You can get your head punched on the street in a few quickie matches a year. Fighting UFC guys like The Berserker will just lead to brain damage.”

“Maybe we should find an all-night women’s clothing store on the way home so I can pick out an evening gown and high heels.”

“Asshole!”

“I appreciate your concern, brother. Now, the fact you’re hashing this last ditch effort to retire me means Alexi must be pushing for the contract signing if I’m going to replace Berserker’s opponent in time. Do we have to fly somewhere to sign the contract?”

“Alexi thinks you need to get out now too by the way,” Tommy said.

“Noted. Contract? Lucas and the guys want to have a few nights in Sin City so let’s quit throwing verbal shots at each other and agree on a signing.”

“Because you’ll take this guy on when no one wants to fill in on short notice, he wants to sign tomorrow with his manager, and he’ll be in town. Alexi picked The Warehouse of course. We’ll sign if you’re too cement-headed to stop getting your face punched in at 5 pm.”

“We have our island now, T. If I get punched into vegetable land, just put me on the beach, and water me twice a day.”

“Very funny, but you have others to think about.” Tommy waved me off. “I’m not raggin’ you again. That’s my last retirement speech. I’ll say one thing: you train for the fights. I’ll get Dev and Jess scouting The Berserker. I know there’s a bunch of clips on him. I saw him fight on the undercard in the last UFC ticket. He pulverized some undefeated up and comer in thirty seconds, so that didn’t show me much about weaknesses. I still say it was more fun when we were street fightin’.”

“It was simpler then because you didn’t know about my side work.”

“True. Rachel loves the financial security, but she’s not happy about the headlines we’ve been responsible for. She told me she liked you better when you were just my pug, doing pickup fights, and bustin’ bond jumpers.”

We shared a laugh over that pronouncement for a moment. He stopped in front of my house a few minutes later. “I bet she likes sending the kids to any college of their dreams though, huh?”

“Can’t deny that. We’ll be checking out colleges this summer for Liz. She has the grades to go practically anywhere. We’re hoping she picks a place in the Bay Area, but fat chance of that. The only names she mentions are of course in the East.”

I opened the door. “Seems like a great problem to have, T. She has a Dad with access to a private jet. We can check on her at a moment’s notice. I’ll fly you anytime you and Rachel want to visit her.”

“I’d rather walk.”

“That’s just mean.”

“I’ll pick you up at four, or do you want to throw down a few before the meeting? You’re going into the Bay on Monday, so it’s best if you celebrate not being shark bait for at least one more day.”

“Maybe I will retire tonight.”

“That’s the spirit.” Tommy drove off leaving only a vapor trail of miserable memories behind.

* * *

“Oh look, Al. It’s the Lone Avenger.” Lora and Al were sitting together in the entertainment room watching a movie I didn’t recognize.

I had a brother Bud in one hand and a triple brother Beam on ice in the other. They were meant to dispel the glad tidings of Bay voyages coming on Monday. “In my defense, I wasn’t alone. We had to solve Jess’s problem with his Mom’s special witness protection program. It’s all better now although there may be some fall out depending on the politicos. Since learning her son has legitimate FBI credentials, Florence Brown has decided to clean up the city. I think we should run her for mayor. She could not possibly be worse than the last few we’ve had.”

“I’d vote for Flo in a heartbeat. We heard we’re going to Las Vegas. Did you happen to hear anything like that?”

Uh oh. The big mouth grapevine of Cruella Deville went to work the moment she reached home. “Where did you hear about that?”

“I have my sources,” Lora said. Al giggled, cementing the fact it was her idol, Crue.