Hard Case VI: The Killer Inside (John Harding Book 6) (37 page)

“I have a solution for making them care more. When we find them before they go off, we’ll return them with detonator until they find a way to stop the smuggling operations.”

“That’s very callous of you, Cheese. You know we’re the only idiots that take the blame for everything. I’m certain when and if they arrest Boris, he’ll tell them the Americans told him to do it.”

“Does Denny want us to move on this now?”

“Nope. He wants the Livermore Isis compound cleaned, and the Sao Paulo secured before Abdul talks to his friend, Carlos Jabir. Abdul told me Jabir doesn’t know what’s going on as far as the Sao Paulo or what he had planned through Gorgo. In other words, we can all go home and get some sleep. If Cheese feels up to it, Lucas can drive the boat load of Snow Whites out on a sissy-boy training hour early.”

“Don’t pay any attention to Snow White Deville, Recon,” Lucas said, meeting Lynn’s Cruella Deville stare with his own Marine Drill Sergeant one. “She’s been getting too uppity lately anyhow. This Boris business seems like a cleanup op we can do easily now that Crue decided to do the job she was assigned. Let’s get on the Wolf early, and go do some training and fishing. We’ll pluck Boris later, and then go full bore into plans for our Las Vegas trip.”

“Okay for you, Ahab,” Lynn said. “You’re on my list.”

“I’m on everyone’s list, girlie,” Lucas fired back. “Recon put you in your place. Deal with it and move on. You did a great job breaking Gorgo and Abdul. We all know you’re irreplaceable, but John, Casey, and I were extracting info way before you came on board. We can do it again if you want to go into motherhood full time. If you want to be a Monster, you take orders, especially on mission. You were out of line tonight, and you know it.”

“I’m not cut out for anything else,” Lynn replied with a shrug. “I’m edgy, but you’re right. I was out of line tonight. It won’t happen again. The motherhood thing only works if I can pursue my true calling. This is the only place for me and Clint so give me a clean slate, and I’ll make it right.”

“Okay, good,” Lucas said. “You can start by cleaning the entertainment room.”

And just like that it was a lighthearted moment, because no one believed Crue could clean a room. The only way we knew she cleaned herself was she always smelled good. The possibility of her following orders to clean a room were the same as shooting at the moon with a ping pong ball gun – not going to happen. We enjoyed the hint that she should though.

* * *

After everything we went through, it seemed as if it should have been three days in the future. In reality, I drove home before midnight. The Ride of the Valkyries thundered in my head. It had been the most uplifting, badass assault I could ever remember. We may not have done close order combat or given a bunch of throat slitting assholes a prayer, but damn, that was fun. It would probably remain the most watched Monster video in our possession.

Lora and Al were again watching a movie without the backlogged Dark Lord present. They understood I had a lot of down time when I was home all the time. I’d make up for it then. Plus, I always made sure I was around for dropping off, picking up, and every sport or social event on the calendar, except when the enemies of the state had to be dealt with. As soon as I walked into the room, I could see the credits rolling on a Family Channel romance movie. Al ran around to hug me.

“Wow, you’re still alive, Dad. Jafar texted us you tossed Lynn in the Bay again. Mom and I were sworn to secrecy because Jafar said Lynn would chop him into little pieces if we told anyone. How did you ever do it? That was three days in a row.”

“I think I’m developing a Dark Lord sixth sense. I think I’ll be able to use it in the cage against The Berserker, or Tats to those who know him better by his facial pictures.”

“How is the Republic this evening?”

“Still in one piece, but hanging by a thread if we don’t stop screwing around with these Isis dolts. We took a huge chunk out of them today, but they’re like cockroaches. Once the sugar gets spilled, good luck stopping the infestation without bringing in the heavy duty stuff. Denny is doing his best to make them pay attention back in DC, but who knows what luck he’ll have with that.”

“You’re not training with Lynn tomorrow, right? That would be suicide.”

“Lynn has been banned from all future Bay training sessions by decree. Everyone enjoyed her unexpected ocean swims, but no one wants on board the Sea Wolf after this latest dip in the water. Lucas handled final separation anxiety on her part. She was pretty raw about it, but he put it in perspective for her.”

“I like Lynn, Dad, but I’m glad she’s not helping anymore. She’s scary.”

“We need her, but not in fight training. Tommy assumes control of training tomorrow. He thinks I’ve gotten to the point I should only go in the water a half hour to simply keep my skills honed. That will seem like a vacation. Tomorrow’s Sunday, girls. Would you like to come out on the Bay with us? The guys will be fishing and relaxing until about noon. Then we have one final adjustment to take care of with the Isis bunch.”

Lora and Al looked at each other, and I could tell they didn’t want any part of my Bay training cruises. I didn’t make them flounder around searching for excuses. “It’s okay. No need to get wordy here. I can tell from your expressions you two would rather walk the plank than sail on a Sea Wolf training cruise. If all goes well tomorrow, we could go to dinner together, or something else normal for a Sunday night.”

“We choose the anything else category, Dark Lord,” Lora spoke for both of them. “Al and I will work on an entertaining alternative to one of your torture sessions. Besides, don’t you follow up with a sparring session?”

“Sunday’s my day off from sparring. I will like any alternative you think of, so take your time deciding. Nothing’s off the table.”

“How about Mall shopping,” Lora offered.

“Except that.”

“Quilt Museum in San Jose?”

“Or that.”

“How about that Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland,” Al piped in with.

“Or that.”

“Winchester Mystery House,” Lora added with a furrowing of the brow.

“Or especially that. If you’ve seen one door going nowhere, you’ve seen them all.” I started laughing. “Go ahead and decide. I was kidding. Whatever you two can agree on will be fine with me.”

“No take backs,” Lora stated immediately.

“No take backs,” I agreed.

After Al went to bed, Lora and I were alone behind a locked door. She and I had molded together well from the first time she hugged me in the parking lot of Al’s school. The woman knew how to hug.

“I’m worried about you, John.” The vixen could talk while moving just enough to accent everything she said. Her long auburn red hair, tied in a ponytail, bobbed slightly as she worked me.

I knew I was being played. It’s a sixth sense I have very much in the same realm as being able to sense the pole strikes. I do not take women lightly, not the infamous Cruella Deville, nor my seemingly pliant wife Lora. I’ve noticed the ladies believe they’re inscrutable, and all us guys are clueless about their motives or next moves. That is a generalization not true in many instances, me being one of them. Nothing in particular gives them away. Sometimes a combination involving the widening of the eyes, combined with a downturn at the mouth, or an expression used at the wrong time. Lora never says ‘I’m worried about you, John’. That expression means ‘I have something I’m slipping in on you, John. If I’m lucky, by the time I get to it, you won’t know what hit you’. I decided it had been a long enough day. I wanted to get to the treats.

“Spit it out, Lora. Believe me, whatever it is won’t get more palatable if you wrap it in another thousand words of small talk.”

The eyes and mouth tightened then. “Damn you! How did you know?”

“I see dead people.”

To her credit, she took a couple minutes enjoying my rip-off from ‘The Sixth Sense’ movie before going on.

“Al’s Dad’s in trouble. He called tonight supposedly to talk with Al for a while. Then he wanted to talk to me in private. His bimbo has a gambling problem. Chuck found out the hard way. He’s built a very profitable construction business. Al stays for a time with him in the summers, and she’s said he has a beautiful house with a pool. Apparently, Trista started visiting the local Indian Casino while Chuck was working nights, which is when a lot of jobs have to be done in Arizona if it’s outside work because of the heat. By the time Chuck knew what was happening, all his capital for fronting the construction work was gone. Trista came clean last night when she started getting threats from the loan shark she was using.”

Something smells rotten. Hell, Lora could have bailed Chuck out using our petty cash. I liked the guy. He’s a hard worker, but kind of stupid when it came to women. He traded a smart, first class, hot red head, first love in on a conniving, and now as it turns out, sneaky gambling addict. I’d met Trista. She was a young red headed knockout, but as shallow as a puddle of spilled orange juice.

“Okay, I get it. Why the big mystery presentation. We have more money than we know what to do with. We can help Chuck easy with money. He can put the conniver in rehab or whatever the hell they have for gambling addicts. He’ll have to strip her off his accounts, and make sure she’s on a hold with all financial institutions as well as casinos. The casinos work with people who want to keep their family members with problems away from hocking their lives away.”

Lora sat down on the end of our bed. Uh oh. Apparently, in my ‘24’ type Jack Bauer scenarios, I have personal family problems happening too. “Don’t stop now, baby. Tell me what the hell’s going on. You’re starting to worry me more than Cruella Deville payback for ocean dunkings, and that’s saying a lot.”

“When Chuck met Trista after we moved out here, she told him she had been a model in New York. He never checked on her background, and she told him her family wouldn’t have anything to do with her. She got him and he left me and Al. They took off for Arizona. This mess Trista got into isn’t just a money mess. A New York mobster has a contract on her. Chuck thought she had money from being a model. She embezzled two million from the mobster she worked for and screwed on the side. Trista left for the West Coast with all the false documentation for a complete identity switch under the name Trista Coletti. Her real name is Sandra Coburn.”

“Damn. Chuck sure can pick ‘em.” My strike hit home as Lora growled. I sat next to her and began messing with her in inappropriate ways. She tried slapping my hands away, but began giving me freer access. “What’s the mobster’s name?”

“Nino Romanski.”

Oh shit. I stopped groping. “That’s a big name.”

Lora leaned into me. “It gets worse. After Trista’s problems painted a target on her, Romanski knows where she is. He’s been playing games since finding her. He sent pictures of Al and I to Chuck… recent pictures.”

I stood. Some things creep into my features unbidden when I get blindsided with a fact I didn’t see coming. Sure, I imagined Chuck being in trouble money wise to the tune of millions. I have enough imagination to project Trista, whom I’d wrongly suspected to be an empty-headed cling-on, to be in trouble with a loan shark. Did I imagine somehow one of the most powerful Russian mobsters in the country sending photos of the two people I loved most in the world as a blackmail threat? Uh… no. Lora knows me well enough to give me a moment of silence. She’s seen the killer inside. Lora’s not afraid, but she feels bad because the trouble is from her past. Plenty of my own past haunts us, so I couldn’t point fingers even if it were in my nature to do so. I needed to roll a few scenarios around in my head.

My Monsters needed to close the book on our Isis/Atom Bomb operation. I made a mess in allowing a killer moment with my two cohorts as we enjoyed a ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ kill mission. It was an ill-considered reaction to a deadly fifth column bunch of murdering slime on our shores believing in their divine right to exterminate us. I engineered a statement probably better left to Denny. We had a second in command to gather into custody. Then, I could turn my full attention to Mr. Romanski. He didn’t know me yet. He was arrogant enough not to look further than finding Lora and Al. That was a mistake. I would have protected Chuck and even Trista, paid Nino off, and all the debtors. Money didn’t mean shit to me. If Nino whacked Chuck and Trista before I could pay him off, it would not have been a problem having to do with something I did. I would have consoled my girls. I don’t know that I would have taken it personally, because I could understand Nino’s anger with the cling-on.

That was all in the past now. The order of business would be to use my contacts. I would first reach out to Alexi. He would know Romanski and how to contact him. Alexi might be able to intervene before things got out of control. If Mr. Romanski agreed to a money settlement as payment for past transgressions by Trista, and to forget the rest of us ever existed, I would consider looking at this event in a business light. I didn’t care for Trista. Frankly, I felt like giving her to Lynn as a toy. Now though, she was my sister. No one touched Chuck, Trista, or anyone I ever knew, especially the Romanski mob. It wouldn’t be solo work. Lucas would shoot me in the head for not allowing my Monsters in on this. First would be the gloved hand extended with recompense. If turned down, it would be the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ for the Romanski mob.

I turned to Lora. “Call Chuck now. Tell him to get in his vehicle with the cling-on and drive here. I’ll put them into Pain Central for protection. You and Al will be keeping a low profile here at Fort Harding tomorrow morning. I’ll text Jafar to order a Monster meeting for first thing in the morning before the cruise. You contact Chuck now. I’ll call Alexi and text Jafar.”