House of Paine - A Full Length Bad Boy Novel (31 page)

*****

Damien stood next to the Spheres in the park and waited for his brother. As he stood there, he watched the “normal” people walk by. There were couples hand in hand…business men with their phones to their ear, women having a girl’s day out…and happy kids everywhere. He wondered sometimes if he would ever get to have that kind of life. He always wanted a family. He wanted kids and a wife and a “normal, boring” job. He wanted to come home at night to his wife and have dinner and spend time with his family. No more killings, drugs, violence…Just a normal guy with a beautiful and blessedly “normal” wife and two point five kids. His ideas of what that life would be or should be like came mostly from television. He had no personal experience with it…but fantasizing about it made him feel at peace in his heart.

“Hey,” Alex walked up behind him. Damien jumped. He had been daydreaming…in his line of business that wasn’t the safest thing to do in public. Alex voiced that out loud. “For a man on the run, you sure aren’t very observant.”

“I saw you.”

Alex laughed. “Bullshit. How’s Kevin?”

“Do you really care?”

“Did someone piss in your Wheaties this morning? I saved his fucking life. Give me some credit.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just so fucking sick of all of this. Paige’s mother can’t go home, Paige can’t go back to school, Kevin has to pretend to be dead…it’s all fucked up.”

“I have more bad news.”

“Shit, what’s that?”

“Kelsey Kramer bailed.”

“Fuck! Lucas knows where she is, I guarantee you.”

“I’m sure. But, Lucas is not going to tell anyone. The good news is if he has her hidden out somewhere she won’t be able to run around loose with a gun.”

“What about Lucas? Is he still pounding his chest and insisting that Jackson do something?”

“Every chance he gets. Dad has also lost two shipments in the past three days. The first one was on a truck that was hijacked. As far as the police report goes, the truck was carrying a shipment of Video game systems…”

“Guns?”

“Yeah, a lot of them. The next shipment was a boat that has so far, disappeared off the face of the earth. The last time it made contact with anyone it was right outside of Bermuda…”

“Well, there is that triangle,” Damien said with a grin.

“Yeah right. Dad knows it’s Kramer, but he can’t prove it. It’s taking everything in him to keep from putting a bullet in Lucas’s head himself. Meanwhile, Lucas is stirring shit up on the streets with people who did business with Caine. He’s telling them that Jackson’s step-daughter killed Caine and Jackson refuses to do anything about it. Dad’s losing face and you know how he feels about that.”

“It sounds like Lucas is looking for a war.”

“He’s going to get one if he doesn’t back off soon…The only thing keeping Dad from doing it is that once people start turning up dead in droves, the F.B.I. starts getting interested again and snooping around.”

“Which will hurt Lucas as well as Jackson.”

“Yes, but at this point Lucas is so far gone he’s not thinking clearly. He’s running on his anger which is dangerous in our business.” Alex took a manila envelope out from underneath his arm and handed it to Damien. Damien opened it and pulled out the documents inside. A USB drive fell out with them. He looked at the paper in his hand. It was a copy of a handwritten paper. It said:

Kramer Construction, Slate construction and Backwoods buildings: Physical similarities in bids or proposals submitted by different bidders (all of the bids were prepared by the same party) evidenced by: Identical stationary, type, layout etc.

Same calculations, type face, handwriting, spelling errors or corrections appear in four of the five bid packages. Bids or proposals Contain corrections indicating last minute price changes. Multiple losing bidders submit defective, forged or sequential bid securities, or securities purchased at the same bank on the same day, etc. Correspondence or other indications that contractors exchange pricing information, divide territories, or enter agreements. A bidder brings multiple bids to a bid opening and submits its bid only after determining who else is bidding.

“What is all this?”

“It’s called a “Collusive Bidding Scheme,” and it’s something the F.B.I. would be really interested in…especially since the two companies bidding against Kramer are owned by our…my father.”

“I’ll be damned. Where did you get all of this?”

“Do you remember last year when Jackson sent us after Joe Madrid?”

“The ATF agent, right?”

“Yeah. He worked for Jackson for almost two years before he was made as a cop. The USB a lot more information on it…the handwritten paper is proof of who discovered it…”

Damien’s eyes widened and he threw his arms around his brother and hugged him. He felt Alex stiffen. His brother wasn’t much for being touched. “Sorry! Fuck! This is amazing! Joe Madrid’s murder was never solved. They couldn’t find any evidence they could use against Jackson or Lucas. Where did you get this?”

“Off of a dead man,” he told him. “I’ve had it since the night I killed Madrid.”

“But none of this will implicate you…and the evidence all looks like it came from Madrid so Jackson won’t have a clue it was you…You’re a fucking genius!”

“Be careful who you give that to,” Alex told him. “If Dad or Kramer catch up to you and they find that on you…it’s dangerous enough to them to kill for.”

“If Lucas catches up to me, I’m dead anyways and so is Paige. We’ll never get to have a “normal life” as long as we’re running and hiding from them. This is perfect.”

“There are names and dates on the USB. You and I aren’t on there, but Brad is…There’s one more thing that you need to understand Damien.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know if you’re having delusions that this is going to scare me straight…but if you are, you can give those thoughts up right now. I’m in this for the money and the lifestyle, little brother. I like my life. When and if Jackson is behind bars I will run this operation the way that I want…you can live your life the way that you want and Paige will be free to do the same.”

“I had no delusions,” Damien said, only half-truthfully. He had entertained a thought or two…a hope in fact, that Alex would someday see the light. His worst fear was that his brother would get caught in the sights and end up in prison. “Thank you. Are you good, if I give this to Jake right away?”

“I’m so clean I’m thinking of shaving my head and buying a white suit.”

Damien grinned and Alex took a step back. “But don’t hug me again. I might have to take you out right here.”

*****

When Damien got back to the penthouse, the doorman stopped him on his way inside. “Mr. James?” Jake introduced Damien and Paige to the doorman as Mr. and Mrs. James. He told him that Paige was his cousin and they were visiting from out of state. That way, no one would become suspicious of them going in and out of the building.

“Yes?”

“Mrs. James asked me to give you this on her way out.” The doorman handed Damien an envelope. On her way out? She wouldn’t leave Kevin alone…He had a sinking feeling in his gut before he even opened it. Inside was a piece of torn lined paper with a phone number on it. Trying to keep his composure when in reality he wanted to rip someone’s head off he said,

“Did you see her leave?”

“Yes sir.”

“When did she leave?”

“It was about half an hour ago.”

Fuck! “Was she alone?”

“No sir…” the doorman suddenly had a look on his face that said he was sorry he’d gotten involved. Damien took a deep breath. “She was with a gentleman.”

“How did this “gentleman” get into the building?”

“I’m sorry sir…I didn’t see him come in. My lunch break is from twelve-thirty to one-thirty. He must have come in while I was gone for lunch.”

“Who mans the door while you’re gone?”

“I have a regular relief…but he called in sick today. One of the front desk clerks covers when that happens…but after I got back, he went home sick too…” the doorman was getting the idea that something was wrong. It was apparent in his voice and on his face.

“What did the man she left with look like?”

“He was probably in his fifties, light brown hair with a few streaks of gray…I don’t remember really looking at his eyes. He was maybe six foot tall…and very nicely dressed in a suit and tie…”

Fuck! The doorman just described Lucas Kramer to a “T.” Why the hell would Paige leave with him? Why not kick and scream all the way down if she had to?

The doorman was still talking when Damien walked away. He pushed past an older company and got on the elevator. When they started to get on anyways he said, “Wait for the next one!” and pushed the door close button. He jumped off on the twenty-second floor. As soon as he walked into Jake’s apartment, he felt sick.

Things were overturned in the living room and it looked like there had been a struggle. He made his way down the hall towards the guestroom. Before he got there, the doorbell rang. He ignored it and peeked into the room. Kevin lying there with a needle in his arm and a tourniquet wrapped around his upper arm and tied tightly. Shit! He ran over to Kevin and pulled the needle out of his arm and felt his pulse. He still had one, albeit weak and thread.

Damien untied the tourniquet and picked Kevin up off the bed. He was dead weight and heavier than shit. Struggling to keep his knees from buckling and his back from breaking, he carried him into the master bathroom and laid him down on the rug in front of the tub. He filled the tub with water, picked Kevin back up and plopped him down into it, clothes and all. Kevin’s face went under but he came up quickly spitting and sputtering. Damien called Roxi first. She told Damien she was calling Jake at the office. A few minutes later she got a text message that said,

“Your girlfriend is really pretty.” Damien typed in,

“Fuck you. If you hurt her, I will kill you.”

“Be at the dock at six-thirty tonight with what you have against J and K.”

“Who is this?”

“Just be there…and bring what we’re looking for.” Fuck! Damien yelled out as the line went dead. Lucas Kramer has Paige….

“Alex!” Damien called his brother out of desperation. He didn’t know what else to do.

“What’s up?”

“Kramer has Paige.”

“Fuck me! This shit never ends.”

“That’s the worst part, but there’s more. They gave Kevin some kind of overdose. He’s in and out of it but he looks like shit. I don’t know what to do.”

“Shit! Okay, you’re still at the penthouse?”

“Yeah.”

“Give me ten minutes, I’ll be there.”

“Thank you.”

“Fuck!” Alex hung up. Being a helper and a giver was completely contrary to Damien’s brother’s personality even before they became gangsters. Damien knew it better that anyone. But, he also knew that no matter what at any time in his life he’d been able to call his brother and bitch and moan and cuss…Alex would be there.

“Hang on Kevin…Dad…Help is coming.”

It took Alex almost half an hour to get there. When he did, he had a vial and a syringe. “Where’s he at?”

“In there on the bed.”

Alex went in and sat down next to Kevin whose respirations were getting shallower by the second. His skin was as pale as the sheet he was laying on. Alex drew the liquid out of the vial into the syringe.

“What is that?” Damien asked him.

“Narcan.”

“What’s it going to do to him?”

“Save his life…again. This fucker must have nine of them and it looks like I’m in charge of them all.”

Damien suppressed a smile. Being the life-saving hero was also as contrary to Alex’s personality as you could get. If Alex thought he was amused, he might just shoot him. He watched his brother inject the opioid antagonist into Kevin’s vein. Once he took the needle out it was less than five minutes before Kevin started shaking and jerking violently. He sat up all at once and looked at Damien and Alex like he had no idea where he was or who they were and then he tried to jump off the bed.

“Whoa! Kevin, you’re okay. Chill out!” Damien took hold of his arms and tried to get him to lie back down. Kevin was fighting him. Alex was just watching. “Shit! Alex, help me.”

“I did my part. He’s your father, you deal with him.”

With a lot of effort Damien wrestled the older man to the floor. “Kevin! Stop fighting me, I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Fuck, get off my back, you weigh a fucking ton.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Damien slowly rose up off of him. As soon as his weight was off of him, Kevin pulled himself first to his knees and then to his feet. He rocked forward slightly and Damien reached out to keep him from falling. Then suddenly he doubled over and puked all over the floor.

“Gross!” Alex said, still not making a move to help.

“Here, sit down,” Damien told Kevin. “I’ll get you a towel and some water.” Kevin looked wiped out. His skin was a pastry gray now and he was sweating profusely. Damien helped him to the chair and he sat. Damien went and got several towels and a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. He tossed one of the towels over the spot on the carpet and wondered just for a second what Jake was going to think when he got there. Kevin sat there staring at the wall for what seemed like a long time to Damien as he sipped his water. Meanwhile Alex said,