Jack (6 page)

Chapter Six

“So let me get this straight. The one guy’s name is Paulie the Pudge and the other guy’s name is Vinny Don’t Know?” Trey’s gaze moved from Jack to Matt.

Jack looked up from checking his cell phone for an update from Jimmy and nodded. “That’s what Nicki said.”

Another call to Jimmy had provided Jack with enough of a physical description of the two men for Nicki to identify them. Now Jack’s quickly assembled team had names to go with the bad guys chasing Nicki, but he still didn’t know how they’d finally located her at his family’s farm.

“Yeah, but you got to say it like you’re from Brooklyn. Vinny Don’ Kno’,” Matt, being from New York himself, explained. He’d arrived at the cabin toting his laptop plus a bunch of other electronics and was currently tapping away on the keyboard.

Trey let out a long breath. “This is like a really bad movie.”

Jack glanced over to make sure Nicki was still asleep on the cot in the corner of the cabin. Poor thing was exhausted. He didn’t blame her. She was sleeping so soundly she was snoring lightly. “Matt, what have you got on Vinny and Paulie’s boss? This Tony guy.”

“It looks like he recently dropped out of sight. After what you told me Nicki did to him, I’m sure he crawled away to lick his wounds in private. No mobster would want that story to leak out.”

Jack cringed at the thought of the wounds Nicki had inflicted on Tony. Not that the bastard didn’t deserve that plus more.

Matt continued. “But she definitely didn’t kill him. Word would have got out if he’d died. He’s too big for it not to.”

Too big
.
Great. Why couldn’t Nicki’s father have pissed off a small-time gangster instead? “So we can’t just make him disappear is what you’re saying.”

“As much as we’d all like to, no. He’d be missed. But I have an idea on that front. If you agree, Jack. This is your deal.” Matt waited a beat.

Jack accepted his role as leader of this operation by nodding once. “What’ve you got?”

“I’ve hacked into this guy’s accounts. Ridiculously easy. I thought mobsters would have better tech guys, but apparently not.” Matt shook his head.

“They hire guys like Paulie the Pudge and Vinny Don’ Kno’ and you think they’re going to have state-of-the-art internet security?” Trey raised a brow.

“Okay, you got me there. Anyway, he’s got accounts everywhere. A paper trail of dirty money and how he launders it a mile wide. All I have to do is drop an anonymous tip to the IRS and FBI and this guy is going away on tax evasion and racketeering for life.”

Jack frowned. “I don’t want anything that can be linked back to Nicki. Those guys can do damage even while behind bars.”

“There’s no way he can trace it to Nicki or her father. In fact, I can bounce it from his computers so it looks like one of his own men turned on him.” Matt’s face glowed with satisfaction in the lamplight.

Jack considered Matt’s solution. Non-violent. It couldn’t be traced to Nicki and it would give this guy what he deserved—life in prison. “Do it.”

Matt rubbed his hands together, bent lower over the screen and started tapping away again just as Jack’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

He pulled it out and saw Jimmy’s name on the display. Jack flipped it open. “Jimmy, where are you and Mama?”

“I pulled some strings with a friend and she and Aunt Lydia are spending the next few days on a riverboat, wining, dining and gambling. I figured they’d be safer in a public place than at Aunt Lydia’s house way off in the country. Jared and the boys are hiding in the barn, well armed, in case these idiots get any ideas about getting to us by hurting the horses or burning us out.”

Jeez. Jack hadn’t even considered the safety of the animals in his worry about Nicki and his family. “Good. Where are you?”

“I’m driving around town with the two New York idiots tailing me. I lost them on the way to drop off Mama, then I picked them up again on the road in front of the farm.”

“What?” Jack ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Why couldn’t Jimmy just do as he asked? “Why aren’t you staying with Jared or Mama where it’s safe?”

“And miss all the excitement? Hell no. Besides, these guys are fun to mess with. They really think I haven’t made them. So far they’ve followed me to the drive-up ATM, the McDonald’s drive-thru, and we even pulled up outside the late show at the drive-in theater and watched the movie for a bit. What do you want me to do with them now?”

Jack rolled his eyes. These gangsters did seem too dimwitted to be much of a danger against a trained operative, but he wasn’t willing to risk anyone by betting on that. On top of that, Jimmy was still injured. The doctor would definitely not approve of this latest activity. “You’re supposed to be resting, not acting as bait for two mobsters.”

Jimmy laughed. “Yeah. Two of the stupidest mobsters on earth, so don’t worry. Just tell me what to do. Are you guys set up? Do you want me to lead them there to the cabin?”

He shook his head. “I’d rather not do this at the cabin. Nicki’s here.”

Trey touched his arm to get his attention. “If we don’t do this here, we’ll have to either split up or leave Nicki here alone.”

Jack breathed in deep. He definitely wanted to be in on bringing down these two, but there was no way he was going too far from Nicki’s side either. He had no choice but to agree to Jimmy’s plan. “All right. Give us ten minutes and then lead them here.”

“Great! See you then.” He could almost hear his brother’s excitement through the cell phone.

Trey was laying the spare weapons and flak jacket he’d brought for Jack out on the table when Matt closed his laptop triumphantly. “Done. One mobster down, two to go.” He secured the Velcro closures on his own bulletproof vest and then began checking his weapon. “And for once, I get to be in on the real action instead of stuck in a van full of computers somewhere.”

Jack shook his head. “So glad I could help entertain you, Matt. Now here’s the plan—we set up outside in the trees. We take these two down before they ever hit the front porch or set foot near Nicki.”

“Take them down how, Jack? What are we aiming to end up with, bodies or prisoners?”

Good question. What sort of force was warranted here? Usually this kind of decision was the commander’s, or Central Command’s. Jack was just considering that when the sound of tires on the road had all three of their heads snapping up.

“Car,” Trey announced needlessly.

Jack killed the kerosene lamp, grabbed the handgun and stood behind the door. “That was
not
ten minutes and that doesn’t sound anything like my brother’s truck.”

Trey closed his flak jacket and cocked a brow at Matt, whose weapon was already out. “You remember how to shoot that thing?”

Matt scowled, but didn’t have time to answer because Nicki chose that moment to sit straight up. “Jack? What’s happening?”

“Darlin’, I need you to get up, go into the bathroom and lay down in the bathtub. Don’t move until I come and get you. Okay?”

Jack slowly edged his head to the window. He saw Bobby Barton getting out of his sheriff’s car. He hadn’t seen Bobby in years, and yet here he was for the second time this night.

Jack called out the window to him. “Damn it, Bobby. Are you following me? Get your butt inside right this minute. We have a situation here.”

Bobby opened the cabin door and blinked in the darkness. “I got a call that a strange car was driving on the private road toward your cabin.”

His eyes must have eventually gotten used to the dim moonlight that filtered into the cabin through the windows, because he looked from one black-clad figure to the next to the last. “Uh, Jack? What’s going on here? You’re not a member of one of those radical groups that wants to blow up the government or something, are you?”

Jack would have laughed at that if he weren’t so wired. “No, Bobby. You know I’m military. We work
for
the government, not against it.”

“I know that, Jack. But you have to admit this looks pretty strange.” Bobby eyed Matt and Trey suspiciously.

Jack couldn’t blame Bobby for being doubtful. It wasn’t like this was an official operation by any stretch of the imagination. “Bobby, this is Matt and Trey. They’re two of my teammates from the task force. That’s all I can tell you except that we’ve got two New York mobsters out to hurt Nicki. Right now they’re following Jimmy and he’s leading them here so we can ambush them.”

And since the local law was now on the scene, they all had the answer to Trey’s previous question. They’d have to take these guys alive. The only remaining question was what the hell were they going to do then? This wasn’t a government-sanctioned mission, but it involved four special operatives that needed to stay off the radar and out of the local papers.

“Hey, Bobby. Wouldn’t it look really good for your career if you took these two bad guys down all on your own?”

Bobby glanced again at the three. “Yeah, Jack, it would.”

Jack smiled as a plan presented itself…then all hell broke loose.

The sound of screeching tires cut through the night as Jimmy’s truck came around the corner on two wheels. A big, black rent-a-car appeared not far behind. Of course, since this was by no means a road and they were in the marshlands, the rent-a-car didn’t stand a chance. The driver strayed too far off the path and soon the car’s tires were spinning in the mud, giving Jimmy just enough time to jump from his truck and dive into the front door of the cabin.

“Damn it, Jimmy. Be careful of your spleen,” Jack yelled when Jimmy hit the floor with a tuck and roll.

“I’m fine. Hey, Trey, Matt. Bobby, how the hell are ya?” Jimmy brushed himself off and pulled his weapon from the ankle holster.

“Good, Jimmy. You?” Bobby responded.

“Never felt better.” Jimmy grinned.

Jack smothered a groan. “Everyone all caught up? Now who’s got a plan? Because idiot number one and idiot number two just got out of the car.”

The two mobsters ducked behind the hood of their vehicle until only the tops of their heads and their overly big and showy guns were visible. He couldn’t help but think what a perfect target they would make for a sniper’s gun. The idiots didn’t even know enough to stay covered.

Through the night air, Jack heard their conversation clearly since they didn’t seem to know enough to keep their voices down either.

“What do we do now?” one asked.

“Tell them we want Nicki,” the other voice answered.

“But, Paulie, how do we know she’s in there?”

“Use your brain, Vin. They must have her stashed in the shack. Why else would that hick from the farm come here after we showed up asking about her?”

“Hick? Hmph.” Jimmy’s unhappy sounding whisper filled the cabin.

Jack shushed him and strained to hear Vinnie’s reply, though he liked them calling his family’s cabin a shack about as little as Jimmy liked being called a hick.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Paulie. Okay. I’ll ask them to send her out.”

“No, I’ll ask. You’ll probably fuck it up.” At that point in the conversation, Paulie actually stood, leaving himself totally exposed. “Hey! Give us the girl and nobody gets hurt.”

Jack sighed as their opponents’ idiocy seemed to increase. His finger on the trigger itched as Jack longed to teach the man a lesson, but he restrained himself and answered their insane request instead. “Sure, hold on a sec. I’ll go get her for you.”

Vinnie stood too as Paulie yelled back. “Okay.”

Jack glanced over his shoulder at his team. “What assholes. Do they really think we’re going to do that?”

Jimmy laughed. “I told you they’re not the sharpest tools in the shed.”

Bobby took a step forward. “I’m going to have to inform them I’m in here, Jack. I’m an officer of the law.”

“Go ahead. They obviously didn’t notice the big white sheriff’s car with the flashing lights on top, so you better say something.” Jack couldn’t help but let out a laugh himself. This situation was absolutely surreal.

“Hey, do you have the cops in there with you?” the skinny one asked.

“Hmm. I guess they’re not quite as dumb as I thought.” Jack shook his head at the sheer stupidity of their question. “What do you think?” he yelled back.

“I don’ kno’. You tell me.”

Jack heard Trey outright laughing at Vinny Don’ Kno’s response.

Matt let out a huff of air. “They’re too dumb for me to even shoot at. It wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

Bobby moved closer to the door. “I’m a local deputy sheriff. If you lay down your weapons and surrender peacefully, we’ll go easy on you. But if you insist on firing upon an officer of the law, I will fire back. This is fair warning.” Bobby sounded very official. Much more impressive than he used to be years ago. The memory of Bobby bent over, throwing up after a beer chugging contest at a graduation party crossed Jack’s mind.

There was silence for a moment, so Jack risked a quick peek out the window. “Uh-oh. The two idiots are whispering to each other about something.”

“Jack?” Nicki was silhouetted in the doorway of the bathroom.

“Get down, darlin’. This isn’t over yet.”