Dead Ends (23 page)

Sy agreed and left the AK47 in the car and told his two associates to wait while he and Jack checked things out.

As Jack and Sy arrived at the end of the block from Weasel's house, Jack pointed to the ground and said, “Damn it, I knew it.” He pointed to the empty parking space at the end of the block where the car had driven away when they first arrived.

“What?” replied Sy. “I don't see nothin'.”

“Cop droppings,” said Jack, pointing to the sidewalk and road.

“Cop droppings?” replied Sy with a snicker. “What the fuck are you talking about? Looks like sunflower seeds.”

“A buddy of mine got busted once,” replied Jack. “They had his house under surveillance first. He told me later he knew where they had been parked by all the sunflower seeds they ate and the husks they spit out while watching his place.”

“You shittin' me?”

“No. We should get the hell out of here. Tell the boys in the van to scram.”

“Over some seeds? You gotta be kiddin'. Hang on.”

Jack listened as Sy ordered the van to cruise through the area and check.

“That could draw heat,” cautioned Jack.

“You're fuckin' paranoid,” replied Sy with a chuckle. “Come on, we'll head back to the car. If the boys haven't spotted anything suspicious by then, we're goin' in.”

“Let's walk down the back alley first and check it out,” suggested Jack.

“Yeah, okay, but if the alley is clear, we're gonna do this fucker.”

“Sounds good,” replied Jack.

They had barely made it into the alley when Sy received a call.

“The cops got us pinned!” screamed Brewski. His warning wasn't necessary as the sharp, piercing sound of sirens cut the night air from several different locations.

Two police cars with lights flashing entered each end of the alley simultaneously and zoomed toward Jack and Sy.

“Come on,” yelled Jack. “Over the fence!”

Jack and Sy both clamoured over a wooden fence and raced through someone's backyard, out through the front and crossed the street to another yard and kept going. Three blocks away they were in another yard and about to run out a gate into a rear alley, but the sound of another car speeding up the alley caused them to crouch down behind some bushes while peering through the back fence.

Jack glanced at Sy and saw he was holding a pistol at the ready.

“Jesus, Sy,” whispered Jack. “I thought we left the artillery in the car in case the cops searched us.”

“After last night I started carrying an ankle holster,” Sy whispered.

Both men froze as a flashlight beam cut through the darkness behind them. Jack looked over his shoulder and saw the distinct yellow stripe on the uniform trousers of a policeman who walked toward them. His beam was still probing the bushes when Jack saw Sy raise his pistol and take aim.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Laura sat in the back of a surveillance van with Connie and the commander of the Emergency Response Team. The Organized Crime Task Force gave them an address in Maple Ridge for who they thought were the parents of Weasel's girlfriend, but had added a disclaimer that their information was a month old.
Did Weasel still have the same girlfriend?

With the address being in Maple Ridge, Laura felt relatively confident that it was the same, but when she saw Jack arrive in the Mustang, followed by Brewski in the van, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The surveillance van was parked across the street one block down from where Weasel was living and offered a relatively good view of the front street and one entrance to the alley.

The ERT commander groaned when Jack parked the Mustang and the van started to circle the neighbourhood. “Wished we had more time to set up and organize,” he said.

“What do you mean?” asked Laura. “Jack made them drive around for an hour before they even left the city. I thought you guys were good? How much more time did you need?”

The commander ignored her comment as their earplugs crackled a message from another member of the ERT.

“T-1 and T-2 out of the car and walking back toward the house.”

Laura used binoculars to watch through the one-way glass in the surveillance van and soon saw Jack and Sy come into view as they walked along the sidewalk. She smiled when Jack stopped and pointed at the sunflower husks while talking to Sy.

“These two are the guys we let escape, right?” crackled their earphones.

“Affirmative,” replied the commander.

Laura continued to watch as she relayed what was happening to Connie and the commander. “They're heading back down the street,” she whispered. “If they follow the plan they should be going down the alley.” Seconds later, Laura confirmed that Jack and Sy were entering the alley.

“Teams one and two, are you in a position to take out the vehicles?” radioed the commander.

“Team one, ten-four.”

“Team two, ten-four.”

“Team three, ready for the alley?” asked the commander.

“Team three is ready.”

“All teams go!” radioed the commander. “Team three, make it look good but let them run.”

“Copy that,” replied several voices barely heard over the eruption of sirens.

Seconds later, Laura smiled when they received the first report.

“This is team one. We have five targets secured and kissing asphalt.”

Moments later, the second team also reported that the arrests of two more targets had gone without incident.

The radio crackled again and Laura heard, amongst laughter, a voice say, “Team three here. We got two rabbits leaping fences and backyarding it northbound from the alley.”

“Copy that,” replied the commander. “Stay in the alley and make some noise.”

Laura heard the sound of a garbage can being kicked over and saw lights come on in several houses as people awoke to the sound of the clamour taking place.

“This is team one,” the radio announced, “we've recovered enough weapons to start a small war.”

“Likewise for team two.”

Laura smiled at Connie and said, “Perfect. I love it when a plan comes together.”

“Yeah, and the law didn't come into it,” said the commander

“The law?” asked Laura.

“Murphy's law.”

“Guess all your worrying was for nothing. Mind dropping me off at my car? I should be getting a call soon.”

“Not a problem,” replied the commander, gesturing for Laura to hold on for a moment as he received a radio call from the telecommunications centre.

“Are you still at the same location?” asked a feminine voice.

“Ten-four,” replied the commander. “Just mopping up.”

“Uniform spotted two men running through someone's backyard three blocks north of your location. We have one member in pursuit on foot and the other circling the block in the car.”

Laura's eyes flashed her concern as she looked at the commander.

“They were told to stay clear!” replied the commander into his transmitter.

“I advised them that,” replied the woman, “but they said they heard sirens and believed your takedown was finished. They said two were escaping, so they decided to help.”

“What channel are they operating on?” asked the commander.

Laura felt her stomach knot as the commander contacted the patrol car and said, “Who am I talking to?”

“Constable Gibson,” came the reply.

“Clear the area at once! Leave the pursuit to us!”

“Uh … I can't get hold of Constable Farthington,” replied Gibson. “He turned his portable radio off to sneak up on someone.”

Laura grabbed the radio and said, “Gibson, this is Constable Secord. I don't have time to explain. You need to get Farthington back to the car immediately. Get out and fire three shots into someone's lawn. Do it now!”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

As the flashlight beam came closer, Jack stood up and walked between Sy and the officer.

“Hi, officer,” said Jack. “I'm glad you're here so fast!”

Jack blinked as the flashlight beam found his face. “Who are you?” demanded the voice behind the flashlight. “Keep your hands where I can see them!”

“It's not me,” said Jack indignantly. “I'm the one who called 911. There were two of them,” he said. “They ran through my yard a moment ago. They went that way,” he added, pointing back between two houses.

“Oh … uh, I see,” replied the officer. “Okay, uh …” he didn't finish as he took a step in the direction Jack pointed, before turning around.

Come on! Go!
Jack thought, while smiling and giving a slight nod of encouragement for the officer to continue his search elsewhere.

“First, I'd like to see some identification.”

“It's inside my house,” replied Jack. “They're getting away for Christ's sake! Why aren't you chasing them?”

The officer's reply was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. By the third shot, the officer vanished from view in the direction the shots came from.

“Fuckin' bloody hell,” said Sy, standing up from where he had been crouched behind a bush. “Hope those shots were some cop being plugged and not one of my guys!”

“Come on, we better keep moving,” said Jack. “I'll call Princess and have her pick us up.”

“Fuck, I know I've said this before, but you gotta be one of the coolest dudes I've ever met. That fuckin' cop don't know how close he came. You shouldn't have done that, though. Fuck of a chance being in the middle if the shootin' started.”

“I probably saved your life … again,” replied Jack.

“Bullshit! I had the drop on him. He didn't even know I was there.”

“Don't be stupid,” replied Jack. “Think about it. He's trained and wearing body armour. He'd see your muzzle flash … you're crouched and would probably fall back on your ass with his first shot. His second shot would take out your nuts and intestines.” Jack paused to let the image sink in and said, “And for what? If you gave yourself up, what would you get? Probation? Hardly worth killing anyone over. Especially a cop.”

Sy eyed Jack carefully and said, “What you did was stupid, too. Putting yourself in the middle like that. You could have been shot. Makes me wonder who you were trying to save? Him or me?”

“I wanted to save all of us,” replied Jack. “Those punk kids you've got working for you wouldn't stand up to the heat if a cop got killed. They'd rat us out in a jiffy. We'd both spend the rest of our lives in jail.”

“Their lawyers would protect them. They wouldn't need to rat.”

They eventually made their way far enough out of the area and Jack called Laura to come and pick them up. Jack and Sy spoke little as they waited. It was clear that Sy was going over everything in his head. On occasion, he cast a suspicious glance in Jack's direction.

Forty minutes later, Laura drove up and Sy quickly climbed into the back seat while Jack sat in the front with Laura.

“What happened?” asked Laura, as she started driving.

“I think we were set up,” said Sy. “The cops were waiting.” His voice was grave and Jack turned in his seat and saw Sy's blank face staring at him, pondering over what had happened.

“They had to know that Weasel was one of the shooters last night,” said Jack. He spoke as if talking to Laura, but studied Sy's face for a response. “They were obviously waiting to see if someone would retaliate,” he added.

Sy scowled and looked at Laura and snapped, “Find me a payphone! I don't trust …” He paused to look at Jack before continuing, “this BlackBerry.”

* * *

Minutes later, they found a payphone and Sy ran over to it while Jack and Laura waited in the car. He glanced back at them as he dialed a number.

Sy's first call was to Mongo, one of the other two bosses who was still on his side. Mongo owned a pizza outlet, but Sy placed the call to a cellphone number that Mongo had given him earlier that day. Soon Mongo's gruff voice answered.

“This is Sy. This number still cool?”

“Yeah, one of my guys got it yesterday. What's up? How did it go tonight?”

“My guys got busted outside Weasel's house. I was lucky to escape. Cops got most of my good artillery. I heard shots, too. Don't know what the fuck happened. Hope none of my guys got wasted.”

“Fuck, no. Tell me you're joking.”

“Do I sound like I'm jokin'?”

“Fuck,” muttered Mongo. “How did it happen?”

“I made the mistake of trusting two people who moved into the apartment above mine. Jay and his bitch he calls Princess. They're sitting in a car waiting for me to finish talking with you.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Take 'em both out tonight. One of them has to be a rat. Maybe both, who knows.”

“How ya want to do it?”

“They don't realize I figured out it's them. I'll bring 'em over to your pizza joint. Meet us in the alley and we'll go in your back office. Call Munch, too. The three of us gotta unite if we're gonna win this war. May as well have Munch join us and get started.”

* * *

Laura sat in the car with Jack and watched as Sy jabbed the numbers into the phone. She glanced at Jack and said, “Connie will be expecting us to call soon. She'll be wondering what Sy has to say and be worried.”

“She'll have to wait. I'd like to know what Sy is thinking myself.”

“Something is going on,” she said, looking back at Sy. “He looks upset.”

“After what happened, I expected he would be upset,” replied Jack. “But is he on to us?”

“That's the big question,” replied Laura.

“We'll play it by ear, but keep your head up. He's packing a pistol in an ankle holster. Once he's back in the car, if it looks like he's going for it, I'll grab him, beat the hell out of him and toss him out. As long as he's not arrested, our informant should be safe.”

“And if he pulls the gun out before he gets in?” asked Laura.

“Drive like hell. Here he comes.”

Sy got in the back seat again and Jack turned to face him, acting nonchalant as he draped one arm over the back of the seat. “So, what do you figure?” asked Jack. “Maybe come back to our place and we can figure out what happened.”

“Maybe after,” replied Sy. “There's someone I want you to meet, first. He's waiting.”

“Who?” asked Jack, hoping to hear the name Cocktail.

“A guy you've never met. I told him about you two. He has a plan of what to do next.”

Sy's evasive manner set off a warning bell in Jack's brain.
Is he introducing us to Cocktail … or the Grim Reaper? If I say no, and he's suspicious, it will make things worse. If I'm innocent, I need to act that way and should go along.

Jack glanced at Laura for her reaction. She stared straight back at him, without expression. Jack sighed. She was leaving the decision up to him. Jack turned to Sy and asked, “Where is this place?”

“A restaurant called Pizza 24-7, near the Guildford shopping centre in Surrey.” Sy looked at Laura and said, “Take the 152nd Street exit and cut across on 96th.”

Jack smiled to himself.
Good, a restaurant. Public location should be safe.
“Sounds good,” said Jack. “I could use a bite. How about you, Princess?”

She felt numb.
Something isn't right … but I trust Jack …
She looked at Jack and nodded.
Oh, man …