Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (21 page)

Cantor sipped his coffee as if we were all there for a lunch break between shifts. Tommy was mildly amused but I could tell he felt the need for speed. I gave him an imperceptible wave off. Harvey interested me. My sixth sense kicked in, the one where I see dead people. I noticed Harvey looked dead tired as if he placed second in an all-night dance contest. Deb brought our food. We ate while Harvey continued contemplating something beyond our grasp. No one ever sat with us before without speaking. Tommy and I could be movie extras for the killer thugs in your worst gangster movie script. People get nervous standing too close to us. Harvey sipped his coffee until we finished our meals.

“It’s beginning to make sense, John,” Tommy said. “I didn’t think of it at the time as any big deal. Mr. Cantor called me from some land line at a restaurant. Is something hunting you?”

Cantor folded his hands in front of him. “I made a huge error in judgement. Now, innocent people are paying the price. I’ve heard you guys created and run an illegal vigilante group called Oaktown Cartel. The stories of the Oaktown exploits with you as their main enforcer Mr. Harding are horrifying to hear as a defense attorney. I admit to being the usual liberal idiot when it comes to everyone has a right to the best defense available. Innocent until proven guilty is a mantra I have built my career on. Does this Oaktown Cartel actually exist? If not, I’ll pay you your three hundred dollars and stop wasting your time.”

“It exists,” I answered. I didn’t plan on letting this turn into an entrapment. We took enough chances as it is. “We’re not going to confirm or deny the rumors you’ve heard about us. Before you say a word, I need to check something, Sir.”

We have all the gadgets available and many not available to the average citizen or law enforcement agency. I used my small signal device to determine whether Mr. Cantor was wearing a wire. He wasn’t. Next check was his mobile phone. “Hand me your phone, Sir.”

“I didn’t bring it, Mr. Harding. I didn’t want anyone being able to track me. I drove here in an old 1990 Toyota because I didn’t want anyone knowing where I went or what I was doing. The people who have me under their thumb are the two most dangerous people I have ever met.”

I love this guy already. I don’t know what had Harvey so desperate he would be hunting for vigilantes but I wanted to find out or I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Besides, I knew many of the most dangerous people in the world, including a world class assassin living in Pacific Grove who would make Carlos the Jackal piss himself. It’s not that I didn’t believe him but we don’t hang ourselves out in the breeze without procedure.

“I’ll have to frisk you, Harvey. No offense, but we have enough problems without being railroaded into another. Our position with law enforcement is tenuous at best.”

Cantor shrugged. “Do you want me to stand with my hands on the table?”

“Nope. Sit still and I’ll be done in a flash.” I patted him down while he sat with practiced expertise. If he had been anyone else he would have probably felt violated. He didn’t have a cell-phone on his person, only some papers in the breast pocket of his jacket. Deb came over and refilled our coffee cups, wagging her finger in my face.

“I’m watching you, Cornpone. Don’t get too carried away in my place.”

“I won’t, Deb. It’s strictly business, right Mr. Cantor?”

Cantor blinked at Deb while trying and failing to smile. “It is business. Thank you for your concern.”

Debbie patted his shoulder. “If you need anything else, sing out and I’ll be over.”

Cantor waited until Deb walked away before leaning forward to begin. “A couple arrested three months ago in Oakland, charged in connection with a series of serial killings based on a high tech version of the horror movie ‘The Ring’, hired me to defend them. The charges were gruesome. Eight teenagers murdered in the Northern California area.”

“I read about that,” Tommy said. “The people doing it keep a ‘Dark Web’ location on the move, untraceable because of the encryption used. Any young hackers joyriding through that stupid web can get lured into simply clicking in on the site and be caught. The perps are so knowledgeable they can instantly pinpoint the person, invade their system with an encoded tracking worm virus, and then hunt them down. The young idiots picked at random are tortured and mutilated. Are you saying you defended the actual murderers?”

“They were suspects at the time because the police stopped them in Oakland on an out of registration license plate. The arresting officer received their permission to check the car. He found a surgical kit inside the car. When he asked the two if they were doctors, the young woman started giggling. The officer didn’t like it. The officer arrested them simply because of the kit. He admitted later the serial killings were on his mind. All the tortures and mutilations were done with professional surgical tools. The lab found no trace of anything, not in the car, not in the bag, and not on the couple. I obtained their release easily without much in the way of effort. I thought at the time the cop was a joke for arresting them for the kit only.”

Cantor’s lips tightened. He put his hands over his face for a moment. Tommy and I were hooked. I doubted the theatrics had anything to do with drama. “Okay, Mr. Cantor. You defended a couple of suspects. What’s the problem?”

“They’ve killed twice more. They called me in the night a week after they were released. The guy, Donovan Neely said ‘hi Mr. Cantor, there’s something I want you to hear’. I heard the girl giggle in the background. Her name is Jillian Woodrow. Suddenly, someone screamed in wailing horrifying pain. It sounded like a young woman. Each time her screams would quiet slightly, either Neely or Woodrow would encourage and coo as if talking to a child while doing something else to make her scream. Neely came on line again and said ‘check your laptop’ before hanging up.”

As if remembering something forgotten, Cantor dug around in the pockets of his suit jacket, retrieving the papers I felt when frisking him. They were pictures. Cantor spread them in front of us with gentle care. Two young women, restrained naked in upright chairs stared out with wide unseeing eyes. Some type of acid had been used on them to dissolve their breasts and genitals to a point where their skeletal features showed through. Around each in the pictures, waving grotesquely, were six figures in black robes, gloves, and those stupid ‘Guy Fawkes’ masks from the movie ‘Vendetta’. I gathered them together for informational purposes later.

“I’ll keep these. There will be no charge for our services. We only require you to see this through to the end. After we finish, you cannot speak of it again. Is that clear?”

Hope beamed into Cantor’s features in a bright split second of light. “You…you can do something about these monsters?”

“I guarantee you we will,” Tommy whispered. “Go on with your story.”

“They own everything I have digitally. They know where my kids and grandkids live, complete with pictures of them going to their jobs and schools. They infected everything in my digital life with a worm virus where they can turn on anything I have, use my cameras, or anything in my business or finances. The message beaming unbidden on my screen after I opened my laptop instructed me to put on my headphones and relax. The victim on the phone was the second of the week. Neely and Woodrow wanted me to know everything about what they were doing, making sure they knew everything in my life would end if I went to the police or tried to get help. The warning ended with those six you saw in the pictures. They sat with masks and robes behind a long table with their gloved hands folded in front of them with a final caption saying, ‘enjoy our reckoning with us, Harvey’.”

“It took a lot of guts to seek us out,” I told him. “Do they have some form of recognition on the ‘Dark Web’ search initially to lure people in?”

“They use the movie title ‘Vendetta’. It didn’t take guts, Mr. Harding. I have a solution to my problem if you couldn’t help. I’m going to kill myself. It may or may not save my family, but I am clueless as to what I could do otherwise. I can’t find these people. I went to the address in Alameda where they lived when I defended them to beg them to stop. There was no trace of them. I had a message waiting for me on my laptop: ‘do not seek us out again or you and your loved ones will be dissolved for your sins in our final solution’. I can barely function in any manner with my wife and family. They think I’m developing dementia which isn’t far from the truth.”

I stood along with Tommy. He threw down a hundred dollar bill and stood with me. “Stay here as if you simply came in for breakfast. If you can eat, order something you can keep down, Sir. Don’t contact us again unless you’re in trouble. Go along with everything they say, even if somehow they know about our meeting. You’ve already surmised they don’t believe there’s a thing you can do to stop them and they’re enjoying the hell out of it. We will only contact you when we finish this.”

Cantor nodded, staring into my eyes with hollow hopes and expected disappointment. “I pray you can do something soon.”

“Prayer is good, Sir. Before we’re through, I plan to teach your assailants what the word vendetta really means.” I put what I hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Stay strong and pray until we can end this. I wish I could guarantee it will only be a day or two but I have no way of knowing how long it will take to set my plan in motion.”

“I understand. Thank you.” Cantor turned then, gripping his coffee cup in shaking hands.

Tommy and I walked over to Debbie who watched us with furrowed brow concern. “Thanks as always for a wonderful meal, Deb. Tommy and I have to go right away. Keep the change.”

“Can you help that poor guy? He looks like hell.”

“We’re on our way to do just that.” I had a plan but I needed help.

* * *

“Jesus… God in heaven!” Janie walked away from the table for a moment. “This shit never ends. We live in a world unrecognizable to me anymore.”

I called an emergency meeting at Jafar and Samira’s house because they would have to agree with what I had in mind. I asked our pilot Laredo to attend also. I briefed my Monsters quickly with the facts of what we faced. Denny signed off on it before leaving to update Director Gilbrech in person on our findings so far. We had to launch in two areas at the same time.

“I know we can’t let Francois find out he’s in trouble and flee the country. That meeting Tito is setting up for us will have to go on as scheduled. This other deal will get done too, but has to be put into motion immediately which is why we’re meeting here first. I figure it this way. Lucas, and Casey take the Francois takedown. Dev can drive for you guys. We’ll keep Jess and Tommy with us. How do you feel about asking Nick and his crew in on that one, Pappy?”

“We’re spread too thin, Recon. That’s an excellent idea. Let me call Nick and see if he can help us out. I imagine that’s why you called Laredo in.”

“Yep. If Nick agrees, we’ll need Laredo to fly down to Pacific Grove and pick up Nick’s crew immediately. Can you do that, Laredo?”

“After seeing those pictures I’ll do anything you have in mind to help. It’s getting late. Let Lucas, Case, and I take off. We’ll call McCarty on the way to our hangar.”

“That’ll work. Thanks guys. We’ll handle this other thing and stay in touch.”

Casey stopped by the silent, staring Lynn. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Sucks to be them, Crue. Good hunting.”

Lynn glanced at Casey with a slight smile. “You and Pappy be careful. I may borrow the Unholy Trio for the ending of these bastards. My warm up will be legend, but it would be a nice sendoff to have Muerto do an intestinal wash as a finale.”

“Most times, I believe in ‘get ‘er done’ but this horror movie bunch deserves whatever treatment you can imagine. Once they get into Pain Central I know you’ll teach them why the minions nicknamed you the Mistress of the Unimaginable. We’ll call when we’re on our way back with Yaman.”

After our four brothers left on Francois Yaman business I turned to Sam and Janie. “I think you two should leave. We can’t give you these people. I’m keeping you in the loop in case we find out information on other victims unknown to the authorities. Since Lynn would like a consult on the ending, we may give the victims a closure on video they’d never get in court. If we have anything to update you with after Lynn interrogates Francois, I’ll make sure to call.”

Sam stood to take Janie’s arm. She was still turned away from the table with the pictures. “We understand. If you need cover in any way, count us in. I don’t know what to say so I’ll just say good luck.”

“I know you’ll get them, Lynn,” Janie stated. “We’ll leave you to it.”

The rest of us, Tommy, Jess, Clint, Lynn, Jafar, and Samira sat in silence for a moment while the FBI Agents walked out with Samira’s dog Naji escorting them to the door. I began detailing my plan.

“It would be easy to get overconfident seeing as how we know the main suspects’ names but secrecy is a key. They are not without skill. This plan will be a gamble. Jafar and Samira have already volunteered to pull off this sting. Tommy and I went into Alameda and rented a vacation home near the beach for a month. It’s perfect for our plan. Achmed and Sam will move in immediately after our meeting. They will bait the ‘Dark Web’ trap. Once we get the laptop infected with the worm virus, the rest of us will be going on the hunt.”

“This will go one of two ways,” Clint took over. “They’ll either bite on Achmed’s computer skill bragging using Sam’s picture or we’ll find the one doing the computer baiting from their end. I will rain a satellite locator storm on their sorry asses while Achmed plays with them. They only think they can’t be found. If Achmed gets their goat so badly they begin the horror movie crap with spooky threats, we’ll have Sam go live laughing at them and really baiting the hook. I believe once they’ve wormed the location of the beach house, they’ll make a decision. In any case, I’ll know where they are, or at least where one of the gang is for us to nab. He or she will give us the rest after Lynn encourages them.”