Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (24 page)

Laughter and applause followed Nick’s announcement before he gestured for the next one in line to come forward. The next reader, a middle aged woman, brought Dark Interlude for Nick to sign. “Did you know you end some of your sentences with a preposition?”

Nick leaned forward with his hands clasped in interested attention. “What scene do you speak of?”

The woman laughed. “Okay. I see where this is going.”

“Seriously, it’s a grammar myth that a sentence can’t end in a preposition. Some sentences have to. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to ask simple questions such as ‘what did you step on’.”

“Thanks, Nick. I love your books.” The woman left with a wave.

“Escaped unscathed again,” Gus commented.

“It was very exciting today,” John said. “I am famous. My character Leo will be a big hit.”

“You’ll be about as famous as mowing the lawn,” Gus replied.

“Leo will quickly surpass Jed in popularity because he is a blue collar guy people can identify with.”

Jean giggled. “You used a preposition at the end of the sentence, Uncle John.”

“Yes, I am quite the rebel,” John remarked.

* * *

Nick and company said their goodbyes after staying an extra half hour. Jean carried a new book bag with a bunch of young adult novels. Nick could tell the day made an impression on Jean. He began having visions of Jean pursuing the writing career instead of her wild idea about following in his footsteps with weapons. They only made it fifty feet past the shop entrance toward their car when Roachbeaverboy popped out from another store entrance with pistol in hand.

“Now we see…” He began a split second before the .45 caliber hollow point slug from Nick’s Colt hit Roachy right between the eyes. The force smashed the man flat on his back, weapon clattering to the sidewalk.

“That…that’s the Roach!” Jean started forward to check the body. Nick stopped her.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going, Viper?”

“We have to check the body.”

Nick sighed as he swept Jean behind him and John. All three men had weapons out, checking in all directions for secondary threats. “Did you just insult me?”

Jean giggled as Gus called in a 911 report finally while Nick and John stayed on alert. The call, answered by officers from Carmel PD began the arduous task listening to the bookstore security guards, bookstore owner, and securing the scene. Nick’s well known consulting position with the Pacific Grove PD, and his credentials with the US Marshal’s service and FBI could only ease the situation slightly. Rachel arrived to take Jean.

“Is there anywhere you can go without a gunfight, Muerto?”

“The guy’s a book killer, Mom,” Jean informed her. “He had to die.”

“Oh my God!”

“Let me say it for you, Rach,” Nick said, shaking his head while Gus and John enjoyed the moment. “We’re doomed.”

“Thank you. I’ll take the serial killer in training with me and cook dinner. Will you be going to jail? Do I need to call a lawyer?”

Nick kissed his wife, keeping her hand in his grasp for a moment. “No. I believe our side of this regrettable incident holds water. Hell… I liked Roachy. Where the hell am I going to get another book killer with an avatar like Roachbeaverboy? I didn’t want to kill him.”

“Okay, Muerto. I’ll see you at home. As for you young smart-mouth.” Rachel grabbed Jean’s ponytail yanking upwards and onwards. “Come with me.”

“Dad! Ow…ow…ow…”

“Well, not exactly the way I pictured this book signing ending,” Nick said.

“You are scarey fast, Muerto,” John said. “How did you know he was going to shoot?”

“He didn’t, Kabong,” Gus answered.

“Plus the fact I didn’t care,” Nick said, making sure their conversation wasn’t overheard. “Besides, Jean’s right. The prick was a book killer. Boo hoo… light a candle.

Nick’s phone binged. He saw it was Lucas. “Gunny? How the hell are you?”

“The usual. We could use your help. We have to split forces in the North. Would you like to bring your crew along for an evening of entertaining and probably killing? We have some extra stuff for the cartoons too if you’re interested.”

“How’s the time frame, Lucas? I have a slight situation here I need to work free of.”

“We’re at our hangar now. Laredo says he can pick you up in forty-five minutes at Monterey Regional Airport. How slight a situation?”

“I had to kill a guy on the street in Carmel after a book signing.” Nick listened to Lucas’s wild laughter while trying to tell Casey and Laredo about Nick’s ‘slight situation’.

“Damn… you authors sure live exciting lives,” Lucas said after a few minutes of shared entertainment at his end. “Can we head there? It’s important for the Starlight caper, we think.”

“Fly down. I’ll call Paul to help me out. Wait one.” Nick turned to Gus and John. “Lucas has a situation in the North Bay he needs our help with. I can go alone or take you guys with me. It sounds like a gig they could use all of us on.”

“I’m in, Muerto,” John said.

“Ditto,” Gus added.

“We’re all in. I’ll get clear here and head with the guys for Monterey Regional. We’re a bit overdressed. I was doing the book signing with both Gus and John. We have business suits on. Will that be a problem?”

“That’s perfect for the contingency plans we’re working on.”

“Do you need us to bring anything weapon wise?”

“No. We have that covered,” Lucas replied.

“Grenades?”

“Don’t make me hurt you, Dead Boy.”

“Fine. See you in a little while.” Nick disconnected. He called Paul Gilbrech. His boss answered on the second ring. Nick explained his situation in succinct terms complete.

“Hold steady,” Paul said. “I’ll make a call. I hope the lead pans out in the North.”

“I’ll let you know, boss. Thanks.”

“Anytime, Nick.”

Ten minutes later a Sergeant from the Carmel PD approached at a jog. “You and your friends can go, Mr. McCarty. The governor just called my CO. You have national security business requiring your immediate presence at Monterey Regional Airport. Do you need a ride?”

“No, Sergeant, we have a vehicle. Thank you. You have all my contact information if you need to ask me anything. Don’t hesitate to call. I should be back in the area shortly.”

“Yes, Sir. Good luck. Nice shot by the way. We found out this guy you shot, Arnold Wantola, is a listed child molester. He’s on parole from a five to ten stint for a child pornography ring he ran. I heard you had your daughter with you. I’m glad everyone is okay.”

“Thanks, Sergeant. I appreciate hearing a bit more about this guy. We knew he was upset in the store but never expected him to confront us with a gun.”

The Sergeant shook hands with the three men. “I’m certain the incident will be a locally handled matter of self-defense. I will call if I need anything else from you. Good luck on your national security case.”

The Sergeant returned to the Arnold scene. Nick, Gus, and John jogged toward their vehicle, Gus’s new Ford. After arriving at Monterey Regional Airport, Gus found the long term parking. They waited until Nick received a call from Lucas with details and time of landing. An hour later they were flying North with Lucas, Casey, and Laredo in the Monster Squad prop jet. Lucas briefed them on the Francois Yaman meeting and his part in forging ID’s for all the illegal Albanians along with an untold number of others.

“Once we get Yaman’s records, Clint will crosscheck the names with those on the final crew list my friends at Red Dragon Security, Chuck and Sal, obtained for us,” Lucas said. “Tito Rontos has a meeting with Yaman at 5 pm. We’ll be taking the meeting in his place.”

“I guess Denny was right about not being hasty wiping these bastards out,” Nick said. “From what you’ve told me about Rontos and Gilani, they’ve helped considerably with these threads to the Starlight.”

“Denny’s a guiding force,” Lucas admitted. “Sometimes he sees the long range picture better than we do. Sometimes we don’t care. We’ve taken a few prisoners Denny wanted to keep that Crue interrogated, we felt were better off dead. We made them so and Denny took it in stride.”

“Good to know. I imagine you have a plan for confronting Yaman and his guys at the office building on Clay Street.”

“We were hoping to send in Tito with Kabong. Tito will do exactly what Crue tells him to do. He knows who will win this get together, and what will happen to him if he makes things more difficult. Tito can introduce him as Ebi Zarin. You were well known enough for Yaman to know you John. You could get us the inside layout of the place before we hit it. Would you be willing to grab Yaman as you did Gilani. He’s the one guy we need alive for certain?”

“I can do this easily,” John replied. “In a building like that, will it be possible for all of you to be nearby?”

“This is a kill mission except for Yaman,” Lucas answered. “I’m thinking once you’re inside with Yaman, we’ll hit it immediately. We’ll dress in EMT gear. We can cover our weapons that way.”

“Tito and you go inside,” Casey continued. “Then the rest of us enter the building with gurney, weapons, and in uniform. We’ll claim an emergency in Yaman’s office complex. If we have any trouble with the security people, we’ll have to disable them or flash our numerous agency badges. No one can be allowed to call and tip off Yaman. That could be a death sentence for John. If we have to Tase the security people then so be it.”

“This seems needlessly risky,” Nick said. “Did Tito give you any hint as to how many we’re facing?”

“He said Yaman always has at least a dozen around him,” Lucas answered. “No, we can’t use grenades.”

“What if John simply gets introduced by Tito, making sure Yaman is there? Then he says he’ll wait outside rather than barge into the meeting. John can scan the room with us watching. Once he’s clear, we’ll be outside with flash-bangs. We’ll throw in a bunch. The concussions will disable most of them. Then we go in firing. Tell Tito to grab Yaman and pretend he’s shielding him with his own body, which he will be doing in reality. We enter, do as little damage as possible, and march the survivors out under auspices of Homeland Security. We can kill them all later.”

“Was there something you didn’t understand in the words ‘kill mission’, boot-camp?”

“I like Nick’s idea,” Casey said. “Once we wing a few of them, between the concussion grenades and them facing sure death, we can take them. Marching them all out alive would make it more of a police action instead of a war zone. Denny can identify them all and decide then what we should do with them. We’ll be the EMT’s. John and Gus can be the Homeland Security Agents with Dev driving one of our fleet BMW’s to drop Tito and John off at first.”

“Yeah, it will be a lot easier to get clear that way,” Lucas admitted. “You’re about Jafar’s size, Nick. We have the EMT outfits in our action van. Do you and John have credentials, Gus?”

“We have FBI and Homeland Security ID’s we always carry after all the unexpected consequences of being part of the ‘Unholy Trio’ with Muerto.”

“Do not disrespect the great author, Payaso,” John reprimanded Gus.

“I knew you’d be ruined once Muerto wrote a character into the Diego series patterned after you, suck-up,” Gus replied. “The plan sounds workable without all the dead bodies. I’ve seen what those damn concussion grenades can do. I doubt when you throw a few in there if there’ll be much in the way of resistance.”

“What about Tito,” Lucas asked.

Nick shrugged “What about him? Can he live through this or does he have a one way ticket to hell after this is over?”

“We can spare him,” Casey said. “He fronted for the Albanians during the Cheeseburger’s Oaktown Cartel fight to absorb their gang. I wouldn’t say he’s harmless but he’s definitely broken.”

“Are you sure he can do this,” Nick asked.

“Absolutely. Once we invoke the Mistress of the Unimaginable to him, he’ll want to go on a suicide mission for us. Crue has a favor to ask after these two jobs end, Nick. It has to do with the serial killers they’re rounding up. They’re not seeing the light of day again. Crue will teach them hell on earth. Then she’d like you cartoons to bleach them for hell. I think she wants to direct another segment as ‘Crusader Crue’. She’s really taken with the t-shirt and mask idea.”

“Muerto knows all about taking something past the humorous stage into the unknown territory of bad taste,” Gus commented.

“We’ll be glad to help, Lucas,” Nick said, ignoring Gus. “I’m interested in her podiatry interrogation. That really took some imagination. I hope she understands how messy the bleaching gets.”

“She knows,” Casey replied. “She doesn’t care because Crue never cleans anything except maybe her baby son.”

Chapter Nine

Endings and Beginnings

Tito Rontos walked next to John after being let out in front of the building by their driver, Devon Constantine. He dressed in a suit as John was attired. John carried a briefcase with a silenced MP5 and three concussion grenades. Tito glanced over at his smiling companion.

“You are really Ebi Zarin?”

“Yes.”

“How is it you work with these people?”