SAFE HAVENS: Shadow Masters (A Sean Havens Black Ops Novel Book 1) (40 page)

“Whatchu do, man? Got drugs? You talk too Harvard for drugs, man.”

“Drugs? No. I deal with paper.”

“Yeah, all books and shit, professor. What kind of paper, man?”

Havens saw the guy was reaching for something under his sweatshirt, likely a pistol in the waistband.

“Money!”

The third man spoke up. “We like money. Whatchu need help with for money except giving it to us, pinche.”

“I need help circulating it. You probably have guys in your organization that need help moving their stuff too. How would you like to pay for your stuff with fake cash? I’ll sell it 10% on the bundle.”

Havens hoped they knew nothing about counterfeit money as he had no clue what going rates were and just wanted to buy time.

“Let’s see it, man.”

Havens turned around to see the man behind him was likely no more than seventeen.

“Someone help me up?”

Haven extended his hand towards the hood who had been reaching towards a gun in his waistband. He knew that as the man leaned forward the weighted handle of the grip would slip back some and raise the barrel. It would be a third out of the waistband.

As the hood automatically reached for Havens’ extended hand, he clasped the wrist pulling up while simultaneously pulling the man off balance and taking another hand to find what Sean hoped what was a gun under the sweater.

Bingo! Coming right out to papa. Not as heavy as it should be if it’s fully loaded. Hope I have enough.

Pouncing up, Havens shot the leader in the forehead then swung the weapon around and fired at the second man’s temple. As the third reared back to swing the metal bar at Havens he was shot in the chest. The man who had landed on the ground was now devoid of a weapon and equally devoid of hope and pleaded for his life.

“Get up and get inside. Pick up that bat.”

“Man, I don’t want to fight you. Just lemme go.”

“Grab the bat or I
will
kill you.”

The hood picked up the bat and upon entering the warehouse looked down at Harrison who was moaning and gaining some lucidity. “Man, is that really a cop?”

“No. Sorry, I lied.” Havens shot the youth in the stomach twice. The slide remained back. Empty.

The perfect end to the story. Thank you, boys.

Killing the young men left no emotional scarring on Havens. To him, they were killers. Indeed he had chosen the location based on local gang and crime surveys. He knew that if they were not yet killers they soon would be. There was no hope for them in this area. He felt bad that the community was such a death trap and personally believed in social programs for improvements. They were just surrogates in this battle. Gang members who would have easily killed Havens if they’d had the chance. As a citizen, he wished there was change. As an operator, they were adversaries in his area of operation. Now he had taggers to match the sprayed tags.
Preparedness meeting opportunity wins again.

Havens ran back out of the building to get the chipper. A few thousand pounds pulls easier with wheels on asphalt. The gravel was going to be murder. His lower back was badly bruise from the assault, but he had to wrap things up quickly. Havens unhitched the chipper and rolled it into the small warehouse with all his might. He started up the roaring Cummins diesel engine.

Havens read the warning above the chute, “105 fpm. Keep all hands and arms away from opening.”

A now groggy, broken Harrison was close to going into shock. Havens looked across to him.

“Harrison, good news! This does a hundred and five feet per minute, if that’s what this means. Since you only have two feet, this should be over soon!”

Havens smiled as Harrison regarded him with a new found horror.

“Harrison,” Havens continued to shout over the roar. “That was funny! Why aren’t you laughing? Two feet…aw, never mind. You’re not going to laugh. You’re no fun.”

Havens could see Harrison was trying to say something and shut down the engine.

“Huh? I can’t hear you. Your fate is too loud. Say again?”

Harrison was defeated. He wanted to say a big fuck you to Havens but knew that would seal his fate.

“There’s more I can tell you,” he gasped.

“Do tell, Harrison. Time waits for no man and I am just about out.”

“He’s doing it through planes and trains I think.” Harrison’s eyes rolled back. Havens bent down to slap him awake. The hood’s blood was closing in on Harrison’s head in an expanding slow dark tide. Havens watched it, mesmerized. He visualized Christina in a pool of blood.

“I figured,” he said, snapping back to the task at hand. “But sorry, I have no intention of saving you to go find a needle in the haystack of some train or plane on schedule somewhere in the U.S. That’s someone else’s job.”

“Chicago. Soon. Other places too.”

“Shit. You had to say Chicago. Where?”

“Don’t know. The phone.”

“Your other phone?”

Harrison closed his eyes and tried to nod.

“It will call the team. Call it when they pull in. Identify yourself on the phone before they get to you face to face. They can stop it.” Harrison knew he would not be saved from the shock and decided that if he could succumb to it, all the better. He tried to let himself go.

“Harrison! Where are the other spots?”

Fuck. He’s out. Question is, would he know or would Draeger have told him? Draeger would want to be here if it was something like that. If Draeger is dead then he can’t tell me. Shit! OK, clean up this mess and get your pound of flesh, Havens, then move on.

Havens started up the chipper again and saw Harrison’s eyebrow rise at the sound.

C’mon, Harrison. Open your eyes. You playin’ possum?

Harrison couldn’t resist the fear of the roaring machine. He had seen tree trunks chipped away in seconds. He opened his burning eyes wide to see what Havens was doing. Havens was crouching right over his head almost nose to nose.

“Hi, buddy! You up? You awake, my brother?”

Havens smiled down on Harrison. This time the demonic look came from Havens.

“Chipper time. Or do you have more for me? Up to you. I got what I came for.”

Harrison licked his lips.

“Your…brother…big guy they are too.”

Havens wasn’t a killer. He was bluffing. Harrison continued to convince himself of this.

“OK, Harrison, thanks. I know all about Lars. Sorry, but I have to get rid of you. Never wanted to be a cleanup guy, but in light of what you have done to my family, seems only fitting. Now that I am in a rush though, I’ll have to reflect on the moment instead of enjoying it now.”

The convincing was not working. Harrison struggled but his broken and damaged limbs would not respond. Havens hefted his limp ragdoll body up and Harrison screamed in both excruciating pain and protest.

“Last chance.”

“Fuck you!”

“Well fuck you too, Harrison. It’s been a peach. I figure this will either cause me years of therapy or save me from a lot of therapy. Anyone’s guess. Probably save you some too. And since you killed all the guys I would like to have killed, this will make me feel like I am killing you with a thousand cuts. I just wish it could last longer. Anywho. Ta ta. Ah, let’s go toes first so we can both see this for the best view. Give you a good seat. Box seat right in front.”

Havens looked over at the van to ensure his daughter, by some miracle, had not woken up and gotten out to see what her father was about to do. No daughter.

Swinging the body up into the chute, Havens slumped enough of Harrison into the opening for the grinding jaws to catch enough foot to start pulling him in. As Havens grabbed the second leg that was about to get hung up on the safety guard he noticed Harrison’s billfold was starting to come out of the pocket as its owner thrashed about like a fish out of water. Havens did a quick grab and caught a piece of paper that was walking out too. Havens jerked his hand back just in time to avoid the roaring monster of metal that was now spitting Harrison Mann out on the warehouse floor like a snow thrower of dark multi-textured slush.

“Nice screams, Harrison. Is this how my wife and kid screamed? Were you even there? Man has a guy’s daughter raped, emotionally scarred, shot, kills the guy’s wife, kidnaps the helpless daughter. Fuck, man. I can’t kill you enough times. This is just going to have to do.”

Havens tripped the safety switch to give the moment a lasting picture in both their minds. The machine had Harrison up to the abdomen. Harrison had a blank stare. Blood frothed from his mouth.

“I’d love to take a picture of this for Draeger, but I know that sick fuck would just be entertained. Poor decision cost you your life. And mine. How do you feel knowing that you were just a pawn too? Another disposable soldier. Should have asked me. Draeger is about as dirty as they get. I always chalked it up to the business. Not really even sure why I considered him my friend, huh? Thanks Harrison, you are a great therapist. Very thought provoking.”

Havens lifted the guard back in place and the rolling jaws went back to work, spun effortlessly by the belts and wheels. The raised metal gnawed its prey. Havens turned away as the rest of Harrison was consumed by the machine. The loud roar drowned out any sounds of flesh ripping and bone crunching as the gears and wheels became lubricated with Harrison’s passing life.

As Havens stood beside the humming machine, he realized vengeance wasn’t so sweet after all. Although he had brought the man responsible for his wife’s murder to justice, it was a feeble sense of accomplishment. It couldn’t bring his wife back and his daughter still needed a lot of care. It didn’t reverse time. It actually took more away. Havens felt not remorseful, but ashamed. His wife would not have approved.

Sorry, babe, not feeling quite like myself these days. Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. I just don’t know what I can do to make it right. I suppose nothing. I miss you.

He blinked and filled his lungs with a deep breath.

Speaking of which, I’m going to need to mix this DNA to buy some more time.

Havens looked at the bodies of the gangsters.

Sorry, guys. Two of you boys are going to have a really bad day.

Babe, if you are looking down on me, you’re really not going to like this either.

Chapter 65

H
avens finished the last bit of staging and started dialing the number on Harrison’s other phone. Before hitting send he looked at his watch.

21:45. Team should be coming back. I missed it. Shit. Oh well. Not my fault. Someone up high wanted it done. Not my business. But that kid…Shit, my kid. What was I thinking? Need to get Maggie out of the van and down to the car. Hope that’s the last of the neighbors.

Havens pulled Maggie from the van, relieved that she would never be aware of the macabre death scene that had surrounded her. As he held her in his arms and looked about the room it seemed surreal even to him. This was done with his hands. The same hands that held his helpless child. Once Maggie was outside, he’d light up the place. As he exited the building, the van of the hit team was just pulling around. He knew they would be armed and held up a waving hand.

He was met in the face by a Glock 9mm out the window of the driver’s side.

“Harrison is inside. He wants you guys to pull the van in and will debrief you. There’s a mess inside from the project he put me on, so hold your noses.”

“Who are you, man?”

“You can put that away. I’m just one of the crew. ‘Nother team. I don’t ask. You know the drill.”

“Fuckin’A. That chick dead too?” He asked, nodding towards Maggie. Others in the van started peeking out the front, craning their necks for a look. Havens knew it wasn’t to see a dead body, but instead to see if “the chick” was cute.

“Harrison doesn’t want much living.”

The man nodded to Havens in understanding and started to pull in. Havens shouted ahead to the still open driver side window.

“Um, there are a couple guys left on the ground in there. As long as you are in there, how about you start up the hopper and take care of them too.”

Need more time. Sorry, Maggie, we have about four minutes tops to get to our car.

Havens rounded the building and saw the streets were still clear. He shifted to a light jog. As he rounded a corner, he saw some silhouettes had gathered by his car. There was some sort of commotion. He assumed he would hear Cougar barking but heard nothing.

Damn. Best not be messing with my dog now. No more trouble tonight. That hit crew is also going to come looking for me in a minute when they don’t find Harrison and they smell the accelerants on the place. Maybe I can buy a minute or two and say I am Harrison pulling around the corner in another vehicle.

Havens reached into his pocket and hit Send to dial the number.

The warehouse a block over erupted with a fantastic explosion.

Holy shit, Harrison. Was that for me?

The group of young men eyeing the car focused on the fireworks display flaring into the sky from down the street. They started walking towards Havens or the lights.

“Excuse me guys, this girl is hurt. I have to get her to a hospital.”

Havens handed the detonating signal phone to one of the young men. Please, dial 9-1-1. There’s a number of people dead in there and some valuable electronics outside in the delivery trucks. I can’t let them catch on fire.”

“Yeah, man. Get going to the hospital. We’ll call the cops alright. S’all good, man.”

“Yeah, we’ll take care of things real good.”

The kids looked back at the car.

“Say, man, that your dog?”

Someone was in the driver’s seat of the car. Havens got closer to make out the silhouette behind the wheel. He saw broken glass on the street from the driver’s side door. As he neared a voice cried out.

“Help, man. Get this dog off me.”

For the second time that night, Havens had a good laugh. Cougar had her jaws around the teen’s entire head from the backseat. She was giving a low growl, her incisors pressing firmly on the boy’s skin.