Читать книгу Jack Taggart Mysteries 9-Book Bundle - Don Easton - Страница 20

The sun cast a crimson glow as it came up behind the Rocky Mountains. Crystal lugged her last garbage bag full of clothes out to her car. Her car was already packed, but she found room to wedge it behind her seat. She never looked back as she pulled out into the morning traffic.

She didn’t see the orange van that wheeled in behind her. Axle, a striker for Satans Wrath, drove the van, while his only passenger, Nails, sat beside him. Nails had been a member of the club for six years. He earned his nickname because nails were a tool of his trade.

Crystal pulled into a gas station and filled her car. She saw the orange van in the reflection of her car window as it slowly drove by behind her. Minutes later, she paid for her gas and was walking back toward her car when she saw the van drive by again. The two men inside stared back at her.

She fought to control her fear. Probably some past trick who recognizes me… She spotted a cellphone on the seat of another car. The driver was inside paying for gas.

Moments later, Crystal pulled back out into traffic. There was no sign of the orange van and she felt foolish for being afraid. By the time she eased her car off the on-ramp and onto the eastbound lane of the Trans-Canada Highway, the sun was glistening down the western side of the mountains, sparkling off the snow on the peaks.

The sun was directly in her eyes, but it was Sunday morning and the traffic was light. She accelerated and passed a semi-truck before switching back to the slow lane. Seconds later, she saw the orange van in her rear-view mirror.

“Thanks for dropping by.” Danny closed the door behind Jack and gestured to one of two sofas in his living room. “This is the new one. The other one needs to go upstairs. It’s a hideaway bed. Weighs a ton. Susan and I would never get the damned thing up there by ourselves. Have you had breakfast yet? We’ve still got the coffee on.”

“I’ve eaten. Let’s move this and then I’ll have a coffee before heading out to the farm. What about Crystal? What do I owe you?”

“The bill is in the kitchen. We can figure it out over coffee.”

Danny led the way up the stairs while Jack wrestled with the lower end of the sofa. Halfway up the stairs the sofa became wedged on a landing. Both men paused to rest.

“Did she leave yesterday?” Jack asked.

“No. She called me last night and said she was heading out this morning.” Danny’s voice sounded glum.

“You did a good thing by helping her. Why the long face?”

“I was hoping she would take Marcie with her.”

“You said she tried. What more did you expect her to do?”

“I told her to go over to Marcie’s and talk to her direct. She did, but Marcie wouldn’t go.”

“Doesn’t Marcie still live with Red?”

“Yeah.”

“Was Red home when she went over?” There was concern in Jack’s voice.

Danny chuckled. “That was the good part. I was going to tell you over coffee. Crystal gave her a knuckle sandwich and she backed right off. Too bad she didn’t do it a long time ago.” Danny saw the furrowed look on Jack’s forehead and said, “You don’t think that’s funny?”

The conversation was interrupted when Danny paused to answer his cellphone.

“Danny! I think I’m being followed!” The fear was evident in Crystal’s voice.

“Where are you?”

“Two guys in a van. They could be bikers. They watched me gas up and now they’re behind me on the freeway.”

“Where are you?” Danny yelled into the phone.

“I’m on a cellphone. Just coming up to the Willingdon exit. What should I do?”

“Keep driving. Don’t get out of your car and don’t hang up. I’m on my way. You’re less than ten minutes away from me!”

“Crystal’s in trouble!” Danny yelled to Jack, while jumping over the railing. The glassware in the dining room vibrated, knocking into each other.

Seconds later, the tires squealed as Jack drove through the quiet residential street. Danny sat beside him and tried to talk calmly with Crystal. She said that she was driving in the slow lane but explained that she had changed her speed a few times and each time, the van had matched her speed.

“Danny! They’re pulling alongside me now! What should I do?”

“Can you see them in your side mirror? Is the passenger window open? What about a sliding door?”

“Side mirror? The fucking passenger is practically beside me. His window is closed. The van doesn’t have a sliding door!”

“Then they’re probably not going to shoot at you. We’re only five minutes away. What does the van look like? Can you see the plate?”

“Oh, Danny.” Crystal started to giggle. “They drove right past! Didn’t even look at me.”

Danny heard Crystal laugh out loud, then she said, “I’m so stupid. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called. I was just scared after seeing Red yesterday. Christ! I even ripped off some guy’s cellphone…”

Nails turned in the passenger seat and looked out the rear window of the van. He held a small radio transmitter bought from a hobby shop. The kind intended for small remote-controlled airplanes. He nodded at Axle and then thumbed the control. Axle didn’t slow down as the explosion sounded behind them.

The bomb, wrapped in nails, had been placed to blow the gas tank up into the interior of the car. Normally death would have been instant. Nails hadn’t counted on the bags stuffed with clothes that Crystal had placed inside the car.

Danny heard the roar of the blast over his phone and the uninterrupted screaming that followed as Crystal’s car came to a stop in the ditch.

A fire truck, returning from a small garage fire, witnessed the explosion as it drove in the westbound lane of the freeway. The driver cut across the meridian, but the truck became stuck in the middle. It was close enough that the firemen were at Crystal’s car in less than a minute. The interior of the car was ablaze.

The firemen were using the jaws of life to cut open her door as Jack and Danny arrived. She gazed up at Danny for a few seconds, then died.

It wasn’t the smell of burnt hair and flesh that would forever haunt Danny. It was the look in her eyes. They didn’t express anger or fear. Only acceptance of death — and a look that asked him why he did this to her.

Jack put his hand on Danny’s shoulder and said, “Come on. Let’s get away from here before the media arrives.”

Danny felt numb as he threaded his way past onlookers who were getting out of their cars. The sound of sirens could be heard approaching in the distance. He waited until getting in the car before turning to Jack and asking, “Why?”

“If Satans Wrath let her go they would start losing control of the others. That’s why they didn’t kill her with an overdose or something. This is the same as Lenny. They wanted to advertise. Make sure everyone knows what happens if you cross them.”

“I killed her.”

“What?”

“I killed Crystal. I told her to go see Red. If she hadn’t, she would still be alive.”

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know.”

“It is my fault … and you know it!” Danny’s voice cracked as he spoke.

Jack’s anger showed in his voice. “You didn’t know! If anything, it’s my fault.”

“Your fault?”

“I brought you into a world that you didn’t even know existed. The rules are completely different. Crystal knew the rules and took her chances when she went over to Red’s place.”

“But I sent her to Red’s! Looking back on it, I should have seen how scared she was.”

“You didn’t kill Crystal. She had her doctorate in street smarts! You’re still in kindergarten. She knew that. Ultimately, it was her decision to do what she did.”

“I feel sick, oh Jesus!” Danny said, while opening the car door and leaning out.

Jack put his hand on Danny’s shoulder, and when he finished vomiting, Jack gently pulled him back into the car.

Jack pointed out the window and said, “Uniform is arriving. Homicide will be here soon. You’ve got to make a choice.”

“About what?”

“You could tell them what you know about Red. Then they’ll interview her.”

“She’ll just tell them to fuck off.”

“I know. It would also heat her up. The narcs expect me to meet her and arrange a big score. They’ve probably got her phone and pager tapped.”

“What choice do I have?”

“Find out who did this ourselves.”

“What can we do that Homicide can’t?”

“Homicide plays by society’s rules. If you play by the rules of the world I work in, we might have a chance to get whoever did this.”

Jack noticed that Danny was starting to shake, so he started the car and turned on the heat. “I’m going to drive you home. You can call Homicide after.”

Danny didn’t respond as Jack pulled out into the line of traffic and slowly drove past Crystal’s body. It was on a stretcher and being covered with a yellow emergency blanket.

When Jack pulled into Danny’s driveway, Susan ran from the house. Jack saw Danny speak to her, and then they held each other. He thought about calling Natasha but knew he wouldn’t make very good company. Same goes for Liz and Ben. He would go back to his apartment and stare at the fish in his aquarium.

His thoughts were interrupted when Danny got back in the car.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked.

“I want you to teach me.”

“Teach you?”

“The rules. I want to know the rules.”

“Today’s not the day. You need time to clear your head. Go back to Susan. You’re lucky to have her.”

“She’ll be okay. Come on. Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“I don’t know!” Danny yelled. “Just find out who did it! Go over and rip Red’s face off if we have to!”

“That wouldn’t work. You have to look at the big picture. Today’s not the day to —”

“What big picture?” Danny screamed at him.

Jack sighed, then said, “Sit here. I’m going to talk with Susan.”

Jack walked over to Susan and asked, “How are you doing?”

“I’ll be okay,” she replied. “Worried about Danny. He’s hurting.”

“I know.”

“He’s angry. I’m a little afraid he’ll do something stupid right now.”

“I’ll look after him. We won’t work. I’m going to take him back to my place for a talk.”

“You mean you’re going to get drunk.”

Jack grimaced. This woman has seen this picture before.“Possibly. He needs to vent. I’ve got a pullout bed in the living room if he needs to stay over.”

“He snores,” she said, then turned and walked back into her house.

Susan understood, sort of. She recalled the time Danny and a group of policemen had shown up at her house after the funeral of a murdered comrade. She had watched the alcohol slowly eat away at the tough facades on their faces. Everyone was polite, but the conversation was stilted, and she knew it was because she was there. She made an excuse to go to bed, and not long after she heard their emotions pouring out. Despite being a wife, she was still an outsider.

Right now, she felt angry and hurt. Why did he shut her out of his life at a time like this? She wanted to be with him, to make sure he was all right. This brotherhood of policemen that he belonged to … sometimes it seemed like others knew him better than she did. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him and listen to him say they’d always be together. She looked at Danny’s portrait and felt so alone.

The new bottle of Jose Cuervo was half empty. Danny knew it was the booze talking, but he said it anyway. “I want to kill whoever did this to her.”

Jack shook his head. “I know how you feel, but you’ve got to look at the big picture.”

“What the fuck is the big picture?”

“We’re not dealing with one rotten animal. This is organized crime. They’ve got about nine hundred professional criminals in our area alone. Do you think it would really make any difference to Satans Wrath if you killed a couple of them?”

“It would make a difference to me!”

“You’re damn right it would. You could end up in jail. Susan, Tiffany — gone! And for what? Satans Wrath will keep on going. There will still be other kids like Marcie and Crystal getting killed. You could lose everything and not change a thing.”

“So what are you saying? That we give up or put whoever did this in jail?”

“Putting one or two in jail doesn’t help either. In fact, it only helps them.”

“Helps them?”

“Jails are a great place for them to recruit more trusted comrades. Instead of getting weaker, the club becomes stronger.”

“Then what the hell can we do?”

“You either have to put dozens of the hierarchy in jail, which our laws aren’t geared for, or you need to gain control of the club. Crime will continue, but if you can control the higher echelon, you can make the club less effective.”

“And how do you expect to do that?”

“Turn someone on the inside. Once you have one informant, it’s easier to get more. Then you penetrate the higher echelon. The fact that they’re vicious killers is something we can use. That’s why we have to find someone in the club who is like you.”

“Like me?”

“Someone with a family who has too much to lose.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will when the time comes.”

“I can’t see any of them ratting out, unless maybe we put them in protective custody.”

“Their rules don’t usually allow that.”

“What are you talking about? Their rules? We use our rules, and that includes the Witness Protection Program.”

“For them, to break their rules is to lose respect. To lose respect means to lose one’s life. If that life is not available to take, then the rules allow for other lives to be taken. Every son, daughter, wife, uncle, aunt, cousin, and close friend would have to be protected.”

“That’s impossible!”

“I know.”

Danny thought for a moment, then said, “I’d kill them if they ever came near my family.”

“So would I. You have my word on that.”

Danny studied Jack’s face closely. “You mean it, don’t you?”

“Messing with a cop or his family is against the rules. I guarantee that the coroner would run out of body bags.”

“You’d do that for me?”

Jack became exasperated. “What the hell do you think? If you’re not prepared to do that, then the bad guys don’t respect you. You’re looked upon as being weak. It’s the law of nature. If you’re weak, then you die — or someone close to you does!”

“The bad guys know this?”

“The real professionals do. It’s not something that’s spoken about. If they respect you they should take that for granted.”

“Others feel this way?”

“Most long-time UC operators do. What we know, what we have been through, it’s like we’re all family. Organized crime can afford to lose a few soldiers on the bottom. The only thing keeping a lot of us alive is that they know we would seek revenge against the executive level for authorizing the hit. I don’t care if it’s some poor cop on the other side of the country that gets whacked; it’s a declaration of all-out war. Otherwise you won’t survive.”

“That’s one of them rules?”

“That’s one of them rules.”

Danny thought it over. What would Wigmore think if he heard this? He thought of Crystal’s eyes. He looked at Jack and said, “So this same rule doesn’t apply to someone like Crystal?”

“No. The rules allow them to get away with killing her.”

“Why?”

“She’s not family. Think what you said earlier, you would kill them if they ever came near your family.”

“What about your niece and nephew?”

Jack stared into his aquarium. He imagined that the eyes on the fish belonged to Maggie and Ben Junior. They were silently looking at him. They knew his promise. That was enough.

It was suppertime when Susan answered her door. She was surprised to see Natasha standing on her porch with a small bouquet of flowers and a bottle of Riesling wine.

“Jack called,” explained Natasha. “Said he thought you could use some company. I would have come sooner but I had to work. Thought we could order in dinner if it’s not too late.”

Susan hugged Natasha harder than she expected to. She felt like her body was about to overflow with emotion.

Jack crushed the empty pizza box and put it in the garbage, then cleaned up the coffee table and put the glasses in the sink.

Danny lurched back from the washroom. “I’m beat. Don’t feel so good,” he mumbled.

“I’m not tired, so sleep in my bed,” said Jack. “I put clean sheets on this morning and it’s closer to the bathroom. Think you might need it.”

“Where will you sleep?”

“The sofa pulls out if I need it. Get some sleep. I want to hit the street by noon.”

“Why so early?”

“I want you to borrow a car from GIS and talk to Marcie as soon as she hits the street.”

“After what happened to Crystal?”

“Especially after what happened to Crystal.”

“She didn’t listen to Crystal, she sure as hell won’t listen to me!”

“Use Crystal’s death to convince her. She’ll end up dead if we let her stay there.”

“She’s liable to tell everyone I’m a cop. I wouldn’t be able to cover you then.”

“I’ll only meet Red one or two more times. Then I’ll be doing business elsewhere.”

Danny mumbled in agreement and then wandered off to Jack’s bedroom. Moments later, Jack knew that Susan was right. Danny did snore.

He turned out the lights and turned the television on to the news channel. He watched as the news of Crystal’s death continued to recycle itself through the broadcast. He turned his attention to the paper fish. The light from the television cast an eerie glow on the aquarium. What if I never find out who killed you?

Perhaps it was the broadcast or the alcohol, or both, but he realized that his mind and body were spent. He could no longer focus and realized it was because of the tears filling his eyes and running down and dripping off his cheeks.

Eventually he drifted off to sleep.