Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) (9 page)

“She certainly will. This is straight from her – warm them up.”

I grinned. “On it. See you in a few minutes.”

“Jafar. Load the Azi interrogation video for these gentlemen to see.”

“Ten seconds,” Jafar acknowledged, working his laptop with smiling concentration.

When he had it loaded, he turned the sound to max, and knelt so our Boko Haram party of four could see how we found out about them. After a few minutes of watching Crue at work, they began turning their heads away in fear and disgust. Lucas let off an arc from his stun-gun in their faces.

“Anyone looking away better get set for some bad time with the blue arc in places you don’t ever want jolted electrically.”

It was a cinch after that for quiet contemplation of the video. At the end, I crouched down to engage my guests. “We’re driving to meet the lady who did the interrogation on Azi. If I were you guys, I’d be dreaming of ways to be helpful. How did you ass-wipes get into the country? I already know you’re all Boko Haram.”

“Aboard a container ship in the East,” Edoje admitted. “There is a Jamaat al-Fuqra faction operating at the docks. They work for the Bulgarian, as do we.”

“What’s the Bulgarian’s name?”

“I don’t know. They call him ‘The Ghost’. Nobody talks to or meets this man. We are under Yuri Kornev at this time. He would know the Bulgarian’s name. I have heard Kornev speak of meeting with the Bulgarian soon.”

“Nice start, Sam. You and your buddies keep thinking of ways to make our video lady pleased. Otherwise, she gets really mean, like when your buddy Azi decided he was not going to talk… but he did… eventually.”

* * *

Clint opened the large pull down metal door for our ready van, and closed it behind us. Crue met us with her minions, Quays Tannous, Silvio Ruelas, and Gus Denova. Casey and I helped the Nigerians to their feet. They saw who was meeting them, and wanted to climb over me to get back in the van.

“We are being cooperative!” Edoje pleaded.

“Ahhhhh… they really are warmed up.” Lynn smiled directly into each man’s face. “Did you see that horrible video? I know it was very upsetting. My men will take you down to interrogation. Be ready to give us your life’s history or I’m going to be upset. We don’t want that, now do we?”

Four heads shook in the negative in sync. Denny joined us as Lynn and Clint escorted their unhappy group to interrogation with the minions’ help.

“Hell of a day. You did very well, Samira. I’m not crazy about you doing it, but your approach was professionally smooth. Lynn watched it, and she said you timed the Taser hit right on the button. I know Jafar will caution you. Take nothing for granted if you really are going to take a more active role.”

“I want to without any reservations,” Samira replied. “I know John will not allow me to endanger his team’s lives, but today was a good start.”

We sat down together in our conference room. Jafar took the electronics and communications contraband to Laredo. They would hack into and data mine all the gear we had confiscated. I explained to Denny what Edoje had told me. “We nabbed them without anyone noticing. Their disappearances will screw with Yuri’s head. He won’t know for certain if the Bulgarian summoned them, or they took off on their own. You were right about Yuri and the Bulgarian meeting soon, so we may be able to keep all the participants under observation. If Crue extracts any names from the Pakistani group, Jammaat al-Fuqra, are we going to move on them immediately, or wait to see who arrives with the Bulgarian?”

“I’d like to wait, John. Thanks to the importance Yuri puts on this port deal, I want all the players we can entice. I’m working on a picture of the Bulgarian, but having no luck so far – he uses disguises everywhere. What I can’t understand is even with his own private plane, he still has to go through customs, yet we have no pictures of him. I get the feeling someone is protecting him. I’ll be careful allowing anyone in on this until we break it open.”

“Damn,” Lucas said, “another sellout. You better watch your back, Denny. Could this mole be high enough to take a meeting with any of our benefactors?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not finding out by sharing info on this op. Luckily, I didn’t read anyone in on this, because Yuri’s ploy to pressure Alexi’s operations with the street fight decoyed me. I wanted further ahead on the investigation after Crue questioned Azi and his friends.”

“What about approaching it from the Jamaat angle,” I suggested. “Once Lynn records some names and locations, we could do an information gathering visit to get pictures. If we find an important member, we could snatch only him, see what he knows about the Bulgarian, and you can have him to trade.”

“I like it. I’ll stay here with Jafar and Laredo. Clint and Lynn won’t be long, so I’ll have some names in the al-Faqra sect to consider for abduction. Samira can stay or go. Everyone else may as well go get some rest. You certainly had a busy day, John. Go over all your security measures. The rest of you need to check on all family precautions until we end this.”

“John’s in shape,” Lucas stated. “I watched him today. It’s possible Yuri is not only uneasy about Marko’s match with John, he’s getting scared. I don’t know what those characters have planned, but they’re getting sloppy. Daytime kidnappings, Nigerians, Bulgarians, Pakistanis, and even the good old Russians plotting together with the Lord knows how many other Middle East terror threads. I’m wondering what the hell more this Yuri has in mind.”

I stood. “Lynn will find a next step for us to follow. I get the feeling things are moving along faster than we anticipated.”

“All the more reason for extra precautions,” Denny said. “That goes for you and Jess, Dev. Don’t assume these idiots won’t try something on the extended families. C’mon, little parakeet. Let’s go see how your husband and Laredo are doing.”

Samira spun on me, finger under my chin. “You have made me into a noisy bird, John! Now everyone is calling me this parakeet bird.”

“Not everything is about you, little parakeet. Sometimes, it’s just for entertainment.” I waved her off as she prepared to launch again. “Say no more. Your warbling these past few minutes has convinced me you shall indeed be known as ‘The Parakeet’.”

“I’ll tell Lora you’re picking on me.”

“Keep talking, and the next mission you’ll go on will be from a wheelchair in a rest home for the aged.”

Samira gasped. “That is blackmail!”

“No. It’s called action and reaction. Not another chirp out of you for tonight, little parakeet. Don’t forget to tell Lynn all about your exciting day as a bird of prey.”

I enjoyed being fervently cursed out in Pashtu until Samira entered our control room behind Denny. “That young lady has a filthy mouth.”

“You do seem to provoke those malevolent feelings in the females you’ve been around lately, Dark Lord,” Dev stated. “You’ve certainly reached Samira’s last nerve.”

“Malevolent, huh? Damn, Jess, I think Rose has been smoothing Dev’s rough edges off. She’s improved his vocabulary.”

“Oh, she’s done wonders for him,” Jess piled on. “He takes off his shoes before entering the house. Dev says ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ now, along with ‘yes ma’am’, and ‘no ma’am’. I’ve heard a rumor he sits down to pee too.”

Jess had the rest of us but good with that ace, including Dev.

“What can I say? I’m whipped,” Dev admitted.

“Don’t worry about it, kid,” Lucas said. “It just means you accept life as it was meant to be, except for the shark whisperer here. Be careful what kind of advice he gives you. I’m done for the day. I know you scheduled practice early for the girls because of this goofy Thursday teacher’s conference. What’s it look like for out in the Bay tomorrow?”

Torture and routine until I get past ‘The Assassin’. “I’ll have to let you know depending on what target we get next. I was hoping if we don’t have the usual business tomorrow, we could go out on the Bay early, say around ten. I’ll get the training in, and then some rest for Al’s softball practice. Our business meetings will have to be fitted in as time allows.”

“When are you working the rest of the routine?” Dev counterstrikes me right in the kisser. “You have to make time for work on the bags and your ground game.”

“There probably won’t be any ground game, but I guess we’ll see what we can see, brother. I have workout bags installed for easy workouts at my house. You and Jess know I have a full gym over at the office. I’ll work everything into my schedule, including the ground game. Take stock of anything and everything else out of place or missing in your lives? And I do mean everything. We’re officially on war footing until we get in front of them. We all know what this kind of drama entails. The bad guys think we’ll be a step behind. I’ll keep you all informed every moment until we strike.”

“I’ve already broken the news to Rose,” Dev said. “She knows the score now. I’ll have to make sure her two kids don’t take any unnecessary chances. We all move on our personal 911 calls anyway. Jafar and Laredo get a beep, and they spike the rest of us into instant action. I’m glad you’re taking this Marko guy seriously, John. This could get out of hand real quick, if Yuri gets nervous over the gaps in his crew disappearing.”

“All true, Dev. Bombs in the backyard ain’t going to happen. Any unannounced family visits, and we go all in immediately. Yeah, gray area innocents will die, I’m afraid. I don’t believe in reaction. Guilt by association means death by association if we go to Death Con.”

“Amen to that,” Jess said. “I don’t want anything happening like when that BBC reporter from your past life took Lora and Al hostage. I’m sick of these stupid gangs. Dev and I played around the fringes back when we were growing up. We can’t take chances. Like you said, there may definitely be the old unintended consequences for some kids caught in the gang fear factor. I have someone now I don’t want in on the danger, but I know there’s no way to guarantee that.”

“You can quit, Jess. The retirement package is extraordinary. There won’t be any hand to mouth existence if you give this up.” I don’t want anyone staying in this game of ours without a clear danger quotient in mind. “I know the danger, and the threat of loss. Do not stay in our crew if you cannot deal with loss. We all know it’s there. When it comes, it will be beyond imagining. I hope to avoid that accounting, but I sure as hell can’t guarantee it won’t come at our loved ones. Let’s not ignore that part of this deadly game we play, because if it inevitably happens, there are no take backs.”

Jess held out his hand and I shook it with solemn acknowledgement. “I’m in for the duration, John. We’ll have to rely on our intel to keep us away from the unimaginable.”

“Yeah… we will, brother.”

No one laughed the rest of our way.

* * *

We all enjoyed the scene at my house though. I was the first drop off. Guess what? We had a contingent of the Nigerian Rastafarians on the sidewalk in front of my house. At least they were dressed like Rastafarians dress in the Hollywood shows I’ve seen them portrayed in. We’d been in lockdown for business or personal calls. With Lora at the office with Al, we could make light of this, but I could see everyone was looking at me for permission. We made all the Nigerians disappear that we knew about, so how did this bunch get my address along with directions to come here.

“I’ll lead. I know damn well Cruella will ream my ass out for not waiting for her, but I’m tired. Want to go for the big scare?”

“Hell yeah!” Lucas was not pleased. “I’m not tired. Let me go pull some dreadlocks out by the roots. That’ll get their attention.”

“This means the news leaked. No way in hell that happens unless we have bigger fish in our pond. I need to front this, and see if I can get any names before I start the punishment phase.”

“Thou shalt not cross the John Harding perimeter line without permission from John, or the word of God.” Jess illustrated my position exactly the way it should be.

When the five of us left the ready van, we sucked all the energy right out of the Rastafarian congregation. The group of seven had been jiving on the sidewalk together, much to the dismay of my neighbors peeking at us from behind closed drapes. The lead guy, nearly my height, and maybe twenty or thirty pounds heavier counted participants while scratching at his trim beard. He decided wrongly he had enough guys to get the job done.

“You ‘dat mon, Harding?” He asked me politely with a calypso lilt in his voice.

“Yes, I’m John Harding. What can I do for you?”

“One of my boys saw you take some of my crew with you somewhere, mon. Where are ‘da?”

In seconds, everyone had a weapon except for our Rasti’s. They noticed, as my guys herded them together toward the ready van. We didn’t talk anymore. We herded… roughly… with a couple of small pistol whippings thrown in for good behavior. Once we were all in the now crowded van, I plastic tied their hands behind them, and sat them down. I photographed each one, and sent the pictures to Denny, while Casey put on Nitril gloves for a pat down. Casey discovered weapons galore, including two 9mm Glocks. I sent in the serial numbers. Jess drove the van on a return path to our base once again. The rest of us checked the ID’s as I scanned and sent each one. When I finished, I turned to our guests.

“Okay. What was the meeting at my house about besides finding your posse?” I addressed the guy who had conversed with me first.