“You heard me. Reid’s willing to pay fifty thousand dollars for me to kill Jenny, and if I take the contract you get a third.”
“Why?” asked Tommy, now almost pleading for an answer.
“The why isn’t important.”
Tommy sat there trying to gather his thoughts.
“So do you want your third of the fifty grand?” asked Jake.
Tommy sat in disbelief, his head pounding, his hands beginning to shake. He began to massage his temples, believing that might relieve the stress. There was prolonged silence before he spoke again. “Did you tell Park I brought Reid to you? Please, Jake, tell me you didn’t tell Mr. Park I had anything to do with this.”
“Tommy, are you in or out?”
“Jake,” said Tommy, again almost pleading.
“Your name never came up. I gave Park a chance to buy out the contract. There is no way I’m going against a man as powerful as Park. I may be crazy but I’m not stupid. I want to be on his side when this comes down. Besides, he knew about it.”
Tommy jumped on Jake’s last statement, incredulous at the thought as his head snapped to the left, focusing on Jake’s eyes. “What do you mean he knew about it?”
“Those gunslingers he had in his office, the two boneheads he sent to babysit you in the hallway… they were at the pier when I met with Reid.”
“Are you sure?”
“Tommy, I was there and so were they. The best thing we did was come here tonight. Park knew all about it, or at least he would have figured out the details eventually. We’re golden. We’re on the A-team, the varsity, and if all goes well, we’re in the starting lineup.”
Tommy breathed an audible sigh, slowly blowing out the tensions that choked him seconds before. He smiled as he turned to Jake. “Do I still get a third?”
Jake gave his passenger a playful swat to the back of his head.
“Are you happy now?” asked Jake.
“Yeah,” said Tommy, still with the smile on his face. “But if I find out you’re a cop I’ll kill you.”
Looking Tommy in the eye, Jake said, “Good! That makes us even.”
“How so?” asked Tommy.
“If I find out you’re a cop I’ll kill you.”
Tommy offered a nervous smile as he exited Jake’s car. “I’m going back to Mr. Park right now and clear this up. I need to get out front on this. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Whatever.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The black GMC Yukon pulled from the driveway and headed north. In what would prove to be a fatal security lapse, the Green Hornet and Kato failed to look south and see the five sitting in the Honda Pilot.
“Get ready to move,” whispered Kareem.
Just as he started the engine and prepared to drive forward, Candy spotted Tommy pulling up to the security gate. “Wait!”
“Why would he return?” asked one of the terrorists in the backseat.
“Quiet,” whispered Candy — unaware that a woman giving orders to a radical Islamist would be an unforgivable offense.
They watched Tommy punch the call button on the security arm extending out over the driveway.
“Yes,” came a male voice in heavily accented English loud enough for those in the Honda Pilot to hear.
“Mr. Park, I’m sorry to bother you again. I know it’s getting late. I just spoke with Jake. May I come back in and explain about Reid?”
“You’ll need to wait a minute. I have to deactivate the alarm system.”
Hearing the exchange over the speaker at the gate, Kareem said, “Get ready!”
“For what?” asked one of the men from the backseat.
“Change of plans. As soon as Tommy pulls forward we move.”
“This was not the plan,” said the man in the backseat as he looked to the others.
“It is now! Take out the security cameras as we rehearsed. Everybody gear up! Now!” said Kareem, handing latex gloves to his four passengers.
He reached into the backseat and grabbed an aluminum baseball bat he kept behind the driver’s seat. It served as a convenient legal weapon that wouldn’t be questioned by the police if he was pulled over. He handed it to the shortest of the three men in the backseat. “Jam this between the brace and the gate after it swings open.”
As Tommy’s Lexus cleared the gate and headed down the driveway, the Honda Pilot pulled in a few seconds behind. Inside the SUV, everyone was wearing black cotton balaclavas, the preferred attire of terrorists and thugs. The masks had holes for only the mouth and eyes, covering the head and neck.
Two of the men jumped from the backseat of the vehicle. One fired paintball pellets at the overhead camera focused on the front gate. The balls splattered and within seconds an opaque film covered the lens, obscuring visibility. The other man jammed the metal baseball bat into the gate’s hinges, preventing it from closing.
Kareem drove through the open portal, stopping long enough to pick up his two co-conspirators, then slowly made his way up the driveway after giving Tommy enough time to enter the residence.
From the driveway the occupants of the SUV saw lights come on in what Candy had told them was Park’s first-floor office. Kareem turned to the others and said quietly, “We go now.”
CHAPTER FORTY
As the team exited the Pilot, the men maneuvered with military precision toward the door. Using a heavy steel handheld battering ram, two men instantly destroyed the lock. As the door burst open, the third terrorist tossed a flash-bang grenade, designed to stun anyone within ten yards of the detonation. The bold flash of light essentially blinded an individual for five seconds while the loud blast deafened and incapacitated those in the room.
The grenade performed as advertised — momentarily disorienting everyone on the ground floor of Park’s residence with a thunderous explosion.
Kareem was the first to enter and looked left, his AK-47 in a combat-ready position. The security guard stumbled through the open door of his office located exactly as Candy detailed. From just a few feet away, Kareem fired a burst of five rounds, all striking the intended target.
The raiding party moved quickly, clearing the living room. Two of the men and Candy moved down the long hallway to the bedroom seeking Jenny and the child. Kareem and the other terrorist headed toward Park’s office. Pale smoke from the flash-bang and gunfire permeated the room and the smell of the pyrotechnic metal oxide mix hung in the air.
Park raced to the antique oak desk in his study and ducked down behind the heavy piece of furniture. Tommy followed, squatting next to Park.
“Do you have a gun?” asked Tommy.
“It’s in the safe,” said Park, pointing to a large oil painting on the far wall concealing a safe.
Before Tommy could mount a counterattack, the masked intruders kicked in the door to the study and Kareem rolled a second flash-bang into the room.
Tommy, not knowing the lethality of the device, threw himself on Park in an attempt to shield his boss. Though the flash-bang was far from deadly unless it detonated next to someone’s head, Tommy’s act of loyalty to his criminal mentor was the stuff of underworld legend.
The grenade’s concussion filled the room with noise and smoke. Two invaders rushed forward, circling the desk, with Kareem shouting in English for the two men to surrender. As Tommy moved to his left off Park, there was a moment of hesitation as he tried to recall where he had previously heard the voice of the lead gunman.
Adrenaline is a survival aid. It prompted Tommy to jump up from the floor and grapple with the nearest attacker, wrestling him to the ground. With a stranglehold around the Middle Eastern intruder’s neck, Tommy viciously bit the man’s ear, a pathetic shriek evidencing the pain, both men now struggling to survive.