Jack pulled over and parked the van a short distance away from the gate to Damien’s house. He put his balaclava back on and removed the tape from Silent Sam.
“I left a walkie-talkie with your two buddies back at the locker. It’s short range so the cops can’t pick it up. Tell Damien to go and get the walkie-talkie. When he does, he’ll receive a personal message. He’ll also be told how to defuse the bombs. If he doesn’t show up in exactly ninety minutes, your two friends become hamburger.”
Silent Sam hurried toward Damien’s house as Jack drove away.
Danny’s earphone crackled a few minutes later and he whispered a reply. “Yeah, Curly and Moe are still sweating it out. Both look like they took a dip in my pool. You deliver Larry?”
“It’s done. Wish I was a fly on a wall when he explains this.”
Jack parked the van in a prearranged spot and quickly got in his own car, drove back, and parked a few blocks away from the storage lockers. He walked the remaining distance.
Danny smiled and gave Jack the thumbs-up sign when he quietly entered their unit.
Damien used the full ninety-minute allotment before he showed. When he did, he had Lance, Rellik, and Silent Sam with him.
“Damn it, our friend is with them,” whispered Danny.
“I was afraid he might show up,” replied Jack. “Try and disguise your voice, but if it doesn’t work, we’ll have to come clean with him later.”
Rellik was first to gingerly open the side door and peek inside. “Jesus fuck! I don’t believe it!” He pushed the door all the way open and gestured to the rest of the group that it was okay to enter.
Jack suppressed a snicker when he saw Damien look at the tire tracks leading to the empty place the van had been parked, then at his two men sitting on plastic pails.
Damien shook his head in disgust as he walked over to Dragon’s pail. The holes holding the sticks were large enough that Damien was able to peer inside and see that the springs were tied to the sticks with pieces of wire.
“Who’s there?” Dragon nervously asked.
“I’ll tell you who’s here!” roared Damien, grabbing Dragon by the front of his shirt and jerking him off the pail.
Jack looked at Danny and whispered, “Get ready.”
Danny quietly got in the car and picked up the walkie-talkie while a din could still be heard coming from the unit next door.
Jack watched as Lance peeled the tape off Pan-Head, who held his jaw and moaned. Dragon was freed next as Damien picked up the walkie-talkie, then paced back and forth, angrily stating that he could not believe this.
Danny waited for Jack’s signal. He wished Jack would use the walkie-talkie but agreed that Damien might recognize his voice. He saw Jack wave to him and squeezed the transmit button and said, “Damien, are you there? Anyone copy?”
“Yeah, this is Damien! Who am I talking to?”
“One of the people who relieved you of something heavy.”
“You think you can get away with this?”
“Please don’t interrupt. It’s not as bad as you think. We’re willing to sell it back to you if you are interested.”
Damien lowered the walkie-talkie and looked at his men. “Whoever ripped us wants to sell it back to us! Our own fucking coke!”
His walkie-talkie spoke again: “As a gesture of good faith, I’ve left a kilo under each pail. You can check to see that I am sincere and honest.”
“Honest!” yelled Damien, gripping the transmit button. He took a couple of deep breaths, then said, “Just a minute,” and released the button. Seconds later, Damien picked up one of the kilos of cocaine.
“So,” crackled the voice that Damien so badly wanted to identify, “I’ll give you a sale price — $10 million. I’ll be in touch soon.”
“How? When will you contact me?” asked Damien. There was no response.
Damien’s face was menacing as he gripped the kilo in one hand and looked at Rellik and said, “Whoever did this is dead! These fucking guys think they can rip us off and then sell it back to us! They are fucking dead!”
He looked at Lance and said, “Who fucked us? Who knew about the stash?”
Lance swallowed, then said, “Just me and Silent Sam. Dragon and Pan-Head weren’t supposed to know until tonight.”
Silence descended as Damien looked around the room — as did everyone else.
“Who fucked us?” said Damien. “Who is responsible?”
“They wore masks,” said Dragon. “We couldn’t see who it was. Then they duct-taped us all.”
“That’s right,” said Silent Sam. “We didn’t have time to grab our pieces. Once we were taped we were screwed.”
Damien stared back at his men. One face revealed the guilty party. He turned to Rellik and gave a subtle nod of his head to indicate who was responsible.
Rellik looked at Silent Sam. At first he was confused by what Damien meant. Then he glanced at Pan-Head’s and Dragon’s red-speckled faces. The answer to who was behind this was as plain as the nose on Silent Sam’s face.
Silent Sam subconsciously put his hand up to his face. It dawned on him why his tape had not felt sticky.
Danny stepped up to the viewer with Jack just in time to see Silent Sam make a dash for the door.
The blast from Rellik’s pistol echoed like a cannon inside the room.
Silent Sam would remain forever silent. “Damn it, Rellik!” said Damien. “You shouldn’t have killed him until we found out who he was working for. Couldn’t you have just capped one in his ass?”
“Sorry, boss. Thought that’s what you meant,” replied Rellik, looking embarrassed.
“Clean it up!” Damien looked at Lance and said, “Come on. We’re out of here.”
Jack heard Danny’s breath coming in pants and saw that his mouth was opened wide, while his eyes stared at the cement wall in front of him.
“What is it?” whispered Jack. “You okay?”
Danny blinked his eyes a couple of times, then said, “We committed murder.”
“What did you think was going to happen? That he’d be asked to leave the club?”
“Jack ... his brains are oozing out onto the floor.” He gave Jack a glazed look and added, “Doesn’t this bother you?”
“Not really. I’m glad this worked. Don’t look at it as killing him. Look at it as saving our friend.”
Danny shook his head and said, “I don’t think I can handle any more of this shit.”
“You’ve handled it before.”
“As I said, I’m still having nightmares. This won’t help.”
“Danny, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize this would bother you that much.”
“Well it sure as hell does!”
“Keep your voice down,” said Jack, glancing quickly at the monitor. He looked at Danny and said, “I couldn’t figure out any other way to pull this off, but I’m done now. Tomorrow I’ll look after the dope. On Thursday I’ll show Damien the evidence. If I hadn’t owed him, he’d be looking at spending the rest of his life in jail for this. The deal between him and me is over.”
“You think Damien will see it that way after what we did?”
“Why not? We seized the dope and have proof of his involvement. It might be considered a little dirty, but...”
“A little dirty?”
“This business is. If I hadn’t owed him, I would have done the same thing, except he would be in cuffs right now.”
“And Silent Sam? How would that have looked in court?”
“If you fly with the crows, expect to get shot at.”
“That’s what you would tell a judge — or a homicide investigator?”
“Guess it would be better if I said ‘Gosh, I just thought they would ask him to resign.’”
chapter fourteen
It was five in the morning when Jack stopped watching the monitor and went to nudge Danny, who was sitting in the car.