Eight

Latanzio had given up the notion he was going to go free and escape with Angelina.  Amy had made it very clear that her father, Benito, wanted him dead, and because he had nowhere to go, least of all with Angelina, and even less likely with Gabrielle, it might force him into a corner, or unlikely as it appeared, he might make a mistake.

He hadn’t denied the fact he’d tried to kill me or seem concerned that Amy had referred to me as a very dangerous character.  Latanzio didn’t get where he was in the crime business by being scared.  He was going to be all bluster, until he worked out what was really going on, and then he would become dangerous.

But, when given a choice between the two women in his life, the fact he chose Gabrielle over Angelina said a lot.  She had been circumspect from the beginning when Amy took her into ‘protective custody’.  She was smarter than Angelina, she had to be, given what Angelina’s father would do to her if he found out.

It was time for him to be taken to Gabrielle and explain what was happening.  Amy had implied, in her discussion with Gabrielle, that his facilitated escape and subsequent survival was not assured, hinting that her employers were not happy with him over his most recent mistake in killing a witness.

I was back in front of the monitors, this time to see Fabio with Gabrielle. Amy had joined me in the control room and sat in the chair next to me.

“Ready to see some sparks fly,” she asked.

“How so?”

“We sat her down and laid the whole scenario out on the table, Fabio’s marriage, his role in the death of a rival, the planned attack on you, and the fact your people are actively seeking vengeance, and that we can’t hold you for longer than 24 hours before we have to hand him over, a time that expires in about an hour.  She also knows, in no uncertain terms, that Benito wants him dead, and that most likely will include her.”

“So not to put any pressure on him, then?”

“His options are extremely limited, and he knows it.  He can go to jail or Benito will get him.  He can go on the run, but Angelina won’t go with him.  If truth be told, she’ll probably kill him before he gets out of here.  And as for what he’s going to do about Gabrielle, that we’re about to find out.”

We watched him be escorted down the narrow passage.   A door at the end of the passage opened, and he was thrust in.  On a second monitor, in the room, we saw him stagger in and the door closed behind him. 

Gabrielle was not pleased to see him, but, unlike Angelina, she was a little more reserved in her responses, thinking, or knowing, they were at the very least wired for sound.

It seemed to me he was more in tune with Gabrielle than with Angelina. Perhaps Gabrielle came without baggage.

Gabrielle was the first to speak.  “That bitch in charge doesn’t like you, but then neither does your wife’s father.  Not a man to be crossed, Fabio, and yet you were dumb enough to do so.”

“She means nothing to me.  The old man always treated me like I was dirt.”

“And this man you killed?”

“I didn’t kill anyone.”

She frowned at him.  “You don’t lie to me, remember.  I know you have for some time now, but this thing, I need to know.  You kill him or not?”

I looked sideways at Amy.  “You ask her to ask him?”

“I did, but she told me in no uncertain terms what to do with myself.  But it seems it sowed some doubt, she’s curious herself now.”

Fabio sat down on the side of the bed and looked over at the boy lying facing the wall on a camp stretcher.  He’d looked when Fabio entered the room, but then went back to his book.

Fabio shrugged.  “It was an accident.  The fool drew a gun on me and in the wrestle, it went off and he died.  I swear that wasn’t my intention to kill him, just make him see sense.”

There could be a shred of truth in that statement, if they had wrestled for the gun, but they didn’t.  One of Fabio’s goons had disarmed him, then when he stepped away, Fabio shot him.  The goon had been horrified.  It was not what was expected of him.

She shook her head.  “That better be the truth of it, Fabio, or I’ll kill you myself.  What was the deal with the witness?”

“It has to be a fabrication, a ruse to try and convict me, but there was no witness.  I asked the boys to find this character to have a talk, but they discovered he was being held in a secret location, one they could find out about.  Now there’s suddenly all this nonsense they’re using as an excuse to hunt me down.”

“But you wanted to find him.  Why?  For him to tell the police your version of the truth?”

He was like a man bailing out a sinking ship, and not making any progress as it sank lower and lower in the water.  Gabrielle was the alligator in the water, circling, waiting.

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“Actually, it does.  I’m told he survived, and he’s now looking for you.  And that means if he’s coming after you, and I’m with you, he’s also coming after me and my son.  So, here’s the deal. You want to leave here with me, you need to square away the witness, sort out the bitch from hell, and get Benito’s contract off your head.  Think you can do that?”

Tall order, with odds ranging from impossible all the way up to needing a miracle.

“Perhaps we should just take him to Benito’s house and drop him off,” Amy said.

Her attitude towards Fabio had changed from the moment Fabio had sent in a hit team.  Once she might have seen matters from a goodness and light perspective, but now, I don’t think Fabio was her list of best friends.  Not after trying to kill us, and succeeding with other members of her team.

“Or give me five minutes in a locked room with him.  I’m sure I could drum some sense into him,” I said.

She looked sideways at me, then shook her head.  “That’s not how we do things.”

I shrugged.  “It could be.  You’ve broken more rules and laws today that you’ve probably done in a lifetime.  What were you expecting to get out of this?”

I waved my hand at the screens.  What she was doing, it didn’t really make much sense.  Fabio wasn’t going to confess, and with Benito on his case, all he could do was run.  Or try to make peace with him, and give up the mistress.

“A confession.”

“Won’t happen, and I think you know it.”

Her turn to shrug.  “We’ll see.”

…

©  Charles Heath 2024

Seven

Watching the body language of both husband and wife, it was hard to tell who was in charge, but if I had to make a guess, Angelina was in front by a nose.

Who had the most clout in that room, that was Angelina, via her father, Benito?  He might have retired and passed the reins onto his eldest son, but in terms of respect, he had it from all the crime families and syndicates, and was, for all intents and purposes, still a force to be reckoned with.

That was even after he and his eldest son, the heir apparent, decided to go straight.  It was a surprising turn of events for a crime family that had been notorious in its heyday.  Now the family were more involved in banks, shopping malls, casinos, and bearer bonds.

As for their illegal activities, those were shared out among the other three major crime syndicates equally so as to avoid a turf war. It also led to the marriage of convenience between Fabio Latanzio and Benito’s eldest daughter Angelina, mutually profitable for both sides.

At that time, Fabio had just been promoted to understudy his father, the heir apparent for that syndicate.  Fabio was ambitious but respectful, until his father was killed in a suspected hit, which led to a few months of tit for tat killings until Benito brokered an uneasy peace.

That meant Fabio became head of the family, and instead of sitting back and letting others do the work for him, he chose to be hands on.  And three suspicious murders later this he had privately said was to avenge the death of his father, here he was, on the brink of a long jail sentence. 

And the fact that he had allowed himself to be broken free of custody was a tell take sign that he knew he was both guilty of the crime, and that he was looking at a long sentence in jail.

Then there was the other undeniable fact, he had sent in a team to kill me.  If he was innocent, why would he bother?

Amy had been watching the family reunion with interest. She too, saw the signs of a rift which she could use against him.

She sat down when they went onto silence each on a separate side of the room, the air between them could be cut with a knife.  Benito, no doubt would be very angry at the turn of events, and of Fabio’s behaviour.  It was common knowledge that Benito thought him too big for his boots.

“Happy families, eh,” I said.

“That’s the trouble with absolute power, you tend to think after a while that you are untouchable.  He’s about to find just how wrong he is.  And, if we’re lucky we might yet get to find out who his high-level police contact is.”

That of course was something else I learned very quickly that a few, a very few cops were corrupt, and one in particular, the one that ratted me out.

It was a bit of a shock to discover that your safety really couldn’t be guaranteed, particularly when a high-profile criminal was involved, like Latanzio.

It was a can of worms she really didn’t want to open, but those who had helped Fabio stay free as long as he had, it was her intention to find out who it was and make sure they were punished.

It was determination I had seen only intensify since the attacking the hotel, and an escape after seeing several colleagues either killed or injured.

To me, sitting there watching the man who had ordered a hit on me and very nearly succeeded, and being able to observe the whole operation around his capture was, to say the least, fascinating.

It would be interesting to see how Latanzio reacted.

The least expected reaction was a steady pounding on the door, accompanied by yelling, Latanzio wanted to speak to the person in charge.

We watched him for a few minutes, and it looked like Amy wanted him angry, very angry, before she had him taken to an interview room.

She was expecting trouble, because he was not cuffed now, with two men collecting him, and two in the shadows with instructions to shoot a tranquilizer dart into him if he misbehaved.

The passageway was also set up so we could watch him, and there was definite proof he was seriously considering tackling the escort and making a break for it.  Amy could see the signs, but watching his escort, there were very aware of what he might do.

But in the end, he didn’t try to escape.

Not yet.

He was sent into the room, one guard outside, the other inside the door.  He kept what looked like a truncheon visible so the Latanzio would think twice about considering his odds against one rather than two.

For me, I might get past the first but not the second.  Any sensible person could see the odds stacked against them.

Amy stood up.  “Time to have a first pass at him.  Wish me luck.”

She didn’t need luck.  So far her plan was working.

Two minutes, perhaps three, passed before I saw her enter the room.  Latanzio has stopped pacing and had finally sat.  I could see him evaluation the possibility of using her as leverage to escape.

Whatever happened, the guards were instructed to kill him, irrespective of hostages.  It was a hard call, but everyone in the team chose to be there.

She sat but did not speak.  It was up to him to make the first move.

It didn’t take long.

“Just what exactly is going on here?  Who organised this?”

She took a moment to look him up and down, the sort of look that could make another, more ordinary person, squirm.  Latanzio was unmoved.

“The who, as I said before, is irrelevant.  The what is because we are putting the rest of your journey together, and it’s taking some time.  With one person it’s easy, with four it is more difficult.”

“Then forget about the family.  They’re safe.  No one will dare touch them.  I should be your most pressing case.”

Interesting that, if politely put, the rat thinks only of himself.

“You should realise that your wife and children will suffer the consequences of your actions if you leave them behind, so according to my instructions, you all go, or no one goes.”

“What does that mean?”

I thought it was obvious, but I was beginning to think Latanzio was not as clever as I thought he was.

“You don’t want to find out.”

“Is Benito behind this?  This smells like something he would do. More about saving his daughter than worrying about me.  He needs me.”

From what Amy’s sources had learned in the last few hours, the opposite was true.  Benito had put a contract out on him.  It hadn’t helped Fabio’s cause that she had leaked the fact Fabio was cheating on his daughter.

“Not since he was told about Gabrielle.  It is why we had to bring her in, too.  So, Benito is not your benefactor, he had, in fact, put a contract out on your head.  You should be thankful we got you out of jail, or you’d be dead by now.”

I could see his mind working, taking in what she had just told him and processing it.

Amy decided to add another variable.  “You have to decide who you want to go with you, Angelina or Gabrielle.  It can’t be both.”

There were a few seconds delay like a conversation being conducted from the earth to the moon

The he said, ” What will happen to those left behind?”

“I’m sure you know exactly what will happen.  The problem is, if you hadn’t shot that fool in the street in front of a witness, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“That witness is dead.  There is no witness.”

She shook her head.  ” No, Mr Latanzio, he is not dead.  You had to take on a very resourceful man, not your average Joe, nor by a long shot.  Special forces, or marines, or something I’m told, and he hasn’t taken it very well that you sent in a team to kill him.  It’s another mess were going to have to clean up.  All in all, you were given a simple job to do, and instead, let your ego and stupidity get us to this point.  You should realise my first instruction was to get you out and then put a bullet in your head.  I might still do it.  My people have been instructed to shoot you if you try anything.  That also means if you die, so does Angelina, Gabrielle, and your children.  My instructions are very clear.”

She stood, signalling the interview was at an end.

“You now have to make a decision.  Who would you like to see now?”

“Gabrielle.”

Angelina was going to be very impressed with her husband when Amy told her.

…

©  Charles Heath 2024

Six

Given the time we had from getting off the helicopter and the pickup of Latanzio, Amy had managed to collect his wife Angelina and her two children, and Gianna and her son, Latanzio’s mistress whom very few knew about.

It transpired Amy’s people had only discovered the mistress by accident during a surveillance mix-up.  It was, in Amy’s opinion, pure gold if it came to needing leverage, though she didn’t say what she might need leverage for.

Both were kept in separate rooms in different parts of the underground complex, each with their own guards.

And, what’s more, the wife had no idea her husband had a mistress, and even though she doubted his fidelity, it was not something a woman in her position could talk to anyone about because there was no knowing who she could trust, or whether it would get back to her husband with disastrous consequences.

Trust in anyone when being married to such a man, was non-existent.  To a degree, I felt sorry for her, though she had to know what she was getting into because he’d been a part of the family crime business from a very early age.  And, for that matter, so had she, but in her case of my was unfortunate in that she had very little chance of picking who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

It seemed that being a Latanzio caused a great deal of grief for anyone who knew him or got in his way.

Both rooms were set up with CCTV cameras, and we were recording everything.  Amy wasn’t expecting much from their conversation, if there was any, as it was well known that Angelina was kept out of the loop deliberately.

As I sat in front of the monitors, set up in a room well away from the holding rooms, I could see Amy over on one side talking earnestly to a man I had not seen before, but the suit told me he was some sort of law enforcement, perhaps a superior and they were planning the next move

I slipped on the headphones at just the right moment, Latanzio being escorted into the room where Angelina was being kept.

She watched him come in, the door closed, but I could see him gesture for her not to speak. 

In a few seconds, he had summed up the room, the two cots provided for the children who were asleep, a state Amy had arranged to spare them the memories of being there, and then a glance at his wife which didn’t spark much of a reaction.

There was still a degree of residual anger in his manner, still trying to come to grips with the manner of how this escape was being run.

The lack of any outside communication. Or news on what was happening might become a concern at some point so it would be interesting how Amy handled it.

I had seen the surveillance reports and it seemed that for a married couple, they spent a lot of time apart, but that was mainly due to the fact she had insisted he not bring his work home, and that gave her plausible deniability.

And, because of that position, there was no surprise it had led to the affair.  Although Angelina had not mentioned it to anyone, whether she knew about it or not, there was no doubt in my mind she did but may have not known who it was.

When she did, it was going to be a very interesting few minutes.

He knew the room was bugged, but may not necessarily suspect he was on CCTV given the time frame in getting this together.  Perhaps he had been looking for obvious cameras as he came in, and during the time the guards removed the cuffs and shackles and saw none.

I hadn’t either until she showed me.

Not even a close inspection would find any cameras, but there were several obvious points where microphones were placed so he’d find them, enough that after he had discovered them, he would believe the room was clean.

As with most parts of the underground complex, it had been made over by a team of very experienced set decorators.  I had seen the before and the after and it was difficult to believe it was the same place.

I watched him systematically search and find four devices, and after the last, the triumphant expression.

“So, why am I here?” Angelina asked after he had finished his search.

“I was told that we would be removed to a safe location “

“But you don’t think so?”

“This whole operation doesn’t feel right.  If Benny had arranged this,  we would not be languishing in a dump like this.”

“Who then?”

“Either one of the Carmichaels or the cops.”

“Why would the cops kidnap you?  They already had you in custody.”

He didn’t answer, but I could see he was weighing the possibilities, and in his position, given he hadn’t been executed, which by my understanding of the rivalry between the two families, the only option if they had been responsible for his liberation.

So that left his own people or in his mind, the police.  It seemed to me if it had been his brother, another of our guests, he would not be languishing in that small room, and Benny would be there to greet him.

I wondered briefly whether we had been too clever.

From what I understood of the operation, no one knew what we had been planning and then executed it, and outside the world we had created, all hell was breaking loose.  It had to be done this way for realism and having a legitimate reason to scoop up all of the necessary parties associated with him, operations that would have failed without the right background.

To every media outlet, he had been taken in a daring raid on the prison transfer convoy. That in itself had been a carefully staged scene, right down to the last detail including ambulances for the injured guards.  But it wouldn’t take long before questions would be asked.

But, for now, he was the subject of a city-wide manhunt, and it was also noted that both his brother and his family were also missing, and the Carmichaels were top of the police department list of suspects.

“Frankly,” he said, I have no idea what’s going on, but if this is Benny’s doing, he’s not doing a very good job of it.  We should be a long way away from here.”

“You might think so, but I’d say we’re lucky we’re still alive.  Do you have any idea what’s going on outside?  Did you ever consider that it’s your actions that have brought this on?  Benny told me you killed someone, which can’t be true because you promised me you would not be like your father.”

“I’m nothing like my father, and you don’t want to believe everything Benny tells you.”

“This isn’t the first time, is it?  I told you I didn’t want to know about your business, and I trusted you to keep your word.  Trust, I’m afraid, that was misplaced.  I listened to your lies when the police accused you of murdering some rival not wanting to believe it was true, and now, on top of that, the police say you’ve either kidnapped or killed some guy who witnessed that murder.  I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt, now it’s time to tell me the truth.”

“It a frame-up.  The cops have been accusing me of everything they can’t solve, and none of it’s true.  I swear.  But this isn’t the time or the place to be talking about such matters.”

“No, perhaps not.  But tell me this, if you’ve got Benny to break you out of custody, that doesn’t strike me as the actions of an innocent man.  An innocent man would stay and take his chances in a court of law.”

“A court of law that’s stacked against me.  All they have is circumstantial evidence.  All they’ve ever had is circumstantial evidence.”

“Because all the so-called witnesses either disappear, recant their testimony, or turn up dead.  This has to end, if only for the children’s sake.”

Angelina, then, was no fool.  She knew exactly who it was she married, and I suspect she had, until now, overlooked the lies.  And in saying what she had, she was taking a very big risk.

“Like I said, this is neither the time or the place to be discussing such matters, so you will stop talking or there will be consequences.”

Even from where I was viewing the discussion, and in particular Angelina, I could plainly see he had hit a raw nerve.

I felt a hand on the back of my chair and looked up.  Amy had returned and was looking at the monitor.   She had put on the other headphones but left one ear uncovered.

I did the same. 

“What have I missed,”

“A joyous reunion, not.  I think Angelina is about to wring a confession of sorts out of the bastard.”

We both went back to the screen.

“Is that a threat, Tony?” 

Her voice had changed, not the sound of a wife who was disappointed, or was tired of her husband’s lies.  This was different.

“What do you mean?  No.  I wouldn’t threaten you, or anyone.”  Slightly apologetic. 

There was a change in the atmosphere in that room, and he had lost some of that bravado.

“Then you’d better remember that.  When we get out of here, you will be having a discussion with my father.  He had been taking a keen interest in your recent activities, and he tells me you have been indiscreet.  He wouldn’t tell me what it’s about, but I will find out, and you better not have broken your promise.”

With that, the conversation was over.  Perhaps there was more to Angelina than I first thought.

…

©  Charles Heath  2024

Five

The main door to the warehouse opened and we drove in. 

The look on Latanzio’s face was one of surprise, but also knowing.  He didn’t say anything yet.

Once inside and the roller door lowered, gradually immersing us into a murky half-darkness, the van stopped.  I thought I heard a collective sigh of relief just before everyone started to move.

Latanzio’s chains connecting his feet, and the one from his feet to his hands were removed, but not the cuffs and I dragged him out of the van, closing the door with an emphatic bang reverberating in the empty space.

The whole operation took just over a minute.  The guards got back in the van without saying a word, their role over.  Just as the engine started the door started going back up, and before it reached the top they had driven out and roared off.  I waited until the door had closed again.

That was when he spoke for the first time.  “You can remove the cuffs now.”  I had deliberately left the hand cuffs on, and although it limited his movements, he had an opportunity to escape, if he wanted to get shot in the back, because if he tried I would have no hesitation in shooting him.

I hadn’t seen anyone else about when we first arrived, but then, up on the mezzanine I could just see several guards with rifles stationed in the shadows.  If anyone had tried to force their way in behind us, they would not have lasted very long.

I didn’t speak, just dragged him up the passage towards the room where I thought Amy would be waiting.

He stopped, once, halfway up the passage, and tried to shrug me off.  “What the hell is going on here.  Where are my people?”

I gave him what I thought was one of my death stares before saying, rather savagely, “We can do this the hard way or the easy way.  The hard way, I shoot you and drag you up the passage.  One way or the other we’ll get to our destination.  It’s up to you how you arrive.”

“Just who the hell are you?”

“If you keep talking, maybe the last person you’ll see alive.  Move.  Now.”

He was wise enough not to argue just then.  He had been liberated from police custody, he had to accept for the moment it was best to follow instructions, something I guess he wasn’t used to.

We went through the large steel-clad door that separated the building we arrived in with the one next door.  If anyone came looking for us, they would only get as far as a door that would be locked on the other side and look as though it hadn’t been opened since the dawn of time. 

As soon as I slammed it shut and rammed home the bolts, a team on the other side were doing their job as set decorators.

They didn’t have very long, perhaps 10 minutes, 20 at most before everyone discovered Latanzio was missing.

As soon as we were on the other side, Amy appeared with a gun in hand.  It was not aimed at him but held loosely at her side.  A room had been set up as a sound studio, and we had four cameras on us, recording everything.

“Who are you?” Latanzio asked her abruptly.

“The person who orchestrated your escape from custody.  You don’t look very grateful though?”

“Believe me I am, except for this bozo.  Where did you find him?  And how about taking off these cuffs?”

We were in a large room, where Amy had put a chair in the middle.  On the opposite side to where we were standing there was another door.  That led to several other rooms where Amy said there were surprise guests waiting.

“First, you have to sit down.  We have a few issues to sort out.”

He looked confused, but again, he was free, so it was probably a small inconvenience.  After all, he had a lot of money that could smooth over any problem.  Or so he believed.

He sat.

There were two other chairs for both Amy and I, and we sat down opposite him.

He started.  “Whatever the problem is, I’m sure we can sort it out.  What is it you want?”

“Money.  And a lot of it.  It isn’t going to be cheap getting you and your family to a safe haven.”

“Who said I wanted to leave.  I can beat this rap.  You heard the news; this so-called witness is missing.  That means he’s either dead or didn’t exist in the first place.  Either way, the DA’s got nothing.”

All true, if the witness was missing.  And still he was not giving anything away.

“Then the question remains, why did a squad of anonymous men hit the hotel where alleged witness was staying, if you are saying there isn’t one?”

“I know nothing about that.  What other people do, and their reasons for doing so, is their business, not mine.”

“Then why were we asked to break you out if you’re not guilty and can beat this charge.  Seems logical, on what you’re saying, we should take you back.  I’ve haven’t been paid yet, and this seems to be a colossal waste of my time.  I need to have a discussion.”

She stood and started walking towards the other door.

“Who are you going to talk to if not me.”

She stopped and partially turned.

“You are just the subject; my business is with the people who employed me to free you.”

“Who are they?”

“Oddly enough, I don’t really know, and for that matter, I don’t really care.  But what I am sure of, it’s none of your business.”

I saw her motion to someone lurking in the shadows, and not one but two men came out into the open where we could see them.  Armed with shotguns and surly expressions.

“Take him and put him in the room with his wife and children.”

“Angelina is here?” he said, somewhat surprised.

“Yes.  Any your mistress, Gianna. It’s going to be interesting if they meet.”

He looked at me just as the two men arrived, each standing on one side of him.

“What the hell is going on here?  This is not what I asked for.  I was supposed to be rescued and taken to a safehouse.  There were no orders involving family or anyone else.”  There was just a slight note of fear in hos tone.

Amy had said that if Angelina’s father had found out he was having an affair, he was as good as a dead man.  Her father took marriage very seriously.

It was clear Latanzio didn’t.

I shrugged.  “I just do as I’m told.  Best not to annoy her.  She has a really bad temper, and I don’t think she likes you.”

I nodded, and the two men took him away.

Phase one was complete; put the fear God into him.

Five

The main door to the warehouse opened and we drove in. 

The look on Latanzio’s face was one of surprise, but also knowing.  He didn’t say anything yet.

Once inside and the roller door lowered, gradually immersing us into a murky half-darkness, the van stopped.  I thought I heard a collective sigh of relief just before everyone started to move.

Latanzio’s chains connecting his feet, and the one from his feet to his hands were removed, but not the cuffs and I dragged him out of the van, closing the door with an emphatic bang reverberating in the empty space.

The whole operation took just over a minute.  The guards got back in the van without saying a word, their role over.  Just as the engine started the door started going back up, and before it reached the top they had driven out and roared off.  I waited until the door had closed again.

That was when he spoke for the first time.  “You can remove the cuffs now.”  I had deliberately left the hand cuffs on, and although it limited his movements, he had an opportunity to escape, if he wanted to get shot in the back, because if he tried I would have no hesitation in shooting him.

I hadn’t seen anyone else about when we first arrived, but then, up on the mezzanine I could just see several guards with rifles stationed in the shadows.  If anyone had tried to force their way in behind us, they would not have lasted very long.

I didn’t speak, just dragged him up the passage towards the room where I thought Amy would be waiting.

He stopped, once, halfway up the passage, and tried to shrug me off.  “What the hell is going on here.  Where are my people?”

I gave him what I thought was one of my death stares before saying, rather savagely, “We can do this the hard way or the easy way.  The hard way, I shoot you and drag you up the passage.  One way or the other we’ll get to our destination.  It’s up to you how you arrive.”

“Just who the hell are you?”

“If you keep talking, maybe the last person you’ll see alive.  Move.  Now.”

He was wise enough not to argue just then.  He had been liberated from police custody, he had to accept for the moment it was best to follow instructions, something I guess he wasn’t used to.

We went through the large steel-clad door that separated the building we arrived in with the one next door.  If anyone came looking for us, they would only get as far as a door that would be locked on the other side and look as though it hadn’t been opened since the dawn of time. 

As soon as I slammed it shut and rammed home the bolts, a team on the other side were doing their job as set decorators.

They didn’t have very long, perhaps 10 minutes, 20 at most before everyone discovered Latanzio was missing.

As soon as we were on the other side, Amy appeared with a gun in hand.  It was not aimed at him but held loosely at her side.  A room had been set up as a sound studio, and we had four cameras on us, recording everything.

“Who are you?” Latanzio asked her abruptly.

“The person who orchestrated your escape from custody.  You don’t look very grateful though?”

“Believe me I am, except for this bozo.  Where did you find him?  And how about taking off these cuffs?”

We were in a large room, where Amy had put a chair in the middle.  On the opposite side to where we were standing there was another door.  That led to several other rooms where Amy said there were surprise guests waiting.

“First, you have to sit down.  We have a few issues to sort out.”

He looked confused, but again, he was free, so it was probably a small inconvenience.  After all, he had a lot of money that could smooth over any problem.  Or so he believed.

He sat.

There were two other chairs for both Amy and I, and we sat down opposite him.

He started.  “Whatever the problem is, I’m sure we can sort it out.  What is it you want?”

“Money.  And a lot of it.  It isn’t going to be cheap getting you and your family to a safe haven.”

“Who said I wanted to leave.  I can beat this rap.  You heard the news; this so-called witness is missing.  That means he’s either dead or didn’t exist in the first place.  Either way, the DA’s got nothing.”

All true, if the witness was missing.  And still he was not giving anything away.

“Then the question remains, why did a squad of anonymous men hit the hotel where alleged witness was staying, if you are saying there isn’t one?”

“I know nothing about that.  What other people do, and their reasons for doing so, is their business, not mine.”

“Then why were we asked to break you out if you’re not guilty and can beat this charge.  Seems logical, on what you’re saying, we should take you back.  I’ve haven’t been paid yet, and this seems to be a colossal waste of my time.  I need to have a discussion.”

She stood and started walking towards the other door.

“Who are you going to talk to if not me.”

She stopped and partially turned.

“You are just the subject; my business is with the people who employed me to free you.”

“Who are they?”

“Oddly enough, I don’t really know, and for that matter, I don’t really care.  But what I am sure of, it’s none of your business.”

I saw her motion to someone lurking in the shadows, and not one but two men came out into the open where we could see them.  Armed with shotguns and surly expressions.

“Take him and put him in the room with his wife and children.”

“Angelina is here?” he said, somewhat surprised.

“Yes.  Any your mistress, Gianna. It’s going to be interesting if they meet.”

He looked at me just as the two men arrived, each standing on one side of him.

“What the hell is going on here?  This is not what I asked for.  I was supposed to be rescued and taken to a safehouse.  There were no orders involving family or anyone else.”  There was just a slight note of fear in hos tone.

Amy had said that if Angelina’s father had found out he was having an affair, he was as good as a dead man.  Her father took marriage very seriously.

It was clear Latanzio didn’t.

I shrugged.  “I just do as I’m told.  Best not to annoy her.  She has a really bad temper, and I don’t think she likes you.”

I nodded, and the two men took him away.

Phase one was complete; put the fear God into him.

Five

The main door to the warehouse opened and we drove in. 

The look on Latanzio’s face was one of surprise, but also knowing.  He didn’t say anything yet.

Once inside and the roller door lowered, gradually immersing us into a murky half-darkness, the van stopped.  I thought I heard a collective sigh of relief just before everyone started to move.

Latanzio’s chains connecting his feet, and the one from his feet to his hands were removed, but not the cuffs and I dragged him out of the van, closing the door with an emphatic bang reverberating in the empty space.

The whole operation took just over a minute.  The guards got back in the van without saying a word, their role over.  Just as the engine started the door started going back up, and before it reached the top they had driven out and roared off.  I waited until the door had closed again.

That was when he spoke for the first time.  “You can remove the cuffs now.”  I had deliberately left the handcuffs on, and although it limited his movements, he had an opportunity to escape, if he wanted to get shot in the back, because if he tried I would have no hesitation in shooting him.

I hadn’t seen anyone else about when we first arrived, but then, up on the mezzanine I could just see several guards with rifles stationed in the shadows.  If anyone had tried to force their way in behind us, they would not have lasted very long.

I didn’t speak, just dragged him up the passage towards the room where I thought Amy would be waiting.

He stopped, once, halfway up the passage, and tried to shrug me off.  “What the hell is going on here.  Where are my people?”

I gave him what I thought was one of my death stares before saying, rather savagely, “We can do this the hard way or the easy way.  The hard way, I shoot you and drag you up the passage.  One way or the other we’ll get to our destination.  It’s up to you how you arrive.”

“Just who the hell are you?”

“If you keep talking, maybe the last person you’ll see alive.  Move.  Now.”

He was wise enough not to argue just then.  He had been liberated from police custody, he had to accept for the moment it was best to follow instructions, something I guess he wasn’t used to.

We went through the large steel-clad door that separated the building we arrived in with the one next door.  If anyone came looking for us, they would only get as far as a door that would be locked on the other side and look as though it hadn’t been opened since the dawn of time. 

As soon as I slammed it shut and rammed home the bolts, a team on the other side were doing their job as set decorators.

They didn’t have very long, perhaps 10 minutes, 20 at most before everyone discovered Latanzio was missing.

As soon as we were on the other side, Amy appeared with a gun in hand.  It was not aimed at him but held loosely at her side.  A room had been set up as a sound studio, and we had four cameras on us, recording everything.

“Who are you?” Latanzio asked her abruptly.

“The person who orchestrated your escape from custody.  You don’t look very grateful though?”

“Believe me I am, except for this bozo.  Where did you find him?  And how about taking off these cuffs?”

We were in a large room, where Amy had put a chair in the middle.  On the opposite side to where we were standing, there was another door.  That led to several other rooms where Amy said there were surprise guests waiting.

“First, you have to sit down.  We have a few issues to sort out.”

He looked confused, but again, he was free, so it was probably a small inconvenience.  After all, he had a lot of money that could smooth over any problem.  Or so he believed.

He sat.

There were two other chairs for Amy and me, and we sat opposite him.

He started, “Whatever the problem is, I’m sure we can sort it out. What do you want?”

“Money.  And a lot of it.  It isn’t going to be cheap getting you and your family to a safe haven.”

“Who said I wanted to leave.  I can beat this rap.  You heard the news; this so-called witness is missing.  That means he’s either dead or didn’t exist in the first place.  Either way, the DA’s got nothing.”

All true, if the witness was missing.  And still, he was not giving anything away.

“Then the question remains, why did a squad of anonymous men hit the hotel where the alleged witness was staying, if you are saying there isn’t one?”

“I know nothing about that.  What other people do, and their reasons for doing so, is their business, not mine.”

“Then why were we asked to break you out if you’re not guilty and can beat this charge.  Seems logical, on what you’re saying, we should take you back.  I’ve haven’t been paid yet, and this seems to be a colossal waste of my time.  I need to have a discussion.”

She stood and started walking towards the other door.

“Who are you going to talk to if not me.”

She stopped and partially turned.

“You are just the subject; my business is with the people who employed me to free you.”

“Who are they?”

“Oddly enough, I don’t really know, and for that matter, I don’t really care.  But what I am sure of, it’s none of your business.”

I saw her motion to someone lurking in the shadows, and not one but two men came out into the open where we could see them.  Armed with shotguns and surly expressions.

“Take him and put him in the room with his wife and children.”

“Angelina is here?” he said, somewhat surprised.

“Yes.  Any your mistress, Gianna. It’s going to be interesting if they meet.”

He looked at me just as the two men arrived, each standing on one side of him.

“What the hell is going on here?  This is not what I asked for.  I was supposed to be rescued and taken to a safe house.  There were no orders involving family or anyone else.”  There was just a slight note of fear in his tone.

Amy had said that if Angelina’s father had found out he was having an affair, he was as good as a dead man.  Her father took marriage very seriously.

It was clear Latanzio didn’t.

I shrugged.  “I just do as I’m told.  Best not to annoy her.  She has a really bad temper, and I don’t think she likes you.”

I nodded, and the two men took him away.

Phase one was complete; put the fear God into him.

…

©  Charles Heath 2024

Four

It was like a Hollywood script.

It was a friend of a friend of a friend, more an acquaintance really, that came up with a plan.  A plan that, if I’d been given a million years to think up, still wouldn’t

But in an odd way, I’d seen it all before.

I was dressed in a prison guard’s uniform, in a room with two others similarly dressed, and a woman who looked definitely in charge.  It was a detail, part of a plan to remove Latanzio from his prison cell at the police station where he was being held for the duration of the arraignment.

My disappearance, and that of Amy, the leader of my security detail, had sent the police into a frenzy particularly when after sifting through the human wreckage of the hotel, they found five dead police officers, and nine unnamed gunmen, all without any identification.

The police were not naming names, but the media were.  A blatant act of attempting to silence a witness and the most positive indication yet that Latanzio was guilty.

But the problem was, there was no evidence the witness was dead, and this being the case, the trial was put on hold until the witness was found, dead or alive.  The only lead they had was a man and a woman matching our description who had been seen landing in and leaving a helicopter in a carpark in lower Manhattan.  No one knew where they went after that.

It was now a day and a half after the event, and rumours were rife as to where the witness was, and who was to blame for the attack on the hotel.  Latanzio’s brother was quick to blame a rival family with whom they were locked in a territorial battle.  The rival family blamed the [name] family, and neither was backing down.

But for the innocent bystanders, there were two takes on these events, the first, a smiling [name] being escorted out of the court, and when a voice cries out ‘did you have the witness killed?’ he replied, ‘What witness?’.  The other, because of the seriousness of the situation, the police decided to move him from his current holding facility to a more fortified jail on fears that members of his organization, or their rivals, might stage a similar shootout attempting to break him out.

They were, of course, right, but it wasn’t going to be his organization or any other for that matter, nor was it going to be a break-in.

We just got the call to say that the real transfer crew was going to be delayed and that the call had not reached the police station but was intercepted by another friend of a friend.

Our mission was a go.

We walked out of the room and into a large warehouse where there were four motorcycle police and a van, the van an exact replica of that to be sent to transfer the prisoner from the police station to a real jail.  Everything looked very, very real.  We had all studied actual tapes of prisoner transfers, enough to know precisely how to act, remarkable given the time we’d been given.

It was a tense moment, there in the warehouse.  Then Amy said, “Mount up.  Time to go.  I’ll see you back here soon.”

There were more rooms, several set up for what was to come.  We had several guests, waiting in other rooms, waiting to be reunited with [name] knowing only that he was being rescued and they would be leaving for a non-extradition country.  It had been easy.  The arrogance had been staggering.

I was on autopilot, having snapped into a mode where at times I felt like I was looking down at myself.  I think it was the same for the others, having studied those tapes so many times, we became them.

The transfer went smoothly, no one suspecting we were not the real crew.

It was curious to observe [name] close up and feel the confidence, the arrogance of the man.  He was in no way intimidated by the fact he was being transferred, in fact, if I was not mistaken, he looked as though he knew he was being broken out.

And for a moment when he looked me directly in the face, I thought he might recognize me, but he didn’t.

The station police escorted him to the back of the van, we escorted him into the van, chained him up, and the doors closed, just as I heard, “He’s your problem now.” 

They would have to be relieved that he was no longer on their premises, and they would not have to fend off any attack.  But from the expression on the officer in charge, I got the distinct impression we would not make our destination, at least, not with the prisoner.

However, that had been accounted for in the master plan.

It was why the warehouse we were going to use as the ‘studio’ was not far away.

I was surprised that they had found a place that was part of a rabbit warren of interconnected buildings at the basement level and that it had two entrances, one at the front, and one at the back so it would appear the prison van was taking a shortcut.

The plan was to stop, briefly in the building, offload the prisoner, and then drive on, heading for the jail.  In that part of the city, there was no easy place to attack the van, that would, if it happened, come several miles from the building.

There were tracking devices on the van so anyone tracking would note the minor change to the route, and think it was an avoidance tactic.

Now, all we had to do was execute the plan, and hope anyone tracking us wouldn’t notice the subterfuge.

…

© Charles Heath 2024

Three

There was no going back down the stairs, or using the elevator, because there was nothing down below but people who wanted to kill me, and there were no other means of leaving the building other than by the helicopter that just landed.

And there was a distinct possibility that those down below were slowly moving upwards, to join those who had just arrived, a move designed to make sure I would never leave the building.  Except they had no way of knowing their team upstairs had been eliminated.

That left us with one and only one way of getting away from the building.

“We’re going.  Now,” I said, heading towards the open door where the pilot had just got out.

She seemed surprised.  “How?  In that?”  She was pointing at the helicopter.

“Come on.”  I climbed into the pilot’s seat, ran a quick check, then started the take-off procedure.

She came over just as the main rotor started spinning.  She climbed in and was about to close the door.

“Toss your phone,” I said.

“What?”

It was getting noisy.

I picked up one of the two guns I had and pointed it at her.  “Toss your phone.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Stopping them from tracking us.  Toss it.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“We’ll see.”

She tossed the phone out the door the closed it.  I put my gun down, and now ready for take-off, I took a deep breath and lifted the craft off the pad.

Amy looked furious.  But she had a gun and she could have used it to stop me leaving and she didn’t.   Not yet anyway. She put on a headset and glared at me.  I could feel her glare boring into me.

“Where are we going?”

Fortunately the pilot conveniently left the flight plan in the side door panel, and listed the takeoff and landing as the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, a training flight for a new pilot, but it had been anything but that, a quick hit and run landing and take off from a prohibited rooftop helipad, though how they obtained permission was a question no doubt answered when I called up control.

But it was going to be where I imagine I was to be taken if captured, the least likely scenario after my hotel had been stormed with the only outcome possible, and where my assailants would be picked up after a successful kill.

It made going there not an option, but I would have to appear like I was heading there until I came up with an alternate plan. At the very least I could head for the river.

Before I answered Amy, I had the aircraft controllers to deal with because I hadn’t notified them, I was departing the building, and was, momentarily an unidentified flying object.

I managed to convince them I was the pilot, but there were a few tense moments where I had to explain what had happened in what the previous pilot had been an emergency, and that he had to set down or crash.  I told them it had something to do with the tail rotor and if they were tracking me, they’d pick up the erratic flight we were taking.

After another few tense moments, they told me to return to the take-off point and then asked me for the reassurance I’d make it back, and that we were heading for Downtown Manhattan which was part of the flight plan, but stumbled over the reason for leaving early.  From the tenor of the controller’s voice, I got the impression we would be landing in trouble, so I needed another landing site.

“Somewhere other than where they’re expecting us.  If we’re lucky and I don’t crash into the river.”

“Do you really know how to fly this thing?”

Admittedly the way I was struggling to keep the craft under control, the controls required deft handling and that was difficult considering the shakes I’d acquired back at the hotel.

“For both our sakes, let’s hope I can.  We can’t go back to Downtown Manhattan where they will be waiting for us.  Any ideas about an alternative?”

“If you hadn’t thrown my phone away, I might be able to help you.”  She was still angry with me.

I had noticed when I got in that the pilot had left his phone on the console and had seven missed calls.  No doubt those waiting were getting anxious as to how their mission was running.

I handed it to her.  “Use this, its owner won’t be needing it.”

By her expression, and after an attempt to unlock it, it wasn’t looking good.  But, if she was as clever and resourceful as I thought she was, then that phone wouldn’t present a problem.

Then it started ringing or vibrating instead.  Somehow from disconnecting the call, she was able to break in and get the dialing screen.  From there she was able to get the internet, and a minute later said, “There’s a landing on the river, off West 30th street.  You’re heading in the right direction.”

Directions given, she made another call, to her superior.

There were no introductions.  “Yes, we got out, using the helicopter that brought in a kill squad.”

The next question would be where we were, and this would determine how much I could trust her, or that her mission priority was keeping me alive.

“Not sure, sir.  We’re kind of flying by the seat of our pants, but at least it’s over the water, and the control tower is not happy.”

Silence while she listened, then, “Not a good idea.  They’ll be watching you, and it’s best we remain footloose for as long as we can.  I’ll let you know when we land.  What happened in court?”

I saw a faint smile.  “Bet he wasn’t happy about that.  See you soon.”

I didn’t ask.  I just saw the helipad, and now had to make out that we still had problems, which might be a little difficult because I’d been ignoring the controller’s request for me to head towards Downtown Manhattan.  I had told him once that I was having difficulty maintaining level flight, but I was staying over the river, just in case.  But, a helicopter in trouble would get emergency services mobilized, so wherever we landed, we were going to have a reception party and unwanted guests.

Latanzio’s people would be looking and listening intently for our whereabouts, and that of an errant helicopter that would not be going back to where it should.  They’d know how many landing sites there were, how close, and how much pressure we would be under to land.  For all we knew, there might be a sniper waiting at each of the heliports.  Fanciful thinking maybe, but this was a very well-organized hit, and there would be contingency plans in place.

I could see the teleport landing and headed towards it, trying to make it look like it was going to be a difficult landing.

I didn’t have to try very hard.  There was a gusty wind making the craft pitch and had under light hands on the controls.

I could see an ambulance and fire truck just back from the landing site, lights flashing.  The controller had predicted there might be a problem, which meant if we touched down there were going to be awkward questions.

“That was quick,” Amy said.  She too had noticed The reception committee.

Oddly, I didn’t see a police car, or that is to say, a car with blue flashing lights.  Would the FBI be there?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of light, and instinctively pulled the stick sideways and went into a deep sideways descent, just as a loud pinging noise came above the whine of the turbine.

A bullet, which if I hadn’t gone into evasive mode would have hit the engine, or worse, one of us.

“What the hell was that?” She yelled, looking around, thinking it was a problem with the helicopter.

“Someone is shooting at us.  Hang on.”

I pulled the stick in the opposite direction, at the same time getting away from the shooter as fast as possible.  The turn had a ghastly effect on my stomach, and I thought, for a moment, I was going to be violently ill.  Amy had also turned a shade of white too.

We were finally out of range, skimming about 100 feet above the water’s surface, slowing down after the panic, and looking for a spot, any spot, to put down and get away.

There, in the distance a car park blocked off and being repaired, but enough space to land.  I could hear the controller screaming in my ear demanding an explanation for my rapid and dangerous departure, but I didn’t have time to explain, nor would he believe me, not if he hadn’t heard the shots fired in our direction.

There were several workmen standing to one side, watching the arrival of a concrete truck as I came in low over their heads and set the craft down about fifty feet from them.

I shut the engine down and waited a minute before opening the door and jumping out, keeping low under the still-spinning rotor blades, and Amy joined me.

One of the crew started coming towards us, two others were taking photos of the helicopter with their cell phones and another was making a call, either to friends or the police.

“We have to go,” I said.  “No time to talk to the locals.  What you need to do is find someone who can hide us until we think of a next move.”

We ran towards the road and then dodged traffic to get to the other side.  We didn’t have time to wait for lights, or the traffic to stop.  Twice I was nearly hit by a moving car, instead, the squeal of rubber on tar.

On the other side, and temporarily safe, Amy was on her phone.

“Calling for backup or a ride?”

“Actually no.  I have a friend or a friend, you know the sort.  I think he can help us, but you might not like it.”

What was not to like if he could save us from the Latanzio’s.

“Call.  Anything is going to be better than acting as a live target.”

The call connected.  “Joe, are you busy at the moment?  No?  Good.  I need you to bring Hollywood to New York.  Today.”

…

© Charles Heath 2024

Two

Amy took out her cell phone and looked at the screen with a knowing expression.  “As I thought, they’ve made it impossible to call out, except on a landline.  A lucky guess on their part that we might hold off until out of the room to call for help.”

“Wouldn’t that also stop the use of the internal communicators?”  Like the unit, she used to talk to other members of the team.

“Most likely.”  She tried a grain to raise the others and received only static in return.

I didn’t think that meant there wasn’t anyone, but only a possibility they might have been taken out.  But not being able to raise them worked in their favor.

Still, I tried to sound optimistic.  “Then there might be help downstairs.”

But the thought of that possibility didn’t seem to brighten her mood.

I checked the clip in my gun.  Eight rounds.  The other, six.

Amy checked hers.  Five and seven.

“What now?” I asked.

“Carefully go down the fire escape.”

“Where do you think they’ll be?”

“First floor.  No one else will be there.  There are no conferences scheduled for obvious reasons.”

That there was a fugitive languishing within I guessed, and the hotel was minimizing the possibility of incidental casualties.  That in itself was a dead giveaway that I was being kept there.  Latanzio hardly needed a traitor to tell him where I was being kept.

Suddenly I had a very bad feeling.

I followed her through the fire escape exit and stopped at the top of the stairs to listen.

For what I was not sure, but no other sounds were coming from below or above us.  Something I did know and had not told anyone in a moment when I had managed to shake off my guards, was that there was a heliport on the roof.

It was why, just before I followed her down, I looked up, and shivered.  Trouble, if it was coming, would come from above, not below.

“Let’s go,” she said quietly.

I hesitated, and she picked up on it.

“What?”

It was hardly a conciliatory tone on her part.

“I think we’re underestimating the severity of the problem.”

She stopped halfway down the first flight of steps and looked back at me.  It was not the first time I had the feeling that she might shoot me herself, even when there was no reason to think that of her.

“How so?”

“The heliport on the roof.  Shouldn’t that be factored into escape calculations?”

“It was until we learned that it was declared unsafe a few months ago.”

“Convenient, don’t you think?”  I didn’t wait for an answer, I started heading towards the roof.

“Where are you going?”

“Up.  Something I learned a long time ago, is always do the unexpected.”

I didn’t wait to see what Amy was doing.  I had a hunch that any attack that might be coming would be from the roof.  I seriously doubted the helipad was anything but serviceable.

Amy caught up with me three floors from the roof.

“What makes you think the help is not broken.”

“Too much of a coincidence.”

We were at the door.  I could hear a noise that sounded like a helicopter coming in for a landing.  I opened the door and as I had hoped, the helped was about ten feet above the roof level.

I pushed the door open.  “Go around the back way.  If the chopper lands take out the landing party or cover the pilot and make sure he doesn’t take off.”

A nod, she brushed past me and headed for the other side.  In front of me to the right were the steps leading up to the pad.  I walked up the first few and saw a helicopter just coming in from the other side, about to land.

I ducked down and waited.

The noise grew louder, much louder as it hovered, and then set down.  I raised my head.  The door opened and three men jumped down, each with what looked like AK57s.  There was no mistaking their intent.

I jumped down off the stairs and his behind the staircase and waited.

Seconds later the three ran down the stairs heading towards the exit do it.  Six shots, three fewer thugs, they had no idea what hit them.

Another shot rang out, about the sound of the whirring of the helicopter’s rotor.  I saved up the stairs and saw the man who must have been the pilot, face down in front of the helicopter, now winding down.

Amy came running over.

“What happened?” I asked.

She stopped and was standing over the body.  “He heard the shots and was coming to you.”

I could see where he had been shot in the back.  It seemed more like he’d see her approaching with a gun and was running away from her, rather than running towards me.  He didn’t have a weapon, in his hand, or on the ground in front of him on the ground.

“Who’s going to pilot the helicopter now.  That was our ticket out.”

She looked resolute, not the expression I was expecting.

“He was coming for you,” she said.  “I wasn’t aiming to kill him.”

And yet she did, and given how good a shot she was, accidentally killing him was not an option.  I was starting to get another bad feeling.

I went over to the helicopter.  I’d flown one or two in my time, something a friend of mine had suggested I try since I had a pilot’s license in another life.  It wasn’t the most modern, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to fly.

“Come on.  We’re leaving.”

…

© Charles Heath 2024

One

I often wondered what it meant to go ‘stir crazy,’.

I think it had something to do with being in prison, locked away in solitary confinement, and, if it was, then I knew exactly what it was like.

I’d been locked away in this room for nearly two months, waiting to testify against a criminal who had, up until now, managed to ‘remove’ any obstacle in his path to remaining free to continue his illegal activities.

Not that I had any intention of ending up in the world’s tightest, secure facility.  It happened because Joe Latanzio, one of the most dangerous crime bosses, decided to kill someone in front of me.  Well, not exactly in front of me, but I did witness it, and I could very clearly identify him without ambiguity.  It had him arrested and sent to jail.

He knew there was a witness, but although he had a name, it was not mine, and it was untraceable.  That and the obscured photos in the papers also made it impossible for his cronies to find me.

All we had to worry about was whether one of the guards or the security detail would sell out to his family, who were offering a reward of up to a million dollars to spill the true identity of the witness.

Me.

And, so far no one had, or at least that was what they were telling me.  There was no way of knowing because my current residence was impenetrable.  If it had, we’d only find out the day I had to go into court and testify.

That day was tomorrow.

It was like I was the criminal, waiting on death row, having to have that final meal before execution.

And living with the expectation that I was going to die.

Unfortunately, there were no guarantees, and the head of my security detail, Amy Childern, competent and successful at her job as her resume testified, couldn’t rule out the possibility that there might be trouble.  All she would give me was her assurance she would do everything within her power to keep me alive.

But in having so much time to think about the ramifications of what testifying might be, I realized the court case wasn’t the full extent of the problem, but once the trial was over I knew it would be the beginning of a life of looking over my shoulder.

Yes, there was the option of disappearing into the witsec ether, but that was never going to be the answer.  There would always be the temptation on the table from the defendant’s family who would never give up looking for me, regardless of the outcome of the trial.

Put quite simply and based on what I had overheard from other members of my security detail, life as I’d known it, was over.

Not that my life amounted to very much before this happened.  I had no family, being orphaned very early in life, and bounced around the foster care system, so that there were no people I’d call parents.  And after a stint in the Army, I found myself at a loose end, unable to hold down a job, and just drifted, until I finished up in the wrong place at the wrong time

You know the sort. John Doe of no fixed address. That was me.  Except I had a name, or two, the current being Al Jones, and a photo that was deliberately diffused so that anyone looking at it would not recognize me in real life.

I also now had a social security number but that was only to make me appear a credible witness.  There was nothing to find other than a number and a name.

As Amy said, I’d come from nowhere and would be going back there once this notorious criminal was locked up. It was meant to be reassuring but it wasn’t.

But despite any misgivings I might have right now, I’d made a commitment and would honour it.

Nobody expected they would make an attempt on my life in the hotel.

As far as they were aware no one knew I was there, but to an astute observer who knew something of the motivation behind keeping witnesses safe, there would be no mistaking the number of out-of-place personnel in the hotel, starting at the lobby.

And for those working for Latanzio, they’d had close to two months to check out every hotel in the city and there would be people working for him who knew the witness protection procedures.  After all, there had been four before me, found and murdered before they got to court.

Those were odds that would tell anyone that this was a lost cause.

My detail for this morning consisted of four, headed up by Amy who said she would stay with me.  Outside Larry was number 2 and would be with me too.  Jeff and Wes made up the rest of the team and were stationed below in the garage waiting with a bulletproof car.

I made a joke previously as to whether it would withstand a handheld rocket, and Amy chose to ignore it.  Perhaps she had not seen what one could do or believe that criminals could get their hands on one.

After breakfast where again the condemned man had a hearty meal, it was a half-hour wait before we moved.  It was tense inside the room.  And outside where Larry was stationed.

At the appropriate time, he was to knock, Amy would answer, and it would be the all-clear.

I was down to counting seconds.

When the time came and Larry knocked on the door we both jumped.  A look passed between us.  The time had come.  We were not expecting trouble.

Amy opened the door, not completely, but just ajar.

It was what saved her life.

A second later Larry came through the door to the accompaniment of several silenced rounds.

Two events happened in quick succession.

As Larry came through the door and fell forwards propelled by the shots, he managed to free his gun and throw it in my direction.

A man followed him, firing more rounds randomly, none hitting a target, while Amy, taking a few extra milliseconds to realise what was happening, drew her gun and started firing at the figure who just passed the edge of the door.

He was not going to be the only one.

As more bullets were fired into the room, a second gunman from outside the room must have seen his partner go down and pressed forward.  He saw me the same time I had the gun thrown to me aimed at him and I squeezed off three rounds and put him down.  I mentally thanked the Army for teaching me to shoot.  If only I had a military issue M16.

Silence fell over the scene.

Amy was trying to raise the other two in the team but they were not responding.  Nor was the lookout in the foyer.  The was a slight hint of panic in her tone, especially when she realized there was no time to raise the alarm by phone.  It was now a matter of how many gunmen Latanzio had hired.

I picked up the two guns from the now-dead gunmen and threw one to her.  “How many men did he sent the last time,” I asked her.

She looked startled for a moment, then slipped back into battle mode.  “Six.”

“Then let’s hope he hasn’t rewritten the playbook.”

We didn’t have time to check and see if Larry was OK, but the glance I got showed no sign of life.  I don’t think, when he left for work this morning, he thought it might be his last day on this mortal earth.

I reached the door and closed it.  A second later several bullets slammed into it.  It was solid enough to withstand them.  Once shut, the door was locked and unless they had a key, they could not get in.

Amy nodded towards the connecting door to the room next door.  For the last week, she had been staying in it.  Now, it was one possible escape route.

The door handle rattled, and I heard a voice outside say, “it’s locked.”  They didn’t have a key.  For the moment.  Perhaps they should have frisked Larry first before killing him.

She walked backward slowly, gun raised and pointed at the door as I backed up in the same direction.  I went first, she followed, and then shut the door behind us.  Locked from her side, they would not get in, key or no key.

10 maybe 15 seconds later we heard the door next door open and then self-shut with a muffled bang.  Next, there was a voice, “Where the hell are they?”

There would be two or more on lower floors cutting off our escape out of the building.  There was two next door.  We were out the door of the room next door, and ready to catch them when they realized we had escaped, and they had to exit the room.

When they did, an agonizing minute later, they were dead before they took two steps into the corridor.

Whoever planned this execution, didn’t plan it very well.  Or maybe he didn’t know that I would be comfortable around guns.  If I hadn’t, we’d both be dead by now.

Time to take a deep breath.  This was not over.

…

© Charles Heath 2024