Chapter 4
Megan
I had to find a way to warn Nathan, but Jerome wasn’t about to let me out of his sight. I think in some small way he believed I was susceptible to doing the right thing. I didn’t want to satisfy my inner demons by getting my hands covered in blood.
“I’ve done the legwork for you. Detective Banner is a creature of habit. Every Friday night he goes to this bar looking to score. He has a type similar to you. You can use that against him. I’ve watched him for the past couple of weeks and he always orders the same thing. You can decide when you want to put the final nail in his coffin.” There was a heavy mist covering the windshield of the black sedan.
Nathan stood in the doorway of the bar across the street. Frankie wanted it to be messy to make sure the message was received by the boys in blue. Nathan was a tank with the engine of a Ferrari under the hood.
“I don’t want to make this a public spectacle. It would be better for us to wait until he is alone. There is less chance of collateral damage that way.” I was thinking about mirrors on the ceiling and champagne on ice.
I wanted the first time with him to be an expression of our feelings. We could check out anytime we liked, but I had a feeling the do not disturb sign on the door was going to be used a lot.
“You can’t expect me to sit here when my blood sugar is low. I’m going across the street to get some takeout. You can share what I bring back, but I’m not taking orders.” The door was open and he mysteriously vanished into the ether.
Nathan was drinking alone at a booth by the window. I thought about our many discussions over the course of 10-years. He was a little grizzled with a veteran status in the department. He was a third-generation officer fulfilling his obligation to protect and serve.
He looked like he had aged many years from our first meeting. His drinking was in excess and I couldn’t pry the bottle out of his hands most nights. We didn’t spend every waking hour in each other’s company, but I did find myself stopping by for no good reason.
I thought about the things he had taught me and what kind of useless information he had imparted. Jerome was inside with his back toward me. I had a way, but it was only going to work if Nathan recognized what I was trying to accomplish. I wasn’t even sure how it was going to be translated. I text messaged a code he would hopefully understand.
The message had to be quick and to the point. I kept repeating the same three words until he blinked. The squint of his eyes made me understand he was concentrating. I saw him writing the letters on a napkin. I stopped when I saw Jerome carrying this brown paper bag underneath his arm across the street.
He used one hand to open up the door and then slid back into the passenger side with the aroma of Chinese hitting me like a ton of bricks. The sense memory of being covered in the same food soured my appetite.
“I don’t know why, but I have this craving for Chinese. Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with your stomach rumbling for something particular?” I wasn’t even looking at him and found my eyes drawn to how Nathan was settling up his bill with the bartender.
“I don’t really think this is the time to talk about food. Officer Banner is leaving. It appears to be slim pickings for any available piece of ass.” Jerome was using chopsticks and slurping back Chinese noodles like it was his last meal.
The one thing about him that had always been hard to understand was how he didn’t gain any weight. The man was wiry and could move like a gazelle across the African plains.
“I see one fresh face and he didn’t even try to pick her up. It could be he has been bitten by the love bug. Let’s follow him and see if we can’t kill two birds with one bullet.” The sanctity of life meant nothing to him.
“I didn’t sign up to kill him and his lover.” Nathan was getting into his Mustang and I had to believe he was waiting to spring his own trap.
I couldn’t be entirely sure he had gotten the message. The tension in the air was thick enough to cloud my sound judgment. I was debating on doing something drastic, but Jerome had this sixth sense to know when something was amiss.
“Drive before you lose him. He could be on his way over to see her to profess his love. We can have this done and be home in less than an hour. No fuss…no muss.” Jerome was always looking for shortcuts.
Nathan pulled into the nearest gas station and we parked on the other side of the road.
He filled the tank, topping up his muscle car and then went inside to pay. It wasn’t long before I saw the back door open and I realized what his plan was. I had to keep Jerome from seeing him make his approach. He was going to flank us from behind.
I took a carton of beef teriyaki and sneezed spilling the contents in his lap. It was still hot and Jerome jumped out of his skin.
“You’re going to pay for the dry cleaning bill. I don’t know why Frankie is depending on you to kill him.” Nathan was in my rearview mirror and he was in a crouching position getting closer to the vehicle. “It would’ve been clean to shoot him when he came out of the bar. In your case, you could have come out of the alley and slit his throat to give him a Colombian necktie.” He was still trying to wipe up the mess with his razor-honed senses no longer on high alert.
“If you don’t like how I’m handling things then maybe you should go home. We both know when Frankie screams you jump.” I was keeping his attention on me by pushing his buttons.
“I am nobody’s lap dog. I take exception to what you just said. You can’t really believe the tripe that is coming out of your mouth. I don’t have a leash or a collar around my neck. I don’t come when he whistles. If truth be told, I would rather end his miserable existence and take over. Tell him any of this and I will deny it.” His back stiffened and his hand lingered on the bulge underneath his sports coat.
“I don’t know how you can say that with a straight face. You are the muscle. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all play different parts. Everybody thinks they have the power. Power is something you hold in the palm of your hands. Benton knows that better than anyone.” In my attempt to keep him busy, I had a slip of the tongue.
“The only way you could possibly know that is if you were spying on us during the meeting.” Everything was happening in slow motion like in the movies.
Jerome reached in for the handle of his revolver. I had a feeling one of those bullets had my name on it. I was frozen in time and space. I couldn’t move. I was learning a valuable lesson about the flight or fight instincts.
There was no reason to defend myself. I tried to come up with a plausible excuse, but nothing was going to satiate him.
His finger was on the trigger and I wondered if I would hear the bullet. I was mere seconds from being snuffed out of existence. I had hitched my wagon to Nathan. It was going to cost me the ultimate price.
I saw a flash in my peripheral vision and the gun in front of me went off with a deafening roar echoing in my ears. His aim was off. The bullet meant for me went into the ceiling blowing out the bulb in the overhead light.
There was some kind of stain on his shirt. The smoking hole in his jacket was from gunpowder residue. He was trying to say something, but nothing was coming out.
The blood spread and bled through the fabric. My eyes were wide in shock. I looked down at my hands to see the glitter of broken glass.
The door opened and I looked up to see my savior holding the smoking evidence. He might have been my next door neighbor, but he had become my hero. He was reaching out his hand. I understood what had transpired in the last few seconds.
He had fired seconds before Jerome.
“Are you hurt? You do know that you are going to have to testify against Frankie to bring down the organization. You’re going to be the district attorney’s star witness on the stand.” I turned towards Jerome and rummaged through his pockets until I found his phone.
I had heard rumors in hushed tones that Jerome always recorded his conversations. I took a chance and perused those recordings to discover the one I was looking for. I turned up the volume and gave Nathan a reason to smile. Frankie was going to be nailed by his own words. The contract on Nathan’s life was very clearly made by Frankie before he even mentioned anything of the sort to me.
“This is more than enough to send Frankie away for a long time.” I continued to look for other recordings and found one to implicate Benton.
The meeting was recorded most likely for some kind of leverage in the future against Frankie.
“This is the mother lode. I couldn’t have done this without you.” The sound of the gunshot in the enclosed space of the car was still ringing in my ears.
I was still shaking. Nathan took the opportunity to take me back to his place. I was to remain there until he came back. He was gone for three hours.
He came back and told me they coordinated an attack to take down the prime players including Frankie and Benton. They flipped a couple of his lieutenants for a lighter sentence. They revealed where the shipment was coming in.
It was a three prong attack, but Frankie remained at large by finding a way through the net they had thrown over the city. It wasn’t ideal, but his power base and influence was taken out of his hands. He would need to lie low and find suitable transportation out of the city to parts unknown. I secretly hoped he got away.