Bloody Shadows Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cold Blooded Book IV

  (The Nick McCarty Series)

  Bloody Shadows

  by

  Bernard Lee DeLeo

  *****

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Bernard Lee DeLeo and RJ Parker Publishing Inc.

  ISBN-13: 978-1512144604

  ISBN-10: 1512144606

  Cold Blooded Book IV: The Nick McCarty Series

  Bloody Shadows

  Copyright © 2015 by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  Cover Illustration by: Colin Matthew Dougherty

  *****

  License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. Please respect the author’s work. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real life persons, events, or places is purely coincidental.

  *****

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  As it will be with every novel I write from now until my own End of Days, I dedicate this novel to my deceased angel, wife, and best friend: Joyce Lynn Whitney DeLeo.

  Chapter One

  Geezer

  Dan Lewis walked along the coastal trail from Lover’s Point in the darkness with some trepidation. “We’re nuts to be used like this for bait, Deke. I’m too old to take a spill into the rocks. Any old person supposedly being mugged down here on this stupid trail in the dark deserves what they get.”

  Deke snorted as if agreeing when hearing his name mentioned. He ambled along happily, sniffing everything in sight. This was the third weekend night out on an after dark excursion for Deke with his new walking chaperone.

  “You do know we can hear your every word Geezer, right?” Nick’s voice, along with his partners’, Gus and John, revealed their amusement at Dan’s take on the night walks, as bait.

  “I was counting on it, Muerto. I can’t believe you accepted Sergeant Dickerson’s suggestion to try and catch this guy who calls himself ‘The Night Stalker’. Just because Pacific Grove gets a little bad notoriety doesn’t mean an intervention is needed from the infamous El Muerto, Payaso, and El Kabong.”

  “There’s a beautiful full moon tonight, as soon as the usual fog cover lifts fully. The temperature’s in the sixties. You have Rin Tin Deke at your side – otherwise known as Fang the Ferocious. What more could you ask for?”

  “It is pretty out here,” Dan admitted. “I can’t believe that many old dunces come out here to walk in the dark at this hour. One slip, and it’s a one way ticket to hip and knee hell, or worse. Carol and I walked in daylight on pavement. No way would I have let her chance those knees of hers on this goofy path.”

  At the mention of Dan’s recently deceased wife, there were no more comments. “Sorry, guys. Every damn thing in the world reminds me of her, even when I’m doing stupid shit like this. How much further do you want me and Deke to go, Muerto?”

  “Are you good to Otter’s Point. That’s where the path starts getting more tricky. No one’s been mugged and robbed that far along,” Nick answered.

  Dan made clucking noises of disdain. “Why don’t I walk to LA as long as I’m at it? Oh hell… who am I kidding… anything with a little bite to it is great these days. Deke’s helping out anyway. He loves smelling every plant, and watching the squirrels or chipmunks or whatever those ground rats are scurrying around at our approach. His pausing at every episode of ground rat interaction gives me a still moment. The waves are sure smashing the shore tonight, but the wind isn’t really all that bad.”

  “We’ll pull up stakes if the ground fog covers too much,” Nick said. “I really don’t want you taking a nosedive on the path. Payaso and El Kabong are shadowing you at intersecting streets down to the ocean with the car. I’m within striking range near the houses, parallel to your movements. Kabong will join me shortly. This is the usual time and conditions when ‘The Night Stalker’ and his crew strike.”

  Dan glanced around. “Damn, Nick. I don’t see you anywhere.”

  “That’s the point, Geezer. If you could spot me, so could they. You have three suspects approaching from the opposite direction as we speak. Payaso, you lazy ass rogue, start looking for a getaway car. They must be close by between here and you.”

  Dan smiled for the first time all evening since his walk as bait began. I might be with you sooner than I imagined, honey, he thought. Please… God in heaven… let it be so. Dan walked on, whistling Carol’s favorite song, ‘House of the Rising Sun’. As the three hooded figures approached, Deke began a low snarling growl.

  “Don’t you ruin this for me, Deke. When I say run, you run.”

  Deke snorted in answer, having heard his name, and sensing no bad vibes emanating from his companion. He hunched into a slowly developing attack form.

  “Hey… O.G., what time is it.” The lead man slowed, with his crew coming to a stop behind him. “Nice night out, huh pops?”

  Dan chuckled, taking his time while looking at his illuminated dial in the dark. “Sorry, kid, it takes a moment to focus at my age.”

  The leader stalked toward Dan - his dark shape probably terrifying at night on a path near the ocean meant to be only walked in the daylight, devoid of any other human being. “Who you callin’ kid, you old shithead?!”

  “Well… I’m callin’ you kid, kid. Compared to my age, you’d probably be wearin’ diapers to prevent accidents of youth.”

  The click of a knife blade jolting into place accompanied the leader’s next words. “No time to answer all that O.G. Keep yo’ dog in check so he don’t get hurt, and give us your wallet, money, watch, and every other damn thing on your old ass.”

  Dan smiled. He bent down, and stroked Deke’s head. “Stay! Don’t move, Deke!”

  Deke whined momentarily, but laid down with his head on his paws. Dan turned around to face the pack. “There you go. Deke won’t hurt you. As to my giving you everything on my person, that’s not happening.”

  The leader snorted amusement, dancing around a bit with his two companions enjoying the show. He stopped suddenly, sweeping the blade of the knife an inch away from Dan’s neck. Dan didn’t even flinch. “You think you bad, huh O.G.?”

  “Nope,” Dan replied. “I just don’t give a shit, kid. My wife and best friend for decades passed away and left me behind. It’s too bad you didn’t work your knife instead of your mouth. Unfortunately for you, my friend cares more than I do about me for some reason.”

  “Who you talkin’ about, old man?”

  “That would be me.” Nick streaked around the leader’s two companions, and buried the seven inch blade of his knife up through the leader’s chin into his brain. He pulled it free, and slashed the throat of the man nearest the leader. The third man turned to run, but stopped short as another blade pierced his heart in a jolt of thrust from yet another knife. “Nice timing, John. I hardly heard you at all, El Kabong.”

  “Thank you, Nick.” El Kabong wiped the blade of his knife on the twitching body’s jacket. “It’s chilly tonight. I’ve got spatter on me, and so do you, Muerto. We’ll have to hope Gus remembered to pack
extra jackets. That punk even got blood on your mask.”

  Nick pulled off his mask. Even though there was only moonlight, Nick saw the splatter on his new black Muerto mask. “Damn it! I just received this yesterday.”

  “Uh… Nick… I thought this was supposed to be a turnover of bad guys to the police,” Dan said.

  Nick put his arm around Dan’s shoulders leading him in the opposite direction a few steps. “I may have neglected to mention this Dan - when I was building this op as a great endeavor for the weak of body and head. El Muerto doesn’t like courts, jurors, and especially lawyers. Sure, if these three would have dropped their weapons, knelt on the ground, and clasped their hands behind their heads - while begging for mercy those other poor old couples didn’t get, that they mugged on their two month long rampage, maybe they would have seen another day.”

  “Not to show disrespect, El Muerto, but you didn’t allow them even a few second’s time to surrender before you and El Kabong stabbed the shit out of them,” Dan replied, kneeling next to Deke, aware of the dog’s aversion to the smell of blood, especially on bodies he had nothing to do with.

  Nick wiped his blade, while looking over Deke. “So… what’s your point?”

  “Officer Dickerson will be displeased when it was only a couple of days ago he asked you to put your keen writer’s mind to work helping him find the muggers terrorizing our small community. I think he had it in mind to arrest and bring them to trial.”

  “Instead, my buddy Neil will find these three hoodlums, complete with weapons. Let’s get some facials so we can send them into our other interested party, Kabong. I’ll do the DNA swabs. You do the facials.”

  “Yes, Muerto.” John used his iPhone to take the pictures and a short video while Nick gathered DNA swabs to put with the pictures in order.

  “You getting all this, Payaso, my silent partner?”

  “Yes, Muerto, I’m keeping my mouth shut while you and Kabong go on another bloody rampage. I’m awaiting orders for pickup. If it weren’t for Fang and Geezer, I’d leave you bad boys to walk home. When we planned this, we were to alert the police before those three ever reached Geezer, while we covered him in case the cops were slow.”

  “I wanted Kabong to practice his woodcraft. Besides, I read what they did to that old man and his wife a few days before Neil called me in for a consult. They beat the two senseless. The old man died in the hospital. I didn’t feel like paying a hundred and fifty grand each per year while they incarcerated these three. Okay, I’m done Payaso. Drive by when we get to the other side of the street.”

  “Wipe your feet before you get in the car, and strip anything with splatter off before you get in the car.”

  “Yes, Dear. Anything you say, Dear,” Nick joked as he led the way to the street. The ground fog had increased significantly, which worked to make the three men and Deke nearly invisible until they reached the other side of the highway in the lights from Gus’s new Ford Edge. “Strip down Kabong or Payaso will nag the shit out of us all the way home.”

  John smiled, keeping silent, while listening to his friends argue back and forth. He could not remember a time in the last month he had been with them when they weren’t arguing. Once inside the SUV with Dan in the front next to Gus, and Deke in the back with him and Nick, John made sure to bundle his jacket, knife, and black Nitrile gloves together in his lap as did Nick.

  “We did much good tonight,” John said. “Everyone will be happy. It won’t take them long to figure out those three were the muggers terrorizing people along the ocean front. How will you handle Neil, and when do you think the getaway driver will check on his buddies?”

  “I’ll go see him first thing in the morning,” Nick replied. “I’ll bring along the research I did on those assholes’ last six muggings. They always took place when there was loud wave action, ground fog, and between nine and ten at night. This was their first time during a full moon though. As to the getaway driver, did you spot him, Gus?”

  “I have his license plate number. He’s in an old beat up silver Buick, hoodie in place. Want to round him up later? Once we find out who his partners were, we’ll be able to locate him. He’ll never find them in this fog. When he doesn’t hear from them, he’ll drive along here a few times and then leave eventually. We could follow him if you want.”

  “If Dan’s okay with a bit more time spent with Muerto, Payaso, and Kabong, I’d like to hang around to get on his trail now rather than later,” Nick replied, jostling Dan’s shoulder. “How about it, Geezer?”

  “You three are the most entertaining diversion I could possibly hope for. Deke is also a great companion on a walk. Truthfully, I’d do anything to stay with you guys. The nights are the worst. These past nights as bait with Deke beside me have allowed some uninterrupted sleep for the first time in a long while. I’d like to stay, if I’m not messing with the ‘Unholy Trio’s’ killer Karma.”

  “Killer Karma, huh?” Nick absorbed the raucous agreement to Dan’s assessment from his fellow ‘Unholy Trio’ members with amusement. “Good enough, Gus, we await our getaway driver’s arrival. While we’re not mincing words, Dan, I get the distinct impression you were inviting a knife to the throat. What’s that all about? I wouldn’t be stupid enough to assume to know Carol’s feelings on the matter, but I doubt she’d be very happy with a ‘suicide by thug’ plan. The ‘Unholy Trio’ could use you to stick around. It pays a very uplifting amount of money for you and your kids too.”

  Dan shrugged. “My kids are fine since you ended my last problem with the loan sharks, which by the way was the dumbest thing I ever did. That kind of stupidity will not be repeated. I get moments like tonight with that shithead threatening me, where I may shoot my mouth off, because I really don’t care. If you have a problem with that, Hemingway, kick loose of me. I’ll understand.”

  “Nope,” Nick replied. “That won’t happen, Dan. I’m not much on this touchy feely stuff, but perhaps you should focus on the good when you end a threat like tonight. Carol would have walked with you at your side to nail these guys. I’m actually sorry I didn’t think about asking you both, but I assumed in error you two would probably outlive me and my professional choice of careers.”

  “I assumed in error I would go long before Carol, but what passes for life without her can only be endured with certain ground rules. One of them since joining with your little group is that I ain’t taking shit from anyone, and especially not from a murderous young bastard like ‘The Night Stalker’ guy tonight. I’ll take my shots when I can if they don’t endanger you guys, but I will take them no matter what.”

  “That’s fair enough, Geezer,” Nick said, with endorsements from his ‘Unholy Trio’ partners. “Speaking for us unholy guys, we’d like for you to stick around. We all know that bullshit about time healing all wounds is just that: a load of crap. Gus, John, and I would like to give you something else to help you through the trail of tears with something extra tucked in for your kids in the way of a monetary supplement. You’ll earn it… like tonight, and we’ll allow certain smartass slaps in the face of death as you did on this final resting of ‘The Night Stalker’.”

  Dan nodded. “Good, because you can kiss my ass otherwise.”

  During the enjoyment of that particular gem, Gus pointed toward the front. “Here he comes. I’m guessing, but his headlights look like the ones I saw when I spotted him. We’ll know shortly, because he’ll be slowing down looking for his pals.”

  “Yep,” Gus reiterated, “that’s the one. He’ll be floating back this way in search of what cannot be: a meeting with dead men.”

  The suspected vehicle returned, slowing and searching.

  “He’s sayin’ ‘where are my thugs’? Speak to me… speak to me,” Gus joked.

  “Well he’ll have to get one of those folks that speak to dead people for that,” Dan answered with a straight face. “I’ll do it, but it’ll cost him – ‘yo, player… I’m dead, dimwit… move into the light, or whatever you see�
� probably shadows, darkness, and your spine being ripped out of your asshole.”

  The four companions enjoyed that word picture together as they watched the driver’s vehicle do another lap. The driver stopped near where his companions met their doom

  “I think he must have triangulated their cell-phones through a third entity,” Nick said. “Let’s see if he wants to find his buddies or not.”

  Near where the bodies were left, the driver parked the vehicle. He exited with extreme deliberation, his head moving to search for anything out of place. When he didn’t see any movement, he tried calling one of them on his cell-phone.

  “Oh gee, I believe that ship has passed,” Nick said, listening to the confiscated cell-phone doing a Rap version of something remotely familiar in the back of Gus’s Ford, but unrecognizable. “Okay, cross musically inclined off the list of skills. “We wanted a live one. Geezer! Go collect that puppy.”

  Dan grinned appreciatively, knowing Nick was testing him. “Ten-four, Hemingway, but I get to do it, and you other butt nuggets stay in the car, no matter what.”

  “Agreed. You have your stun gun.” Nick waved off his two Unholy Trio partners while Dan stared out the window. “Take Deke so you have a reason for walking the asshole won’t suspect.”

  “Thanks,” Dan said, exiting the Ford, and leashing Deke.

  “Are you sure about this, Nick,” John asked.

  “Hell no,” Nick admitted, easing out of the Ford through the same door he had allowed Deke to exit. “Stay here until the last second. Don’t ask me when that’ll be, because I don’t know. We need to let Dan work some of this shit out on his own. I’ll go help him when needed. Stay focused. It’s early by the crow flies, and I see a beer and a shot on my horizon.”

  “Acknowledged,” Gus said with a sigh. “Save him if you can, Nick.”

  “If I can,” Nick replied before easing the door shut.

  * * *

  “Well hello,” Dan called out with a wave of his hand. “It’s nice to see another walker out here on a night like this.”

  The man glanced down at Deke with a wave off. “I ain’t no damn dog walker.”