Hard Case IV: A Violent Life (John Harding Series Book 4) Read online

  I had to admit this was the worst I’d looked in a long time… maybe ever. The Rattler really nailed me but good. He was doing okay. His jaw was wired, but eating through a straw will keep his weight down. Yeah, I enjoyed the thought he wouldn’t be able to do much talking for a while. Lora handled the business, directing our other livelihood, Oakland Bond Retrieval and Security. She built up our escort service to the point Dev and Jesse were busy nearly all the time with just that end. Tommy and Jafar filled in at the office or the escort gig, depending on the work load. Tommy and I handled the bond skips almost entirely, just as before. When we had a real violent one on tap, we let Clint and Lynn in on the collection. Casey and Lucas worked with us on some cases for the fun of it. They really enjoyed the stakeouts and high tech surveillance gizmos for watching people, which we were doing a little of.

  Surprisingly, I saw Jesse’s new gleaming black Chrysler 300 turn onto my street. He and Devon had been taking up the slack for my hamburger face time off. We were in a state of flux as Denny, Jafar, and Laredo pieced together all the data they could get before we went at our three guests again. This next time we would have a very comprehensive theory based on fact. That combined with their first introduction to Lynn would be a new meeting of the minds. Dev waved at me from the passenger side as Jesse parked in front. They were dressed in our usual casual attire for the Oakland business: black slacks, black pullovers, and black leather jackets. It was Dev’s idea to have a kind of dress code. I think he based his suggestion on the fact I had been getting a little sloppy. That his suggestion was seconded immediately by everyone, including Lynn, did not go over well with me. This kind of disrespect is what happens when you don’t run your business with an iron hand. I told them as much. They laughed.

  “How you feelin’ brother?” Jesse walked over and sat down on the porch next to me.

  “Better than yesterday, and a hell of a lot better than last week. I see you looking at the door, Dev. Go on in and grab some coffee for you and your sidekick.”

  Dev grinned. “We had to hit it early this morning to check up on a woman her husband thought was cheating on him during her morning jog. I didn’t even get to taste coffee yet. Want one, Jess?”

  “Yeah, Dev, thanks. Put one of those packets of poison aspartame in mine too, no milk though.” Jesse watched Dev enter the house. “We came across a problem, John. Dev’s taking it kind of hard. You’ve heard about that stupid ‘knockout game’ right?”

  I stopped smiling. “Yeah, a bunch of thugs amp themselves up. One of them runs at a stranger they see and sucker punches the one they’ve chosen, trying a knockout with one punch.”

  Jesse nodded. “An old school friend of Dev’s got slammed yesterday. She’s in the hospital in a coma. Even though it happened at Bay Fair mall, they didn’t catch a single one of them. They all wore hoodies and hats, kept their faces down until they picked her. One of them ran at her as she was walking with both hands on her bags, cold cocked her, danced around, and then all of them ran in different directions. Dev can’t even talk about it. That’s why I’m explaining it. Are we goin’ to set things right with this knockout shit or what?”

  “We’ll need Cruella as bait.”

  A slow smile formed on Jesse’s face as Devon returned with the coffees. “I was hopin’ you’d say that. We’re goin’ to play her, right?”

  Dev handed Jesse his coffee. “We put T on the hint trail with Clint about us wanting to get these assholes before that crap catches hold here in Oaktown. You know what it’ll do to Cruella when she hears we’re plotting to do something like this without her, especially after getting aced out of interrogating the lamb-chops. I’m so spaced out about Rose getting clobbered, I’m even giving in to Jesse’s deranged ideas about baiting the most dangerous woman alive.”

  Dev’s not kidding. “I was wondering about that. What’s with you, Jess? All you’d have to do is ask her, and she’d be all over this.”

  “Damn it… she’s always gettin’ me. I see a chance to tweak her a little back, and you guys want to throw me under the bus. What’s up with that?”

  I enjoyed his take on our cautioning him. “Look, Jess, if I saw you poking a treed mountain lion with a stick, I’d have to say, hey, that’s not a good idea at least. I know Lynn’s been picking on you a bit, but she’s been edgy with all of us. This mating between Clint and Lynn with her getting pregnant may have disrupted the universe as we know it. Give it a chance to settle before launching another rocket.”

  “Good one, John.” Jess liked my funny take on it, but I could tell he was rethinking the course he had chosen with Lynn.

  “Jess said you went to school with the victim, Dev.”

  Dev nodded, getting a far off look for a moment that had Jess and I exchanging furrowed brow looks. “Rosalie Claremont was the nicest person I think I ever met. I was jive assin’ around one day in the cafeteria over at Oakland High, calling her pet names, and generally being a moron. Rose walked over, grabbed my hand with a real serious look, and said. ‘Devon… you have a lot going for you. Why are you acting like this’? I was stunned. She knew my name, and said it like it was made of honey. I looked around at the snickering idiots I was hanging out with, and I started wondering the same thing. We were friends from then on. Not the kind of friends I would have liked us to be, but real friends. She never dated seriously in school. We kind of hung out together for our junior and senior years.”

  “So, what happened after high school?” Hell, he had me on the hook.

  Dev shrugged. “The service, and so much shit going on - I should have written to her. Rose told me to, but like you guys, I didn’t even know if I’d make it back in one piece. When I did, she was already married with a couple of kids. She married Dick Stennis. I went to see her at the hospital, but they were only allowing family. They’re playing the video of it everywhere. The assholes had someone shooting the video of it for YouTube of course.”

  Dev paused for a moment, gripping his coffee cup between his hands to the point I thought it would shatter. He eased up and sipped before continuing. “They showed Rose’s face just before impact. The person taking the video had an HD camera capable model. She was smiling before the strike.”

  Dev looked at me and Jesse. “If Jess and I knew how the hell to find these guys, they’d already be dead. We need your help, John.”

  It was second nature to me now. The days of simple street fighting, and getting sent somewhere to do a job like I was a missile fired from a drone were over. Denny had contaminated me to the point I began plotting, and running scenarios in my head the moment something showed up on the horizon.

  “First off, we need Jafar and Laredo working the YouTube link. They think because they struck after entering the mall separately, then joining into a hoodie party before attacking, followed by a quick split and run no one will have a clue. The cops won’t, but our IT guys will.”

  I took out my i-thingy which now had to be a part of me, even when drinking coffee on my porch. Jafar answered. “Little brother of the famous Hamburger Face here. How may I help you?”

  I had mistakenly put Jafar on speaker. Now I had to wait for the appreciation of the smartass’s gem to fade before going on. It did lighten Dev up a bit. “Lynn put you up to that, didn’t she?”

  Jafar gave me a hand gesture of admission on the screen. “Yes, ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’ has been prepping everyone with small tokens and plots in retaliation for your remark about her eating habits the night we all went out to dinner after returning from Las Vegas. It may not have been wise to suggest she ate her steak dinner like a third world starveling.”

  “Yeah, brother,” Jesse agreed. “You talk about me and Dev poking the panther, but Lynn’s really uptight about her more noticeable condition - then you pork her at the dinner party. What were you thinking?”

  “Apparently, I wasn’t thinking.” I grinned, remembering the look on her face though in mid bite. Not many have seen that particular expressive face and survived.
“She laughed with the rest of us.”

  “That was her Klingon laugh,” Jafar said. “Anyway, that was the one I was assigned. How may I help you, Hamburger?”

  “Some hoodies did a ‘knockout hit’ on a woman at Bayfair mall. I want you and Laredo to find the YouTube vid, and hack into the Pentagon if you have to, but find the creep that filmed it. Then rip the asshole’s life apart until you find every suspicious jerk who might be a possible member of this knockout crew.”

  Jafar’s face turned predator instantly. “I saw that video on the news. It was horrifying. I thought of Samira walking in the mall, and then I thought of Lynn.”

  “We thought of Lynn too, kid.”

  “I will have something for you within the hour. Laredo is at central command with Denny. I will network with him, and do what we do. Do not worry.”

  My screen went blank. No doubt in my mind existed that we would have everything we needed for the next step on setting things right. “Those two will have a name for us right away. Then you have to make a decision, Dev.”

  “That was damn impressive, John,” Jess replied. “We didn’t even think about using our resources like that.”

  “You’ve gone over to the dark side, brother,” Dev added. “You’re getting scary good with this plotting stuff. I know what decision you mean too. Jess and I kicked that around ever since the hit on Rose. Now that we’ll probably be in a position to actually find these guys, the damn long view of things popped right up in my head.”

  I needed him to know one other item of information for his decision. “We can kill all of them one at a time now or later. If you want to put a hold on the death sentence, we’ll take them down hard. I never told you guys the details about how Lynn found out where that guy put the bomb in Al’s school. There really are moments worse than death, and they don’t leave scars.”

  Jess smacked his right fist into his left palm. “Yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about.”

  Dev was more introspective as he thought it through. A smile spread out slowly over his features. He took a deep breath. “That’ll work for me, John. The bomber guy confessed to everything. He didn’t even get a lawyer. I wondered about how Cruella managed it.”

  “Let me put it this way, the interrogation was not for the faint of heart, especially if you are a guy. I didn’t think the details would be ones I should share amongst the male members of our crew.”

  “I like it. Let’s bring them to justice, let Lynn get a taste, and then wait. Like you say, if the courts let them off, we can always take them fishing with us.”

  “Exactly right, Dev. If Rose dies or is permanently damaged, we will permanently damage these knockout zombies. Is Rose still with Stennis?”

  “No. I saw him. He came out to talk with me. We were all in the same class. He’s a good man. Dick and I talked some while Rose’s folks and his kids were with her. He lost his real estate business and hit the bottle. She didn’t know how bad he got until they lost their house. Rose divorced him because he wouldn’t get help. That was five years ago. Dick came out of it and married a woman he met in AA. He’s clean for three years now, and has a good relationship with Rose and the kids. I promised him I’d find out who did it, and make them pay.”

  “Once Jafar and Laredo-”

  I shut up because Clint’s Toyota Rav screeched around my corner, heading this way. “Uh oh, I think maybe Cruella took the bait.”

  “Maybe that wasn’t such a great idea,” Jess said, watching the small SUV brake to a halt.

  “Ya’ think?” Dev was enjoying it though.

  Cruella slammed the driver’s door, taking a short minute to cast her death look upon us. Clint exited the other side with his usual wry smile when enjoying his wife’s antics. I waved cheerfully from where I sat, while my companions who instigated this confrontation adjourned to a spot behind me on the porch.

  “Hi kids… out for a morning drive, huh?”

  Cruella pointed at me. “Too happy, go lucky.” Then she pointed at Dev. “Too calm.” Then she pointed at Jesse, who I imagined wore an uneasy grimace on his features. “Yep. There’s my bitch! Hello there, Jess. I don’t know what could have gotten into you, cutting me out of a sweet bait gig, where I could open up on one of these ‘knockout’ pricks, but it’s best you make peace before the real cuttin’ starts.”

  To his credit, Jess played it out. “First off, Cruella, we can’t have any killings. Secondly, we can’t leave any lasting scars. Thirdly, you’re too moody to have around right now on an op as important as this one.”

  It was an ace. Cruella stared at Jess in open mouthed shock. She not only swallowed the bait, but also the lure and six feet of line. “Moody! I’ll give you moody! I hope you kissed all your loved ones before coming over here. I’m thinkin’ of cuttin’ a new smile for you somewhere, Jess!”

  Clint could only hold it in for a few more seconds. When Cruella watched the over the top enjoyment by our crew, she realized she’d been punked. With arms folded over chest, she waited for the wave to finally crash and lap against the shore. “Oh… you guys are hilarious. One of these neato gags is going to end up with me having my kid in prison. Okay… okay… good one. Now, what’s this I hear about that ‘knockout’ game? I saw the damn video on the news. God knows I would have gutted him like a trout. The woman’s face before he hit her is still haunting me. I want a piece of that action so bad I can taste it.”

  I stood up. “C’mon in, and we’ll bring Cruella up to date. Yes, you have been the number one pick for this assignment from the beginning. Every one of us who has either seen or heard about the video pictures you there in her place, or with the guy in a dark quiet place.”

  “Well, all righty then,” Lynn said. “I can drink tea, but no coffee. It makes me barf, and I’ll give you three guesses who I’ll barf on.”

  Jess hurried ahead. “I’ll make the tea.

  * * *

  By the time we brought Lynn and Clint up to speed, we were all wearing our game faces. This particular band of monsters exists to take out monsters who think it’s a thrill to sucker punch a woman into a coma, or anyone else for that matter. Hard justice like we dispense is an addictive drug. Although we carefully maintain our personas of cold blooded killers, some repulsive lunatic actions bring out the beast. The beast was out now. Jafar called in as I finished making breakfast. Lynn could still enjoy scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, so that’s what I cooked up in true ‘Conehead’ fashion of ‘mass quantities’. I put Jafar on speaker.

  “We’re all here, kid. How’d you do?”

  Jafar smiled. “Remarkably well. We have the name and address of the teenager who took the video. The idiot has her own YouTube channel. She’s already been arrested on assault charges when she could be tried as a juvenile. Danessa Moore has been careful since turning eighteen. Laredo and I went through all her videos, from bus beat downs to gang bullying intimidation, where the group she films terrorizes some couple merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have still photos and background on all of the ones she hangs with for these outings. That the police haven’t caught up with them yet is appalling. We sent everything to your iPads.”

  “No… it will be very rewarding,” Lynn said. “I love mean girls.”

  “Thanks, kid. We’ll be calling when we put this together. We’re working on the plan now that we have some specifics.”

  “Okay, John. Did you tell Lynn I carried out her directive?”

  I disconnected him to smirks from Clint and Lynn. “Yes, your minion carried out the ‘Hamburger Face’ sparkler. Let’s get back to business. We don’t want to kill them all at this time. Yes, I realize the chances of perverted scum capable of doing a deed like putting Rose in a coma ever rehabilitating into society is nearly impossible, but we’ll play it out for now. We will leave the job of getting Danessa on board our punishment train to Lynn. One other item about this – if things begin turning complicated, we will un-complicate them with a boat trip on The Lora.”

>   “Leave Danessa to us,” Lynn said. “Clint and I will do the snatch and grab once we learn when she’s alone. We’ll stop by central and pick up the action van. I have something in mind for my new mean girl I’ve been considering for just such a special occasion. It won’t leave a mark, but it will be a memorable moment in young Danessa’s life. I believe I may rehabilitate her in one office visit. It’s medieval. I’m sure I won’t have to do anything other than show it, but if I have to do a demo, then so be it. I won’t bother explaining my new/old method with Jess in the room. We all know what a pussy he is.”

  Jess nodded, making acceptance gestures with his hands. “Get it out of your system, Cruella. We all know you can dish it out, but you can’t take it, sissy.”

  “Breakfast is served,” I stated, avoiding any further time on the topic of Jess’s new stepped up confrontational style with Lynn.”

  Lynn held up two fingers while giving me a hand with the serving plates. “That’s two, Jess. Good one. Want to try for the trifecta?”

  “No… I’m good.”

  * * *

  Lynn slapped Clint’s hand. “Will you stop fooling around. We’re on a mission.”

  Clint leaned back in his seat. “I can’t keep my hands off you. Since you got pregnant, you drive me nuts. I think I have a pregnancy fetish.”

  Lynn reached over to grasp his hand quickly as she watched the apartment complex Danessa Moore lived in with a girlfriend. Her roommate was unaware of what Moore did in her off time. Danessa had made sure of that. Moore left her apartment every Tuesday and Thursday night at ten o’clock to be with her married boyfriend. Clint had parked their so called action van in a direct path between Danessa’s car and the building.

  “My hormones are raging at about the same pace, cowboy, but tonight’s the night. We’ll take mean girl over to Pain Central for a special meeting, and get her on board for calling the sick freaks she hangs out with together.”