Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Marco watched the monitors in the van as John slowly drove by his apartment building.
“See anything?” John called back.
“Maybe. That black Chevy Blazer across the street and down a few spots.”
“I’m clocking them.” John slowly rolled by, trying not to appear too obvious, feigning frantically looking around like, Where am I going to park? “I can’t tell how many guys are in there. Those windows are dark.”
Looking on the monitors, Breaker said, “I can’t either. But the drone might get us a closer look.”
John drove around the block, found a spot against the curb, and backed in. “Hopefully that magnetic plumbing sign we stuck on the side will keep Niko’s team from being suspicious if they even noticed us.”
“Yeah,” Breaker said. “And hopefully they don’t notice us launching a drone.” He tapped on the keyboard before him and a moment later, a panel in the roof slid open and a drone he’d placed on the center of the floor hummed to life, going straight up before flying away.
“Damn. You guys are high-tech,” Marco observed. “Like James Bond.”
Breaker just shot him a cocky grin. “Bond has nothing on me.”
Marco had a sneaking suspicion that was right! He was glad they were no longer adversaries.
Turning his attention to one of the monitors, he watched the drone’s view as it flew the short distance to the SUV.
The other screen showed the view from the van’s cameras, so they could ensure no one was sneaking up on them.
He didn’t think Niko would make the connection that the ‘plumbing’ van was anything other than what it was advertised to be, but it always paid to be careful.
A hi-def pic of the SUV appeared. Breaker scooted closer. “All right. We almost have it.” He typed on the keyboard and a zoomed in view appeared.
It took a moment for the drone to get a good shot, but eventually its camera was able to zoom beyond the windshield and capture a clear shot of the two guys inside.
“Niko’s men. I don’t know their names, but I recognize them for sure.”
Turned in his seat to look back, John said, “You think there’ll be more?”
“Yeah. Or they at least have my apartment rigged to alert them somehow in case I get past them and make it in the building.”
Breaker scratched his jaw. “You got a security system in here?”
“Yep. Armed it before we left the other night, when all this stuff started.”
Breaker swiveled in his chair until he was facing John. “My bet is they have hidden cameras in the hallway. Unless they’re advanced enough to hack his security system, which I highly doubt.”
John nodded. “You’re the expert on this stuff.”
They were silent for a moment.
“We could go in and get the safe’s contents ourselves. That is, if you trust us with the code,” John said, looking past Breaker to Marco.
“Oh, it’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that my palm print is required to unlock the safe.”
“Damnit,” Breaker said. “Biometric lock.”
Marco nodded.
“I’m going to have to go up there,” Marco said. “But I have a plan.”
The other men both leaned in, seemingly eager to hear it.
“We know they’re waiting for me. So, why not give them what they want?”
He paused, letting the idea sink in before he asked another question.
“How confident are you two in your fighting skills?”
Marco was tense as he walked down the same hall he’d been down probably a million times before.
It shouldn’t be that way. His place was supposed to be his sanctuary.
Not now.
He cursed himself for not keeping the safe at his other house, the one no one knew about.
It didn’t really matter. This would all be over soon.
And this apartment, well, he’d clear it out and never come back.
He didn’t want any part of his old life anymore.
Toss it all, as far as he was concerned.
In fact, he might start all over with even new clothes. Keep nothing of that old, ugly world.
He felt like a brand-new man. The only thing he hated about it all was that he hadn’t done this sooner.
All those thoughts dissipated as Marco reminded himself to stay alert and not get lost in his own head. Niko would be desperate to consolidate power as quickly as possible. A move would be made any moment.
As it turned out, it was that moment.
The apartment door across the hall, two doors down from Marco’s unit opened and three men stepped out.
Damn. He should have remembered that one was empty. It was the perfect place for Niko’s men to hole up and wait.
One of them held a gun. The other two had balled fists.
They wouldn’t plug him there in the hallway.
Too messy and the possibility of witnesses.
Say someone just happened to come out of their apartment at the wrong time?
They couldn’t leave them alive to tell what they saw.
They’d have to kill them. Being Niko’s men, they probably had no qualms about doing something so awful.
But that would be one more body they’d have to move. And too many bodies made things complicated.
They didn’t even want to move Marco. So, they’d either kill him in his apartment, or get him in a vehicle and drive him to a warehouse or the desert somewhere where a grave was already dug and waiting for him.
“Hi, Marco. The boss wants to talk to you,” the man with the gun said.
“Hi—” He waited, truly not remembering the guy’s name.
“Carmine.”
“Carmine? Wow. That’s a little on the nose, right? Let me guess, you’re from Jersey.”
He didn’t answer.
“Anyway, Carmine, I know Enzo died. So, it would be a little tough for the boss to talk to me. Right?”
This pulled a grin from Carmine. “Yeah. He’s dead.”
“Which makes me the boss,” Marco pointed out. “And I don’t remember sending you boys to round me up for a meeting with myself.”
It was obvious Carmine was searching for some sort of response, but Marco had no interest in what he had to say. Breaker and John were behind the guys now, having come up from the stairs at the end of the hallway rather than the elevators behind Marco.
They were so silent, he didn’t hear their approach but only caught a hint of movement behind the three men blocking his path.
“LVDG! Put down any weapons and put your hands up!” Breaker’s deep, authoritative voice commanded.
Marco nearly laughed. LVDG. Las Vegas Daddy Guard. That was good. And it kept them from impersonating a police officer.
“Shit!” Carmine said. “We’re turning around. Don’t shoot.”
He slowly spun toward John and Breaker, the two other guys following his lead.
“Hey! You ain’t cops!”
“Made you look,” John said.
His fist connected with one of the up-to-then silent men’s jaws. Letting out a startled yelp, the goon crumpled to the ground like tossed-aside clothes.
He seemed to be out cold.
Carmine and the other guy sprang into action before Breaker could land a punch on either of them. But they must have forgotten about Marco who was now behind them, because they couldn’t react in time before he went low and swept his left leg out, crashing into the shins of both thugs.
“Oof,” the one guy said.
“Axel!” Carmine yelled.
When Axel tried to scramble to his feet, Marco sent a fist into his face, and he knew it was lights-out for the enforcer because his eyes rolled to the back of his head before he thudded on the carpet.
That left Breaker to wrestle with Carmine, who seemed to be putting up one hell of a fight.
But Breaker was stronger and more skilled, and he had Carmine subdued before either Marco or John could jump in and lend a hand.
“There might be more,” John said. “Let’s move!”
Marco unlocked his door, ran to the safe, and unlocked it while his new friends kept a watch for any more attackers.
Thankfully, no one came.
“Got it!” Marco said, slamming the safe shut and holding up the file folders he’d collected.
“Come on!” John encouraged.
They didn’t bother with the elevators, instead bounding over the unconscious men in the hallway and out the safety door that led to the stairwell. They took the steps two at a time and only moments later were in their van, speeding off.
The two guards in the SUV never even seemed to realize what had happened.
Marco breathed a sigh of relief. The hard part was done.
Well, some of the hard part.
Now he just had to hope the DA was impressed with the offering he brought.