A Blued Steel Wolfe (9 page)

Those snags may appear in the gangs they dealt with in the arms business, or the bookies they dealt with in illegal gambling. Despite his personal honor, Mr. Wolfe dealt with some shady characters.

Then again, his boss
did
have the most elite team of Enforcers on the West Coast, if not the entire world. Since the Darnell debacle, Mr. Wolfe
only
hired ex-military as his personal guard. Every man was highly trained. Each man knew how to follow orders. Most of them were ex-SEALs, former Force Recon Marines or US Army Special Forces. They showed loyalty beyond the paycheck, as well.

Jared rubbed his temples and sighed.
At least this will all be over in less than a year. Then my job will get quite a bit easier.

***** ***** *****

Two people inhabited the new hub of all things technical in the mansion, at that moment. Both of them took their jobs seriously, as different as those jobs were.

Ray Hammond sat ensconced in his new command center, smiling as he tapped keys on his keyboard, seemingly at random. After Royce’s evaluation of the Wolfe Compound security, Mr. Wolfe ordered many changes made. First and foremost, they removed all of the old security cameras and replaced them with new, state-of-the-art models. They also added five more cameras to cover all of the blind spots left by the previous setup.

Trina Cooper was a true Amazon type. She stood 5’11” tall and had an athletic physique. Her dark ebony skin, short kinked hair and dark brown eyes stuck a chord inside most men who looked upon her. A former Marine, she took her job seriously at all times. She stood by the door, keeping an eye on her new charge.

Thanks to the new setup that covered every square inch of the perimeter, Ray noticed the dark blue Maserati parked at the curb. He zoomed in on it and captured a still frame of the driver’s face, before the driver could raise the window.

Something seemed familiar about the driver, but he couldn’t quite place it. He turned to where Tam usually sat, but then remembered that his new partner was off to Hawaii on her honeymoon with Royce. “He’s a lucky man,” he said quietly to himself.

“Who’s a lucky man?” Trina asked. Ray forgot she was there, but then he remembered. He turned and looked at the former USMC MP. She was one of the new “security features” that Royce recommended whenever only one person was in the mansion’s command center. Ray couldn’t complain, though. Not that he wanted to, of course. He enjoyed her company, as quiet as she was most of the time.

“Sorry, Trina. Just thinking out loud,” he said with a shrug and a wry smile. She wore her kinky hair short, keeping the style she’d had in the Marines. Her dark ebony skin blended into the mild darkness of the room, since Tam and Ray preferred the low lighting for their work.

“Oh, yes. The wedding,” she said with a smile, reading his body language. “You’re referring to Royce, if I’m correct.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a shrug. “He gets to steal Blackfire for a week, and I have to run this place by myself.”

“You have me, sweetie,” she retorted with a sweet smile that belied her Amazonian stature and features.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re the muscle here,” he said. Then he grimaced as he realized what he’d just said.

“No offense taken, Raymond,” she said graciously.

“It’s actually Raylan,” he corrected her with a chuckle. “Not even my parents would be cruel enough to name me Raymond Hammond.”

“That’s a good thing, and I’m sorry for mispronouncing your name, Raylan. I like that name.” She smiled.
He’s cute for a white boy,
she thought.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, matching her smile with one of his own.
I would let her do whatever she wanted to do to me,
he thought to himself as he stared at her pretty face and athletic body. Then he returned his attention to the monitor with the blue Italian sports car on it.

Ray Hammond was a former FBI agent, Cybercrimes Division. When one of his cases went bad, he took the heat for it even though it was his supervisor’s fault. While on suspension, he took the law into his own hands and made the black hat hacker’s computer explode. The child murderer and snuff pornographer died as his custom steel mouse carried a deadly current up and delivered it into his body. Just before the fatal blow, the following message appeared onscreen:
“The voltage isn’t what kills you. It’s the amps, you sick son of a bitch!”

His bosses couldn’t prove that he did it, but that didn’t help. With his suspension already hanging over his head, they relieved him permanently of his duties. He was forced to resign that same day. He turned in his gun and badge, and flipped his supervisor the bird as he left the office.

No sooner had he resigned, but he received a mysterious text on his cellphone. Out of curiosity, he followed the directions and met with Mr. Anthony Wolfe himself at a local café.

Mr. Wolfe hired him that same day as his IT man and computer security expert. He promised Ray five times what he’d made with the FBI, and he delivered on his promise.

Thinking back on it now, he knew that getting fired from the FBI was a blessing in disguise. He was now well-off, whereas he barely managed to scrape by on the federal salary before. He also got to meet one of his old nemeses in the cyber world, Tamara Jenkins, AKA black_fire. They became friends after Royce and Justin rescued her from Prescott and his thugs.

“Hey, Trina,” Ray said. “Come take a look at this guy, please. Does he look familiar to you, at all?”

Trina climbed the three steps easily and leaned down to look over Ray’s shoulder. She cocked her head to the side and squinted as she concentrated on the face of the man with the camera.

“Who, sweetie?” she asked, stopping by his right shoulder.

“Who does that guy look like, to you?” Ray asked, pointing at the man in question. Trina leaned forward to get a better look.

“He looks like he could be related to Mr. Wolfe,” she said, then pointed at his features. “Look at the similar bone structure in his face, and his nose is the same. He has the same eyes too.”

“I need to call him, then,” Ray said, fishing his cellphone out of his pocket. “He needs to know that some dude that could be a relative is watching his place.”

“Not yet, Raylan,” said Trina, laying a gentle hand on his arm. “We’ll tell him when he returns. He’s at the breakfast meeting with the housing developer and his wife right now.”

“You’re right,” Ray sighed. “I don’t like this, though. Something seems off about that guy.”

“You’re still a cop at heart, sweetie,” Trina said with a smile. “So am I.”

“No, I’m still a hacker, but I’m good at spotting assholes,” he retorted wryly, making her laugh.

“Well, stop worrying about it for now,” she said, her tone turning sterner. “Some of his security men are Marines, and they won’t let anything happen to him.”

“How long were you in the Corps?” Ray asked, more to make conversation than anything else.

“Twenty years, sweetie,” she replied, surprising him somewhat. She didn’t look that old. “I retired as a Gunnery Sergeant.”

He looked at her, and the look of surprise on his face made her laugh. “What’s that look for, Raylan?”

“You aren’t that old!” he blurted out.

“I’m actually thirty-eight, honey,” she smiled. “I joined up, the day after I turned eighteen, and I’ve only been out for six months. It’s sweet of you to say, though.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Ray retorted, still in a state of disbelief. “You
cannot
be older than I am!”

“Why? How old are you?” Trina asked, raising one eyebrow.

“I’m thirty-one,” he admitted. “You look like
maybe
twenty-three! I bet you still get carded when buying alcohol.”

Trina laughed musically at his assumption. She knew he was sincere, not just flirting with her.

“So, should I call you ‘Gunny Cooper’, then?” Ray asked, smirking again as he referred to her last name. “I still can’t believe you’re
that
old!”

“Only if you’re sweet about it,” she said with a wink. “Black don’t crack Raylan. I’m thirty-eight, but I do like younger men.”
Why am I flirting with him? I know why. It’s been too long since I had a man! I could do worse, though. He is
very
cute!

Ray gulped. “Good to know, Trina.”

Then he remembered something, which allowed him to change the subject. “Well, Ms. Cooper, I should at least call Justin and let him know about the asshole that was sitting outside.”

“I can agree with that, Mr. Hammond,” Trina replied professionally.

***** ***** *****

Justin sat in his new office, looking over the latest security reports. He flipped through Royce’s latest evaluation and smiled at his friend’s assessment. For someone with no formal training in security, the kid knew his shit.

As the new Head of Security, it was Justin’s responsibility to train all new Security Team members. Formerly known as the Enforcers under the late and unlamented Darnell’s leadership, they now had more legitimacy under Justin’s stable hand. He was glad to have the former Rangers, Marines, and even Special Forces working for him. Trina was a good one especially, and the perfect complement to Tam and Ray in the command center. He knew he could trust her to protect them, there.

His phone rang, and he saw that it was Ray calling. “What’s up, Ray?” he asked when he put the phone to his ear.

“Hey, Boss Man,” Ray replied. “I need you to look at his pic that I snapped from the security footage this morning. The guy was watching the house and taking pictures. He also looks familiar, like he might be related to you and Mr. Wolfe. I just sent it to your BlackBerry.”

“One sec, Ray,” Justin said as he opened the browser on his cellphone and logged into his email account. He opened the email from Ray and downloaded the picture attachment. When the picture popped up onscreen, he studied the mystery man’s features. Ray was right. While the man wasn’t the spitting image of his father, he bore enough of a resemblance to merit some questions when the elder Wolfe returned from the business breakfast With Mr. John Redding of Redding Realty and his wife, Margaret.

“Thank you, Ray,” Justin said as he finished studying the photograph. “I’ll let my father know, as soon as he returns from the meeting.”

“No problem, Boss,” Ray said.

“Oh, Ray. One more thing,” Justin said, a thought popping into his head. “Do you still have access to the FBI’s facial recognition software?”

“Access to it?” Ray scoffed. “You should know me better than that by now, Boss. I got it on my system here. I kind of borrowed it from the FBI on my way out the door when they fired me. Oh, and you don’t even have to ask. I’ll run it through now.”

“Thank you, Ray,” Justin chuckled. “Now I understand why my father hired you.”

“No worries, Boss. It could take a while, though. Depends on how much the FBI knows about the guy,” Ray replied.

“Of course, Ray. Let me know what you find.” With that, Justin hung up and stared at the photo again. Something about the man seemed off.
The eyes. The man’s eyes are… insane.

They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. The man’s eyes were the same as his father’s, but crueler. The bone structure in his face, while not identical, still showed familial lines.
Could he be an uncle? Maybe a cousin?
Justin thought, trying to unravel the mystery. Whoever the man was, he definitely had an interest in the Wolfe family.

***** ***** *****

“Raylan, who is that?” Trina asked as she returned with their coffee cups. She handed one to him and he took a swig before he replied.

“That is Salvatore Lupo, former Capo in the Lupo-O’Hara crime syndicate in Lower Manhattan, NYC,” Ray explained. Trina looked on in amazement. The formerly clean-cut Mafioso looked very different from the scraggly, long-haired man that they’d seen taking pictures from his Maserati. The formerly short, jet black and slicked back hair was now streaked with grey, changing his appearance even further.

“Are you sure it’s the same man?” she asked, marveling at the two pictures side by side.

“Yeah. There’s a small snag, though,” he said gravely. “The FBI lists him as Deceased, along with every other member of the Lupo Family.”

That was when Trina made the same connection as Ray. “I heard about that when I worked with an FBI team during a joint operation with our MP unit. The Russian Bratva somehow got their hooks into a Marine captain, and it was the same Russian Mob that took over lower Manhattan after the Lupo-O’Hara alliance fell.”

“Look at this one,” Ray said, bringing up another pic. Then he brought up Anthony Wolfe’s portrait for comparison. “Trina, meet our boss, Antonio Lupo.”

“Then there were survivors after all,” Trina said, shaking her head in wonder.

“Yep, including our boss’s lovely wife,” Ray said. He then brought up another pic, this one of a young and fiery haired Linda O’Hara.