Street Justice (27 page)

“So we are watching a bank of monitors on the roof of a building?” Kip asked.

Will snorted, “Please, you wouldn’t need me to rig that up. Nope, we’re watching with these,” Will said, holding up a head with a nose piece and a tiny lens.

“What is that?” Alex asked.

“These my friend, are Google Glasses,” Will said as if that explained everything. As the following silence dragged on, Will finally explained, “I took the cameras and logged their position. Then I build a light backend and tied it into that phone.” He waved vaguely at a smartphone on the edge of the table, then continued, “The cameras overlay their images and project them on the lens here.” He pointed at the tiny lens. Again, the silence stretched out. Finally, with a note of exasperation he said, “Here, try them on” and handed them to Alex.

Alex took the glasses, put them on and looked around the roof top. Then said, “I don’t see anything.”

“Look at the city streets around you,” Will swept his arms in a small arc.

Alex looked at the city below him. Suddenly, the bottoms of the buildings disappeared and he could see through them and at the people on the streets. Pedestrians walking back and forth going about their day. He looked at his feet, nothing but roof. He looked back out to the streets and could see the ground again. He spun in a circle and could see a swathe all the way around him. “I can see through some of the buildings,” Alex exclaimed.

A broad grin emerged on Will’s face. “Well, you’re not actually seeing through the buildings. What is happening is, the glasses are overlaying the image the cameras are projecting in place of the buildings. Basically you’re watching video. The glasses know what cameras are where, plus where you are looking and shows you a live stream of what the camera sees rather than the building wall.”

“Let me see that,” Johnny said, taking the glasses from Alex, “Wow, that is cool.”

“So, this will let us sit up here and watch three hundred and sixty degrees around us, giving us plenty of warning should anyone try and sneak up on us. Also…” Will handed each person a small cylinder with a red button on top and two small LEDs on the side.

“Does this blow something up?” Johnny asked.

“No, it is simply a panic button. Keep it with you. If you see a force coming up that you can’t handle, push this and it will in turn make the others vibrate, beep and flash. If yours goes off, high tail it here. Now as for this command post, as you most likely noted on the way up, the top door here is now actually two doors about six inches apart. One opens out onto the roof, one opens into the stairwell. The one opening to the roof is re-enforced. The one opening onto the stairwell is booby trapped. When opened it will fill the stairwell with a flammable gas and light it on fire. The switch to disarm it is next to the door,” Will pointed to a small box containing a switch that was clearly labeled with a label maker, armed and disarmed. “Make sure whoever is up here knows you are coming, otherwise it will be you that gets lit on fire.”

“That is great work Will,” Johnny said, “Now, we need to figure out the schedule…” Johnny went on to lead a discussion about who would be on lookout when and the procedures for exchanges.

Steve and Adrian sat in Steve’s 2007 Dodge Caravan. Adrian peered around and said, “This looks fairly normal. What’s wrong with it?”

“Wrong with it? Nothing, but there is a lot right with it. I supercharged the 3.8 in here which is linked to all wheel drive, upgraded suspension and larger brakes. Plus it looks almost completely stock. No one will look at it twice - and the only look they will get at it is of the tail lights.”

“There is something so wrong with you,” Adrian shook his head, “We gotta catch a break soon. We need something that can link the messages to Will so we can officially re-open this investigation.”

Steve ate a bite of Kimchi, then with a mouthful of food said, “If we can get it re-opened then. They shut us down pretty hard last time. By the way, I heard a strange story from Sarah today. I am not sure if it relates to us but it relates to Carl so it might. He said one of Carl’s corners got hit hard. Not sure how to use that but keep it in your head somewhere.”

“That is interesting, not sure how we can attach it to Carl but it is something. Nice having information before everyone else for a while. Shhh, there he is.” They saw the shadow drop the note at the same train rail box as before. When the messenger was done, they again headed over to review the note. It said, “Colorado Ave cleaned. Return visit also cleaned. No leads.”

“Well, I think this means Sarah’s information was accurate. I am guessing cleaning is the attack. Sarah said she didn’t know where but now we know it is on Colorado Avenue somewhere. We’ll have to share that. Now what?”

“Now we put this back and head over to Blue Star Diner.”

They hurried back to the car. As they belted in Steve said, “Hang on, now we can see what this girl can do.” He eased out to the pavement at a crawl then pegged the throttle. All four wheels chirped then locked up and the normally sedate minivan launched like a rocket.

Pressed back in his seat, Adrian said, “Relax, we have time. The messenger still has to get here, then he takes a circuitous route there. We have time.”

“Yeah, I know but what fun is that?” Steve grinned. 

At the bar at Blue Star Café, Steve and Adrian took a seat at the bar as close to the table they had seen Carl sit at the night before. They did not know if he sat at the same table but it was as good a guess as any. The bar was light wood trimmed with chrome. The entire building seemed to a fight between a rustic cabin and ‘50s chrome. The bartender stepped up and asked, “What can I get for you fellas?”

“Mac and Jack Amber,” Steve said.

“Cup of coffee for me,” Adrian added.

“Sure, you guys need menus?”

“If you don’t mind,” Steve said. The bartender reached under the bar and handed each of them a menu then left to grab the drinks.

Adrian looked at the menu, flipped it over and scanned the other side then set it down and said, “Why am I looking at this? I’m not ordering anything to eat.”

“Come on man, at least have a soup or something. Look, they have a good looking clam chowder--”

“Shh, Carl’s here” Adrian hissed quietly looking at the door.

Steve went back to studying his menu so as not to attract attention. Carl sat down at the same table as he had the night before. The waitress came over and said, “I’m sorry Carl, your coffee isn’t ready yet.”

“Hmmm, that is concerning,” he replied calmly and the waitress left.

Steve tried his best to use the laminate of his menu to look behind him at Carl. He was worried that his and Adrian’s unnatural silence would be noticed when the bartender came back. “Here you go, one Mac and Jack, one coffee. Did you two decide what you would like?”

“Sure I’ll take the Ruben,” Steve said handing the waiter the menu back.

“I’ll have a bowl of the clam chowder,” Adrian said.

The waiter left and Steve said, “I thought you weren’t getting anything.”

In a slightly lower volume, to make sure Carl could not hear but not low enough to be suspicious, Adrian replied, “Seems like we might be here longer than expected. Now tell me more about the minivan.”

Steve proceeded to tell Adrian all about the work he had done to convert the minivan from a mild manner grocery getter to an undercover sleeper. He described it in great detail, most of what he said went over Adrian’s head or simply bored him. He wondered if this is how Steve felt when he talked computers to him. Ten minutes later, a man who looked like one of Carl’s usual messengers walked in. Steve had turned sideways to look at Adrian while he talked. He kept his position and continued talking as the messenger walked over to Carl’s table.

The messenger stood next to the table. Carl said, “Sit down, you’ll attract attention.”

“Thank you sir,” the messenger mumbled as he sat.

The bartender brought the food and Steve and Adrian turned back toward the bar. They ate in silence listening to the conversation behind them. Carl asked, “So why are you late?”

“Um, well, you see--”

“Just spit it out. I am guessing it is not good, it never is when you’re late.”

“Well you see…”

“You said that already.” Carl used a paper napkin to polish his spoon.

“Um, yeah, well, this is a bit worse than bad.”

“I am guessing so. From what I understand Grant sent the Rough Riders out last night. I have not heard what happened and now you’re late. I know it’s bad news.”

“Well, sir, they are missing.”

“What do you mean they are missing?” Carl said, finally showing emotion, in this case surprise. He repeated, “What do you mean they are missing?”

“That’s just it, they are missing.”

“Give me the actual words that you are delivering, from the drop.”

“Well, the words were ‘Colorado Ave cleaned. Return visit also cleaned. No leads.’”

Carl took a deep breath and raised his hand at the waitress. She nodded and scurried to the back. Carl stared out the window into the dark. The runner sat across from him, studying him intently but not saying anything. Steve and Adrian hunched over their food as if it was the most delicious fare ever. Two minutes later the waitress came out of the back with a plate loaded with scrambled eggs and at least six strips of bacon. She set it in front of Carl.

Carl finally looked back toward the runner, “Breakfast food is comfort food.” The runner did not know what to say and just nodded his head. Carl shoveled several large bites of egg into his mouth, chewed then grabbed a slice of bacon. He closed his eyes, leaned back against the booth and said, “Okay, you can go.” Then he started to eat the strip of bacon.

“Yes sir, but sir, do we want to get phones again so we can communicate faster?”

Carl looked at him like he had three heads, “Let me get this straight, Colorado just got wiped out, some mysterious new crew is in town, I have many missing men, and now you want me to go back to phones that can be traced and listened in on? Is that what you’re asking?”

“Well I just meant--”

“This is why I am me and you are you. No, while this method is cumbersome, it also gives me the most insulation. When things are in flux is when I need the insulation the most. If whoever wiped out the rough riders attracts the attention of the police, the last thing I want to do is be on the phone.”

“Yes, sir,” the runner said. Then he got up and scurried out of the diner. Carl continued to eat, not looking at anything specific, obviously lost in thought. The waitress brought him pancakes which he proceeded to float in syrup. Steve and Adrian ate their meal and left.

“We need more product,” Johnny told Russ. Johnny, Alex, Russ, Mario and Jeff sat in Russ’ living room.

“That was quick” Jeff said.

Johnny smiled a large grin, “I told you I picked a good corner. The first night was a little slow but I guess word has gotten around about the quality of our stuff and now we are jamming from early evening, those on their way home from work, to late at night. We’re not out of product but we will be soon enough.”

“So how much do you need?” Russ asked.

“Let’s go with four keys this time.”

“Money?”

Johnny motioned to Alex who opened his bag and placed several large stacks of cash on the table. “This should be enough to cover the debt and vig for the first three plus that, there, is your share of the haul. Let’s buy the next five on credit but after that we should be in a place to pay off those four and pay up front for the next four. I don’t like being in debt.”

Mario picked up the stack Johnny had indicated was for them. He leafed through it and said, “Seems a little light.”

“Yes, that brings me to my next order of business, the splits.”

Jeff quickly started to interject but Johnny cut him off with a motion.

“So it seems we have enough people to hold the corner for business hours but we do not have enough people to hold the corner the rest of the time. So we are going to need more people,” Johnny said.

Alex chimed in, “Plus Nate is dead.”

Russ sputtered, “What? Nate is dead? When did that happen? What happened?”

Johnny shot a stern look at Alex then said, “Well, we were not going to say anything but during the cleaning Nate took a bullet and died. It's not a big deal, he knew the risks when we took the job. But knowing now what we know, we realize we were a few men short already, and now with the loss of Nate we’re down even further. When we did the split there were 5 of us now we know we need 9 or so that means we'll need more money to make sure everyone gets paid.”

Mario injected, “No we made the deal, you pick the corner, you sell the drugs, we provide the drugs. The split is the split. However many people you need or use is up to you.” Mario stood to his full height. His mass seemed to fill half the room.

Johnny did not move. He took a sip of beer and said, “Well, we could always say this is over our heads, take our money and leave.”

“That works,” said Russ.

Mario and Jeff looked at Russ. Mario sat down. He threw the stack of cash he had been holding at Russ. “Take a look at that. That is our “short” stack.” Russ leafed through it. It was a lot of money.