Wrong Town: A Mark Landry Novel (21 page)
Read Wrong Town: A Mark Landry Novel Online
Authors: Randall H Miller
Frank Tagala was done for the day and on his way out of town when a minor accident in front of him halted traffic for a few minutes. Horns blared all around him, but Frank was transfixed on the two men talking on the other side of the intersection.
Is that Agnes’s kid? And who’s the other guy? He looks familiar. Where do I know him from?
Two Boston cops on foot patrol cleared the accident scene, and cars started moving again. One block down the street, Frank spotted the stunning young woman and instantly made the connection. He had seen her and the older gentleman getting off the elevator inside the Joint Terrorism Task Force headquarters a few days earlier. And now they just happened to be hanging out with his neighbor.
Interesting.
“This kid is kicking up a storm in there, John. He’s dying to get out and I’m dying to get it over with. Any day now,” said Linda.
“I’m ready too, babe. You’ve done all the heavy lifting so far and my role has barely gotten started. I can’t wait to get that boy out so I can put him to work around the house,” joked Officer John McDonough into his cell phone.
“I hope he has my nose,” she said.
“Why your nose? What’s wrong with—”
McDonough was startled by the unexpected knock on his cruiser’s trunk and froze momentarily.
“John? John?”
“I’ll call you right back,” he replied quickly.
He saw Ghassan waving in the rear-view mirror and exited the vehicle.
“Sorry if I scared you, my friend. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
“No problem, Ghassan. I was just talking to my wife. The baby is due any day now, so we’re both a little on edge.”
“Great news! I am so happy for you and hope you will allow me to visit the boy when I return from vacation. I’m actually on my way out of town right now, but when I saw you parked here, it reminded me to ask a favor.”
“What is it?” asked McDonough.
“I’ll be gone for about a week, and Yasir will be in charge of Baba Ghassan’s. He’s supposed to keep the ship afloat through the holiday. I am sixty percent sure he can pull it off, but if you wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on the place I would feel better. If that’s not too much to ask.”
“Not at all. I’ll be working through the holiday anyway. Where are you headed? Anywhere exciting?”
“Not really. I’m going to visit my sister and her family in New York City. She’s a pain in the ass and her family is worse. But I said I would go, and it would break my mother’s heart—God rest her soul—if I didn’t. You have a good week and best of luck with your son. I can’t wait to meet the little prince!” boomed the old man.
“Thanks. Travel safely.”
“God willing,” answered Ghassan. “God willing.”
Luci arrived home from the gym to find that Mark had cleared out her garage and assembled protective mats on the floor. When she pulled up, he approached her unrolled window.
“Hello, beautiful. Your warrior training is about to begin.”
“Seriously? Mark, I just did an hour and a half at the gym and I’m beat.”
“Good. It’ll be more realistic then. Bad guys typically don’t wait for you to be well rested and standing like
this
before they attack,” he said, raising one knee and holding bent wrists high above his head like the Karate Kid to illustrate his point.
“Very funny. Fine, just let me change my gym clothes. These are soaked.”
“Good. You do that and I’ll finish preparing the dungeon. Bring your duty belt with unloaded handgun and spare magazines—all empty. Body armor too.”
* * *
Luci was taken by surprise when Mark lunged forward and slashed at her with the knife. When she hesitated, he pulled her in close with one arm and pushed the blade up and under her body armor with the other.
“Hey! You said on three, and you attacked me after one! Not fair, Landry,” she exclaimed, huffing and puffing.
He let go and backed up so that she could catch her breath.
“Sorry, I’ve never been any good at counting. Besides, didn’t your training officer teach you that everybody lies?” he asked with a sarcastic smile. “Take a quick break and drink some water. A few close-quarters pistol drills and we’ll be done.”
When Luci explained that she normally carried her pistol without a round in the chamber and with the safety on, Mark nodded.
“That doesn’t make any sense. If you ever need your gun, you need to be able to draw with one hand and squeeze the trigger. You don’t want to be messing around with a safety, and the chances that you’ll have time to chamber a round are slim to none—less if you have to do it all one-handed while someone is attacking you.”
“I know that, Mark.”
“Then why would you carry like that?”
“If you must know, I had an accidental discharge once and it scared the hell out of me. Nobody was hurt, but just thinking about what could have happened freaks me out. I chamber a round when I do my annual qualification. Other than that, I prefer to err on the side of extreme caution. I’m constantly surrounded by kids.”
“When did this happen?”
“In the academy. It almost cost me my slot.”
“Luci, that was like fifteen years ago. It’s all in your head. You need to get over it. It’s dangerous to carry your weapon in any status other than ready to fire. Bad things happen quickly, and you may only have a split second to protect yourself and the kids you spend time with.”
Luci nodded. “I know. You’re right.”
“First, show me how fast you can draw, disengage the safety, chamber a round, and fire your first shot. After that, I want to show you something.”
She oriented herself toward a target taped to the far wall of the garage, breathed deeply, executed the drill, and reholstered.
“Not bad. Honestly, I was not expecting you to be that fast. Two things, though. First, don’t get in the habit of immediately reholstering your weapon. If you do that in training, you’ll do it in the field and it’ll get you killed. Keep it out and scan the area for additional threats before you reholster. Second, come over here and stand against the wall, facing me.”
When she was in place, he closed the distance between them so that they stood belly to belly.
“Now do it again, using me as your target.”
“Sounds like a bad idea, Mark.”
“We’ve both checked that weapon multiple times as well as each of the magazines. They are unloaded and there is no live ammunition in the dungeon at all. Do it.”
As she inhaled and prepared for the drill, he unexpectedly pinned her against the wall, with one hand on her throat and the other on her left elbow. She was surprised but drew the handgun with her right hand, much more quickly than he had expected. Then came the lesson.
“What’s wrong, Officer Alvarez? Someone is trying to kill you. Why aren’t you shooting to protect yourself?”
She had the gun in her hand with the muzzle pressed up against his midsection, but with her left arm pinned she was unable to rack the slide of her Smith and Wesson M&P Shield 9mm and chamber a round.
“See how hard it would be to rack the slide off your belt or something with one hand to chamber a round when someone is attacking you? Looks like you were barely able to flip off the safety,” he said as he released his grip and stepped back.
“Okay, I get it. The weapon needs to be ready to go at all times.”
“Why?”
“There may not be time to undo the safety and chamber a round. And if I lose the use of my left arm, I’m screwed. I get it. You’re right.”
“Exactly. If it’s not ready to go, it might as well be a paperweight. So, no safety—ever—and always have a round in the chamber. Also, don’t ever press the gun up against anything or anybody like you did to me—you run the risk of knocking it out of battery, and then it’s useless. Now let’s do some retention and disarming drills with handguns and edged weapons. Are you having fun yet?” he asked.
“Actually, yes. I’ve been thinking about this stuff a lot lately and I appreciate the help.”
For the grand finale, Mark took her handgun, magazines, and the training knives over to the sink. She followed and watched as he ran warm water over the equipment and added a few squeezes from a bottle of liquid soap to the mix.
“Germophobe?” she asked.
“Nope. Just making them warm, slippery, and a little bit sticky—just like blood.”
He told her to face the wall so that she couldn’t see. Then, after scattering the weapons at the far end of the mat, he turned out the lights and returned to her side.
“When I say
turn around
, do it, locate the nearest weapon, and kill me before I kill you. I know you have all kinds of rules of engagement in your job, but for our purposes, let’s operate under the assumption that you’re fighting for your life. So don’t bother pulling out your pepper spray or threatening me with a citation. Understand?”
“Understood. Kill Landry. Got it,” she answered.
He leaned in close and whispered softly in her ear.
“I’d better not get to a weapon before you do.”
“You want a beer or something, Mark?”
“Not right this second. I want to finish cleaning your gun first,” he replied.
Luci was cooking a Colombian dish and the smell was driving him wild.
“Man, what is that? That smells incredible.”
“That’s all me, Landry. Or did you mean the food?”
He stood up from the table and approached the stove.
“Mind if I try it?” he asked, gently grasping the large wooden spoon in her hand.
“Go for it.”
Mark took a small bite and chewed it slowly, savoring the flavor.
“Not bad at all. Nicely done. On a side note, we should go to the range some time soon and do some live fire. I’ve seen cops at ranges before, and a lot of the time they make me cringe. You’ve got solid fundamentals and will be a great shooter with a little coaching.”
He sat back down and finished assembling Luci’s 9mm.
“Can I ask you a question? And I need a straight answer,” said Luci as she finished her wine.
“Those are the only kinds of answers I give. What’s the question?”
“Why are you doing all this, Mark?” she asked in a solemn voice that he had not heard since his return.
“Why am I doing what?”
“This. Everything. Why are you so concerned with my training? Why are you home? Why are you trying so hard to win me over? When are you leaving? All that stuff. I don’t want to play any games. I just want to know what you’re thinking.”
Landry stood, grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, and looked out the glass door onto the deck.
“That was a lot of questions, Luci. Which one should I answer first?”
“Your call.”
“Okay, I’m home because I had some leave time and needed to make a major decision whether or not to retire. I came here because this is the only home I’ve ever had. I’m training you because you need it. I’m never leaving. And you already know why I’ve been trying so hard to impress you.”
“You need to elaborate on those last two, Landry.”
Mark approached her from behind, wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, and watched her gently stir the food.
“I’m not leaving you, Luci. I’m retiring. Already told my boss.”
Her pulse quickened as she turned her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
“Is that right?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then why am I having such a hard time believing you?”
“You want some proof?” he asked.
Then he reached into his back pocket, pulled out his freshly minted Massachusetts driver’s license, and placed it on the counter in front of her.
“I waited six hours at the registry to get that—and I was in the express lane,” he whispered in her ear, kissing her neck gently. “How’s that for commitment?”
“And why have you been working so hard to impress me?”
He pulled her closer than they had been in years.
“You already know why, Officer Alvarez—because I love you. I always have and I always will. I’m home now and I’m not leaving, Luci. And if you’ll have me, I want to spend my life with you.”
They stood silently for several moments. He maintained his embrace and she continued to stir. “You know, I’m not an expert at this, Luci,” he said finally. “But I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to talk next.”
When she turned around to return the embrace, her mouth was smiling but her eyes were staid. He started to speak but she cut him off.
“Mark, you already know how I feel too. And I’m thrilled to hear you’re here for good and want to be with me. And I can’t believe you actually got a driver’s license,” she joked. “I love you too, but I have to tell you right now that there’s a part of me that thinks I could wake up one day and you’ll be gone. You have to promise me you’ll never leave me again. I have to hear you say it.”
He pulled her tighter and spoke softly into her ear.
“Luci, you’re never getting rid of me. I promise you I will never leave you again.”
“And I need you to promise me one more thing,” she said in deep breaths as he kissed her neck and nibbled on her ear lobe.
“Anything,” he whispered.
“No more secrets, Mark. I understand the past and I get that. But from this moment forward—no more secrets.”
“Done. No more secrets. I promise,” he murmured as he gently turned her around, lifted her shirt, and started kissing the small of her back working his way down.
Luci turned off the stove, arched her back, and breathed heavily.
“One more thing … let’s take this to the Jacuzzi.”
Mark stopped and looked up.
“You have a Jacuzzi?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s upstairs,” she said, pulling him up by his hair with both hands to whisper in his ear. “And I’d better not get there before you do.”