“I don’t like this, boss.”
“Are our guys in place?” Mallette asked.
Reed immediately got on the phone. He got off a short time later. He didn’t look pleased. “They’re not ready, boss. They can’t get in. Not yet. They need more time.”
“Time is something we don’t have.”
“Yes, we do. We don’t have to do this just yet.”
Mallette didn’t want to hear it. He wanted Ames eliminated, and he wanted him gone today. He got out of the car with Reed, and the driver also got out. The two men escorted Mallette to the door. Just before they reached it, two of Ames’ men appeared. They had guns in hand.
Mallette and his men stopped, waiting for Ames’ men to make a move. Ames’ men opened the door, stepping to the side, seeming to give Mallette a warm welcome. Mallette and his men continued their approach and walked into the building. They were escorted by Ames’ men, going into another room that was devoid of any furnishings. Mallette took a look around, seeing nothing but four bare concrete walls.
“Where’s Ames?” Mallette asked.
“He’ll be here,” one of the men replied. “Just wait here.”
Ames’ men turned around to leave, but Mallette had some more questions. “Are you not waiting here with us?”
“Waiting isn’t part of the plan.”
The two men swung back around, pulling out their pistols once more. They took aim at Mallette, though his driver stepped in front of him as a shield. As the bullets penetrated his body, Reed withdrew his pistol, too, and returned fire. With all the bullets Mallette’s driver took, the impact knocked him onto his boss, knocking them both onto the floor.
Reed hit the first man, then took a bullet himself. He dropped to his knees, but still was in the fight, and continued to fire. All three men were hit but kept firing, each of them taking numerous bullets. Finally, one of Ames’ men perished after taking four bullets. Then the second of Ames’ men dropped after taking three bullets.
Reed tried to get back to his feet but stumbled down again. He had taken one bullet to the leg, one to the arm, two in the midsection, and one to the chest. It was only a matter of time before he departed. He still had enough energy in him to crawl over to his boss to make sure he was all right. Mallette wasn’t moving.
“Boss…” Reed kept crawling. “You OK?” He only made it about halfway to Mallette before he ran out of energy and life. His eyes closed for the final time.
Mallette waited another minute before finally shoving his driver off his body. He was making sure there was no other danger lurking before revealing that he was still alive. He took a quick look at Reed as he got back to his feet. Mallette firmly gripped the gun in his hand, just in case the fight wasn’t over yet. He kept the gun aimed at the door for well over a minute, just waiting. There was no one else coming, though. Not until several more of his men finally got into the building, coming from a side window. They came running toward Mallette.
“Boss, you OK?”
Mallette put his gun away and nodded, looking as though he wanted to throw someone through a wall. He didn’t seem to care as much about two of his men being dead, both of whom died protecting him. His mind was only focused on Ames.
“What happened?” one of his men asked.
“Wilson Ames set me up,” Mallette replied angrily. “That’s what happened.”
“Shame about Reed.”
Mallette glanced down at the dead man, still not showing much remorse for his situation. He didn’t appreciate what had happened. Of course, he was planning to do the same thing. Reed tried to warn him about rushing in, but Mallette was too stubborn to listen. As Mallette stared at the bodies of his two men, anger flowed through his veins. There was only one thought going through his mind.
“I want Wilson Ames’ head on a stick.”
Several days had passed, and there wasn’t much activity on any front. Thrower reported back that he couldn’t see anyone hanging around Terry Jacobs’ family. Jacobs continued taking Tiffany to and from school, but there was nobody following them that Jacobs could tell. And there’d been no rumors on any front involving Mallette or Ames. At least none that provided anything actionable. There were rumors that Mallette and Ames were ramping up their hatred toward one another, but that didn’t have anything to do with Jacobs.
All that changed, though, when Franks tried to burst into the house. The locked door prevented him from charging right in. Gunner immediately started barking, and Jacobs took out his gun as he went to the front door to investigate. Once he saw it was Franks, the red alert died down. He tucked his gun away and opened the door to let his friend in.
Jacobs held his arms out. “What gives?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you trying to charge into the house? Are you trying to get shot?”
“Why would I get shot?”
Jacobs looked at him like he was crazy. “Uh, because you know I keep the door locked at all times in case of some dangerous thug finding out where we are.”
“Oh yeah, that.”
“Sometimes I wonder what world you’re living in.”
Hearing Franks’ voice, Tiffany appeared from the hallway where Jacobs told her to go in case it was someone dangerous trying to get in.
“Hey, Tiff,” Franks said.
Tiffany gave him a warm smile and a half-hearted wave.
“Is there something we can do for you?” Jacobs asked.
“About what?”
“You did try to bust in here just a few minutes ago. You remember that, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“So what did you want?”
“Oh. Yeah. Why’d you let me get away from that?”
Jacobs sighed. “I don’t know. You know
