“True. You do do that every now and again.”
“Eddie, what do you want?”
“I bring news, man, news.”
“Such as?”
“Word is that Mallette and Ames are coming to a head, man. Like, there’s an explosion about to happen.”
“OK?” Jacobs seemed a little ambivalent about the news.
Franks was a bit surprised by the lack of reaction he received. “OK? That’s it? That’s all you’re giving me?”
“Um… thanks?”
Franks rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders. “Come on, man, don’t be like that.”
“Like what?”
“Here I just told you that your two biggest rivals are about to meet up in some epic contest that might blow the doors off of everything, and what do you say?” He then mocked his friend. “OK?” He returned to his normal voice. “I mean, what’s that? OK? That’s all you got to say? OK?”
“What would you like me to say?”
“Well, I thought you’d be a bit more excited about it. Maybe jump up and down, do a jumping jack, throw your arms up, let out a yell… something!”
“Why?”
“Oh, forget it.”
Jacobs finally let out a smile. “I mean, I guess it’s good. What exactly is it that you want me to do with the news?”
“Well, maybe, just maybe, the two bastards will meet up and take each other out.”
“The odds of that are not strong.”
“We can hope.”
“Hope doesn’t do anything.”
“Man, you’re a real barrel of laughs today, aren’t ya?”
“Listen, the odds of both of them appearing in the same room are not that high. So even if they do go up against each other, it’s just gonna be rival factions killing each other. The leaders will probably be safe.”
“But maybe one of these leaders will go down with the ship, huh?”
“That would still leave the other one,” Jacobs said.
“Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”
“Why not?”
Franks sighed. “Look, let’s keep our fingers crossed that these two bad boys will knock one of the others off. Even if that only leaves one of them left… it still means only one of them is left. That’s much more manageable than two, isn’t it?”
“Maybe.”
Franks waved his hand at him. “You’re impossible today, you know that?”
“Sorry, it’s just… we haven’t heard anything for a couple days. Sometimes it feels like this thing’s never gonna end.”
“I know, man. I know. But we’re getting there. It’s not going as fast as we want. But we’re getting there. Butch is gone. Maybe soon one of these other chumps is gonna go… we’re getting there. Just a little bit longer.”
Jacobs then had a thought. “Of course, if you’re able to figure out a way to get these two guys in the same place at the same time, maybe we can work some magic and eliminate both of them at the same time.”
“What do I look like, Houdini? You think I can just magically bring these two slobs together?”
“Well? Can’t you?”
“What do you think I am?”
“You really want me to answer?”
“No!” Franks then rubbed his chin. “All right, let me put my ear to the ground and see what I can do. Maybe I can put some feelers out there. Maybe we can create some false info out there leading both of them to the same place. Might take a little work and a bit of luck. Or maybe a lot of luck.”
“If there’s anyone who can do it… you’re the guy.”
Franks gave him a side-eye. “I don’t know about that, but we’ll give it a go. We’ll give it the old college try.”
“And if that doesn’t work, try something else.”
“Such as?”
“I don’t know,” Jacobs said. “But like I said, if there’s anyone who can do the job… you’re it.”
4
Everyone was huddled around the kitchen table at Jacobs’ house, including Franks, Tiffany, Thrower, and Hack. They were trying to get some kind of lead on either Mallette or Ames. They weren’t having much luck on either account.
“You sure you put out those feelers?” Jacobs asked.
Franks rolled his eyes. “How many times are you gonna ask me that, man? It’s only been a day or two; you gotta give it time to spread and percolate.”
“We’ve already had a lot of time.”
Franks put his arms up. “Hey, it takes what it takes, man. I can’t speed things up here.”
Jacobs sighed but knew there was nothing else they could do with that. Nothing but sit and wait. He turned his attention to other matters. “Nate, you sure my brother’s family is good?”
Thrower nodded. “Eddie’s still got those other guys over there, but I didn’t see even a hint of anything wrong in the few days I was watching. And you’d think if they were gonna try anything, they probably would’ve done it by now.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“I can head back over there if you want.”
“No, as long as those other guys are still there, that’s good enough.”
“I think if they were gonna try something, they wouldn’t wait this long. They’d try to do it before we thought about it. And that means they would’ve done it right away.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
Hack started snapping his fingers, though his eyes remained fixed on his computer. Everyone immediately stopped and stared at him, though.
“You got something?” Franks asked.
“Uh, just give me a second,” Hack answered.
Franks huffed. “Well, why’d you call us over here if you’re not ready yet?”
“I didn’t call you over. I snapped my fingers. That was just to get you prepared.”
“Prepared for what?”
Hack finished typing, then pointed at the monitor. “This.”
Everyone leaned in to see what Hack had learned. They all looked at each other, though, clearly not seeing the same thing he was. Hack glanced at each of them, seeing the puzzled looks on their faces.
“You don’t see it?” Hack asked.
They each shook their heads. “Evidently not,” Franks replied.
“Look at this address here.” Hack pointed at the screen.
“Not familiar to me,” Jacobs said.
“Because it’s never come across us before.”
“What exactly are you telling us, man?” Franks asked.
“I’m telling you, I think this is where Mallette is.”
Everyone stared at Hack again, not quite believing what he was saying.
“You’re
