He sat and studied me for several minutes, the waitress came. I ordered meatloaf and a cup of coffee; he said nothing so I had her bring the same for him. “Meatloaf is really good here, you’ll like it.”
He finally responded “You said one thing right, I do hate you. You are a fucking murderer and plan to do more of it, well you’re not going to do that in my back yard.”
I looked him right in the eyes, “You’re wrong, Guzman will die, and I will kill him. Make no mistake about it. He came at me and my family; he can’t be allowed to try again. Even if you send him to jail, he still has the organization to reach out and take revenge anytime he wants. So if that’s a problem we can’t solve, I guess this meeting is over.”
I stood and began to leave; he stopped me and asked me to sit down. “Ok, I see your point, anyone threaten my family I would feel the same way. So tell me about your family, we could protect them.”
I sat down and just then the waitress brought us our dinners, after she walked away I continued “No one can protect them from this guy, like I said, locking him up won’t stop him.” We both were quiet and began to eat dinner.
O’Shea took a swallow of coffee and said “Damn, this is good meatloaf. Do you always eat with gloves on?”
I laughed, “Sooner or later you will figure out who I am, or maybe I’ll just tell you. But I’m not gonna make it easy by leaving my fingerprints.”
He had to smile at that “So what do you want, I have limits on what I can do, he is operating out of a warehouse in New York not New Jersey. We’re been trying to nail his ass for years. When I was in New York we had a whole task force trying to get him, we always came up empty. Worse than that, some people trying to help us disappeared. No one will talk and you know what happened to the cop who finally got inside.”
I signaled the waitress for a coffee refill. “I know, but you are operating under cop rules, I don’t have that restraint. What I need is help drawing him out. He wouldn’t come after me personally, but maybe some heat from the cops will get him to make a mistake and leave his comfort zone.”
O’Shea thought about that for a few minutes. “But that would make me an accessory to murder, I’m a cop damit, I can’t do that.”
I understood his feelings, he was a good and honest cop. He had gone along with me once before, and I bet that fact still bothered him. “I understand, you’re to fuckin honest, I bet you didn’t even take any of Perroni’s money.” I raised my hand and shook my head “You don’t even have to answer that, I know you wouldn’t do it.” I took a deep breath and sighed, “I shouldn’t be here, I need to handle this myself, go back and try to forget we ever met, I won’t bother you again.”
Now it was his turn to raise his hand, “Wait a minute.” He took his mobile radio from his pocked and called the three units assigned to cover him. While I listened he told them all was clear and they should return to the office. He looked me straight in the eyes, “How and the hell did you get involved in all this, you just don’t seem like the type.”
I looked over and the couple in the booth looked at us and walked out the door.
I had to laugh, “Sometimes I ask myself the same question. It’s nobody’s fault but mine, I made a few bad decisions and compounded them many times. Twice I wanted out, once I made a bad decision and returned to this life, but now, we were out. I thought I had cleared up my past when Perroni was taken out the picture, now Guzman, where does it end? I wish I knew.”
He had me talking and wanted me to continue so he asked “Tell me about Guzman’s guys, what happened to them?”
I figured I was in deep now, so what difference would it make, “They made the mistake of thinking they were dealing with your average drug dealer. Long story short, they fucked up. My partner killed one before he even got out of his car, I got the information I needed from the other one and then I cut his throat. No reason leaving him around just to come back after us.”
O’Shea’s eyes were big “Cut his throat, holy shit man, that’s cold.”
I looked at him, “And what do you think he would have done to me and my family?”
This he understood. We finished our meal, I was still hungry and ordered a piece of cherry pie; he did the same. “I never said I was a nice person, it’s just that I don’t like people trying to kill me, and especially kill my love ones. When someone does that, all bets are off.”
Our pie came and our coffee was refilled. O’Shea tasted the pie. “Good pie, so where are the bodies?”
I answered, “Sorry that’s something you really don’t need to know. Just rest assured the Feds can’t tie any of that to me. Are you gonna help me?”
He looked down and sighed “I hate to ask this, but what’s in this for me? I mean I could get screwed by doing this, lose my job, my pension, go to prison, so why?”
I knew he was right, “I’ll make a deal with you, get Guzman where I can take care of business and I’ll confess to the murders at the Camden Wharf. I’ll turn myself into you and keep my mouth shut about Perroni, I give you my word.”
He looked startled, “That will get you life without parole, why would you do that?”
I smiled, “Once Guzman is no longer a threat to my family, I don’t care what happens to me. That’s my deal.” I put my hand out for him to shake.
He looked at me and my hand for several seconds; shook his head and then shook my hand. I told him I would get a new cell phone and call him the next day. I threw two one hundred dollar bills on the table, nodded to him, and left the diner.
As I walked outside I noticed the red van was gone, my earpiece had told me that both the unmarked units had left their locations. I crossed Route 10 and waited for a cab I knew was coming.
I had just put my neck in a noose, but knew it was the only option I had.
Chapter 17
Detective Ryan Thibodeaux was sitting in the Homicide office with folders spread out all over his desk. He had six unsolved homicides assigned to him and he was trying to find anything he may have missed on any of them. All he had so far was a headache. The most pressing was the Calliope murders. Four dead bodies were just too much for him to accept. He had a good number of leads, and even had a suspect in mind. His partner was running late this morning, his young son had the flu, so Thibodeaux used the time to go over his open cases.
At 9:45 AM his partner walked in. He looked at Thibodeaux’s desk and just shook his head “You trying to get yourself more depressed?”
Thibodeaux laughed, “How’s your boy?”
Greyfield answered “Just a lot of puking and shitting, but otherwise fine, thanks.”
“I hope you didn’t being that bug in here, I don’t need that crap” Thibodeaux made a cross over his face with his fingers. “I was looking at all the unsolved, just to see if I can get anywhere.”
Greyfield sat next to him and began to look over the files “Shit, I know we got the Calliope thing solved, just can’t fucking prove it. I really like Carr and his buddy for it.”
Thibodeaux nodded, “Yea, me to, but we’re missing something, we have to be. I mean Carr definitely purchased the car and the grenades. I am willing to bet the black guy bought the Escalade. I was able to get our guys in the lab to pull a name from the other uniforms. The black guy is Wilson and the other guy is Rome. I got a call into somebody with the Department of the Army for more information, still waiting for them to get back to me.”
Greyfield looked at the picture of the three men, “You know, I was in the Army for three years and the only people I ever saw with rifles like this were the snipers.” He pointed at the picture, “You see that patch, I can’t read it but I know what it is, that’s a Ranger Tab. Carr and Rome were Rangers and this was taken in Vietnam, so both of them have combat experience. The black guy was a helicopter pilot, that’s a Cobra they’re standing in front of, a gunship, so it’s a good bet he saw action also.”
Thibodeaux was impressed “That’s good information, now what do we do with it?”
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br /> Greyfield chuckled “Give that to any waitress and a buck and get a cup of coffee.”
Thibodeaux laughed “Yea, and I’m about to piss myself now I done drank so much. Man this can’t be a dead end; we got so much that turns out to be so little.”
Greyfield had an idea “Hey, we know the black guy, what’s his name, Wilson. He used that dead guy’s ID to buy the Escalade. Why don’t we send this picture to Richmond PD and see if it gets any hits? And while we’re at it, the dead guy, he was from somewhere in New Jersey, um, Hoboken, that’s it. Let’s send a picture to them, you never know, we might get lucky.
Again Thibodeaux was impressed, his partner was thinking “Good idea, let’s do that, that’s a good idea.”
Chapter 18
I had taken a cab from the Whippany Diner into Manhattan. I walked around Times Square for an hour and grabbed a cab to Little Italy. If anyone was trying to follow me I never spotted them. Shelby and Carl were in a coffee shop there, and when I was sure I wasn’t tailed, met up with them. We drank strong coffee and discussed my meeting with O’Shea. I told them everything except my deal to turn myself in. I knew they would argue with me over that, but it was something I felt I needed to do.
None of us were in a very good mood, we felt like we were caught in a riptide and couldn’t get out. I tried to lighten the mood “Hey, cheer up, things could be worse, we could still be in the Army.”
That got a laugh out of both of them. Carl said “Jess, do we have a plan, or are we just letting this thing carry us along?”
I knew what he meant; every move we had made when we hunted men together was planned to the smallest detail. We knew our prey as well as we knew ourselves. But now we were hunting an enemy who had the upper hand, he knew us; we knew almost nothing of him. I had to admit “We’re in this blind, we got nothing right now. If O’Shea can’t help I don’t know what to do. Sounds like this guy has an army, so a frontal assault is out of the question. A long shot in an urban environment isn’t likely. We need to wait and see what tomorrow and O’Shea brings.
None of us were accustomed to waiting on others, but right now, this was out of our hands.
Chapter 19
Captain James O’Shea was sitting in his office when his desk phone rang. “Homicide O’Shea”
The female voice on the other end said “Captain, this is Special Agent Rhonda Woodson, with the FBI, we spoke the other day.”
O’Shea though, oh shit “Yes Agent Woodson I remember, I asked about Guzman’s guys, what can I do for you?” He really didn’t want to ask this question, he hated to hear the answer.
Woodson answered “Your snitch may have been right; those two guys fell off the map completely. We are getting word out of New York that Guzman, the man himself, can’t locate them. We got a guy jammed up on a Federal Racketeering beef and he is feeding us a little information. Seems our boys were sent south to take out a drug connection that showed too much initiative, Guzman was worried these guys were growing too strong and might move into his territory.”
O’Shea thought maybe she is just fishing. “I tell you what, I’ll get my guy to put some pressure on his snitch, see what else he knows, but I really doubt he knows much.”
Woodson responded “There was one other thing, the guy we got jammed up says Guzman is concerned about these guys down south. It seems they were associates of Dominic Perroni, and well, you know what happened to Perroni.”
O’Shea thought, oh shit, there it is, Guzman knows that I didn’t bring down Perroni and he is hunting the guys that did. “So you believe that Guzman is worried the same thing will happen to him as happened to Perroni? I mean, I got lucky there, and we heard Perroni has already been replaced, in fact, we’re watching that guy right now. Guys name is Tony Lucio, some kind of cousin on Guzman’s mother’s side I think.”
O’Shea knew there was more to the story than Woodson was telling, Feds were notorious in trying to protect their information. “Let me read my notes from my detective that talked to his snitch.” He rattled papers around his desk to make it sound like he was looking for something. “Oh, here it is, all that snitch really told my guy was that Guzman knew his guys weren’t coming back, he didn’t know what had happened.”
Woodson though for a moment, “Well I’m starting to believe that myself. We have turned over every leaf between Mississippi and New York and have come up empty. If they were in the wind someone would have rolled over on them by now, especially knowing Guzman is looking.”
O’Shea needed as much information as he could get “Your boy say anything else, I mean, how is Guzman taking this?”
Woodson chuckled, “We hear Guzman is circling the wagons, he really believes someone from down here is after him.”
O’Shea thought and he is so right, “Well I will have my guy try that snitch again, but I doubt he knows anymore, he’s just a low level dealer looking to catch a break on a possession and distribution charge.”
Woodson responded, “Yea well we’ll keep looking and shaking the trees to see what falls out, if I hear anything I’ll give you a buzz and would appreciate if you would do the same.”
O’Shea thought sure you will, the feds always share their information then he said, “I appreciate the call, and if I hear anything I’ll let you know.”
He hung up the phone and breathed a sigh of relief, another bullet dodged, at least for now.
O’Shea decided to call an old buddy from his in New York days. Jimmy Daigle had been O’Shea’s partner many years before. Daigle was now head of the Gang Unit out of Brooklyn South. O’Shea dialed his private number and Daigle answered. “Gangland USA, how can I help you?”
O’Shea laughed, “Fucking beautiful, just beautiful, nice, suppose I was the Chief or the Mayor?”
Daigle also laughed, “Then one of them pricks stole James O’Shea’s phone, cause that’s who mine says is calling.”
O’Shea shook his head, “Got me there buddy, so how goes my friends in the Big Apple?”
Daigle responded, “Like you really give a shit, we never see you anymore and you only call when you need something. So what is it now, information, money, women, hey we got a sale this week on prostitutes. Vice is having a field day rounding um up.”
O’Shea broke out laughing, “All right, all right, you win, I haven’t been in town in at least a year, up to my ass in bodies around here, and no thanks; we got enough whores around here to keep us busy for a long time.”
“I heard about your collection of Chicago bangers, all belly up at one time. Somebody should give that shooter a metal. You got anything resembling a suspect?” Daigle knew he didn’t but wanted to rub it in a little. “I mean, I could send you a real detective or two from here.”
“Fuck you and all of you real cops, you Gang Unit pricks get the easy collars. One douche bag kills another douche bag and runs home to mama. How fucking hard can that be to solve, just round up all the baby mamas in town.” O’Shea was use to ribbing from Daigle, but he could give as good as he could receive.
They were both laughing but O’Shea decided to get to the real reason for his call “Seriously Jimmy, are your guys hearing anything on the street about the Guzman gang? I had the Feds calling to see what was going on up here.”
Daigle finally stopped laughing long enough to answer “That bunch of fucking wops, oh excuse me Italian Americans, are getting grabbed by the Feds left and right, of course. They don’t know nothing and don’t say nothing. So the Feds cut them lose. I heard Guzman showed up with his team of lawyers and knew nothing of course. Like he was really gonna give them something, dumb ass Feds I swear. Word out is Guzman sent a couple of goons out to take care of some business, and they never reported back. He don’t like competition; obviously don’t believe in the free enterprise system.”
O’Shea though this over “You hear anything about the guy the bozos went after? The Feds told me they were last seen in Mississippi, far as I know; Guzman’s got nothing down there.”
&
nbsp; Daigle answered, “I heard this all got something to do with your buddy, Perroni. Some bullshit about Perroni getting iced by the competition trying to move in on his territory. But I know that’s bullshit, you took that clown down. Lots of bullshit floating around, word is some shit for brains cousin of Guzman’s is taking Perroni’s place. I head the cousins ass is puckering, thinks he’s gonna get wacked too. For some reason every dealer on the street is watching their back even more than usual.”
O’Shea was shaking his head, how could this one guy get the whole drug empire in this area in such a turmoil, “Shit Jimmy, anything gets Guzman out the way would be a plus. My Gang Guys here tell me the streets are pretty dry, not a lot moving in or out right now. I guess the Feds and this mystery Mississippi connection have everyone shaken up.”
Daigle laughed, “The Feds; are you shitting me? None of these bozos worry about them, they worried about getting wacked; that’s what’s got them shook up. I even heard Guzman himself is thinking about a vacation overseas, I don’t know who this mystery man is, but he’s definitely got juice. By the way, what’s all this interest in our good old New York felons, ain’t you got enough of your own?”
O’Shea chuckled, “Oh yea, got plenty, but since the Feds were rattling my cage I figured I would talk to a real expert, but since you don’t know shit, I’m gonna let you go. I’ll be in the city soon, promise.”
O’Shea hung up and wondered what he had gotten himself into.
Chapter 20
Shelby, Carl, and I were having dinner the following day. I had purchased another phone but had not yet called O’Shea. I had resisted the urge, I was hoping to give him time to possibly get some information I might use. It was just past 8 PM when I made the call. He answered on the first ring. “Yea” I responded “I have a new phone, keep this number, I won’t be changing it.”
O’Shea hit a save button on his phone to store the number and said “You’re creating quite a stir, word I get is that Guzman is running scared, thinking of taking an extended vacation.”
I thought he might “Damn, I sure hope he don’t spoil my plans and run away. I want to get together with him real bad.”