24(S2E11)- De Nada

24

(Season 2 Episode 11)

De Nada

Anyone who was from Cleveland called it The Gund.

Before the age of corporate sponsorship, that was its name.  Gund Arena, home to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lake Erie Monsters.

It was actually called Nationwide Arena, but if you were from Cleveland, you called it The Gund.

Elmo Kincaid was a season ticket holder on both teams, he also owned a private box for such events, and currently he had confiscated the building for a couple of hours between noon and 2:00 pm.

It was going to happen here.

Patti and Creegan walked down the long crossover between the parking garage and the arena.  One of those enclosed, suspended walkways over a busy Cleveland street.  Two men waited at the entrance.

They did not work for the arena.

They were both large men; one white, one black, wearing street clothes.  Neither was particularly well dressed.

The word thugs came into Creegan’s mind.

“Hold up,” the white one said, raising his hands.  “We’ll be taking any weapons you got.”

Creegan shook his head.  “We agreed no weapons at the meet.”

The thugs laughed.  “Yeah, right.  Everybody always agrees to no weapons at the meet, that’s the only reason meets ever happen.”

“We don’t have any weapons,” Patty said.

The thugs looked at her and both were confused by her accent.  The Black one questioned.  “You have a harpoon?”

Creegan cracked a smile.  He couldn’t help it.  Patti looked at him angrily, then back to the thugs.  “WE DON’T HAVE WEAPONS!” she annunciated.

“Oh!” They both said, understanding now.  “We still don’t believe you.  Gotta search you.”

Patty and Creegan assumed the position and the trained thugs did a thorough search.

“Wow,” the white one said.  “They really don’t have anything.”

“You can go in,” his partner said to Creegan and Patty.  “Head down to the baseline of the basketball court.  Elmo will meet you when he thinks it’s safe.”

Jim and Patty nodded and walked in through the large hallway that circles the arena and into the arena itself.

With no one in the building and nothing happening, there was a feeling of smallness.

Creegan and Patty walked down the stairs through the seemingly endless rows of chairs, then out onto the basketball court.

They stopped on the base line.

“As much as I love you, Patty,” Creegan and Patty turned as Elmo walked onto the court across from them, “I never figured you for this kind of scam.”

Patty’s eyes narrowed on her target, they were face to face.  “I never figured you for a backstabbing cunt.”

Elmo scowled.  “We’re criminals.  That’s how it works.”

“That’s a cop out,” Patty shot back.  “You know it was more than that.  You were like-”

“Like what?” Elmo cut her off.  “A father to you?  Don’t start that shit.  I did what I had to do.  Now gimme the thumb drive and we’ll go our separate ways.”

“Not that simple.” Patty stated.

“She’s right,” a woman’s voice suddenly broke into the tense conversation.  “It’s not that simple because they don’t have it.”

Elmo, Patty and Creegan turned to see a large, very frightening black man.  Standing directly next to him was a woman with near crimson hair in blue jeans and a leather coat.

Maggie.

****

The thugs had names.

The white thug was Paul.

The black thug was Lavon.

After the guy and the woman had passed their job was mostly done.  They just had to sit and watch the entrance, which was exactly what they did.  While sitting there eating their burritos.

“Hey, can I get some of that fire sauce?” Paul asked Lavon, who promptly handed it over.  “Gracias.”  

Paul smiled at his use of Spanish in light of what they were eating.

“Se Nada.” Lavon said back.

Paul looked at him confused.  “What?”

Lavon looked up from his burrito.  “I said ‘Se Nada’.  It means you’re welcome.”

Paul scowled.  “No it doesn’t.  You mean De Nada”

“No, I mean Se nada,” Lavon said irritated.  “I think I would know better than you.”

“You’re black, not Spanish mother fucker.”  Paul fired back, “Senada is like a classical music concert or some shit.”

Lavon shook his head.  “That’s a sonata, you dumb son of a bitch.”

Paul frowned.  “Well I know that Senada ain’t you’re welcome in Spanish.  Se nada ain’t nothing in nothing.  It’s De nada!”

“He’s right.”  A well spoken Cuban voice broke into the argument and both men turned, realizing all too late that they had completely failed to watch the entrance because of their argument.

They saw a good looking dark haired Cuban man in a white suit standing in front of them with his hands in his pockets.  Next to him where two more well dressed Cuban men. The Cuban men were holding Uzis.

“De nada is Spanish for ‘it is nothing’.  It would be the proper response to a gesture of gratitude.”  He said clearing up the argument.  “Now, where would I find your boss?”

****

Creegan stared in disbelief and anger.  It had to be that she was somehow mixed up in all this.  She was the bane of his existence.  “Maggie.”

“I’m starting to believe you are un-killable, Jim.”  She said with a frown.

Creegan’s face became that of pure rage and he began to move toward her.

Clay stepped out from behind her and raised a gun to Creegan’s head, stopping him in his tracks.  “Calm down, big man.”

His low dangerous voice washed over Creegan.  Creegan stopped and looked at him, “You don’t know what you are dealing with.  She is the devil.”

Clay’s mouth twitched, which may or may not have been the closest he ever got to a smile.  “Your relationship with her was personal, mine is purely financial.”

Creegan shrugged.  “Well Maggie, looks like you found the perfect man.”

Maggie puckered her lips.  “Oh that’s not true Creegan.  After all, you worked for me for nothing.”

Creegan growled at her.

“I hate to interrupt.”  Elmo didn’t.  “But what the fuck is going on.”

Maggie turned toward him.  “They baited you out so that they could kill you.”

Elmo raised an eyebrow.  “Interesting.  You have proof, bitch?”

Maggie pulled out the flash drive and raised it into the air.  Elmo’s heart dropped.  “I have proof because, as I said in the beginning, I have this.”

“I will be taking that.”  Roberto’s Cuban voice cut the air as he and his two back up men walked out onto the court, opposite from Maggie.  “After all, it is rightfully mine.”

****

Rockwell watched all of this play out through the scope of Natasha; Natasha being a Dragnov Sniper rifle, a Semi automatic weapon that looked like an AK-47 from the future.  He had gotten to the arena early and snuck in and waited.

“Well that changes everything.”  Stone was sitting in the seat next to Rockwell.

Stone was not sitting in the seat next to Rockwell.

“How do you figure?” Rockwell asked as he continued to watch.  “The plan was to take out Elmo when he shows himself, and walk away a free man.  What changed?”

Stone shrugged.  “Well the Cuban drug dealers and that dirty, dirty, bitch down there. You take out Elmo, it means the end of Creegan and Patty.”

“Who the fuck cares?” Rockwell asked.  “Once Elmo’s done I’m free, so who gives a shit?”

“You do.” Stone said bluntly.

“How you figure?” Rockwell asked, turning from his scope to look at his friend’s ghost.

“Two reasons.” Stone explained, “One, you still haven’t taken the shot, two, you’re having a conversation with yourself about why you care.”

Rockwell looked back into the scope.

“I got this.” He said as he took aim and fired.

Two shots echoed through the arena as Rockwell smoothly squeezed the trigger twice. His military training kicked in.  When against an enemy battalion, you find the leader and take him first.  This disorients the soldiers because they are trained to follow orders. The lack of these orders helps to break them.  It’s the same with Cuban drug lords.

The two shots hit the man in the cream suit within a second of each other.  He staggered, his eyes going wide, and fell.  The drug dealer’s foot soldiers watched in utter confusion.

Rockwell adjusted and fired two more quick shots.  As the Cuban guy to the right Of Roberto’s head exploded, he staggered and fell.  The last remaining Cuban decided he had made a terrible mistake and turned and started running.

“Watch the black knight.  He’s going to take Creegan.” Stone stated calmly.

“I see it.  I see it!” Rockwell responded, sweeping his gun back toward the large black man with the gun trained on Creegan.

Rockwell was positioned behind him, which made the shot tricky.  No matter how much Hollywood said the opposite, human bodies don’t stop bullets.  With that in mind, a kill shot would potentially go through the target and kill Creegan.

“Fuck!” Rockwell cursed himself.

“Take the shot.”  Stone implored him.

Rockwell took the shot, hitting the target in the upper right quadrant of his body.  He fell out of view.

Rockwell swept the gun to find Elmo but he was gone.

As was Patty.

Creegan looked up at him from the floor and did a salute before sprinting off after Maggie.

“That’s that.” Stone stated.

Rockwell grinned.  “What about that guy?”

Stone looked to see the last Cuban trying to run away up the steps to the arena.  He was very close to the exit.

“$20 says you can get him,” Stone said.

“You’re one mother fucker.”  Rockwell took a shot.

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

“OH, THERE IT IS!” Rockwell yelled and jumped up, pumping his fist.

“Damn, he was almost out.” Stone said shaking his head.

“Yeah but he’s fucking dog food now, ain’t he?” he said rhetorically.  “Pay up asshole!”

Stone raised an eyebrow.  “I’m a mental ghost brought on by your fractured brain’s need for order.  How exactly would you like me to pay you?”

Rockwell frowned.  “Damn.  I guess you got me there.”

 “Time for the last part of the plan.”  Stone brought the focus back to the job as he always had.

Rockwell nodded.  “Pick up walk away and call the cop for clean up.”

“What’s next for us?” Stone asked.

Rockwell shrugged as he pulled out his phone.  “I’m not a plan sort of guy, but whatever it is, it’ll be fun.”

Stone followed, shaking his head.  “Fun for whom

23(S2E10)-Spinning in the Spider Webs

23

(Season 2 Episode 10)

Spinning in the Spider Webs

Elmo Kincaid hung up the phone and for the first time in two months, he smiled.

Things were finally going his way again.

The phone rang.  Elmo looked at the Caller I.D. and smiled.  It was her, the black hearted bitch who had tried to play him.

The key word was tried.  He answered the phone without saying a word.  He wanted to give her plenty of rope.

“Hello my perfect, little pet drug dealer.”  Maggie said on the other end.  “Now that we have an understanding and I have relocated to avoid more of your pathetic attempts to kill me, it’s time for me to tell you how to pay me.”

“No.” Elmo’s voice was low and cold.

There was a small pause on the other end out of obvious confusion.  “Did you just say ‘no’?”

“Yes, I said no.”  Elmo replied.

“I don’t understand.”  Maggie said out of frustration on the other end.

“No.  It’s a one syllable word that means FUCK YOU, BITCH!” Elmo said as he stood so fast his chair toppled behind him.

“Look old man, I think you have failed to grasp the situation-” Maggie was cut off by Elmo.

“NO.  You don’t grasp it.  I know you’re full of shit, you don’t have the fucking flash drive!” Elmo yelled into the phone.

“I have it, you know I have it!”  She yelled back frustrated but Elmo wasn’t listening.

“You thought you could play me?!” Elmo continued his rant.  “You honestly thought you could bluff the most powerful man in Ohio and walk away?!  I like to keep things quiet but I’m going to make an exception for you.  After I get my flash drive back tonight I’m going to find you, then I’m going to fillet you like a fresh cut fish and hang you from the Terminal Tower!”

Elmo slammed the phone down so hard the plastic piece of communication equipment shattered.

****

Before that…

Creegan watched the sun come up in the distance, illuminating the sky in a series of oranges and reds.

They were parked on the top of a parking garage downtown.  They had come here to get some privacy while they had done their best to deal with Rockwell’s leg injury.  They had bandaged it and sterilized it as best they could.

That was around four in the morning.

It was now seven.  Creegan was the only one still awake.  Rockwell had stretched out in the back while even Patty had nodded off in the passenger seat.  Creegan couldn’t sleep.

He couldn’t stop thinking.

At first he had brain stormed about a way out of this ordeal.  He feared Patty had kept him around to be the thinker.  Creegan was never the brains, always the muscle.  That should have been obvious from the first ordeal.

That should have been obvious from his constant choices to help Maggie.

Creegan touched the scar on his chest where Maggie had shot him.

He had been happy at the Bent Elbow, working for Paul and finally putting his life together.  He could have probably gotten his job back even after the ordeal with the hunters.  But now?  He wondered if Paul had rented out his apartment.  Paul probably thought he was dead.

Creegan had thrown it all away for Maggie.

Just like the train.

Just like high school.

Every time he had ended up alone and worse than before he had met her.

Creegan pulled out the phone and stared at it.

Maggie was smarter than Creegan.  Most people were and that’s why he always ended up in the gutter.

“You got a plan?”  The thick Irish voice startled Creegan who turned sharply to face her.

“I have an idea,” Creegan said looking back to the phone.  “But it’s not a very good one and it will probably get us all killed.”

“It’s the three us, wounded and exhausted and a trunk full of weapons, against the most powerful drug dealer in Ohio.” Patty said as she bent forward and scratched her eyes.  “We’re probably all going to die anyway.”

Creegan shrugged and nodded.  “I guess you got me there.”

“So, out with it.”  Patty barked.

“Elmo still doesn’t have the flash drive,” Jim began to explain.  “All of the other crazy aside, he needs to have that in order to be safe from the Rodriguez brothers.  If we had it we could draw him out.”

Patty raised an eyebrow.  “You have the flash drive?”

Creegan shook his head.  “No, but I know who’s got it and it’s not Elmo.”

“Your girl from before?  Maggie.” Patty answered her own question.  “But how do you know she hasn’t given it back to him?”

“It’s valuable.”  Creegan gave a forlorn smile.  “She shot me over five grand, you think she would hand over a flash drive that gives her control over a drug lord and his kingpin?”

Patty stared at Jim for a short time then asked.  “I don’t get it, you’re a good guy.”

Creegan looked confused, “Thanks?”

Patty shook her head, “What the hell are you doing in all this?  What the hell were you doing with a woman like that?”

Jim took a deep breath and pondered that.  “Nothing was ever good enough for my dad.  My mom was a lunatic.  Maggie made me feel special.  When you’re with Maggie, she makes you feel special”

“That was so fucking gay!” Rockwell had been awake and listening in the back and could no longer take it.  “Seriously, do you need a fucking hanky?  I can’t believe this giant fairy beat us twice!”

Creegan took a deep breath and became frustrated.  “Fuck you, Rockwell.”

Rockwell sat up between the two front seats.  “And as far as the plan goes, you are never going to convince The Muppet you have the thumb drive without proof, and we have none.  He’s got no reason to listen to us.”

Creegan reluctantly nodded.  “As much as I hate to say it, Rockwell is right.  I have been up all night trying to figure out how to get Elmo to buy it.”

“The fuck you have!” Rockwell cut in.  “You have been thinking about Maggie, you fucking sissy!”

Creegan’s face became stone.  “You are on my last fucking nerve!”

“Cut them some slack.”  Stone was sitting next to Rockwell.

Stone was not sitting next to Rockwell.

Rockwell turned.  “Fuck you, Casper!  They need me, not the other way around.”

Patty and Creegan became confused and watched Rockwell in the rear view mirror.

“Come on,” Stone said.  “Even you aren’t stupid enough to think you can do this yourself.”

“Stupid is teaming up with a chick that has daddy issues and a fucking pussy bitch.” Rockwell replied.

Patty and Creegan would have gotten mad at these comments if they weren’t so caught up in the fact that Rockwell was having an argument with himself.

 “Don’t be a bitch.”  Stone said finally.

Rockwell crossed his arms and sat back like a spoiled child.

Patty and Creegan continued to stare.

Rockwell caught them staring and got mad.  “What?!”

Patty and Creegan shook their heads, deciding it best not to put in their two cents.

Patty turned to Creegan.  “Let me make the call.”

Creegan looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Patty shrugged.  “I have never lied to him before.  Even after all this, he still trusts me.  I’ll tell him I want back in and that I tracked down the flash drive and got it off of you.”

Creegan nodded and handed the phone to her.

****

After…

Maggie hung up the phone with a look of quiet rage.

“Something wrong?” Clay asked from the darkness behind her.

“Somebody’s fucking with the plan,” Maggie said angrily.

“I see.”  Clay said neutrally.

Maggie took a second to consider all the people that knew she had the flash drive.  She thought they were all dead.

“I left a loose end somewhere.”  Maggie said unhappily.

“We should tie it up,” Clay stated promptly.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Maggie said as she looked through her contacts for Roberto’s number and dialed it.  “We’re going to finish this tonight.  Ahead of schedule.”

****

After that…

Roberto hung up the phone and turned toward Antonio who sat on the couch drinking.  “Call everyone we have in the area.”

Antonio raised an eyebrow.  “We’re doing this tonight?  I thought we were waiting?”

Roberto smiled.  “Elmo is going to a meeting today to get the flash drive back, and we’re going to be there.”

Antonio nodded.  “Alright, I’ll put a man on Elmo and we will follow him to the meet.”

“Tonight we end this, brother.” Roberto smiled.  “Tonight we make our father proud.”

Antonio smiled weakly.  “Yes brother, tonight you will follow in his footsteps.”

They toasted to success.

22(S2E9)-Not Fast Enough

22

(Season 2 Episode 9)

Not Fast Enough

Rockwell did not enter the house.  In his mind there was no need.

His tommy-gun fired forty-five caliber rounds, which had more than enough power to pierce the wall from the outside.  With that in mind, Rockwell began to strafe along the deck pulling down on the trigger, letting bullet after bullet rip through the kitchen drywall.

A weaker person would have run or hid as the high caliber bullets wreaked havoc on the large kitchen.

The Librarian was anything but weak.

Instead, she brought herself to her feet and strafed from the inside of the kitchen, holding the trigger on the Saiga.  Loud boom after boom sounded before the shells took large circular chunks out of the wall.

The gunfire sounded everywhere as they both moved their volleys, sending wood and cabinet pieces everywhere.

This continued for a full thirty seconds.

They both reached the end of the wall ending up staring at each other through a sliding glass door.  Both of their guns went empty.

They stared at each other in amazement.

Both of them looked back at the fifteen foot stretch of wall and large number of bullet holes.  They then looked back at each other.  Somehow they had emptied their respective weapons at each other from ten or so feet away and failed to hit.

Rockwell chuckled.  “Go figure.”

The Librarian’s eyes narrowed.  “Indeed.”

Rockwell read her mind.  “You are thinking about how fast you can get a clip in that shotgun of yours.  I’ll save you the trouble, the answer is not fast enough.”

Her eyebrow rose.  “You think highly of yourself.”

 “Bitch.”  Rockwell grinned.  “I’m gonna fucking decimate you.”

The Librarian took a deep, exhausted breath.  “That is physically impossible.”

Rockwell’s face became interested.  “Explain.”

“Because,” the librarian shook her head.  “To decimate means to take a tenth of or from. So, unless you are planning on destroying me in ten percent increments, your statement makes no sense.”

Rockwell began to smile from ear to ear.  “Interesting… ten percent increments huh? That’s gonna be a tall order, but I’m up for the challenge.”

There was another half second of staring.

The Librarian ejected the spare clip and went for another.  Rockwell did the same.

Rockwell was faster.

In the millisecond before The Librarian could rack the slide to chamber a shell, he pulled Bonnie, his tommy-gun up, leveled and fired a burst.  The sliding glass door shattered and fell away.  A number of rounds found their mark in The Librarian’s Kevlar vest.  The force from the rounds was dispersed like a punch to her chest and she staggered backward.

Another bullet caught her in the right shoulder as she reeled, forcing her to drop the big shotgun.  Unbeknownst to her, the door to the basement and Don’s operation room was directly behind her.  She crashed through it and tumbled down the open staircase.

She hit the tile floor and rolled backward along it, crashing into the operating table and coming to a rest face down.

Rockwell was pleased with himself.  “Like I said, not fast enough.”

He moved through the door where the glass was.  Stone was standing next to the staircase to the basement.  “Carful.”

“Fuck off, Stone.” Rockwell replied as he passed the apparition. “It’s ass-kick o’clock.”

Rockwell came to the bottom of the stairs with his gun dangling at his side ready to move in for the kill.

The Librarian rolled over onto her back with a Walther PP-7, a small twenty-two caliber seven shot automatic handgun.  Rockwell recognized it because it was the gun that James Bond always used.

“Shit.” Rockwell uttered.

The Librarian fired her fist shot and it struck Rockwell in the upper thigh.  He yelped and grabbed his leg.  Her second shot missed.  Rockwell reacted, putting all of his effort into a leaping dive to the right, sending himself over a medicine table and crashing to the other side in a hail of pill bottles.

As he flew through the air he heard The Librarian’s gun pop off another round.  He felt a vibration rock through his gun arm and heard a terrible metal on metal sound.

Rockwell landed and grimaced in pain as his leg began to bleed.  “God dammit!  She shot me in the fucking leg.  Why does everyone shoot me in the leg?!”

 Stone was standing over him.  “I warned you, now look what’s happened to your gun.”

Rockwell looked down at the gun and saw the terrible sight.  The Librarian’s third shot had hit the clip and mangled it.

“You’re screwed.”  Stone stated.

“Fuck you!” Rockwell yelled back.  “Can’t you ever be constructive?!”

“Hey, I am your paranoid delusion.  You want me to be constructive, make me constructive.” Stone replied.

“Are you talking to me?” The Librarian asked, confused.

Rockwell shouted back from behind cover.  “Does it sound like I’m talking to you?!”

“It is a fair question.  After all, there is no one else here.” She rebutted.

Rockwell shook his head.  “I showed up in a Hawaiian shirt and a fedora in the middle of September with a tommy-gun.”

The Librarian was befuddled and shouted back.  “This is all true but I don’t understand how this justifies talking to yourself.”

“It doesn’t.  “Rockwell explained.  “It justifies the crazy, and the crazy justifies anything.”

She seemed to accept that, but the conversation had given Rockwell time to think. “Hey, any way we could make a deal?”

Rockwell knew there wasn’t.

“Of course, but why?” She asked.

“You last shot hit the drum on my magazine.  I’m out.  Listen, you spare me, I give you Patty and Creegan.”

Rockwell was not going to give her Creegan or Patty.

“Alright, your life for theirs.”  She said.  “We have a deal.  Throw out the damaged magazine”

They had no deal.

Rockwell detached the damaged clip and tossed it off the cover and into the middle of the room.

“Okay, I’m coming out.” Rockwell said before bracing the rifle against his should and gripping it tightly.

One shot at this.

Rockwell stood and brought the machine gun to bear on the confused Librarian.  He pulled the trigger.

The tommy-gun kicked and fired, sending a single bullet though The Librarian’s throat.

She stammered as her carotid artery spewed thick dark red blood.  Her eyes filled with the look of horror.

The tommy-gun had a bullet in the chamber, which protected the round from the damage to the clip.

The Librarian tried to bring the handgun up to fire on Rockwell but lost her strength and dropped the gun, lurching forward and crashing to the tile floor in a pool of her own blood.

Rockwell walked out from behind the cover then turned back to Stone.  “How about that shit?”

Stone shrugged.  “Not bad.”

Rockwell’s face contorted.  “Not Bad?!  Are you fucking kidding me?!  I just pimped the bitch with no clip in my gun and a bullet in my fucking leg!”

“She’s five foot ten and wearing a sundress.”  Stone down-played the accomplishment.

“The auto shotgun wasn’t wearing a god damn sundress!” Rockwell began.  “You know what?  I don’t know why I expect things to change. You were a fuck when you were alive and you a bigger fuck now that you’re dead!  You just pop in from your ethereal pedestal and tell me I fucking suck before popping back out again!  You know what, dickhead?  I would like to take this fucking time to remind you who’s still breathing.  Me!  That’s right, mother fucker.  Me!”

They stared at each other in silence for a short time.

“Are you done?” Stone asked.

“I’m never done, asshole.” Rockwell replied, “I ain’t ever done.”

****

“We should go.” Patty grumbled from the backseat getting antsy as the gunfire in the house had come to an abrupt stop.

“Give him a second.” Creegan said, staring at the house intently, wishing he could see what was happening inside.

“Him?!” Patty asked raising her voice.  “It’s him I’m worried about.  Give me a bitch in a sundress any day!”

“He could have killed us on the deck, but he went after her.”  Creegan explained.  “He’s here to help.”

Patty’s eyebrow went up.  “I doubt he understands the meaning of the word help.”

Jim didn’t respond, which left a short silence.  Patty was about to respond when the house exploded into beautiful orange and red flames.  The house had been made to burn from the inside and became an inferno fast.

It was at that time that they both saw him, limping across the yard toward the car.  The fire behind him scorched the skies.  It was as if hell had failed to catch the lunatic again and was throwing a temper tantrum.

Rockwell was smiling.

“You sure about this?” Patty asked as they both watched the frightening scene play out like a bad movie.

 “I am one hundred percent positive, Patty…” Creegan answered.  “That I am absolutely not sure about this.”