Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) (20 page)

Lynn put an arm around Julie’s shoulders, waving Al over from first base. Julie seemed happy with the decision, and jogged to first. Lynn put the ball in Al’s glove, whispered some instructions, which Al obviously enjoyed, and returned to the dugout.

“What made her laugh, babe,” Clint asked.

“I told her to slow pitch the next batter right down the heart of the plate, and see if she could put a kink in Manny’s love life.”

“Very cool,” Casey remarked, while Al warmed up.

The next batter was Coach Elaine’s best hitter, and she looked ready to eat her bat she was so ready. Elaine’s team chanted the time tested ‘pitcher has a rubber arm’. Al grinned, looked in with her death stare, and let fly a floater down the middle. The batter swung so hard I figured she might have caused a ten mile an hour wind. She topped it, fortunately, because if she had hit it solidly, the baserunners could have walked home. As it was, Al bounded off the mound, snatched the ball, tagged out the runner from third, and threw the ball to Julie on first for a double play.

The double play woke up our fans to a standing ovation, complete with hoots and howls. Lora was in the stands next to Lucas losing her mind, pumping fists, and swaying. Elaine stormed out of the opposing dugout to protest the pitch, the tag out, the throw out, the sun, the moon, too little gas, not enough oil, and probably the cosmic convergence. Manny listened intently, hearing disparaging remarks and boos coupled with Lynn staring straight at him from the dugout entrance, arms folded. Manny shook his head and yelled ‘play ball’, turning away from the raging Elaine to brush off the plate. Elaine had nothing left but to return to her dugout.

“Oh Manny, you poor devil,” Lynn whispered to us three happy coaches. “You ain’t gettin’ any tonight.”

Al struck out the next batter with three straight fastballs, two of which were swinging strikes, with the third strike a called one. The ballgame was over, and it was raining somewhere in Mudville. Al did a victory dance, and chopping hand forward step as when a football player gets a first down. We celebrated happily with the girls. We then lined up on the field for hand slaps of good game with the opposing Tigers, including the prancing Tonto, who lightened the mood when he also held up a paw for each Tiger player. We were the A’s. Elaine’s assistant coach led the Tigers, because the disappointed Elaine hit the showers before the good sportsmanship show. I noticed Yuri and Marko were gone.

Dannie and Amara, who sat with the girls in the dugout were the first to congratulate them after the hand slap ceremony. Amara in particular looked to have had a good time. We dressed them both in our A’s green and yellow uniforms for the game so they would not attract attention. Lora joined us while we packed the gear, before traveling to our favorite pizza place. Lucas followed close behind with Dev, Jess, and Tommy with him. All were glancing at the parking lot.

“We have company, John,” Lucas said. “I’m glad we had the last game for today, and all the kids have left for the pizza place.”

I glanced around, seeing Lucas had it right before stepping around the dugout with our equipment bags. The grouping of Middle Eastern suits halted at the parking lot edge, conferencing heatedly.

“It’s the contingent that visited our house to accost Dannie, plus one,” Clint said.

Amara noticed too. She ran over to clutch Lynn’s arm with Tonto and Dannie at her side. “It is my Father. Can…can he take me?”

Lynn patted her hands while looking around at the smiling faces around her. “What do you think, boys? Can Daddy take Amara with him? Wait… don’t answer that.”

Lynn turned to grip Amara’s shoulders. “We need to clear the air once more, kid. How sentimental are you about Daddy? If we’re to keep you safe and help you relocate, Daddy might be one of the casualties we warned you of earlier. It’s best you let us know how serious you are.”

Tears streamed down Amara’s face. “I…I want to live, Lynn. He’s going to kill me.”

Lynn straightened. “That’s all I wanted to know. Stay behind us with Tonto, Dannie, Lora, and Al.”

Lora put an arm around Amara, drawing her a few more steps in the rear. Dannie and Al stayed close with Tonto positioning himself in front of them, head cocked cutely to the side as Al petted him. We weren’t in a big rush, so we stayed where we were.

“Not much doubt who tipped these butt nuggets as to where Amara was,” I said. “Friday seems too far away right now.”

“I’ll flip you for Daddy, Lynn,” Lucas said.

“You can have him, Lucas. Clint reminded me I’m seven months pregnant, and can’t take a body shot. I’ll warm him up for you though.”

Lucas nodded happily. “Thank you.”

Clint and Lynn took lead. The rest of us hung back slightly behind them, scanning the area for glints in the sun or unexpected reinforcements showing with a grenade launcher or machine guns. Casey held his gym bag with his hand on his MP5 I knew he carried in it. The rest of us, including Tommy, Dev, and Jess were packing. The meeting conference ended abruptly. A heavyset, gray streaked, black bearded man a few inches over six feet tall wearing a white kufi head cover, led the men toward us. He waved what looked to be a document at us while approaching.

Lynn held her hand in a stopping motion when the group were nearly ten feet away. “That’s far enough, Porky. State your business from there. We don’t want any misunderstandings that could end in multiple deaths.”

That statement led to a finger pointing enraged rebuke. “Do not insult me! My name is Mohammed Nejem. I am here to take my daughter with me. I see her cringing ashamedly in that ridiculous costume! She will come with me now!”

“Amara?” Lynn called over her shoulder. “Would you like to go with your Daddy?”

“No!” Amara shouted out.

“Sorry, Porky,” Lynn answered, not sorry at all, “Amara doesn’t want to go with you. Since she’s over eighteen, there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it either. Save yourself some pain, and hit the road.”

“I have a court order for you to turn her over to me!” Mohammed wasn’t stupid enough to approach any closer. My Monster Squad looks anything but approachable. “Read it yourself!”

Lynn strolled closer, took the paper, and turned her back on Mohammed. She scanned the papers. She laughed after a moment, handing it over to Clint. “What’s the sentence for falsifying court documents, Clint?”

“Five to ten years, and you’re right, babe – this is a fraudulent document. Tonto?”

Tonto streaked around to Clint’s side.

“Mark this for me Special Agent Tonto.” Clint dropped the paper. Tonto immediately lifted his leg and pissed on the papers to much laughter from the Monster Squad, but cries of outrage from our party of goons. “Thank you, Agent Tonto. Return.”

Tonto rejoined our group of ladies at the rear to fervent hugs and petting. As the goons became more agitated, especially Mohammed, with threats and shouts of anti this and that, Lucas took over negotiations. He walked straight into Mohammed airspace, staring up into his eyes with Marine drill sergeant precision. Mr. Nejem fell back a step, his eyes widening.

“So, you’re the big bad daddy likes to beat his own teenage daughter with his fists and switches, huh? Want to try it on a man, you worthless piece of camel dung! Go ahead! Take the first shot at me, pussy. I’ll bitch slap you until your two inch dick falls off!”

Mohammed had enough, and not in a good way. He did exactly what he should not have done. He took the bait. Mr. Nejem swung a nice looking right handed sucker punch at Lucas. Our own Mr. Blake batted it away with a left wrist strike, and bitch slapped Mohammed so hard, he catapulted sideways to the ground. He stayed on his back, rolling back and forth cradling his face. Lucas gave the rest a come on over gesture.

“Any other woman beaters want to try their luck with a man, or do you pussies only fight women when you’re forced into unarmed combat?”

Silence with red, skulking faces.

“No takers.” Lynn sighed. “I guess they figured to flash a phony paper, walk away with Amara, and beat her to death in private without any opposition, Lucas. We filed that one for you. We should have arrested all of you for using fraudulent court papers in the act of kidnapping a young girl. You boys would not do well in prison. For now, we want someone to tell us how you all knew to come here to kidnap Amara. If we don’t get an answer to that question, then we get busy. By busy, I mean my friends and I will have to find out our answer the hard way. If you guys are not totally stupid, make it easy on yourselves, and give us a name.”

I stepped forward. Lynn set them up nicely. Now, I get to see if I can deliver the goods. “As Agent Montoya/Dostiene told you, give us the name, or kneel on the ground with your hands clasped behind your heads. You have ten seconds to comply. If you don’t, we take you into custody, and when I say take, I mean you perverted pieces of shit get to experience a little of what you dish out.”

The game was up within those seconds as the Monster Squad moved on them in a semicircle with anticipation. The rage, anguish, Islamophobia card disappeared in an instant, leaving only open mouthed staring at us with fear. When the time was up, I moved instantly on the nearest one to me.

“Kornev! Yuri… Kornev!” His backtracking with hands up signaled the ending of this impromptu meeting of the minds.

“Okay… gather your Daddy figure off the ground, and get the hell out of our sight. I know this warning won’t help you idiots, but if we see you again, no one else will… ever.”

They didn’t even mutter the usual clichés. They simply gather Daddy dearest by the arms, dragged him groaning to his feet, and whisked him toward the parking lot. “Damn, Lucas… that was one fine ass bitch slap. I think you may have fractured his cheek bone.”

“Thank you, John,” Lucas said formally, as the others echoed my compliment. “To say I enjoyed that shot immensely would be poorly descriptive. Watching him writhe around on the ground cradling his face was even more satisfying than I dreamed.”

He broke character in an instant. “Damn it, Recon… grab the bags and let’s go. I’m starving. Man… the thought of a nice pitcher of beer first has me drooling. You know of course you and Tommy are beer free tonight don’t you, Dark Lord? You two are up in the event of accelerated action.”

“Arrrrgghh…” I danced around in only partially acting pain. Yep. I didn’t know about Tommy yet, but the night of confrontation would be tonight, not Sunday. It would be a dry night tonight for the Dark Lord. Tommy was laughing, because he didn’t care, He knew everyone but Clint and Lynn would be slurping beer down with gasps and cries of pleasure on my behalf. “I’m fine, Lucas. It’s a good thing we have The Lora. Otherwise, we’d be driving the van to the desert tonight chuck full of bodies.”

“Gentlemen!” Lora strode into our midst. “Could we load the equipment bags, and get on the way to the pizza place without the references to carnage?

“Yes… Mistress of the excess pounds.” I ran for it with equipment bags and everything. I still beat her to the soccer mom van, unlocked, loaded, and was in the driver’s seat with the door locked before Lora slammed against the passenger side door. Ah… good times.

Chapter Seven

New Game Plans

I broke the clown’s neck left to watch the outside of Clint and Lynn’s house. They decided to attack at two in the morning, and they were damned effective doing it. The house security system went dead before they entered the gate, along with the motion detector lights meant to turn on when anyone opened the front gate. Tommy and I moved in immediately in their footsteps. I knew with Tonto, the chances of anyone entering without warning of any kind was nonexistent, but he was visiting away from home tonight. We hurried along after them. I dropped the guard out of sight in the bushes after snapping a picture of his face, and uploaded it to Denny.

“Nothing seems to go right with you guys,” Tommy whispered.

“Tell me about it. We’ll shadow them in, but remember, Amara will already be in a safe room. She won’t be in any danger no matter what happens out here. Put on the night vision goggles I gave you, and don’t jump around drawing the dynamic duo’s attention from the real bad guys.”

“I won’t,” Tommy hissed. “Hell, I know better than to pretend I’m more than a backup guy waiting to bag and tag.”

I grinned in the darkness under my own night vision goggles. “We’re taking prisoners tonight, T. It was smart to have Jafar pick up Dannie and Tonto to stay overnight. It confirmed a fact Clint suspected. They have the house under surveillance, because after getting to know Tonto, there was no way in hell they would have attacked the house with him there. Our lookout had to die because I learned a long time ago never to leave a live enemy at your back, no matter how out of it or secured you think they are.”

“What now?”

“We wait,” I answered. “I’ve already texted Lucas and Casey. They’ll find the getaway driver. I’m hoping the old man was one of the guys going in with the kidnapping crew. He looked old enough to be one of their fathers. C’mon, we have to be in position for close order backup if things go wrong. I doubt that will happen. With Clint, and Lynn waiting for them, the chances of escape or survival are very low. We’ll go in, and help secure the prisoners if there are any.”

“I thought you said you had to take prisoners,” Tommy reminded me.

“I suggested you and I stake them out at the doorway on the inside, but Cruella vetoed my suggestion. She told me she has a neat plan she wants to try.”