4

A called in Favor

Jason opened the door to his apartment, closed the door, and ripped off his wet clothes. He tossed them to the floor and got into some dry kaki jeans. He sunk onto his bed and reached down for his cell phone. He dialed Ron's number. He waited for a few seconds but he suddenly got another call. He clicked the ON button and answered, "Egan."

"Jason. I need some help." A female's voice said on the other line.

"Kerry?" said Jason surprised. He hadn't expected to hear from any other agents than Ron until he was either dead or his work was done.

"Yeah, Listen I was captured by the Carneles and they look like they're letting me go but…" she suddenly stopped.

"Kerry? Kerry?" called Jason.

"Yeah… I'm here. I need you to pick me up."

"Uh, Kerry if you don't already know I'm kinda undercover here, I can't really help you without en…"

"Jason don't you get it. There was only one way the Carneles knew that I was going to meet with Yussiff last night. Our only lead to Orejuela." Interrupted Kerry. Jason sat up and said,

"You think the Carneles have somebody planted in the FBI team?"

"How else would they know I was meeting with Yussiff?" Jason sighed and thought for a little bit.

"What are we planning to do when I pick you up?" asked Jason.

"I'll go back to the FBI office and bring this to the director. He'll run the search for the mole from there." Explained Kerry, a sound of nervousness was in her voice. Jason thought for a little bit more and then said,

"Fine, where are you?"

"I'm in Fox Drive near an old steel factory… Jason, I see a Carnele, I think they're closing in on me…" and she was gone.

"Kerry! Kerry!" called Jason. But the line was dead. Jason shot up from his bed and went over to his closet. He pulled a white shirt and a dark blue jean jacket from the closet and quickly put it on. He then put his SIG in the back of his pants and grabbed a few extra clips that he kept in the front pocket of his jacket. He then rushed out of the apartment and into the street. He didn't see the convertible Corvette pull up next to his apartment. The Corvette knocked him off his feet and onto the hood.

"Shit Jason, what the hell are you doing?" yelled the driver. It was Dex.

"I gotta get to Fox Drive!" Jason said sliding off the hood and stumbling onto the sidewalk.

"You wanna get there alive?" asked Dex, a little sarcasm in his voice. Jason didn't wait for Dex's permission he walked to the passenger side and hopped in.

"I was heading that way any. I got word that a bunch of Carneles have set up a stronghold there. I was gonna check it out. I was gonna ask Troy's help but since your heading that way." Explained Dex, starting the car. The Corvette was fast as it drove down by the warehouse where they had just had the gang war and across the river over a bridge and more into the warehouse district.

"So Jason, why do you gotta get to Fox Drive so quickly?" asked Dex. Jason knew very well he couldn't say an FBI partner of his was stuck in there. But he responded,

"A chick I once was involved with screwed with the Carneles and now they're after her. I owe her big so I gotta pull her out of Fox Drive, she's probably in that factory right now." It wasn't the most convincing lie Jason ever told but Dex was convinced.

"I gotchya man, I got your back." Said Dex.

Finally he turned into a dirt junkyard next to the steel factory. Jason hurried out and loaded his SIG. Dex had an automatic Glock 18. "Let's do this Jason." Jason ran into the territory of the factory. There were railroad tracks coming from a garage at the far end of the factory. Jason took cover behind a large pile of gravel at the entrance. Dex crouched next to him.

"There are snipers on the top of the factory. They'll pick us off before we even get close." Said Jason. Across from the gravel was the factory. There were a few stairways leading up to catwalks but no apparent entrance into the factory. Dex climbed up the gravel pit and peeked over it.

"Shit dude! Forget the snipers, we got bigger problems." He whispered loudly.

"What?"

"Victor Rodriguez is in the building. Screw this man. We can't go in there." Said Dex, panicking.

"No, we got to go in there. Remember I owe this chick a lot." Jason protested.

"You def man, VICTOR RODGRIGUEZ is in the house. There's no…"

"Dex, I heard you the first time. We're going in there." Jason said looking back around the pit at the garage that the railroad led to. Suddenly the garage started to open. About three Carneles walked out of the garage. "Dex, c'mon I know how we can get in there." But he turned and saw Dex walking away.

"You're on your own Jason. I'm not messing with Victor with just you. Covering my back." Dex said walking away. Jason cursed and ran toward the wood fence bordering the factory. He stopped to take cover behind a pillar of the train that ran above the train on the ground. Then he ran and hopped over the fence. He snuck behind the fence until he got to the garage. He started to hear it closing. He quickly jumped over and ran to the garage. He hit the ground and rolled under the closing door. He got under just as it started to close. He was shocked as he saw two Carneles walking away from the door right in front of him with their backs turned. He quickly ran to a decommissioned train car and he dived behind it. Jason put his SIG in the back of his pants and pulled out his switchblade. He pressed himself against the car and peeked back into the area. There were a few tracks where he was and then it went up into the factory. He looked up and saw some rafters that ran all the way to the entrance into the factory. He put the switchblade away and started to climb up the car and into the rafters. On the main level there was one Carnele guard standing next to a few boxes. Jason climbed into the rafters and carefully made his way toward the entrance and the guard. When he was finally above the guard standing at the door he dropped down behind the boxes and grabbed the guard by the neck. He then pulled out his switchblade and stabbed it into his back. The Carnele made a soft groan and fell limp in Jason's arms. Jason set him down behind the boxes and then slid into the door. He closed the door behind him. Hopefully the guards behind him would think that the guard Jason took out went into the factory. Jason was now in the main area of the factory. The 1st floor was nothing but support to the catwalks above. The catwalks led to the several rooms of the factory and the office at the top of the catwalks. Carneles patrolled the catwalks but none of them matched the description of Victor that everyone had told Jason about.

Jason hid in the corner of the entryway into the main area of the factory. There was a ladder to his left that lead up to rafters that over looked the entire area inside the factory. Jason didn't know how to sneak around the patrolling Carneles and he also didn't know where Kerry was. He jumped onto the ladder and started to climb. He climbed up to the mini catwalks in a square above by the top windows. He crouched and made his way around to get a look at the office at the top of the catwalks. There were three Carneles with a large man that Jason knew immediately was Victor. Suddenly Jason felt a barrel poke against his back.

"Turn around slowly." He heard a Mexican voice say behind him. He slowly did and saw a Carnele sniper poking his sniper at him through the open window that led out onto the roof. "Put the knife and any other weapons on the ground, slowly." Jason slowly went down and placed the knife on the roof next to him. The Carnele was about to kick it away but suddenly somebody came from behind him and grabbed him by the neck. It was Kerry. Jason quickly reached down and grabbed the knife again and stabbed it quickly into the Carnele's chest. The Carnele struggled for little bit but then slowly fell limp. Kerry set him down.

"C'mon we gotta get out of here before…" she was cut off by a gunshot. The bullet from the shot pierced into her arm and she cried out. Jason turned and saw Victor and more Carneles looking directly at them with several different guns. Jason pulled Kerry onto back onto the roof and he put her out of the line of fire. He then pulled out his SIG and fired on the Carneles. One of his bullets hit a Carnele and he collapsed on the catwalk. Jason took cover to the left of the window. He put his SIG away and grabbed the fallen Carnele's sniper rifle. He reloaded it and turned back into the factory. He quickly took down two Carneles right next to Victor and then he set his sights on Victor. He pulled the trigger and the bullet was placed quickly in Victor's side. He groaned loudly and Jason thought he was down but he quickly got back up and fired at Jason.

"Shit!" cursed Jason going back into cover.

"Jason, watch out!" yelled Kerry. Jason turned and saw a Carnele come up behind them. Jason whipped the rifle around and brought it to the Carnele's chest. He fired point blank and the Carnele was dead instantly. He flew down the roof and fell off. The cartridge of the sniper was empty. He tossed it to the ground and pulled out his SIG again. He got up and walked down the roof. He saw a catwalk leading up to the roof and Carneles coming up. Jason fired on them as they came up. One was hit and he flipped over the railing of the catwalk and down to the gravel. They were trapped. Jason guess there wasn't gonna be a passing garbage boat nearby so he helped Kerry up and they went further up the roof. The other side of the roof didn't provide any results. It was nothing but a long drop to the ground. All they could do was go up to a large water tower like structure and that would only trap them. Jason and Kerry took cover behind a higher roof and Jason knelt down and raised his SIG ready to fire. The first Carnele came up. Jason was about to shoot but there was another fire and the Carnele was dead. From behind him came Dex his Glock smoking.

"You are one dumb ass son of a bitch, you know that right?" he said. Jason sighed in relief, helped Kerry up and approached Dex. "We got to get out of here. I set the place to blow in two minutes. I almost left you two crackers out here but I did tell you I had your back." He put out his fist. Jason smiled and pounded it.

"Let's go." They ran over the roof down to the catwalk. The catwalk led down back into the factory but it was also above the garage. They jumped over the railing and fell onto the garage. They ran across the garage to the entrance where Jason first went in. At the entrance was Dex's corvette.

"C'mon!" commanded Dex. He jumped down into the driver's seat of the corvette. Jason and Kerry followed. In no time, Dex had the car started and he zoomed out of the factory. As they turned onto the street they looked back and saw the red hummer, Victor at the wheel. "Damn it! So much for takin Victor out in the blast, hell he probably would have survived it anyway. He slammed down on the pedal and sped over the bridge and back into the Row. But Victor followed.

"Dex, he's still on us." Called Jason. He was starting to tend to Kerry's wound on her arm. The bullet had hit her just at the top of her arm, under the shoulder.

"I'll try to lose him on the highway." Said Dex. He pulled off the bridge and onto the street leading down toward the entrance to the highway. The Red hummer continued to follow. Jason suddenly heard a bullet clank against the trunk. "That bitch is firing at my car!" yelled Dex. He started to dart in between cars trying to get farther ahead of Victor. Jason pulled out his SIG and fired at the hummer. The bullets ricocheted off the hood of the hummer and one piercing the windshield but nothing stopped the monster coming closer to them. Dex turned into a street leading down to the entrance to the highway and Freckle Bitches. He sped down the street and went up the ramp up to the highway. Victor followed quickly. Far off Jason thought he heard an explosion but he wasn't sure and really didn't care. "This guy will not just go." Shouted Dex. The median had green poles on it for a while dividing the oncoming traffic from the opposite direction traffic. But suddenly the poles stopped. "Hold on, let's see if he's this crazy."

"Dex," Jason said suddenly aware of what he was doing. Dex hit the emergency brakes hard and drifted until he was in the opposite direction. He then pushed down on the pedal and sped into the opposite lane of the highway. "Dex! What the hell are you doing?" Yelled Jason.

"Seeing if we're really that important to Victor Rodriguez." Dex shouted back. He quickly maneuvered between cars coming onto him. Jason was afraid to look back but he forced himself to, to see if Victor was following them. He didn't see him behind them but continuing on the right direction of traffic toward the city.

"Okay, Dex, Victor's gone now get us out of here!" Jason commanded. Dex nodded and pulled the car toward a highway exit. He pulled out of the highway and back onto the regular streets. They pulled into Sunnyvale District and started back toward the Row.

"So where are we headed?" said Dex, referring to Kerry.

"Just bring us back to my place." Said Jason. Dex nodded and sped down the street back toward the Row.

He finally turned into the apartment area and stopped at Jason's. Jason and Kerry got out.

"Nice job today Jason, without you I probably wouldn't have planted those bombs and the Carneles still would have been pulling Arms Races with that as a HQ. Now their business will be set back for a while. I'll relay that to Julius." Dex thanked. Jason responded,

"The way you can thank me is never having me drive with you again." Dex just laughed and drove off. Jason smiled and went back to Kerry. He led her in.

"Listen Jason, I'm sorry I risked your cover but it was the only…" Kerry started to say wincing as she went in. Jason interrupted her by saying,

"Hey, no talking. Not until I get this patched up." He set her down on a chair by the kitchen. He then went into his bathroom and came back with a first-aid kit. "You had all the reasons to call me and hey we got a break. Dex didn't suspect anything and all you came out with was a bum arm." Kerry laughed. Jason cleaned the wound with a wet rag. "Okay, the bullet went right through so it's not that serious." He finished cleaning it and he pulled out some cloth from the first-aid kit. He started to wrap around the arm and finally tied a knot. "Now let's get you to the train station.

They walked over to the train station by Friendly Fires and waited until the train came.

"Okay, here you go. Give me a call when you're back and safe at the office." Said Jason. Kerry smiled and gave Jason a kiss on the cheek.

"Again thank you Jason, without you I'd be dead now."

"Well let's hope I don't end up dead thanks to you." Jason joked. Kerry laughed and waved good-bye and got onto the train. The train slowly pulled away and Jason waited till it was out of view. Suddenly his cell phone started to ring. He answered it quickly, "Egan."

"Jason, it's Julius. Dex told me about the weapons factory on Fox Drive. Nice Job, both taking out the factory and avoiding Victor." Jason almost pointed out that Dex did all that stuff but he didn't bother.

"Thanks Julius." He said instead.

"I'm holding a meeting at the church in a few minutes. How bout you head on over."

"Sounds good." Said Jason. He hung up and put the phone in his pocket. He sighed and then walked down the stairs and toward the church.

Julius stood at the front of the church facing all the Saints gathered. Jason walked in and Julius called for him. Jason went up to him and Julius replied, "Okay, Egan. The fat ass sitting in the back is Ruben Washington." Julius was referring to a fat man in a white suit and he had a Fedora on. "He runs most of the prostitution ring with his brother Will, here in the Row. And the guy next to him," Julius referring to a man wearing all black with a black knit cap and sleek sunglasses sitting next to the pot smoking Ruben. "That's Mitchell Running. He runs the Chop Shop and Hijacking Ring here in the Row. If you need a car, ask him, he'll get you one no problem. And finally the big guy in back," he was referring to a black man wearing a black suit. He was much more muscular than most of the gang members. "That's Devon King. He's Benjamin King's long lost son. But don't ask him about it. He helps me with most of the financial business in the Row. Now go take a seat, I'm about to start."

"Listen up people, I got some serious shit to discuss." All the Saints tuned in quickly as normal. "Yeah we cleaned up good over at the warehouse. But do you think for a minute that's gonna stop them? Unless we wipe all these bitches out they're gonna keep on coming, and they ain't gonna be happy. Not until the Rollerz, the Vice Kings and the Carneles ain't nothing but a memory." Julius had a perfect way of talking. He was very calm when he talked but could get very into it almost like a gospel preacher. Whenever he talked he always had his hand up, even when he was saying something really important.

Julius pointed at Dex and said, "Dex, you got the Carneles. Ever since they hooked up with the Colombians, it's like they own this town." Dex nodded. Jason even knew Dex was a perfect guy for handling the Carneles. "And with that drug money coming, we can't compete. Be smart when you're moving against them. The Lopez family's been running that gang for thirty years. There's a reason they're still around." Dex nodded and simply responded,

"Got it."

"Troy, you got the Vice Kings." But Troy wasn't as eager. He shook his head with his cigarette in his mouth.

"Not a chance." he simply responded.

"What did you say?" Julius called shocked at Troy's answer.

"Anyone but them." Said Troy.

"You scared against going against Benjamin King?" Julius intimidated.

"Screw it, I'll take King out!" Johnny called from the back. But Julius shook his head and said,

"Johnny, it ain't that simple."

"Bullets still kill people right? Doesn't get much simpler that that."

"Troy, keep an eye on him." Julius commanded. But this command really riled up Johnny.

"I don't need a babysitter Julius!

"Keep an eye on him Troy!" he said again more calm this time.

"Who's got the Rollerz?" asked Dex. Suddenly a voice from behind everyone called.

"I am." Everyone turned to see an Asian woman enter the group. She wore a very revealing black tank top and blue track pants.

"Lin! Why you wearing blue?" exclaimed Johnny. Jason never really understood why gangs chose colors to represent them, but what else would they use? Julius quickly explained,

"I asked Lin to hook up with the Rollerz. We don't know much about them, so I wanted one of us on the inside." It reminded Jason of something.

A cocky gang member went up to Lin and said,

"I didn't know the Rollerz pimped hos." He laughed for a little bit but Lin quickly threw a punch and he was down cold. There was cheering among the men in the group.

"Any other comments?" asked Lin. No one responded and Julius continued,

"Anyone besides Johnny, Dex and Lin, if those guys ask you for help with their assigned gang. I don't wanna hear any bitching. You do it. This is our time, let's get this shit started."