All familiar characters belong to Janet. Mistakes are mine.
Apparently not only is Needles still stupid, he's become delusional as well, believing he'll ever be in a position to call the shots. As soon as Bobby got out of the passenger's side a bald, twenty-something kid even dumber than Jordy was at that age left the bank building, flicking a semi-automatic rifle between Brown and I when he was within fifteen feet of us. I almost smiled in anticipation of the fun I'm about to have.
"Hey! Needles said to come alone. Who the fuck is this?" The kid asked, pointing the business end of the rifle at Bobby.
Now I did smile on the outside, and not in a friendly way. "It'll be a cold day in hell before I take orders from anyone. And I'll send 'Needles' straight to hell before I allow him to boss me or my people around. Run along back inside and tell him I want a word with him. I won't be happy if you or he keeps me waiting. Go," I barked, when he just stood there staring in shock at me.
That two-letter word snapped him out of his trace, but not in a useful way. "Who do you think yo …?"
That was as far as he got before I reached out and grabbed his weapon with both hands, twisted it out of his, and hit him on the side of his head with the end of it. He crumpled faster than an empty can of soda in Hal's fist.
"You don't need to know anything other than the fact that I will fill your body with everything in here," I said, holding up the weapon that used to be in his possession, "if you don't cooperate. Is the woman inside the building?"
"What woman? I don't …"
I kicked his leg out from underneath him as he tried to stand. When he fell flat onto his back, I put the sole of my boot on his neck to keep him there. I didn't put any weight on it, but he knew he couldn't move without possibly crushing his trachea.
"You don't want to fuck with me, asshole," I told him, leaning a little heavier on the leg holding him down. "Is the woman here?"
He took too long to answer so I applied enough pressure for him to panic, causing his hands to come up and start clawing at my boot. Three seconds in, I felt confident that he was beginning to see stars and the correct way of answering me. A small taste of unconsciousness, enhanced by the feel of a weapon of war making a dent in his forehead had him seeing the error of remaining loyal to someone who clearly isn't rushing out here to protect him.
"She ain't here. Needles stashed her someplace. He was scared you'd just shoot him and take her."
"Where?" I asked, putting more of my weight on him.
He gasped and went back to trying to pull or push my boot away from him. "I don't know. He told me I'm just a little watchdog who doesn't get to know what the big dogs are up to."
That sounded, and felt in my gut, like the truth so I eased up.
"Is that fucker for real?" Bobby asked me. "Watchdogs and 'Big Dogs'? Sounds like he's trying out for a fucking school play with a gang edge to it."
"Told you he isn't a threat," I replied, before addressing the 'gang puppy'-in-training. "How many men are inside?"
"He has three guys with him, plus me to bring you to him. Two to watch the exits and one to watch him. Dude's scared of you."
"He should be. He's well on his way to pissing me off. Cuff him when I release him, Brown." I lifted my foot and allowed Bobby to take care of him while I got in touch with Santos. "Four guys total inside. Supposedly the woman isn't on the premises, but we're approaching with caution in case I was given bad intel."
"You want us with you, or to come behind to have your backs?"
"Brown and I can take four guys now that we believe Manden's lady isn't here. You can move in as we head inside."
"Will do. Can you leave us some ass to kick? We've been in a serious drought with this fucking pandemic."
"So Brown has already expressed. I make no promises. I'd enjoy a little action myself, which isn't going to work in Jordy's favor."
"One asshole, Ranger, that's all we're asking for ... one little motherfucker."
I nodded to Brown, ready to end this. "I'll see what I can do."
"Get his cell out and have him call Jordy," I ordered Bobby. I pointed a finger at our captive. "You call your boss and tell him you're escorting us up to the building now. If you tip him off that you're staying behind while we enter, you'll have only seconds left of your life to regret that decision. You being kept alive is as useful to me as you being dead. What I decide to do depends on what you say."
He came off as more stupidly-cocky than genuinely stupid, but I'm not alive today because I gambled on the odds of a situation.
"I want extra in my pay for digging around this asshole's pants," Bobby bitched, but he didn't come up empty-handed, he had a cell in his hand that he held near our hostage. "Call the fucker or I'll shoot you myself."
He proved to have a few working brain cells. He was able to bring up Jordy's contact info with bound hands and didn't hesitate to work with me. He understands now that I will carry out my threats.
"We're on our way up," he told Needles. "He's got a guy with him ..."
Brown gave him a smack to the head in warning so no more information would be shared. We could hear Jordy's voice through the line.
"Didn't think Manoso's dumb enough to come alone. He's outnumbered and he fuckin' knows it. Make sure they're both unarmed," was his Boss' last order before he hung up.
I lifted my eyebrow at Jordy's little worker bee. "You gonna try to get my weapons and yours off me?" I challenged.
His head was already shaking in the negative, while his body shook with fear of what I could do to him. I can see faint red marks across his neck that match the tread on my Bates boot, so he's smart to appreciate the danger he's now in.
"Secure him in the backseat," I told Brown.
A minute later, Bobby and I were working our way to the old bank. If things went well, we'll be able to walk right in with no issue. Worst case would be Jordy having the place under surveillance and him seeing that we're coming in armed and pissed. We got a mixed bag. The door opened as we approached on either side of it.
I slid the shoulder strap of my 'borrowed' assault rifle over my shoulder, like I've done thousands of times before overseas, reached out and closed my arms around another fucker, this time squeezing his neck long enough that he totally blacked out. If we were in any other circumstance where a life was hanging in the balance, I'd just snap his neck and keep moving, but as much as I'd like to justify a few fatal actions, I know I'm not dealing with a criminal mastermind here or the leader of a terrorist cell. I have a few seconds to inflict a more polite way of incapacitating the enemy.
Brown was right behind me with zip ties at the ready. He hog-tied this member of Jordy's team before he came to, and then we burst into the building … confident that going in guns blazing - as Edna would say - will surprise Jordy, and his gang will be taken by surprise and have to scramble to defend themselves.
After a quick sweep of the room and seeing just the three anticipated men, I laid a round of fire across the interior, careful with my aim so I didn't actually tag anyone. My goal was to shock everyone, get them on their stomachs, and all their fingers off their triggers. Brown was moving systematically behind me, kicking away the weapons that were dropped during the collective 'Oh Fuck!' moment in case anyone may be tempted to try to reclaim theirs.
Jordy was easy to spot. He was cowering in a corner a foot behind one of his inexperienced idiots who is now lacking a gun to protect himself or his idiot boss.
"Get up," I ordered 'Needles'. "I guarantee if you wait until I put a bullet in you, like I'd really enjoy doing, getting up will be considerably more difficult."
"Better do what he says," I heard Lester say behind us. "Sucks for you that Ranger's been itching for a confrontation exactly like this one."
"I won't ask again," I reminded Jordy. "Stand your fucking ass up."
While Bobby, Lester, and now Cal cuffed or zip-tied the other inhabitants of the abandoned business, I focused on the inept ringleader of this mess. When he finally got his feet under him, under my glare and my gun's barrel, I motioned him to move away from anyone or anything that could help him.
"Where is she?" I asked Jordy/Needles.
"I wanted you here to talk about my brother, not some who …"
"I don't give a fuck about Balor. And if you finish that sentence, I'm just going to put a bullet in your head right now. I don't need you to find her, but it'd be in your best interest to tell me what I want to know. Balor is prison-meat now, nothing you do for that fucker is going to help him or keep your messed-up family together outside of Rikers. If you showed up a changed man asking for help … I may have given you more than a distracted shrug. Kidnapping a woman who has nothing to do with this … shows me why you're not worth my time or any favors."
"You son of a bitch …"
My bullet went through his knee, cutting off his tirade. "Insult my mother further and you'll have even more injuries to recover from … if I allow you the luxury of recovering at all. I'm not convinced I'll be doing Jersey a favor by not just killing you."
"I gave word to kill the bitch if I don't survive this meeting."
"That was a really stupid move on your part. I have my people tracking your phone records and your vehicle's driving history. You decide to pledge your allegiance to a brother who doesn't give a shit if you live or die, and I promise you that you - and everyone you put between me and Manden's woman - will suffer before you all are forced to stop breathing."
His hands are covered in blood, trying to stem the flow coming from his leg, but his dilated eyes stayed defiant. "Fuck you."
"You always did act without thinking things through. I hope your brother appreciates your sacrifice, but it's clear that he doesn't give a fuck about you or what happens to you."
"Go to hell."
"I've been there and back multiple times. I'm used to the feeling. I'm betting you wouldn't survive being betrayed by someone so close to you."
"Balor loves me," he stated. "It's always been us against the world."
"If that were true, he wouldn't have made a beeline to your place in order to evade capture, dragging you into a potentially deadly situation if I didn't have as much patience as I do. You're lucky to be alive, and it's time you start appreciating what you walked away from. If Manden was working higher than street level, you'd already be dead for approaching his woman."
"I didn't do nothin' to her."
"You think kidnapping a pregnant woman isn't harmful? How stressed are you feeling right now, not knowing if I'm about to kill you or just let you join your brother? You think that life or death worry is good for the early development of a child? You're fucking lucky that Manden isn't me. If you came after anyone I care about, it's an immediate death sentence. He just wants his lady back."
"How do I know you won't just kill me if I tell you where she is?"
His voice started wavering, from pain or fear is anyone's guess.
"You don't," I answered. "But if you don't tell me … you're guaranteed to be dead, likely missing a few body parts in the process. Think about this, I don't even have to kill you. Putting bullets in specific places can make you wish you were dead without committing murder. You could spend the rest of your life praying that the people you'd need to depend on have the conscience or compassion you obviously lack."
Lester nudged him with his gun. "Bet prison sounds pretty fucking good right about now."
"I vote for just offing the fucker," Cal offered.
"I can see why you'd choose that method," I told him.
Kenzie being pregnant right now with his child would make Cal lean towards the more vengeful option of dealing with Needles. I can't disagree with him. I should've skipped this encounter and relied on the tracking of Needles' movements Vince knows to be working on, but I wanted to make this 'meeting' as unpleasant as possible so Jordy never tries shit like this again.
I addressed Needles again. "Talk, or your right ankle will have a brand new air hole, followed by the left one. I'm not fucking with you, Jordy. I will keep shooting you until you tell me everything I want to know. I promise a blown out ankle and knee on both sides of your body won't be fun."
"Maybe you should aim at his ball-region first," Lester suggested, "to see if he has a pair. I doubt he does if he has to pick on a woman and being his brother's bitch."
"I'll take that option into consideration," I reply.
"She's locked in a shed not from Frontier Airport," Jordy spit out.
"Seriously, Boss," Lester said to me, "let me shoot this prick."
It was tempting. Really tempting.
"I'll handle it. Get Vince on the line and let him know where we're heading." His sigh of disappointment put Steph's typical ones to shame. I would have reassured him that we have similar ideas, but I don't want to tip Needles off to my plan. "You and Cal can keep watch over these three until I give word to contact the TPD. If you get bored, you can pretend you needed to subdue them. Get up," I ordered Needles.
"You fucking shot me! How the fuck am I gonna get up? I told you where the bitch is, you don't need me to get her."
That was the wrong response. This time, I put a bullet through his elbow. "Get the fuck up," I repeated. "Don't make me say it again."
This interaction doesn't bode well for his plan to be a career criminal if his lackeys are smarter than he is. They realized who's in charge and acted accordingly. Jordy was still riding a stupid high. Though the loss of blood seems to be doing the opposite of what's expected, and he began thinking clearer and struggled to try to get to his feet. Cal 'helped' him out and jerked Jordy upright onto his uninjured leg.
"Switch him out with who's currently in my ride, and make sure he doesn't bleed in it," I told Bobby and Cal. "I want Needles to see close-up how bad he's screwed up."
Cal dragged him out of the building as Lester shoved the rest of the assholes into one area of the bank. Too bad Morelli's dead, the douchebag could've sent me a thank you card for rounding up a group of probable problems for the TPD.
"You want us to head to the station with these fuckers after you find the woman? Or drag out the fun a little longer and make them come to us?" Santos asked.
"Let them do some work for a change. Vince should be confirming - or correcting - Jordy's information before we reach the airport. At least Eddie and Juniak will appreciate your latest contribution to world peace."
"This was fun," Santos admitted. "We should do this again soon, minus the damsel in distress part."
"I'm telling my wife you just said 'damsel in distress'," I warned him.
"Can you shoot me instead? Your missus is vicious when she has ammo."
"I know," I said proudly, walking out of the building as Cal rejoined Lester for guard duty.
Bobby and I got back into my vehicle and didn't spare Jordy a single glance in the rear view mirror as we headed out. The fucker will know what real pain is if he hurt the woman or is lying through his diamond-embedded eyetooth about where we'll find her.