Nothing to Lose
Palmer drove me and Shadow to the outskirts of Grant City. Throughout the entire time, I had Shadow in the front seat to keep an eye on him, while I sat in the backseat, with a gun pointed right at him.
If this guy was working against Sanderville, he must know some things.
The car went to a stop. They had finally reached the Sanderville Manor. It was close to the Van Allen River on one of the islands that was connected to the Grant City Bay Bridge. They were outside of the mansion's grounds, just some distance away from the gate.
"We're here," Palmer said.
Palmer shifted his eyes towards the steering wheel. He didn't look to his right where Shadow was, nor did he look behind him, where Jack was. Jack still had the barrel of the pistol pointed directly at his head.
"Okay, thank you," Jack said with a minor touch of derision in his voice. "But I'm not leaving the car until you tell me what Sanderville wants with me."
"I don't owe you shit, Slate," Palmer said.
"The hell you don't," Jack said. "I was almost killed at the golf course. Many guys were after me. A little bird told me that your boss put out an open fucking contract out on me. I survived three fucking attempts on my life last night. So I need to know what your fucking boss wanted with me."
Palmer took a deep breath. Despite his associate and rival spilling the beans about his work with the Grant City PD, Palmer couldn't bring himself to sell out his boss.
"Just remember one thing, Palmer, your 'friend' knew that you were working as Hennessey's snitch," Jack said. "Your boss likely wants you dead as much he wants me dead."
"That shit with Hennessey is none of your fucking concern!" Palmer said.
"What if I told you that I worked for him before?" Jack said. "He was my fucking lieutenant when I was on the force. Tell me one thing, when the cops were coming, did you call them in?"
Palmer shot Jack a look of confusion.
Jack said, "I may not be a cop anymore, but I still have my cop-like instincts to know when something is up. I'll tell you what – you call Hennessey, tell him that I escaped and that I was seen going towards Grant Central Station, and I promise you that I will let you live. Besides, Dutch tried to have you killed. You may want to deal with him."
Palmer sighed and glared right at Jack. "Okay, you got yourself a deal. But you better watch out for Vic and Mackey. They'll fuck you up in a heartbeat."
"I'm not scared," Jack said and reached for the doorknob as he and Shadow exited the car.
As soon as Jack and Shadow got out of the car, Jack looked around for any way to climb over the fence and into the grounds of the mansion.
It was a cool May night. One would think that this would be the time for things to heat up, and in this case, one would be right. The chill in the air was a mixture of the Grant City air and my veins just telling me that I might be in over my head.
I was almost killed three times last night. Shit, I was almost killed in prison and I sure could have been killed that night in Augie's penthouse suite. I wonder if this is more than just luck.
I promised that I would go meet with Hildy at the restaurant she worked at after this is all over. What can I say? I may have more to lose than I think, like she told me.
I know about Sanderville's men. When Palmer mentioned Vic and Mackey, I had heard my share of stories about those two. If David Palmer and Dutch Sugarman couldn't handle the wet work, it would be up to Vic Padrone and Mackey Van John. They'd have likely hung the heads of their enemies as decoration if their boss wanted them to.
Sanderville wanted Jack Slate dead. He may have to do it himself, then.
Jack looked around. He told Shadow to be quiet as there were plenty of guards patrolling the grounds. Jack knew that if he was seen, they would pump him full of lead, no questions asked. There was no way around it. Sure, he could shoot them down, but it would likely draw attention to anybody inside. He knew he would be screwed no matter what.
All Jack could do was sneak around the area, as did Shadow. Though Shadow was trained as a police dog, he would get more vicious when he needed to be.
Shadow quietly barked. It caused Jack to turn towards a stairwell that led towards a doorway. On top of that, bodies were left lying in pools of their own blood with open wounds on the floor close to the stairs. One wound came from a man's neck as it looked like his throat was slit. Another with a bullet wound right in the man's head, with blood and brain matter on the concrete floor.
The backdoor was open, and bodies were left lying around. I could only bet that Eve had been through here.
Jack picked up the guards' guns. He checked them. They looked to be fully loaded. He took them in case he needed to switch guns if he ran out of bullets.
The only thing that stood in my way to Sanderville was Vic and Mackey. Back when I was a cop, I had read my share of records and rap sheets, and these two men had rap sheets that could have taken a whole box to fill.
No one would be walking out of here alive.
Jack and Shadow walked down the stairs. One door next to the two corpses was left cracked open. Jack opened it up and there lied another corpse right on the table, with a sign that read "Coming for you" in blood.
Damn, Eve, are you trying to start the party without me?
From the looks of things, with a chair in this room, someone tried to squeeze something out of Eve, but they were not too good to have a small woman take three men out in quick succession.
I hope she knows what she is doing and that she'll walk away before Padrone and Van John get to her first.
Jack walked around the basement. There were shelves that had weapons, drugs, among other things placed on them. There were even grenades lying around. He picked up a few just in case.
As he and Shadow walked towards hallways, from an opening near another hallway, chatter plagued the air. It was as if some of Sanderville's men and/or any hired guns there to take out Jack were close by.
"Do you think that the bitch is dead already?" one voice said.
"Not sure, but if she is, then we grabbed us a trophy," another voice said. "The boss said that she is one deadly bitch. Such a shame, too, because she was fucking hot."
Sounds like Eve is close by, but why are they alive? Jack thought.
Shadow was close by. Jack saw him. He knew that bullets would fly towards him and the dog. Although Shadow had been quite a help for him, this was something that he needed to do on his own.
"Shadow," Jack whispered. "Go hide somewhere. Stay out of sight. I will be back for you later."
Shadow nodded his head and crawled to go hide somewhere. Jack drew his pistols, with one on each hand.
As Jack slowly walked around, he made sure to vault against any walls and look behind them to ensure that someone could be around. However, one guy in a suit scoped around a hallway and quickly ran back.
"Guys, it's Slate, get ready," the man said.
Jack knew that someone had seen him and that once he surfaced, he would be Swiss cheese. It didn't matter if he had a ballistics vest on. Some could try to aim for his head.
As Jack got closer, he quickly pulled the pin and chucked the grenade right into the room.
BOOM!
Screams were heard among the blast from the grenade. One thing that caught Jack's attention was a Mossberg 500 with a strap, as well as two Ingram submachine guns. Jack was going to need a lot more firepower than just some pistols.
Jack quickly ran forth towards another stairwell. The sound of a door opening caught Jack off guard as right at the doorway was a man who quickly ran as soon as he locked eyes with Jack.
"Guys, Slate's here!" the man said.
Jack knew where this would lead to. He raced up to the door and into the kitchen where he saw the man racing towards the door on the other end. Jack thought quickly and drew his pistol.
BANG!
"AAAHHH!" the man dropped forward and felt a painful sensation on his leg. Jack only shot the man on his leg.
Jack still had his weapon drawn as he ready to finish him off.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Shots fired, wood chips flew in the air, and holes were visible on the door. Lucky for Jack, they didn't land on him. He saw the downed mobster.
"I'm not done with you yet," Jack said and got out his Ingram guns.
Jack quickly went right for the door and three men were to open fire onto him. Without any hesitation, Jack opened the door and started blasting away at all three men. Blood sprayed all over the floor and any of the furniture in the room. Right when the men dropped, Jack went back out into the kitchen.
The other mobster lied there, still in pain from the shot to the leg.
"Where's Sanderville?" Jack said.
"Fuck you, Slate," the mobster said.
"You're gonna have to do better than that," Jack said.
Jack went and turned on the stove. He picked up the mob soldier and guided the man's head towards one of the burners.
"Tell me, where the fuck is your boss?" Jack said.
"If I say anything, the Sandman will kill me," the mobster said.
"You're lucky I didn't kill you before, but don't make me change my mind," Jack said.
Jack pushed the mobster's head towards the burner. Jack even set the stove on high. He guided the man's face towards the fire. Although he barely touched the flames, the heat was more than enough for him.
"Okay! The boss is upstairs!" the mobster said. "But you're not going to get to him."
"Watch me," Jack said.
Jack grabbed the mobster by the back of his head and slammed it towards the counter, leaving a large bruise on the man's face. Jack turned off the stove and went on his way.
Once Jack walked through another door, a couple of corpses were seen in what appeared to be a living room, or at least one of them. One had what appeared to be a knife coming out of his neck. The blood coming out of the man's mouth and neck, as well as the positioning of the knife indicated that it was thrown.
The other man was shot in the chest and the neck. Jack wondered what kind of skills Eve had. This woman was something else. It was like she knew how to mix a gunfight and a knife-fight when necessary.
Talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight. Jack thought.
However, from above as there was a balcony, another one of Sanderville's soldiers saw Jack and started firing a few shots. With only some shots left in the Ingrams, Jack sprayed as many shots he had left in one of the SMGs. It didn't matter if the shot had landed on the man's legs, chest, wherever, it was only enough to get the man off his back.
Jack knew that in every room he would enter, either there would be a body laid out or someone waiting to shoot him. If there was a live man, he would shoot them. It was clear that a lot of Sanderville's men would be gunning for him.
Once he walked through the door into the bar and recreational area, where there was a pool table, dartboards, and of course, a bar, Jack quickly jumped behind a pool table as some of the other soldiers were ready to shoot him.
There was no time to waste. With Eve dispatching Sanderville's thugs like this, it was only a matter of time until she got to him before Jack did. Given some of the body count, she will likely put a bullet between the old man's eyes before Jack could get to him.
Jack proceeded into the main foyer of the manor, with a large stairwell in front of the main door. One man stood on the landing with vases on display on the banisters midway on the landing. The man on the landing called out to someone nearby.
"Vic, Slate is here!"
"Take care of him, I want him dead!" a deep voice said.
Vic Padrone is close by. Jack thought. Shit is about to get messy.
Jack ran up the stairwell. The man from before ran down the stairs from the right, letting out a few shots from an MP5. Jack quickly dove right onto the stairs with many of the shots landing on pillars and the vases. Broken pieces of wood and other materials, as well as the shattered pieces of the vases flew around the stairwell and on the floor.
The man slowly walked down the stairs to check on Slate's body. As soon as he got closer, Jack rose up with the shotgun in hand and squeezed the trigger, laying a huge buckshot right to the man's chest.
BOOM!
From the door up above on the right side, a huge blast was heard. The door was no longer that as a huge hole was broken by the explosion. Pieces of drywall spread throughout the area.
Jack looked up. A man of large stature with shades and a shaved head and stubble on his face came out. What he was wielding explained the blast. He was carrying an M32 grenade launcher. The man was Vic Padrone.
"SHIT!" Jack yelled as Vic had him in his sights.
Jack dove right down the rest of the stairs onto the floor.
BOOM!
The blast caused more damage to one of the pillars. If the bullets weren't bad enough, the price for property damage was raising in that moment.
Jack would use the shotgun, but it was likely that only a few pellets would land from that distance as he was on the floor while Vic was upstairs.
Jack looked ahead and saw the body of that guy he killed. The MP5 was on him. The only thing Jack could do was buy a little time by firing a few shots from the shotgun. Whether they would land didn't matter, Jack finally picked up the MP5. Vic got to the top of the stairs, weapon drawn, ready to fire a grenade.
But Jack didn't hesitate to pump the man with six shots right to the man's chest. Blood sprayed onto the wall to Vic's right and on the wall right behind him. Because of that, Vic's body tumbled down the stairs. Jack backed up tad until Vic's body landed on the landing.
Time to take out Mackey. Jack thought.
Jack had the MP5 in his hand and went up the other stairwell on the left side.
BANG! BANG!
Shots were heard from behind the door of the other side.
BANG! BANG!
A couple of more shots were heard. What did it mean?
Jack went into the door. It looked like a bedroom. It was probably a guestroom for anybody sleeping over in case someone needed to crash. One body was laid out in front of another door, but then another body caught Jack's attention as he heard some breathing to his left.
Jack quickly went to the man laid out on the floor. This man had shoulder-length black hair that was slicked back, and also looked fresh-faced. He had a couple of bullet wounds right in his stomach.
"Mackey Van John?" Jack said.
"Who…wants…to know?" Mackey said.
It was clear that this man didn't have long. He likely had only a few minutes left to live. Taking him to a hospital would be pointless. Jack thought.
"Jack Slate. Who did this?"
"Some…fucking bitch, Chinese bitch with a…red Jacket," Mackey said.
"Eve Adams?" Jack said.
Mackey slowly nodded his head. "She is one dangerous fucking bitch."
"So I'm told. Where is she?"
"She…went after…the boss."
Shit, she's going for Sanderville. I knew it.
Jack said, "Thank you."
Jack knew that this guy was going to be dead soon, really soon. He got out one of his Berettas and pointed it right towards the dying man's forehead.
BANG!
Jack was right. Even though he and Eve worked together, she had her own motivations for all of this. It was just a matter of time before the truth would die with him. He quickly went through the bathroom, which was long with a big tub on one end and had a mural of a Centaur battling a Minotaur on the wall. The tub even looked like it could be used as a hot tub. It was that big.
Jack went through another door into the master bedroom. The room was big with paintings on the walls, a large dresser and a mirror on another wall. However, another room was seen further up with chairs close to a window, which could have led to another door to possibly Sanderville's office.
Out of the corner of the doorway, there was another door with a dresser next to it.
RING! RING! RING!
The phone drew Jack's attention. "Hello?"
"Jack Slate?" a familiar voice was heard.
"Talk to me."
"James Copeland. You have company. Cars are pulling up to the grounds and a helicopter just landed on the manor grounds. You must hurry."
"The more, the merrier," Jack said.
Jack opened the door. Much to his disappointment, it was the balcony looking over one of the living rooms of the manor. He looked around. More bodies were laid out. One body hung against the railing with blood dripping all the way down to the floor.
Jack ran towards the other door. In through the other room, more bodies laid out.
There is going to be a lot of cleanup to be done soon.
BOOM!
A blast was heard from a distance. Jack turned around and looked towards the area. He had hoped that nobody had found Shadow. He said he would be back for the dog soon enough.
BANG!
That gunshot was heard from the other side of the door. Jack quickly opened the door. His eyes widened at what he had just witnessed.