Public Enemy No. 1
A meeting was called among the Grant City Police Department, particularly at the precinct where Jack Slate used to work at. Hennessey called for this meeting as it had been reported that Jack had broken out of prison, especially with Hennessey having bared witness to Slate escaping the electric chair. With the news reports having stated that Jack is "at large and completely dangerous," it would only mean that the man was marked and had nowhere to hide, as long as he was still in Grant City.
Hennessey had talked with the members of this precinct, including Chris and Michelle, as well as Captain Inness. A lot of the cops in the precinct stood and sat there and listened to their boss speak.
"Okay, everyone, we all know that Jack Slate is out there," Hennessey said. "He used to be one of Grant City's finest and one of us until we saw him for who he truly was. Our duty as police officers is to make sure we bring him to justice one way or another. As your deputy chief, I will assign the GAC team to track him down."
One cop raised his hand and was allowed to give his input.
"How do we know that he is even here in Grant City?" the cop said.
"From what I understand, he couldn't have made it too far," Hennessey said. "Jack Slate is a loose cannon and a convicted murderer. Who knows what he will do. There's a reason he was given the death penalty, especially on the orders of Mayor Pinnacle."
Chris and Michelle looked at each with so much disbelief on their faces, and they both looked at Inness. Chris knew that thought Jack may have had his methods in handling criminals during his time as a policeman and may have killed if necessary or in self-defense, he wasn't a murderer. Plus, all three of them wondered how the mayor even had the power to sentence Jack to death when it would likely be on the behalf of the governor. Grant City was a corrupt city, but how was any of this getting by the power of the state.
"I am aware that the city has more crime to deal with," Hennessey said. "We will send some members of the GAC team to handle anything else, but in the meantime we focus on Slate. Do I make myself clear? Good, dismissed."
As everyone walked away, Chris looked at his chief was a lot of suspicion.
"Something is not right about this," Chris said.
"What?" Michelle said.
"I know Jack is a wanted man, but Hennessey did not say anything about bringing him in for questioning," Chris said.
"You heard what he said," Michelle said. "The GAC team has to bring him down one way or another."
"But isn't it our duty to bring him in for questioning?" Chris said. "The GAC team will just fucking kill him if given the chance. You know that's what they'll do."
"You might be right," Michelle said. "But what can you do?"
"More than you would think," Chris said. "Anyway, I got to go check on some stuff. I'll catch you in a bit before we go out on our beat."
Meanwhile, inside Hennessey's office, he was talking on the phone.
"Yes, I hear you," Hennessey said. "What? Slate's dead? I see. Well, that's one less thing I have to worry about now. Well, as long as the Sandman is concerned, you have to give me some more information in case I can bring his old decrepit ass in. He'll probably spend his last days rotting in Iron Point. It's not like he has much time left anyway."
Hennessey paused for a bit. "Uh-huh, I see. Well, if there is a deal going down, then maybe you guys can set something up and we can work something in there. Thanks, I'll talk to you soon."
As soon as Hennessey got off the phone, he grabbed a bottle of aspirin and took a couple of pills. Who was he talking to? Suddenly the phone rang once again.
"Hello, Mr. Pinnacle," Hennessey said. "Well, we have nothing to worry about. Jack Slate's dead. My snitch told me. Looks like our problem is over. It seems too easy in my opinion, but I will see about investigating the murder. Yes, my snitch will tell me about what could be done about Sanderville. Right, I'll be in touch."
After getting off the phone with the mayor, something told Hennessey that Slate wasn't dead. If he was, then someone got to him before anybody else could. But who could have probably killed him? Right now, he thought about shifting his focus on other matters.
Chris sat at his desk with his partner nearby at her desk. Chris had pictures of him and Melissa on display, as well as his pictures of his dad, as well as his mom and her current husband, as well as other family. Chris looked at the computer for anything on the name Jack mentioned that morning, Eve Adams.
Who could Jack be looking for? Chris thought. There were no matches to that name.
"Hey." Chris looked up and saw Michelle right in front of him.
"I'm about to go look at some stuff," Michelle said. "After that, we could go out into the street."
"I'll be waiting," Chris said. "I have a question to ask you. Have you heard of anybody named Eve Adams?"
"Can't say that I have, why?" Michelle said.
"Something just came to me about this name," Chris said. "It's not important."
"Okay, I'll be just a minute and then we'll go on our beat," Michelle said.
"I'll wait," Chris said and looked around for any records. You better not be bullshitting me on this, Jack. He thought.
It was 10 AM. At the Vespermill Apartments, Palmer had woken up just some time before. He had gotten off the phone not long ago with someone. He had a long night after the alarm clock went off. When working for the top gangster of Grant City, it can be tiring to be working around the clock sometimes. The clock radio gave some more reports about Jack Slate allegedly being out there and probably missing. He was with his boss and other associates the night before when they heard the news from a certain assassin had iced Jack Slate.
Palmer went and took a shower to get ready for yet another long day. He put on a black suit with a black tie like he would often wear. It wasn't long until he got into the parking garage and jumped at what was seen in the passenger's seat of his car. His eyes widened and jaw dropped a tad. It was a dead body on the seat. It wasn't just any dead body, though, it was Marvin Silt.
"What the fuck?" Palmer said. If the man's body being found in the passenger's seat wasn't strange enough, Palmer looked closely at what appeared to be a piece of paper stuck to Silt's corpse.
Thanks for the $60,000. Now I'm coming for you.
Just reading that, Palmer just knew that Eve duped them, duped them well. Not only was it clear that she had ripped off Mr. Sanderville and that Jack Slate was not dead after all, but it was clear that she had her own motive. The real question was why she agreed to this job to off Slate, only for her to betray them like this. Something was clearly off about all of this.
If that wasn't bad enough, he knew that he would have to break the bad news to his boss sooner or later, better it would be sooner. Silt may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer and was only in the life because of his connection to Mr. Sanderville, but really, his connection to the boss could only mean that the Sandman was about to find out about Eve Adams and Jack Slate. For that, they would have to pay the ultimate price for it.
But what to do about the body was the problem at the moment. It was a good thing that there were no other people around to even see or else it would look bad for him to carry the body around, let alone drive with a bloodied corpse right beside him.
Palmer opened the door to the passenger's side and the body dropped to its right.
"Fuck," Palmer said to himself. "I'm in deep fucking shit right now."
Palmer opened the trunk and put Marvin's body in it and immediately shut the trunk. It didn't take long for him to get to the driver's seat and he immediately pulled out his cellphone.
"Hello, can I speak to Hennessey, please? Thank you," Palmer said.
In only a matter of seconds, a gravely voice said, "This is Hennessey speaking."
"Hennessey, I'm totally fucked right now," Palmer said. "Someone killed Marvin Silt!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Hennessey said. "What's going on? And didn't we just talk a little a while ago?"
"I found Marvin Silt's body in my fucking car!" Palmer said. "Someone killed the fucking moron!"
"Hey, I didn't have shit to do with it, so what are you telling me for?" Hennessey said. "Silt was a first-class blabbermouth if I ever saw one. So what? Who's going to mourn the bastard?"
"You're calling him a bastard? Silt may have been an idiot, but Sanderville loved him like a son," Palmer said. "I must tell you that Slate isn't fucking dead, and if I so much as drag Silt's corpse into the Sandman's presence, he'd feed my nuts to the squirrels or worse."
"So what do you want me to do?" Hennessey said.
"I want you to send your private fucking army to go after Slate, or even that bitch Eve Adams," Palmer said.
"Eve Adams? I think I've heard about her," Hennessey said. "Adams has quite the reputation of getting her shit done and how she does it. Besides, if you're going into deep shit right now, you're gonna have to do whatever it takes to get through to Sanderville about all of this. After all, doesn't he have a lot of shit on his plate right now?"
"The Sandman is working a deal with Fahook right now," Palmer said. "Fahook had found something and Sanderville wants in on the action."
"So the old coot wants in on some action that the new guy in town is going for, huh?" Hennessey said. "Well, you'll have to figure out what to do. I could try to send the GAC team after Slate. Shit, maybe if Sanderville wants, he could try to get one of his guys, including you, to go after Slate and Adams. Or maybe check with Mayhem Inc. to do the dirty work. You guys are on your own. Besides, you better make sure that Sanderville doesn't find out that you've been feeding me info on you guys."
"Hey, we had a deal, remember?" Palmer said.
"I didn't forget, I just got some other priorities right now," Hennessey said. "If you find something out, you let me know. Later, hotshot."
The call ended. Palmer sat there with a major glower on his face. It was clear that even more problems were about to arise in that moment. How was he going to break the bad news to his boss, who had other things on his plate in that moment? It had to be done, though it wasn't going to be a pretty sight.
Sometime later, after 1 PM, Palmer had met with his boss, along with Dutch. Palmer had a level of unease in his system. Dutch looked over at Palmer all confusedly. They were all in Sanderville's office ready to discuss business, especially with the business that's been going on with Fahook Ubduhl, who was allegedly an Arabian prince or an oil sheik.
Mr. Sanderville looked over at Palmer, who looked down. "Something wrong, Palmer? How's the snitch hunt going? Remember, I think we have a rat in our organization."
For months, Sanderville had been suspecting that someone in the organization had been feeding information to the Grant City Police Department as of late.
"It's going okay, I'm doing my best," Palmer said.
"Then what's wrong?" Sanderville said.
"Sir, I have some bad news," Palmer said. "Marvin's dead, and someone put his body in my car."
"WHAT?!" Sanderville yelled. "Where the fuck is his body?!"
"I'm getting to that," Palmer said. "Also, Jack Slate is not dead. In fact, that bitch Eve fucked us all."
"You mean to tell me that that killer broad ripped us off and lied to me about killing Jack Slate?" Sanderville said. "And I had hoped that she would do that fucker in, after he killed Augie Blatz."
Dutch added, "So what should we do? Should we find Slate and Adams and deal with them our way?"
"I have an even better idea," Sanderville said.
A few hours had passed. A meeting was called in the conference room at Sanderville Heights. In fact, a lot of people had attended this meeting, including Gofer, who brought along some guests of his own.
Palmer had informed that he got some connections to take Silt's body to a mortuary. It seemed that Sanderville has some connections all over that he had someone take Silt's body to the funeral home. In between those hours, he went to the mortuary to check the body. Sanderville was blown by what had happened.
"Hello, everyone," Sanderville said. "I called for this meeting for one reason. Actually, there is another person involved. I want you guys to find Jack Slate and Eve Adams. Find me those two for reasons of exacting vengeance! I want you to put the discovery of Slate at the top of your priority lists. Dead or alive, I don't care. But if Slate's dead, I want signs that he suffered first. If you find Eve Adams, I would give you an added bonus and the rule applies to her, too!"
"Hold on, Mr. Sanderville." A thick Cockney accent grabbed the attention of Sanderville. It was a man with brown hair and a suit. It was Gofer.
"You want to make this an open contract, I can have some of my men find those two for you," Gofer said. "I have a new guy that's part of Mayhem Inc. He's a real brutal son of a bitch. This geezer is one tough bloke."
"I'll add to this." Another British-accented voice added to the discussion. It was none other than Patch.
"How much are we talking, mate?" Patch said. "You know that I have my prices. In fact, I have dealt with both Mr. Slate and Ms. Adams before. If I take them out, you could pay me what I'm worth, but if I could bring them to you so that we can handle them your way, then a bonus must be added to the price."
"Look, Patch, Gofer, I don't give a shit about how you handle things," Sanderville said. "I issued an open contract on both Jack Slate and Eve Adams. Whoever handles one, the other, or both of them, then I will see what I will pay you. Now go out there and FIND THOSE FUCKERS! Meeting adjourned."
All of the hired guns, including Palmer and Dutch walked off along with everyone else. Dutch and Palmer walked together.
"Bet I will find Silt's killer before you do," Dutch said to Palmer.
"You know something you aren't telling anyone, Dutch?" Palmer said.
"I know lots of things," Dutch said. "But they ain't half as important as what you don't know."
Palmer shot him a look of confusion. "Those words make almost no sense at all. Was that even English?"
"Yeah? Well, it didn't have to make sense," Dutch said. "Just watch yourself, that's all I'm sayin'."
Meanwhile, Patch and Gofer walked outside of the conference room and talked.
"Listen, I should handle Slate and Eve," Patch said. "Part of me feels that I should have killed him that one night, but the man who hired me didn't want me to kill cops."
"Well that bloke is not a cop anymore," Gofer said. "Besides, I know your methods in the matter patch, but if Mr. Sanderville is issuing this as an open contract on that bloke and that bloody bird, you better go after them as soon as fucking possible. Besides, we got other jobs to do, like for other people."
"I know how I handle things, Gofer," Patch said who had his golden Luger pistol holstered. "Besides, I'm not going to miss out on this opportunity, especially with that bird, Eve Adams. I've been waiting to meet her again for a long time."
"Yeah, well, still we should have some of other people involved," Gofer said. "I will make some calls to Antorcha and also let the new guy, Longshoreman X in on this. That bloody bloke will cut that fucking wanker Jack Slate in two."
Patch nodded his head. "Well, we shall see who gets to them first."
"Right," Gofer said. "If you need anything, I will be at Sawyer Greens. I need to work on my golf swing."
Night was falling as the hours had passed. Throughout the day Jack had gotten some food at some stores while keeping a low profile. The hat and glasses disguise helped a bit. All he needed was some food to feed himself, as well as dog food to feed Shadow. The only thing that mattered was his mission to get close to whomever had his father killed.
However, ever since he broke out of prison, there was one thing that he lost sight of. Though his father was murdered that one night, he still had to figure as to why he was murdered. There was something he had to know. If the mayoral candidate Gloria Exner hired him, there had to be something big. Hell, who could have hired that guy to shoot Blatz and also Jack but not kill him? So many questions and this was only the beginning.
With the cellphone that he took from Silt, he had looked at any recent messages. The one that stood out was from Gofer about having him meet the man at Sawyer Greens Driving Range tomorrow night, which was tonight. He was not about to use the phone to call the man, but he had some calls to make.
First call went through. "Hello?" said a female voice.
"Oh, hey, Hildy," Jack said. "I was just testing out this phone."
"Jack, what's going on?" Hildy said.
"Nothing, I have some shit to do tonight," Jack said. "I just realized something. Because you work for Dad at the time of his death, do you know anything about the case he was working on?"
"I could tell you some stuff, but I would rather tell you in person, like maybe later if you come by apartment," Hildy said. "I'm about to go to work in a bit."
"Are you still dancing at The Den of Iniquity?" Jack said.
"Yeah, well, sometimes," Hildy said. "Some shady figures come by often, especially these two creepy Russian guys."
That was when it hit Jack on whom she meant.
"Look, I'll go handle my stuff later," Jack said. "I might come to your house later. I will see."
"Okay, if you do, let me know," Hildy said.
The call ended. Jack quickly pulled out the business card from the night before.
"Eve Adams speaking." The voice on the other end said.
"Eve, this is Jack Slate," he said. "Are you busy tonight? I was thinking that maybe we should go find that Gofer guy."
Author's note: I know this was a chapter done in different perspectives, but this was to help give more insight to the story. It may seem like I am merging the games together (although I am leaving out Reckoning, the PSP game, for the most part), as well as the comic tie-in (which was tied to the original game), but I know when to balance things and also my limits. Some of the bits were inspired by the comic book, but I am not going to deep into the story for that one because that was almost a separate story but referenced characters and events that occurred, as well as a handful of characters appearing in it.
It might seem like a swerve for Eve to screw over Sanderville like that, but I'm trying to add a bit of an aura of mystery to her. You'll find more about her soon.
Yes, I brought Patch back into the story and he will play quite a role in this one compared to the game. I should have mentioned this before, but I am trying a Max Payne approach in that this bit is still in Act II (or Part II as how the first two games did it because the third game didn't go with that approach).
I also have plans for the next two chapters. I will get to them soon.