Reese was tailing the sedan at a cautious distance. Maybe he'd finally learn why their number's were in New York, or at least Erinson. "Finch. Were you able to find out who that was?"
"Indeed. The man in the photo you sent is Julian Mariano."
"As in, the New Jersey crime family, Mariano?"
"One and the same."
"I guess we can add gun running to their laundry list of crimes. For them to openly be conducting business in this part of town, mean's they're either expanding and keeping it from Elias or he's a part of it too."
"Possibly. Stay close Mr. Reese. This could go badly."
It wasn't the first time Reese wished the machine would at least let them know if their numbers were the danger or in danger. It would save them so much time spent stumbling around in the dark. "They just pulling into a warehouse off 15th. Do we still have a connection to his phone? I'm not hearing anything."
"It's an active connection."
"Then he must have left it in the car. Typical mob rules. I'll have to go in." Reese parked his motorcycle around the back of the next building over.
It was faster to bypass the two goons standing guard, and access the warehouse by way of the neighboring building. Reese doubled back, easily braking into the metal fabrication shop and headed for its rooftop.
The distance was a good ten feet, but nothing he hadn't done before; he'd had lots of practice leaping across buildings over the years. Silently, he jumped the distance. "Finch I'm going in now."
"Be careful Mr. Reese."
Though he always carried a bump-key it wasn't necessary. The roof door was unlocked and unguarded. "Guess they feel safe," Reese acknowledged, "that's a mistake."
The computer parts warehouse was only two stories. The bottom level was an open, clear-span staging area for crates, John seriously doubted had computer parts in them. The second story was comprised of balcony offices overlooking the area bellow. They wrapped around three sides of the warehouse and gave John a good bird's-eye view of the layout.
Reese could hear the rapidly heating conversation echoing up from bellow. He edged along the wall, careful not to attract attention by his motion and moved to a darkened corner to get a better look. He snapped a shot of the five men aggressively posturing. "Sending you a photo, Finch. Erinson sounds pretty pissed off. Apparently unhappy with the fact that Mariano isn't willing to pre-pay for some 'order,' I can only assume are weapons. Mariano isn't budging."
"Mr. Reese, I recognize three of them as Mariano's top lieutenants along with Sid Salva, Julian's right hand man. I'm not sure it would be wise to take on the mob by yourself. Can you get to Erinson?"
"Yeah, but so can they." Reese had an idea. "Finch, call in a raid. That'll give them something else to think about and break this up." Reese was already moving along the balcony wall at a quick pace. He needed to get to a vantage point with a clear view of the men. A group of heavy metal drums would do.
"Listen to me!" Erinson snapped, towering over the shorter, pudgy Mariano. "My reputation is solid. I've never given you any cause to doubt my methods or products. You want the special price, you pay upfront." Despite being out numbered, Erinson stood his ground with no evidence of being intimidated by the looming mobsters.
Reese was in position with his gun aimed, ready to take down the first man to make a move.
"We - do - not prepay for merchandise. The mere fact that we are talking, is you're pre-payment. The order stands. Three-hundred of your bio-guns and we pay at delivery. Not before. Or maybe you need a lesson in good business? Huh?" Julian gestured to his men to advance on Erinson, but before anyone moved, the closing wail of sirens filtered through the metal walls. "Cops! You're a lucky son-of-a-bitch. Let's go!"
John watched as the men scrambled to their vehicles, leaving Erinson behind. "Finch they're heading out, Erinson's on foot."
"You'd better leave too, Mr. Reese. The police are only seconds away."
"I want to make sure he gets out safely." Reese sprinted across from one rooftop to the next, watching as the mob cars sped down the rear alley and Erinson hopped a fence and bolted around the building. "How's Stark?"
After being so stressed by his earlier encounter in Stark's hotel room, Finch marveled at how Mr. Reese could so calmly carry on a conversation while avoiding the raiding NYPD, keep an eye on his fleeing number and think to ask how things were going on his end. "Relaxing. Miss Stark hasn't left her room, after going back to finish her spa treatment. She ordered a pay-per-view movie, room service for lunch and made a 6:00 dinner reservation, at the Blue Hill. Nothing else."
"Sounds like you'll at least enjoy dinner tonight, Finch." Reese tracked Erinson heading down another alley, unfortunately heading straight toward a NYPD cruiser. "Dammit."
"What's happening, Mr. Reese?"
"Erinson is about to get caught by police... Wow! Wait a minute. A van just cut him off. He's good, clear." He had to hand it to the guy, he was lucky.
By the time John was back on his bike and around the block, Reese just caught a glimpse of Erinson getting into a cab. Phone-less, and most for sure pissed, but alive. "I'm going to head back to his hotel room, see what I can find."
"That may not be necessary. I got into his email account through his phone, and found sufficient evidence suggesting he received the same invitation. He has a limo reserved for Friday night with a 9:30 pm drop off scheduled at JFK International."
"Okay so that's two of our guys invited to this thing. What about our new players - W.A.R?"
"All I can tell you, is that an amazing amount of effort and skill has gone into keeping... whoever they are, quiet. However... I have a few more tricks up my sleeve. Oh.., but I did finally locate Mr. Trent for you."
"Good. Text me his location. And Harold, don't underestimate Stark."
John smoothly darted through the thickening, afternoon traffic. The Ducati was always a favorite for getting around the congested city with both, style and ease; not to mention, it was better for avoiding detection.
Finch had spotted Trent by way of an ATM camera, downtown. People rarely thought to avoid those.
Jetting between a row of stalemated cars, Reese tapped his handle grip bluetooth. "Hello Lionel. How goes the sleuthing?"
"If I have to chase this guy through one more damn souvenir shop, I don't care what his deal is, I'm gonna shoot him. This sightseeing crap is for the birds!"
"Come on Lionel, couldn't hurt to enjoy the city a little bit, told you, you should relax." Reese would never miss a chance to torment his 'pet' Detective. Truth be told, he had grown fond of the grumpy cop. He wouldn't go so far as to call him a friend, but they had each other's backs when it counted. And that 'wasn't nothing.' John mused. "Where you able to connect with Boyd's phone?"
"Yeah, finally. I survived a herd of stampeding Texans without getting trampled, and made it passed a procession of Nuns hell-bent on beating me through the door, but I finally got close enough. You get the signal?"
"Yes Detective, thank you." Finch chimed in.
"Geez! How do you guys do that? You, always listing. Hearing everything on both ends. It's creepy..." Lionel was panting with the effort of keeping up with the well conditioned ex-SEAL. "So you want me to just keep following him? I think the son-of-a-bitch is Jonesing for a ferry ride. He's heading there now."
"Stay with him. We need to piece together everything we can about what these guys are wrapped up in." Reese pushed.
"Yeah, got it." Fusco scrunched his face in frustration. "I just wish he'd check out some of the local bars, instead of all this running arou... Hold on!" Lionel quickly ducked through the crowd so he could get a less obstructed view of Martin Boyd. "He's meet'n someone on the ferry."
"Send a photo of him, Mr. Fusco." Finch added.
"Her... He's meeting with a her. Asian, not alone either - looks like one, maybe two guys with her. Also Asian, and seriously tatted up. If I had to guess, I'd bet Triad or Yakuza."
"Okay, stay on them but keep a good distance." Reese cautioned.
"Yes Detective, we can hear what they are saying now. I'll let you know if we need you to intervene." Finch offered.
John didn't wait for Fusco's response before disconnecting, he was dealing with another matter - namely, not being seen by a very talented, Trent. "Finch, I've got Trent."
Trent was definitely cagey and well versed in the art of loosing a tail. Even with all of Reese's training and experience, he gave him a run for his money. Trent was hyper-alert and seemed on guard, forcing Reese to implement various tracking techniques and covert tactics to stick with the former operative's constant taxi hopping, ducking through stores, and avoid his doubling back tricks.
John tried cloning his phone on two attempts, but with no success. Either he didn't have one or the blue tooth was disabled. "Finch I'm not having much luck here. This guy's all over the place, as if he knows he's being followed."
"Maybe he's aware of your presence?"
"No, he hasn't made me.., which makes me wonder who he's running from. I'll stay on him, but I need to pull back."
"Very well, Mr. Reese. I'll be in the library momentarily. I'll try to assist you by way of the city cameras should you lose him."
"What about Stark?"
"I'm watching her via the hotel's security feeds. Never fear, I still intend on following her to dinner." Harold really wasn't looking forward to it.
"If we're lucky, he'll finally lead me back to where he's staying, and a computer. Any word from Carter?"
"She should be meeting with Sinclair within the hour. If she successfully gets him to upload my RAT program, I'll be able to take control of his computer and initialize a remote session."
"What about Boyd. You find anything on his phone?" John wondered.
"I need to get back to the library to be sure, but a quick look suggests the same encrypted email."
Reese was chewing on that. That made three so far. Stark, Boyd, and Erinson. But there was still no clear answer as to why the machine had given them the five numbers. Were they planning to do something at this Event? Or were they at risk because of it? They needed to know more about this Event.
The cutting lane change of a taxi jolted him from his thoughts. Reese frowned. At least they knew where the pickup was going to be... and he could work with that.
"When can we expect the shipment?"
Martin Boyd shifted against the wind and eyed the beautiful, and deadly woman. "After I get my payment, you'll get it day after tomorrow. Midnight, same place as last year."
Fusco stuck to the back of the ferry. If he thought the wind was cold before, it was nothing compared to it's bitter bite moving across the open water. The only good thing about staying out of sight of his target, was that he had to stay huddled between people, cutting some of the chill so he could concentrate on the jacked conversation.
He flipped up his jacket collar and shoved the hand not holding the phone his pocket, when his call waiting beeped. "Anything?"
"The woman's name is Laura Quan, aka the Viper." Finch quickly began. "She's one of the heads of the Triad branches in charge of the gambling halls in Chinatown, but it seems arms dealing has become a primary source of income for the group. From what I'm finding she has quite the reputation for violence and was the prime suspect in the deaths of two members of the Mariano family. Apparently knives are her specialty; the bodies had to be identified by dental records. The two with her are Jimmy Lee, and Shawn Cho. With records as long as my arm, it's safe to say they are bad news as well."
"Wonderful. And I'm stuck out here on a boat just listening to them." Fusco gripped. Truth was, he would have loved nothing more than the smallest excuse to toss these loser scum-bags into the frigid waters. "So far your arms guy is safe, busy eyeballing the snake lady and closing his deal. Everyone's being real careful not to mention of what, but I'm gonna assume the 'shipment,' is weapons."
"That would be a safe assumption given what Boyd does for a living, Mr. Fusco. Stay close, I'll be in touch."
"You sure you don't want me to just take them all in? This round trip ferry ride doesn't have to be a total waste of time."
"I'm sorry Detective, we share you're frustration... But we need to let this play out."
"Fine... I'll stay on em. But I'm tell'n ya one thing's for sure.., I'm not letting any weapons hit the streets." It was one thing waiting to see what this trash was up too, it was a whole different deal letting it spilled over into his city.
"I assure you Detective, we won't let that happen." Finch smiled at Lionel's conviction. Despite his initial reservations, John had chosen their allies well.