Chapter 20

Chapter 20: One Hour from Destiny

The Viper drove in silence through the lamp lit interstate, his mind miles from where he was on the layout and contents of one house in the heart of New York City. He was rushing into an ambush, he was sure of it and his mind did the math as the highway miles flew by. His chances for survival didn’t look good. He had lost the element of surprise and now his enemy had intentionally drawn him into the light before he was ready. He knew that this was no movie. The bad guy wouldn’t wait for him to show up and spout off a witty one liner before trying to kill the girl. Boss Tanaka knew that he had no bargaining chip in Shin Lao. He saw her as bait and was prepare to lose his bait as soon as the fish took it. This was the real world and things didn’t always go in the heroes favor. The hero quite often lost in this world. Losing almost always coincided with the hero dying.

Fortunately for the Viper he wasn’t exactly the hero. He was just another one of the bad guys who were just a little better than the rest of em. He decided to swing by Edgar’s on the way and parked the BMW a block from the old man’s apartment. He walked quietly up the stairs alert for any signs of an ambush. If Tanaka had known about Skeet then he may well know about Edgar as well. The stair wells were narrow and the walls limited his visibility, both a boon and a hindrance in a situation like this. He pulled his pistols; the weight both cool and reassuring. He popped up from the stairs to find an empty landing. He sighed and walked up the stairs and knocked on Edgar’s door. There was no answer and so knocked again, louder this time. There was still no answer and so the Viper tried the door knob. It was locked and he knew that Edgar had several bolts and chains that secured the door from the other side. Still he had to be quiet if there was something going on so he pulled his large flat blade from his waist and began prying the doorframe. He’d left the small bottle of refrigerant in the BMW so he’d have to do this old school.

With the wooden crowning pulled away from the door frame he could find the pine that held the hinges onto the rest of the door frame. He pried with his knife for what seemed to be an eternity until they became loose; the wood pushed out from around the screws enough to be of some use. He kicked hard at the left edge of the door making it rock slightly but not come off of its hinges. Another couple of kicks however brought the screws out of the wood and he pushed the door in enough for him to squeeze through. Everything appeared in its place as the Viper remembered it. There was no sign of a struggle or a fight. Though he doubted that the old man could put up much of a fight. There would more than likely be bullet holes all around the place. The Viper made his way carefully around the apartment and walked back to the closed door that separated Edgar’s office from the rest of the apartment. He opened the door slowly and found Edgar. He was face down on his desk; antacids sprawled over the top around him. A cigar had burned a deep hole in the green vinyl top. The Viper picked the man’s head up and felt along his neck. There was no pulse and no breathing. The old man had finally bit it and gone like he’d wanted. It must have been a heart attack the professional killer decided judging from the scattered contents of his desk. He said a quiet prayer for the old man and fished the key to his back room out of his sweater pocket.

The lock up for much of Edgar’s product lay in boxes and crates in what would have been the next door apartment. Edgar had bought it long ago and used it to store what he needed to keep on hand. A couple of crates with German markings on it caught the Viper’s attention. Rocket Propelled Grenades as well as the devices needed to fire them. He grabbed a duffle bag from the corner and loaded up with rockets and slung a grenade launcher over his shoulder. He would come back and clean this place out, hopefully, when everything was said and done. This had been a good man; there was no need for the police to besmirch his name when they found millions in illegally obtained weapons.

He marched down the stairs with his prizes and couldn’t help but feel a little melancholy for the old man. He had had no family or friends and would likely be buried unknown to anybody. He didn’t have time for tears or philosophy at the moment and marched back to the Beamer. The engine roared to life, the dash board giving the interior an orange and green glow as he moved closer to his destination. This was the night that it all culminated in. All of the years of killing and searching. Boss Tanaka had dangled the information he had about his family over his head like a carrot for years and he had killed for the man to get it. Damn had he killed. He had cut a red swath through many of the city’s organizations for this man and he was repaid in the end with a couple of bullets in the chest. He would make one more stop tonight before Boss Tanaka looked down the barrels of his pistols for the first and last time.

The Pit had a sign on it that said closed but the Viper knew better. He’d heard about the shoot out from the other night and knew that they were simply trying to put the bar back together. They heavy door was unlocked and he simply strolled in. The click of guns cocking greeted him as he strolled in. He sat at the bar in front of Bobby who had his hand on the shotgun. “No need for that Bobby.” The man let out a sigh and nodded to the rest of the boys milling around the bar. “I’m here to see Tommy. There’s a war about to happen and I thought he should be kept aware.” Bobby nodded to the back door where the Viper knew Tommy was sitting without the confirmation from the big bartender. The men stood aside as the Viper walked amongst them. They knew that he was dead. The people from the other night had said as much and they’d beaten it out of Quint before he was disposed of. The Viper flung the door open and saw Tommy jump out of his seat. The Irishman laughed as he recognized the face of the Viper. “Good te be seein ye there Button man. To what do I owe the pleasure of your resurrection?” “There’s about to be a war Tommy and I thought you might like a piece of it.” “Tanaka?” The Viper nodded grimly and leaned back in the swivel chair Tommy kept in the corner. “Yup. He’s got a hostage. It’s not going to be pretty. He’s pretty pissed off at the both of us. No one’s gonna be able to stay safe in this city as long as he’s in charge.”

Tommy looked down at something on his desk apparently weighing the odds. “Ye know we don’t have a chance in Blarney of coming out of this in one piece.” “Yeah, I’d kind of figured that much. But to be honest there’s more than one reason that I need to do this Tommy, and if I go, well you know what happened the other night. They’ll come for you and one of these days they’ll get you. This isn’t a negotiation Tommy. You know it’s true and I need the help. He’s got probably sixty people in there easy. I’m good, but I’m not that good. And I need to keep as low key as I can until I can find the hostage.” “What do ye need us to do?” “I need a distraction. He’ll kill the hostage undoubtedly if He knows I’m just strolling in there. But if your boys rock the place a bit it’ll buy me some time.” “I do owe ye so I’ll give you the boys out in the bar. Understand that I need most of the rest for the neighborhood protection.” “Understood Tommy. I appreciate it. We’re all spades after this Tommy.” The ganger smiled at the Viper’s reference. “Guess I’ve been rubbing off on ye eh kid?” The Viper smiled. “Yeah a little. I’m going to Tanaka’s now so I’ll wait for your boys to raise a bit of a ruckus before I start.” Tommy nodded and stood with his arm extended. “God be with ye son.” The Viper stood and shook the man’s hand. “That’s not the kind of help I’ll be needing.” He turned and walked out of the office. He nodded at several of the thugs as he walked through the door of the bar.

Skinner was still angry as he paced the office of the Viper’s compound. His gut was still very tender and seeping from the wound earlier in the evening. He felt helpless as far out as he was away from the action. The Viper had promised him that he would help him find his daughter and he damn well planned on making sure that he came through on his end of the deal. Grabbing one of the flak vests from the store room and a couple of shotguns he threw on one of the Viper’s overcoats and filled the pockets with ammunition and walked down to the garage. The black Mercedes SLK and the Aston Martin were the only cars still left in the garage that were roadworthy. He decided on the Mercedes. If he were going to be of any help he didn’t need to tip their hand any further by being seen in the Aston Martin. Everybody worth a damn knew who it belonged to.

The Mercedes handled like a dream. He had hoped so for the amount of money that the thing probably cost. It hugged the turns like it was glued to the road as he hit one hundred and twenty miles per hour on the interstate back into the city. He often wondered why there were no cops or state troopers that patrolled this area. Had the Viper paid them to keep away or was it just an area of little concern? He’d have to ponder these things later. There was much to do tonight, and none of it he much liked. He didn’t like being this far on the other side of the law, but there were lives at stake tonight and if nothing else he might manage to arrest someone and make it look legitimate. He parked the car a couple of blocks away from Tanaka’s compound and walked the short distance, unseen except for the occasional spot of sickly light cast off from the old street lights. A fine mist started to fall from the sky as he walked the streets as if God had decided that the whole event had needed a proper backdrop. It quickly turned into a light rain.

The rain seemed to give the city a grainy look as he stood at the corner across from Tanaka’s house. The sounds of gunfire erupted suddenly casting up ghostly flashes from all sides. He saw men start to run out from the gate. There was a group of thugs advancing on the compound with pistols and bottles. Molotov cocktails to be sure. His thoughts were proven correct when one of them smashed into the terracotta wall sending up a spray of flaming liquid that covered many of the guards leaving the gate. The screams and gunfire spilled out into the neighborhood as the two sides clashed. Skinner could barely make out the outline of a darkly dressed man walking casually through the mass, raising his pistol only to take out a guard who had tried to rush him. Even at a distance Skinner recognized the report of that gun. The Viper was making his move. Skinner loaded his shotguns and walked casually across the street. The fire made everything appear ghostly and surreal.

The Viper strolled through the men as if he were going to pick up a newspaper. Tommy’s boys had certainly performed much above his expectations and the Molotov cocktails we certainly a nice touch. With the outside guards’ attention concentrated on the Irish gangsters out front the path around Tanaka’s house was clear for the most part. His senses were on fire as he felt like a piano string. The adrenaline pumping through his body seemed to make everything seem crisper and louder and so dropped to a crouch and turned his guns on the man approaching him from behind. “Skinner!” He hissed through clenched teeth. “What the hell are you doing here? I distinctly remember telling you to stay at the house.” “I’m here to help. The old man can still hit a target when he needs to. “Good to see you but this really isn’t the place for you at the moment.” “What, you think an old cop can’t shoot with the best of them?” His point was made a second later as one of the guards came rushing around the corner at them. Skinner pointed his shotgun right over the Viper’s shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The slug took the man clear off at the neck and the body fell to the wet ground with a sickening wet sound. The rain was starting to pick up now turning into a steady downpour. The earth around them was starting to turn muddy and the edges of their coats drug lightly in the mud. “So what’s the plan?” Skinner asked as the Viper poked his head around the rear corner of the house. Skinner noticed the large duffle bag in the man’s other hand. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? Maybe he was slipping in his old age. “Can you fire one of these?” The Viper had produced a metal case from the bad roughly three feet square. “A rifle? Hell yes I can.” “Then get to it. There are two guards around the back at twelve and ten to you now. Make your shots count as we may not get many more if they manage to make too much of a commotion.”

It took Skinner only a couple of minutes to assemble the rifle. He didn’t have time to zero the sights. Time was becoming a huge factor in this game and he had to play his part quickly. He poked his head around the corner to get an idea of where the two guards were. He took careful aim when the other’s back was turned and fired the high powered round through the man’s head. It seemed to erupt like the paper volcanoes in some school science fair. The other one took notice of the brief rifle report and spun around only to be greeted by another round to the chest. “Leave the rifle and let’s go” The Viper whispered as he hugged the corner of the building. He slung the grenade launcher across his shoulder and loaded a few grenades into it and left the duffle bag on the dark side of a bulkhead. “We’re gonna have to be as light as possible. Those will be there if we need em.” Skinner remained quiet. He was used to stake outs and raids, but this was far more intense than any of the raids he’d ever been on. He felt almost like a spy in some movie as they silently opened the bulkhead.

Predictably there were guards stationed at the bottom of the stairs. The blurs from the Viper’s hands as he grabbed his guns was astounding. Skinner had never seen the man work and he was seriously impressed. The man had the guns pulled pointed and discharged all in the fraction of a second. The guards squeezed a shot off and then were spun around by the force of the .50 bullets. Their round slammed into the bulkhead doors with a ringing like a bell. They scanned the area looking for any more lackies but found none. The Viper unscrewed the light bulb that hung from the ceiling, throwing the room into darkness. Skinner’s eyes took a moment to adjust before he was fully able to see again, and to notice that the Viper wasn’t standing next to him anymore. “Dammit” He thought to himself and tried to search around the room, only backlit by the moon.

He heard gunfire erupt from somewhere off to his right and rushed towards the sound. The Viper had found the main choke point for the guards. He was unfamiliar with this part of the house. Perhaps this had been what Tanaka had pulled the permit for. He’d have to ask later, but for now he had more pressing things to tend to. “Just surrender Viper. We might even let you live after your talk with the boss.” “Sorry guys. No deal” His pistols were up in a flash and he pummeled the triggers of his guns, spraying the area with gunfire. The guards reacted too quickly for simple hired guns. These guys were professionals. He dove to the side as the return fire lit up the hallway, their bullets slamming into the thick cement of the foundation on the other side. Peeking his head around he fired several more rounds into the room. He caught one in the shoulder but the thick trauma plate on the man’s flak vest kept the bullet from piercing.

The shotgun blast from behind him startled him. He hadn’t heard Skinner enter the room. The detective pumped slug after slug into the adjoining corridor catching several of them above and below their vests. The slugs punched through easily sending several of the guards sprawling against the walls or into other guards. He counted the rounds until the shotgun made the haunting sound of an empty chamber. He tossed it down and swung the other one from across his shoulder. The Viper came from around the corner with both guns drawn in front of him and squeezed the triggers quickly. He caught one more guard in the head, spinning his lifeless body around and falling on a man lying prone beside him. The man jumped and struggled to get the body off of him and left to much of himself exposed, getting picked off by one of the powerful .50 rounds. Skinner picked up the shotgun and pumped eight more rounds into it, pumping it with a satisfying Ka-Chink sound. The Viper had an idea of where Tanaka would be holding his prisoners however getting there quickly would be a problem.

He pulled the blueprint out of his pocket and unfolded it against a wall for both him and Skinner to look at. “OK here’s the plan He keeps most of his prisoners down to the left.” The Viper sent his finger along the route showing a large empty space on the blueprint. “I need you to go down there and search. I doubt she’d be there but we need to be certain. If she’s not there it’ll be lightly guarded but still be careful. There’s a key hanging on the wall around the backside of the entrance that will fit the locks in there. Might as well spring people if there are any. There won’t be anyone left in this place after tonight one way or the other.” “And what about you?” “I’m heading here.” The Viper pointed to a large room on the second floor of the print. “This is where Tanaka will be hiding and that’s where I’ve got to be.” “Good luck man” Skinner held his hand out and the Viper took it in a firm shake. “Be careful. They have the home field advantage here.” Skinner walked carefully down the left corridor and looked back briefly but the Viper had vanished. He had his mission and he was going to see if through to the end.