The Way of Things (4 page)

John's phone rang, it was Michael. "You
missed the client." John was frustrated and his adrenaline was off
the charts. He yelled back at Michael "I did not ask for this
shit!" There was a silent pause on the phone, then Michael said
calmly "Relax and tell me what happened." John told Michael about
seeing Spiderhead come out of the hotel. Michael knew exactly how
important this was for John and he had to play it just right if he
wanted to keep John on the team. "John, do you know where he might
be?" John did not have a clue, that trail was cold. "Yes, I do." It
was a total bullshit lie, but he did not want to lose this
opportunity. "Okay, I will handle the client. I will give you two
days to deal with Spiderhead. Then it is back to work, do you
understand me?" This was John's chance to avenge Tommy and maybe
get some info about Chung. "I understand." He said.

Michael hung up the phone in his office. He
was sitting at an old office style desk in a rundown room in an
abandoned building. There was a large metal gun case on his desk,
this was not something you could buy at a store, this was a work of
art only to be rivaled by the custom high-powered rifle in it.
Michael opened the gun case and stared at the rifle with the same
look a mother would look at a newborn baby. He ran his fingertips
over the rifle and smiled. Then the look on his face turned to
seriousness. "Shit." He threw a photo into the gun case and closed
it. The phone on his desk started to ring. Michael paused to look
at the phone and after a moment he looked back at the gun case and
picked it up by its handle. He let the phone continue to ring as he
walked out of the building.

Michael drove across town to a park where
there was a small carnival going on. The carnival had Elephant
rides and a Ferris wheel as well as games and food vendors. Michael
went into a building across the street so he could get a better
view of the park. He took the elevator up to the 6th floor and he
picked the lock on a room facing the park. He went straight over to
the window and closed the curtains so that only a sliver of light
could be seen. Then he pulled out his rifle and assembled it. The
rifle was split into several pieces and each piece was a work of
art to look at. It took only seconds for the expert marksman to put
it together and then he mounted it up on a writing desk near the
window, he slid the muzzle just outside the window and looked
through the scope. He had a perfect view of the carnival in the
park. Michael placed the photo on the table next to him and took a
good long look at it. He glanced at his watch, it was almost time.
He looked through the scope again and leaned into it.

Michael was scanning the carnival for his
client. There he was, an old man in his 70s wearing a dark blue
suit with a red tie. He was in the middle of the carnival buying a
Strawberry ice cream cone. The man started to walk away smiling
while taking a bite of the ice cream, then he stopped and looked
around. He had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong. All he
could see was a crowd of people laughing and having fun. He started
to walk and then he stopped again. A young girl about seven years
old was standing in front of him, she was staring at him, something
did not look right about the man. She started to scream. It seemed
like nobody turned to see what was wrong with the girl. Except for
the girls mother. "What's wrong with you?" her mother yelled at her
while she pulled on her arm. Then the mother looked at the old man.
Blood was dripping from his forehead, as she watched it started to
drip faster and faster. It was not until the mother started to
scream that the crowd turned to see what the commotion was about.
The old man's ice cream cone hit the ground at the same time as his
body did. One shot, one kill. That was just the way Michael liked
it.

None of the people in the crowd had seen
anything. Michael had just killed a man in the middle of a crowded
park and he had gotten away with it. This was not his first kill
and it would not be his last. For the first few years Michael had
been keeping count of all his kills in a small black book, but he
has been doing this for most of his life and once he filled up all
the pages in the book he saw no point in counting any more. For
Michael killing was as just as easy as breathing.

Rooftops

John was running out of time, Michael had only
given him two days to find Spiderhead. The only lead that John
could think of was The Green Dragon restaurant in Chinatown. The
Green Dragon was the very place that Tommy had been killed, it was
a complete long shot, but it was all he had to go on. John went
there trying to get a lead on Spiderhead or maybe, if he was lucky
some information about his boss Chung. One big problem about China
Town is that nobody will willingly talk to the cops. However, this
time around John was not a cop anymore, things were different. He
was not afraid to use force to get what he needed and with a little
persuading and a few bloody knuckles he was able to get a solid
piece of information from one of the waiters at The Green
Dragon.

He dragged the waiter out back into the
alley. This was the same alley where Tommy bled to death. At first
the waiter did not want to talk to John, that was okay with him, he
was in the mood to knock the shit out of someone. John punched the
waiter until he broke his nose. Then he slammed him against the
trash dumpster until he could not stand up any more. It took about
four minutes for the waiter to give up the information that John
needed. So much for China Town loyalty. The waiter said that
Spiderhead was staying at a flea bag hotel nearby. "This better be
the truth, if I have to come back here you're not going to make it
out of this alley." John had a way with people sometimes.

The hotel was a pay by the week dive where
hookers and drug dealers hung out. The desk clerk sold out
Spiderhead for twenty bucks and the continued use of his legs. John
walked up the four flights of stairs to get to the hotel room. John
stood outside room 4B with two Glock nine millimeter handguns drawn
and ready for action. He heard laughing from inside the room, so he
kicked the door open and saw Spiderhead laying on the bed with a
naked blonde on his left and a naked redhead on his right.
Spiderhead charged at John slamming him against a wall. The hookers
were yelling at John. "Die you fuck'n cop." The redheaded hooker
grabbed a lamp and tried to hit John with it as Spiderhead climbed
out of the window onto the fire escape. John put his big knuckle
dragger palm on her face and pushed her back onto the bed with the
other hooker. "Stay!" John pointed at the bed, he did not have time
to play with them. He climbed out onto the fire escape and headed
up to the roof of the building.

Spiderhead was barefoot and in boxer shorts,
but he was not letting that slow him down. He was fast and now he
was running for his life along the rooftops of buildings. John was
able to get close enough to shoot at him, he let out a shrieking
scream after John shot him in the leg. John was not going to let
him die yet, he wanted to talk to him first. Spiderhead fell onto a
small ledge, yelling in pain. John stood there for a second looking
at him. "It hurts doesn't it?" John was enjoying the moment. "Fuck
you cop!" John almost giggled at the thought. "Your in luck, I'm
not a cop anymore." Spiderhead realized that John was going to kill
him and he tried to crawl away, but there was nowhere to go, he was
stuck on that ledge. "What the fuck is your name anyway? I've been
chasing you so long and I never knew your real name." John checked
the bullets in his guns, while Spider yelled "Screw you cop!" He
was in agony from the gunshot to his leg, but it was nothing
compared to the fear of what John was going to do to him. "It
doesn't matter anyway." John jumped down to the ledge and stepped
on Spider's leg. He screamed in pain even louder than before. "My
partner's name was Tommy James." John put the barrels of both guns
to Spider's head and pulled the triggers. Blood splattered all over
John's clothes and face. He did not care, this was for Tommy.

Later that night John was at a bar near his
apartment drinking, when he decided to call Michael. "How's the
client doing, Michael?" There was a pause before he answered the
question. "He's happy, John. Did you get the meeting you had hoped
for?" John was enjoying his little bit of happiness. "Yes, I did
Michael, I'll call you tomorrow." John hung up the phone and
finished his drink before walking home. It was almost as if this
one event had made him forget the pain of losing his family. He had
avenged his partner, but there was a bigger goal that he needed to
reach. He did not know if he would ever get that chance. It was
burning inside of him like a cancer ripping away pieces of his
soul. If he could somehow persuade Michael to let him find out
where Chung was hiding out so he could kill him, that somehow
everything would be better with John and then they could move on to
more glorious task like ridding the world of the evils it
possessed. Those evils that roamed the earth, like Erick. But first
he had to deal with Chung. By the time he got back to his apartment
the Bourbon had kicked in and he started to sink back into his
depression. Nothing accept vengeance for his wife and kid would
ever satisfy his thirst. Not even Bourbon was strong enough to do
that.

The Story

The next day John and Michael met at a local
coffee shop to talk. Both men sat quietly drinking and staring out
of the window. They barely said a word to each other. John decided
to break the silence and he asked Michael how he got started doing
the governments dirty work. In a cold monotone voice, Michael told
John the story of how his life was changed forever. He mentioned
that his father was a government official back in Russia. "He was
nobody special mind you." He wanted John to understand that he was
just a man doing his job for his country. Just a man trying to
support his family.

His father had the final say on all new
construction contracts at the Kremlin. It was a lackluster job,
that payed only slightly better than a trash collector. After a few
years his father had made some friends, the kind of friends that
know how to make things happen and can make you very wealthy if you
know how to keep your mouth shut. Michael's father started to grow
close with his new friends and he quickly left the Kremlin and
worked his way up a new type of ladder. "I was just a kid, my
father had done some bad things and he hurt a lot of people."
Michael finished his coffee. "John, you know the people we chase?"
John nodded his head. "My father would have been one of them."
Michael waved at the waitress for the check.

"One day a man named Gabriel came into our
home and killed my mother. My father had no choice but to sit there
and watch. And when he was done with her, he killed my father and
forced me to watch." Michael handed some money to the waitress for
the check. "John, He gave me a choice, Come with me and know what
it is to live or stay here and know what it is to die. That is what
he said to me." "So you went with him?" "Yes, I went with him, and
I became him." Michael paused for a moment as he thought about the
past, then he placed an envelope on the table and slid it over to
John. "I'll see you John." John picked up the envelope and started
to walk away. He was focused on the story he had just heard. "John,
that is why I recruited you." Michael pointed at the envelope.

When John got home he was nervous about
opening the envelope. What was the reason that Michael had
recruited him? What was he about to face? John sat on the couch and
opened the envelope. Inside there was information on Chenglei
Chung, the Chinese mob boss that had ruined his life. The way John
saw it Chung was responsible for the death of everyone he had
gotten close to, everyone he had loved. His wife and daughter, his
partner, the only partner he had ever liked. Finally, karma had
come full circle and he was back at the beginning. Only this time
John would have the upper hand, he knew where Chung was, he knew
his routine and more importantly Chung had no idea John was coming.
John tossed the info on the table, leaned back and smiled with
approval.

Payday

The next day John was up early. He had a
busy day ahead of him and he was already sitting outside of Chung's
hotel. The information in the envelope said that Chung lived in the
penthouse of The Royal Star Hotel. Of course he did. This guy
thinks he is untouchable. John went around back to the service
entrance. He knew that it would be the easiest way to get into the
hotel without attracting to much attention. There was a guard in
the delivery dock and service area, but he was watching television
instead of the cameras. Lucky for him The Today Show was more
interesting than doing his job. John slid right passed him and into
the laundry room in the basement. John was fumbling through the
clothes until he found a room service attendants uniform, it was
just what he needed.

The hotel kitchen was just down the
hallway. He figured that he could swipe a food cart and make his
way up to Chung's. John stood by the kitchen door to see if there
were any orders for the penthouse. He was in luck, Chung had just
ordered breakfast. He quickly grabbed a loaded food cart and hopped
into the private service elevator headed for the penthouse. This
was sudden death for John. He knew that if he missed Chung he would
not make it out of that hotel room alive. He estimated that Chung
had no more than six bodyguards with him at all times. That puts
two thugs with automatic weapons next to the door and four more
thugs scattered throughout the room. Chung might be armed, but it
really doesn't matter if John gets close to him, it is all over for
Chung.