Les laughed appreciatively before duct taping his mouth. “Thanks, kid. I needed a laugh. So you ninjas have a grand master killer looking out for you both. Good to know. Did you hear that, Burt? The kid ninjas have a killer on the loose protecting them. Burt?”
Burt sat cross-legged behind Jean, his hands folded in his lap, head down. Les threw the duct tape on the ground. He walked over to his partner with the hair standing on the nape of his neck. “What the fuck’s wrong with you, Burt?”
Then he smelled it – the coppery odor of blood… a lot of it. Les reached down and poked Burt’s shoulder. The body flopped on its back, Burt’s wide horrified eyes sparkling in the moonlight, his throat cut so deep it opened like a big maw of blood. Les stumbled away from the corpse, fear stealing away thought and reaction. They would not have helped him anyway. Death arrived for him in a powerful wrench of his head, Les’s neck snapping in an intense pain filled split second of time. Les crumpled to the ground, his darkening vision focusing for a last moment on the prone girl’s face as his head hit the ground, face pointing in her direction. Her eyes watched his fading ones with cold interest.
*
“It’s done, Payaso,” Nick said. “The kids are okay. Did you find their vehicle?”
“We have it. You’ll need help with the bodies. Kabong and I are headed your way now. What do you want to do with the kids, Muerto?”
“I’ll talk it over with them and let you know, brother. See you in a few.” Nick freed Sonny first, leaving his gag for him to take off.
Nick walked over to Jean. “I ought to leave you tied and gagged you little brat. What have I taught you? Retreat, regroup, come at the problem with overwhelming force.”
He knelt down and freed Jean’s wrists and ankles. She sat up and ripped off the gag without a sound. “That was so cool! How’d you know where we were, Dad? Oh… you bugged us. I should be mad but I’ll let you slide this time.”
“Gee… that’s very understanding of you, Viper, you idgit!”
Jean giggled. “What’s an idgit?”
“It just means a dummy,” Sonny answered for Nick. “I’m sorry, Sir. We do know better. We’d be dead if you hadn’t bugged us.”
“You advised her to do the right thing, Sonny. If you kids aren’t too traumatized I’ll send you both back to camp while I deal with Burt, Les, and who wants Emily Waterson kidnapped.”
“You should have let Les live until you found out why they were doing the job, Dad,” Jean instructed.
“You do realize when you return from summer camp I am going to take everything you love away from you for two months.”
“No fair! I broke a kidnapping ring with Cracker. We’re heroes!”
“Fine. I’ll let your Mom decide after I explain the whole situation to her,” Nick replied.
“Make it one month and I won’t tell Mom we were bound, gagged and near death.”
Nick sighed. “Deal.”
The End
Future Nick and Jean Bonus Story III
The Norte?os
The balding man in a brown suit looked around with annoyance when confronted by a blonde haired woman with facial scars and a grim visage, wearing low cut jeans and a black windbreaker with the red globe of the Marine Corps on it. A step behind on each side of her walked two men dressed in similar fashion to the blonde, both well over six feet tall and heavily built but not in a weight lifters bulging style. Both men wore their hair cut short and razor cut around the sides and back. About ten paces behind the three walked a thin teenage boy with a sixty pound white long haired mutt trailing the boy’s every movement with perfect control.
“Where’s McCarty?”
“My Dad doesn’t take meetings at this level,” Jean said. “Neil Dickerson vouched for you. That means something to my Dad and to us. Neil said you fear for your family’s safety. He told my Dad your son Mike is a defense attorney. Let’s go have a coffee at the Monte Café across the street. You can start the story from there.”
The man seemed surprised. “Neil told me it’s a good sign if I get asked to have a coffee at the Monte.”
Jean grinned. “Yeah. It’s a start. Whether we do more than hear your story depends on you, Mr. Villa. If I didn’t get decent vibes from you out here, I would have told you to take a hike. You look okay to me. This guy on my right is my husband, Sonny Salvatore. My brother Quinn is on the left. I’m Jean McCarty Salvatore.”
The men shook hands. Jean leaned around and waved at the teenager. “C’mon, Benny. We’re good. Bring Sam.”
Benny smiled. He hurried forward with Sam pacing him happily. Jean turned to Villa again. “This is our adopted brother, Benny. That’s Sam next to him. Now you’ve met the crew. Let’s get that coffee.”
“You do understand this group threating Mike is very dangerous, right? They burn houses down with families inside, assassinate political leaders who don’t go along with their agenda, and collect protection payments from everyone in the Monterey County area. Hell, they probably take payments from the Monte owner.”