“Paul authorized at least a week of satellite surveillance,” Nick answered. “We can’t attack on a quiet basis without complete plans of the house and all information we can see from the surveillance. I want this place more than I want to reduce it to ash. That will take patience.”
Johnny put a hand on Cala’s. “Have you kept track of Jay’s crew who they did put in jail? When they get free, they will be unpredictable.”
“Neil claimed they’ll be in custody awaiting trial. He’ll update us if they get free on bail,” Nick answered. “You can rest assured they will stay quiet for a time. We have their names and the addresses they’re staying at. Let me give that some thought. We don’t want to piss off Neil, but those guys in police custody could be in contact with Fernando on a daily basis depending on how scared they are. All calls are monitored so the pros won’t contact them unless they get out of jail.”
“So naturally we wouldn’t want to wait for those two to get out of jail, right?”
“Are you second guessing my sixth sense, Payaso?”
Gus smiled. “Yeah. I think you’ll need to wait until those guys get out of jail and reveal the pros when they make contact. Have you considered the lawyer aspect, Muerto?”
“Damn it!”
“Heh…heh… forgot all about lawyers passing notes, huh Muerto?”
“Cala! You’ve only had one sip. We need a driver. I’ll splice into the ‘bangers’ lawyer. We’ll go get them as the ‘Unholy Trio’. Gus is absolutely right. A lawyer bought by Carone will have passed the info to his boss and the pros. My bad – let’s hit the laptops and find out who represents these punks. We go tonight, take him in a safe zone, and bleed him dry. Thanks, Gus.”
Cala had pushed away her drink. “Yes! Cleaner to the rescue!”
Chapter Two
Mother Ship
Lance Botorf relaxed in his chair of omnipotence. The chair brought him good luck. It was a state of the art chair. It tilted, vibrated, and practically put him on his feet when he needed to stand. Maury told him just now how valuable his simple report had been, cementing in his huge payday on this case. It was a simple interaction. He reported to a guy comically named Biff, who acted as the intermediary to the guy Lance already accepted an envelope of money from. This was the way it was supposed to be. It had been a simple matter to get the boys out on bail. They would be released tomorrow morning. The men he had dealt with stayed locally at a motel in Pacific Grove. The only thing left in what he needed to do was get the charges reduced to petty theft with the DA’s acceptance. Done deal. He sipped his drink with the pleasurable feeling of success. He had bills to pay with a wife who couldn’t accept a simple office romance, and a couple of kids who looked at him when he took time to see them as if he arrived from off planet. One moment he watched the movie he had put in, and the next he had three black clad figures in front of him, one with a clown face. He was deathly afraid of clowns. The clown leaned in suddenly close to his face. Lance passed out.
*
“Oh for God’s sake,” Gus mumbled.
“Nice one, Payaso,” Nick said, while taking Botorf’s pulse, shaking his head mournfully. “He’s gone. Oh my, Payaso, that was just… disturbing.”
Having been around Nick long enough to know a prank, Gus began slapping Botorf into consciousness, ignoring the hoots and hollers from Nick and Johnny of outrage over his brutal treatment of the prisoner. “C’mon, Lance. Wake the hell up, you pussy!”
“I never thought to see the infamous Payaso in his natural state like this, Kabong. He is truly a vicious entity of brutality.”
“I must agree, Muerto,” Johnny carried on the banner of outrage.
“Fuck you two!” Gus managed to get a slow shivering ascendance into consciousness from Lance. “Wake up, Lance! If you fade on me one more time, I will cut your dick off and stick it down your throat!”
“I will save you from the bad clown, Lance.” Nick waved Gus away. “To make sure my partner Payaso doesn’t get his hands on you, we need to straighten a few things out. Why don’t you talk us through your defense of the two young gangbangers named Nano Calista and Doug Morgan? Did you get them a release date already?”
“Tomorrow… at 10 am. How did you get into my house? It has-”
“Shut up,” Gus told him. “Who paid you to represent those two turds? Remember this, Lance: you hate clowns. I hate lawyers. If you don’t want me to play with you, we need answers.”
“I…I can’t disclose anything about the case or who pays me.”
“Yes, you can, Lance,” Nick said, “or we’re going to torture you until you do. We need a demo, Payaso. Lance needs to do the dance electric.”
Gus stun-gunned Botorf for a short but pain filled moment in his groin area. He jackknifed off his chair into a fetal position on the hardwood floor. Gus kicked him in the side, leaning again into the gasping Lance’s face, while pulling the man’s shirt to get him closer.
“I will light you up for ten seconds next time! Your dick will retreat all the way into your chest.”