B.A. Hammer Returns Ch. 08

B.A. Hammer Returns Ch 8

Ike set the meeting with Bubba Wayans for the next evening. He wanted it to be late, 11 P.M. More red flags. Ike said he would have a dozen men staged in the area. They would sweep the entire neighborhood for anything suspicious before we went in. We would all have intercoms and keep in touch.

We arrived at ten and the men began sweeping the area. We brought Spook so he could listen electronically for any communications between soldiers. By ten to eleven my men had not found anyone in the area and the ears were silent. There MAY be a chance this is legit. I'm still nervous. This reminds me of entering a building in Afghanistan. No matter what I was told, I always had butterflies in my stomach until I had cleared the building personally.

A few minutes before eleven, Ike and I entered the bar. It was almost empty. A couple of drunks at the bar. A couple of guys sitting in the back. I had Ike step outside and have a couple of his men watch from the doorway. If any of those men moved, they were to come in blazing. Once we were set, Ike headed toward the back. I saw Bubba Wayans sitting with his back to the wall in a corner. At least he hadn't forgotten some of what he was taught. Ike walked up to him and said, "Bubba, you remember BA Hammer?"

"Yeah, I remember Thor. I thought you might bring him. You work for him, correct?"

"My men and I do, yes."

"Sit down. You can blend into the wall on that side." Ike slipped in beside Bubba, and I grabbed a chair with my back to the side wall. I could see the entire bar and Ike was staring straight at the bartender. If he moved the wrong way, Ike would cut him in half with the automatic gun from under the table. Bubba looked at the gun and then me. He smiled, and said," Thor, I don't blame you for not trusting me. I wouldn't trust me. Some of my latest decisions haven't been the best. I see five men in this bar, including the bartender. I personally know all but two. None of them are in our profession. I am sure your men outside can handle anything that comes their way."

I looked at him in the eye hard for a minute solid. He never blinked.

He finally spoke. "If the staring contest is over, do you want to know what AID is up to at this moment?"

He had me there, I really wanted to know what they were planning. "It might save some lives if I did."

"Undoubtably. I am leaving my present employer. I didn't sign up for doing the same things I did in Afghanistan in America. It occurs to me that I might be able to pay for some of my sins by helping clean up some of this mess."

"What do you want out of this?"

"Nothing but to help me get out when this thing is over. You know Jones. He isn't the firing sort of guy. He's the "terminating" kind of guy. I had sort of an idea of just shooting up the headquarters, but suicide isn't really one of my strengths. I would kind of like to get out of this with at least a chance I could survive it."

"Look, you and I never had any dealings in the middle east, but Ike says you're okay. That is all I need. If you help us, we will try and get you out."

"Fair enough. I am not privy to their top-level planning and these men don't talk. However, the administrators aren't so dedicated. I have cultivated a few secretaries and accountants that I sit around and talk to. I know enough to know enough to know they are desperate to find Ahmad's family. They have searched every camp and set of offices that Alee has in the country. The family isn't in any of them. You know they failed once in trying to take Muhammad Alee, and now they are willing to use a full-scale assault on his offices. They must make Ahmad confess and go away soon."

"How many men do they have in that office?"

"Maybe a hundred. They are always coming and going on their missions. I've been on a couple myself. Each team is usually the same men."

"Okay, memorize this phone number." I gave him one of my burner phone numbers. "Give me a number I can text you. I will send you the address and time to meet. You respond only if you must change the time. Understand?"

He nodded. "You are sure these five men won't betray you? If one of them does, you are dead."

"I am very aware of that. You had better leave first." We got up and left. Our men watched us leave and watched for anyone to follow us. None did. He might be telling the truth. My men outside waited thirty minutes without moving. The men in the bar wandered out at varying times and staggered away. My men finally melted into the darkness.

Ike and I talked on our way back to the office. "Well, Ike, what do you think?"

"I have an uneasy feeling. I don't know why. Everything he said sounded right, just the right amount of everything. I guess I am getting cynical in my old age. I suggest we keep him at an arm's length."

"I had the same feeling and the same idea. I am thinking of setting a trap. We will give him something and see where it goes."

We agreed on a plan. We would hold it until we needed an ace in the hole.

When I got home that night it was nearly two in the morning. I was surprised to see Kitty still up. When I came in, she headed towards me. "I was getting worried about you. I even called Burt to stand by."

"Sorry to worry you. How's Mary?"

"She's fine. She's been asleep for hours." Just about then Mary came walking into the room, drowsily. "Are we having a party?"

I kissed her and pointed her toward the bedroom. "No, honey, I had to run an errand, and I forgot to tell Kitty. My mistake. I won't repeat that again, believe me. Good back to bed." Mary smiled and headed back to bed.

Kitty turned to me when Mary was gone. "I talked to Wanda." She could see the strange look in my eye. "Wanda is your man's person watching the outside during the night. We figure the daytime will be okay, but she watches at night. We have each other's numbers, and we text each other. She told me there has been more motion than normal outside and someone is watching your building. She called her boss, and they sent more people to help her. Burt is coming tomorrow night, just in case. I may ask you to have Mary stay somewhere else tomorrow night."

"I can't ever repay you for what you are doing. I may have a way to check on their plans. I'll let you know tomorrow."

I went to bed but now was the time to test Bubba. If they are going to hit my house, I need to know.

The next morning, I called Ike over to the office and explained what Kitty had said.

"I know, Wanda called us, and we sent reinforcements."

"I think it is time to test Bubba. I want to text him and have you meet with him and tell him I need to know if anyone is hitting us and when."

"Good idea. He might even be part of it. We will see. I had Spook hack the security cameras in my building, and he has had someone watching at night since they missed at Muhammad's house. If the system suddenly goes down, it is on."

I texted Bubba with an address and 9 P.M tonight. He responded with "too late." I texted back, "For me, or you."

He responded with "you". I sent "thanks" and "never mind".

"It is tonight. They must really be desperate to hit a prominent address like this. I have an idea." I called Brick and asked him if Liz and Mary could spend the night at his house. He agreed without asking any questions.

"Here's the deal. We are going to make a big show of Mary going to your house to spend the night while you and I are "away". Once they are settled in, we will sneak them out of your basement to Brick's. Then we will cover both houses and see which one they hit. If it is mine, Bubba might be on the up and up. If it is yours, Bubba's dead."

Ike smiled. "You really have a problem with trusting people. I like it."

I went home to set it up with Mary and Kitty. Ike told Wanda. Mary agreed, but she wasn't happy. I told them it was 50/50 whether it was here or Ike's. That really made Mary mad.

"If they shoot up my home right before my baby gets here, I am going to kill someone, you understand?"

"Yes, dear. I will try to stop them before they get inside."

At dusk we appeared at Ike and Liz's house. We had men in their basement ready to move them to Brick's house. I have Stevie at Brick's house, just to watch out for someone outsmarting me. God knows it's happened before. Ike and I said our goodbyes and headed out. The girls turned lights on and moved around in front of the windows for a while. By ten they had turned all the lights off and gone downstairs. Our men hustled them out the basement door and hid them in the van to move them. Our men had been watching the area and had seen no movement so far. They got the girls safely to Brick's house. I told the two men to stay with Stevie to watch out for anyone who might have followed them. Everyone was to send out the text "moonlight" if they saw that they were the target.

I am sure AID learned their lesson with the raid on Muhammad's house. We had a dozen men at each house, both inside and outside waiting. We were sure they would bring many more than they had the first time.

Kitty told me later what happened next. At two in the morning the security cameras in my building suddenly went down. Spook sent the message "moonlight" and everyone at my apartment readied themselves. Then the men at Ike's house sent out the same message. They were hitting both houses. Spook turned the piggyback security cameras back on and Kitty and Burt watched as three men came up the stairwell. Wanda and Ike's team hunted until they found the backup team in a van down the street. Burt hid himself in a linen closet on our floor beside the stairwell. Kitty was waiting where she could see the front door. The men came through the door and approached my front door. One of them picked the lock and they quietly entered. At least two of them entered. They never saw Burt, and he put the last man in line down with his silencer. He laid him down in the hall and followed them in. Kitty took out the first man and Burt took out the second. It was over in less than ten seconds. Burt dragged the man in the hall into the room and closed the door. Kitty texted Wanda with one word, "done." Within five minutes, Wanda responded with "done."

Kitty called Wanda and had them bring the van around to the back. They brought body bags up and stuffed the three killers' bodies into the bags and carried them down to the van. Inside the van were three more. They stuffed them into bags and Burt and Kitty told Ike's men to get lost. This was something they were used to handling. They went through each man's pockets and relieved them of their weapons. Their pockets were clean. None of them were Bubba.

Meanwhile, at Ike's house, Ike's security system was still working. They must not have known about that one. They must have believed the women were there, because they had five men in the front and five men in the back. They shorted out his home's warning system before they picked the locks on the doors. They were in quietly. The five from the back quickly headed upstairs while the five from the front moved downstairs. We had a dozen men in the basement and several more outside. We had told them to let them search the house. Maybe, if they saw no one was home, they would just leave. If not, we could always kill them then. Ike had a hidden room in the basement that held his weapons and security cameras monitors. We were in this room. The killers could search the basement without finding them. We let the men roam the house. After about ten minutes, we saw the men leaving through the front door. The men outside watched as they got into a couple of Humvees and head out. We told the men we were heading to Brick's house as fast as we could.

I called Stevie and told him they may be coming.

"It's quiet now, but we are ready if they do."

"Okay, how many men do you have?"

"Counting me, four."

"Well, I think ten are on their way. We are hurrying your way. Let us know the second you see any movement. Our men can be there in ten minutes."

I called Brick. "I am sorry, but they may be coming your way. We covered them at my house, and Ike's house, but they were very unhappy they didn't find them at Ike's house. I have men outside your house. Do you have somewhere you could go in your house?"

"Of course. I have a safe room. The four of us are already there. They couldn't find it in a week. I just hope they don't shoot up my home. My wife wouldn't speak to me again."

"Understand, and sorry."

We arrived just as AID arrived. Stevie and his three men had fallen back into the grounds. Brick had a large yard with bushes and trees. Many places to ambush people. Stevie watched as the two Humvees burst through the gate. We got there just in time to follow them through the gate. Stevie and his men were waiting in the bushes by the front door. When the Humvees stopped, their men jumped out to find we had them surrounded. Several died in the first volley. The others jumped back into the Humvees and ran over whatever they must to get out the gate. When they were gone, four of their men were dead on the steps of Brick's house.

Kitty called about this time to tell me what happened at my house. I called Brick and asked him to come outside. Brick, Ike, and I stood aside to discuss what to do next.

Brick was adamant. "I am an officer of the court. I must call the police." We agreed. I interviewed Ike's men to find the ones who had actually shot the men on the ground. I had them stay and told everyone else to split. I told Stevie he could tell them the truth about being here to watch over the place. He hadn't really done anything else. By the time the cops arrived, it was Ike, Stevie, the four men, me, and Brick waiting by the front door. My men had put their guns on the lawn and were sitting on the steps.

It took us several minutes to convince the policemen that we were not a threat and to call their supervisor to come out because this was Brick's house, and the papers were going to be all over this in the morning. In twenty minutes, we were knee-deep in police officials. We answered questions for several hours. They finally took all our statements and let us go.

I took Mary and Ike took Liz and we all went to Ike's house. Mine will need to be cleaned up before Mary can see it.

The paper's headlines said it all the next morning. "Gunmen attack Prominent Lawyers' Home", etc. They had the basic story correct. None of them had yet connected AID to the dead men, but it wouldn't take long. I decided to beat them to the punch. I called Jake Jones myself. He was not really surprised to hear from me.

"I thought I might hear from you this morning. Let me say first, I assign teams to all my clients. I have over twenty clients. The clients are responsible for what they do with my men. However, I can intercede at any time. I pulled my men from Redthorne this morning. They have been getting more and more reckless in the last couple of months. Isaiha Tompkins (the CEO of Redthorne) is in real trouble. I'm glad your people are okay."

"I'll take your words at face value. However, I intend to find the hitman that killed Carrington. Blackstone won't have too much trouble blowing this case up. The translator is really the mastermind behind this plot that reaches to Congress, really?"

"I hear you. I have no intention of allowing Redthorne to take down everything I have built. I know the police will not be far off from asking me about my men's involvement. I am not going to make it worse by slow walking this."

"If your men did have nothing to do with the murder, it would be in both of our interests in finding who did."

"Agreed, as long as my involvement in it is quiet. I can't have my other clients know I may have helped."

"Understood." He was gone.

What the HELL? That makes no sense. He has 500 men in Ukraine. I thought they were there helping Redthorne. What else could they do now?