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  The two men beating on Tyrell stood up as the other two moved a few steps closer toward Recker. “What’s it to you?”

  “Well, I’d appreciate it if you stopped beating on my friend there. And you can get the hell out of here before I kill you.”

  “And what are you, some type of badass?”

  Another of the men spoke up, finally recognizing Recker’s profile. “Yo, that’s The Silencer. That’s Recker.”

  “That’s me,” Recker said, putting his fingers on the handle of his gun. He was ready to draw when they were. “I guess the question is now what are you gonna do about it? I hear Jerrick’s gonna give a bonus to the person who kills me.”

  Fully aware of Recker’s reputation, and a well-earned one at that, everyone knew that he was a dangerous man. He wasn’t one of those guys who had a built-up reputation that was fueled by rumors and lies. Recker was the real deal, and they knew it. A couple of them licked their lips, another wiped his hands on his pants, but none were too eager to throw down. Not with Recker staring them right in the face. They knew they had the odds on their side, but they also knew Recker was good enough to kill at least two or three of them, if not all four.

  Finally, one of the men spoke up. He appeared to be the leader of the crew. “Uh, we, uh, we ain’t got no beef with you, man. We were just doing what Jerrick wanted and all.”

  Recker’s eyes went to Tyrell. “Jerrick wanted him beat to a pulp?”

  “He just said to rough him up a bit so that’s all we did. We weren’t looking to kill him or nothing. If we were, he’d be dead already.”

  “I figured as much. With that in mind, I’ll let you out of here with a warning. Next time I see any of you, I’ll kill you. Now take a hike.”

  The four men stood there for a moment, looking at each other, none of them moving an inch. They still weren’t sure what they were going to do. Then, the leader of the bunch took a few steps forward. His body language indicated that they weren’t itching for a fight. His hands were down by his side and far away from his gun, which Recker could see was in the waistband of his pants.

  The other three men soon followed him. Recker stepped to the side as the men passed him into the hallway. The men appeared to be leaving without incident when the last man of the group turned around and charged at Recker. Recker never took his eyes off the group, though, and wasn’t surprised by the man’s actions. They quickly engaged in combat, though Recker dropped him a moment later with a right hand that landed flush on the man’s jaw.

  The third man in line rushed back and tried his luck at Recker, though it didn’t go much better than the last one. He did get in a shot at Recker’s face, but Recker shook it right off and delivered a right-left-right combo that dropped the man next to his friend.

  The second man was able to get a punch in on Recker just as he dropped the other man, sending Recker into the wall. He wasn’t stunned for long, though, and immediately started responding with some blows of his own. A few seconds later, the man fell on top of one of his buddies, completely out of the fight.

  Then it was the leader’s turn. He stood there, him and Recker staring at each other, both waiting for the other to make a move. The leader of the group blinked first and started attacking. Recker blocked a few of his blows at first, but a few also snuck in through his defenses. Recker also returned a few of the shots himself. Each man got in a good amount of punches over the next minute or two. Eventually, they locked up with each other and started wrestling around until they both wound up on the ground. Recker was the first to get to his feet, though, and grabbed the man by one of his arms and the back of his shirt, and then launched him like a battering ram through the wooden railing. The railing broke into pieces as the man’s weight went through it, the man. The man started screaming as he fell through the air, stopping his screeching as he finally landed on the first floor.

  Recker looked down over the broken railing, seeing the man still moving, holding his shoulder as he groaned. He probably had a dislocated shoulder, and possibly some other broken things, but at least he wasn’t dead. Though Recker was sure he’d wind up doing that at another date. He was positive it wasn’t the last time he’d seen this bunch.

  One of the men started moving around on the ground next to him, so Recker reached down and delivered another shot to keep him down there for a few more minutes. Just as he stood straight up again, Recker noticed Tyrell walking toward him.

  “Oh, now you show up when I’m finished.”

  Tyrell smiled. “Well, looked like you had everything in hand. Didn’t wanna get in the way.”

  “Might’ve got here sooner if I had an idea what room you were in.”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Right after I sent you the address, I saw one of them look like they were coming into the building. So I started looking for somewhere to hide. Was trying to be still and not make any noises.”

  “Oh, so that was it.”

  “Figured since you were going away soon that I’d give you a little something to remember me by.”

  Recker smiled. “Well, I guess this would do it.”

  Tyrell looked around at the men on the ground, then looked over the railing. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just shoot them?”

  “Probably. But none of them made a move for their gun, and I don’t like to shoot first. Well, I don’t like to go for the gun first. I always shoot first though.”

  “Yeah, I noticed. Probably better this way then just letting them go.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Well, if you just let them walk out of here, you really think they’d leave instead of waiting out there to put a bullet in our backs?”

  “Good point.” Recker looked at his friend, who had some cuts and bruises on his face. “You good?”

  “Nothing a few days of R & R won’t fix.”

  “We should get out of here before they get up or the cops show up.”

  “Believe me, cops ain’t showing up here because some dudes got their ass beat. If that were the case, they’d be showing up here every other day.”

  “Frequent visitor here?”

  Tyrell immediately clammed up. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

  They walked down to the second floor, passing the same man and woman in the hallway as when Recker first went up. It appeared they weren’t affected or even cared about the commotion on the floor above them, or were startled by a man falling. They just carried on with their business. As the woman saw the pair pass them, she shoved the man off her neck.

  “Oh, hey Tyrell!”

  Recker and Tyrell immediately turned around. “Oh, hey Amy! How you doin’?” Tyrell had an uncomfortable look on his face as he turned and looked at Recker.

  Recker smiled. “Friend of yours?”

  “Call me later,” Amy said.

  “Oh, um, yeah, sure. Bye.”

  As they walked out of the building, Recker spoke up again. “I take it she’s a close, personal acquaintance of yours?”

  “Listen, man, you got your secrets, and I got mine, OK?”

  Recker laughed. “OK.”

  “Thanks for the save. I owe you one.”

  “I thought we stopped counting those a long time ago.”

  “Yeah, well, I appreciate it.”

  “Hopefully I’ll see you again before you leave.”

  “You will. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “Hey, who knows, maybe I’ll even go out to Hawaii myself and join you there.”

  Recker laughed. “No offense, and Mia likes you and all, but if she sees anyone we know out there, she’ll likely kill them herself.”

  Tyrell chuckled. “Yeah, I wouldn’t blame her either.”

  They shook hands, bid each other goodbye, then started walking in different directions. After a few seconds, Recker turned around and shouted.

  “Hey, if you don’t answer your phone before I leave, I guess I’ll know where to find you, huh?”

  Tyrell briefly turned around, then
spun back around to keep on walking. “Hey, don’t judge me.”

  7

  Jones and Haley had just reached the apartment that Phillips was staying at. It seemed like a nice place, overlooking the Delaware River. Before getting out of their car, Jones and Haley looked at Phillips’ file one more time.

  “Hope Mike’s not having any problems without us,” Haley said.

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s having a nice, peaceful, relaxing day without us there.”

  “Probably.”

  “Besides, if something came up, I’m sure he’d have let us know.”

  After they were done looking through the file again, they got out of the car and walked toward the building.

  “You know, I could probably get used to waterfront living,” Haley said.

  “There is something peaceful about the water, isn’t there?”

  “Maybe I’ll look into it soon. Get something with a balcony or deck view. Right on the water.”

  They walked into the building and went up to the sixth floor, finding Phillips’ apartment with ease. Haley pushed the doorbell. A few seconds later, it opened up. They recognized Phillips immediately from his picture. His thirtieth birthday had come and gone a few months earlier. His face hadn’t changed since the one on file, which was taken a year before then. He did look like he put on a few pounds, though. That tended to happen to people who had nothing to do.

  “Help you?”

  “I’m hoping we could perhaps help each other,” Jones said.

  “With what?”

  “An offer. A partnership. A mutually beneficial arrangement. You can call it whatever you like, but maybe most of all, you could call it an opportunity.”

  Phillips took a drink from his martini glass, finishing what was inside. He didn’t exactly look thrilled with whatever was being offered. “Listen, the only partnership I want is the bottle of booze I got waiting for me, so if you’ll excuse me?”

  “We’re offering you a chance to work again,” Haley said.

  Phillips suddenly got a serious look on his face as he sized up the two men standing before him. They had the look of government employees. “Who are you guys?” Jones and Haley each introduced themselves. “And what do you want, inviting me back into the agency? Another assignment? Well you can forget it. I already gave. I don’t wanna do it again.”

  “We’re offering… something different,” Jones said. “If you allow us to come in, I could explain further.”

  “Not interested.” Phillips immediately slammed the door in their faces.

  Jones and Haley stood glued to their spots, looking at each other.

  “That went well,” Haley said.

  “Well. I suppose they can’t all be super-excited like you and Michael.”

  “What now?”

  “Try again.” Jones knocked on the door this time. There was no answer.

  “I think he’s trying to tell us something.”

  “Wonder what it could be?”

  Haley pushed the doorbell again. They could hear what sounded like heavy footsteps coming to the door. The door suddenly thrust open, Phillips not looking too pleased.

  “Listen, can you leave me alone? Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying, OK?”

  “We’re not with the government,” Jones said.

  “Well then who else would you be? How would you know me if you weren’t?”

  “Well, if you would allow us to come in, we could probably explain better. We know all about your past. We would like to offer you a future.”

  Phillips’ martini glass was now full, and he took another sip of it. It looked like he was seriously contemplating their offer. He took another sip. “I guess you can come in and pitch me something. But there better be money involved. I don’t work for free.”

  Haley looked at his boss and raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t exactly getting good vibes from their initial encounter. Jones closed his eyes and nodded, seemingly not put off by Phillips’ attitude yet. Jones knew not everyone would fall in line as quickly as Recker and Haley did. Some people needed some extra convincing. He assumed Phillips was one of those. They followed Phillips into the apartment. All the couches and chairs were bright white. Haley looked around, thinking he had fallen into some dimension that transported him to a hospital.

  Phillips stretched his arm out, the one with the martini glass. “Sit down wherever you like.” He picked his favorite recliner.

  Jones and Haley sat down next to each other on the couch. Haley continued looking at the furniture, then smiled at Phillips. “Bright in here.”

  “I like a clean, crisp look.”

  “Well, you certainly accomplished that.”

  “Actually, the furniture came with the place, but I’ve come to enjoy it.”

  “Living here long?”

  “About five months.” Phillips continued taking sips out of his glass. He seemed to enjoy that more than the company. “So, what’s this about?”

  “As I said, we’re here about a job,” Jones said.

  “And you’re not from the government?”

  “No. We’re in the private sector.”

  “And how’d you hear of me?”

  “How is a little more complicated to go into at the present time. Let’s just say that you came up early in my search.”

  “I’m hearing a lot of talk, but not many details.”

  “Have you heard of a man in the Philadelphia area called The Silencer?”

  Phillips briefly looked away as if he were thinking. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ve heard of him. Some quack who goes around saving people or something, isn’t he?”

  Jones smiled. “Quack. Yes. Indeed. Um, well…”

  Haley immediately cut in, thinking it was taking too long. Phillips didn’t seem particularly interested in a lot of the small talk. He wanted details. “The work we’re offering is in the same line of what he does.”

  “What are you trying to do, get rid of him?” Phillips asked. “Cause if that’s the case, I’m not really interested. You know, he might be kind of crazy, but if he’s getting rid of the scum out there, then that works for me.”

  “No, we’re offering you a chance to do something along those lines,” Jones said.

  Phillips smiled, thinking they were crazy. “What, cause this nut job goes around saving people and getting notoriety, you guys think that you can set up the same type of operation here? It’s not that simple, guys. He may be some type of weirdo, but to survive this long doing that type of thing, that takes a lot of skill. And by the looks of you two, I’m not sure you have what it takes.”

  Haley put his head down and put his hand over his face as he shook his head. He was ready to call it a day, though Jones wasn’t quite so eager to lose the prospective candidate. Phillips appeared to be a little rough around the edges, but that didn’t make him the wrong choice. It just meant they had to work a little harder to get him on board.

  “You have… somewhat mis-categorized us,” Jones said. “We are offering you the chance to join The Silencer.”

  Phillips was raising his arm to take another sip of his drink but stopped in midstream. “What? Join The Silencer? Are you telling me you guys are The Silencer?”

  “Well, I’m kind of like The Equalizer,” Haley said. “No, that’s been taken already, hasn’t it? The Eliminator? No, that’s some guy in Chicago. I’ll work on mine.”

  “The Silencer started out as one man,” Jones said. “And maybe to some degree still is. But it’s the idea behind the moniker that we’re interested in exploiting.” Jones pointed to his partner. “Chris here is also a former agency employee. He joined us some time ago and has fit in seamlessly.”

  “So you want me to join in, huh?” Phillips said.

  Jones put a folder on the table in front of him, which Phillips immediately picked up. “As you can see, some of our exploits, things that I can share with you. There are many more things I cannot, seeing the secretive mission of our company.”

  �
�So, what do you guys do all this for? I mean, going out and saving people and helping them is great, but, what do you get out of it?”

  “The satisfaction of making a difference. Saving peoples’ lives. That’s what we are in it for?”

  “No money?”

  “We do not have clients who pay us. But if you were to come aboard, money would be the least of your worries.”

  “So how would I get paid?”

  “I have that taken care of,” Jones answered.

  “Why do you worry about money so much?” Haley asked. “Because of that mercenary stuff you were doing?”

  “That mercenary stuff paid the bills,” Phillips replied. “Moving on from government working isn’t so easy, you know. Maybe you had it a bit easier, but I wasn’t exactly swimming in dough from my time in it.”

  “So why’d you quit?”

  “I was… I felt they had it in for me. Started giving me the assignments they didn’t think I’d make it back from. Or were hoping I didn’t.”

  “Why would they do that?” Haley asked, skeptical.

  “Because I didn’t always place nice with my superiors, or anybody else for that matter. I questioned things. It was my life out there, not theirs. I didn’t always blindly follow what I was told. If things didn’t smell right, I’d go off-script. I’d do things differently. If you were in the agency, you know as well as I do what happens when you continuously don’t fall in line with the others. You’re branded as a problem.”

  Haley looked at Jones, still not sold on the guy. Based on his record, though, Jones still felt he was the one.

  “We’re offering you the chance to continue making a difference,” Jones said. “I assume that’s why you went into the agency in the first place? But make no mistake, if you join us, you will live in secrecy, operate in the shadows, be hunted by the police, and be a target of every criminal operation we come across.”

  Phillips smiled. “Sounds like a downright nasty time of things.”

  “It is not an easy life.”

  “And it’s just the two of you?”

  “There is one more. He will be leaving in a week on an extended sabbatical for a while.”