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  “Thanks,” Recker replied, not impressed by the compliment bestowed upon him. “Is that all you wanted?”

  “You seem tense, impatient. Someplace else you need to be?”

  “I just have a lot on my plate right now. A lot of other things to do, a lot of people that need my help.”

  “I can imagine. I won’t keep you too long. But with an operation like this, since I wasn’t there, I just like to know everything’s in order.”

  “Everything went off without a hitch,” Recker said. “No problems. Your guys did what they were supposed to do. And so did I.”

  “You say it without any emotion or feeling.”

  “Cause I’m not some gun-happy idiot who’s intent on hurting people or who just likes to shoot people for the hell of it. I don’t take pleasure or solace in killing people.”

  “But you do it anyway.”

  “I do what has to be done. I do what’s necessary. Nothing more than that.”

  “So matter of factly stated. You know, I’m very good at reading people,” Vincent shrugged. “I think it’s kind of a necessity to have that trait to be in my position. And I think I have a good read on you.”

  “Is that so?”

  “You burst on the scene here with a lot of fanfare, helping little old ladies from getting mugged, rescuing kidnapped children, but there’s a dark side to you. I’m not sure if you actually enjoy what you do or you just do it cause you’re good at it.”

  “Wouldn’t do it if I didn’t want to,” Recker said.

  “You’re very cold, calculating. Not unlike myself.”

  “I didn’t come here to be analyzed by you.”

  “Wasn’t intended.”

  “Back to business, is any of this hit going to come back to me in any way?” Recker asked.

  “No,” Vincent quickly replied. “As I said, only three people know what happened in there. You, me, and Jimmy. The detectives out front were not informed of your identity.”

  “Four,” Recker corrected.

  “Come again?”

  “Four people. There was the manager of the restaurant who saw my face.”

  “You don’t need to worry about him,” Vincent reassured. “I know him well. He’s been paid quite well for his services, and his silence, on this. He knows if he was to cross me, he would live, or not live, to regret it. He won’t be an issue.”

  “I’ll take your word on it.”

  “Which brings us to our next order of business and the main reason why I asked you to come here.”

  “OK?”

  “Our relationship going forward,” Vincent stated.

  “What about it?”

  “Well, I will obviously be expanding my territory in the coming days, weeks, months, etcetera.”

  “And?”

  “I think up to this point we’ve had a very good working relationship,” Vincent told him.

  “You expecting that to change?”

  “I don’t know. We helped you find that child you were looking for, you helped us take out some of our competition, things have been good between us.”

  “Sounds like you’re anticipating a problem,” Recker said.

  “We’ll see. What would you say about getting put on my payroll?”

  “I’ve already got a job.”

  Vincent smiled, expecting the answer. “I already assumed that’d be your reply. Wasn’t expecting anything different. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask though.”

  “Never does.”

  “Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want any troubles with you going forward. We’ve co-existed well up until now.”

  Recker took a few seconds to think about his reply, careful in how he chose his words. “I’d like to think we have a certain understanding and respect of each other’s positions. I’m not really interested in your business or getting in your way of whatever it is that you decide to pursue.”

  “Good to know.”

  “I’d also like to think that you know how dangerous I can be and that you wouldn’t really be interested in getting in my way either.”

  “I do and I’m not.”

  “But at the same time, if I have a case where I’m trying to protect someone, and the person I’m trying to protect them from is one of your men…I will put them down. And I won’t hesitate in doing so,” Recker told him. “And I’d hope you’d understand my position.”

  “And I do. I guess circumstances will dictate what my response would be, if any.”

  “Listen, I’m not interested in your business, or slowing down your operation in any manner. Doesn’t concern me in the least. If you want to take control over the city, take it over. Makes no difference to me. As long as it doesn’t intersect in my business. The only issue you’ll have with me is if one of your men crosses the line…rapes someone, tries to kill an innocent person, something stupid along those lines,” Recker explained, trying to diffuse any tension between them.

  “If one of my men does something along those lines than I’ll kill them myself,” Vincent forcefully responded. “I don’t hurt innocent people. The only things that interest me are power and money. If someone gets in my way of pursuit of those things, well, they’re probably not innocent either.”

  Recker nodded, feeling like the two men understood each other. “I think we have an understanding.”

  “I agree. Before you go, I’d just like to let you know that if you ever need something in the future, anything at all, feel free to come to me for help.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that,” Recker said, shaking Vincent’s hand.

  Recker got up from the table and was about to leave, when he remembered something, and turned back around to question the mob leader.

  “Oh, and, uhh…about Mancini,” Recker stated.

  “You don’t have to worry about him,” Vincent replied. “I’ve got people out looking for him as we speak. We’ll find him. You have my word on that.”

  “Good enough.”

  “However long it takes…a day, a week, a month, or a year, when we find him, and we will, I will personally call you myself.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  Satisfied with Vincent’s response, Recker walked away from the table toward the door. As he passed by Malloy, Recker slapped him hard on the shoulder, but in a playful, friendly manner.

  “Take it easy, Malloy,” Recker told him.

  “You too,” the lieutenant replied.

  Malloy eagerly went down to the table where his boss was sitting and sat down across from him, anxious to know his boss’ thoughts on the meeting.

  “What do you think?” Malloy asked.

  “He won’t be a problem.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “There’s always a chance for a hiccup or something to not go according to plan, but I don’t foresee any issues with Mr. Recker,” Vincent said. “He’s only in the business of protecting what he believes is the innocent. We don’t encounter very many of those in our business.”

  “What if one of ours steps out of line or something, something unrelated?” Malloy wondered.

  “Well then they’ll probably deserve whatever is coming to them. As I’ve said, I think Recker could be very valuable to us at some point down the line if we play our cards right. As I told you before, we’ll give him a very long leash, if he even needs one at all. A man who can do the things that he does is a man you want in your corner if the seas get rough. And if he ever needs anything and comes to us, we’ll give him whatever he wants and help him in any way that he needs.”

  “Whatever he wants?”

  “Well, within reason.”

  As Recker drove away from the diner, he called Jones to let him know how it went, since the professor had a tendency to worry about things if he wasn’t in the loop.

  “I take it your meeting is over,” Jones stated.

  “Yeah.”

  “How did it go? Any issues?”

  “No problems. He just wanted to talk about a few t
hings,” Recker said.

  “Such as?”

  “Just wanted to know how the stuff with Bellomi went down.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, and he offered me a job.”

  “I hope you declined.”

  “Well, I don’t know, I might have to take a few days to think about it,” Recker joked.

  “Seriously?”

  “No. Well, he did offer me employment, but I turned it down.”

  “Well thank goodness for that,” Jones replied. “Didn’t he offer you a job before?”

  “Yeah. Honestly, I think the meeting was more for his own piece of mind.”

  “Was he worried about something?”

  “I think it was more along the lines of wanting to stay out of each other’s way,” Recker answered. “He’s taking over a bigger part of the city, his power’s expanding, we’ve cooperated with each other several times, I think he just wants to make sure we stay on good terms.”

  “Doesn’t that seem somewhat peculiar for a man in his position? Wanting to stay on good terms with someone who doesn’t work for him?”

  “No. Vincent’s a smart man. He doesn’t look for problems. He doesn’t want to make enemies with anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Recker explained.

  “So what do you plan to do now?”

  “Now I take care of Tyrell’s problem.”

  Recker drove over to the high school that Darnell Gibson was enrolled at, located in the western part of the city. He called Tyrell to let him know he would be at the school that day and to get word to his brother that the situation would be taken care of.

  “Exactly where has this recruitment been taking place? Any specific spot?” Recker wondered.

  “Uhh, yeah, they’re waiting until the kids get off of school property,” Gibson answered. “Darnell said they usually are starting on kids in back of the school, off Dauphin Street. There’s like duplexes and stuff back there, kids cut through between the houses sometimes, so the gang isn’t out in the open.”

  “Dauphin, got it.”

  “Hey, man, are you sure you don’t mind doing this?”

  “I told you I’d take care of it. Consider it done.”

  “I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate this.”

  “Don’t mention it. Like I said, I owed you one,” Recker told him. “Can you get word to Darnell to let him know I’m coming?”

  “Yeah, I’ll shoot him a text message.”

  “Just tell him to go the same way he always does. I’ll be on Dauphin Street looking out for him.”

  “I will.”

  Recker had some time to kill before school let out and just drove around the city for a while to pass the time away. Once the afternoon hit, he made his way down to the high school, driving around it a few times just to get a feel for the area. With twenty minutes to go until school let out, Recker drove down Dauphin Street, finding a parking spot in front of a duplex. Getting ready for the job, he reached over and opened the glove compartment, taking out one of his Glock’s. He set it down on the seat and took his other Glock out of his belt, making sure both guns were fully loaded. He kept his eyes peeled for signs of gang activity, looking out the windows, as well as through the rearview mirror. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary at first, but he really didn’t expect to see anything yet anyway. Not until Darnell showed up.

  Twenty minutes slowly ticked away. Recker calmly waited for his cue, not the least bit anxious or nervous about what was coming. Some men in his position got antsy when they waited for a target to show themselves, anxious to get the deed over with. That wasn’t Recker though. He tried not to over think things. He found that the men who weren’t patient, who tried to rush things, who let too many thoughts cloud their mind, they were the ones who got themselves into a sticky situation, and sometimes dead. It didn’t really bother him if he had to wait five minutes or five hours. No matter how big or small the job, he didn’t let it become bigger than it needed to be.

  Once Recker noticed a bunch of kids walking along the sidewalk, grouped together, he knew his business was about to begin. He took another quick look at his phone to look at the picture of Darnell that Tyrell had sent to him, just to make sure that he didn’t overlook him. He took his two guns off the passenger seat and put one in his right hand coat pocket and the other inside the belt of his pants. He kept his eyes peeled for the next several minutes trying to locate Darnell, though he couldn’t locate him yet. The thought occurred to him that maybe Darnell got scared with having someone else intervene on his behalf and didn’t want any other trouble with the gang in case things went sideways. It wouldn’t be the first time that something like that happened to Recker. And if that was the case, it wouldn’t really bother him. He didn’t mind helping people in need, but if they didn’t want his assistance, he wouldn’t beg them to let him help. He’d simply find someone who did want his help.

  Before giving up on the situation though, Recker would wait it out until it was a guarantee that Darnell was a no-show. It could’ve been that he had to stay later for something, or maybe he still was a little scared of the impending problem, but either way, Recker had time to wait and wouldn’t give up on him too early. After all, Darnell was still just a kid in high school and Recker figured a lot of things must’ve been going through his mind at that time. A few more minutes went by, with a few less kids walking by, when Recker finally saw his target. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw Darnell walking along the sidewalk, by himself. He looked a little antsy, constantly looking around like he was waiting for someone. As Darnell passed by each car, he crouched down a little bit to look inside, wondering if that was the car that his brother’s friend was going to be in. Recked kept his eyes glued to Darnell, in case the gang showed up, but assumed by Darnell’s mannerisms, that he was looking for him.

  “Yo Darnell!” a voice shouted out.

  Recker quickly looked out his window and stared into the driver side mirror, observing a young male standing by one of the duplexes. A few seconds later, Recker saw another man walking down the sidewalk toward his vehicle. Recker put his arm up like he was scratching his forehead so the man wouldn’t think he was watching, but he noticed that the man had a gun tucked inside the front of his pants.

  “Come on over here!” the voice shouted again.

  Darnell did as he was instructed and crossed the street, walking between a couple of parked cars until he stood in front of the two gang members. Recker continued watching the threesome, not wanting to intervene yet until he was sure there weren’t others lurking around somewhere. He would’ve been surprised if it was just the two of them there to recruit Darnell. What appeared to be the leader of the group, smiling and laughing about something, put his arm around Darnell and walked him through the yard that was between the two duplexes. Recker was just about to get out of his car when he looked through his mirror again and noticed two other youngsters crossing the street in the same direction that the others just went to.

  Recker stepped out of his car and just stood there for a moment, looking casual in his movements. He closed the car door and walked over to the front of the duplex, standing by the corner of it and peering around the corner. The four gang members were surrounding Darnell, though the leader was doing all the talking. It appeared to Recker that all four of them were in either their late teens or early twenties.

  “This is it, man,” the leader of the group said, taking a gun out of his pants. “It’s initiation time.”

  “What’s that for?” Darnell asked, worried.

  “You gotta earn you way into this gang, man,” he replied, holding the gun out for Darnell to take from him.

  “I don’t want that.”

  “You’re gonna take it and go up the street and rob that liquor store that’s up there. You’re gonna take whatever money they got in the register and bring it back here to me. Then you’ll be in.”

  “I keep telling you I don’t wanna be a part of no gang,” Dar
nell resisted.

  “Yo. You ain’t got no choice in this. You’re gonna do it whether you like it or not. Skittles over here will go with you just to make sure you do it and don’t mess it up.”

  “I don’t wanna hurt nobody, I don’t wanna rob nobody. I just wanna be left alone, man.”

  “Yo, you either do this or we’re gonna leave you alone permanently, if you know what I mean,” the kid said, getting angry, putting his hands on the collar of Darnell’s shirt.

  Darnell sighed, afraid he was going to be forced into it. “Why do you even want me so bad anyway?”

  “Listen, we all know who your brother is. He’s got connections. He knows all the big players in this city. One day, we’re gonna rise up and be the big men in this city. Pretty soon, people gonna be talking about me like they do about Vincent, Jeremiah, or them Italians that just got whacked. But to do that, I’m gonna need connections, contacts, guns, merchandise, you understand where I’m going with this? Your brother’s got all those.”

  “So why don’t you just ask him instead of getting me involved?” Darnell wondered.

  “Cause your brother thinks he’s gone big time or something. I got word to him about getting my hands on some stuff and he turned me down. So guess what? If he knows that you threw in with us, that you’re a part of this gang, he’s gonna wanna help his kid brother succeed. He’s gonna wanna look out for him.”

  Once again the gun was pushed toward Darnell, and once again, he refused to take it. “I’m not touching that, man. I don’t want no part of no gun.”

  Recker was proud of Darnell for sticking with his position, even in the face of extreme pressure and possible personal harm, but he could tell things were beginning to spiral out of control. He could sense that the leader of the group was losing his patience for the matter and Recker worried that he might just put a bullet in Darnell and forget about the whole matter, rather than continuing to try and convince someone to join the group who clearly wanted no part of them. Recker figured it was about time he intervened and put a stop to the situation. Before moving, he looked around to make sure nobody else was walking toward him. With the coast clear, Recker started walking between the two duplexes, making himself quite visible for the gang to see. Startled at the stranger’s presence, the gang pushed Darnell away towards the wall and put their hands on their guns so they could face their visitor head on, though they didn’t reveal their weapons totally yet.