Fiction
When The Program Fails People Die Part X
A Sunny Alexander-Johnson And Henry James Series
My name is Sunny Alexander-Johnson, and I’m Henry James, and we’re writers for Dark Sides of the Truth magazine.
Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX
The three of us stood behind a one-way mirror standing beside a Pennsylvania state trooper as Manny and the dude Roberto had worked over sat across from each other in an interrogation room.
Although conscious, the man seemed as if he was one breath away from collapsing. His face was a swollen, bruised mess, swathed in so many bandages he could have posed as a stunt double in a mummy movie.
“Damn, Roberto. Remind me never to piss you off.”
“Oh, I wasn’t pissed at him, Robert. I was just taking care of business.”
“You two wanna put a sock in it? I can’t hear a damn thing being said.”
We watched as Manny flopped open a folder, examined it for a bit, then turned it around and pushed it over to the man.
“So, Anthony, it seems as if you’ve had a pretty stellar career here. Busted for carjacking and moving coke when you were sixteen. Then tried as an adult when you were seventeen for the armed robbery of a local bodega. Served ten years at Mid-state correctional. And now this.
“I ain’t done nothing, mister. Who the hell are you anyway?”
“Manny Hermanos. The real Manny Hermanos.”
Even though the sockets around both of the man’s eyes were blackened and puffy, we watched as his eyes opened as wide as Roberto’s assault would allow, an expression of surprise crossing his face.
“So who was…”
“The kid that beat the holy shit out of you? Anthony, you just had the pleasure of being on the losing side of a one-round fight with world champion lightweight boxer Roberto Emelio De La Cruz.”
The man gasped and raised a pair of manacled hands to his face, gently probing his cheeks.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Oh man, that’s totally radical. I seen him in the ring. He’s awesome.”
“Look, Anthony. Your respect and admiration for somebody that just pounded the shit out of you aside, I need to know who hired you to come after me.”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, Anthony. Do you think I’m some kind of amateur here? We’ve got you for attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, assault, illegal possession of firearms, which is a parole violation, and anything else I can come up with If I don’t walk out of here with something. That time you served in Mid-State Correctional is going to seem like a cakewalk compared to where we’re going to send your ass.”
“I swear to God on my mother’s grave mister, I don’t know. We never met. It was all by phone. And whoever was on the line had their voice kinda like protected.”
“Altered?”
“Yeah, like that.”
“So, what was supposed to happen if you were successful in nabbing me?”
“We were supposed to take you to an empty warehouse in Lakehurst, leave you tied to a chair, and then call.”
“Call?”
“Yeah, mister. You know, like using a phone to call?”
Manny stopped when he heard the sound of tapping on the wall, pushed his chair back, and stood.
“You’ll be here when I get back, right, Anthony?”
The man raised his hands until the length of the chain grew taut, the opposite end connected to a loop at the table’s edge.
“Very funny, mister.”
When Manny walked into the observation room, we all started talking at once.
“Whoa, guys. Slow the hell down. One at a time.”
“Manny, get the guy to call. Get his phone and have him make the call. Get the address from him, then get the police to stake it out and pick up whoever comes to the warehouse.”
“Yeah, Robert, I suppose that’ll work.”
“Wait a minute, guys. Henry, you remember what Marco said?”
“He didn’t say a whole bunch in thirty minutes, kid.”
“Yeah, but he said whoever’s doing this is an amateur. Remember? He said if he wanted Manny’s wife killed, he would have made sure of it, and it would have been professional.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I mean, look. First, they hired a bunch of morons to tail Manny’s wife. I’m guessing they were going to try and snatch her. When that didn’t work, they hired another set of knuckleheads to tail us and try to snatch Manny. I’m guessing these people figured if they had Manny, Victoria would give herself up to save him.”
“So you think whoever’s pulling strings would probably send another set of goons to pick up Manny and deliver him?”
“Exactly. Same MO as all the other times. And we don’t get any closer. So I think whoever’s doing this really doesn’t have the brains or the power to pull it off and is starting to get desperate.”
“Which means what?”
“Which means if these people don’t hear from Anthony pretty soon, they’re probably going to try to turn up the heat. And we need to let them. In fact, we need to lure them in, let them make a mistake then nail them.”
“Wait, just a damn minute Roberto. I know what that means, and I’m not buying into that bullshit.”
“Uh, you two want to let Robert and me in on this secret conversation, or do we have to pull out our super-spy decoder rings?”
“Henry, he’s suggesting we parade Victoria around like bait, and let these people make their move then nab them when they try.”
“I’ve won several matches with that tactic, Manny.”
“Well, this ain’t a damned boxing ring kid, and we’re not talking about beating someone’s brains out with padded gloves. This is my wife we are talking about De La Cruz.”
“Manny, I agree with Roberto. I think we need to have Anthony in there make the call and tell whoever it is, we slipped the noose and got away.”
“No, Henry.”
“Manny…”
“I said no, damn it!”
Robert gestured to the state patrol officer standing patiently nearby.
“Ma’am? Would you mind bringing this Anthony dude’s phone to us?”
The office nodded and stepped out of the room.
“I already told you I wasn’t going to do this, Robert. It’s too damn risky.”
“I’m not asking you to Hermanos. If I have to, I’ll be the one to have him make the call.”
We stood in silence, staring at each other, gazing at the swollen face of the man Roberto had taken to task and then back at one another again. When the officer returned with the phone, she held it out. At first, none of us took the phone from her, then Robert took it and nodded.
“Somebody’s got to have this man call, and everybody standing in this room knows it.”
Read On — When The Program Fails People Die Part XI
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