Chapter 18

Ash squinted his eyes so he could see properly in the semi-darkness. The only stream of light was coming in through the door and some half-open windows. He felt like going to open the windows all the way, but decided against it. He didn't want to make the cops think he had something up his sleeve. He pulled out his pistol and trained it at the door.

Jo followed suit, and in that position, they waited for their contact, or Hatter, whichever came for them first. Ash hoped to high heaven it was their cop contact or contacts who would arrive first, so they'd be able to help uncover the mystery that was the Hatter.

Jo was so tightly wound she feared she might fire at any sound she heard. The only sound in the room was their simultaneous inhalation and exhalation. Sweat beaded her forehead, but she didn't move to wipe it off. One little distraction could mean their lives.

They tensed when they heard footsteps carefully approach them. Ash made a motion for Jo to get behind him, but she refused. Whoever was coming, they'd meet the person head on, together. Ash shook his head at her stubbornness, but he let her be. It wouldn't do to start lecturing her when they could get shot at in the next moment.

But, he promised himself he'd give her hell about it when it was all over.

The footsteps came closer and they found themselves blinded by a flashlight.

They put their hands over their eyes to shield them from the bright rays of the flashlight, but they still held on to their weapons menacingly.

"Who goes there?" Ash asked in his best gangster voice.

"Answer quickly, or we'll shoot!" Jo added.

The flashlight was dropped to the floor, and they were able to see a tall wiry man with a mass of unruly curly hair. He wore a trench coat and combat boots. Ash knew the man was probably wearing a Kevlar vest underneath his coat. He expected no less. He would consider the man to be a fool if he didn't. The man was holding a gun, but he assumed a unthreatening stance.

"Don't shoot!" He ordered.

"Get talking or we will!" Ash said. Not knowing who the man was, was giving him serious anxiety.

The man reached for his belt and unhooked a badge from there. "My name is Detective Damian Wayde with Ranem PD. The lieutenant said you had some info for us. I'm sorry for blinding you with the flash light, but I had to make sure it was really the both of you, not some decoys."

"How do we know you're who you say you are, not some impostor?" Jo asked suspiciously.

"Who else would I be?" The man asked exasperatedly.

"Answer the question." Ash said harshly.

The man grew angry. "Matteo was my partner. We worked in the narcotics department together for years." He reached into his coat and brought out his wallet. He pulled out a Polaroid and showed it to them. The picture showed him and the dead Salvador grinning in a goofy manner.

"Do you believe me now?" He asked furiously.

"We're sorry, Detective. We just had to be sure." Jo apologized.

Damian waved off her apology and pressed on, "You said you know who this Hatter person is. Tell me, so we can get him."

Ash and Jo exchanged glances and nodded, "You see," Ash said, "The thing is, we don't know who he is."

"Come again?" Damian asked incredulously.

"We don't know who he is." Jo reiterated.

Damian lost it, "You mean to tell me you two haven't the faintest idea who this man could be, yet you called for this meeting? What the fuck do you think you're trying to achieve?"

"Cool it, man. There's no need to get angry." Ash said.

"Oh, I think there's every need. You're wasting our time. You're getting arrested you know. There are many policemen in disguise who've surrounded this building. All they're waiting for is my signal before they burst in!" Damian said.

"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. We have a very good reason for calling you here. Hear us out before you take any decision." Jo advised.

Damian seemed to consider her words for a moment before he nodded, "Fine. I'm curious about what you have to say. You have five minutes."

Jo nodded and began to speak, "We know it was the Hatter who killed your partner but no one knows who he is. I decided to put the word out that we knew his real identity when we didn't."

"Why would you do that?" Damian asked.

"Because his anonymity is of the utmost importance to him. It makes his operations smoother. He won't want us blabbing to the cops. This is kind of like a trap we've set. When he shows up, soon, we hope, you'll be here to arrest him for interrogation." Ash said.

"What makes you think he'll get wind of this? Even if he does, how sure are you that he'd want to do the killing himself?" Damian asked, twirling an unruly lock of hair around his finger.

Jo thought she'd never seen hair as curly as his in her life before.

Ash answered his question, "We think he has ears in the police, and he doesn't seem like someone who'd delegate such a serious task to someone else."

"Wow!" Damian said with a smile, "You two are smart!"

• • •

Lieutenant Ted Baines grinned with satisfaction as he stared at his Gold plated wrist watch. He hoped that the two hoodlums would be quaking in their boots. In fact, he hoped that they'd peed themselves while waiting. No gangster ever got the best of Baines, he thought with a smile.

"Send our man in." He ordered into the comm device in his ear. He was keeping in touch with his men in the field.

"But, sir-" A voice protested.

Baines sighed. How had they fucked the mission up now? "But what?" He asked resignedly.

"Sir, Detective Wayde is already in there." The voice replied.

Baines stood up, "What?!" He asked, shocked.

"He came by some minutes ago and entered."

"And why the fuck wasn't I told this?" Baines bellowed.

"Sir, you told us not to contact you unless something major happened. He told us this was a change in plan and we shouldn't bother you with such a minor thing. He said you were already aware, and you wanted him in there because it was his partner who'd died."

"That's exactly why I wouldn't want him there, you idiot! It's personal to him. He probably thinks they're guilty. I hope he doesn't do anything rash." Baines said.

"Sir, what do you want us to do?"

Baines considered the question long and hard while rubbing his rotund belly. Whenever his plans went sideways, his stomach got upset.

"Leave him for a few minutes." He finally replied, "After five minutes, I want you to storm that building!"

"Yes sir!" The voice replied and ended the connection.

Baines sat back in his chair, fuming at Damian's prank.

"He's going to get suspended!" Baines mused. He decided to call Damian and find out what in the hell he was doing.

• • •

Damian smiled at Ash and Jo, "I'll need you to hand over your weapons."

Jo and Ash stilled.

"What for?" Jo asked.

"Because I don't trust you two. Come on, put them on the ground and kick them towards me." Damian ordered.

"Hatter could come by at a minute. If we hand over our guns, we'll be sitting ducks." Ash said.

"Don't worry, the policemen outside are armed to the teeth. You won't be harmed." Damian assured them.

Jo frowned and looked at him suspiciously.

"Either you comply or I'll call the deal off. I'll have you two arrested,and just wait until the lieutenant finds out you raised a false alarm." Damian threatened.

"It's no false alarm." Ash argued.

"Prove it. We're doing things my way. Do as I asked." Damian said in a steel voice.

Ash and Jo exchanged looks of resignation and threw their guns to the floor. They kicked them towards him. Damian stooped and picked them up, stuffing them into his trench coat.

"What next?" Ash asked, feeling bereft without his gun.

Before Damian could reply, his phone rang. His Caller ID announcer app said, "Lieutenant Baines is calling you," repeatedly, but Damian ignored the call.

"Your superior is calling you." Jo said, stating the obvious.

Damian shrugged, "I'm not in the mood to speak with him."

"Why?" Jo asked.

Damian opened his mouth to reply but was cut short by Ash.

"Because you're Hatter!" Ash accused angrily.

Damian's face turned angry right before he broke into laughter, "All right! You got me. What the hell are you talking about?"

"You won't talk to your boss." Ash stated.

"That's hardly enough reason to jump to such a damning conclusion." Damian said.

"Your hair. It's one of a kind. Never seen such unruly curls in my life. One could identify you easily through it. That's why you have to keep it covered every time hence the nickname Hatter." Ash said.

"Well-" Damian started.

Ash interrupted him, "I'm not through yet. Your partner began to suspect that you were a drug dealer but he had no concrete evidence, so when he caught wind of your deal with J-Cane, he rigged the building with cameras. When he interrupted your deal, you shot him dead, and then discarded the cameras, although you kept one with a doctored footage which you used to frame us." Ash concluded.

Damian's smile vanished instantly, "Now, who's a smart boy who's going to become a dead boy soon?" He asked as he cocked his gun to fire.

Suddenly, a voice amplified by a bullhorn spoke, "Lower your weapon, Wayde! We've got you surrounded!"

A frantic look entered Damian's eyes.

"What did you do?" He asked Ash.

"I didn't do anything." Ash replied, positioning himself in front of Jo in case Damian released a shot.

"Yes, you did. You told them, didn't you? You think you're so smart! You'll die for this!" Damian said as he pulled the trigger.

Ash glimpsed the bullet that came for him, and in that millisecond, he closed his eyes and embraced the world of pain he was about to enter, but the pain never came.

He screamed angrily when he saw Jo slump before him with a cry. A bullet was lodged in her abdomen.

Before Damian could fire again, the door was mown down by several plainclothes officers, all wielding guns. He stupidly tried to fire at Ash again, but an officer shot his gun hand and he went down with a cry.

Two officers cuffed him and led him out, kicking and screaming.

Ash did not have the satisfaction of seeing Damian manacled because he was focused on Jo.

She lay in his arms, her face contorted in pain. Ash checked the wound and saw she was bleeding profusely. He pressed his palm down on the site to stem the bleeding.

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?" He asked her as tears flowed freely down his cheeks and dropped on her face.

"Because I love you." Jo said with much difficulty. It hurt to breathe, and the wound was as painful as a son of a bitch. She felt so weak it had become a chore to keep her eyes open. She thought she was going to die. Thank God she'd already told Ash how she felt about him. She was about to give into the darkness that beckoned so sweetly when she remembered she had to tell her mother some things too.

"Ash." She rasped out.

"Yes?" Ash replied expectantly.

"Tell my mum-"

"Shut up!" Ash said angrily, "when we get this bullet out of you, you can tell her yourself." He said as he carried her carefully, so as not to jostle her and cause her more pain.

When he got outside, he saw a fleet of police pandas around. Many cops were around, doing nothing.

Lester, his cop buddy ran up to him, "You need help?"

Ash replied, "Of course. We need to take her to a hospital. She's losing blood and fast!"

Lester nodded and they went to his car. Just as they were about to enter, another cop stopped them, "Hey! Where do you think you're going? We need your statements."

Ash snarled at the man, "Can't you see she's in need of immediate medical attention? If anything happens to her because you held us up, I'll hunt you down and kill you!"

The officer saw how serious Ash looked while delivering his threat and gulped audibly, "You can go. But you'll have to come to the precinct later on."

Before he could complete his statement, Lester's car had zoomed off at breakneck speed, it sirens sounding loudly.

"Where to?" Lenny asked, looking at his passengers through his rearview mirror.

Ash looked frightened as he cradled Jo to himself. There was no hospital in Ganghaven, and even with Lester's breakneck speed, it would take a lot of time before they got to the nearest hospital.

All of a sudden, he remembered Capo telling him that Jo's friend ran a charity clinic in Ganghaven.

Ash hoped she was there at the moment.

"The charity clinic." He told Lenny. He regretted not knowing the name of the institution. How was Lester to know what he was talking about? He wondered.

Luckily, Lester understood and nodded, hitting the gas harder.

"Hey, man. Cheer up. I remember her. She's a fierce one. She won't give up that easily." Lester said, trying to offer Ash comfort.

Ash looked at Jo's unconscious body in his arms, and got filled with dread and trepidation for the first time in his life, "I hope so."