H&K: Path of Knowledge

Chapter 6

The next day, Tess and Bob’s children returned home from their grandparents. Tess had found the strength to overcome her frustration and finally stopped apologizing for her outburst the day before. She poured herself into researching comments about Doctor Martin’s online blogs and other sources. Numerous patients and other women had posted about his behavior toward them. There were several articles of lawsuits filed by Doctor Martin for defamation of character that he had won against several women who had accused him of inappropriate actions. When the research got too much, she would step away from the computer and go to the garage where they had a punching bag and sparring dummy set up for when they had all taken karate and taekwondo. Tess had even taken kickboxing at one point, enjoying the intense workout it gave her.

When she was calmer, Tess returned to the computer room and started sending out e-mails, putting comments on the blogs under a fictional name. She was hoping to rally his victims into action. Katharine sat next to her, adding comments here and there, making suggestions. Hank sat at the kitchen table staring out the window. The children were playing in the pool. Bob had gone to work but due to the current issues pulled from his duties with the assistant DA’s office to riding patrol in one of the worse areas of the city.

As Hank watched, the black Audi drove past the house slowly. A soft whirring sound came from above. Hank knew there was a drone in the area. He got up from the table to peer out the window better. There it was, a small four-propeller drone hovering over the front of the house, moving toward the backyard.

“I’ll be back a little later,” he called to Tess and Katharine. “I have to run to the office and pick up some files I forgot before I fly out in the morning.”

“Be careful,” Katharine called to him as she returned her attention to the computer screen with Tess.

Hank walked out to the Mustang, scanning the street in both directions. The Audi was parked several blocks down the street. He climbed into the Mustang. Hank drove down the street, pulling up behind the Audi. He stepped out of the Mustang, walked to the front of it, and leaned back against the hood of the Mustang. The neighborhood was quiet. No one was in sight. The whirring of the drone was coming closer.

The front passenger door opened, and a burly hulk of a man stepped out in a dark suit. He stood six feet three inches and had the appearance of a football linebacker. It was apparent that his nose had been broken several times. He slid his right hand into his suit jacket as he stopped a few feet in front of Hank. The earpiece was visible in his left ear.

“You have a problem?” the front passenger demanded.

“Now that you ask, I do. Tell your boss that it would be in his best interest to decline the contract,” Hank told him.

The man looked back at the Audi.

“Better yet, let me tell him,” Hank said, pushing away from the hood of the Mustang, making his way past the burly enforcer, and headed to the Audi.

The burly man followed him to the front passenger door. Hank opened the door.

“How are you today?” he asked just before he grabbed the burly man behind him.

Hank jerked the man off balance, forcing him into the front seat face first. A second later, the silenced H&K model 23 pistol appeared in Hank’s hand from his shoulder holster. His baggy oversized shirt hid the fact he was carrying it from the occupants of the vehicle. The handgun belched out two messengers of death in rapid succession. The two men in the front seat were each hit in the forehead, spraying the dark tinted windows with blood, fragments of skull, and brain matter.

“Don’t move,” Hank stated as he quickly leaned into the car, facing the back seat.

The crime family enforcer sat calmly in the backseat with a glass of bourbon. The drone fell from the sky as the enforcer let the controls drop onto the floor of the car.

“Open the passenger-side door,” Hank ordered.

As the enforcer opened the rear passenger door, Hank closed the front passenger door. Hank stepped around the door and took a seat as the enforcer slid across the seat behind the dead driver.

“Now let’s discuss your options,” Hank began.

“What are you proposing?” Vigo Bratva asked.

“You tell your boss that the Roy family and anyone associated with them are off limits,” Hank began. “If anyone associated with Samantha Craig gives you orders, just ignore them. If anyone comes to harm, I will bring death and destruction to everyone associated with your little crime family. If you remember one thing, remember this. I will not stop until I find everyone associated with you.”

“Oh, you are so scary,” Vigo mocked.

Hank grabbed Vigo Bratva’s suit jacket lapel and jammed it into the man’s mouth. Vigo Bratva let out a muffled scream as Hank buried his Tanto blade into the enforcer’s right leg. Blood flowed from around the wound, soaking Vigo’s pants leg.

“This is my Tanto blade. I call it my memory enhancer. You have no idea what fear is, but my Tanto blade is just a lesson,” Hank told him. “I will be the shade that follows you, the shade that sees everything you do. I will visit upon you and your family tenfold any harm you do or allow to be done to the Roy family.”

“Who do you think you are to threaten me?” Vigo demanded through gritted teeth, trying to suppress the pain.

“Ask Sal Milan what happens if the one you call the Shade is ignored,” Hank said as he jerked the Tanto blade out of Vigo’s leg.

As soon as Hank got out of the car and closed the door, Vigo was tying his tie around his leg. A few moments later, Vigo got out of the car and opened the driver’s door. He pushed the driver across the seat onto the dead passenger. Vigo pulled his cell phone out as he watched Hank walking back toward the Mustang before making a call.

“Milan,” came the voice from the cell phone.

“Sal, it’s Vigo. Who the hell is this Shade character?” Vigo demanded.

“What happened? Did you see him? What did he tell you?” Sal asked in rapid succession.

“Who the hell is the Shade?”

“Walk away from whatever you are doing, Vigo. Don’t look back. Cease any job related to this guy. He’s a nightmare you don’t want coming after you,” Sal told Vigo.

“Walk away? Who the hell do you think you are talking to?”

“I’m just giving you some good advice. Walk away before it’s too late. You don’t want to be on this guy’s radar for any reason, believe me,” Sal warned Vigo.

“He doesn’t scare me,” Vigo winced as he shifted his right leg.

“Vigo, I will tell you this. Four years ago, I was warned and didn’t heed his warning. Remember the incident at the Philadelphia shipyards? Fifteen armed mercenaries were taken out without a sound. The cargo container went missing. The Ukrainians were not happy. They sent a twenty-man hit squad. Their thumbs were sent back to the Ukrainians with a warning to go seek another port in another country,” Sal warned Vigo.

“That was him? How do you know it’s the same guy?” Vigo breathed heavily into the phone.

“Did he introduce you to his Tanto blade? As a lesson?” Sal asked.

Vigo stopped breathing for a moment. Sal’s laugh came through the phone.

“I take it that he gave you more than a lesson. Heed the warning before he comes back. If you see him again, it’ll be your funeral that we attend,” Sal said as he hung up the phone.

“I’ll kill the bastard and his whole damn family,” Vigo swore as he redialed Sal.

“Vigo, we’re done. Forget about the Shade. Walk away while you can,” Sal said.

The driver’s door jerked open and Vigo stared into Hank’s face. The Tanto blade flashed out, sinking into Vigo’s chest between the third and fourth rib on the left side. Vigo struggled, but Hank held him against the seat. Vigo went limp a moment later.

“I warned you. You should have heeded my warning,” Hank said as he withdrew the Tanto blade, wiping the blood off on the man’s jacket. Hank closed the driver’s door.

Sal hung up the phone as he heard the vehicle door close. He heard what the Shade had told Vigo and knew Vigo was dead. The family needed to know the Shade was back and that whatever Vigo was working on should be dropped. However, he knew his boss. He wouldn’t let the job go until it was completed, no matter how many men he lost. Sal decided after the call that he would take a vacation, someplace remote and sunny.

“The Shade is back,” Sal said into the phone.

Cuss words began to fill the phone from the other end as Sal hung up the phone.