Dobry nods and points. “Tak.”
“Our guns will be quiet but you’ll still hear them cough from where you’re at. Hit him quick because he’ll hear them too. As soon as your man is down — and make sure with him, too — you head straight the fuck to the car. Don’t look back, just go. Get to the car, get it started and you wait for us.”
Dobry is looking better, almost like he’s ready to rock and roll. Of course we’re not at the park and he’s not waiting behind a tree yet. And he can’t hear that guy walking toward him, down the sidewalk, getting closer.
“Dobrze?” Andros is looking at him too. “Dobry. Okay with this?”
“Tak. Tak. Dobrze.” He even grins, looking first at Andros and then me.
I did it this way for a couple of reasons. I figure he, and we for that matter, would be better off with him out of the big party. It would be pretty easy for Dobry to knock this single guy down from behind and then get the fuck back to the car and be ready to drive us out.
Now, I know I was right. He is all over this plan. Relieved almost.
“You don’t even think about leaving unless you get a call from Andros or me. Domyslny?”
“Understood.” He leans back a little and looks at us. “Tak.”
“Three more things and they’re fuckin’ important. Again, we make sure all of them are stone dead. If you need to put another clip in, do it, but put the old clip in your pocket. Two, no talk between us and sure as hell no names. Three, anyone — and I mean a jogger, a young couple, an innocent bystander — anyone gets in the way, sees you or gets in the line of fire, they go down too.”
After that, I go over the whole thing again. Then, once more. It’s a little after three in the afternoon when I quit. We were as ready as we were gonna be.
“Eat if you’re hungry and just relax for a little bit. Four thirty, we gear up, check everything and then head out at five sharp. Five thirty comes, we’re already in the park, in position and waiting.”
Its ten till six and we’ve all been where we should be for a good twenty minutes. I’m tucked in behind a thick, shoulder high hedge and the huge trunk of a maple tree. Behind me is nothing but a little empty park bench and a small clearing. I keep looking back there just to make sure, but there’s nobody around and hardly anybody in the whole park.
Sun just went down but there’s still plenty of light.
I’m holding the Ruger in my jacket pocket with an extra clip in there too. It feels good. Safety is off and I’m ready to rock. I can see the gazebo that Andros is behind and it’s pretty close to me. The path curls right around by where I am and then heads over to him by the gazebo. When the lead guy finally goes by, I’ll be able to almost spit on him, he’ll be that close.
It’s five till now and I’m jazzed. A controlled jazz. I’m way ready and all my senses are at the max. It’s like I just did two lines of primo coke.
At six sharp, I hunker down a little more, with only one eye barely poking around the big tree trunk.
Couple of minutes past six and there he is. I see the first guard coming around the bend of the path. Three or four long seconds go by and then behind him comes the wheel chair into view. The old lady is being pushed along by the old bastard himself, Viktor Skansi. Lead guard is maybe 30 yards away from me now and coming.
It’s show time. I pull the gun and reach for my mask. Earlier I told the other two to wait until the last second on the mask. Last thing you want is some jogger to be trotting along with ten minutes to go and start a problem when he sees guys with masks.
I hear it behind me then, some rustling and then a soda can plinks against something. Whipping around, I put the gun on whatever it is and I’m staring at a guy in a park district uniform. Big ugly asshole, mouth open and gawking at me. He’s holding one of those poker things and has a large garbage bag strapped on his shoulder. I pull the mask up from my collar and draw down on him.
“You stay right there, you fuck. Don’t move, don’t talk.” I hissed it in a whisper. They’re too fucking close to just take him right now. Fuck me. He points at me and then he grins. The bastard is grinning at me. But he doesn’t move or say anything.
I shoot a quick peek back to the path and the lead guard is right there, not twenty yards from where I’m at. Turning back to the park district fuck, I just catch a last glimpse of him, all squatted down and bolting like a scalded dog. He lumbers around a hedge corner and out of view, heading south. Away from this shit, at least. Fuck.
I turn back to our business. There has been no talk from any of the Russians as they’ve shuffled past. The lead guy is almost even with the gazebo now, Skansi about 15 yards in front of where I am and the rear guard just passed me. I circle around the back of tree trunk, timing it with my guard’s walk, so I have a clear path to get to him.
I can see the gazebo good. My guy is bored, isn’t looking around at all and I step out from the tree a little more. Just when I do, I see a slight movement by the gazebo and I hear two quick muffled pops up ahead. Gun straight out and steady, I walk quickly to my man. Andros with his stocking mask on, is up ahead, coming my way. His guy is on both knees, I hear two more pops from Andros.
My guard is frozen for a second with what’s going on right in front of him. Taking it all in and trying to process it I guess. He finally raises a pistol but I put one directly into the back of his skull from about six feet. The guy’s head explodes like a ripe melon. Fucker is down, gone. He flops onto his gut, hands out and his head bounces on the concrete walk. I keep my walk going and I put one in his left ear as I pass him.
Quick, no fucking around, like we need it to be. All of this has probably happened in twenty seconds. Max.
I‘ve had my eye on Skansi now since my first shot and the old man is standing there with his hands up a little but out sideways too. He looks at me, then at Andros and back to me. He’s stepping away from the old lady slowly and her head is swiveling around like a spinning top.
In the distance, and its gotta be Dobry, I barely hear two pops — but then a louder crack. Not good.
Skansi decides to make a break for some trees and a hedge line about twenty feet away. He don’t move so well anymore. I hit him in the upper thigh and he goes down real hard on his side, but right away he’s trying to crawl. I have plenty of shots left but as I’m walking up on him I pop out the clip, put it in my pocket and clack in the new clip.
I close right in on the old man now, watching his hands reaching for a gun or something but I know and he knows too, this game is over. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Andros walking quickly, ruthless and heartless, towards the old lady. He reminds me of that Terminator movie. She might outright die before he even shoots her.
I hear two more soft pops from Dobry’s gun in the distance. C’mon kid, what the fuck you doin’? Just take your guy out.
Skansi has left a trail of blood in the grass and dirt and he rolls over to look up at me.
“Baaastard.” His voice is weak but the look on his face is pure hate. “You Polack pig.” He spits blood at my leg.
“Yes Viktor, that’s right. And hey, I’m also the pig that killed your sissy ass son Bogdan, too. Just wanted you to know that.” I watch as he realizes what I had just said and his eyes focus on me harder. I give him my best smile.
Three measured shots, one in the forehead one in the left eye. The third, well, it just kinda goes into the middle of the scrambled mess.
As I turn to Andros, I hear a weak scream cutoff with a pop and see the old lady’s head bounce hard up against the back of the wheelchair. She goes all limp but stays upright and only her head falls to one shoulder. Andros takes what is offered to him and puts another shot in her temple.