“I appreciate that, Wallis. Thanks. And I’ll be sure to remind you of this moment when all this is over and you try to arrest me.”
He smiles, but says nothing, which makes me think that prediction might not be too far wrong.
“Okay,” I begin with a heavy sigh. “The Shark’s real name is Danny Pellaggio, and he’s doing this because twelve months ago I killed his entire family.”
Silence.
Wow… you could hear a pin drop at our table right now and I’m very aware I’m sitting with three FBI agents in a bar full of cops. I’ve just admitted to killing someone. Well, lots of people, actually. You could argue this isn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but I’ve got no choice.
“I promise I’ll come along quietly if you want to stop this here and now,” I add, trying to ease the tension.
Wallis and Johnson say nothing, but look at Chambers for guidance on how they should react.
“Start from the beginning,” says Chambers, finally. She seems to be going through an internal struggle, trying to ignore the confession and focus on solving the more pressing issues. “Leave nothing out.”
“You’ll forgive me if I’m quiet and slightly vague, given you’ve brought me to a bar full of police,” I say, not trying to hide my sarcasm and overall displeasure at the current situation. Chambers nods, understandingly.
“Heaven’s Valley didn’t start out being about Dark Rain. I went there because a mob boss named Roberto Pellaggio had hired me to…” I pause, choosing my words carefully. “…remove a former business associate from a property deal. It turns out, this former associate was going to sell him some land as an under-the-table transaction, but didn’t realize that some people he worked with at GlobaTech Industries also had plans to sell the land to Dark Rain.”
“Jesus,” says Johnson. “Aren’t GlobaTech one of the biggest defense contractors in the country?”
“They certainly are,” I reply. “Luckily I now count them as friends. Anyway, I removed the associate from the picture, but I couldn’t hand the deeds for the land over to Pellaggio. He was pissed at me and we had a… disagreement, but it was left with me advising him to leave me alone.”
“Which I’m assuming he didn’t do?” asks Wallis.
“I’ll get to that part. Anyway, it turns out GlobaTech as a whole wasn’t aware of this deal with Dark Rain, and they soon had an internal reshuffle and the deal was dead in the water. However, the reason I opted not to give the deeds to Pellaggio was that the land was actually a Uranium mine… which obviously opened up a whole new can of worms.”
“What a minute,” interrupts Chambers, confused and shocked. “Uranium? In the United States?”
“Yup. Long story short, the land and the mine are now property of the U.S. government, following a brief conversation with the Secretary of Defense.”
“Jesus Christ!” says Johnson, a little too loudly.
“Oh, it gets better,” I say, somewhat wearily as I realize I’ve just technically committed treason by telling them this. “Both Dark Rain and Pellaggio’s mafia outfit then started taking it in turns to try to kill me. I got blown up by a car bomb that I thought Pellaggio's men had planted. It turns out he’d not even started trying to take me out — it was Dark Rain. But given how pissed off I was, I went to his house and… explained my unhappiness in short, loud, lethal movements to Pellaggio and the small army he had as protection.”
“Wait, I remember that,” says Wallis. “The Mansion Massacre, right? They said that was a professional mob killing. That was you?”
I nod.
“Bullshit,” says Johnson. “One man couldn’t do that. There must’ve been twenty guys in there that night.”
“Twenty-one, actually. What can I tell you? Like the old saying goes: you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry…”
“So what does this have to do with The Shark?” asks Chambers.
“I saw a news report on TV about it a few hours afterward, and it said there was one survivor — Danny Pellaggio, Roberto’s youngest son. He’d been shot in the leg and chest and was listed as critical. I thought about going back to finish things, but decided against it.”
“Everything The Shark does is a message to you…” says Wallis, putting the pieces together for himself.
“That’s right,” I confirm. “The Shark is Danny Pellaggio. He shot Josh exactly the same way I'd shot him a year ago, to send another message to me about who he is.”
“This is valuable information, Adrian,” says Chambers. “I appreciate you being honest with us.”
“I just want this to end. Like I said, just because you don’t approve of my chosen career, it doesn’t mean I’m a bad guy. I don’t want people suffering any more than you do. Especially when it’s because somebody is playing a game with me.”
“So what would you suggest our next move should be?”
“First of all, I want someone watching Josh. Around the clock. Just because Shark Boy survived, it doesn’t mean he intends for Josh to do the same.”
“I’ll do what I can for you.”
“Thanks,” I say, standing up.
“Where are you going?” asks Johnson.
I point at the jukebox at the far end of the bar. “I need some music,” I reply, walking off and leaving them all exchanging bewildered glances.
I wander over to the back of the bar, past three tables full with the SFPD’s finest. I reach into my pocket for some change and feed some quarters into the machine, cycling through the song list to find something to suit the mood.
It doesn’t take me long. This is a good jukebox.
I walk back over to the table and sit down just as the haunting sounds of the guitar at the beginning of Hell’s Bells by AC/DC is kicking in.
“You good?” asks Chambers, sarcastically.
“I am now,” I reply, smiling.
“Right,” she says, addressing the group. “The way I see it, we need to work on everything we can, as quickly as possible. Bottom line is, we don’t know where to find Danny Pellaggio or what his endgame is. So until we hear from him — which I assume will be soon — Wallis, I want you to work on tracing the gun used. I think Adrian’s logic is sound, and I’m confident the ballistics will confirm his theory. So start checking everything we can to find where he got the weapon from. Distributors, the military, whatever you can.”
“Will do,” he says.
“Johnson, I want you to work with forensics and put together a real picture of how today happened. Look at how he was able to orchestrate such an elaborate attack — the materials used, trajectory of the bullets to pinpoint a location… anything. It might give us some clue about what he’s got planned next.”
He nods in acknowledgement.
“And you,” she says, turning to me. “You don’t work for me, and you’re likely to disregard any type of order I think about giving you—”
“You know me so well,” I say, smiling and winking at her, which she ignores.
“But I don’t want you doing anything stupid in the meantime, so you’re with me. You don’t go anywhere without me or my say-so. Is that clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Then drink up, gentleman. We’ve got work to do.”
She stands and walks through the bar and out of the front doors without looking back. I watch her leave. She looks fantastic.
Johnson gets to his feet, stretching a little and then waiting. Wallis goes to stand, but I remain in my chair.
“You coming?” he asks.
“Not ‘til this song’s finished,” I reply.
They look at each other and shrug before sitting back down in their seats.
10