One of the Best

Another Friday Night in Josie's...Downtown Rob Brown and the All Star Band was in the house...
Rob Brown was playing that trumpet... 88 and Ivory Joe Peters were sharing duties on the Keyboards, Chris Combs was on Bass...Fred "Fried Fish" Collins was on Guitar, Nate "Snake"Howard was also on Guitar, Shady Grady Tate was on Drums, Ms. Brooke Taylor was in town on Guitar and Symphony Sam was on Saxophone..Reed Nelson was sitting in on Trumpet and Ms. Ingrid Rhodes was singing....The place was packed tight...Gus couldn't have been happier...

Earlier in the day, Kool Kat,Clerow, Albert ,Eddie, Gus and I had moved Frankie Fingers to Fathead Newton's safehouse with the help of Chess, Chris Thompson and Donald Smooth.....If a hitman this good was in town...He'd have a hard time finding Frankie.

I casually scanned the crowd.. Most of the people I knew or had at least seen....Nothing looked suspicious...I walked to the door and scanned the crowd... A familiar face walked up to me...It was the gambler known as Bristol...once an adversary...and now somewhat of an ally.

"Mr. Kevin...I have some information for you." he said.

"Oh really? Information from you always comes at a price." I said.

"Oh...I want nothing...but it is said that a word to the wise is sufficient." he replied.

"Okay Bristol..spill it!" I said.

"The man you are looking for is named Tom Collins.....He's from out of Patterson ,New Jersey...He was once in my employ...Once!!! Not now...He's very good at what he does.." said Bristol.

"That's the hitter that is after Frankie Fingers?"I said.

"No...No...No...The person who he's employed by doesn't care about a scared old man who can't get his facts straight.....They might however be nervous about a certain individual, who is not a cop that is going around asking questions..." said Bristol with a laugh.

"You mean they know about me?" I asked.

"They didn't until you rousted Big Chicken, Rollo and a couple of their goons a few days ago...They want to know...Why...some guy who is not a cop is going around asking questions about a dead illegal immigrant." said Bristol.

"That's my business." I said.

"I know and it's their business to stop you...Personally I find this all very sporting." laughed Bristol.

''Oh really? Why?" I said.

"When we were adversaries...I brought in some heavy hitters and you out gunned and outwitted
all of them...I mean , Yuri, the Russian hitman was the best money could buy....and you took him out...but this guy...Tom Collins is the best I have ever seen in my life...I'm just sorry I didn't know about him when I was having my problems with you...Story might have ended a little differently." he said.

"Bristol....Who hired this guy? " I asked.

"If you make it through the night....You might want to check out a sleazy lawyer named Roger Slezak...This is what I hear on the streets any way. " he said.

"You're a betting man Bristol....you got money on my survival?" I asked.

''Actually...my money is on Tom Collins"he said dryly...the little psychopath.

"But you gave me a heads up." I said.

"True...but I've never actually met him...An associate of mine hired him...He cleaned up some business for me you might say." laughed Bristol.

"Yeah, I heard...Those six players from DC and New York that bought it last year." I said.

"No...No...A guy named Jack Daniels took them out....but Tom Collins took him out!!!" said Bristol.

"I heard of Jack Daniels...He was one of the best....Wow this guy is good!" I said with a smile.

"Just recently ,he took out Johnny Boy and Tornado Jones and Spade...uhhhhh? Heavy hitters all." said Bristol.

"Looks like our boy is a busy man." I said with a wry smile.

"Be careful Kevin...I don't know if that is good enough advice or not." said Bristol...

I smiled at him and said nothing and walked out the door and into the night...I looked around...I saw no one...It was eerily quiet.....I checked under and inside my car...Nothing...Then I got in and started driving....It wasn't long before I realized that I was being followed....This guy was good..I didn't know at what point he had got on my tail , but there he was...Whoever he was..He was on me like a cheap suit....I took him for a drive around Philadelphia for close to an hour...I called Clerow and told him where to meet me...Told him to find Kool Kat...Then I drove out near the park and parked my car. I looked around...Whoever was following me was nowhere in sight..It was too quiet... I saw a figure moving slowly in the shadows and I ducked down quickly...A blast shattered my windshield!!! Another blast shattered the back window in my car...I was furious..I pushed the door open and looked up and into the eyes of Tom Collins!!!!!!..... He was about my height, slender, with a fade haircut..kind of like a marine...brown skinned, with an ear ring in his left ear...He had a saw offed shotgun...Not a hitman's usual weapon of choice. It was dark...He didn't see me pull out my .38 smokeless.......

He was laughing.... "Say Goodbye Kevin" he smirked... I fired one shot....It was all I needed..It hit him right over his heart...My next shot hit him in his side near his abdomen...and my third shot hit him in his shoulder...he dropped his shotgun... He was surprised!!! He fell down on one knee....

"Tom Collins is it?" I asked him.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!! I'VE BEEN SHOT!!! HOW DID YOU KNOW?? Ughhhhhhhhhh..." He looked like he was going for another gun...
He moaned...I fired one more shot...it went right between his eyes....Tom Collins fell backwards to the ground...surprisingly still alive....a bloody mess....

"Who hired you to kill Ramon?" I asked...

"Why do you want to know?" he asked...

"It was Slezak wasn't it? Or was it Big Chicken?" I asked.

"Damn...people run their mouths too much in this damn townnnnnn, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." he wheezed and then he died.

Kool Kat and Clerow arrived shortly afterwords....

"Damn Kev...who is that?" asked Clerow ,looking at the body of the hitman named Tom Collins.

"This gentleman is Tom Collins...This is our shooter....One of the best." I laughed....

(Conclusion Next.)