Anything For The Money

The Last time I came to this very hospital to see a friend...namely, Bone Hampton...I ran into two tough customers....This time...I wasn't taking any chances...I had Clerow downstairs in the car with photos of both Eddie "Paycheck"Green and Vincent "Vinnie" Carrol...Two nasty nasty pieces of business who I'm sure were in town and at this moment looking for Johnny Boy, Felicia and Larry Devol.

To back track...In the 24 hours since Sepia and I had visited Johnny Boy I had been busy....Between visits to my good friend, Homicide Lt. Sissy Van Buren , My other friend, Attorney Robert Foxworth and his contact in public records...I had gotten the entire "book on Eddie "Paycheck" Green and Vinnie Carrol.  Both men had lengthy criminal records as I suspected in both Philly and New Jersey.. They were primarily heist guys...Guys who robbed banks, hit jewelry stores, et al...Vinnie Carrol was what was known as a "Box man", a safe cracker.  These were two guys who would do anything for the money!

I had photos of them, their last known addresses...Everything!  Clerow, Lockpick Johnson ,Kool Kat and I even went to the Mermaid Club and Ciros and asked around about them...They were well known to the street people and were in and out of Philadelphia and Camden quite a bit...They lived in New Jersey and were known to hire themselves out as muscle to whoever was asking...provided that whoever was asking could pay their price.

I had heard that Frank "The Boss" Lexington had angered the New York boys over a number of things and was about to be indicted on several Federal rico predicates...Despite the fact that he had helped set up the kidnapping of Little Ricky Monday and was due his share...Eddie "Paycheck" Green and Vinnie Carroll knocked him off as a favor to somebody in New York, not because he had foolishly left the money with Johnny Boy, who had now lost it...(Although that didn't help. ) Amazing what you can get from the street, isn't it?

People were willing to talk to me who wouldn't talk to the police...Which is why I often was one step ahead of the cops on a case..


II-

I entered Johnny Boy's room quietly....He was standing by the window with his back turned to me, which seemed odd...

"Johnny...you ready?" I asked...He didn't answer...He looked like he was shaking...Just then, my Android went off...It was Clerow...

"Kev..We got company.....Both of them guys ....Don't worry though...I got one of em...but the other one is in the hospital somewhere." he said.

By the time he said that...I already knew....Eddie "Paycheck" Green stepped out from behind the curtain...He had a pistol with a home-made silencer on it aimed at Johnny Boy's side and another gun...a .22 aimed at me.

"I don't know who you are friend...but my man here aint goin nowhere...feel me? At least not with you...You're in the wrong place and definitely at the wrong time." he laughed.

"You sure of that Eddie?" I said with a smile...

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" he snarled....

''It aint important who I am...I'm just going to slip out of here.." I said..

"You aint going no where." he said..

"Yeah I am.." I said as I slipped out the door quietly... I knew he wouldn't shoot Johnny Boy...He needed him and he didn't want a big disturbance in that hospital... As I slipped out, I looked to my side and smiled..

''Hey you, come back in here!" he snarled as he marched Johnny Boy out of the door, holding one gun on him and aiming another gun at me.....Shame he didn't see the hulking Kool Kat standing just outside the door..Kool Kat cold cocked him so hard, he literally left the floor and slammed into the wall....He was out for the night!  Out like a light!

''Dayummm man...You knocked him the hell out!!" laughed Johnny Boy....

I took both guns and a knife off of him...Kool Kat dragged him into the hospital room and tied him up and gagged him....Then we stuffed him in the closet.

"Johnny Boy...This is my friend, Walter Jones...We call him "Kool Kat" I said.

"He's a damn good friend to have." said Johnny Boy..

"Come on...Let's go..." I said...

I walked outside to the car....Clerow was grinning like a cheshire cat and had a big nasty .45 pointed to the square of the back of Vinnie Carrol...I looked at him and smiled..

"You must be Vinnie Carrol." I said with a smile....The gangster was not too happy..

"Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?" he snapped..

"Who am I?  I'm a friend of a friend." I laughed...Clerow cocked his pistol and laughed too...so did Kool Kat.

Vinnie looked at Johnny Boy...

"So you got muscle huh? You nickel and dime punk...I never wanted you involved period...You lead us down here into a trap huh?" he snarled..

"No...I tried to get the money from Larry and he shot me man..look at my bandages...I figured you two might still be sore at me and try to get the information from me and then kill me too." said Johnny Boy..

''You figured right punk." he snarled.

" Well Vinnie boy, there won't be any killing...Johnny Boy is a friend of mine.." I said.

"You, whoever you are don't know who we are and how connected we are...You're in big trouble...Where is Eddie?" he snapped..

"Eddie? He's asleep...Like you're going to be." I said and then slugged him in his stomach!  He groaned and then folded over ....Then Kool Kat cold cocked him and knocked him unconscious!  We tied him up and took him around to the loading dock where they dumped the trash and laid him there...We then put Johnny Boy in the rental car and pulled off!

"Johnny Boy..This is my friend...Clerow...."I said.

"Pleased to meet you man...Kev...When they wake up they're going to be mad as hell...You shoulda killed them or at best, called the police." said Johnny Boy.

We all looked at him-

"Let's get something straight Johnny Boy...We don't kill people....second...call the police for what? They aint done nothin...At least not yet....Yeah they'll wake up and be pissed off...but they don't know any of us from adam's housecat....They'll just be beat up and back at square one." I said.

"They know me Kev...You think they just gonna let this go?" said Johnny Boy.

"Oh I know they aren't...but if we get to Larry and Felicia first and get that money or what's left of it..Those two are dead in the water anyhow..." I said.

"What are you gonna do about them?" he asked.

"If they push the matter...We'll  uh, persuade them to see things otherwise." I said.

"Sure bout that Kev?" He asked.

"We have persuaded a whole lotta guys. I've personally done it."said Kool Kat.

Johnny Boy looked over at the big man...He believed him!

III-

We took Johnny Boy to Fathead's safe house out in Eastwick..Nobody...not the cops or Eddie Paycheck Green and Vinnie Carrol would find him there. Ralph Mole and some of his associates made sure he had plenty of food...I told him...Under no circumstances was he to leave the house or use the phone there until he heard from me...

"So Kev..What about Larry Devol??  He knows he didn't kill me and he knows that I know where he lives...He's not going to hang around?" said Johnny Boy.

"Well...We'll see where he's gone..You sit tight okay?" I said.

"Alright Kev....Thanks man." he said.

We got a bit of a break...Eddie "Paycheck " Green was discovered in Johnny Boy's room...Despite his pleas that he was beaten up by a man with the still recovering Johnny Boy...The police still wanted to talk to him..He was wanted on some old unrelated charges....He was arrested and hauled off to jail kicking and screaming..

Vinnie Carrol was a little luckier...He was discovered by the morning crew , who untied him...He was still on the loose....but we had an ace in the hole!

I told you I had been busy...I found them and I had followed them....I found the place they were staying and the rental car they were using....Peeping Tom had a GPS tracking device on their car and Lockpick Johnson had already broken into their hotel room...He and Peeping Tom had their phone tapped...We had cloned their cell phone and already had the capacity to listen in on them...

With Eddie, presumably the brains of the two locked up...We figure Vinnie is going to be on ice for awhile...
That would give me time to find this Larry Devol fellow....Maybe!


IV-

It had been a good days work...Johnny Boy was safe and our two guests were out of commision....I cut all of my people loose and went home to a hot shower with my wife Sepia and some take out Chinese food and wine...We sat on the floor in our living room relaxing...

"Kevin aren't you afraid when you deal with some of these people?" she asked..

''Yes...That's why I always try to gather as much information on them as possible so I can stay one step ahead of them." I said.

"Yeah, but it only takes one variable...One unknown and the game is called because of rain." she said.

"No...the game is called because of death!" I said.

Sepia was quiet.....

"I guess you have to be extra careful." she said.

"Always...We always have to be extra careful about everything." I said.

Sepia was speaking prophecy...Little did I know...Such an unknown variable was headed my way!

(To Be Continued...)