Handle With Care

A few days later ,I got a call from Sissy....I met her at Penns Landing where the police were fishing a body out of the water....

It was a young well built white male, blond hair, blue eyes...clad in black turtleneck, jeans and black boots...he had a nice neat bullet hole right between his eyes....

I stood there watching as Forensic Investigator Hazel Hunter-Baylor, Detectives Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace ,Tyriq Pile and James "Jimmy"Barlow kneeled down with her and observed the body..

"I'm guessing from lack of decomp...that he was just recently desposited in the water....His body is cold...I can't tell how long he's been dead..but I'll take an educated guess and say no more than 48 hours.."said Hazel..

"His fingers aren't broken...doesn't feel like anything on him is broken or bruised.."said Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace...

Jimmy opened his mouth and examined his teeth...

"They're all there...Looks like this guy was just shot.." he said.

"You recognize him Kevin?" asked Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor.....

"No...Never seen this guy a day in my life." I said..

"Well, he's one of the guys on the anti-terrorist list and a buddy of I.Drago...The hitter who killed those two people in that condo."said Tyriq Pile..

"I thought you guys were told to stand down...?" I said.

Duke Tyriq,Carlotta and Jimmy all smiled sheepishly....

"Officially we aren't here...We aren't looking into this." said Detective Sirena Pile...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh I see..."I laughed....

I now know that this was the man who was with Drago who tried to break into my house the other day....The man that the mysterious Marlow Smith said he killed.

"We aren't investigating Drago...but we were looking into his known associates on the low...We were looking for this man hard." said Detective Tony Hopkins...

"So how did you guys know he was here?" I asked..

"Some local tourists found him,called us."said Carlotta ,giving me a side eye and letting me know that they didn't believe that.

I smiled...

"Tourists...yeah right!" I said.

We all laughed...

Sissy walked up to me...

"Kevin...We can't go any further on this...We know that this Drago guy probably committed our double murder the other day...The FBI is all over it..He's on their most wanted list..." she said.

"What about him?" I asked pointing to the body....

"We believe he was an accomplice in those two murders.....His name is Evan....Evan Brezinski...He's ex-KGB...He ran a bakery in Little Norway...With him dead and Mr. Drago in the wind...that pretty much closes our case.."said Sharon staring deeply and intensely into my eyes...

I smiled weakly...

"So you don't know this guy at all Kevin?" asked Keith Wallace...

"No..Him I never saw before.."I said.

"Don't worry Kevin...We'll get Drago...He'll show up sooner or later....The FBI is all over it"said Asst. U.S. Attorney Brendan Burnside..

"You and I both know better than that don't we Brendan?" I said..

He would only smile...

"I have to shut this down.....Orders of the Attorney General...I don't want to, but I have my orders..."he said...

"Well I understand....but let's hope the bodies stop piling up.."I said.

"Looks to me like somebody was doing you a favor." he said and gave me the side eye.

I smiled..

"Point taken counselor."I said.

Sharon walked over to me and gave me a hug....

"Be well Kevin....It'll be alright." she said...and walked away...

Her body ,like Carlotta's ,Like Sissy's was so soft, so round...so warm....

"Can we release the body now Siss?" asked Hazel...

"Yeah guys release the body" said Sissy....

She smiled sweetly at me....

"Take care of yourself Kevin.." she said.

"Always" I said.

I watched as my friends loaded up the body in the van and got in their cars and pulled off...

I checked my pockets...

Sharon had slipped me an address...It was in the  Little Norway section of Philadelphia...

A bakery!!!

II-

"You sure this is the place" said Kool Kat ,who pulled up across the street from a very unassuming Bakery...

"Yeah...You strapped big man?" I asked.

"You gotta ask? I got my 357. and my back up piece..a glock..." he said.

"You vested up?" I asked.

"Oh yeah...Kevlar and trauma plate...Though neither one will help me if I get hit in the dome."he laughed..

I smiled..He was after all right..

I was vested up and I had my .38 smokeless ,my back up piece , a .40 and my ankle pistol. a 22...

We were ready....

Clerow and Owen Todd were sitting in a car a block away, awaiting my call if anything got funky..

I looked around....I didn't see anything untowards...

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

"Right behind you Kev." said Kool Kat.

III-

We both walked into the storefront....It was a bakery and it smelled magnificant...Cakes, cookies, Doughnuts,all kinds of pastries...A very shapely and attractive young woman with dark black hair walked up to the counter...

"Picking Up?" she asked..

"I wouldn't mind." said Kool Kat laughing...

She looked him up and down and she smiled at him salaciously...

"And I would not mind either..." she said..

They both laughed...

"Evan home?" I asked...

Her smile left her....

''What do you really want? You guys cops?" she said.

"Not even close...But your husband and another man tried to break into my house two days ago to lie in wait and kill me...It didn't go so well for Evan...But I think you know where the other man is."I said dryly...

''Maybe you don't want to find the other man....."she said.

"Maybe I do." I said.

"You're a government man." she said.

"Nope..Not a government man either."I said.

"Then what interest would my husband have had in you?" she asked..

"I'm a private investigator....I was hired by a so called government man to find somebody..Somebody who because of the way he looked and his age...He couldn't find..I found that person .....And two weeks later that person and her male companion wound up dead...I don't happen to like being put in that situation..And I don't like people I don't know trying to kill me." I said.

"How did you find me?" she said.

"I like sweets....The aroma of this place lead me right to you." I said.

Kool Kat laughed and slapped his thigh..

She smiled a little too.

She motioned for me and Kool Kat to join her in one of the booths...She spoke to another young teenaged girl in Russian, who took over the counter...

We sat down...

"You want coffee or something?" she asked..

"Yes..Thank you."I said and she poured us two tumblers of coffee..

"My husband...Evan and I ,we grew up poor in Russia...Not American poor, but Russian poor...My younger brother starved to death.....KGB came around recruiting...I discovered I had a talent...a Sniper's eye.....I joined....I got food, clothing, a nicer place to live and all I had to do was kill when they told me to.....I met my husband, Evan while still in the KGB...Together we must have killed close to 100 people across Europe....I'm not proud of that.....After Soviet Union fell...We both came here to America...To live..We studied in culinary school....We became bakers, we opened this business...We put our old life behind us...Even changed our names.. Then ...a man..a government man ,he found out who we were and he asked us to kill again....We didn't want to...HE say if we don't..He'll expose us and we'd be sent back to Russia to stand trial in the Hague for our crimes...I'm pregnant...but Evan...Evan he said had to do the job...Kill American named Steven Shipp, who had uncovered some information about him and some dirty deeds he was doing....." she said.

"Drago... Illiyach Drago...You know him?" I asked..

"Yes...He was what you call our handler ,back when we all were with KGB...We thought he was out of our lives...but he works for this man...This man is so high up in the government that even the U.S. Attorney General fears him...That's why the police and the feds got quiet about the whole thing involving Steven Shipp and that girl he was with's deaths..."she said..

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Alexis...."  she said. "You have to get out of here.This man you're looking for..He's way over your level...He'll kill you...He'll kill us all" she said.

"I don't scare easy....You just tell me how to get in contact with him...I'll take care of the rest and he'll never know I was even here." I said.

"Too late! All three of you, get up and go out into the alley..Do it now." came the voice of a blond haired man with steel blue eyes...

"You must be  Illiyach Drago ...You are one hard man to find..."I said..

"Don't trifle with me...I'm in no mood for your jokes ."he said.

"And I heard you were a real party animal."I said smiling.

"Slowly, take your guns out..Both of you." he said..

He had a huge gun with a silencer aimed at our heads...

I took my .38 smokeless out and my .40...Kool Kat took his .357 mag out but not his glock..

"Now take off those vests and those trauma plates..."he said..

"Ohhh you're good."I said.

"Shut up..."he spat.

He hearded the three of us out into the alley....

Clerow and Owen Todd were in their boxers and undershirts and tied up, but still alive...

Oh this guy was real good..

"Drago please...please...I had nothing to do with this..please...I'm pregnant!" pleaded
Alexis..

"And you talk too much...You told them everything.." he spat...

"They already knew all about you.."she said shaking with fear...

"Which is why they all have to die...I was just patiently waiting for the moment.."he said..

"The babe didn't tell us nothin we didn't already know." said Kool Kat glaring at him...

Even  Illiyach Drago  appeared to be a little intimidated by the big man..

While he was talking...I was behind Kool Kat,pulling out my third piece...My .22,He didn't know about that piece..

I wasted no time at all...I fired three rounds right into his chest...

Kool Kat pulled his glock and put a round in his chest for good measure...

"You missed this one pal...."said Kool Kat with a sinister smile...

"UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" he
screamed..."I DON'T BELIEVE IT...I'VE BEEN SHOT!!" he screamed in pain as he tossed his gun up in the air and began back peddling...blood was pouring out of him like a river....

Kool Kat busted out laughing....

"You sure have been, laughin boy." he said..

Just then, another man emerged....The Mysterious Mr. Smith....

He fired four more rounds into Drago's back...

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" screamed Drago as he jerked like a man doing the cabbage patch on the dance floor and dropped to the ground in a pool of blood.

"Mr. Morris...You never cease to amaze me...You're good...Damn good." he said and took a knife and cut Clerow and Owen Todd loose..

"How did you find this place?" he asked.

"I have my resources." I said.

"I'm impressed...Really I am." he said.

I leaned down and felt Drago's pulse...He was dead!

I held Alexis in my arms........She was crying softly...

"It's okay babes...He's a friend...." I said.  "You have your life back." I said.

"No...Government man in Washington D.C. ,He will just send someone else.."she said..

"No ...He won't.!!!...We know who he is now..He'll be getting the shock of his life soon.."said Mr. Smith..

"Kevin, thank you for all your help...You guys get cleaned up and get out of here..I'll take care of this.." he said...."At last this mess is over." he said.

Kool Kat looked at Alexis...

"Hey baby...how much for a Bear Claw and another cup of that good coffee??" he asked.

Alexis looked at him like he was crazy and busted out laughing...So did Clerow, Owen Todd, Mr. Smith and I...

EPILOUGE-

And so...24 hours later...another well muscled,blond haired ,blue eyed white male dressed in all black was found floating in the water....He was identified as FBI Most Wanted fugitive, Illiyach Drago...a suspect in two murders in Philadelphia and dozens more around the world...Courtesy of Mr. Smith.

Someone had removed all of the bullets from him...and then dropped him in the water...I didn't have to ponder on who had done this!

I stood there this time with Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Burnside...as they dragged Illiyach Drago's lifeless body out of the water...

"Looks like everything worked itself out huh?" he said.

I looked at him...

"Yeah I guess it did..."I said.

"I've got to go to Washington.....Tell Sissy, Who should be here shortly...That her two murders are down...This is your guy..." he said.

"You don't fool me Brendan....I know you were ordered to shut this down...Which meant that Sissy and her guys had to leave it alone and even your girl Sharon to an extent...but you wanted this thing dealt with."I said.

He looked at me..

"You're right...I was tired of these guys getting away literally with murder and going unpunished..I hated shutting this thing down...but unofficially we were still on it..but you know that...and even though I thought this guy...and his partner were out of your league..you proved me wrong..." he said.

"Oh I didn't kill these guys.."I said.

"No..but I know you know the guy who did...He was your client...I knew he was unofficially hunting these guys and I hoped he still had eyes on you and you would draw them out....It was a huge gamble..but it paid off.." he said.

"Yeah..but the guy who made the dirt happen is still in D.C. somewhere..safe."I said.

''Don't be so sure of that..." said Brendan.

"Sir?" I said.

"Watch the news...See you around Kevin...Good Job!" he said...and walked to his car and drove off...

And in Washington D.C. The Chief of Staff for the Speaker of the House...Harold "Footy" Footston received a knock on his door..

"Yess, what is it?" he said angrily. "This had better be damn important!" he snapped.

A young woman quickly grabbed her panties and bra and ran into an adjoining room...

Harold Footston was in a bathrobe and pajama bottoms..

"FBI!!!! Mr. Footston, you're under arrest for treason..." said the agents...

"What? What is thissssss? This is an outrage!!!..These are baseless charges!!!.."he screamed and stomped his foot angrily...

He was the government man...The high up who had been trading sensitive information to unfriendly governments for a price....Steven Shipp had discovered him quite by accident and he had hired two ex-KGB hitmen to silence him...Poor Ola Blue or Regina Marley had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time...

"This is an outrage!! I'll have your badge....DO YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM?? I'M FOOTY FOOTSTON....I'M AN IMPORTANT MAN IN THIS DAMN TOWN...YOU CAN NOT DO THIS!!!! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" he screamed as he was handcuffed and dragged out of his house...

Cameras popped in his face and one million reporters asked him questions..

"GET THOSE GOTDAMN CAMERAS OUT OF MY FACE!!! I'M NOT DRESSED..DO YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM?? I'M FOOTY FOOTSTON....I'M AN IMPORTANT MAN IN THIS DAMN TOWN...YOU CAN NOT DO THIS!!!! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" he continued to yell...

He was sentenced to Life ,no parole....He's presently in Federal Prison in California..

Sepia and I were sitting in the bakery owned by Alexis enjoying some good coffee and pastries...a few days later..

Alexis was holding our baby, smiling at her...

"This is your wife and baby Mr. Kevin?" she asked..

"Yeah...this is my family..."I said..

"How far along are you Alexis?" asked Sepia..

"One month....Evan would have been tickled pink to see our baby..."she said.

"I'm sorry he can't." I said..

"It's okay...We have whole new life ahead of us...Me and this little guy or girl"she said.

"A fresh start right?" I said.

"Yes..A Fresh start...No more handlers...No more cloak and dagger.." she said smiling.

I smiled..I raised my tumbler of coffee..

"To new beginnings.." I said.

Sepia and Alexis both raised their tumblers of coffee...

"To new beginnings ." they both said in Unison.

I looked out the window....and there he was Mr. Smith....He smiled, tipped his fedora and walked away into the city streets...

I smiled...