Dog Tags

CHAPTER 80

CHAPLIN NEVER REPORTED THE MUGGING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT. He immediately decided not to contact the police, and never regretted that decision.

But he did tell Landon about it, and that was a move he did regret.

Landon did not believe in coincidences, and even if he did, this one would have been so over-the-top as to defy credibility. For Chaplin to have been mugged, and for the muggers to take his cell phone, simply had to relate to what was going on. And it had to do with Carpenter.

Landon’s number was on that cell phone, of that he was certain. It had to be there at least three or four times. Which meant that Carpenter would come after him. And when he did, it would be through Chaplin.

Chaplin was scared; Landon could tell that from the first sentence of their conversation. This had hit home, more powerfully than even the death of his two colleagues. Someone had invaded his property, had hit him in the head and knocked him out, and that scared the hell out of him.

It was no longer just numbers moving through computers and bank accounts, and it had become personally dangerous. And Chaplin was not the type to handle that kind of danger.

“We need to meet,” Landon had said.

“Why?”

“To plan our strategy. We have to keep the upper hand in this.”

Chaplin couldn’t believe that Landon felt they still had the upper hand, and he certainly didn’t want to meet with Landon.

But he wasn’t capable of refusing, so he tried another approach. “I don’t think we should be seen together right now,” he said.

“I agree,” Landon said, giving Chaplin momentary hope before dashing it. “So it needs to be someplace out of the way.”

Landon suggested they meet the next night at a place just outside Stamford, Connecticut. It was an empty building, originally a medical center, but it had been foreclosed on when the economy went bad. Landon owned the building and could get a key.

Best of all, there was a long, narrow road for almost half a mile leading to the building. If either of them was for any reason being followed, he would be able to detect it and could abort the meeting. “But we won’t be followed,” Landon said, departing from his norm and saying what he really believed.

Landon’s next phone call was to M, to explain what was going on and what he needed him to do. He detailed it clearly and concisely, and it took him almost three minutes to do so.

M’s response was a little shorter. “Got it,” he said.

“No problem?” Landon asked.

“I don’t believe in problems.”

They got off the phone, and M got ready to go. He was actually looking forward to it; sitting around and doing nothing was starting to drive him crazy.

“You okay here without me?” M asked, although he already knew the answer.

“Of course,” Jason Greer answered. “It will be good to get rid of you.”

M smiled, partially because he knew Greer was telling the truth. M was not an easy guy to hang around with; he made people uncomfortable. Always had, always would. “If for any reason I’m not back in time, you can handle things?”

“I can handle things,” Greer said, and M also knew that was true. For this specific job, it was M who was unnecessary. Greer was well trained and more than tough enough to do the job.

M got ready to leave, fully prepared himself to handle what had to be done. But first he made a phone call to find out exactly what that consisted of.

The answer made him very happy.

What would not have made him happy, had he realized it, was that as he was leaving the hotel, he was seen by one Jesse Barrett. Barrett and M had briefly worked together on a job in Chicago, a job that resulted in the untimely death of two people.

M didn’t notice Barrett, and Barrett was not about to call out to him. In the moment, Barrett considered M a source of potential profit, mainly because the word was out that Joseph Russo was looking for him.