Break Page 2

  One long step to his right. Letting go of the brown bag, whose fall caught Balaclava’s attention. Right-hand fingers folding to extend knuckles, which throat-punched the attacker as his left hand came down, clamped the gun wrist in a vise-like grip and twisted it away from Lin Shun, and as the gunman fell, choking, gasping, the weapon came free and into Cutter’s hand, which extended in a straight line, tilted slightly to give better control, eye to sight, sight to body mass of Grey Mask, who was half-turned, mouth opening in shock, as Moshe dropped to the floor.

  The first round sent the gunman staggering back; the second slammed into Bandana’s chest. One more, to make sure he stayed down. A brutal kick to Balaclava’s head to prevent him from rising, crouch-walking over to the payment counter to check that Bandana wouldn’t be a threat. Grey Mask wasn’t a problem. Moshe had jammed the handle of his mop against the man’s throat and a leg over his chest as the man moaned in agony.

  Cutter’s worldview widened to take in Chang, who had sagged against the wall, sweat streaming down his face. Time caught up as Lin Shun rushed to her husband and held him tight.

  Moshe shook his head reproachfully. ‘You should have warned us.’

  3

  NYPD rolled up with sirens and flashing lights, the full treatment. Paramedic wagons turned up as well and pronounced that Bandana, Grey Mask and Balaclava would live.

  The cops questioned Cutter and the bodega owners. Went through CCTV footage. Took his prints, measured distances and bagged the gun and shell casings. Threw several speculative looks at Cutter.

  The detectives arrived half an hour later in an unmarked car. They conferred with the first-responders, inspected the interior of the store, watched the camera recordings and made several calls.

  Checking if we are in the system, Cutter thought as he stood outside the store with the bodega owners. One of the new arrivals, a Hispanic-looking woman, threw him a sharp glance as she spoke into her phone. Her partner drew close to her and they talked in low tones before heading towards them.

  ‘They’ve found out about you, Cutter,’ Chang murmured. Moshe grunted in agreement.

  ‘Difiore,’ the woman introduced herself and gave out her card. ‘That’s Griffen,’ she said, introducing her partner, who seemed to be younger. No first names. The older cop had that look. Like she’s seen it all. Nothing surprises her anymore. Her companion nodded at them briefly as he chewed gum and rocked on his heels.

  ‘You don’t know the perps?’ He removed his shades and tucked them into his pocket.

  ‘Nope.’ Lin Shun nodded her head at the cops in the background. ‘They took our statements.’

  ‘You knew they would be coming?’

  ‘How would I know that?’ Cutter growled, knowing the question was directed at him.

  ‘That was good shooting.’ Griffen ignored his reply. ‘Someone else’s weapon. Three shots, all of them on the upper body, none of them fatal. All made under pressure. That’s some skill.’

  Cutter didn’t comment. He had recognized the gun in Balaclava’s hand, a Glock 19. The same model he owned, which had been with him on all his military tours. As for the shooting, that had come instinctively.

  ‘You were in the military, Mr. Grogan?’ No expression in Difiore’s voice.

  ‘Yeah.’

  First SFOD-D, Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta. Known as Delta Force, or just Delta. One of the US military’s Tier One Special Mission units.

  ‘You could have gotten yourself killed. Your friends, too.’

  No. I knew what I was doing. He didn’t say that, however.

  ‘Everyone else would have held their hands up and let themselves be robbed.’ Griffen, thumbs hooked in his belt, mouth working as he chewed. ‘Safest option. No one plays the hero, everyone stays alive.’

  ‘Is that a question?’ Moshe asked softly. ‘Do we need our lawyers?’

  ‘What do you do, Mr. Grogan?’ Difiore threw her partner a sharp glance.

  ‘I’m sure you know,’ Cutter replied, tired of the games. ‘You will have checked who we are. You would have seen the NYPD knows me.’

  ‘A fixer.’ Griffen, who seemed to have gotten over his partner’s nonverbal rebuke. ‘That’s what you said last time. When you were questioned. That’s still what you do?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You saw these thugs come in and went into fixing mode? Is that how it works?’

  ‘We’re done here,’ Chang cut in. ‘You got any more questions, ask them with our lawyer present.’

  ‘You seem okay. Any civilian who got held up at gunpoint and witnessed a shooting would be shaken. But you, your wife and Mr. Sternberg seem perfectly fine.’

  ‘You want us to feel sorry for the thugs?’ Lin Shun retorted scornfully.

  ‘No, ma’am, but,’—Griffen’s eyes glinted—‘other people would have shivered. They would have gone into shock. You folks … it’s as if you’ve had a day in the park.’

  ‘You’ve looked us up,’ Chang sneered. ‘You know this isn’t our first time. We’ve been held up before. We’ve also been mugged.’

  ‘Mr. Grogan came to your rescue. Yeah, that’s in our files.’

  Cutter felt rage wash over him. That wasn’t much of a save. They lost their son. He was about to speak when Moshe sensed his fury and put a hand on his forearm. He controlled himself and breathed in deeply, once. ‘Time was when cops didn’t harass the innocents.’

  Difiore stiffened at that. Her face flushed. She threw a hard look at her partner. ‘We’re done here. We’ll take statements from the gunmen and might want you to come down if we have any more inquiries.’

  ‘We aren’t going anywhere,’ Chang replied brusquely, hard eyes on her partner.

  Cutter watched them leave, the older cop’s back straight and stiff as she spoke softly to her partner, seeming to rebuke him. Griffen’s lips curled when their eyes met, and then he was inside the car. Their tires squealed and they were away.

  ‘Cops!’ Moshe shook his head.

  ‘Many of them are good.’

  ‘That one has issues.’

  Can’t argue with that. ‘You all …’ He turned toward his friends. ‘You’re okay?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Lin Shun, who had gone inside the store and returned to answer his question. ‘We kicked some ass. And you dropped my pastries. Here.’ She handed him another brown bag. ‘Don’t lose this one.’

  ‘I won’t, ma’am.’ He mock-saluted her, and that was when the TV crews and reporters arrived.

  4

  Cutter escaped the journalists’ scrum after an hour of being interviewed by local media organizations.

  Fixer. The reporters loved that word and questioned him in detail on what he did for a living.

  ‘That will be the headline,’ Chang had said, winking at him as he was leaving. ‘Fixer saves bodega.’

  He didn’t mind the brief publicity. Name recognition was good in his business. It was how clients heard of him. They came to him because law enforcement couldn’t help them. Or wouldn’t.

  Someone was kidnapped. Their folks or partners came to Cutter for help. A wife was leaving her husband and needed a bodyguard temporarily to protect her from his threats. Corporate espionage. Security advice. Recovering stolen items. Driving out a neighborhood gang. Cutter took on all those jobs.

  He got referrals from the NYPD, FBI and several other authorities, too. Cold cases where they couldn’t afford to throw in any more manpower. Political complications where they were ordered to stand down. Cases where the law sided with the criminals and the victims wanted justice. He had good friends in law enforcement who mentioned his name to those who wanted closure.

  The military came to him from time to time. Generals in the Pentagon, or his former commanding officers, who knew him well and needed his specialist skills.

  None of that was on his mind. He was savoring Lin Shun’s pastry, unable to resist the temptation, when he reached his loft office on Lafayette Street.

&nb
sp; An opaque glass door. His name etched discreetly on the brass plaque to the side. It opened smoothly to reveal a reception office. Warm lighting. Couch, coffee table, magazines, and behind the desk, Arnedra Jones. Her instant smile dimmed when he entered. Her dark eyes narrowed at the brown bag he was carrying and at the sight of his hand hastily wiping his mouth.

  ‘There had better be some left for me.’

  ‘Saved the best for you.’ He handed her the bag.

  She scoffed and opened the bag, and when her smile burst, it was as if the sun had risen.

  He went past her through another opaque glass door to the inside office. Hardwood floor, high, exposed beams, exposed brick, colored throws and rugs, comfortable seating. He went to his desk, brought the screen to life, grunted on finding there was nothing requiring urgent attention, and leaned back in his swivel chair.

  He shook his head when he saw Arnedra’s silhouette outlined. She sat out there by choice, despite his insistence that she occupy the larger office, alongside him.

  He had come across her as she was being violently robbed in Central Park, late one night. The muggers had been beating her up when he arrived. He had broken the arm of one of them in the brief scuffle that followed, and kicked the groin of the other. They had escaped when he turned his attention to the fallen woman. She was bruised and bleeding from a split lip and gashed eyebrow, but grabbed him when he made to call the cops.

  ‘Don’t,’ she told him.

  When he looked at her in astonishment, she glared fiercely.

  ‘They’ll question me. What a black woman is doing alone this time of night in Central Park. Some of them will imply I brought the mugging on myself. I don’t need the hassle.’

  Cutter had tried to protest, but she had remained adamant. He helped her stand and got her painkillers and bandages from the nearest pharmacy and escorted her to the Columbus Circle subway.

  They met the next day, over coffee. Arnedra had lost her husband a year earlier to cancer. He had been a licensed private investigator; she had managed the business side of it. She was in the process of winding down the business, which required several visits to the Lafayette office. There had been nothing sinister about her walk through Central Park. She had wanted to clear her mind. Nothing more.

  ‘I’ve met bad cops,’ she grimaced. ‘Too many of them, when Curtis was alive. A few used to harass us when his cases conflicted with their investigations.’ Those experiences had hardened her.

  Cutter got to know her and, after several months, proposed a partnership. He would buy into the business, as an equal partner with her.

  ‘Private investigations?’ She had raised her eyebrows. ‘We’ll restart Curtis’s business?’

  ‘No.’

  He hadn’t wanted to go through his backstory, but Arnedra had a way about her.

  ‘I’ve been to prison,’ he explained, bringing up his past. Everything. No holding back. Only a handful knew of it.

  Her eyes were moist when he finished. She held out her hand and, when he shook it, ordered another round of drinks.

  ‘But, what shall we do?’ she asked when their coffees arrived.

  ‘I want to help people,’ he had said.

  * * *

  ‘You’re a celebrity,’ Arnedra said as she walked over to him. She picked up a remote from his desk and turned on the wall-mounted TV. Tuned to a local news channel, a journalist reporting from outside the bodega, who described Cutter’s actions and interviewed Chang, Moshe and Lin Shun, all of whom called him a hero.

  ‘That should get the phones ringing.’ She switched off the screen and sat next to him.

  ‘How was Colombia?’ She side-eyed him, noting the faint lines around his eyes.

  ‘I’m here. The daughter is safe, back with her family. We got a bonus check.’

  ‘You had to shoot it out?’

  ‘A few cartel thugs. No one I’ll lose sleep over.’

  She caught his chin, turned him to face her and examined him. Was satisfied when she saw nothing but exhaustion. Nothing that a good sleep couldn’t cure.

  ‘You need to find someone,’ she said softly.

  She followed his eyes when they dropped involuntarily to the drawer. She opened it and took out the photo. A woman laughing into the sun. Black curly hair falling onto her chocolate shoulders. Eyes dancing in mischief. Riley Grogan, Cutter’s wife. Arnedra shivered involuntarily when she recalled how she had lost her life. She caressed the photograph, put it back in the drawer and shut it.

  She laid her hand on his forearm and sat with him as the sun set in the city and darkness enveloped it.

  Cutter had helped her during her darkest days. She would never leave his side.

  5

  Carmel Ward caught the clip on the news channel when she was having dinner.

  Alone in her two-bedroom apartment in Brownsville. All by herself, because Darrell, her fifteen-year-old son, hadn’t returned home yet. Ten pm, and he was still out. He had messaged her that he would be with friends, catching up on schoolwork. That she should not wait for him.

  She thought of calling him. Nope. That wasn’t a good idea. Lately they had been arguing all the time. No conversations. No family time. Just one fight after the other. Nothing else.

  She sniffed and wiped the stray tear rolling down her cheek.

  * * *

  Three years ago, he had been different. That was when her no-good husband was still around. Her boy had been a bright student, getting top grades in school, had a good set of friends.

  It had fallen apart with her finding out her husband was cheating on her. She had ended their sixteen-year marriage and asked him to leave. Weeks of screaming fights ended in sudden, abrupt silence when he left.

  She and Darrell made new arrangements, lifestyle changes to deal with the aftermath. Carmel had to find a second job to supplement her law clerk income. That meant she came home late from Manhattan, where both jobs were, to Saratoga Avenue, where they lived.

  Her son, mature beyond his years, had to manage on his own. Go to school in the morning, which thankfully was a few blocks away, walking distance. Return, make his own dinner, study. If she was lucky, she arrived just before he went to sleep.

  Shawna, their next-door neighbor, another single parent, kept an eye on him. Invited him for dinner occasionally while her children, younger than Darrell, kept him company.

  It had worked for a while. Then he became argumentative. Questioned everything she did. Sulked and withdrew into himself. His grades started falling, and when she urged him to work harder, he talked back insolently.

  It got worse when he graduated to high school. He became moody. Hung out with people she didn’t know. Shawna had her own problems and got busy dealing with them.

  Their relationship broke down when she discovered the weed in his room. Stuffed beneath his bed, underneath dirty laundry.

  She had confronted him. He had turned defensive. Swore he never smoked it. Didn’t do drugs. Didn’t even drink. He was holding it for his friends.

  ‘YOU’RE HANGING OUT WITH DEALERS?’ she yelled, and a shouting match ensued. She begged and pleaded with him to give up the bad company, to get back to the smart student he had been. Got a defiant, ‘I’m grown. I’ll make my own decisions,’ in reply.

  They became sullen strangers, mother and son. She was tempted to take a day off, follow him, check out who his friends were and challenge them. She wasn’t afraid of street gangs and neighborhood dealers. She held herself back, however. That was the surest way to lose him.

  * * *

  Carmel pushed the despairing thoughts to the back of her mind. She went to the kitchen sink, rinsed her dishes and placed them in the washer.

  A plan formed in her mind.

  That reporter lady said that Fixer dude was on Lafayette Street. That was just a block away from her law firm’s offices. She could meet him during her lunch break. She didn’t know how he could help or whether he would, but at this stage, she would willingly clutch at
straws.

  She checked her watch. Romaine, her brother, would still be awake. He worked downtown too, in a hotel, as a security guard. She would take him along. He was big and could look mean. It wouldn’t hurt to have him for the meeting.

  She prepared meals for the next day and packed them in boxes. One for Darrell and one for her.

  Showered and hit the bed. Tossed and turned until she heard the front door open and Darrell’s stealthy footsteps. Midnight.

  What was he up to? Where had he been?

  She refused to cry. She had shed enough tears.

  She punched her pillow into shape angrily and forced herself to sleep.

  6

  Cutter was cleaning his Glock the next day when he heard voices in the outer room. He slid his weapon into a drawer when Arnedra knocked on the door and opened it.

  ‘You’ve got visitors,’ she announced and stepped aside to let the arrivals in. ‘Carmel Ward, and her brother, Romaine.’

  He came around from his desk, shook their hands and escorted them to a couch. ‘Coffees?’ he asked.

  ‘I’ll get them,’ Arnedra said and made to move to the kitchen.

  He frowned at her. Telegraphed an order with his eyes. STAY HERE! She wasn’t his EA, his executive assistant. Even if she was, he didn’t believe in women having to take on the hospitality duties.

  ‘My turn.’ He flashed a smile and hustled faster than her. Inhaled the aroma of Jamaican Blue Mountain. They never ran out of it. Good friends of his, on Columbus Avenue, bought enough of the coffee and regularly sent over sufficient stock so that they never ran out. Those cookies in the glass jar came from that office, too. Homemade, baked with love and care by a grandmother his friends had helped.