Mean
Streets
By
Rocket
Episode
9.9
Part Four
“And
so then me and Frog, we raced off round the dumpster and
nearly got taken out by a pizza guy on a little bitty
scooter!” Billy laughed and clapped his hands, miming
the scooter driver’s expression. “I thought
he was going to end up in the river!” He shook his
head, remembering the tirade of abuse the delivery guy
had unleashed at them, and looked at Frog, asleep and
snoring under the table.
“You guys have all the fun!” Nikki picked
up another slice of pizza and sat back, tucking her feet
under her on the couch. “So what happens to your
homeless friend now?”
“Leonard?” MacGyver grinned. “Doc found
out that he used to have a gardening business before he
got ill and lost it. He’s put him in charge of the
Community Garden Project and found him a room at the YMCA,
so I think he’ll be just fine. His friend Jose will
be OK too.”
“That’s great. I do like a happy ending.”
Nikki grinned. “What happens to the scumbags who
kidnapped him?”
“Now we see what Kate and the police can get out
of them and hopefully the street people are safe for a
bit.” MacGyver put down a pot of coffee and a pitcher
of juice. “Or as safe as street people ever are,
anyway.” He sat down, helping himself to juice and
pizza.
* * * *
Outside MacGyver’s house, the street lights started
to come on. The fairy lights on Mama Lorraine’s
front porch came on too, twinkling in the gloom. Across
the street, a shadowy figure hid in the darkness under
a tree and watched. The tall civilian, another man with
a dog and a dark-haired woman shared a meal and settled
down to watch the television. He’d been there since
the afternoon – first in the street, then around
the back of the yard, now watching from a safe distance.
The tall man’s house would be easy to enter, with
old style window catches and locks. He’d wedged
the hall window already, so that it didn’t quite
close. All he had to do was wait here until the man’s
guests left and he went to bed.
Murder wasn’t really his thing. He’d killed
when necessary but never enjoyed it as some of his fellow
gangers did. Preying on the homeless had been a means
to earn serious amounts of money, rather than an opportunity
for mayhem. One day he aspired to be a Suit himself, giving
the orders and the threats, watching the others jump to
do his bidding.
Sundance leaned back against the tree and waited.
* * * *
“Well, it’s been good to catch up, and to
meet you, Billy.” Nikki stood up and reached for
her coat. “But unlike some people, I have to be
at work in the morning. How’d you end up with so
much leave, anyway?” She shook her head at MacGyver’s
grin. “Never mind, I don’t think I want to
know!” She reached down to pat Frog, who sighed
and turned over without waking up, fished her car keys
out of her pocket and jingled them. “Need a lift,
Billy?”
“No, but thank you.” Billy sat up on the couch.
“We’re staying over with Mac tonight, gonna
head back in the morning.” He nudged Frog gently
out of the way and pulled on his boots, not bothering
to lace them up. “I’m gonna get my stuff out
of the truck, Mac. Back in a minute.”
.
Across the street, Sundance watched the woman put on her
coat and the unknown man get up. The woman came out of
the front door, gave the tall civilian a hug and waved
to him as she drove away. The unknown man disappeared
into the house, but a moment later Sundance heard another
car start up, backfire and drive away down a side street
nearby. Perhaps he had parked behind the yard. The tall
civilian came back into the front room alone and started
picking up dishes and glasses. Sundance left his shadows
and strolled across the street, to disappear into the
overgrown garden of the house next door.
* * * *
“Man, that neighbour of yours has the worst sounding
car I have ever heard!” Billy came in through the
back door and dumped his bag in MacGyver’s guest
room.
“I know – every car he gets sounds like that.
I have no idea what he does to them!” MacGyver shook
his head. “He’s only had that one a short
while; the last one wound up in the harbour.”
“In the harbour. Right…” Billy folded
his arms, leaning on the kitchen doorframe. “I don’t
suppose you had anything to do with that, did you?”
“Um…” MacGyver rinsed the last plate
and set it on the rack. “Yeah, I might have had
a little something to do with it!” He dried his
hands and yawned. “He only has to have them a little
while and they get all sorts of faults no-one else has
ever heard of. I keep patching them up, but it’s
a losing battle.”
“Yeah, by the smell of it, it’s leaking all
kinds of –“ Billy broke off, turning to look
towards the window. “You hear that?”
“Probably a raccoon.” MacGyver shrugged. “They’re
pretty bold and they love to get into the trash.”
* * * *
Sundance crouched down under the window, cursing inwardly.
His foot had crunched on a dry leaf and he was sure it
had been heard from inside the house. He waited until
the kitchen light went out and the bedroom light came
on before he moved again. He sneaked around to the hall
window and waited again. He heard water run in the bathroom,
then the bedroom light went out. He waited another half
hour and then eased the window open.
* * * *
MacGyver turned over, half waking at an unexpected sound.
Hearing nothing further, he went back to sleep.
In the next room, Billy and Frog snored. Used to sleeping
through each other’s noise, neither woke at the
small squeak from the hall window.
Sundance let himself down onto the hall carpet, his feet
making no sound. He drew his gun and padded down the hall
to the bedroom, finding the door slightly ajar. Looking
through the gap, he saw the tall civilian asleep on his
back, one arm behind his head and with a shaft of moonlight
striping the quilt. He moved the door to get a better
angle for his shot and the door creaked…
Frog snuffled in his sleep, smelling a familiar scent.
He sniffed, his sleepy mind working to place the smell…
Then he woke up with a startled bark! He leaped off Billy’s
bed and raced into the hall, barking madly. He grabbed
hold of something in the shadows with his powerful jaws
and reversed into the hall, growling and pulling a black-clad
figure with him.
“Frog! What the…?!” Billy followed him,
half a pace behind and still mostly asleep.
MacGyver woke with a start, just in time to see Frog pulling
someone out of his bedroom! Picking up the hockey stick
that leaned on the wall beside him, MacGyver scrambled
out of bed and swung the stick at the intruder.
Coming up from behind, Billy ducked under the stick and
punched the intruder hard in the side of the head. The
man snarled, firing the gun wildly. MacGyver grabbed the
intruder’s gun hand, wrestling with the man as Frog
let go of the trouser leg and sank his teeth into the
intruder’s leg. The intruder yelled, kicked out
and lost his balance, pulling Billy, MacGyver and Frog
with him. MacGyver banged the intruder’s hand against
the floor until he let go of the gun, then grabbed the
intruder’s shirt front, landing a punch in his face.
The intruder’s eyes rolled up and he went limp.
“That’s some raccoon!” Billy sat back
on his heels, breathing hard. “Any idea who our
mystery guest is?”
“Ow. Not sure…” MacGyver got up, shook
out his punching hand and padded barefoot into the kitchen,
returning with a roll of duct tape. “I’ve
seen him somewhere before, though.” He propped up
the unconscious man and taped his wrists and ankles together.
Frog growled and strained at his collar as Billy pulled
him off the man’s ankle. Frog continued to sniff
at the man’s leather jacket, whining.
“What’s he smelling?” Billy eased his
hold on Frog’s collar to stop the dog from choking
himself, and Frog shot forwards, sniffing the man all
over. MacGyver leaned in for a sniff too.
“That’s it!” MacGyver snapped his fingers.
“He’s smelling aniseed on him! This guy is
one of our kidnappers, I’m sure of it.” He
frowned down at the ganger, who was starting to regain
consciousness. “I guess I’d better call and
wake up Kate…”
* * * *
“Nice catch, Mac.” Kate looked through the
bars at the captured ganger, sitting with his elbows on
his knees and staring at the floor. “Aloysius Caesar
Jones, also known as Sundance.”
“Aloysius?” MacGyver shook his head. “Wow,
I thought my name was bad enough!” He leaned on
the bars, earning a nasty look from Sundance. “What
happens to him now?”
“Well,” Kate rubbed at her arm, where a bandage
could be seen beneath her short sleeve. “At the
very least he goes down for shooting a police officer,
but I’m pretty sure the gang squad will have some
other things they’ll want to ask him about.”
She glanced at her watch. “I gotta get back to work.
Don’t stay too long, OK?” With a nod to the
custody officer at the end of the row of cells, she disappeared
back into the depths of the station.
As soon as she had gone, Sundance raised his head, looking
at MacGyver.
“Why did you do it?” MacGyver frowned at Sundance.
“Why kidnap homeless people? What was going to happen
to them?”
“Money.” Sundance shrugged. If he was concerned
at being behind bars, he hid it well. “What happens
to them? Who cares. Money in my pocket, man.” He
rubbed his fingers together as though feeling banknotes
and smiled, showing a gold tooth at the front. He laughed
softly, shaking his head at MacGyver. “You think
I’m the one in trouble here? Man, you have no idea
what trouble is. You a known face, my friend. The boss,
he knows who you are now. You recognised. You marked.”
He sat back, leaning against the wall of the cell. “You
better watch your back, man. Just because I didn’t
get you, don’t mean the next one won’t.”
He closed his eyes and tipped his head back. “See
you around, Mac…”
MacGyver frowned, not knowing what to say. He was almost
certain the ganger was bluffing, but Sundance did seem
very confident.
Maybe he should watch his back after all.
** * *
“This man.” A picture was pushed across the
table, picked up by a manicured hand and studied.
“Who is he?” the voice was smooth and cultured,
with no accent to place it.
“Angus MacGvyer. Serial do-gooder, works for the
Phoenix Foundation. He’s responsible for the downfall
of friend Sundance and he was involved with that unfortunate
Hawkins affair. He was also picked up in Germany recently,
interfering with our well-laid plans. He’s becoming
a nuisance.”
“How much of a nuisance?” The second voice
came from the shadows on the far side of the polished
table, it’s owner indistinct in the dim light.
“Enough of a nuisance.” The first voice sighed,
as though at the prospect of a tiresome task. “Deal
with him, would you?”
“Of course. Does it need to look like an accident?”
the second voice was calm.
“Without question. Do not draw attention to ourselves,
clear?” the manicured fingers flicked the photograph
back across the table. “Especially as we’ll
be using Phoenix shortly.”
“No indeed.” The owner of the second voice
got up and straightened his jacket. “Consider it
done.”
The
End
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