Page 42 of Saltwater Promises
Chapter 18
Breaking into Lenny’s safe house was the easy part. The hard part came after.
Mike had decided to make his move that Sunday. He’d enjoyed a captivating day with Lynn at the vineyard on Saturday, but he needed to focus. If the AG was waiting on information from him, Mike needed to get it as soon as possible.
He knew that he really shouldn’t have spent so much time with Lynn, but she just zapped the hours away, like she always did. Before he knew what was happening, he’d told her all of his secrets, two bottles of wine were gone, and the sky was filling with stars. She went off to her show and Mike made his way back home to plan the break-in.
Ideally, he would’ve liked more time to plan, but he had to work with what he had. He flew into Tacoma like before, rented a car, and set up a few cameras outside of the house. He was able to drop them casually. Cameras were so cheap nowadays, and it didn’t seem like any of the neighbors noticed. It was the type of neighborhood where people didn’t get involved in each other’s business.
He waited until it was dark to break in. There was minimal security and he got in through a window in the back with ease.
It looked like there was a perpetual party going on. Half full beer bottles, cups, and plastic plates were scattered on every surface and the floor. There were piles of laundry sitting out. Mike didn’t have to examine them to know they were full of tracksuits. The bathroom, which he unfortunately needed to use, had a significant layer of grime. The sink was covered in hair, likely from Lenny shaving and neglecting to clean it up.
Mike was fine with bachelor living, but this place was repulsive.
The bonus with the mess was that it made it easy to plant bugs. It was unlikely that Lenny would notice anything in this place. He treated it like a dump.
That could be its own issue. It was unlikely that Lenny was doing business there; he couldn’t possibly bring someone like Benzini inside. Mike knew that the bugs might just be a start. He’d need to put time in actually tracking Lenny, maybe get a bug on his phone again…
There was no computer in the house, which was unfortunate, because Mike thought he might actually have enough time to crack the password. He decided that the next best alternative was to get logged into the wifi. If Lenny did bring a computer in, Mike might be able to hack it from the comfort of his car across the street.
It was all going swimmingly until he was standing in the kitchen, debating where to plant the last bug, when the front door flew open.
Mike froze. His phone, which was laying on the kitchen counter, was supposed to alert him if anyone walked by one of his cameras. Yet it hadn’t made a peep.
What happened? He reached a hand out to grab it and a loading bar popped up.
The phone had taken it upon itself to do an update.
You have got to be kidding me, he thought.
Footsteps got closer, a set of keys clanked onto a table. It was time for plan B. There was no time to run.
“I was wondering when you’d get here,” Mike called out.
There was silence for a beat, then Lenny stormed in, gun drawn. “Don’t move!”
Mike put his hands up and forced a smile. “Lenny, Lenny. I’m unarmed. Relax.”
Lenny dropped the gun. “Gary?”
“Yep.” He leaned back against the sink, trying to look as casual as possible.
His heart was thundering in his chest, but he couldn’t betray himself by showing that now. There was no one to save him, no backup, no FBI. He was going to have to go old school and get by on his wits.
And by lying, of course.
“No way.” Lenny shook his head. “You’re dead. I saw it. I was at your funeral.”
“I know that you tried your best to kill me,” Mike said, crossing his arms. “But it didn’t work out. Better luck next time.”
Lenny raised the gun again, pointing it inches from Mike’s face. “You’re right. I should finish the job.”
“Give me a break,” Mike said, waving a hand and walking out of the kitchen. “We need to talk.”
It worked. Lenny followed him to the couch, dumbfounded. Mike had bet that he knew Lenny better than Lenny knew himself – and he was right.
Lenny was the sort of guy who acted the way he thought mob guys should act. He tried to be tough, he yearned to be cool. But underneath it, he was a coward.
