Chapter 11
Ashlyn laid in her bathtub, head back, eyes closed. It had been two days since her date with Ali, and she couldn’t get the brunette out of her head. She was smitten, and even more so since Ali had ended their night early. Ashlyn had been sure that Ali would have taken her up on her offer to continue their date night with a drink back at her place, and once Ashlyn had gotten Ali back there, she had been confident she could have charmed the beauty out of her dress. No such luck. Well, it looks like we’re going to need to meet again, Ashlyn thought. She got out of the tub, dried herself off, and put on a pair of jeans and a sleeveless shirt. She sat down at her laptop and pulled up the JOCT website, then, as before, she pulled up another screen, typed in some code, and hacked her way into the JOCT database. She pulled up Ali’s profile and looked at it for what may have been the billionth time in the last 3 days. She stared at Ali’s picture and lost herself in the brunette's eyes. She looked at Ali's bio and imagined her as a young girl, then in high school, then in college studying criminal justice. Her eyes fell upon Ali’s address – 1725 South Halsted Street, Apartment 2, and she fantasized about driving to that address and picking Ali up for their next date, Ali walking out of her apartment, looking lovely and smiling at Ashlyn. Ashlyn looked at Ali’s profile for another moment and then sighed. Get a grip, she told herself. It’s probably not going to happen. Not that Ashlyn was worried anymore that Ali would haul her in. If she was going to do that, she would have done it already. And sure, there was an attraction on Ali’s part, Ashlyn could feel it. But, the bottom line is that Ali’s a rule-following law-enforcement agent, and I’m a law-breaking assassin, Ashlyn thought. Still, some part of her hoped that, despite those differences, there might be a future together. She could envision it. They could be good together. It’s like, in another life, under different circumstances, maybe it would have worked. You know what? Ashlyn thought. I can still make it work. Maybe it’s just another problem to solve. I just want someone to date, to be with, to love, just like a normal person. Is that too much to ask for? And why should it matter what we do for a living, as long as we’re both good people? There's no reason we shouldn't give it a chance, just because of what we do. It's who we are that counts. Then, she thought, I just don’t know. Maybe not. Maybe the whole thing is just unrealistic. Maybe I should get back to focusing on the mission, she said to herself. Flip flop, flip flop. She ended up on flop and forced herself to get back to thinking about the next part of her plan. She knew that killing high-ranking members of both the Marano family and the Disciples would do one of two things: either make the two sides engage in all-out war, in which case they would kill each other off, or it would bring the two factions together for a talk. If that happened, she could crash the party and wipe out the leadership of both factions in one fell swoop. Now, she just needed to find out if the two sides were meeting, and if so, when and where. She could just stay hacked into the JOCT site and monitor Ali’s log notes, which were meticulous, but maybe there’s another way to find out what I need to know, she thought…a more enjoyable way. Flip back. Ashlyn smiled and shut her laptop, then changed into a dark blue suit with a light blue tie. She topped it off with a grey fedora and put on some makeup, checked her appearance in the mirror and then headed out.
********
Ali was in her office, sifting through an endless stack of paperwork. Actually, she was going through the motions, but she couldn't stop thinking about Ashlyn. What is going on with me? She thought. I shouldn’t even be thinking about this woman. She’s a damn assassin, I'm pretty sure. But, our date…it was, well, it was…all in all, wonderful. A little bizarre, a little confusing, but wonderful. And the kiss…I know there was all sorts of wrong happening there, but still…it just felt good. It just felt…right. Like, take away the fact that she breaks the law and I enforce the law, and…yes…I could see us giving it a shot at being together. But, still…she breaks the law. And laws need to be followed, or bad things happe-
“Krieger.”
The voice broke Ali out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw Wambach standing in her doorway. “My office – right now”. She sighed, then got up and followed Wambach to her office. Megan and Hope were already there.
“What’s up, guys?” Ali asked.
“Big news”, Megan said. “Some intel came in today. The Maranos and the Disciples are meeting in one week.”
“Meeting? Like, together, in the same room?" Ali asked, surprised.
“My sources confirm that meeting as well”, Hope said. “Apparently, the one-shot kills to high-ranking members of their organizations have both sides spooked. They’re meeting on neutral ground, at the Park Warehouse, in the Industrial Corridor.”
"Wow”, Ali said. The fact that they are actually agreeing to meet in the same room together without killing each other means something big, she thought. “If anything, I would have thought that maybe the two sides would have assumed that the other side employed the sniper and would start tearing each other apart.”
“No such luck", Megan said. "Neither organization bought into that theory. Now, obviously, there’s no love lost between these two sides, but the fact that they are getting together and could be talking about possibly forming some sort of alliance, if only temporarily until they get rid of whoever is sniping them off, is bad news.”
“Yeah, it sure is”, Ali agreed. She didn't want the two sides turning the streets into a war zone, but still, the two largest criminal organizations in the city forming an alliance…that can't be good, either, she thought.
“Speaking of the sniper, where are you with that?” Wambach directed her question towards Ali. “Hope and Megan tell me you have a possible lead.
“Uh…still working on it, boss”, Ali said. “I’ve got a theory, but, uh, really, at this time…that’s all it is.”
"I kind of like this sniper", Hope said. "We should put her on the payroll."
“No, we shouldn't", Wambach said firmly, looking at Hope. Then, she looked at Ali and said, “Find this damn shooter and bring her – or him – in. And do it quick.” He looked at Hope and Megan. “You two – find out who all’s going to be at this meeting. If old man Marano and that scumbag Kody Mitchell are both going to be there, then I want us there as well, ready to move in. We can grab the leadership of these organizations and set them back years. It would be a great victory for all of us.” Megan, Hope and Ali all nodded in agreement. Wambach looked at the three of them and then said, “Get to work.”
********
Kody Mitchell was at Pimpz N' Ho’s, a full nudity strip club. It was a regular Disciple hangout on the southwest side of Chicago. Three nude women were dancing on a stage. Gangsta Rap was blaring through the loudspeakers. Felipe Sosa walked up and sat down next to Kody.
“The meeting’s all set up”, Felipe yelled over the music.
“Good. One other thing – you think the pigs have anything to do with this sniper?
“No. We’ve been looking into it. We put the word out on the street. So far, no connection there.”
“Alright. Here’s wassup. I wanna make sure”, Kody said. “You know that woman from JOCT?”
“Yeah, the one running the investigation? I saw her on TV.”
“Yeah, that one. Send some of your crew down to her crib on Halsted and 17th.”
“You want us to waste her?”
“Nah. Just rough her up a bit. Knock out some teeth, pull some of her fingernails, or put the blowtorch to her for a few seconds. We just wanna send a message. I wanna make sure that, when we meet with the greaseballs, no muthafuckin’ feds show up.”
Felipe nodded, then got up and left, and Kody went back to enjoying his show.