The Vigilantes

First he'd had a long talk with Janelle Harper, then an even longer one with his personal lawyer, then another call with Jan to report the gist of what the lawyer had said, which basically had been next to nothing-he'd said he was going to have to think it all over thoroughly. Then, as Badde pulled ten grand in cash from his office safe and stuffed it into a black duffel bag, he'd set up the rendezvous here at Eastern State Penitentiary.

And now Jan was calling again.

"Yeah, honey?"

She said: "The Russian just called and said now that the Diamond property is cleared, it's time to talk. What do you think he meant by that? I mean the 'cleared' part?"

Badde said: "I don't know what he meant. Just that he was pissed it'd taken so long with those holdouts. We'll be there. Where and when?"

"He suggested Vista Fiume at ten-thirty," Jan said. "That's the nice new five-star. Make sure you change into nice clothes."

"Ten-thirty? Damn, that's late! But okay. I'll pick you up."

Rapp then heard his Go To Hell cell phone ring. The caller ID read: JACK JONES.

About damn time.

"Honey, I've got to take this one. I'll call you back when I can. Meantime, you get ready for di

He broke off that call, then in his smoothest politician's voice said into his Go To Hell phone, "Thanks for calling back, brother."

He wanted to add: And thanks for taking your sweet goddamn time.

"Whut up, Rapp," Jack Jones replied, his tone depressed. "You know all about Reggie, right?"

"Yeah, Ke

"Ke

Yes, Ke

What the hell's wrong with you, Jack? You're not making sense.

Shock, maybe?

I do the bastard a favor and this is what I get.

And what the hell is that noise in the background? Bingo games?

"Yeah, I mean Ke

"Why?"

"Didn't he tell you that I'm trying to reach him and arrange for the money?"

There was nothing but silence on the other end.

Badde went on: "Look, Jack, I really need to get in touch with him."

He then remembered that Ke

"You know, we can't let what happened to Reggie happen to him."

There was another long moment of silence.

"No shit, Rapp," Jack said disgustedly. "You wouldn't believe how bad they beat him, man. About the only way I could tell for sure it was him was those scars on his ass from that dog that bit him when we were in middle school. There was nothing recognizable of his face. The medical guy said he thought they'd used a baseball bat, then poured some kind of acid on him. Nobody deserves that, Rapp."

Rapp heard a tap-tap on the window of the Range Rover's front passenger door. He looked and saw Allante Williams standing just outside the door. Williams was a nicely dressed, clean-cut black male in his late thirties. He was also Badde's second cousin. While Williams tried to project a straight-laced, professional appearance, in reality he'd just gotten paroled after serving seven years on a ten-year rap for murder. He now ran what he called a "private security business." And, throwing family a bone, Badde had had Urban Ventures put him on retainer.

Badde reached for the master door-locking button and pressed it. Williams opened the passenger door and climbed into the seat. With his right index finger, Badd made a gesture that meant Just one more second, then after Williams shut his door hit the master lock button again.

"Look, Jack. Make goddamn sure Ke

He broke the co

"Good to see you, Rapp."

"You, too, man."

Badde then reached into the backseat, where he had his Italian black leather briefcase beside a small black duffel bag. He pulled from the briefcase two of the ten photocopies he'd made at the campaign house. They were all the same, copies of the bogus badge that Ke

KAREEM ABDUL-QAADIR

"Here's the most recent photograph we have of him. Real name is Ke

Allante snorted. "Brilliant dude, huh?"

"Right. Anything but. Anyway, first thing you need to do, Allante, is find him. I already told you about the drug debt we're supposed to pay. I've got an idea how to play that. But first I need to get back some sensitive files, voter records, that he stole from my campaign headquarters."

"Okay."

"When he gets turned in for the reward, I can't have it come back to me…"

"I understand."

"I'm just saying."

"You know I got your back, Rapp. I'll handle this one myself."

Rapp Badde nodded, then heard his Go To Hell phone ringing again. The screen read: CALLER ID BLOCKED.

"Yeah?" Badde snapped as he answered it.

"Yo, Rapp. It's Ke

Badde's eyebrows went up. He pointed at the phone and mouthed to Williams, It's him.

Badde went back to his smooth politician's voice: "Hey, brother. Hold on a second while I get rid of this other call."

Badde, putting his left index finger to his lips, signaled to Allante for silence. Then he hit SPEAKERPHONE.

"Where are you, Ke

Ke

"I've got something even better."

There was a long pause.

In the silence, Badde could hear a familiar sound.

What the hell is that in the background? Badde thought.

That is a bingo game!

That means that bastard Jack is with him.

Badde then said: "Ke

Ke

"Really?" he finally said, unconvincingly.

"They took whatever was in the filing cabinets," Badde went on.

"Don't know why," Ke

"I got the cash. Wasn't easy."

"Good man, Rapp," Ke

Badde looked at Williams and rolled his eyes.

Bullshit, he thought. You're prepared to burn me at the stake.

"Look, Ke

"Oh, no, man. He'd pop me just for saying names."

"Ke

Ke