I'm going to be perfectly honest, I found it very hard to take this guy seriously at first. Even after all I had heard about him. I had told all of my men to be extra cautious when we entered the house, as a lot of us could be very easily wiped out in an instant if we made one wrong move. When Jean gave me the signal that the target was awake, I nearly had a heart attack. But I just couldn't help but snicker when I took one look at this tiny little squirt with women's hair wearing only tighty-whities. I'm sorry, but it just seemed hard to believe that this was the guy that we were supposed to take extreme caution around.
But even then, I refused to let my guard down. We already had the backup plan prepared in case the target by any chance woke up. I felt like I had initiated the backup plan at the perfect time. I didn't think there was any way that this pipsqueak was going to stay standing after a large onslaught of bullets. And it was right then and there that I knew I could not underestimate this punk any longer.
Even with all four of my men down, I refused to quit. With the bat we used to smash the window, I was prepared to deliver a home run straight to Mr. Lady Hair's noggin. My four years in varsity baseball were finally going to come in handy.
I did not at all expect two little girls to suddenly walk into the room. I know Jean had mentioned that he had seen two little girls with the target, but I had actually completely forgotten about them. Here's the thing, I see no reason to hurt children unless I have a very good reason to. But I can't help but get a kick out of giving kids a little scare. I assumed these two little girls were the punk's daughters/younger sisters/nieces/cousins/kids he was babysitting/or whatever and they were probably someone that he preferred to keep unharmed. I just thought giving them a little scare would cause him to finally make a move on me. Then I would have my chance take a good swing at him. But damn, I did not expect such a reaction to come from him. I knew he would be defensive, but not so...intimidating. I can't believe I'm using that word to describe one of my targets. In the seventeen years that I've been part of this, I've never felt intimidated by anyone I was after. When has the prey been more fierce than the predator?
If Jean hadn't been conscious at that exact moment, I have no idea what I would have done. Clearly I had just walked into the wrong territory with this kid and there was no going back. With that one move I made, he now had his eyes on me like a hawk. And unless I could think of another plan fast, I was nothing more than a mouse.
As soon as I saw that Jean was awake, I tossed the bat towards him. Thankfully Jean is smart enough to figure out exactly what I want him to do even in moments where I can't exactly tell him. With one perfect strike, Alex Cooper was on the ground and out cold. Jean hit one completely out of the park.
As soon as Cooper was on the ground, I let out a very large breath. So much relief. I then walked over to Cooper and pushed him over with my foot to where he was facing right side up. I severally hoped he would stay out long enough for Dominic to grab him.
"Nice swing, Jean," I said, putting my foot right on top of Cooper's chest.
"Thank you, sir," Jean moaned, sitting back down on the floor. "I think I'm going to need to see a doctor right after this."
"Yeah, I think everyone in here will. I really wanted to believe that Maurice was just exaggerating about what he saw, but damn. I've never seen anyone like this kid. Where the hell did he come from?"
"Sorry sir, it's kind of hard to focus. Owww...."
"Whatever, Dominic should be here pretty soon. I called him earlier today and he said he'd show up around this time. Let's hope the traffic wasn't really bad. We need to get Cooper out of here before he wakes up. He said he was pretty light sleeper and I really don't want to find out for sure. I'll go ahead and give Maurice a call. I think he knows at least a couple of doctors."
The two little girls started crying pretty damn loudly after Cooper was knocked out. Part of me wanted to give them both a good swing so that they would shut up, but I just tried my hardest to ignore them. We would all be out of that apartment soon anyway.
Thankfully, Dominic showed up only about ten minutes later. He was quite shocked at what he saw when he walked in.
"Damn!" Dominic said, looking around the room. "What the hell happened here? Did y'all run into Rambo or something?"
"No, but this kid sure came pretty close," I replied.
Dominic looked at Cooper's unconscious body and grinned. "Well, you shouldn't have to worry about him any longer. We'll make sure he learns plenty of manners. He'll definitely learn how to respect his elders once we're through with him."
He then looked over at the crying little girls. A look of confusion appeared on his face.
"Are those his kids?" Dominic asked.
"Maybe," I replied.
"You're not going to put a bullet in their heads or something? Aren't they witnesses?"
"No, forget that. Those little girls are probably way too terrified to remember what we look like in detail. I doubt they will send the cops after us."
Dominic looked at me for a moment and shrugged. "Well, I guess you've never been wrong before, Richie."
Dominic's men tied Cooper's arms and legs together with rope and then carried him over to the back of Dominic's truck. I then walked up to Dominic and patted him on the shoulder.
"Take really good care of him," I said.
"I sure will," Dominic replied. "Maybe if we're lucky, he'll last over five years."
"Sounds great. I'll probably check up on him every now and then and see how he's doing."
"Absolutely. Don't be a stranger."
And with that, Dominic and his men drove off. That crazy little midget was now off the streets. I couldn't help but feel extremely proud of myself. The greatest challenge I had ever come across and yet I still didn't fail. It felt amazing.
But I still needed to get my men to a doctor as fast as possible.
Maurice showed up in his van not long after Dominic left and we were able to get all the injured men out of the house. Now we could finally call it a night. Before I left the apartment, I took one last look at the crying little girls and smiled.
"I don't know for sure what your connection to him is," I said. "But I'm sure you will find someone else. Some people just don't deserve to walk the streets freely. No matter how much you care about them. Keep crying all you want. He's not coming back. Ever. You're just going to have to learn to accept it. My father was murdered when I was eight and it did hurt at first, but I eventually got over it. There are just some things you have absolutely no control over. It's part of life."
With that, I left the apartment. I looked forward to finally getting some rest. Let's hope I never have to worry about anybody like Alex Cooper for a while.
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