Free McKuen’s Revenge by Andy King Page A

drove away. Anyway, it had to be a day when he worked late the night before and the wife had the morning off. One time we almost had it perfect, but it was warm, too many people on the street. With the rain it worked great, gave him a flat tire.”
    “OK, good.”
    “The wife’s too relaxed, like she ain’t even worried. What’s up with that?”
    “You could make her worry, but subtle, OK? I don’t want her roughed up. Taking her weakens McKuen. You see that, right?”
    “Like that Chinese guy said.”
    “Sun Tzu. OK, I’ll leave it up to you, just keep me informed. Another thing, you got somebody watching that IRS attorney?”
    “Shapiro? Yeah, we’re on him, from a distance.”
    “Stay on him. Got another call coming in.” She hung up.
    Ty rested his chin on his knuckles. The only reason he reported to CeCe was because when their fathers died, he knew she could outflank him.
    Her plan was too complicated. He wanted to walk into McKuen’s bar, guns blazing. He stood up. Sooner or later, he would avenge his father’s death and assume his rightful place.
    _____
     
    The abduction was sending a tremor through CeCe’s world, though. One of Liv’s guards told his girlfriend he had to stay overnight to watch a hostage gringa . The girlfriend told a cousin, who told an uncle, who told a friend, all because it was a curiosity: holding a white girl hostage at a warehouse in Bell.
    The gossip blew out of proportion (an heiress was being held). It raced across state lines and reached a vice-president in Las Vegas.
    “No way!” he shouted, and ordered it traced back to find out who was behind the ridiculous act of kidnapping.
    “The holding company is CCD,” the lieutenant said.
    “What do they think this is, Colombia?”
    “Want us to go in?”
    “No, let me think about it.”
    He knew who ran CCD. After considering the rumor and its implications, he took it to the chief executive. The CEO made a call to verify that an inquiry by their attorney, Phil Adelman, matched the facts of the rumor. Close enough.
    He called Chicago to verify that CCD’s owner was connected to land in Colorado on which there was a legal dispute. It checked out.
    He hunched his shoulders and sneered. Kidnapping was for South America or Asia. Inviting the Feds onto the playing field was simply not done. Finally he made a phone call directing a low-level person on their side to reach out to one on the other side.
     
    Ty’s phone rang.
    “We maybe got a problem, boss,” one of his managers said.
    “There’s always a solution.”
    “Yeah well, here’s the problem. There’s a guy I talk to. He’s a legit guy, but a little connected, kind of old school.” Ty’s eyes opened wider.
    “Go on.”
    “So he’s asking about some white chick, supposed to be like, detained or something?”
    Ty blanched. The mafia knew about Olivia Reneaux? Impossible! He kept a cool façade.
    “Don’t know, what about it? You know, if something like that turned up.”
    “Well, this guy says if it’s true, it would be a really bad idea. You know, Feds and everything.”
    “Yeah it would, so why are you hearing about this?”
    “They think we’ve got her.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “Mmm OK, but they’re pretty torqued.”
    “Tell you what. I’ll run this upstairs and get back to you.”
    “Sounds good, just passin’ it along.” Ty called CeCe.
    “You need to terminate somebody,” she said.
    “Yeah, but right now we got a problem.”
    “Let me think about it. I’ve been hearing some stuff from the street. I want to get everything in front of me.”
     
    CeCe worked through the angles. There was an elegant solution, as usual. She called Vincente, her foreman, and verified which land was in question. They worked out a deal for a certain slice of property.
    Then she called her attorney. She said she could cut loose half of the forty acres the other party claimed and throw in releasing a valuable item to a third party. She told him to pitch it as a