Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1) Read online

  Ed nodded and said, “Well, now that are you here, what do you plan on doing next?”

  “We don’t really know,” Anne said forcefully. “I’m for trying for Wichita.”

  “No, you don’t want to do that, it’s just as bad there as it is here,” Ed replied, causing Anne to look disappointed. “Why don’t you two just live with my wife and I?”

  Rebecca and Anne were both thunderstruck. “Live with…what?” Anne stammered.

  “I’m a foster parent,” Ed explained. “Kathleen and I already have five other children with us and believe me there is plenty of room for more. A couple of them are teenagers like yourself so you would have someone to get along with.”

  “That’s great, I guess, but why us?” Rebecca asked. “Why not anyone else here?”

  “You are the only unsupervised minors here,” Ed replied. “Look around you, everyone here is an adult or is accounted for. By definition, if we did our job here the way the state wants us to, I’d have to report you and turn you over to the authorities so they could put you in the state foster system. I don’t want to do that because you seem like nice young ladies and it is a bureaucratic nightmare. I’m giving myself, and by extension you, a way out.”

  “We’ve managed to avoid the police so far,” Anne protested.

  “And how has that worked out for you exactly?” Ed asked

  Anne did not reply, which led Rebecca to ask, “But how would you explain to the system that you randomly got two more girls when they came knocking?”

  “I have people I trust in there to take care of the paperwork for me,” Ed told them. “I can get them to fudge the paperwork and make it look like you were in the system all along. But this is a one-time offer. If you don’t agree, then I’d have to report you to the authorities and they would put out a runaway bulletin. They’re only a few places you can get away from the police completely in this city and trust me, police custody is preferable to that.”

  Anne sighed heavily and said, “It doesn’t sound like you have a choice.”

  “You always have a choice,” Ed admonished her. “But I’m offering the best choice by far. You would have a good comfortable life under our roof. That’s far more than what you can say right now isn’t it?”

  Anne glowered at the floor, indignant at the knowledge that he was right. “I think we’ll take you up on the offer,” Rebecca told him.

  “Great. We need to get this place cleaned up because the school district wants everyone out of here by noon, but when that is over, I’ll take you two to my house,” Ed replied, recovering his jovial nature. “You can help clean up, or just wait here until everyone is done.”

  Ed walked away, leaving Rebecca with her untouched food. Her stomach growled loudly, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten yet. She started to wolf down her breakfast as Anne stared at the floor.

  “We’ve got no other choice,” Rebecca told her, knowing what she was thinking.

  “We should have just left for Wichita last night,” Anne said, glowering at Rebecca.

  “We would have frozen before we got to Olathe,” Rebecca replied calmly. “We’re going to be okay, Anne.”

  Anne laid back down and said, “I hope you’re right, Bec.”

  Rebecca glanced at Ed, who was helping to distribute food and said to herself more than anything, “I think I am.”

  Chapter Three

  Jared Bennett

  In many cities of the country, street gangs had started to carve out their own territory in defiance of the law and common good during the 2030s. For the most part, there was no dominating gang in a given city. Each gang marked out its turf and held onto it fiercely, often initiating violent street battles for control of a single block sometimes. The gangs had been known to get into fights over women as well, but this was less common.

  In New York City though, it was a different story. There was only one dominant gang whose operation was so efficient it resembled more of an organized crime ring than a common street gang. They had long since carved out their niche in the five boroughs of the city and either absorbed every other gang or ran them out of the city. This gang was known as the Black Hand and was known for everything from mass murder and mayhem to more subtle crimes such as fraud.

  The Black Hand was a ruthlessly efficient machine. Even the governing body of the city was afraid to cross them and the NYPD could do little about them. Task Force NYC had been created to try to stop them, but that had not worked either. The gang was organized from the lowliest street grunts to the Black Hand’s leader to work efficiently and as viciously as possible.

  Jared Bennett had ascended to the leadership of the Black Hand as one would expect, by eliminating his rivals on the way to the top. His ruthless ambition and vicious tactics not only gave him a reputation of fear within the Black Hand, but created an aura of fear in the whole city, even if those outside the gang did not know he was running it. Having people running scared was just the way that Jared liked it too. He knew how to wield terror through the power he wielded and New York suffered greatly for it.

  Jared was a stocky man in his late 30s, with hair that was already graying and a thick goatee of the same color. Though of average height, he had proven his worth as a fighter on more than one occasion, earning him some impressive scars that were highly visible. He liked to say that he allowed each person he killed to give him one scar before he killed them. This was not remotely true, but it worked into the persona he tried to create for himself.

  A couple of weeks after the New Year, Jared called a meeting of the provincial leaders of the Black Hand at his office in the Battery. He had an idea in his mind for an event that would bring the city to its knees and ensure that the Black Hand would never be threatened again. The fact that it was barely threatened now was irrelevant. Jared would not rest until his gang completely controlled the city.

  The morning of the meeting, Jared got to his tenth-floor office suite early to make sure he had everything ready. While he was the leader of the Black Hand, it was organized by borough and then so on down to the block by block level. The leaders that were invited to this meeting were the five leaders of the individual boroughs. Since the plan that Jared had created was extremely audacious, only the top leadership was going to know the full extent.

  As Jared was looking down on the city, he could see the leaders beginning to arrive at his office. His excitement began to build; he had spent months waiting for the opportune moment to spring this plan. He made his way over to the conference room where the five borough leaders had arrived. They all stood up when he entered the room until he said quickly, “Sit down.”

  As they were sitting down, Jared began his prepared speech. “There is a reason why I called you down here today. It wasn’t to hear you ramble on about how some two-bit shit in your borough extorted some 70-year-old shopkeeper out of his money. I’ve decided that it’s time we really show this city who’s boss.”

  The borough leader from Queens, a 30-year-old woman named Julia Turner scoffed and said, “Is this really necessary, Jared? I think the city understands that we are in command at this point.”

  “Yes, and shut the fuck up, goddammit,” Jared half-shouted. “I’m not going to take any smart-ass remarks from you today, Turner, not when there is so much at stake.”

  Julia looked incredulous as Jared continued, “As you all know, the Fed is investigating Task Force NYC. Someone might twist their arm enough to make them try to do something about us. I’ve decided to send a message not only to the city, but to the Fed as well that we aren’t to be fucked with.”

  “How the hell do you plan to manage that?” The borough leader from the Bronx, Timothy Armstrong asked.

  “We rob the Federal Reserve,” Jared said.

  Stunned silence followed this pronouncement. “Are…you…fucking…insane?!” Julia demanded.

  “The five of you will coordinate mayhem across your boroughs,” Jared said, ignoring her. “You will start this a day or two before the
main attack so if they call in the National Guard, they will be too dispersed to do anything about the main attack. I will lead the actual robbery itself, using our best people to fight our way into the bank and get into the vault.”

  “What kind of mayhem?” Timothy asked.

  “Murder, arson, public executions, I don’t give a fuck really just keep the authorities distracted,” Jared said vaguely.

  The borough leader for Manhattan, Ethan Rush looked thoughtful and said, “The day of the attack, I could unleash hell on Central Park. There are a lot of homeless people taking refuge there I can attack that will draw attention. Hell, I’ll burn down half the park too for good measure. Once I have the NYPD good and distracted, I block them off from being able to get south to the bank once you attack it.”

  Jared pointed at him and said, “That’s the kind of attitude that’ll keep you alive around here.”

  “Okay,” Julia said, still clearly unnerved by the idea. “Say this actually works. What the hell do we do with that gold?”

  “Ransom it if we can,” Jared said. “That gold isn’t the property of the Federal Reserve. It belongs to other countries and they just store it there because…well, who the fuck cares. I’m sure those countries will be desperate to get their gold back what with all of their wars. It’ll be useful from them to have some gold to sit on.”

  “You’ve given this a lot of thought, haven’t you?” Julia said, letting herself become impressed.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time to spring this plan,” Jared replied smugly. “The Black Hand has a reputation here in New York, but nobody outside of the city knows who we are. They just think New York has a common gang problem, like every other shithole city in this country. I’m going to put us on the fucking map.”

  “Are you sure that the Fed won’t retaliate?” Timothy asked.

  “It wouldn’t matter if they even could,” Jared said. “They won’t be able to find us. Nobody outside of this room knows the whole power structure of our organization. Taking out some street trash won’t get them any closer to me, you, or your immediate underlings either.”

  There was no response for a moment. “When are we doing this?” Ethan asked.

  “I’m robbing the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, January 31st,” Jared replied. “Whatever you decide to do to create chaos, it needs to start no later than the day before.”

  The five borough leaders nodded in unison and said, “Understood.”

  “Good,” Jared said, “Now fuck off.”

  Jared was soon left alone as the borough leaders scuttled off to plan whatever they needed to plan. As soon as they were clear of the building, Jared pulled a special kind of phone out of his pocket and set it on the desk in front of him. He pressed a button and said, “The borough leaders have been told of the plan.”

  A computerized female voice emanated from the receiver. “Good, Bennett. See to it that the operation does not fail.”

  “Understood,” Jared replied simply. “I’m going to do my part now.”

  The voice did not reply, leaving Jared to go out into the city to start the next part of his plan.

  The cold wave that had rampaged through the Midwest the week before had warmed somewhat as it moved eastwards, so while the day was still cold in the financial capital of the world, it was not as brutally cold as it had been in Kansas City. Jared, having grown up in Iowa before taking his talents to the big city, was used to the cold. As people walked around him huddled down in coats trying to stay out of the wind, he had his head held high with only a light jacket.

  Jared liked to walk around the city. He enjoyed looking at the faces of the people that he terrorized, even if they did not know he was the one that was behind the terror. Everywhere he looked, people were drawn together in close knit groups for protection, wearing furtive looks as they looked around for a potential threat. He knew there would not be an attack on this area anytime soon, but he enjoyed the confusion that he wrought among the people walking by. It helped affirm his desire to spread fear and terror throughout the city.

  Jared was walking north from the Battery towards Midtown. He had taken a deliberate pass by the Federal Reserve building on his way up to look at it. He could see the immense security around the area and knew that even if his agents could distract the authorities, he would still have a hell of a firefight to get in and out of the vault. Far from being deterred, however, Jared relished the opportunities that such a challenge would bring and went north into the city to actively plan the assault.

  The wind blew in his face as he made his way up through Midtown. The Black Hand had a clandestine underground base near Central Park that he was heading for. The base was hidden in the basement of a bar and grill that the Black Hand legitimately ran for profit. It had taken some conniving on Jared’s part to coax some high-end chefs and other restaurant staff to work there to make it look like a high-class establishment. With the exception of the manager, none of the staff knew it was a front for the Black Hand. The customers did not know it either, unless they were a part of the organization.

  It took a couple of hours, but Jared finally made his way to the bar. He ducked inside and took an immediate left down a set of stairs with a sign over them that said, “Authorized Personnel Only.” He descended to the basement of the building and found a wide-open space where supplies were stored for the restaurant. He walked past these and to a nondescript series of offices beyond the storage room.

  There was a secretary sitting in front of the offices who was a woman named Juanita Allen. She looked up and said, “Mr. Bennett, welcome back.”

  “Thank you, Juanita,” Jared said. Juanita was the only person that he knew that he treated with any amount of respect, knowing that both she and himself had escaped similar situations in previous years. While he did not care so much about the individual safety and security of other Black Hand members, Jared had gone out of his way to secure Juanita this job and other rewards to provide for herself and her two children. “Is there anyone here I should know about?” he asked casually.

  “Two of your brawlers dragged someone into that room,” Juanita said casually, pointing behind her. “Other than that, there isn’t anyone here.”

  “Thank you,” Jared said, heading for the room. “If anyone comes in for me, tell them I’m busy.”

  “As you wish, sir,” Juanita replied, returning to her paperwork.

  Jared burst into the room and saw indeed that there were three people in there. Two of them were his men that were standing at the back of the room with their arms crossed. The third was sitting tied to a chair and looked up at Jared as he walked in. It was clear that wherever this man had been abducted from, it was somewhere well off. His suit, though torn, had clearly come from a shop on Fifth Avenue.

  Seeing the man infuriated Jared and gave him a sense of purpose. He stood over him and said, “Who are you?”

  The man stammered, “J..J..Jackson Wentz. I work at the Federal Reserve.”

  “Oh, I know you work there, that’s why I had you brought here,” Jared said menacingly. “I want to know what you do there.”

  “I…I keep track of the bank’s assets,” Jackson replied.

  “Does that job involve the gold you have there?” Jared demanded.

  “No, not really,” Jackson explained. “It’s not the bank’s gold, you see…”

  “I know that, you dumbass,” Jared interjected. “But surely you would know where the gold is stored and how to get to it correct?”

  “I…um, well,” Jackson replied, too afraid to continue talking.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Alex, come here,” Jared barked impatiently.

  One of Jackson’s captors walked forward and leered over the cowering man. “Alex if this fucker stammers again, hurt him. I don’t care how as long as he doesn’t die, clear?” Jared told him.

  “Understood, sir,” Alex replied, pulling out a small knife at the same time. Jackson saw the knife and promptly wet himself.

 
Jared groaned and said, “That’s disgusting. Cut him on the arm.”

  Alex obliged, which left Jackson screaming. Jared was inwardly glad at his torment, but even more so that the basement was soundproofed so no one in the restaurant could hear it. “Now unless you want to be carved like a pumpkin, I suggest you tell me everything about how to get into and out of that vault,” Jared said.

  When Jackson finally stopped whimpering, he began to explain, “They changed the vault procedures in the past year because they were afraid someone might try to steal the gold. Only the managers can get in and out of there now and they have biometric scanners as security measures.”

  “What kind of biometric scanners?” Jared asked.

  “Retinal and fingerprint,” Jackson replied. “Also, there is a passcode they change every week.”

  “What kind of security should we expect?” Jared asked.

  “What…what are you planning to do there?” Jackson asked.

  “Other arm this time, Alex,” Jared replied.

  After the screaming had stopped, Jared continued, “You’re not the one that is asking the fucking questions here. The next time you say something I don’t like, I’m going to have Alex cut you someone that is more painful. Now again, what kind of fucking security is down there?”

  “There’s always a full crew there 24 hours a day,” Jackson explained. “A dozen guards, fully armed.”

  “Well we wouldn’t want it to be easy,” Jared said sarcastically. “Are you able to get into the vault?”

  “No…no, I can’t,” Jackson replied. “The bank manager is the only one that can get in or out of there. He’s the only one that the scanners will accept. The guards have a standing order to shoot on sight if anyone comes down there without the manager.”

  “That I expected,” Jared replied. “What times would the manager be there?”

  “Standard federal hours, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5,” Jackson replied.