The Finish (The Eliminator Series Book 12), Mike Ryan [summer reading list .txt] 📗

The Finish

The Eliminator Series Book 12

Mike Ryan

Copyright © 2021 by Mike Ryan

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover Design By BZN Studio

Edited By Anna Albo

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Author Notes

Also by Mike Ryan

About the Author

1

Jacobs and Thrower walked through the door, putting their gear down on the couch. Tiffany ran over to Jacobs and hugged him.

“I was so worried,” she said.

Jacobs gave her a quizzical look. “Didn’t Eddie tell you we were on the way back? I told him what happened.”

“Hey, I said everything I was supposed to,” Franks said.

“No, it’s not that,” Tiffany replied. “Of course he did. It was just the whole situation in general.”

“Oh.” Jacobs gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “We did everything perfectly. It all worked out.”

“This time.”

“Well, we can only do things one at a time.”

“Not unless you do one of them two-for-one deals,” Franks said. “Then it’d be over lickety-split.”

Jacobs rolled his eyes. “We can’t always drop bodies like you pick up cheeseburgers.”

“Speaking of dropping bodies, man, is that on the level with what you said about Butch?”

“Would I kid about a thing like that?”

“I mean, man, I’m telling you what. Mallette just dropped him, just like that?”

“As far as we can figure it,” Jacobs said.

“Man, isn’t that a kick in the coconuts? To think, one minute they’re conspiring against you, and the next, one’s got a bullet in the back of his head.”

“I think technically it was the front of his head,” Thrower added.

“Whatever. The sentiment’s still the same. You sure neither of you hit him?”

“He wasn’t in either of our sight lines.”

“Hmm. I don’t quite understand it.”

“I think I do,” Jacobs said.

“Pray tell, then, man. Pray tell it to the masses.”

“What?”

“Speak up and be heard.”

Jacobs looked at the others. “Did we just step into a church or something?”

Franks pointed at him. “Might not be a bad idea, know what I mean? With all the stuff that’s been going on, might not hurt to get a little religion in ya.”

“Uh, yeah, maybe after this is all over.”

“After it’s all over, you won’t need it no more.”

“Can we get back to the point?”

“Of what?”

“What we were talking about?”

“Which was what?”

Jacobs took a deep breath, keeping his calm. “About Butch and Mallette?”

“Oh yeah. Why’d you get off point with that?”

Jacobs glared at him for a moment and shook his head. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Someone distracted me.”

“Well, continue, man, continue.”

“Gee. Thanks so much.”

“So about um… what were we talking about again?”

Jacobs thought Franks sometimes acted absent-minded just to aggravate him. He took another deep breath to stay calm. “Butch and Mallette.”

“Oh yeah. Well, proceed, man, come on. We ain’t got all day, you know.”

“I think it’s likely Mallette killed him because they were having a difference of opinion.”

“Well, we have differences of opinion all the time and neither of us shoots the other.”

“We’re not the leaders of two groups both vying for power either.”

Thrower knew what was being implied. “I got a feeling Butch wanted to pull out. Or he wanted to change tactics. Either way, we took out a lot of his boys, and he probably wasn’t too ecstatic about it.”

Jacobs nodded. “And Mallette wasn’t about to let that happen. That means his ever-shrinking force would have lost even more men had Butch left. He couldn’t let that happen. So he shoots Butch, hopes to keep the rest of his men, and knows it’s one less rival he’s gotta worry about.”

“Well, that all makes sense and all,” Franks said. “But that’s kind of like shooting yourself in the foot, ain’t it? Wouldn’t it make more sense to shoot the man after this is over with?”

“Did you not just hear what we said? If Butch was planning on leaving, it would have left Mallette no choice.”

“He could’ve just let the man leave.”

“That’s not how Mallette operates. You should know that.”

“Isn’t prison supposed to mellow people?” Franks asked.

“Prison only changes people who want to be changed. Did anyone really expect Mallette to come out of there with a different outlook on life? Especially since he wasn’t in there that long?”

“What am I going to do about school?” Tiffany asked. “They’re not going to fall for that trick again.”

“They won’t have to,” Thrower said. “They’re gonna remember it. It helps us out either way. Either they don’t bother following you there anymore, figuring it’s a waste of time, which means you’ll be safe, or they’ll use an extremely loose tail, which means we’ll be able to lose them easily.”

“I hate to be the bearer of contrivialities,” Franks said, holding a finger up.

“Contrivi-what?”

“Contrivialities.”

The rest of the group looked at each other. “Is that even a word?” Jacobs asked.

Thrower shrugged. “I never heard of it.”

They both looked at Tiffany, since she was the schoolteacher. She quickly shook her head. “Not in my vocabulary.”

“What does that even mean?” Jacobs asked.

“You guys never heard of it?” Franks said. Everyone shook their heads. “Isn’t that when you, um, like, disagree with the popular opinion or something?”

“I don’t think that’s a word.”

“Well, if it ain’t, I’m gonna make it a word. Don’t it just sound cool? Contrivialities. You say it.”

“No.”

“C’mon, man, just say it one time.”

“I’m not saying some made-up junk word that you just invented.”

“Well, just because you don’t know it, don’t mean it’s made up, you know. Maybe my intelligence is just on a higher level?”

Jacobs rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Can you just get to the point?”

“What point?”

“I’m not even gonna bother.”

“About tailing Tiffany from the school?” Thrower asked.

“Oh, that. Yeah. Anyways, like I was