Storymania - Fury Of Steele by Robert E Tadlock

Fury Of Steele
Robert E Tadlock

  When Alan Steele exited the nightclub known as The Guzzler, he went straight for his jet-black 68 Camaro. He slid into the leather bucket seat and fired its throaty V-8 engine. Close behind him, was his friend Jim. The two have been friends since high school and meet every Friday night to paint the town.

Steele could immediately tell his friend was angry, by the way he closed the door. While he surfed for a radio station worth listening to, he could feel Jim staring at him.
“What ?”
“You know you can really piss me off sometimes!” Jim replied in an agitated voice.
“ Are you still harping about the leggy brunette? I don’t think she was interested, my friend.”
“ How can you say that? I was making conversation with her, before you showed up!”
“You were apologizing for spilling your drink on her. Now how does that justify as conversation?”

Jim stopped for a minute and then had to laugh at himself. It’s true that he wasn’t as smooth with women as Steele. Even in high school he was always getting the girl. His large frame, good looks and gift of sweet-talking has melted many a heart, so tonight wasn't a real surprise.
“ Look. All I’m saying is try to lay low a little more. If I strike out, I strike out.”
“You're right Jim. From now on when we walk into a club, I’ll pretend not to be so good looking.”
“Very funny Steele. Very funny.”

      Steele laughed at his remark as he found first gear. He revved his beefed up 350 engine just enough for the tires to squeal, then they sped away.

After a short drive, they arrived at Jim’s apartment. Jim climbed out, shut the door and squatted beside the car.
“Still early! You coming up?”
“No, I can’t. Gotta job tonight.”
“What is this job you got? For as long as I’ve known you we’ve never kept secrets, but you're keeping this new job a mystery.”
“Look, I’m going to be late.”
“All right. All right.” Jim said as he stepped away from the car. “See ya Friday.”

Steele waved his hand at his friend and then sped away. He hated to keep secrets, but this one was for good reason. If anyone found out what he was doing, it could put them in real danger.

      A couple miles from Jim’s place was a vacant lot. Steele pulled into the lot very slow. In his new type of work he had to be very cautious. He circled the lot a couple of times and when he assured himself that he was alone, he stopped at a small trash can. With a final look around, he got out of his car and walked over to the can. Steele lifted the lid to find a black bag covered in paper. He quickly opened the bag to expose thousands of dollars in cash.
“Sweet! I do love this job!”

With the bag safely by his side, Steele raced from the lot and was on his way. His thoughts roamed, as he looked at the bag with a satisfying grin. But, suddenly things got interesting. As he looked back up, he noticed that he had just run a red light and already had red and blue lights in his rear view mirror. After a second to ponder running, he decided to pull over. Now his thoughts roamed in a different way, as the officer approached his door.
“ Good evening sir. May I see your license and registration?” the officer asked.
“Do we really have to do this officer?”
“Yes sir, I’m afraid we do.”
“You know I do have things to do!”
“Relax! This will only take a minute.”

After he got his license back, Steele looked up and noticed the officer was staring at the bag in his car. He gave the bag a quick look and then returned his attention to the cop.
“The money is still there, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Look Steele! I don’t like this any better than you. I got my orders too.”
“Well get on with it then! I’m a busy man.”
“The Capt. said it’s going down at the old fairgrounds. You’ll meet with Tommy Wong and some big son of a bitch named Crusher.”
“ Eeeww Crusher! Sounds scary!”
“Come on Steele, be serious! If those drugs hit the streets...”
“All right all right, are we done?”
“Yeah. But the Chief said no killing this time. He’s tired of making excuses for you.”
“ You just tell the Capt. to have my money ready! Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to be late.”

With that, the officer stepped away from the car and Steele was on his way. Although his new job was dangerous, it was something he had to do. Anytime something came up too dangerous for the regular police, he was called in. And tonight would prove no different.

       When he got to the fairgrounds it appeared to be deserted. The only thing in sight was a Lincoln Town car with the lights on. As he got closer, he could see a medium built gentleman that he figured must be Tommy Wong. He was standing beside a very large man. By the size of him, Steele figured that the man had to be the one called Crusher. Normal men might feel a bit threatened about now, but not Steele. He grabbed the bag off the seat and approached the two men with the up most confidence. After all, he hadn’t lost a fight yet and with his martial arts background he wasn’t going to start now.

       When he got a few feet away from the two men, he could see that the smaller man was holding a large duffle bag. The two men appeared to be very business like and after a short stare down the deal was on.
“You got my money?” the smaller man asked.
“Right here in the bag. That the stuff?”
“That’s right. 12 kilos, just like we agreed. Now throw me the money!”
“Not so fast there itchy hands. Let’s see the stash.”
“What? You don’t trust me.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I don’t know you.”
“That’s right, you don’t know me. So let me educate you. I’m head of one of the most lethal gangs in all of L.A. Nothing happens in this city without me knowing about it and if I want someone killed their floating in the river the next day.”
“Alrighty then. Now that I’m scared, what do you say you, me and your girlfriend there get down to business.”

      Unknown to Steele, Wong angered very quickly. He immediately pulled a 357 cal. from his coat and aimed it at Steele’s chest.
“You're a funny guy. Let’s see how funny you are with a bullet in your chest.”
“You know, I don’t see this thing going very well with that gun facing me.”
“Oh, now you can see the future? Then tell me tough guy, what happens next?”

        Steele took a moment to size the two men up. He got that feeling he felt just before things got very messy. He was now within striking distance and when Wong cocked the gun hammer back he figured what the hell.
“Well for starters, I see that gun of yours striking you in the head. After that, I see Godzilla there puking on the ground. Then I see myself leaving you two dopes wondering why you pissed me off!” Steele said in a cocky voice.

        The two men looked at one another and started to laugh. But, neither one had a clue who they were dealing with. Steele had spent ten years studying under the most dangerous martial arts masters in the world. He learned every weapon the art had to offer and had a bad temper to match. With one quick motion he snatched the gun from Wong’s hand and struck him across the face with the butt of it. The man quickly fell to the ground with a thud and almost choked on his teeth. As Steele turned toward Crusher, he found the large man already on the charge. Just as the man got within reach, Steele punched him dead in the abdomen with a rock hard fist. The big man doubled over immediately and, as promised, puked all over himself.

           Steele was surprised how quickly the big man went down. He took a minute to admire his work before walking over to Tommy Wong.
“Now let me educate you. I don’t like drug dealers, which means I don’t like you. I may not be the baddest man alive, but I did call him a pussy once. So do me a favor and tell all your friends. Drug dealers make me angry and I‘m just starting to get pissed off.”

      Steele then picked up both bags and loaded them into his car. A quick look at Wong and Crusher told him that they weren’t getting up anytime soon. So with a quick bow and a middle finger he got into his camaro and was off.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

       The next few days proved to be very profitable. A Special Task Force, led by Steele, recovered a ton of cocaine and millions in drug money. The word was spreading fast that the drug trafficking in L.A. was coming to an end. But, the drug dealers had had enough and things were starting to get hot.

        After six days of drug raids, Steele entered the precinct to find the mood to be very tense. You’d think everyone would be excited about all the recent success, but that wasn’t the case today. Unable to get any answers from the officers, he went straight to the Capt.
“Capt. what's going on?”
“Have a seat Alan.”

         Steele could tell by the Capt’s. voice that the news couldn’t be good. Without saying a word he shut the office door and had a seat.
“Look Steele I’ll get right to it. I’ve been asked by the Chief to shut the operation down for a while.”
“Shut it down! Why?”
“David Chi.”
“Chi! What’s a Hong Kong drug lord got to do with L.A.?”
“Seems he’s taken quite a hit from all the busts lately. He flew in last night to take charge of things. Since then, the gangs have converged into one.”
“Good! That’ll make them easier to catch.”
“It’s not that easy. The Mayor found a threatening note on his bed last night. It said that if the raids didn’t stop, him and his family would be killed. He’s scared Steele.”
“Great! A whole weeks work shot to shit! Now what!”
“That’s not all. Your buddy Tommy Wong has put a bounty on your head. Two million dollars dead or alive.”
“I should have killed that turd while I had the chance.”

         Frustrated, Steele got up from his chair and walked over to the window. As he stared out, he wondered how things that were going so good could turn so bad. Just then, he noticed an attractive oriental woman sitting outside the office.
“Who’s she?”
“That my friend is the good news. Her name is Sun Lee. She’s Chi’s secretary, or at least was.”
“Was! What happened?”
“Seems her sister was killed by Chi at a party in Hong Kong. He tried to make her do things she didn't want to do and when she refused. Well, let’s just say he doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“What’s she doing here?”
“To help us take Chi down for good. Seems Chi kept records of every transaction he’s made and Mrs. Lee was able to grab those records before she left. Those records are all the evidence we need to take his whole organization down. That’s where you come in.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I hear you have a cabin in the woods. Take her there till things calm down. Then find out where she has those records. As soon as you have them let me know and I’ll get an arrest warrant for Chi. When he‘s in custody, I’ll bring you back in. Now get the hell out of here and go introduce yourself.”

       Steele didn’t like the idea of hiding out, but he couldn’t take a chance on the Mayor getting hurt. Besides a few days rest would do him good. So he introduced himself to Ms. Lee and after a short conversation the two were off for the cabin.

       The ride was quiet at first. Steele looked over and noticed a tear in Sun Lee’s eye, not too mention her gorgeous body. He was always a sucker for a damsel in distress ,but this girl was different. She made his heart feel something it hasn’t felt in a long time and he hated to see her cry.
“It takes real guts to do what you’re doing. I think your sister would be proud of you.”
“I really miss her.”
“I know what you mean. I went through the same thing a year ago.”
“What happened?”
“I was a Detective in New York. I was investigating a double homicide on one side of town while a big drug deal was going down on the other. My fiance of two years was nearby and when the deal went sour she got caught in the crossfire. I was going to propose to her that same night, but I never got the chance.”
“That’s horrible. You must have been devastated.”
“At first I was. I transferred here in L.A. a month later. Things started changing the day I met the Capt.. I told him I was through being a detective and wanted to focus on drug dealers. Since then, I’ve secretly been doing Zombie Missions.”
“Zombie Missions? What are those?”
“L.A. has the most dangerous drug dealers in the world. They won’t think twice about killing a cop and most of the guys on the force are old or have families. They needed someone that could go deep under cover, a ghost if you will, that’s where I come in.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“ It’s dangerous all right, but at least the pay sucks. Now enough about me. You hungry.”
“Starved.”
“Good I know just the place.”

         Steele stopped at a small restaurant just outside of town. The place looked like hell, but the food was awesome. After a hot meal and a moment to freshen up, they headed for the door. But, as soon as they got outside, trouble was waiting.
“Well look what we have hear? This must be our lucky day guys.”

            Steele turned to find three large men coming from behind. He quickly sent Sun Lee to the car and then turned to face them.
“You’ve got quite a bounty on your head Steele.”
“And I suppose you three are here to collect?”
“No hard feelings, but killing you would make us very wealthy.”
“And kicking your asses this soon after eating could give me cramps, but what the hell.”

        Aggravated by the remark ,the leader of the three pulled a knife from his pocket. The blade came out with a snap, as the other two moved left and right to surround Steele in the middle. Now encircled by the three, he waited for them to make the first move. The one with the knife moved first. He lunged at Steele’s throat, but found his arm caught and broken with lightning speed. A sweep to the legs knocked him on the ground and now there was two.

      The two men looked at one another, remembered the bounty and charged forward. Steele lowered himself and clothes lined both to the ground. The first one up got a roundhouse kick to the throat and fell back to the ground gasping for air. The second rose to his feet and tried a front kick. Steele caught his foot and with a kick of his own, broke the man’s other leg. Spinning away from the three he stopped to find the fight over. He then faced the three, gave them his traditional bow followed by a middle finger and headed for the car.

      Steele got into the car as Sun Lee stared at him.
“What? I hate knives. Besides, they started it!”
       Sun Lee smiled at him, as he started the engine. She suddenly felt very safe