Detroit Deathwatch te-19

  Detroit Deathwatch

  ( The Executioner - 19 )

  Don Pendleton

  $150 Million Plus.

  Thats the mobs annual "take" in Detroit. Fact, not fiction. The Mafia has big muscles in autotown.

  Mack Bolans one-man war on the Mafia shifts into high gear in Detroit!

  Don Pendleton

  Detroit Deathwatch

  Of all the benefits which virtue confers on us, the contempt of death is one of the greatest.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Death is watching me.

  I am watching her back.

  It is a game at which two can play.

  Mack Bolan, the Executioner

  Dedicated with admiration to all those who patrol the jungle yet remain immune to the dehumanizing influences there. Stay hard.

  Prologue

  Mack Bolan had never thought that he would live forever. He had not really expected to survive even the first pitched battle of his war against the Mafia.

  A military realist, Bolan had been strongly aware from the very beginning that he was waging a war of hopeless dimensions. Even so, he was not a banzai soldier. Suicide had no part in this soldier's thinking. He was a cool strategist and a masterful tactician. His war was planned and fought with military precision, directed toward specific goals and calculated effects. One overriding consideration was, of course, to remain alive and, by extension, to keep his war alive. Not a cold war but a very hot one — blitzkrieg, thunder and lightning, death and destruction, shattered flesh and flowing blood, fear, panic, hysteria — all were Bolan's stock in trade, and he meant to keep that stock active for as long as possible.

  Not, however, In the name of vengeance. Revenge could move a man just so far — and Bolan had long ago passed that limitation of vengeful motivation. Granted, his first reflexive action against the mob had been primarily motivated by a need to strike back, to achieve justice in the only clear manner available. The mob had been responsible for the violent deaths of Mom and Pop Bolan and kid sister Cindy. Police officials in the home town of Pittsfield had admitted their own helplessness in the matter. This professional soldier had not felt helpless. He was a trained death machine, an expert in one-man warfare. He had earned his code name, the "Executioner," through repeated successful penetrations into enemy enclaves in Vietnam and had been credited with 95 official "kills" of enemy VIPs. He had been described by superiors as "nerveless"; by army psychologists as "self-commanding"; and by the enemy command as "that devil." Sergeant Bolan was perhaps the first noncom in American history to carry an enemy pricetag on his head.

  So, no, Bolan had not felt helpless in dealing with those responsible for his personal family tragedy. He quickly "executed" five of those most directly responsible and immediately set out to track down the sixth. It was not until this point that he learned the identity of this "new enemy" — "the Mafia, for God's sake!" — the fabled crime organization that a Senate investigator had labeled "the invisible second government of the nation."

  Bolan did not dig that kind of "government." It quickly became apparent to this professional soldier that the Mafia posed the gravest threat ever encountered by his country. His feeling in this regard is revealed by an entry in his personal journal, penned in the early days of his Mafia war: "Why defend a front line 8,000 miles away when the real enemy is chewing up everything you love back home?"

  Being human, Bolan was not immune to the scare stories concerning the Mafia's power and ruthlessness — and, yes, he was decidedly uneasy about "taking on the whole damn Mafia." He knew that an organization that had built its success upon fear and intimidation could not turn its back on this counterattack, even by a single individual. An act of violence upon any mafioso would be regarded as an attack upon the entire organization — a debt of honor to be expunged quickly and decisively — and, in the beginning, Bolan knew that he was little more than a flea upon the back of the giant Mafia dog. He resolved, however, to be as pesky as possible for as much time as he had left — to "bring thunder and lightning to their house!" In such terms did Bolan declare the one-man war to the death against an almost omnipotent enemy — and thus began the most stirring and heroic human commitment in modern history.

  With that first unexpected victory at Pittsfield came a closer understanding of the enemy and a deepening of the commitment. Bolan sallied forth then to slay the Mafia dragon wherever contact could be made — and those contacts became legion.

  The personal hazards were compounded, also. He was operating outside the law and counter to every moral precept of his society. His name became prominent on the wanted lists of police establishments throughout the country and eventually around the world. Besides quickening police interest, Bolan had to contend also with hordes of free-lance gunmen, bounty hunters who hoped to cash in on the $100,000 "open contract" set by the Mafia ganglords.

  As the impossible odds against survival thus pyramided, the man himself "grew into" the situation — sharpened by the challenges, refined by constant peril, enlarged by each confrontation with almost certain death, strengthened by each piecemeal victory.

  Bolan, the man, was not, however, all guts and gore. There existed a sensitive human dimension to the warrior that was evident as far back as the researcher cares to delve. While he was being lauded as the "Executioner" in the hellgrounds of Vietnam, other contemporaries quietly referred to the man as "Sergeant Mercy," in recognition of his selfless services to the civilian victims of that war. Friends and associates of earlier times characterized the youthful Bolan as kind and sincerely idealistic, a thoughtful young man who seemed to be guided by a deep sense of human ethics and compassion.

  That these same attributes accompanied the man into his impossible war seems borne out by the attitude of many lawmen and other close observers who secretly cheered him on and sometimes openly offered him aid and comfort. A comrade summed up the Bolan paradox with the words: "It's a weird combination of tough guts and warm heart. Most men wouldn't know how to carry both together. The sarge does."

  Bolan's closest friend and only continuing ally was an undercover federal agent who had attained high rank in one of the Mafia families. No matter how desperate his situation, Bolan had never been known to fire upon a lawman, and many times he had risked his own capture or death to protect these "soldiers of the same side."

  In many quarters of his society, Bolan had become a folk hero. The press was generally sympathetic to the man and his mission, though there were those who frequently denounced his methods and editorialized for his early capture. There were some in government who thought that Mack Bolan should be regarded as a national hero, and indeed there had been aborted attempts to extend an offer of amnesty plus official status in the government's own war against organized crime.

  Through it all, the man walked his own path, mostly alone, a "free agent" in his own mind. Autonomous, self-propelled, selecting his own missions and carrying them through to his own idea of a proper conclusion, marked for death and accepting this as a proper judgment, he gave his every energy to a delay of that sentence, realizing that in this war of attrition, his side was allowed but one casualty.

  He could not, of course, live forever. No one knew this better than the man himself. He had learned to take life by the heartbeat, one at a time. This was, in his own understanding, "living large."

  Survival itself, however, held no meaning except in the sense that it was advancing his cause, his war. In this understanding, Bolan lived only to kill. But to kill in such a manner that he himself might live on to kill again and again. To paraphrase a childhood epigram, he lived to kill and killed to live. This would seem a shabby pretext for life if viewed entirely upon the surface of the man's war. The man
himself had deeper dimensions, however, and he took very seriously this violent destiny that had made of his entire life a jungle. He knew the rules here. He accepted the penalties. And he played the game to win.

  It was perhaps for this latter consideration that Bolan had thus far avoided the city that was known to be the home of "the most stable crime family in the nation." The risks there were too great, the odds too impossible, the task too complex to even formulate a coherent goal of combat. But the Executioner had avoided Detroit for as long as he could. Much as any man would turn with a sigh to face his own inevitable destruction, the mighty Bolan turned to Detroit to face the challenge that he had always known awaited him there. Others turned with him, expectantly, confidently, certain that this would be the final battle of the Executioner Wars and eager to be in on the deathwatch.

  No, Mack Bolan had never expected to live forever. But, sure, he played the game to win. He had come to Detroit not to die but to make war. "This whole town is a hardsite," he wrote in his journal on the eve of the Detroit bloodletting. "So let's take it one heartbeat at a time, on the numbers. If this has to be the final battle, so be it. Let's just make it worthy of the name."

  Executioner Bolan was taking on the economic heartland of the nation, and for a very good reason. That heartland was a "hardsite" — an armed camp, a fortress of Mafia power — and the nation was coming into hard times. Cancer thrives on a weakened body — Bolan knew that. A powerful Mafia concentration at the hub of American industry, at such a time, could have nothing but disastrous consequences for the country as a whole. And he knew that he had to break that death grip... or he had to die trying.

  So, yes, Bolan turned to Detroit with a determined sigh. And the city turned to the Executioner, herself sighing into the deathwatch, knowing full well that judgment had come to the Ville d'Etroit — the City of the Strait. She would become the City of the Straight — or she, too, would die in the attempt.

  Resurget Cineribus — It Shall Rise Again from the Ashes — had been the motto for this old city since the great fire of 1805, along with Speramus Meliora — We Hope for Better Things. Bolan understood and sympathized with both ideas — but he knew that a soldier did not rise again from his own ashes — and he had long ago given up on mere "hope."

  A man fought for better things.

  And sometimes, he died for them.

  1

  Targeted

  The watcher was being watched, and he knew it.

  But, yeah, that was okay. It was what he wanted, expected.

  He was standing a few hundred yards offshore, riding at sea anchor, getting the feel of the big twenty-power nightscope, as the tethered cruiser bobbed gently and rhythmically with the feeble undulations of Lake St. Clair. A scattering of shoreside estates glittered at him across the water, bright lights reflecting off the lake and adding an artificial luminescence to the atmosphere.

  One of these in particular held his full attention.

  And, sure, their security was pretty good. He had probably been spotted the moment he reached target range, and watched with mounting interest thereafter.

  But he had the vision advantage, for two well-calculated reasons. The Startron scope was the chief advantage. It amplified scattered light rays and bent them into the optics with the effect of greatly heightened night vision — very much like that of a jungle cat, Bolan supposed.

  The second advantage was provided by the night itself. The moon was full, low, behind him. There were no clouds. The wind was slanting in toward shore from the northeast, also at his back — not strong enough to affect targeting but enough to water the eyes a bit when staring straight into it, as was required of those watchers on the shore.

  They could probably see no more than the black silhouette of a cabin cruiser anchored offshore, and perhaps the darkened figure of a man seated motionless on the flying bridge. Even it they'd had the advantage of night optics, chances were about even that the thing in his arms would be taken for a fishing rod.

  Bolan was betting his life that they did not have night optics. And the thing in his arms was no fishing rod. It was the favored Mark V Weatherby — a hefty piece with a tripod swivel mount — based at a comfortable distance from the elevated fishing chair.

  He was strapped into the rig in such a way that man and weapon were one with the gentle motions of the boat, and he was "feeling in" the rhythmical target-displacement produced by that motion, learning to compensate and keep his target centered, using this same exercise as an opportunity to evaluate the situation in the target zone.

  It was a big joint, two stories, a lot of glass fronting the lakeshore — large porch, wide cement steps to the lawn, well-lighted grounds. A circular drive wound in from the far side, only partially visible beyond the corners of the house, but those areas showing evidence of many parked vehicles.

  Hardmen were spotted about the grounds — most of whom were now gazing lakeward, grim-faced, wondering — no doubt intrigued by the possibilities presented by the presence of the intruder out there. Two were trotting along the pier, hurrying toward an outboard motorboat — a boarding party, no doubt.

  And now the lights were going off in the house. Two hard-looking guys in nautical togs and yachting caps stepped outside to take up stations at the top of the steps.

  Sure. Very cautious. Taking no chances.

  And with good reason. Things had been getting tense in Detroit. There were rumors of armed clashes between the Combination and some of its franchised gangs, most notably the blacks. Coupled with this, the feds had been doing a lot of harassing lately, with around-the-clock surveillance, phone taps, occasional minor busts.

  And now there was this boat, anchored just offshore...

  Sure, they were being careful. And they did not know, yet, that the Executioner was stalking them, as well.

  But they were going to know. And damn soon.

  With a small sigh, Bolan lifted off of the eyepiece, double-checked his range calibrations, took a last look at the wind indicator, then leaned back into the scope and pitched his combat-consciousness into the final evaluation.

  The crosshairs tracked the lakefront from north to south, then began a methodical sectioning and cross-sectioning toward the house.

  He heard the cough and sputter of an outboard motor being coaxed to life; ignored it; hung stubbornly to the eyepiece of the Startron as the gridding operation developed and formed into a coherent plan of attack; then froze and hung in a sort of suspended animation as target one swung into the hairs — a little medallion with crossed anchors affixed to a jauntily worn yachting cap.

  He squeezed into the target, riding expertly with the recoil and grimacing to maintain optic continuity, grunting with professional satisfaction as the two-inch target disintegrated into a background of exploding red and white.

  Trajectory evaluation: Perfect, point-blank. No correction required.

  The targets themselves were correcting, however. The big 300-grain chunk of sizzling steel beat the sound wave by a couple of seconds. The headless hardrnan had pitched backwards and hit the cement porch at the precise instant that the powerful cra-ack of the big piece explained why — sending people in motion everywhere over there.

  Bolan's crosshairs picked up the second yachting cap about halfway down the steps; another screaming .460 punched it into the air, and the man beneath flopped grotesquely and rolled to the bottom of the steps.

  The next two rounds went deliberately high to shatter plate glass and wreak havoc on the interior. The remaining lights in there were quickly extinguished. The swivel moved on to the next preselected grid. A target there ran through the hairs and picked up track. Conditioned reflexes sighed into the squeeze. Round 5 sizzled along its flat ballistics course to overtake and overcome mere flesh, and another errant soul was returned to the universe.

  Bolan lifted off, jaw tense, eyes iced.

  Situation evaluation: Great. The delayed reaction was coming now, in the form of return-fire from several qu
arters. Two dudes on the roof, with rifles. Several near the water, in a trench of something. Others closing to center from both ends of the lakeshore. Some advancing along the lawn in front of the house.

  The riflemen were having trouble ranging him, though, and he had counted on that. A silhouette on water, with a bright moon in the background, could be very deceptive. The first scattered fusillades were coming in low, falling short. They'd be finding their range very quickly, of course — and Bolan was now moving on tight numbers.

  The motorboat had closed about half the distance. Those aboard apparently had nothing better than handguns and were waiting for a closer shot.

  Bolan tuned his hairs to that problem and quickly solved it with two heavy rounds smashing in at the waterline and a third punching into the motor. The boat immediately lost headway, and its two occupants went into a hasty abandon-ship drill.

  Bolan smiled grimly and retreated below, taking the Weatherby with him. He carefully stowed the impressive piece in a watertight float bag, then he went forward and quickly hauled in the sea anchor.

  His craft was taking repeated hits now, in a manner that could not suggest blind luck on the other end.

  So, okay, he was ready.

  He started the engine and kicked in full throttle, pulling away in a roaring circle toward open water, then brought her around to the desired course and secured the steerage on that heading.

  An instant later he slipped over the side and began quietly working his way landward, while the cruiser plunged on toward Ontario.

  The rifle fire from the shore was dying out, replaced now by the full-throated roar of a powerful cruiser that was leaping into hot pursuit of Bolan's abandoned boat.

  He was within earshot when the big speedster paused to pick up the survivors from the outboard. He listened with interest to the angry mouthings and profane promises of the chase. And he was grinning to himself as they sped off into the night.