Read Online Reverse Metamorphosis book one of the Irrevocable Change trilogy by R.E. Schobernd - Free Book Online

men Clay was to remain anonymous.
They were to keep his involvement with the family to themselves.
Leaking his name on the street could endanger his family, and if
they were dragged into this mess someone would pay for having a
loose tongue.
    Wednesday morning, at the third business he
visited on Haverity Avenue, Joey learned what he wanted from the
wife of a man taking a severe beating rather than give the
information demanded of him. She pleaded for Joey and his men to
stop hitting her husband when she saw one of the men take a
shortened ball bat from a cloth bag he was carrying.
    She said a group of Russians had told them if
they didn’t keep their mouths shut and pay the Russians the same
protection fee’s being paid to the big Italian they and their
entire family would be raped, tortured and killed. Joey then
learned the Russians collected at this store and others in the
neighborhood every Friday morning, which would put them back there
in two days.
    After talking to Joey, Clay escorted Anna to
the hospital to check on Tony’s condition and progress. The guards
at Tony’s room informed them two policemen had been there earlier,
but Tony wasn’t awake. The detectives promised to return the
following day. Clay told the guards to keep one man in the room at
all times and the other outside in the hallway. They were directed
to signal the other side with a knock on the door prior to anyone
being admitted or allowed to leave.
    Clay excused himself from the vigil with Anna
to make a forty five minute tour of the hospital facility. Making
his way from Tony’s third floor room he surveyed the second and
then first floor layouts. He then went to the basement where in his
wanderings he discovered a service entrance. The entrance was
approximately ten foot wide by fourteen foot high. The garage door
opened automatically when a vehicle approached either side of the
door and closed after it passed through. Not wanting to be away too
long he headed back up to Tony’s room. Clay and Anna stayed for
three hours during which Tony woke up enough to acknowledge both of
their presence, say he hurt like hell, and succumb to the drugs
again.
    On the ride back to Anna’s house, he brought
up the subject of Tony’s recovery.
“Have arrangement been made for where Tony can be taken; a place
where he can recuperate out of sight and be safe for a prolonged
time?”
    “Yes, for the last eighteen years we’ve been
making yearly donations to the Thompson Medical Research Hospital,
a facility in Wisconsin. The director of the hospital understands
the nature of Tony’s business. The agreement is if any of the
family is injured and needs recuperative care for an extended stay
they are to be admitted anonymously.”
    When they returned to the house Anna called
Clay into Tony’s office and closed the door. She used a key to open
a drawer in the cabinetry under the walnut book shelves and showed
Clay a drawer full of cash. “There’s over thirty thousand dollars
here. Use it to buy what ever you need for this job. There’s more
if and when you need it.”
    Two hours later Joey stormed into Clay’s
newly assigned headquarters.
    “Those son’s a bitches killed two of my men
this afternoon. Shot them both in the back at close range while
they were making collections. Both of them are dead. And then an
hour later somebody took a shot at me too. I’ll have men waiting
for those Russian collectors when they show up Friday morning, and
kill the whole damn bunch.”
     
    Clay stopped Joey in his tracks and said
calmly, “Joey, there will not be a shoot out tomorrow. You are
going to supply me with the people I need on the street. Find a
location for a camera to be setup across the street on a second
floor, and you stay there too. They apparently know who you are and
I want you out of sight.” Joey was fidgeting and red in the face.
”We’re going to let the workers lead us to their boss. He's our
target. Hell, we don’t even know who our