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True Crime: East Meets West

Chapter 17: Hot Time in Venice

Notes:

I had to do some brainstorming for this because I realized that some stuff I wrote in the previous chapter may be a bit much. You'll see in a bit.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It was afternoon. The day was not over yet. Nick and Marcus face death straight in the eye when they went to raid a house that had a drug lab, as well as a stash of weapons that a low-level gang sat on for safekeeping. Some of the surviving suspects were brought in for questioning, but there was still more than what met the eye.

Nick and Marcus drove down the streets, trying to decide on what to do. Nick had decided to pay some people a visit to that tire shop from before, as well as talk with the undercover feds who were on the case with that beach gang. Being that Venice and Santa Monica were close to each other, it would be the best option to handle them one at a time.

Nick picked up the phone to make a call to the Discount Tire in Santa Monica. He drove on the street waiting for the call to get through until he heard someone say "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Detective Nick Kang," Nick said. "I was wondering if Francis and Joey are working today. I need to talk to them."

"Neither of them are here today," the person on the other end said. "They're off today. Should I take a message or something?"

"No, that's okay," Nick said. "I'll swing by sometime soon. Thanks."

Marcus looked towards Nick. "What happened?"

"Those guys are off today," Nick said. "Something tells me that the person was lying, though."

"We already talked to those guys the other day," Marcus said. "Besides, that one girl is counting on you to find her boyfriend. If I were you, I would go do that shit right now before some Russians find his ass."

Marcus was right. When he and Nick went to check that guy's house, those hired guns were ready to kill someone. Nick remembered when he asked that woman Tina some questions and she told him that her boyfriend Ray was getting in deep with some really bad people.

"But those feds probably know something about those guns and who they belong to," Nick said. Conveniently enough, his phone rang right when he said that and he immediately picked up.

"This is Nick Kang, live from the crime scene," Nick said.

"Nick, this is no time for jokes," Chief Parks said.

"Chief, what's going on?" Nick said.

"Listen, Nick, I just need to tell you to not worry about the stuff with the weapons," Chief Parks said. "Masterson called and from what he told me, his undercover agents gained some intel about those arms. They gave some information how that guy Bunker Weiss and his crew were asked to sit on those arms for some Russians. They even said that Richard Tyler was cooking some of the drugs for some of the Russians to sell, as well as that crew. That beach gang was working with the Russians. Maybe that was connected to that picture I showed you at that Mick's."

"So what are you telling me?" Nick said.

"I am saying you don't need to talk with them yet," Chief Parks said. "Masterson has agreed to give us some information that you guys need for this case. But what do you think that those arms are for?"

"Reed here made a good point earlier about how the Russians may be doing some kind of deal," Nick said. "Anyway, I'll get back to you. I got a call earlier about something. I'll let you know if I find something."

Nick hung up and put his phone away.

Marcus said, "So what's the deal?"

"The feds told the chief some stuff," Nick said. "Those weapons were to be held for some Russians. I think you may be onto something, Reed. Those weapons look to be used for some deal. Chief told me that the Russians had some of those guys sit on the weapons, but they also wanted that geek to cook up the drugs for dealing."

"Well, with these drugs coming from New York, those weapons have to be for some gang out there," Marcus said.

"That might be a start, but how do you figure?" Nick said.

"I got that fool from earlier to talk," Marcus said. "But for this to happen, there's got to be something bigger than that. How could some crime syndicate in LA be forming some alliance with a New York crime syndicate? Some must have set this up."

"There's always someone at the top of the ladder," Nick said. "I did not expect the Triads and Russkies from before to be working with the North Korean army."

"I think I remember hearing about that on the news," Marcus said. "Just like how with all of the gangs I busted, the mole behind all that shit was my fucking mentor."

Nick looked at Marcus with a bit of confusion when he said that.

"Excuse me?" Nick said.

"I'll tell you the whole story one day, but let's just say that I was a pawn in someone's plan," Marcus said.

"You never know who is playing you," Nick said. "Anyway, we're going to check out a Best Western in Venice. Seems that guy Ray is staying over there, or at least was. We better get there before someone beats us to it."


It took quite a bit to get to Venice. Not too long, but it was quite a drive from EOD headquarters. They drove around to find any Best Western hotels but couldn't find any. He pulled the car over to the side where plenty of beachgoers were walking around. Several men and women in swimwear, as well as people walking their dogs, as well as surfers ready to hit the water for some waves.

"You think this girl lied to us?" Marcus said.

"I don't know," Nick said. "Her boyfriend was involved in that heist that I took down. She said that she wasn't involved, something told me she was speaking the truth, even though I didn't believe her at first."

"You can't always trust people, you know," Marcus said.

Nick got out his phone and called Tina.

"Hey, Tina, this is Detective Kang," Nick said. "Listen, my partner and I are searching Venice for a Best Western. Last I check, the Best Westerns are in Santa Monica."

"That's what Ray told me," Tina said. "He gave me the number to his room."

"Give me that number and I'll have someone trace it," Nick said.

Tina listed the numbers for that particular phone number. It seemed like maybe this guy was really on the run that he wouldn't tell his own girlfriend where he was staying.

"Listen, I'll call you back and I will talk to him about meeting with you," Nick said.

"What did she say?" Marcus said.

"I'll tell you in a bit," Nick said and called headquarters. There was one person he needed to call.

"Hello, Rosie, I need you to do me a favor," Nick said. "Can you run this phone number for me please?"

"Sure thing, Nick," Rosie said on the other line. "This should take a bit."

The two detectives sat in the car and after a couple of minutes, Rosie said, "Okay, I got it. It seems that the calls to that woman were from the Venice Beach Hostel. It's one of the cheapest places in Venice and Marina Del Ray."

"Thanks, Rosie, all I need," Nick said and quickly hung up and started the car.

Marcus looked around and saw some people strolling around the beach. Some didn't look like they were ready to go catch some rays or to go for a swim. No, they looked rather suspicious, as they were in black suits and had an Eastern European look to them.

It didn't take long for Nick to pull up in front of the hostel. Lucky for him, he had that picture of Ray and Tina with him. Nick went right for the front door, while Marcus stayed behind.

"Nick, I'll be on the lookout outside," Marcus said.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Nick said. Marcus nodded at that.

Nick went up to the front desk, where a man in his late-30s to early-40s was sitting.

"Excuse me, sir," Nick said. "Police business, EOD, I'm here on inspection."

"What kind of inspection?" the receptionist said.

"I'll cut right to the chase," Nick said and immediately flashed that photo. "Have you had this man here check into any of your rooms?"

The receptionist had a look of suspicion on his face.

"Don't give me that look, I'm a cop," Nick said. "Some really bad people are looking for him."

"I ain't sayin' nothin'," the receptionist said.

"Okay, but just remember that I am trying to protect this guy from getting his fucking head blown off," Nick said and turned around to head to the door.

"Okay, okay, okay," the receptionist said. "He is in room 22 on the second floor. But I saw him leave to go somewhere about 10 minutes ago. He went to grab some food."

"Okay, thanks for telling me," Nick said.

Nick got out and Marcus was checking out the area. He signaled to Nick and looked another way. It seemed that to the left corner of him across the street were those two men.

Nick whispered to Marcus, "Let's walk a bit down the street."

In that moment, the two Russian gangsters followed them and went down the street. One was ready to reach for a gun, but the other shook his head. He pulled out the bottom of his jacket and saw a knife in a sheath clipped to his belt.

After a bit, Nick and Marcus walked up and saw a Caucasian male in his mid-to-late-20s walking. Nick saw him and immediately recognized him. It was Ray, who looked up and was all, "oh shit."

"Ray, relax, we just need to have a word with you," Nick said.

"It's not that," Ray said. "BEHIND YOU!"

But the two detectives knew what was up. As soon as Marcus turned around, he saw that one of the assassins gripped and brandished the knife in a stabbing position and came right at him in a stabbing motion. But Marcus thought ahead, grabbed the man by the arm and slammed the man's hand right against a hard wall, causing him to drop the knife. Knowing that the man was not about to give up, he saw the Russian throw a left hook towards him. Marcus quickly ducked grabbed the man's left hand and twisted the man's arm and pushed him up against the wall and got out a pair of handcuffs and shoved him to the ground.

Meanwhile, Nick nearly experienced the same thing, except he quickly ducked and jumped up to deliver a hard side kick to the man's face. At that very moment, Ray started to run away.

"Marcus, I'll go handle Ray," Nick said. "You take care of these two."

"Got it, partner," Marcus said.

Nick saw that Ray was up ahead a bit and across the street. He quickly ran after him. Along the way, when a car pulled up to an intersection, he jumped and slid across the hid, much to the shock of the driver.

Marcus got out it his Razr phone and called 911. "Hello, this is Detective Marcus Reed. I am working with the Elite Operations Division. Requesting backup on Washington Boulevard in Marina Del Ray. Send some backup, stat!"

However, he saw that the other Russian hitman got up and didn't pay much mind to him. No, his only concern was taking care of Ray and possibly Nick. So he got up and ran right in the same direction where Nick was going. This guy appeared to be in good shape as he ran like the wind and did not stop if he got winded.

Luckily, Marcus saw a beach cop on a bicycle roll by.

"Hey, I got to go after this guy," Marcus said, referring to the handcuffed thug. "I requested backup. More units shall come."

"You got it, officer," the bike cop said.

Marcus went after the other thug. The thug came across a man on a dirt-bike talking to a woman and then pushed him off and took the bike.

"Fuck me," Marcus said.

By a stroke of coincidence, he saw a guy in a Jaguar pull up. He was wearing nice clothes, was African-American, and had dreads. With this guy ahead of him on a motorbike, he needed to catch up to him somehow. He would use the muscle car, but Nick had the keys on him. He had no other choice.

Marcus went up to the man in the car and flashed his badge. "Police, I need your car right now."

"Fuck you, man, this is my car, I own this car, it is NOT stolen!" the man said. Funny he should be saying that to Marcus, as he was a black man as well. Even then, on the surface one would suspect that Marcus was trying to carjack the man, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Marcus was a detective with his own methods, even if it meant bending the rules a bit at times.

Marcus pulled out his pistol and pointed it at him. "It is now, move over."

"Man, fuck that, I'm going to pick up my woman in a bit," the man said.

"That ain't my problem," Marcus said. "I only need for it a bit. You just sit tight and then you go do your thing. Just be on the lookout for some guy on a dirt bike."

"You scratch this puppy, and me and you are gonna have a few words!" the car owner said.

Marcus tailed the man on the bike, while the man was Marcus's personal lookout man at that point. The man on the bike was farther ahead. With so many people walking around the pavement, it was hard to maintain speed. It shouldn't be too hard to figure it out as they were close to the beach. He even made a left in an intersection, causing some cars to bump into each other. Lucky for Marcus, he passed by a couple of alleys and saw the hitman on the dirt-bike on the other end each time.

I got you now, motherfucker. Marcus thought.


Meanwhile, Nick had been running after Ray. Being that Nick was in better shape than Ray, he knew that Ray would not get very far. It wasn't that Ray was overweight or anything like that, but because he had a drug problem, there was just no way that this guy's stamina was up to par with a martial artist like Nick.

Nick managed to catch up to Ray at some point and told him to follow him in through a restaurant to try to evade the hitman.

"EOD," Nick said to the hostess and flashed his badge. "We'll be right out. Can you tell me where the restroom is?"

The hostess pointed to the direction. Nick held onto Ray as they walked through some people waiting to be seated. The way he walked Ray to the restroom area drew attention on some patrons who were eating their meals.

Nick guided Ray into the men's room and let him go.

"Well, well, Ray, didn't think I'd find you, did you?" Nick said. "Didn't think that those Russians would find you either, huh?"

"The fuck do you want from me?" Ray said. "I told you that I needed to be away a few days ago."

"Well, obviously you didn't get very far," Nick said. "Tina's been really worried about you."

"Tina…," Ray said and looked away. "Please, just keep her out of this."

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't," Nick said.

Ray panted a bit in response. He didn't know what to say.

"I don't have all day, Ray," Nick said. "Just tell me what is going on here."

Ray still couldn't say anything. It was just that hard for him to do this.

"I'll take you to the station," Nick said. "I will call Tina so that you can meet with her there."

Ray nodded his head. The two exited the restroom and headed to the front entrance of the eatery. Right when they were about to exit, Nick saw the dirt-bike roll by, and not too far behind, a Jaguar with two black men in it rolled by, as it looked like it was following the bike. Nick realized that Marcus was the man driving. A squad car pulled up as well.

Nick quickly ran towards the car and told the uniformed cops to keep an eye on Ray. The two cops agreed to it.

Nick told Ray, "Stay with these two. I got to help my partner out."


Marcus was on the tail of the hitman, who continued to look for Nick and Ray. He sped through more traffic. He realized that he should catch him in the opposite direction. The hitman came in close with Marcus facing him now.

"I think that's him," the car owner said.

"Are you insured?" Marcus said.

"Yeah, why?!" the car owner said.

Even in the streets of New York, Marcus certainly knew how to do some tricks with cars.

"Won't promise that this won't ding your car," Marcus said and quickly turned the steering wheel hard, causing the car to turn in 180 degrees and stomped on the brake as it hit the bike, causing it to crash into a curb and send the hitman flying into a window.

The glass shattered, the hitman fell right through and knocked some tables with food. He crashed into a restaurant with a lot of people in the dining area. He even knocked a patron down. The patron pushed him off and the hitman found a woman sitting at a table dining with a man, likely her husband or boyfriend.. Marcus got inside through the broken window.

"Everybody down, now! Police!" Marcus yelled.

The hitman grabbed the woman and put her in chokehold, like she was a human shield and got out a knife. This restaurant was two-story and the hitman dragged this innocent woman up the stairs. Marcus quickly drew his .45.

"Release the woman, motherfucker!" Marcus yelled. It didn't stop the hitman from putting the sharp end of the knife close to her neck.

The hitman continued to drag the woman up the stairs. The woman clearly struggled with this, but also knew that if she tried anything else, she would be dead on the spot. The hitman saw a door, but it was locked as he tried to open it but couldn't.

"Give it up, asshole!" Marcus yelled. "Release the woman, motherfucker, I'll fucking shoot!"

Much to Marcus's shock, the hitman released the woman and pushed her down the stairs as he jumped the railing, knocking down a busboy and a cook and went into the kitchen. He even jumped the counter where waiters and waitresses pick up the food to serve patrons.

"Are you okay, Miss?" Marcus said to the woman, who nodded her head.

Marcus quickly went right to the kitchen by going around.

"You have nowhere to go now, give it up!" Marcus said.

Before Marcus could draw his gun, the hitman hit Marcus in the hand with a pan that was on the counter. He then picked up a kitchen knife and tried to stab Marcus with it. Marcus quickly dodged it. With it being so cramped where they were, Marcus grabbed the hitman and pushed him against the counter where the drawers were. But the hitman shoved Marcus off of him and delivered a right hand to the face. The thug tried to crawl, but Marcus delivered a hard front kick to the hitman's face.

A couple of cooks stood there and watched, wondering if they should help Marcus. The hitman, still on the floor, picked up the knife and swung it across Marcus's left leg, ripping a slight hole into his jeans. He got back up and brandished the knife in a stabbing position. But Marcus quickly grabbed the assassin's arm and drove it to the counter to get him to release the blade. But he wasn't done, as he saw a stove nearby, which happened to be on. Marcus drove the hitman's right hand right to stove. The hitman screamed loudly, causing the patrons and other stuff to look up.

"You got the right to remain silent, asshole," Marcus said. "But I can let that scream slide."

Nick entered the restaurant through the front entrance. He saw Marcus struggling to walk that guy out.

"Cuff his ass," Marcus said to Nick.

The hitman looked right at Nick and said, "It's you. You're that cop."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's me, yada, yada, yada," Nick said. "Tell it to your boss."

Nick grabbed him and grabbed the handcuffs and put the hitman's hands behind his back as he stood in front of him. Nick kneed the hitman in the gut a bit. Marcus yelled "motherfucker!" and punched the man to his side. Everyone in the restaurant watched as this happened and continued to look on as they took the hitman outside.

Ray sat in the back of the squad car that Nick had those two beat cops look after him. Another squad car pulled up as Nick leaned in closely to the hitman's ear.

"I know who you work for," Nick whispered to the man's ear. "I know you were sent to kill Ray and I think I was your next target. Just tell your boss one thing if you see him: I'm coming for him sooner or later."

The hitman looked at Nick with some confusion. He just knew that he was not messing around, especially now that he was onto the Russians at that point. Marcus opened the door for the back seat of that cop car. Nick shoved the hitman into it.

Nick and Marcus saw that everyone around looked on, even bystanders who were outside. They just knew what went down in that restaurant.

"Nothing to see here, folks," Nick said.

Nick and Marcus walked around and saw that cop car from before. Nick went up to the driver and told him, along with his female partner to take that man in the back seat to EOD headquarters in Downtown LA. Nick informed them that the man was with them. The two uniformed cops nodded their heads in agreement.

Close by, a couple of black men were in a car. One saw the two cops.

"There they go right there." One of the men turned out to be A.K., Bobby Green's right-hand man. The other was Big Tank.

"Should we go for it?" Big Tank said.

"Nah, you heard that fool Mike," A.K. said. "He's onto us, but we're going to take that pig out soon."

"I'll fuck that fool up with my own hands," Big Tank said. "You know how I do shit sometimes."

"Yeah, I know that," A.K. said. "But something tells me we should go outside the family. We got to talk with the Russians to see if they know anybody who can take these two out. But until then, we'll figure it out. Besides, B.G. wants to become R.G. That pig wants Bobby to take him on himself, but we ain't gonna let that happen. That fool gone soft ever since he became a pig."

"Don't say that," Big Tank said. "You saw what he did to the other gangs in New York."

"He got lucky," A.K. said. "Enough of this shit. Let's get the fuck out of here. We'll handle him soon."

Meanwhile, Marcus and Nick had gone back to the Venice Beach Hostel. They decided to go back to the precinct. Nick started up the car.

"I got to make a call first," Nick said and got out his phone. It wasn't long until the car went through.

"Tina, this is Detective Kang," Nick said. "We found Ray. I want you to meet us at the E.O.D. headquarters. You two need to talk. I'll see you in a bit."


Back at headquarters, the two detectives brought Ray in, who looked up and saw an attractive redhead woman with a few cops with her. It was Tina.

"Ray, what's going on?" Tina said.

Nick cut in. "If you two want to talk, you two need to do it in private. I'll take you to a room where you two could talk it out."

Nick led the way for the couple to talk this whole thing out. Marcus stood back with Rosie, Rico, and Chief Parks in silence.

"Rosie," Marcus said, breaking the silence. "When you and I talked the other night, you said that you have had people from your past try to take you out, right?"

"Yes, I did," Rosie said.

"It's happened to me, too," Rico said. "I also have a criminal past with gangs and stuff. It's nothing new."

"Yeah, but do you ever have someone you have a long history with somehow coming back after so long and try to take you out," Marcus said.

"It can happen," Rosie said. "Why? What's going on?"

"I'm just asking, that's all," Marcus said. "Excuse me, I need to make a call right now."


Inside the interrogation room, Tina and Ray sat in front of each other. Tina clearly wanted to talk, but it seemed that Ray was hesitant in doing this.

"Ray, come on, talk to me," Tina said. "I know things haven't been working out for us lately, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't care what was going on with you. You got to tell me about what caused you and those assholes to rob the bank the other day. Are you in some kind of trouble?"

It was then that Ray looked at up Tina directly in the eye.

"I'm going to tell you everything right now," Ray said. "I'm going to tell you this because I love you and I would never want to hurt you in any way, even though I haven't been straight with you lately."

Ray paused and cleared his throat.

"Okay, here it goes," Ray said. "I have been in heavy shit lately with some Russian gangsters. I know I have gotten back into my bad habits. I needed to make some money somehow. So these Russian gangsters came to me, Neil, and Joe to see if we wanted to push this new drug that hit the streets sometime recently. But because I can't seem to break my drug habits, I tried out that new drug. I read about Pop. It's supposed to be like Ecstasy and Coke, but with more of the kick. I didn't have the right amount of money to deliver to the main boss. Somehow they got word that I was getting high on my own supply, which meant that I didn't make the right amount of money that they needed. They thought I was ripping them off. So I needed to find a way to pay them back."

"So that means you guys needed to hit the bank," Tina said. "You know how I feel about those guys you were with."

"Yeah, I know, you don't have to tell me," Ray said.

"Yeah, but Neil put a gun right to my head," Tina said. "I peed in my dress that day."

"You don't know the whole story," Ray said. "Neil had been wanting to pull a score for a while. When we got to the bank, I knew that it was the bank that you worked at, but he told me to shut up and do the job. Apparently, he and Joe had some involvement in the drugs, but mostly with those guys in Venice. Neil and Joe were connected, but they weren't part of their crew. Neil was only cool with that asshole Bunker, but that was it. However, I owed the Russians a lot of money, so this was one way of trying to get the money to them."

"I see," Tina said. "Look, I'm not blaming you for any of this, but you should have told me about the problems you were going through."

"If I did, I would put you in danger," Ray said. "That's why I have kept you out of all my shit lately. I know that we were on the verge of breaking up, but I love you so much that I can't let you get involved. I don't want anybody to hurt you. In fact, since you told me that Neil had put his gun to your head, it pissed me off."

"How could you not know that they put a good to my head?" Tina said.

"Like I said, I've been on drugs lately," Ray said. "I was fucking high when I was supposed to look out and shoot in case things got messy. I'm so fucking stupid, I can't believe that I let the drugs get the better of me. I couldn't stop myself from the relapse." Suddenly, Ray's voice cracked.

Tina went forth and hugged him and started crying as well.

From the other side of the wall, Nick stood there and watched and overheard everything. This whole conversation was being recorded on video, as well as recorded on audio. Just then, Chief Parks walked in.

"What do you got, Nick?" Chief Parks said.

"It seems that this was all the therapy this fool needed this whole time," Nick said. "But I did not expect there to be any connection to that beach gang."

"What a coincidence," Chief Parks said.

"You bet your ass," Nick said. "Looks like I may have to pay Ray's friends a visit sometime soon."

"Hey, Reed told us that you got into another scuffle with some Russian gangsters a little while as well," Chief Parks said.

"This guy was on the run from them," Nick said. "Something tells me that the Russians are trying to tie up loose ends."

"What do you mean?" Chief Parks said.

"Because of that shit with those weapons earlier," Nick said. "Word will go back to them. I'd hate to do this, but I have to find that Weiss guy now."

"You've done a lot today," Chief Parks said.

"When do I ever stop?" Nick said.

"That's always something I've admired about you, Nick, you never know when to quit," Chief Parks said. "Got to respect that."

"Damn right," Nick said and then left the room.


Meanwhile, Marcus went outside headquarters. He got out his cellphone. There was one person he needed to call. This time, it wasn't Lt. Dixon, nor was it his father Isaiah. It was someone else, someone who was his only link in this town. He called and waited for the call to get through.

"Hello, Vivian?" Marcus said. "This is Detective Reed."

"Hello, Detective Reed, how's it going?" Vivian said.

"Fine, listen, I want to know something," Marcus said. "I got your text message earlier. Where are your boyfriend's friends going to be tonight?"

Notes:

That's it for this one. I left it on a cliffhanger. The next chapter will be one that I have wanted to do lately. That means I will be bringing Vivian and her boyfriend Han back into the mix. I know I haven't done much for them lately, but they're still in the story. Just like how there will be more with the yakuza.

Regarding the chase on the streets of Venice, I used two movies as inspiration. One was the chase scene in Colors (1988) when Sean Penn and Robert Duvall chased after the character of High Top and then ended up in the restaurant. The other with the Jaguar was a bit inspired by Speed (1994). Funny thing though, as both that scene from Colors and that scene from Speed had the same actor in it, and that was Glenn Plummer.

Regarding the stuff I said in the first note, I will note that I didn't think much through in the previous chapter, so I clarified that Agent Masterson had spoken to his undercover agents about the arms supply and left out Francis and Jojo. They may appear again later, but I just didn't want to have too much in there. Plus, I felt that I needed to have Ray come back. Another thing I should note is that I found out afterwards that no Best Westerns are located in Venice, so I put that in as someone lying to ensure no one finds him. I researched it and had it be that he was staying at the Venice Beach Hostel, which exists, by the way.

The next one will be one that I had been wanting to do lately. I will get to that soon. Peace.