His head suddenly swung back towards the doorway, an impulse telling him the threat wasn`t over. Now he was staring down the barrel of silencer-tipped machine pistol, a third assassin aiming it straight at his head, trigger finger beginning to press.
Arnie could feel his knees buckle, his mind clouding over in shock as he stared death in the face.
The sound of the single shot reached him before the bullet, a trick of the brain he assumed as he awaited the darkness. The continuing presence of light was strange, something he had hoped for in death but hadn`t believed in. And as his eyes opened in puzzlement, they tried to focus. The outline of the assassin became clear and showed him beginning to stagger, blood oozing from his mouth as he folded to the floor. Arnie stood in disbelief before turning to stare at the slumped body of Jackson Shawcross whose outstretched right hand held his Glock19, wavering under its own weight and slowly tilting towards the floor. As Shawcross`s eyes began to close and his life drained away, Arnie could see the trace of a weak smile, a final signal in the man`s last moment.
CHAPTER 23
Back from her meeting with Janice Hoag the previous day and informed by Carlucci of the Laredo slaughter, Jessica had been adamant about not meeting at his office, choosing instead the far end of Upper Senate Park, the time 9.00am. People were mostly hurrying, as if late for work, scarves tied tightly, coat collars up as a light frost and brisk breeze opened the day. It was the type of weather that matched Jessica`s mood, and as Carlucci watched her approach, his guess that she would be angry was soon confirmed.
“What the hell went wrong, Senator? And don`t bullshit me! A good man and an innocent girl have been killed, Arnie damned well near joining them, all victims of an operation controlled by you!”
He had known she would come at him, accusations flying, all justified. But he had the advantage of knowing that she knew nothing. Her story was dead and that was all that mattered.
“Take it easy, Jessica, we`re all upset by what happened.”
“Upset? Well excuse me, Senator, but I`m a lot more than upset, Arnie was almost killed!”
Carlucci partially raised his hands in surrender. “I get your anger, Jessica, and believe me I share it. This is a disaster and it`s my responsibility. But let me assure you, this is down to treacherous work by someone I trusted, that I had to trust to get Carmen out. Such cold blooded murder horrifies me.”
“Well I`m glad it does because this was a set-up, all planned, and only by the grace of God did Arnie survive. You must know who double-crossed you!”
“No I don`t, Jessica. It could have been several sources, and trust me I intend to find out.”
“Trust you, Senator? Put trust in any of you scheming sons of bitches on Capitol Hill? No fucking way. Our contract is finished and my story now has a new objective. I intend to expose as much of this conspiracy as I can and that will include United States Senators if they`re in on this.”
“Come on, Jessica, to get Carmen into the U.S. and under Federal protection I had to involve people in the State Department, and get some string pulling done by the Senator for Texas. We now know that we`re dealing with something much bigger than any of us thought. This is power politics at work.”
She stared back at him. “It`s cold blooded murder at work, Senator, that`s what it is!”
“I get that, but don`t forget, I put my name to this whole affair, stuck my neck out, so I`m getting bitten too and have a lot to lose.”
“Spare me the pretence, Senator, you know this was a self-serving exercise right from the start and don`t try to snow-job me that it was anything else.”
“That`s true,” he said, anger creeping into his tone, “so why would I want to see it fail?”
“Because selling out is the currency of politics, what you all trade in. And I have you down as having done just that, sold out, and the consequences are two innocent lives lost. But this isn`t over, I have half a story and I`m going to get the rest, one way or another. All I need from you is who`s really behind the Corporation that owns the lab. Are you going to give me that?”
Carlucci`s expression showed he hadn`t been expecting that request, having assumed the story was dead. And now he had to choose. Playing both ends against the middle worked well as long as neither side turned on you, but he hadn`t allowed for the tenacity in a reporter of Jessica Hahn`s calibre.
His hesitation was his downfall as Jessica again tore into him. “I can see your struggle to decide is a dilemma, which tells me all I need to know. It`s clear we`re on opposite sides now, and even if you weren`t complicit in the treachery you are accepting it.”
It was a step too far for the senator. “Now look here young lady, you don`t get to speak to a United States Senator like that. You show me respect and accept my integrity until you can prove otherwise, you got that?”
Now they just stared at each other, neither willing to give way. “Your discoveries so far have been sound, “Carlucci said, “but you have an arrogance which is clouding your judgement. You have dismissed any link to the drug cartels, assuming this is all to do with that lab and only the lab. The Carmen girl`s father is a chief of police down there, so who knows what either of them might have disclosed.”
“What? You`re telling me the Laredo hit could have been the drug cartels? You kidding me? It`s the Corporation that`s behind this lab, and now they`re panicking because they know we`re onto them. So don`t try to bullshit me Senator!”
“I told you before, don`t speak to me that way.”
“Respect is earned not demanded, Senator. As far as I`m concerned, after the sabotage of this investigation your integrity is in the toilet and with it your high and mighty conceit.”
“You must find being so righteous very satisfying, but nailing yourself to that cross can have a price. Perhaps you`re in a job unsuited to such a temperament, and making an enemy out of me is a move you may regret, young lady.”
“Investigative journalism isn`t a job to me, Senator, it`s my goddamned life. And don`t mistake righteousness for hard-nosed conviction, which I have in spades. Some people think that makes me a dangerous person.”
“That a threat, Miss Hahn?”
“A threat? Now why would you think that?”
“You little whippersnapper, who the hell do you think you are? A second rate reporter down on her luck, soaked in as much self-interest as you accuse me of, and now when your blockbuster story starts to fall apart you turn on me.”
Both knew they had reached the point of no return and Jessica took a deep breath. “I remember as a kid, looking into a dark pond on a cold, overcast day and the feeling I got frightened me. And when I look at you now, Senator, I get that same feeling.”
As she turned away and took a few determined strides, the sound of her name being called made her stop and look back.
The tension in Carlucci`s face had drained, his demeanor now calm. “Think you could temper that arrogance of yours for just one minute and hear me out? You may think you have this all figured out, but trust me you don`t. And trust cuts both ways, Jessica, so do what you have to and if that includes targeting me, then so be it. But hear this. You`re in territory that you`re ill equipped to navigate, up against people who will stop at nothing to protect their interests. Eliminating the drug cartels from this thing could be a big mistake, and don`t underestimate their commitment to revenge.”
“Now who`s doing the threatening, Senator?”
“I`m not your enemy, Jessica. I have to operate in the real world, a nasty one, where moral choices are not always available and one wrong move can trash a career. When push comes to shove you may well find your own moral compass begins to embrace compromise, as you recognise that survival comes before all else.”
“Well you`ve made it quite clear that you`re not on my side and that`s treachery in my book.”
He shook his head and took a
step closer. “Okay, I`ll give you who`s really behind the Corporation, but it won`t do you a damned bit of good. We both know you won`t get the story you think you have, due to your lack of evidence and any understanding of what the hell you`re dealing with here.”
“After all that`s happened you now want to give me something, and I`m supposed to trust in it?”
“Up to you, Jessica, use it or don`t.”
With the information passed on in a handful of words and watching Carlucci abruptly turn and march off, Jessica stood in contemplation, her anger subsiding. But it wasn`t long, before a new wave of concern filled her mind. Had she played her hand wrong? She had been in the business long enough to know that her position was still precarious and that the loss of the senator`s support maybe a tactical mistake. The important piece of information about the people behind the mysterious corporation just provided by Carlucci was puzzling, and to the point of wondering whether she should believe it.
For a moment the thought of quitting crossed her mind, but she dismissed the option. No story meant a return to her dire financial predicament and a future with few prospects. But she could sense something wasn`t right about Carlucci`s last minute offering. It was like he had prepared it, had a reason for it. But then again, why such anger if he had won? And why the strange and sudden change in his demeanor at the end of what had been a bitter exchange?
What she had now, if Carlucci had been truthful, was a new lead, but one that could turn the whole investigation on its head and result in a journey to nowhere. But her options were zero and the gut instinct she felt was telling her to chase such a lead, no matter how incredible it seemed. But to be of any use in getting her story, she knew that some top level assistance would be required. That meant another risk, one that could not just compromise her integrity, but also her relationship with Arnie.
CHAPTER 24
Chella Kim had not been the first person of Korean descent to make detective in the Laredo P.D. but the first woman. Her line of inquiry had only one lead and she was at the hospital by 8.00am. Behind her slow talking manner was a sharp mind that had trapped many who underestimated her, and Arnie knew straight off that she would need careful handling. The last thing he needed was to be tied into a local police investigation that would inevitably be passed to the F.B.I. Co-operation was not going to happen.
“How are you feeling, Mr.Krench?”
“Like shit, since you ask.”
“Bullets will do that. You`re lucky to be alive.”
“Luck`s the last thing it is.”
Drawing up a chair by his bedside, she smiled. “Now we`ve been introduced let me get straight to it. We have a lot of crime in Laredo, Mr.Krench, some of it real bad, but five people shot to death in a hotel room is a whole new ballgame. I`m pretty mad at what happened in my town, and my boss will chew my ass big time if I don`t get a good start on this, and you`re my prime target, the only witness. So, Mr.Krench what are we dealing with here?”
“Three guys busted into our room and shot up the place, taking down the girl and my friend who saved me from the third assassin.”
“You call them assassins. Sounds like an organised hit.”
“Great deduction, detective.”
She drew closer. “Okay, how about you stop with the hostility, because I have a job to do. Now I need to know why these guys made the hit.”
“Can`t tell you.”
She smiled. “You know I`ll find out.”
“Good luck.”
“Not exactly co-operative, Mr.Krench.”
“Don`t intend to be. Want answers then ask your Senator, Angela Thorne.”
“Thorne? Okay I will.”
“Good luck with that too.”
“Why the attitude, Mr.Krench?”
Arnie felt like telling her to take a hike and that this was a U.S. Senator`s operation. But he liked the way she conducted herself, no heavy handed stuff, no threats. More importantly, he wanted to know what she already knew and especially if she had found evidence amongst Carmen`s things, stuff the assassins could have been after.
“Look, detective I know this is a big deal for Laredo P.D. and I`ll give you what I can, but it`s constrained by my situation. If you need confirmation, ask the Senator for Texas, she knows the deal.”
“You saying she`s involved?”
“Sounds like that`s got your attention, detective.”
“It did. Thorne and I have history.”
“Why, didn`t you get along?”
“With her not many people do. She`s the type who plays you, lets you into her confidence, then leaps at you like a leopard from a tree. Can`t stand her, and I sure as hell wouldn`t trust her.”
“Well I`m just a guy earning a living, having to trust everyone, even against my better judgement. But my trust vanished real quick in that hotel room. Some sonofabitch, or maybe all of them, betrayed this operation and murdered two innocent people.”
Chella Kim nodded. “Fair enough, Mr.Krench, I get that, and you seem like a decent guy, someone who would want to help the P.D. do its job. This is one serious situation we have here, one which we`re struggling to even make a start on. We know you and Mr. Shawcross were on the good side and the three stiffs on the bad. What I can`t figure is where the Honduran girl fits into this. Can you give me the heads-up on that?”
“Nope.”
“Then you may find yourself not able to leave town if we think you`re holding out on us.”
“I`m a victim, for Christ`s sake.”
“And a witness, so it means my boss will view it as obstruction.”
“You want me to beak my promise to Senator John Carlucci, which is to keep this confidential?”
“That`s the way it works in a police investigation. It`s up to you.”
“Look, this operation is controlled way up the food chain, so there`s not much I can tell you. Nothing about the hit, don`t know who but I do know why. So maybe we can help each other, but only up to a point.”
“Then what would you need from me?”
“Nothing that would compromise you or police procedure, just what the Honduran girl had in her belongings, a diary, anything written down.”
“If I tell you what we found then you tell me what this is all about, at least in terms of the girl, that fair enough?”
“Yeah, that`s fair enough. So you first, what was in Carmen`s diary? I`m looking for references to her boyfriend, Jeb Hoag, and anything to do with where she worked, which was a research lab in Honduras.”
“It`s got names, but not Honduran by the looks of them, American names. Only a couple of lines about a guy named Jeb, which I guess is who you`re referring to, and there are dates but no details. Several pages list her disgust at the treatment of animals in a lab, especially the monkeys. But here`s the kicker, the one I want to know about, because my boss tells me this lab is American owned. She recorded that she saw two human bodies in with what she called a pile of dead monkeys. It`s all in poor English but there`s no mistaking what she`s claiming. So who is this girl, what is this research lab all about, and why was she hit?”
Arnie took a deep breath, shocked at not just the written record of dead human bodies at the lab, but that the U.S. government must know about it. The military base was coming back into his reckoning and the thought that Major Greenmire may have played him was now a distinct possibility. And if so, it was a crushing one.
“Did these entries in her diary look random, written on different days, or did they look deliberately compiled?”
“Looked like a diary should, entries on all sorts of dates, even a variety of inks, the way you would expect it to be.”
“Is that it, any other notes, anything that looked like documentary evidence?”
“A few lines about her father and the position he held as Chief of Police in Cartagena,
all in Spanish. One of our officers translated it and mostly it showed her anger at the hold the drugs barons had over her father, the fear that went with such widespread corruption. She was one frightened girl.”
The detective pulled her chair closer. “Your turn, Mr.Krench. Who was this girl, why was she so important and why was she killed?”
“Federal witness, just an hour away from U.S. Marshal protection in a safe house. She claimed to have valuable information concerning the death of those three Marines beaten to death in that parking lot here in Texas.”
“It`s connected to that?”
“Her witness testimony was in exchange for U.S. citizenship.”
“So who were the guys who killed her?”
“That`s what we don`t know, but it was an inside job, someone betrayed the operation, someone with powerful political connections. That Honduran lab is involved. We had assumed there was a military connection, then it looked as if the drug cartels were involved but who the hell knows what`s really going on. One thing`s for certain, political pressure is at work and it`s high level stuff. These people will stop at nothing.”
Detective Kim took a moment to process the revelation. “Well by taking out the prime witness it looks like they`ve succeeded. Has your investigation got anything else?”
“Nope, just a pile of circumstances and a whole lot of speculation, none of which adds up anymore. This thing`s over.”
“Not for Laredo P.D. it`s not. We have a mass murder to solve and we won`t be giving up.”
“Well good luck with that. I think you`ll be chasing your tail and eventually a political directive will land on your boss`s desk telling him to hang it up. And he will, because it`ll come right from the top.”
“Cynical, Mr.Krench, but not unrealistic. One last thing, we found a separate piece of paper at the back of Carmen`s diary, that looked to be a photo copy of a company document, but it had no heading. Hand written at the bottom of the page were the words: this has to be the Cygnus agenda. Any idea what the Cygnus agenda is?”
The Cygnus Agenda Page 18