by Robert Cuma
Mike replied, “Sure, Boss. Should we travel on a commercial flight?”
“No, go with Hawk back to Athens, from there go on to Taipei via military transport.” While they were getting their things together, I told Hannah about Miller’s plans for Hawk. She began to blush. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I added, “You deserve all good things, my lovely Hannah.” She looked into my eyes and just smiled. Then I sat with Gina and Tina. I asked, “Tina, do you really want to come with us to a far-off land?”
“I meant what I said about staying with you guys. I have nothing here except my brother at the university and he’ll be fine. He has nothing to do with my disgraced family.”
“Have you ever been to the Far East?”
“Except for this last trip to hell, I have never left Italy in my whole life.”
“Well, this will be an entirely new and good experience for you. Go see Hannah so she knows what you are doing.”
“Okay, Steven, I’m looking forward to this new experience.” She left to see Hannah.
I asked, “Gina, what do you want to do? If you want to stay here, that’s fine with me.”
“No, Steven, unless I will be in your way, I want to come with you.”
With my arms around her, we passionately kissed each other. Then I said, “Gina, I want you with me. Besides, the case is the same in Taipei. We will find links to Bono’s drug activity. And I’m sure people out there are looking for Bianca. We’ll go see Enrico before we leave to make sure things are stirred up a little.”
Everybody went their separate ways while Gina and I went to Rome. Once we arrived, we went straight to see Enrico Bassie. He was in his office in the church by the river. When we entered, he jumped up to great us with a hearty welcome. We all sat down and shared information over some good Italian espresso. Enrico said, “I heard about the raids in Sicily. They upset a few people around town.”
Gina responded, “Enrico, why didn’t you tell us Marko was dirty in the first place?”
“I only had suspicions. It was the raids that convinced me of his guilt.”
“So, why don’t you have him arrested?”
“My dear Gina, he is but a small fish in a very big pond of corruption in our country. There are people higher up that I want to catch before this is over.” Enrico stood and walked over to a large map hanging on a wall. He proceeded to flip the map over to its other side, which revealed a flow chart of the entire Bono operation. It showed people like Campo and Marko with a red circle drawn around them. He even had the CIA chief in Rome on his chart.
I finally had to say, “Enrico, we can’t lock up the entire country.”
“If they are guilty, then we will!”
“Okay, if you say so, we’ll support you. I thought you might like to know that we destroyed his operation in Uzbekistan.”
“That’s marvelous, my friend. The rats will be scrambling for sure.”
“On top of that, we removed one of the American traitors.”
“How did you do that?”
“He decided it would be in his best interest to commit suicide.”
“Wonderful, I knew you would be turning things around.”
“Do you think Balsano is dirty?”
“The father I’m not sure of but the son I think is clean. It’s just some of the small snakes around him that are direct links to Bono or Campo.”
“Okay, I think we will take care of Campo before we leave.”
“Where are you going?”
“To my office in Tokyo for a little while, I’m going to take Gina with me, if that’s okay with you?”
“Sure, try stopping in Taipei. There is a large drug processing plant in Chi-lung. Also, there is another plant outside of Manila in a town called Iba.”
“Why am I not surprised? Iba was a town controlled by the Hightower Corporation, which was used for many things including a slave trade operation. Okay Enrico see if your field people can locate the whereabouts of Campo before we leave. Also, keep a close eye on Fred Clark, the Hightower headman in Italy. Gina and I will be at the same hotel you put us in before. We’ll wait for your call.”
Enrico said, “I will take care of everything. Good luck to both of you.” We shook hands and off we went.
When we arrived at the hotel, we stayed in the same room as before. Gina and I began to make passionate love all over the place. It was like the first time and we continued until we passed out.
________
It was 6 a.m., when Enrico woke us up. He said, “The subject is on the move. He’s headed for DC for a big meeting with the primary company. Next week he goes to your place out east.”
I knew what Enrico meant with his cryptic message. I responded, “We’ll get right on it. Thank you, my friend, we’ll be in touch.”
“Good luck.” We hung up the phone.
I turned to Gina who was still asleep. As I looked at this incredibly beautiful girl, I kept on hoping she would not tire of me. I tried to wake her with a kiss but she just sensually moved her naked body around in the bed like a pampered cat. Then I lightly tapped her naked bottom and said, “I’m sorry, my love, but we must get ready now.”
“Oh, Steven,” she moaned, “do we have to go so quickly?”
“If it were up to me, we would stay here forever but duty calls.” After we were both ready, I sent Gina down to the desk to have them make reservations for our trip to DC. Then I called Tom York at the embassy to see if he could meet with me for a few minutes at the coffee shop. He agreed.
Tom arrived promptly at the coffee shop where I sat with Gina. I introduced them and got down to business. I asked, “Tom, how are things going with Roger’s murder investigation?”
“Not good, between the powers that be in the embassy and the Italian police, I can’t get anywhere.”
Gina chimed in and said, “I will give you a contact to speak with in the Tuscany region. I’m sure he will be able to help you.” Gina gave Tom her cover business card with a phone number on the other side. “Call him later today. This will give me time to tell him about you. Do not deal with anyone else in this matter and please, be discreet.”
Tom replied, “I really appreciate the help, Gina. I’m at my wits end with this case.”
“You are welcome. Steven speaks very highly of you. I know this person will be helpful to you.”
I said, “Gina has good contacts around so good luck and be very careful. Just figure everyone in the embassy who you don’t know too well is dirty. I’ll contact you in a couple of weeks when I return from DC.” He thanked Gina again and shook our hands as we parted. On the taxi ride to the airport, Gina called someone on her cell phone. The way she spoke, I knew she put Tom in touch with her father. Tom would be in good hands. In no time at all, we were airborne on a comfortable commercial flight to the U.S., first class, of course.
_______
Before landing, I contacted Dean Grimes to have a car and driver pick us up at the airport. We immediately went to Langley Headquarters to meet with Dean. When Gina and I arrived at Dean’s office, he gave us a hearty greeting. When I introduced him to Gina, he said, “I’ve heard so much about you from Silvio that I feel we’ve already met. Anyway, welcome, would you like some coffee?”
“If you have some that would be nice.” Grimes’ assistant brought us all coffee as we sat to chat a little.
Dean asked, “How is this Bono business going?”
I responded, “We’ve inflicted serious damage to many of his processing plants and we will continue with a few more out in the Far East.”
“I assume you’re getting support from Special Forces.”
“Sure thing, unfortunately they suffered some serious casualties in the last raid.”
“That’s too bad. They are a good group of troops to have on our side. You’re coordinating everything though Colonel Miller I trust.”
“Oh, yes, Miller has been a great help.”
“You know he is getting a promotion in a day or
two.”
“I’ve heard. Will you be attending the ceremony?”
Grimes continued, “I’m going to try. I keep on getting interviewed by Congressional committees and the President’s people on the Hightower situation.”
“Are you getting anywhere with all the politics?”
“I think so. Any day now, I expect the president to put out an executive order banning Hightower from obtaining contracts from the federal government. The only rat that I suspect is a senator Dreyfus. He heads the committee for the investigation of Hightower.”
“We’ll keep an eye on Dreyfus but the other news is promising. Oh, one other thing, Dean, this guy Hill, who is running our operations in Italy, he is imbedded with the Hightower people. He’s responsible for having a State Department official murdered in Florence.”
“Do we have enough legal evidence to prosecute him?”
“No, but he is at the bottom of it all, I’m sure.”
“Well, Steven, take care of it your way. I couldn’t care less about Hill.”
“When the time is right, I’ll take care of it.”
Grimes replied, “Good, now Gina, tell me, how do you like working with my star assassin?”
“At times it’s hard but always exciting for sure,” as she turned to wink at me, “I am learning a lot from Steven.”
“Remember, my dear, he has more latitude in this organization than anyone else. So try to keep him grounded.”
“I’ll do my best, sir.”
“Good. Now, Steven, I assume that after the ceremony for Miller you will be returning to the Far East.”
“We will for a while, then back to Italy to hopefully close down the entire operation. All roads lead to Rome. Incidentally, I need you to assign a couple of our people to keep an eye on Campo since he’s here in Washington. Bono may be here as well. I need to know when they leave DC and where they are going.”
“I can handle that for you. Now, why don’t you show Gina around our facilities? Here, take this blackberry. It’s a new untraceable device that will allow us to communicate anywhere in the world.” He handed me the phone and after the customary handshakes, we were on our way.
Gina and I walked around headquarters and I introduced her to some of my good friends. This Italian beauty made quite an impact within the cloak and dagger scene as everyone wanted to meet her while others just gawked. After a while, we wound up in the main communications center where for the first time Gina was impressed. This place looked like something out of Star Wars with its two story viewing screens of incoming satellite imagery and the hustling analysts all over the place. There are never less than twenty people manning the center at any given time. From there, we went to see an old friend by the name of Winston Moore. Winston was born in the U.S. but was raised in England. He finished his doctorial degree at MIT and has become a world-renowned computer genius. I took him into the field with me one time and the mission turned extremely dangerous overnight. The young 26 year old enjoyed every minute of the experience. We learned to trust each other from that treacherous situation. No matter how long we don’t see each other, we still maintain a great friendship. When I introduced him to Gina, he was beside himself.
Winston said, “Steven, it is great to see you again,” as his eyes were fixed on Gina.
I said, “Winston, focus,” he began to chuckle like a schoolboy.
I continued, “The only thing I miss about working in DC is you, my friend.”
“Same here, Steven, everything is boring without you shaking up the world. Can I help you with a mission or something like that?”
“You sure can, buddy. Find out all you can about the business dealings of an Italian mobster named Ricardo Bono. His holdings, off-shore assets, corporate involvements and anything you might deem important.”
“Sure thing, Boss, I’ll get right on it.”
I gave him my new blackberry number and told him he could reach me anywhere in the world.
He had to say, “Oh, you mean, the one I designed the code for. It is a great piece of technology.”
“Winston, you’re so modest. Once again, I’m impressed with your knowledge and that’s a fact kid.” We shook hands and left the genius to his work.
Walking out of the building, Gina asked, “Do you really think Winston can come up with more information on Bono?”
“Gina this kid will come up with things neither one of us could even imagine.”
__________
I had our driver take Gina and me to my little condo not too far from headquarters. Once we arrived, I let the driver go until morning when we had to be at Miller’s ceremony. The building management takes care of the place when I’m not around, so the place was clean. One of my windows had a view of the street in front of the building. This was a prerequisite before I bought the place. And once again, it paid off. While Gina was in the shower, I observed the street below. There I saw a car parked with what appeared to have two occupants inside. I thought that I would look into this further after I cleaned up. Once Gina was out of the shower wrapped in a bath towel, I kissed her with extreme passion. It was with strong willpower that I pulled myself away from this lovely goddess and made it into the bathroom for a cold shower. Life cannot be all about making love. Or could it be?
As I was drying myself, I heard a loud crash in the other room. I quickly came out with a bathrobe on and no gun. To my surprise, the apparent duo in the car was now in my apartment. They were sitting on my couch. One was smoking a cigar while the other had Gina sitting on his lap with a knife to her throat.
The cigar-smoking thug spoke, “Mr. Cross, I presume.”
Cautiously, I responded, “To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
“My name does not matter. I am but a small fish in a very large pond. Please, sit and relax so my friend with the rather large knife won’t get nervous.”
I sat across the room in a chair. The intruder had what seemed to be a Slavic accent, possibly Russian. Gina’s towel was hanging half off her, exposing her breasts. I’m sure the two goons were enjoying that part of the show. Gina showed no fear. I guess she had developed too much confidence in my capabilities. I said, “Well, it looks like you have the upper hand in this situation. What is it that you want?”
The mouthpiece of the group spoke up again, “Mr. Cross, lately you have been crossing international borders without the proper authority. And you have destroyed a vital piece of an important operation.”
“What exactly do you mean?” The partner pushed the knife deeper into Gina’s neck drawing a little blood.
The headman calmly spoke, “You must understand, we know what you have done and it would be a shame if something would happen to this rare beauty you have here.”
“Okay, I get the point. What do you want me to do?”
“Actually, we want you to continue your mission to rid the world of that dog, Bono. You see we were also fooled that day in the Alps.”
“Oh, I see, you were the ones who blew up the car that day with the body doubles in it. Would you care to tell me what organization you represent?”
“We all were very disappointed in the mountains. Right now, you should know that we could get to you at any time. It doesn’t matter who we are. We come to you with two requests. One is to get rid of Bono and the other is to stay out of our region of the world.”
“Like Uzbekistan? I thought you guys were partners.”
“Bono has outlived his usefulness.”
“I think we understand each other. If you don’t have any other orders, you should leave.”
“Good, we have an arrangement. We’ll leave you to your woman, but remember anytime we want the girl dies or worse. We’ll be in touch.” He motioned to the other goon and stood up to leave. The other guy complied but not without pulling the rest of Gina’s towel off her. They both laughed as they left the apartment. Moving quickly, I told Gina to stay there while I checked something. Not wanting to spook them, I grabbed the night sc
ope in my drawer and ran down the back stairs to beat the two thugs to the street. They took a leisurely ride down the elevator and then got into the car I spotted earlier. As they drove by, I memorized their plate number without being noticed. Returning upstairs, I found Gina sitting on the couch.
I asked, “Gina, are you alright?”
“Oh sure, Steven, as long as you’re with me, I feel safe.”
“Great, just don’t get too confident.”
“Steven since we’ve met I’ve been shot at, bombed, beaten and stripped bare in front of strangers. I have all the confidence in the world that you will save me.”
“You are one sweet baby.”
“I might be, now let’s not allow all this excitement go to waste.” Off to the bedroom we went, but not before, I thoroughly secured the door.
______
The next morning Gina and I sat around sipping instant coffee. I gave some thought to the events of the night before. These thugs appeared to be Russian mob but I wasn’t sure. I called headquarters for a report on the license plate number. They informed me it was a vehicle belonging to the Russian Embassy. I had many contacts with the old KGB, now known as the FSB. Maybe I should pay them a visit, but first Miller’s ceremony. It was a typical military program, which began too early in the morning. On the way over, I gave Grimes a call on my new blackberry. Of course, it took Gina to show me how to use it properly. Once I reached Grimes, he told me to meet him at Miller’s ceremony. We both arrived at the same time. Just before Miller’s moment of fame, Grimes and I took a short walk around the grounds. Gina stayed with Miller. She hung on his arm to give everyone the illusion she was his significant other. I was sure that Miller loved every minute of Gina’s attention. He deserved it all.
After we were out of earshot of the maddening crowd, I told Grimes about the incident at my apartment, he was not surprised.