Assassins Betrayed

by Robert Cuma

  “Actually, he helped me out of a tough situation many years ago. He is a good guy. Aldo Rey, that’s his name, must be about sixty years old by now. He was a contractor for the Agency during the Nicaraguan war in the early nineteen eighties. Back in those days, he was a big money launderer but now he is a legitimate rancher. I think you girls will like him.”

  We finally arrived at Aldo’s ranch three hours later. As we drove up to the front gate, a guard stopped us. I told him to tell the boss that Steven Cross is here. The guard called the main house for conformation. When he mentioned my name on his cell phone, he quickly opened the gate. As we drove the three miles to the house, we passed hundreds of cattle grazing the land. Tina commented, “This place is huge, what is this guy, a millionaire or something?”

  “He’s very rich if that’s what you mean.” We pulled up to Aldo’s mansion and parked the car. As we got out of the car, a lone rider on horseback came galloping from the fields. It was Aldo. He stopped his horse on a dime and dismounted like the lone ranger. He stomped over to where we were and gave me a big bear hug. “Steven my old friend, how are you?”

  “I’m fine, Aldo, and how are you doing?”

  “As you can see, all around me is prosperity. What brings you to my humble palace?”

  “Would you believe we were in the area and decided to stop in and say hello!”

  “Great, how long do you have?”

  “We were going into town to find a hotel only for one night.”

  “Nonsense, my friend, you and your entourage can stay here tonight. I have many bedrooms and I can’t sleep in them all. Stay here tonight and I will have a feast prepared.” He snapped his fingers and ten people came from nowhere, scooped up our belongings and escorted us into the house. Aldo and I went into his recreation room for a drink. The girls were taken to their rooms. He gave me a cigar and a stiff drink. He continued, “Did you hear about the bombing in Panama yesterday?”

  “This is news, what happened?”

  “Steven, I know you only too well. If there is destruction of that magnitude with that many bad guys disposed of and you are on the same continent, you either, did it or had it done. But don’t reveal your secrets to me. Tonight we have a celebration. Tomorrow I’ll worry about the customers I lost in Panama.”

  “I thought you were out of the money handling business?”

  “I always keep my finger on the pulse of my enemies. As of yesterday, some no longer have a pulse. Enough business talk, who are those fine beauties traveling with you?”

  “They all work for me.”

  “Good old Steven, you always traveled in style.”

  Then my beauties arrived looking fabulous. I formally introduced them to Aldo and he was the perfect gentleman. He asked, “Do you girls ride horses?”

  They all chimed in together, “Oh yes.” Aldo summoned a bunch of his boys to take the girls riding. I think several of them were his sons. This was good. It would give Aldo and me time to catch up. Besides, I knew he had information for me. The girls left for their ride and we continued our talk.

  Aldo said, “Steven, you are the smartest operative in the world. No one can fool you in your business. The only person I know who would open two bank accounts in the Cayman Islands with three-hundred million in each account is probably you. Who is Stefano Lupo from Milano? The man doesn’t exist. I know my business, Steven. I don’t care about the money. I just want to know how.”

  “I thought you were a rancher now?”

  “Money is my business, cows are a hobby. The movement is untraceable. It’s ingenious. Keep the money it’s all from the bad guys anyway. I need to know how.”

  “It’s a new system developed by some friends of mine from the Agency.”

  “I know where this guy Bono hides all his money. We can make a deal.”

  “How do you know Bono?”

  “He has been scalping the drug cartel in Latin America and they are getting dangerously angry. If I had this knowledge, we could bring him out in the open. You can keep your money and I get to break Bono. Right now, no one, can touch him, he’s too ruthless. Let’s work together on this one. I know the right people in the Caymans. If you want to, take him out in the islands. We have to get him there and moving his money will do the trick.”

  “I want Abdullah Azure thrown in.”

  “I’ll think about how to handle him.”

  “We’ll talk more tomorrow. Let’s sleep on this one.”

  I went to my room to freshen up and think about Aldo’s offer. I knew I couldn’t expose Tina. If her talents got out, then the entire cartel would be after her. I had to come up with something fast.

  That night Aldo’s people put out a fantastic feast. They roasted a cow on an open fire. His whole family was there, sitting around a huge table under the Costa Rican sky. A mariachi band was playing, kids all over the place, local girls from around the area to entertain. It was a good evening. As the hour became late, my girls were getting loaded on tequila and starting to get a little wild. I had to round them up and take them to their rooms. I suddenly became very concerned over the girls. I didn’t want Aldo to suspect any one of them to be the computer genius so I put them all in my room. I undressed them all and threw them into the bed. I went to Tina’s room to grab her computer. When I returned to my room, I fell asleep on the floor atop a furry rug.

  The next morning seemed to come quick. The girls wouldn’t leave the room until they woke me up. They knew something was going on for me to do what I did. For fear of the room being bugged, I whispered in each one’s ear telling them not to mention anything about moving money. I especially told Tina to erase everything off her computer that would make her look like a genius. They were all hung over but knew I was serious.

  All of us cleaned up and went to see our gracious host for breakfast. Again, it was another feast. I took Aldo by the arm into his den.

  I said, “Aldo, I think we have a deal but everything is done through CIA headquarters. Give me Bono’s bank account numbers and his aliases, along with the account numbers where you want the money deposited. I’ll take them to a secure location and my trusted people at headquarters will make the changes. Once that’s done, I will contact you to set up a meeting with Bono so I can make the hit.”

  He responded, “We are talking about a lot of money, my friend, I don’t know.”

  “Aldo, you know me too well, I’m not an extortionist.”

  “Well, take ten percent so I know you are my partner in crime.”

  “Sure, I’ll have to pay some of my people in DC anyway. Get me the information before I leave today and give me a few days to complete the job.”

  “I’ll give you the info within the hour.” We shook hands and rejoined the breakfast party.

  Aldo said to the girls, “You did not sleep in your rooms last night. Were you all uncomfortable?”

  Tina jumped right in, “Well, we like to keep the boss happy if you know what I mean. Sometimes it takes all of us.”

  “Steven, you lead a charmed life. I expect to hear from you soon, right!”

  “But of course, Aldo, three days perhaps four at the most.”

  ______

  He gave me the information I needed and we prepared to leave. We thanked our host and left for the capital, San Jose. I didn’t want to check in with the embassy so we used what equipment we had to make calls from the road. I called Grimes to let him know our intentions.

  He answered his phone, “Grimes here, how can I help you?”

  “Dean, it’s me, Steven.”

  “Steven, where are you? A lot is happening!” He was definitely shook up.

  I asked, “What’s going on?”

  “I lost my position as Director and I’m under investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee. They allowed me to keep my office but I have been stripped of my powers.”

  “Why did they do that?”

  “Apparently, some group bombed a conference hall in Panama killing all the Hightower
participants. They think I ordered the hit.”

  “Why would they think that? It’s preposterous to even implicate you in something that weird.”

  “Do you know what went on down there?”

  “Don’t be silly, this is the first I’ve heard of it. Tell me, who is the chairman of this committee, Dean?”

  “Senator Dreyfus, William Dreyfus. Do you know him?”

  “I’ve heard of him. Listen, surround yourself with people you absolutely trust and make sure they’re from our hardcore staff. If anybody approaches you, the code word will be ‘songbird’. When you hear that word, know you can trust them. Let them take the lead over your people. Sit tight and wait until you hear from me. I’ll surface again in a few days. I have some ideas.” We broke our connection.

  I immediately briefed the girls to tell them we would be taking a detour through DC. They loved the idea. I asked, “Tina, did you delete all the information off your computer?”

  “Yes sir, exactly like you told me to. Why?”

  “Well, I needed you to move all the money out of the bad guys’ account from your computer while we were on the road.”

  She thought for a moment and said, “Did you not say I was brilliant?”

  “Yes, I did. Why, can you still do it now?”

  “I’m afraid I know how to retrieve deleted data from almost any computer. Give me a half hour and it will be done. Do you want the money to go into our Cayman bank account?”

  “That will be fine but before you do that get us priority plane tickets to DC. We have to leave today.”

  “You got it, Boss.”

  I then called Miller in Taipei. After all the salutations, I told him of the Grimes’ situation. I asked if he had some people to help with protecting Grimes. He told me it would be done today. I gave him the code word. We made our conversation brief.

  ________

  That night we arrived in DC. We immediately rented a large sized black car. I told Gina to drive and to head toward the Capital building. On the way, I called the Capital’s switchboard. I asked for Dreyfus’s office. She quickly connected me. One of his staff members answered the phone, “Senator Dreyfus’s office.”

  I responded, “Hi, I’m an assistant for the Secretary of State and she was wondering if she could speak to the Senator.”

  “The Senator is tied up right now. Can’t she wait until the dinner at the White House later?”

  I thought quickly, “Oh, he is going to attend. I must have my wires crossed somewhere. I think the Secretary is going to have my head for messing up. I’m sure she will wait until the dinner tonight to speak with the Senator.”

  “Hey, I understand. All of us assistants are under a lot of pressure lately.”

  “Thanks for understanding.”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t mention it to the Senator.”

  “Thank you, my friend.” We hung up.

  About that time, we were coming around the corner where the limousines wait to pick up the senators. I got out of the car and started to question the drivers in their limos as if I had some authority with the Capital Police. It wasn’t long before I found the driver for Senator Dreyfus. When I looked at the girls in our car they knew what I meant, this was the target limo. Quickly, Gina came around on foot and entered the limo from the passenger’s side. As I distracted the driver, she did the chloroform trick. Tina, now driving our car, pulled right up to the limo. And under the cover of darkness, we moved the driver into the backseat of our car. Gina sat in the driver’s seat so she could play chauffeur. Hannah moved into the shadows to be able to come from behind once the Senator arrived while I sat in the rear of the limo. We all waited. Several minutes later the Senator arrived, he was accompanied by his female assistant and a security officer. The security guard opened the back door for his charge and the Senator entered with his assistant. They both sat in the back seat as I pointed my gun at them. I was sitting in the jump seat facing the back. Hannah came out of the shadows and pointed a gun to the security guy’s head. She moved him to the front passenger door and sat him in the seat. Then Hannah chloroformed him as he fell on the floor. Meanwhile, I said, “Sit down and relax, Senator,” as I brandished my revolver.

  He exclaimed, “Who are you? What are you doing in my car?”

  “Sit tight and no one will get hurt.”

  He began to get out of the limo when I pushed him back in his seat.

  In a calm voice, I said, “Sit there and don’t move, just listen.” As Gina began to maneuver the limo onto the street, there was a police car waiting to escort the senator to the White House. Tina was following us in our car.

  I continued, “Senator, you are a corrupt person. You and your associates are conducting illegal operations all over the world.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Shut up and listen, it may save your life. I do know about the bank accounts and your ties to organized crime. Bono in Italy, Popov in Russia, Azure the terrorist, do I need to go on?”

  “Okay, what do you want from me, money, my life, what?”

  “I don’t want anything except for you to drop the investigation of Dean Grimes at the CIA. Leave him be and you can continue living in your corrupt world. You see, I don’t care about people like you, so do this one thing and you’ll be safe.”

  “How do I know you can be trusted?”

  “You don’t know. That’s why you won’t go after Grimes in the future. Oh, by the way, you should be directing your suspicions toward the Russians for the Panama incident.” I pressed the intercom button for the driver to stop. Gina got the message, she made a sharp turn and with some good maneuvers, we eluded the police escort. Then Gina pulled into a driveway, we all jumped out and got into our car. Before we left, Hannah dumped the Senator’s driver out of our car. We sped off into the night.

  18 – The Assassination

  ______________________

  We caught the 8 p.m. out of Dulles to Milan. Sleeping all the way, we returned to Gina’s house in Tuscany to continue our R and R. It was midday when we arrived, of course, the first thing we did was eat, a little good food.

  I said, “Did everyone have a nice trip?”

  Tina replied, “Oh, I had a great trip. There is so much excitement and travel in this business. I’ve recently been to three countries in three days and didn’t see anything!”

  Gina interrupted, “Now, Tina, let’s not forget the horse ride we had with those wild cowboys.”

  “Well, I must admit the boys were cute. But I’m not an easy girl. Maybe if we could have stayed a while longer something might have happened. And you two were no angels either.”

  Gina responded, “There were too many for me to handle, that’s for sure.”

  Hannah spoke, “Tina, this is the nature of the spy world. The thing you must realize is this mission is centered in Italy, where the next mission might be in another part of the world. You get to spend a lot of time there, especially, if it’s a hell hole.”

  I chimed in, “Listen, Tina, you have a lot of schooling to finish before you can be a spy. Even though I would take you right now over most agents I know, I still want you to go to the university.”

  “I know, Steven, I know. I love being with you guys.” Gina and Hannah grabbed Tina and showered her with kisses.” The three of them went to the hot tub for relaxation. Yes, Gina’s father built an indoor glassed-in hot tub. Again, they went off to frolic. They tried to get me to go but I just wanted to be alone for a while.

  I thought about the deal I made with Aldo. Was it the right thing to do or was I being too patriotic? A crooked Senator, a terrorist, a gangster and a whole host of corrupt politicians, along with a large drug cartel, Aldo was probably right. The money was so dirty they did not deserve to have it. Also, the opportunity to get Bono was enticing. My mind was made up we would do the job!

  I called Tina out of her hot tub and told her we had work to do. She came running down the hallway with a towel wrapp
ed around her cute little body.

  “What’s up, Boss?” she asked.

  “We are going to move more money today.”

  “Okay, can I get dressed first?”

  “No, we don’t have any time.”

  “Alright,” she said, as she dropped her towel.

  “Oh, Tina, go get dressed, I give up with you,” as I smiled at her.

  “Anything, you say, Steven,” as she ran back down the hall to get some clothes on. Soon enough the other two came to see what was going on. After we all gathered in the computer room I explained to the three of them most of the deal I made with Aldo. I cautioned them about telling anyone about Tina’s exceptional talents. This they all understood.

  Gina asked, “Does this mean we can all retire early?” she too was smiling over this situation.

  I said, “I don’t know about an early retirement but it does mean we will be moving billions of dollars. And we do get ten percent of the transactions.”

  Hannah asked, “For that kind of money did you marry us off to Aldo’s sons?”

  I smiled and said, “I thought about it but what would I ever do without you three.”

  Gina responded, “I’m sure there will be three more.”

  “No way, I’m happy with what I have now. Okay, let’s get started.”

  Again, Tina started her magic fingers flying across the computer keyboard.

  Hannah commented, “Look at all the zeros after each number. This can’t be possible.”

  I responded, “We are moving approximately twenty billion dollars at ten percent that gives us two billion. Guys, that’s a lot of clothes shopping!”

  Hannah commented, “If Aldo knew about our accounts in the Caymans, he knows too much. Steven, do you want to trust him that far?”

  “Probably not, so Tina, we should try to move our new money to a different account in another country.”

  “Okay, we’ll put half of the money in an account in Hong Kong and the other half in Switzerland. Of course, our ten-percent goes to Taipei.” She put the finishing touches on all the transactions. Aldo had his money while we made our commissions. Tina also moved our Cayman dollars to a new Swiss account. All transactions were untraceable, as usual.