Nick motioned Ken to come with him. “Good idea. Amir’s not completely civilized, but he’s subdued. Don’t turn your back on him for a second.”
Ken grinned at Amir, taking him by the arm as Deke rejoined Nick at his side. He opened the word game for Nick. “We’ll get along fine. I’ll be talking with you soon, Nick. Do you want me to brief Paul on this thing with Senator Barren?”
“Absolutely. I want him and Denny in on that from the start in case it becomes clear Barren and Danders take money from the same source.” Nick watched Amir jolt slightly and glance up momentarily before returning his gaze to the ground. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, Amir. You confirmed my suspicion with body language. Say it out loud for me or I call over Dr. Deville.”
Amir tensed, looking around the pier for any sign of Lynn. “Please… do not! Barren has taken my money. My operative in Washington DC acts as my liaison for both Senators.”
“Your operative you mentioned to Dr. Deville, named Fuma Sabedin, did she report to you about the trouble Barren got into with gangsters?”
Amir gasped, while looking beyond Nick, seeing Lynn walk onto the pier with Clint and the baby. They stopped to talk with Clyde and Dannie. Amir shook his head in the negative with violent emphasis. “No… no… we obtained information about anything related to spreading Islam, laundering money for projects connected with the Muslim Brotherhood and C.A.I.R., who in turn spread our investment over the network we have built. Fuma suspected Barren was dealing with someone else. She is on prime committees we need updated on.”
“That makes sense, Nick. Senator Barren sits on the Banking, Housing, Urban Affairs Committee,” Ken said. “She’s on a strategic subcommittee on the Armed Forces Committee. I would guess her other committee assignment would be a bonanza for Amir too. The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions would be a monumental plus, interpreting law where vast amounts of money can be mishandled, redirected, and disappear. Fuma Sabedin is ‘Littlebull’ Barren’s personal assistant.”
“Take this prick before I shoot him in the head. Please update Clyde, Paul, and Denny on all this crap. I’ll try and learn what group or gang Barren has been dealing with on the side. I have an idea this may be political rather than gang related. If I find Danders went on the hook right after Barren, it may be they were tipped off by a past target of mine: former Senator Diane Cameron. I remember that Fuma woman worked for Cameron. Diane has a big grudge against me. I forced her resignation and emptied her bank accounts. I heard she landed on her feet giving idiot speeches for half a mil a year.”
“Here comes ‘Don Juan’ Bacall now,” Ken said. “He has Dannie with him. Maybe Lynn gave her time off to come with us. She already has a bag.”
“Dannie’s coming with us, Ken. I’ll drive. You and Tucker can sit with Amir in the back, okay?”
“Sure. Hi, Dannie. Good to see you.” Ken hugged Dannie. “We have Paul’s ride this trip. You’ll like the trip to DC in it.”
“You look a lot happier since deciding not to retire, Ken,” Dannie replied. She turned to Nick. “You’re amazing, Nick. You need to perform on one of those reality shows. I’m making Clyde attend the next piano man concert.”
“I look forward to it, Dannie. Have a nice trip. You can fill in Clyde in the car, Ken. Dannie’s cleared all the way into Top Secret territory.”
“Good to know,” Ken replied. “That’s what happens when you hang out with Monsters.”
“Yes, but they’re my Monsters now, Ken. If you had been on board being entertained by Muerto, you’d think twice about the Monster tag. We’ll get you a date to attend with Clyde and me on the next outing.”
“I’m in,” Ken agreed. “Just so Muerto doesn’t do any Rap music.”
They walked off chuckling over Ken’s joking line. In answer, Nick launched into a spot-on MC Hammer ‘U Can’t Touch This’. In moments, no one on the pier could speak. To say shock and hilarity prevailed amongst the Monsters would be understating to the extreme. Jess ran over to join him. The duo turned the pier into a hand clapping accompaniment, with Nick doing both the music sound effects and duo dancing in perfect sync with Jess, including hand waves, hops, and moon-walk. They ended their performance to wild cheers and applause. Jess shoulder hugged the much smaller Nick.
“You good to go, brother! Where the hell did you pick all that up at?”
“In France, when I did the gig as a nightclub performer. I did a couple of Michael Jackson tunes, alternating between dancing, playing, and singing. It took the longest time for me to mimic Hammer. You are incredible, Jess. You have the moves, brother.”
“Man, I did Hammer all the damn time when I was a kid.”
“We’ll work it in when I play for us all next time,” Nick promised. “My crew and I need to get in the air back to the ‘Grove’. We have a date on my favorite beach tomorrow morning, sipping the Irish, and toning down a bit.”
“Until I wind your clock again, Muerto,” Ken called out while walking away.
Nick took a deep breath as Rachel with Quinn in her arms, Jean, Sonny, and Deke the dog moved to be near him. “Until then, Agent Carter… until then. Don’t bother calling tomorrow.”
Ken waved his understanding.
“What clock are we talking about winding, Muerto,” Rachel asked with furrowed brow.
“I’ll tell you all about it on our deck back home with an iced Beam brother and the piano keys under my fingers.”
“Okay, but this clock winding better not include a Phil and Clarice involvement.”
Silence.
“Uh oh,” Jean said, yanking on Sonny’s arm. “Jay had the Phil and Clarice watch. He didn’t text us about anything.”
“I’ll go home and find out what’s going on,” a dejected Sonny replied. “I’m sure it’s bad.”
“Stay over at our place until I get it sorted out, as much as you’re allowed, kid,” Nick advised. “There may be some dangerous elements to this I need to investigate before you can hang around your folks for more than short periods of time. You have the Muerto alarm button if someone dangerous arrives at the house. I’ll see about getting a safe-room added at your home. It seems we can’t talk sense to your folks no matter what we do. Keeping them alive is becoming a fulltime job.”
Rachel walked away. “I won’t need to kill Clarice. I’ll just beat her into a coma. No… I’ll go old school with the stun-gun nightstick… or maybe-”
“We better go after her and get Kong, Dad. I think mom’s rode the wave into the rocks.”
“Yep. I think you’re right.” Nick hurried to Rachel’s side, taking Quinn from her.
Jean turned to Sonny. “First thing is check on Jay.”
“Agreed. Do you think maybe I really was stolen at the hospital?”
“Maybe. We’ll talk dad into forging documents making it true.”
“That’ll work.”
* * *
Nick finished two hours of line edits on the deck while sipping an iced Beam brother. Jean and Sonny sat near him, working feverishly on the Phil and Clarice tapes while texting with Jay. Sonny installed the tracking device Nick gave him which recorded the destinations Phil visited. Deke slept with his head on Nick’s shoe. Rachel entered with a veggie tray and dip.
“Quinn’s down for the evening. I figured you three would be ready for a snack, especially you, Hemingway. Didn’t I read somewhere that the real Ernest Hemingway advised ‘write drunk, edit sober’.”
“That’s a misquote,” Nick corrected her. “Besides, I believe moderation in all things to be the golden rule.”
“I have the link to some very bad videos illustrating the opposite, Muerto,” Rachel replied. “You promised an explanation into this new event. Did you have a chance to investigate what’s going on and why Phil felt the need to pay a bodyguard to attend a fake passport meeting?”
“They covered their tracks at the house, which left Jay with nothing to report. The tracker recorded Phil going to his office in San Fra
ncisco more than he has done since starting work there. The kids began a detailed search of the videos made from the security cams at the house.”
“We haven’t found anything,” Jean admitted. “They’re careful in the house. We’re all trying to figure out why they would schedule a meeting at home when they know dad has the place under surveillance.”
“I did find the story claiming Senator ‘Littlebull’ Barren fears some shadowy gang she defrauded to be ‘big bull’,” Nick added. “I hacked into her phone records and email account. I also investigated Diane Cameron. She conducted video conferencing, phone calls, and a torrent of emails under a pseudo name she didn’t know I knew about from my last investigation when I busted her.”
“I get it,” Rachel replied. “Cameron figures she can make her move on you now with this whacky idea to enlist Barren’s help setting the ambush. Unlike you naïve children, I know why the meeting is at Phil and Clarice’s house. They want you dead more than Cameron does. To understand this crap, you need to think like those two toads. This elaborate scheme involving Ken Carter involves something about Ken too.”
Nick leaned back with the kids watching him speculatively. He smiled. “Ken treated Phil like the fraud and would be traitor he is the last time we needed to keep Phil under guard. Your thesis fits the scheme perfectly. As Jean said, they know we have the house under surveillance. We have a way to confirm what you suspect. After Ken agrees to the deal, if Phil and Clarice start talking about it, we’ll know it’s to draw me into the ambush. Ken talked about a stipulation Sonny had to be there. There’s just too many loose ends. I’ll play some piano and entertain for a while. It helps me think.”
“Want another Beam?”
“Thanks. I believe I will.”
* * *
Nick walked Deke, pondering the complexity of a plot so convoluted as to make no sense at all. Phil and Clarice hated him, but ambushing him in their own house made no sense at all. The scheme hinged on Nick taking the bait. His phone buzzed. It was Ken Carter.
“Phil wants to meet with us tomorrow, Nick. He’s given up all pretense. When Barren told Phil that Sonny had to be there too, he decided to come clean and get you involved too. Phil inadvertently intercepted emails between Danders, Barren, Diane Cameron, Fuma Sabedin, and Tark Ruban, the billionaire supposed philanthropist. They describe a massive money laundering scheme, camouflaging funds from Ruban and the Saudis into political action committees to elect Muslims into key state positions in Michigan. The funds will be to buy judicial positions for Sharia Law activists in the state too. They’re grooming a Muslim for the Governorship, and eventually the Presidency. Their plan is to run Benny Danders as President, with Abu El-Tayed as Vice President. El-Tayed would be next in line.”
“Gee, there’s some good news. I’m beginning to wish it was an ambush to kill me. How in hell did Phil intercept the emails and how much was he trying to blackmail them for?”
“Sabedin was careless with her laptop. She left it on the front seat of her car. Someone who knew who she was, broke in and stole it. The thief worked for Phil when he was bigtime in DC. He called Phil and asked for twenty-thousand for the laptop. Phil told him no way, unless he could get past the security password. Phil wanted a sample. The thief paid to have it hacked and sold it to a very enthusiastic Phil.”
“Now we’re getting closer to a Phil scam. How much?”
“Phil demanded five million. They agreed after some deliberation. Barren wanting a meeting at his house for the exchange, with Sonny there, finally set off the alarms in Phil’s head. Last night, Darin Soledad, the laptop thief, was found strapped to a chair inside an abandoned warehouse with a bullet through the back of his head.”
“So, heavyweight king makers, foreign governments, Senators, and billionaire anarchists, bound together in an illuminati type cabal, unafraid to erase anyone who gets in their way, huh? Phil should have asked for less. They would have given him half a million.” After Ken’s revelation, Nick talked with his attention on the area around him, paying close attention to Deke’s sense of danger. “They have something huge planned, but short of blowing the house up with the Salvatore family in it, what would they figure on doing?”
“The wildcard is you, Nick. Phil stated they don’t know anything about you being tied in with him in any way. Diane Cameron wants you dead, The Saudis want you dead. Danders, Barren, and Sabedin will soon want you dead. The good news is they think they’re going against Phil and probably a security guard.”
“They’ll go for overkill with numbers. It will be difficult to ascertain what they have planned at this stage. It would be a clean snatch and grab to simply take you all hostage while they tear Phil’s place apart, keeping a gun or knife at Sonny’s throat until they make sure of having all potential blackmail items. Knowing Phil, he would claim to have multiple files ready to be released if something happens to him. He doesn’t have the brains, even after what I’ve done to him, to realize they’ll make him tell them everything.”
“I like your thinking on the hostage taking,” Ken agreed. “We know they won’t give the jerk five million dollars. That leaves only killing Phil’s family and gambling it’s a bluff, or taking us all hostage until they find his blackmailing tools. What’s our counter?”
“Kill them all, except one, to explain the situation.”
“Simple, yet elegant. We’ll need the cartoons in on this.”
“That we will, Ken. I’ll recruit them tomorrow morning. Pick a hotel in Monterey to stay at when you fly in. I will meet with you and Phil there. By then, he’ll have a tail, making sure of his whereabouts at all times. It may be possible for me to snatch the guy following him.”
“I bet he’d be glad to tell you what they have planned, Muerto.”
“Absolutely.”
* * *
“Tell me again why we’re following this clown.” The man kept three cars back from their target. “We should grab the wife and kid right now. Make ‘em scream until this ass-wipe tells us everything.”
“The Senator thinks this guy is cute enough to really have a dead man release on the files,” his companion answered. “You heard him on the phone. He’s meeting with some dunce he hired for protection. We’ll see where the guy’s staying. One of us will take him out before the meeting.”
Gordon Cantor and Fitz Burnington worked under the guise of campaign advisors for Senator Bethany Barren. In reality, they were contract killers, working as enforcers when their real boss, Tark Ruban’s business dealings, required protection or enforcement. They left small messages of terror for people who crossed Ruban’s associates.
Flashing lights behind them caused Cantor to curse, while glancing into his rearview mirror. “What the fuck is this. I’m in the middle of a stream of traffic.”
“Pull over, G. It can’t be any big deal. Maybe we have a taillight out or something.”
Cantor stopped at the curb. “Hey, these guys are wearing US Marshal vests! What the hell would the Marshals be stopping us for.”
“Don’t know, but I don’t like it. We may need to pull the plug on this gig. Tark will have our asses on pikes if we get jammed.”
“Give me the registration, Fitz.” Cantor took the registration given him while opening the window of their rental SUV. The man approaching his window smiled. “Oh shit!”
* * *
Nick pressed the stun-gun into Cantor’s temple while firing the Taser needles from the gun in his left hand into Fitz at full charge. Cantor slumped unconscious sideways while Fitz did the dance electric for a few more moments. Nick hit the unlock button. Johnny and Jian yanked Fitz out of the passenger seat. They deposited him in the rear seat and restrained his hands behind his back quickly. Nick tossed Cantor over the center console for Jian and Johnny to restrain in the rear seat. Nick slipped into the driver’s seat with Johnny beside him. Jian closed the doors and ran back with Gus in the Ford. Johnny used knockout syringes on both men, on their way to Carmel Valley. Johnny called Ke
n.
“Two in the rear seat, on their way for hell to greet.”
Ken chuckled. “You’ve been hanging with Muerto too much, Johnny. I’ll talk things over with Phil. Call me if you learn anything we need to discuss right away. Muerto was right. This was a snatch and grab. They followed him to find out where I was. My shelf-life was due to be less than a snow-cone on a Las Vegas street corner in August.”
“I will call with anything new, Frosty,” Johnny replied, ending the call while hearing Ken’s amusement with Johnny’s tag.
Cantor struggled to sit first, squinting at Nick. He shook his head and remained silent. Burnington groaned his way into a sitting position, glancing at his partner.
“What is it, G?”
“We’re dead men, Fitz. That’s Nick McCarty driving.”
“The guy… the Saudi guys are scared shitless of?”
“Yep. How did we cross you, McCarty?”
“It’s a long story, G,” Nick replied, using the man’s initial like his companion did. “We’re all men of the world here. Why talk politics at a time like this? You guys work for a traitorous gasbag with a lot of money. He’s slowly flaying America’s skin off with his BLM, Antifa, and La Raza thug army. We’re the resistance – the first guys you want to see at your side in a fight, and the last you ever want to see facing you. I won’t bore you guys. We need questions answered. Do we need to go over the rules? Johnny has a helpful video montage where the guys we questioned ignored the rules.”
“I know the rules,” Cantor said. “What is it you want to know?”
“That’s the spirit.”
* * *
“Where the fuck are those two idiots hired to be with us, Al,” Danders asked. He nervously paced the hotel suite where four other armed men waited to attend the meeting with Danders and Barren. “Do you think they waited to ambush the guy Salvatore hired?”
“I can’t say, Sir. They’re not answering their phones. They may have gone dark to handle him, but I don’t know why they would have.”
Cold Blooded Assassin Book 8: Rule of Nightmare (Nick McCarty Assassin) Page 16