Cam Derringer Box Set

by Mac Fortner

  “Diane saw me meeting with Amar the other night. I told Cam I met with them to check out their story.”

  “Good thinking. What’s their story?”

  Buck looked at Jenny while pouring the Knob Creek into their glasses.

  “Need to know basis,” he said, sternly.

  ‘I think I need to know,” Jenny replied, equally as sternly. “If I’m going to keep meeting with him and doing business, I would like to know what kind of man I’m dealing with.”

  Buck brought the two glasses to where Jenny was sitting on the sofa. He set them on the table and took a seat next to her.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you. You’re dealing with a very dangerous man. Never let down your guard around him. You could die.”

  “What are we doing, Juba? What is all the money for?”

  “Are you sure you want to know the details? Life would be much simpler if you knew nothing.”

  “It doesn’t really matter to me what the money goes for as long as I get my cut. I have already killed some men for you.”

  Buck picked up his drink and took a long sip. He held it in his mouth and stared at the floor, then swallowed and set the glass back down on the table.

  “Very well, I will tell you a story first, then you decide if our cause is just.”

  Jenny picked up her drink and sat back on the sofa. She knew the next few moments would change her station in life.

  Buck began.

  “I was in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan and Iraq. My special skill was that I could pick a fly off your nose at twelve hundred yards with my m110. The Iraqi word for sniper is ‘Juba.’”

  Buck took a big swallow of his drink.

  “I befriended an Iraqi family in Bagdad while I was there. A lot of soldiers did. They were people just like us, just different beliefs. They were good, kind people. They had a son, fifteen, and a daughter, twenty, Farrah. She was very pretty. I kind of developed a thing for her,” Buck said, looking to Jenny for understanding.

  “Nothing ever happened but I had plans to marry her and bring her back here with me. I told her father one day. To my surprise he was elated.”

  “One day I was sent out on a mission to eliminate a team of Jubas, twenty miles north of Bagdad. There were four of us, and we were going to be gone for at least a week. We had done this before and were good at it.”

  Buck picked up his drink and took a long sip. He held it in his mouth and stared at the glass as if he were looking for answers to his sadness.

  “Things went wrong this time. We were spotted, and before we knew what happened, we were right in the middle of a mortar attack. I watched two of my good friends fly through the air and disappear. That left Ted Trueblood and me.”

  “Ted was twenty-two and as mean as they come. He wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone. In my opinion, that was just stupidity.”

  “He slid over to the right and out of sight. I went left. The mortars kept coming. It was deafening. The next thing I knew, two of the mortar launchers were silenced. Ted had taken them out. I took aim and silenced a third. Then Ted jumped up and rushed the final position. He dove right into their bunker and walked out a minute later with the launcher. I couldn’t believe his nerve.”

  Buck raised his glass and downed the rest of his drink.

  “Another?” he said, looking at Jenny.

  Jenny looked down at her drink and realized she hadn’t touched it. She raised it to her lips and drank it all. “Yes, I think I will.”

  Buck mixed the drinks, picked up a bowl of nuts and brought them back to the table.

  Without touching either, he continued. “I met Ted halfway back from the bunker. I raised my hand to high five him, and he hit me in the jaw. I thought he’d broken it. I was down and didn’t know if I was going to get back up. He said, ‘You son of a bitch. There were no mortar bunkers out here when we scouted yesterday. Did you say anything to Farrah about our mission?’ I told him I didn’t say a word. He didn’t believe me, but it was true, I hadn’t.”

  “Ted had made his feelings clear to me in the past about how he felt about me being friends with the family. He said we should just kill them all and let God sort out the good ones.”

  Buck picked a nut from the bowl, ate it and took a big drink. Jenny took the opportunity to sip hers.

  Buck looked at his watch. “Anyway, to make a long story short, a week later, Amar’s son was found dead. Shot in the head at close range. The next day, Farrah was found in their house. She had repeatedly been raped and her throat cut. My first thought was Ted. When I confronted him about it, he just laughed, looked up and said, ‘There you go, God, two more.’ This time it was my turn to hit him, and I did. Then I reported my beliefs to Commander Bosse. He said, ‘Let it go, son. Sometimes things have a way of taking care of themselves.’ I knew the son of a bitch put a hit on them. Ted must have told him he thought they were informants for the al-Qaeda.”

  “Do you think they were?” Jenny asked.

  “Of course not. They hated the al-Qaeda. They wanted peace for their country.”

  “But aren’t they working with the al-Qaeda now?”

  “Why would you think that?” Buck said, now looking at Jenny with suspicion in his eyes.

  Jenny took a drink of her whiskey and said, “Well, Amar, he looks like he could be al-Qaeda with all the money he’s getting. Why else would you be giving him all that money?”

  “Not just for the al-Qaeda,” Buck said, disgust in his voice.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that. It’s just the way it looks to me.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. The money is for us also. I’ve been working on this for six years. I worked my way into the boat-jacking business and drug trade. Bill already had a good thing going. I discovered he was committing insurance fraud. Told him I wouldn’t bust him if I could get in on it. It was a win-win situation you might say.”

  “And the money?” Jenny pushed.

  Buck turned again and looked into her eyes. “A bomb.”

  Jenny tried to hide the shock in them but couldn’t.

  Buck smiled, “I told you-you didn’t want to know.”

  “What’s the bomb for?”

  “Ted.”

  “Ted?”

  “Yes. He and the Commander are stationed at Quantico, Virginia, and the rest of the squad will all be there in one tidy little group. We’ve been waiting for all of them to be together. In three weeks they will be. It’s an all-time reunion. They even invited me. I’ll be there,” he said, smiling across the room as if someone was standing there. “I’ll be there.”

  “And the bomb?”

  “It will be coming down the Potomac River. Amar will be bringing it. It will be in a supply shipment. I’ll have a transport bring it to our reunion as a gift. They’ll get a bang out of it when I hit the button,” Buck said and laughed loudly. He sounded like a lunatic.

  “We’re hiding it in the food truck with the caterers.”

  “It’s all for revenge?” Jenny said.

  “Pretty much. But also for the al-Qaeda. It benefits us both. “You see after Farrah was murdered, I hated the United States and all it stood for. I made arrangements to meet with some high ranking al-Qaeda members. I fed them some information that resulted in the deaths of some of the men I felt were responsible for Farrah’s death. Eventually, I could see their side of the war. They were only protecting their land and beliefs. I agreed to work with them, still am.”

  “So, the bomb is large enough to kill the Commander, Ted and some of the men?” Jenny said.

  “No,” Buck chuckled, “it will destroy the whole base. Now, Jenny, it’s time for you to deliver the money.”

  Chapter 44

  I met Diane at the baggage pick-up at JFK on Sunday morning. She looked wonderful in her faded blue jeans and Rum City Bar t-shirt, hanging off her right shoulder.

  I opened my arms, and she stepped in. I already missed her. How was I going to be able to stay here for a year?

 
“Hello, Cam. Get mugged yet?” she asked.

  “Only once; I would have gotten away, but she was too fast.”

  We collected her small suitcase and went to the waiting limo. Larry opened the door for us, and we settled in the back seat.

  “My personal servant,” I said loud enough for Larry to hear.

  He got in the front seat with the driver again.

  Larry turned in his seat and gave Diane a little wave. She waved back.

  “That’s Larry, Carroll,” I said. “He’s helping me find an apartment.”

  “Any luck yet?”

  “Not yet, but I know you’ll find me one soon enough,” I said.

  “I’ll try.”

  “How are things back in the real world?”

  “Warm, muggy, loud, drunk. Same o, same o.”

  “Ah, I miss it already.”

  “One thing kind of bothers me, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I saw Sheriff Buck talking to those Iraqi guys the other night, down at the old Marina.”

  “Yes, he told me he met with them, and everything seemed to check out.”

  “It just seemed kind of secretive to meet them there so late.”

  “You think something’s not right?” I’d learned to trust her intuition.

  “I don’t know. It just didn’t feel right.”

  “Does he know you saw him?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  I thought back to our conversation. I didn’t think he would have told me he’d met with them if he had something to hide.

  “Just be careful around him until we get things figured out,” I told her.

  “I will.”

  Larry listened intently to their conversation and made some notes in his notebook.

  We arrived at the Waldorf and told Larry we could handle her small bag from here.

  “I will pick the two of you up tomorrow around ten and show you some more apartments,” Larry said.

  “That will be fine,” I told him, “but I think Chad wants me to check in with him tomorrow at the office.”

  “We’ll do that too,” he said.

  Diane was more than impressed with our suite at the Waldorf.

  “Well, aren’t you special,” she said.

  “I think so.”

  “You have anything to drink here?”

  “Wild Turkey, coke, orange juice and milk.”

  “Perfect. Milk will do.”

  Diane opened her suitcase and produced a white sack.

  “Is that what I think it is?” I asked.

  “If you think it’s chocolate honey-buns, it is. It’s Sunday morning isn’t it?”

  “I’ll get the milk.”

  Chapter 45

  Diane and I were having breakfast at the Oscar’s Brasserie in the Waldorf. It was a very richly appointed dining room. The breakfast buffet was fantastic.

  Diane wore a red blouse and a very short black skirt. Silver stiletto heels showed off her perfect runner’s legs. I had on my best suit, glad to see it still fit, and a red tie. We looked good together if I do say so myself.

  We had just finished our meal and were enjoying a cup of coffee when Larry walked in. He looked around, and I held my hand up. He saw me and came to our table.

  “Have a seat,” I said, pointing at a chair.

  “Thank you,” he said and sat down.

  “Hello, Diane. You look lovely this morning,” he said.

  “Thank you. I don’t get to dress up much anymore. Not much call for it in Key West.”

  “Do you have a plan for the day?” I asked.

  “First of all, I talked to Chad. He said he didn’t know what he was thinking, asking you to come to the office today. You’re a free man. We can look at some apartments and have lunch. If you decide on one, we’ll go back and write a contract.”

  “Great,” Diane said.

  “Yes, maybe we’ll get it over with today,” I said.

  Larry ordered coffee, and we chatted while we finished.

  Larry said he had worked for Chad for two years. “I’m not an attorney,” he said. “I just do odd jobs. I’m a retired cop.”

  “Odd jobs like this one?” I asked.

  “No, this is my first apartment hunting job, and I hope my last. Although the company I’m keeping today is much more lovely than the last two days,” he said, looking at Diane.

  “You don’t look old enough to be retired,” I said, thinking he was maybe forty. He was a little overweight and looked a lot like Colonel Sanders, premature white goatee and all.

  “I took a bullet. Early retirement.”

  We sat in silence while I signed the check, charging it to my room.

  “Are you ready?” I asked.

  “Let’s do it,” he said.

  When we walked out the front door, the limo drew up, and Larry opened the back door for us and climbed into the front with the driver again.

  “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable back here?” I asked. “That way we can talk over the prospective apartments.”

  “Naw, I’ m good. If you see one you like, then we’ll go over it.”

  We rode for about three blocks before coming to the first one. Larry opened our door and said, “608. The realtor is waiting for you there. I’ll just wait here if you don’t mind.”

  “That’s fine Larry. We’ll see you in a few,” I said.

  I saw him watching Diane as she walked to the front door. The apartments were housed in an old, ornate building by today’s standards. The front door was a ten-foot tall wooden masterpiece. The leaded glass was original but looked as good as the day it was installed.

  As we approached it, the door opened, and a uniformed door attendant stepped aside, tipped his hat to Diane and said, “Welcome, Mr. Derringer.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “The elevator is on the right, just past the lobby.”

  I thanked him again, put my arm on the small of Diane’s back and steered her toward the elevator.

  “Aren’t you the gentleman,” she said.

  “I’m afraid someone is going to steal you before you can find me an apartment.”

  The elevator was black marble trimmed in brass. It stopped on the sixth floor and opened silently. The hallway was richly carpeted and about twelve feet wide. There were tables with lamps and winged back chairs along the walls.

  608 was halfway down the hall, on the right. We started to knock when the door opened.

  An attractive lady in her mid-thirties smiled at us and said, “Welcome home, Mr. Derringer.” She then stuck out her hand to Diane and said, “Hello, Diane, I’m Kim West.”

  “Nice to meet you, Kim,” we said in unison and laughed.

  Kim held the door open for us as we entered. She looked down the hall in both directions then stepped in and closed the door.

  I looked at her because that seemed a little suspicious. She held her finger to her lips to shush me and handed me a note.

  While I was reading it, she showed Diane around the apartment. They were talking normally about the rooms and the building.

  Diane got it that she was supposed to act normal.

  The note was from Chad.

  Cam, you can trust Kim if you want to send a note back to me. She’s a long-time friend of our family.

  First of all, our deal to get your license back is real. Nothing can change that. With that being said, Larry is with the FBI. He and his partner were in my office when I called you. Our phones are tapped as well as your hotel room and my office.

  They wanted you here because you were getting too close to finding out who was behind the boat thefts. They are working on a bigger case, and the two are related. For your safety and Diane’s, I hope you decide to stay here and let them handle this.

  I wanted you to know what was going on, though, because I know how important this case is to you. I know you want to know what happened to Malinda. So do I. I’ll stand beside your decision, and you will always have a j
ob here.

  Be careful.

  Chad”

  When I finished reading the letter, I handed it to Diane and took my turn talking to Kim about the apartment.

  It was exquisite, but my heart wasn’t in it now. Everything I knew about the case was going through my mind. He said I was close. Close to what, though? Was Jenny really mixed up in all of this?

  I had to get back to Key West. Maybe Sheriff Buck could help me sort out the details. There must have been something I’d missed.

  Chapter 46

  I took the note from Diane when she’d finished it. She had a shocked look on her face and an oh-no look in her eyes. She knew what I was going to do.

  I turned the note over and wrote on the back.

  Thanks, Chad. I guess you know what I have to do. Maybe when this is over, I can come back and work with you. You’re a good friend.

  I handed the note to Kim.

  “Thank you, Kim, for showing us the apartment. It is quite lovely. We will let you know of our decision tomorrow if not sooner. We have a few more to look at today before we decide.”

  “That will be fine. I hope you decide to make this your home. It won’t be on the market long, though.”

  Diane hugged her, and we left.

  We knew we couldn’t discuss what we had just learned. Our phones would have listening devices in them, and they could probably hear our conversations as well.

  “What did you think about the apartment?” Diane asked.

  “Very interesting.”

  “I thought it was beautiful. I think you should buy it and settle in,” she said, squeezing my arm.

  “You know I can’t do that without giving the rest some thought,” I said, both of us knowing what the other meant.

  “Think long, think wrong,” she said.

  Larry was waiting by the limo. He opened the door, and we stepped in.

  When we were settled, he said, “Do we need to look any further or are you ready to settle in?”

  I thought that was an interesting choice of words. He had clearly been listening to our conversation.

  “Let’s look at another first and then maybe we can decide,” I said. “We don’t want to make any hasty decisions.”