Justification For Killing

by Larry Edward Hunt

  Nearing the house, he paused behind one of the large oak trees and spent a second or two scanning the house. A few lights were visible in the lower floor windows, and a couple of windows on the second floor indicated, possibly, someone was up there too. He carefully surveyed the area around the house – he did not see a watchman or a guard. He could see the snow on the grass, being illuminated by the glow of the lights from the lower floor windows. He could see no fresh footprints in the new fallen snow. He did see some older prints that had been partially filled with windblown snow. Those footprints indicated the persons who had walked there earlier had gone around the left side of the house. Why would they be going around there?

  His decision was to inch his way around the left exterior keeping away from the windows, hugging close to the shrubbery to avoid detection. Hopefully, he could get around to the rear of the mansion without being discovered. He moved from his hiding place from behind the trunk of the tree. The Captain was about to take his first step toward his objective when a form suddenly appeared from behind a nearby tree blocking the sidewalk between himself and the house.

  Oh, by-ned, they do have a guard! At first all he could see was a head. What was on the head? Is that a cowboy hat? Yes, it is, he thought, but for a guard he is not exceptionally large. Considering his small size he surely must be armed. That’s okay, he thought reaching into the pocket of his coat for his own .45 caliber automatic pistol.

  Raising the pistol up into firing position, he waited for the shadowy figure to make his move before he fired. He knew the noise of the Colt automatic would arouse everyone in the house, but if it were his life or the ghostly figure next to the tree, this wasn’t going to be much of a choice. He pulled the hammer back into the cocked position – looking over the pistols sights he drew a bead dead center on the ‘watchman’s’ chest. Slowly placing his index finger on the trigger, the Captain knew it was now or never.

  “Captain, Captain Scarburg, is it you?” The phantom like apparition said in a voice barely above a whisper.

  “Yes, I am Captain Scarburg. To whom am I addressing?”

  “I am Anhur Captain. It is me Anhur,” he said stepping out from the shadows of the trees into the dim light. The Captain stood stunned as he watched Anhur slowly approach closer.

  Firmly keeping his pistol ‘at ready’ Captain Scarburg hesitantly moved toward the petite figure advancing toward him. As the person neared, he could plainly see, it was indeed Anhur.

  “Anhur, my friend. Is it really you? What are you doing? Why are you here?” The Captain questioned in a quiet whisper. “By-ned, where in the blazes did you get my cowboy hat?”

  In a hushed voice, Anhur replied, “Ah, the hat... yes… later, but as always Captain Scarburg, I cannot keep my nose out of your family’s business. That is funny!”

  “Funny? Funny! Anhur how can helping me be funny?”

  “No, not that kind funny. Funny because I do not have what you Earthlings call ‘a nose’.

  “Right,” said Grandpa, “point taken. How are you going to help Anhur? I am trying to find Forrest and Olive Marie before something dreadful happens to them.”

  “I am sorry to inform you Captain something dreadful has already happened to them.”

  “Tell me Anhur... they are not... not... dead, are they?”

  “No, but alive only for the moment. They are being held captive in this house. Their captors intend to eliminate them tomorrow after the ‘event’.”

  “Yes, I know about the ‘event’, give me a quick run-down on their situation.”

  Anhur moved in close to the Captain and explained how both Forrest and Olive Marie were being held in the basement. They were bound, blindfolded and gagged. One Secret Service agent was sitting just inside the basement entrance, and another was stationed at the top of the stairs leading into the main house. The only other person in the house was a woman by the name of Margaret White. All the others had departed immediately after the party. There had been a number of people at a guesthouse within twenty feet of the basement door, but it was now unoccupied.

  “Do you have a plan, Captain?”

  “No, not exactly Anhur, but I’m working on one.

  Chapter Fifty

  EARLIER THAT AFTERNOON

  “What time is it Rocky?”

  Opening the gold cover on his pocket watch, Rocky replied it was close to 11:00 a.m.

  Turning on the digital recorder and the camera monitor Rocky, reasoned it was about time the Mafioso were supposed to begin arriving.”

  The two of them, Lonnie Joe and Rocky got comfortable in the car the city of Dallas had unintentionally ‘loaned’ them; however, they did not have long before the Cosa Nostra leaders began arriving. One by one they made their way into the back room taking a seat at the circular table. Lonnie Joe and Rocky could hear every word spoken. Not only could they hear, they were also recording every movement the mobsters made.

  The infamous Jack Ruby made his entrance completing the little party. Reaching into his coat pocket Lonnie Joe removed a piece of paper. It was the seating arrangement of the men sitting at the table. Captain Scarburg had received it from one of the waitresses at the Carousel Club. As the gangsters took their seats, Lonnie Joe checked their names off the list. The last two arrived and seated themselves to the left of Jack. Those two were mystery guests.

  The Captain related his visit to the Carousel Club in detail; he said the waitress, Linda Lou Dearmann had never seen the last two before. Captain Scarburg explained to Lonnie Joe and Rocky that they were to be especially interested in those last two; they must have a crucial role in the ‘event’ of 22 November.

  He explained that the waitress heard their names. One of them was referred to as ‘the handler’ and Linda thought his name was Donald Atwood Pearson, the second person’s name was Dan or Danny. That was about all she could recall.

  As Lonnie Joe and Rocky sat watching and listening to the group at the table in the back room of the Carousel Club, they were first hand witnesses to information so explosive, so sensational no one would ever believe them. Thank goodness it had all been recorded.

  The “handler” began the meeting. He explained the CIA had everything set. The ‘event’ was to take place around 12:30 tomorrow as the Presidential motorcade traveled around the square at Dealy Plaza. He assured the mobsters the CIA would take care of their problem. He introduced his partner Danletsky. Danletsky goes by the name of Danny he said. Danny was there to help solve their problem.”

  “What the hell? We don’t need no outsider to take care of our business!” said one of the mobsters.

  Interrupting the speaker the handler explained that Danny’s Father was Colonel Andrei Danletsky, a Russian by birth, second in command under the Cuban dictator General Batista. His position under Batista gave him control of the Cuban Secret Police; however, in 1958 Batista along with Colonel Danletsky and his family were forced to flee Cuba when Fidel Castro overthrew the Batista government. The CIA, to lead the Free Cubans in the CIA backed effort to retake Cuba, recruited Colonel Danletsky. On the morning of 17 April 1961, Colonel Danletsky was…

  “Shot dead on the beaches of Cuba.” Danny angrily added. “Killed in the Bay of Pigs invasion by that yellow-bellied president – John Kennedy. He did not provide the invasion force with air cover as he promised. I’ve waited two years to pay those Kennedy’s back!!”

  “My,” said one of the Mafia group, “seems as though you’ve got a burr under your saddle against the Kennedy’s? But how do we know you’re up to the task?”

  At this point, the CIA man Donald Pearson took over the conversation and explained how Danny was very young when the family was forced from their home in Cuba. He told how the Russian KGB had recruited Danny, when older, to work as a double agent with the Castro regime. Later the CIA enlisted Danny’s services to help plan the re-taking of Cuba by the Free Cuban Exiles. He further explained, “Danny was part of our planning group in the Bay of Pigs screw-up. Those Kennedys reall
y fouled up the works.”

  “Darn right,” Danny said. “Those sorry Kennedys got my Father and a lot of his friends murdered on those beaches in Cuba - I’m never going to forgive them or find peace until I can avenge their deaths. I’m goin’ to get me some peace tomorrow!”

  “Now,” said Pearson, “I am going to use Danny to help with this Dealy Plaza ‘event’.”

  Johnny Russolli added, “Good, sounds like you found a person with enough revenge in their heart to get the job done, but one question: What the hades is Dealy Plaza?”

  “Don’t worry Johnny,” said Pearson, “it’s a park in downtown Dallas. It has a couple of sharp turns, which will make the motorcade slow down. Then our shooters can get a good shot.”

  “Shooters? How many we got?” One of them asked.

  “We have four, but only three will be shooting. I have this fellow Oswald who will be perched in a window on one of the top floors of a corner office building. There will be another shooter on the roof. A third will be hiding in some bushes just before the parade gets to the triple overpass.”

  “I thought you said you had four?”

  “Yes, the fourth is just a back up if something goes wrong. He will be in the building across the street from Oswald. He will have a walkie-talkie speaking directly to the shooter in the bushes. If our man on the roof, or Oswald misses, then he and the shooter at the grassy knoll will make sure the President is killed.”

  “We sure about this Oswald guy?” Mancini asked.

  “No I’m not real confident with him!”

  “Well you’re the CIA ‘handler’, you’re supposed to handle him. What’s the problem Pearson?”

  “No problem Carlos. He is just a patsy. He’s too dumb to pull off something like this by himself, but by the time we are through the police will think he was a lone gunman in the ‘event’.”

  “Well, Pearson what makes you think he’ll do as you told him?”

  “The CIA dealt with Lee Harvey Oswald years ago, and since then we have been screwing with his mind. The CIA has a program called MK-ULTRA, it is like... like... well its mind control.”

  “Did you say MK-ULTRA?” Carlos Mancini asked as he began writing on a piece of pink napkin.”

  “Yes, but don’t write that down, we don’t know who might see it,” answered Pearson.

  “We not only used mind control techniques, but psychedelic drugs and in some instances torture. We have screwed with this poor kid’s head for years. He wouldn’t know his rear-end from a hole in the ground, unless I tell him. Right now the CIA has him believing he is doing the country a big favor by getting rid of Kennedy. He believes he is a patriot. He thinks Communism is a better form of government than a Democratic Republic, the nitwit.”

  “If he gets caught can he be tied back to you or any of us?”

  “Perhaps, but what he doesn’t know is I am going to get rid of him tomorrow. I don’t trust him to stay quite, we are going to eliminate him.”

  “How you goin’ to do it?”

  “After the shooting, he will return to his boarding house, and I have arranged for a police car to drive by, blow the horn twice and deliver a .38 Colt revolver to him as he leaves. It’s a World War II Smith & Wesson Victory Model that I picked up at a pawnshop, totally untraceable back to us. I am going to send a car over to Oswald’s rooming house on Beckley and drive him down within a couple of blocks of 10th Street and Patton Avenue. A few blocks down and over from Beckley a police officer by the name of J. D. Tippet will stop and search him. One of my associates who will be riding in the police car with Tippit will step out and fire two or three times killing Oswald. Our guy will then turn and kill Tippet. Next he will remove the gun from Oswald’s pocket and fire it into the air. It will appear as though Oswald shot Tippet and Tippet then killed Oswald. Afterwards, no one will ever be able to tie us back to Oswald in any manner.”

  Ruby asked, “What happens if something goes wrong Mr. Pearson? What if Oswald gets captured before you can eliminate him?”

  “Then we will just deal with it if that happens, but I don’t foresee any difficulties, we’ll take care of Oswald when the time comes. If things do not work out as I have planned Oswald has been instructed to go to the Texas Theatre and meet one of our contact men – this man will eliminate Oswald if need be.”

  “Okay, gentlemen,” said Ruby leaning over on the table and looking directly into the sinister eyes of the Mafia bosses said, “If Mr. Pearson does not take care of our friend Mr. Oswald, I will. I’m your guy... depend on me... I’ll make sure he doesn’t talk; you all can rest assured... you have my word on it. I pledge before all of y’all here and now, I will take him out, or die trying, that is a promise, and everyone knows Jack Ruby keeps his promises.”

  “Good, good, that’s good to know Jack, you’ll take care of Oswald. What about the Vice President... is he on board?”

  Pearson answered, “Completely, there will be a meeting tonight up in north Dallas, and all the parties attending will agree to our protocol of events. It will be a confirmed ‘go’ by all those at the meeting. Johnson would do anything to become President, and it looks like he will be doing it. I was personally given the word by his Chief-of-Staff to proceed.”

  Santo Riccocante the mob boss from Tampa interjected his two cents saying he would be glad to get rid of Kennedy. Calling him a sorry s.o.b. He thought with Johnson, he could get back into Cuba, and get his casinos opened back up and running again. You could hear the hate in his voice when he said the Kennedy brothers were costing the “Family” millions. If only they could get rid of his brother too.

  “Pearson said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Attorney General Robert is going to be taken care of next, but first we got to get rid of his brother, the President.”

  “You know,” one of the mobsters said, “why is the CIA so hot and bothered about Kennedy?”

  Pearson answered, “That worthless President and his idiot brother want to dismantle the whole covert section of government, especially the CIA. They don’t have a clue how things work. We were ready, willing and able to take Cuba back from Castro, but Kennedy got cold feet at the last minute and let the whole thing turn into that Bay of Pigs fiasco. If he had just stayed out of it Cuba would be free today, and Santo, me and you would be at one of your casinos drinking Scotch, throwing dice and chasing women.”

  “Yeah, now you’re talkin’.”

  “Kennedy blamed it all on the CIA, called us foul ups. Well he was right with the name ‘foul ups’, but he had the name on the wrong party. He should have been talking about himself and his idiot brother the Attorney General.”

  “Damn right, we’re losing a fortune every day that moron Castro stays in power.”

  “Oh, the main thing Kennedy said he wanted to do was scatter the CIA to the winds. The CIA ain’t gonna let that happen, trust me. After Johnson takes power, this harassment will stop, and then your associates and my associates can get back to doing business in our customary, normal fashion.

  Reaching across the table, they all touched glasses and in unison said, “To a successful ‘Event’ tomorrow.”

  “What about that?” said Lonnie Joe.

  “Great, and we have it all on tape.”

  MEANWHILE, ACROSS TOWN

  It was almost dark outside. Bud and Lou did not see anything else they could do today. They decided to go over their agenda for the next day, and afterwards go out and get a bite to eat. After supper they would return and watch a little television with Mrs. Rodgers. Later they would try to get a decent nights rest. They certainly realized they would have a busy day tomorrow.

  Lou was worried. He just had one question for Bud. “We both have seen pictures of the Texas School Book Depository’s front door. There will be a large crowd of people ganged up there trying to get a glimpse of the President. I was thinking it is very possible we could miss Oswald in the crowd as he leaves the building. What if one of us stands close to the front door and the other is up the street a few yards t
oward the corner of Elm and Houston. When he leaves he will have to come right by both of us. Surely, one of us will see him.”

  “Good idea Bud, which station do you want?”

  “Either is fine, but since it’s my idea I will take the position on the corner, you stand close to the entrance to the School Book building. How’s that?”

  “Sounds good, let’s drive down to 10th and Patton before finding something to eat. I would like to ‘scope’ out the place before we arrive tomorrow.”

  The drive from 1026 North Beckley Avenue to 10th and Patton was only a few blocks. They slowly drove down Patton until it intersected with 10th. They noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign in one of the front yards just a house or two from the corner.

  “Bud, stop! Stop the car!” The car stopped rolling; Lou opened the door and jumped out, pulled the ‘For Sale’ sign up and tossed it into the back seat of their car.

  “What... what are you doing Lou?”

  Lou explained with this sign missing no one will know this house is for sale. So no one should be at the house tomorrow when they arrive. Lou suggested they pull up into this driveway, park and replace the For Sale sign. The house is empty, and for sale, none of the neighbors should notice them. Even if some neighbors do, they will suspect they are just potential buyers. When Officer Tippit and Oswald approach Lou, they could crouch down in the seats and remain hidden from view. They should be able to witness the entire brutal shooting of Officer Tippit.”

  “Bud, something has been bothering me. We know Officer J. D. Tippit is going to be killed tomorrow, right here on this very spot. We have the ability to prevent this tragedy. Is it morally wrong that we sit back and don’t intercede, or maybe the question is – should we?”