by D B Steward
“Make sure my ride is ready at the rendezvous point. On time. When I’m coming back here I don’t want to be stuck at the border with my dick hanging out.” Noah was going over his plans with his second in command as they walked to the jeep. His driver was holding the door open for him.
“It will be ready sir.” Elliot Turner was a true believer and the perfect choice for his lieutenant. He was a die hard racist and an ex con. He had joined the Aryan Brotherhood in prison while he was doing ten years for meth production and armed robbery. Tall and ripped, he was an easy convert to Pierpont’s organization because of his desire to fight. The Aryan Brotherhood wasn’t militant enough for Elliot. He didn’t want to go to rallys and beat up a few blacks, he wanted to overthrow the government by force. And he was dumb enough to believe that he mattered to Noah Pierpont.
“Good, this meeting is important for our next phase.” Noah smiled and placed his hand on Elliot’s shoulder. “We are almost at the endgame my friend. I’m trusting you with everything here.”
Elliot squared his shoulders like a soldier. “You have my word sir. Everything will be like you left it when you return.”
“You’re a good soldier.” You moron, Noah thought. He entered the jeep and shut the door. The driver started the jeep and they pulled away down the long gravel road. The car headed toward the perimeter fence almost a hundred yards away. He watched as the compound passed by his window. This was the last time he would see it and he wasn’t the least bit sentimental about it. If he never came back to Idaho it would be too soon.
A few people waved to the jeep as he passed. He didn’t return the goodbyes. In his mind they were already dead.
“Sir, I hope your mission in Canada is successful sir.” His driver was talking. Noah couldn’t recall what his name was. “I’m excited for our next step.”
“Yes, of course.” Noah had been waiting for them to be at least a few miles away from the compound. He figured that they were far enough away by now. “Pull over up there.”
Like a good soldier, his driver was already decelerating. He put the Jeep in park and waited. “What now sir?”
“Step out of the car with me, soldier.” Noah was already getting out of the car onto the side of the road. His driver, confused but obedient, opened the driver side door and walked around the car. He came to a stop in front of Noah.
“Sir?” The first bullet tore through his abdomen. It pierced his liver and kidney and exploding out of his back. His eyes were wide as saucers as the betrayal sunk in. Noah put the second bullet between his driver’s eyes and the man was dead before his body hit the ground.
Noah returned the gun to his side holster and rolled the body into the ditch near the road. He got behind the wheel and drove north with his mind already concentrating on the next part of his real plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY
It was the last straw. This was not how he wanted to spend the rest of his life, as a joke to his brothers. Artutro would never see him as an equal, no matter what he did. Arturo wasn’t like Angel. Angel knew how to be a brother, he had treated Hector with respect. Arturo had never respected him, he treated him worse than he would treat a dog.
Hector gripped his steering wheel as he sped down the dark road into the city. Hector was going to make his own way now, fuck Arturo and Ramon. He could lead the gang. With the backing of whatever country those girls represented he was going to take over. The only things that were standing in his way were his brothers.
Somewhere in the night he made his choice. Blood may be thicker than water, but money made the world go round.
“I’m still mad at you.” Sonny’s voice pierced the darkness of the room, stirring Kelly from her contented afterglow. Kelly’s head was lying on top of Sonny’s naked chest listening to the rapid heartbeat of the tall brunette.
“What?” Kelly’s voice was husky from her physical exertion.
“I said this doesn’t change the fact that I am angry at you.” Sonny’s harsh tone confused Kelly. At the same time she was speaking to Kelly, her fingers were tracing circles on Kelly’s bare back.
“Are you serious?” Kelly lifted her head. “We wrecked this room fucking each other and you’re still mad? Did I not make you come hard enough? Because I can do it again!” Her hand traveled smoothly down Sonny’s tight abs until it rested on her mound. It was still warm and that made Kelly feel herself getting wet.
Sonny grunted. “Just because you fucked me so good that I forgot what country we were in, doesn’t change the fact that you think I’m a serial killer.”
“If you’re still mad at me then why did we have sex?”
“Because Miss King!” Sonny sat up causing Kelly’s head to fall off her chest onto the pillow. “You are so damn hot when you argue that I couldn’t resist tearing your clothes off and shutting you up!”
“Well, I have to tell you,” Kelly sat up until she was shoulder to shoulder besides Sonny on the bed. “That was the best angry sex I have ever had.” Sonny looked at her and Kelly could see anger and hurt in her eyes.
“I’m serious Miss King. Do you believe I am actually some psychopathic killer?”
There was something heartbreaking in Sonny’s eyes. In an instant Kelly realised what she was seeing. Sitting before her was a lonely little girl who had grown up isolated from the world. Someone who was always on the outside looking in. Wouldn’t someone like that always be on guard against having their feelings hurt? Kelly understood that Sonny wanted Kelly to accept her. She needed Kelly to understand who she was and why she lived the way she did. Kelly reached for Sonny’s hand that rested on the bed between them. She laced their fingers together and squeezed. She looked deep into the dark brown eyes that were barely visible in the darkness.
“No, I don’t.” She could feel Sonny exhale next to her.
Kelly thanked her poker face because deep down she did believe it. How could she not? As an FBI agent she had studied psychopaths and killers, and technically Sonny Moretti was one. But Kelly couldn’t say that to her. She could see that Sonny did have feelings and she was not going to hurt them.
Sonny wasn’t evil, she wasn’t deranged or sadistic. But Kelly couldn’t ignore Sonny’s attitude towards killing. It wasn’t normal. Kelly had seen empathy from Sonny, so she knew that the brunette had actual emotions. Dangerous psychopaths couldn’t do that, they could only fake feelings. It also didn’t seem like Sonny took pleasure in killing.
Kelly didn’t want to keep pulling at the string. She wasn’t exactly the picture of mental health either. And she liked Sonny, like a whole lot. This was not the time or place to be going down that road.
“Sonny, look” Kelly began. “I have a temper. A bad one. When I get into it with someone I go in guns blazing. No holds barred. So I said that, but I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry.” She felt her hand being squeezed.
“Apology accepted Miss King.” She felt Sonny’s soft lips on hers and moaned. “Now tell me more about these agent friends of yours.”
Kelly sighed. “They weren’t exactly friends, per se. I knew Galler from the academy. He was a nice guy. He was from New York and a Knicks fan, so I felt kind of sorry for him. After we graduated we both lost touch. I didn’t hear a thing about him until about a year later. He and Simms had disappeared in Arizona. They were investigating MH4 and one night they vanished.” Kelly looked away from Sonny and the brunette saw the sadness in the green eyes. She turned her head and kissed her.
“Are you trying to shut me up again?” Kelly whispered between kisses. “Because we’re not fighting anymore.”
Sonny chuckled and caressed Kelly’s face. “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of make up sex before.”
“I am definitely getting into more arguments with you.” They lowered themselves down onto the bed with their lips locked together. The distinct ring from Sonny’s cellphone cut through the silence of the darkened room. Kelly groaned in annoyance. “Son of a bitch.”
Sonny reached down to the floor an
d grabbed her pants. “Moretti.” She said into the phone.
“Are you guys done fucking yet? Because I have some news.” Trace’s voice said over the line. Sonny felt her face flush in embarrassment and she pushed the phone into Kelly’s hands.
“It’s for you.” She said while hiding her face in her palm.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Ramon waited until Hector had stormed out before entering the room. “So what do we do about him?” Arturo was still looking at the door that Hector had slammed behind him. Ramon had been outside talking with a few of their men when he saw Hector’s truck pull up. He entered through the back and stopped to listen when he heard his little brother shouting.
“You heard that.” It wasn’t a question. Finally he turned to face his brother. “He is stupid. He’s always been that way. Right now we don’t have time to be stupid.” Arturo grunted his response. Arturo looked around, proud at his opulent and ostentatious living room. “Remember our old place before mama died?”
“Si.” Was his laconic brother’s response.
“All five of us living in one room.” Arutro chuckled, trailing his fingertips over his leather sofa as he walked behind it. “That stinking, hot, dirty, cramped little room. You couldn’t even think in that place. I hated that shit.”
“It was like a cell in prison.’ Ramon growled and Arturo nodded.
“Now look where we are!” Hector raised his arms wide, taking it all in. His wall of flatscreen televisions, his stereos, his garish furniture and outrageously gaudy sculptures of gold and marble. Naked women of stone and metal seemed frozen in place around the cavernous room. “We have money, we have power; people fear us.” There was a glass tiger on a table near him. It was purple and about the size of his hand, the kind that could be found in a tourist trap for a few pesos. He lifted it and examined it closely in his hands. It had been a gift from Hector when he was twelve. At that time the brothers had started to make real money as they began to expand their territory.
Arturo threw the tiger to the floor and it shattered on the marble floor. Tiny pieces of glass caught the light, scattering rainbows all over the floor. “Nobody is going to take away what we built here! Nobody! Not the cops! Not the United States!” The fury in his eyes burned like an inferno as they met Ramon’s cold, black ones. “Not Hector.” The silence hung in the air between them. Finally Ramon nodded and then strode out of the living room and out the front door.
Arturo was left standing alone and angry in his palace.
“How could you possibly know that we were having sex?” Kelly said into the phone while Sonny was sitting beside her, mortified.
“Ever since I met you two, the sexual tension has been so thick that you would need a plasma cutter to get through it.” Trace replied. “There was a pretty good chance that you guys would finally get your shit together and do it.”
Kelly didn’t buy it, there was something else going on that Trace wasn’t telling her. She switched the phone to her other ear. “That’s it!” The lightbulb flashed on in her head. “The phone you gave us! You can listen in!”
“Whoa, got it in one.” Trace was actually impressed that she figured it out so fast. Kelly King was a pretty good detective. “I’m not a pervert though. As soon as I heard you guys I turned that shit off in a hurry.”
“She can hear us from the phone?” Sonny whispered and pulled the sheet up to cover her breasts. Kelly chuckled and covered the receiver.
“Relax Sonny, she can’t see you.”
“Actually I can turn your camera on but right now I would just be looking at the inside of your ear. And that is a view I can live without ever seeing.”
“You’re a riot kid.” Kelly smirked. “Now why the hell are you calling us right now?”
“Well, when I said you guys should check in, I kind of figured that you would, you know, check in.” Trace’s sarcasm came through loud and clear over the phone.
“Well excuse us for being busy.” Kelly countered.
“Yeah, getting busy is more like it. Now if you would put me on speakerphone that would be great.”
“Fine.” Kelly pressed the button and held the phone in between the two of them.
“Okay.” Sonny and Kelly heard Trace clearly over the phone. “What’s the situation down there?”
“We’ve made contact with Hector and I’m expecting a call from him soon.” Sonny looked at Kelly quizzically.
“How do you know he’s going to call you?” Trace could be heard asking.
“Because I’m good at what I do. I gave him my phone and told him to call me when he wants to move on our proposed partnership. Hector’s going to go to his brothers who are much smarter than he is and tell them about us. They are going to know that I’m blowing smoke up his ass and tell him to ignore us. Hector will still think that my deal is real and want to talk. That’s when I will convince him to bring us to the other two brothers. Once there we will find out if they were the ones who killed the Senator or not. Among other things. If so we take them down.” Kelly smiled a self satisfied smile at Sonny.
Sonny’s brows wrinkled. She was still on the fence about Kelly investigating the brothers when that wasn’t their mission. The fate of those agents didn’t seem like a priority to her like it was with Kelly. Now was not the time for those kinds of thoughts. Sonny wanted this assignment to be over already. What she desired was to stay in bed with Kelly forever, or at least the next twenty four hours.
“Well I may have some information about the assassination as well.” Trace interrupted Sonny’s train of thought.
“Lay it on me kid.” Kelly replied.
“To my surprise, you may be right about MH4 not being responsible for killing Sanchez.” Kelly’s smirk was one of vindication.
“Kid, I’m always right.”
Sonny had perked up at Trace’s news and leaned over toward the phone. “What makes you believe that Trace?”
“I’ve been digging into the investigation and there are quite a few discrepancies.” She continued. “The FBI investigation has been quietly turned over to the Pentagon.”
“The Pentagon?” Kelly’s brow knit in confusion.
“Yep, and that ain't all. Ballistic modeling says that the shots came from above.”
“Above?” Sonny asked.
“Yep, like in the sky above.” Trace replied.
“A drone.” Kelly said.
“Okay, you’re scaring me now old lady.”
“That proves that it wasn’t MH4. They aren’t smart enough to spell drones, much less pilot one.” Kelly muttered.
“Could this have been a terrorist attack?” Sonny offered but Kelly shook her head. “No. If it was, someone would have claimed responsibility by now. The FBI would have announced that they were leaning in that direction. No, this is a cover up and that could only mean that they already know who is responsible. They aren’t saying because they’re afraid of looking bad or even worse than that.”
Sonny met Kelly’s eyes. “What do you mean worse?”
“I mean that he could have been killed by someone in the government. It’s not easy to get military grade drones. And to pull off a massacre like this, they’re not flying the ones you get from WalMart. You have to be trained and that kind of training comes from the military.”
“Close, you’re very close King.” Trace interjected. “There could be a connection to our boss’s boss.”
“What?” Kelly exclaimed.
“Yep. General England’s name has come up in my digging. It appears that Senator Sanchez served under England in the Middle East.”
“They knew each other.” Sonny said. “That’s why we got the assignment, he wanted payback for his friend.”
Kelly turned it over in her head. The connection was there. Her instincts were telling her there was more to it than what she was seeing.
“There’s something else too.” Trace continued. “There was an incident with another officer that England and Sanchez were involved in.
The reports are vague, they obviously wanted to keep whatever it was secret. But both England and Sanchez had contact with an officer by the name of Noah T. Pierpont.”
Kelly snapped her fingers. “I know that name. Where do I know that name from?”
“Well, old lady, you probably recognize his name from the top spot on the FBI’s most wanted list.” Trace interjected with a smirk. “This guy is the leader of some militia group for dumb ass racists up in Idaho.”
“Idaho!” Kelly exclaimed. “That’s it! My buddy Reggie is up in Idaho right now looking for that guy!”
“You have a friend?” Trace laughed.
“More friends than you HAL.” Kelly snapped.
“Who the hell is HAL?” Trace asked.
“From 2001?”
“2001? I was two years old back then.”
“No! Not the year! The movie! The evil computer?” Kelly shook her head to calm herself down. “Nevermind that now. What happened with Pierpont?”
“Well there was some incident involving him and Sanchez. England stepped in and the next thing you know, Pierpont is out of the service and sent to military prison. But the mystery doesn’t end there. Even though he was supposed to be locked up, the guy never spent a night in prison.”