Code Name: Crescent: A Matt Preston Novel

by Paul Shadinger

  CODE NAME:

  CRESCENT

  A Novel by:

  Paul Shadinger

  TOP SECRET

  FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

  Copyright © 2017 Paul Shadinger

  All Rights reserved

  IBSN-13: 978-0692698891

  Title ID: 6222961

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Edited by Ellen Campbell

  Cover Design & Formatting by Kevin G. Summers

  Also by Paul Shadinger

  Fiction

  Houseboat (2016)

  A Matt Preston Novel

  I would like to dedicate this book to all of you who read my first novel, Houseboat and still encouraged me to keep writing. This book would never have existed without your words of inspiration and support. Positive words are food to an author and I cannot begin to describe the number of banquets that so many of you provided.

  This book is also dedicated to my wife, Sandy who saw things in my writing that I never saw. Through her reassurance I was able to finish this novel.

  And finally, this book is dedicated to my beloved rescue Cocker Spaniel, Buttons who started me on this adventure. My daily faithful companion who became Blackjack in Houseboat I know she is waiting for me somewhere over the rainbow. I will always miss you little one.

  Please note Code Name: Crescent is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, locales or timelines are entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: The Visit

  Chapter 2: The Lost Student

  Chapter 3: Kim’s Apartment

  Chapter 4: The Meeting

  Chapter 5: Gladys

  Chapter 6: Let’s Visit The Police

  Chapter 7: Mrs. Tate & Ambruster

  Chapter 8: Kim

  Chapter 9: Sharon

  Chapter 10: An Evening With Gladys

  Chapter 11: Mouse

  Chapter 12: Walter

  Chapter 13: Samara’s Visit To The Houseboat

  Chapter 14: Jail

  Chapter 15: Sakol

  Chapter 16: Hanney’s Hideaway

  Chapter 17: Return To Ross Island

  Chapter 18: Code Name: Crescent

  Chapter 19: Walter II

  Chapter 20: An Explanation

  Chapter 21: The Exchange

  Chapter 22: Dreams

  Chapter 23: Exposed

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About The Author

  PROLOGUE

  Winter had slipped in early from the frigid north, and the swirling winds drove the already sub-zero temperatures into double-digit sub-zero temperatures, leaving the flat, bleak central Illinois countryside covered in windswept snow. The desolate cemetery standing next to the freeway was bereft of any trees, just a few rows of markers standing in staggered alignment. The gray cement of the freeway provided the only color in the white landscape as far as the eye could see. Considering the weather and where the man was, it was probably the last place in the world he wanted to be.

  When his youngest sister had called and told him their father was dead, he wasn’t surprised by how little grief he felt, considering the way things had ended between the two of them. When his mother had passed away a few years before, he’d briefly thought about returning for her funeral, but finally decided he still wasn’t ready to face his father. Now, after all this time, he found himself standing in the frigid cemetery staring down at their graves.

  When the first settlers had created the small resting place for their loved ones, it was centered on the corner of land between four farms, each family giving a bit of their land for the graveyard. When the land had been set aside as a cemetery, there had been no cars, let alone any freeways. The passage of time had changed it all and now the small cemetery stood right next to a four-lane freeway. As the man stood there bareheaded with his head bowed, the roaring behemoths with their full loads and the occasional swish of an automobile passed just a few feet behind him and kept him company. The man addressed the two markers, speaking to them as if they were alive.

  His voice was choked with emotion. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to your funerals… I wasn’t ready to return. Actually I’m still not ready to be here, but now it seems I have no choice. The night of each of your services I went down to the ocean and I watched the sunset. I thought about all of you and how it was. I just thought about you… I knew both of you wanted me to try and make good with the family, but you had to have known it was a waste.” As he stood there at the graves, he was aware of the tears in his eyes, but he had no idea if it was due to the blowing wind or the pain in his heart.

  Finally, the frigid weather made it impossible to stand there any longer and he returned to his rented vehicle. As he slid into the warm car, he was grateful he had left the motor running and the heat turned on full force. How long he sat in the warm car with his eyes closed as the memories flooded his mind, he had no idea. Happy memories of his parents along with fond memories of his sister and twin brother comforted him. Finally, with a deep sigh, he slipped the car into gear and drove back down the white path, and as he retraced his way, he noticed his tracks coming in were the only tracks in the virgin snow.

  The man paused at the crossroads, trying to decide what he needed to do next. Finally, with a deep sigh, he turned left and headed towards his sister’s place. Even though it had been far too many years since he’d been down the old country lane, he had no trouble finding her house. As the man turned into the driveway, he stopped and looked up at his destination. The trees marking the drive and those surrounding the house were bare, and the wind whipped their branches. The snow had long since been blown away by the strong winds, and now the bare trees resembled sentinels guarding the entrance to a castle.

  The car turned onto the parking pad next to the house and before he even turned off the engine, the front door flew open and his sister was running out across the hard crusted snow. She lunged at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. As he held her tight against him, he felt her hot tears burning his neck. She sobbed in his arms until he gently mentioned they needed to go inside before both of them were frozen in place.

  After they were ensconced in the kitchen, she started plying him with questions.

  “How long can you stay?”

  “When did you get in?”

  “Where are you going to stay?”

  “Do you want to go and…” he held up his hand to stop her barrage of questions.

  “I have no idea how long I’m going to stay. I was able to wrangle an extended vacation and since it’s been a long time since I took any, I can more or less set my own work schedule.”

  As they sat in the kitchen, the old wood stove in the corner filled the room with warmth. He chuckled and pointed at the old stove. “That looks like Mom and Dad’s.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, Pop converted the house to propane and wanted to throw this away. I told him I would take it. We built a brick chimney and vented the smoke up and out. I swear nothing heats like this old stove. Pop kept bitchin’ up to the end how he wished he had never given me the old stove. We told him, but you know how Pop was…”

  He nodded, of
all people, Sis would know exactly how the old man could be. His sister poured him a cup of coffee, fixing it just how he liked it. It pleased him to see she still remembered. As they sat in the warm kitchen, they caught up on the years until finally she finished, “The service was nice. We all wished you had been there.”

  He still didn’t know how he felt about seeing his sibling. His twin brother had always had hard feelings about him leaving, but his brother didn’t understand how it was… how he was the one the old man had always singled out. He never understood why the old man had expected him to live the perfect life. His brother was never expected to be so perfect. His brother was never the one that Pop would hold up to the rest of the kids. It didn’t matter he had been the star at school, the starting center on the basketball team, or the quarterback on the football team, or being selected as all-state pitcher on the baseball team… even being a straight 4.0 student wasn’t enough for the old man. Nothing was ever good enough for the old man. The worst had been when his brother had gone to fight in Viet Nam and after becoming a helicopter pilot, had returned a war hero.

  He could still remember seeing his brother coming off the plane with his chest covered in medals for his bravery. Bradley had watched his parents fawn over Burt and treat him like a hero. It didn’t matter that Bradley had stayed home and kept the farm going. It didn’t matter that Bradley had been the one who had worked hours on end when their father was no longer able to work the farm. Watching Burt return and be heralded as the boy wonder had been the last straw. Bradley had gone back to his small bedroom, packed his bags and left home that afternoon. The note he left had been brief, “Now it’s Burt’s turn.” Bradley had tacked it on the front door and left—left and never returned until today.

  He knew he had to see Burt one more time. He asked his sister, “How’s Burt?”

  “Brad,” her eyes started to mist, “he only has a few weeks to live, at best. The doctors think the cancer is from all of the shit he was exposed to in Nam. Even though he came back a war hero, now he’s paying for it with his life.”

  Brad sat for a while staring down at the floor, his hands clasped together. He could still feel some of the resentment, but there was also a new feeling; a feeling of deep sadness. Burt had gone off to do what he felt was right, and now it was killing him. Even though Brad had been stuck on the farm working day and night to keep things going, he was still alive. There was no cancer moving though his body robbing him of his life. So who had been the lucky one? The favored son who was dying of cancer or the son who felt he was always used as the example of how the boys were supposed to act? His sister’s voice cut through his reminiscing. “Brad… Brad? Are you at least going to go and see Burt before he dies?”

  “I don’t know, Sis. I hated him so much. All the time I lived here Pop always picked on me. Burt could do no wrong. Nothing I ever did was right. Who kept the farm going while Burt was off playing war hero?”

  His sister snapped at him, “Goddamn it, Brad, Burt is paying for it with his life. What more do you want from him? Get over it. Yeah, Dad was a shit at times to you. But he also loved you…”

  The man’s voice rose as he interrupted his sister, “Then why didn’t he ever tell me that? Why? All I ever heard was ‘Burt this’ and ‘Burt that’ Pop never came to one of my games and watched. I never heard the words ‘thank you,’ or ‘I love you.’”

  Brad started to stand and his sister raised her hand to stop him. “I’m sorry. Please sit. It’s been way too long since I saw you and I really don’t want to fight.”

  Brad settled back in the wooden chair. He looked around the room and smiled. Many of the things that used to be scattered around his parents’ kitchen had found a home in his sister’s. In a lot of ways, it felt like he was back home in the house he had grown up in. His sister asked him again in a soft voice, “Are you going to visit Burt?”

  “Yeah… I kinda have to.”

  “Why do you feel you have to?”

  “I feel bad I never came back and saw Mother before she died… I don’t want to live the rest of my life feeling that way about my brother.”

  “And me,” the pain evident in his sister’s voice.

  “You’ve been the worst. I’ve missed you the most. It was always you standing up against Dad when he was fussing at me. It was you who would warn me when there was trouble brewing. I really have missed you, Sis. I asked you so many times to come out and visit me, but you never would.”

  “Brad, how could I leave the kids when they were little? Or Howard?”

  “I know. I do understand, but I want you to know I have really missed you.”

  “And I’ve missed you as well. When do you want to see Burt?”

  “Where is he now?”

  “Over at Valley General.”

  “You mean Death Valley General.”

  “Brad!” She laughed at his remark. The name for the hospital among the town’s people had always been Death Valley General since it seemed if you ended up there, you were as good as dead. His sister continued, “There’s a brand new hospital now, not the old crappy one you remember.”

  “How about tonight?”

  “Sounds good.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The new hospital was just as modern as his sister had said, but Brad thought it still felt like what it was, a hospital. They entered the room and when he saw his brother lying there, it was all he could do not to show his surprise at how bad Burt looked. When Burt opened his eyes and saw his brother standing there, a huge smile crossed his face. With great difficulty he extended his hand. “Brad, it’s so good to see you again. Thanks for coming.”

  “I wish I could say it’s good to see you, but seeing you here makes me so sad. How do you feel?”

  “There are good days and bad days. Today has been one of the good ones. I have had no pain and for that I’m grateful. Please sit.”

  For the next couple of hours, the two brothers tried to catch up on what had transpired over the last years. Brad watched as Burt grew more and more weary from his visit. Finally, he took Burt’s hand and told him he thought it was best if they left and Burt got some rest. Burt tugged on Brad’s hand, pulling him closer. In a raspy whisper, Burt said, “Come back and see me tomorrow… alone. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

  “I’ll see.”

  A look of fear filled the dying man’s face and his hand trembled as he stretched it towards his brother. “No! You have to come back. I have to talk to you.” The agitation frightened him. Brad didn’t know what Burt wanted to talk about, but he could see how distressed he’d become.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow morning. We can talk then.”

  “Promise?” Burt used all his strength to push himself up off his bed as he pleaded with his brother. “You have to promise. It’s so important.”

  “Yes. I promise.” The sick man dropped back on his bed and let out a deep sigh.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  As Brad entered the hospital room the next morning he was shocked to see how much his brother had deteriorated during the night. Burt’s bloodshot eyes slowly opened and when he saw his brother standing in the room, he reached out his hand and beckoned his sibling to come closer. His voice was strained and almost a whisper. “Sit down. Come close. I need to talk to you.”

  “Burt, maybe I should come back later.” He turned as if to leave.

  Burt’s face turned red and his body shook as he tried to speak. “No! Don’t go. I have to talk to you.” The outburst frightened Brad and he pulled up a chair and sat beside his brother. “I know I don’t have much time left. It’s funny, some of the guys I flew back to the medical station in Nam would look at me and tell me they knew they were going to die. They could feel death looking over their shoulder. I used to laugh at them, even though so many of them did die. I thought it was a silly old tale or something. But now I understand, I can see him
waiting here for me. You might not see him, but he’s standing there at the foot of the bed.”

  Brad couldn’t help himself as he turned his head to look at the end of Burt’s bed. He saw nothing there. Brad wondered if perhaps it was the drugs playing tricks on his brother’s mind. “It’s okay Burt. I’m here. Talk to me. What did you want to tell me?”

  “I’ve been hiding. I know this is going to sound like I’m crazy or out of my mind on the drugs, but what I’m going to tell you is the truth. I’ve known I was dying for some months now and I also know there’s a man who’s been looking for me. If he knew I was dying or dead, he’d take all the gold for himself. Half that gold is mine… and I want you to have it.”

  Brad was sure now the drugs had started to take their toll on Burt’s mind. He was positive his brother was delusional. As Brad sat there holding his brother’s hand, he decided the best course of action was to just let his brother ramble. “Why do you think there’s gold somewhere?”

  The tone of Brad’s voice showed Burt he didn’t believe any of what he was being told. “Listen shithead, don’t patronize me,” Burt snarled at his brother. “I know you think I’m all fucked up on drugs and I don’t know what I’m saying. I’ve been lying here waiting for you to come so I could share this with you. Now are you going to listen to me and believe me, or are you going to think this is some drug-induced hallucination?”

  Brad was stunned at the clarity of his brother’s words. He wondered now if perhaps his brother might know something real. “I’m sorry Burt, go ahead.”

  “I may ramble a bit, but what I’m telling you is God’s truth.” Brad nodded. “You think I don’t know how crazy this sounds? This is true!” Brad continued to nod his head, partly to keep his brother talking and partly to keep him calm.

  “When I was in Nam, a captain came to me one day with a secret mission I was supposed to fly for him. He was some super-spook and he had some village chief all believing he could deliver war materials for some gold. The deal got set up by a couple of guys I think were gay… Anyway, they were friends with this village leader and they were the go between. I was supposed to fly in the stolen stuff and the captain would get the gold. The gold was supposed to be split up between the two gay guys, me and the captain.” Burt had started to breathe faster and Brad noticed the device that kept track of his brother’s heart rate had started to beep faster.