by Ray Garton
“What happens if I don’t do the job before six tonight?” Rubinek asked. “Does he turn into a pumpkin?”
Gall said nothing and sipped his coffee.
“Why didn’t you go through the usual channels?” Rubinek asked.
“Too urgent. I couldn’t wait for you to get the message and go through the routine.”
He looked down at the open folder again. “A reporter, huh? Retired.”
Gall reached into the satchel again and removed a cell phone, put it on the table. “Keep that with you. I’m still gathering information about the subject and his associates and there may be changes in your instructions.”
I’m, not we’re, Rubinek thought.
“Changes? What kind of changes?”
Gall shrugged. “Instructions, details. Maybe even an additional subject. I’ll let you know. Keep the phone on at all times.”
Rubinek chuckled. “So I’m on call? What am I, your chauffeur?”
“You’re being paid well. And you’ll be well compensated for any additions to the job.”
“If there are additions to the job, there will be additions to the fee.”
Gall closed his eyes as he nodded. “Yes, of course, that’s what I mean.”
“What if I say no?”
Gall shrugged. “Then I take my money elsewhere.”
I, not we, Rubinek thought. My money, not our money.
Before Rubinek could say anything more, Gall checked his watch. “Any questions?”
A whole lot of questions, Rubinek thought, but he knew better than to ask any of them. He said nothing.
“I’ve got to go. Remember, before six California time if you want that bonus.” He picked up his bag and slid out of the booth, stood. “Breakfast is on me.” With a quick flash of an artificial smile, he left.
A moment later, the waitress came with his omelet.
3.
Me, not us, Rubinek thought again as he sipped his coffee on the plane. I, not we. My money, not our money.
Finding Falczek and doing the job would not be a problem. It would be easy. But Rubinek felt the usual question crawling up from the basement of his mind, feeling around in the dark. Why? What did he do, this retired reporter? Why does he have to die? They were questions he had no business asking, of course.
He checked his watch. The flight wasn’t even half over and he felt like he’d been in that seat all day. He stood and stretched, took a deep breath, then lowered himself into the seat again. He reached for the headphones and hoped to find something interesting to listen to.
And to think he could have been on his way to that peaceful little island ...
Chapter 14
Calling in a Favor
At about the time Rubinek boarded his plane that morning, Gall sat in Doobie’s, a little out-of-the-way bar and grill, drinking coffee. Doobie’s was nothing special, and this early in the morning, it was virtually empty. But Gall knew it had significance for Jason Sauceda, which was why he’d chosen it. He sat on the padded bench of a small booth in the darkly-lighted establishment, ignoring the morning news that was playing on a radio behind the deserted bar. He’d been there for nearly fifteen minutes when Jason walked in.
He was a tall, broad-shouldered African-American with a paunch, close-cropped hair, and small round glasses. He nodded to the bartender as he came to the booth, removed his jacket and slid into the seat.
“Hey, Vic,” he said. He had a quiet, breathy voice, and a very calm manner that was well-suited to his work. “How you been, man? Haven’t heard from you in a few months.”
Gall gave him a brief smile. “Busy, as usual. Climbing the ladder.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard. You comin’ up in the world. I don’t hear from you for months, then all of a sudden you wanna have breakfast? I didn’t even know they served breakfast in this place.”
“Doobie’s breakfast menu is pretty limited, but it’s good. I recommend the omelet. They only serve one, but it’s delicious.” Gall waved at the passing waitress and said, “Coffee,” pointing at Jason.
The rustic wood table already had two menus on it, ice water in plastic cups, a squat candle in a round red holder against the wall surrounded by a few condiments.
“So what inspired you to call me for breakfast out of nowhere?”
Gall shrugged. “Say hello. See how you’re doing. So... how are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m good. Same old job.” He picked up his menu and opened it.
“Melonie? The kids? They’re well?”
“Sure, they’re great. Troy’s in Little League and he’s taken to it like a natural. Gonna be a pro and make lotsa money so he can take care of his daddy when I get old and decrepit. Mandy’s taking singing lessons. She wants to be Beyonce. Maybe they’ll both get rich and famous and I can retire in luxury.”
“How’s Melonie?”
Jason’s eyes went to the menu and he scanned it as he spoke. “Melonie’s good. She still misses work, y’know, but she thinks staying home while the kids are growing up is the right thing to do. What’re you gonna have?”
“I’m having that omelet.”
“I’m gonna have the steak and eggs. Melonie’s tryin’ to get me off red meat these days, so I could really use a steak.”
“How about white meat?”
Without lifting his head, Jason smirked as he looked over the top edge of his glasses at Gall. “Smartass,” he said.
“Are you still seeing her?”
Jason closed the menu and put it on the corner of the table and looked at Gall. “Yeah, I’m still seein’ her.”
“And Melonie still doesn’t know?”
Jason chuckled. “If she knew, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you. She knew I was cheating on her, ‘specially with a white woman, she’d kill me.” He laughed then, louder this time.
“Where do you meet?”
“I got a little place here in town that I keep just for us. It’s kind of a drain on my wallet, but it makes things a lot easier. We got a place to go where nobody I know’s gonna see us and maybe mention it to Melonie later, know what I mean?”
“Nice.”
“Not really. I mean, it ain’t a hovel, but it’s nothin’ special. Just a little place on Michigan Avenue, near Catholic U.”
Jason had met his mistress, Lili, there in Doobie’s while having lunch with Gall one day a little over a year ago. Sparks had flown between Jason and Lili almost immediately. For months, Gall had covered for Jason, lied for him, taken calls from Melonie for him, kept Melonie from knowing what her husband was up to. It wasn’t the sort of thing Gall normally did. He typically avoided getting involved in other people’s messy personal lives, and he did his best to keep his own personal life as free of mess as possible so he could concentrate on what was important—the advancement of his career. But it was for that very reason that Gall had gone out of his way to help Jason with his infidelity. Jason was a National Security Agency analyst. In the NSA, the word “analyst” covered a lot of territory. Jason worked in surveillance. He tapped phones, bugged cars and homes and workplaces, and followed people with the aid of everything from satellite photography to surveillance cameras set up to monitor traffic and maintain security in public places. Gall had been happy to help Jason carry on his secret affair because he suspected Jason’s work—and detailed knowledge of his infidelity—might come in handy one day. And now that day had come.
The waitress brought Jason’s coffee and took their orders. When she was gone, Gall chuckled.
“I remember that day you and Lili met here,” he said. “For a few minutes, there, I thought the two of you were going to get down to business right there on our table.”
Jason laughed. He sipped his beer, then shook head and sighed. “Yeah, there’s somethin’ about her. She really gets under my skin. Did from the first second I saw her.”
“She’s a beautiful woman.”
“Yeah, but it’s more than that. Her eyes. There’s someth
in’ about her eyes. She always looks a little... I don’t know, angry. And at the same time, she always looks like she’s thinkin’ about somethin’ dirty. Know what I mean? And the combination of the two... “ He shook his head.
Gall nodded. “Yeah, there’s nothing quite like angry sex.”
“And that’s how it always is with her. Angry sex. ‘Cept without her really being angry.”
Gall let a moment of silence pass, then lifted his glass. “Here’s to hoping Melonie never finds out, or there’ll be plenty of anger.”
“Shit, man, anger don’t even get close to it. She’d be like a volcano goin’ off and I’d be buried in hot lava. My life as I know it would be over.”
Another brief silence, then Gall said, “Jason, I need your help.”
“Sure. With what?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I can’t really tell you. I can’t tell you everything, anyway. It’s work related, but at the same time, it’s... unofficial. You get my meaning?”
“Oh, yeah. Sometimes you gotta step outside the circle to get things done.”
“Exactly. I’ve got a guy who’s interfering with a very important project. It’s something I lined up myself, something that’s made the Director very happy with me.”
Jason grinned. “‘Nother rung up the ladder, huh?”
“Something like that, yes. Anyway, this guy... he’s causing all kinds of problems, and ultimately, he could end up becoming a threat. A very nasty threat.”
“Seriously? This guy threatenin’ to hurt you?”
“Not directly, not physically. But he could do a whole lot of damage to this project and, indirectly, to a lot of innocent people. I need to keep track of him. His whereabouts, his phone calls, who he’s talking to. I know you could do that.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Sure, I could do it. Thing is, everything is so closely monitored. Every move I make goes on record. It’s hard to do that stuff on the sly. They’re pretty tight about that kinda thing these days.”
Gall cocked his head, smirked, and narrowed his eyes a little. “Oh, come on, Jason. I’ve heard of people in your department checking up on wives, husbands, girlfriends. Even their own kids. It can’t be that hard.”
Jason chuckled. “Well, what you’ve heard ain’t necessarily so. Kinda like locker room talk in high school. The guys talkin’ about pussy the loudest were usually gettin’ the least, if any.”
“But... you could do it, right? I mean, it might take a little effort, but... “ He let the sentence dangle.
Jason frowned. “Well, it would be... a risk. A big risk.”
“It’s important, Jason,” Gall said, sounding more serious now. “Important enough for me to call in a favor.”
Jason’s eyebrows rose. “A favor?”
“Yeah. You know, from last year. When I covered for you. With Melonie. So she wouldn’t find out about Lili.”
“I appreciated that, Vic,” Jason said, nodding. “Hell, I still appreciate it. But it’s just not the same. You weren’t putting your job on the line when you did that. For me to do this... well, it’s just not the same.”
“What would you need? To do it, I mean?”
“What would I need?”
“Yeah. If you were going to track somebody like this, what kind of information would you need to do it?”
Jason chuckled. “The dude’s name, a current address or phone number. I mean, we’re the NSA, y’know? Well, hell, you know that better than anybody,” he added with a chuckle. “But that’s not the problem.”
Gall reached down, took a manila envelope from the bench and dropped it onto the table. “There’s everything you need and more. Personal information, pictures, the names of his friends, associates, his favorite hangouts. Everything.”
“Like I said, that’s not the problem, Vic.” He put his elbows on the tabletop and leaned forward, lowering his quiet voice even more. “Look. There were serious abuses in my department during the last administration. They’ve only started to bob to the surface in the last year or two, y’know what I mean? This administration is cracking down. People are nervous. We’re being watched closely. I don’t have the kind of wiggle-room I woulda had, say, two years ago or more. I mean, if you’d come to me back then, I might’ve—”
”It’s important, Jason. Very important.”
“I understand that, but believe me, I can’t just—”
”And you owe me.”
Jason frowned again and took a long look at Gall. “You’re serious? I mean, you really think I owe you—”
”Imagine what might have happened if I hadn’t worked so hard to cover for you. How many times did you tell Melonie that you were with me? And how many times did she call me, and I went along with it and covered for you? How many times did I—”
”But you weren’t risking your career, Victor. You know what kind of trouble I could get into?”
“That’s not the point. I did it. As a favor. So Melonie wouldn’t find out about you and Lili.” Gall cocked a brow ever so slightly. “You wouldn’t want Melonie to find out about you and Lili. Would you?”
Jason’s face completely relaxed and became expressionless as he slowly leaned back away from the table. He stared at Gall for several seconds, then took a sip of his coffee.
“I thought we were friends,” Jason said.
Gall smiled. “We are friends, Jason. And I want us to stay friends.”
The waitress came with their orders. Gall moved the envelope from the table but didn’t it put it back on the seat. She set their plates down, asked if they needed anything else, then walked away.
Gall reached across the table and offered the envelope to Jason. “Here you go. Everything you’ll need is in here. I’ll need you to start right away. Today. As in this morning. Immediately.”
Jason did not move for a long time. His eyes went from Gall’s face to the envelope, then back to Gall’s face. For a moment, he seemed about to speak, to protest. Gall smiled again and pushed the envelope a little closer to him. Finally, Jason took the envelope and slowly placed it on the bench beside his leg.
“I don’t know about you,” Gall said, still smiling, “but I’m hungry. And this smells delicious. Let’s eat.”
Chapter 15
Gathering
1.
When Chloe was done with the news, she returned to her office and checked her cell phone for messages. There were three waiting for her. The first was from Roger.
“Chloe, um... uh... “ He sounded winded and a little groggy, as if he’d just woke up. “Call me as soon as you can. There’s, uh... there’s a problem with Eli.”
Chloe froze. She considered calling Roger back immediately, but decided to listen to the remaining two messages, hoping one of them was from Eli.
“Chloe, it’s Everett Reasoner. I need to reach Eli as soon as possible, and he’s not answering his cell phone.” He sounded stressed, upset. “I’m assuming he’s working, but I really need to talk to him right away. Please call me as soon as you can.” He left a number.
“What the hell is going on?” Chloe said, speaking the words in an unsteady breath.
The third message was from Everett, as well. “Just trying again. Please call me as soon as you can. Right away.”
Thoughts raced through her mind so fast, it took a moment for her to decide who to call first. She called Everett because it was so unusual for him to call her—especially twice—that it must be urgent.
“Everett, it’s Chloe,” she said when he answered.
“Have you talked to Eli?”
“No, not today. He stayed home from work. Have you called the house?”
“Yes, and his cell phone. No answer.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I know you’re working, but it’s important that I reach him.”
“What’s going on? Is something wrong?”
“Well... has he been feeling okay? Behaving oddly?”
Chloe’s eyes widened. “He has not been
himself, Everett. Something’s wrong, but I don’t know what.”
“Has he been... violent?”
“Violent? Well... “ She thought of the way he’d taken her last night. He’d never been that forceful and angry in bed. “Talk to me, Everett. What’s going on?”
When he finally responded, he sounded hesitant. “I’m concerned about the fact that he’s stopped taking Paaxone. I have reason to believe the withdrawal could be... harmful.”
Chloe felt a surge of panic rising in her and she clenched her eyes shut and took a deep breath to stop it. “Okay, listen, I got a message from Eli’s friend Roger. He might know where Eli is. Let me call him and I’ll get right back to you.”
She called Roger’s number and waited through four rings before he answered.
“It’s Chloe. Are you with Eli?”
“Chloe? Jesus. No, he’s not here. Not anymore.”
“Anymore? He was with you? Where?”
“At my house. He came over. Something’s wrong with him, Chloe.”
“Oh, god, what happened?”
“He hit me.”
“What?”
“With a—” He barked a single laugh. “—a jar of pickles. Knocked me out cold. And I haven’t checked yet, but I think he took my gun.”
“Your gun?”
“I’m still bleeding. I’m gonna have to go to the ER, I think. I might have a concussion.”
“He took your gun? Why?”
“I don’t know, but we need to find him. Right away. I’m afraid he might hurt himself.”
“Oh, Jesus, Jesus,” she whispered, pacing the few steps her small office afforded. “Do you have someone to take you to the hospital?”
“Mrs. Gonzalez is here. My housekeeper. I’ll have her drive me.”
“Do you know where Eli went?”
“He didn’t say.”
“I’ve talked to Everett. He seems to think Eli might be having withdrawals from Paaxone.”
“Really? That’s what Eli was talking about.”
“He was?”
“That’s what’s been on his mind so much. This morning, he called—” He stopped talking.