“Why, you want to cook some for me?”
“Sure, for what you pay me, I can do a little domestic work. I won’t even charge you extra. It’ll be a bonus.”
“You’re on.” His lips turned up in a little smile. It was the first time in days that he’d had occasion to smile even a little. He stared at Sheila’s ass while she bent over to get out the griddle. That was an extra bonus, he thought. “Right after breakfast, you’ve got to shower and get on out of here. I’ll arrange for Buddy to take you home. I’ll be on the patio when you get the pancakes ready. And bring more coffee when you come out.”
Jason took his coffee and headed outside. He sat at the patio table and looked through the morning paper. Sheila moved around the kitchen working on the flapjacks and bacon, pouring orange juice, putting silverware and linen napkins on a serving tray. She glanced out to make sure that he was seated comfortably and concentrating on the paper. She looked through the doorways from the kitchen into adjoining rooms to check for Buddy, Phil, and the rest of Jason’s help. No one was around that she could see. She reached into the pocket on her robe, pulled out a tiny microphone and stuck it under the edge of the countertop. She finished cooking Jason’s breakfast, loaded them onto the plate and took the serving tray out to the patio.
“Breakfast is served,” she said with a million dollar smile. “Is there anything else that I can get for you before I take a shower?”
“No, go ahead. Be sure to let Buddy know when you’re done. You need to be out of here by 9:00. Thanks for breakfast. Buddy will make sure you’re paid. You were a lot of fun.” Jason went back to his paper. Sheila turned and headed to the shower but she had a few places to stop on the way. She planted three more microphones as she made her way through the house; one in the living room, one in the entrance to Jason’s office and one in the dining room. She tried to get inside his office but the door was locked. Satisfied that her work was done, she took her shower, dressed, did a little makeup work, and dialed the number Jason had given her for Buddy. Within forty minutes of serving breakfast, Sheila was out the door. Not a bad night for a hooker. $1500 for services rendered and $1000 to plant some illegal listening devices for someone she didn’t even know. It was all pretty exciting. Her adrenaline was pumping as she thanked Buddy for the ride to her apartment in Clermont. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends about her adventure.
Chapter 47
It was 9:40 AM by the time Buddy made it back to Jason’s. As he took up his position at the entrance to Jason’s office, Phil Daniels came in to check on schedules for the day.
“There’s nothing going down until 8:30 tonight. We have to oversee a drop at the Albertson farm. We got a big move going on; a hundred and forty.” That meant one hundred and forty bales of marijuana. Phil raised an eyebrow. That was an unusually large move. He guessed that Jason was trying to make up for a few lost deals in the last few days.
“I guess we’re going to be busy tonight. That will take some time. Is everything set to go?”
“Yeah. There’s nothing unusual about the deal, just size. Jason’s a bit tense after the botched move on the McKinneys. He thought that his dude from Boston would just do it and head home. What a mess. We don’t have Ray to know what the cops are doing. We really need another inside guy there. That’s going to hurt.”
As Pat and Joe listened to the conversation, they were making adjustments to the signal to make sure everything was being recorded clearly. The signal from the office was strong and clear. They really had all the information that they needed now, with the knowledge of a big deal going down, and the fact that Jason had set up the hit on them. They knew that Sheila was out of the house and that Phil, Buddy, and Jason were the only people in the large house. No one else was expected. If they could just get the three of them together . . .
Jason had finished his breakfast, showered and dressed and was ready for a day of serious planning. He needed to resolve the issue of retooling his organization. Buddy and Phil were loyal and they’d make good leaders, if he could find the right people to fill in behind them. That was going to be the order of the day. Phil and Buddy needed to get out this morning and start recruiting new, young talent to take over for the likes of Donnie Lee, Bobby, Jamie, and Danny. He also knew that there was a big hole in intelligence. Ray had kept them informed if they were getting any attention. This won’t be so bad though. It’ll be tough at first, but it will be like starting fresh but with significant experience and knowledge of the business. Not to mention the contacts. But he had to act quickly. In this business ‘what have you done for me lately?’ was a key element. If you lost a contact, it was difficult to get it back.
Jason entered his office from the bedroom and looked over his schedule. There was little going on today so he buzzed Phil and Buddy, “Come on in, guys. We’ve got work to do.”
With the three gathered in Jason’s office, the monitors were left unattended in the office entry. This was Pat and Joe’s moment of opportunity. They were parked in a rented utility van in a wooded area behind Jason’s property. They wore surveyor uniforms. They knew that Jason’s neighbors to the south were gone on a cruise, so they took the opportunity to act like they were surveying their property line. Pat set up a tripod and Joe took the long red and white poll with him along the edge of Jason’s property. They acted casual and carried clipboards and jotted down figures which meant absolutely nothing. They met at a spot adjacent to Jason’s garage where there were no windows facing his neighbor’s property.
“See anything?” Pat asked as the two looked around the neighborhood.
“Nope, we’re clear. Nothing over the house wire either. Together they moved towards Jason’s house and worked their way around to the patio. The office was on the opposite side of the house. Pat and Joe found the patio door open, just as Sheila had said. He never locked the patio door except at night. They shed their surveyor’s gear on the patio and drew their guns. They both had MP5 silenced sub machine guns; very menacing looking when they’re being pointed in your direction. They were amazed at how easy it was to conceal them in their fake gear. Pat and Joe wasted no time making their way through the elegant house. The plush carpeting everywhere made it easy to move through the house without a sound. When they got to the office vestibule, they stopped, listened, and determined that all three were still in Jason’s office. Joe held up his fingers for the countdown. Three, two, one . . .
Jason, Phil and Buddy had no time to react. Pat and Joe were through the door and had their guns trained on the three before they could bat an eye.
“Don’t move a muscle!” Joe yelled. And they didn’t. Buddy was the guy that they were most concerned about, with his history of barroom brawls. Guns didn’t seem to scare him much. But he was a pretty smart guy, and in this situation figured that it wasn’t worth getting cut to ribbons by a submachine gun burst. He just sat back in his easy chair and tried to relax. Phil Daniels appeared tense, with his eyebrows furled in a frown. He was sitting forward in his chair and appeared ready to take a chance. After a few seconds, Jason spoke. “Phil, just relax. If they were going to kill us, the deed would be done. Am I right guys?”
“We’ll see.” Pat said. “We have a little score to settle. You see, we really don’t like the idea of someone running around trying to kill us. You know we had a personal score with Jamie and the others. We have no beef with you. So why try to kill us?”
“Well, you put one hell of a dent in my organization. You wiped out about a million and a half bucks a year out of my cash flow. That hurts. It’s going to take time to replace that. I wanted you to pay.”
“What if we told you that it wasn’t us, that we don’t know who it was, and that we’d like to know that as much as you.” Pat said.
“Well, I’d be real surprised. So what are you saying? Maybe we could team up to figure this out? After that, what should we do? I’ve heard you guys have some experience in this business. It sounded like you did okay until all of the personal stu
ff happened. What would you say to a partnership?”
“Partners don’t go around putting out contracts on each other.” Pat replied.
Jason thought for a moment before he spoke. “Partners also don’t break into each others houses and hold submachine guns to their heads. How about if we introduce each other and clear the air? You know, if we’re keeping score, we’re really even. You took out my guys, I tried to retaliate. If you’re willing, we can call a truce and discuss the future. There’s a whole lot of money to be made.”
They were in. Pat and Joe realized at that moment that they had the upper hand.
Chapter 48
Pat and Joe agreed to terms with Jason Roberts. After thirty minutes of tense negotiations where guns were raised more than once, they agreed that Pat and Joe would be equal partners with Jason. At first, Jason had suggested that he get 50% of the profits and Pat and Joe would get to split 50%. After showing Jason that they had the upper hand, Jason agreed to a 30% split for each with 10% being distributed to the senior support guys. That meant Phil, Buddy and a few others would get paid a flat rate and split 10% as an incentive to expand the business. In theory, the working stiffs could make nearly as much as Jason, Pat and Joe. That seemed like a good plan and a good recruitment tool. The new business would take off and grow. The hardest part was keeping control of the growth and hand selecting recruits. Lots of people would want a slice of the pie. Pat and Joe explained that they had to make sure that the pie remained under control and didn’t outgrow their ability to manage it.
Jason was impressed with the brother’s negotiating skills and was equally impressed by the plan itself. He wanted to get the details on how to keep records and administer the new business. They explained that they could make the whole business look legitimate with help from Pat’s legal advisor and accountant. He was already handling the brother’s current business affairs. It would be an adjustment to take the books to the next level but it was manageable.
After all was said and done, the parties nervously shook hands. The deal was done. The new partnership would start tonight with the Albertson deal. Jason gave the details to Pat and Joe. They would all meet at the farm’s warehouse. Phil, Buddy, and Joe would stay at the warehouse and supervise loading the bales into delivery vans. Jason and Pat would be at the farm house handling the finances. They would leave in two cars, Pat and Jason in Pat’s, the others in Phil’s SUV.
Jason wanted to get this off on the right foot so he proposed a toast to the new partnership. “To making lots of money!”
“I’ll drink to that,” Pat raised his glass and took a swig. And heads nodded all around. They were all actually smiling when Pat and Joe left the house and headed back to Joe’s apartment. They had to be back at Jason’s place by 7:00 pm for the drive to Umatilla.
* * *
Radar drove north along US Route 441 to State Route 19 in Eustis. The route used to be through sparsely populated country where all one would see were citrus stands and flea markets where old hub caps were sold. Now the strip of roadway was ripe with commercial businesses; strip malls anchored by Publix supermarkets, and new housing developments. The driving was stop and go for most of the trip until Radar made it through the town of Eustis. Then the scenery turned more agricultural. There were still a few active citrus groves, several foliage nurseries, and the occasional tomato field. In the town of Umatilla Radar turned west on County Road 452. About three miles outside Umatilla was the Albertson farm. The 325 acre farm was mostly for dairy cows, but some of the land was planted with tomato plants and a small section of citrus trees. The citrus trees were survivors of the deep freeze in the late 1970s. The farm appeared to be a thriving business. The buildings were well kept, including a barn, the main house, a warehouse with loading dock, and a greenhouse for tomato seedlings. The farm was located on Lake Yale Road, to the south of County Road 450. Lake Yale was on the southwest border of the property. There was a stand of pine trees to the south of the lake.
Radar drove by the property, then back onto County Road 450. He then took Route 42 east back to Altoona, then south on Route 19 and back onto County Road 450 past the property a second time. Approximately three and a half miles west on County Road 450 he turned south onto Thomas Boat Landing Road. Several marinas with boat rentals were on the western shore of Lake Yale. He parked his rented SUV at one of the marinas and rented a small motor boat. He also bought some bait, a package of hooks and other assorted fishing supplies. He figured that he could boat across the lake to a point within about a mile of the property and hike the remaining two miles to the farm and warehouse. He went back to his SUV and gathered his hiking gear. He loaded the boat and headed out into the lake.
It was early evening. There were a few other boaters on the lake, but none came close. He found a spot to anchor the boat near shore in a secluded area hidden by trees along the shore. He put his backpack on and made his way to shore. In this part of Florida, people owned large tracts of property, but rarely saw most of what they owned. As he made his way through a wide, marshy area of land he could smell the decaying vegetation. He was sweating profusely in the early evening heat. Even the shade of the trees hiding the low sun where he jogged couldn’t stifle the heat and humidity. He was used to this type of trek, though. He practiced runs like this frequently in the swampy area where he lived. This was a walk in the park by comparison.
Radar made good time initially jogging through the forest land, through marshy areas where gators and water moccasins sat waiting for the right meal to come along. He was familiar with this type of terrain though. He wasn’t concerned with these fellow predators. He was hunting two legged animals. He wanted to make sure the McKinneys were protected and that the slime that was trying to seduce them wouldn’t get away with murder. He was a man on a mission and nothing was going to stop him from carrying out that mission.
Radar didn’t encounter any gators or snakes in his path. There were plenty of cubby holes for them to hide, but none came out to greet him. He just kept cruising at a pretty decent clip, only stopping twice to catch his breath and take a quick swig of water. He washed the water around in his mouth then spit it out. No sense getting cramps.
It was 8:20 PM when he took up his position in the pine tree stand just to the southwest of the Albertson property. It was about 1500 yards to the warehouse. By 9:15 it would be dark enough for him to make the sprint across the property to the warehouse and see first-hand the transaction that was going down tonight. The tomato field was at full height to provide some cover for his advance. Now it was time to sit and watch. He would see what he could learn from this vantage point. Maybe it wouldn’t be much, but he already knew what he needed to know. He had just under an hour to wait. But that was nothing compared to a lifetime of misery, or a lifetime of regret for not using his skills to the best of his ability. If he died during one of his adventures, then he would die knowing he did his best to make the world a better place.
* * *
Sonny Albertson was a mean bastard. He had no time for nonsense and he had no time for joking around. When Jason had called him and said that there were new players in the game, he told Jason that the deal was off and slammed the phone down. Jason called him back and tried to calm him down. He assured him that there would be no trouble and that these guys were good. Jason gave him his word that he would never jeopardize a contact like he had in Sonny. After fifteen minutes of arguing back and forth, Jason was finally able to sooth Sonny’s ruffled feathers. “You know I’ve had some difficulties with my help recently. I had to recruit some new blood. These guys are good. You’ll meet them tonight. It’ll go as smooth as silk, I promise you.” The deal was still on.
Jason hung up the phone and rubbed his hands together. He was making calls to his other contacts, reassuring them that everything was on track. He was arranging deals, one after another. The new partnership was going to be great. After the past week and a half of setbacks, he was flying high, in a manner of speaking. Jason had
over a million dollars worth of deals arranged. He hung up the phone and it rang immediately. It was Phil.
“Mr. Roberts, we’re ready to go whenever the McKinney’s get here.”
“Great, Phil.” The excitement in Jason’s voice was evident. Phil didn’t exactly share that excitement. He felt like he’d been passed over. Why should these Johnny-come-latelies get the profits? He and Buddy had been with Jason for years, working hard and taking the risks for him. It just wasn’t fair. Maybe he and Buddy should strike out on their own, make a little competition for old Mr. Roberts. Could it be that Jamie had been right all along? Maybe Jason was taking advantage of them. He’d go along with this arrangement for now but he figured it wouldn’t be too long before he was fed up. This partnership couldn’t last. Jason continued, “and Phil, you and Buddy are a key part of this organization. Don’t worry about this. I can guarantee you both that this arrangement will benefit all of us. Trust me on this.” The tone of his voice led Phil to believe that Jason was already plotting a way to get the McKinneys back for the damage that they’d done to his organization. He was probably just biding time.
“Yes sir, Mr. Roberts. I understand.”
“Phil, call me Jason.”
“Yes sir . . . I mean Jason.” Phil hung up the phone and smiled.
* * *
Diane was upset and scared. Pat wouldn’t tell her why he wasn’t going to be home until late that night. All he would say is that she should trust his judgment and hug the kids for him. He would try to be home by a little after midnight and that he and Joe would be together.
“You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?”
“Of course not, Babe. You know me.”
Diane smiled and said, “Yes, I do and that’s why I’m worried.” Her smile faded and she said, “Whatever it is that you’re doing, you be damned careful. If you don’t come home to me safe and sound, I’ll kill you myself.”
A Lifetime of Vengeance Page 31